Sunday, November 30, 2014

11/17/2014 - In Which ShelbyPooh Has Her First Baptism

Dear Everyone,

What a week!! I feel like I say that every week :) haha But really it was a good week! And this email might not be as long cuz there isn't much to talk about but a lot at the same time.... ha This week we had been preparing our 11 year old investigator Lena and her family for her baptism on Saturday! We basically met with her to finish the lessons and prepare her every day this week. We also helped her mom, Sister Nilsson, making food and helping her so that she wouldn't be so stressed about this last minute baptism so that was good too :) 

On Tuesday, I went to my first Zone Training Meeting! It was cool to meet my whole zone, which is one of the biggest in the mission, and to see some of my MTC friends again! :) It basically took the whole morning but it was great and I learned a lot and we had a guest speaker, who was just a member of the Stake Council, give us a devotional and he was amazing!! I also at the last minute, was asked to sing in a little group of 4 missionaries for a musical number during the meeting and we sang "I Am His Daughter" and they asked me to harmonize cuz they heard that I sing haha and so I did! It was great :) Then we tracted and taught Lena again. It's also gotten very cold this week.... I thought I was coming to "HOT-lanta" but uh.... nope! :P Since it's humid here the cold goes straight to your bones, through your coat, gloves, everything. It's been intense and honestly I hate tracting in it. I already hated the cold in Utah but even though there is no snow here (yet......) I truly am hating the cold more and more. 

Wednesday was a typical day I guess. We had a little party for sister Perrins and the other two elders that live in the same apartment complex as us, just down the ways a bit, but we share the car and we work with them in the ward so anyway their names are Elder Hyatt and Elder Harrington. Their birthdays were all in November so the apartment manager who is not a member but we're friends with and hope that eventually we can teach her.... She put on a small birthday party for them and I got free pizza and birthday cake from that! :D haha then we tracted again, in the cold, and had dinner.... basically that was it for the excitement of the day. 

Thursday morning we volunteered at the food bank again! And it's pretty fun, the people are nice and we feel good doing it :) This thursday we won't be doing that though because I'll be going to my first Zone Conference!! Which seems exciting so I'll just have to wait and see! But that also takes up the majority of the day. Anyway, we went to go visit a recent convert, which I love doing too!! Just to check up on them and she was a massage therapist and has given massages to celebrities!! :O But she gave me a massage on my calves and it was wonderful :) She's also met a couple people from Vampire Diaries one time and totally told me where they film it, which is about 2 hours away...... I may or may not have freaked out a bit ;) But then we tracted again and that was the coldest day... :( it was rough and that's when the freeze warnings started. We taught Lena again and then later that night had another birthday party but this was put on by another recent convert named Phyllis, who I may have mentioned before, and some other members. Phyllis is so funny and awesome, I can't imagine my life not meeting her, she is a hoot but we love her :) 

Friday we start off with weekly planning of course... which is such a long process!! Haha but it's good and then went over to the Nilsson's to help with things again. Seriously, in the three weeks I've been here I've grown to love this family, especially this past week coming over to their house so often, and they are great! They are Swedish and Sis. Nilsson is the best cook and their kids are so sweet! So we taught Lena and helped sis. Nilsson cook that afternoon. then visited two more recent converts and just talked and shared a little message. then we had a relief society Enrichment activity that me and sis. Perrins got to go to because we had 2 of our investigators go!! :D Monica and Maddie both came and they loved it! Everyone was so welcoming and loving and they got to make some crafts and eat goodies! So we were so happy they got to go! Monica is still struggling with commitments but she came to church on Sunday after like 3 weeks and we are visiting with her tonight to get her back on track and hopefully we will feel like she is prepared to work towards a baptism date! Maddie and Joel are the newly married couple and we are going to try to get them to come to church even though they go to a different one every week, but it's getting hard because we feel like they aren't improving and just asking more questions! They need revelation.... like true revelation from Heavenly Father so they can feel SOMETHING. so we're trying to figure out how to give that to them. 

Saturday was my one month birthday!! :D Yay! Haha only 17 months to go :) But we taught Lena her last lesson and she was so excited and prepared! Her sister Helene who is 8 was getting baptized as well. We tracted a little before but then went to the chapel to fill up the font and get things set up. Oh also, I forgot to mention but Sister Perrins offered to play the piano for a musical number that sis Nilsson wanted to sing for the baptism and she mentioned that I sing and so Sister Nilsson wanted me to sing with her! so this whole week we were practicing that too :) We sang "Come Follow Me" and "Love One Another" as a duet, with me singing the alto part and her singing the soprano! It sounded really good! :) The baptism was so successful, we had such a great turn-out from the ward! Everyone is so supportive and caring, I love it! Everyone works as a ward and is great with the missionaries and so it was a full house! The ordinance was great, it was Bro. Nilsson's first time baptizing since he recently got baptized this last summer too so it was a sweet moment to baptize both his daughters. Then me and sister Perrins got to give a presentation as well while the girls were getting changed after the ordinance and a missionary couple from our mission came to support the baptism and we showed a clip from those missionary videos "The District" about the Robles Family (look it up, it's great and went well with the Nilsson's family circumstance also) and then just bore our testimonies and the Elder told us that it was wonderful and missionaries should do that more often and that he was going to tell President about what we did..... don't know what that means.... haha but it all worked out so well and it was a great night! 

Sunday was good too. Just a typical sunday but I finally got to go to a ward council meeting cuz we got the times mixed up for the last two weeks haha so that was good and then we tracted after church, had dinner and did a cute thanksgiving craft, and then visited a member's house to do some role plays. Which we still do all the time!! Even in the field! But it really helps a lot :) the holiday season is approaching so quickly and it'll be weird not spending it in Utah. but I'm so grateful for the people I've met here and the experiences I've already had and I'm excited to keep going on this journey :) the people of Georgia desperately need the gospel. Most of them are so close and are so religious, but they need the FULL truth. Which the Gospel of Jesus Christ has and I know that this church has been restored to the earth. My testimony is still tried every day but it's also growing in so many ways and is keeping me working harder and harder each day!! I love being a missionary :) Hope everything is well with everyone, I hope you all have a great week! Keep the faith and look for missionary opportunities every day! :) I love you all!! 

Love, 
Sister Davenport 

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