Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Lots and lots of missionaries

Dear Family,
 
Guess what our mission next Tuesday the 5th of February will be receiving 29 new missionaries.  That is the biggest group we have received in a long time.  It is very exciting, because there are even more planned for the transfer after that.  So this past Saturday the young lady was baptized that I've been talking about.  It was a really special moment to see that take place.  At the baptism I saw several friends from old areas, including the girls boyfriend.  I really enjoyed seeing old familiar faces.
 
I also saw Sister Brinton at the Zoo today.  Our whole Zone went to the Phoenix Zoo this morning.  We really enjoyed the whole trip.  There weren't a lot of animals out because it has been raining for the past few days, but the African dogs were out and about.  The lions were also prowling around the cage.  It was really nice that most of the zoo was empty.  In fact when we got there no one was in line.  My favorite thing to see was the birds.  I also learned that there is more than one kind of rattlesnake!  Another reason (besides the heat) that I don't think I could live in Arizona.  This being said the last two days have been very beautiful.
 
So now for the biggest news of all.  This past week there have been some switches made in our Zone.  I have been moved to the Zone leaders area in the Mountain View Stake, and Elder Brown (my old companion) has taken my place with Elder Kirwan.  It was so good to be around Elder Brown again.  He is such an amazing missionary, and is really ready to work.  They will be together at least until the end of the transfer.  I will be staying with the zone leaders until transfer time.  It was really exciting to be in this area, full of fast paced work.
 
Coincidentally a young couple just moved into the ward that we cover just before I came in.  They were being taught in the Mesa stake by Sister Javed and Brownell, who just happen to be the missionaries that I worked with in Nov-Dec.  It is amazing to see how easily it is for the Lord to place us in the right place at the right time.  Another cool story is that Dad of an unbaptized 9 year old happens to be someone I taught in my first area.
 
FYI my companions for the moment are Elder Jace Smellie (My third Cousin from Pocetello), and Elder ...Christian Halling (from the MTC!).  Elder Smellie will be finishing his mission a week from this Tuesday, and it doesn't show one bit.  He has stayed focused the whole time.  We did show him a little love when I got a few sticker hearts in the mail.  Elder Halling and I proceeded to put them all over Elder Smellie's stuff.  He was not too enthusiastic about finding 100 little foam hearts every where.
 
We are looking forward to a baptism this Saturday for a mother and her 15 year-old daughter.  They are both very prepared and ready to be baptized.  The mother has been struggling with smoking for a while.  One afternoon she was feeling particularly stressed about preparing for baptism, and felt like she was not ready and didn't want to come to church or meet with the missionaries any more.  We quickly ran over and talked with her.  After a little while she began to feel more comfortable, and we were able to give her a blessing of comfort to help with all the anxiety.  It is lucky that we were in a trio, otherwise, we would not have been able to visit her.
 
Another afternoon on the way to a dinner appointment we saw a pick-up truck stuck trying to get up into a parking lot off the street.  there was only two men trying to push it up into the parking lot.  We were late, but knew that those gentlemen needed help.  We pulled into the next entrance of the parking lot, and proceeded to run to the aid of the pick-up.  We confirmed that they did need help then pushed the truck in only a matter of seconds.  Wished the men well, and went on our way.  I was so happy we were in the right place, to 'run to the rescue' of our friends.
 
We are so blessed in this great work.
 
I love you all,
Elder Will Davidson

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