Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

January 8, 2018

Happy first week of January!! It is still a little different to write 2-0-1-8, but it is becoming a little more natural. The weather out here has been CRAZY!! Early in the week, it was pretty normal, cold, but not bad. On Wednesday, we got news that we were going to get a lot of snow the next day. Now, as missionaries, we have no idea what to expect. It just seemed like a really nice day, and we had exchanges planned for the next day. We exchanged with the Spanish Elders in Waterbury that night, and then the next morning, the Bomb Cyclone hit! Supposedly it was like a hurricane, but with snow. All we knew was that there was a lot of snow, it was fluffy, and there was a lot of wind to go with it 🙂

The Spanish Elders are teaching a lady named Tania who is getting baptized this week, and during our daily planning, we asked Tania if we could stop by. Little did I know that she lived up a big hill on the other side of Waterbury…When the time came to go, we prayed about it, and Elder Tirado felt like it was ok to go, so we said,”Alright, let’s do it.” When we got outside, there was a foot of snow on top and around our car 🙂 We finally got out and since we have a Malibu, it was like a sled! We did make it safely to our destination, but we needed to walk about half a mile to our lesson since the snow was pretty high. We tried to help a man get his car out of the snow, but he was really close to a guardrail and couldn’t get enough traction to get out. He eventually backed up too much, broke his taillight and back bumper with the guardrail, and even gave up at the end for the time being and took the bus! It was a crazy start to a day…The lesson with Tania went really well, and after reviewing the Baptismal Interview Questions with her, she seems really ready to be baptized! We put the program together, and headed back out into the cold!

During our lesson, we got a text that said that we were purple dotted, which means we are supposed to be inside for two days. The wind was starting to pick up a little bit, so we hustled back to the car, where we had to dig ourselves out again. After getting out safely we got on the highway, because we thought that it would be safer than the other roads…Well, the highway was full of snow too, and after taking an exit, the semi in front of us put a lot of powder in the middle of the exit and we ran into it! The exit lead to another highway, and so our car got caught in the snow and we STOPPED. ON THE HIGHWAY!! We were about 50 feet in front of the entrance to the other highway, completely stopped in the snow…Elder Tirado jumped out and started shoveling as much as he could, and I tried revving the wheels to see if it would move. Elder Tirado was pushing as much as he could, and nothing happened. While this was all happening, we were saying silent prayers and a HUGE snow plow came down the highway and cut right in front of our car, taking all of the snow about 10 feet and up, and putting it on the side, away from our car! I got out and tried to clear all of the snow away from our wheels while Elder Tirado cleared the snow away from the front. After a few more pushes and revving the tires some more, we finally got out!!! It was a miracle and we were happy to go straight home!

Friday we delivered a Bible to the Bernardi’s who are super amazing. Mrs. Bernardi is dealing with cancer and has been beating it over the last few months, but has lost her eyesight because of a difficult surgery. They lost almost all of their money, Mr. Bernardi also had cancer and serious illnesses and still goes on. Their friends help them and bring them food, but they don’t have much. Their faith in Jesus Christ is stronger than ever though, and that is what keeps them going. We gave them the Book of Mormon and they said that even though they haven’t been to church in a long time, they would like to come in a few weeks. They are amazing and we hope to teach them more this week.

On Sunday, we planned for the day and saw amazing miracles. We stopped by Nat, a semi Less Active 18 yr who is super cool. He and Elder Goodman bond really well, especially over soccer and he has come to some amazing lessons with us. We pulled up to Nat’s house, and right behind us, Nat and his family pull up! I can’t even believe the timing that the Lord gave us, but we were able to have a short conversation and I am so grateful for it. Afterwards, we went to visit another Less Active member, Br. Jean-Luis. He is from Haiti, but isn’t able to come to church. We had a great lesson with him, and really got to know more about him. It was a much needed visit and we were grateful that we caught him at home. Afterwards, a young kid walked past us and I felt like we could give him a BOM, so we caught him before he went far. As we were testifying, we asked him if he would be interested in this message and he said,”Absolutely! My family was just talking about this the other day. I’ll ask them and let you know”! It was an answer to prayer!! As we walked back to the car, we were on Cloud 9 and asked another guy if we could give him one. He gladly accepted it and is also super prepared. Later in the night, after chasing someone and missing them, we were freezing, but felt like we needed to place one more Book of Mormon. We knocked a house, but they weren’t too interested, so we went to the second floor, and they were Muslim, but took the Book of Mormon. We talked about prophets with them and how the Book of Mormon talks about prophets as well, which is part of their main beliefs. They said that they were readers and that they would check it out. After freezing so much and barely beeing able to move our mouths, we were so grateful that the Lord gave us this opportunity.

As we read the Book of Mormon and follow promptings, we can be able to 1. Receive the spiritual power we need 2. Solve any problem we have 3.Be able to touch others lives through the impressions we receive. I have a very strong testimony that personal, prayerful study of the Book of Mormon can enhance all parts of our lives. I invite you to start, if you already haven’t, a personal study of the Book of Mormon for at least 30 minutes a day, if not more. If you do, the blessings promised in President Monson’s last General Conference address will be yours. I love you all!! Like Shia LaBeouf,”Just Do It”.

Love,

Elder Davis