April 10, 2009

Dear Family,

Hope things are good at home. I have yet to receive the letter you mentioned in your email Dad. I haven't gotten much mail, but that's okay. Belen has sent me two letters and that's about all I've received. I'm sure most of the letters are being moved from the MTC or mission office.

I'm hoping for pictures on occasion. :) It's always nice to see home. I love seeing people and knowing all is well and seeing the fun happenings.

It's been raining TONS the past few days. It's really pretty but kind of annoying to tract in, but that's okay. :) Just in the past 3 days we've gotten an inch and a half of rain. it's very on and off but everything stays wet.

I'm learning to enjoy religious music a lot! It's really cool I have found some favorites and what not.

My letter is random tonight. I am just sort of filling in the gaps.

Hmmm...what else. Oh, today was a good mail day for Elder Neeley. :) He got two letters from family and an Easter package from his girlfriend. I didn't get anything today but it was fun to watch him open it. I get almost (not 100%) as excited when he gets mail as when I do.

The McCollams (who we live with) are an older couple. What's funny is they watch the Disney Channel at nights. I get jealous because I can hear it. During the day Sister McCollam listens to the music stations on her TV and it makes me think of Grandma.

It's amazing how often I feel like I totally recognize people and could swear I've met them before when I probably haven't. That happened a lot tonight. (Random once again.)

Zone conference is coming up on April 16th. We'll just have to see how things go, it seems scary but it'll be great I'm sure. It got extended so now it is going to go from 8am to 4pm. Holy Smokes! Unfortuantely it's out in Gridley. We are only allotted 1500 miles per month on our car. Since where we're at the houses are spaced out we have a really hard time staying within our miles. We get 50 miles a day if we want to stay in miles but obviously we can cut miles some days and go extra others. Anyway, we have to drive a LONG way out to Gridley and we're already having difficulties with miles so hoepfully President Pendleton will reimburse us for the miles for zone conference.

Oh, I had a fun experience today. We were tracting in a trailor court and we knocked on a door and a really friendly-looking old lady answered. She smiled as I began introducing us as missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She informed us that she is a preacher of the Jehovah's Witnesses (probably our biggest competitor out here, not that it's a competition but you know). So we started talking about Christ and faith in Him. It was a really good friendly conversation. The she brought up Easter and the origins of it and a bunch of stuff about Pagan beliefs and how they shouldn't be mixed with Christian beliefs. Anyway, we explained that we celebrate Christ's atonement and resurrection during Easter. She kind of casually and kindly argued with us. We weren't "bashing" but we were taking turns stating beliefs. Anyway, she was trying to say that Christ's death was the main focus of Christ's ministry. We were trying to explain how the resurrection is important. Eventually I explained the atonement and how the death isn't the most important part. I explained that the atonement started with Jesus Christ suffering for our sins and afflictions and bleeding from every pore. I explained that he suffered for each of us individually, it wasn't just like one lump sum. The, he was crucified. Oh, and after I explained his suffering I said that through that he provided a way to conquer spiritual death. Then after being crucified he was resurrected. This brought about the opportunity for ALL to be resurrected, thus conquering physical death. I said that the atonement conquers both the physical AND spiritual deaths spoken of in the Bible. She was stumped but didn't just say that obviously. She said she'd had a stroke (which I believe) and that we were probably getting cold and she was freezing so she said good-bye and closed the door. The first thing Elder Neeley said to me was, "You stumped her." It was really cool I mean, I don't take joy in proving people wrong, but hopefully it helped open her eyes.

One thing that just came to mind that I want to tell you all is that commonly we perceive J-dubs (as we call the Jehovah's Witnesses) to be rude bible-bashers. In fact, the J-dubs are probably the friendliest people out here. They are willing to listen to us if we are polite and listen to them. So the point I'm getting at is don't cause contention. Even if people get upset with you just smile. It's amazing the effect that can have.

I am already growing to love the people so deeply. Even those who turn us away. I feel such a desire to share the message with them.

I wish I had learned more about door approaches in the MTC, but Elder Neeley is really good at them so I'm learning fast. I'm continually learning to more fully trust the Lord.

I am no longer nervous to be out of the MTC. To put it quite plainly, California rocks!

The members SPOIL us! It's incredible. We have dinner provided for us EVERY night. The dinners are delicious. Unfortunately Elder Neeley has gained 15 pounds in the ten months he's been out so he has gotten good at turning down desserts so I guess I don't have to worry about too much weight gain. ;)

This week has been SO awesome and I had a MARVELOUS time. I've not been very scared surprisingly. I've said thank you a TON this week. Holy cow! Oh boy have I said lots of prayers!

I'm glad you're cheering for me. I feel your encouragement all the time. Don't feel helpless. I can still remember your stories and imagine your arm around me. You've prepared me well, Dad.

I have missed the family a lot this past week. It hasn't distracted me from my work, but rather strengthened my resolve.

I'll wrap up. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Jay Davis