Grateful

August 5, 2013

Dear everyone,

I had a pretty cool experience  this week. I was feeling really down one morning while I was doing my personal study, and so I prayed and asked Heavenly Father for help. And a thought came to me that I needed to be more grateful in my prayers. So I wrote down a list of things that I was thankful for and made sure to mention them in my prayers. 

Then, the other day, while we had our scheduled mormon.org time, I was looking on lds.org and I noticed the First Presidency message from this month's issue of the Ensign (August 2013). It was about being more grateful! I read it and it was so good. You all need to read it. :) 

Also, miracles: Sister K came to church yesterday! We were so excited because we have been praying for that all week. And it happened!

I love you and miss you but I know that this is where I'm supposed to be. Even though it's hard sometimes, I don't want to give up. 

I really am grateful for all that you do, and I hope that you all know that. 

Love, Sister Lewis

The Lord's Work

July 29, 2013

Hi you all :) 

So this week we had the coolest experience ever with one of our investigators, Sister K. We met at her house to teach a lesson, and we asked her how her Book of Mormon reading was going and she said it was good. We talked about it for a little bit and then we started to teach her the gospel of Jesus Christ. We paused for a little, because Sister S asked her a question, and she was thinking about it. All of a sudden I felt prompted to ask her about how she was doing in praying about Joseph Smith and the things that we've taught her. And she told us that one night, when she was praying about Joseph Smith being a prophet, she said it was like this little light bulb turned on. She was struggling to describe it, but Sister S and I were just listening, waiting for her to figure it out. And finally she said, "So I guess I got my answer." 

I almost burst into tears, I was so happy for her. I realized that this is truly the Lord's work. We are just facilitators of the spirit. And it was amazing to me to hear about Heavenly Father playing such a personal and intimate role in the life of this lady. 

I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I wish that you could have seen it, because it was so cool. I can't even explain it right. 

But that was my cool story. Heavenly Father is working so many miracles here on my mission in Shepherdsville.

Mom - That is so cool that Alma 7:11-13 is a scripture mastery now!! I love that scripture and use it quite often when talking about the Atonement. Good luck with your memorizing

Dad - I am so glad to hear that you are liking Elder Bednar's book, "Increase in Learning". I don't know if you remember me telling you, but that was one of the required books for the history and philosophy of education class that I took last semester. Anyway, I know what you mean-it is CHOCK full of good stuff, so it does take a while to read.

Thanks so much for all that you do. I loved the pictures that you sent me of Bella, they made me giggle. I was actually hoping you would send me more of her, so you read my mind! 

I love you all so so much! I am praying for you all too. :) 

Love, Sister Lewis

Persistance

July 22, 2013

Dear family & friends,

First, I am staying here in Shepherdsville for another six weeks with Sister S! 

Sister S and I being goofy :)

A lot of changes are happening in our district-our new district leader is a greenie, he has only been out in the field for six weeks! Gah! But we know he will be great. :) Also, we are getting a new set of missionaries in our district-we will now have two other sisters, yay! We won't be the only sister missionaries in our district anymore, and we're excited about that. 

I am happy. :) Sister S and I have a lot of plans for this area, and this transfer we are planning to really step it up in everything that we are doing.

Yesterday, we had a pretty cool experience. It was around 7:40ish, close to the time to come in for the night, and we decided that we needed to go and see another less-active member. So we looked at the list and decided to go see somebody named Sister M. So we drove...and it took way longer to get there than we had originally thought. Finally we got to the house and knocked on the door (half-expecting her not to be there) and this man opens the door. And we were thinking - okay maybe this is her husband. 

Come to find out, it's actually her father. So we decided  to talk to him because we had never met him before. He ended up telling us his conversion story. He said he had gotten on his knees for the first time and prayed. In the prayer he said that he couldn't do it anymore. And then the next morning, he got a knock on the door. It was the sister missionaries. He said that he told them he wasn't too interested, but they were welcome to come back anytime and talk. 

So they did come back. And long story short, he was baptized and confirmed. Then Brother M told us that we are going to be faced with people rejecting us all the time, but he said that each rejection gets you that much closer to finding the person who is ready. He said that basically because three sisters decided one morning to stop and tract a street, his prayer was answered. So he told us that we need to keep being persistent. 

Anyway, this is a long letter, but I just wanted to tell you that story because it really touched me that this man who didn't even know us, said the right thing at the right time. Hearing his story really strengthened my testimony of how the Lord works through us. 

I know that there is so much potential in this area. And my love for the people here has grown so much. 

I realized that I forgot to tell you about how Sister S and I spent out 4th of July! 

M - the lady in the picture is so sweet. She lives by herself and so we asked her what she was going to do for the 4th of July and she said that she didn't know. So we decided to spend it with her! It was so fun. We watched a church movie, "Finding Faith in Christ". and ate some chocolate bars. 

President W gave everyone in the mission permission to go watch the fireworks shows if there were any going on nearby. Sister S and I heard that the one in Bullitt county got cancelled (we found out the next day that it still went on), so we didn't go. But that's okay, it was still fun :)

So I got the cutest card yesterday from Sister Hillman and her family. James and Hope wrote notes of their own on it and it made me so happy. I smiled so big when I read it. 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers. 

Love, Sister Lewis

Prayer

July 15, 2013

Dear family,

I am finding out things about myself that I've never thought about before. I've realized that I really need to work on patience-with myself AND with others. It's really hard lesson to learn, but I know that I'll work it out with LOTS of prayer.

I also have been struggling with homesickness this week. But that's okay. I'm doing a lot better today. Thank you for your support and encouragement. 

Oh! I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting-I spoke on how I prepared for my mission and what I wish I had done better in my preparations. It wasn't a stellar talk, but I think I did okay. 

Thank you for everything, I love you so much and please keep me in your prayers.  And tell me about your fun adventures that I'm sure you are having! 

Love, Sister Lewis

"We just love you missionaries!"

July 8, 2013

Dear everyone,

This week has been crazy, but I want to tell you about yesterday because it was amazing. First of all, we've been getting to know the young couple that just moved into our branch - the P family - and we LOVE THEM! They are so fun and nice and had us over for dinner last night. Then Sister P was like, "We just love you missionaries. You are pretty much the coolest ever." And then she said that they had talked about it and decided to have us over for dinner on Sunday every week if we want. Isn't that so sweet?! Gah. I can't even explain to you how awesome they are. 

We also had a really cool experience with learning how to work with the spirit. So Sister S and I had no idea where to go, and so we prayed. Then we felt like we needed to go to a street that we had some potentials on, and they didn't work out. So we went to visit a less active, and she was busy. And then we prayed again and asked where we should go or who we should visit. We had the craziest idea ever-Sister S felt like we needed to go to the grocery store parking lot and contact people - which is weird because that is the only thing that scares her. So we went there and everybody that we tried to talk to was rejecting us! And we were like, "Okay, so why did we feel like we needed to go here?" We decided to think for a minute. Then Sister S said, "Let's try the other end of the parking lot." So we walked over there more slowly so we wouldn't miss anybody. And then the coolest thing happened. We passed by a car with tinted windows and Sister S was like, "Sister, go knock on the window and talk to that guy in there." And I was thinking, "Sister, you are CRAZY if you think I'm going to do that." But I did. I don't even really remember what I said to him, but I asked him about the Book of Mormon and then the words just flowed. I ended up asking him to read the Book of Mormon if we gave him a copy, and he said he would. 

It was the coolest experience because I know that at that moment, Heavenly Father was using me as an instrument for what he wanted to tell this man. Sister S and I learned that the Spirit works through us when we are willing to work, and we slow down (and listen). And that was so cool. Look up D&C 100:5-8

I have been finding that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Bible is growing as I have been really focusing on them in my studies. I love it!

Sister S and I have seen so many blessings as we have been working hard. I am learning a lot about the work and about myself. There are always little struggles but I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers and that He loves us so much. :) 

 

Thank you all for your support. I really love and appreciate all that you do. 

Love, Sister Lewis

Soo, one more thing: I found a video that I wanted you to watch on Mormon.org. Search for Athelia Lesueur and watch her video. :) Enjoy!

Baptism

June 1, 2013

Dear family and friends,

We just had a baptism this week! J is his name & we are so excited for him.

It was a little crazy putting the baptism together, (we are just learning how to do that) but so worth it to see his face afterward. He looked so happy.

Things have been pretty crazy & fun. One family we are teaching is trying to quit smoking & we are going through the 15 step program with them (a program that a member of the church put together developed to help people stop smoking in 7 days).

Things are pretty good here. We found 3 new people to teach, T, M, & A. They are all so fun & sweet & Sister S and I love them already.

Thank you SO MUCH for the GPS! Seriously, we would get so lost without it. 

Thank you for your prayers and support as well. Thank you all for putting up with my crazy letters and emails. 

Love, Sister Lewis

The Wave Keeps Coming

July 1, 2013

The Louisville Kentucky Temple

Some awesome info from a newsletter regarding all the missionaries going to the Kentucky Louisville Mission. In March, they started getting the surge of missionaries stemming from the age change announcement in October Conference. Sister W refers to it as the 'Gift' or the "Wave' (from President Monson - "the wave of enthusiasm sweeping the earth for missionary work"). They received a record 28 missionaries, with 19 being sisters. In April (Sister Lewis' group) they received 26 missionaries - 18 of them sisters (see my April 29th post). In June, a record breaking 30 missionaries arrived - 22 sisters! With this arrival Sister W quoted Elder Nelson, "This wave of truth and righteousness is wondrous! It is not man-made! It comes from the Lord, who said, “I will hasten my work in its time.” This wave is empowered by a divine announcement made 193 years ago. It consisted of only seven words: “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

And now Sister W's words from the newsletter - I loved the way she puts this:

The Wave Keeps Coming: The July Transfers

        It could easily be termed a tsunami, this wave that started for us in March and keeps on coming. Tsunamis are caused by under sea earthquakes that get the water moving and have long range impact, not unlike the announcement made last October that motivated so many young people to send in their missionary papers. But unlike literal tsunamis that wreak havoc and destruction, our mighty wave continues to be filled with blessings. 

        The thirty-one missionaries who rounded the corner at the Lousiville airport were a sight to behold. Tired from the long day of travel, which began for them at 1:30 am and ended at 4:15 pm, they still radiated excitement and enthusiasm, to finally be here and able to start their actual missions. 

I just keep getting teary from reading all this. The gospel is flooding the earth!