21?!‏

What an insane week! Where do I even start.... Um well my birthday
yesterday was a lot of fun :) I thought I was going to get away with
nobody knowing because the only member who knew wasn't going to be
there at church, but somehow everyone knew and we had a little branch
luncheon after church and everyone sang to me, it was super sweet of
them. For dinner we went to the Ellis's and we had a big celebration
because Easton Ellis got his mission call (he's going to Samoa!) and
was opening that as well. All in all, we had a great day and I
definitely felt very loved! And of course I wanted to thank all of you
for the birthday wishes!
Aside from that, we saw quite a few cool little miracles. First, our
investigator, Donociano (not sure if you remember him, he was the one
who was supposed to be baptized this weekend but disappeared off the
face of the earth) finally called us! So we're meeting with him
tonight and hopefully can set a new date :)
We also had a really spiritual lesson with one of our less active
members which was probably the highlight of my week. It was just so
amazing to feel the spirit so strong and that the lesson was clearly
being guided. It was also cool cause my companion very reluctantly
shared a few thoughts in English (she's learning English so because of
that she doesn't love to talk in our English lessons) and our member
teared up and thanked her for having the courage to speak because what
she shared was exactly what she needed to hear at the moment. I just
love seeing how God is in the details of our lives.
So I guess I'm on a scripture kick now.... I don't really know what
happened, but lately all I want to talk about in my emails is
scriptures. Haha but anyways, I'm sure many of you have read 1 Nephi
3:7 a million times, but I've been pondering on that verse the past
few days, focusing on a part that I've never really paid much
attention to- when Nephi says "I know." It's not just "I think" or I
believe," but it's knowledge. The verse says, "And it came to pass
that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which
the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no
commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for
them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
I've been asking myself lately whether or not I truly know, without a
doubt, that the Lord will always provide a way for me to accomplish
the things he commands me to do. To be honest, yes, I do doubt that at
times. And it shows, because I don't reach my full potential in a
particular situation when I let that doubt win. But when I truly know
that I can be obedient and do what God has asked me to do because he
will provide a way for me, that's when the miracles happen. And that
doesn't just apply to me and missionary work, it applies to each and
every one of us in our individual lives. So if you don't know that
you're capable of doing something God has commanded you to do, I
promise you that you are. But you can only come to that knowledge
yourself if you put in the study and prayer and faith on your end.
I love you all and hope you have a fabulous week! 
Love,
Hermana Lewis 
Pictures: 
1. My comp and me 
2. Beautiful part of our drive to st. Helena every day 
3. Hermana Garcia had a little birthday party for me this week since
she was gone Sunday and she had sister Morgan make tres leches for me
and it was TO DIE FOR. 
4. beautiful view, of course 
5. Birthday pic w/ my comp!

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Becoming Abinadiac?‏

Becoming Abinadiac?
So, I know "Abinadiac" isn't a word.... But for today I've decided to
make it a word because that's what I want to be. This week in the Book
of Mormon, I've been reading in Mosiah about the story of Abinadi.
He's always been such an example to me, but this time around it just
really hit me. Here he is, teaching the words of the Lord and calling
the people to repentance like he has been commanded to do, and the
people are just not having it. They go so far as to try to kill him,
but of course the Lord is like "nice try, but he's got more work to
do" and he delivers Abinadi out of their hands. So then later, Abinadi
comes back in disguise and essentially just fearlessly throws down on
these people. He explains to them that they are not keeping the
commandments of the Lord, and then he starts to teach the Ten
Commandments. Well, this gets the king ticked off and he commands that
Abinadi be put to death. But yet again, he was not yet finished with
his mission the Lord had for him, so he delivers him out of their
hands again and he continues to teach the Ten Commandments. (Actually,
this part is really cool cause Adinadi tells them "Touch me not, for
God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not
delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver.... But I
finish my message; and then it matters not whither I go, if it so be
that I am saved.") He teaches of the atonement and the plan of
salvation and testifies of our redeemer. When he had accomplished all
the Lord required of him, sadly, King Noah sentenced him to death by
fire.
Now, I know what some of you are probably thinking, "why would that be
your favorite story? Where's the good part? What about the happy
ending?" Well, here's the good part, or the happy ending: never once
did Abinadi falter. He stayed completely true to the Lord and was
obedient to the very end in doing what the Lord had commanded him to
do. He didn't care what happened to him after that, but in the end
what really does it matter? I can't even imagine how great his
blessings in the life to come will be. And that's why it's my favorite
story. As I've been reading his story this time around, I've just had
such a strong desire to become more like him- to fearlessly teach the
gospel, to love the Lord and his children enough to boldly call them
to repentance, and trust in him to the point that I'd be willing to
suffer even death for doing what he has asked of me. Hence why I'm
trying to become "Abinadiac."
To be honest, that was only going to be a side note of my email this
week, but I guess I just get too into that story, haha. But anyways, I
guess I don't really have much else to say today. It's been a good
week, we found a lot of new investigators and my companion and I are
having a great time- I think I'm finally learning how to speak
Spanish! But anyways, if you've made it to this point, I congratulate
you on making it through my tangent on Abinadi. It looks like you're
the true and faithful ones! Haha kidding, but anyways, I hope you all
have ahnh wonderful week :)  

Love, 

Hermana Lewis  

Sorry, for pictures this week all I have is a beautiful pano of the
view from the hospital

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Road trips for days‏

So, this week felt like one giant road trip... And let me tell you, I
have come to the conclusion that working hard and being on my feet and
getting exhausted by the work makes me a lot happier than I thought it
did! After spending a week on the road and getting tired from doing
nothing, I now know I much prefer getting tired from doing something
:)
So, we went to Sonoma twice for exchanges and service, then Napa, then
back to Napa and Sonoma to pick up a few people for MLC, and on top of
that we were all over in our area as well, so we spend hours on end in
the car and in traffic. But on the bright side, I think this was my
favorite MLC that I've attended. It was exactly what I needed right
now and helped me out a ton. We talked a lot about giving your full
heart to the lord and being fully invested in the work and desiring to
do the lord's will. My desire to work as hard as I possibly can and
give everything to the lord just shot through the roof! Needless to
say, it was beyond worth leaving the house at 6:30am and not coming
home until 7pm!
Also this week we we had interviews with president which I just loved,
as always! Although, my lifelong (well, mission-long) dream of staying
here forever and just floating around the mission has been confirmed
as not happening. :( when I went in with him, he said "Hermana, how do
you feel about nearing the..." And I hurried and stopped him to
explain my plan to him, and he laughed at me for a good while and said
"in case that laugh didn't answer your question, the answer is no."
Haha president wright is probably one of my favorite people that
exists, in case you weren't aware.
Aside from that, we found a lot of new investigators this week. This
area is kind of difference because we pick up so many new
investigators all the time, but it's quite a challenge to get people
progressing towards baptism. But we know it's possible and we're just
going to keep working for it :) I don't think I have much else to tell
you, so I hope you all enjoy your holiday today! 

Love, 

Hermana Lewis 

Pictures: 

1. Me and my lunch buddy, Conrad :) we eat lunch with him at the vets
home every week while he tells us war stories 

2. Scenery, of course 

3. Me and sister malmfeldt at MLC! 

4. The young men thought it would be a brilliant idea to destroy our
car.... So this is before 

5. And after. (We were not impressed. Also, I'm accepting submissions
of ideas on how to get them back)

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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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