Pageant Week!

Hola!

It's Pageant Week! :D What a crazy and amazing week! So we moved to Waterloo last Wednesday to serve at the Peter Whitmer farm this week and it has been wonderful! We move closer to Palmyra tonight because we serve at the Joseph Smith Farm for the rest of the week!! I am so ready! I am so grateful for the beautiful opportunities that I have been given here at the sites and on my mission! :D

At the end of last week, Heritage tours came through!! I saw a lot of people I knew... how weird! I loved it! I saw Abby Hafen and Melissa Squire! I loved seeing all those people and received hugs from them and I felt so much better.. I taught them in the Chapel AND in the upstairs of the log home!  It was a fantastic experience! It was so cool! 

Yesterday we had an FHE bbq with the volunteer couples that are here for pageant.  I love them so much! They're all so much fun! We had a tour drive up and we decided to take them through even though we had closed, and it was the strongest spiritual experience I have had!! Sister Su and I taught them as a companionship in the log home, and I was so happy we did that.. that second witness :) perfect. We recited the Standard of Truth together and we both bore our testimonies.. and I was literally crying.. I am so grateful for these experiences.. I love the Savior and I know that I am meant to be here.. Sister Astorga took a spanish tour today! I was able to watch and understand! I talked to a few people and we were able to have conversations!! :D I am sorry this is so short...I love you!

Keep Strong! Carry On!

-Hermana Lewis

Pre-pageant

Hello All!

Pageant is just DAYS away!! It begins Friday and I am soooo excited!

I am moving to Waterloo this afternoon.  We need to live closer to the church sites as we are busily working at one site or another daily :)

The first week of pageant we are working at the Peter Whitmer Farm with 2 other companionships! We go into something called PAGAENT MODE where the visitors go station to station. One sister is set up in each spot of the site and people just flood through.  We get about 2 minutes to teach the visitors about our area and just move them through to the next station!  So, we teach about our assigned station over and over and over. Baptism by fire! (Haha)

 Next week we move to Canadaguia to work at the Joseph Smith Farm (JSF) :).  The last time I did ‘pageant mode’ at the JSF site I was upstairs in the log home where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph 3 times. That was an amazing experience!  And, I was able to bear my testimony about Moroni’s visits to Joseph about a million times!  How blessed are we to serve in these sites?!  

We have also been able to spend more time in our area!  So much fun!!  We finally found Liz, she was hiding from us. (Haha)  She is a Spanish investigator.  I was unable to really teach much because we had a Spanish member with us. But, I was able to speak to her and she's great.  She has digressed though.  We are hoping the Spanish Elders will take good care of her while we are gone. :)  

Dana… I think I told you about her last week.  She's marvelous and is continually progressing!! :D   We invited her to be baptized and she said YES!!!!! :D   We had been teaching the Restoration :) a day or so after we taught her the Plan of Salvation.  We have scheduled her baptism for the 27th of this month!   I am so excited and she is so happy that she has made this decision.  On Sunday we taught the Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom, she has no problem with them and has already been living them! :D   How perfect!  We are sad that ww have to leave her for 2 weeks. Thank goodness for TELEPHONES!

July 4th was great here!  We went to Naomi Castle’s apartment to visit her.  We were given permission by President Francis to watch fireworks :).  Naomi lives on the 12th floor of her building and we watched the fireworks from her window.   So, we were dead straight across from the big show!  WOW!   Not only did we watch the big fireworks spectacular, but we were able to see the many fireworks displays from celebrations happening all over the city!!!  I loved it so much!!!

All is well in New York and I love every minute of every day!  President Francis is wonderful.  He and his wife are as loving as they are TALL…he is 6'7" and she is 6'4"!!!!  They have 4 sons that came to accompany them as they serve.  They have a total of 8 children.  They are a wonderful family and have such strong spirits.  They're going to perform a great service here. President Francis has so much love in his heart and I am so grateful to have him for a mission president.  And, I'm so grateful to be serving in this mission.

Due to the hectic schedule, I will not have a pday next week.  But, I will be able to write home when I have some down time :)  HOPEFULLY, Liam will be in the world by then ;).

I know this gospel is true.  And, I know that what has been reported to have happened at these sites really did happen...the Spirit can be felt so strongly at each site.   My testimony is definitely STRONGER than it was before I arrived here and it grows stronger each day!  I know the Lord has a plan for all of us and He loves us all so much.  He will never let us fail.  Keep up the faith :) When you feel alone, get down on your knees for it is there that we are the strongest.

I love you all so very much and I love your support!! You are exactly what I need :).  Keep writing those letters!  Please!

Keep Strong. Carry On.

Love ALWAYS,

Hermana Lewis

2 MONTH MARK

Hola Familia!!

Yesterday was OFFICIALLY my two month mark of my misson!! 16 to go!! WHOOOT! (haha) I am just having a blast in New York! The past two months have gone by so quickly :) but I am trying to learn to give myself over to the Lord so that I can love the work more and I won't be so worried about the time I've been out and the time I have left. It kills me sometimes and that's no bueno (haha)… but eventually I'll learn.

I want you all to keep in touch! I miss you and I want to know that all is well and all the goings on in Florida and Utah! Wow. My family is everywhere!! How is everything? Feel free to write letters as well... Those are much needed out in the field. It helps give you a boost of spirit to continue the work!

So, this week was great!! We met a 20 year-old girl named Janice last Tuesday night when we went out BIKING in our area. Yes…biking! We already have bikes luckily :) Some Elders left them and we get them! Well, we met her at a stop light. She asked us if we were smart because she needed help with her homework.  We sat outside in a park and helped her with her homework.  We were able to teach her about the Law of Chastity and we have been in contact to help her out with her situation. We hope to teach her more VERY soon!! :D I am so excited about her!! :D

We went out tracting on Saturday evening with a member named Sally Chilton.  She has her mission call to Brazil! We tracted and I PLACED MY FIRST BOOK OF MORMON!! The man's name is Kirk and he seemed interested! So I gave him the book and our number. So let's see if he calls! If not, I at least planted the seed and he has the book in his possession :P I have grown so much and I am not as fearful to go up to knock on doors and talk to people now! It's still kinda scary but I am getting better at it :D

Sunday we had 2 investigators come to church! Betsy and Janet. :) they are fantastic women and we have actually been helping Betsy move into her new apartment because she is in a wheelchair and is unable to do it for herself. I have loved serving her and I love how happy it makes her!! I can tell that I am making a real difference and I just adore her so much :)

We have 2 spanish investigators, Ysandra and Cesar. I was so lost the time we met them this week.. I had NO IDEA what they were saying! (haha) They're from Puerto Rico.. Puerto Rican Spanish is so confusing! I know that The Lord will bless me and will help me to communicate with them. I was able to give the closing prayer though! One step at a time (haha)!

Oh! We are also running a 5K on the 4th... (haha)  We've been preparing. :P  I'm not a runner but we are going to run it to do some contacting and meet those who are prepared! I can sacrifice for the Lord! (haha)   Wish me luck!!

This has been a great week…and here comes a new one!! I love you all so much!! Keep writing and emailing!! 

Love SIEMPRE,

Hermana Lewis <3

Week 2 en el Campo!

Hola!!

 

Well I know it hasn't been very long since I last wrote :P but it's our pday today. Last week pday was transfers so we didn't get a pday and we were unable to write you until Friday.

I worked at the Book of Mormon Publication Site on Saturday and guess what?! Elder Jensen from the 70 came in with his huge 49 member family for tours. They were split into 3 groups and of course, Elder Jensen was in my group.. haha It was my third tour ever in the BOMPS and I had a general authority!! He used to be the church historian too... So I figured I'd be super nervous.. but I totally wasn't! I was completely calm and everything went so smoothly. He actually loved the tour and was able to teach me a few new things that I could use in my tours later! I went with my companion on a Spanish tour so that I could watch and see if I could understand anything... and I understood almost everything!! I have been so blessed with the gift of tongues already.. now if I could only SPEAK it haha.... Yesterday we didn't get our first tour until noon and our shift ended at 2.. I went with Hermana Boseman to learn other facts from her, so I didn't get my own tour that day.

Yesterday I met 2 of our recent converts :D I met Rose Dollay from Africa and her son Hansen and we all went to Mamie's house (I think she's also from Africa) to watch the Testaments. Mamie was baptized last week! The week before I got here. During the movie she asked the best questions. She is very smart and wants to know so much! I already love her :) She's pregnant with twins and she is just so happy. We had so much fun.. haha Rose told me that in her country I'd be known as an African Beauty because I'm not pencil skinny and I just LOVED IT! Haha :D and Mamie agreed :) They're the best.

Sunday night was great! We accidentally scheduled two dinner appointments.. We cancelled with Sister McElveen earlier this week and said we would see her Sunday. We meant for church but I guess she thought we meant dinner.. So when we called her Sunday she said she had already cooked so we couldn't cancel. So We went to Sister Talbot's home at 4:30 for her spaghetti dinner. Went to the broadcast. Then to Sister McElveen's Home. She is so SWEET! She is from Mississippi! So she had cornbread, mustard and turnip greens, spiced yams.. yum! She's great and so much fun and LOVES that our family is from Alabama!

 

I love you all and I can't wait to share with you more of my experiences!!

 

Les quiero Mucho!

Hermana Lewis

OK EVERYONE THIS IS IT! Pt.2

YESTERDAY!!! Ok Ok Ok this is cool I promise :P We worked at the Peter Whitmer Farm yesterday! wooop!! that was amazing!! So, We had a tour immediately! They were fantastic. I just listened to my companion so I would know what I could say If I needed to give a tour alone ever.. after the tour she took me through a tour just me to see what I remembered. I remembered it all! Next tour the senior sister took, I went to watch. She then had me teach some and boom... I ended up on a tour alone! The spirit was impossibly strong as I said the words and it just got stronger when we entered the Log home of the Whitmer family.. :) There was something electric about holding the Book of Mormon in the very airspace where the translation had been completed.. woah. I was just amazed.. I know the Book of Mormon is a true book.. I know without any doubts.. I know that the work that the Lord gave Joseph Smith was and IS divine and continues today.. :) I know that the Lord loves us so much and He gave up so much for our eternal happiness.. ahhhh I love this so much!!!

On Wednesday we went on a tour of all the sites!! BOMPS (Book of Mormon Publication Site) is so amazing!! We work there tomorrow!! :D This is just so amazing... is it even real?!? haha I just feel so incredibly blessed to be in such a spiritual place.. and preparations are underway for the fast approaching Hill Cumorah Pageant... getting so excited for that and I can hardly wait.. but I know that I will be BUSY BUSY. I need to study up on my site manuals! :D Everyone I love you very very much.. :) I can't WAIT to be with my spectacular family para eternidad :D This work is so splendid and I just don't have words to describe it and only 20 minutes left on my timer.. haha ;)

Remember that God and Jesus Christ love you all so dearly.. Especially remember that I love you all so dearly.. :) Always Remember Me.. :)

 

Con mucho Amor (with much love),

Hermana Lewis

OK EVERYONE THIS IS IT!! :D

I am OFFICIALLY in New York!! I arrived in the Rochester airport at 4:40 in the pre-evening on Monday June 17, 2013 :) :) :) My wonderful mission president Christianson and his beautiful wife met the very few of us at the airport and were there to greet us! I loved them instantly! We got our bags (mine were still alive!) haha and we were on our way to the mission home :) When we arrived at the mission home we had such a WONDERFUL meal.. oh my word I was so grateful! 7 weeks of MTC food was definitely a part of the MTC I don't miss :P We had Cafe Rio homemade and I was in heaven the whole meal! All 8 of us sisters were just talking about how happy it made us the whole time! We then went in the basement and had an orientation meeting. That was LONG and we were all just exhausted! When it finished we were able to bring our bags in or just what we needed for the night. Luckily I just needed my carry-on :) We all fit comfortably. There was only ONE elder! There were two others but they are visa waiters. They slept upstairs and the sisters slept in the basement. We had to fill out all of our driving paperwork and such and THEN the president interviewed us all. By the time we got to sleep it was almost midnight :/ boo... haha...

          The next day we ate breakfast and we were off!

This was LITERALLY the best way to start off my mission in the field! We went straight to the Joseph Smith family farm!!! WOAH!!! The president and his wife took us on a little tour. We went upstairs in the log home where the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph and we had a testimony meeting.. :) the spirit was so strong and so beautiful :) How blessed I am. We then went into the Sacred Grove!! :) You already saw a picture from the mission president :) I have to tell you.. that was incredible. Everywhere you walked you could picture that 14 year old boy kneeling under a pillar of light... I was just in awe of the spirit in there. We got 15 minutes to ourselves to pray and ponder.. I can tell you right now. This gospel is so so so true! I can tell you that so strongly now. I have a long way to go but I know this gospel is the true gospel and I know Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ in that grove of trees.. how blessed we are to have this truth in our lives now!

After the Grove, we went to Hill Cumorah!!! :D We didn't get to go up to the hill... (still haven't gotten to...) We had transfer meeting at the base of the hill :) I was so sad when The Christianson's gave their farewells.. they leave July 2nd. After the meeting, I GOT MY COMPANION!!! Ready for it?!?! Her name is Sister Astorga! SHE IS A NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKER!!! She is from Guatemala! (For those of you in my district, SHE IS HERMANO GALVEZ'S COUSIN!!) So basically, my companion is spectacular and I love her to death and we just have so so much fun together :) here's another crazy bit of info... I am the DRIVER! hahaha yeah crazy... since she's from Guatemala.. I need to drive. She is a great navigatrix though haha :) our apartment is 45 minutes from the sites :) So I drive lots and lots. Our area is Brighton- Spanish speaking. I have not yet been in our area yet.. so I haven't met any of our investigators yet.. No spanish. Yet.. haha Though I am pro at my English! :P