Tuesday, November 2, 2010

November 1, 2010

Hey Mom,

Email schedule should be more stable because we aren't using the member's computer anymore because they moved, which sucks, but it's nice that we don't have to guess about what time we'll be emailing. The library isn't the best, but it works, and I'm grateful to have it and the stability will be nice.

Yeah...it's pretty boring with no ward activities. They finally had one, it was the ward trunk-or-treat and chili cook-off. It went really well and the chili was great. We even decided to dress up (both of our costumes let our missionary attire show through a bit so we figured it'd be fun ;)) Anyway, I'll try and send pictures of our costumes, we got a pretty funny picture of the two of us!

The favorite family from this area is named the Gormans. They are my favorite because they are just really nice and the kids are awesome and they were the family that would let us use their computer to email on Mondays. The Coopers from Anderson and a couple other families are my favorites too though, you know me and favorites!

Yep, I did take pictures of my costume :D Nothing super fun or exciting on Halloween, just played games in the apartment since we had to be inside by 6 p.m. That's awesome that you had a lot of trick-or-treaters. We played a pretty fun church game called Hold to the Rod. It was supposed to be really difficult according to the members but Elder Garcia and I played it and really enjoyed it.

That's so cool all the missionaries that are leaving! It's sort of hard for me to fathom but it's jusrt super exciting more than anything!

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis



Hey!

Well the main happenings of this week involve Halloween.

Our ward finally had an activity. It was the Trunk-or-treat and chili cook-off! There was a TON of chili and they were all really really good! There was also cornbread and our ward mission leader's wife made the BEST cornbread ever! I really enjoyed it.

My companion, Elder Garcia, and I dressed up even because we figured it'd be appropriate to show that we are normal people that can have fun. Both of our costumes still showed some of our missionary garb which we wore under them plus we had our name tags on our costumes to be seen. It was a lot of fun, we got lots of comments and people still knew we were the missionaries so it was awesome!

I have pictures of us in our costumes, but I left the camera and cable in the car so I will have to send those next week. My apologies!

Uh...I don't know that there was anything all that interesting other than that.

I am constantly meeting people who know where Santaquin is which blows my mind. Then I also meet people who know people from Santaquin and Payson. I met somebody who was Jace Nielson's (Not the one in choir) Aunt! It was pretty cool! They came to church in Wheatland of all places. Very small world! I really enjoy making connections with people!

Well...I don't have much more to say. I can't believe I'm turning 21 in just 10 short days!

Hopefully I'll be more interesting next week. I say that every week, but maybe one week it'll actually happen ;)

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

October 25, 2010

Hey Mom!

Well things should be a little more stable schedule-wise now so hopefully email is a bit more predictable ;)

That's AWESOME that there's snow on the ground ;) We heard from a member who we are friends with who was in Park City and called us that it is Blizzarding big time there! Like a foot and a half of snow they said! We've had a ton of rain here. Yesterday it just POORED! It was awesome! I can't wait until we get thunderstorms ;)

Yes, you are right, the gooey center of zucchini bread would have been a problem in the mail. It is still really really yummy this way! And because of the chocolate chips it is plenty moist.

As far as we are aware things are still a go for Patti. She had her mother-in-law pass away so we didn't meet with her this past week, but other than that things are good as far as I know. She is in her early 50's and she's married yes. This is both her and her husband's second marriage...I don't know if she has biological kids but I know he does. He is a less-active member of the church due mostly to being offended during his divorce a long time ago. She's been investigating on and off for 13 years, but it's only been a few months this time from what I know.

Wow! I didn't even realize that Halloween was THAT close! Holy smokes. I already have my costume planned out. It's the same thing as last year but I plan on improving upon it a bit. I'll take some pictures and send them to you :) I'll be kind of an airman of sorts. I bought this really cool jumpsuit thing from a Goodwill thrift store that fits me perfectly it is hilarious!

Thanks for the email Mom :D Things here are great...um...I can't think of anything super exciting right off the top of my head but hopefully something will come to me and I can do a mass email since I haven't for a while.

Love you tons!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

That's awesome that you wrote this email in a taxi in LA! Probably a pain for you so thank you for the effort ;) It's awesome what technology can allow us to do these days!

That's awesome that you got to go to the BYU game at home in box seats :D That's SWEET that you should Pres. Samuelson's hand! I'm jealous! I'm glad to hear that BYU won, it would have been pretty embarrassing to lose to Wyoming. I bet that was a fun time with Grandma. She said this is the last game she plans on going to. That kind of made me sad. That doesn't surprise me that you drank way too much soda :) I remember the Phoenix race ;)

I'm glad that all of the demos went well! Relief is an awesome feeling. I've felt quite a bit of that this past week for various reasons :) It's been nice.

Yep, pretty awesome that there are so many members so high up in the military :D

HAHAHA! I remember your stories about Ravensburg yes :) That's really cool that those were in a very small town. I like it here, but I will not be sad to leave at this point. Maybe by the time I actually leave I will be a little bit more sad to leave ya know? We were really good friends with a part member family that we were working with but they just moved to Colorado. It's really sad, because they were our favorite family, I made really good friends with them. They will definitely be a family that I will visit. I'll use going to see Aunt Dana and Uncle Matt as an excuse ;) Plus, my current companion, Elder Garcia, lives in Colorado so I could visit him too and we'll both go visit the family :)

As for things about the area...small about sums it up. Spread out though. I mean our bishop lives about a half hour away from where we do, and the base is about that far a drive also so we really have to drive a lot and we only have 1000 miles which goes really really fast. We'd probably be okay with 1100 or 1200 but we're just a little short. Um...there are like NO ward activities so it's pretty boring in that respect, but things are good. I like it, my spirits are pretty high, and things are good.

I love you tons Dad!

Have fun in L.A.!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hello!

Well I guess I owe you all a mass email this week :D

I don't know really how much I'm going to have to say, it's about time for me to wrap up emailing, but I felt like writing a quick one.

Wheatland is very small and not a lot happens each week. The members, as few of them as there are, feed us nearly every night of the week which is such a great blessing! I love getting to visit with the members and the meal is always a great bonus too!

My companion goes home in almost exactly two weeks which is really really crazy! It makes it quite difficult to avoid getting trunky, but I'm managing quite well ;) It's pretty exciting to think that he gets to go see all of his family :) I can't help but mention that in only 4 1/2 months I'll be in his position!

Well I best be going, but I love you all!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

October 19, 2010

Hey Mom,

My week was good, we taught Patti who is our baptismal candidate. She will be baptized on November 6th hopefully that or the 7th, this stake is retarded when it comes to scheduling baptisms so I'm not 100% sure when it'll be. She's ready to go so that was fun.

Yep :D I really loved the package! I froze the larger bag of bread and have been eating the other one :D It's SUPER yummy and definitely cooks more evenly when you use the mini ones...I like it, but I'm not opposed to the other way either because then you get yummy gooey center.

Well thanks for being happy to buy the music :D I really am excited to have it. Hopefully I'll be able to do with it what I intend ;)

Yep, the members are definitely right up there.

:D I'm glad you are impressed about my rouladen endeavor :D I really had fun! It's messy to make, but it's well worth it. The family we cooked for was definitely impressed! We just felt like cooking dinner for them instead of them cooking for us. They are a less-active family that we are working with. Surprisingly, considering the size of Wheatland, we have dinner appointments nearly every night, as much so as any other ward.

Sorry for the shortness of this email but know that I really enjoyed reading yours :D I love you tons!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad!

That's awesome that you guys are finally getting some rain and stuff. We got a little bit of rain on Sunday but that's it.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading my emails last week :D That's awesome that you and Mom were able to take a quick trip to St. George :D I'm glad you guys like the way I'm using my talents. It's the best way I've found to have fun on my mission :D

Yep, That's where Beale is :D Pretty cool huh?! They keep it pretty secret without even trying. Nobody knows where Wheatland and Olivehurst are so who's going to know that that's where Beale is? Yep, according to a few different members who are in the AF all of the Intel from around the world is funneled through this base, pretty impressive! One of the members...Brother Moriarty...is 4th in command on the base! Pretty cool eh?! I would guess that there are probably a lot of language specialists here. I don't know what all is here, but they have some of the unmanned aircraft here. Actually, I believe they are the home of the U2 :D It was also the main home of the Blackhawk (or whatever that super fast plane is!)! Crazy huh?!

I'm sorry, this email is really short. There's just not a lot interesting to write about this week. *sigh* I feel bad for the length (or the lack thereof) of this email.

I love you Dad!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

October 12, 2010

Hey Mom,

First off, sorry about not responding yesterday. Our schedule is still pretty unpredictable lol. Hopefully I'll get it figured out pretty soon.

As for the mass email you are exactly right! I totally spaced it...ah well...more to write this week eh? ;)

Thank you for the update about your doctor's appointment and what not. I really appreciate being in the loop. So far it sounds like things are positive, at least not negative. Wish it could be even better but hey, we'll take what we can get right? Hopefully the medication for the migraines will be beneficial so you can at least not be in constant pain.

This week was great. We do quite a good job of keeping ourselves busy. We even have an upcoming baptism (which was setup before I got here, but still). Should be good.

The weather is definitely getting more Autumn-like, though it's definitely not as cool as I would like. I mean I would really like for it to just rain. And of course snow would be even better, but that's not gonna happen here.

Wow! Nickel-size hail stones?! That's crazy! Reminds me of one of the storms we had while I was in Anderson. It was AWESOME!

Thank you SOOOOO much for the package! It came in on Saturday but we were busy all day and then Monday was a holiday (Columbus Day, I'm sure you knew that) so I just got it today :D I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for the zucchini bread and I thought it was awesome that you did them in mini-loaves. That's perfect! I have been craving that bread lately and I was bragging about it to somebody the other day!

Thank you for the piano music. I didn't want you to BUY new music. I was only going to use it one time so you should have just made a copy of the one you already had. You already have the solo version so you could always just make a copy of that. It's in your binder with all of the sheet music and stuff. Anyway, thank you Mom! I really appreciate it! I am so grateful for all you do :) I hope you know it!

OH OH OH!!! Downtown Brown! Yeah, he was in my zone when I was in Yuba City. I played the New Years Mormon Bowl with him ;) HAHAHA! I totally know who you're talking about! That's AWESOME that he is Sister Morgan's grandson (and yes I remember Sister Morgan) She owned the school supply store (or at least worked there). That's freakin' awesome! I wish I had known that sooner, I'm pretty sure he's home now. Ah well.


I love you back!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hi Dad!

The battle is going great and I'm smiling lots. :D

That's good that things with Mom's doctor appointment went well. Mom sounds very positive about it. I'm very glad to hear that she might have a way out of the major migraines! I hope they really help her. She said it might take a month or two before they can tell if it's actually going to work.

That's AWESOME that you made a job offer to Dan and from the sounds of it he accepted! I'm excited that you two will be working together. Does that mean that if I were to come and take Kody's job when I get back I would work for Dan? ;) Anyway, I wouldn't want to steal Kody's spot and I don't even know if it'd be available by then.

That's awesome that you saw Kody at Church. That's kind of a weird thought to think of the fact that you hadn't seen him all that much before that. I mean I know he comes home on the weekends at least for Sunday dinner right? Anyway, pretty scary thought having him not live at home! I can only imagine how it is for you and Mom lol. That's awesome that he was wearing his missionary suit and looked really sharp!

Yeah, don't worry, I'll tell you guys more this week. Last week I totally spaced sending the mass email ;)

Anyway, I love you tons!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis



Hola,

Things in Wheatland are AWESOME! Unfortunately I am running way over on my time so I'll have to keep things short.

Wheatland is a tiny little town, but we have a decent ward. It was fun attending church this week. My first week was General Conference so I didn't get to meet the ward. I really enjoyed meeting the members. Next to seeing people enter the waters of baptism, getting to know the members is my favorite part of my mission.

Last night my companion and I had the opportunity to cook a dinner for one of the less-active member families in our ward. It was a lot of fun. We made Rouladen, mashed potatoes and corn. It turned out very nicely, especially for my first time making it by myself.

Um...we have Beale Air Force Base in our area. We were on base every day my first week here. It was kinda fun, we only go on base when we get called on, but the members do that each time they feed us and stuff. It's pretty awesome! Apparantely Beale is one of the most important intel bases in the whole world! Pretty cool eh?! Little things we'd never know unless you serve in Wheatland, CA!

Love you all,

Elder Jay Davis

October 4, 2010

Hey Mom :D

That's funny that you called me Elder Jay, a lot of my friends call me that lol

First week in Wheatland...pretty uneventful. I'll talk more about the details in a mass email later. Elder Garcia and I get along quite well. He's not much of a fan of how indecisive I am but he's got to give me a break since I really don't know the area and it's not like there's a lot to do ya know? It'll be good though, we get along well. He is very trunky, but it's fun serving with him nonetheless. I think this area would make anybody trunky just because it has so little to do ya know? I am not disappointed at all that I don't get to drive, it's nice to just sit back and relax for a while during the driving time ;) We have one promising investigator which for the size of the town is great. I will talk more about her in the mass email as well. Yep, General conference was GREAT! Very different from the others I've seen on my mission.

That's awesome that you've got all of his Mr. Mac shopping done. That's the biggest part. I'm sure you probably still have some more to do but not much. That stinks that he has to get so many stinkin' shots! Tell him that if he doesn't want to get stuck in the MTC forever he'd better get on that so the Visa application can get entered! I hate shots!

Uh...Aunt Colleen is packing up...are they moving? Wow...people have good memories ;) J/K it's all good! That's crazy that they are moving!

That's really cool that you and Dad both helped with the move. Sounds like a really nice house. I am looking forward to seeing it.

That's AWESOME that you got a violin from Uncle Mitchell! I am excited to hear you play when I get back :) You'll be much better by then so no worries.

That's awesome that you were able to learn why your cello wasn't sounding as good as you'd like and that you were able to fix it! I am excited to hear that too! Man, I have to learn how to play guitar, cello, and violin when I get home! I should relearn how to play the trumpet (though I never fully knew), and to top it all off I need to refresh my trombone skills ;) Should be a lot of fun!

Sounds like you had a great week. Thanks for the email :D

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

Yeah...I heard about the embarrassing loss! I could hardly believe we lost to the worst team in the whole wide world...okay just in the conference, but still! I was VERY upset! Ah well, what's done (or not done) is done. I had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of a couple crappy defensive plays and I was just disgusted!

I wish I would have taken more pictures early on in my mission. I need to do better now too. At least I have some pictures of a few families which is the most important part to me anyway.

HAHA! That's awesome that you remembered all of those stories that I've told you! You are good at this ;) I guess to me it seems like the stories I tell last for about a week and then are forgotten, but I guess not.

Well, today was the first day I heard that Aunt Colleen is moving. Mom said the house is really nice. That's funny that you found that you are really out of shape. So am I, and I usually realize it most when I'm helping people out here move. That's really cool that there house is very close to the temple.

It's really bizarre having a companion that's going home soon lol, I don't really know how to describe it though.

Love you,

Elder Jay Davis

September 28, 2010

Hey Mom,

Yeah...I got transferred. You are spot on that I'm not very excited about this transfer! Not so much because I'm back in the Yuba Zone, that's not a problem, but rather because I really really didn't want to leave Anderson. I really really really love the members in that ward. Sister Cooper cried when I had to leave their house after saying goodbye. Anyway, I really love the members and can't wait to return to visit them. This transfer should be fun though.

My companion now is Elder Garcia. This is his last transfer so I know for a fact I'll only be serving with him one transfer ;) We live in an apartment. It's quite nice. Car area for sure I'm in the boondocks...like more so than ever! Elder Lincoln is still in Anderson with Elder Holyoak now.

Yeah...you got the right information about Wheatland. Aparantely Sister Cooper did the same thing last night. Her sons brought me down today and they were saying that she was in a panic and telling her son, "He can't go there! It's too small! There are only NINE streets there!" She loves me ;) You must too ;) J/K I already knew that ;) That's very true that the population is tiny. That's AWESOME that you were able to find out all of that information ;) That's pretty cool knowing the religious demographic!

Interestingly enough we still haven't been able to talk to the Investigator gone member (Rochelle). I don't know how that's going to go. Should be interesting.

Thanks for the email :D

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hello again Dad :D

Yep, I got a chance to respond which is exciting!

Yep, definitely disappointed with transfers. Not so much because I'm back in the Yuba Zone, that's not a problem, but rather because I really really didn't want to leave Anderson. I really really really love the members in that ward. I am SO looking forward to returning and visiting them! It'll all be good though, should be a fun transfer. I am looking forward to the transfer, I was just bummed to leave ya know?

Holy cow! Sunday must have been CRAZY!

I'm glad that things are busy at work.

Yeah, that's WAY good that we were able to at least hold our own somewhat in the football game. I am really glad that I'm not home for this season because I would just be all worked up. Hopefully by next season they've got the freshman trained and it'll be more fun to watch ;)

I will definitely fill in as many details as I am aware of in my mass email ;)

Love you tons Dad!



Hello!

I am now in Wheatland, California! This is in the Yuba Zone, which I've been in quite a bit, but that'll be a lot of fun. In my last email I didn't sound very excited about coming here. I actually am plenty excited to be here, I just was REALLY REALLY bummed to leave my last area because the people there were SO awesome that I was really disappointed to leave already.

Considering I've only been here a few hours I don't really know anybody and I don't really know the area. I do know that the population is less than 4,000 and it's predominately Catholic (these info bits thanks to my mom lol) It's teeny tiny and I have no idea how there is going to be enough work to do, but oh well.

My new companion is Elder Garcia. He goes home after this transfer (6 weeks). So I know for a fact that he and I will only be together for 6 weeks. I don't know what'll happen after that. However, there is a good likelihood (sp?) that I will end my mission here. I am looking forward to a new experience and will let you know more about the area as soon as I find out for myself.

Oh, I have a funny story about Elder Lincoln from this past week. So he does this funny trick where he cups his hands together like he's making a snowball, but he doesn't move them, then he pretends there is a little bird in it and does a little whistle (he does this for little kids). Then all of a sudden he just puts his hands together flat like he squished the bird. I told him he needs to get feathers and have them come out after he's done. Well the members we had dinner with Saturday happened to have some little feathers that they were collecting and they gave him one. So he did it and as a joke he pretended to eat the bird after he squished it. Well he accidentally actually got the feather in his mouth and like pulled it out all disgusted and we were all dying of laughter. It was hilarious!

Times up!

Love you all!

Elder Jay Davis

September 27, 2010

Hey!

This is a very important email! I am being transferred to none other than the Yuba Zone...again! Having already served 9.5 months in that zone (in two different areas) it is quite a surprise!

I will be serving in the Wheatland ward. Pretty much out in the boonies...President Pendleton really enjoys sending me there. Maybe it's because he knows I love members and there are usually awesome members in those areas.

Anyway, since in most areas we email on Mondays and in this area we email on Tuesdays and tomorrow will be spent travelling and what not...I may or may not be able to email this week. If I am able to email it may be Tuesday or Wednesday so I have no idea. Just thought I'd let you know.

Love you all, be patient with me as I have little control over the situation. I will email next week if I'm unable to this week.

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

September 21, 2010

Hey Mom,

Life this week has been wonderful :) I am still enjoying serving with Elder Lincoln. Things are going well.

One of our investigators turned out to be a member...we haven't talked to her about it yet...should be interesting.

That's really cool that you got together with Aunt Lynette and Lana and bottled 56 quarts of Pears! Holy cow! I know Dad was excited based on the subject of his email though I haven't read it yet. 1:00 am?! Wow...that's dedication ;) Where'd you get the pears from?

:D Thanks for the advice about each day being what I make of it! It's very true.

Thanks for being proud of me, I'm proud of you too! That's funny that you teared up lol

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad!

HAHAHA! That's fine if you're half asleep. Mom commented on being up until 1 a.m. doing the pears too! That's awesome that they look and taste so good.

Lol, I'm glad I'm not the only one that was shocked by Kody's mission call. I was thinking Europe too actually. I am glad that he gets to go to Bolivia though!

Yeah, you told me you'd be working mostly from home right now until they get your new office built. That is good that you have somewhere to go in SLC if you need to though ;) Sounds kinda interesting ;)

lol, Well I haven't written much in response to your email so yours is kinda short, I'm sorry.

Things here are great! I love you.

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

September 14, 2010

Hi Mom!

I'm glad that you had a good week :) That's funny that you and Dad have about the same things to put in your emails :) I'm glad that you have a couple of things to add ;)

Yeah! I love Sister Cooper :D She's such a nut! I definitely enjoy spending time with their family.

That's awesome that you two were able to go to Wendover and eat crab legs ;) I'm jealous that you guys got to go for a long drive. Was there a purpose behind the long drive or was it just for fun? Dirt roads? In Dad's car? wow! I'm impressed that he was willing to do that ;) Sounds fun seeing an antelope ;)

That's awesome that you were able to see the pictures of the Ensey's day at the temple already. It was AWESOME! I was very excited about it. I got to see so many people from Foresthill and they all recognized me and remembered me and came and talked to me which was awesome! I can't wait to return and visit the Enseys and the other families! I'm glad that she feels so close to Elder Neeley and I.



That's awesome that you are teaching school again. I think it's fun that you enjoy it so much. You definitely have found what would have been a good career for you.

Thanks for thinking about me :D I love you!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

Thanks for the pictures first off :D They are awesome!

It's a bummer that BYU lost to Air Force. I really wish I could've watched the game though. The AF v. BYU game is one of my favorites no matter the outcome. Ah well.

HAHAHA! Of Course Kody remembered to email me :D That's SUPER exciting that Kody got his mission call! Bolivia! Can you believe it?! I can't even express how happy I am for him :)

That's hilarious that he made you wait a whole day! I bet he was WAY more calm than you were hahaha!

Yep, the temple with the Enseys was AWESOME! I've never been to a sealing session before so it was very interesting and exciting to be a part of. The sealer was HILARIOUS! He was cracking jokes the whole time. It is probably one of my more favorite temple experiences I've ever had. I got to talk to my trainer, (Elder) Neeley and meet his parents. They are really nice. I got to see so many people from the Foresthill Branch. It was AWESOME! Catherine's parents are the ones that took us down so that was fun! We thanked them a ton, don't worry!

Love you!

Elder Jay Davis

September 7, 2010

Hi Mom,

That's awesome that Fall is finally coming...we are getting closer and closer but aren't quite there yet. It has been cool "er" though so that's good.

No baptisms scheduled and honestly no investigators that are really all that interesting right now. I mean Catherine is still the life of the party and Mignon is soaking everything up he can learn so that is good. As for new people it's pretty slow right now. We have our eternal investigators that we are teaching but nobody is really progressing right now.

Hmmmm....my guess for where Kody will serve...Cambodia...I don't know where that came from but it's the only thing that will come to my mind. Hope I'm right ;)

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

No no no, it's no big deal. I was just running myself in circles. I actually found it really funny and kinda embarrassing that I couldn't remember! Ward Clerk, that's what I thought but I wasn't sure :) You've got a big job it sounds like!

I bet they love you and mom too! I know all of my friends do. In fact Caitlin just told me that she really really misses you and Mom! That's awesome that the students love Uncle Gary and Aunt Lynette so much!

That sounds like an awesome game :D I'd heard rumor that they plan on running a two QB system this year. I also heard rumor that they played 3 QB's in this game! Is that true? Anyway, I'm glad BYU won! My companion is from Washington so I didn't want BYU to lose because I would've been heckled forever! lol :)

I haven't read Gma's email yet, but I'm sure she'll tell me too ;) That's awesome that BYU decided to go independent. I don't know what it's going to be like for the games and stuff but for televising it'll be nice because we can actually watch it on the BYU channel! That sounds like a perfect conference for the rest of BYU sports to be in :) This should be an exciting new thing to return to as an RM ;)

HAHAHA! Agreed, I'm pumped for football season ;) My last one I'll miss! Crazy eh? Hopefully some members will grace us with some glimpses here and there ;)

I'm SOOOO excited for Kody to get his call! I'm going to be anticipating all week!

Love you!

Elder Jay Davis




Hi Dad,

That's good in a sense that the week was crazy although I'm sure it was a relief when things slowed down a bit (assuming they did). That's cool that you were able to see Kody at BYU a few times!

Holy smokes! 186 members? That's a really crazy big ward, especially for a BYU student ward! Then if you take into account how many wards there are...WOW!

I'm glad to hear that your talk in Sacrament meeting went better this year :) That means it was probably amazing since last years was probably a lot better than you gave yourself credit for. So if the bishopric speaks...what does that make you? I can't remember what you said your calling is and I'm trying to figure out how it makes you part of the bishopric or if you just speak at the same timea s the bishopric.

Are you one of the counselors in the bishopric? Wow, now I'm really confused and feeling really bad that I don't know...you go to bishopric meetings...lol, I feel sort of sheepish right now. Ah well, you'll forgive me ;)

I'm glad that your week went so well. My week has been great.

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

August 31, 2010

Hey Mom,

My week was great once again. The weather was interesting...very hot most of the week and then all of a sudden we had rain! It was awesome! I hadn't seen rain in three months solid! I'm glad yours was good.

That's awesome that Kody got all moved into his apartment.

That's awesome that your performance in R.S. was so good :D I understand having performances that are pleasing without being completely flawless. I don't know that I've ever performed a flawless piece! It's good to know that praying hard before hand helped ease your nerves ;)

That's so cool that you are loving being at the school so much! Are you doing it purely volunteer this year or are some of the days paid as a substitute for Lynne and the other teacher you mentioned?

lol...yeah...the 6 month slim down is traditional in this mission because there is such a high average weight gain! Did you know that the average weight gain of our mission is between 30 and 40 pounds?! (It depends on who you ask so we compromise with between the two lol) Anyway...I've probably put on about 15 lbs. I haven't weighed often. The problem with my weight is that most of it isn't muscle so I'm starting to get a little pooch around my waist (very small but more than I'd like to have). So I hope that if I do the slim-down I'll be able to build a little bit of muscle and drop the fat and I might maintain the same weight you know?

Yep, Elder Lincoln and I are having a blast. It's nice to have somebody who is much more similar to myself than most of my companions.

That's AWESOME that you know somebody from this mission :D I haven't ever taught anybody by that name, but I wrote the name down so I'll ask around a bit and maybe we can get her in touch with some missionaries who have taught her :D

Uh...no...I haven't purchased any bacon yet...I forgot when we were shopping because I've had enough food so far. Food....hahahaha! Sounds nice right now...I'm fasting. Actually for the rest of the transfer we are fasting on Tuesdays. Our zone is doing this thing where we have a companionship fasting on every day of the transfer. We took Tuesdays :D It's kinda fun actually!

It's okay, Dad can tease you all he wants, it doesn't make me like the novel any less ;)

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey!

Well I didn't get to this last week so here goes. I'm relatively short on time again, but I will try to get some good stories on here. They are going to be a week outdated but I will get a new list for next week!

Okay...So first off, my new companion is Elder Lincoln, you probably all knew that. He is awesome. He's a bigger guy and proud of it so I don't feel bad in saying that. However, he and I are working together on being more healthy and dropping a little weight (don't worry, I won't lose too much). It's a lot of fun, we both have a lot of laughs together because we have similar senses of humor.

So one morning Elder Lincoln and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast...or getting ready to eat breakfast. I guess Elder Lincoln had already started, but I had just sat down with my bowl of cereal. We were talking and all of a sudden I just bowed my head and started blessing my food (silently). Well when I finished I looked up and he was just staring at me all befuddled. He told me he thought I had a sudden moment of narcalepsy. It was hilarious even though he didn't truly think that was the case! We were dying of laughter!

Then the other day we didn't have dinner on the calendar with anybody so a member gave us money. Well we used our own money and ate lunch at Arby's which I hadn't had my whole mission so that was good. Then somebody called us and said that they had us for dinner, which surprised us. So we went to Roundtable Pizza for dinner at the perfect time for our schedule and theirs which was not a coincidence and then we were able to use the dinner money the next day when our dinner fell through. It was AWESOME! Anyway, that was a condensed version but it was awesome!

Anyway, I guess those weren't any super specific stories but they are what came to mind. Things here are great. I love my mission. Thanks for all of your support :D

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

August24, 2010

Hey Mom,

Holy Smokes! Kody moves today? WOW! I can only imagine how emotional that would be for you and Dad. I'm just glad I'm not home because I'd probably be a bit emotional too. I'm so excited for him though :D It's making me smile a lot. Yeah...end of an era...you're getting old ;) J/K HAHA!

Sounds like an enjoyable week. I like being busy but not overly busy. Out here I generally feel over busy. I really enjoy how fast time goes when I'm super busy though.

That's awesome that school started today. I know you'll have fun meeting the kids.

I'm starting my six month slim down in three weeks...Can you believe that?! Holy Moly! I hope to drop about 10 or 15 pounds...although I may end up maintaining my weight and just dropping the chub ya know?

Elder Lincoln, my new companion, is a really funny guy! He and I get along probably better than any of my companions! We laugh at everything and just have an all around great time! He is from Moses Lake, Washington. He's been out for 13 months. He likes playing the guitar (electric mostly).

That's AWESOME that somebody from Aunt Dana's stake got called here. I'm sure I'll get to meet him :) Next transfer is when he'll arrive you are correct.

Dinner appointments...We have some really cool families in the ward here in Anderson that have us for dinner all the time. The Coopers are a lot of fun and the Crofoots are way fun too. Anyway, I have a pretty interesting story with regards to dinners but it's on my written list of things to send in a mass email. I will be sure to write it :)

Nope, not a lot of strange foods. I had a cabbage casserole similar to shepherd's pie but with Cabbage as the base with a tiny bit of ground beef and then some mashed potatoes on top...it was good besides the cabbage but that part was gross.

A normal Sunday...in this ward...we have meetings from 7:15 to 9 a.m. Church begins at 9 and obviously goes until Noon. After church it usually takes us about a half hour to get out of the building. Then generally speaking we go to the Clark's house. They feed us lunch and we have a lesson with Catherine. Then to be honest we usually go home and take a nap for about an hour. Then we go out and try to visit a few people before we have our dinner appointment. Then afterwards we generally try to see a family or two and then go home. It's a long day but it's not too bad.

:D I miss having your breakfasts ;) That's one thing that I don't really spend a lot of time on out here. We've made waffles a couple times recently because I have some Bisquik so that's been yummy.

Thanks Mom :D I love you back!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

August17, 2010

Hey Mom,

The low-down on transfers...well you'll just have to wait and anticipate ;) I will make sure to send a mass email out later ;)

I'm glad you enjoyed my story last week :D It was definitely a lot of fun getting so many lessons in that day. You're right about them wearing you out but boy do they make time go by quickly.

That's awesome that Matt Olson is home already! Holy cow! I guess you said Elder Lindquist extended right? He still probably gets home pretty soon.

Yep, mowing the lawn is relaxing usually. A little sweaty most of the time, but with an MP3 player and a cold glass of water it's quite an enjoyable job. The only part I don't like is emptying the bag which was very apparant by how long I tried to go without emptying it ;) I HATE edging for sure! I don't know what I'm going to do when I get home and Kody's not there to do it ;)

I love you tons back ;)

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hello Dad :D

Things are going wonderfully. I really love the mission. I'm glad you enjoyed the story or stories from last week. I'm trying hard to remember things to write about but it's always been a struggle for me. I mean it's not like we've had a ton of funny experiences happen lately. Another problem is that many experiences that would have seemed exciting at the beginning of my mission have become normal and I don't realize that to you guys they'd be entertaining you know? Anyway, I do have a story to tell this week that I was going to tell a while back and forgot so I will send that with my email to everybody :)

Yep, there are lots of opportunities here to teach people. Hopefully we'll be able to convert some of those potential investigators into actual investigators. I really love working with the new members!

That's awesome that Kari is coming home soon. I remember seeing her in the MTC while I was there :D The crazy thing is that the sister missionary that came out when I did that came to this mission, her name is Sister Lytle (she's Dr. Lytle's niece), goes home after this transfer so in 6 weeks! CRAZY! Wouldn't an 18 month mission be awesome ;) J/K some days I think that, others I need the full two years. That's awesome that Matt's home.

HAHAHAHA! Yes, this week is transfer week and thanks for the advice of staying positive and happy regardless :) I will send a family email out like I said.

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis



Hello all!

So this week I have a very entertaining story...Although I get the feeling I may have already told it, but if I'm remembering right I was planning on telling it but never got to it. So if this is a repeat sorry, but you shouldn't feel too bad because none of you actually had to type it ;) J/K

So we were tracting in a trailer park the other day and this TOTALLY drunk guy came up to us and was telling us how we'd been deceived and that Mormons are going to hell and all of this anti-Mormon mumbo-jumbo that we get all the time, but of course it was more up in our face and loopy than normal because he was just HAMMERED! Anyway, he was telling Elder Thompson and I how we should be living our lives and how we needed to watch the documentary on how bad Mormons are (I'm assuming he was referring to the "God Makers" movie which is WAY anti but way stupid from what I have heard. He nearly bit Elder Thompson's shoulder pretending to be a vampire and he was cussing up a storm.

It was pretty funny, kinda scary in a strange sense, and very annoying.

Okay, so that's the shortened version but it was really funny to experience first hand.

Ummm....As for other things that have happened...well I guess I promised I would tell about transfers so I guess I had better do that ;)

So this week...Elder Thompson got transferred! I actually haven't met my new companion yet. His name is Elder Lincoln, he's supposedly a little bigger and SUPER nice so that should be a good change. That's all I know about him. He's supposed to be getting here any minute though so I probably should wrap up emailing so he's not sitting at the apartment forever ;) hahaha! I'm sure he'll call when he gets here though and we're only 5 minutes from the apartment. Also, Elder Gardner (one of the Cottonwood elders) got transferred so Elder Dyhre is getting a new companion. Actually he already has him. His name is Elder Banks who came out with me :D It's pretty crazy! He and I might die together (well in the same apartment). However, I would guess that I'll get transferred at least one more time before I go home.

Well...I don't think there's a whole lot else to write about this week.

Oh, Mom and Dad, I am probably going to start sending some stuff home relatively soon because I have a member in the ward here who can send packages for free through his work. So I will probably be packaging up some of the stuff I want to have when I get home that I don't really need anymore out here. Just a heads up.

I love you all!

Elder Jay Davis

August10, 2010

Mom,

Yeah, I am loving seeing an improvement in my piano playing. Thanks for not being surprised lol.

I'm sorry that you weren't as pleased with your sacrament performance as you would have liked. I'm sure it was great. I'm glad I'm not the only one that gets nervous though. Luckily for me I am starting to overcome it a teeny tiny bit lol! You'll do great in Relief Society.

Thanks for the updates on marriages and stuff. That's good that Jeremy and Erin were happy :) I'm excited for Seri too, even though it's crazy as heck to think about ;)

lol, thanks for the email...I'm jealous that you got to go mow the lawn. ;)

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

My week has been really good. Honestly I don't remember a whole lot of what we did. I do remember that one of the days...Saturday...we had 6 lessons and we had a goal for 9 which would have been awesome. 6 of 9 is really good in missionary work though! I'll tell you more about that later.

That's a bummer for all involved that Kody is done at TP on Thursday but it'll be nice for him to get ready for college. I miss working with you :D

Glad to hear that things at work are good though.

That's crazy that cherries are over. I guess it's actually quite a ways into August so it's probably even a late season, but it seems crazy that it's over already. I'm SO excited to get to do that again :D That's cool that Uncle Gary got to work at the plant this year.

That's awesome! I'm soooooo excited for Josh and Jacob. Thanks for the updates and tell them congratulations from me.

That's awesome that Josh has already been in the field two weeks! Time is just FLYING by! I realized that Weston Marsh who got his call a bit ago will have been out only 6 months when I get home ;)

This email has indeed found me happy and well :) Hopefully mine finds you in similar condition ;)

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey All,

So I keep getting requests for stories. Well I can't really think of a lot to be honest with you but this one will have to suffice for this week.

This past Saturday which was the 7th as the subject states, we had plans for 9 lessons in a single day plus some N.ew N.on M.ember contacts (NNC's). Well we started with breakfast and getting flea market ties with Brother Berry our ward mission leader. Next we had a lesson at 10 with Rochelle who hopefully will be baptized in a couple months if she can quit smoking. Then a lesson with Roy at 11. Both of those lessons Brad came with us (a recent convert priest of about a year who plans on a mission in the early months of next year). Then we had lunch. After lunch we picked up Ropa (a samoan priest who lives with his uncle here in the states) who came with us to the other 4 lessons we had which I can't even remember them all! It was AWESOME! Busy day, we were VERY warn out by the end of the day, but it was nice to feel like we'd done a lot.

All in all we were able to teach 6 lessons and I believe we got 20 NNC's (the weekly mission goal per companionship is 84 so 20 a day is good). So we were three short of our goal of lessons but it was an awesome day!

That's my story for the week. Hopefully it's good enough ;)

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

August 3, 2010

Mom,

lol, yeah, the car has been doing great since. We are taking it in tomorrow morning to get the final piece finished (they had to order the part for the blinkers but it wasn't critical so we were able to drive the car until they got the part).

lol, I am really enjoying using my musical talents. I don't know if I already mentioned this or not but I am better now than when I left :) That's how often I find opportunities to play and how much I focus on it ;) It's SO much fun! I'm still not great, but better. I can play things that I couldn't have before which is awesome! Thanks for being proud of me ;)

Yes, the members here are FAR more involved and excited about missionary work. You are right that in Utah there aren't a whole lot of obvious opportunities and the less obvious ones are scary for people to act upon. However, referrals are the most helpful thing in missionary work and those are relatively easy to give in Utah...assuming one even knows non-members ;)

That's very crazy that Claire is already in 5th grade! Time is just cruising. Everybody always says how your childhood will just go by way fast. As a kid you don't believe it, it feels like an eternity, but man! I believe it now!

I love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad!

I'm glad it's been a busy week, but hopefully it hasn't been terribly stressful ;) That's awesome that you've moved all of your office stuff to the home office! That's gotta look awesome. You should take pictures and show me :D That's good that you guys got it cleaned out :)

lol, that's awesome that Kody has been such a huge asset to your team. I'm really really proud of Kody. It's so fun to read his emails!

hahahah! Yeah, Mignon has been a good sport about it too :) The Elders Quorum president commented that Mignon almost baptized himself ;)

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis

July 27, 2010

Hi Dad,

I am doing AWESOME! Things have been pretty positive for me this past week. Not anything specific, just in general. Mignon did indeed get baptized and it went great. He almost fell on his way down the stairs. He didn't see the last step and was almost all the way in before Josh Barrett caught him (the guy baptizing him). It was pretty funny :) His two year old daughter was cracking up ;)

It's still really hot but not QUITE as hot. Still over 100 degrees every day!

HAHAHA! I'm glad you finally got the Father's Day card...my bad lol I'm glad you liked it so much :D I know you love Disney :D I'm glad it made your day.

I'm so happy to hear how excited you are for the upcoming year at BYU and the new students. I will be honest it really didn't seem like your cup of tea when I first heard about it, but you seem to be just loving it now and I can really feel the excitement that you have for it and I know the students will too!

I'm super excited to go to the temple with the Enseys too! I get to see the sealing (I had to choose between that and the endowment) which means I get to see Little Jason ;) It's pretty cool that Mom and Melissa have been chatting so much. Melissa really loves it! She was soo excited on the phone!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

July 20, 2010

Mom,

HAHAHA! Okay, Mignon's baptism is going to be this Saturday now. His schedule is crazy. Sierra is in limbo right now...I'm not sure, I'll let you know later.

That's awesome that Debi (as Kody refers to her) was at our house :) That sounds fun. Kody is going to make a great missionary because he's great at meeting people and making friends.

lol, I'm looking forward to whatever the package contains :) Everything you send is always fun. I don't know what to request...I'm sure I've thought of things but at this point I really can't think of any in particular. Just my luck ;) Hmmm...I'll come back to this thought later.

Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers :) You and the family are always in mine as well.

I will send another email if I come up with any requests for the package.

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

I'm glad you had fun reading about my adventures. Yep, I am definitely blessed to have a car! I'm sorry that you didn't have a car much on your mission. I wish the public transit was as advanced as where you were. 110 degrees this week would have been WAY hot without a car! ;) That's pretty cool that you got to work in the mission office. Most people wouldn't like it but I'd love it ;) That's cool that you got to drive!

Yeah, bike areas definitely have my respect that's for sure. It's mostly just bad because of the heat and because we are so used to having the car that it throws our whole routine out of whack you know? I wouldn't feel bad for me if I was you either ;)

The ward members here are AWESOME! I really like the members in this ward. The area itself is far from my favorite but it's a great ward.

lol, I don't blame Josh for being tired of the MTC and I think every missionary is going to be frustrated with the language for a while. I'm glad he's doing good.

That's WAY exciting that Josh Green is expecting his call soon!

Thanks for being proud of me, I'm proud of you right back!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

July 13, 2010

Hey Mom,

I'm glad I didn't get transferred too ;) I wouldn't have enjoyed packing up again. I'm surprised that Elder Thompson didn't get transferred, but that's okay, I think it'll be good. He's kind of just accepted that he's going to be here his whole mission ;) J/K

Yep, Catherine's baptism was awesome. We sang a song that I don't even know the official title of but the lyrics are something like "This is it, the one and the only. One true church, is my testimony, the same exact church that He set up is back today." That's the chorus. You might be able to look it up from that. Sorry I don't know the title. Yeah, Del Rio and I were definitely in sync with each other ;)

I like the nickname Elton John except for that he's gay...yeah...weird. Anyway, the song I accompanied was Come Thou Fount but it was a choral arrangement that the guy faxed to Catherine who gave it to me. I had about two times to practice for 30 to 45 minutes and then I ran through it with him twice just before the baptism. It went very well.

I realized that Sierra's baptism is actually not this weekend but the next. So Mignon is this Saturday and then Sierra's will be the next. Sierra's mom is less-active I believe. Yes they support her in her decision to be baptized. Baptism is definitely a huge decision but she's got good family and friend support so that's good.

So tracting...it really has varied on and off on my mission. We are encouraged to do at least an hour a day of tracting but it's dependant on the area I've been in and my companion. Personally I hate tracting but I'm willing to do it. So my first area we did a whole bunch of tracting even though it was pretty spread out. Then my next area we did little tracting even though it was really close just because my companion didn't like tracting. Then my next area (Loma Rica) was way spread out and very hard to tract so we didn't do much tracting there either. Here in Anderson though we do a lot of tracting. Generally at least an hour a day. Referrals are where all of my baptisms have come from though.

We definitely do a lot of administering to the sick but I guarantee you it's less than Elder Lowe. We get asked by people who should go to their home teachers quite often, but it's not a really common occasion. People think that missionaries are better at giving blessings or something. I dunno, maybe it's just because we're more recognizable.

Yep, I definitely miss playing games. Duets I miss even more though! I'm always looking for somebody who's good enough at sight reading to play with me, but nobody is :P I'm looking forward to singing around the piano too but it's definitely going to be a while before that happens! It'll be fun though ;)

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

I'm glad that you enjoyed the surprise of getting an email from me ;) We'll always make time to email if we miss it at some point. I would be pretty ornery if I missed email for an entire week!

lol, yep, the baptism and music were good. Thanks for not being surprised that the music went well ;)

lol, that's good that the business (busy-ness lol) at work is producing progress. I can understand having to take things one step at a time being frustrating, but you're good at it.

HAHAHA! I TOTALLY understand trying to remain in the A/C areas while it's so hot! It can be pretty difficult as a missionary ;)

I'm glad you enjoyed reading about the upcoming baptisms. It's crazy how blessed we have been! I have a huge testimony of member trust. Referrals are such an effective way to find and baptize people!

That's awesome that you helped Kody register and sign up for classes and that he got all of the times, classes, and professors that he wanted! I didn't do too bad considering I wasn't on right at midnight! I really enjoyed my schedule!

Let's see...since Thursday...not a lot has happened really. Our baptism of Mignon this Saturday will be good. Um...I played the piano in Sacrament Meeting. I was disappointed with my performance but everybody else seemed to really like it. So that's good.

Um...OH! Our car...clear back on Friday and even before was going haywire on us. So we took it in to the dealership (upon instructions from the car coordinator). They said they'd probably have it done overnight...well we went the next morning (after hitching a ride with the ZLs) and it wasn't done. They said it wouldn't be done for at least another week (so this upcoming Friday). We were going to have to ride bikes in the heat all week and our area is very spread out. Luckily the mission had a car they were preparing to sell and they allowed us to use it for this week so that's what we are driving right now. It's been a pretty hectic week!

I think that's all for this week.

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis

July 8, 2010

Hey Mom!

Nope, it's super hard to believe it's July! By the way, I'm emailing today because our schedule has been insanely crazy this week with transfers and stuff. Elder Thompson and I are still together which is fine. So no change here really.

The 4th was pretty mediocre. It was more boring than last years because we didn't even get to play games, but at least I got to see a fireworks show (the city one). That's awesome that you guys got to relax a lot and that it was much needed ;) HAHAHA that's funny that you got bored too. I'm sorry. I think about you a lot when I'm just dying to play games and nobody will play with me ;) You and I will have to play them a lot when I get home :D Speaking of games, one of the missionaries out here knows how to play Kemp (the game Sarah Johnson taught us with signs and what not (card game)) and he even calls it Kemp! It is AWESOME!

That's awesome that you went to the Wagner's for a Davis family gathering on Sunday :D I bet that was fun. Especially with almost everybody there. lol, makes sense why the people listed weren't there ;) That's sad that Nicole and her family are moving out of state! That's awesome that Dad took the camera to get pictures for me :D I'm looking forward to them!

Yep, you actually experienced hotter temperatures than I did this past week ;) It's been in the high 90's and low 100's this week and it's really not been that humid. This week, though hot, has been quite nice temperature wise. That's funny that 83 degrees was so bad for you guys because out here we aren't allowed to have our house below 85 when we are out and 78 when we are in. Luckily we do know how to program ours so it cools off a bit before we get there ;) So I guess I can understand.

lol, so Kody was going to the BYU ward with Dad? That's probably good so he could get used to being away from the home ward and in a college ward. I'm glad you are enjoying having them with you ;) I can understand why you wouldn't want to go to the college ward. Maybe once a month or something. Whatever though, I don't know why I'm trying to say anything ;) It doesn't affect me hahaha!

Catherine's baptism went through. It was GREAT! The song I sang with Elder Del Rio was good, even though we had to improvise a bit because we sang some wrong lyrics but nobody knew except us so it was great. The song I accompanied a guy singing went very very well and Catherine won't stop calling me Elton John because of how well I play the piano. She's a hoot! We'll definitely be visiting her after my mission!

The week was good yes. We got the mission goal of 20 lessons yet again (we usually get it here) and we got a lot of NNC's (new non-members contacted). So it was a good week.

Things with Mignon are great. He will be getting baptized not this Saturday, but the next (July 17th). He is super excited to the point where he keeps trying to move it forward, but we can't because we haven't taught him everything and we can only meet as often as his work schedule permits. We are however meeting with him as often as possible to move things along. It should be great :D

We also picked up a new investigator. She's a friend/relative of a member in our ward (who is awesome at referrals). She's 14 and is totally ready for baptism. We commited her a day or two ago and she said yes for the same day as Mignon's. We are excited for her. Her name is Sierra.

I love you tons :D

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

That's good that the week went well. That's no surprise that you are frantically working on the next issue ;) That's work lol

The baptism with Catherine went excellent! The music all went great. on the one I sang we kinda messed up the lyrics but we messed them up together so it sounded exactly like it was supposed to be that way so nobody knows about it. The accompanied piece was awesome too. Refer to Mom's email for a funny fact about that.

No changes that affect me with transfers.

That's awesome that Josh is safely in Brazil and very close to Elder Hayes ;)

Thanks for the pictures at the Davis gathering, I'll be looking forward to them :D

Relaxing is good :D That's what Mom said you did too ;) Yes, you told me how much you hate summer ;) I'm getting used to it, but I like Spring much better.

HAHAHA! I'll have a great week :D Thanks Dad. You have a great week too!

Love you tons,

Elder Jay Davis

June 29, 2010

Hey Mom,

Catherine's baptism got cancelled because she got the flu! It was SOOOOO frustrating but there's nothing that could be done about it. She and her parents were bed ridden (sp?) So she missed the special date of being on the same day 34 years apart as her parents. But she'll be baptized this Saturday so that'll be good. I will let you know about the song as soon as I know ;) We're singing a song that I don't know the official title of...Maybe I'll record it on a cassette tape and send it to you ;)

Yeah, I realized like two days ago that I never sent the group email...sorry. I totally spaced. I was going to tell you about a guy named Mignon (like the steak). I will for sure do that this week ;)

As for transfers I'm 99% positive I'll be staying. I don't think he'll leave me here one transfer and then boot me. I sure hope not! I don't know what'll happen with my companion though. This is his first area and he's now been here 6 months. So my guess is that he'll be transferred but he could possibly stay one more. We'll see.

That's SO awesome that Kody is an Elder now! Man, I feel so left out! That's so cool though that he immediately got to annoint Grandpa for a blessing and then you too :D How awesome! Hopefully Grandpa gets doing better.

Wow...that really stinks that you have FOURTEEN "lesions"...I'm definitely glad that you told me instead of somebody else. Luckily it doesn't sound like they are too terribly worried about it at the moment. Hopefully there will be something they can do like you said to stop the growth of them. Otherwise you'll have to have lots of surgeries which I really don't want. However, they probably won't be as bad as the Chiari surgery so that's a plus right? ;) You seem to be handling it well. Keep me posted.

Well that's good that the weather is warm and you are happy. The weather here is HOTTTT!!! Over 100 the past 4 days or more. I don't like it but it's not bothering me nearly as bad as I expected, like I keep saying ;)

That is SOOOO awesome that Kody has started his papers and already has his appointments made for doctor and dental. I am sooooo excited for him to turn them in in 5 ish weeks! That'll be so exciting. I wonder where he'll go...to be honest I really have no idea. I almost feel like he'll go to Russia. Who knows though. Good for him for putting his availability date as his b-day.

That's cool too that Jacob Ross is waiting for his call :D

Nope, I hadn't heard that Curtis' family is building a new house! That's cool that they've already sold there house and are living in Uncle Claude's house. Yes, I remember that they are serving a mission. Thanks.

Tell President Olsen (Stake President ;)) that I say hi back and thanks for his thoughts. I will be writing him a letter soon as he requested as soon as I get caught up with my letter writing.

Love you tons,

Elder Jay Davis


Dad,

Man, that's not good about Mom...she seems really calm though...I'm not as calm, but I'm doing okay. I'll cover it up well enough ;)

Well I won't respond to the whole explanation...but thank you for telling it to me. I really really appreciate it. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is struggling with being worried and wondering how Mom is doing. I'll be honest...I'm pretty scared. I've been thinking about family a lot this past week and now I know why. I know things will be fine. I thank you for your testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I know it's true too, but it's still scary.

I'm glad you let me know...I really would rather be a part of it than to hear when things really get bad. However, I understand that you were all praying about it and didn't feel you should tell me until now. To be honest, I don't think I would have been able to handle it last week. So thank you.

Thanks for sharing the experience about Kody receiving the priesthood and assisting in giving Grandpa and Mom blessings. Mom shared it, but I really needed to hear it from you today. (I hate emailing in a public library...I am so close to crying but I really don't want to right now) That's so exciting that Kody is an Elder now. I look up to that kid so much. My companion always asks me if my brother is my hero because I talk about him ALL the time. Well Dad is my hero but Kody sure is a close second! This week has been pretty emotional for me. In fact, last night there was a guy in our ward at our dinner appointment and he reminded me so much of Grandpa Davis I nearly started crying! It immediately brought the plan of salvation to my mind, so now in hindsight I know it was to prepare me for today. Anyway, this is me sounding really down ;) I really am happy and positive ;)

I'm glad that Kody and I help you learn. I have learned a lot from you ;) As I hear from my companions about their parents I grow more and more grateful for mine.

lol, that's funny that Lyle is giving you crap over all the bugs Kody is finding! It makes sense that there's no time for testing and now that you have a tester they are coming up. Sounds like Kody's hard at work ;)

lol, yeah, I can imagine your dark leather seats would be miserable! It has been 105 for the past 4 days...it's super duper hot. Luckily I'm more used to it than expected like I've said, but it's still no fun.

lol, thanks Dad :D I am glad that it was fun to hear Mom's relatives talk about me lol I really do like Sister Littlefield.

lol, you are right...I'm pretty discouraged about the news about Mom...I think it's going to take me more than ten minutes to get over. But I'll go out and work hard today...probably cry myself to sleep tonight and tomorrow I'll be going stronger than ever. Thanks though :D I'm very glad to hear you are being blessed for my service. I am blessed by your support at home!

Thank you Dad, I am proud to be your son and I miss you a TON! I am grateful for your testimony! You set a great example for Kody and I. I am so excited to have Kody starting his papers! He really is such a good example for me! I may have set the bar high, but he's already exceeded it and is going to blow me out of the water. I feel he already has!

I will have a great week. You too Dad! Thank you so much!

I love you Dad!

By the way...I know you probably think I totally forgot about Fathers Day...well you're wrong. I just procrastinated as usual. I'm sorry I haven't wished you Happy Fathers Day, but Happy Fathers Day Dad! lol, a card is coming soon!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hello All,

Well I failed to get this out last week so I'll try this week though I'm short on time. So we have this awesome guy named Mignon (like the steak) that we are teaching. We were tracting and his wife said she was busy but we could come back. Well as we were leaving he came around the corner and asked if we lived in the area. Then he asked when and where church was. We told him and he said, "Yeah...yeah I think I can make that." It was crazy!

Well he didn't make it that Sunday, but we contacted him later and he was still way interested. So the next Sunday which was stake conference (a weird first church experience) he came! While he was there he was asking me how many times he has to attend church in order to be baptized. So I told him three at least and he said, "One down two to go!" It was awesome.

He came to church last week as well for all three hours. It was awesome. We are going to teach him tomorrow and will commit him to baptism! Should be pretty sweet.

Hope you enjoyed the story.

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

June 22, 2010

Dear Mom,

I agree :D I'm super excited for Catherine to get baptized. We just met with her again today and it was great. I'm sure she'll be able to be baptized, the interview went well and she passed, dunno if I told you that already. It's very exciting. She's single yes, well she's having a divorce but she's already filed and everything so it's basically final. A couple of her kids are in jail, but ya. She lives with her member parents in our ward.

lol, that's no fun having hot weather. Surprisingly the weather has been relatively mild this week (meaning lots of upper 80's lol). 90's are more common though. It's supposed to be in the 100's by now though, so I'm lucking out! HAHAHA! I'm glad you love hearing the birds sing, but I'm sorry about Jim's pigeons pooping everywhere. ;) Speaking of Jim...there is a family in our ward here who moved from Santaquin just before we moved in. They are the Giffords. They lived in Sister...oh man, what's her name...across from the Lowe's...Sister Millman, her house. So they know the Norton's and they are best friends with the Butlers (who still keep in contact). So you can tell them that the Giffords say hi.

Yes, I knew Aunt Annette. I met her one time I think...maybe I only saw a picture, but you talked about her fondly ALL the time so I know she was very important to you. That's sad about her son! That would be way hard to live in your parents house by yourself after they passed away!

That's awesome that you've had so many opportunities to visit with family. I definitely miss doing that a lot!

That's so awesome that you got to visit with your mom's siblings and that you got to talk to Betty (who is Sis. Littlefield's twin right?). What an awesome compliment she gave me! Thank you for graciously accepting it ;) Thank you for your compliment too. I'm glad to hear that people that you've heard from have given good feedback. Did Bro. Call talk to you after he drove me up here?

Yep, I've made the banana chocolate chip cupcakes and they were very yummy :) I only made a single batch and so it only made a dozen (I had some batter left but not enough for another dozen (only maybe four or five more) and I didn't feel like cooking anymore lol). They went fast.

lol, that's definitely a good thing that your life is much less busy. Hopefully it's still been fun though :D

Thanks for the advice. I like that saying about smiling possibly being the most important thing I can do on my mission!

I am doing wonderfully :) I will tell a story to you all in a general email.

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

That's not good that TP Desktop and WAHA had so many problems. That's good that Kody was such a benefit during the difficulties! He sure is trying hard to be successful. He's been telling me how hard he's working at staying busy.

That sucks big time that Utah AND Colorado are both moving into the PAC-12...at least we got Idaho...should be interesting to see how our conference does.

HAHAHA! That's funny that the noise was the thing that you really noticed in the home ward. :) Glad you enjoyed being back.

lol, yeah, it's hot here too. Luckily this week has stayed in the mid-90's to high 80's. It's usually over 100 by this time so I am lucking out big time! I can imagine it would still take some getting used to for you back home. I've adjusted quite well surprisingly.

Catherine passed her baptismal interview and will be getting baptized on Saturday! She wants me to sing for it...I hate singing by myself...luckily there's another missionary in the district who likes to sing and she agreed to let us sing together. I'm still super nervous but it's going to sound awesome! As for other investigators...we have basically one other very promising one at the time whom I will tell you about in a general email.

That's cool that you and Kody have had the chance to watch some of the soccer games. I'm bummed to hear that the US got robbed, but I'm hoping they get to at least move on. That would be awesome!

lol, is it a good thing or a bad thing that there's nothing else new at home?

Things here are great. Transfers are quick approaching (we find out July 5th and would leave July 6th). I'm excited to see what happens.

Thanks for your support. I love you tons!

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

June 15, 2010

Hey Mom,

Nope, I didn't get sick. I'm just fine. I was just super warn out as were all of us. I'm sorry to hear that you've had a cold all this week.

That's awesome that the reunion went so well :D I'm glad to hear that. That's awesome that you had the menus planned well and that only the potatoes were leftover. That's awesome that you made hashbrowns with them. That reminds me of you having rice pudding for breakfasts as a kid ;)

The reunion sounds like it was a blast :D Nice and simple but entertaining with lots of socializing time. I'm jealous of the talent show. That sounds really really fun! I won't take lots of time to respond to each detail but I really enjoyed reading about it and it sounds like it was amazing!

That's kinda funny that your ride home was sort of long. That's cool that Kody went to Temple square with some of the Munks. Did he have fun? He might tell me in his email but who knows :) His emails can be unpredictable sometimes lol

My week was great. As for cool stories...Catherine is a lady we're teaching. We set her baptismal date for June 26th and guess what...that's exactly 34 years to the day, after her parents were baptized (as converts)! Pretty wicked awesome! She's a really cool 51 year old lady. She laughs a lot and is very ready to be baptized. She has a baptismal interview with President Pendleton Friday so we'll find out then if she can for sure be baptized. She's had a rough past but she should be fine. She also told us today that she would really like to serve a service mission for the church :D How cool is that?!

Yes, it's still VERY hot, however, like I said, I am dealing with it better than I thought I would. The weather today is supposed to stay in the high 80's and that should be the rest of the week which is way better than upper 90's but it's still hot. I am definitely getting a tan like I hoped. Slowly but surely.

The grocery shopping went well and the cooking went okay. The sugar cookies that I made didn't turn out as well as the first time I made them but they still tasted great. My next thing I'm going to make are the banana chocolate chip cupcakes which I am really really looking forward to making again :D

Sorry I'm kinda short-winded again, but hopefully having a little story was good. I am learning the area well, I am having a blast, and time is cruising by.

Love,

Elder Jay Davis


Hey Dad,

That's crazy that you already had the last Sunday of your term for the BYU ward! That's definitely good that you get a break for the summer :D That's kinda funny that you accidentally moved ALL of the ward records out of the ward ;) It shouldn't be TOO hard to query those back will it?

That's awesome that Kody is already hard at work finding bugs. It's always easier for the proofreader to find mistakes ;) That's good that he's already hard at work.

That sounds like a really fun reunion! Mom seemed very pleased with it! I'm glad that everybody enjoyed themselves. It's also good to hear that Grandma's book turned out so nicely :D

I'm glad that Josh is still happy and well :D Thanks for the continued updates there.

lol, that's awesome that you had J-Dawgs again at the closing social. You told me about those last time and they sounded pretty good. I hope you had fun ;)

That's awesome that Boston is ahead in the series. Our ward mission leader here, Brother Berry, is a big fan of the Lakers, but my companion and I are Lakers haters so we are both rooting heavily for Boston. Thanks for the update though :D It's nice to hear how sports are going :)

I haven't heard much about the world cup from Kody, however I haven't read his email from today yet so I may find out more detail. Thanks for the update. That's awesome that the US held up against one of the favored teams.

That's AWESOME that Boise State accepted the invitation to join the Mountain West Conference. I haven't heard much about the Pac 10 other than the Utah thing. I sure hope that they don't leave our conference because we need them big time.

Thanks for all of the updates. I am doing well and I'm trying hard to drink lots of fluids especially water. I'm not drinking as much as I should I'm sure but I'm doing better than usual ;)

I told Mom about an investigator of ours so you'll have to ask her to share it with you :)

Things are great out here and I'm having TONS of fun :D

Love you,

Elder Jay Davis

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

June 8, 2010

Mom,

That's really good that the cruise was so enjoyable :D I'm glad that the canopy tour was so awesome, but I'm sorry to hear you were hot. At least you weren't dying. That's good. I can relate to being really hot! It's getting extremely hot out here and it's not even at it's peak. Sounds like a really fun course though :D

I'm so happy that you guys had such a fun time on the helicopter tour! I hope I get the chance to do something like that sometime.

That's way awesome that when you sailed through the Fjord the captain got the ship closer to the glacier than ever before. That's wicked awesome that Kody got a cool video of the piece of the glacier breaking off!

Ahhh man! That really stinks that you got sick while you were on the cruise and that they quarantined you to your room :( At least you were positive about it. Hopefully you are feeling much better now.

I hope that the reunion goes well. I'm jealous that I don't get to go. I am excited to go to those when I get home. I'm glad you've been able to manage all of the things you've got going with minimal stress.

Yeah, this area is good and I'm definitely enjoying myself. I'm glad that you cracked up about the ironing board :D I thought it was funny too.

lol, yep, my tan lines should be way awesome. I dunno, Kody tans way better than I do so he'll probably keep his tan enough that by the time I get back we'll be about even. I bet you're excited for warm weather finally! I am just dying!

No, we haven't heard anything from the guy that asked about church. We'll have to stop by his house. He seemed 100% genuine but he hasn't contacted us so who knows.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading about the Oops! All Berries. I sure thought it was entertaining too :D I'm glad you appreciated it :D

What?! The new choir teacher quit? Why? What the heck are they going to do about it? Poor school. Well...I'm not there and neither is Kody...phew ;) Although a few of my younger friends are. Poor people.

Of course your long email didn't bore me! I'm sorry that mine is so short winded. I'm really pooped out today and it's showing in my email because I just can't think hard enough to come up with a good response. I'm happy though, just exhausted!

I love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis

Hey Dad,

I'm glad you guys enjoyed reading my emails so much. It was nice for me to read yours and I was glad that you were able to send them ;)

lol, I'm glad the story about the dirt marks made you relive your mission days ;) I was pretty upset because it wasn't even because of my sweat, I just had dirty backpack straps! GAH! Anyway, I'm pretty sure it just washed right out...I haven't sorted out my laundry yet so I'll find out today.

That's good that the cruise was fun :D

I'm glad the helicopter wasn't scary at all and was WAY fun :D

That's no good that Mom got sick, but I'm glad that it sounds like she's recovered.

That's pretty cool that you had some southerners at your table and got to hear lots of cool stories :D

That's awesome that Kody started work. I heard that Mom is keeping a pretty level head with all of the stuff she has on her plate, that's good. I wish you the best with catching up.

Woah! That's wicked awesome that they do the training from Brazil over Skype :D Sounds like a blast! The blessings of technology!

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis

June 1, 2010

Dear Loved Ones,

Wow...that sounded mushy-gushy...oh well.

Okay, I have a list of fun things to talk about.

First, Anderson is HOT, I am already getting amazingly tan and will be even more so by the end of the summer so hopefully when I return home I will still have some tan left ;) It'll be a stretch though.

Elder Thompson, my new companion, is a great guy. He and I are different which is usual for most of my companions because I'm a music nerd and most of them are sports guys. However, we get along very well. He's only been out 5 months. I have now been out 14 months nearly 15.

Our apartment is a very nice townhouse-style apartment. We have the living room and kitchen downstairs with a half bathroom and then two bedrooms and a full bathroom upstairs (only one bedroom is officially used). I'm super excited because I love baking stuff out here on my mission so a nice sized kitchen will be great (especially after my last kitchen where I had to use the ironing board as extra counter space)

The other day we were tracting and we talked to this lady who was busy but said to come back. Well as we were getting on our bikes to leave her husband came out and asked us if we lived in the area. So we said yes and he asked us where our church was so we told him and then he asked us what time so we told him. Then he looked like he was pondering and he goes, "Yeah...yeah I think I can make it then. Do you guys have a number that I can get a hold of you on?" So we gave him our number and we were all excited...but he never called us and he wasn't at church. We'll have to follow up on that.

Then on Sunday we were walking around the neighborhood and it was super super super duper hot and I was sweating like none other and (I realized this later) my backpack was leaving dirt marks on my shirt so I had these HUGE sweat marks, but not just armpit ones, they were in the shape of the backpack straps! It was NASTY! Anyway, back to the original story...so we were walking along and all of a sudden we hear this girl (probably no older than 14) scream the B word at somebody and come storming out of her house. She then turned back toward the house and flipped whomever it was off. Then we saw it was her mom. So the girl went and kicked her mom's truck, then got a hammer and was threatening to use it on her mom's truck! It was insane...kinda funny, but pretty crazy. It was just very dramatic which made it funny. Anyway, as we walked by the mom said to us, "You can pray for this one." So I was like, "Okay." Then after we walked off I was like, "We'll pray for you too."

Okay...so a couple weeks ago guess what I found in Walmart...Oops! All Berries cereal! I was so excited because I hadn't seen it forever! It was on sale for $2 a box which is a WAY good deal on cereal out here and it wasn't one of the super small boxes. Anyway, So I bought two boxes in my last area and ate them both. Then when I got to my new area they still were carrying them so I bought another box ;) They are yummy and they made me relive my younger years. I was also remembering how I used to not like to eat the crunch part of crunch berries and I didn't like the cereal part of lucky charms and so I'd eat the cereal first and leave the marshmallows for last. To this day I still eat my Lucky Charms/Marshmallow Mateys that way.

I think that is all of my interesting stuff for the time being. I will have more stories next week.

Love,

Elder Jay Davis

May 31, 2010

Hey Mom,

I know I told you in my letter that I would be emailing on Tuesdays but we got lucky today and had a place to email on Monday. It won't be every week as far as I'm aware.

That's awesome that you wrote this email just after you finished your muster drill! I don't miss the muster drills but I do miss cruising ;) What?! You don't have to wear the life jackets? That's AWESOME! I'm super jealous now! Standing around without a life jacket would be a breeze (or at least you could feel the breeze lol)

That's good that the weather is comfortable when you are wearing a jacket. It's been rainy and windy, then hot. Yesterday was way hot. I am going to have an AWESOME tan! That's hilarious that you came prepared with all that winter clothing for a cruise ;)

That's crazy that both graduations were smaller than mine.

I can imagine you'd look forward to a week of rest and relaxation and I'm sure Dad is going to make sure you get VERY VERY pampered ;) Wow, only one week to get back into things and go to the family reunion.

lol, that's hilarious that you are all doing stairs in the ship to get a little more in shape for when you get to the canopy tour excursion! I am so excited for you guys :D You are gonna have a ton of fun.

You're not a fan of having young children on board? I really don't mind, but I guess I'm a bit younger ;) I've been one of those kids for a long time ;)

Hahaha! That's funny that you had to send this before you sailed out of cell service! Thanks for the email :D I'm not really "sad" that I'm not on the cruise with you. A bit jealous but that's about all. I'm glad that you'll be thinking about me a lot :) Just have a little extra fun for me.

:D My new companion is really fun to serve with. He is really really buff and he is yet another companion that I can't really relate to. However, we get along well and he's a cool guy. I think we'll have fun. My guess is we'll only serve one or two transfers together because he's been in the area for a long time. I am only his second companion. He's been out about 5 months so he's a LOT younger than me which is weird for me.

Anderson is really nice, I like it a lot. It has a major variety of houses. Some are really ghetto areas but most of it is very nice. We live in a super nice townhouse styled apartment. It's got the living room downstairs and the kitchen and a half bathroom. Then upstairs are two bedrooms (we only use one) and a full bathroom. It's super nice, I really like it :D The kitchen is really big which will make cooking much much easier! My grocery list this week is pretty extensive because I'm preparing to do a bunch of baking for the district and my companion and I. Should be fun.

There is a lot of work here. If we don't have anything to do we can tract unlike my last area so that's nice. I'm already starting to tan quickly and it should be interesting to see how dark I get by the end of my time here. I bet I'll be as dark as Kody!

Anyway, I think my companion is actually going to email tomorrow because his family doesn't email until Monday night since he usually emails on Tuesday. So I think I will wrap this up and tomorrow I will send you some more stories about the area. That way I'm not just emailing by myself ya know? I don't want to make everybody wait on me. They aren't yet, but breakfast will be ready soon so I have to finish up quickly.

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis

May 17, 2010

Hi Mom,

Yeah! It's blowing my mind that Kody will be graduating! AHHH! He's going to work at Dad's office? I didn't know that. Is he gonna do the same thing as me? That's pretty insane that he's leaving for college too :D And the mission is just plain awesome. hahaha, yep, we will definitely have to have a get-to-know-you with each other :D It'll be fun!

lol, we cleaned the apartment this week and it's not finished but it's close and it looks really really good so that's good :) This week will be good to be able to touch it up a bit.

That's cool that G&G Johnson are at our house :) I don't know that I like the idea of the assisted living either...but I guess if they had their own place in a community type situation that'd be cool...but they do need the help. Anyway, I hope everything works out well :) That's crazy that the family reunion is so close! I'm sure it'll be awesome!

That's funny that you can make them think you're "playing" even though you are still learning a lot :D I'm glad to hear that school went well.

Woah! I didn't know that Sister Smith's son had been in a car accident and intensive care! That's pretty scary! She definitely needs the hope of a good doctor, she has a lot of struggles in her life and I really hope that they can figure them all out. She herself is in some serious serious medical danger if they can't get her chiari malformation corrected! I hope things work out as well. Thanks for being willing to talk to her. She called and asked for your number again so I figured she'd call.

That's crazy but awesome that Josh's farewell was yesterday! Holy Cow! That makes me feel super duper old ;) That's such a bummer that he had such a short time to talk but I'm glad to hear he did a good job. That's awesome that there were a ton of people at their house! I wish I could have been there. That's cool that people asked about me ;)

Yep, I sure did receive the package and it was AWESOME! I was sooooooo excited for everything in it! The cupcakes are super yummy, oddly enough I'm super excited for the container you sent them in for future use :D The DeVerle's seasoning...Hallelujah! Amazing! Thank you :D You don't have to worry, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave that behind at transfers ;) The vanilla is awesome! Thanks for sacrificing some for me :D They don't make it anymore? Really? Just that particular brand or what? The cupcake thing is awesome...I'll definitely be using the cupcake cups so I don't have bad experiences with that thing like I have before! lol, I had to laugh when I saw it and remembered my former mishaps! The music is fabulous! Thanks for the surprise of Seth's piece :D I loved the whole package! It was way way awesome! Thanks :D (I laughed a lot at the makings for the cupcakes) Oh and I loved the play by play that you gave in your letter ;)

Thanks again for everything Mom! I don't know if I express it enough but I really do appreciate it and I understand to some extent the effort that is put in, though I'm sure I don't fully comprehend it!

I love you tons!

Hmmm...fun stories for the week... I guess I'll have to think and send out a mass email. Sorry.

Love you tons,

Elder Jay Davis

Hey Dad!

I'm doing fabulously :D I'm glad to hear that you are good but busy :D

That's SOOOO crazy to think that Josh is leaving already and that Kody is the last grandson on the Davis side to be getting ready for a mission! It really is crazy!

HAHAHA! I'm sure the counselors did a great job at the BYU ward ;)

That'll be fun going to all of Kody's events :D I'm jealous that you all get to go ;) I'm sure I'll have other fun experiences with him in the future though ;)

Yeah, Mom told me about G&G Johnson. That's good that she is going to show them the difference between a rest home and assisted living. Mom sure does do a great job of balancing all the million things she has to do!

I am definitely looking forward to seeing what transfers have in store! I will let you know next week when I find out :D

I can't think of any particularly entertaining stories for the week but if I do I'll send a mass email out :D

Love you tons!

Elder Jay Davis

May 10, 2010

Hey Mom,

I'm glad you enjoyed the video conference as much as I did :D I had a blast! I'm glad that I sounded and looked good. I definitely told the Sannars thank you for allowing us to use their computer. Yep, I will get you their address next week so you can send them a thank you. :D I'm glad you liked that as a Mother's Day gift! That's funny that Kody and Dad were teasing you for how happy you were afterwards. Typical ;) I was sure happy too.

HAHAHAHA! Yeah, coming up with what to write about is going to be harder today. One of the missionaries was like...well I'm only going to have to email for 10 minutes.

Tepanyaki :D YUMMY! That's awesome that you had a new chef and he was good and sang you happy birthday, that's awesome.

That's awesome that you ate at One Man Band shortly after I was craving it...was it you I told that to? I think so. What's Hulu? Oh, you described it. I think I remember seeing some previews for it just before I left. Sounds awesome! Genius idea!

That's awesome that Kody is already getting his senior pictures! It makes me feel really really really really old! It's really blowing my mind. And when he mentioned that we might be able to do a three-way conference call for Christmas it just blew me away!

Hopefully Grandpa's procedure goes well. Probably a good idea to have one of the sons. That's good that Jeff was able to take the week off to assist. I'm sure you'll have a blast with a "free" week ;) No week is ever stress free though ;)

HAHAHA! That's funny that you noticed that the office needed cleaning while you were waiting for me to connect lol. Our apartment still needs cleaning, but I'm going to get everything I need to do that today. I just have lots of stuff that needs to be organized and nowhere to put it so I'm going to get some rubbermaid tubs to put it in to keep it organized and it'll also make transfers nice.

That's awesome that all three of you are going to Allysa's recital! I have heard she's really really good.

Yes I remember the Underground Railroad, that was fun. I miss going in and helping Lynne out with her class :) That was a lot of fun.

Today is overcast and rainy here too. I'm ready for the sun to come out for good. I just need my tan! ;) lol but I'm sure by winter I'll be well ready for the sun to go away!

That's okay that you ran out of things to talk about. I don't blame you :) I'm glad we got to talk yesterday, I enjoyed it a bunch.

Love you tons,

Elder Jay Davis

Hey Dad,

We always get to email every Monday unless the library isn't available or something. Phonecalls home don't keep us from emailing home just FYI.

I'm glad I looked good. That's what mom said, but I think I'm putting on weight...ah well...as long as I don't continue to do so I'll be fine. That's awesome that Mom was so happy after the fact. She told me that you and Kody were teasing her all night for it :D I said that sounded typical ;)

That's fine that we were late for dinner, they were nice and patient so that was good. We had a blast once we got there :D I love the Jacobsons. I'm definitely glad also that we got to talk and that it went smoothly there at the end :D

That's fine that you don't have much to talk about, I don't really either. I just wanted to mention, in regards to the laptop, that I don't want to lose any of my information so please don't wipe the memory or anything. I'm sure you weren't planning on it but just in case. Thanks.

I'm excited for the package. I don't feel bad that she hasn't sent it yet, but I sure have missed it, so it'll be awesome to get it! I really appreciate what she does. I try to tell her a lot so I hope she knows that I do.

Love you tons Dad,

Elder Jay Davis