Monday, January 25, 2016

Trip to Östersund

This week was toppen!
Monday Jan 18: We had our last P-day as a family before Äldste Goffe and Craygen were being transfered. :( They were the best big brothers you could ever ask for. I miss them so much. We wanted to have a korv roasting party but it was snowing too much so we just cooked them at the church. It was still fun haha.

Tuesday: We woke up early to say goodbye to them at tågstationen. Then we went to visit this sweet old less-active lady who has been sick lately. She kept asking me if she was speaking slow enough so I could understand. lol. My Swedish is getting better and better so thats good. After we had a meeting with this girl at Expresso House. It totally reminded me of StarBucks but better. They had these couches everywhere and this rustic interior. The food was toppen också! After we went to pick up the two new Äldster at the station. Äldster Pearson and Lohmeier! They are really nice.

Wednesday: Nothing to exciting happened. We got bloasted a few times so that wasn't fun. We had a world-wide missionary broadcast so that was pretty cool. It was really inspiring. I am a bad note-taker though so sadly I can't remember too much from it. I know, I am the worst haha. I remember a questionare thing they did with Elder Bednar and how intimidated the missionaires looked to be in a room with Bednar lol.Syster Brink took a ton of notes so I can just look at hers if I need. ;)

Thursday: We had distrikt möte with our new district and we did a little get to know you questionarie. We went to get pizza after and then me and Brink went to go visit Armin and Shirin. We talked to them about journals and patrarical blessing and stuff and had this long fun conversation with them. I love them so much. Armin even taught me how to write my name in Persian and that's all I write my name as now. ;)

Friday: Not much happened we got bloasted AGAIN though! haha Luckily we got to meet up with our good friend Murre from Afghanisan. Its so fun talking to him. He brought us herbal tea and we had a fun long deep talk together. He is so kind and asked us a lot of good questions. After we went to Kalmarvägen and knocked on some doors. Me and Syster Brink always say we wish we had a camera crew with us when we go trackting because the funniest things happen to us. There are too many to write.

Saturday: We went to Östersund!! It was such a blast. We went to go visit some members all the way out there and got to talk to some people. We met up with a member named Oscar too who got baptized a while ago! He was so nice. We talked to him for a while and told us all about his adventurous life. It was fun. We took the train up and then drove the car home. I had to drive the whole 3 hours back in the snow!! It was scary but we survived. :)

Sunday: We had church and we chatted with Farhad and Bakhtiar! I showed them my name written in Persian and they were so stocked! And they laughed because it probably wasn't perfectly right, but at least I tried haha. After we had this yummy middag with the Stegabys at the church! It was so good and they are the sweetest. After we went to centrum to talk to some people. We met this one guy who told us he was a non-believer until he had a heart-attack and had a near death experience. He saw his grandma and all this cool stuff and she said he had to go back to earth because he was going to have a son who needed him (he only had daughters). Then we said he remembered waking up in the hostial. His wife evetually had a son. :) It was so cool! He was really nice and said he would like to meet with us again.

Anyways this week was good. Love you all and miss you all! Hope you've all been having a great January! Vi ses nästa vecka och jag hoppas ni har en bra sista vecka av januari. :) Hejdå!

Meeting up with our friend Oscar in Östersund!
We find the best signs on the doors. ;)
Pretty Östersund Centrum!

Monday, January 18, 2016

Farhad and Bakhtiar's Baptism!

Hej ni. :) Well this week was underbar! On Monday our district had a fun PDay at IKEA and this laser lagging place. IKEA made me feel like I was at home again. So many feels haha. We planned a little bit of our Östersund trip this Saturday too so that was fun. Were going to try to start a branch up there again since sadly the old one dissolved.

On Tuesday we met with some sweet less-actives and just talked about life with them. It was really good. On the way home we ran into this sweet girl named Ayaan who was interested in learning about our beliefs. :) When we went to switch numbers with her, turns out she had our number from the Systers here years ago! She was like oh ya I met some missionaries a long long time ago but they weren't you guys haha. After while we were knocking on doors this really sweet persian guy let us in and gave us fika and he had the sweetest little daughters. The nice thing about being cold here is that people feel bad for us so they let us in more often. ;)

On Wednesday I got a package from my Uncle and Aunt! (Thanks Matt and Jeanne). It had all these cool different chocolates from South America in it and we had fun trying all the different kinds. After we taught this fun lesson to Farhad and Bakhtiar about temples and family history and stuff. :) We showed them pictures of our families and they loved it. They showed us pictures of theirs too. So cute. I love Iranians. :) They are the just nicest people.

On Thursday we had our usual distrikts möte and we went to the usual pizza parlor after. Me and Syster Brink were trying to be frugal that day and we needed to diet lol so we just brought apples and boiled eggs with us. After we went to visit Armin and Shirin. :) They always welcome us with so much love! We came in and they were like we have lunch for you!! And we were like oh my goodness good thing we didn't have pizza haha. They both were baptized back in 2015 and are the strongest members ever. We love them so much. I probably have said that so much but its true. :)
We also found out Snape died. :( I was so sad.

On Friday me and Syster Brink woke up and went to the church to clean out the baptismal font for The Baptism. :) We made a cool timelapse while we did it. It was so fun. We decided to get some pizza for lunch too because we've been working so hard. ;) After we did some trackting in Karlmarsvägen (a very sketchy place lol). This old lady let us in and told us she had syster missionaries over a long time ago! She told us that they would always help her clean her house haha. She then went on this tangent though about how we were brainwashed and how we are being controlled by evil men and that we need to escape from the gospel because it is evil...so that was interesting hahaha. We were like no one is forcing us to do anything lol. We are here on missions because we chose to. I think she might of had Alzheimers or something because in the middle of our conversation she started asking us the same questions all over again. Like whats your name and where are you guys from? haha. She was nice though nonetheless. She had this really cute cat too that I was playing with too.

Saturday was toppen! :) It was the day Farhad and Bakhtiar were getting baptized!! Me and Syster Brink went to the church to set everything up and to fill the font and stuff. :) They showed up early and got all fitted for their baptimal clothes and stuff. Their sweet nephew came too so that was cool! They had this sweet member Patrik Baptize him which was really sweet because he was a convert too and this was the first time he would be baptizing someone! So cute. :) The spirit was so strong the entire day and they bore their testimonies in Persian afterwards. They kept saying thank you to us but honestly it wasn't us at all. I was like no THANK YOU. Being a part of their baptism and conversion has seriously been a blessing to my life. They have this light about them and are so strong in the gospel already!! Like, I came here to try my best to strengthen others and build their testimonies but its totally reversed. These people here are changing me more than I feel like I am them. The church is so true people!! It brings people from all over the world together with so much love and jag är så tacksam för it all. :) I know I sound like such a missionary right now lol, and I'm not the best writer but words can even express my happiness. :) After we had this huge Persian Fika that the swedish members made for everyone!

Sunday was awesome too. They were both confirmed in church and are offically members of the church! After church we went trackting and I felt like I was going to die it was so cold. I said a little prayer and the next door we knocked on was that sweet girl Ayaan we met a few days before. :) Definetly an answer to my prayer. Well I'm out of time but have a great week everyone and vi ses senare. :)
Kärlek Syster Davis
P.s. the picture of the eggs are boiled eggs we made to keep our hands warm! haha

Monday, January 11, 2016

Snow glorious snow!

HHey there! This week was fun. On Monday, our friend David was moving to Santa Barbara so we went over to wish him good luck and to say our last goodbyes. I made him a list of all the fun things he needed to do in California! ;) David is the bomb. He made up a missionary song for each of us individually and sang it to us. We sang 'God be with you till we meet again' right before we left. Hope he's doing well!

Tuesday the Beckstrands came and interviewed us! It was great seeing them again. They are our parents away from home and they are just the sweetest. Oh and also I cut my hair! Not super super short but shorter than it was before. :) I like it. We also got a ton of mail and packages from friends and family so thank you!

Wednesday it was below 0 Fahrenheit and my eyelashes turned white while we went out! haha. It was actually kinda cool. I was trying to get a picture but it was too dark. So I will try to get a better one next time it happens (because I'm sure it will again lol). We also had dinner at a members house that night and we were all excited and then we knocked on the door and they were like, 'Oh my goodness we forgot! hahaha' But they were sweet and ordered us pizza anyway. :) We had the cutest family homevening witht them and their little kids.The dad is from Hawaii and the mom is from Sundsvall! So cool!
Thursday and Friday was just filled with lessons and meeting with people. :) We had a district meeting too and went to a chinese buffet afterwards. It reminded me of when me and my family and the Tribbles in Grand Junction would always go to this yummy Chinese buffet. The one here wasn't as good as the one in Colorado lol.

Saturday was really fun because the Sister Training Leaders from Uppsala came and did splits with us! Syster Gardner and Syster Irene are their names. :) They are super sweet. We taught a few lessons with them and did a little trackting and then we all met up back at the church for this cute primary activity we were invited to! They had these yummy hot dogs called Korv. All the kids were dancing around the Christmas tree and taking ornaments off it and there were secret little treats in them. :) Then Jultomptin (santa) came again and gave out godis to everyone! I was like what the heck its janurary and jultomptin is still here?! haha I love it, they gotta soak up all the holidays. :) My cute little friend Sorra was there too and we made funny videos together on our phone. We then took the STLs back to the train station and said our goodbyes to them! I found this cool Sundsvall dragon there too and sat on it lol.

Söndag was the best. (like always) I love the branch so much. Everyone is so loving and sweet there and they always try to talk to me but my Swedish is still dålig (bad). :( haha So I just smile at them and try my best to respond. :) We did some trackting after church and then went back home for some språk and middag! I had my first herbal tea ever!! It was so delicious and soothing. :)

Anyways the highlight of this week would probably be Farhad and Baktiar getting ready for baptism this week. :) They are honestly the sweetest guys I have ever met and they say this gospel has changed their life. They've been through a lot they've said and they feel so much peace now. I wish I could talk to them more. All I can say to them in Persian is Chetori (how are you?) Salam (Hello) Khobam (good) Mannam khobam (I am good) and Soffra (tables cloth) lol. They inspire me so much. I am so grateful everyday that I get to see the gospel bring light into peoples' lives. Even though so many people here don't want to hear it, those very few people that are ready for it are the reason I'm here. :) I love you all and hoppas att ni har en jätte underbar vecka! Vi ses nästa vecka
Kärlek Syster Berlyn Davis

This is what my view is everyday haha.
Love sending letters! If you write me I will write you!
Dramatic companion picture. The lake behind us is frozen. And we found a dog statue.
Found a Sundsvall Dragon!!

Monday, January 4, 2016

Gott Nytt År

Hejsan allihopa! Hope you all had a fun New Year. We sure did here in Sundsvall. We went to a members house, had some yummy fika, played a fun game, listened to Swedish music (ABBA lol), and launched some fireworks. It was jätte bra! New Years is always something that helps me get out of the post-holiday blues. It's so dark here too that they give all us missionaries this thing called a 'Happy Light' and its this bright interragation light that you can shine in your room for some vitamin D. Its pretty funny lol.

Anyways it was a successful week. We found a new investigator with the Christmas video so that was cool. He traded numbers with us on the streets and actually showed up to our lesson and seems interested in what we believe. :) Another guy we met told us that there was a comedy show down the street and that we should sign up for because people would get a laugh out of what we were saying. That was mean lol.

But yeah we have been teaching these two awesome guys who are getting baptized in a week! They are the greatest ever. They just walked in to church one day and were like, we're interested! They only speak persian so we have a member who speaks persian translate our lessons to them. We have taught them everything! We taught them the commandments this week and I was a little nervous because usually thats the hardest lesson for people to accept. However, they loved everything and agreed with it all without any concerns!! They are so solid. :)

My first fast söndag was yesterday too! It was so great. I can't get over how cute the little kids here are. A few of them went up on the stand and shared their testimony. I wish my Swedish was as good as theirs haha. These sweet little girls sitting in front of us drew pictures of me and Syster Brink and her too. :) Så söt!

To close, it snowed hardcore last night!! And my companions license expired so, lucky me, I get to be the designated driver whoop whoop. haha Driving in the snow is SO scary. I drive sooo slow and people get so annoyed by it. I pull off the the side when then line behind me gets long enough haha. Better safe than sorry!! All and all, life is pretty great. I'm excited to see what the rest of 2016 has in store. :) I wish you all the best New Year and be safe!
Kärlek
Syster Davis

P.S. I ate moose!!

Friday, January 1, 2016

Flashback Friday

Some photos from our first week here I never posted. Best group ever! Gott Nytt År!

Waiting for our transer calls! Like waiting for what Howards house you are going to be in haha.
My favorite MTC group touring around Stockholm. Miss them.
Fika with Kasra. :)