The tsunami has begun, so let's "catch the wave"

6-24-13

Dear Family,

I hope ALL of you got to watch that broadcast yesterday!!! Wasn't it amazing?!!!!! Oh my gosh it was like Christmas! My cheeks were hurting when we left and I realized I must have been smiling through the whole thing because it just made me so happy! We are so blessed to be a part of this gospel it is amazing!!!! And Member Missionary Work is the key!!!! We are really trying to get a new culture of that started in this ward because in this kind of an area tracting doesn't seem to do a whole lot but we have really solid members that we're trying to start working thru. PS I have like no time right now so this will be quick:

That Broadcast was exactly what we needed because we had a pretty difficult weekend with 2 days straight of all our appts. falling thru and our one golden investigator was calling us excited that the Lord blessed Him with a job one day, and then calls us the next day saying the Book of Mormon isn't true and he doesn't want to see us anymore. So it definitely was hard not to feel discouraged after all the miracles we were seeing seemed to fall through. But I've noticed when you have a really hard couple of days; the next few always seem to be really great so I'm sure this week will be great!  It was probably good for us to have to go thru that and get brought back down because it was a good reminder to me that this is the Lord's work, not my work. Sometimes the numbers aren't what you want them to be but it's not about me so I just have to keep going and doing my best to be His representative. It was really cool how we went from both feeling kind of down from that phone call and some other disappointments with investigators, to knowing that all we could do was go out and start working again and as soon as we were able to get out there it let us forget about ourselves and think about the people and we were happy and excited and enthusiastic again and we should be because we get to do the best work there is out there!

I loved what Pres. Monson said "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together to bring souls unto him!" The tsunami has begun and we all need to be a part of catching that wave like Elder Nelson talked about! Ok, the computer is kicking me off so I ‘gotta go’ but listen to it if you didn't because the broadcast was amazing!

I love you all.Thank you for your prayers! The Church is true, go share it with everyone!

Love ya!

Sister Lewis

Summerville, SC

6-17-13

Dear Family, This week has been a challenging one, but possibly the best week of my mission so far. I have been transferred to the Summerville 1st ward, just outside Charleston and this is the complete opposite of Gaston! My brand new trainee and I are starting from complete scratch with a new apt with no materials. We were given one semi-solid investigator and a ton of finding to do. Our area is probably 90% big beautiful southern homes and my ‘good ol’ trailer park friends with their thick accents and missing teeth are nowhere to be found. I think I had more ‘doors in the face’ my first day than in my first 2 weeks in Gaston.  Everyone here goes to church and thinks Mormons are a cult and are not particularly fond of us. I went from being in a 3-some where all 3 of us loved to talk and teach to pretty much doing it on my own because my comp is still getting used to all this. But I really have been SO blessed to do things I know for a fact I could not normally do! I can't tell you how many times I kind of stop and think, ‘wow did that just happen’? It's so true that the Lord qualifies whom he calls! Even though this area has had a hard time we have still been blessed so much and have actually found a few people we are starting to teach. We met a family, Mike, Kristen, Isabel and Jamison, that was super closed off to us at first and said they were staunch Catholics but the more we just kept talking to them they opened up and agreed to read the Book of Mormon and at least learn a little bit more which was pretty cool. We also met a fellow named Doug who has fallen on some hard times. He was actually excited to read the Book of Mormon and said he would come to church with us next week. Keep them in your prayers, as well as our new investigator we will be meeting on Tuesday, Wayne. Despite the fact that finding is a lot harder in this area, the ward is AMAZING! They just got split so it is a really small ward of 300 members. About half are active and they are just the best! We have been fed every single night since we've been here which is a huge plus. While most of their referrals haven't worked out, they have strong testimonies and are willing to share them! I was especially excited to be in this ward because this is the only ward I had ever heard of before coming here. While I was in the MTC there was a Sister Brimley down the hall from my classroom also going to Brazil and I am in her family's ward! (Only person I knew from SC and my 2nd area I get to meet her family :) Her brother is inactive and her dad is kind of struggling as well, but her Mom and sister are SO awesome and we've already become pretty close to their family. I really feel like part of the reason I was sent here was to help them because it meant a lot to them to have a missionary who knew their daughter. We had dinner at their house for Father's Day and had a really awesome lesson. (We used that Mormon Message ‘Earthly Father, Heavenly Father’ which is really good) and I was able to share how my dad has been such an example and blessing to me. This ward is also awesome because they LOVE sister missionaries. Since this was their first time ever to have them they were so excited to have us here and have been definitely spoiling us. My new comp is Sister Dougherty. She is awesome. She is 22 and was just a RS Pres. at BYU and we get along super well. I think she felt a little jipped at first getting the trainer who had only been out 6 weeks AND opening a brand new area but she's had a really good attitude about it and we're both growing a lot together. I'm pretty sure I'll be here in Summerville at least for the next 6 weeks even if my Visa does come, so Brazil is just on hold for now. Hope y’alls summer is going wonderful. I am developing a really awesome ‘sandals, watch and missionary’ tan :) Love ya! Sister Lewis

Training and opening a new area!

6-10-13

 Dear Family,

It sounds like there are so many wonderful things going on right now! Besides the birthday every day of the month (I write it at the top of my planner every day who's birthday it is so I do get to think about each of you on your birthday even if I can't talk to you!) and Hunter's graduation and Corwin and Katie and Laura and Wilfried moving. It sounds like there is a lot going on. It is great!

I finished up my first 6 weeks here in Gaston and I assumed I would stay here until I left, and finish my training, but I got a bit of a surprise this past week. President called me and asked if I would finish my training by training a brand new sister and open up a new area. I'll just be reading 1 Nephi 3:7 a lot over the next couple days! I am definitely nervous because I feel like I still have SO much to learn, but I am really excited for the challenge! And I am 100% confident at this point that the Lord blesses His missionaries A LOT and gives us the ability to do things we never would be able to do on our own, so I know this will be such a wonderful opportunity!

I am really sad to be leaving this ward though. We have become so close to them and come to the point where we have members asking us if they can come help us every week. We have awesome ward leadership and just overall I will miss them a ton! And I will miss my companions. We spent most of our day yesterday going around to members and our investigators singing to them because we've become pretty good at singing together as a trio and we have requests to sing at most of our lessons now-- it seems like. So we're sad to be split up. I have just loved learning and growing from them. Sister Walker is going to be the only one staying in Gaston and I will especially miss her. She has become one of my best friends in the short 6 weeks we were companions!

We have also been blessed (at least ‘I’ think it's a blessing, not everyone else does) with lots of rain this week! I love summer tropical storms! I guess there was a hurricane in Florida or something so we got the aftermath of it and have had lots of pounding rain and thunder and lightning. It is my favorite! I also feel a bit more southern this week because one of the member families let us come try out some southern fried food. They seriously fry EVERYTHING here! The fried cookie dough was addicting I'm in love with it :)

We're working with most of the same investigators and they're doing well so far. We have 5 on date to be baptized the end of this month. We're just hoping they can put forth the effort to get to church (it's kind of a drive about 20-30 min but mostly people are just kind of lazy) and we have to get them to quit smoking and not go back to it! It's a huge problem here, but once they can get over that they are awesome and the ward is great at making everyone feel welcome and really fellowshipping them in. I had no idea how incredibly crucial the ward members were until I became a missionary. One of the biggest hurdles for getting investigators to progress toward baptism is they're scared of coming to church--not knowing anyone. So talk to new people and be their friend, it could change them for the eternities! Sometimes that's all they need!

I love y'all and appreciate all the wonderful support! Oh and I've had a lot of people ask about my visa - I got a letter finally today and basically it told me that they're still working on it. I'm not sure what will happen if it comes in the next 2 weeks since it will just be myself and a trainee in the area so I wouldn't be surprised if I still have a while. One of my friends from the MTC got her visa last week through the same consulate, so I really have no idea when it will be here.

Love,

Sister Lewis

3 June 2013

Dear Family,

I have been SO, SO blessed this week and I am sad knowing that I probably only have a week and a half left with this ward and these companions!

We had our first baptism on Saturday! It was so beautiful! Best baptism I can ever remember attending! Heath was just so mature and awesome and it made me want to cry looking over at his family and seeing them all together. They have grown so much as a family it is absolutely amazing to see the change in the way they treat each other. The spirit of their home has completely changed, as there is such a sense of love. It just makes me so happy to be with them and to see that change and feel that love! The Gospel Absolutely Blesses Families!!!!

We had another investigator family come with us to church yesterday, The Milligans. They have 3 adorable little children. It was another family we convinced to let us help them clean up and so they let us teach them and they are doing awesome. We're just trying to get to the point where, they come to church and want to get baptized-- because they have testimonies rather than because they love the missionaries. They have a lot of word of wisdom problems so it's going to probably take quite a while (Sis. Milligan about passed out by the end of church because I think that's the first time she's gone 3 waking hours without a cigarette in a REALLY long time) but She did it! And the kids loved primary and the Elders Quorum is going to help them move today. (We got to help them Saturday, but we're so grateful the ward is getting involved.)

We seriously have the BEST WARD EVER! We had so many members come teaching this week, it doubled our number of Less Active lessons because they've really just gotten involved. We had several different YW come out with us and they loved it and it strengthened their testimonies. Hunt if you can, you should definitely go out with the missionaries sometime it is great!

We had the best Sacrament meeting yesterday so centered around missionary work! I don't think I've ever seen that much power in a Fast Sunday Testimony Meeting! The ward is really just coming together in unity and they are so willing to help us missionaries it is awesome! We have something like 400 less-actives so there's a lot of work to do but they are great!

We had the coolest miracle this week with one of our less-actives. Sis. Stack is our next-door neighbor and she hasn't gone to church in probably 20 years. She's got about every problem in the book. She has spent tons of time in jail and swore she would never come back to the LDS church. (She got especially offended over prop 8 and told us from the first visit how much she hates the church). Anyway, over time she has softened up and likes us a lot but is still a long way from ever thinking about church. Friday night we stopped by for a lesson and her 9-yr old grand-daughter who has never shown interest decided to sit in. We testified to Kylie of how much her Heavenly Father loved her and she began to tear up. We could tell she was really confused and surprised by this feeling. She bore the sweetest witness that she felt so overwhelmed with happiness because for the first time she knew Heavenly Father loved Her individually. This completely broke down her grandmothers walls and we shared a really sweet moment with them. On Sunday She Came to Church!!!!! I think everyone was a bit shocked when we showed up with her, and we were a bit shocked too because we've never seen her with her teeth in, her hair done and with something besides shorts and a tank top on. She looked so beautiful and had the spirit and it was so cool! And she made it all 3 hours without smoking! I love seeing how often children can soften their parents hearts.

We actually got to see a few different people feel the spirit for the first time and it was so cool to see their reactions. I think it's interesting that a lot of times they say they kind of feel butterflies and they cry. I guess that's just the way our bodies react to such a strong feeling they haven't felt before!

We have had a lot of opportunities to do service and to sing to people and it is really cool to see how strongly that brings the spirit. I'm really blessed to have companions with amazing voices so we have people request we sing for them all the time. We love it because it really brings the spirit and opens them up a lot.

There aren't too many musical people down here so don't worry mom I get to play the piano and sing all the time!

I've also been reading this talk from Elder Corbridge called "The Fourth Missionary". I absolutely loved it! And it totally applies to every aspect of life so I highly recommend it!

It hit me this week how key it is to have the attitude on the mission, that serving a mission is NOT A SACRIFICE, IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY! I've realized there are actually a lot of missionaries who have kind of an attitude of: ‘I have to get thru these next 2 years and I'm going to sacrifice myself and give up this time for the Lord’. But it really isn't a sacrifice. We are so blessed that we are given the opportunity to be His servants and to share His gospel! I think it was easier to have that attitude because I grew up in a home where serving a mission was seen as such a blessing; so thank you mom and dad for raising us in a way that we see missionary work as an opportunity instead of a sacrifice.

I have to go because my time is up, but the Lord has blessed me a lot this week with a lot of miracles and a lot of opportunities to learn and grow and I am so, so grateful to be here.

I love yall so so much! The Church is true and we are so blessed to have it. Share it with others so they can have the joy you have, so their families can be blessed, and so you can feel the joy that comes from sharing the gospel!

Love, Sister Lewis