Triple digits for daysss‏

Wow, is it getting hot here in Dixon! But all is well, I think I'm
finally sweating off that weight I gained in the MTC. HA. Anyways, we
got our new zone this week! It's kind of weird having all new people,
but it's going to be great. We got two greenies, one of which is here
in Dixon. And his poor companion is whitewashing, district leader,
training, and got trunky transfered (meaning he got transfered to a
new area his last transfer of the mission). He's got his work cut out
for him! Haha but the elders are great. The ward is so excited to
finally have elders back here, so it's definitely a good thing. One of
the adorable little primary girls saw them on sunday and said "wait,
boys can go on missions too?!" It was the cutest thing!

Well, as far as this week goes, nothing too crazy happened. We had no
near deaths, so that's good! We had some pretty amazing miracles
though. First off, we have been trying to have a movie night with the
Alvarado (Sam, Angelina, and DJ) family forever because we thought it
would be really good for them to show them the restoration movie.
Every time we planned it and got all excited, they would cancel or the
member that was going to come with us would cancel (because we can't
go in his house without a member), so it just wasn't working out. Then
on tuesday we had rescheduled to go and we couldn't find a member and
then our phone broke so we had no way to contact anyone and I was just
ready to give up and be done trying. But, then we went to our dinner
appointment and the member let us use her phone to call the ward
mission leader and he told us "I'll find someone. Just show up for
your appointment with him at 7 and I'll have a member there for you."
So sure enough, 2 hours later we pulled up to the Alvarado's home and
there was a member there waiting for us! We were so happy and it was
one of the best lessons we've had with them. The movie helped them all
see the importance of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and how this
really is the restored gospel.

Okay, I take that back, something crazy DID happen this week. We were
talking to a man on a completely open street when suddenly this woman
appeared out of nowhere. She told us she was a member and had moved
from peru about a month ago and had been searching for the
missionaries and the church building. We talked to her for a bit and
gave her our info and the address for the church, but she didn't
remember her address or her phone number. So we left her with that and
she told us she'd call us. Then we got in our car to leave and
realized she told us she lives with her sister in law who used to talk
to the missionaries, so we might have her address in our areabook. We
drove to try and find her and ask her sister in law's name, and she
had literally dissapeared. There was seriously nowhere for this woman
to disappear to in the 1 minute we had our backs turned to her, but
she did. So we're just praying that we will be able to find her again!

To update you on our other investigators, Jessica made it to church
yesterday! She promised us she'd come and when church started she
still wasn't there so we were super discouraged, because she's never
late. But during the opening song, out of the corner of my eye I saw
her curly head of hair bobbing around in the back looking for us! It
was the best!

So, Lidia is currently ignoring us.. we think? We don't exactly know
what's happening with her cause she was super solid, so please keep
her in your prayers and that we'll be able to get back in contact with
her! Thanks for all you do for me, I love and appreciate all of you so
much!

Love, Hermana Suzanna Lewis

Okay I don't have the best pictures this week, but here's one of the
sky the other day. There was a huge fire (7000 acres. Yikes!) out by
lake berryessa the other day and it turned the sun red and the sky was
one huge cloud of smoke.
This other one is just a glimpse at what our car rides consisted of.
We blast the circle of life and sing along, haha so this is a
screenshot of one of our singing videos. Enjoy!
Oh, and we milked cows last week. Woot woot!

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WHITEWASH!‏

Tomorrow is transfers! And Hermana Navarro and I are staying together here in Dixon! I am so stoked. We wanted to stay together so bad, which made us think one of us would get transferred.. haha but God loves us! But aside from us two, this transfer is CRAZY. Our entire zone is essentially being whitewashed! Whitewash means that both missionaries are taken out of an area and two new ones come in, which they don't do a lot. But when we got transfer doctrine on friday, I looked at our zone and all 20 something missionaries are new here, except for one of our zone leaders. I kid you not. So, it's going to be interesting! But I'm really excited. As hard as it is to see literally everyone leave us, I know it's going to be a good thing, so I'm ready. 

In addition to that craziness, they're taking the two other sisters out of our apartment and bringing elders in! Nobody knows where they're going to live because we talked to our housing lady the other day and she was apparently under the misunderstanding that they would be taking the sisters' apartment, which means they'd be living with us. Haha so this will be interesting. But ya, Dixon hasn't had elders for 4 years, so they're all pretty excited! I'll miss the english sisters a ton though, we've had a blast this transfer. 

In other news, we almost got killed by a rottweiler this week! It was probably the most terrifying experience of my life, but extremely cool. So here's what happened: we walked up to a fence that said "beware of dog," just like every other hispanic house with their little Chihuahuas, haha but we looked around and saw no dogs in the yard, so we walked through the gate. As soon as we shut it behind us, we heard the most terrifying bark and immediately tried to get it back open, but it was stuck. Then comes a huge rottweiler out of a hole in the side of the house and shoots towards us with the intention to kill us. We seriously thought we were dead. But, then a miracle happened and as soon as it reached us, something stopped it. I couldn't tell you what or who or how, but it stopped. It was such an amazing experience because I knew we were being protected. I might have destroyed my hand a bit trying to get the stupid gate open, haha but the dog didn't kill us and it was such a tender mercy.

So I wanted to share with you something I read in my personal study this week. I'm in Mosiah right now, and I just read the chapter about Abinadi preaching to the people and being righteous and doing exactly as God had commanded him. Sadly, nobody listened to him and he was put to death. I don't know about you, but I'd have a pretty hard time doing exactly what God asked me to and seeing nothing come out of it. But, little did Abinadi know, someone did listen. Alma believed the words of Abinadi and went forth after his death and taught, baptized, and brought hundreds of souls unto Christ. Moral of the story, you NEVER know the difference you're making, so continue going about doing good and FIND THE ONE! That is my challenge to all of you this week :) Love you!

Hermana Suzanna Lewis

Pictures:

1. Family barbecue at the Lane's house! This is just part of the huge family that makes up like half of the Dixon ward. Haha I love these people

2. Me and my puppy friend! She's ADORABLE.

3. Our zone/woodland at the service project we did on saturday!

4. This is our buddy dave. We volunteer at his thrift store and it's like the best service ever cause of this guy right here.

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MORALES' BAPTISM! Week of miracles‏

This week was absolutely incredible. I've got a lot of miracles to
tell you about, so I'll get right to it! First and foremost, remember
the morales family That I talked about nonstop back in sonoma? THEY
GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! Jackie, the daughter has kept in touch with
me pretty well since I left, and last Monday she told me the big news
:) she said they wished I could be there but they knew that in our
mission, we have a rule that you can't go back to old areas for
baptisms unless it's less than 30 minutes away. So the next day I
talked to president and he gave me permission to Skype in!! I was so
stoked. So Saturday comes and it was chaos and they went to the wrong
church and were 30 minutes late and I wasn't able to see or talk to
them before it started, so they didn't know I was there. But I got to
talk to them after and it was the best experience ever. They were so
surprised and we were so happy to see each other it was just one big
happy cry fest. But seriously, I don't think I've ever felt so much
pure joy in my life. I remember the moment I heard them go under the
water ( you aren't allowed to video ordinances, so I only listened to
the actual baptism) I just felt so much happiness for them knowing the
decision they had just made. Jackie and marina are both such amazing
women who have truly changed my life and will always hold a special
place in my heart.

On top of that, we found the most golden investigator this week! Her
name is Lidia, and she's actually a former investigator. After we
knocked on her door and found out she used to meet with the
missionaries, we went back and read her teaching record and apparently
she was super amazing and keeping all her commitments and then one day
she basically dropped off the face of the earth. Come to find out, one
of the sisters got transferred and it made Lidia really sad so she
kind of shut them out. But she told us that she never stopped
preparing for baptism and when we knocked on her door she knew it was
time. So we've set a date with her for August 22! She is such an
amazing woman. She has been through such a hard life and has come sooo
far. I can't even explain to you how lucky I feel to have met her, and
it's only been one week. She's one of those people that you just know
is an answer to your constant prayers to find the elect.

Speaking of baptismal dates, Jessica is still doing great and working
towards baptism! She's probably one of my favorite people in Dixon.
She's just so funny and loves us so she never turns us away when we
knock on her door :)

Lastly, I want to tell you about the alvarado family. So there's Sam,
the dad, and his kids DJ and Angelina. Sam is a less active but
Angelina and DJ aren't members. But let me tell you, they should be.
Those kids know way more than I ever did at their age! The other day
we went over and Angelina pretty much taught US the first lesson-
which is the restoration of the gospel, so Joseph smith and the Book
of Mormon and all that. She is incredible. And also adorable. And Sam
was a little bit of a tough nut to crack I guess you could say, but
he's making so much progress! Like when I first got here, he refused
to pray, and the other day we went over and they were in the middle of
dinner, but he came to the door and said, "hey, really sorry we're
eating but could we say a prayer together? Can I say it?" My jaw
almost dropped. I couldn't believe he was asking us if he could pray!
And it was the sweetest prayer. And after Angelina said "my turn!" So
she prayed too which was adorable. She always says "thank you for
sending the church girls cause I just love them so much!" Haha then
after that DJ said "ooh, I've got a good one! Let me pray!" So ya,
basically they are the cutest family.

Well, that's my week for you! I could go in forever because we truly
saw an infinite amount of miracles this week, but I think that will
suffice for the week :) never forget that Jesus loves you and so 
do I! :)

Love, Hermana Suzanna Lewis

Pictures:
1. Jackie, Marina and I after the baptism!
2. Me with the Alvarados!
3. My road :) haha don't mind how cheesy this is

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FACEBOOK!‏

Big news this week is that we're back on Facebook! Apparently around the time I came out, salt lake sent out orders that everyone had to do a "Facebook fast" so they could fix some bugs and safety issues and whatnot. But we got back on last week! I'll be honest, it's suuuuper weird for me to be using social media, but I'm starting to adjust. I know it's a super useful tool so I'm excited. So here's the rules: I'm not allowed to be friends with anyone who doesn't live in the mission or has served here. But, you are free to "follow" me, which means you'll be able to see my posts and they'll show up on your feed just as if we were friends. And my Facebook name is Hermana-Suzanna Lewis :)

Well, on to other things. We got to meet president and sister wright this week! They are so much fun and such happy, nice people. We had a meet and greet with them on Thursday and it was super fun. They have ten kids and brought two of them with them to the mission, a 17 year old son and a 19 year old daughter. They also speak Spanish which is super nice. It's hard adjusting to the fact that president and sister alba left, but we'll always be their little lambies :) and we have some pretty amazing new mission parents! We're definitely going to have fun with the wrights.

So for the 4th, it wasn't much different than any other day. Haha we had to be in early and nobody was really letting us in cause it was a holiday and they were busy doing family stuff, but it actually turned out to be a pretty good day. We went to a member's house for a little barbecue for dinner which reminded me of home and was super fun, so I had no complaints! It's so nice being in an area with such an amazing ward who treats us like family. Not to mention that over half of the ward literally is family, so when I say that I love this ward family, I literally mean it. Haha

Alright, last but not least we had an amazing miracle with our investigator, Jessica this week! She had pretty much become our best friend here. We were able to set a baptismal date with her this past week which was super awesome cause we had no investigators with baptismal dates set before that. So now we have her! And what's even more amazing is that she came to church on Sunday AND stayed for all 3 hours! Like, Hispanics don't do that. It's actually really sad but it's super hard to get Hispanics to stay for all 3 hours of church, even the members. So when she told us she wanted to stay after sacrament, we were so happy. She has so much potential and is so fun to teach. 

Well, that's about all I've got for this week! And sorry, I probably won't be able to write back to a lot of personal emails this week because we're having major internet problems, but I'll do my best :) love you all!

Love, Hermana Lewis 

I don't have anything too exciting for pictures this week, but the first one is my comp and I and the second one is the crazy people I live with in our 4th of July attire :) haha

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