Snow, snow, snow!! We’ve got it all! Weirdly enough, it was about 57 degrees the day before a HUGE Nor’easter! Kinda crazy, but lots of fun this week!
On our way over there, we passed a Less Active’s house who Brother
Harris knew. We decided, with direction from the Spirit, that we
should stop by for a bit. We went over and he was home! His name is
Orlik, and we chit chatted for a while, but in the middle of it, he
got a phone call. After he got off, he apologized, but told us that he
had just found out that his friend had died of a staph infection. It
hadn’t hit him yet, and we could see that it hadn’t. We were pretty
surprised he was still ok, but big news takes a bit to hit. We had
just been talking about the temple and assured him that he could not
only do family names, but if he got permission from the family, he
could do the names of his friends. He was grateful and really seemed
like he had the potential to come back to church. Later in the
evening, we stopped by the lady we were intending to see and delivered
the Book of Mormon. That evening, we went out for a bit with Brother
Caudle, and even though we didn’t really see anyone, I don’t think our
time was wasted. We got the number of an investigator, met the
daughter of an investigator, and met a Jehovah’s Witness who knew
Brother Caudle’s mailman. We also gained member trust. Nothing is
wasted in missionary work if you do your very best.
Wednesday was beautiful outside! It was about 57 degrees and sunny! We
had lunch with Sister Knighton and talked about all of her ‘little
elders’ and where they are now! That evening, we met at the Twig and
Gigi had her baptismal interview. She passed! She will be baptized on
March 18th! It is so exciting and we can’t wait for it to happen. She
really loves the gospel and can’t wait to be baptized! Later we went
over to deliver a Bible to a lady named Francoise, but her husband
wasn’t home, so we left, and we’re pretty sure her husband pulled into
the driveway literally right after we got in the car. That has
happened so many times in Hartford, I can’t even number it. I’m not
sure why it happens, but I know God loves his children and he works
with each of them differently. We went back home and called people,
but then decided to go back out. We stopped by a media referral who
wasn’t home, but there was a guy walking home, so we talked to him,
and it turns out he is the media referral’s neighbor. His name is
Errol and was pretty cool. We weren’t sure what to do, so we headed
north, but got a text from the Sisters. They were sick and had been
inside all day. We went up to Bloomfield and met them in the common
room of the apartment building and gave them a blessing. It was
interesting. It was a cool experience to be able to speak blessings
that could come, and to not even realize that some of them, through
the coming days, would be words that I could look to as we stayed
inside and didn’t have a lot to do. The way you can know that you are
speaking by the Spirit is when you learn from what you say. It’s
pretty amazing and I love it. It was a cool experience, and even
though they were pretty sick, they still had positive spirits!
Thursday was crazy snowy. It was weird to see it so crazy the day
after it had been gorgeous outside, but it was. We got about a foot of
snow over the course of the day, so we were stuck inside. For the
morning, we mostly cleaned and made some calls, but it was tough on
both of us. We also moved our desks around, to which we love right
now! We basically canceled all of our appointments, but in the
evening, we decided to still go out to our dinner appointment with the
Hernandez Family. Elder McIntyre really wanted to go see them, so we
decided to walk it out. The Nor’easter had calmed down, and it was
dark outside, so it was pretty cold, but the only thing on us that was
cold was our faces! We stayed pretty dang warm, but the snow was
insane. Weirdly enough, I just wore my HushPuppy waterproof shoes and
at that point, they were actually better than my boots. I guess they
weren’t as tough around the ankles, but I lived and didn’t soak my
socks, so that’s good! They were kind of dumbfounded that we had
walked all the way over to the edge of Hartford and West Hartford to
come see them, but it wasn’t bad for us. We chilled with Lou for a
bit, talked about his plantar fasciitis and the fact the warranty on
his body is starting to expire! He had elbow problems the last time we
were over, so he is just hurting somewhere all the time. Dinner was
great as always, and then we were able to share the message about
Rubik’s Cubes and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was cool and I
learned as we taught that the scriptures are the key to happiness. As
we read them and apply what we learn, we live like Christ and live the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love the Hernandez Family! They are the
best and even though sometimes it is tough on Lou since he has his
beliefs, we still love him!
The standout for Friday was in the morning. We were scheduling, but
there was one appointment that we couldn’t reschedule with: Errol. We
didn’t have his number and we didn’t want to not show up, so we were
stuck. We were getting frustrated when Elder McIntyre got a call. It
was Errol!!!!!!!! He called the number we gave him and he said he
wasn’t going to be able to make it to our appointment!! It was amazing
and a testimony to me that God watches over us, even in our weakest
moments! That afternoon, we got a ride from Brother Buck and did
baptisms at the Hartford Temple with Chelsea Corliss, a recent convert
here. We had a great time and were able to do about 10 baptisms each
with lots of confirmations. She had a really uplifting experience and
afterwards, we were able to talk to President Varini, the First
Counselor in the Temple Presidency. Brother Buck wasn’t done until
about 9:30, and we arrived around 4:30, so that was rough, but
President Varini took us in like lost sheep and talked to us about
missionary work, the area, and back home. He is amazing and we loved
being able to spend time with him!
Saturday was tough. We stayed inside for a while, and that was hard
for me, especially since I don’t like office work as much. In the
evening, we were able to get out to New Britain and met up with
Brother Harris to see Me’me, our favorite grandma, whom Brother Harris
already knows! We read about Resurrection with her, which was special
because her two sons and two husbands had both passed away. She is a
sweet lady and expressed her love to us! After that, we were able to
stop by Orlik again and spent time with him. He played his guitar for
us and we built more trust. There are so many Less Actives who just
need reminders to come back to church along with love and they will
come back! Find them!
Sunday morning, we drove to church, and there was no storm, but by
after Sacrament Meeting, it was insane!!! Snow was everywhere, and so
it was crazy. We ended up staying at the church until about 6. That
was tough as well, but we got some good headway in preparing the area
that evening. We hit the area book and notes and lit it up! It was
super good and was a good end to the night!
This week has been really great. I have learned about the will of God
and our purpose here in Hartford especially. I know that He watches
over us and knows our situations. I know that He puts us in places to
be prepared and to prepare. We may not know the breadth of our
influence, but as we stand as witnesses and examples, we can inspire
others. Keep up the good work and we’ll see you next week!!
-Elder Davis
Where the Lord Wants Me 