Airborn in New Zealand

First of all thank you for all your love and support..!!! I've definitely been able to feel the love the past couple of days!

We spoke in church yesterday.. again. I have now spoke in this ward 4 times. That's the same amount as all my other wards combined. Haha. Sometimes they are short so we get to speak. But that's okay because I am really starting to like speaking in sacrament. So it's all good.

The week was pretty good. We taught a lot of lessons. We also gave some service. One of our investigators (Wawi) had a stroke just before Christmas. We went and visited her in hospital the other week and she asked us to mow her lawn. So we went out on Saturday to mow. We both had our own mower and it took us 2 hours to finish. It was so long. But it was so worth it because she was amazingly out of hospital for the day that we went and did it. She had all her friends over to visit and when she saw us she just was so excited and kept saying my church friends are mowing my lawn! It made me feel so good.

Well I've got to go now but I hope things will keep going well! I love you all and pray for you daily! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!

New Mission Address and Birthday Baptism

The mission office has moved. Please check the new address at the right.

There was a baptism on Michael's birthday.


The baptism was amazing. She's such a member. She fits in so well and it's just awesome. At the confirmation she was crying. It was just a wonderful present. We sang at the baptism, Elder Bridge and I. I took my mp3 player to record us, after we sang everyone told us how good we did. So we felt pretty good. When we got back to our flat we listened to it and just cringed. haha. We sounded gross. So then later at a surprise b-day dinner we asked a member who's really honest with us how she thought we sounded. She told us not to sing again by ourselves in front of a group hahahaha.. So yea. It felt good though.

Dani told us that she wants to be baptised without Adam knowing. We were quit surprised that she said that. But she has no action and really no intent on stopping smoking and drinking. Because when she went to Tarinaki she started again. So we are really confused about what to do with her. Last night we had a lesson and we just boldy told her what her choices were and what the consequence would be of each one. It was a very spiritually filled lesson. But we feel that she could at some stage make the right choice. .

There's a member family in Opotiki called the Fermanis family. They are an awesome family. I wish we could be down there more to spend more time but it's really hard. Anyways they have a garden with corn. The other day we got to be the first ones to eat their corn. It was so good. I haven't had it on the cob in ages...

But yea. So not much happened the rest of the week.. Oh yea I forgot, we had Zone Conference It was so good. For some reason it always seems to be centered around me and how I can be better. There's so much that President could do but somehow it's always around me and my needs. I can definitely tell that he is inspired from on high to help. It's awesome.

Oh and I got all my letters from December. For some reason they were sent to the address of where a couple missionary used to flat about a year ago. So all my December mail I got just yesterday. haha. It was really nice to get! But now I have about 12 letters that I am going to attempt to write today. haha.

But things are going sweet. I'm really enjoying my time here. I'm learning so much. I'm starting a more in depth study of the doctrine of the lessons and that's going really well. Also I'm reading a chapter a day from the B O M and that's going really well. It's just such a blessing!

I love you all and hope for the best!

Love Elder Davenport

Update

We finally got Koreen to tell us who she wants to baptise her. Elder Bridge is going to do the honors as well as confirm her. I was hoping I'd get to but that's okay. As long as it happens. And it'll be really good for him to do it anyways. For himself and things he's going through. But she's just blossomed. She understands everything so well and she's just completely ready for it all!

Ros and Elly didn't come to church this week gone. =( They went to another church instead but we visited with Ros after church yesterday and sorted some things out with her and helped her understand and things are looking up again! They have had a lot of things going on and it's just been hard to teach them. But it'll all be good this week!

We are probably going to be dropping Vicky this week. She has missed like 5 appointments for no reason and she's moving to Aus in mid Feb and she's allready packed all her stuff. Including her B of M. So at least she's taking it along but she won't read it here.. haha.. No, not haha.. sad..

Francis is still smoking and stuff. She hasn't been to church yet. But she's still reading and praying. She said she is getting more comfortable with it all and that's a good thing. She prays when she wants to smoke and she said that helps her. So she's going slowly..

Hailey and Haze are doing really well. I"m not sure if I've told about them yet. Haze is less active and has been since his dad died about 4 years ago. His partner Hailey is not a member. We started visiting them and then we've taught them the Resto and the Plan. After the Resto we gave them the commitment to read and pray together. They did it! He hasn't prayed since dad died. It was sweet. They said they felt good. We taught them the Plan this last week and it was soo good!!! The spirit was definitely there and you could tell that it was testifying to them the truth. I was teaching the Atonement and then I just had this thought. HMMM... and I'm sure you can guess what came out of my mouth next.. Ian. It was really good though because Haze could relate. He shared an experience with us similar to that that he had with his dad. It was so good. The spirit just was amazing in the room that moment. But it helped them understand and it helped me to cry... haha.. As always. But oh well. Lets them know the sincerity..

That's really all we have that's going well. We are looking to do some more work in different areas that surround us. Matata, Poroporo, Opotiki, Waimana, Taneatua, Edgecumbe and some others. The area is massive and we've been very focused on just Whakatane and Kawerau so we need to spread ourselves out.

Opotiki

Well this week has definately been a really good one! Many blessings were given to me! First we had a very hectic P-day trying to get things sorted and stuff for the transfer. It was a very busy one. I wrote many letters.. haha.. I still got about 8 to write today.. But then on Tuesday we had our last district meeting and it was pretty good. We then started a trade-off back here in Whakatane. I was with Elder Manscill and we went to Kawerau and just rocked it. We had a sweet day there. Many good lessons were taught. Then we carried on the trade-off until about 2 on Wednesday. We went to a wedding of one of our L/A's and that was fun.. On Thursday not much happened.. haha.. I"m still in Whakatane!!!! Elder Bridge has.... stayed with me.. Crazy.. We'll be together for 4 1/2 months... Friday we had a really good planning session for the week. Saturday was an awesome day as well as Sunday.. We set Koreen for baptism on Sat. We set her for 17th of Jan! Coool eh? hahah! I was so excited. I asked her if she'd prepare herself to be baptised on the 17th and she just got the biggest grin and said yes with no hesitation. Minus her smile.. haha.. It was sweet. On Sunday we had 3 investigators at church! Koreen came of course but also Ros and Elly came too. It was sweet. They called Sat night to ask what time church was. They stayed for the whole block and loved it. I taught the Gospel Principles class and it was a very simple and basic lesson about Heavenly Father, Elly was in tears. It was awesome. We visited them after church and they were just so happy. They asked where they could get the quad scriptures from and they are going to order some for themselves and yea.. just awesome!!! so wonderful!!!!!!!!!!

We are really excited for this upcoming transfer.. So excited. Things are going really well. Francis is just nearly there. We've been having really good lessons with her lately and it's just been so spirit filled. Dani will be coming home on this upcoming Sunday. We haven't gotten to call her since she lives out of the mission right now. But we've gotten updates from Alisha. Dani's starting to get annoyed by Adam.. So that's a really big plus for us. And everyone who wants her to be baptised!


The picture that I sent is one from our trip down to Te Kaha. It's taken about 30 minutes outside Opotiki. I dont' remember the little towns name. But it was beautiful!

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