Week 11 - "Didn't we just do this yesterday?"

Hello, all!

This week's quote is from Groundhog Day: I've never had two preparation days quite this close together before, and it feels odd, because it kind of seems like I don't have a whole lot to talk about. My mom pointed out that I forgot to mention in my previous email whether I had been transferred. I have not--I am still in Worthington, and I am still with Elder Thomas, for which I am very grateful to Heavenly Father. I prayed for that, and I hope to use the next six weeks to their absolute fullest to help the people we're teaching and find new people for whatever elders come in after us to teach and baptize (I'm open to the possibility that we'll be able to find someone this transfer that we can take all the way to baptism, but it doesn't seem likely. Maybe I need more faith).

So the past five days have been great. Transfers were on Thursday, but Elder Thomas and weren't going anywhere, so we just tried to take care of some things in our area. We had dinner with Nancy on her back porch, and she told us how much it had meant to her that we were able to stay and that she really felt like God's hand was in that and was blessing her. She also told us in a text later that she wants us to help her quit smoking, and she said in person at one point that she's researched our church and doesn't understand why people get so mad at us. Later this week we found out she has been reading the Book of Mormon every morning and evening, and Elder Thomas said he feels her countenance has changed. He said he thinks she's got more peace than she had before. I hope so, and I hope she's seeing blessings come into her life as a result of her efforts to read the Book of Mormon. Elder Thomas and I both think she's very close to the Spirit. There was one day when she contacted us to ask us if we were OK, and we had been having a particularly difficult day the day before (that Monday I mentioned). We feel like she's a blessing to us, and she feels we're a blessing to her.

The day before, after I emailed you all, we had dinner with the Alstons, a young married couple in the ward, and Elder Thomas's previous companion often went to Brother Alston for gospel insights and learning, and when we were in the middle of a conversation in their living room, Elder Thomas stopped us and pointed to me, and said, "You have a question, and the spirit is telling me that he has the answer" (he pointed to Brother Alston). So I let him know what was on my mind. I was thinking about that Marie woman we ran into and the dwarves inside the shed in C.S. Lewis' "The Last Battle," and Marie may not fit this description, but I wondered what happens to a person who rejects true principles based on having been taught a false principle, perhaps as a result of a traumatic, negative experience with someone who claimed to be living the truth. He complimented me on having a fascinating question and then took us through 2 Nephi 2, Alma 12, D&C 82, and D&C 93, and it was really enlightening for me to learn about God's mercy and understanding nature. I haven't finished that study, and I feel like the ideas I have on that front are only half-baked, but the suggestion was that Heavenly Father is very merciful and understanding, and that there's still hope for those people. I also read some helpful stuff in Alma 9:17-20, 23 and D&C 58:26-28. So that was a really good experience.

The other thing that happened this week that was a huge uplift was that I got to attend my first live sealing. Elder Thomas was invited by some recent converts whom he had taught the recent convert lessons to in Tallmadge to come to their sealing in the Columbus temple on Saturday, and I got to tag along, and it was amazing. Alma talks about how the seed swells in your heart when you nourish it with your faith and diligence unto prayer, and that's what I felt during the whole ceremony. It was wonderful. I realized when we were waiting in the sealing room before we started that this was the crowning ordinance that we were about to see. It occurred to me that that meant these two people who were being sealed together were about to receive everything they possibly could in this life, and as long as they continued faithful, they would receive all the blessings of exaltation. They entered in by the gate at baptism, and they were about to finish their path of ordinances with their sealing. It was a wonderful thought to have as a missionary. It was basically just, "They did it!" They made it through. It was a joyous occasion. When we shook the couple's hands at the end, the sister said to the missionary in front of me (there were four companionships there in total, six elders and two sisters) that this was the fruits of our labors: That if we ever felt like what we were doing didn't have an effect, this was the eventual end that resulted in our efforts, and we shouldn't forget that. It was a huge boost for me. I prayed that I would able to draw on it throughout the course of the rest of my mission--it's wonderful to think about sealing as the eventuality of what it is we bring to people.

On the Sunday that followed we still didn't have any investigators come, but we had a great Elder's Quorum lesson. A man named Brother Keller taught it, and he posed the question, "What would it take to make you leave the church?" He said our instincts are to respond, "Nothing," but we shouldn't be so sure. We talked about some difficult experiences people he knew had had, and people in the quorum shared the difficult experiences they had. Some of the experiences were things people's church membership had weathered, some ended in people's leaving the church, and some ended in people's leaving the church but eventually returning. I felt like it was really beneficial to talk about--to discuss what might make you leave the church feels taboo, but if we don't talk about it, we can't address people's concerns and bolster them spiritually where they need help. Brother Keller said during the lesson that Satan is constantly pulling at us, trying to get us away from away from the church, and it occurred to me that we can see his influence in our own lives, and some of it is pretty impossible to disregard as a natural part of our lives. Satan tries to be transparent, but sometimes his efforts are pretty noticeable if we pay attention. He would have us think that he is not a devil, for there is none, but he lies. He wants us to be miserable, and the things that he tries to get us to do, the things he tries to tempt us to do, pull us toward misery, and the sooner we recognize that, the sooner we'll be able to turn away from his temptations and toward the things that will actually bring us happiness.

Just as a quick side note, Mom, you may be getting a letter from Nancy at some point in the near future.

I love you all, and I'm grateful for your prayers and your support. Please keep them coming.

Elder Davis

Pics 1 & 2 - Columbus Temple

Pic 3 - The elders and the Helbigs, the couple who got sealed Saturday (I'm second from left)

Pic 4 - A pig statue outside a grill in our area whose eyes light up in the evening. Elder Thomas reroutes our driving path if we have to go past it because it makes him uncomfortable.

Pic 5 - Elder Thomas landed all the rings on this kendama-esque toy at Nancy's and was very proud of it.