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