week 2 in Brazil - "Onward, ever onward"

Dear Family,

This week was crazy!

So Monday I started feeling really sick, so I slept pretty much my whole Pday and then Tuesday we had a Zone Conference with President Monteiro. As we were leaving he called my comps and I back and explained to us that Sister Houston (my friend I was with in the MTC and SC) has been really sick and went to the hospital so I would be going to another area so another sister could stay with her at the hospital until she got better. (Turns out 9 of the missionaries I arrived with have been sick.) So I went to Barigui.

It turns out that Bacacheri is one of the wealthiest areas in the mission, but Barigui is the wealthiest area in the mission. My temporary companion was Sister Clark from Alaska who has one month in the mission. So it was 2 crazy Americans who don’t speak Portuguese and it was quite the adventure! I couldn’t even begin to tell you all the funny experiences we had :) A lot of people can’t understand me but Sister Clark has the thickest American accent I think I've ever heard so she is really hard for Brasillieros to understand! But we were SO Blessed! This is the other area in Curtiba that has really struggled and not had a baptism since it opened.

We went out tracting and one of the first doors we knocked was absolutely golden! We talked to this mom and she actually understood us (miracle #1) and we understood her (miracle #2) and she believed everything we said! She said she was looking for a church with high standards for her daughter. We met her daughter and she was awesome. And they said they wanted to go to church and even offered us a ride. When we came back 2 days later she had read over everything and prayed and talked with her husband (another miracle is that they are actually legally married! This never happens) and they loved it! So we are stoked for their family!  We met a couple other people that were awesome too and I was amazed at how suddenly you can speak so much better when you have to!

The other hard part was that I had the flu all week (not throwing up, but a fever and cold and stuff) so I was exhausted all the time but the Lord definitely gave me sufficient strength :) I got to go to their zone conference too which was good because it has really helped me gain a vision of what we want in this mission. Because of all the craziness I got to spend a lot of time talking 1 on 1 with my Mission President (Who also doesn´t speak English but he is very patient with my Portuguese.) He told me that the biggest problem he has had with my area is getting missionaries to really just put their whole heart might mind and strength into the work because it’s been harder to find success here, so I promised him I would change that.

On Friday, Salt Lake decided to send Sister Houston home because she wasn't getting better (This was especially sad for me. My 2 best friends from the MTC have had to go home from getting sick here.) But I returned to Bacacheri that night and Saturday morning in comp study I shared with my companions my goals and they have been very good to jump on board with me for some pretty grand goals we want to accomplish to change this area. 

I´ve gained a new appreciation for Ether 12:27. It has always been one of my favorite scriptures but like Moroni's frustrations in writing, it is very frustrating for me that I felt so confident in teaching in SC and was having a lot of success, and I feel like I struggle so much at teaching in Portuguese and understanding their needs because I always question whether I am understanding correctly what they are saying. But I know we have these experiences so we can be humble and if we have the faith we can make our weaknesses become strengths. Before I left SC I received a beautiful blessing from my district leader with some great promises and I know that they can be achieved through the Lord :)

Life is so good. We are so blessed to have the gospel! It is amazing to me what a difference it makes in the whole world!

I love y'all!

Sister Lewis

 Lynette & her companion Sis. Clark 

the Curitiba Temple

For more information about temples, click here --> Mormon temples

Lynette & Elder Nilsen (from Eugene)

First letter from BRAZIL

Dear Family,

I’m finally here in Brazil serving in the Bacacheri ward within the city. Everything is definitely different than Estados Unidos. J I had 3 companhieras my first week - Sister Gomez (my trainer) is 22 and she is a native Brazilian from Espirito Santo. Sister Eulogio is 27, she’s from Peru (we have tons of Latinos, quite a few Brasillieros and a few Americans in the mission. I think there are probably like 4 American sisters?) Laura or Corwin if you know the ward Residencial or the Stake El Olivar, that is where she is from in Lima. And then Sister Villavicencio is 25 and she is from Bolivia, but she got transferred to a different area today so I only had her for one week. None of them speak English so that has made life exciting. We have to play charades sometimes but thankfully for the most part we can understand each other: Definitely a tender mercy.

This mission is supposed to be one of the higher baptizing missions in the world which is super exciting, but this area has struggled a lot. They haven´t had a single baptism since it opened up earlier this year. It is a wealthier part of Curitiba (I think.. most of what I say is based on what I think my companions are saying but obviously it is all in Portuguese so who knows. ha-ha). So that’s kind of hard, but I’m excited because it just means an even greater challenge! They do things a lot different here in the way they teach and proselyte - for ex, in SC I would do tons of lessons and work with members and LAs a lot, but here they just knock, knock, knock ( and when I say knock I mean clap, because people don’t knock here.) We´re supposed to knock 80 doors/day. Last Saturday we knocked over 100 doors! We walk probably 7-10 miles/day. (At least I can lose all the weight I gained in the South!) and so my feet are calloused and I am sunburnt and I’m sick, but it seems like most good things are hard at first.

I think I lost all fear of speaking when I was in SC so I try to talk to pretty much everyone and it’s kinda funny because most people can’t understand me and immediately say “Oh Americana” and try to speak English to me which is also funny. And it seems like everyone loves Americans. I think Curitibans really don’t look different than Americans. Plenty of them have fairer skin and blonder hair than I do so they can’t tell I’m American until I talk and then it is a dead giveaway; J But I figure there is no better way to learn than to just start trying! It’s frustrating sometimes because it’s hard to express what I want to but I’m actually grateful I don’t have anyone to speak English with because it forces me to learn faster. And writing right now is difficult. I think I’m already forgetting some of my EnglishJ.

President called Sister Gomez this week and told her he needs me to learn Portuguese really fast. I don´t know why, but every 6 weeks has been something crazy since I started my mission so I’ve learned not to question anything and accept that often the Lord has more faith in us than we have in ourselves so we just have to trust him! 

My first day here was freezing cold and pouring rain and I was literally shaking when we finally got home, and my 2 min freezing cold shower was one of the most miserable moments I think of my life, but now it’s really hot which I definitely prefer and I just try to get enough water because the water here is pretty gross. I drink a lot of hot cocoa because everyone here just has coffee and soda and I don’t drink coffee for obvious reasons and I’m not a huge fan of soda but I’m learning to like it more. Oh and it’s funny that for the first time in my life people call me tall. ha-ha

Sacrament meeting was really cool for me. I loved seeing how everything is so much the same even tho this part of the world is SO different! The only thing that kind of made me chuckle is when we sang “Brightly Beams” for the Sacrament Hymn :)

I really think the 2 coolest things for me are 1: You REALLY have to rely on the Lord. It is amazing how there are times when I don’t understand a thing, but when I need to I can understand almost everything. So He is definitely guiding me and it has been humbling but wonderful to learn how to rely more on the spirit. 2: I love how similar things are. People have the exact same problems and concerns here as they do there and it is amazing how even though I can’t understand a lot of these people, I still just love them so much!

The gospel is true wherever you are! Love yall lots!

Com Amor, Sister Lewis

Carolina to Curitiba. She made it to BRAZIL!!!

The time has finally come. Lynette received her VISA so last week she said goodbye to her darling southerner friends in South Carolina...

And stepped into her new world -- BRAZIL!

Brazil, Here we come!

10-14-13

So I only have a quick min, but I wanted to try to give you an update before I'm off! I fly out this afternoon and for the first time in my life I was actually on top of packing and was able to have a little extra time this morning so we could stop at the library (Extra blessings from serving a mission ;) )

We had a great last week here in Lexington, although I can't tell you how sad it makes me to leave Lexington. We had Skye’s interview yesterday so she is getting baptized this Saturday and her whole family had such a good experience at church yesterday! I’m sad to miss her baptism but I’m so grateful I got to be a part of seeing the changes along the way. We also made a huge progress with Tammy, Tony and Anthony. Thank you for your prayers with them, we are so excited for them.

It seems like my companions and I have finally really started to teach by the spirit in unity and we had some really powerful lessons this week. I know they will continue to do great together! Pres. is having them stay here and finish their training by training each other :)

Another really special experience for me this week - On Tuesday we had exchanges and I got to go back to my first area! Gaston! I was only there for 6 weeks and we just had one baptism. My very last day there we were gone all day for trainers training and when we got back we went on splits with the sisters staying with us, so I took 2 sisters with me and my 2 comps went elsewhere. We realized we only would have time to have one lesson before we had to be back so we prayed and picked one house to knock on. The man we talked to wasn't super interested but we were able to carry a conversation long enough that he let us go in and talk to his wife (probably to hand us off to someone else but hey it works). We talked to her briefly and shared the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and I set up a time for other missionaries to come back and see her. Then we left and I totally forgot about it. We came back and it turns out she ended up getting baptized and is one of the best missionaries in Gaston! Her sister got baptized after her example and now she is a ward missionary. It was such a sweet experience to come back to that last house that I saw before I got transferred and to see the difference in her life. She shared with me a poem she had written about "3 little angels" who had shared this message with her. Who knew the miracles that would come! The Lord is so good to us and I felt so blessed that I got to see the fruits of it. It was amazing to me because I was so close to the members there and it was fun to see them, but truly my favorite part was seeing those whose lives are changing from the gospel!

Member missionary work has picked up a lot in the last week too! We decided to have our members’ text us anytime they talk about the gospel, give out a pass-along card, etc. and it has been so fun to see them get excited to share it with others! I hope you will all take the fire from conference and go share this wonderful message with others! It is our responsibility to give them the opportunity to accept the gospel! Don’t keep this precious gift for yourself ;)

I am so, so grateful for the time that I got to spend here in SC (over 1/3 of my mission!) and I will definitely miss it. I was kind of hoping to stay one more transfer because we have an apostle coming next month and Sisters Conference next week, but I have learned never to question the lords timing or placement for anything so I am grateful and excited to be going to Brazil. I know there are plenty of people there who will also touch my life!

I love yall! (I suppose I will have to drop the y’all and start saying eu te amo)

Love, Sister Lewis

7 October 2013 Prophets and Apostles and Mission President, oh my!

10-7-13

Dear Family,

So this week was basically the best week of my life! But you already knew that I'm sure :) I thought it was the best conference ever, but when President Monson said it was one of the best conferences he had ever heard I knew it wasn't just me :) It was fun to know all of you were watching the exact same thing as me at the exact same time! But this week was amazing for SO many other reasons too:

First off, we had a really cool experience on Tuesday. We were praying for a baptism goal for the month of October - for the next 4 weeks—and we didn't have a single person on date. The area is still so new and there are really only 2 weekends this month that any of our investigators could get baptized so we assumed we would probably strive for 1 or maybe if we wanted to be optimistic then 2, but all 3 of us felt pretty strongly during the prayer that we should be striving for 3! We were kind of hesitant and our DL and ZL were both a bit surprised, but we know if the Lord asks us to do something it can happen! So we went out that day and immediately got Tony to commit his first lesson, and hopefully we will get his son Anthony to join him on the same day! And then 2 days later we got a solid commitment from Skye for the 19^th. Everything fell into place so well. We were able to have a few investigators join us for Conference! It brought a whole new light because getting 3 baptisms in 4 weeks right now is a huge goal, but it got us all very motivated and we know that it can happen! Please pray for Skye's family, Tony and Anthony, and Al and Woody. All of them are so ready to accept the gospel but each definitely has hurdles that they need to overcome quickly! They are wonderful though, and I love seeing them change thru the atonement.

Secondly, Wednesday and Thursday was Leadership Training Meeting which was Awesome!!! I'm pretty sure I can just listen to Pres. and Sis Holm talk 24/7 and I never get bored. They're incredible and we had so many good trainings. And I LOVED getting to see all my missionaries! It was so fun to see all of my old companions and the sisters that I worked with in Charleston and to hear about people I'd worked with making changes in their lives. It was awesome! My 2 comps, and our 2 roommates and I sang and it turned out really good and at the end president had us do it again. A special treat was that he told me that I am likely leaving this transfer and so after he finished his closing remarks he had me share my testimony. I got to sit on the stand during the last session which was so cool to see all the missionaries from up there and see everyone just take in every word and then get to share my testimony with them. It was such a blessing. Rumor got out about my visa being in so there were a lot of sad goodbyes at the end. You never know the difference you can make on other people even in the short time you are with them. Although just to clarify I won't know for sure if my visa came until this Friday and if it did then I am leaving on Monday. It will be so sad to leave South Carolina I absolutely love this mission!

Third: Friday we had an awesome tri-ward bbq (Southern bbqs are the best and who ever knew mustard sauce could be so good, but shredded pork and mustard bbq sauce is my fav!). We had a lot of non-members come which was great and so fun for the 13 of us missionaries in our building, and then Pres. and Sis Holm showed up as a surprise which is always such a treat.

Fourth and Most Importantly: Conference was Saturday and Sunday and it was the best 2 days ever!!! I just didn't want it to ever end! It’s really hard to pick a favorite talk because all of them were so good and so applicable in so many ways! But Elder Ballard's probably takes home the prize. I hope all of you were Loving it as much as I was!!! It was so perfect I couldn't write fast enough!  I kept thinking, “I really hope and pray all the members didn't decide to just listen to Sunday this year because they need to hear this talk”! I left my notes at the church but Sunday morning during personal study I was trying to remember the things that I had heard and it turned out to be kind of a blessing. I was praying about what I should be using from all the incredible things I had heard on Saturday. I was especially motivated by Elder Ballard's talk and I thought about how missionary work is never going to really take off here until the members decide to be a part of it. So I came up with 5 things the members here could do to be involved in missionary work and set up a plan to help each family in our ward be more comfortable and willing to do it. I worked with my companions on it a bit afterward and then we used it at dinner that night and had a lot of success so I shared it with my district leader and we are going to train the other missionaries on it too. It was really amazing to see the Lord help us with certain aspects of it that I really felt like were inspired, especially for the needs of this area right now.

There is way too much I could share with you about how much I loved General Conference and I hope all of you went with questions. Pres. Holm asked us to each come with 2 or 3 questions and the very first 3 talks seemed to be exactly related to my first 3 questions. It could not have been more perfectly put! It was so cool for me to see the Lord work thru His servants to speak to millions of us so specifically! The gospel is so incredible everyone needs it!

I love y'all!

Love,

Sister Lewis