First, sorry for the long email! I had to make up for not emailing last week!
This week we had an amazing experience while tracting that I wanted to
share. We were knocking doors, and it was funny because as we were
knocking this door, I turned to my companion and said "I bet the
elders have tracted these apartments a million times. Oh well!"
(Background info-we cover the same are as our zone leaders, who are
English missionaries. But they live at the apartment complex we were
tracting that day). My companion says to me "hey, we're hermanas. Who
knows, maybe they'll let us in." Just then the door opens, and the
woman who answered, Susan, said "oh my goodness, sister missionaries!
How exciting! I saw you walking across the street and hoped you'd come
to my door- all we get here is elders. Come on in!" As ironic and
funny as that was, we were stoked that she was so happy to see us. She
explained to us that she's a member, but her mother isn't and is very
afraid of religions and God because of some traumatic experiences she
went through as a child. We talked with her for a few minutes and she
told us a bit more about her story, and how she was actually visiting
her brother's house, where he and her mom live. The biggest shock was
that she then told us "yeah, he's active, but I'm not. I lost my
testimony." We definitely weren't expecting that from her, but it gave
us a great opportunity to talk about testimonies with her, and then we
invited her mother in to watch a video we had wanted to share with
them, and she said yes! And right then, her brother walked in the door
:) so, we shared the video with the three of them and the spirit was
so incredibly strong. By the end, we all had tears in our eyes and
Susan told us she hadn't felt the spirit that strong in years.
I can't express to you how grateful I am for this inspired work. And
experiences like that are the reason I know without a doubt that this
work truly is inspired. Sure, we go through times of trial and
sicknesses and failure, but I know I'm here for a reason and God puts
me exactly where I need to be at all times. And with that said,
transfers are this week! So president is doing things differently now,
and we don't find out who our companion is or where we're getting
transferred to until transfer meeting. We just find out if we're
staying or leaving though, and I'm staying! I kinda knew I would, but
either way I'm stoked about it :)
I got a call from our zone leaders though on Saturday who informed me
that I'm going to be having a baby! Aka, I'm training! I'll be honest,
I'm terrified. But I know it's going to be a great thing. So actually
lucky for me, I already know who my companion is because she's the
only Hermana coming in. President invited us over for dinner with the
APs and tech elders last night because one from each of our
companionships is going home so he thought it would be fun. So
anyways, they told me a bit about her and so I know she's a native
Spanish speaker but lives in Oregon, and her name is something really
cool and long and hyphenated haha so I forgot it... But I'll tell you
next week! Oh also, my companion and I are going to be absorbing the
healdsburg elders' area, which is a city just north of Santa Rosa. So
we're kind of whitewashing again, but keeping our area. It's a bit
confusing, haha but the good thing is I've got the lord on my side so
it will all work out!
Friday we had la fiesta del dÃa de acción de gracias! which means the
thanksgiving party. It was so much fun! The whole ward got together
and we had a huge thanksgiving dinner, and then after they had a dance
party. And since we couldn't really join, bishop kindly involved us in
the party by spraying whipped cream in our hair
it was so fun to
get the ward together and we actually had quite a few less actives
there.
Well, since it is the week of thanksgiving I just want to tell you all
how grateful I a, to have you in my life. I'm grateful for my family,
my friends, the gospel, my amazing mission president and the
opportunity I have to serve here, and for every single other blessing
that God has giving me. I hope you all have an amazing thanksgiving! I
love you with all my heart!
Love, Hermana Lewis
Pictures:
The first 3 are at our trip to the beach last week, then us at lunch
with hermano Navarro at the amazing Peruvian restaurant he owns, and
the last one is me with Charlie Brown. Haha they have those all over
Santa Rosa because the guy who created that is from here.
This week we had an amazing experience while tracting that I wanted to
share. We were knocking doors, and it was funny because as we were
knocking this door, I turned to my companion and said "I bet the
elders have tracted these apartments a million times. Oh well!"
(Background info-we cover the same are as our zone leaders, who are
English missionaries. But they live at the apartment complex we were
tracting that day). My companion says to me "hey, we're hermanas. Who
knows, maybe they'll let us in." Just then the door opens, and the
woman who answered, Susan, said "oh my goodness, sister missionaries!
How exciting! I saw you walking across the street and hoped you'd come
to my door- all we get here is elders. Come on in!" As ironic and
funny as that was, we were stoked that she was so happy to see us. She
explained to us that she's a member, but her mother isn't and is very
afraid of religions and God because of some traumatic experiences she
went through as a child. We talked with her for a few minutes and she
told us a bit more about her story, and how she was actually visiting
her brother's house, where he and her mom live. The biggest shock was
that she then told us "yeah, he's active, but I'm not. I lost my
testimony." We definitely weren't expecting that from her, but it gave
us a great opportunity to talk about testimonies with her, and then we
invited her mother in to watch a video we had wanted to share with
them, and she said yes! And right then, her brother walked in the door
:) so, we shared the video with the three of them and the spirit was
so incredibly strong. By the end, we all had tears in our eyes and
Susan told us she hadn't felt the spirit that strong in years.
I can't express to you how grateful I am for this inspired work. And
experiences like that are the reason I know without a doubt that this
work truly is inspired. Sure, we go through times of trial and
sicknesses and failure, but I know I'm here for a reason and God puts
me exactly where I need to be at all times. And with that said,
transfers are this week! So president is doing things differently now,
and we don't find out who our companion is or where we're getting
transferred to until transfer meeting. We just find out if we're
staying or leaving though, and I'm staying! I kinda knew I would, but
either way I'm stoked about it :)
I got a call from our zone leaders though on Saturday who informed me
that I'm going to be having a baby! Aka, I'm training! I'll be honest,
I'm terrified. But I know it's going to be a great thing. So actually
lucky for me, I already know who my companion is because she's the
only Hermana coming in. President invited us over for dinner with the
APs and tech elders last night because one from each of our
companionships is going home so he thought it would be fun. So
anyways, they told me a bit about her and so I know she's a native
Spanish speaker but lives in Oregon, and her name is something really
cool and long and hyphenated haha so I forgot it... But I'll tell you
next week! Oh also, my companion and I are going to be absorbing the
healdsburg elders' area, which is a city just north of Santa Rosa. So
we're kind of whitewashing again, but keeping our area. It's a bit
confusing, haha but the good thing is I've got the lord on my side so
it will all work out!
Friday we had la fiesta del dÃa de acción de gracias! which means the
thanksgiving party. It was so much fun! The whole ward got together
and we had a huge thanksgiving dinner, and then after they had a dance
party. And since we couldn't really join, bishop kindly involved us in
the party by spraying whipped cream in our hair
it was so fun toget the ward together and we actually had quite a few less actives
there.
Well, since it is the week of thanksgiving I just want to tell you all
how grateful I a, to have you in my life. I'm grateful for my family,
my friends, the gospel, my amazing mission president and the
opportunity I have to serve here, and for every single other blessing
that God has giving me. I hope you all have an amazing thanksgiving! I
love you with all my heart!
Love, Hermana Lewis
Pictures:
The first 3 are at our trip to the beach last week, then us at lunch
with hermano Navarro at the amazing Peruvian restaurant he owns, and
the last one is me with Charlie Brown. Haha they have those all over
Santa Rosa because the guy who created that is from here.
speaking of my companion, she has an AMAZING singing voice,
and there's also an elder in our zone who belongs at Juilliard, so the
two of them are asked to sing for pretty much everything, and somehow
I got dragged in as their pianist. So I had to accompany them for a
song at zone conference and at church on Sunday, and let me just say
I'm regretting not practicing hymns like my mom told me to growing up!
Listen to your mothers, people! Oh also, president and sister wright
both spoke in our ward yesterday, so I got to see them quite a bit
this past week
We had a super amazing service project this Saturday, where the stake
got together downtown to feed the homeless and give them winter coats
and clothes and stuff. It was so cool cause all us missionaries were
asked to show up in our lovely yellow helping hands shirts and go
around meeting people. So I just got to chat with homeless people for
a few hours and I absolutely loved it! They were so grateful and
appreciative for everything and it was so amazing to find out all
their back-stories. It gave me a little taste of how God sees all of
us, and that everyone has a story and deserves to be loved, regardless
of who they are. I know without a shadow of a doubt that we are all
children of a loving Heavenly Father, who knows your back-story, who
watches over you, and loves you more than you could ever know.
"Remember, the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." -D&C 18:10
Love you all! 
) 
