Nearly Christmas....

Well it's just about Christmas. This year has gone by so fast. I can not believe it. It impresses on my mind how important our time here on the earth is and how extremely short it is also. I am so greatful to be here serving the Lord, especially during this season of the year. I'm so greatful for the Savior and for the life that He led. I'm forever in debt of what He did for us and will be always trying to serve as He would have me do. I hope that this season we'll all be able to remember the true meaning and the true spirit of CHRISTmas! I love my Savior and this wonderful gospel. Hope that all is going well and that you will be blessed this season. Thanks for everything! I love you all!


Love Elder Davenport

More from his letter:

Also we got to go to the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional last night. It was so good! I was blown away. I learned so much. I really liked how I think it was Pres. Uchtdorf said that His birth set forth the pattern of his life and that the most memorable Christmas's are the most humble then he related that to the most remembered and celebrated birth of the history of the world being the most humble.. It was a big point.. Idk I don't know how to explain it.. It just made so much sense to me..

Things in the area are going really well. We are still finding and still teaching. Although nearly all our investigators are going away for about 2 weeks. These next couple weeks will be interesting with transfers coming up and the holidays too. Hopefully it'll all go good.

I hope that all will be well with everyone! I love you all and I especially love the gospel and the things it's done for me lately!

Temple Trip

Hello to everyone that resides in the states! I've decided that I don't want to come home to hear all the American accents. We had a girl speak in our ward yesterday who believe it or not went to SUU and was in an institute class with Sheila. Crazy.. But she sounded just so American. It kind of really bothers me now hahaha...

It sounded like everyone had a great THANKSGIVING! I had a stir fry for dinner on rice.. It was good! I enjoyed it. But no turkey or pies. So oh well.

We got the opportunity to go to the temple on the 28th! It was the absolute best thing ever! President Porter called the day before . . . and I just said President, I feel sweet. So that was a very wonderful experience for me to go to the temple. It was a very good session. It was absolutely full. But I could feel the spirit so strong and I knew that I was in the best place I could ever be while here on this earth. I felt so calm, comfortable and safe. It was just the highlight of the mission for me. I've never felt that way in the temple before. I thought of Jeff while I was in there and how he said he had an interview. I knew he'd be a veil worker... But it was just wonderful. I'm never going 6 months without going to the temple once I go home. Never..

The rest of the week has been okay. Not much happened. Dani and Vicky are still doing good.

But anyways, Things are going sweet. Elder Bridge and I are doing well. Oh he was wondering if he could get the receipe for the peanut butter balls... hahahaha.. He loves food.... Oh and speaking of food. I noticed the other day that I've lost weight. haha. I can slide my belt around my waist pretty easily haha! It made me happy! But I'll look forward to everything that's coming up. And especially the package. I"m going to try really hard not to get homesick, I think it might be hard. But it'll be okay. haha..

(This part is to add to the missionary newsletter)

I'm so glad that we have all made the choice to serve our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. I remember when we were all still at school and it seemed that a mission was always there and in sight but at the same time still so far off. I can't believe that it's nearly over now. Time flies by. I hope that we can all go hard all the time and never forget how important our purpose is and never waste a minute. If we don't fulfill our purpose then the Gospel can't fulfill it's purpose. I'm so grateful for our Savior who sacrificed himself for sin so that we can all be forgiven of sin. I've never realized the importance of that principle more than I have in the past 10 months. Teach faith in Jesus Christ and the Atonement and we will be successful! Especially during the time we have now to celebrate His birth! I love you all and pray for your safety and success! Just remember.... RAMS right attitude means success! haha Love you all!

Well that's me.. tune in next week for more!
Love ya

Love Elder Davenport

Woo Hoo

Man it's so good to hear from you all! It's seriously the best thing in the world! Those pictures were awesome. I think my favorites were the one of all the kids and the one of Emily holding Easton and Hailey!

I got the letter with the pictures in it. Thanks so much. I really enjoyed it and them. Elder Bridge read the letter to me because we were driving to Opotiki. I couldnt' really read while driving. Well, to be fair, I can, but if we want to live, than it's best that he reads it. It was funny. We both just laughed when you talked about companions. But I really enjoyed the missionary newsletter as well. It's really neat to see and hear how everyone's doing.

Here in NZ the phone calls are so expensive so everyone just texts. A call from here to Henderson is more expensive then calling the states. Weird eh? I don't know why they do it. I had to speak in church again yesterday. I had a feeling on Saturday night and so I kind of prepared myself just in case. On Sunday the counselor asked if I could be his Minute Man in case a speaker didnt' show. So I said sure of course. Then while we were breaking the bread I saw the speaker come in so I thought ok cool I don't have to do it anymore. Turned out that I still spoke haha. I just spoke on faith being a principle of power. It was pretty good. I enjoyed it.

But other than that things have been going really well. A couple of our investigators are getting really close to baptism. Dani is praying for a date. She's Alisha's sister. She has a boyfriend that she lives with. She's only 16. So it's quite sad. Adam doesn't want to live the law of chastity so he's not being too supportive. So she's afraid he'll leave her. But we told her that if she wants to be baptised bad enough and asks Heavenly Father for help than He'll provide the way. And she seemed okay with that. So yea. As for the other investigators, not much happened with them this week. It was kind of a weird week. Like I said we went to Opotiki and that was an adventure. It's a nice little town. Really small and really quiet.

We are going to Tauranga today for some fun! We are most likely going to climb Mt. Manganui. It's got an awesome view from the top! Than we'll stay the night for district meeting tomorrow and then come back like normal from there. Transfers are this Thursday... Ahh... Crazy. It's gone by so fast. I can't believe it. I'm actually quite nervous for this one. I'm not sure why. I never have been this nervous for transfers. But I'm sure that nothing big will happen. Actually I really dont' know. I try not to think about it.

I can't really believe that it's Christmas soon. It doesn't feel like it to me. Partly because I'm brown. And I think my body feels like it should be getting ready for football too. It's so hot here. It's really nice though. And about me being brown, yea, I'm pretty dark. I'll send you a pic of my watch tan. haha.

But hopefully next week I won't have too much new information or much of any changes. Hopefully I'll be emailing from Whakatane still. But we'll see. Hope ya'lls week goes good!

Love Elder Davenport

On Service in Whakatane

Things are going great here in Whakatane! I love this place. It's a small town and the ward is small enough to be a branch. But it's just an awesome ward because everyone is so close with eachother. The town is only about 16,000 people in it. The ward has probably 200. Active members are probably in number of 50-60. On a good day. But those who do come and are active have the strongest testimonies I've ever heard. I heard some amazing testimonies yesterday. Most of the actives are either converts or they are lifetime members who went inactive. Some for nearly 30-40 years. It's amazing. They have an experience with the Lord and then they come back to church and haven't left since.

The work is going well. We are finding people to teach. I've come to find out that we don't teach near as many lessons in a week as I did in Auckland. But the lessons that we do get to teach are choice. People that you can definately tell have been prepared by the Lord. Yesterday we were on our way to a cottage evening and I went to talk to a guy on the street and before I could say anything he just told me that he's been looking for a church. He's been taught a little before but we are going to go this week and teach him again and see if we can help him. We talked to him for nearly an hour. He just kept talking and talking. He's really choice. His name is Rajkumar.

We've gotten a lot of opportunities to help people around here and the skills that I gained from helping and watching you have definatley been put to use out here. There was one guy we did some help for the other day. He had a massive backyard and about half of it was filled with rubbish. He had a junk pile and some wood. We seperated those and then got to work on all the weeds and over-grown grass. It was as tall as the fence. It looked tough. But I'm so glad that I was taught how to be a hard worker or else we would've been there all day. We got it done in about 1 1/2 hours. But in our companionship you can definatley tell who was the one that grew up doing things like I did. Elder Bridge is learning from me how to do stuff. Today I'll teach him how to do basic maintenance on his bike. He doesn't really know to much. It really makes me realize how greatfull I am for you in teaching me things. I decided as I was pulling out weeds and stuff that I'd learn how to do things that I dont know how to do so that when I have my kids I can teach them everything that they'll need. There's not much that I need to learn. But I just know that if I do than they'll be able to help their investigators when they are on there missions. The guy that we helped was nearly in tears when we finished. It was the best service I've done in my life I think. He kept on saying thank you and how can I re-pay you guys. We simply just said the water was nice and the thank you is all we need in return.

Elder Davenport in Whakatane

Well this week was fairly good! It sounds like everything back home is going sweet too! I got mom's letter package the other day at zone conference. Thanks for the letters and the cd! I Love the cd! It's so good! The letters were awesome too. It's cool to hear how everyone is doing in the field! ... I'm not sure that I was telling the truth about gaining 27 pounds. Because like 2 weeks later I weighed myself again and it said 202 which would only be about 8 pounds... So I don't know.
The week was good, we found some new investigators. We taught a really funny lesson the other day. We went to teach the Restoration and she had so many questions that we ended up staying there for almost 2 hours and now she could be baptized. She knows it all haha... But we taught the p.o.s. (plan of salvation) and then she asked about coffee and stuff. We told her about the w.o.w. (word of wisdom) and then she looked at her coffee and moved it across the table and said well if I want to go live with God again then I'm not going to touch this stuff anymore.. It was really neat!
...
I thought of some things for Christmas! haha Not much cuz I know I ask a lot already.
Reeses cups.
Reeses Pieces.
David sunflower seeds original and bbq
highland football shorts if you can muster
my black highland track t-shirt
garments
some hard copy pictures
no gum
those cds I asked for a while back, I knew you said it'd have to wait.. Im just reminding
journal paper, the wide kind.. jenn will know
and a pedigree chart with some more generations on it...
Maori's love whakapapas. (fakapapas) it means geneology
but that's really all i can think of... I don't really need money for anything. It's usually just random things. Like the other day we needed to fill up one of our members gas jugs and his mower.. we didn't have anymore money so I used like 10 dollars to do that. Just random things. But I"m trying really hard to not collect stuff. When I left Panmure I realized I still have a lot of stuff. I've gotten rid of things that I dont need.
You can mostly get anything you need here. Unless you want sunflower seeds or reeses candy hahaha
...
The pics of Hailey were awesome! She looks so good! I know I saw this almost every single e-mail but it's so good to hear when the whanau (family) is doing good! But anyways I gotta skidaddle
Love you all Heaps!

Elder Davenport

Long Time.....

Well I guess I got to give you a little update on what happened in my last week in Panmure. The baptism was sweet. It was small, just family and it was really spirit filled. It was a great joy to see him finally be baptized. But not much else happened.

I got the call Wednesday morning to be shifted down to Tauranga Stake. I'm now in the Southern Kingdom. I'm in the Whakatane and Opotiki wards. They are very small towns on the East coast of the country. Very beautiful. Reminds me heaps of home. My companion is Elder Bridge. He's from Queensland, Brisbane. He's been out only 1 transfer, I'm his follow up trainer and it's going well. I"m in a car again haha. But it's all good, we don't drive much. Only to get to Opotiki and to district meetings and stuff like that.

It was a 3 hour drive to Tauranga and then an aditional 1 1/2 hours to Whakatane. It' was very fun. NOT hahaha. I was sitting in the back and was very cramped. But it was all good because I drove from Tauranga to Whakatane. We got to watch the Sunday sessions of conf and priesthood but not the Saturday sessions. So of course I was pretty gutted about that. But it's all good. I"ll just read it all when we get the Ensign. Not too much has happened since I've been here. I got here on Friday evening because my z.l. had a meeting.

A New Area

Well transfers have come and gone, yes. I was very sad to leave. It felt as if I was leaving home again to go on another mission. It's amazing how close you can get to a ward and everyone involved. I'm truly going to miss that ward forever.

Well I'm in Panmure Stake. It's on the east coast. Where I'm follow-up training Elder Hunt who is in his 2nd transfer. We cover 2 wards. Howick and Waipuna. They are pretty good wards. Oh yea. I'm driving. It was nuts the first day or two but now I'm pretty used to it. I have been used to the way it all goes for awhile but just being the driver is a really new and neat experience.

I've learned alot about patience and it's something I've been working on as well. It's going to be my transfer theme.

The wards are really good. A lot of Maori people live here. But the Howick ward is rich as. But it's nice because the people aren't snooty or anything like that. We tracted a really rich street the other day. Shelley Beach. It was way nice and had an awesome view. But in general things are going very well.

We have a couple of people who we are going to be trying to set for baptism this week. There is going to be a couple of marriages this transfer! I feel that might be trend for me throughout the mission. Getting people married and then baptised! But that's sweet with me. We taught a lesson to our ward mission leader and ward missionaries on Sunday in the Howick ward. It was on the Plan of Salvation. I, of course, used Ian to explain my feelings on the Atonement. Man, I still can't talk about it with people without going crazy with tears. But that's good.

Six Months

Elder Davenport completed the first six months of his mission on August 20.

Exerpts from his current letter:

Things are going really well here! We are in a threesome with one of our zone leaders until thursday because his companion is going to be an a.p. replacing one who is going home tomorrow. It's going to be crazy busy around here this week. Very hectic but that's good.

Elder Dixon and I had the best weekend! The Halls were baptized and confirmed! It was the best baptism ever. The whole chapel was filled with her family and about 75% of the people there were non-members. After we got changed we went and listened to one of the youth sing a song. It was an amazing song. I'm not sure what it was, I can't remember. But Margaret was crying. The spirit was so strong and it was just such a wonderful feeling. Sunday we had a fireside where investigators and recent converts got up to bear their testimony. President Burgess (Stake President) asked if we could find somebody else to get up in case someone didnt' show up so we asked Margaret if she would in case that person didn't show. She of course said yes. Turned out that the girl showed up but President still wanted to hear from Margaret also. So he asked her to come up and she did and bore the most powerful testimony and it was just amazing. It seemed like she'd been a member her whole life. After she sat down Elder Dixon looked at me and said that's when you know someone is truly converted. It was the best feeling in the world!

So I most likely had my last Sunday in the Lincoln ward yesterday. It was very sad. I was trying not to get sad and tell everyone goodbye but there were a select few people who knew about transfers coming up. They didn't feel it a problem to let it be known. So everyone knew and were saying there in case goodbyes. It almost made me cry. This ward has been my home for the past 6 months and I've come so close with the people that it;'ll be hard to leave. But it'll be good. It;'ll help me to grow. I still don't know if I'll be shifted yet or not.

But that's something that's been on my mind lately. If the time I spent here was good. I've prayed a lot and never felt I got an answer so I asked Elder Dixon to give me a blessing because I've been stressing a lot lately over that and transfers. He gave me a great blessing. He told me that the Lord appreciated everything I've done so far and all sorts of good things. I'm grateful for him for being worthy to give great blessings. Than on Sunday (before people knew) they'd say stuff about how hard we are working and how much success we're having and how much they appreciate us. You could imagine how that made me feel. It helped a lot.

August 13, 2008

This past week we had some real interesting things happen. We had our interviews with President. I was rebuked by the spirit big time. All he told me was to not waste my time and to learn all I could and apply myself. He asked me to ask God what his agenda was for me and not what mine is for myself... But it was good... It was a really good learning experience for me. I had a really good prayer that night and I felt a lot better.

The next day I wrote down all the goals I wanted to reach before I leave and I made plans of how I can achieve them. It was really good. Latter in the week we had a trade-off with the zonies. I went with Elder Wihongi to his area. We taught a lesson and after I felt bad about it. I felt like I didn't follow the spirit. Wihongi told me he liked the way I teach and everything. I felt he was just trying to be nice to me. Later in the evening we taught another lesson, I felt better this time after. He told me again. I felt better after he said it this time. He also told me that the only difference between me and him was that he'd been out over 14 months, he's a zone leader but I was the better teacher and missionary. I felt really humbled but I felt really good. He went on to tell me that we need leaders in this mission and that I'd be one of them. He said that we have 26 missionaries going home this transfer and 24 the next! WOW.

President asked me in my interview how Elder Dixon and I were going. I told him good and that I was learning a lot from him. He said good because it won't be long till you are in his position. I don't know what exactly that means but I'm scared. It'd scared me pretty good. I'll just say that I'm learning to Rely on the Lord a lot more. But it's good. I've felt the best this week than I have in a long time.

Lauryn wasn't baptized. She smoked again. But it's okay. We set her for the 23rd. She will be baptized. We gave her a blessing and Elder Dixon pronounced wonderful things to her. It was awesome. Last night we set another girl for baptism. Rio. She's set for the 22nd. I'll be an intense week. We have 8 set for baptism.

Another while in Henderson

Transfers came and gone and as I'm sure you picked up, I'm still in Henderson! I love it here. This past weekend was amazing! Lauryn and Dwight got married and the wedding was awesome. They ended up deciding that there'd be too much going on for her to be baptized the same day so I'll be baptizing her this upcoming Saturday!

Elder Bennett went home. It was really sad because he's became my best friend. It was really kind of hard to see him leave our flat for the last time and that I wouldn't see or hear him for 19 months. But that's okay because you guys can! He reports his mission in Malad next week!

The Halls have changed their date to the 23rd of August. They feel that they aren't ready yet. Which is okay. They are still progressing smoothly. In fact, she told us the other day that she feels that the Lord prepared them to meet us! We were both very happy to hear her say that!

Amelia and her daughters will most likely have their date moved to the same day. We weren't able to see them for 2 weeks because they went away for holiday. They are still very keen to be baptized so we aren't too worried about them.

We met a couple called Ross and Jenna... They were a referral from the sisters...The first time we met with them we taught them a first. What an experience. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong and they just loved it. We went back to teach the P.O.S. and it was even better then the first lesson we had. We both could tell that the spirit was confirming to them what we were teaching. It was probably one of the most spiritual moments of the mission so far.


Elder Dixon was testifying at the end and I was think to myself of what they needed to hear. So as you could probably guess, the spirit told me to tell them about Ian and his story and how it affected us. So I did, and man oh man was it amazing! I showed them the pictures on my case and they were just eating it up and it was just so filled with the spirit. I almost lost it a couple times. After that it was just awesome. They comitted to pray and read again and that we could come visit this week and teach them more! It was a great thing!

Tracy and Shannen are doing really well now. They've came to church a couple times now and we've been able to have proper lessons with them in their homes which is really good! They are progressing and they are beginning to understand everything!

Well that's just a briefing of what's going on. It's awesome right now.

Pres. Cook Return

Peggy and I went to Riverdale 2nd Ward Sacrament meeting to hear President Cook, Sister Cook and their daughter speak. President Cook was Michael's first mission president and his mission came to an end in July.

When I introduced us to him, I extended my hand and said, "You must be President Cook." He shook my hand and then I said, "We are the Davenports." He then said, "Oh, I need to give you a hug."

Then he said, "What a marvelous missionary!" He went on to indicate what a great experience he had with Elder Davenport.

Now, exerpts from Michael's letter to home:

This week has been a weird week. We didn't teach much but we made a lot of good contact with people. Transfers are this week. Kind of nervous but we are both confident we'll still be here. I don't have much time today. There's a lot of stuff to do.

I'm eating healthier and all the junk too. I almost cried when you said you went to Pres. Cook's homecoming. Sad you got to see him before me again. But that's okay. You'll have to let me know how it all went. But yea. Sorry this email is so short. I love you all!

July, already.....

Our investigators who are set for baptism are doing really well still and they are still on track. Which is really good. We had a really good week. We got wet a lot. I had to buy new brake pads because I couldn't stop my bike. I almost got ran over a couple of times. A few on my bike and once in the morning while we were running. They guy didn't stop at the crosswalk like he's supposed to. Luckily, I did! haha.

We got to meet President Porter and his family on Wednesday. It was really cool. He's a funny guy but he's really good too. He knows when to have his moments. We met as a district to meet him and he went around the room and he first talked with Elder Bennett and when he said he was from Idaho, President Porter just looked in his eyes, and with a serious as could be tone asked, They have testimonies in Idaho? Then just started laughing. He is a really good one. He's got some good plans and a good vision. It'll be way neat to see things unfold.

It's amazing how much you can learn while your on a mission. I feel like I've gotten so much knowledge and so much closer to Heavenly Father than I ever have been. It's been a really neat experience thus far and I can't wait until I have many more experiences and can look back and reflect on them. It's been wonderful to be here and I'm super excited for the next 19 months of being here.

One Amazing Week

Our week was amazing. And it ended perfectly yesterday. Couldn't have asked for anything more. We were blessed to have 5 investigators at Church. Margaret and Tessa showed up. Bishops wife took to them straightway once they got there. And Tessa went to YW and loved it.

Amelia and her daughters came. Her daughters went to primary and they loved that. And Lauryn came also. What an amazing Sunday. Well, first we taught Amelia the Plan of Salvation on Thursday and committed them to baptism and the accepted! (July 26). So on Sunday it was my turn to teach our Gospel Principles class. So I taught a 2nd (Plan of Salvation) again. To review and keep things fresh. We had 12 people in there. One was a recent convert. Two were investigators and the rest were me, Dixon, class pres and fellowship! So it was just awesome to have so many people.

When I got to the kingdoms and was explaining the Telestial Kingdom, Amelia said I know I don't want to go there! haha It was so awesome to hear her say that. Her daughters said it on Thursday when we taught then, But they said Oh We want to go live with God! We were so happy! So you could imagine how happy we were after class.

Well after that we went and taught the Primary our Mission song, Harvest. Because we are going to put on a missionary fireside where we have a slideshow of all the returned missionaries in our ward and music and stuff like that. We'll have speakers and some music items and one is the primary singing that song. It'll be cool. So that took up the last of our Sunday. It was a good thing we didn't have any male investigators or else we would've needed to be with them. But after that Margaret asked if we could give her a blessing because she has a lot of stuff to deal with and she's nervous and wants help.... So good! We were so happy.

Bishop gave her a blessing and it was awesome. Her asking for a blessing eliminated all our doubts about them being baptized on time. They are going to be baptized. It'll go through. So it was a great end to a really good week. Many other good things happened this week that I don't have time to tell you about. But it was really good! It's amazing to see people accept the gospel and see it make changes in their lives. With Amelia, after the first time we taught them we came back and she said her dad had noticed a change. A big change. It had only been 4 days. It's incredible. Some people are just so ready. Some people, it takes a while. But that's okay.

The Church is true. It's an amazing concept that all we have to do is be obedient and we'll be saved.

This week has been really pretty good! We had our last ZC with President Cook, it was amazingly good! I learned so much stuff from it! We have continued to be blessed. We met with Lauryn and Dwight and things are going really well for them. They decided that she'd be baptized the same day they get married! So the 19th! She's the one who I was talking about last week.

Dwight went to oz for the week so Lauryn is at home with the girls all week. We went to see them yesterday.. It was an amazing experience. Dwight had called from oz and asked Lauryn to call us to dedicate their house. She felt weird doing that but for some reason we always just show up to their house at the appropriate times.. Well turned out that she wanted me to do it. I've never done it before so I checked the white handbook to see what it says the order is. It's just a prayer. Nothing fancy or anything like that. So I was still way nervous considering the family and their circumstances. So I said a quick prayer for help before I started. It was amazing. I just started and from then on I can't remember me even think of what to say. All I remember is beginning it and closing it. That's all I remember that I said on my own will. Everything else was just filled in by the Spirit. It was an awesome thing I've never felt before. It didn't even feel as if I was talking. So that was really neat.

We had a new investigator show up to church too. We also had Tracy (L.A.) there too. We ended up teaching an amazing lesson that was just filled with the spirit. It was really neat. We went and taught a lesson with Bro. Hirinuki to a lady who we found by a street contact. What an awesome lesson that was too! She has 2 daughters also. As we began teaching I just got a really good feeling within 5 minutes of us being there that they'd be baptized! I found out later that Elder Dixon also had that same thought around the same time! We are gonna try to set them for baptism this Thursday! But other than that things are going really well.

Elder Dixon and I are getting along really well and really things couldn't be better. We had a really funny guy that showed us his lawn mower and it was like he was trying to sell it to us. It was really funny. It got it out and did a couple of passes on his lawn and then showed us a "really nice feature" (brian reagan) on it haha. There are heaps of other funny stories that I could just go on about. But I don't have the time. But I hope everything goes really well during this week and that everyone will be safe and all that good stuff.


Love
Elder Davenport
When you get to the bottom of the rope, tie a knot and hold on

Obedience With Exactness

... Well the week... It was amazing! Elder Dixon and I have been trying really hard to be obedient with exactness because we know that doing that will bring blessings. Man I can't express how true it is. The Lord has blessed us so much this week.

...But in focusing on that this week we were able to find 8 new investigators. Margaret and Tessa Hall, (set for July 26th), are still doing really good. They are progressing well. We've taught them the big hic-up lessons. Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity and the 10 Commandments. We felt if they were going to back down than it'd be sometime during those lessons. They were amazing through them. Committed to all of it. They are such a good example to me.

...We had an amazing night last night. We had a lesson with the Halls, Elder Roberts (area 70) and his wife came to be fellowship. We were teaching L.O.C. They were amazing fellowship for that lesson. Strong spirit. They gave the perfect input when needed. Elder Roberts is such and example. When we called to see if they could come with us he was like one second.. "Honey the missionaries want us to go with them to a lesson tomorrow, is that okay?" haha it was so awesome. When we heard that Elder Dixon and I looked at eachother and were just like... This guy's the man. He's so humble and just an amazing man! His wife can sure cook too!

After the lesson we all went to a musical fireside. President Condie was speaking. He was very good. It was a very good spiritual upliftment..

The sisters were working with a guy who just got out of jail and is waiting for parole. He's been taught everything, wants to be baptized, we just have to wait to find out the dates of his trials and probation to set him. Oh yea. He moved into our ward. So now he's our investigator.

Later that same day we went to visit a L/A, P/M family. The male is a member, his partner isn't, and they have 3 children who have been blessed but not baptized. The partner has been going to church for 10 years but just hasn't been baptized yet. She said that she just hasn't felt right about being baptized. But when went to visit them, in the first 5 minutes of us being there, they told us. "Elders we want to get married, I want to be baptized and we want to be sealed in the temple." You could imagine that our faces just lit up. We were so excited and happy. The male went on to tell us his experiences he's had in the past and why he wants to come back to church. It made me realize that the church is so true because there is nothing in the world that could make somebody totally change their lives from doing way bad things because they realized they weren't truly happy. It was amazing. The Lord has truly blessed us for our obedience and we are going to continue to try to be obedient with exactness because it has been evident to us this week.

Elder Dixon and I get along so well. There's no hitch's and things just flow. I have learned so much from him and I"m just so grateful for him. I taught my first lesson where I totally felt that I relied on the Spirit then just my own knowledge. That was awesome. It's hard though. After I did it I was amazed and thought, wow this is easy. But at the next house, I bombed. It made me realize that I can't just expect the spirit to teach. I have to qualify and do my part for each time I'm teaching.

...Oh yea, I got some funny stories. Well many funny stories about Elder Dixon and I. But the funniest is that people we talk to think he's from America and they think I'm a kiwi. That's probably the funniest thing. I catch myself saying stuff the kiwi way occasionally. It's quite funny.
But I hope all is going well. I pray for you guys and all that good stuff. I love you so much.
Elder Davenport

New companion!

My new companion is from Ozzi (Australia). He's from the Sunshine Coast! He's been out only 12 weeks longer then me and it's awesome! He served near Elder Jones too! Things are just going really great. We get along really well and I'm going to learn so much from him. We have set 2 more people to be baptised on the 26th of July. Margaret and Tessa Hall. Mother and daughter. They are absolutely amazing! It's really neat to see people change and progress. We spoke in sacrament yesterday. Elder Dixon and I and Bro. Skeen (ward mission leader). It was way cool. The other week in sacrament was really cool. Keith, the kid I baptised, passed the sacrament to me! It was so neat to get the sacrament from a kid that I baptised!


I'm doing really well. I haven't gotten sick since that time I had the flu and I'm surviving. It feels like an Idaho fall here. It's perfect autum football weather. It's really funny because Elder Dixon is always bundled up in heaps of clothes trying to stay warm. Oh yea, after I gave my talk one of the members said I don't sound American. And with the help of Elder Dixon I think that might progress quicker.


But anyways. Time is almost up. We got here late again. But that's alright. I love you all so much and I'm glad I'm here. The time is flying by! I know the church is true and every blessing is obtainable if we try.
Elder Davenport
The chains of a habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken

A Visit to Hamilton June 1, 2008

Hey I don't have much time. We had flat (apartment) inspections today and that went really well but it took a lot of time. All is going really well. We've set 2 for baptism and there are 7 others who we are gonna try to set in the next 2 weeks. The temple was awesome! I am gonna send some pictures. I love you all. The Church is true and I'm glad I'm here!

Elder Davenport's district went to the New Zealand Temple this past week.

Moving Forward May25, 2008

So to tell you about the week. We had our trade-off and that went really well. It was a preview of what it'll be like for me at transfers since I'll be holding the area. It was really good we found 2 new investigators that are really good and we've taught since and it went really well. It was just a good day.

Friday during our weekly planning our water broke. (no we aren't pregnant) Since we live in a basement flat our water drains by pump. That broke and now we don't have water. Our sink, toilet, and our shower doesnt' work. So we've stayed at Pinati's flat for the past 3 nights. Man I haven't slept so horrible for a really long time. Him and Auapaau snore really bad. And their flat is just really cold too so that doesn't help much either.

We had a Luau on Saturday which included some talents by some islanders and then a chapel tour and then a feed. It was really good. We didn't have any of our investigators show up but it was still really good. It was a stake thing so there were a lot of people still. The baptism went really well and there was some good ward support and it was just really good.

On Sunday we had two of our investigators come to church and Kukama tought the Gospel Principles class with the mum while I taught Primary because the daughter wanted to go to primary. We also had an awesome fireside! We sang from "Greater Than Us All" I'm pretty sure it's by Kenneth Cope. But it was really good. It was a missionary fireside, and the sisters organized it and all and it was really good. We all sang and there was a projector that was doing a slide-show of pictures of Christ. It was really powerful. The same investigators that came to church came to listen to the fireside. They were both crying at the end of the night with the last song and the pictures. Called He Comes/Alleluia. Frankly I can't blame them for crying cuz I was trying very hard not to. But it was a really good week and we taught a lot and we have people that are getting really close to baptism. We are hoping to set 3 people for baptism this week and there are about 3-4 others who could be baptised in the next 2 months.

The work is booming here in our area. Its wonderful. You couldn't ask for a better ward either. They all just have the right attitude and are willing to help out in anyway they can. On Sunday's we're starting something nice. We are gonna do a trade-off for 2 hours with the ward members so we can see more people. It'll be sweet!

But the work is awesome and it's just so right! I know it is and the people can feel of the Spirit through us. I think that's the coolest thing. That they are feeling His love through me. Crazy. It's such an awesome feeling to see people progress and change!

Growing....

We had a really great week. It was long too so it meant we were working mucho. We found a family to teach that is really keen and we went to their house fairly late in the evening assuming we'd just set a time up to go visit another night but they accepted us just like any member would. They were all, "oh come in have a seat and we'll get some drink and we can talk." We just looked at each other like oh sweet as man! We taught them basically what missionaries are and all our background and everything about a mission and some about the Book of Mormon and it went really well. So they are a family of 5 and so it'll be really neat to see what happens with them.

We had a pretty neat experience yesterday too. We were up the peninsula going to contact a referral and we were riding by a farmer's house. They usually aren't home so that was why we dropped them. When we rode by there were about 10 cars there, so we decided to stop really quick to say hi since they are never home. Well it was the lady's birthday and they just got done eating and stuff and they ended up inviting us in for food so we ate and talked with everyone and there were like 16 people there and we ended up giving away a Book of Mormon and it was just really neat. We then went to the address of the referral and it was a ref from a member and he gave us an address and after talking with the guy we found out it was a wrong address and he said to try next door. So we did and we found out that it was still not the right person but they were interested and so we'll be going back to teach that family as well!
This transfer is going to be making me grow up really quick. We had our interviews with Pres. Cook and when kukama was in he basically told him that he was leaving at transfer and that I'd be holding the area. Kinda scary but it won't be to bad. The work is booming and there's always people to see and the ward is really good too. I'm going to be on a trade-off this Wednesday with Elder Aauppaau. He's from Samoa and doesn't really understand much English so it'll be interesting to see how it goes. He's just gotten here this last transfer and he's in the samoan program so it'll be his first trade-off and my first trade-off in my area. Kinda nervous about that too. But it'll all be good.

Well that's basically an update about what's going on and this past week! The work is amazing and I know its so true and that the Lord is so involved with what happens with it. I know this is the true church of Christ and that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and that it'll help us with any problem we have. I love you all so much

A Trip to the Beach

Elder Davenport's district went to the beach last P-day. Had fun, but Michael got sick on "a rotten feijoa". A feijoa is a fruit that has a pulpy center. From Wikipedia: "The fruit (of the feijoa) matures in autumn and is green, ellipsoid-shaped and the size of a chicken egg. It has a sweet, aromatic flavor. The flesh is juicy and is divided into a clear jelly-like seed pulp and a firmer, slightly gritty opaque flesh nearer the skin. The fruit drops when ripe, but can be picked from the tree prior to the drop to prevent bruising. This plant is monotypic in its genus. Like the closely-related guava, the fruit pulp has a gritty texture which is utilized in some natural cosmetic products as an exfoliant. Feijoa fruit have a distinctive smell. "

Then he got the flu.

He is loving his mission and is working hard.

Now, isn't this Michael we all know and love?

A Wonderful Day for Elder Davenport

Keith wanted me to baptize him ... AND I DID!!! It was amazing. All three baptisms in one day and we had more people at the baptism including non-members than we do at church! The spirit was so strong after the baptism.. IT was amazing. I knew I did right!
So then I was asked to do a baby blessing! WOW! What a Sunday! We had 3 confirmations (which I stood in on all of them) and 2 baby blessings. I did the one for Mose (2) and Kukama did the other for Auro (9 months) and to top it all off it was fast Sunday and Eliza bore her's and it was amazing. And to top it off more, Pres and Sis Cook were there and also Elder Roberts.. Interesting story about him and his wife.. Look in the March Ensign the one all about Christ, the very last page of the magazine. Written by Christine Roberts, New Zealand! She's in my ward! and Elder Roberts (formally brother, before conference, he was called to be an area 70)@!! so they were all there and they both bore their testimonies! What a great day.
Since Thursday morning I've felt so much better about everything. About being here ... I've found out that that is what needs to happen and it's what I want now!

Our Teaching Pool

Eliza, Keith and Michelle:
They are on schedule to be baptized this Saturday the 19th! They are such a tight group of siblings.. They are cool. Michelle and I had an ice cream eating contest the other day.. I won.. Well Kukama and I won. We went and bought 2, 2 litter tubs of ice cream and just ate.. I got about 1/2 way through mine and she was about 1/4 through and Eliza and Keith jumped in.. So Kukama grabbed a spoon and finished off mine.. We got done and they still had about 1 litter left.. After that we went to a feed and had heaps of food and ice cream and we had an appointment after that but luckily they weren't home and so we went home and relieved our stomachs for the rest of the night.. We got So sick haha.. it was fun though.
Tana and Cheryl:


We haven't had a lesson with them for about 3 weeks. Tana got sick and than since then his g-ma is dying so we haven't taught them but we've taken them cookies and called them and invited him to play basketball and stuff. Its sad too because we were planning on teaching them the plan of salvation next and so it's perfect for what's going on but we just cant get in to teach.. They are doing there reading though and she's told us many times that they aren't trying to avoid us but they've just been super busy.
Alana and Waiora:
She was taught a lot before I got here and then Waiora just sat at the couche playing xbox and not being apart of lessons but still listening.. He one day decided that he want's to listen and do stuff.. he's way keen.. They are both understanding and everything. Alana has a smoking issue that she's been trying to cess out for a while now and she's doing fairly well.. We had a lesson yesterday and Anthony and Vai came with us because they had to quit drinking and smoking also.. That went really well..
Those are basically the people who we are teaching that are doing well.. Everyone else just kind of has something that holds them back.

It's been raining all day today. It rains kind of hard and then it pours harder than I've ever seen in my life for about 5 minutes and then it slows down. Than it just pours like crazy. But it's a pretty nice rain. Its not cold but it's not really refreshing either. It gets really cold during the night and I sleep under the window and so I had to switch ends of the bed so I didnt freeze my face off.
Thanks for all of your letters of support it's been so nice to read them. Most of them I can't read with out tearing up some. I know you guys care about me and love me.
I have come to known from doing the work and persevering that I had only a lack of faith at the time. I know that I do have faith and all that. It's just a matter of applying it I guess.

Talofa

Talofa is tongan for hello..
Sounds like things are going pretty well there..
We had our wedding and baptism on the 29th. It was really neat. Kukama baptized her and gave a talk at her wedding. I got to say the prayer at the end of the baptism. All the investigators we invited forgot that it was all on Saturday, they thought it was on Sunday. He confirmed her yesterday too.
Something else that is pretty exciting, we set 3 people with dates to be baptized! Eliza (15 year old girl) her brother Keith (11) and her sister Michelle (10). They've been going to church for like 2 years and have listened to discussions and everything. Eliza actually gave a talk yesterday in sacrament. She had to ask Bishop Fitisemanu if it was ok if a non member gave a talk in sac. meeting. And when she did that we all found out she wasn't a member. She's an amazing girl who knows all of what she is supposed to know and more before baptism. And she does a great job of keeping her siblings involved and they are all ready. That'll happen on the 19th!

A Letter from President Cook

Elder Davenport's mission president wrote and sent a couple of pictures. He said, "I was impressed by his testimony and enthusiasm. He is a credit to his parents and we appreciate the privilege of having him here in the mission." He went on to add that Elder Cunningham, Michael's trainer, "is an excellent missionary who will set a good example and help your son adjust to mission life...I am confident they will labor diligently together to carry out the will of the Lord and that the Lord will bless them in accordance with their faithfulness."

Elder Nofoa, settling in.....

Nofoa translates to sofa, couch, davenport. So, our letters come from Elder Nofoa.

He was able to send pictures this week.

Here he is, on what I think is "One Tree Hill" where they took the Elders the first day.



In our Hawaiian ties the night before going to our assignments.


From his letter:

"Hello everyone in poky! How is everything going? Things are going pretty well here! Oh we had Zone Conference yesterday and it was good but our P-Day is switched to Monday now...We changed it to Monday because this way we can spirtually build and prepare to get investigators to church on Sunday's instead of having 2 days than a huge spiritual break/block and then 3 more days to prep. This way we'll get a whole 6 days to get ready for Sunday. President Cook is awesome. He even did a touchdown dance in the middle of zone conf."

" We had a ward baptism on Mon and our investigator who is getting baptized on the 29 was there and it was way neat! ...Tana and Cheryl are in that boat. They are partners but non members but they are engaged and have been for about a year and a half. They are progressing in the lessons very well. Keeping reading commitments and doing what they need to. We haven't gotten them to church yet but they will most likely come this week. They are such a cool couple. They brought us cupcakes and chocolates on Sunday before church. And they are really grasping what we teach and we feel that once we commit them to baptism (this Friday) and tell them that in order to do that they need to get married first, they will jump on it and get the wedding done so they can be baptized!!!

(Elder Cunningham, Elder D's companion)

"We are teaching some other people too. They are all doing pretty well. Most everyone else is in the beginning stages. We find a lot of people when we street contact. We have a daily goal of talking to 10 people a day. People walking on the street or stading in q, or just any unplanned visit we make. So we have a pretty full teaching pool and finding pool so it works out nice."The other day we were in a shop getting water and we talked to this guy and he said we could come and talk and so we got his info and everything. Well we went to "his house" and nobody by the name he'd given us lived there but the guy let us in anyway and we were able to watch the Lamb Of God with him.. WOW! It was crazy good! We found a new investigator on accident! It's something to think about but maybe the spirit prompted that guy at the shop to give the wrong address so we'd find this new guy."
"love you all and it's wonderful here.. been hard and difficult but oh well.. enjoy the pictures!"

Elder Davenport

The fern in our back yard.

Elder Davenport's First Assignment

Michael's email came this afternoon. He answered a bunch of questions his mom had asked.

What food do you eat? Heaps of new food! They have Mcdonalds and B.K. and Subway and stuff like that but they also have heaps of takeaways (drive-ins but more like walk-ins) with different types of food. But it's usually great food. They have a thing called Kumara (coo ma ra) which is like a sweet potato and it's really good. Probably my favorite so far. Other than that the food is basically the same. We've had pizza and stuff that is fairly American, it all has a different taste but it's way good.

How big is your area? It's the Henderson Stake. But we are over the Lincoln Ward which covers Lincoln, Te Atatu (ta ata two) South and the Te Atatu Penninsula.. so it's a pretty big area our address is 10 Takapu road Henderson.. check it out on google earth but don't send stuff there.

How are the missionary lessons going? Are you teaching any particular people or mostly tracting? Lessons are going great, we are teaching heeps of people. We haven't tracted once yet. We always have appointments and so your just going from lesson to lesson all the time. The other day we had appointments at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. so it was really nice. We are teaching a couple right now that are progressing and it's so sweet (Tona and Cheryl) they are such a cute couple and we feel they are going to get baptized in April sometime.. Probably late April.

Oh, Elder Nofoa is my Samoan name. It means couch or sofa because that's what a davenport is. So basically NZ is sweet! Theres so many people in our area that aren't members and our ward is awesome and they are super nice in helping out with us. The area (one ward boundary) we cover is so big and so populated that I feel it could totally make another stake if they were all members.

When we flew in it was very dark but the sun was coming up and it was so beautiful and I thought we were over the ocean and I kept looking to see it but I couldn't. It's because the whole world was covered in clouds and it looked so sweet because it was just a huge blanket of pure white and it was sweet. Then we cut through them and it was just beautiful green islands for as far as you could see. The parks here are so green. It's intense. But the parks don't have any sprinkler systems. So that just shows how humid and how much rain that they get here!

It's amazing how much you grow here while you're out. I feel I've learned so much. And teaching by the spirit is definatley a big deal. If you don't have it than you are waisting time. I've done that already. I let my mind wander a little on the first couple days and it wasn't pretty when it got to be my turn to teach. But I've learned how important it is to listen with love to the investigators and always be paying attention to the spirit.

But all is well here and it's just an amazing work and I've learned and grown so much.

I love you all so much and thanks for everything you have ever done for me!

Elder Nofoa (Davenport)

Finally in New Zealand

Today, Elder Davenport arrived in New Zealand. His email to us was very brief.

He wrote:

"Well the flight was long and no fun.. but oh well.. I'm here and all is well.. We are just setting up everything and I get to go take a nap for a couple hours too! Love ya!"

Then he sent another one:
"Hey sorry I sent the last email on the wrong computer.. and the Sister told me to just do it from there but it sent it from the office building.. but ya so my email is the same as it has been..

Peggy also got an email from Elder Jones mother, which included information from Sister MacKay in Auckland:

Sister Jones,

By now he has met President and Sister Cook at the airport and is enroute, with the other missionaries, to a NZ landmark called "One Tree Hill". It is a beautiful location where he will be able to look out as far as the eye can see and realize how vast the North Shore of New Zealand is. It is a sacred Maori landmark which used to have a huge Kauri tree growing a top. Several years ago vandals cut the tree down, but could not marr the beauty of the "hill".

After visiting "One Tree Hill" they will be here in the office - that should be in about an hour or so. They will interview with the President, be processed by our office staff, open his bank account and will be able to email home to tell you he has arrived.

There is always a table loaded with beautiful fruit, juice and muffins:)

Please don't hesitate to email me when you have any questions,

Sister Mackay

Looks like the Elders are loved and looked after.

Another Week

Elder Davenport is doing very well. He sent pictures of his district and the Provo Temple. I tried to scan them in, but they came in too blurry and big to post. I will try again to post them.

Elder D's blog

This blog was started and is maintained by Elder D's parents. We intend to post information about Elder D's mission and also add exerpts from his letters and email. This way you will be able to keep up to date with his service.

Hopefully, he will be too busy to ever visit this site until he gets home in two years. Don't let that deter you from adding comments to this blog.

I will add his postal address so you can write him if you wish.

Day at the MTC

Just to go back in time... February 20, 2008 was the day that we dropped Elder Davenport off at the MTC in Provo. It was a wonderful/awful experience.



He looked so missionary in his black, pin-striped suit. As he went into the Missionaries Only door and we entered the Family door, we watched his encounter with the senior service sister. Out came the Black Name Tag and then upon it, she placed a red dot sticker.



Then we got him again, for a while, to ourselves.

Mom cried! Dad cried! We knew that our time was short.




But Emily knew all would be okay!










We love our Elder Davenport. What a great missionary he will be.

email that came Feb 28

Hello everyone!! So I can email right now.. But not much I only get 30 minutes! haha I'm doing my laundry right now! The machines are kinda weird.. okay really weird.. But things are going so great! We went to the temple today too! I sent ya'll a letter this morning and so you should get it sometime soon! But it's crazy cuz I kinda have a north carolinaian accent and a hawaiian accent too! haha silly i know but it's all good! my district is so fun and the guys are so great! we get along so well! i know i tell ya'll that so much but it's true its;' something that helps imensley.. thanks for raising me so good and teaching me how to do stuff.. elder jones didnt really know how to write addresses on an envelope or in an address book and just little stuff like that but its all good cuz we get along well! well i'd better go
love you all
Elder Davenport!