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 19th. 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
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