Weeks 15 & 16: The CRAZIEST Weeks of my Mission!

Okay, so I'm going to start by telling everyone about Barbara, Lacy, and Emily because I said I would and they're awesome haha!

So Barbara is Lacy's mom and Lacy has a son named Dakota. One day Sister Sirrine and I were knocking doors and we only had a half hour before we had to leave so we decided to stop and do some inspired knocking. We looked at Barbara's door and said, "That's one we need to knock." So we knocked on a door two down from hers (I know, it doesn't make sense but we figured we knock some extra before leaving her street) and just before we knocked on her neighbors door, Barbara came to her door and looked out the window! She said hello to us and we were amazed! We asked her why she came to the door and she said there are always drugs deals on the corner across from her house so she wanted to see if she could catch one. Haha, she is an interesting lady. We ended up talking to her about religion and found out she is looking for a church and is friends with a member of the Jones Falls ward named Tito. He is super awesome and a wonderful example for her to have in her life! We came back two times and taught her, Lacy, and Dakota. She is going to be taught by the sisters in the Jones Falls ward now 

So, Emily is a former investigator who analyzes everything! If you know me, you know I am the same way so it was such a blessing to meet with her. Her dad passed away four years ago and her mom has been struggling pretty badly. Emily is training to become an EMT and is going to school at the same time. We stopped by her house one day and she was about to head out to go to karate! It was a miracle we caught her because we have never been able to in the past. We set up a return appointment, prayed, and left. When we went back we talked about why she likes being an EMT and made a super sweet analogy about spiritual wounds and how we are healed from them. She didn't quite get it at first but she ended up understanding and opening up to us. The Spirit was so strong and she made another return appointment. We had to cancel because it was on the day of transfers and we got back too late and had tons to do with a new sister in the area but we will visit her again soon.

Sorry this is so long. Anyway, Sister Newhouse is the new sister in the Baltimore YSA and she is so awesome! She has been through a lot and is super strong! I love her a ton and we grew very close to each other.

I am out of time but I wanted to let everyone know before I go that I was emergency transferred from BYSA to Mt Airy, MD. I am safe, nothing crazy happened. We are not entirely sure why President made the switch.

Love,

Sister Lewis

Week 13 & 14: 3 Months!!!

Well, I regret to inform all of you lovely people that I have 2 minutes left and you will be getting the bare minimum today!

First things first Sister Sirrine is getting transferred all the way to the other side of the mission and I am staying here in the Baltimore YSA! I will miss her a lot! She is awesome!

In the past two weeks we have picked up 4 new investigators and handed 1 of them off. We will hand another 2 off this week and hopefully keep the 4th haha!

The first is named Isaiah and he is AWESOME!!!!! He ran into the sisters a bunch of times outside his sisters apartment (he lives in the same apartment building as Jackie, Christine, and Jasmine) and he said everything happens for a reason and has started taking the lessons. He has been reading the Book of Mormon, is going to start coming to church next week, and said he would like to be baptized. He is already being changed by the Atonement! In our first meeting with him he said he's not the kind of person who goes to church every Sunday and now he says he's excited to make it part of his routine! He also said he doesn't need to get baptized in our first meeting but now he wants to! Yay!

The other three are named Barbara, Lacy, and Emily. I don't have any time left so I will tell you about them next week!

I love you all of you! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers!!

Love,

Sister Lewis

Week 12: Christmas!

This week was really fun! And by that I mean we hardly got anything done. I guess you have those weeks even as a missionary. Maybe it just feels like we didn't do much because we weren't allowed to do anything for about half the week so....yeah.

BUT! When we were allowed to do things we did! Last night we had an awesome lesson! So I know I've said like three times that we were going to stop teaching Jasmine and the Chesapeake sisters would teach her...but we keep teaching her...like every week. So we taught her last night for the last time (for real this time) and it was SWEET! Also Jasmine and her cousin Jackie cried when we left. It was tough. We love them a lot. So we went in with the plan to introduce the Book of Mormon and prayer. We taught about prayer first and she said the opening prayer! When we planned to ask her to say it we thought she would say no and we'd ask her to say that closing instead but...she needed to say the opening, you'll find out why in a minute! So we taught about the Book of Mormon and was going pretty well. She understood and everything but wasn't quite committed to read it. Then her cousin Rinard walked in. He is a less active member who isn't quite sure about God. So he started talking with us and voiced some of his questions...the usual...blacks and the priesthood, polygamy, all that jazz. Something that I've learned out here is if you give people answers to those questions, it doesn't build their faith. There may be answers to those questions or at least plausible explanations, but that's not what is going to invite them to come unto Christ. So, we taught the Book of Mormon again. But this time, the Spirit was so strong as we testified that the Book of Mormon was true and that it would answer our questions. We especially testified that once we gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, we know that Christ is our Savior, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom. Christ is what matters. At the end of the lesson we asked Rinard to say the prayer and he did! It was such a tender moment. He is honestly seeking the truth and I know he will find it with faith! =)

On that note, I would like to share my testimony of the Savior. I hope that as I email and send letters home, everyone can see the change that has occurred in me. I love my Savior and I hope that everyone can see how I have changed. Not just on my mission but in the past two years. 2014 has been the best year of my life because of my Savior. He is the reason I am happy. He is the reason I do this. He is the reason I can do this. He is the reason I am changed. I am so thrilled for the year to come. I can't imagine a better job than being a missionary and this year is going to be the best year of my life! Let the Savior make 2015 the best year of your life.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers, love, and support!

Much love,

Sister Lewis

Week 11: A Week of Miracles!

Okay, I know this email is really long, but this week was so fantastic! Read it to the end! We saw many miracles this week!

We started out Monday night by visiting a returning less active in a family ward nearby. I believe I have mentioned her in a previous email...she is the lady who is YSA aged but had five kids and wants to go to BYU-Idaho! Anyway, we visited her and talked about the Book of Mormon. It is so fun to teach her because she is so honest about her struggles and questions. It is a lot easier to help people when we know what is actually going on! (Who woulda thunk it?) So she let us know that she loves reading the Book of Mormon when the missionaries are over at her house but when they leave she has a hard time getting the motivation to do it. She told us that it's hard for her to understand without the help of the missionaries. So we read through part of the introduction and part of 1 Nephi 1 with her and taught her skills to read the Book of Mormon. This was a miracle for me because it helped me get back to the basics and remember how to study effectively! I needed that lesson too! =)

On Tuesday we met with her nonmember cousin, the one I taught last week on exchanges! That lesson went better than any other that Sister Sirrine and I have ever taught! We had zone training that day and learned about asking inspired questions and we applied that in that lesson. For the first 20 minutes we only asked questions and she learned so much better than the lesson the week before. She understood better and felt the Spirit so much more strongly! This was such an improvement from the week before when she said she wasn't feeling anything when the Spirit was so strong after reciting the Joseph Smith experience! We had her read in the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet about the Atonement and we asked her what stuck out and she said the part about baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost...and we weren't even talking about that! It was sweet! She committed to be baptized and set a date right there! She is going to be baptized on the 17th of January! We are handing her back to the Chesapeake sisters because she goes to church with her cousins but it doesn't matter who teaches her! Her faith in Christ is building and that is what matters! =)

Okay I know this email is getting long but don't stop reading now! This is such a sweet miracle! So the less active in our ward who came to transfer meeting and randomly said she needed to start coming back to church...yeah remember her? She has been going to church every Sunday since then and has grown so much in her desire to do the right thing! She had us over for dinner on Thursday and it was SO AWESOME! We talked about her next step, and she decided she is going to prepare to receive a patriarchal blessing and to go the temple! AH!!! You have to understand...three weeks ago this girl said she didn't want to do what she knew was right. Not even that...she didn't even want to want it! And now she is getting ready to go to the temple! The Atonement has worked in her and I am a first-hand witness of it! Anyway, in this lesson she expressed to us that she has had some struggles with the word of wisdom, so we asked if she would live it...she laughed, but said yes. Since I know some people who struggle with the same thing, I know that they sometimes say they will try and then don't get rid of the temptation. So I asked her if she had anything that would tempt her to break the word of wisdom in her house. She said yes. I asked if she would get rid of them. She stood up, walked over to her bag, grabbed her cigarettes, and with tears in her eyes handed them to us. She was not crying because she was sad or mad or scared. The Spirit was so strong. Her faith amazes me! We also gave her tips on how to have more effective study of the Book of Mormon. We are now reading along with her each day. We are up to 1 Nephi 4 =)

Okay, this is the last miracle I promise! On Friday we were street contacting for about an hour and a half in Towson and we had the most amazing street contact! We ran into a woman named Destiny and her two kids. Her 9 year old was named Donald and I can't spell her 1 year old's name. While I talked to Donald, Sister Sirrine talked to Destiny. Here is what Donald and I talked about...I asked him what he likes to do, he said play video games like Minecraft. I asked him what the coolest thing he has built in Minecraft is and he said a jail. He also told me that he wants to be a policeman when he's older. Later in the conversation I found out that him and his sister don't have the same dad. His step dad and mom just divorced and his dad is in jail. I could tell from that short 15 minute conversation that this 9 year old has a heavy burden. The gospel will help him so much. Meanwhile Sister Sirrine was talking to Destiny. Destiny is an amazing woman! So in their 15 minute conversation Sister Sirrine taught her about the Restoration. Destiny asked her if we believe in the Bible and she said yes! Destiny then asked if we believe that pieces have been taken from the Bible. Sister Sirrine then answered yes, which can go very well or pretty bad. Destiny responded with excitement! She believes that pieces have been taken from the Bible as well. She can just tell when she reads! That is when Sister Sirrine introduced the Book of Mormon. She gave Destiny a copy who promised that she would read it for God, and if she found out it was true, she would get baptized. She said up until that point in her life, she was always scared to get baptized because she's scared of water but right then she felt good about it and she wanted to! (That was the Spirit by the way...) Right before we left Destiny said this to Sister Sirrine, "I know that it wasn't a coincidence that we met here today. I never even walk this way. I'm not even waiting for a bus! (she was at a bus stop) I just felt like today I should walk this way and when I got here I felt like I should stop and wait...I'm so glad I did." Wow. This experience taught me so much. When we show Heavenly Father that we are willing to work, he will put people in our path that are ready.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful week and an amazing Christmas! Don't forget to remember the Savior this Christmas. Share the gift of His love and His life with those you meet! Their lives will change because of it! I love you all!

Merry CHRISTmas! =)

Love,

Sister Lewis

Week 10: I don't have a funny quote, sorry.

This week was awesome!! Part of that was thanks to all of you! I got four packages in the mail this week! They brightened my day each time. Thanks to the Southbury ward for their heartfelt letters and gifts! I love the Christmas tree haha it is up in my apartment right now! THANK YOU!!! =)

So this week we had exchanges which was so fun and also weird! I left our area to serve in a family ward which is WAY different than the YSA. We actually had appointments. WHOA! Hahaha two investigators had us over for lessons it was so fun! And this exchange was definitely inspired because one of the investigators (Jasmine) is a YSA and we are going to teach her tomorrow!

Something cool on exchanges was a lesson we had with an investigator whose name I cannot remember at the moment (AH! I KNOW! ) Anyway, we began teaching her the Restoration and she was scared that she wouldn't understand and she was having a hard time, then we taught a little about the Spirit, and she remembered what she had learned about the Holy Ghost during their last visit. After that, she had NO problem understanding. In fact, she understood things before we even taught them! Haha it is amazing to see the Spirit help people learn and work within them to help them understand. Before that meeting, she had been apprehensive to join any church because she was confused, but at the end of the lesson she committed to be baptized! She said, "I'm not confused, and that's how I know it's the Lord's church!" Holy moly!! MIRACLE!!!!!

We had lunch with Sarah and her neighbor Richard on Friday afternoon! He took us to Outback! We're definitely not used to that haha...Texas Roadhouse is still better! Haha we also taught Sarah two other times this weekend and she learned about the law of tithing, law of chastity, and the word of wisdom. She grasped onto it very quickly as usual and committed to keep all three! She is wonderful!

Well, I am out of time for today! I love you all! Thank you so much for your prayers and love! =)

Over and out,

Sister Lewis 

Week 9: "I don't love you, sisters!"

It seems that my only "funny" subject lines are from the one and only Elder VanDerVeur haha. That was what he told us before he was transferred. It's the perfect way to put it. He really meant that loves us...duh, but that would be weird to say outright, yes? Haha I don't know being a missionary is weird. But you really do grow to love the missionaries you serve with. They are there through your ups and downs and you become like family very quickly!

So many things happened this week it's crazy and I don't think I will be able to touch on everything but I'll try my best to hit the highlights!

So this week one of the members that has been struggling had us and the ward mission leader over to tell us that she was leaving the church. Oh man...that was really hard. You have a different love for these people as a missionary, the pure love of Christ, and it is so hard to see them struggle. We talked to her and tried to help but she did not want to be helped =( Our ward mission leader is awesome and he challenged her to read in the Book of Mormon until she felt the Spirit, so she could get to know how the Spirit speaks to her. She said she wasn't going to but she did the next day and it really helped her! She ended up coming to all three of our activities this weekend and to church. She did a lot of pondering and didn't say much, which I think was a good thing. She is really thinking about life and being humbled by the Lord. I love her so dearly!

We had a miracle with one of our less-actives this week! She brought us to transfer meeting because the sister who taught her was leaving. On the way down, out of no where in the car she said, "I need to start coming back to church." We had been praying for this miracle but we were still blindsided because it was so random! Haha! She felt the Spirit really strong at transfer meeting and came to church!

We also met to returning less-actives from another ward who inspire me. They have had a hard life and have been less-active for nearly 7 years but recently they had a tragedy and realized they needed to get away from the city and change their lives. They have started coming back to church and are preparing to go to BYU-Idaho! You can imagine how much I have to tell them about that! BYU-Idaho is the best!!!! =)

Something that I am working on is learning to recognize the Spirit, so I was very grateful to watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional last night! It wasn't until President Eyring said, "You may have felt an increased desire to avoid evil, or to be less boastful" that i realized how strongly I had felt the Spirit during the devotional. The Spirit, I am learning, is quiet most of the time, but very powerful if we can learn to recognize it.

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for this season to celebrate His birth. Another message that struck me from the devotional last night was, "The spirit of Christmas should be a pattern for our lives." Not sure if that is a direct quote but it was something like that. That's the message I got anyway! =) I was able to go to the DC Temple Visitors center last night with our ward to watch the Christmas Devotional. As we saw the temple in the night I thought, "I want to be like that temple, a light in a world that is so dark. Just like our Savior." I hope that this Christmas season we can look to the light. The light of the star in Bethlehem, the light of the temple, and the light of Christ. As we do so, I know that our lives will be changed and we will feel a desire to make that the pattern for our lives. I love my Savior, He is the gift!

christmas.mormon.org