Week 34 - "All for one, and one for all!"

Hey, everyone.

So first thing's first: I'm getting transferred. I'm headed to Riverside. I'll be the district leader there as well. I'll be with one Elder McVey, who I've met before---he seems like a fun guy, and he served with Elder Thomas: I actually replaced him in Worthington when I first came out. And, coincidence of coincidences, Elder Hacking, the elder who replaced me in Worthington, is replacing me here in Warren as well. We'll see if that's a pattern that plays out over the course of the rest of the mission. Anyhow, I'll be the district leader in Riverside, but our district will consist of our own companionship, the sister training leaders of the zone, and one other companionship of sisters. So the district leader companionship will be the only elders in the district. That's been called a "Sistrict" by one of the elders I told about it.

To be honest, I'm a little nervous. I feel antsy about starting all over again, as it were, especially since Elder McVey and I will be doubling into the area, or "whitewashing" it. It will be interesting. We'll do our best.

Right now we're in a trio, which is the reason for the subject line. It's me, Elder Gallagher and Elder Mathews. Elder Mathews' companion, Elder Jaster, is on a flight home today--he could be with his family now. He and Sister Fenton were both a part of our district and are both finishing their missions. Most of the district met at the Warren Ward building in Champion Monday night, and Sister Fenton's companion went with the Sisters in Youngstown and Elder Mathews came with us. So we've been the three musketeers (hence the subject line, which comes from the book and movie of the same name).

This last week has been interesting. When I found out about the transfer, I wasn't super thrilled. To be honest, I was hoping I might be able to go with Elder Mathews into Youngstown, but I'm being sent down South again, so. I guess I also thought I might remain in Warren or go up to Ashtabula, but no dice. It's probably good that I didn't stay. I think as a missionary if you stay in an area for too long you can get discouraged and start thinking there's no more work to be done there. I guess I feel that way about Warren a little bit, so it's probably better I move to a new area. Sometimes when the work is going slow, it's hard to stay positive. One of the things that helps me is just understanding that the work I put in to invite and help people is contributing to the cause, even if I'm not seeing a lot of results from it.

Anyway, as far as what took place this week, we went on a brief, half-day exchange with the Youngstown elders, and I got to witness the baptism of one of those women I interviewed last week. There was a British member of the church who gave a phenomenal talk before the actual ordinance about the gift of the Holy Ghost. I was on the exchange with Elder Jaster, and I got to spend some time with him before he left for home. We had a good talk, and he gave me some good advice about missionary work.

We finally got to see one of the people we're teaching, Nathan, again and set up a return appointment with him. That was good. We finished the new member lessons with John and Jean, and had a really great and special experience doing that. We taught the Restoration as the last lesson, and we read through Joseph Smith-History 1:1-26, and the Spirit was very powerful and testified of the truth of those words. It was awesome. And a member we had brought told us about his own conversion and reactivation. It was just really good. John said goodbye to me and gave me a hug when we left (he felt like I was due for a transfer, which it turns out I was). I don't know how much I'll miss Warren as an area, but I do think I'll miss many of the people here, and I'll be anxious to find out what happens to them in the future.

Let's see, what else was there? We went on two exchanges with Ashtabula, and near the end of the day I experienced another "Fourth Floor, Last Door" miracle, of a sort. We walked through and turned in an intersection kitty corner to a house across the street, and we were walking away from the house, when I was like, "We should go talk to those people." It was weird. That didn't seem like me, but on the exchange with Elder Guzman I felt less the way I have felt in the past about talking with everyone and tracting and so forth. So we went over to these people and started talking to them, but they said they were Jehovah's Witnesses, and so Elder Guzman asked if they had any advice for us (as people who have done the sort of thing we do), and they told us to be confident about the message we were spreading and so forth. We thanked them and went to leave, but the mom had sent her daughter in for something, and the daughter came out with it, and the mom brought it to us, and it was a pair of Otter Pops. We thanked them and left to walk back to the car, and Elder Guzman was like, "Thank you for following that prompting, Elder Davis." It didn't seem like that big a deal, but I guess he appreciated it--it was a hot day. I appreciated it, too.

This email may be a bit short and lacking in awesome spiritual experiences--I'm kind of all over the place today. I've been packing, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to write. I guess suffice it to say that it's been another week in the mission, and on Monday I'll email you from Riverside. I love you all.

Elder Davis

I struggled a bit to find photos this week, so here's the multi-zone photo from zone conference several weeks ago.