Journal of Mary Phyllis Fisher - Thomas Davies

and seemed so homesick and discouraged in his last letter. I do hope the Lord will bless him.
He and his companion, who has just been in the field a week so he can’t say one word of
Samoan, are visiting the different branches. They went to one place where he thought they were
to hold Relief Society. The Elders rang the bell [they have no clocks] and the women gathered
at the appointed places. There was no lesson. They sang, prayed, and sang again. Then Tom
said he spoke a few words. He said in two minutes all the Samoan words he knew. They sang
again and dismissed the meeting. He is trying hard and is such a good boy I know the Lord will
bless him.
Danny has been made Senior Companion. Both he and Tom have been well. Danny sent us
some pictures to hang on the wall that one of the investigators gave him.
For two weeks now it has been very cold, 45, 22 and 35 degrees below during some
nights and days with snow falling off and on. There is about 2 feet of snow. We have had no
church because they are building a new scout room and the Relief Society Room on the west and
it is open and too cold to heat the building.
This year the brothers and sisters have drawn names for Christmas and instead of giving
presents to each other they decided to send small gifts to the missionaries, Tom and Dan.
Anne must be doing pretty good work. They gave her a bonus of $50.00 for a Christmas
present. She was home 3 days at Christmas time and 3 at New Years. Lore was home a week.
We are all well. Plenty to eat, wear, and coal. We are surely blessed.
Ellen is growing up. This year she is chorister for the MIA. Also chorister for the junior
Sunday school and Recreation leader at school
1954. February 14 th
Today is our wedding anniversary. Father and I have been married for 28 years. We got such a
nice letter from Dan. He said, “May the Lord bless the two dearest people in the world on their
28th wedding anniversary” and expressed thanks and appreciation for what we had done for
him.
1954. May 29th
Ren is now in Bow Island. We have bought land there and he is building fences etc. He has 110
acres of crop in. We have wanted land for some time. The last 3 years we have rented Joe
Dudley’s farm but we feel that we should be paying on our own land instead of paying such a
high rent. Just what we will do about moving we haven’t yet decided. Ren and Lynn bought 160
acres together putting one thousand dollars as down payment and six thousand dollars
altogether, which makes one thousand per year for the next 5 years.
1954. June
Ellen graduated from High School June 30, 1954. That year I wrote in my diary, “Ellen has
grown to be such a lovely girl.” This year Ellen was the only girl in grade 12 along with 6 or 7
boys. Mr. Grant Smith said at the graduation exercises that although Ellen was the only girl she
was always a perfect lady. These past two years she has been chorister of the Junior Sunday
school, chorister in the MIA, also speech director in the MIA and sings in the choir. Ellen has
taken the heavy parts in the MIA plays. She gave such............
Lore is engaged to Moira Blackmore. He is going to be married in August.
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