MILES, MILES, MILES!

Weekly Report: Miles
Miles Given Originally: 1350 miles
Miles Cape Cod Thought They Had: 1200 miles
Miles They Now Have So The Brewster Sisters Can Survive: 1300 miles
Current Milage as of Last Monday: ~1000 miles
Days Left In The Month As Of Last Monday: 10 days
Promise Given By The Avon Sisters: “If you stay under miles this month, as a representative of Jesus Christ, I promise that you will find an investigator ready for Baptism”

MONDAY
Challenges: Shopping, Fun P-Day activities, emailing
Report: We did our laundry in the morning very quickly and emailed in record time. When we came out of the library, it was POURING like nobody’s business! We walked 200 feet to our car and were pretty soaked by that time. We then drove a short distance to Troy’s house and he gave us a ride to Stop and Shop. Also keep in mind that our MSF funds are low, and Stop and Shop is the most expensive supermarket I have ever seen…We grabbed some groceries, only paid about $15 bucks a piece and headed back. The rain stopped after we got home and we went to go see the Nobska Lighthouse in Wood’s hole. We biked there and on the way, there was a HUGE puddle that we blazed through on the way back and it was deep, and water splashed everywhere and I felt like I was boating or something! That evening, we had a lesson with Tashanna. We were able to go over and teach her about God and how He loves us, and that because He loves us, He has restored His Gospel on the earth. We taught about Priesthood Authority, and we hope they understood, but we are planning on having another lesson with her today! After Tashanna, we drove to the church and picked up a lovely dinner from Sister Bassett. It was so good!
Miles driven: ~25

TUESDAY
Challenges: Serving Barbara, Dinner at the Emersons
Report: Tuesday morning we had a Web-ex and they talked about morning study and how it starts in the evening. That really shaped my planning at night. Having the idea that what you do in the morning begins with effective evening planning. They also talked about how it is easier to get up if you know what you are going to do and have a vision of your day. That helped a lot! After the Web-ex, we biked out to Barbara’s house by the Falmouth-Mashpee line, which is about 8 miles. It usually takes 45 minutes of pretty solid biking, but Elder Jacobson seemed like he was taking forever! He was moving super slow and I had no idea what was happening, so eventually I let him lead, and we got there in probably over an hour. We trimmed her bushes and helped her save bugs floating in her pool for about half an hour and then started back. Again, Elder Jacobson was biking SUPER SLOW. What was up?? We got home, relaxed for a minute, and started biking again to the church. AGAIN, Elder Jacobson seemed to be taking forever. Not the regular pace. It was the weirdest thing…we finally got up to the church and had an awesome dinner with the Emersons (Chicken Curry, actually the first time I had tried curry) and left them with a commitment to have family prayer and scripture study. We got back to the church, and once we got on the bike path, Elder Jacobson got off his bike and checked his back wheel because he thought he heard something. He brought his wheel up, spinned it, and it almost immediately stopped. Turns out, his brake had been engaged THE ENTIRE DAY! He had been biking with his brakes on for almost 27 miles! Suffice it to say, he had buffed calves after that.
Miles driven: 0
Miles biked: ~34

WEDNESDAY
Challenges: U-Haul
We had to drive to Hyannis to get a hitch on our car to get a bike rack, so we sacrificed a TON of miles, which really stunk, but now we have a bike rack.
Miles driven: ~50

THURSDAY
Challenges: Stake Priesthood Meeting with Martha’s Vineyard, Dinner at the Fosters
On Thursday morning, we got a text from Donna asking us to come early to shelve books. So we went and shelved for at least a couple hours. Afterwards, we went upstairs to the main area and typed up a program for the music night. Our ride for the Stake Priesthood Meeting bailed, so we didn’t go, but we had dinner at the Fosters and it was great. We got back and didn’t really have anything to do, so we had a really productive weekly planning session where we planned for 8 lessons and 4 new investigators, so it is really daunting, but we can do it!
Miles driven: 0
Miles biked: ~18

FRIDAY
Challenges: Branch Music Night, Dinner at the Wood’s, District Meeting
Friday was District Meeting, which was SWEET because Brother Hofhines came and did a training on tracting. He taught us the basics of body language and posture and then did personality training, which changed my view of tracting. Bull, Tiger, Owl , Lamb. The Bull is aggressive and is down to business, the Tiger is excited and talkative, the Owl is intellectual and asks for the details, and the Lamb is passive and doesn’t want to say no. You have to mirror the personality you come across. Elder Evans and I went on exchanges in Cape Cod. We tracted for a while, didn’t see a ton of success, and then Sister Wood picked us up for dinner. Larry Wood, her husband who isn’t a member, brought us around their property. He grew up there and it is on the end of a comb (tiny peninsula) and they have a sailboat and a cool view. They brought us to the music night, which was cool and lots of people performed, Brother Rosbach played the bagpipes, I played Spinning Song and met Jim Tuttle. It was a lot of fun! Troy gave us a ride afterwards and we had a blast!
Miles driven:~20

SATURDAY
Challenges: Scallop Festival, Return Elder Evans to Plymouth
So having Elder Evans here was a blast! In the morning, we got to serve at the Scallop Festival! It is held here on Cape and had lots of live music and vendors and beer and soder (soda, but that ain’t how they say it here) and scallops. We cycled people through to get their Scallop Dinners, even at 11 in the morning. We also directed people to the SUPER long line, told them they couldn’t cut, told people where to get tickets for the dinners, told people they couldn’t cut and had a lot of fun in the sun. Afterwards, Brother Rosbach, who had driven us there, drove us up by the Sagamore Bridge to Market Basket where we switched off with the other Elders and saw a Green KIA Soul. Long story short, if you are reading this, you’ll see a Green KIA Soul everyday for the rest of you life. And if you don’t, be sure to know it was there, you just weren’t looking hard enough 😉 That proved Elder Turley wrong for doubting and it was priceless! Brother Rosbach gave us a ride and once we got back, we realized we ha d to go back to the church, so we biked all the way there and got dinner from the Relief Society who was watching the General Women’s Broadcast. Yum 🙂
Miles driven: 0
Miles biked: ~18

SUNDAY
Challenges: Dinner at the Spearins, Church
Report: We got a ride from Troy to Church, and Branch Council was informative. Sunday was great as always! Brother Echo (Ecco?, spelling?) from the High Council and his son came to speak along as a youth speaker. They were both great and talked on marriage and family. After Sacrament Meeting, Elder Jacobson and I taught the Youth class about Commandments. We went over why they are important and what the commandments actually are. Priesthood was about going to the rescue for the One, and I really got the idea of not delaying going to the rescue. Sister Spearin had to cancel for dinner, which was hard for her, but she made my Mom’s taco soup recipe and left us with some to-go! It was a real blessing from home! We had the Linger Longer, and it was the best yet! There was tons of food and a lot of desserts left over from the Branch Music Night. Troy also gave us a ride home. After taking a little nap, we headed over to bring Brother Peters the sacrament and taught a little lesson on keeping the Sabbath-day holy. We knocked some doors in his complex and found little success. We biked up to Mario and Wendy Smith, and were able to talk to Mario. We told him about General Conference and about the Hartford Connecticut Temple Open House and he seemed excited about both, so we will be going to his home for the Saturday Afternoon Session! He is also from Florida and is a Seminoles fan, so I was able to connect to him through living in Florida. We tried to see Tyler, but met his dad instead. Even though he is a really big guy and a die hard Catholic, he was very nice and welcoming. We can’t wait to see Tyler this week! As we were leaving, the Spirit prompted us to go see the lady who told us we could come back on weekdays in the morning, so that didn’t make sense, but we went, and as we were walking, we saw a guy behind Richard Blake’s house, called out to him, and it was Richard! We talked to him for a bit and scheduled a return appointment for this week!
Miles driven: 0
Miles biked: ~20

Final Words: Suffice it to say, it was a busy week, but rewarding. Even with so many things in our way, we drove as few miles as possible. There are many things that are in our way, but through diligence and through Christ, we can overcome all.

With Power In Christ,
Elder Davis

***Mom Note: Richard Blake and Tashanna are two new investigators they are officially teaching this week. Matthew didn’t explain that clearly in the letter. He is also working on being humble and FIRST seeking to understand THEN seeking to be understood (credits to Stephen R. Covey, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”). Matthew has now been on his mission for 3 months. I got the feeling that somedays he is frustrated with working hard and running into bumps in the road. It is part of life and we have to learn to be flexible. I reminded him that now is a good time to make a list of what he feels he has learned and to set some goals for the next 3 months. I also asked him to invite Elder Jacobson to share from his perspective how Matthew has grown. Elder Jacobson has been on his mission for 15 months, so he has more experience and lot of perspective to draw from. Matthew said he and Elder Jacobson have complementary working styles and they work well together. They have 100 miles until Friday, September 30. 25 miles on average per day….I think they can meet their goal of staying within their allotment with a lot of biking and hopefully the brakes will not lock up! They have a large area and are quite challenged with transportation. I am thankful that the members helped them tremendously with rides and meals this week. What a blessing. Many thanks from a missionary mom!!