Tomorrow is transfer Day. Elder Latham will be leaving. I am sad to see him go. He's been a good companion. One I've gotten especially close to. He's done some outstanding work in New Iberia AKA "The Berry" I'll miss him. My time with him has made the last stretches of my mission meaningful and memorable. He has taught me lessons I think I'll remember for the rest of my life. And been a support to me that I have very much needed in times of weakness. He'll bring great changes to Louisiana I am sure.
What a WEEK!!!! This has been one of the most stellar weeks of my mission! Me and Elder Latham very much just got lost in the work this week. This morning I was studying MATT 10:38- 39 as well as MATT 16 :24-25 and realized the relationship between obtaining strength against temptation and Sin and LOSING OUR LIFE in the service of God. I think If I can maintain this same kind of mentality throughout the rest of my mission then I will be able to keep the same spiritual strength that will allow me to avoid temptation and Maintain a steady growth towards Christ After my mission.
Me and Elder Latham shared many spiritual experiences this week. I hope Im able to always remember all of them. We had one of those good man to man talks and really opened up to each other a lot. That changed my relationship with him I think. We also taught some very spiritually powerful lessons! NEW IBERIA IS FLOURISHING!! There are so many people working towards baptism and steadily moving there and keeping commitments. The ward has begun to light up. The faith of the members is drastically increasing. it has been such an amazing thing to witness. I have a testimony that this is truly the happiest work a human could engage in. I hope I can keep it forever.
There was a baptism this week in our ward!!! a Part Member family that we teach, The Desormeauxs, have a son that we have been teaching at the request of his parents and the branch president. It was an awesome experience to teach him as he made the choice to be baptized. As we taught him we also taught the FAMILY. There are still 2 people in this family who have not made the choice to be baptized yet. The Oldest Daughter and The Father. The Last lesson we taught to them before David was baptized we asked the family, specifically The Father and Daughter, If they would pray and think about If they should be baptized leading up to Davids Baptism. We also invited them to think about what plans God has for there family and what the next step for them in the church would be. They have all been coming to church every week. They've been staying for all 3 hours. They've even all started to participate in our lessons. They are SO CLOSE to obtaining so may of the blessings of heaven. In that Lesson, The Oldest Daughter expressed a desire to be baptized which blew us all away. We were not expecting an answer so soon! She doesn't feel ready yet, but we're going to work with her and the ward to help her feel prepared.
We Experienced an AMAZING finding miracle this week as well.
So we went to Taco Bell because the Spirit reminded Elder Latham that he owed me a taco from a deal we'd made that I'd forgotten about. (I honestly don't even know what it was for but he insisted.) While we were there and preparing to sit down. A man caught our eye. We began talking and he said, "You know I used to go to y'alls church." Not quite sure what he meant by that so we decided to sit with him and keep talking. (Sometimes people just come 2 or 3 times and think that they're members of our church all of the sudden.) But as we talked we found out that he was actually an AREA 70 in the Church. at one point. He had gotten into Some Anti I guess and it challenged his testimony a lot. He asked us some questions. And we carried on talking for a bit. He told us about a friend he had who was trying to understand about life after Death. So our conversation kinda went on about the Plan of Salvation and Our individual Walks with God. We talked about baptism and how it was the Gate that puts us on the path to heaven and many other things. It was very clear he was feeling the spirit. His demeanor had completely changed from when we'd first sat down. Our conversation ended with him recounting some very spiritual events he'd experienced while yet a member. One with giving his daughter a fathers blessing and Visiting a man in the hospital.
He said, "Those moments when you can feel that spirit you have to hold onto. You just cant forget them. They're very real." I believe remembering those experiences challenged the anti things he'd heard or maybe felt that spoke out against his testimony. He seemed to say something like; Remembering these things and how real they felt confused the things he'd heard. It was so cool.
It was remarkable to me how much he'd forgotten about the doctrine of the church. I think it was probably somewhat remarkable to him as well. Throughout the Conversation he would hint at different things he'd heard, or read, or been taught that opposed the church. But the Spirit restrained us from engaging them. I am SO. GLAD. Me and Elder Latham were both in tune with the spirit enough to not ask, "So why did you leave the church?" Instead of talking about negative things. We spoke about positive things. and it made all the difference. I honestly Dont care why he left the church. I am glad that he was able to remember why he JOINED the church. I hope our conversation affected him.
Before we parted ways he gave us his number without us even asking for it. We gave him our cell number. I am determined to meet him again. This was an experience I hope to always remember.
We finished this transfer on a very strong week. Me and Elder Latham taught more lessons this week than I've ever taught in a single week on my mission. It has been amazing. They were all pretty good strong lessons too! (We made a commitment last week that this week would be the strongest week of our companionship. We held true and it's been the happiest seven days I could have asked for.)
I love you All.
Yours Faithfully,
-Elder Davis
What a WEEK!!!! This has been one of the most stellar weeks of my mission! Me and Elder Latham very much just got lost in the work this week. This morning I was studying MATT 10:38- 39 as well as MATT 16 :24-25 and realized the relationship between obtaining strength against temptation and Sin and LOSING OUR LIFE in the service of God. I think If I can maintain this same kind of mentality throughout the rest of my mission then I will be able to keep the same spiritual strength that will allow me to avoid temptation and Maintain a steady growth towards Christ After my mission.
Me and Elder Latham shared many spiritual experiences this week. I hope Im able to always remember all of them. We had one of those good man to man talks and really opened up to each other a lot. That changed my relationship with him I think. We also taught some very spiritually powerful lessons! NEW IBERIA IS FLOURISHING!! There are so many people working towards baptism and steadily moving there and keeping commitments. The ward has begun to light up. The faith of the members is drastically increasing. it has been such an amazing thing to witness. I have a testimony that this is truly the happiest work a human could engage in. I hope I can keep it forever.
There was a baptism this week in our ward!!! a Part Member family that we teach, The Desormeauxs, have a son that we have been teaching at the request of his parents and the branch president. It was an awesome experience to teach him as he made the choice to be baptized. As we taught him we also taught the FAMILY. There are still 2 people in this family who have not made the choice to be baptized yet. The Oldest Daughter and The Father. The Last lesson we taught to them before David was baptized we asked the family, specifically The Father and Daughter, If they would pray and think about If they should be baptized leading up to Davids Baptism. We also invited them to think about what plans God has for there family and what the next step for them in the church would be. They have all been coming to church every week. They've been staying for all 3 hours. They've even all started to participate in our lessons. They are SO CLOSE to obtaining so may of the blessings of heaven. In that Lesson, The Oldest Daughter expressed a desire to be baptized which blew us all away. We were not expecting an answer so soon! She doesn't feel ready yet, but we're going to work with her and the ward to help her feel prepared.
We Experienced an AMAZING finding miracle this week as well.
So we went to Taco Bell because the Spirit reminded Elder Latham that he owed me a taco from a deal we'd made that I'd forgotten about. (I honestly don't even know what it was for but he insisted.) While we were there and preparing to sit down. A man caught our eye. We began talking and he said, "You know I used to go to y'alls church." Not quite sure what he meant by that so we decided to sit with him and keep talking. (Sometimes people just come 2 or 3 times and think that they're members of our church all of the sudden.) But as we talked we found out that he was actually an AREA 70 in the Church. at one point. He had gotten into Some Anti I guess and it challenged his testimony a lot. He asked us some questions. And we carried on talking for a bit. He told us about a friend he had who was trying to understand about life after Death. So our conversation kinda went on about the Plan of Salvation and Our individual Walks with God. We talked about baptism and how it was the Gate that puts us on the path to heaven and many other things. It was very clear he was feeling the spirit. His demeanor had completely changed from when we'd first sat down. Our conversation ended with him recounting some very spiritual events he'd experienced while yet a member. One with giving his daughter a fathers blessing and Visiting a man in the hospital.
He said, "Those moments when you can feel that spirit you have to hold onto. You just cant forget them. They're very real." I believe remembering those experiences challenged the anti things he'd heard or maybe felt that spoke out against his testimony. He seemed to say something like; Remembering these things and how real they felt confused the things he'd heard. It was so cool.
It was remarkable to me how much he'd forgotten about the doctrine of the church. I think it was probably somewhat remarkable to him as well. Throughout the Conversation he would hint at different things he'd heard, or read, or been taught that opposed the church. But the Spirit restrained us from engaging them. I am SO. GLAD. Me and Elder Latham were both in tune with the spirit enough to not ask, "So why did you leave the church?" Instead of talking about negative things. We spoke about positive things. and it made all the difference. I honestly Dont care why he left the church. I am glad that he was able to remember why he JOINED the church. I hope our conversation affected him.
Before we parted ways he gave us his number without us even asking for it. We gave him our cell number. I am determined to meet him again. This was an experience I hope to always remember.
We finished this transfer on a very strong week. Me and Elder Latham taught more lessons this week than I've ever taught in a single week on my mission. It has been amazing. They were all pretty good strong lessons too! (We made a commitment last week that this week would be the strongest week of our companionship. We held true and it's been the happiest seven days I could have asked for.)
I love you All.
Yours Faithfully,
-Elder Davis