Week 12

This week it rained quite a bit! So that was fun! I also received revelation, or just knowledge, that I may want to invest in some more waterproof things before winter comes around!

Some things I keep forgetting to mention:

1. The Book of Mormon Musical is coming in April. The tickets sold out in 60 seconds or something crazy like that. We are planning some ways to share as much correct information about the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as possible.  On April 11, all the missionaries in our mission are going to have members with them all day, and are going to use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media websites with #RealBCMormons of pictures or descriptions of what we are doing. We're really excited. There are some devotionals that the Quorum of the Twelve have set up for the members here to strengthen their testimonies, and for the past couple weeks, we have been preparing the members in our member visits. We'll see how well it works if you hear about it!

2. We are whitewashing. We opened up this area, so we had to start over with investigators. So that was a fun thing for my first transfer! We've learned a lot!

Transfers are next week! I cannot believe how fast that came! I can't believe I have known Hermana Williamson for 5 weeks already! She is so wonderful! I'm so grateful that she could be my trainer. She has taught me so much and I don't know what I would do without her!

Cassandra* is getting baptized officially next Sunday!! We are so excited. It is such a miracle!

We were doing a role play Tuesday morning for a lesson we were going to have with Cassandra later in the day. We were going to have exchanges and I was going to be staying in our area, so I was Cassandra so I could really feel what the Spirit needed us to do. The Spirit totally guided our role play, and we were lead that we should read the story about Ammon, King Lamoni, and his father. We role played the whole lesson, and so many of the concerns she had were answered in our role play, and afterwards we felt it was so right.

A couple hours later was her lesson. I taught with Hermana Cobb. We read and explained the story, and how the stories in the Book of Mormon aren't just stories of other people, but that they really do apply to our lives. We probably wouldn't ever have to build a ship, but the principles we learn are what we need to apply. Then we asked her what she thought about it. She talked about how it was kind of the same situation with her wanting to be baptized, but her dad not allowing it.

Here is the coolest part. It came straight from the Spirit.

"Cassandra. At 8:00 PM on Thursday night, you are going to go and talk to your dad and tell him you want to be baptized. The Lord has softened his heart, and he will let you be baptized. Hermana Williamson and I will be praying for you, Hermana Lee and Hermana Cobb will be praying for you, the Elders will be praying for you, Juan Pablo will be praying for you, and about forty other missionaries (our 2 zones) at that time. Will you talk to him at 8:00 PM on Thursday?"

She said she would but got really nervous. We explained that God promised his heart would be softened and talked about how he is all powerful. She got so excited. She was still so nervous, but she was so excited because she really wanted to be baptized.

The Spirit was so strong during that lesson.

We texted our zone, and had the Elders text their zone, and everyone said they would pray as a a companionship at that time. We have wonderful zones!

Wednesday, I was just thinking about that lesson. I was worried about what would happen if her dad said she couldn't get baptized. I made her a huge promise! Then I remembered something so important. I wasn't the one who promised her anything. I was just blessed enough to be the voice of the Lord as he promised her that because she was willing to follow his son, Jesus Christ, and be baptized, that her Dad's heart was going to be soft. I felt so much peace, and was not even worried from that minute on.

Thursday, we had a lesson with Cassandra, and then we told her at the end that we would call her at 7:455. She was still committed to asking, nervous, but excited.

We called at 7:45 and she said she was going to do it early, but then he was asleep. She didn't want to risk waking him up to ask him because she didn't want him to be mad. Hermana Williamson said that this could be a way that Satan was trying to stop this from happening, but the Lord told us at 8:00, and it needed to be then. We said a prayer with her and then reminded her that everyone would be praying for her.

At 8:00, we prayed. We prayed. Everyone prayed. We felt so much peace. We prayed for 10 minutes. It was such a beautiful experience. After we got in for the night, we called her. She said how things went.

Her dad said she could be baptized. He even said he would go to her baptism. What a miracle. He said he didn't want anyone to talk to him there, but he would go just to support her.

If that isn't amazing, I don't know what is.

She is getting baptized!!!!! This Sunday! 

Like I said, I had exchanges with Hermana Cobb! What a blessing! We were in Vancouver and we had such a great time doing missionary work out in the field together! We even set a goal to teach a lesson before we went home, and it happened! Love her to death!

On Saturday, we were trying to get a hold of an inactive member of the ward, in a part member family, but were not able to get a hold of her.  On Saturday, we felt the need to change our plans, and we ended up walking and contacting as we went to stop by formers and other people we picked out from the ward. We stopped by this home again, and the son answered and told us his mom was in the hospital. We were able to get the information and visited her in the hospital, were she welcomed us in, which was a miracle in and of itself because in the past, she would not even open the door to talk to the missionaries, and we met her husband and another one of her sons, and because we visited them, they are more open to us now!

I love seeing how intimately involved the Lord is in our lives. He is constantly blessing us. I love knowing that I can trust someone completely, and that He puts certain things in my path because they are best for me!

The Lord just keeps sending blessings. Not just to me, and not just because I'm on a mission. So look for them, and then thank him for them.

Hermana Williamson and I get to eat dinner with President and Sister Burt tonight! Hermanas Lee and Cobb will be there too, as well as Sister Rogers and Sister Flinders, our Sister Training Leaders. We are eating at Boston Pizza. So excited. Can you believe that though? He was saying he wanted to eat with us to Sister Rogers and Sister Flinders, so we kind of forced him into it once we figured it out. President and Sister Burt are seriously so amazing. I don't know what I would do without them!

Les amo hasta la luna y de regreso! 

Hermana Lewis

Exchanges and blossoms from a tree! All of Vancouver has blossoms everywhere! So beautiful!

Mi amor.

After our lesson with Cassandra on Thursday! Hermana Williamson, Cassandra, Alicia (Young Woman in the ward, y yo).