Wow!
What a week! IT's so weird the days blend into the weeks and the weeks blend into the rest of the mission! I normally keep notes on what I want to write about but this week just flew y and now its time to write and I haven't written anything down. But don't worry I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve.
First off, Friday was the was the ward christmas party. How I love the ward. I live in a big Spanish Ward and the Latino Ward Parties are just way different than than the normal ones back home and such. Sister Stephens and I actually ended up stopping by the English ward party the next night for some odd reason and we commented on how the two contrasted. The English ward was peaceful music with christmas lights and nice ettiquette dinner where everything is cleaned up and put away nicely by 10pm where the Spanish is Loud fun mexican christmas music, lots of decorations, dancing, authentic food and the party doesn't even start until an hour after the prearranged time of 7:30 and etc. Haha oh I love it and the ward members just love on me and sister Stephens. they are so good to us. We have 8 missionaries in our ward. Sister stephens and me, and then 6 other elders. Sista's I have the funniest story to tell you about the christmas party and the bishops daughter. You ahve to remind me. The elders made me promise I wouldn't tell it till I talked to the fam on christmas.
The other really cool Christmas even that took place last night was the Christmas Concert with Chad Hoopes and his 2 sisters. Chad Hoopes is a 16 year old violinist and his 2 sisters who study at Julliard. They are absolutely phenomenal. It was put together by the mission and was for all of those in the the mission boundary. It was so beautiful and had a really great Christmas message behind it. All three of them are members of the church and told how for them they expressed their testimonies through their talents god had given them through their music. They were super awesome and it was just mezmerizing to watch and listen. Plus it was fun for me to see some of the other missionaries that I flew into the mission with. It is so crazy to me to think I made it through my first transfer already and there is a new batch of greenies coming in on Tuesday.... weird. Sister Stephens could have gone home last weekend! Yet she didn't because she extended and now because of that she has got to train me and we will be staying this next transfer together as well. I told her she has to teach me all she knows and leave her legacy behind. I feel so lucky to have had her as my companion. I dont know what I'm going to do when she goes home in February! That will leave me as the trained greeny in the area and I will have to show my new companion the ropes of the area. Pray for Sister Stephens and I that we will thrive this last transfer together. That our hearts and desires will work together in unity to bring about the work of the Lord and see the miracles that are waiting for us this transfer. Pray that she will be filled with a new light and hope to finish the mission strong and that we will accomplish both our goals together. So many of our investigators are so close to baptism and the committment it takes to leave old habits behind and pick up a new life to start a new but it really takes a burning of the spirit and the desire. I pray for that every night.
Ana came to church this week again! Yeah for Ana! She really is so awesome! I can't wait! I really would like her to be baptized! Come on ana your almost there! "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" She is so close! We just need to get her moved out and living the law of chastity and then I think we will be prettty much good.
This is what I've kind of formulated in my head. I LOVE the latino people. They are so kind, usually humble, and so nice to always listen what you have to say. They listen and they love to learn and then they commit to and want to change to be better for almost anything. But what I DON"T like about the culture is USUALLY it is all talk and they RARELY follow through. Haha but I guess you have a little struggle with it that in every mission. People in New York just have no time to listen. They are always on the run. Running running running. Remember the song "BE Still my soul" it is a necessity in life people for receiving revelation. I'm telling you its essential. :)
We had a really neat experience this last week about acting on the spirit. My companion is super awesome about following the spirit. We had our night all planned out as usual yet my companion says, " I feel that we should go look up this former that is in the records" We had never met her yet we both agreed to head out on the far side of our area to go and find her. We got there and her son Antonio let us in to the building he went to go find his mom Rosa for us and we followed him to the door. He came back trying to tell us she was busy and about to head out when all of the sudden she decided to come to the door and she automatically said "Pasan, Pasan" which means come in. So that was a good sign. We ended up teaching her a beautiful lesson about the importance of the book of mormon. She talked about how she just loves to read and she will read the book. I felt the spirit so strong and we read with her a little bit. At this point in her life she is just so prepared and has been humbled. Is really concerned about her two boys and wants to know how to help them. She cares about her family. We talked about how the gospel blesses and strengthens families. How through god we can overcome all things. She really ate that up and we are going to go and visit her later this week I think. Pray that she has read and that her heart will be open to looking up more. Then after that we had a really great time going to teach Louis. We actually got a baptismal commit from him for the 16th of January. First lesson with him but his parents are members and were sitting in on the lesson with us. They are from Equador and were converted by the missionaries there a couple of years back. Oh man it would be awesome if we could get him prepared. What a good chrismtas gift for his family. He just works all the time! So we will pray things will work out there but. BUt the work is progressing and I have good experiences every day. Its the best. Very much an emotional rollercoaster which is weird but I 'm growing lots.
Talk to you this week! Love you all
Love hermana Lewis
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sup
FAM!
I hope your holiday season is just going awesome! I love you so much! Ah this week has been absolutely amazing!
Yeippee! We had 2 investigators come to church this week! Ana for the 2nd week in a row! And another answer to prayer we found her a room so she can separate from her novio in order to prepare for baptism! Better yet this room is with a member and it is the perfect set up for her to have the support system she needs once she becomes a member. Pray for her to have the strength to follow through on the promptings that she has received and remain strong in her decisions. These baptism candidates are super awesome but it is a continuous battle for them until they are actually out of the font. lol. So Ana is our Golden star for the week.
Adriano was our other investigator that FINALLY came to church. We have been wanting him to come for the past month and he finally said he would come. We were worried that he would blow us off because he wouldn't let us come get him but he said he would come by himself. And guess what, HE DID. He was awesome. I was so excited. There are a lot of things that he is struggling with in his personal life right now yet he also knows that the things we are teaching him are good and that there are a lot of things he "should" be doing. We taught him the law of Chastity last lesson and asked him to live it. He said he would talk to Sandra his girlfriend. He knows it would be better for their 2 boys but isn't sure how Sandra is going to react. Pray that her heart is softened and that she too will be able to be excited and enthused about the great blessings that come from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Experience #1 that I just loved for this week. Sister Nelson (mission prez's wife) will often go out with the sister missionaries to help with the work. She is awesome. I spent some time with her when I flew into the mission home but have not spent much time with her since then. She scheduled a time to go out with me and Sister Stephens a couple of weeks ago when we had zone conference. We met her at the office. All the missionaries that are leaving to go home at the end of the transfer were having their departing interviews. So Sister Nelson was a temporary companion to Sister Ball who was waiting in the office to go home. It ended up that Sister Ball and Sister Nelson both came with us to our appointment with Altagracia and Tairis. They are the cute little family we have been teaching from the Dominican Republic. As we were walking over we came up with the grand idea to do splits since Sister Ball had unexpectedly been able to come with us and we and 4 people instead of 3. We had another former investigator we had wanted to look up. So guess what that meant.... I got to go teach Altagracia and Tairis with Sister Nelson while the other two sisters went to look up our former estella. BAH!!! Wha?! I had no prep time and I have never taught a lesson by myself in Spanish. Was this possible? I wasn't sure but I knew that it would go one way or the other and you just press forward in the work. It turned out to be one of the best experiences I've had yet. We got there and Tairis (13 year old girl) was asleep. Altagracia is the mom and she graciously invited us into her home. She doesn't speak any English. So we taught her some English in the beginning and then we taught her the lesson afterwards. It was so good!!!! I so felt the spirit of the Lord working through me. Sister Nelson was awesome as well. She served her mission in Chile back in the day and so she knows quite a bit of Spanish as well. I felt so blessed by the hand of the Lord. Sister Nelson and I extended a baptismal commitment. Altagracia doesn't feel ready but she is thinking it is a definite possibility. We taught her the rest of the plan of Salvation and the Kingdoms of Glory. When I walked out of that lesson, I finally knew why it was so rewarding to be a missionary. I knew why people said they loved their mission. I finally understood what my purpose is in NY. It was awesome and I just felt like nothing was going to hold me down!! Boohya! Sister Nelson and I had a really nice talk on the way back and she really built me up. I appreciated her and the words of support she gave. She just told me how impressed she was with the lesson and she couldn't believe I've only been here a month and could understand Altagracia as much as I did. She pointed out it doesn't take perfect Spanish to teach with the spirit and help people understand the gospel. That God will always make up the difference where we fall short as long as we are preparing and doing our best. She is awesome. I really appreciate her and all that she does. It was exactly the growing experience I needed and its given me a lot of hope for the future.
The lord is aware of each of us. I know we are his children and God loves each of us very much. It's so wonderful how God just works miracles in our lives. Our greatest happiness come by living those commandments God has given us to help us receive certain blessings. God promises us those blessings if we are willing to live those commandments. It's a very simple equation yet so many of us are unhappy or think things could be a different way if only this one thing were different.... no we have the opportunity to choose happiness. Happiness come through faith, charity, selflessness, love, and service of your fellow men with an eye single to the glory of God. Forget yourself and go to work. That's what I've been told; that's what I get to do. I love you so much and wish the spirit of Christmas, the presence of our lord and redeemer, to be with you the whole year through and more.
Love, Hermana Lewis.
P.S. mom, I agree with you. A.J. emails rock! I love reading them. Tell Boonseon and fam I said hello. Seems Elder Gudmundsen is rocking Thailand! Good for him! They need more missionaries like him in the world. God Bless :)
I hope your holiday season is just going awesome! I love you so much! Ah this week has been absolutely amazing!
Yeippee! We had 2 investigators come to church this week! Ana for the 2nd week in a row! And another answer to prayer we found her a room so she can separate from her novio in order to prepare for baptism! Better yet this room is with a member and it is the perfect set up for her to have the support system she needs once she becomes a member. Pray for her to have the strength to follow through on the promptings that she has received and remain strong in her decisions. These baptism candidates are super awesome but it is a continuous battle for them until they are actually out of the font. lol. So Ana is our Golden star for the week.
Adriano was our other investigator that FINALLY came to church. We have been wanting him to come for the past month and he finally said he would come. We were worried that he would blow us off because he wouldn't let us come get him but he said he would come by himself. And guess what, HE DID. He was awesome. I was so excited. There are a lot of things that he is struggling with in his personal life right now yet he also knows that the things we are teaching him are good and that there are a lot of things he "should" be doing. We taught him the law of Chastity last lesson and asked him to live it. He said he would talk to Sandra his girlfriend. He knows it would be better for their 2 boys but isn't sure how Sandra is going to react. Pray that her heart is softened and that she too will be able to be excited and enthused about the great blessings that come from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Experience #1 that I just loved for this week. Sister Nelson (mission prez's wife) will often go out with the sister missionaries to help with the work. She is awesome. I spent some time with her when I flew into the mission home but have not spent much time with her since then. She scheduled a time to go out with me and Sister Stephens a couple of weeks ago when we had zone conference. We met her at the office. All the missionaries that are leaving to go home at the end of the transfer were having their departing interviews. So Sister Nelson was a temporary companion to Sister Ball who was waiting in the office to go home. It ended up that Sister Ball and Sister Nelson both came with us to our appointment with Altagracia and Tairis. They are the cute little family we have been teaching from the Dominican Republic. As we were walking over we came up with the grand idea to do splits since Sister Ball had unexpectedly been able to come with us and we and 4 people instead of 3. We had another former investigator we had wanted to look up. So guess what that meant.... I got to go teach Altagracia and Tairis with Sister Nelson while the other two sisters went to look up our former estella. BAH!!! Wha?! I had no prep time and I have never taught a lesson by myself in Spanish. Was this possible? I wasn't sure but I knew that it would go one way or the other and you just press forward in the work. It turned out to be one of the best experiences I've had yet. We got there and Tairis (13 year old girl) was asleep. Altagracia is the mom and she graciously invited us into her home. She doesn't speak any English. So we taught her some English in the beginning and then we taught her the lesson afterwards. It was so good!!!! I so felt the spirit of the Lord working through me. Sister Nelson was awesome as well. She served her mission in Chile back in the day and so she knows quite a bit of Spanish as well. I felt so blessed by the hand of the Lord. Sister Nelson and I extended a baptismal commitment. Altagracia doesn't feel ready but she is thinking it is a definite possibility. We taught her the rest of the plan of Salvation and the Kingdoms of Glory. When I walked out of that lesson, I finally knew why it was so rewarding to be a missionary. I knew why people said they loved their mission. I finally understood what my purpose is in NY. It was awesome and I just felt like nothing was going to hold me down!! Boohya! Sister Nelson and I had a really nice talk on the way back and she really built me up. I appreciated her and the words of support she gave. She just told me how impressed she was with the lesson and she couldn't believe I've only been here a month and could understand Altagracia as much as I did. She pointed out it doesn't take perfect Spanish to teach with the spirit and help people understand the gospel. That God will always make up the difference where we fall short as long as we are preparing and doing our best. She is awesome. I really appreciate her and all that she does. It was exactly the growing experience I needed and its given me a lot of hope for the future.
The lord is aware of each of us. I know we are his children and God loves each of us very much. It's so wonderful how God just works miracles in our lives. Our greatest happiness come by living those commandments God has given us to help us receive certain blessings. God promises us those blessings if we are willing to live those commandments. It's a very simple equation yet so many of us are unhappy or think things could be a different way if only this one thing were different.... no we have the opportunity to choose happiness. Happiness come through faith, charity, selflessness, love, and service of your fellow men with an eye single to the glory of God. Forget yourself and go to work. That's what I've been told; that's what I get to do. I love you so much and wish the spirit of Christmas, the presence of our lord and redeemer, to be with you the whole year through and more.
Love, Hermana Lewis.
P.S. mom, I agree with you. A.J. emails rock! I love reading them. Tell Boonseon and fam I said hello. Seems Elder Gudmundsen is rocking Thailand! Good for him! They need more missionaries like him in the world. God Bless :)
Monday, December 6, 2010
So I am in Queens not Brooklyn
From: Krisina Lewis [krisina.lewis@myldsmail.net]
Sent: 12/6/2010 8:23:01 AM
To: Janette Lewis [mjjklewis@mstarmetro.net]
Subject: Feliz Navidad!
Dearest Family!
How are you!???? It's so good to hear from you. Love you all much! Happy December! It has changed from colorful fall to blizzardly winter almost over night. It's snowing today and I am LOVING my coat mom. It is the bomb.com! Seriously in all honesty I love it much. Thanks so much!
Okay, so first and foremost I need to make a little correction. Mom, you wrote me a letter and said " My Krisina, in Brooklyn!" I was thinking to myself, "I'm not in Brooklyn" so I looked through my emails and found that the first week I told you I was in Brooklyn. Bahhaha. I think I was a little delusional when I wrote that first email lol. In reality, I am located smack in the middle of Queens! (NOT Brooklyn) lol. But my area in Queens is called Rego Park. The reason I haven't given you another address is because I go into the mission office for mail a couple of times a week. The mission office is in my area and it's been really fun to get to know all the couple missionaries that work in the office. I see the President and his wife often. So it's really the fastest address to send mail to because I pick it straight up from there. So yes I've rectified the problem. I am located in Queens in a dense area of Latinos which is awesome.
Oh there are so many great things going on right now. We had some really great lessons this week. One of our investigators came to church this week! Yeah! Ana Ramirez is our shining star. She is really trying to make some really great changes in her life. That is one thing about the gospel that I just love. When people have a sincere belief and testimony of Jesus Christ it gives them the faith to follow throught on those promptings that they have. The biggest thing that we have been working on is trying to get her married or separated from her novio (bf). When the law of chastity was presented she was not down for the whole idea but when we went back she told us she is looking for another room. She feels the spirit when we come and she feels that we are helping her. There are always other issues that we have to work through such as money, but the point is that the desire is there and she is willing. She came to church and is planning to continue to come. She really is awesome. I love it.
We had zone conference this last week. It was really awesome. We are getting ready to start the new year. We are looking for themes and things that we want to accomplish. This last year the mission theme "was the year for miracles". The mission has had just over 500 baptisms this year. This is the most since 2002 and we continue to press forward in finding and preparing those who are to come unto Christ through baptism. We had a mission fast yesterday and it was really great. We had a fireside last night and I was asked to share some thoughts in order to start off our discussion. I studied in the BOM about Moroni and the title of liberty.The title of liberty stood for truth, righteousness, and protecting the freedoms of their families, their wives, and children. They were able to save the kingdom from evil because they united and put their trust in God by obeying and pressing forward in Christ. As missionaries, we strive to obey, serve, and love. We will have the Lord's power as long as we do those things he has asked us to do. To go forth with a united purpose and love.
Merry Christmas Family! I'm thinking of you and I appreciate all your love and concern and prayers. They mean the world.
Love Hermana Lewis
Sent: 12/6/2010 8:23:01 AM
To: Janette Lewis [mjjklewis@mstarmetro.net]
Subject: Feliz Navidad!
Dearest Family!
How are you!???? It's so good to hear from you. Love you all much! Happy December! It has changed from colorful fall to blizzardly winter almost over night. It's snowing today and I am LOVING my coat mom. It is the bomb.com! Seriously in all honesty I love it much. Thanks so much!
Okay, so first and foremost I need to make a little correction. Mom, you wrote me a letter and said " My Krisina, in Brooklyn!" I was thinking to myself, "I'm not in Brooklyn" so I looked through my emails and found that the first week I told you I was in Brooklyn. Bahhaha. I think I was a little delusional when I wrote that first email lol. In reality, I am located smack in the middle of Queens! (NOT Brooklyn) lol. But my area in Queens is called Rego Park. The reason I haven't given you another address is because I go into the mission office for mail a couple of times a week. The mission office is in my area and it's been really fun to get to know all the couple missionaries that work in the office. I see the President and his wife often. So it's really the fastest address to send mail to because I pick it straight up from there. So yes I've rectified the problem. I am located in Queens in a dense area of Latinos which is awesome.
Oh there are so many great things going on right now. We had some really great lessons this week. One of our investigators came to church this week! Yeah! Ana Ramirez is our shining star. She is really trying to make some really great changes in her life. That is one thing about the gospel that I just love. When people have a sincere belief and testimony of Jesus Christ it gives them the faith to follow throught on those promptings that they have. The biggest thing that we have been working on is trying to get her married or separated from her novio (bf). When the law of chastity was presented she was not down for the whole idea but when we went back she told us she is looking for another room. She feels the spirit when we come and she feels that we are helping her. There are always other issues that we have to work through such as money, but the point is that the desire is there and she is willing. She came to church and is planning to continue to come. She really is awesome. I love it.
We had zone conference this last week. It was really awesome. We are getting ready to start the new year. We are looking for themes and things that we want to accomplish. This last year the mission theme "was the year for miracles". The mission has had just over 500 baptisms this year. This is the most since 2002 and we continue to press forward in finding and preparing those who are to come unto Christ through baptism. We had a mission fast yesterday and it was really great. We had a fireside last night and I was asked to share some thoughts in order to start off our discussion. I studied in the BOM about Moroni and the title of liberty.The title of liberty stood for truth, righteousness, and protecting the freedoms of their families, their wives, and children. They were able to save the kingdom from evil because they united and put their trust in God by obeying and pressing forward in Christ. As missionaries, we strive to obey, serve, and love. We will have the Lord's power as long as we do those things he has asked us to do. To go forth with a united purpose and love.
Merry Christmas Family! I'm thinking of you and I appreciate all your love and concern and prayers. They mean the world.
Love Hermana Lewis
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