This week was the bomb diggity.com!
On Monday and
Tuesday
I was feeling pretty down because I haven't taught a solid investigator
in a while and I felt kinda lame like I wasn't doing what I was
supposed to. So,
on Tuesday
after district meeting I asked my district leader for a blessing. (A
blessing is when someone who has authority and power from God lays their
hands on your head and gives you counsel or advice from God.) This
experience reaffirmed my testimony that God's power really has been
given to man in our day. There is no way that this 20-something elder
would know that I needed to hear what he said by inspiration from the
Holy Ghost. That blessing changed my week. I was on the slick downhill
slope to discouragement, and the Spirit that I felt when I received that
blessing and the counsel that I received have blessed me so much in the
past week and I am sure they will continue to bless me.
So, after that we went out and worked! We went to a lesson with a referral from the Charles Town elders on Tuesday.
Her name is Jessica Grady! She joined the church in Idaho a year
ago...we didn't know that before we visited her but hey! It's a funny
story now and we've learned a lesson about being ourselves all the time!
On Wednesday
we visited with a family from our ward named the Diavolikis! The wife
hasn't been to church in a while and the husband is not a member but
comes to church around Christmas time every year. We happened to drive
by their house a few weeks ago just as Sister Diavolikis was going out
to her car to get to work. Wednesday was the second time we have met with them since then. On Wednesday
Sister Diavolikis expressed that she feels like she is unfamiliar with
some of the teachings of Jesus Christ, so we offered to teach them the
lessons! We are so excited not only to help Sister Diavolikis learn
again but to teach Brother Diavolikis about the restored gospel! We are
hoping and praying that Sister Diavolikis will feel the desire to come
back to church and Brother Diavolikis will feel the desire to be
baptized. Great blessings await them both!
On Wednesday
we also visited a family that hasn't been visited in months by the
missionaries. The crazy part is that the elders felt inspired to visit
them on the same day and the Spanish elders have felt inspired to visit
them and they went on Saturday! The Spirit is so real!
On Thursday
we had the craziest afternoon of our lives haha! It consisted of a
woman shouting to herself in her apartment about these crazy church
ladies who wouldn't stop calling her (that would be us after one phone
call...), being yelled at over the intercom at an apartment building
because we didn't know how to respond and they thought we were criminals
trying to break into their building, and being told by a woman that
she would never want to get into the Book of Mormon because it might
implant false ideas in her mind...oh man. That was the highlight of the
day.
Along with visiting lots of members this
week to try to help them in their missionary efforts, contacting
referrals, and teaching less-active members, we have been doing a lot of
personal contacting (or knocking on doors/talking to people on the
street) to find new people to teach so that has taken a lot of our time
and we have seen miracles because of it! As we are striving to work hard
to find people, we find them!
HERE IS THE BEST PART OF THE WEEK
On Friday
morning, we had two appointments scheduled to start teaching some
people. Within 5 minutes of each other, both appointments canceled. At
this point I almost slid back down the slick downhill slope to
discouragement because Yvonne had just dropped us, we weren't teaching
anyone, we could never get into someone's house more than once, a whole
bunch of our return appointments would cancel and I was feelin' pretty
bummed! I just wanted to teach someone about the gospel! But, instead of
becoming discouraged, I decided to read the notes I had written about
the blessing I received on Tuesday.
As I did, I could feel the Spirit encouraging me and saying, "It's
okay, you will find the one who needs you. Just keep working hard." So,
we decided to listen to the Spirit and go where Heavenly Father would
have us go. We felt prompted to visit an active family named the Clines.
On the way to the Cline's house we passed a neighborhood that I knew we
had some referrals in so I pulled into the neighborhood to knock on
some doors and contact the referrals (even though my motivation to knock
on another door was next to nothing). We talked to a man who was raised
in the church (not a coincidence), another man who didn't understand
why there are so many religions (we have an answer to that), contacted a
referral who knows that Michael Jordan is better than Lebron James
(doesn't take a rocket scientist), and finally contacted a referral
named Lisa. Lisa is a miracle!
So,
Lisa has two kids (a daughter and a son who has autism), and a husband.
When we knocked on her door she came out cheerfully in her apron. We
asked if she was cooking and she said she was baking and asked if we
wanted some cookies! Oh man, they were fresh out of the oven and
DELICIOUS! That's beside the point but it was a tender mercy haha! So,
we started talking to Lisa and shared some things that we believe and in
the course of our conversation we found out that her church is closing
in a few weeks! It was super sad because we could tell that she would
miss her church family but I know that we were sent to meet her at this
specific time! We also shared with her that a prophet was called in the
1800's, a man just like Moses or Noah, and there have been 16 prophets
since then. She said she was really interested in learning more and
invited us to come back on Sunday to teach her family. We left her with a Restoration pamphlet and asked her to read it.
On Sunday
afternoon, we went back with a sister from our ward to teach them and
it was awesome!! Only Lisa was there for the lesson because her daughter
was flying back from NJ, her husband was going to pick her up, and her
son just needs to warm up to us 
So,
we talked about the Restoration of the gospel and she shared with us
that something we said on her doorstep really intrigued her. She said,
"Now, you said there have been 16 prophets since the 1800s...how did I
miss all of those prophets?!" Haha! She is awesome! Then the awesome
sister who came with us jumped right in and told Lisa about the time
after Jesus Christ when there was no prophet and how Joseph Smith was
called as a prophet in the 1800s. She really felt the Spirit and she is
eager to learn more! She read from the Book of Mormon while we were
there and you could tell she was extremely moved. She is SO COOL!!! I
know we were sent to find her. She is the one! We are going to see her
again on Wednesday!
Well, I am out of time. Thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers! As you can see, those prayers are being answered!
Love you all!!!
Love,
Sister Lewis
P.S. - We find out about transfers on Sunday. They are on the 16th so anything that is being sent needs to be to my address by the 16th! Thanks!
Also,
we went Christmas caroling at a senior center as a district. It was
super fun! We are going back next week and having Christmas dinner with
them! I'M SO PUMPED! Here's a picture...Elder Gardner is so short they
had to lift him up...now that's a loving district haha!
Love you all! Have a great week!
