Week 40 - "Mojo. Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Are you doing some Mojo?" "Those are my dog's pain pills. ... Are you on drugs?"

Hey, everyone!

This week's quote is, again, from Transformers. I'm sorry, but it was the only drug-related movie quote I could come up with. I guess Shia LaBeouf is becoming a trend in my subject lines.

I'll get the suspense out of the way and tell you why the quote is there. So the other day (Thursday, I think) we went over to the home of a woman who lives near campus across from a recent convert in the ward and helped her do some work in her backyard. She told us her godmother was a "Mormon," and she studied neuroscience at OSU. Elder McVey and I were able to help her extricate and cut up a big, dead tree branch from a tree in her backyard (again, no pictures, because I'm forgetful) and help her put up a fence panel, and Elder McVey and his new companion will probably go back later this week, maybe even tomorrow, to go give her a hand with it. 

Anyway, after we had helped her, we went to the bus stop to catch the bus back home in Upper Arlington, and as we were waiting there, this guy with a bunch of tattoos, some of them facial tattoos, wearing a do-rag, came up to us and started talking to us. He then told us to scoot apart so he could sit between us. He then looked at my arms and saw the little spots on them that are healing that have come from my scratching my arms (I don't know why, but I've continued to feel itchy since the rash on my arm. It seems like it's calmed down now, but for a while there I was still itching at my arms in the middle of the night), and he was like, "Man, that's a relapse." Elder McVey was like, "Relapse?" And he was like, "Yeah, man, he's been doing meth! You see those spots on his arm?" And Elder McVey was like, "Oh, he told me it was a rash," and looked at me like he was playing along, like, "You're about to get an earful from this guy." It backfired on him. The guy was like, "And you believed him?!" So then for the next 5 or 10 minutes he proceeded to educate us on how meth was bad for you, how they put fentanyl and other weird stuff in it, and how it could get you killed. On a more sober note, he also said he lost a couple people in his life because of overdoses. He also said he used to sell it, though, and he's since turned his life around. I decided to just let him tell me what he knew and give me advice on how important my life was and not argue with him. He was like, "I was sent here to tell you about this. God put us together." In between talking to me about how I needed to turn my life around, he lectured Elder McVey on how there were things he was doing that made me feel like I couldn't trust Elder McVey with this meth problem he thought I was dealing with. He was like, "Man, he's your brother!" (Side note: He insisted we were brothers. Many people have asked if we are as we've been together) "You've got to look out for him, and when he comes to you with something, you've got to not turn him away! You did something, and now he's scared to tell you about this!" So Elder McVey got an earful about how he needed to be more open and inviting so I could share my deep, dark secrets with him. All of this was punctuated by the occasional catcall he would fire off at a woman walking by, which made things just that much more uncomfortable. He said his name was Spirit, and showed us a tattoo of his name on his neck. Then we all got on the bus together, and he sat near the front while we sat a little further back. 

Later we experienced a cool little tender mercy. Do you remember me talking about the Alstons from Worthington? Brother Alston works at the university teaching Russian literature, and he got on the bus, headed home, and so we were able to talk to him for a bit and get caught up on how Worthington was and catch him up on our lives. It was great. Also, earlier last week, on preparation day, after I had sent out my email, we went shopping and saw Brother French's taxi in the Kroger parking lot. Brother French was also a member in Worthington. As we were waiting for the bus to come, he drove up alongside us and was like, "Where you going?" We told him, and he offered to give us a ride, which we gratefully accepted. We both know him and Brother Alston, having both served in Worthington, so it was cool to have those experiences this week.

What else has happened? Oh, yeah! Yesterday we went and served on OSU campus! We did a little training visit with the two elders there, Elder Skeens, a new missionary in his first transfer, and Elder Anderson, my old companion from Warren! I got to go with Elder Anderson and catch up with him, and we worked on campus for a while. It was really great and really interesting. Elder Anderson and Elder Skeens explained how work on OSU is basically just more concentrated. There are more people, so you usually experience the same ratio of rejection to interest, just a greater volume. It seems like every step you take there's a new person you might talk to, so you kind of have to say hi to everyone and talk to the people who don't ignore you. While we were on campus, we went into the student union, and I took a picture with the Brutus statue on the bench (Brutus is the university mascot). That's attached. It was a really good day. It was nice to have a change of pace--people just out walking around are sort of few and far between in the neighborhoods in Riverside, so if you want to be doing work (or at least feel like you're doing work) walking through the neighborhoods you have to listen hard for the promptings of the spirit and knock the occasional door, and that doesn't always work out. So it was nice to just spend some time street contacting. 

Later that night we went to the edge of campus on High Street and offered FamilySearch pamphlets to people, using a whiteboard to advertise it. We got a few people who were really interested, and that was exciting, so hopefully those people start looking into finding their families and increase the feeling of the Spirit in their lives. Hopefully they also contact the OSU elders for help so they can continue that conversation.

Last week on Saturday we also took Reaves to play volleyball with some members of the stake, and he said he's thinking about officially joining the faith. We haven't even covered more than one of the lessons with him yet, but we did point him to the church website in our lesson with him this week (which was a good lesson--the elder's quorum president, Brother Garlick, was there and helped a lot), so maybe he's just soaking it all in in his spare time. He's been a major blessing while we've been here. He's the only person we've actually been able to have more than one lesson with. He was a referral--missionaries found him because they locked their keys in their car, and he works in auto rescue, so he came to help them. It's awesome.

On Sunday we were privileged to give another blessing at the hospital. The OSU elders met a man named Roger who is a member who has a friend who was in a terrible accident and is now in a coma. We got to bless him. He had major trauma to his skull, so we had to give the blessing with our hands over his head instead of on it. Earlier this week we gave a blessing to a member as well. Again, the priesthood is real.

There's not much else to talk about this week, except that I'm being transferred, if you didn't pick that up earlier. I'm headed to Chillicothe. If you're on this mailing list and you've served there, and you read this email (I'm looking at you, Elder Hall), send me an email and let me know what you loved about it and people you want me to check in with. The other weird thing is I'll be in a trio. I'll be co-junior-companion to a district leader named Elder Smith, alongside one Elder Jones. I'm curious to see what the Lord needs for me or from me in Chillicothe and in that trio companionship. Being in a trio in Warren was a little weird, though maybe it was partly because Elder Mathews was new to the companionship and Elder Gallagher and I had been together for a transfer. We'll see how things go in Chillicothe. It's a little crazy to think that six weeks are already over. It feels like it passed in a flash. It's crazier to think that 9 months are already out of the way. I'm beginning to understand Brother Hartvigsen's advice not to wish today away: It's gone all too soon.

Well, I love you all. Keep me posted. If you're wondering what to email me about, don't: Just email me about anything. I like to know what's going on in your life. Yes, you.

And to those of you who have been emailing, know that I really appreciate it, even though I don't respond individually to each email. That includes you, Sister Sorensen, and you, Grant, and you, Melissa, and you, Elizabeth, and of course you, Mom and Max. You're all awesome. Thanks for taking the time. It makes a big difference for me.

Love you all!

Elder Davis

What's he looking at over there?