Week 48

Buenos Dias! 

I was going to write a pretty good email this week, but I forgot my sticky note of things I was going to mention, so now you get this email. 

While Elder Lewis is enjoying the beautiful islands or French Polynesia, I am enjoying the freezing winds that go straight to the bone, snow, and ice. It's getting cold, folks. 

In Gospel Principles yesterday, our WML, Brady, asked Elder Green to tell the story of Alma the Younger. 

Elder Green: ...and he became one of the most amazing missionaries of all time.

Devon (their recent convert): Kind of like you!

The whole class awed. 

A couple members in the Branch and some of the other wards here got called into the LDSSA club for UBCO. And this is important because this Friday, we went on campus with some members and did a free hot chocolate stand to inform students about the nativity event we have going on at the church this week, as well as to try to find some new investigators. It was pretty successful and a lot of fun! 

We met with Reagan, Melinda's friend, a couple times this week. She is doing so great! She is baptist and has put off baptism her whole life because she has felt that to be baptized she would have to be perfect, and didn't want to make a commitment with God if she couldn't keep it. We have been teaching her a lot about the Atonement, and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized. She said she would pray about it, as well as talk to her mom and her pastor. But keep her in your prayers!

We have been trying to get the members more involved in missionary work here (when are we not?), and this week we have felt thins start to change a little bit. Last week, Brady and Kristina and their family invited us and Reagan over for dinner, and this week, President and Sister England invited us, Reagan, Melinda, and a couple other members of the branch. It went so well and we felt the Spirit so strong being in their home, and Sister England made delicious spaghetti for us all! 

 

Thanksgiving was great! We had dinner with Rachel and her parents. We ate teriyaki bowls! And we kept the tradition alive of going around the table and saying the things we are grateful for. I'm grateful for you! 

Adam, a member of the branch, invited us over to decorate his apartment! We decorated with lights and over 100 feet of tinsel! It was sweet!

That's all for this week, I think! Running out of time. 

Don't have a ponderize scripture yet, but I know it's true! 

Love, Hermana Lewis

I burned my grilled cheese.

Chillin on preparation day, eating my burnt grilled cheese.

Snowing!

I will choose college, thanks. 

Decorating with Angelina at Adam's apartment!

Lady Liberty. And she's a Mormon. 

Leftover tinsel

Meeting with Reagan and Miranda

Favorite sweater

End of park-your-car Saturday

Week 47

Happy American Thanksgiving! May your week be filled with amazing food and company!

This week was a long week! It was a good week filled with lots of great things, I just can't believe it was only 7 normal 24-hour days!

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday with Elder Teh and his wife. It was so good! Beforehand, he met with us, the assistants, the zone leaders, and district leaders for the Kelowna and Vernon zones, and President and Sister Burt. Elder Teh talked to us about how we can change the mission culture by who we are, and how we really have the influence, ability, and responsibility to catch this mission on fire. For Zone Conference, we talked about what more we can do to be missionaries who do missionary work as opposed to missionary things. It was so good! 

I went on exchanges with Sister Cendreda this week! It was super bomb! I loved it so much! We had tons of fun, and just spoke in Spanish. She is the best! I love her to death! 

The next day, I went on exchanges with Sister Hawke! Sister Hawke is super cool and from Idaho. She played volleyball in high school, and is such a ball of energy! It was super fun! And we did some cool candle stuff at a relief society activity. She's such a great missionary!

I've been thinking a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what it really means. I love that it is a living gospel, as I have said before. I love that it changes you and changes your perspective. 

We have to have faith. "When we have faith in Christ, we accept and apply His Atonement and His teachings. We trust Him and what He says" (Preach My Gospel, 61). Meaning that we are willing to believe in Christ and all the powers of the Atonement, and allow ourselves to be strengthened and have hope. We don't need to know what he looks like, we don't need to know his favorite color, we don't need to know how he was able to perform the Atonement. But what matters is that we are humble enough to see how he has blessed our lives, and that we cannot do it on our own. Someone, who I can't remember, maybe President Packer, said something similar to this, but I can't find the quote: "If all you hear and all you see is what you know, you will not know very much".

That made me think a ton. Faith kind of seems like an abstract thing to me. Sometimes I say I have the faith for something to happen, and it doesn't. Other times I say I have the faith that it can happen or not, and that whatever does happen is Heavenly Father's will, and usually it's not exactly what I had in mind. And sometimes, I want something to happen, but I don't think it's very realistic, so I just go on, and then I see a miracle, and sometimes I see those miracles when I am least expecting. So what I'm trying to say is I am no expert on faith, but I am an expert at trying to have faith and to understand it better. I love that faith is based on those things that you don't hear and see. It's based on experience through obedience and testing the Lord on his promises. 

I have so much faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They motivate me to be better and to do better. They lift me when I am slipping or falling, and comfort me when I'm sad. They strengthen me when I am just exhausted, and give me a good laugh, day by day. I have not seen or heard them or their voices, but I have seen them in my life. I've seen them bless me and those around me in ways the world can't. I have heard them answer prayers and talk to me, in my own voice during prayers, or during scripture study. I may not be able to move a mountain or give a size to my faith, it may not be perfect, but I know that my faith is enough for me. I work on strengthening it every day. I have a love and a need for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They are my all. 

My ponderize scripture this week is Psalms 139:23

"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts"

Hasta escuchar,

Hermana Lewis

Reagan and Stacy came to FHE and we did skits!

Their skit was hilarious

He's got good style.

On the way to West Bank!

She's mighty fine.

Sister Cendreda stole my camera.  And I love her.

Week 46

Hey hey, everyone! This week was a humbling week! And also a week of personal revelation. So it was super awesome. Although, it was great to be able to end it as well with the Sacrament.

At MLC, we were talking about temporal information for the mission, and how we need to make sure missionaries aren't using backpacks. 

President Burt: "We need to use cross-body bags. No more backpacks."

Sister Burt: "I like this bag. Show them!"

[Elder Sutton holds up his leather cross-body bag]

President Burt: "It's a murse!"

President began to tell us of when he was shopping for a new bag with his wife...

President Burt: "Honey, is this a man's purse or a woman's purse? I can't tell!!"

Sister Burt: "It doesn't matter these days, honey."

Man. I just love them.

We had Zone Meeting this week! I trained on "What Lack I yet?". It was such a great Zone Meeting! The theme was having a mission on fire. At first, the Elders and Sisters were a little shy to participate, but then we starting asking individuals questions, and then they didn't stop sharing insights for the rest of the meeting! I love the Kelowna Zone! 

We have Zone Conference tomorrow! Elder Teh and his wife are coming as well. We are preparing by reading "What Lack I Yet?" as well as "Which Way Do You Face?" and "Latter-day Saints Keep on Trying". I'm super excited! Sister Burt also asked a couple companionships to do a musical number. It is Sister Madson and me, Sister Tingson, Sister Magleby, Elder Miller, Elder Meline, Elder Ellis, Elder Green, Elder Brooksby, Elder McNabb, Elder Gleed, and Elder Coomans. Prayers over the next 24 hours would be great to help us bring the Spirit! We're singing "As Sisters in Zion/We'll Bring the World His Truth".

Last P-day was a Satan day. It started with our washing machine broken and flooding a little bit. So we couldn't do any laundry, and the load we did was soaked. And then nothing worked out and we were running all over. We did get to spend some time with Sister Christensen and Sister Cendreda,which was fun! 

On Tuesday, we woke up and did exercise, and got ready, and just as we were about to start studies, we noticed water coming up out of the floor boards. So we had to move things and the landlord came down, and a pipe had burst. It's actually really funny because our Landlord turns off the heater in the basement every night, don't ask us why, and so we are always super cold at night and in the morning. Now they said they are going to keep it on. But needless to say, it started our week off on a crazy note. And then we decided it would be a good time to tell them about the washer. So it took a day to figure out what the problem was and fix it, but they found out that something clogged it. They said it looked like a sock. And then I remembered to MLC. I packed one of my favorite, most comfortable shirts, and when I was getting dressed in the morning, something was off. I had a pirate sleeve! I was so mad! It looked like a mouse chewed off my sleeve. Thought I would die. But really it was just the washing machine. 

Anyway. 

We went on exchanges with Sister Tingson and Sister Magleby! I went with Sister Magleby to their area. It was a super fun exchange! She is a great missionary and is so energetic about the work! We ate brownies at night and read Luke 2 together by candlelight. It was sweet.

My ponderize scripture this week is John 10: 14-15.

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father:and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Hope you have a great week! 

Hermana Lewis

Sister Magleby!

Flooding...

Sister Cendreda got a letter from her mama and I was so excited!

Waiting for Zone Meeting to start!

Zone Meeting!

So hungry!

Downtown!

Frozen beyond belief.

Week 45

Hola!

Stacy* got baptized! Things have been crazy and I don't even know if I officially introduced her. Stacy is amazing. She is from Kenya but has been in Canada for 5 years now, and was baptist. The Elders met her on campus for UBCO, and passed her to us. In her second lesson, she saw a friend, Reagan, and had her sit down with us. We taught her everything, and she just soaked it all up. Her original date was going to be for this weekend, but we realized there was a stake activity, so we changed it to this past weekend! She invited Reagan and her roommate to her baptism. She was so nervous, but so determined! Reagan came to the baptism and it was so sweet. The whole service just flowed. She could not stop saying thank you to us. It was a double baptism with the Elders, Elder Ellis and Elder Green. Afterwards, Reagan introduced us to her mom, and Stacy invited both of them to her confirmation. 

It was park-your-car Saturday, and so Sister Madson and I left and walked to the mall to do some contacting. We were there and Stacy texted us saying thank you and that she was so excited to be a latter-day saint! We were dying! And then as we were leaving, we saw Reagan! She said her and her mom were there getting new dresses to wear to church the next day. 

At church, Reagan and her mom came. Stacy was confirmed and it was so special. She has been glowing the past few weeks, but after yesterday it was so much stronger! 

A little while later on Sunday night, we went to UBCO and had a lesson with Stacy as the member, where we taught Reagan and Stacy's roommate, Melinda*! It was such a good lesson. And Stacy makes it seem so cool to be meeting with missionaries and learning about God! The best missionary work is definitely done when missionaries work with the members! 

On Thursday, we had 3 lessons planned at UBCO, where we find all our solid potentials. We texted a bunch of members in the branch, and no one was able to come. But then Nico, a member who I actually met downtown one day in Vancouver when I was companions with Hermana Wilson, said he could come to all 3! We got there and it was super sick. We just sat at a booth and one after the other, investigators walked up to us and we had 4 lessons, instead of 3! After that, we headed to the airport to go to Mission Leadership Council (MLC)!

Our flight left at 8 and by 9 we were grabbing our luggage and heading to Surrey with Sister Ritchie and Sister Yonk. It was a night of good stories and laughs. We didn't get home for a while, and then had to wake up at 5 the next morning. But it was all worth it. We headed back to Richmond and had a little singing practice as well as Breakfast. We started the meeting and it was amazing. The Spirit was so strong! President gave an amazing training to start it all off and I had 7 pages of notes from him alone. The counsel was so awesome! It started at 9 and we had to end early at 4 because we had an early flight back to Kelowna. I learned so much! We focused on making ourselves better as missionaries and children of God, what more we can sacrifice, and how we can be the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then the last little bit was talking about how we can help those in our stewardships do the same. I'll just be sending home the goodness I learned throughout the next couple weeks. There is just so much! 

We went on exchanges this week with the Penticton Sisters, Sister Hubert and Sister McKee! It was super awesome. I got to go to Penticton with Sister Hubert and work in their ward of old people. They were super sweet and super old. Haha I wasn't sure if they could see me. But they are amazing member missionaries, nonetheless! Sister Hubert is awesome and such a great missionary! And I did a super sweet arm and core day, so I'm happy:) 

And this week I mastered the arts of store contacting, which we have to do a lot for YSA and because no one is ever on the streets. Congratulations to me!

Ponderize Scripture for the week: 

Romans 8:37-39

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That's all for now! 

Amor para siempre!!

Hermana Lewis

Making rings last Monday with Danica*

The drive from Penticton!

Sister Hubert!

This guy was a secret agent, trying to crash our mission, while in the airport, waiting to go to Vancouver.

We bought wings!

And just as we bought them, the Elders showed up.

I forgot to mention! We got permission to have a first ever Sister's Zone Meeting! And it was so awesome! And the sisters loved it!

I was going to send pictures of the baptism, but we are having problems with the computers here and the internet, so next week!