Solo español‏

So, my subject line basically describes my life now! My new companion
is super amazing and we have had a great week, and everything is in
Spanish! Because she only speaks Spanish. She just got here from
Mexico last month, and she didn't speak any English when she got here,
so she's learning right now. And because of that we speak in Spanish
24/7! It's crazy! I'm quickly learning that for one, my Spanish is no
Bueno. And two, I'm convinced it takes different muscles to speak
Spanish because my face muscles are always tired. Haha there's a nice
fun fact for the day.
Anyways... I don't know if I have much to report to you all today!
We're just teaching lots of lessons and finding new people! One
miracle we saw this week was that as it is a new transfer, our
president sent out an email with the "standards of excellence" for the
transfer. He asked a few different things of us but one of them was
that we have a minimum of 3 member present lessons a week. Now I know
that doesn't sound like much, but it is next to impossible to get
members to come to lessons here, because they either don't speak
Spanish and don't feel comfortable coming to Spanish lessons with us,
or they do and they are crazy busy or live way out in the middle of
nowhere and can't make it. So needless to say, we knew that would be a
challenge. But I was bound and determined to focus on that and have
been praying like crazy that God will help us. Well, our first day of
the transfer we had 2 member present lessons! Then we also had another
lesson later where we tried soo hard to get a member there and nobody
we could think of who lives close enough to was available, so we
decided we'd just have to try for next time. Well, it was at the
church (which, to fill you in, is wayyy far away from our branch
president's house) and low and behold there was our branch president
finishing up some business and he offered to join us! See, when you
have faith and do your part to accomplish the things that are in
accordance with God's will, he'll always provide. And for that reason,
I love this work more than I can even express to you all!  

Love,
Hermana Lewis  

Pictures: 

1. On our way down the hill from angwin, it just has the most gorgeous view! 

2. Me and Lance, one of our investigators at the vets home. This man
is such a character- but he always makes it to church on Sunday! 

3. The famous Napa valley sign, finally haha 

4. The beautiful Napa River. Fun fact, it's also the back of the
monastery hahaha 

5. Typical vineyard picture, of course (sorry, I can't remember if i
already sent this one home)

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I love the atonement

So, first off, it's transfer week! And I will be staying here in st.
Helena :) sadly though, my companion is leaving. We were both pretty
shocked as we were sure we'd stay together, but I know next transfer
will still be great. My new companion is Hermana Rivera (so I'm no
longer in a zebra) and I honestly don't know much about her, she
started in another mission somewhere in South America I believe while
waiting for her visa, and she just arrived here in our mission a few
weeks ago. But I'm excited to speak lots of Spanish with her and have
a great transfer! I will definitely miss sister malmfeldt a TON
though. That girl and I bonded like none other and we might possibly
even have the same brain. It's going to be weird adjusting to someone
who doesn't read my mind... Haha
Anyways, today I want to talk to you all about brother Bailey, one of
my best friends. So this man had smoked pretty much his whole life and
never really saw much of a need to change it. He's been a member for
many many years though and liked the church, although he didn't really
have a testimony of the Book of Mormon or anything. So I can't
remember if I've shared this part, but towards the beginning of the
transfer, we felt inspired to show him a video about the book of
mormon and invited him to read it every time he wants to go smoke. To
our surprise, he accepted. And not only did he accept, he ACTUALLY did
it! We called him later in the week to see how he was doing, and he
said he hadn't smoked once since our lesson. Well, it's been a month
now and he's been going strong since that day :) the best part is,
yesterday at church he was able to bless the sacrament and it brought
me so much joy to see him sitting up there smiling :) it has amazed me
time and time again in my mission to see the incredible blessings of
the atonement and its healing AND enabling power. Without that, I can
guarantee that his experience this past month wouldn't have happened,
and it's the same with all of us, the experiences we have might just
be a bit different. Well, I'll leave you with that. I love you all! 

Love,
Hermana Lewis 

Pictures: 

1 & 2- temple pics 

3. Brother Bailey!!! He gets around in a wheelchair, but when we asked
for a picture he said it was a big deal and he was gonna make himself
stand up for it, haha he just needed a little help 

4. Me and the fam on Mother's Day! 

5. Zone picture 

6. Bowling!

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Highlights on highlights‏

This last week and a half was so full of highlights, I think the whole
thing was just one big highlight! But to share a few of the great
experiences we had, the first one was in the lovely land of Sonoma :)
so I was on exchanges there and it was kinda hard cause jackie and
marina, the morales family (they were my investigators who got
baptized there last year) lives there and I am really close with them,
but it wasn't my area and I wasn't about to go against the plans they
had for the day to go see the people I wanted to. But that night, we
were driving on highway 12 (which is where they live) and got stuck in
traffic right about where their house was. Then Hermana foster, who
was driving said, "you know what? I think this family needs a visit.
Let's see them." And sure enough, she pulls into their parking lot!
Jackie answered the door and we just hugged and cried and talked and
it was such a great experience. We shared a message and it was so cool
for me to see the change that has occurred in them this past year
since becoming members.
Next, the other day my companion and I were both feeling a bit sick.
We got home for lunch and just had terrible headaches and felt so
lethargic, we decided to take our lunch time to nap, hoping it would
make us feel better. Well, we both woke up feeling pretty much the
same. We sat for a bit debating what would be best to do and if we
should just stay in and get rest, but I think we both just felt
something pushing us to go out. So we decided to go get some sodas to
try and give us some energy, and we got back to work. I can't tell you
how grateful I am for the afternoon we had! We went out and visited 4
different people who we'd put in our plans that we've been trying to
see ever since I got here, and have never had any luck. Well, all four
of them answered and let us in and we had great lessons with them! So
that definitely made me grateful that we were able to follow
promptings of the spirit, even if it was a bit grudgingly, to be able
to see those miracles.
Lastly, we went to the temple this morning! Which I think is
definitely a highlight to anyone's week! It's been 6 months since I
last got to go, and it was my last time I'll go to the temple on my
mission, so it was a very special experience for me :) and I think
I'll end it on that this week! Love you all, happy Mother's Day! 

Love,
Hermana Lewis 

Pictures: 

1. I had to get a picture with this giant Book of Mormon, obviously 

2. So, we had to go to Santa Rosa for some things on Monday and we
stopped for lunch there cause A&W is literally the only fast food
place in all of the five cities we cover so we got some fast food and
it was such a treat. Although I don't even like fast food that much,
it's just one of those things I only want when i can't have it.... 

3. A sample of the things my companion inspires me to do in our free time. 

4. Me with Jackie and marina, my favorites!!!

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ELDER BEDNAR!!!!‏

This week was seriously a dream. And it flashed by in the blink of an
eye! So we really didn't spend much time in our area, but it was
great. Wednesday I went on exchanges with Hermana gudmundson in Sonoma
which was soo fun! I felt like a greenie all over again being there.
Then Thursday we were in Napa all day for zone conference with
president and sister wright, where we of course learned a ton. Then
Friday I had MLC in Santa Rosa all day and was spiritually enlightened
and filled again. Then came Saturday, also the best day of my life. We
went to Santa Rosa because ELDER BEDNAR came to visit our mission! We
had a conference with the whole mission, as well as him, Bishop Davies
from the presiding bishopric, Elder Soares from the presidency of the
seventy, and Elder Wilson from the first quorum of the seventy. If
that's not a once in a lifetime opportunity, then I don't know what
is! I was so blown away by everything that they had to say, I don't
know if I can even put it into words. Elder Bednar got up and don't us
"don't you dare sit there and frantically write down everything I say.
We're writing in small plates here. Meaning that I want you to write
down what the spirit teaches you today, and not a history of the
meeting. If you write what the spirit says, it's will mean something to
you. If you write down what I say, you'll never remember it and you
really don't use those notes as much as you'd like to think you do. We
always do that as a society, and i just don't get it! I've given up on
old people. But you young people I have hope for and want you to
change that." (the funniest part about that was that the next day at
church, our cute little old branch president got up and told us how he
had gotten to attend a meeting with elder bednar the night before and
he wrote down so much he doesn't even remember what happened and is
going to have to take days to sort through his notes, and me and my
companion just looked at each other and smiled, hearing elder bednar
say "I've given up on old people" in our heads). So after he said
that, we all tried hard to tune in with the spirit and it was amazing
what things I was able to learn. It made it a very special experience
because although we were listening to a prophet of the lord and other
general authorities, we were able to understand that the revelation
and counsel we received there didn't have to end there, and that if we
truly are learning from the spirit, it can and will continue. Granted
though, it was definitely nice to have a 4 hour question and answer
session with such amazing men :) I am just so full of gratitude! And
after the meeting, we all got to shake hands with each of them and
thank them.
Another cool experience was that I was asked to speak on Sunday, and
the talk I was assigned to speak on was elder hallstrom's talk from
General conference, "I am a child of God." If you remember, at the end
of his talk, he tells a story about singing "how firm a foundation"
with elder bednar and 4000 saints in Liberia and the wonderful spirit
felt. Well, I had been studying that and reading that talk over and
over again to prepare, and then at the close of our conference with
elder bednar, we sang that song with him. The spirit testified so
strongly to me that God loves us, and that if we trust in him and
build on his sure foundation, we will not fail. We might stumble along
the way, but we won't fail. I can promise you that. 

Love, 

Hermana Lewis  

Pictures: 

1. So at zone conference, somehow all the sisters in my zone matched
with president and sister wright, so of course we needed a picture of
that. 

2. My new pet :)

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"Rich people need salvation too"‏

I can't even put this week into words! It was NUTS. This crazy thing
has been happening where literally everyone is being super nice and
we've been getting in tons of doors and we even picked up 8 new
investigators this week! (for us, that's a big deal.) God is just
blessing us sooo much.
So I want to tell you a cool story about something that happened
yesterday. So we went to this pretty rich area and were planning to
tract there, which we weren't super stoked about to be honest. We
don't always love going to the rich neighborhoods cause they're
usually rude white people who don't want to listen. But considering
that we cover English and Spanish, and my companion doesn't speak
Spanish, we've been trying really hard to deal with it and find
English work. Cause believe it or not, rich white people need
salvation too! So we get to this neighborhood yesterday and are
knocking doors, when we came to the door of this super nice family.
(Yes, they were Spanish speaking, so I'll admit we didn't find any
English work there. But it's okay.) they let us right in and we taught
them the restoration and the spirit that was present was super
powerful. The father was super interested and involved, and even said
yes to baptism! The mother wasn't quite as interested, which was a bit
of a bummer, but then something amazing happened. We invited them to
church, and she didn't seem to hip on that idea, and said they don't
speak English so they wouldn't understand. But then we told them how
there's a translator there. Without even knowing the words had left my
mouth, I said "the man who translates is a white guy, but his Spanish
is really good so you'll like him." I immediately questioned myself as
to why I would say something so weird, but then they were like "wait a
minute, what's his name?" We told them who it was, and the mother was
suddenly ecstatic and told us that he knew their family super well,
and had been some of their kids' teacher at the high school. They then
went on to tell us how they wanted their son to be more religious but
he doesn't listen to them and just keeps to himself and the few
friends he has, but he had absolutely loved this member and being in
his class and they thought that might make him get more involved. It
was such a sweet experience to have that confirming feeling that we
had been guided by the spirit to be in the right place at the right
time and to say the right things (even if it was weird and awkward) in
order to have that experience with that family.
So aside from that, we set a baptismal date with our investigator for
June 11th and that was pretty awesome, cause he set it completely on
his own! Hmm also we met one of our member's friends randomly in the
park which was a cool tender mercy cause she's been interested in the
church lately but we've never met with her until we happened to run
into her that day! I'm not kidding when I say everything is going
great here! Our little branch is also amazing, there's not many of
them but they sure are good to us, I'd be lying if I said we weren't
spoiled. Speaking of which this first picture I'm sending was taken
mainly for my dad- the other day I had paella for dinner! We have a
member who works at Calistoga inn, a super nice restaurant here, and
feeds us there twice a week. And she even reserves us a table by the
river :) as for my other pictures, when we went shopping last week we
passed a place called Susie's so obviously I had to get a picture.
Haha and the last one is my scenic picture for the week- this place is
just too darn gorgeous but I don't want to be that annoying person
that sends a million pictures of scenery that nobody wants to get. So
I'll just send one, this is the front patio of one of our members who
lives out on a vineyard.
Well that's all, love you all!

Hermana Lewis

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Napa valley livin'‏

Hey everyone,
So I'm officially in my new area! After being in Santa Rosa for 6
months and always being around so many people, it's definitely an
adjustment but I love it. So a little background on my area- first
off, we live in Calistoga. And for those of you who know me well,
you'd probably be amused to know that we live down the street from a
nunnery. Haha and if that means nothing to you ignore it and keep
reading. So we actually cover 5 cities- Calistoga, yountville, angwin,
pipe valley,mand st. Helena. Let me just tell you, every one of these
cities is sooo gorgeous! There's vineyards everywhere and we're up in
the mountains (or big hills, whatever you want to call them) and
surrounded by the clouds half the time which is super cool. Our area
is full of super wealthy vineyard owners and vacationing celebrities,
and then the lower-income vineyard workers who are usually the people
willing to listen to us. It's kind of weird being in a zebra because
most of the people we teach are Spanish speakers, but my companion is
so amazing and cute about it and we have had so much fun. My companion
is super adorable little Georgia peach and I just love her :)
As far as what happened this week, we had a pretty cool miracle on
Saturday. So we were visiting potential investigators on this street
and then we're going to go visit an investigator a couple blocks over.
We were going to drive, cause we were feeling lazy that day, and then
we changed our minds and walked there. On our walk there, we met this
family outside their house and asked if we could do anything for them.
The mom got choked up and asked us to pray for her daughter, and then
went on to tell us about all the things she was going through. They
invited us in to pray and by the time we had finished, they were all
in tears. We testified to them of god's love for them and the power of
the atonement and prayer, and then the mom hugged us so hard I thought
I might suffocate. It was such a tender experience and I was so
grateful that we were able to be in the right place at the right time
because we followed the prompting to stop being lazy and walk a
little. When we do what God asks of us, even if it's not the most
convenient thing, miracles happen. I promise. And that is all I have
for you today, wonderful people that I love! 

Hermana Lewis  

Pictures: 

1. Me and my adorable godchild, Hermana foster, when we were being
transferred to Napa zone!
2. Me and Hermana Campbell, the day we killed Hermana Rosas (in the
mission, when you are someone's last companion before they go home,
that means you "kill" them. I know it sounds weird and morbid but just
don't think of it that way.) 

3. After we dropped off Hermana Rosas at the mission home, we ate
dinner with her parents and brother at Hermana vasquez's house :) 

4. My adorable comp and I :) I told her we needed to take a picture
this morning and she replied with "but everyone is gonna think you're
companions with a pumpkin!" Hahaha one of the many reasons I love this
girl

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Napa-trapped!‏

Todos!
So, first let me apologize because I don't usually proof-read my
emails, nor do I read them after I send them. But last week I did, and
wow I am sorry. You probably don't understand anything I say, so I
guess I want to thank you guys for putting up with my terrible emails.
Now, let me explain the subject line of my email. So in this mission,
they say that everyone who starts their mission in the Napa zone
(which would include me) will always go back to serve in that zone
again later on in their mission. Hence, "Napa-trapped." Well, that
rings true for me! I'm getting transferred to St. Helena, which is in
the Napa zone! It's only about a 20 minute drive through the mountains
(but when I say mountains, I mean hills. These mountains are nothing
compared to the Utah mountains, but I respect and love the people here
enough to let them think they have mountains.) and is super beautiful.
I went there a few times as a greenie :) I will also be in a zebra
with an English sister, sister malmfeldt. I've never served around her
but she's super cute and I'm super excited. President has asked me to
continue serving as STL over there, so I'll also get to go on
exchanges with the Sonoma sisters! So all in all, it's gonna be great.
I'm super sad to see this transfer come to an end, but I'm excited to
keep applying all the wonderful things my two companions have taught
me in my next area :)
Well, aside from that, the highlight of my week was definitely general
conference! It was such a good one. I think I'd have to say that my
favorite talk was elder holland's. He talked a lot about how much God
loves us and how much her wants to see us succeed. One thing he said
was "the great thing about the gospel is that we get credit for
trying, even if we don't succeed." How true that is! I just want you
all to know and remember that God loves YOU. Individually. And if you
ever doubt that, pray to him. And also read elder Holland's talk, or
president uchtdorf's, or elder hallstrom's :) all 3 of those go
perfectly with that. And I hope you all know too that I love you guys!
Have a great week! 

Pictures: 

1. Hermanas trip to the beach last week 

2. Me and Leslie! My friend for eternity :) 

3. Weeding the velazquez's yard 

4. Angie took us and the healdsburg elders out to lunch for a farewell party 

5. This is hermano Miranda, who is seriously the best member
missionary that has ever existed. He would do anything for us, and I
am so incredibly grateful for him. Words can't express my love and
appreciation for him. So instead I'll just give you a picture of him!

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