On Tuesday, once I arrived at the airport in Vancouver, we went to the Mission Office to go pick up other missionaries and bring them to Surrey/Delta with us. We walked into the office and there were some Elders and they said that there were a bunch of sisters taking a picture in the other room. I turned and saw Hermana Polanco and Hermana Cobb! They are now companions in Vancouver Spanish! But we were so excited to see each other! I'm so grateful for all the tender mercies God gives!
Sister Yonk is my new companion! She is from Logan, Utah. She is an Irish dancer and is so amazing! I look up to her so much! We have goals for what we want to do and what we want to see happen! This transfer is a long one (7 weeks), and it is going to be full of us on the Lord's errand!
We are teaching the cutest family, Irene* (a returning Less-active) and her sons, Tom* (8) and Mike* (5) and her neice, Victoria* (11). Victoria and Tom have baptismal dates for the 19 of March! They are so cute! Victoria and Tom love reading from the Book of Mormon. They soak up everything we teach them!
We are teaching a wonderful lady, Jessica*. Her daughters, Keri* and Stephanie*, were both baptized last Saturday. Jessica is preparing and doesn't have a date, but has a strong testimony! Elder Ellis and Elder Maurer actually found here when we were in Kelowna, and then we sent the text passing her to the Sisters here in Surrey, and now we're teaching them! No missionary efforts are wasted! Each soul is precious:)
On Wednesday, we got some Chinese food for lunch. Sister Yonk had some chili peppers in her food and we decided to eat them. If it got to hot, then we got ice cream. We both put one into our mouths. The outside was leathery and not flavorful. It looked like it wouldn't be bad. We chewed a little. Nothing. One more bite and a rush of seeds went bursting in my mouth. Yup. There it was. Jajajajajaja oh my goodness. It was hot. It wasn't the hottest thing I had eaten, but it was definitely HOT! So we keep chewing. And swallowed and it was hot. Sister Yonk's tongue was a little discolored. It hurt to breath out, so we just kept inhaling. It BURNED our mouths so bad! We had nothing to help with the heat, so we walk as quickly as we can to Dairy Queen. With every second, it just got hotter and hotter. We walked up to the lady and she asked what she could get us. Sister Yonk quickly said while breathing deeply, "We just ate a really hot pepper and we need ice cream now". The worker got us 2 blizzards and we began to eat them as we hunched over the counter. We kept eating more and more, but it wasn't putting out the fire. We got close to the end of our ice cream and got nervous that we would run out before our mouths felt better. We tried to see how long we could go in-between bites, and it wasn't very long. By the end of our ice cream, things were better. Our stomachs felt off for the rest of the day, but it was totally worth it!
We were walking around the Fleetwood area, meeting people. We met this cute old man from Jamaica named Peter*. He said we could come back on Sunday and meet with him and his wife, Dawn*. We showed up on Sunday after church and met his wife. They are so cute! We started with some How to Begin Teaching, when there is a knock at the door. Peter answers it, and in the other room we heard them talking. Lynette told us it was their son's pastor. He came in and joined us. You could see the slight shock on his face and in his heart when he saw us sitting there. We stood up and introduced ourselves. Pastor George. He started talking to us about his beliefs and they were what we believed. Then he asked us if we believed in the Rapture. He went on a little sermon for a couple minutes. We politely listened and told him we believed in the second coming and we look forward to the day that Christ will come. He had nothing else to say, but as he was leaving, decided to heal Dawn (she has a kidney disease). He puts on hand on the side of her cheek and the other in the air and starts shouting this prayer of healing. And this was all before we taught about the restoration of the priesthood. He left, and we began teaching the Restoration. It was a really nice lesson! Right as we are starting to talk about Joseph Smith, the door opens again. It was Peter and Dawn's daughter, Erin*, and her son Steven* (8). They came right in and sat down. We finished teaching and gave them a Book of Mormon. We asked Erin if she wanted one and she told us she had just met some missionaries who knocked into her door and gave her one. So we gave Steven his very own book and he was so excited! We have a return appointment with them, but it isn't for a while. I'll keep you updated!
We were walking to visit some formers on Saturday, and we met this wonderful christian lady from India named Evangeline*. She said we could come by on Sunday after 5:30. Sister Sutton came with us and we visited her. She expressed to us experiences from her past that have helped her have faith in Jesus Christ. She said that she used to be afraid, but now she just trusts in God and His will for her, and knows that everything will be alright as long as she has faith. I felt the Spirit so strong as she talked. We did How To Begin Teaching with her and it was such a simple but beautiful experience as we sat on the floor in the basement of her one room apartment. She told us that she used to live upstairs. That the hole place was her house, but that her husband banned her to the basement. But she knows that God's will will be done and she prays for her husband, that his heart will be softened and he can begin to believe in God and Jesus Christ. She was so anxious to learn more and had so many questions, and we set up a return appointment for Wednesday.
On Thursday nights, we have a Book of Mormon study, and it went really well! We got to read and study 1 Nephi 5.
We've just loved the past few days we have had together in Surrey. We have gone on so many adventures and have seen the love of God all around.
I've been able to use my Spanish a lot more! There is a member family in the ward from Peru, and last night they told us we could come over for dinner soon and have monkey brains! I'm so excited!
We have Zone Conference this Friday and the last two hours are combined with the stake. I'm super excited!
I'm serving in the same area as Hermana Cendreda and Hermana Hoth! One thing I didn't think would be so crazy is the difference in Spanish and English work! I've been noticing the difference a lot more recently! But I love it all! This is definitely the Lord's work. I have gone through a lot of experiences that are making up who I am. I don't think I would have learned all of these things in any other way. I'm eternally grateful for my mission and EVERYTHING that makes it up!
I think that's all for this week!
Hermana Lewis
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| (Jeffrey R.) Holland Park
We asked this couple straight out of China to take our picture after this one. They did with Sister Yonk's camera, and then a photo-shoot with their own. The wife even came up with poses for us!
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| So sad. |
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| Sister Yonk thought it was so cute that I was making eggs and took a picture. |
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| Monster of a truck. Thanks Shay! |
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