Monday, July 27, 2020

It's Been a Weird, Scary, and Funny Week - August 27, 2020

Hey everyone! 
It has definitely been a weird week. One for the books... lol  There were some super low points, some scary stuff, and some highs as well. I love doing missionary work and I'm pretty good at it. It is hard to be away from everyone at times though. 
We all tend to doubt ourselves at times, but this week I had a great compliment. We had President Interviews. They were interesting, but nice to talk to someone new besides my companion for a minute.  We talked about life, marriage, plans and the work. President Carter told me that I was the first sister missionary that his wife met when they arrived. She told him I think that sister is the best sister missionary that I will ever meet. She has a sparkle about her. We can't let her lose that sparkle. That was nice to hear. I love the work we do out here. 
He also told me that when they were finding a sister missionary to go to Santa Barbara that 5 of them prayed about it and they all got the answer that I should go. So, I am definitely where God wants me to be. Not sure why lol 
We also met with him later in the week. He is a good president who cares about us. That is nice to know. His four part plan is Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing :)
We met a member Brother Evans. He is great. He is an older member. He let us pick fruit at his house and he has the VW bug in the pics. It is amazing. I knew my dad would want me to take a pic. 
The other night we had some scary and funny moments. All of our appointments had fallen through for the day so we just went home and were going to contact members. The first lady we talked to told us about her eye infection. Apparently she has had it for a long time. So, we are praying for her. Then a random phone number called us and wanted to ask us about referrals. He was a little socially awkward on the phone. He told us that the elders had come to his house the other day and farted all over his house and made it stink. They called him chicken nugget and pickle. So, we needed to pray right now that it wouldn't happen again. lol He was like "Do it!".  It was so funny. 
Now for the scary moment. We decided to just call people from our area book. We picked a family to call and check in on. The moment we pushed the red button to call, we had a horrible feeling. We both looked at each other. It was just an evil feeling that we both had immediately. We both started to cry. Someone picked up and I said "Hello this is Sister Davis we are calling to check in on you." You could tell that I was being recorded there was an echo and you could hear people walking around. So, Sister Osthed said the same thing. We could still hear people walking. So, we just hung up. We were really scared. Definitely a bad spirit with that home. We were both shocked that just by calling people we could have those feelings. It was a crazy experience. The district leaders called a little later. We were happy to talk to someone we knew. It made us feel better. I realized then that I had left my charger in the car. So, they stayed on the phone with us while we went to get it. 
Also, someone hit our car while it was parked at our apartments. So, there's that.. ugh
We also went to Hendry's beach. You can find glass on the beach so people made the glass house in my pics with it. It was cool.
All in all.. Missionary work is great. Being away from home is tough sometimes, but I am trusting in the Lord and doing His work. 
Thanks for all of the packages and mail. It really helps. I love it
Love you all
Sismana Davis

Yay for packages!!

State Street - Little Spain
Institute


State Street
Our favorite beach  - Butterfly Beach



Thanks Petersen Family!
Frozen yogurt


New comforter - Thanks Mom!

John's Car


This guy always has amazing kites. It is fun to watch




Little Spain
Brodey and Kylee's Package! It was great













Emery's Ranch - It was amazing




Love from Cedar City



I love mail! Thanks Petersen Family





Monday, July 20, 2020

Emergency Transfer, Gas Leak, & Santa Barbara - July 20, 2020

So, I was emergency transferred this week to help out sisters in Santa Barbara. That has been an adventure. My new companion is Sister Osthed  from Draper, Utah.  The parts that I have seen of Santa Barbara are beautiful. We area only allowed to go out one hour a day. So, that gets a bit rough. I love to do Facebook finding, but I wish that we could get out more.  We have district exercise everyday. It is nice to get together.  
The ward here is nice. There are a lot of older people in our ward. We only have one young woman and no young men in our ward. We have some wonderful members who let us do our laundry at their house. They were great. They fed us breakfast also. I was grateful for that.  The area is a tough one, but we will manage. 
My zone covers Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and Goleta. So it is a big zone along the California coats. The coast up here is beautiful. We live about 15 miles from the beach. We went to Butterfly Beach it is the one with the homes along the other street. It is where Oprah lives. There are no street lights on the beach so everyone walks about with flashlights at night. It is really green up here and upscale. 
The apartment is interesting to say the least. We call the floors murder scenes. My closet has a hook in the middle of the ceiling for some crazy reason. There are so many clothes left from previous missionaries that we filled an entire closet with them. 
Before I came to Santa Barbara, we had my final lesson with one of my investigators. It was amazing. He was so sad that I was being transferred. At the end, we asked him to say a prayer. It was the best prayer I have ever heard. He spoke to our Heavenly Father with passion. He talked about me moving and things that he need. He really talked to our Father in Heaven. It was amazing. I won't forget it. I loved Ventura. It is my favorite place. I want to move back one day . 
My mom sent me a conference talk to listen to yesterday by Elder Uchtdorf. She thought I would like it. Today the mission president sent the mission the same talk in his weekly letter. Maybe it is one that we should listen to. It is called "Of Things that Matter Most". Listen to it if you get a chance.
Oh yeah.. this week I swore that I smelled gas. So, after thinking back to my safety videos, I called the mission office. They sent someone to check. Our pilot light was out so our house was filled with gas. yikes!! Safety videos coming in clutch. 
Thanks for the packages and letters. I love them! They keep me going.
Sismana Davis











A member in Oxnard made us white tags











For My dad


































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