Week 81: "My journey has just begun."

This last week has been great! Things slowed down a little bit with our investigators, but their progress is sure and steady. We are currently teaching Jessica, Denise, and Mary. Jessica's mom had surgery so we weren't able to visit a ton this week, but we had an awesome Family Home Evening on Monday with her and her two sons! We talked about prayer, she made cookies, and a couple from the branch came! It was so great! We love her!

We went to the D.C. Temple Visitors Center with Denise on Tuesday, and she LOVED it! She is definitely a visual learner so that helped a lot. We also drew a map of the Earth and used it to explain where the Book of Mormon came from, and boy were the light bulbs turning on in her mind! She is the sweetest. I love that woman!

We saw Mary three times this week, and it was great. We noticed that we had been skipping over the opening prayer for our lessons, although we always pray just before going into investigators' houses. In any event, we realized we had been skipping the opening prayer because she loves to jump right into talking about what we are studying. So, we recommitted to say an opening prayer with her, and it made all the difference! The prayer of faith will change people's hearts. We were able to understand her better, she was able to express herself more clearly, and we were able to teach more by the Spirit, all because of the prayer of faith and the Holy Ghost that was invited by it!

Well, if you don't already know, I am coming home this week. I am filled with such tender feelings when I think back on the last 18 months of my life. There are certainly things that I feel I could have done better, but I have not one ounce of regret in serving the Lord for this period of time. It has been, by far, the most refining, uplifting, and enriching experience of my life. I cannot believe that my opportunity for full-time service as a missionary is about to come to a close. It feels like just yesterday that I read the words,

"Sister Lewis,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You have been assigned to labor in the Maryland Baltimore Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months."

My mission has been far beyond anything I expected in the moment that I read those words.

I have often considered those words, "It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months." I am grateful for the precious opportunity that I have been given for full-time service for this period of 18 months, and now I look ahead with anticipation for the opportunities that I will have to be a full-time servant in many other capacities. As it says in D&C 4:3, "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work." I know this is true.

My dear friends and family, I want to express my deep love and gratitude for each of you. Thank you so much for all you have done for me. I express gratitude for the prayers you have offered on mine and others' behalves. Thank you to all who have contributed in temporal and spiritual ways to make it possible for me to serve this mission with energy and zeal.

I love you. The Lord loves you. I know that there is a plan for us. Heavenly Father wants us to have joy and to become like Him. He loves us. He loves us. It doesn't matter how many times I say it, I just hope you feel it. He sent His Son to remove every obstacle that stood in our way to return to Father in Heaven. All He asks for is our faith and continual efforts to turn from the world and turn to Him. This is possible through our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This life is a precious opportunity to be refined and purified, and we can and will find joy through that process. This life is the beginning of a grand and beautiful process of becoming as God made us to be. He knows who we can be, and His vision for us is far greater than anything we could ever dream we might be. His vision is clear and perfect.

Well, it has been a journey here in the Maryland Baltimore Mission, but, truly, my journey has just begun.

I love you! See you soon 

Love,

Sister Lewis

Week....Eighty.........what.

Well, this week was amazing! I can honestly say that we did not have a bad day. It was that way for a while on my mission, so it's good to be back to feeling that way! I've found that when I am feeling down, it is because I am focusing a little too much on myself and not hardly enough on others and the Lord. When I live in the service of others and the Lord, I am richly blessed with joy and peace. Even though our days are not perfect, I feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that our progress is sure and steady and that the Lord has used me as an instrument in His hands that day!

Also, as Elder Bednar said, "A grateful person is rich in contentment. An Ungrateful person suffers in the poverty of endless discontentment. (See Luke 12:15)" I love that!

One of the miracles that we saw this week was on Tuesday when we decided that we should just go get to know Jessica a little better. So, we decided to bake cupcakes with her and get to know her. At first, it was mostly just Sister Blosch and I telling her about our lives and our hobbies and stuff. She was still pretty quiet, as usual, but, eventually, she started opening up. We have felt from the beginning that the reason she is quiet is because she is not super comfortable sharing her past, but, in this visit, she finally felt comfortable enough to let us get to know her, and how grateful I am for that! She told us just a little about the things she has gone through, and I am in awe of her strength and courage as a mother and a daughter to break the status quo! She is beginning a legacy of faith and dedication to the Lord in her family, and it is against all odds! She is amazing, and I can't imagine maintaining the kind of faith she has after all she has gone through! It just goes to show that we can be molded by our trials and hardships. She has gone through the fiery furnace and has come out as an amazing mother, teacher, example, and mentor. What an amazing woman. She is living, breathing proof of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. After all, aren't we all?

Denise is doing well! She is slowly learning the doctrine of the gospel, and it is changing her! She just found out that her mother's cancer has spread, so her mom's as well as her own immediate future are a bit unpredictable. We are going to visit the D.C. Temple Visitors Center with her tomorrow! It should be a faith-building experience for her. I am so blessed to know and interact with these amazing people.

Well, I am almost out of time! Thank you so much for all of your prayers, love, and support! I pray for you all often, as well.

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Lewis

P.S. - This week I found out that a brother in our branch is A DRAG RACER!!!!!!! I almost died. He let me sit in the dragster. 

Here is a picture of a rainbow that led to the Harrison's house. They are definitely a pot of gold. Haha, I don't really know what that means, but they are awesome.

 

Week 79

Things are going so well here on Kent Island! This week we visited with investigators almost every day! I don't think I have taught so many people on my entire mission! WOW what a week!

Some of the quick updates is that Jessica is most likely going to be able to come to church this Sunday. We are so excited!

I don't believe I've talked about Denise yet. She is a woman we started teaching about a month ago. She is our neighbor, and we came in contact with her through our friend, Dawn, who helped the sisters to get our condo a few years back. Anyway, we did service for her and really hit it off! Haha, sounds like a date. Anyway, she is super sweet, very outgoing, and bubbly, and we love her a ton! One day she started talking about how much she hates funerals, so we started talking about the Plan of Salvation. Now that I am typing this, I think I have already talked about her. Anyway, she left for Ohio for a couple weeks, and, while she was there taking care of her mom after surgery, she shared all of the pamphlets with her mom and let her mom have her Book of Mormon! This week she invited a friend, Jan, to meet with us! She is such a cool little missionary! This last week we felt like she might have been hesitating to come to church because she was nervous, so we gave her a tour, and she came to church yesterday!

We started teaching three new people this week:  Jan (Denise's friend), Sylvia, and Mary! They are all awesome. Jan texted us the other day to say she wasn't interested in the religion, so that was short-lived, but, hey, seed planted!

Well, I am out of time! Thank you for all you do for me and Sister Blosch!

Love,

Sister Lewis

Week 78

Okay, I actually left time this week to write my email, although it is not a ton of time!

This week was great! The past couple weeks, when I haven't been emailing, I have been dealing with one of the lows of my mission. Things have been crazy and a little...a lot stressful, but these experiences are not just something we are forced to get through, they are meant to teach us, refine us, and help us to "become something far greater than what we were" as President Uchtdorf shared in his talk this weekend.

Speaking of General Conference, wasn't that a privilege?! Holy cow, the talks were all very inspired and inspiring. I loved hearing from the living prophets and apostles. I have been studying and pondering recently the vision of the tree of life found in 1 Nephi 8. I really enjoyed the thoughts that were shared on this chapter during conference. One thought that has come to me repeatedly as I have pondered this chapter and this prophetic vision is that the iron rod (or the word of God, and particularly the Book of Mormon) will get us through any mist of darkness, no matter how thick or thin and no matter how long we are called to travel through it. As I struggled these past few weeks, I found peace and solace in the pages of the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I share a verse from the hymn, "The Iron Rod."

"And hand o'er hand, the rod along

through each succeeding day

With earnest prayer and hopeful song,

we'll still pursue our way.

Hold to the rod, iron rod!

'Tis strong, and bright, and true!

The iron rod is the word of God,

'twill safely guide us through!"

I know this is true!

Jessica is doing so well! We have found and taught a few new investigators these past few weeks, but they do not seem interested in answering our phone calls anymore haha!

Sister Moore watched conference with us at a member's house yesterday, and she felt the influence of the Holy Ghost as she listened to the inspired counsel of our leaders! I say a miracle is about to happen in the lives of her and her children!

Thank you so much for all of your love and support! Thank you especially for your faith which goes a long way in the work of the Lord!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Lewis