February 20, 2012

 My heart flipps for you!!! :) Sister Marshall gave us those for Valentine's day. She is so sweet! I love her!

 Frozen pond.... I thought it looked pretty. ha!

 Does it look steep?

I think it looks steeper with me standing in the picture.  Yep these are the hills we walk every day... No not really.... whatever. We just walk that hill the other day. It is in our area though. 

This week was a really good week for us.  We got 3 media referrals in one day! It was crazy but really good.  We had success in contacting all 3 of them.  It kinda surprised us because we usually don't have success in contacting referrals. usually they got online and requested something when they or their friend was drunk...

But this week we have gotten 2 new investigators from media referrals!

One of the referrals was named Hans.  We had called him and left a message.  He called us back and said that he would be available for us to come bring the Book of Mormon to him.  When we met with him we were able to set up an appointment to meet with him later that week.  He told us that he was searching for something but he didn't know what that something was.  He also said that he had a friend a couple of years ago who was Mormon and had explained where we go after this life and that a couple of weeks ago he saw a mormon.org commercial and it reminded him of the discussion he had with his friend so he got online and requested the Book of Mormon. Then when we met with him he told us that he was trying to fill a void inside of him.  And Sister Carter told him that the gospel could fill that void.  It was really powerful. The lesson was really powerful. He said that everything we had taught made sense. We had asked him to read from the Book of Mormon and he had! It was so amazing! He had read all the way to 2nd Nephi in 4 days! (do you know how hard it is to get people to read from the Book of Mormon half the time?) He really has so much potential to go so far!  We invited him to baptism and he said he would! But he said he wants to know that the gospel is true first before he commits to a baptismal date though.  I have faith that he will receive an answer to his prayers. 

Our other new investigator's name is Kahli.  She is amazing too. She grew up Catholic.  She had LDS friends growing up and had always admired their dedication to their church because she never really felt that connection to the Catholic church.  Her life is really crazy right now and she felt like she needed church in her life.  So she requested to meet with missionaries and it was amazing.  She was invited to baptism as well but she wants to wait until she knows as well. I was so much myself in that lesson it was crazy.  There were no walls that prevented her from getting to know me or me getting to know her.  We explained so much to her and bore our testimonies a lot.  It was seriously one of the best lessons of my mission.  

It seems kinda funny to think. All the really spiritual and really powerful lessons I remember having thus far on my mission have been 1st lessons. There is just something about really powerful about sharing the Restoration of the Gospel with someone! I am SO thankful for the restored gospel and that I am here in the Latter Days.  I am so excited to be part of the preparation for the return of the Savior.  How blessed are we?! 

One of the less actives we are working with attended stake conference with us.  It was so good.  We asked him if he liked it and he said that he loved it and that it was amazing.  I love seeing the progress that he is making in the gospel. 

I will send pictures in a moment. LOVE YA'LL!!!!!!!!!! :) 

February 13, 2012

Hello!!

First off I miss you all so much! I am so blessed  to have such great support from home.

This week has been such a crazy week!!! Sister Carter and I said goodbye to Sister Quijano! I cried a little bit when she left and a little the next day when we went street contacting just cause I missed her so much.  Cause she was AMAZING! But I know she is going to have awesome adventures and I will find all about them in a year from now.  It's weird to think that I am about 1/3 of the way through my mission.  I don't like thinking about it because I don't know I just don't. 

Then this week we saw something amazing happen.  We had gotten a referral from Headquarters about this girl and we had called her a couple of times and left a message.  Then we tried stopping by her apartment building but the address we got didn't have an apartment number and we couldn't figure out which one it was from the apartment directory. So we kinda just assumed that it was contacted cause we had tried to contact her but there is only so many times you can call a person before it just gets annoying.  But she called us back!! And she wants to meet with us and I am so excited!!! I knew it was a blessing from Heavenly Father because we were out doing what we were supposed to be doing and just trying our hardest to be obedient.

I love personal study!! I was reading from Helaman 12 today and verses 7- 19 struck me so much! I had never really understood the whole dust of the earth concept and how we are less than the dust of the earth.  I knew we were but I didn't understand why.  But now I do! Because we as human beings do not obey God's voice in the very moment He says it sometimes.  He gave us agency to act for ourselves and to choose to listen to His voice. But then the next thought came to mind that never did God give us a command to not listen to Him.  We are always expected to obey Him and because sometimes we don't we are less than the dust of the earth. My mind was blown this morning!! 

Then our investigator named Abdul has a friend is calling us.... cause Abdul is missing?  I don't know how I feel about it.  At first I had a really bad feeling and I didn't think we should try contacting Abdul for a few days.  Then we talked to a guy in the ward who had come to one of Abdul's lessons who has been called by Abdul's friend as well.  And the guy said he didn't think it was more for concern rather than worrisome. But it still kinda worries me because I don't know how they got our number.  

We had a funny experience with Kelda the other day. She was praying when we ended our lesson and there was going to be a party on her floor right after we left and she said Please bless me to keep my standards high especially as I am partying with the opposite sex.  It was hilarious and I love her!! I seriously almost started crying in her room the other day just because I love her so much!!!

We got a new district leader and it's his first time as a district leader and it's fun.  He's awesome! I have been so blessed to have such great leaders on my mission.  I just found out that my one of my old district leaders is a zone leader and that was so exciting! :) Anyway I gotta go. I might send pictures in a minute!

Love, SIster Davidson

 We went to Five Guys and the potatoes were from Rexburg!!! and I was excited!!!

 The trio in front of the river last monday night 

the fridge with my new toy i mean nametag on it. Dad would have fun with my magnetic nametag!

Pictures!!

 there are DINOSAURS all over Pittsburgh.  So I took a picture in front of one.  This one is awesome cause he has a different scarf every month.  :D

  The triumphant trio!!! :) In the MTC Sis Carter and my teacher told us that trios were either trying or triumphant.  Our trio in the MTC was trying but our trio here in the field was TRIUMPHANT! :) We were a great team.  I can't believe this transfer is already over. 

 Us with the lovely beautiful Kelda! I love her!!

 The District!  The Elders (from left to right)- Johnson, Remund, Iwertz, Espinosa, McDowell, and Reese.  Then Sisters Obviously me, Sister Carter, Sister Quijano. 

 The district funny faces or Sister Davidson ugly faces... Whatever. 

  us with the Marshalls!! The CES missionaries.  

 Me and Lucy! She lives at the nursing home we do service at.  She's funny.  She told me last week that I would get married and that guys would be lining up to marry me. We'll see...

  Us with David, one of the guys we've been teaching.  He's funny.  He doesn't know how to tie a tie so we had Matt our ward mission leader help him and Matt tried tying the tie while David was wearing it.  and he had to give up and just tie it around his own neck then give it to David.  It was so funny watching that happen after sacrament meeting yesterday. 

 Jill and me.  Jill is just an awesome girl in our ward. 

  this is what our table looks like after weekly planning where we plan for the whole entire week ahead of us. Stressful and ends with a crying session every time. 

 me being silly

 My little Filipino companion!! Who is LEAVING me next week. Psh who wants to get transferred home?? 

 is of the pretty view  

February 6, 2012

Dear Family,

This week has flown!! I am now in my 4th transfer. Weird!!! At the end of this transfer I'll have been out for 6 months!! Say what?!  I can't believe it.  So I am staying in Pittsburgh for another transfer at least.  I probably won't get transferred in 6 weeks at least cause Sister Carter will have been here for 6 months at that point.  But I love it here so I'm not complaining. 

So last Monday we went and played Yahtzee with the Elders. It was great fun!  We got to really know the Elders better and I feel like our district really bonded.  But yeah I won at Yahtzee. ha! By 10 points.  And only because I got a double Yahtzee! One of the elders was like what?!  Then he had to check my math to make sure it was correct.(cause he was the one I beat by 10 points.) 

Then we did a lot of street contacting this week.  I am still not to the point where I wish I was in street contacting but I am working on it.  Talking to people can be difficult!!! Being a missionary has definitely pushed me out of being a shy person. A year ago I wouldn't have ever done half the things I do now.  But I still am shy don't get me wrong. 

So last week I told you about the less active girl we've been teaching.  Her name is Kelda and she is such a sweetheart.  She has been able to come to church the last 2 weeks! :) And she bore her testimony!!!
Being able to watch people you teach bare their testimonies in sacrament meeting is one of the best feelings ever!! 

We have been really concerned for one of the recent converts.  She has kinda been m.i.a. recently.  So we decided to track her down and we took her flowers at work.  And she said that she really appreciated it.  And it was good to see her because it felt like she was avoiding us for a while. We were able to find out that a lot is going on in her life that is weighing her down.  It makes me sad.  And we have a great ward, they are really trying to reach out to hear rather than it just being us chasing her down all the time.

Then we did have an investigator named Justin come to church yesterday.  He didn't make it to sacrament meeting but he made it to the last part of Gospel Principles and was able to go to Elder's Quorum.  I think he enjoyed it but a lot of it went over his head because he is from China.  We are trying to be as simple as we can when teaching him. 

We had been teaching another Chinese girl but she has been avoiding us and then she told us she can't come to our church anymore.  It makes me really sad.  We're kinda worried she came in contact with anti mormon literature, which makes all of us really sad. 

I did have one amazing experience... We were teaching this guy named Chris and we were talking about something I can't even remember what but I got like the strongest feeling ever he didn't understand the Atonement.  And so I said wait a minute we need to talk about this first! Then I taught about the Atonement and what it is going to be like for us somewhat when we are being judged.  I told him that the Savior is our advocate and then I said it's like the Savior being our lawyer and he got it.  It was awesome!

We were teaching this less active guy named David and he taught us at his last lesson. That was our challenge to him.  It was awesome! He has grown so much since I've come here to Pittsburgh. 

Being a missionary has given me so much joy and happiness but a lot of sorrow too.  I wasn't expecting to feel this many emotions on my mission. I'm crazy I know. 

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sister Davidson

January 30, 2012

Dear Mom & Dad,

This week was an interesting week in so many ways! So the city of Pittsburgh is split into different ares such as Shadyside, Oakland, Morningside, Southside, Northside, Squirrel Hill, Homestead, and the list could go on for a while.  But anyway the Southside elders asked if we could contact a referral for them in Squirrel hill. and we had tried once before but Sister Marshall the wife of our CES missionary couple drove us there.  Then the next time we tried to contact it we took the bus... but unfortunately we missed our stop and ended up in Homestead which I have a feeling is a more shady part of town.  Luckily we ended up there during the day and we didn't go all the way to McKeesport which is actually pretty bad.  The McKeesport elders told us that in their area book there is a list of 10 ways not to die. Comforting huh? Not really.  But where I spend most of my time is safe.  But some of the Elders areas are not as safe. It's crazy how much different the areas are and they aren't that far away from each other. 

So this past weekend they had a YSA conference.  And the girl that was in charge of it is in our ward and her name is Lauren.  So Lauren asked us if we would teach a couple of classes during the conference and so of course we said yes.  It was really great!  We were so busy last week and we didn't get around to preparing until Friday night.  But we got a really good outline and we were able to teach by the Spirit and have a fun activity at the end.  Our topic was building our armor with missionary work. We talked about the armor of God and then about Captain Moroni. It was goooooood! The activity we did is we gave everyone a card with a person from the scriptures who built their armor and had them hold the card to their forehead and try to guess who they had.  It was fun!

It was one of the coolest experiences of my mission so far.  I love being able to know when the Spirit is truly telling me the things that I need to say and explain and I felt that this weekend.  The YSA conference was really good for us because we were able to see a few people we needed to reach out to.  We were also able to see a former investigator.  We could tell he truly has an interest in the Gospel but I feel like at the moment he is just being stubborn about accepting it. he is so stubborn!  It was funny cause at dinner he told us that it was always us reaching out and talking to him first and I thought about it for a second and said wait you texted us first today!  and he had to think and then realized he had.  It was really funny.  

I'm so thankful for the conference because we were running out of food and money. and of course they fed the kids (adults...) that came.  (including us!)  But then they gave most of the leftovers to us and the elders in our district which I know we are all very grateful for.

We were able to see the progress of so many people here and I just love it!!  We have been teaching this one less active guy.  He had joined the church when he was 15 years old but hadn't ever really been active.  He has been attending another church fairly regularly and it has been somewhat difficult to get him to come to LDS services. But yesterday he came to church. Since it was the YSA conference they allowed time in sacrament meeting for the baring of testimonies.  And he got up and shared his testimony and it was really amazing.  He also called us last night and told us that he is going to start coming to our ward more often even regularly.  It is a huge improvement!! And I'm so excited for him!  I know the gospel has helped him through some of his recent challenges and I know he feels that.  

We have another less active girl who has not been able to come to church for being hospitalized.  She is now on a floor that allows her to go on outings and she was able to come to church this week!  It was really exciting and I know she loved being able to be at church.  

We are teaching some of the sweetest Chinese people ever. I love them.  Their understanding of the Gospel is so childlike but yet so sincere.  We were able to teach one of our little Chinese investigators with Sister Topham.  It was great!!!

So the Elders make me laugh.  We have two elders that are being trained in our district right now.  They came out together and it's still both of their first transfers.  One Elder Eiwertz is having a lot of success.  The other is Elder McDowell and well he and his companion are not having so much success at the moment.  There was a little contention between them at district meeting and it ended up with Elder McDowell telling Elder Eiwertz to basically stop talking.  It was awkward but it's really funny to me at least to look back on it.  

We recite D&C 4 every district meeting and in one of the verses we say attributes in verse 6 that we need to develop.  And diligence is the last one and Elder McDowell doesn't have the order memorized so he just saying diligence diligence diligence diligence until we get to diligence.  It's so funny and last week he was sitting next to me and I was laughing so hard I couldn't keep going.

The Elders in my district are awesome!  We'll be getting a new elder next transfer cause Elder Johnson our district leader is going home. He is the most Christlike person I have ever met... seriously.  He is just so good! We may call him one of the three Nephites. 

My companions tried calling me one of the 3 Nephites!! They're crazy!  Silly companions.  They don't realize just how imperfect I am.  Ha!  I didn't realize how imperfect I was until I got on my mission.  

But anyway I love you.  I'm going to send you a picture of the view from our dining room window in a couple of minutes. 

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Sister Davidson

January 23, 2012

Hellllllllo Mom and Dad and everyone else who reads this letter

That is amazing that you had 49 + people at church!! That's awesome!! That's so crazy that James is home!  We had a recently returned missionary speak in our ward yesterday that served in the Salt Lake City South mission where James served.  So I asked the guy if he knew an Elder Usevitch and he said he did and that James was his zone leader.  So it was kinda cool to have a connection back to El Paso in a way.  

Yes I do remember the name of the Elder that I knew at BYU-I.  He is Elder Olsen.  He has brown hair and is from WA?  But tell whoever the Elders are that come over that they are great!  And I hope things are going swell in their areas! 

Also hooray for finding my EFY cds. and yes I got my package. Thank you.  It is safe to send packages to my apartment.  

Dad, the story about the prisoner attacking the guard is crazy!! But you are a very happy person.  I don't think there is a moment in your life where you don't think of jokes.  Ha! There are times you're serious but you're always ready with a joke when it's not time to be serious. I love ya! 

This week we got 3 new investigators!!! We've kinda been struggling with finding new investigators but it was great! 
-The first one is from Nigeria and he just walked into the institute and told the institute director he wanted to learn more about Christianity.  So we started teaching him immediately the next day.  And it was good. He came to church on Sunday!  He even participated in Gospel Principles. 
-The other two are from China.  One is a girl and her name is Fancy.  She is adorable!! I love her so much!  We watched finding faith in Christ and she just so sweet!  She watched the movie really intently and picked up on some really good aspects of the movie.  Then the other chinese one is Justin.  He is reallllllly smart!  He asks us a lot of hard questions.  When we were teaching him about the Book of Mormon he asked us if Christ came to Asia.  And we all said it would make sense if he did but we don't know for sure.  Both of them are so cute cause they ask if they can bring their friends and of course we tell them they can! 

We still work with Less actives here a little and sometimes they can make you so happy but sad at other moments cause we want what is best for them!  My companions and I were talking the other day about the emotions tied into missionary work.  I decided that we're constantly on an emotional roller coaster with investigators and the members we work with.  And I said it was worse than being a teenager!  Ha!  Not really but pretty close! 

So my one companion sister carter is allergic to the cold. Weird huh?  I wouldn't believe it normally if I hadn't seen her fingers and legs after being out on a particularly cold night or actually most cold nights.  Her body itches and she gets really red and starts to swell.  She told her parents and her mom emailed Sister Topham and then Sister Topham called us and had Sister Carter call the doctor and it turns out that there is a condition of being allergic to the cold and gave her a prescription.  

Talking about time going fast... it's crazy!!!  We are in week 5 of this transfer!  Week 5! It's nuts!!  And sad.  My little companion Sister Quijano from the Philippines is going home in 2 weeks!!! :( She can't leave me!  I won't let her. She is too good of a missionary.  But it is time to let her go home. (also did I not tell you she is a foreign missionary?  She's amazing. I love her so much!) 

Also have you read Daughters in my Kingdom????  That book is AMAZING!! I have about 60 pages left but I cry every time I read from it.  I've also been reading Our Heritage and I have learned a lot of really interesting facts about the church.  

That's funny that you get made fun of for having an ipad.  Missionaries are going to have Ipads pretty soon.  Seriously. I can't remember if I told you that we tested them out in the MTC a little.  It was a pretty cool deal.  

anyway I love your guts!!! You're fantastic! Thanks for all the support I appreciate it.

January 17, 2012

  a GLASS chair! How cool is that!

  is of a cool quilt

 scary bone structure I don't remember what it is

  is of me in front of a big dinosaur!  

 Me just being crazy.  I was trying to get a dinosaur in the background... it didn't work so well.

 BUTTERFLIES!

 obviously I don't measure up...

 That's one big book! Wish I could read it!

 That's me holding a moose skin!  That was thick and heavy!  There were a whole bunch of animal skins. and I touched all of them.  there was another display of animal droppings which I refused to touch though.

Animal bone biting my arm! Yikes!!

That's awesome that you got to go to the temple!! I miss the temple a lot.  I am excited when I'll be able to go again in 14 months.  Or whenever I go home.  I passed my 4 month mark this Saturday. And I still have moments where I think woah I'm on a mission. Weird!  

Last week we saw a miracle here.  My companion Sister Carter had been teaching this guy Stan and he had a baptismal date and everything.  But then he dropped off the face of the earth and he couldn't be contacted.  Well last Monday when we were on the bus.  Stan got on the same bus!  Sister Carter immediately started talking to him.  It turns out his phone was broken and the only way to contact him was through email, facebook, or skype.  So we got his email address so that we could contact him.  Then invited him to Institute and he came!  Then we had a lesson with him later on in the week.  Then he came to church and it was amazing!!

Also I spoke in Sacrament meeting this Sunday. My talk was on the Book of Mormon.  It was the first time I haven't ever really felt terribly nervous before a talk. It was probably because I was so busy this week.  But back to the investigator Stan, as I was speaking I felt more than once tell me that the thing I had just said was for Stan.  and it was so cool!  I knew my words and talk had been inspired by Heavenly Father for the needs of His children.  I'm just grateful I was able to write the talk.  

Also with that we had a recent convert of 2 weeks speak in Sacrament Meeting as well.  I feel honored to say I spoke with him when he gave his first talk in church.  The recent converts name is Dan.  He is such a cool kid!! He goes to school at Pitt and was taught by Sister Carter and her trainer.  Then he went home to Philadelphia and got baptized there over the Christmas break with the missionaries who had started teaching him. So now we are teaching him the new member lessons and he just is such an awesome kid.  I'm grateful to have gotten to know him. 

We're not really teaching anyone new which is sad.  We are trying. We will set up appointments and things repeatedly fall through.  It's frustrating.  Oh well such is the cycle of missionary work.  

But overall missionary work is awesome like always.  And I am grateful for the missionaries I serve around.  District meetings are so good and really help continue on the work because I always feel better knowing we have others to rely on.  

This past monday we went to the Natural history museum here in Pittsburgh. It was awesome! (don't gripe Dad, we got in for free because we volunteer at the library) So here are some pictures. :)

Anyway that's what ya get for this week folks. I love ya.  I hope things are going great for ya!! 

Love Sister Davidson