Monday, February 29, 2016

LUIS!!!!‏

Miracles, people. Miracles. That about sums up this week. So, let me
tell you a story about this week. So first, we met with Erick on a
video call this Tuesday, and somehow the conversation got to the topic
of baptism. Now, he hasn't wanted to talk about baptism lately cause
he told us he'd let us know as soon as he decided on a date, so we've
tried not to push it too much. But at the end of the lesson, he was
talking to us about how he knows he needs to do it and he's already
made the decision, he just doesn't know when. So we sat there for a
second, and all of the sudden I just blurted out "what about next
Saturday? Like the 5th?" And he sat there for another second, and then
said, "si, esta bien!" AHHHHHH!!!!!! YOU GUYS!!!You have no idea how
long I've been waiting for that moment! Like literally almost my
entire 5 months here in rosa! So we've been trying to figure out all
the logistics this week because he wants to be baptized in the ocean
and also has a color scheme for the baptism. Sooo wish us luck with
that one :)
Next exciting news.... Luis got baptized yesterday!!! So, I don't
think I've mentioned much about him, but he is the sweetest, most
amazing guy ever. We love him so much. So we haven't actually even
been teaching him that long, but his scheduled baptismal date was this
past Saturday. But when we met with him a little over a week ago, we
brought it up and he said he thought that would be too soon, and that
he wanted more time. So we kept teaching and told him to pray about a
new date. So fast forward to our lesson on Thursday, and we asked if
he's been praying about a new date. Then he tells us "well, i think
you said this weekend before, that sounds good. I'm ready now!" And we
kind of just stood there in shock! And my companion told him we could
try, but we hadn't taught him some things yet, most importantly the
word of wisdom yet and we needed to make sure he was obeying it. And
then he said "well Gerardo (that's a member we take to lessons with
him) already talked to me about that, and I don't drink coffee or
anything. I don't even drink soda, or eat sweets." So we told him,
Sunday it is! Then the next two days we spent frantically trying to
put the program together and finish teaching him all the lessons, and
it all came together! We may or may not have been boiling pots of
water in the kitchen for hours and transporting them to the font
because the water heater had problems, but all is well. It was a great
baptism and we're so happy for him :) moral of the story, baptisms in
general are just great. Yesterday at a meet and greet with our stake
president someone mentioned a quote from some general authority who
honestly I have since forgotten, but it said something to the effect
that if every person in the world could understand how wonderful it is
to be a member of this church, every font everywhere would be open
24/7 all year long, with endless lines of people waiting to enter the
waters of baptism. How true is that! Anyways, that's all i have for
you this week. I love you all! Oh also happy leap year day! 
Love, 
Hermana Lewis 
Pictures: 
Luis's baptism!!
Oh, and the other one is me and the one and only Hermana Burton on
exchanges. Haha this is what we did during lunch :)



Monday, February 22, 2016

Trio power // GA interviews‏

So I'm officially in a trio! Hence the title :) seriously though, trio
power is a real thing. I'll be honest, my whole mission I've been
terrified of being in a trio, but it is such a blessing! Both my
companions are super obedient and work hard, so it's such a huge
blessing cause the three of us are all on the same page and are able
to get so much done together. This week was so crazy I can hardly even
remember it to be honest! From tracting in the rain to teaching
lessons back to back for hours, we had a pretty miraculous week.
So something super cool that happened this week was that elder Hamula,
from the quorum of the 70, along with his wife, came to speak to our
mission. So we all gathered together to hear them and it was seriously
just hours of pure inspiration. They are both so amazing and taught us
so much! I don't know how our mission got so lucky but lately we've
had such amazing visitors who pretty much blow my mind but also are
helping me so much to become a better missionary. Another super cool
thing was that I was one of the lucky ducks who he interviewed after.
He asked president if he could interview 5 of us, so president gave
him a few names and I got to be one of them. I was actually terrified,
to be honest, mainly because president has this thing where he said
he'll never send anyone home, so was like "well what if he's just
gonna make elder Hamula pull us in his office to send us home?!" So
when I came out of the interview, president said, "see, you're still
alive! I guess we'll keep you." Haha but in all seriousness, this
interview was the biggest blessing! He asked me a few questions about
the mission and my thoughts, and then he asked if I had any questions
for him that didn't get answered in the conference. So I told him how
I came in with a few questions which all were answered at some point,
but then I got to just talk with him about doctrine and how to be the
best missionary I can be, and his wisdom pretty much left me baffled
to say the least. So, that was definitely an experience I won't
forget.
Something elder Hamula talked a lot about was the importance of
sticking to the pure and simple doctrine. Along with that, we were
meeting with one of our returning less actives this week and he told
us how much he likes to read the pamphlets we've given him, even
though he's read them a million times and they're so simple, they
always help him feel the spirit. Both experiences were just such a
reminder to me that pure and simple doctrine can always bring the
spirit, even if it's something we've heard or learned a million times.
So never forget that! Love you all :)  
Love, 
Hermana Lewis 
 Pictures: 
1. Me and my favorite baby, Angelito! 
2. I had to get a picture with these two before transfers cause
they're both from the wonderful land of bountiful! Elder Hastings went
to woods cross with me and elder jones sadly went to bountiful.... But
we've forgiven him 
3. Packing day fails haha 
4. So, this picture captures probably one of my happiest moments I can
think of on the mission. We were at church and none of our
investigators were there and all but one told us right before it was
supposed to start that they couldn't make it, and in walks the
Hernandez family. Cesar, the one on the far right, hasn't been to
church in I don't even know how long, but never did I think I'd see
this day come. He wouldn't hardly even talk to us when I first got
here, let alone have anything to do with religious things. And here he
is at church! Miracles happen people. Daily. 
5. Saying goodbye to Hna Garcia :( please excuse our ugly faces






Monday, February 15, 2016

Transfers and heart attacks (literally and figuratively)‏

Hey everyone! First off, let me clarify what I was saying about
Facebook- so I have a mission Facebook, that's not the one I had at
home, that I post on occasionally and use as a missionary. So if you
want to be friends, my name on there is Hermana-Suzanna Lewis. And I'm
not allowed to communicate with people from home on there, but you're
welcome to like or share any of my posts :)
So transfers are tomorrow.... And I'm staying here! Hermana Garcia
will be leaving though :( we were both super shocked to hear that
(hence the heart attack), cause I was sure I was leaving and had
already said goodbye to pretty much everyone haha. But that isn't even
the craziest part... I'm gonna be in a trio! Hermana Rosas and I are
becoming companions and combining our areas, which I'm actually
terrified about but excited cause I've served around her my entire
mission and now I get to kill her (meaning, she goes home next
transfer). And guess who my other companion is? Hermana Campbell, my
comp from back in Dixon! So ya, lots of unexpected changes here but
I'm ready for us to have a great transfer full of miracles :)
So aside from that, this week was pretty great. First, we had a member
who's not active call us and ask us to come visit him and his family
who were here visiting from Mexico and aren't members. So we went over
and taught the restoration and it was such an amazing lesson! But even
better than that- he invited us to come eat with them with his less
active sister the next day, who lives up in Geyserville. Well, come to
find out, his sister is a member we've been trying to contact forever!
So that was a super cool miracle we had. Sadly, his nonmember family
is headed back to Mexico tomorrow so we won't get to keep teaching
them, but we're sending their info to the missionaries in Mexico and
I'm sure they'll have them baptized soon :)
Another fun thing we did this week, since it was Valentine's Day, was
heart attack everyone. We had a ward party Saturday, so the two of us
ate super quick and ducked out so we could put hearts on our members
doors before they got home, then tried to sneakily heart attack our
investigators too, which was a big accomplishment I'd say cause they
were all home and we only got caught once! Haha we had one family who
we finished and rang the doorbell and bolted, but the dad came out and
saw our car on the corner and that we weren't in it (we didn't think
that one through) so I waited behind a bush forever until finally I
decided to check if he was there, and sure enough he still was and
looked right at me! So me, being the awkward person I am, just burst
out laughing and bolted to the car. So there was that, but it was
worth the memories :)
Lastly, we had a cool broadcast from salt lake yesterday for stake
conference which I really enjoyed. Elder Hamula, from the 70, was one
of the people who spoke, which was super cool because he's actually
coming to our mission this weekend so I'll get to hear from him at
zone conference and then MLC next week as well! One thing that was
said that I absolutely loved was that some of the most important
things we can do are:
1. Keep your life centered on the Savior
2. Trust in the Lord and the power of His salvation
3. Support the Lord's church and its leaders. And I know that if we all do that, we're going to be so much happier
in life and be able to see blessings beyond what we ever thought we
would receive :) I love you all and hope you have a great week! 
Love, 
Hermana Lewis 
Pictures: 
1. Us with Leslie 
2. At Jesus's baptism! He's the one in the bottom corner :) 
3. Our barbecue in Geyserville 
4. Happy late v-day everyone :) 
5. Zone picture! Minus the zone leaders... Haha whoops






Monday, February 8, 2016

Who needs the Super Bowl when you've got mission miracles!? Ps, add me on Facebook :)‏

What a week! I won't lie, it was a bit hard to miss the super bowl,
but God sure loves me cause the whole weekend was full of miracles
which took my mind off of that :)
We had more miracles than I can even begin to count. The biggest
miracle though was finding our new investigator, Leslie. I can
honestly say I think she is the most prepared and elect person I have
ever found in my mission! We found her on Saturday knocking doors, and
she was so excited to see us I think she might have even squealed. I
assumed maybe she had family who were members or was a former, but
come to find out the only thing she knew was that someone once told
her Mormons didn't believe in God, but she didn't think that was true.
That's it! That's all she knew and she still was stoked to see us
cause she said she's been look for a Christian church ever since she
came to the states 2 years ago. And the next day she came to church
and at one point she turned to me and said "how long does an
investigator have to be taught to get baptized? I want to go to that
temple trip they were talking about today, can I?" I am so excited to
work with her and see her continue to progress :)
Another miracle we saw was with one of our members. She's been having
a hard time lately and hasn't been coming to church, and whenever we
try to set appointments with her it doesn't work out. So finally we
decided to stop by her house and just leave a bunch of sticky notes
with scriptures and notes for her. So we're in the middle of sticking
them on the door, when she opens it! It was so awkward and we just
stood there uncomfortably laughing... But then she invited us in! We
had such a great lesson with her and at the end we asked if there was
anything else we could do for her, and she told us "I think I'm ready
for you to visit me again. Just come visit me all the time." We were
so happy! It was soo worth the awkward encounter on the doorstep haha
Well honestly, I could go on all day, but that's probably all I have
time for. But first, I have good news! I CAN BE FRIENDS WITH YOU ALL
ON FACEBOOK! So go add me! (cause as much as I love you all, o don't
really have time to go find you all and add you as friends) The rule
just changed this week :) My name is Hermana-Suzanna Lewis. So ya,
there's that! Love you all!!  
Pictures: 
1. Me and my copy 
2. Celebratory year-mark lunch at crepe vine (literally the best
restaurant ever) with my MTC comp, Hermana Burton! 
3. We found a phone booth so obviously I had to get a picture :)




Monday, February 1, 2016

Miracles & blessings‏

Everyone! I just wanted to tell you that this was one of the best
weeks ever and I am just so happy Smiling face (black and white)️ I'm sorry I don't have a ton of
time to tell you the details because we're going bowling in a minute,
but I'll share my favorite miracles with you!
First, we picked up 3 new investigators this week and already have
baptismal dates with two of them! And the third one we are seeing
tonight so hopefully we can commit him to a date too.
Second, we had MLC on Thursday. But this wasn't just a normal MLC- the
director of proselyting (for the entire world), brother Hemingway, and
the director of reporting, brother Fillmore, came to visit and they
taught us some pretty amazing things. I can't even tell you what an
answer to prayers that meeting was- by the end of the day I felt
completely mind-blown, spiritually exhausted, slightly chastised, but
also so pumped and ready to get out and work harder than I've ever
worked before. And for the first time ever, I'm actually excited
excited to teach zone meeting, because I get to share a small part of
their inspiring words with the other missionaries who weren't there.
Third, our investigator Eric, who has been super distant lately,
randomly called us the other day and wanted to meet! So we did and we
had such a great lesson with him :)
Fourth, we found out one of our investigators and one of our members
are seriously twins, and it was the funniest experience ever. So we
invited this member, monolo, to visit our investigator, Arturo, with
us. Now first I have to tell you that every time we visit Arturo, he
makes some comment about how our noses are growing (cause he says
we're lying like Pinocchio) and then laughs at his own joke for a good
five minutes while we just stare at him. So we take monolo to his
house the other day and he asked Arturo why he hasn't been to church.
When he started giving excuses, monolo put his hands over his eye and
said something like "you're nose just grew so long it poked my eye
out!" Then the two of then laughed together for a good 5 minutes and
my companion and I couldn't help laughing either cause we couldn't
even believe how similar they are. That was the moment we decided
these two were twins. That's not really a miracle exactly, but we
though it was funny so I wanted to share.
Anyways, I have to go but I love you all, have a great first week of February!  
Love, 
Hermana Lewis  

Sorry, no pictures this week. But here's a video of monolo dancing at
Arturo's house! Idk if it will work but I'll try

Monday, January 25, 2016

Del nido=gueritos‏

Well, this was one of those weeks where I feel like so much happened,
but at the same time nothing happened. Haha we finally had more time
to go tracting this week and that was... An interesting experience. We
found these apartments called "del nido" and were super stoked cause
we thought we'd find a ton of Hispanics there, but sadly it was just a
lot of gueritos (white people) smoking weed. The first door we knocked
on, we were talking to him and offered to show him a video about
Jesus Christ, and he told "nah, I don't want you ruining my high." And
then next 5 weren't much different. Haha so we left. But the cool
thing about that was that right after, we went to another complex and
ended up picking up a new investigator there! It's been a while since
we picked up a new investigator, so that was way cool.
Anyways, other than than I don't have much to update you on! But I
love you all and hope your week is great :) 
Love, 
Hermana Lewis 

Pictures: 
1. So, I was on exchanges at the princess palace (it's the apartment
the brush creek sisters live in and it's waaaay nice so that's what we
call it here haha. Anyways, we went to eat lunch and I found these
plates and had to take a picture cause my best friend lives in New
York City and I live super close to San Fransisco, so it was just
cool. 
2 & 3. It was Mayra velazquez's birthday in Saturday so this was at
their little dinner party :) 
4. Soo... During 12 week (it's the training program they do with new
missionaries) this week we had to practice teaching the law of
chastity, and my comp didn't want to do it haha so she made a deal
with me that I had to pretend to be somebody else, so this was me
attempting to dress up like one of our investigators, and that's her
just being her usual self haha.







Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Tender mercies (that's probably been my subject line many times... But why not)‏

Happy Martin Luther King day! I hope you are all enjoying it :) this
week was great for me, we saw a lot of tender mercies :) so on
Tuesday, I got to go on exchanges with sister bear which is always a
blast. I can't even tell you how weird our day was- we showed up to
dinner 1 1/2 hours early, got hit on by drunk men, helped a blind man
carry his groceries, and who knows what else... But it was such an
amazing day! The best part was, we were talking about how her goal
right now is to find 2 new investigators, so we were praying for that.
And the next day, she told me they had the most amazing lesson with a
couple who is super interested and has a lot of potential! It was just
one of those moments where I was so grateful for the little tender
mercies of the Lord :) another tender mercy we had this week was that
we got to church Sunday and I was feeling a little discouraged because
our only solid investigator is becoming a little distant and we
weren't sure what to do, but just as I was starting to feel down, 2 of
our less-active families that we're working with walked in to
sacrament meeting :) and a few minutes later, another walked in! God
really does love us :) that definitely lifted my spirits!
So we also had zone conference this week, where we were able to learn
a lot from president and sister wright and the APs. I think my
favorite thing we talked about from the whole day was charity. We
talked about how the reason charity never fails is because it's the
pure love of Christ- and Christ never fails. I never really thought
about it that way before, but it definitely makes a lot of sense now
and I loved it so much I just wanted to share :)
One last thing, the mission finally has our blog up! It's still in
progress and honestly I'm not sure if there's even any pictures on
there with me in them, but if anyone wants to check it out, go to
http://thecaliforniasantarosamission.com/ and you have to log in, so
here's the info: 
Username: missionary 
Password: CASRMD&C88:73 

Love, 
Hermana Lewis 
Pictures: 
1. Me and sister bear! 
2. This is the porters, my favorite senior couple that ever lived! 
3. We found a sign this week that said "truth" so obviously I had to
take a picture with it cause the Book of Mormon is truth :) 
4. Me at the Shultz museum today! The guy who creates peanuts is from
rosa so there's a cool museum here dedicated to him 
5. Me & my compy : )