Week 6 - "I'm BATMAN!"

Hello, all!

I'm writing this from my new Bluetooth keyboard, and I used the bone stick my mom sent on my laundry today to get some stains out, so THANKS, MOM!

I'm sure you can guess the source of this week's quote. I'm using it because of an experience i had in Sacrament meeting last Sunday that I forgot to mention.

So there's a man in our ward who has Down syndrome who blesses the Sacrament every week, and I absolutely love hearing him do it: The spirit is always so strong. (Side note: This ward is awesome. I keep telling Elder Thomas whenever we leave people's houses, "They're awesome," or "He's awesome," or "She's awesome." Everyone we've met so far is such a quality person. I wish I could tell you about everything, but there's not enough time. I'll just have to show you my journal [which is also pretty limited due to time] when I get home.) Anyhow, this member came up to me and Elder Thomas before Sacrament meeting started, and he pointed at me and said, "You look like Bruce Wayne," and in my mind, I was like, "This is the highest compliment anyone has ever given me." Then he told me I was Batman and told Elder Thomas he was Superman and said he was Superboy, but he charged us not to tell anybody the secret, so we swore ourselves to secrecy. Anyway, the point is, I guess I'm Batman now.

I finally opened my Christmas packages, and they brought us (me especially) a lot of joy. Thank you so much. I'll give you a brief recap of my reactions to some of the stuff:

We took the decorations and put them on the tree that's leaning in the corner of our apartment (I guess Elder Thomas and his companion found it at a member's, and they were throwing it away--the stand is broken--so the Elders brought it back to the apartment): see the pictures.

Merv, Frankenstein and "The Money" (see photos) cracked me up. Elder Thomas pointed out that it was because the wise men brought gold, frankincense, and myrhh, which should have been obvious to me, but wasn't. Let Amelia know I loved it and will keep it forever.

I loved the themed bags from the Cowleys -- it's going to take me a while to work through, but I won't have to buy sweets for a while. :)

Jared, your letter was great, and I really appreciated it. It's nice to hear I'm making a difference with my emails.

Mom, thank you for everything you sent. I'm really hoping to get the chance to use the kitchen implements, but it's more difficult to find time to cook than I anticipated. I got to cook dinner for a local young couple on New Year's, but that's the first time I've done it since I've been here, and we usually have dinners scheduled for every day including P-day, so it's looking like I'm going to have to really carve out time. But I loved what you sent, and when I do get the chance to use it, it will prove invaluable -- I don't know, for instance, if we even had a good cutting board in our apartment. Also, I actually bought a pocket hymnbook while I was in the MTC in your honor, and I've been carrying it with me everywhere! I guess great minds think alike.

I've been thinking about our raspberry jam since the MTC, and when I saw the package that was wrapped multiple times, I was like, "What the heck is this?" and then the jar slipped out, and I gasped and looked at Elder Thomas, and I was like, "Elder. This. This is red gold." I haven't cracked it open yet -- I'm trying to use what we have first/saving it for a special occasion.

Highlights from this week: There's a family named the Portises, and the mother is a saint. She's just kind of a mother hen who takes in kids whenever they need someplace to stay. But they're less active, and they don't often come to church, if at all. But she's super excited about the new Come, Follow Me curriculum, so we went over to the Portises for a lesson this past Thursday and taught them some things in relation to the first lesson, and we've got Sundays carved out for them for the rest of the year. We're hoping that we can get them excited to attend church and that attending will benefit them.

I met a Brother Alston last week who studied English at BYU-Idaho, and he knows many of the instructors I studied under. It was really cool to reminisce for a little and appreciate those who taught us. I hope my relationship with him and his family develops further. Also, he studied Russian and Russian literature for his master's and Ph.D. I think he and Robby and Liz could have some interesting conversations.

This week we were on our way to a dinner appointment, and I was thinking, and I turned to Elder Thomas and said, "We need to pray for more opportunities to serve people." He agreed, and then right before we got to the dinner appointment, as we were walking we saw a woman who was taking down her Christmas decorations and started to help her. Her name's Amanda, she's from Maine, and we were able to get to know her a little better. She's a neighbor to the family we were having dinner with, so we're hoping we can develop that relationship and maybe start teaching her.

Elder Thomas knows ASL, and he's had several opportunities to use it this week, which is something he's been praying for. I've been there for those opportunities, of course, and it's been awesome. He talked to a less-active 13-year-old member who's been struggling with the concept of prayer and hearing the voice of the spirit and with reading the scriptures (as Elder Thomas taught me, ASL isn't just English with your hands: The grammatical structure is different, and if you know how to sign ASL you don't necessarily know how to read English). He signed to her over a video chat and spoke what he was signing as he did, and he testified about how God knows us and hears our prayers and things. He also showed her that there's an ASL version of the scriptures in the Gospel Library app (it consists of videos of someone signing). The spirit was really strong. It was awesome.

How was 2-hour church for you? Ours was great. People in the ward asked a lot of great questions during Sunday school and prompted some great discussion.

I've heard there are changes to the temple ordinances now, and I'm so frustrated because I can't go until my 6-month mark. Is there anything you can tell me in the way of details? I'm super curious, and I have an idea of what might have been changed based on what people have been saying, but I don't know for sure.

I haven't had as much time as I was hoping for to write, so I've probably left some important stories out, but I'll hopefully have time to address them next week.

Love you all!

Elder Davis