Hermana Davis Ventura California Mission

Hey Everybody!

This was a crazy, hectic week. Missionary work definitely has its challenges, but I made it through. Sister Ostead and I got new mattresses so that was a highlight of the week. Yay for being able to sleep well. They also added another bed to our apartment, so we may be getting another companion next transfer. I got a bug bite. lol My companion had a remedy in the pics below. I got some cool t shirts for my family. Santa Barbara is beautiful, but I wouldn't live here. We did some role playing this week for investigators. There are pics below. Michael Scott was one of my investigators. Gotta love the Office.

We are teaching a wonderful man named Gus. His wife is very sick (not covid) and he can't go see her without a mask. Unfortunately, she reads his lips to communicate with him so this wasn't working. My companion and I got him a face mask so that he can visit his wife. It was so sweet. There is a pic below also. We were so happy to be able to help him. It is the little things in life that make the biggest difference.

My companion and I were on a walk and saw the Huell Howser tree. If you know my family, you know this is amazing. We love him! "California's Gold" My companion was like who is that. I told her it was a California thing, she wouldn't understand. :) I had to take a picture of it.

I've been loving doing genealogy. I included a sweet story of a lady and her husband from my family history below. The stories are what I like about doing family history. I like to know the people.

I was also asked to give a talk during our district sacrament meeting. I'll include my talk below.

Love you all!

Keep praying

Sismana Davis

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT
I'm going to be talking about the talk "Come what may and love it" which is definitely one of my favorites he starts the talk by telling a short story about Football he says, 
 " When I was young I loved playing sports, and I have many fond memories of those days. But not all of them are pleasant. I remember one day after my football team lost a tough game, I came home feeling discouraged. My mother was there. She listened to my sad story. 
 She taught her children to trust in themselves and each other, not blame others for their misfortunes, and give their best effort in everything they attempted. When we fell down, she expected us to pick ourselves up and get going again. So the advice my mother gave to me then wasn’t altogether unexpected. It has stayed with me all my life.
		“Joseph,” she said, “come what may, and love it.”as some of you may know my mission motto is "I'm here for a good time not a long time" ,which my brother followed his whole mission also. I believe it goes hand in hand with "Come what may and love it". Some might say that it sounds trunky but I think it's the opposite. It emulates to make every moment count and not get discouraged or stressed when things dont go as planned. Which as missionaries I think we can say that the majority of the time it doesn't. Just like if you show up for a calm mundane member visit, but you end up talking to tons of bikers at a rally. Or if you go out thinking you'll knock a door, but low and behold you find out you'll just just be on social media your whole mission you can choose how you want to feel about it. You can love it and have a good time or you can stress and worry because it's not what you expected. But Joseph B Wirthlin gives us some steps that helps us endure to the end with Joy. And they're not what you would think an apostle of God would say, they're not super intense deep Doctrine answers there simple like a mother would teach. In introducing the points he says this about discouragement and disappointment.
"How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can't—at least not in the moment. I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life." 
Which is so true! God doesn't want us to pretend our trials are easy, if they were then why would Christ have to suffer for them. So we should have the faith to believe that they are happening for a reason and there will be a brighter outcome. He also gives us this advice on adversity.
"If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."
This really hit me because it's what a mission is all about. I'm pretty sure that we've all been through those times in our missions and our lives where it's just the worst we're confused, angry, discouraged. But I've found as we keep enduring and pressing forward with grace he will give us that much more happiness and learning experiences. He then goes on to tell us his first secret to come what may and love it.
The first is LEARN TO LAUGH
Learn to laugh, laughing is good for the soul it's the only way to turn the bad times better. Whatever problem we may be facing its not the end of the world. And he gives us some examples of this he says. " Have you ever seen an angry driver who, when someone else makes a mistake, reacts as though that person has insulted his honor, his family, his dog, and his ancestors all the way back to Adam? Or have you had an encounter with an overhanging cupboard door left open at the wrong place and the wrong time which has been cursed, condemned, and avenged by a sore-headed victim?
	    There is an antidote for times such as these: learn to laugh." I've also had to learn this throughout my life. Growing up my family moved all of the time. I was born here in California, then we moved to Idaho and finally we moved to Vegas. Making countless stops in small towns along the way. Every time we ran into a different battle or something that could've knocked us over. But we met these things with laughter. When we showed up to a small town named Ashton Idaho we couldn't help but smile at an entirely different world than we knew in California. I remember as we drove into town people just started waving at us and we were so confused with what they were so happy about. The town had 1 grocery store that was in an old bowling alley that smelled like feet. It was bitterly cold for most of the year. The most exciting thing in the town was the dog sled races that happened every year but they were some of the happiest people we had ever met. So we took there lead and became those same down home loving people. It taught me and my family how to be happy.

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