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 :)