Week 26

I think I forgot to tell this story. So here we go.

We were going to visit Cassandra for a lesson. We were driving on this street, minding our own business, being missionaries. We were stopped at this red light. This lady was crossing the street and didn't see fresh road kill- a squirrel. The squirrels here are black. So that adds to the story. She was walking across the crosswalk and BAM. She stepped on it. Right now every single car at the intersecting is stopped, watching her. Haha she started freaking out! I mean freaking out! She did a little dance thing and was flailing and screaming. When she eventually made it across the little 2 way road, she took off her shoes and threw them away, and just walked wherever she was going barefoot. Hahahahahaha it was so funny!

Our awesome Ward Mission Leader always says the greatest lines. This was one of the latest:

Hermano Puschel: "We have to be more aggressive than the evangelicos. They are aggressive. We can't be aggressive like them. We have to shake these potentials spiritually. That's how we can be aggressive." And, "They need to have a spiritual earth quake".

He's a great guy!

When we were at the church one day this week, we ran into the Van Chinese Elders. We asked them how to say basic lines in Mandarin so we could talk to more people because about 89% of the people we talk to speak Mandarin and not English. Before I would just hand them a card and use "sign language", but speaking would be so much better, right? So they wrote down how to pronounce some things. The next night when we were out contacting, I ran into a guy named Murphy*, from China! I was talking in English, and then I switched to my slow slow mandarin, but he understood me! And I got his number! And now the Elders have it! Woo! But he's going to China for the summer until he comes out to study again in September, so it'll be a while.

Science World was awesome! We had so much fun! There were so many hands on activities! Haha I think it's meant for kids, but that's okay! There were some parents there who were enjoying themselves, probably more than their kids, too!

We had a lesson with a girl named Valeria* on Tuesday. She is from Mexico and is 18. Elders Nielson and Gurr found her and gave us her number. She was super interested to learn more. We were finally able to meet up with her. We got to bring Cassandra to our lesson! She testified so strong! I was so proud of her! She usually gets shy when talking about the gospel, but I wish I could have recorded it or something. The Spirit was so strong! We committed Valeria to baptism, but she goes back to Mexico this week. We are trying to get her address so that we can help her find the closest church to her house and send missionaries to her, there. Pray for her!

We visited la familia Soza*, but not the one we have visited before. This is the family of their oldest son. We had the best chicken sandwich things I have ever had! Oh man! And we got to know the cute little family so well! Their oldest daughter, Mariana* is 5. She is so cute! She has this stuffed owl that she named Coo Coo. Coo Coo is really naughty. And she takes him everywhere and makes him do bad things. She would bring him to church and everything! But now he's banned. Oh my goodness. She is just so cute! That family is adorable.

I was going to tell you the best story, but I'm running out of time, so we'll have to wait till next week!

Daniela read the scriptures on her own on Saturday!! We have a lesson tonight with her so we are going to see how that went. But isn't that so cool?

We finally got to teach Lucia again! She has had so much work that we couldn't see visit her for a whole transfer. But we read 3 Nefi 11. We had read it with her before, but this time she had more knowledge about the gospel and more of a testimony and it meant so much more to her! And she asked how many more chapters she could keep reading about Christ in the Americas. We are going to her house for P Day today to learn how to paint and read more about when Christ visited the Americas. She is an amazing artist! We're so excited!

For the rest of P day, we are going to Lynn Valley with Andrea, a recent convert, and hiking a little, and then having dinner with her! We're super excited!

The Lord is definitely leading this work! He has so many miracles in store for all of us if we will just submit to his will! 

Love you all!

We thought we were really good at this. We would get going pretty fast (in comparison to the people on the other side). Then we realized our sensor wasn't working, and for all we know, hit the sides. But it was fun.

Goal.

Outcome.  Hermana Wilson style.

And mine.  I'm impressed with us.

Egyptian.  Camera shadow pose.

Ya.  Enjoy that.

We ate healthy. Wasn't too filling, but it wasn't processed. Honey Garlic chicken, baby!

Weekly planning.

 Not really. But it felt like it. Especially for our car.

Mmm!

Hermana Dougie!

Not really. But it felt like it. Especially for our car.

Week 25

We got to do lot's of contacting this week! I think our investigators and our members coordinate their schedules with each other so we can't ever have a member present to see how dedicated we are to the work...

We're pretty dedicated:)

We met this guy named Jared*. He is from Edmonton. He rode his bike from Edmonton to Gas Town. We were talking to him as he finished his 3 week trip, and he showed us pictures of the sights he saw and told us about experiences he had. He was animated in a laid back sort of way. This sentence pretty much sums up the conversation:

Jared: That's why we like to call it BC. Bring cash.

Haha someone sign this guy up for something great. Anything.

Transfer calls happened! You'll never believe it! I'm going to Burnaby, opening up French! I'm super excited! I did not see that one coming!

Hermana Wilson and I have been the witnesses to two nasty break-ups. Sadly, or luckily, I don't remember the details really. But they kill us. So funny!

Hermana Wilson and I gave talks yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, along with our Ward Mission Leader, Hermano Puschel. Let's just say we crossed that off the list of things to do. My talk was based off of Elder Neil L Anderson's talk "Thy Kingdom Come". Love it!

Thanks to a bunch of little miracles and Esteban, today Hermana Wilson and I are going to Science World for free! We are so excited!

I'm not really sure what more I have to say this week.

I was thinking a lot about Jesus Christ and all he did while he was on the earth. He had so much power and authority in everything he did because his will was perfectly aligned with Heavenly Father's will. He was exactly obedient and did only those things that Heavenly Father wanted. That is how he was able to work all those miracles. I am super excited this week to work on better aligning my will with Heavenly Father's. I can't wait to see what miracles I am able to do, and what changes I see and feel by forgetting myself completely and dedicating myself wholly to the Lord.

Les amo! Que Dios les bendiga!

Hermana Lewis

Oh. And I guess I should say for transfers I am really staying in Vancouver Spanish with Hermana Wilson. Paz<3

There is a nice member who works at Walmart. We see him every week. We scored on the stickers!

Ya...Sorry

Granville Island. We spent P day last week with the some other Sisters for Sister Rogers' last real p day.

Chillin. Double sorry for this one.

Hola!

Zone Conference Call. Yes we listened.

Member splits!

Last moments with Sister Rogers!

False Creek. Yes. That's real.

Week 24

Wow. What a week.

This week was such a great week. We met with Esperanza as much as we could leading up to her baptism. We taught most all of Lesson 5, and read scriptures with her. On Friday before her baptism, we visited her and she was sick. Poor woman! But that wasn't going to stop her. She was so excited to be baptized. When she gets excited, she gets really vocal. It is one of my favorite things. So sweet.

At our chapel we had no clothes that would work at all for Esperanza. We had one slip, and then the rest were jumpsuits. Esperanza is so small, so there was no way the jumpsuits would work. So Hermana Wilson and I went on a hunt for some dresses. We finally found one that could work, although it was going to be going with a lot of hope. The Surrey Hermanas came to the rescue and got one to us from their chapel.

While we were looking for clothing, we had to have one of our zone leaders unlock the closet. I was busy searching for clothes that could work, and Hermana Wilson was talking through which ones would be best. I wasn't watching, so Hermana Wilson starting talking to Elder Maurer to get his opinion. She just wanted help, but she wasn't getting it. She was holding dresses and slips up to herself, asking what would work, and Elder  Maurer started getting flustered. Haha

Elder Maurer: (in a frantic voice) I don't know. I'm just and Elder.

I could not help but die of laughter.

We met with Elder Cottingham, one of the Assistants, and Elder Stone (they were on exchanges) right before the baptism, to make sure everything would flow well.

We got things set up, but the members bringing Esperanza didn't get her there until the time the baptism was supposed to start. Things started getting a little crazy. But we got her dressed and all ready.

We started the meeting. We have a new Ward Mission Leader!!! Blessings! Hermano Puschel! He's amazing. He did so much to help with the baptism. I was translating from Spanish to English for the other missionaries and their investigators, as well as for the interpreter we had, who is an investigator in Surrey, Alice*, who was willing to help us out. President and Sister Burt wanted to come so bad, but there was a last minute emergency and couldn't make it. Hermana Wilson talked about baptism and then we went to perform the ordinance.

We only had to do it once, and it all worked out, 3 languages and all.

We came back and I had to translate Andrew's talk from ASL to Spanish with Alice's help. Then Hermana Espinoza invited her to Relief Society and Obispo invited her to the ward. Then I said the closing prayer. As I was taking off the microphone for translating to give to Hermana Wilson, they headphones got stuck in my hair. Haha so I laughed super hard but silent and we tried to get them out. Everyone was just staring in silence. As I walked up to the front, I tried to fix my hair. I said the prayer and played it cool. You'd be impressed:)

Afterwards, we were talking to one of Elder Gurr's and Elder Nielson's investigators, Paulo*. He told us that he felt the Spirit so strong and that he is so excited to be baptized!

We were talking to Elders Kaonohi and Cedeno and they said that their investigator also felt the Spirit so strong and he started to cry, and they set a baptismal date for him for July 5th.

We went to ESL this week because the Van Korean Elders were bringing a Spanish potential named Amada*. We met her and stayed with her in class. Then we were invited to the ESL breakfast for Saturday. While there, the teacher, speaking English and not her native language, asked Hermana Wilson to move the syrup "over there". Hermana Wilson thought she meant putting it in another pitcher and started to pour the syrup in a pitcher, but it was filled with water. Super funny. She freaked out. Haha

Last P day, we met 10 Spanish people! Blessing! We met a couple from Ecuador. We walked their 8 bags of clothes from Walmart with them to the nearest Skytrain station, which ended up being not that close. We talked in Spanish:) They were here for just the weekend, and saw how great the deals were at Walmart that they were stocking up for all their kids at home. We had a really awesome conversation, and at the end, they invited us over once we were done with our mission and said we could stay with them in Ecuador for a while! They gave us their address and phone number. Super sweet!

We were taking the Skytrain to Yaletown Roundhouse Station on our way to the beach for P day, and we started talking to this guy named Henry*. What do you know. He speaks Spanish! We were having a conversation with him, and all of a sudden this lady walks up to me and says our Spanish is really good! Hermana Wilson kept talking to Joseph and I started talking to the other lady, Cristina*. She is from Argentina (love the accent!). She said she had seen missionaries before and really wanted to learn about our church and read the Book of Mormon. We got both their numbers and are looking for an opportunity to teach them. They are super busy, but they are so amazing!

We met so many other great people. Including and inactive member, who turned out to be from Chile, named Esteban*! He's excited to come to church again! He doesn't remember much because he stopped going when he was young. But he works at Science World, and is getting us in for free next P day! He is awesome!

We got to do service again in Richmond for the Fajardo Family! We mowed and weed-whacked! It was heaven!

In summary, this week was super great. I love being a missionary!

I've got to go now! 

Love, Hermana Lewis

Waiting for the SkyTrain at Joyce Station

Temptations...

I don't remember why we took this picture.

LSP

<3 Be-gnomes

Juliette baby-sat my camera.

We were about to pray before going to a lesson when I saw these cute baby skunks frolicking in this front yard! Adorable!!!

Week 23

Hola!

Sometimes I can't speak Spanish. A lot of the time I can't speak English, either. This creates so many problems.

We were out contacting and I messed things up a little. Grateful for the Atonement!

Me: Ya! As missionaries, we love talking about people with God and Jesus Christ.

Joke! We love talking with people about God and Jesus Christ.

Willy is officially getting baptized Saturday! We had her interviewed this past Saturday. President Burt wanted to make sure she was really ready, and that once she was baptized, she would stay active. He asked us to have one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Maurer interview her. Before the interview, we had a lesson with her and had Obispo over. President wanted to get the opinion of others about Willy, too. Obispo was so amazing. He came all the way from Port Moody to our lesson. The Spirit was so strong and some amazing things happened. I was even able to translate the ASL into Spanish so Obispo could understand. That was pretty cool. Then she was interviewed. Elder Maurer said it was one of the most spiritual experiences he has ever had. Willy is so special! We love her so much!

On Thursday, we went to Port Coquitlam to have dinner with the Chavez family. They are awesome! We got there early and went contacting. The first two people we saw looked Spanish. We debated, but then just chased them down. We started a conversation and the man said, "I don't speak English". Right! You speak Spanish! Him and his wife just moved here from El Salvador! We talked to them for a good while. They are the sweetest! They took a picture of us so they could always remember us. We asked if we could come over another time to share a message about God and Jesus Christ with them, but they didn't know their address because they just moved here and they didn't know their phone number either. But we gave them ours. They told us they always walked on that street. So next time we go out to Port Coquitlam, we'll be checking everywhere for them! They are so cute!

Saturday, we were supposed to have a lesson with Daniela. She does a lot of volunteering and she works with a fundraising company, and so she is super busy. She texted us Saturday morning and said that she wasn't going to be home, but that we could come visit her at her event at Sunset Beach. It was beautiful (we are planning on going there for P-day today:)). We got to meet her boyfriend, Jared*. We taught them both together and it was so cool. We are now hoping we can continue to teach them both!

Fernando fasted yesterday!! Isn't that so cool?

We had a really cool lesson Saturday morning with a potential investigator. Her name was Josefina*. She has 3 kids- Iago*, Manuel*, and Pablo*, and her husband, Inigo*. They actually live really close to us. But we did how to begin teaching and taught the Restoration. She also has a date for June 28! We hope things go well! She is reading the Book of Mormon right now:)

I guess those were some of the highlights of the week.

Oh! We got transit passes again this month! So that has been a blast! We have been out of the car more, which is so nice, and we have met a lot more Spanish people! Also, we get to ride the Skytrain. What more could you need. Mission. Skytrain. People. Gospel. Nothing else.

Ya me voy. Paz y bendiciones! Cuidense!

Hermana Lewis

We had "dinner" with a really sweet member of the ward. She gave us a lot of carbs. We had to call it quits. Hermana Wilson couldn't finish eating all her food, and when the member wasn't looking, put some of it in a bag. Haha this is part of an egg, and dried papaya.

Robson Square

Fish

Members like to cancel last minute.

Cute family from El Salvador!

Bad picture of a beautiful view.

Happy Birthday, Sister McKee!

Sunset Beach

Celeste!

You can't tell. But the flies here are GIGANTIC!  The small ones are the size of huge ones everywhere else in the world.

Vancouver City Center