Elder Gage Davis, North Carolina Raleigh Mission: First Week in North Carolina, P-Day #3!

I am doing good, and I am alive!! This first week has been crazy, but it has been really good! North Carolina is awesome! There are so many trees that you can't even see anything! It also rains a lot here so it makes it supppperrr humid!

I feel inadequate a lot. I feel like I don't really know anything, and I compare myself to the other Elders that have been out here for over a year. I need to not compare myself to others, I have been doing better at it. The spiritual experiences that I have had already have been great. The Lord works through us missionaries in ways that we would never even think. The spirit helps teach more than we do!

I am buying some more sweaters today, and I need to buy a rain jacket. It has been cold and rainy.

It is so crazy how the Lord prompts you. The Lord truly works miracles through all of us. We never really think much about the spirit, and the blessings it brings now a days. We are too much of the world to see past it, and to be in the right frame to actually feel the spirit. The spirit is a small voice, it isn't going to shake you or yell at you. You have to be ready to hear the spirit and then be prompted by the spirit and be willing to act on it. Recognizing the spirit isn't always an easy thing. It takes work and time to recognize it. We feel it more than we think we do, we just don't realize it.

It's nerve racking having to knock on doors, but that goes away because you learn to not care if they reject you. It will most likely happen anyways! When I come home in 2 years you won't be able to shut me up, haha!! You have no choice but to grow out here, because there is a lot to learn in such little time. A lot of it just comes with time as well. Luckily the spirit is amazing and helps me, and works through me. I can talk to strangers now... It's weird. Looking at me a year back, I would never have done that in a million years! The love that comes from Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father is truly amazing, and helps us so much. He has blessed me so much already!

We apparently only get to go to the temple around general conference time, so we get to go 4 times on the mission.

Yesterday we taught this guy named Brandon. (You should have gotten a picture from the member whose house we taught at-I did, see below.). Brandon has concerns and questions, but he just really wants to know if these things are true before he commits to being a member and being baptized. I felt prompted to tell him my story of how I came to be here serving a mission. I almost didn't say anything and just let the lesson go on, but I kept having the impression that I needed to share it. So, I did. The spirit that was there while I was telling my story really truly touched me and him. The spirit is amazing, and we truly don't use it as much as we really should! I love y'all and miss y'all!