Week 43

Hey! Shout out from Kelowna! I love it here! 

We flew out on Wednesday and it only took an hour or so to get here, but it was a morning of traveling all over the lower mainland. 

My new companion is Sister Madson! She trained Sister Collier, who I came out with. She is absolutely the best! Such an amazing missionary and person. I am super blessed to be able to serve with her! 

Kelowna, and the rest of the Okanagan, is so pretty! It's really similar to Utah. But man! I'm so lucky to be here! 

We have had a great half a week here, and it has been so long! But it is so amazing! 

The Gospel is so amazing! I love it so much! I'm so grateful I'm a missionary! I'm so grateful for this life of miracles and blessings! I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost! I'm so grateful for fall and winter (and snow)! And I'm so grateful for a loving and forgiving Father in Heaven, and His perfect Son, who made this all possible! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Lewis

Can't figure out pictures this week. Sorry!

Week 42

Transfer news came this week! We had a short transfer and next transfer is going to be 7 weeks. And the big news... I'm out of Vancouver Spanish. After 8 months and 3 days, I will be leaving my baby area. I'm being shipped off to Kelowna! My new companion is going to be Sister Madsen. She trained Sister Collier, one of my buddies from the MTC. I'm super excited to see what's in store! I'm going to be in the Kelowna YSA and a Sister Training Leader.

This week was a good week! We got to spend a little time with President Burt on Tuesday and Thursday, and it was the best. If anyone is wondering if I have the desire to do the work, let me tell you now, I sure do!

I'm so grateful that I can be a missionary! I wouldn't trade this for the world! And when I get back, I'm so excited to still be a missionary!

A lot of this is thoughts super based off of Preach My Gospel, so it's nothing new, but I love it.

As baptized members of the church, we all covenanted with God that we would take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember him, keep his commandments, stand as witnesses of God at all times, in all things, and in all places, and to help all those in need. 

President Spencer W. Kimball said, "Now is the moment in the timetable of the Lord to carry the gospel farther than it has ever been carried before... Many a person in this world is crying, knowingly and unknowingly, 'Come over... and help us.' He might be your neighbor. She might be your friend. He might be a relative. She might be someone you met only yesterday. But we have what they need. Let us take new courage from our studies and pray, as did Peter, "And no, Lord, ... grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word'.

And President Hinkley said, as in Preach my Gospel, "We are here to assist our Father in His work and His glory, 'to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39). Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my obligation in my sphere".

"Let there be cultivated an awareness in every member's heart of his own potential for bringing others to a knowledge of the truth. Let him work at it. Let him pray with great earnestness about it". 

As members of the church, we have the responsibility and calling to share the gospel with those around us. We have not been asked to find someone to be baptize immediately, but to help others find peace and hope, and come closer to our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ.

There are so many people I want to quote, but I can't remember who said what and when so you get the brief version. But someone said to invite your neighbors over for dinner or family home evening and invite them to meet the missionaries. And if you don't know your neighbors, repent! And then invite them! I have seen the power of families in missionary work. It is real! "The process of bringing new people into the Church is not the responsibility alone of the missionaries. They succeed best when members become the source from which new investigators are found" (Preach my Gospel, page 160-161).

The more we understand the gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the more we will have the desire and the need to share it with others.

 Mosiah 28:3-- Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.

 Doctrine and Covenants 11:21-- Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.

If we are not having the desires to share the gospel, we are probably not understanding the gospel, which all comes back to our study and the amount of time we are willing to dedicate to God. Are we putting God first? "You are to study, believe, love, live, and teach" (Preach My Gospel, page 29).

There is so much power in the Book of Mormon! Use it! 

President Joseph F. Smith said, "We have a mission in the world: each man, each woman, each child who has grown to understanding or to the years of accountability, ought...to be qualified to preach the truth, to bear testimony of the truth".

And here is where my commitment comes. "Give your best efforts to help people qualify for 'eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God'" (Preach My Gospel, page 221). As a family, and to whoever takes the time to read this, I invite you to be a Preach My Gospel Family (thanks to Elder Zamano for the idea). As a family, study Preach My Gospel, but especially Chapter 3. Study the principles and doctrines of the Gospel and quiz each other. Make learning fun and important. You can take it section by section or lesson by lesson, but learn it and know it. And then invite someone over! And introduce them to the missionaries! There are so many ways to do it. But do it! You will be able to help teach and share with what you have studied and learned as a family. It doesn't matter who you invite, but that you do it, and have the missionaries there. And, I invite you to do it before this year is over! I'd love to hear of the experiences you have! I promise that if you do it, you will be closer as a family, and you will experience Godly joy:)

Anyway. Hurrah for Israel!

Go fulfill your covenants!

Paz y bendiciones! 

Hermana Lewis

Are you my mother?

Conference breakfast

Killer sunrise from our door!

Marli<3

Lucia!

The beginnings of a very rainy park-your-car day!

Waiting for the bus

City Center

There is just this wall with wires hanging from different places all around the world on a building downtown. Then there is this shallow thing of water surrounding it with little wood steps. It's my favorite! That's me;)

Photo shoot with myself. And a timer.

Preparing her talk. I'm so helpful.

Saying goodbye to the Wisers! They are amazing!

Saying bye to my Cassandra

Oralia, Luisa, Me, Celeste

Homeboy Andrew

Selfie!

Me and my favorite juice!

Week 41

Happy late Canadian Thanksgiving!

Highlights of the week:

*I had a sweet dream about the Spirit World. I have no idea if what I experienced is doctrine or not, but I loved it.

*We found this Chilean Housing division. Hopefully we get some real, golden investigators out of the pot of gold.

*We had dinner with the Espinosa family, and as usual, they left us feeling capable and spiritually uplifted!

*We had interviews with President Burt his week! I'm so grateful for him and all he does!

*We did exchanges this week with Sister McKee and Sister Ditto. I got to be with Sister Ditto in my area, and she was such a blessing and answer to my prayers. She is so amazing and dedicated!

*We had an awesome lesson with Lucia this week! It's been a while since we've seen her, but we just jumped right back into things and we got a promise from her that she would read the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was super strong, and Celeste, who came with us, did such an amazing job testifying. I'm so grateful for members like her. Her testimony really shines through!

*It poured all day Saturday, and that was our park-the-car day. It was so fun to just be out and get soaked, but not worry about anything. We only had one lesson that day, and spent the rest of the day walking around Richmond, inviting more people to enjoy the blessings of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't get much better than that!

*We taught Daniela again! It was a great lesson about commandments, and we are working towards another goal for her to come to church!

*Michael, Rosa's son, came to church! He also came to Conference last week.

*I found out that Thiago, one of the investigators we passed to the Elders, thought I was Cubana. And when he found out I wasn't, he kept guessing countries where they speak Spanish! Then the Elders told him I was from Utah.

Christina came to church yesterday. We still are not going to teach her for a while, but Hermana Polanco sat by her as I translated (!). After a talk, Christina asked Hermana Polanco if we had a law of Chastity, too. Hermana Polanco pretty much taught all of the law of Chastity alone, for the first time. And for certain reasons, it was a little crazy for her. Christina stayed the whole three hours at church, thanks to Rosa, and then for the Ward Potluck afterwards.That night, Hermana Polanco was saying the prayer to start planning. She said:

"Gracias por el tiempo que disfrutamos con los miembros, y que Luciana disfruto el tiempo y pudo ver que podemos disfrutarnos sin quebrar la ley de castidad...."

And we died of laughter. What she meant to say was Word of Wisdom, although, we are grateful she could understand both!

Yesterday at church, we taught the Young Women. We taught about Attributes of Christ, and how we can better develop them. It was a good lessons, or at least Hermana Polanco and I thought so, and we really felt the Spirit guiding us. I think it was because we really did have a certain goal that we wanted to achieve, and that it was the same goal Heavenly Father had. There is definitely power when we align our will with Heavenly Father's.

I think that's all for now!

Escrito con el amor que tengo,

Hermana Lewis

Risk taken. Although I'm not sure what it was! Too long to read. But it was fun!

Sister Chen!

Me and the Ditto!

P-day Surprise!

We knocked on this door and everything was labeled. I died.

This guarded our entrance to the door. Kind of like breaking the commandments and entering into the Celestial Kingdom. You can't.

The DelCastillo family!

My fortune

The sweet Pasquier women!

Her street.