26 May 2013

Oi minha familia!

This week was so wonderful! We had a lot of investigators come to church yesterday which was awesome and we have our first baptism this weekend! It's this 9 year old Heath and he is the smartest 9 year old boy I have ever met! His prayers are the most beautiful sincere prayers and always make me want to cry and he reads better than any of the adults we teach and actually understands a lot in the scriptures which is amazing because a lot of the people we teach haven't finished high school and have a hard time understanding the scriptures, but he is so awesome and he recognizes the changes that the gospel is making in his family. They are so much happier, even their house is so much cleaner and they are all kinder to each other. It is just amazing what the gospel can do!

 We taught him the Law of Chastity this weekend and it was so funny teaching to a 7 year old and a 9 year old. His brother Aiden is just the cutest kid. We asked him what color purity makes him think of. After a lot of thought he said probably purple and went on to explain how being clean makes him think of sand. We couldn't help but start laughing. it was cute. And then when we decided to say that the law of chastity is staying out of other people's bubbles. He got a perplexed look on his face and then turned to his mom who was hugging him, and let her know she was breaking the law of chastity because she was in his bubble. I'm not sure he quite got the point.. :)

We have a couple other investigators, Sharon and Ethel that are just golden and it just makes being a missionary so fun when people are willing to keep their commitments and then see the changes it makes in their life!

One thing that I noticed a lot this week was the importance of learning at a young age to work and to serve. I was reading 1 Nephi 17 and noticed that in vs. 4 is the only time I can think of where Laman and Lemuel were humbled, but not from being called to repentance, or being shocked, or nearly dying in the ocean, and it was after they helped Nephi build the ship. I am so grateful that my parents taught us how to work from a young age because it is so so important for every aspect of life, but I think another key was that they weren't just building the ship for themselves, they were working to serve their family. When we learn how to work and to do it to help others we are humbled and learn that selflessness. I'm so grateful mom and dad that not only did you teach us to work while we were young, but even though we worked for a lot of things (school, sports, work, etc.) you were most proud of us when we were working to serve others, whether in our church service or just helping others in general. I think that's one of the biggest problems for families down here. Most people are pretty lazy so these kids don't learn how to work so they don't learn how to be unselfish!

I gotta go but I love yall so so much! Oh and one more thing: Yall would be so proud of me I ate 2 hamburgers yesterday! Second time in my life I've finished a hamburger and I ate two! Yeah for blessings of serving a mission ;)

muito amor, Sister Lewis

Summertime in South Caroline...a

5-20-13

Dear Family,

Summer in the south is finally starting to come and I now understand why I've been warned all along about it. It gets HOT. And apparently I haven't seen the worst of it yet, but I guess I prefer this to when I will be in Brazil and not have heating or air conditioning so I suppose I'm pretty spoiled!

It was a pretty rough week. We had just about every single appointment fall through and we didn't get a single lesson taught for 2 days which was a bit discouraging. But I suppose if a mission were easy it wouldn't be worth it because we wouldn't be any better than when we left and I'm pretty sure whoever I would be teaching would not be real! So you just have to learn to love getting rejected and being hot and dehydrated and get used to the people you work with not following through on their promises! But the amazing thing is that after it's really hard, it always gets so much better. I was reading in 1 Nephi about how much they suffered in the wilderness, but the blessings were even greater because of it and that's what always seems to happen!

So after our 3 day drought it seemed we were going to have another one of those days because for whatever reason every appt wanted to fall thru. Then we were thinking we'd just go to another house to fill time, but I made a goal: I didn't want any of the things I do to be just "filling time" so I really just pondered and prayed about where we could go to really make a difference. I felt like we should go look one more time for this one investigator who went MIA (Missing in Action) and doesn't live at the house she told us. So, we went to another house we thought would be another option of where she might actually live and well it wasn't her house. It turns out the person who lived there wasn't too stoked to see us either. Then as we were leaving, the next door neighbor came out (later he told us he had been looking for his phone over and over and finally said a prayer and said he was going to go look one last time in his car and just as he went out, it was in plain sight where he'd looked before and then he looked up and there we were. So we started talking to him and he is awesome! He had a Book of Mormon before but lost it and because of other events really wanted to start learning about the church. He wants to go to church and just was so, so, so grateful for us. Turns out he is moving to North Carolina today, but he wants to go to church this Sunday and have the missionaries up there see him this week. His friend who is moving into the house we went to wants to learn about the church too and we met her that night as well and as soon as we left she started reading everything we gave her and more, and was just really excited and grateful as well. They are so golden! I love seeing people who the Lord has obviously prepared so much for the gospel!!  A big rain storm came in the next day (Saturday) which was a huge blessing :)

 I also love the example in 1 Nephi of the way they reacted to their adversity. When they were going thru all these trials eventually all of them gave into complaining. In the next chapter it gives examples of all the things L&L are complaining about and s adly it seems like things we all have a tendency to complain about. But I love the contrast of Nephi who was going thru the exact same trials but rather than murmuring he chose to ACT. He wasn't self-righteous about it, instead he turns to his father and asks him where he should go, which was a great lesson for me! Sometimes when it gets really hard everyone has a tendency to complain but I want to be like Nephi and make something of a hard situation and then turn to my sr. companion like Nephi did to his father and ask her what she wants me to do even if she is the one complaining and then we can both get out of a negative attitude and situation.

We had the Milligan family come to the Ward activity the next day with us which was a huge blessing. They and their kids loved it. We have such an awesome ward! They are SO friendly and so willing to help!  We definitely need to do a lot of work with the less actives because there are about 500 members in our ward and we have probably 100 of them show up on Sundays if that... So still obviously a ton of work to do. But those who are there are awesome and they take such good care of us! (Our fridge has plenty of leftovers in it right now). Sometimes we even have members call us and tell us when they're free and volunteer to come teach with us! It's like a dream ward right?! We are so blessed.

In Ward Conference yesterday we were again reminded of how the work is hastening. It is such a blessing to be a part of!

Love ya'll so much!

Sister Lewis

Fun Carolina fact: Yesterday I was eating at a members house and one of the teenagers was telling us how shocked she was because she heard someone refer to a Buggy as a shopping cart and thought it was so ridiculous someone would call it that. Took me a while to figure out what she was talking about but I thought it was hilarious :) And they really enjoyed that we think cooking hamburgers and hotdogs ona grill is a bbq ;)

Y'all have a blessed day now, ya hear

NEW ADDRESS:

110 Oak Park Dr Ste. B

Irmo, SC 29063

5-6-13

Dear Family,

 I am finally in the beautiful "hidden gem of the united states," South Carolina! I absolutely love this place! Everything about it!: The humidity, the green, the people, the fried food, the accents. It is so southern and it's the best. "Ya'll" has officially become a part of my vocabulary. Some of the people I legitimately can understand less than when I was trying to teach in Portuguese because their accents are SO thick and they have a lot of funny words. But my favorite is whenever I leave someone's house I always say "Ya'll have a blessed day now" in my best southern accent. I always immediately get asked where I am from out west because apparently I talk very western.

The area I am in is just south west of Columbia and the cutest little humble town called Gaston. We live in this adorable, old, shafty trailer and all our neighbors smoke and have lots of cats and all the houses are really spread out here. Kind of feels like Walterville or Camp Creek or something so we drive most everywhere. My trainer is Sis. Van Ry from Nevada and I'm in a 3-some with Sister Walker, another sister who is halfway through her training. Since I'm a visa waiter we just got added to a companionship so they can send us off as soon as it comes and I still practice the language an hour a day. This week I get to start teaching a less active who only speaks Portuguese (in the past they had her daughter who is a member--- translate) so I'm super excited to start that.

The Congaree ward (the ward we're in) is so amazing! They have a lot of less actives but just recently the members have started to really pick up their efforts! They give us lots of referrals and are pretty good at coming out with us and they are just so supportive so we really do a lot of teaching and just go tracting in the area because we can only drive so far to go to all these places everyday. Surprisingly I love tracting! The people here love talking about God and I was surprised that there really isn't a whole lot of anti-Mormon stuff, we've only had a few doors slammed in the face. Even if they have zero interest everyone is so polite here! And this area is so humble that they all want and need something more! The problem is getting them to stay in the church and not go back to their bad habits.

It has been a huge blessing because normally I have allergies to cats and I have a really hard time with smoke and the first couple days the pollen allergies were killing me, but I've really gotten used to it all and it usually just takes a minute or 2 of walking in the house and I can't even smell the smoke. The cats and dogs haven't gotten to me or the pollen! Such a blessing!

We're working with a lot of less actives and wow this makes me appreciate so much more those members who do their part and do their home teaching and who look for those people they can fellowship! It really is all about the members! So Please Please Please if there is someone new at church go be their friend! Ask the missionaries who you can help because so many of the people we teach just need a friend to help them feel comfortable!

The first couple of days here we spent in the mission home and I absolutely LOVE Pres. and Sister Holmes! Even if I didn't love the gospel and want to serve the Lord, I would want to be a good missionary just because I love that couple so, so much and I want to be a good missionary for them because they are amazing!

We had the coolest experience our first morning. We got up at 5:30 and went to this grove of trees and had a really cool Sacred Grove experience and related the first vision to our call as missionaries and then walked out of the trees and there was the temple right in front of us! The spirit was amazing!  We went tracting on our 2nd afternoon and I immediately loved it and was in awe at how many people are ready to hear the gospel! I can't tell you how many times I've been told: “you know I think God sent you hear to see me because I was just praying for a way to come back to him” or, “I was just looking for a church”, etc. And then we split off into our companionships.

 I left my beloved fellow-visa waiters and came to this cutest little town of Gaston. The 2nd day I extended my first baptismal invite and Gloria was so excited it just made me want to jump out of my chair and hug her I was so excited when she said yes! She is having 2nd doubts so pray for her to be confident in her initial feeling that this is what the Lord wants for her. She is the sweetest little mother with 3 adorable little kids. She's a single mom who never sleeps trying to provide for her family and yet still makes time every day to study the Book of Mormon and pray. 

My favorite little investigating family here has to be the Springers. The mom didn't go to church for years and her fiance who she lives with was excommunicated years ago and she has 2 sons who are the BEST little boys and so smart and they're always making me laugh. Yesterday we taught them the Plan of Salvation and when we asked Heath why he thought Heavenly Father had this plan for us he said "Probably because he was bored." :) He's a really smart kid though and is set to get baptized in 2 weeks! They come to everything now and are reading the scriptures and praying as a family. I love how you can see such a change just in the time we've been teaching them. They have such a desire to be a happy family and they want to go to the temple and really are making so many sacrifices to change, it is amazing!

Oh man there is so much I could share so many wonderful people and I am learning so so much and don't have time to share it all. But God loves us so much and we are so blessed to have his gospel and need to share it!

If any of you have not read Elder Bednar's talk Christlike Character, read it. It's awesome. I've been reading some of the New Testament everyday so I can be better acquainted with the Bible. I'm trying to follow Elder Bednar's challenge to look for the numerous examples of the Savior and his Christlike Character and it has been so incredible to learn from the example of the perfect teacher.

I love ya'll tons!

Love, Sister Lewis

Oh and my new address is: 110 Oak Park Dr. Ste. B Irmo, SC 29063

Rumor has it that we don't get dear elders so I'm not sure how that works… And I don't have access to a printer anymore so sorry ya'll if I don't get to respond to all your letters, but thank you so much to those of you I have heard from it is the best!

I have been called to serve temporarily in the... (drumroll please)

 Columbia, South Carolina Mission!!! I am so so excited to serve the people there and share the wonderful message of the gospel of Jesus Christ! I am flying out early Monday morning so I get to start right away! We don't know much about the visas however it sounds like most reassignments are 1-2 transfers (6-12 weeks) and supposedly right around now is when Brazil starts giving out more visas. I guess in the winter we don't give them very many visas but in Summer we start to give them a lot more so they give us more from what I hear... However I know if the Lord wanted me to be in Brazil right now I would be there so for now I get to go enjoy the South! It will be such a different experience but I feel so good about it and am kind of excited to get to teach in English so I can say what I want :)

Gotta run but I love you all so so much!

Com amor, Sister Lewis