Week 63

We're just going to get right to it.

We got to teach Irene, Victoria, Tom and Mike this week a couple times! They are going strong for their baptismal date this Saturday! We read from the Book of Mormon with them and talked about faith and repentance. We also taught Law of Chastity and Tithing, and reviewed the interview questions. They have got the sweetest testimonies! They had their interviews yesterday, and both passed, of course! They have so much family coming in, as far as Hawaii, to be there for their baptism! 

We taught Andrea Nunez*. She started meeting with us, because before her husband got temporarily hospitalized, he researched churches and new he wanted to join ours (thank goodness). We did HTBT and figured out her real intent, part of which is they want it for their daughter, Isabel* (8 years old). Which sounds quality, but doesn't seem so solid yet. But we met with her again later in the week so we could teach both her and  Isabel. We walked in and the house was not in the best order and Andrea was in pain with some leg/hip problems, so we started cleaning and doing dishes. It felt good to be able to serve, and at the same time we taught about the Restoration in a kid-friendly way! 

We are teaching a less active member, Anna*. She hasn't been to church in a couple years and just had a little baby, Tyler*. She has a daughter, Bobbie*, who really wants to read the scriptures, come to church, and learn about Christ (8 years old), and another little boy Alex* (2 years old). Alex is a heart-melter. He is the cutest little guy. Everytime we come over, he climbs on the couch near where I am sitting and asks in the highest voice with the cutest smile, getting 1.5 millimeters away from my face, "what are you doooing?" Oh my goodness. I could die! He will ask it until you answer, and once you start talking to someone else, he'll ask again and again. Haha he also lines up little hot wheels all over my legs and arms and shoulders. Goodness gracious. I'll keep you updated!

We taught Jessica and Keri (Stephanie was at a friends house). We read from the scriptures with them as well. Keri is getting really good with reading the Book of Mormon! Jessica is starting to feel comfortable with still needing medication and being baptized at the same time, so we are hoping to get a date soon! She is going to be in Kelowna for the next 2 weeks, though, to visit family. We went back on Friday morning and were going to review the Restoration. We got as far as The Gospel Blesses Families and Individuals, and she broke down crying. She talked about how she feels like she is trying so hard to be a good mom, but it's really hard. She voiced a lot of concerns. We were able to help her out and watched a Mormon Message. She felt so relieved and said, "I hadn't even realized how much the Gospel of Jesus Christ has blessed me!! I had no idea! I guess you're right!" 

We taught Evangeline again this week! We taught the Restoration. She felt the Spirit and testified that she knew it was all true, from the beginning until Jospeh Smith and the restoration of the priesthood. When we introduced the Book of Mormon, she had a really hard time with that. She loves the bible and, like many, didn't want there to be another book. Sister Yonk and I testified and she was grateful. She said she would read part of it. We just hope she will and that she will feel the Spirit! She gave us bananas as we left again, so she took it well:)

We did weekly planning with the Delta Sisters, Sister Cornia and Sister Hoffman! It was really good! We made some good plans! And got to know the sisters better! They are in a basement apartment and their landlord is really strict. They have to open a window and turn on 2 fans any time they want to use the oven. We followed the rules, as we cooked 2 bison stakes, pasta, and rice. We all went to look at something super funny in the other room, just for a second, and when we came back, the stake was smoking so bad, the rice was steaming a ton, and the boiling water for the pasta was freaking out! We quickly do everything we can to take care of it when the loudest fire alarm starts screaming at us. Oh my. It was so loud! probably 180 decibels or something. But it just kept going! We opened all the windows and doors, turned off every source of heat, and Sister Yonk started fanning down the smoke detector. It turns off just as one in a closet turns on. She goes to get that one, and the other one turns back on. Then Sister Hoffman comes. They were both fanning the detectors down, as I held the stake in the pan outside the window. It was still smoking so bad! Long story short, it was hilarious and we felt super bad. But it turns out the Landlord wasn't even home, so we're fine!

On one of my first days here, we were walking down the street and this tall man walked up to me smiling! Usually that means he wants to bible-bash. But no! It was actually a super cool conversation. And he is from South Sudan (connections!). Well, I called him on Saturday night, and he came to church! He liked it, too! He's coming again next week!!

That's all for now! Hope you have a great week! 

Con amor,

Hermana Lewis

From exchanges a couple weeks ago in Kamloops

Getting a solid maybe from an investigator for Sacrament meeting.

From Sister Huszti

Buying groceries!

Victoria!!

Irene, Tom and Mike waiting for the interviews after church!

Meeting with Bishop DeVera!!

Week 62

I send my happiest greetings from the land of Surrey! This week has been so long and so great! I LOVE SURREY! I left Kelowna as it was snowing and came to the rainy Lower Mainland again, where the rain triumphs all waterproofing.  

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

(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!

So sad.

Sister Yonk thought it was so cute that I was making eggs and took a picture.

Monster of a truck. Thanks Shay!

Week 61

iQue semana! Caution: This email is super scattered! And forever long!

First, I want to start off with a miracle. For the past two and a half weeks, Sister Schroeder and I have not bought groceries because of extra expenses we had from travelling to and from Osoyoos and Oliver. We had to get really creative with what we had at our apartment, and it wasn't easy, but we survived! We can buy food today!

We started out the week with YSA FHE. Sue*, a new investigator the Elders passed to us, came. She also came to church the day before and said she would be back this past Sunday (although she didn't come because she got super sick). She came and hit it off with some of the branch members, but before we got too far into it, I left with Sister Lai for our exchange. We went and knocked a street. We still had rejection, but it was amazing. We always had a pamphlet in our hand and tried to teach whatever principle best fit with who we were talking to. It was so cool. We met so many wonderful people and told them we would be back to follow up! We probably gave out 10 pamphlets in 40 minutes!

Tuesday, a lot of our lessons fell through, and we ended up doing a lot of finding and seeing a lot of miracles. The same thing happened like the night before. We taught SO much as we were finding! We were on a street and no one was answering at all. We wanted to leave, but felt like we shouldn't, but still nothing. Finally we met two guys in a row on the street and we had amazing conversations. The last one was with a cute, old guy named Greg*.

Me: Are you enjoying your day?

Greg: I am are you about to ruin it?

Me: No way! We're just out sharing the good word! 

Sister Lai and I started talking to him. He was very closed off at first. Eventually he said that if we knew what he had been through, we wouldn't want to pray or act on a belief in God. I just decided to ask him what was on his mind. He said we wouldn't want to know. After talking for another couple minutes, he told us his wife had died 4 years before, and that he is still feeling very broken from it. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and did some How to Begin Teaching with him. He told us where he lived and said we could come back later that day to keep talking to him about it. We couldn't go back later because we couldn't find a female member, but we did pray with him. We walked off and he was crying as he walked the rest of the way home.

The Sisters got to visit him last night and he was so excited. He made them promise to come back soon to keep teaching! 

We saw so many miracles! 

We exchanged back after teaching a mom and her two girls. One was so excited to pray and it was so sweet!

We exchanged back just in time for a meeting with the Stake President, as well as President and Sister Burt. We reported on how the wards and branches were doing with the missionary work. It was a really good meeting and it was great to see the Burts!

On Wednesday, we prepared the Kelowna 1st Sisters apartment to be open for some Elders this coming transfer. Then we headed to our last District Meeting in West Kelowna. I got to give a training on helping investigators recognize the Spirit. It was so good. I'll miss that district!

As we were heading to district meeting, I found $10 on the ground. That was an answer to prayers, seeing that we had no food and no money. 

We went finding the rest of the night and it went well. 

Thursday, we had a great planning session. We had the idea to do a Meet the Mormons YSA movie night and get the branch doing more missionary work that is a little easier for them to manage. We made some great plans! 

After, we had a lesson with Sue and reviewed the Plan of Salvation. She had so many questions and it was so cool to answer them! And she's right on track for having them answered when we teach the Restoration! 

We headed to Kamloops to do exchanges with Sister Cosman and Sister Nelson again. We were almost all the way there (about a 2.5-3 hour drive) when there was a horrible accident and the highway was closed both directions for 4 more hours. So we had to back-track and take another road. But we got there and did some finding. 

Friday morning, Sister Cosman and I went finding and throughout the day, we invited 3 people on the streets to be baptized. It was so fun and definitely pushed us to do more! We then had a bible luncheon with the students on campus at TRU put on by the LDSSA. It was super cool! We had a phone lesson with Doreen*, an investigator, and it was so cool! 

We came back to Kelowna and went finding.  On Saturday, we met with a really cool girl, Jennifer*. We met her at the beginning of transfers, but were only now able to meet up with her. It was such a good lesson, if I do say so myself. We taught about God and His nature and then how to pray. She said her first prayer and it was beautiful.

Yesterday at church, all the missionaries in Kelowna sang for all 3 sacrament meetings. It went alright. People enjoyed it! 

I found out my camera broke. For no known reason. It stopped turning on and wouldn't even charge. But I am pretty sure someone prayed because right now as I write this, it turned on! Thanks! God has not ceased to be a God of miracles!

All in all, it was a great week. 

Almost forgot! We got transfer calls! I'm headed to the Surrey 1st Ward with Sister Yonk! I'm still in English work, but there are tons of Spanish people in Surrey. I'm excited!

I think that's all for now!

Con amor,
Hermana Lewis

And I keep forgetting to tell you, but Aimee was baptized a couple weeks ago!!

Love, 

Hermana Lewis

Sister Lipps gave us hats and scarves she made:)

Eatin' cold spaghetti in our little paper cups. No time to go home to eat when your busy reaping! Also, we do not recommend eating cold spaghetti.

Exchanges from a couple weeks ago with Sister Cosman <3

Bald eagle! God Bless America! 

Sara Bousfield gave me a Valentine! #oneandonly

Outside of the chapel!

Leaving Osoyoos and Oliver

From Brother Card!

Exchanges with Sister Huszti last week!

Sister Schroeder's dinner on the left, mine on the right.

These cute Sisters fed us last P day!

Picnic after emailing. I can't take pictures.

Exchanges with Sister Lai!

On exchanges with Sister Lai! 

Sister Lai, Greg, and Sister Tripp on Sunday!

Week 60

We had a great finish to our time in Osoyoos and Oliver, and on Wednesday morning we left dark and early to head back to West Kelowna for District Meeting. It was a really good training and I received a lot of answers and revelation! 

After District Meeting, we went and grabbed some A&W cause we had no food with us and no food at our apartment, except for rice and BBQ sauce. We were sitting there, eating, and this lady, clearly from off the streets, comes over to us. She asked us if we were students and UBCO. I told her we weren't, but that we were the missionaries on campus and that we help others come closer to Christ. She made space for herself where I was sitting on the bench and started talking to us. She started telling us what we believe, or more correctly, what the world says we believe, and I told her that it actually wasn't true! I told her that we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that it is through him that we can be cleansed and made holy and perfect to be able to live with our loving Heavenly Father again. 

She was surprised and was more engaged. She started telling us that she had made a mistake and how it made her feel. I got to whip out my trusty Law of Chastity pamphlet, and pretty much taught her the lesson right there. Promised blessings and all. It felt good! Especially since it was an answer to prayers. Not necessarily to teach the Law of Chastity to her, but to be able to help someone. 

And then you wouldn't believe what happens next. She starts saying thanks and was getting so excited. It was all happening in slow motion. I knew it was coming. Terror struck my body. Fight or flight? Fight would normally be my response, but I am a representative of Jesus Christ. Flight sounded good, but again, I was a representative of Jesus Christ, pinned in a booth. Man. So I just sit. And waited for it. My whole body was screaming move!!! But I just sat there in anguish for what was coming. And boom. I felt so sick. I've got a tough stomach, but this one just kept getting to me. It took all I had not to freak out. She just planted a kiss. Right on my left cheek. OH MY GOSH. I thought I would die. Heavens! 

But all is well. I just calmly got up once she left, walked into the washroom, and washed my face. I can't believe she kissed me. What the heck? I mean, I get it. But still. I think Heavenly Father was just joking around with me a bit. He knew it would make me squirm. When we were leaving, she started smoking in the other booth. In A&W. Another lesson for another day.

And don't worry. For dinner we got to eat the rice and BBQ sauce. 

We have been really focusing on finding by the Spirit. We recently did away with QGCs as part of our Key Indicators and part of hitting the Standards of Excellence because it was effecting how we viewed and executed the work. We have seen so many miracles the past few weeks as we have really focused on what the Spirit is telling us, how to recognize the promptings, how to know we are doing the right thing at the right time, etc. It's fun! It's a lot of concentrated work. 

We planned Wednesday night for Thursday. Come Thursday night, we were following our plans that we felt were so inspired Wednesday night. And we went to each place and we tried to do what the Lord wanted us to do, but nothing seemed to really be happening. People didn't really want to talk to us, and we were starting to get a little confused on what we should do. But each time we went to our next plan, we felt like it was right. We took a minute to talk about it. We decided to each read something from the Book of Mormon to help us out a little. I prayed, asking Heavenly Father to help me find something that would help me know what to do, and hopefully opened to Ether 15. I kind of laughed in my head a little, and started reading. What did He want me to learn from this? I'll take anything! I got through the end of 15. Coriantumr killed Shiz. Alright. Cool. Then I started reading Moroni. I loved that Moroni said, "wherefore, I wander withersoever I can for the safety of mine own soul". 

Moroni was commanded to leave to be safe and to preserve the plates, but he did not receive directions for exactly where to go or what to do. He was left to do that on his own. I know he didn't do it all on his own, but he wasn't "commanded in all things". That gave me a lot more confidence it what we had planned. We are commanded to do something, and we may wander a little in the meantime, but as long as we are ready and willing to do what the Lord needs us to be, and we are out trying to see why we need to be where we are, then that is what I have to do. And I finished off with the Sacrament prayers. I love that we have the promise to always have the Spirit to be with us! 

So we hopped out of our car after praying, and walked into Walmart. Yes, again. We were walking around and we run into this guy from Mexico! Now that it's starting to warm up, all the orchards are bringing in help from Mexico. His name was Moises. We had a good conversation, I got his number, and we invited him to church. And he came! Moises came to church!! And he said he would come next week! 

We went on Exchanges with the West Bank Sisters, Sister Wright and Sister Huszti. I was with Sister Huszti in our area and we saw so many fun little miracles. We were going on campus before meeting with Stacy, and we met this girl, Joy*, who said she lives next to President Burt! We talked to President, and he told us that they were really good friends with Joy* and her parents and that they have been working with them for a while. We haven't been able to set anything up so far, but hopefully soon.

Sister Huszti and I were able to find a lot of joy in the work. I loved being able to spend time with her. 

For park-your-car Saturday, we borrowed bikes from so x-YSA members (they got married). We rode our bikes all around town. And we stopped and talked to everyone on the way. They were so much more interested when two girls on bikes in skirts stopped to talk to them. We met some really cool people. 

My favorite part, besides the great exercise, was when we were near the mall. I saw this group of men and they looked Mexican. We rode over and I started talking to them. Sure enough, they just arrived the day before and were here to work on some Orchards. There was a school bus-full of Mexicanos! And I talked to them about the gospel, church, the whole deal. They didn't have a phone, but said they would call if they had time to meet up. Even if they don't, at least we were able to have a good conversation about Jesus Christ. But I loved it. And I'm happy to announce that they asked me if I was from Mexico. Soy mexicana de corazon!

We got to teach a potential, Doug*. He is from mainland China and doesn't have much of a background about God or Christianity, but he has seen the example of one of his friends and loved how confident she was because of her belief in God. We taught the Restoration and it was a really good lesson, if I do say so myself. He texted us yesterday and said he was grateful for what he has learned, but right now he isn't interested in joining a religion. One day. Every knee will bow, every tongue confess. 

Well, that was a long one. I got to play the organ again yesterday in church... Also, I ran into a lot of other cool latinos. We might as well open a seasonal Spanish branch here.

No pictures this week.  It's not working.  And I keep forgetting to tell you, but Aimee was baptized a couple weeks ago!!

Los amo para siempre! Paz y bendiciones!

Hermana Lewis

Week 59

Hey hey! 

This week was fantastic! It also went really fast! 

We did a lot of member visits this week, less active visits, and non-member visits. 

Brother Card, a member of the branch, set up almost every lesson for us this week, and they have been experiences for sure! 

He introduced us to one of his renters, Deanna* (In her 70s). He said she was negative, but that it would be worth a try! We walked into her home and she had muffins, cookies, pastries, chocolate milk and apple juice set up for us. We ate a little snack first, and got to know her a little. We sat down and were going to watch the Restoration movie, and started to give a little background. She cut us off immediately and said that the problem she has with us is the Book of Mormon. She pretty much screamed at us for the next half hour. Then we watched the movie. The Spirit was so strong. Afterwards, you could see the change of heart she had. But she still didn't want to believe in the Book of Mormon or the truth about Joseph Smith. We testified and left on a good note. 

Brother Card had set up another appointment with her last night. We first listened to her tell us about how she knows the Bible is true because of mathematical patterns. We told her we believe and study the bible as well, but she didn't like to hear that. We talked to her a little about the Bible and the Book of Mormon and bore testimony. She had read a little from the beginning in 1 Nephi on her own and then prayed and asked for a passage that would giver her an answer. She told us about that and I was so excited to see what passage she went to. 2 Nephi 2. Awesome. That one is so good! Her heart was definitely not broken. We read through a couple of the scriptures she had read previously and she told us that the Bible doesn't agree with it at all. She took us to Genesis and sure enough, they did agree. Brother Card bore a beautiful testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and we followed. We left again on a good note somehow...

We took the 3 hour drive to Kelowna for Zone Meeting on Friday, had 3 hour Zone Meeting, and then took the 2.5 hour drive to Kamploops to have the Vernon Zone Meeting. They both went well. We got to do mini exchanges with Sister Cosman and Sister Nelson! They are the best! 

There is so much I could talk about, but I have run out of time again. One day I'll get this thing down. I know the Book of Mormon is true! I know it is the word of God and it has helped me know Christ better. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, called to do His work. 

Con amor,

Hermana Lewis

The little branch building.  So cute!

Last P-day we pretty much ran out to this little strip of land in the middle of the lake. It was a lot further than we thought. 

Look at that ice

We are staying in the building on the right.