Learning Curves

May 13, 2013

Dear family,

Hi, my mom! I love you so so much. :) Okay, first of all I am such a NERD because I forgot to wish you a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY when we were skyping!! I felt SO BAD. Hopefully you won't disown me. So happy belated Mother's day! :) 

To answer your questions - we do have required service hours per week (I think it's 3), but we are having SO MUCH trouble finding things to do for community service. You'd think that in a town like Shepherdsville, we'd be able to find something to do, but no. I'm sure we'll find something, but no luck yet. 

Anyway, we're also working on new ways to find people. We've come up with a pretty good list, but we'll have to ask President W about it. 

Tell Aunt Mignon I love her and am SO glad that she is having fun!! Tell her thank you for the sweet notes from everybody (she'll know what I mean). They helped a lot. 

When I read the part in your e-mail about Sister Hillman's baby, I squealed and giggled. SO CUTE!! I'm glad that you had a good mother's day. 

Today we're planning to teach the S family (S and her family) how to have a family home evening! We're so excited. The other day we talked to them about faith, and told them the story of Nephi praying for strength to break the cords after Laman and Lemuel tied him up. They LOVED the story and asked us if we could talk about it more next time. We are GOING to invite them to be baptized, we just don't know when. Hopefully soon. 

Oh, by the way, after we left the H family (the members house that we were skyping at) we went to go visit some less-actives (with not much success, since it seemed like everybody was just about to leave or already gone when we got there). So we went tracting, and ended up talking to some really awesome people. We asked one lady if she'd be interested in having a copy of the Book of Mormon and she was like, "sure!" But we forgot to make an appointment to come back and visit with her. GAH. It's a learning process. 

Thanks for all your love and support and your prayers. I'm trying really hard to stay focused. Pray for me to stay focused, and to not get discouraged. 

I love you so much and I was so glad to see your faces yesterday. 

Love, Sister Lewis

Mother's Day!!

May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day! I think this might be one of the happiest. :) :) 

I didn't think to video with my phone until most of the way through our conversation. So the following videos are just snippets. It looks like a lot of them but they are all just about one minute long. She looks and sounds SO HAPPY! 

MTC Companion

MTC Unpacking

MTC Teacher

First day in Kentucky, seeing Elder Rowley 

(friend from Dry Creek Ward)

Tracting in the rain

Sharing the Book of Mormon in Kentucky

I love how her sweet, happy personality shines 

through even in these pics. 

It was a wonderful, joyful Mother's Day skype conversation!!

Happy 21st Sister Lewis

May 8, 2013

Sister Lewis turned 21 just 9 short days after arriving in Kentucky. We sent her a fun birthday package with all the makings for cupcakes. I typed out the captions that she wrote on the back of the pictures.

My awesome cupcakes - made from the cupcake mix you sent us. 

Sorry, I have crazy eyes in this picture :)

:) P.S. Thank you for the cute scarf you sent me!!

We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, Sister V & Sister M, on my birthday! Sister V was so cute & wrote this on the white board while I was getting ready for the day! So cute! 

"Hi, You!"

May 6, 2013

Sister Lewis was assigned to the Shepherdsville, Kentucky area. This is her first email home from that area.

Dear family, 

My companion Sister H is SO NICE! I love her. She's from Utah. :) She is really fun and we have a lot in common. Plus, I can quote Nacho Libre to her, and she laughs and doesn't think I'm too weird. (Don't worry, I don't quote it nearly as often as I did when I was at home.) 

 

Idk what stories to tell you, but basically I love it here. It is as beautiful and green as you said it would be. The people are nice and polite. Pretty much everybody smokes here, which is no bueno. But that's okay. We are teaching a lot of investigators right now, and it's amazing. There is a lot of poverty here, and it's sad and a bit scary at times, but the people are so humble. 

We are teaching a girl named S and she is wonderful. Sister H and her previous companion tracted into this family and found her. She wants to be a good example for her little brother. We are teaching her and her family, and they want to bring Christ into their home. They are amazing people. :) We haven't been able to teach a lesson yet, because it seems like satan is throwing everything he can at us to prevent them from being ready. But we're NOT going to give up, because we KNOW that the gospel will help their family so much. 

The other day we were driving around trying to find one of our investigators, because he hasn't been getting back to us. We got really lost and ended up having to turn around. However, the streets in the neighborhood were really narrow, and so we had to back up. I'm supposed to get out of the car and guide my companion when she's backing up. Anyway, to avoid having to do that, we drove around and found a little lot on the side of the road that we could pull into to make a u-turn. Which was a bad idea because then we realized that the lot was full of mud. We were stuck. After praying, calling people in our ward that were close by to come and help, and with assistance from like ten other people in the neighborhood and a guy with a truck, we finally got the car out of the mud. It was quite an experience. We learned that having to get out of the car isn't such a bad thing after all. :) 

Sorry if my words don't make any sense; you know that I'm way better at talking than at writing things out. 

 

Thank you for all your support. I love you and am so grateful for you. I am glad you are all doing well. And please keep sending me letters-even if you have to type them. 

Love, Sister Lewis 

Welcome to the South

April 29, 2013

We received a phone call EARLY Monday morning, April 29th, from the Salt Lake City airport. We got to talk to her for about 10 minutes. She sounded excited and nervous and anxious and excited. The following is the fun email and post we got from Sister W (mission president's wife) about Sister Lewis' arrival in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission

(Keep in mind that we received this counsel from her mission president: "Additionally, do not include names of anyone in the mission, nor negative comments about companions, leaders, members, or investigators. News on the web travels unbelievably fast and can cause problems or hurt." So we will not be using anyone's real names on Sister Lewis' blog. Thanks for understanding :)

Dear Brother and Sister Lewis,

Your lovely daughter arrived safe and sound Monday evening, part of the second wave of the surge (we call it the Gift) that resulted from the October announcement in General Conference; to us it feels quite historic. Her group came in to the Louisville airport in the late afternoon then traveled the ten minute drive to the Mission Home in five separate vehicles. President W got started with interviews right away and I began orientation soon thereafter. We had dinner together and a wonderful Testimony Meeting before interviews resumed and those who had been interviewed previously went off to bed for the night. 

In the morning I served a hot breakfast after which the Assistants led Companionship Study and Elder B from the Mission Office gave instructions on finances. Individual and group pictures were taken, then bags were once again loaded into the GKLM (The Great Kentucky Louisville Mission) trailer, and our entourage moved over to the church next to the Mission Office, 2 1/2 miles away. During Transfer Meeting, the new missionaries met their Trainers and then attended a meeting which introduced the Church's 12-Week Training Program. After lunch, companionship pictures were taken with President W and I in front of the Mission Office, then they were off, to their first areas and their first day as real missionaries. 

Sister Lewis' Trainer is Sister H, a bright, hard-working and dedicated missionary, who will provide a great start to her mission. 

President W and I thank you so much for sending your precious daughter to us. We already love her and are looking forward to great things with and through her as she serves in this choice part of the Lord’s vineyard.

                With love,

         Sister W

The following is an excerpt from a newsletter about her group's arrival in the mission:

Riding the Crest: The April 2013 Transfer

"...an unprecedented wave of enthusiasm for missionary work is sweeping the entire earth. Since President Monson’s historic announcement last October, thousands of elders, sisters, and couples have been called, and many more are preparing.  Now we get questions like 'What are you going to do with all these missionaries?” The answer is simple. They will do what missionaries have always done. They will preach the gospel! They will bless the children of Almighty God!' More of you young men and women will catch this wave as you strive to be worthy of mission calls. You see this as a wave of truth and righteousness. You see your opportunity to be on the crest of that wave."

Elder Russell M. Nelson - April 2013 Conference

Sister Lewis' is in this group but you can't see her - too short :)

Riding the crest of the wave, twenty-six Elders and Sisters swept into the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission on April 29th. Arriving in one massive surge they were an noticeable presence on the plane and an impressive sight coming around the bend in the terminal. 

    It didn't take long to grab their surf boards (a.k.a. Preach My Gospel) and other items then load them into the GKLM trailer while they themselves moved over to the Mission Home in five separate vehicles.

The interviews with President W began right away and continued into the evening. Sister W got them oriented to the mission then they all sat down to dinner in the living room. Two additional tables were needed in addition to the sixteen to eighteen-seat arrangement that is always there. Going downstairs to the Training Room they were treated to a skit about the first day of a missionary in the GKLM by the Assistants to the President, Elder W and Elder D, and a wonderful Testimony Meeting where all participated.

In the morning everyone enjoyed a hot breakfast, Companionship Study and Training by the Assistants to the President, Elder W and Elder D, and a talk about finances by Elder B from the Mission Office.

Can you barely see her on the right, the 3rd sister from the end. :)

The whole group that she arrived with at the Mission Home on their first day!

 Loading back up in the various cars and vans, they moved on over to the church next to the Mission Office less than ten minutes away. There they heard the Words of Wisdom from the two departing Elders, were introduced to their Trainers, sang "Called to Serve" GKLM-style, and heard the call-outs of the rest of the Transfers in the mission.

After the Training Meeting, the new arrivals and their companion/Trainers had lunch at the church then got their picture taken in front of the Mission Office...

...then intrepid surfers took off from there to their respective beaches, in search of promising  waves...

Last Pic from the MTC

April 22, 2013

This is the last picture she sent from the MTC. 

These were 2 of her "cute roommates" (her words :) Sister Myler & Sister Black