One more reason it is such a blessing to be a missionary is to see people you love complete ordinances necessary for salvation each week. Rosie, Luis and Bruna were confirmed yesterday as well as Leticia. I love seeing these families just so excited about the gospel and seeing how much they change because of it! Legiane and her 2 daughters Jasmine (11) and Emily (she will turn 8 the day I leave) are making so much progress. it was cold yesterday and the members who were supposed to take them decided not to go so they called a taxi to come get them because they were determined to get there all the same. It´s my goal to see their baptism before I head home and hopefully Emily will be able to get baptized that week! Keep them in your prayers this week as well as Rodrigo!
So this is kind of mind blowing for me that this is my last letter home as a full time missionary and I think I´m in denial right now. Everyone says I´m going home next week, but it just doesn´t feel like that´s real, so I´m not really sure when that´s going to kick in. Last night as we were working I kinda took a step back and was really overwhelmed by how incredible and wonderful it truly is to be a missionary. Shortly before heading home we saw a father with handicapped legs arriving home with his kids. He´s a single dad with 3 kids who works every day from early in the morning til late at night struggling to get by and provide a better life for his kids. As we sat in front of the house conversing with him you could see years of pain and struggling in his face. I just felt overwhelmed by how much I wanted him to understand and know that things CAN be better. That through accepting and living the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the Savior has the power to take away the pain in his eyes and the lines of stress off of his face. I sat there thinking how this message that we have to share with him is truly the only thing that can permanently help him find that peace and happiness he is searching for and I felt overwhelmingly grateful for the fact that I have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and how many times I have felt it change and bless me. How many times as a missionary I too have felt physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually worn out and feeling like I had nothing left to give, but how each time I pleaded with Heavenly Father to help me, I could feel His angels carrying me on. I have seen the gospel transform not only my own life, but hundreds of others. And I had to hold back the tears as I shared my testimony of the restored gospel with him knowing that the opportunities that I will have to day by day share the gospel with so many strangers who I love so much is not something I will get to do forever. I think the reason my mission is such a precious, undescribable experience for me is because I have never felt God´s hand so powerfully in my life, never seen Him touch and change so many lives and never felt the love that He has for others as powerfully as I have as a missionary. I cannot express in words the gratitude that I feel for having had the opportunity to be a missionary and full-time representative of our Lord Jesus Christ, but I want each of you to know that I know without a doubt that Jesus Christ truly is our Savior and Redeemer and that following Him is the ONLY way to happiness and salvation. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His church that He leads and guides thru a prophet and 12 apostles today and that if we will lose our life for His sake, we will find it as He promised us. I love all of you so much and am so grateful for the examples that you have been to me thru my life and I pray that each one of us will endure to the end so that we can be an eternal family - the best blessing possible!
Love you all tons!
Sister Lewis
