Almost 2 Months in the field!

04/24/2017

Hi Yall!!

Can you believe that I have been out on in the field for almost 2 months? I can't believe it either! Time flies by when your having fun.

So this past week was transfers! I am staying in Pace and am going to continue being trained by Sister Fox. 

We got word a few weeks ago that we were getting a new car because we had reached 50,000 miles on our car and when that happens, the car gets sold. So this past week, we had to go to transfer spots so that we could pick up our new car. GUESS WHAT CAR IT IS! It is a 2017 Chevy Malibu!!! White!! It is such a nice car.

A little funny story, so we had to stop at a gas station to fuel up because our car had been driven almost 600 miles before we got it and they did not fuel it up before giving it to us. Well being as it is a brand new car that neither Sister Fox or I had driven before, we had no idea how to open the gas tank door... So we sat for 20 minutes looking through the owners manual trying to figure out how to open it. We finally figured it out( you push on the door and it opens). We felt so dumb hahaha. 

This past Tuesday, we stopped by our investigator, Ivonne's house. We had been trying to stop by to see her a few times but she had not been home. Well this time she was home and she started telling us about how she had no more information at the moment to put in her family history account. ( We had been entering her family's information into familysearch.org to see if we could find more out about her ancestors being as she is from Holland). Well somehow, we were able to transition from talking about family history to talking about the Plan of Salvation. I feel that as we were talking to Ivonne (77 years old), she was being prompted by the Spirit to ask us many questions about our church. You see, she had thought we were Jehovah Witnesses when we started helping her with her family history. Then the last time we helped her with family history, she realized that we were not and asked us what church we were from. When we first met her she had told us that she had talked with missionaries before so she thought we were Jehovah's witnesses and we thought the missionaries she was talking about was for our church. Anywho,  We were able to teach her about the Plan of Salvation and more about Prophets. I could see the Spirit was working on her. I could see that as we were speaking, we were teaching her by the Spirit and I knew that Heavenly Father was preparing her as we talked with her.

So a couple of weeks ago, We were trying to find this part member family but got lost and ended up driving past  this one house and the lady who owned it was out washing her drive way. We decided it was too awkward to talk to her and we were pretty set on finding this part member family. Well on Wednesday, we were trying to find the same part member family again because we were unable to find her a couple of weeks ago and we drove past the lady's house who had been washing her driveway previously.  We decided to stop at her house and knock on her door. Well she let us in and we were able to teach her about the Plan of Salvation as well as a little bit about the Book of Mormon. It was so cool that the Spirit had guided us to find her house again and to be able to talk with her. Her name is Jennifer and she has 2 cute little boys.

After we got done teaching Jennifer, we couldn't decide if we should go to the Broussard Family (Less Active, Part Member family) or to a potential investigator's house. So we pulled over and prayed about it. After we prayed, we just sat and listened for the Spirit for a minute. Then we both had the feeling to go see the Broussard family who has been too busy to meet with us. When we got there, they were in the middle of cooking dinner but let us into their home and we were able to teach them. The wife, Whitney who is not a member, had only ever been taught about the restoration, so we decided to teach her about the Plan of Salvation to mix things up a bit. Although she didn't seem very interested, I could tell that Heavenly Father was working on her.

I know that as we follow the Spirit's promptings the first time, and be "first responders" like what Elder Rasband taught us, we will be able to see miracles and be able to see blessings. We will also be able to be more filled with the Spirit when we act on those promptings the first time than if we sat and waited a while after receiving the prompting.

This Friday is zone conference, and Sister Fox and i were asked to train our zone on being "First Responders" and talking to everyone. Hopefully it goes well... Our mission president will be there watching us train.

Love you all!! Sorry for the Long emails!

Love,

Sister Lewis​

Miracle can happen when we have faith

Hi Yall!!

This week was so amazing.  We had been praying for miracles and we were able to receive them. We were able to see a few miracles in Pace. One of the miracles was on Thursday night, we went tracting in our Bishop's neighborhood after having dinner at their house. After knocking on many doors, and having many rejections, we were able to finally talk with someone who wanted to know more about our church. 

Another miracle, on Saturday, when we were tracting, we had been knocking on alot of doors and it was the last door we went to knock on, and they let us in their house and we were able to talk to them a little bit about how God is our loving Heavenly Father, and how His gospel blesses families. They invited us to come back again this week. 

Our final miracle of the week was on Sunday. During church I had the name of a potential investigator pop into my brain and so I wrote down her name to go see her instead of this other person we were going to attempt to visit. Then while daily planning, my companion had the same impression to write this potential investigator's name down in the same spot I did. Finally, we were doing our companion study and my companion had the impression to stop half way through and go out and proselyte. Well we were trying to figure out which potential to see first and I decided that we should see the one that we had both written down. When we knocked on her door she came out and talked to us and we were able to teach her the restoration and set up a return appointment. She is so excited to learn more and has mentioned to us that she would love to become a member of the church. 

This week I have gained a testimony that as we have faith that the Lord will provide as long as we are doing His work, we will be able to see blessings happen. I am so grateful for the Savior and for our Heavenly Father. I know that he has guided me to serve a mission and to be able to serve in Pace as my first area so that I could gain this testimony and continue to strengthen that testimony. 

So this past thursday, we were able to go and help out at the Bishop's storehouse. Afterwards, the member that sister Fox and i rode with, they decided to take us out to lunch. So we went to Mcguire's. Mcguire's is this Irish pub where at the end of your meal, you can take a dollar bill and staple it somewhere in the restaurant. There is about 1.8 billion dollars covering the walls of this restaurant. It is so cool!! Anywho, the members wanted me to try calamari (I hate seafood). And so i told them i would try it but if i tried it they would have to take a picture of me eating it as proof. So i ate Calamari for the first time! it wasn't too bad but i won't be eating it again anytime soon.

Also on thursday, we went to knock on this door of a house that we thought a part member family lived at. Well as we pulled into the driveway, one of the kids saw us and so he ran and got his dad. All of them, including the dad had their faces pushed against the window and the were all creepily staring at us as we walked up. It was so awkward!! (Here in the mission field we have a motto: EMBRACE THE AWKWARD!) We got talking with the dad and it turns out that the part member family that used to live there moved. 

This Easter Sunday was a beautiful one. A member gave both me and my companion a card and some money for easter. We also had a member give us easter eggs that were filled with chocolate.  Then we went to a member's house for dinner where they sent us on an easter egg hunt, gave us Ghirardelli chocolate bunnies and sent us home with the remaining amount of the ham that we had for dinner. After dinner, we were able to share a lesson with them ( the mom is not a member). We had shared the "Prince of Peace" video and "None were with Him". We then shared some scriptures. It was such a great lesson. The Spirit was so strong through out it. What made it even more Spiritual is that the dad of the house, bore his testimony to his wife and kids. 

I encourage you all to do as this dad did, bare your testimony for you family as often as possible. Share the spiritual experiences with them that made you where you are today. 

I know that as you do this your family will be strengthened and blessed. I also know that as we strive to become like the Savior, we will become the best person we can be and we will be able to plant seeds in people's lives. I know that this Easter Season is all about the Savior and His Atonement. We would not be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father again if Jesus Christ had not bled from every pore in Gethsemane, suffered on the cross and if He had not been resurrected. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves each and every one of us. I know that He has His arms open wide waiting for us to reach out to Him.

I love you all!! I hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Lewis​

Start of Week 6 in the field

Hi Yall!

This past week, we have been trying to find new people to teach as well as pick up some less active families who are part member families as well. It has been an adventure as well as certainly much exercise. We have been tracting many neighborhoods in hopes that we will find someone to teach. So long story short, we have not had anything too crazy happen this past week.


On Tuesday, i got to ride in a slug bug convertible (stick shift) on my way to Chili's. I have never ever ridden in a slug bug convertible nor have I been to Chili's before. We had a less active member take us out to dinner there and she drove us. It was a cool experience!! The food was good, and the weather was great!!


Also this week, we met with our investigator, Betty (73 year old). Betty has decided that we are her adopted grandkids. So a couple of weeks ago, she gave us these Easter bunnies with chocolate in them and some mini pies. This past week, she bought Sister Fox and I each our own can of spray whip cream as well as a pie from Village Inn for us to share. To explain the whip cream thing, there was one of the visits we had where Betty had Sister Fox and I compete to see who could stack our whip cream the highest on our pie.  Then Betty challenged us to spray the whip cream in our mouths. She even tried to start a whip cream war as a joke. So now, every time we go to Betty's house, she talks about the times we had the cans of whip cream. HAHAHA. She is my favorite person to teach. However, she is not progressing (we think she is getting dimensia), so we got permission from the mission president to just do lunch with her and a spiritual thought as a service for her. I think that it will be great to do this for her. She has a grandson living with her, but he never talks with her very often and he mostly stays in his room. So she always tells us how much fun we are and how she loves us and since we are practically like her grandchildren, she says she loves to spoil us. HAHA. I love her so much! she is such a sweet lady.

So for the ward I am in, we are doing this big family history event, where there will be a presentation from a senior missionary couple whose calling is to help people with family history. There will also be one on one help after the presentation given by me and my companion, as well as the missionaries from the ward that shares the church building with us. It is open to the community, so i am hoping that we have a great turn out and that many people will be interested in setting up appointments to meet with us to hear about the gospel.


With that, I encourage all of you to do your family history and to find out more about your ancestors! As well as teach a friend how to do their family history!
Spiritual thought this week: " And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed." 3 Nephi 18:20-21
I know that as you pray sincerely, and with real intent, that you will be blessed, and that as you pray in your families, your families will be strengthened. I love you all! hope you have a good week!!
go to lds.org and watch the new Easter video the church put out. It is called Prince of Peace.

Love,

Sister Lewis

P.S. sorry for the complications with the pictures last week, for some reason it wouldn't let a lot of you have access to them.If you have troubles with the pictures send me an email and I can resend them.

for we did kill a WASHER while FLEAing pace on our BIKES.

​Hi yall!!

First off, i'm going to start with the crazy events that happened this week, and then i will share my insights about General Conference.

MONDAY: we broke our washer trying to wash my companions sheets and blanket. what happened was the washer got so off balance that one of the spring hooks that holds the basket popped out of the washer. Luckily, our ward mission leader is good at fixing things and so we had him fix our washer.

TUESDAY: we had the brightest idea to ride our bikes 7 miles to the church for district meeting. only, we got lost heading there because we took some back roads in order to avoid the high way. We are like one of the only sets of sisters who will ride their bikes that far in this area. so now our whole zone practically knows that we rode our bikes like 20-30 miles on tuesday. After district meeting, we started to bike home, but stopped at some less active member's homes as well as did some tracting. It was super fun to ride our bikes, but me and my companion were so sore and tired the rest of the day; let alone how sweaty and gross we were. 

WEDNESDAY:  we got to teach our new investigator about the plan of salvation. she is super excited to learn so much more about it.

THURSDAY: we went to a less active member's home for dinner. she has 5 dogs. i let her dogs all run up to me and i pet them all... so did my companion. it was only shortly after that, that the member decided to tell us the reason one of her dogs was shaved:FLEAS. she then went on to tell us how her carpets were filled with fleas because the dogs would bring them in from the outside (sand fleas). and she was having people come the next day to treat the house for fleas. When we went home, my companion and i stripped our clothes off and threw them in the washer and ran for the showers. we were so scared that we would have fleas in our apartment after this. so after we showered, we brought out our bug killer, and sprayed the entire perimeter of our house. Also, my companion found one flea on her and i think i had one on my head.

FRIDAY: we went to visit this semi-active family and while pulling into their driveway, we managed to get a nail in our tire. I got out of the car, and heard alot of air. so i looked at the tires and lo and behold, there was this giant nail in our back tire letting all of the air out. Luckily, we were able to have the man of the house help us to change our tire. So we have been driving on a spare (donut tire) for the past few days because the shop we are allowed to go to has been full.

there is a pier a little bit away from our apartment so went to take pictures of it. Also, some of these pictures show chunks of brick that are concreted together. " a wise man built his house upon the sand, and the floods came tumbling down."​

my insights about general conference

Henry B. Eyring: 

   -" God put us in families to have experiences that would prepare us to live with Him."

   - "Technology is not a substitute for revelation"

   -"Family History work brings you not just closer to the family, but closer to the Lord".

M. Joseph Brough:

   - " my answer to my prayer did not come in a moment, rather a thought that kept penetrating my mind"

Mark A. Bragg:

   - "wherever there is human life, there is the light of Christ"

   - " Compassion+Forgiveness+gratitude= a successful workplace

Russell M. Nelson:

   -" Faith in Jesus Christ propels us to do things which we normally would not do"

Jeffrey R. Holland:

   - " In singing the anthems of humanity we must stand as close to the Savior as possible, and hear His perfect pitch"

there were so many great conference talks given this past weekend! i encourage you all to go back and re-listen to them. Your Heavenly Father knows and loves each one of you!

Love,

Sister Lewis

P.S. i encourage you all to go to mormon.org and watch the Prince of Peace video that is about Jesus Christ. it is a beautiful video for this easter season