Saved Starving Souls 28 April 2014

4-28-14

Dear Family,

This week I was so blessed to be a part of seeing one of the most beautiful and dramatic changes of any family I have taught on my mission. As we visited Aranizio and his 2 sons Paulo (16) and Raul (12) it was literally a daily change seeing how the very atmosphere of the house was different each day: The house was cleaner, there was so much more love between each of them, and they were so much happier. The gospel is amazing! And then the most beautiful change was at the end of the week seeing each of them leave the water after making a covenant with the Lord. One of the most precious moments of my mission was being in that home when I invited them to be baptized and Raul was so ready and excited, but Paulo and Aranizio sat there for an eternity in silence thinking, and then finally Aranizio said, “Well I guess we´ve gotta do it then eh?’ Then Raul jumped on him and just hugged him and kissed him and it was so cute to see how happy he was to get baptized. Then in his closing prayer he talked about how grateful he is for the changes that are happening in his family and that he knows his situation is going to get better.

I also had one of the most heart breaking experiences this week. This family has had some major tragedies and was at the ultimate low these last 2 weeks and so they had hardly anything. When we were teaching them one day this week, Raul came in just weak and as frail as I´ve ever seen him. He sat down and then at one point turned to his dad and said "Dad, I´m hungry..." . All he could respond is "I know my boy. I know." I was ready to break out in tears right on the spot. But we were able to stop by that night and drop off some food and I´ve hardly ever seen anyone so grateful in my life. This definitely made me feel so grateful. After that lesson we
went to another investigator's house who had basically a banquet waiting for us (we are actually teaching a lot of wealthier families right now.) It was crazy for me to think how these 2 families can be here in the same city so close, but one has nothing to eat and the other has so many luxuries of life. It’s amazing how ALL of them regardless of their circumstance, need the gospel of Jesus Christ so much!

Other quick tender mercy: Mom sent me a while back some reliv and vitamins and the reliv was great. I had it everyday until it ran out, but when I started using the vitamins they made me really sick. I tried to take them in a lot of different ways, but I always threw up for some reason so I stopped. About a month ago my recent convert started facing some big health problems. She had a surgery that makes it really hard for her to eat so she hasn´t been getting any nutrients and it’s been making her health problems even worse, so I offered for her to try taking these vitamins if she wanted.  She decided it was worth a try and it has been helping her ton! I’m glad they were still able to do some good :)

Other highlight of the week: We went to the temple! Oh man, it’s the best place on earth! I literally could not stop smiling all day I was so happy!  After our session we were able to go get lunch at a restaurant of a member from my first area. She has always been one of my favorites and it was such a fun surprise for her and for me. I got to get to talk to her about the ward. Missions are great! Yesterday I was just sitting thinking, “Wow I´m so blessed I get to know so many different incredible people in my life! Life is so good!

I love y'all!

Sister Lewis

22 April 2014

4-22-14

Dear Family,

Best News of this week was hearing about Hunter´s Mission Call!!!!!! Ahh so excited! There was much screaming and happiness in this "Lan House" when I announced it to my roommates. We all made guesses this week and posted our guesses in the apartment and my companion who is from Peru guessed Peru :) So SO SO excited for you Hunt! A little disappointed that we still won´t have any more Portuguese speakers in the family, but serving a mission is the best thing you could possibly do with your life right now and you will absolutely love it! And I think I should get home right before you leave! I head home the 25th and probably arrive the 26th. And I’m so excited to hear about Leslie as well! Wow we are so blessed!

So this week our Pday got moved to Tuesday so we could be out finding on Easter Holiday, but we also had meetings all morning so we really just have enough Pday time to write our families. I´ve had to get up at 4:30 twice this week and will have to tomorrow as well to go to Curitiba, so I´ll be praying for a lot of physical strength this week, but the plus side is that tomorrow we get to go to the temple! Ah I´m so excited! We hit our goal as a mission in March (1 baptism/missionary) so we all get to go this month and it´s amazing how much more you appreciate the temple when you don´t have the opportunity to be there much. We had a really good leadership conference this week talking about the power of desire and the power of words. It´s so true that when you really want something you make it happen, so it starts with us having that desire and helping others have that desire as well!

Something else I have realized this month is that the Lord knows So much better than I do which people are ready. The past couple of weeks I´ve thought I had these golden investigators, but then they don´t end up going to church and then the people that I just pass on the street and make a quick contact, end up coming thru and going to church! ----and that´s why you have to invite EVERYONE. We made a goal this week to really talk to everyone and I think we had literally committed almost 30 ppl to go to church. Only 5 of them actually went, but it was the people that I honestly didn´t think would make it. But the Lord knows their hearts so much better than we do. There´s this cute little family of a dad, son and step son that live in some rough conditions, but they truly are realizing the need to change and that is when God can help us. It doesn´t matter how horrible our situation, if we are humble enough to let God help us, He is always there! So I am so excited to see the changes that will come to Arinizio, Paulo and Raul. Please pray for them that they can keep going strong so that they can truly change their lives and enter into the Lord´s way which is the best way!

I love you all!

Sister Lewis

14 April 2014

4-14-14

Dear Family,

I got to watch a Christmas Highlights video today that Esther sent and it made me think of all of you. I feel so blessed to have such a great family! :) Bringing families together and seeing them live the gospel and grow in the gospel is the best on the mission! It has been incredible to see Rosa and Josés family truly changing. Lucas and Eduardo got confirmed yesterday and Eduardo, 13 at the end came and told me he wanted to give his testimony too but he was nervous so we went up there together. He got too nervous again but just as the 1st counselor was getting up to close the meeting he stood up and gave the sweetest testimony I´ve ever heard from a teenage boy; It´s amazing to see how much they learn in so little time.

This week we will get to go to the Cartorio with Rosa and José to get them a date set to get married and then one yr. later the temple! Yeah! It´s also amazing to see how some  people really are more beautiful when they are living the gospel-- Not even just the people I´ve been teaching.  It´s amazing the difference in their countenance and how much more confident people become when they are living the gospel!

One quick thing I really loved in Jesus the Christ this week. Elder Talmage was talking about the beatitudes and he explained ‘blessed are those that mourn’: for "the mourner shall be comforted for he shall see the divine purpose in his grief, and shall again associate with the beloved ones of whom he has been bereft." This is one more reason the gospel is such a huge blessing. I don´t know how many times I have been asked by people, "If God exists why does he allow all of these bad things to happen?" or how often people ask us, "Why is this happening to me?" The amazing thing is when you start living and understanding the gospel - the teachings of Christ - you understand the purpose of hardship in general but also on a very individual level. That is one more reason that we members of the church should be the happiest people in the world!

This week we started doing something a little different as Sister Training Leaders. President called 2 more so now there are 5 of us and we get to work a lot more frequently with a smaller group of sisters which I’m loving.  With the sisters who I live with; I go on exchanges with one of them every other day so we can really focus on setting goals and working with them in the process of changing. And then a couple of us also have another companionship that we go on exchanges with just once or twice a transfer. It´s a lot more switching but it´s been so fun and I feel like I actually learn more than they do. I have the best roommates and I’m loving having basically 3 companions :)

Also we hit our baptism goal so we get to go the temple next week! I am so excited!

Anyway love you all! I hope you are following up on those missionary invites like Elder Ballard, a prophet of the Lord, asked us to do :) Love you all so much!

Sister Lewis

Baptisms & Conference... "could life get any better? I submit that it could NOT!"

7 April 2014

Dear Family,

This week couldn´t have been any better! Conference is Better than Christmas. I Loved knowing that all of you were watching it with me at the same time! Priesthood Session and the Women´s session (I think it was last week but they showed it at the same time as priesthood in our stake) was 9-11 at night so we didn´t get to watch it unfortunately but that´s so cool Hunter got to sing in it!

After Sunday afternoon session we had 3 baptisms - Kawane, Lucas e Eduardo. I thought it was especially cool to hear so many talks directed at the youth and then get to be a part of the baptism of 3 of them. Our youth in our ward have really grown to be a powerful goup of young men and women. But I think what I have loved most is seeing these 2 families change so much. Kawane is the daughter of a less-active who, when I first got here, was very closed with me about church and I never imagined at that time that I would get to be here to see how much of a change  she has made in her life! She´s now reading the scriptures and praying with her kids every night and being a faithful visiting teacher and we´re working on getting her to the temple. She was so supportive of her 9 yr old, Kawane, getting baptized which wasn´t even close to an option when I met her a couple of months ago. Lucas and Eduardo´s dad and mom have progressed a ton too and were in conference 

both Saturday and Sunday as well as bringing 2 of their friends that we are teaching. I figure it´s almost impossible to listen to conference and not feel the spirit. It was cute to see Eduardo, 13, nearly crying after the baptism as well as his dad.

One thing that really stuck out to me at conference that Elder Packer said is that many lessons can´t be taught, but can be learned; And that´s so true. We´ve been learning the same principles of the gospel since the beginning of the world, but it takes living these principles to really understand what the prophets have been telling us forever! There were so many different things I loved about conference, but a couple themes I felt like stuck out to me:

Love. In how we talk to each other, look to serve one another, have compassion and forgiveness, look for the best in others, etc. If we could all truly follow the prophet´s counsel and show more love for one another, how much happier and better off we would all be! And especially learning to love those who are hardest for us to love. I loved how it was said that so many of these "opportunities" to love are within our own homes. It´s true. That really it is a great opportunity for us to learn how to love others and especially those most difficult because that´s how we grow. Also I loved Elder Uchtdorf´s talk about Gratitude. We set some goals because of that to show more gratitude to our members so they will want to help us more and we can work together! I loved that he said gratitude was the catalyst to all Christ-like attributes. I also thought it was interesting how Elder Scott and I think Sister Reeves talked about how to help those we love come back to the path; To not be shocked and angry, but just show love, share what you´ve learned in a loving way, ask questions that make them think and then give them time. Definitely that could apply to some of our investigators and recent-converts that fall into paths we hope they won´t go.

Stand up for what you Believe in. Know it and Show it.

Lucas´ favorite talk was Elder Holland´s (the first session we listened mostly in Portuguese so I was a little disappointed I didn´t get to hear his voice because it´s always so powerful. I´ll have to listen to it after the mission). But how many powerful talks there were about the need to stand up for what we believe in! For sure the world is becoming more and more wicked. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve; ye cannot serve God and mammon. Many of the most powerful testimony building points in my life were moments I had to stand up for my faith and now I am so grateful for those times. That truly changed my whole future, so I feel like that really is one of the best things the youth can learn to do right now.

I also was thinking after Conference how I feel on fire and there were millions of people watching these sessions, but how many of us are actually going to change because of it? If all it did for us was let us feel the spirit for a few hours, yes it was still worth it. But our purpose here is to change and better ourselves. So I hope everyone set new goals for themselves to let conference actually change you! I LOVED Elder Bednar´s talk about the Enabling Power of the Atonement and our Personal Load. He suffered for our weaknesses and shortcomings as well and I know through Him we can make our weak things become strong. I´m so grateful for the chance conference gives me to think about what I can do better in my life to be a better servant of the Lord, and be more like Him. And I hope all of you were changed by what you heard too!

I love you all!

Sister Lewis

1 April 2014

4-1-14

Dear Family,

Congratulations to Katherine and Rachel! I´m so excited for all the new family members I will get to meet when I get home! :)

We were really blessed this week, which was huge because we have had a really dry last month. I´ve never gone this long without a baptism even in the states, so I was really trying to figure out what we needed to change and I feel like I´ve been able to learn a lot these last couple weeks because of that. Ether 12:27 has always been a favorite of mine and it´s so true that when we have humbling experiences the Lord is able to make the weak things our strengths. I especially loved something mom said in a letter this week "Life is a beautiful journey as it unfolds before us. It´s so comforting to place our hand in the Savior´s and let Him lead us along. We know He loves us most and HE WILL HELP US GROW IN THE WAYS HE KNOWS WE NEED TO GROW." It´s so true. That´s one of the greatest things about a mission. If we truly let go the Lord can change us into who he wants us to be which is so much greater than what we could ever make of ourselves!

 One of the greatest things I have been learning is the difference between working and working diligently. Just working and being obedient and then praying for a miracle often isn´t enough, we have to Make that miracle happen. The Lord puts it in our hands and we set the limits. How much are we willing to sacrifice, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally to truly see the Lord´s work go forth? This week we have been teaching a family - José and Rosa, José´s mom, Maria and their kids Lucas and Eduardo. I love that family, but it took about everything to make it so they could be at church this Sunday, but after a lot of phone calls and running thru the rain in the mud (President and Sister Monteiro came to our sacrament meeting so we were in the bathroom trying to get all the mud off before they saw us), we got Maria, Eduardo and Lucas there. I was so impressed by them! They´re 12 and 14 but their favorite part was Sacrament meeting and they paid attention better than a lot of the adults. Cute Maria afterwards told me she wants to be there every single Sunday the rest of her life! They loved it. But the parents have been a little harder. They´ve been going thru some trials and José is having a hard time believing in God because of those trials and Rosa doesn´t want to leave the house. We went back yesterday (Pday got switched to Tuesday this week) and showed the Restoration video and testified of the Restoration and a prophet on the earth today and it was so powerful. Before even inviting them José was like "Okay I’m going to be there Saturday!" And then Rosa corrected him and said it was Sunday and he responded "well then I’ll be there on Sunday too!" They are at a time in their lives when I know the gospel will bring such huge changes to that family! Also pray for Khaune that her mom will let her get baptized this Sunday. (Her mom´s a Less-active that we´ve been helping come back to church and she´s been there the last 2 weeks and making huge changes.) And pray for Pedro and Silmara who were in church Sunday as well and we´re working to help them have the courage to get baptized.

Another quick sweet experience - we have a less-active who told me the other day that she is sick of being a mom and just wants to send her kids away to live with their dad because it´s too much work. We talked for a long time and she was being really cold and closed with us so I asked her if I could sing her a song. I sang for her "Keeping Sheep" and then did my best to translate it for her. It was really cool how she melted a lot just from the power of music and she smiled for the first time that I´ve seen since she stopped going to church. She´s still got a ways to go but it was a big step and goes to show how powerful music is even in another language!

We are so so so so so blessed to have the gospel! And to have a prophet on the earth today! Invite everyone to have the opportunity to listen to him! It is so simple and easy and the best thing anyone could do this Saturday or Sunday! I’m sure if you started telling your friends that Moses was going to give a talk this Sunday everyone would want to hear him. And it´s the exact same because it is the Lord talking thru a prophet today! So please go invite everyone! I love y’all.

The gospel's true!
Sister Lewis