Hello again!
Yeah that hour on Christmas was WAY too short. Anyhow, after that phonecall I had dinner in Compton with the Flores family in the Red Zone again. We ate a LOT of tomales that day of course. And that night we went caroling with the zone leaders and the Compton elders.
Transfers: The area has been split. I'm working in Paramount. Elder Twiss has been moved to work in the 3 polynesian wards with Elder Kemp. Elder HARRIS will be working in North Long Beach with his new missionary. Yep! So they'll be living with me! So Elder Twiss, Elder Harris, and Elder Kemp will all be in my district. I don't know who my new companion is yet because he just landed about an hour ago. I'm going to go to pick him up at 3:00. We still get a car and Elder Harris and his new companion are on bike. There's 8 elders in my district now: Me, new missionary, Elder Harris, new missionary, Elder Kemp, Elder Twiss, Elder Ball and Elder Challis.
Jasmine Lopez did not get baptized on Sunday because she's getting some opposition from her non-member mother. Her mom thinks that she's just getting baptized into the Church to spite her. Her mom and dad are divorced and Jasmine lives with her dad so there's some family issues. Jasmine still wants to be baptized though and her dad still supports her. That will be the new missionary's first appointment with me tonight. She lives in Paramount so I still get to teach her!
So Beatles Rock Band huh? That sounds cool. And that's really neat that Hannah is friends with Deane. And yes it's really bizarre that Ryan's returning today.
Well, that's what's happening! I'll have more for you next week! Hasta luego! Feliz ano nuevo! Or, Happy New Year!
con amor,
Elder Lewis
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
December 22nd, 2009 (Email)
Felices Fiestas!
This e-mail may be shorter because I'm going to talk with you in 3 days! What would work best for the Christmas phonecall is for you to call me at 2:15 your time (1:15 my time).
As you may have read in my letter to President Sexton we're teaching two investigators named Jasmine. They're not related in anyway. One lives in Long Beach and one lives in Paramount. Jasmine Lopez is set to be baptized this Sunday (which would be a miracle) and Jasmine Espino committed to be baptized January 10th. They're both teenagers and Jasmine Lopez has a less-active member dad who said he'd like to start coming back to church. Jasmine Lopez fits right in with our ward because she's half-Samoan.
I went on exchanges with Elder Kemp a few days ago. It was a great day! He's a really diligent missionary and he's got a positive obedient attitude.
That's all for now! Talk to you soon!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
oh yeah
By the way, got the package! 22 lbs of Christmas goodness! Thank you so much! I've got this Fed-Ex thing figured out. They always have a hard time getting into apartments when they're gated so when they try and fail I just call HQ and give them the code to the gate. I hope you liked what I sent. It's not much but it's good stuff. I opened G&G Cox's cheese. That was nice of them! I haven't opened any of my presents yet, well, except Aunt Peggy's present. She sent Elder Twiss and I pillow cases! Which is randomly amazing considering the fact that Elder Twiss has been needing a pillow case this whole transfer! Aunt Peggy said that she knows the temple worker that cleans the Holy of Holies. It's the Recorder Secretary, her boss. Well, I thought I'd just tell you that I got the giant package! Muchas muchas gracias!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
This e-mail may be shorter because I'm going to talk with you in 3 days! What would work best for the Christmas phonecall is for you to call me at 2:15 your time (1:15 my time).
As you may have read in my letter to President Sexton we're teaching two investigators named Jasmine. They're not related in anyway. One lives in Long Beach and one lives in Paramount. Jasmine Lopez is set to be baptized this Sunday (which would be a miracle) and Jasmine Espino committed to be baptized January 10th. They're both teenagers and Jasmine Lopez has a less-active member dad who said he'd like to start coming back to church. Jasmine Lopez fits right in with our ward because she's half-Samoan.
I went on exchanges with Elder Kemp a few days ago. It was a great day! He's a really diligent missionary and he's got a positive obedient attitude.
That's all for now! Talk to you soon!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
oh yeah
By the way, got the package! 22 lbs of Christmas goodness! Thank you so much! I've got this Fed-Ex thing figured out. They always have a hard time getting into apartments when they're gated so when they try and fail I just call HQ and give them the code to the gate. I hope you liked what I sent. It's not much but it's good stuff. I opened G&G Cox's cheese. That was nice of them! I haven't opened any of my presents yet, well, except Aunt Peggy's present. She sent Elder Twiss and I pillow cases! Which is randomly amazing considering the fact that Elder Twiss has been needing a pillow case this whole transfer! Aunt Peggy said that she knows the temple worker that cleans the Holy of Holies. It's the Recorder Secretary, her boss. Well, I thought I'd just tell you that I got the giant package! Muchas muchas gracias!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
December 15th, 2009 (Email)
hello again!
It sounds like the Lewis Christmas Party was good this year. I think I missed the one the year before I left. I had to work or something. I'll go to the next one though!
A few days ago I went on exchanges with the Compton elders. Elder Ball worked with me in our area and Elder Twiss went with Elder Challis and worked in Compton. While they were over there someone broke into their Mazda! And since missionaries pretty much have absolutely nothing that a thief would want all they stole was their garage clicker. Pretty lame. So now they have to go get their passenger side window replaced. Elders Ball and Challis moved out of our apartment today because a new apartment here in Long Beach was opened for them. It's pretty obvious that my area's getting split next transfer-- the new elders will move into our apartment. President Sexton was planning on re-splitting the area before he even sent me here. He told me in our interview that the only reason he hasn't yet is because we don't have enough elders.
Last Thursday President Sexton had our zone go over to the mission home for our District Meetings. Usually we have District Meetings at the stake center but the Sextons wanted to feed us lunch and give us our mission pictures as a Christmas present. They don't even have to let us into their home let alone feed us. In fact one of the general authorities specifically told Pres and Sis Sexton that it wasn't their responsibility to feed us. But they did anyways. So I gave our district their training for the week (about putting commitments at the center of our lessons) and then Sis Sexton fed our zone and the Huntington Beach zone some taco salad. I saw Elder Bliss there! He goes home in February. He told me about David and Dixie's baptism. He baptized Dixie and the other elder baptized David. After lunch President Sexton gave each elder a copy of a parable about the Restored Gospel that came to his head while he was running on the treadmill one morning. It's pretty good. I put it in my mission binder so I'll show you someday.
This week Elder Twiss and I saw a lot of miracles that have to do with prayer. We've been praying more for direction to know where to go to find people to teach. We were led to a street where a lady answered the door on her phone. She looked shocked to see us and she told us that she was just on the phone with her member boyfriend who made her promise that if we were to knock on her door she wouldn't reject us. A day or two later we were led to another lady with a member boyfriend who said she'd be willing to listen to us. And yesterday while we were knocking an apartment complex we found a couple less-active members that'd recently moved to Long Beach from Downey. The younger lady said that a couple days ago she was praying that someone from the Church would come and give her a blessing. She immediately recognized that her prayer had been answered. We called the Elders Quorum President to come (so we could enter the home) and then we gave her a blessing of comfort.
That's pretty much all that's happened this week. A little bit of rainfall but nothing legitimately winter-ish happening here. Hope your having a jolly December and I'll e-mail you again next week and then I'll talk with you on the phone the following Friday! :) Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
It sounds like the Lewis Christmas Party was good this year. I think I missed the one the year before I left. I had to work or something. I'll go to the next one though!
A few days ago I went on exchanges with the Compton elders. Elder Ball worked with me in our area and Elder Twiss went with Elder Challis and worked in Compton. While they were over there someone broke into their Mazda! And since missionaries pretty much have absolutely nothing that a thief would want all they stole was their garage clicker. Pretty lame. So now they have to go get their passenger side window replaced. Elders Ball and Challis moved out of our apartment today because a new apartment here in Long Beach was opened for them. It's pretty obvious that my area's getting split next transfer-- the new elders will move into our apartment. President Sexton was planning on re-splitting the area before he even sent me here. He told me in our interview that the only reason he hasn't yet is because we don't have enough elders.
Last Thursday President Sexton had our zone go over to the mission home for our District Meetings. Usually we have District Meetings at the stake center but the Sextons wanted to feed us lunch and give us our mission pictures as a Christmas present. They don't even have to let us into their home let alone feed us. In fact one of the general authorities specifically told Pres and Sis Sexton that it wasn't their responsibility to feed us. But they did anyways. So I gave our district their training for the week (about putting commitments at the center of our lessons) and then Sis Sexton fed our zone and the Huntington Beach zone some taco salad. I saw Elder Bliss there! He goes home in February. He told me about David and Dixie's baptism. He baptized Dixie and the other elder baptized David. After lunch President Sexton gave each elder a copy of a parable about the Restored Gospel that came to his head while he was running on the treadmill one morning. It's pretty good. I put it in my mission binder so I'll show you someday.
This week Elder Twiss and I saw a lot of miracles that have to do with prayer. We've been praying more for direction to know where to go to find people to teach. We were led to a street where a lady answered the door on her phone. She looked shocked to see us and she told us that she was just on the phone with her member boyfriend who made her promise that if we were to knock on her door she wouldn't reject us. A day or two later we were led to another lady with a member boyfriend who said she'd be willing to listen to us. And yesterday while we were knocking an apartment complex we found a couple less-active members that'd recently moved to Long Beach from Downey. The younger lady said that a couple days ago she was praying that someone from the Church would come and give her a blessing. She immediately recognized that her prayer had been answered. We called the Elders Quorum President to come (so we could enter the home) and then we gave her a blessing of comfort.
That's pretty much all that's happened this week. A little bit of rainfall but nothing legitimately winter-ish happening here. Hope your having a jolly December and I'll e-mail you again next week and then I'll talk with you on the phone the following Friday! :) Hasta luego!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
December 8th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
So first I'll answer Mom's question that I've kept accidentally neglecting concerning el dia de pavo, o el dia del accion de las gracias-- Thanksgiving. It was a good Thanksgiving if I recall correctly. That was the day of my very first District Meeting as the District Leader. I gave the training about Elder Scott's talk about the spirit of revelation. That afternoon we had Thanksgiving lunch with the Flores family in the "red zone" of Compton. We got special permission from the Mission President to go there only during the daytime that day because otherwise that little section of Compton is completely off limits to missionaries. We ate with the Flores family and some other members of the ward including Bro. Miller, the african-american baptist convert who totally sounds like a baptist minister should sound. That evening we had Thanksgiving dinner with the Ta'aga family. For both meals I had ham. It was a good day.
Something amazingly random and miraculous happened on Saturday. Since we've been here Elder Twiss and I have been following the instructions left in our Area Books and we've been visiting several part-member families including a part-samoan family where the kids are all members but the mom isn't yet because she lives with her boyfriend (go figure! yay california!). The family comes to church and the 8-yr-old named Deja had been preparing to be baptized in the Stake Primary Baptism on Saturday at 4:00. We had been told that her father was a member so we were under the impression that she was a child of record. But that day at 2:30 we received a phone call from Bishop Faleono telling us otherwise. Turns out that neither of her biological parents are members. So the Bishop told us that we had about an hour and a half to make sure Deja Pena had been taught all the missionary lessons, review the baptismal interview questions with her, arrange an interview with the Zone Leaders, get her interviewed and get her all ready for her baptism by 4:00. Miraculously it worked out!
Elder Twiss and I are getting along just fine. He has his difficulties and he gets pretty stressed and frustrated sometimes but thankfully the mission has taught me to be more patient and more understanding. I remember that I received some counsel when I was set apart to look for the good in each of my companions. As I've remembered that counsel and followed it I've been able to look back at each one of my companions in a positive light.
We went on "splits" or exchanges with the Zone Leaders yesterday. It was great. Elder Twiss stayed in our area with Elder Brown and I went with Elder Maready in his area. Their area is HUGE. We taught a lot of spanish people, extended some baptismal invitations, and had lunch with some members and one of my old district leaders who is now a return missionary named (Elder) Thompson. Elder Thompson had a positive impact on my mission. I went on exchanges with him a couple times and I was impressed by his shameless obedience and he gave me some good advice that I still remember. While with Elder Maready we also had dinner with a Mexican Family. I love legit Mexican food. They make really good chili.
Well that's all I've got for this week I believe. Hope you're all having happy holidays. My last christmas package request is for you to send one of my old earflap winter hats, or a toque I should say. It's a tid bit nippy here so I'd like to where one around the apartment. Muchas gracias! Talk to you in a few weeks!
Con amor,
Elder Tyler Lewis
So first I'll answer Mom's question that I've kept accidentally neglecting concerning el dia de pavo, o el dia del accion de las gracias-- Thanksgiving. It was a good Thanksgiving if I recall correctly. That was the day of my very first District Meeting as the District Leader. I gave the training about Elder Scott's talk about the spirit of revelation. That afternoon we had Thanksgiving lunch with the Flores family in the "red zone" of Compton. We got special permission from the Mission President to go there only during the daytime that day because otherwise that little section of Compton is completely off limits to missionaries. We ate with the Flores family and some other members of the ward including Bro. Miller, the african-american baptist convert who totally sounds like a baptist minister should sound. That evening we had Thanksgiving dinner with the Ta'aga family. For both meals I had ham. It was a good day.
Something amazingly random and miraculous happened on Saturday. Since we've been here Elder Twiss and I have been following the instructions left in our Area Books and we've been visiting several part-member families including a part-samoan family where the kids are all members but the mom isn't yet because she lives with her boyfriend (go figure! yay california!). The family comes to church and the 8-yr-old named Deja had been preparing to be baptized in the Stake Primary Baptism on Saturday at 4:00. We had been told that her father was a member so we were under the impression that she was a child of record. But that day at 2:30 we received a phone call from Bishop Faleono telling us otherwise. Turns out that neither of her biological parents are members. So the Bishop told us that we had about an hour and a half to make sure Deja Pena had been taught all the missionary lessons, review the baptismal interview questions with her, arrange an interview with the Zone Leaders, get her interviewed and get her all ready for her baptism by 4:00. Miraculously it worked out!
Elder Twiss and I are getting along just fine. He has his difficulties and he gets pretty stressed and frustrated sometimes but thankfully the mission has taught me to be more patient and more understanding. I remember that I received some counsel when I was set apart to look for the good in each of my companions. As I've remembered that counsel and followed it I've been able to look back at each one of my companions in a positive light.
We went on "splits" or exchanges with the Zone Leaders yesterday. It was great. Elder Twiss stayed in our area with Elder Brown and I went with Elder Maready in his area. Their area is HUGE. We taught a lot of spanish people, extended some baptismal invitations, and had lunch with some members and one of my old district leaders who is now a return missionary named (Elder) Thompson. Elder Thompson had a positive impact on my mission. I went on exchanges with him a couple times and I was impressed by his shameless obedience and he gave me some good advice that I still remember. While with Elder Maready we also had dinner with a Mexican Family. I love legit Mexican food. They make really good chili.
Well that's all I've got for this week I believe. Hope you're all having happy holidays. My last christmas package request is for you to send one of my old earflap winter hats, or a toque I should say. It's a tid bit nippy here so I'd like to where one around the apartment. Muchas gracias! Talk to you in a few weeks!
Con amor,
Elder Tyler Lewis
December 1st, 2009 (Email)
Hello again!
Alright things are on the uphill now. Sorry about how stressed I've been these past couple of weeks. I knew as soon as I received the transfer calls that these first few weeks would be crazy. I'm starting to get back into the groove of things now. I know the area in general. It's a big area for this mission because it's a combination of two areas. President Sexton told me during our last interview that he's probably going to split the area again next transfer. That'll be good.
I'm not exactly sure why this area got white-washed but it may have to do with several things. Two of the elders from the two companionships serving here finished their missions. Elder Barnes used to be serving in the North Long Beach part of my area but he got transferred to Compton with Elder Kemp to serve in two Samoan wards and one Tongan ward (yeah that's crazy.) That companionship's in my district with the other two elders serving in compton for our ward (Elders Ball and Challis.) That makes up my district. Elders Ball and Challis were white-washed into their area too. It may have to do with not having enough missionaries in this mission at the moment. We'll be getting more next transfer so that's probably why President will re-divide our area.
We have some good investigators here. We're teaching a man named Robert who lives in a one-way street area in Paramount. He wants to be baptized this month so we're working with him to help him prepare himself for that. He's interested in learning more about Joseph Smith's history so we're going to talk about that with him tomorrow. We're teaching a couple part-member/less-active families that have been coming to church. We're starting to teach the 10-yr-old son of a less-active lady. The son's name is Dillenger and he wants to be baptized this month and the mom wants to become active in the church again. We found a golden family a couple weeks ago. The parents are Justino and Ingred and they have two daughters. They all speak spanish and are very interested in the message. They have great questions and sometimes they feed us cake when we visit. They're not convinced that they need to be baptized yet since they were baptized catholic but we'll keep teaching them and encouraging them to come to church because they're still very interested.
Thanks for the little package! Thanks for the pez and the epi-pen and the gummy army-men and the letters and the $20 and everything! And especially thanks for the cool WCF ad with Hannah in it! That's awesome! She's definitely famous now.
By the way the parking ticket stuff is all sorted out now. It turns out that the companionship shares equal responsibility when it comes to car stuff so Elder Twiss helped out. Sorry I freaked out so much about it last week. I just happened to get it that morning so I was pretty frustrated. You're right though I shouldn't worry about money.
I got to conduct my first baptismal interview last week. That's one of my responsibilities as District Leader. I interviewed two of the Zone Leader's investigators, a mother and a daughter named Rina and Erika. They both passed their interviews and they both seem excited to be baptized on Sunday. Sadly it turns out that they bailed an hour before the baptism and told the elders that they didn't want to be visited anymore. Hate it when that happens. I told the Zone Leaders about Jessica Maulion and said that there could still be hope.
Dad I think it's awesome how much you've been prospering at your work this year. Both you and Mom seem to have been receiving lots of blessings with your jobs these past couple years. I want to see these websites when I get home so make sure you document some stuff about them.
My spanish is coming along day by day. Each area gives me more opportunities to speak it and use it so it's getting better. The people understand what I'm saying and I understand what they're saying. It's never perfect but the Lord fills in the spaces.
All that stuff sounds just dandy regarding the Christmas package! Muchas gracias! You all have a great week and I'll talk to you in 24 days! Not counting or anything though! ;)
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Alright things are on the uphill now. Sorry about how stressed I've been these past couple of weeks. I knew as soon as I received the transfer calls that these first few weeks would be crazy. I'm starting to get back into the groove of things now. I know the area in general. It's a big area for this mission because it's a combination of two areas. President Sexton told me during our last interview that he's probably going to split the area again next transfer. That'll be good.
I'm not exactly sure why this area got white-washed but it may have to do with several things. Two of the elders from the two companionships serving here finished their missions. Elder Barnes used to be serving in the North Long Beach part of my area but he got transferred to Compton with Elder Kemp to serve in two Samoan wards and one Tongan ward (yeah that's crazy.) That companionship's in my district with the other two elders serving in compton for our ward (Elders Ball and Challis.) That makes up my district. Elders Ball and Challis were white-washed into their area too. It may have to do with not having enough missionaries in this mission at the moment. We'll be getting more next transfer so that's probably why President will re-divide our area.
We have some good investigators here. We're teaching a man named Robert who lives in a one-way street area in Paramount. He wants to be baptized this month so we're working with him to help him prepare himself for that. He's interested in learning more about Joseph Smith's history so we're going to talk about that with him tomorrow. We're teaching a couple part-member/less-active families that have been coming to church. We're starting to teach the 10-yr-old son of a less-active lady. The son's name is Dillenger and he wants to be baptized this month and the mom wants to become active in the church again. We found a golden family a couple weeks ago. The parents are Justino and Ingred and they have two daughters. They all speak spanish and are very interested in the message. They have great questions and sometimes they feed us cake when we visit. They're not convinced that they need to be baptized yet since they were baptized catholic but we'll keep teaching them and encouraging them to come to church because they're still very interested.
Thanks for the little package! Thanks for the pez and the epi-pen and the gummy army-men and the letters and the $20 and everything! And especially thanks for the cool WCF ad with Hannah in it! That's awesome! She's definitely famous now.
By the way the parking ticket stuff is all sorted out now. It turns out that the companionship shares equal responsibility when it comes to car stuff so Elder Twiss helped out. Sorry I freaked out so much about it last week. I just happened to get it that morning so I was pretty frustrated. You're right though I shouldn't worry about money.
I got to conduct my first baptismal interview last week. That's one of my responsibilities as District Leader. I interviewed two of the Zone Leader's investigators, a mother and a daughter named Rina and Erika. They both passed their interviews and they both seem excited to be baptized on Sunday. Sadly it turns out that they bailed an hour before the baptism and told the elders that they didn't want to be visited anymore. Hate it when that happens. I told the Zone Leaders about Jessica Maulion and said that there could still be hope.
Dad I think it's awesome how much you've been prospering at your work this year. Both you and Mom seem to have been receiving lots of blessings with your jobs these past couple years. I want to see these websites when I get home so make sure you document some stuff about them.
My spanish is coming along day by day. Each area gives me more opportunities to speak it and use it so it's getting better. The people understand what I'm saying and I understand what they're saying. It's never perfect but the Lord fills in the spaces.
All that stuff sounds just dandy regarding the Christmas package! Muchas gracias! You all have a great week and I'll talk to you in 24 days! Not counting or anything though! ;)
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
November 24th, 2009 (Email)
Hello
Last week was probably one of the most difficult weeks of my mission. White-washing an area is really really hard. I got lost about a million times trying to get to our appointments and this area's a combination of two areas so it's huge. We didn't have time to grocery shop last Tuesday because of the complicated transfer. My companion ran out of some perscription medicine he needs to take and none of the pharmacies have what he needs so he's been really agitated the last couple of days. And on top of that I got TWO parking violations because of street sweeping. Oh, and about that: I have to park in the street because there's no parking left for our apartment. Over here they do street-sweeping and I guess last Wednesday I parked on the wrong street at the wrong time. That cost me $47 (!!!). So yesterday I figured I'd be fine parking on that street since today's Tuesday but it turns out that the street-sweeper does the other side of that same street on Tuesdays and that just happens to be where I parked. So that's another $47. So now I'm not going to have any emergency funds left. I'm really really frustrated about that and I don't know what to do. I'm really sorry but I think I'm going to need a little help there. I hate asking for money but I'm going to have to send my other half of my emergency funds to the mission office to pay for that today and then that'll all be gone. I still have money on my debit card though. Should I just pull $100 out of my debit card and keep that for my emergency funds?
Anyway, that was the bad. The good thing is that this is a great area for finding and teaching people. I've had some good experiences this past week and as I started to figure out the area and get a little more organized I started to feel better about all the stuff I have to do now. That's probably why I'm experiencing so much opposition. It's just been one challenge after the next this past week. But I'm going to get through it.
Elder Twiss and I are getting along fine. He's from North Carolina. He had a rough MTC experience so I think he needs a friend to keep him positive out here. I'm doing my best with all the stress and stuff. I hope I don't sound to negative-- that second parking ticket just really threw off my morning.
We're teaching a mix of spanish-speaking and english-speaking people. The Long Beach 7th Ward is filled with mostly Samoan people with some hispanic people. It's a combined english/spanish ward so we have to have a translator in sacrament meeting. That's pretty weird. We went to the spanish sunday school and that was cool. My spanish has improved a lot since I had all this responsibility placed on me. I can understand a lot more and say a lot more.
I have a lot of responsibilites now. I have to give trainings in spanish every week to my district which consists of me, Elder Twiss, Elder Kemp, Elder Barnes, Elder Ball and Elder Challis. I have to get numbers from each companionship every week and then report them to the Zone Leaders. I'm supposed to go on exchanges with each companionship in my district. That's mostly what the district leader does. Not too much. But on top of that I do have to train and organize this area. I just need more time to take some breaths and get my thoughts organized. I have very little time for that. Weekly Planning was my favorite thing to do last week. I felt a lot better after 2 and 1/2 hours of planning.
Daniel Clay and his son haven't been baptized yet. I bet they will be within the next few weeks. I'll tell you when I see his name on the announcements.
Sorry- my zipcode is definitely 90805.
That's cool to know you were a district leader/trainer too Dad. I didn't know that.
Elder Rodgriguez (or Daniel Rodriguez I should say) lives in Washington. His family's lived there for a few years now. Sister Sexton talked about him during zone conference last week. She said that in his departing testimony he talked about how at the beginning of his mission he was discouraged when a lady told him that she couldn't understand what he was saying when he tried to speak english. It's amazing to think that he couldn't speak hardly any english at the beginning of his mission. He was way fluent last time I talked with him.
All I really need for Christmas is some help with my emergency funds. But if you want you could also get me some of that blue hair gel I used back home. And in a deseret book ad I saw something about a CD of some hymns called "Nearer: A New Collection of Favorite Hymns." Out of the music we're allowed to listen to modernized hymns are definitely my favorites. Those are just some thoughts. I'll be happy with anything I you give me.
I know I'm being more stressed than I need to be. I just need a couple more weeks and I'll be able to get back up. Mom, Dad and Hannah-- I love you so much and I hope you know I pray for you and I'm excited to talk with you next month. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Last week was probably one of the most difficult weeks of my mission. White-washing an area is really really hard. I got lost about a million times trying to get to our appointments and this area's a combination of two areas so it's huge. We didn't have time to grocery shop last Tuesday because of the complicated transfer. My companion ran out of some perscription medicine he needs to take and none of the pharmacies have what he needs so he's been really agitated the last couple of days. And on top of that I got TWO parking violations because of street sweeping. Oh, and about that: I have to park in the street because there's no parking left for our apartment. Over here they do street-sweeping and I guess last Wednesday I parked on the wrong street at the wrong time. That cost me $47 (!!!). So yesterday I figured I'd be fine parking on that street since today's Tuesday but it turns out that the street-sweeper does the other side of that same street on Tuesdays and that just happens to be where I parked. So that's another $47. So now I'm not going to have any emergency funds left. I'm really really frustrated about that and I don't know what to do. I'm really sorry but I think I'm going to need a little help there. I hate asking for money but I'm going to have to send my other half of my emergency funds to the mission office to pay for that today and then that'll all be gone. I still have money on my debit card though. Should I just pull $100 out of my debit card and keep that for my emergency funds?
Anyway, that was the bad. The good thing is that this is a great area for finding and teaching people. I've had some good experiences this past week and as I started to figure out the area and get a little more organized I started to feel better about all the stuff I have to do now. That's probably why I'm experiencing so much opposition. It's just been one challenge after the next this past week. But I'm going to get through it.
Elder Twiss and I are getting along fine. He's from North Carolina. He had a rough MTC experience so I think he needs a friend to keep him positive out here. I'm doing my best with all the stress and stuff. I hope I don't sound to negative-- that second parking ticket just really threw off my morning.
We're teaching a mix of spanish-speaking and english-speaking people. The Long Beach 7th Ward is filled with mostly Samoan people with some hispanic people. It's a combined english/spanish ward so we have to have a translator in sacrament meeting. That's pretty weird. We went to the spanish sunday school and that was cool. My spanish has improved a lot since I had all this responsibility placed on me. I can understand a lot more and say a lot more.
I have a lot of responsibilites now. I have to give trainings in spanish every week to my district which consists of me, Elder Twiss, Elder Kemp, Elder Barnes, Elder Ball and Elder Challis. I have to get numbers from each companionship every week and then report them to the Zone Leaders. I'm supposed to go on exchanges with each companionship in my district. That's mostly what the district leader does. Not too much. But on top of that I do have to train and organize this area. I just need more time to take some breaths and get my thoughts organized. I have very little time for that. Weekly Planning was my favorite thing to do last week. I felt a lot better after 2 and 1/2 hours of planning.
Daniel Clay and his son haven't been baptized yet. I bet they will be within the next few weeks. I'll tell you when I see his name on the announcements.
Sorry- my zipcode is definitely 90805.
That's cool to know you were a district leader/trainer too Dad. I didn't know that.
Elder Rodgriguez (or Daniel Rodriguez I should say) lives in Washington. His family's lived there for a few years now. Sister Sexton talked about him during zone conference last week. She said that in his departing testimony he talked about how at the beginning of his mission he was discouraged when a lady told him that she couldn't understand what he was saying when he tried to speak english. It's amazing to think that he couldn't speak hardly any english at the beginning of his mission. He was way fluent last time I talked with him.
All I really need for Christmas is some help with my emergency funds. But if you want you could also get me some of that blue hair gel I used back home. And in a deseret book ad I saw something about a CD of some hymns called "Nearer: A New Collection of Favorite Hymns." Out of the music we're allowed to listen to modernized hymns are definitely my favorites. Those are just some thoughts. I'll be happy with anything I you give me.
I know I'm being more stressed than I need to be. I just need a couple more weeks and I'll be able to get back up. Mom, Dad and Hannah-- I love you so much and I hope you know I pray for you and I'm excited to talk with you next month. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
November 18th, 2009 (Email)
hi
Sorry this e-mail will be very short I hope you understand because my life is completely insane right now. Last week I was called to be a District Leader/Trainer and I got "white-washed" into a new area today and I have no idea what I'm doing yet and I don't have a lot of time and my new companion's name is Elder Twiss. My area covers North Long Beach and Paramount and Compton is in my District. My address is:
3275 Artesia Blvd #204
Long Beach CA 90805
Sorry but that's all I have time to tell you right now. I'll tell you more next week.
Love you!
Love,Elder Tyler Lewis
Sorry this e-mail will be very short I hope you understand because my life is completely insane right now. Last week I was called to be a District Leader/Trainer and I got "white-washed" into a new area today and I have no idea what I'm doing yet and I don't have a lot of time and my new companion's name is Elder Twiss. My area covers North Long Beach and Paramount and Compton is in my District. My address is:
3275 Artesia Blvd #204
Long Beach CA 90805
Sorry but that's all I have time to tell you right now. I'll tell you more next week.
Love you!
Love,Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
November 10th, 2009 (Email)
Hello yet again!
The coolest thing happened last week. Elder Harris and I were instructed to go down to Hawaiian Gardens last week to get vaccinated for the H1N1 (swine) Flu. I got anxious because I hate getting shots. We stood in line forever and then one of the volunteers came and checked our info and told us that we were getting "the nasal mist." So the vaccination wasn't a shot at all. They just sprayed some stuff up our noses. It was painless and awesome. I'm glad we got it because tons of people are catching the swine flu over here-- even some of our investigators.
Daniel Clay and his family are still progressing. They came to church for the third time in a row. The kids (Jilani Jemilia and Jinelle) LOVE primary. Daniel and Jilani are both way excited to get baptized. We decided to push back the baptism until the 21st because they need a little more time for Daniel to overcome his smoking habit. He's made a lot of progress but sometimes these things take a little time. We both feel pretty sure that they'll be ready by the 21st. Preach My Gospel encourages us to wait for the head of the household to be ready before baptizing the rest of the family so that's why we pushed back Jilani's baptism too. Plus he's just 9 years old so we think it would be good to make sure his dad gets baptized with him.
Yesterday one of our investigators "anti'd" us. Her name is Paula and we dropped her yesterday because she just downright opposes everything we believe. We all concluded that our biggest difference came down to the 1st Article of Faith. Elder Rodriguez once told me something he learned from Elder David A. Bednar while he was in the MTC. Elder Bednar gave the missionaries a promise that if they came to really know and understand the Articles of Faith they would never be confounded. I know the true nature of God the Father, His Son and the Holy Ghost and I recognize that I wouldn't understand that doctrine if God hadn't restored it through the Prophet Joseph Smith. While Paula was bashing our beliefs the thought came to my mind that there was really nothing we could do for her right then. Towards the end I just told her that I knew by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true and then she responded that she knew by the power of the Holy Ghost that it's false. It was interesting. She brought up a lot of arguments including blacks not being able to receive the priesthood and the supposed false prophecy in the first several verses of D&C 84 that the New Jerusalem was to be built in Missouri during Joseph Smith's generation (look up the footnotes), but she ended up just saying again and again that she knew that no matter what she said we wouldn't change. She didn't understand and she said it made her sad. Elder Jones, one of the elders that lives in our apartment, had an interesting insight about Anti-Mormon stuff. "Anti-Mormon literature is like pornography for your testimony." Once you've read it or heard it you'll never be able to forget it. And if you dwell on it enough and let it bug you enough it can easily destroy your testimony. HOWEVER if you remember what you KNOW without a doubt to be true-- and there are several doctrines and truths and blessings that were ONLY made availabe to us through the Restoration-- and if you remember the first time you received your personal witness by the power of the Holy Ghost that this Church is Christ's (great advice given to me from Pres. Hatch)-- you won't be blinded by the mists of darkness. The best thing to do is to remember those things and to stay away from what the opposition has to say because when placed in the shadow of some of the doctrines of the Restoration the opposition just can't stand on its own two feet. Elder Callister and Elder Holland's talks from conference are good ones to consider reviewing.
Elder Harris and I have both come to an agreement that our little sisters should be pen pals. Elder Harris' little sister's name is Allyn Harris and she's only four days older than Hannah. She has red hair and she loves horses and reading and fairies and nerf gun wars.
Okay so thanks for going ahead and arranging to send me a new epi-pen because it turns out that the "i'm not allergic to chicken anymore" fling was just that: a fling. Out of the five meals of chicken I've had two of them made my chest hurt. So I'm not going to eat anymore. I think it's really really odd that I have to be allergic to chicken but I guess I'll just accept it and keep dealing with it. Gracias!
Yeah Elder Rodriguez has been home for 5 weeks now. I sent him a letter and he sent me an e-mail. He let me know that he's trying to find a job and he's applying for BYU and BYUI and he's bored.
Elder Kemp was transferred last transfer so I haven't seen him for a bit but while he was here he was doing fine.
David Ramos e-mailed me today! He sounds like he's still doing great. His family's still active and he says that he still wants to be a missionary. I wonder when he'll go through the temple. His year-mark as a member is coming up in a couple of weeks and after that it's possible for him to go through the temple.
I'm glad to hear that Hannah's doing great in school. She's a good kid.
All I know is that the prophet is definitely the only one allowed in the Holy of Holies so I've heard from many that he cleans it himself.
I could be getting transferred next week but we'll see. Both Elder Harris and I are at risk. The last week of the transfer is always filled with horrible suspense because you never know what Pres. Sexton will feel inspired to do with you.
"Have a Book-of-Mormon-errific day!" -Robbie Reed
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S. so far all I've been able to think of that I'd be grateful to receive for Christmas is another pair of black slacks because last week I used a different Laundromat and now I have a weird stain on black ones you sent me last :( Sorry and gracias!
The coolest thing happened last week. Elder Harris and I were instructed to go down to Hawaiian Gardens last week to get vaccinated for the H1N1 (swine) Flu. I got anxious because I hate getting shots. We stood in line forever and then one of the volunteers came and checked our info and told us that we were getting "the nasal mist." So the vaccination wasn't a shot at all. They just sprayed some stuff up our noses. It was painless and awesome. I'm glad we got it because tons of people are catching the swine flu over here-- even some of our investigators.
Daniel Clay and his family are still progressing. They came to church for the third time in a row. The kids (Jilani Jemilia and Jinelle) LOVE primary. Daniel and Jilani are both way excited to get baptized. We decided to push back the baptism until the 21st because they need a little more time for Daniel to overcome his smoking habit. He's made a lot of progress but sometimes these things take a little time. We both feel pretty sure that they'll be ready by the 21st. Preach My Gospel encourages us to wait for the head of the household to be ready before baptizing the rest of the family so that's why we pushed back Jilani's baptism too. Plus he's just 9 years old so we think it would be good to make sure his dad gets baptized with him.
Yesterday one of our investigators "anti'd" us. Her name is Paula and we dropped her yesterday because she just downright opposes everything we believe. We all concluded that our biggest difference came down to the 1st Article of Faith. Elder Rodriguez once told me something he learned from Elder David A. Bednar while he was in the MTC. Elder Bednar gave the missionaries a promise that if they came to really know and understand the Articles of Faith they would never be confounded. I know the true nature of God the Father, His Son and the Holy Ghost and I recognize that I wouldn't understand that doctrine if God hadn't restored it through the Prophet Joseph Smith. While Paula was bashing our beliefs the thought came to my mind that there was really nothing we could do for her right then. Towards the end I just told her that I knew by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true and then she responded that she knew by the power of the Holy Ghost that it's false. It was interesting. She brought up a lot of arguments including blacks not being able to receive the priesthood and the supposed false prophecy in the first several verses of D&C 84 that the New Jerusalem was to be built in Missouri during Joseph Smith's generation (look up the footnotes), but she ended up just saying again and again that she knew that no matter what she said we wouldn't change. She didn't understand and she said it made her sad. Elder Jones, one of the elders that lives in our apartment, had an interesting insight about Anti-Mormon stuff. "Anti-Mormon literature is like pornography for your testimony." Once you've read it or heard it you'll never be able to forget it. And if you dwell on it enough and let it bug you enough it can easily destroy your testimony. HOWEVER if you remember what you KNOW without a doubt to be true-- and there are several doctrines and truths and blessings that were ONLY made availabe to us through the Restoration-- and if you remember the first time you received your personal witness by the power of the Holy Ghost that this Church is Christ's (great advice given to me from Pres. Hatch)-- you won't be blinded by the mists of darkness. The best thing to do is to remember those things and to stay away from what the opposition has to say because when placed in the shadow of some of the doctrines of the Restoration the opposition just can't stand on its own two feet. Elder Callister and Elder Holland's talks from conference are good ones to consider reviewing.
Elder Harris and I have both come to an agreement that our little sisters should be pen pals. Elder Harris' little sister's name is Allyn Harris and she's only four days older than Hannah. She has red hair and she loves horses and reading and fairies and nerf gun wars.
Okay so thanks for going ahead and arranging to send me a new epi-pen because it turns out that the "i'm not allergic to chicken anymore" fling was just that: a fling. Out of the five meals of chicken I've had two of them made my chest hurt. So I'm not going to eat anymore. I think it's really really odd that I have to be allergic to chicken but I guess I'll just accept it and keep dealing with it. Gracias!
Yeah Elder Rodriguez has been home for 5 weeks now. I sent him a letter and he sent me an e-mail. He let me know that he's trying to find a job and he's applying for BYU and BYUI and he's bored.
Elder Kemp was transferred last transfer so I haven't seen him for a bit but while he was here he was doing fine.
David Ramos e-mailed me today! He sounds like he's still doing great. His family's still active and he says that he still wants to be a missionary. I wonder when he'll go through the temple. His year-mark as a member is coming up in a couple of weeks and after that it's possible for him to go through the temple.
I'm glad to hear that Hannah's doing great in school. She's a good kid.
All I know is that the prophet is definitely the only one allowed in the Holy of Holies so I've heard from many that he cleans it himself.
I could be getting transferred next week but we'll see. Both Elder Harris and I are at risk. The last week of the transfer is always filled with horrible suspense because you never know what Pres. Sexton will feel inspired to do with you.
"Have a Book-of-Mormon-errific day!" -Robbie Reed
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S. so far all I've been able to think of that I'd be grateful to receive for Christmas is another pair of black slacks because last week I used a different Laundromat and now I have a weird stain on black ones you sent me last :( Sorry and gracias!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
November 3rd, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
First of all I got the package! Thank you so much! Gracias for the garments. I think I'll gradually convert to briefs. Thanks for the stationary and Hannah's sketch book is great. And I ate all the pez in about 1 day.
That's so weird that Justin and Chris are home! I had a dream last night that I was at church and Justin came in and sat next to me and all that I asked him was "So, was it cold?" It was weird.
We're still teaching Daniel Clay and his family and things are going great with them. Him and his three kids all came to church again on Sunday. Daniel's struggling a little to quit smoking but we're confidant that he can do it. He's had us take his cigarettes away from him about 4 or 5 times now. We need to convince him that the problem starts right when he purchases the cigarettes... His 8-yr-old son, Jilanie, wants to be baptized with his dad on the 14th. We're doing all we can to prepare them but it really all depends on them of course. We only teach, testify, and invite them to change.
Elder Harris and I went to the Buddhist temple again with Elder Rada and some other elders last P-Day. It was fun again. Someday you'll get some more pictures.
I've been realizing a lot more lately how significant it is that we believe that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct individuals. The 1st article of faith is really what sets our church apart from all other churches. All other truths fall into place once the truth of the nature of the Godhead is known. I've found a lot of scriptures in the Bible that testify that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate resurrected Beings. One great example is when Peter testifies that Jesus Christ is the Son of the LIVING God. There's another place in Matthew where Jesus Christ uses the word "living" when teaching the Sudducees about the resurrection when they ask Him about the woman who had seven husbands. He explains a little bit about how marriage works in the afterlife and then He gets to their real concern and tells them something about resurrection. He tells them that God is the God of the LIVING, not the dead. So when Peter proclaimed that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God he was saying that Jesus Christ is the Son of a God that is a resurrected Being.
Okay so I'm still a little allergic to chicken but not that bad. I can only eat a certain amount. And the allergic reaction won't kill me but it's still just a little uncomfortable. I ate a ton at a restaurant called Polly's pies. I probably ate 1/2 a pound of chicken. And then when I was finished I sat in the car and I started having a weird allergic reaction. It wasn't terrible-- I could still drive. But now I know how much I can and can't eat. The next day I had a chicken tender and a little sweet and sour chicken at a buffet and nothing happened. I'll be careful I promise! Besides it's not that fantastic. Fried chicken's great but the rest of the stuff I've had so far is so-so.
Halloween night is just about the worst time to be a missionary. It confuses people to death when you knock on their doors. We had an appointment planned for that night but it fell through so it ended up being a rough night.
Beatrice Allen and a portion of the Gonzalez family moved to Las Vegas. The Gonzalez family has been hit hard by the powers of Satan. I have literally watched that family dissolve. It's awful. All I can say is that there are blessings for keeping the commandments-- particularly for keeping the Sabbath Day holy and for keeping the law of chastity. Sister Gonzalez and her 9-yr-old daughter Samantha are living together somewhere in Vegas and Beatrice is living somewhere else over there. I'll be writing Beatrice a letter today because Sister Gonzalez told me she's going through a hard time over there. Beatrice has been an active and happy member here since she was baptized. It'd make me sad to see her fall away.
Thanks Mom for having the kids write me some letters! I'm supposed to get a letter from Elder Rodriguez one of these days. We'll see. I'm going to write a letter to Hannah today and hopefully some other people too but we'll see.
Have a great week! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
First of all I got the package! Thank you so much! Gracias for the garments. I think I'll gradually convert to briefs. Thanks for the stationary and Hannah's sketch book is great. And I ate all the pez in about 1 day.
That's so weird that Justin and Chris are home! I had a dream last night that I was at church and Justin came in and sat next to me and all that I asked him was "So, was it cold?" It was weird.
We're still teaching Daniel Clay and his family and things are going great with them. Him and his three kids all came to church again on Sunday. Daniel's struggling a little to quit smoking but we're confidant that he can do it. He's had us take his cigarettes away from him about 4 or 5 times now. We need to convince him that the problem starts right when he purchases the cigarettes... His 8-yr-old son, Jilanie, wants to be baptized with his dad on the 14th. We're doing all we can to prepare them but it really all depends on them of course. We only teach, testify, and invite them to change.
Elder Harris and I went to the Buddhist temple again with Elder Rada and some other elders last P-Day. It was fun again. Someday you'll get some more pictures.
I've been realizing a lot more lately how significant it is that we believe that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct individuals. The 1st article of faith is really what sets our church apart from all other churches. All other truths fall into place once the truth of the nature of the Godhead is known. I've found a lot of scriptures in the Bible that testify that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate resurrected Beings. One great example is when Peter testifies that Jesus Christ is the Son of the LIVING God. There's another place in Matthew where Jesus Christ uses the word "living" when teaching the Sudducees about the resurrection when they ask Him about the woman who had seven husbands. He explains a little bit about how marriage works in the afterlife and then He gets to their real concern and tells them something about resurrection. He tells them that God is the God of the LIVING, not the dead. So when Peter proclaimed that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God he was saying that Jesus Christ is the Son of a God that is a resurrected Being.
Okay so I'm still a little allergic to chicken but not that bad. I can only eat a certain amount. And the allergic reaction won't kill me but it's still just a little uncomfortable. I ate a ton at a restaurant called Polly's pies. I probably ate 1/2 a pound of chicken. And then when I was finished I sat in the car and I started having a weird allergic reaction. It wasn't terrible-- I could still drive. But now I know how much I can and can't eat. The next day I had a chicken tender and a little sweet and sour chicken at a buffet and nothing happened. I'll be careful I promise! Besides it's not that fantastic. Fried chicken's great but the rest of the stuff I've had so far is so-so.
Halloween night is just about the worst time to be a missionary. It confuses people to death when you knock on their doors. We had an appointment planned for that night but it fell through so it ended up being a rough night.
Beatrice Allen and a portion of the Gonzalez family moved to Las Vegas. The Gonzalez family has been hit hard by the powers of Satan. I have literally watched that family dissolve. It's awful. All I can say is that there are blessings for keeping the commandments-- particularly for keeping the Sabbath Day holy and for keeping the law of chastity. Sister Gonzalez and her 9-yr-old daughter Samantha are living together somewhere in Vegas and Beatrice is living somewhere else over there. I'll be writing Beatrice a letter today because Sister Gonzalez told me she's going through a hard time over there. Beatrice has been an active and happy member here since she was baptized. It'd make me sad to see her fall away.
Thanks Mom for having the kids write me some letters! I'm supposed to get a letter from Elder Rodriguez one of these days. We'll see. I'm going to write a letter to Hannah today and hopefully some other people too but we'll see.
Have a great week! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Thursday, October 29, 2009
October 27th, 2009 (Email)
Hello again!
Last week was a good week. I found out something last week that could change the rest of my life. Alright, so during my last interview with President Sexton I asked him if I could go anywhere to get an allergy test. President asked why and I explained my chicken issues and also told him that I'm pretty sure that I've accidentally had chicken on more than one occasion on my mission. I explained the epi-pen and President told me he didn't see any problem with me just eating some of the stuff with the epi-pen close by. I know that President isn't a doctor and I know that what I did was a little rash but that's what I did. Last Tuesday I stopped by Church's Chicken while jogging and I picked up a fried chicken thigh and a biscuit. And then I ate it. And it was good. A day or two later I had a chicken taco from Del Taco and then later I had a chicken sandwich from Burger King. So I'm cured! Awesome!
Daniel Clay, the guy with the three kids, accepted our invite for him to be baptized November 14th! He's really sincere and looks forward to our visits. He makes and sells "therapeutic meditational multi cultral prayer beads" for a living. He's a very interesting character. His son is 8-years-old and Daniel's raised him to live the life of a Nazarene-- so the kid never cuts his hair and he never eats grapes or partakes of anything from the vine. Just like John the Baptist. We're going to see if the son wants to be baptized with his dad. Daniel and his son and two daughters all came to church on Sunday and they came to the ward halloween social the night before. Daniel told us he wants a triple combination so we're going to go get him one today. He told us out of the blue that he wants to have the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. And one Sunday in Priesthood when he heard someone say the word "Melchizedek" Daniel got really excited and turned to Elder Harris and said "I know about that! That's important!" And in Sunday school when he was asked what he thought about the Book of Mormon he had us turn to the very last verse in the gospel of John. As you can see this is a golden investigator family. And yesterday Daniel committed to live the Word of Wisdom and he gave us his cigarettes.
The stake president here spoke on Sunday in our ward. His name's President Nunnaly(?) and he gave a good talk about peace and harmony. Every stake president's different. The stake president in Cypress is a lawyer and he always spoke with POWER AND AUTHORITY let me tell you what. The stake president here is very soft spoken and very involved with the missionary effort.
Glad to hear Grandpa's surgery went well and glad to hear Hannah has a good friend. Hope she has fun trick-or-treating on Saturday. Sad to hear about the golf club incident. Still haven't got any letters from anyone but I got an e-mail from Launa and "Daniel" Rodriguez today. Elder Rodriguez told me he's sending me a letter that should get to me soon. He said Jason Patterson got baptized!...and then removed his records...? Don't know the story so maybe we'll see. And Elder Harris saw his first possum a couple days ago in our parking lot. Man those things are ugly.
Have a fantastic week and Happy Halloween!!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Last week was a good week. I found out something last week that could change the rest of my life. Alright, so during my last interview with President Sexton I asked him if I could go anywhere to get an allergy test. President asked why and I explained my chicken issues and also told him that I'm pretty sure that I've accidentally had chicken on more than one occasion on my mission. I explained the epi-pen and President told me he didn't see any problem with me just eating some of the stuff with the epi-pen close by. I know that President isn't a doctor and I know that what I did was a little rash but that's what I did. Last Tuesday I stopped by Church's Chicken while jogging and I picked up a fried chicken thigh and a biscuit. And then I ate it. And it was good. A day or two later I had a chicken taco from Del Taco and then later I had a chicken sandwich from Burger King. So I'm cured! Awesome!
Daniel Clay, the guy with the three kids, accepted our invite for him to be baptized November 14th! He's really sincere and looks forward to our visits. He makes and sells "therapeutic meditational multi cultral prayer beads" for a living. He's a very interesting character. His son is 8-years-old and Daniel's raised him to live the life of a Nazarene-- so the kid never cuts his hair and he never eats grapes or partakes of anything from the vine. Just like John the Baptist. We're going to see if the son wants to be baptized with his dad. Daniel and his son and two daughters all came to church on Sunday and they came to the ward halloween social the night before. Daniel told us he wants a triple combination so we're going to go get him one today. He told us out of the blue that he wants to have the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. And one Sunday in Priesthood when he heard someone say the word "Melchizedek" Daniel got really excited and turned to Elder Harris and said "I know about that! That's important!" And in Sunday school when he was asked what he thought about the Book of Mormon he had us turn to the very last verse in the gospel of John. As you can see this is a golden investigator family. And yesterday Daniel committed to live the Word of Wisdom and he gave us his cigarettes.
The stake president here spoke on Sunday in our ward. His name's President Nunnaly(?) and he gave a good talk about peace and harmony. Every stake president's different. The stake president in Cypress is a lawyer and he always spoke with POWER AND AUTHORITY let me tell you what. The stake president here is very soft spoken and very involved with the missionary effort.
Glad to hear Grandpa's surgery went well and glad to hear Hannah has a good friend. Hope she has fun trick-or-treating on Saturday. Sad to hear about the golf club incident. Still haven't got any letters from anyone but I got an e-mail from Launa and "Daniel" Rodriguez today. Elder Rodriguez told me he's sending me a letter that should get to me soon. He said Jason Patterson got baptized!...and then removed his records...? Don't know the story so maybe we'll see. And Elder Harris saw his first possum a couple days ago in our parking lot. Man those things are ugly.
Have a fantastic week and Happy Halloween!!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
October 20th, 2009 (Email)
Hello again!
I just got back from Los Angeles a couple hours ago. We went to the L.A. temple and it was pretty amazing. It's a 5-room session there: Creation, Garden, Telestial, Terrestrial & Celestial. I've heard that it's the biggest temple in the world. We woke up at 4:30 this morning so we could make the 6:30 session, so I feel kind of tired. It was nice to finally go to the temple again though. Now I just have to wait 6 more months until I go back... :(
Elder Harris and I read something in Preach My Gospel last week that we've started focusing on and it really works! Sometimes we receive Media Referrals from Church Headquarters by text message and we're supposed to contact those referrals as soon as we possibly can. Oftentimes the referral people either aren't home or aren't really interested but we read in Preach My Gospel that when we receive one of those referrals it means that the Lord has prepared someone in that area-- either a family member, a neighbor, or someone just passing by. So we're encouraged to knock all around the homes of the media referrals. We've started applying that more and it's been fantastic. Yesterday we went to the home of an old referral that we couldn't teach because they were Korean speaking and we knocked their street. No one living on that street wanted to learn but when we were at the very last house someone from the street called at us and asked "why don't you guys ever come knock on my door?!" It was an african-american man with three young kids. His name was Daniel and he talked with us for a few minutes and set up an appointment with us for this evening. Cool!
We've started receiving referrals from church members! Yay! We received more referrals last week than I've ever received on my mission! We got 5 referrals: 1 from church headquarters and 4 from members. So far one of the referrals looks really promising. His name's Christian and we're teaching him the 1st lesson tonight.
I'm glad to hear we're going back to the old church building. And 10:00 church is perfecto. Justin's coming home next week? Wow. That is weird.
So that's all I've got this week. Sorry it's a short one. We're still working hard and I'll tell you when someone commits to a baptismal date again. We still commit every 1st lesson but our people keep declining or coming up with excuses. Someday we'll find another one who's prepared.
I hope everything goes well with Grandpa's surgery. Have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Mom: Socks would be great. I need socks that aren't too hot. Garments would be great too. Can I get briefs for the bottoms this time? Yeah I wrote Jared but receiving mail is like finding a unicorn. All's good in the apartment. Elder Harris is still awesome. Yeah I've been driving for a couple weeks now.
Dad: Nice poem. ;)
I just got back from Los Angeles a couple hours ago. We went to the L.A. temple and it was pretty amazing. It's a 5-room session there: Creation, Garden, Telestial, Terrestrial & Celestial. I've heard that it's the biggest temple in the world. We woke up at 4:30 this morning so we could make the 6:30 session, so I feel kind of tired. It was nice to finally go to the temple again though. Now I just have to wait 6 more months until I go back... :(
Elder Harris and I read something in Preach My Gospel last week that we've started focusing on and it really works! Sometimes we receive Media Referrals from Church Headquarters by text message and we're supposed to contact those referrals as soon as we possibly can. Oftentimes the referral people either aren't home or aren't really interested but we read in Preach My Gospel that when we receive one of those referrals it means that the Lord has prepared someone in that area-- either a family member, a neighbor, or someone just passing by. So we're encouraged to knock all around the homes of the media referrals. We've started applying that more and it's been fantastic. Yesterday we went to the home of an old referral that we couldn't teach because they were Korean speaking and we knocked their street. No one living on that street wanted to learn but when we were at the very last house someone from the street called at us and asked "why don't you guys ever come knock on my door?!" It was an african-american man with three young kids. His name was Daniel and he talked with us for a few minutes and set up an appointment with us for this evening. Cool!
We've started receiving referrals from church members! Yay! We received more referrals last week than I've ever received on my mission! We got 5 referrals: 1 from church headquarters and 4 from members. So far one of the referrals looks really promising. His name's Christian and we're teaching him the 1st lesson tonight.
I'm glad to hear we're going back to the old church building. And 10:00 church is perfecto. Justin's coming home next week? Wow. That is weird.
So that's all I've got this week. Sorry it's a short one. We're still working hard and I'll tell you when someone commits to a baptismal date again. We still commit every 1st lesson but our people keep declining or coming up with excuses. Someday we'll find another one who's prepared.
I hope everything goes well with Grandpa's surgery. Have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Mom: Socks would be great. I need socks that aren't too hot. Garments would be great too. Can I get briefs for the bottoms this time? Yeah I wrote Jared but receiving mail is like finding a unicorn. All's good in the apartment. Elder Harris is still awesome. Yeah I've been driving for a couple weeks now.
Dad: Nice poem. ;)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
October 13th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
A Bob Dylan Christmas eh? You never know what that man's going to put out next. Interesting.
Jessica Maulion was confirmed on Sunday! It was crazy. She was late to church because her ride got lost. Jessica brought her 2-yr-old son to church for the first time and he was out of control. While we were confirming her the kid was sitting in her lap and he reached over and hit me in the gonads while we were blessing her. Then he ran over to the organ and started playing some freestyle noises. The ward-members got a kick out of it. Jessica was a little embarrassed but not too bad. It was the first confirmation Elder Harris performed so we were excited about that.
Charles Meachum has it fixed in his mind that one of the speakers during General Conference said that "God doesn't like a free man." We've tried again and again to explain to him that they said "natural man" but he won't buy it. We used his story to teach him briefly about the Plan of Salvation and that was fun but he doesn't feel like he needs to pray or be baptized so we don't see much progress. We do know a little more about him now though. He fought in Vietnam so that explains a little bit more about why he's so bitter about God.
We tracted into some fun people last week. There's "Clint Eastwood man", for example. We were walking past his house and we saw him in his front yard so we started inviting him to learn. He was a tall skinny man with a trucker's hat, sunglasses, a tucked in T-shirt, levis, cowboy boots and a long skinny cigarette in his mouth. He saw us, dramatically told his dog to stay put, and growled out a question: "Mormons?" We confirmed his suspicion and to that he shook his head, walked towards his garage and advised us, "Now don't get too many women pregnant." It was awesome. Yesterday we knocked into a Korean woman who knew very little English. She came to her door and yelled out "What's happening?!" She then stared at us for a second and then yelled out "Praise Mormon!" and ran away. A couple days ago we were walking in a neighborhood, heading towards an appointment we had. We were both wondering why we'd decided to walk when all of a sudden we heard a loud tapping noise on the window of the house next to us. Then a lady yelled out "Are you Mormons?!" We introduced ourselves and then she asked "Are you handing out free Bibles?!" We asked whether or not she meant the Book of Mormon and she said yes. She took a copy and we asked her if we could visit her. Then she said, "Saturday at 1:00!" The Lord truly places those being prepared to receive the word in the path of His missionaries.
We had zone conference on Friday and President Sexton instructed us to try harder to exercise moral discipline so we can always have the Spirit with us so we can teach with POWER and authority. We were also told to work harder to have lessons with members present. We're doing our darndest to do that. President came to our apartment on Saturday morning to interview us and the companionship that lives with us. President asked me which talks I particularly enjoyed from conference and I told him I liked Elder Richard G. Scott's talk and I also told him about the impression I received to write Jared during the talk by Elder Choi. President addressed my concern I expressed to him a few weeks ago about finding new investigators and he told me that we've been doing it right and that we should just keep doing what we have been. He said that he wants us to go by exactly what Preach My Gospel says and not to change anything. So now I know that there are several missionaries in this mission that are making finding way more difficult than it needs to be. President even told me that the Brethren are aware that we may never see our new investigators again because so many fail to be there for their return appointment. So that cleared that up. Apparently President decided to interview us in the apartment because he felt an impression that the missionaries we live with are struggling a little bit. When we came back for lunch that day we found out that surely enough those two Elders didn't have very pleasant interviews. I feel bad because one of the Elders is still just a Greenie and his new Senior Companion isn't the best example for obedience. The younger Elder has come to me a few times for advice and I just told him to follow the example of his trainer and to utilize his interview with President Sexton for help. He didn't follow up on that very well so that's why he got himself into a pickle.
So those are the adventures I had last week. Elder Harris and I ran in the rain this morning and it was great. No I haven't heard from David and Dixie :( and yeah I know the birthday card had a swear ;) Have a good day at work! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S.- I could use some good reliable pens. I write A LOT so my pens keep running out on me. Other than that I have the hardest time coming up with requests for packages now... Thank you!
A Bob Dylan Christmas eh? You never know what that man's going to put out next. Interesting.
Jessica Maulion was confirmed on Sunday! It was crazy. She was late to church because her ride got lost. Jessica brought her 2-yr-old son to church for the first time and he was out of control. While we were confirming her the kid was sitting in her lap and he reached over and hit me in the gonads while we were blessing her. Then he ran over to the organ and started playing some freestyle noises. The ward-members got a kick out of it. Jessica was a little embarrassed but not too bad. It was the first confirmation Elder Harris performed so we were excited about that.
Charles Meachum has it fixed in his mind that one of the speakers during General Conference said that "God doesn't like a free man." We've tried again and again to explain to him that they said "natural man" but he won't buy it. We used his story to teach him briefly about the Plan of Salvation and that was fun but he doesn't feel like he needs to pray or be baptized so we don't see much progress. We do know a little more about him now though. He fought in Vietnam so that explains a little bit more about why he's so bitter about God.
We tracted into some fun people last week. There's "Clint Eastwood man", for example. We were walking past his house and we saw him in his front yard so we started inviting him to learn. He was a tall skinny man with a trucker's hat, sunglasses, a tucked in T-shirt, levis, cowboy boots and a long skinny cigarette in his mouth. He saw us, dramatically told his dog to stay put, and growled out a question: "Mormons?" We confirmed his suspicion and to that he shook his head, walked towards his garage and advised us, "Now don't get too many women pregnant." It was awesome. Yesterday we knocked into a Korean woman who knew very little English. She came to her door and yelled out "What's happening?!" She then stared at us for a second and then yelled out "Praise Mormon!" and ran away. A couple days ago we were walking in a neighborhood, heading towards an appointment we had. We were both wondering why we'd decided to walk when all of a sudden we heard a loud tapping noise on the window of the house next to us. Then a lady yelled out "Are you Mormons?!" We introduced ourselves and then she asked "Are you handing out free Bibles?!" We asked whether or not she meant the Book of Mormon and she said yes. She took a copy and we asked her if we could visit her. Then she said, "Saturday at 1:00!" The Lord truly places those being prepared to receive the word in the path of His missionaries.
We had zone conference on Friday and President Sexton instructed us to try harder to exercise moral discipline so we can always have the Spirit with us so we can teach with POWER and authority. We were also told to work harder to have lessons with members present. We're doing our darndest to do that. President came to our apartment on Saturday morning to interview us and the companionship that lives with us. President asked me which talks I particularly enjoyed from conference and I told him I liked Elder Richard G. Scott's talk and I also told him about the impression I received to write Jared during the talk by Elder Choi. President addressed my concern I expressed to him a few weeks ago about finding new investigators and he told me that we've been doing it right and that we should just keep doing what we have been. He said that he wants us to go by exactly what Preach My Gospel says and not to change anything. So now I know that there are several missionaries in this mission that are making finding way more difficult than it needs to be. President even told me that the Brethren are aware that we may never see our new investigators again because so many fail to be there for their return appointment. So that cleared that up. Apparently President decided to interview us in the apartment because he felt an impression that the missionaries we live with are struggling a little bit. When we came back for lunch that day we found out that surely enough those two Elders didn't have very pleasant interviews. I feel bad because one of the Elders is still just a Greenie and his new Senior Companion isn't the best example for obedience. The younger Elder has come to me a few times for advice and I just told him to follow the example of his trainer and to utilize his interview with President Sexton for help. He didn't follow up on that very well so that's why he got himself into a pickle.
So those are the adventures I had last week. Elder Harris and I ran in the rain this morning and it was great. No I haven't heard from David and Dixie :( and yeah I know the birthday card had a swear ;) Have a good day at work! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S.- I could use some good reliable pens. I write A LOT so my pens keep running out on me. Other than that I have the hardest time coming up with requests for packages now... Thank you!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
October 6th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
Sam Sakely got baptized last week! I just read her name at the top of the announcements today! That made my day.
Sounds like a lot's happening back home. I hope all goes well with the website deal today Dad. I told a few members about it. Don't give up on running! That's the whole problem when people try to exercise is that eventually they give up! Mom, please tell Hannah not to be sad. I don't know what's going on next year at this time so nobody needs to worry about missing me yet. And I hope Grandpa's surgery goes well. Lots of prayers.
General Conference was great as usual! Yeah I missed home a little bit too but not too much. I've only got about 11 months left and that's no time! It freaks me out sometimes so I try to ignore it. I learned a lot from the prophet and the apostles. I especially liked Elder Richard G. Scott's talk about spiritual communication and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon.
Two members from our ward passed away last week. One was Bro. Ray Hall. Bro. Hall was a great man. I'd visited him several times these past six months. We'd go over there to share a brief lesson with him mostly because he just liked having the missionaries over. He came to a couple appointments with us and he attended our Gospel Principles class every week. Whenever we'd visit he'd always give us a banana, a cookie and a soda. Every time. He was a sweet old man and we'll miss him. He died peacefully in his sleep Saturday night. Sis. Kawamoto passed as well. Several months ago I went with Elder Anderson and Bishop Jensen (ward mission leader) to go give her and her husband blessings before she went to get treated for cancer. I suppose it was their time for both of them.
Elder Harris and I had an interesting experience last week with a man named Charles Meachum. Charles is a man somewhere in his 50s who just had open-heart surgery. We ran into him knocking and when I started speaking to him he quickly said "I don't believe in any of that." He's an atheist. So we offered to give him some service. He looked a little intrigued and asked if we mowed lawns. A couple days later we had a great service project! It was great. His yard needed some work to say the least because he just flat out couldn't do it. So we trimmed some trees and cut up some branches and I mowed his lawn and weedwacked some weeds. It was so much fun! After that we set up an appointment to teach him the Gospel. He watched a session of General Conference over the weekend and yesterday he told us that he didn't like how we believe that we're so dependent on God. He said he didn't believe in God and didn't think He'd ever done anything for him. He said that he didn't care what happens after this life and he didn't credit God for anything. And then he started rambling and told us a fascinating story about motorcycles. I listened intently to the whole thing, feeling very enlightened. Here's his story:
He had a nephew who wanted to buy a motorcycle from him. It was worth $5,000 but he sold it to his nephew for $3,000. He gave his nephew this nugget of advice: "There are two types of bikers on the road: there are those that have fallen and those that will fall." He said that there were some parts on the motorcycle that needed to be fixed before it hit the streets. He gave his nephew a list telling him exactly what needed to be fixed and replaced. His nephew took the bike home and fixed some of the parts but neglected to repair some vital parts. Then he hit the highway. Eventually he crashed on some off-ramp and he broke his wrist. As a consequence Charles took the bike back and told his nephew he could have it back when he could afford to repair everything on the bike. He knew that his nephew wasn't capable of paying for everything so he mercifully gave him a deal that if he'd help around the yard he'd eventually earn the bike back. Eventually Charles returned the motorcycle to his nephew. He said "I liked the kid- I just didn't want to be responsible for his death." He also explained, "I raised the kid as my own. I'd give anything of mine to him- all he'd have to do is ask."
Do you get it? It's a very profound explanation of the plan of salvation from God's point of view! I explained it to Elder Harris after the conversation and he was amazed. He was wondering why I let Charles ramble on for so long. We're going to use a lot of Charles Meachum's own words when we teach him the plan of salvation.
Sister Chun's dinners are always good. She bought us some burritos from Chipotle's yesterday. They were huge and they were good, but man they messed me up this morning. While I was living with Sister Chun I paid for my haircuts because I had extra money due to Sister Chun not wanting us to waste any food. But other than those four months I've just let other missionaries cut my hair. It works out just fine. I can hardly tell a difference.
Yay a package! Hm... I'd like some stamps if that's okay. Maybe some colored pencils and some zebra pens? Definitely some letters and some more drawings from Hannah. PICTURES. I want to see some recent photage of y'all!
Gracias. I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Sam Sakely got baptized last week! I just read her name at the top of the announcements today! That made my day.
Sounds like a lot's happening back home. I hope all goes well with the website deal today Dad. I told a few members about it. Don't give up on running! That's the whole problem when people try to exercise is that eventually they give up! Mom, please tell Hannah not to be sad. I don't know what's going on next year at this time so nobody needs to worry about missing me yet. And I hope Grandpa's surgery goes well. Lots of prayers.
General Conference was great as usual! Yeah I missed home a little bit too but not too much. I've only got about 11 months left and that's no time! It freaks me out sometimes so I try to ignore it. I learned a lot from the prophet and the apostles. I especially liked Elder Richard G. Scott's talk about spiritual communication and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon.
Two members from our ward passed away last week. One was Bro. Ray Hall. Bro. Hall was a great man. I'd visited him several times these past six months. We'd go over there to share a brief lesson with him mostly because he just liked having the missionaries over. He came to a couple appointments with us and he attended our Gospel Principles class every week. Whenever we'd visit he'd always give us a banana, a cookie and a soda. Every time. He was a sweet old man and we'll miss him. He died peacefully in his sleep Saturday night. Sis. Kawamoto passed as well. Several months ago I went with Elder Anderson and Bishop Jensen (ward mission leader) to go give her and her husband blessings before she went to get treated for cancer. I suppose it was their time for both of them.
Elder Harris and I had an interesting experience last week with a man named Charles Meachum. Charles is a man somewhere in his 50s who just had open-heart surgery. We ran into him knocking and when I started speaking to him he quickly said "I don't believe in any of that." He's an atheist. So we offered to give him some service. He looked a little intrigued and asked if we mowed lawns. A couple days later we had a great service project! It was great. His yard needed some work to say the least because he just flat out couldn't do it. So we trimmed some trees and cut up some branches and I mowed his lawn and weedwacked some weeds. It was so much fun! After that we set up an appointment to teach him the Gospel. He watched a session of General Conference over the weekend and yesterday he told us that he didn't like how we believe that we're so dependent on God. He said he didn't believe in God and didn't think He'd ever done anything for him. He said that he didn't care what happens after this life and he didn't credit God for anything. And then he started rambling and told us a fascinating story about motorcycles. I listened intently to the whole thing, feeling very enlightened. Here's his story:
He had a nephew who wanted to buy a motorcycle from him. It was worth $5,000 but he sold it to his nephew for $3,000. He gave his nephew this nugget of advice: "There are two types of bikers on the road: there are those that have fallen and those that will fall." He said that there were some parts on the motorcycle that needed to be fixed before it hit the streets. He gave his nephew a list telling him exactly what needed to be fixed and replaced. His nephew took the bike home and fixed some of the parts but neglected to repair some vital parts. Then he hit the highway. Eventually he crashed on some off-ramp and he broke his wrist. As a consequence Charles took the bike back and told his nephew he could have it back when he could afford to repair everything on the bike. He knew that his nephew wasn't capable of paying for everything so he mercifully gave him a deal that if he'd help around the yard he'd eventually earn the bike back. Eventually Charles returned the motorcycle to his nephew. He said "I liked the kid- I just didn't want to be responsible for his death." He also explained, "I raised the kid as my own. I'd give anything of mine to him- all he'd have to do is ask."
Do you get it? It's a very profound explanation of the plan of salvation from God's point of view! I explained it to Elder Harris after the conversation and he was amazed. He was wondering why I let Charles ramble on for so long. We're going to use a lot of Charles Meachum's own words when we teach him the plan of salvation.
Sister Chun's dinners are always good. She bought us some burritos from Chipotle's yesterday. They were huge and they were good, but man they messed me up this morning. While I was living with Sister Chun I paid for my haircuts because I had extra money due to Sister Chun not wanting us to waste any food. But other than those four months I've just let other missionaries cut my hair. It works out just fine. I can hardly tell a difference.
Yay a package! Hm... I'd like some stamps if that's okay. Maybe some colored pencils and some zebra pens? Definitely some letters and some more drawings from Hannah. PICTURES. I want to see some recent photage of y'all!
Gracias. I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
September 29th, 2009 (Email)
Hello again!
Elder Harris and I had an amazing week last week. On Tuesday Elder Craig C. Christensen of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy came to the mission and taught us about what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It was an amazing conference and I learned a whole lot. He taught us that the Atonement is the substance of everything we do and that we (the missionaries) are the evidence of the reality of the Atonement. He also taught us how to receive more personal revelation during our studies. Elder Christensen was really happy with the work going on in our mission and he said that the only suggestion he had for us was for us to ask the Lord for more miracles. Elder Harris and I applied that and a miracle happened.
Jessica Maulion was baptized on Sunday!! After a lot of prayer and thought and some revelation during the mission conference Elder Harris and I realized that we needed to invite Jessica to be baptized on September 27th. She prayerfully considered it and she followed through. She's made friends with some amazing sisters from the ward. About a month ago I felt an impression that Jessica needed to meet one of the sisters from the ward named Yolanda Fulcher. So we brought her to some of the lessons with Jessica and they turned out to have a lot in common. Sister Fulcher speaks spanish and she's a convert and her previous religion was catholicism. Sister Fulcher helped us a lot and I know that the portion of the Spirit that she brought to those lessons really helped convert Jessica. So we asked Sister Fulcher to give one of the talks at the baptismal service. Jessica looked really positive on Sunday. A lot of people from the ward came to support Jessica at the baptism that night. Jessica had asked me to baptize her so I did that and everything went well. Jessica couldn't stop smiling after she was baptized so I know that she was ready for that big step that day.
Elder Choi, Elder Clegg, Elder Harris and I all gave talks during sacrament meeting. Elder Harris and I talked about virtue. While studying I realized that I needed to speak about virtue in relation to having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Preach My Gospel says that virtue is prerequisite for that Gift. Sister Christensen during the mission conference taught us that virtue means "power" and that it may have been the Savior's virute that made Him who He was in the pre-existence. Here's my talk in a nutshell: Through the ordinance of confirmation it is made possible for us to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Through the power of virtue we can remain worthy of that gift. Virtue is power over your thoughts, words and actions- power over all that which could offend the Spirit. I shared an experience with the ward about when I went to Flaming Gorge with the priests last summer- the time we saw all those rattlesnakes. While on that trip we saw several rattlesnakes. One evening I went hiking with a couple of the priests and we started to realize that the snakes were waking up so we headed off to find the trail. All we had was one little flashlight to guide us through the rocks and the bushes. We saw one huge rattlesnake on our way so that made us a little more anxious to find the path. When we finally got to the trail it was night but it was easier to see with the flashlight while on the path. Suddenly we heard a loud crazy noise and we immediately saw a really aggressive rattlsnake right in front of us on the trail. The priests wanted to go off the path to go around the rattlesnake but I told them to stay put and wait for the snake to leave- after all, we'd be able to see that snake much easier than the ones that were probably in the bushes off the trail, right? The priests were eventually convinced to stay on the trail and the rattlesnake slithered off into the bushes, which enabled us to safely walk back to the campsite. I think you can already see the spiritual significance in this story in relation to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost - it's easier to detect the things that will harm you when you have the Spirit guiding you on the path to eternal life. Virtuous living is what will keep you on that path. I also shared an example about how when I go running with Elder Harris every morning we pass a big poster of a lady with a revealing leg. I use scripture memorization to help me concentrate away from that poster. The ward thought that story was funny.
Thanks for all your advice for last week's number dilemma. Tell Mogie thanks for sharing that miraculous mission experience with me. After a couple days I started to realize that I didn't need to worry about anything. I'm doing my best so whatev. I e-mailed President and asked what I needed to do and he hasn't said anything to me so I think that means that he thinks I'm okay. President Sexton came to Jessica's baptism! That was a surprise. He called a little bit before the service and asked if it was still happening and said that he was planning on attending. That was neat.
So time for Mom's questions: Last week I cut Elder Harris' hair and he cut mine. We both think we did splendid jobs. I think I'm good with my stuff for now. Got some groceries today and I'll have more dinero on my card next week. Dogs are doing better now. I just have to fake being short and tiny when I'm around them. We're probably going to drop that spanish family tonight because they're just NOT keeping any commitments! Argh! Sister Heather Norris went through the temple and she looks like she's feeling great. Her health is doing a lot better now and she's going to General Conference this weekend and then she's going through the Salt Lake temple. I think we'd only get to go through the temple with our converts. The Norris famly's doing just dandy. And yep we get to see all the sessions of conference this weekend yay!
Thanks for all your prayers and support!
I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Elder Harris and I had an amazing week last week. On Tuesday Elder Craig C. Christensen of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy came to the mission and taught us about what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It was an amazing conference and I learned a whole lot. He taught us that the Atonement is the substance of everything we do and that we (the missionaries) are the evidence of the reality of the Atonement. He also taught us how to receive more personal revelation during our studies. Elder Christensen was really happy with the work going on in our mission and he said that the only suggestion he had for us was for us to ask the Lord for more miracles. Elder Harris and I applied that and a miracle happened.
Jessica Maulion was baptized on Sunday!! After a lot of prayer and thought and some revelation during the mission conference Elder Harris and I realized that we needed to invite Jessica to be baptized on September 27th. She prayerfully considered it and she followed through. She's made friends with some amazing sisters from the ward. About a month ago I felt an impression that Jessica needed to meet one of the sisters from the ward named Yolanda Fulcher. So we brought her to some of the lessons with Jessica and they turned out to have a lot in common. Sister Fulcher speaks spanish and she's a convert and her previous religion was catholicism. Sister Fulcher helped us a lot and I know that the portion of the Spirit that she brought to those lessons really helped convert Jessica. So we asked Sister Fulcher to give one of the talks at the baptismal service. Jessica looked really positive on Sunday. A lot of people from the ward came to support Jessica at the baptism that night. Jessica had asked me to baptize her so I did that and everything went well. Jessica couldn't stop smiling after she was baptized so I know that she was ready for that big step that day.
Elder Choi, Elder Clegg, Elder Harris and I all gave talks during sacrament meeting. Elder Harris and I talked about virtue. While studying I realized that I needed to speak about virtue in relation to having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Preach My Gospel says that virtue is prerequisite for that Gift. Sister Christensen during the mission conference taught us that virtue means "power" and that it may have been the Savior's virute that made Him who He was in the pre-existence. Here's my talk in a nutshell: Through the ordinance of confirmation it is made possible for us to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Through the power of virtue we can remain worthy of that gift. Virtue is power over your thoughts, words and actions- power over all that which could offend the Spirit. I shared an experience with the ward about when I went to Flaming Gorge with the priests last summer- the time we saw all those rattlesnakes. While on that trip we saw several rattlesnakes. One evening I went hiking with a couple of the priests and we started to realize that the snakes were waking up so we headed off to find the trail. All we had was one little flashlight to guide us through the rocks and the bushes. We saw one huge rattlesnake on our way so that made us a little more anxious to find the path. When we finally got to the trail it was night but it was easier to see with the flashlight while on the path. Suddenly we heard a loud crazy noise and we immediately saw a really aggressive rattlsnake right in front of us on the trail. The priests wanted to go off the path to go around the rattlesnake but I told them to stay put and wait for the snake to leave- after all, we'd be able to see that snake much easier than the ones that were probably in the bushes off the trail, right? The priests were eventually convinced to stay on the trail and the rattlesnake slithered off into the bushes, which enabled us to safely walk back to the campsite. I think you can already see the spiritual significance in this story in relation to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost - it's easier to detect the things that will harm you when you have the Spirit guiding you on the path to eternal life. Virtuous living is what will keep you on that path. I also shared an example about how when I go running with Elder Harris every morning we pass a big poster of a lady with a revealing leg. I use scripture memorization to help me concentrate away from that poster. The ward thought that story was funny.
Thanks for all your advice for last week's number dilemma. Tell Mogie thanks for sharing that miraculous mission experience with me. After a couple days I started to realize that I didn't need to worry about anything. I'm doing my best so whatev. I e-mailed President and asked what I needed to do and he hasn't said anything to me so I think that means that he thinks I'm okay. President Sexton came to Jessica's baptism! That was a surprise. He called a little bit before the service and asked if it was still happening and said that he was planning on attending. That was neat.
So time for Mom's questions: Last week I cut Elder Harris' hair and he cut mine. We both think we did splendid jobs. I think I'm good with my stuff for now. Got some groceries today and I'll have more dinero on my card next week. Dogs are doing better now. I just have to fake being short and tiny when I'm around them. We're probably going to drop that spanish family tonight because they're just NOT keeping any commitments! Argh! Sister Heather Norris went through the temple and she looks like she's feeling great. Her health is doing a lot better now and she's going to General Conference this weekend and then she's going through the Salt Lake temple. I think we'd only get to go through the temple with our converts. The Norris famly's doing just dandy. And yep we get to see all the sessions of conference this weekend yay!
Thanks for all your prayers and support!
I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
September 21st, 2009 (Email)
"today's forecast - Jesus reigns forever"
Hello!
That subject heading is a direct quote from the billboard of some church just around the corner from our apartment. I laughed pretty hard at that one. The last one said "if there's no God then there wouldn't be any atheists."
Jessica Maulion's doing better now. She prayed and she says she's at peace now. We've taught her all the lessons and now she just needs to be interviewed and be baptized and confirmed. But here's the thing- she was on vacation this weekend so now she's missed church three times in a row. She's been to church twice but Elder Harris and I feel that she should come one more time before her baptism. So we're trying to decide on what we'll switch the date to when we talk with her tomorrow. Our District Leader, Elder Choi, thinks we should baptize her on the 27th (this Sunday) but that would leave a 2 week gap between her baptism and her confirmation due to General Conference (converts get confirmed during sacrament meetings.) So I'm not sure what to do yet. We've been praying for direction a lot on this one.
Things aren't going too well with that spanish family we've been teaching. They're still interested to learn and they're still there for our appointments BUT they never go to church and the mom and the dad aren't married. We taught the family the law of chastity (the 14-yr-old daughter has a 2-yr-old daughter!!) and we invited them to keep that commandment but none of them said they're willing to live it. :( The mom and the dad aren't willing to get married yet, so... well, they can't get baptized yet that's for sure. We invited the daughter to be baptized with the parents a couple appointments ago before we knew their whole situation but she didn't want to commit to anything. We're having another appointment with them tomorrow and if things keep going as they are we're going to have to drop them. I've enjoyed teaching that family though. We've been teaching them in Spanish because their English is very limited and we've received a lot of help from a sister from the Spanish ward named Hermana Rubio.
The mother of one of the less-active families we've worked with ever since I've been here is going through the temple this Saturday! She's been through a lot. She's cuaght three different kinds of cancer and last night she shared an amazing experience with us about one of the times she died. I believe she said that was the third time she's technically died. I love that family- we're focusing on helping the 14-yr-old son and daughter be more active in the church. The son hasn't received the priesthood yet. And last night Elder Harris and I felt a strong impression that we need to try to invite the non-member husband to take the lessons again. Elder Anderson, Elder Rada and I have all invited the husband to learn and be baptized but we didn't see any progress. It's been a while since we've tried again so that's what we'll do.
Last night I had to report our weekly numbers to our district leader as is usual on Sunday evenings. Elder Harris and I tend to find a lot of new investigators because we follow what Preach My Gospel says to do to count new investigators: we teach a lesson and set up a return appointment. I've been taught from the beginning of my mission that to count someone as a new investigator you need to teach a principle or two, set up a return appointment, and leave them a commitment. Anyway last week we found 12 new investigators and our district leader sounded like he and the zone leaders think I'm being dishonest about how many people we find since we only have one investigator with a baptismal date. It's true that about a week ago we had four people with a baptismal date but that didn't work out but no one took that into account. I'm willing to cut back on the actual number of people we count when we find just to avoid unwanted attention but when it comes down to it we honestly found 12 new investigators. I'm not sure if they're concerned about how we count them or if we're inviting people to be baptized during the first lesson but either way I thought I was doing what I was supposed to. I could be wrong though. The district leader did give me some good advice, which was to invite more people to be baptized when we invite them to learn. I'll follow that. We invite during the 1st lesson when we get to actually sit down with people and teach them the full 1st lesson.
So there's some missionary drama for you. I'm going to ask President what I should do because 1.I don't want attention and 2.I don't want to teach Elder Harris false doctrine if I've been doing this wrong. And if you've got some advice I'd appreciate that too.
And that's the week as far as I remember it. I haven't heard from David Ramos or David and Dixie since I left and I don't need any medicine but thanks. I'm suspicious about whether or not I'm still allergic to poultry because I have definitely been fed chicken by accident at least once. So I wouldn't worry about the shots but I'll still be careful. That's funny about Karsten and that's scary about Hannah! Just kidding. But seriously am I going to recognize my little sister anymore in a year??
Have a good day out there in bufoo!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Hello!
That subject heading is a direct quote from the billboard of some church just around the corner from our apartment. I laughed pretty hard at that one. The last one said "if there's no God then there wouldn't be any atheists."
Jessica Maulion's doing better now. She prayed and she says she's at peace now. We've taught her all the lessons and now she just needs to be interviewed and be baptized and confirmed. But here's the thing- she was on vacation this weekend so now she's missed church three times in a row. She's been to church twice but Elder Harris and I feel that she should come one more time before her baptism. So we're trying to decide on what we'll switch the date to when we talk with her tomorrow. Our District Leader, Elder Choi, thinks we should baptize her on the 27th (this Sunday) but that would leave a 2 week gap between her baptism and her confirmation due to General Conference (converts get confirmed during sacrament meetings.) So I'm not sure what to do yet. We've been praying for direction a lot on this one.
Things aren't going too well with that spanish family we've been teaching. They're still interested to learn and they're still there for our appointments BUT they never go to church and the mom and the dad aren't married. We taught the family the law of chastity (the 14-yr-old daughter has a 2-yr-old daughter!!) and we invited them to keep that commandment but none of them said they're willing to live it. :( The mom and the dad aren't willing to get married yet, so... well, they can't get baptized yet that's for sure. We invited the daughter to be baptized with the parents a couple appointments ago before we knew their whole situation but she didn't want to commit to anything. We're having another appointment with them tomorrow and if things keep going as they are we're going to have to drop them. I've enjoyed teaching that family though. We've been teaching them in Spanish because their English is very limited and we've received a lot of help from a sister from the Spanish ward named Hermana Rubio.
The mother of one of the less-active families we've worked with ever since I've been here is going through the temple this Saturday! She's been through a lot. She's cuaght three different kinds of cancer and last night she shared an amazing experience with us about one of the times she died. I believe she said that was the third time she's technically died. I love that family- we're focusing on helping the 14-yr-old son and daughter be more active in the church. The son hasn't received the priesthood yet. And last night Elder Harris and I felt a strong impression that we need to try to invite the non-member husband to take the lessons again. Elder Anderson, Elder Rada and I have all invited the husband to learn and be baptized but we didn't see any progress. It's been a while since we've tried again so that's what we'll do.
Last night I had to report our weekly numbers to our district leader as is usual on Sunday evenings. Elder Harris and I tend to find a lot of new investigators because we follow what Preach My Gospel says to do to count new investigators: we teach a lesson and set up a return appointment. I've been taught from the beginning of my mission that to count someone as a new investigator you need to teach a principle or two, set up a return appointment, and leave them a commitment. Anyway last week we found 12 new investigators and our district leader sounded like he and the zone leaders think I'm being dishonest about how many people we find since we only have one investigator with a baptismal date. It's true that about a week ago we had four people with a baptismal date but that didn't work out but no one took that into account. I'm willing to cut back on the actual number of people we count when we find just to avoid unwanted attention but when it comes down to it we honestly found 12 new investigators. I'm not sure if they're concerned about how we count them or if we're inviting people to be baptized during the first lesson but either way I thought I was doing what I was supposed to. I could be wrong though. The district leader did give me some good advice, which was to invite more people to be baptized when we invite them to learn. I'll follow that. We invite during the 1st lesson when we get to actually sit down with people and teach them the full 1st lesson.
So there's some missionary drama for you. I'm going to ask President what I should do because 1.I don't want attention and 2.I don't want to teach Elder Harris false doctrine if I've been doing this wrong. And if you've got some advice I'd appreciate that too.
And that's the week as far as I remember it. I haven't heard from David Ramos or David and Dixie since I left and I don't need any medicine but thanks. I'm suspicious about whether or not I'm still allergic to poultry because I have definitely been fed chicken by accident at least once. So I wouldn't worry about the shots but I'll still be careful. That's funny about Karsten and that's scary about Hannah! Just kidding. But seriously am I going to recognize my little sister anymore in a year??
Have a good day out there in bufoo!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
September 15th, 2009 (Email)
(Subject: "if you're in bufoo you're probably poppin' prairie dogs")
Hello!
The subject heading is a direct quote from Elder Harris. I'm learning all sorts of Wyoming vocabulary such as "bufoo" which I guess means "way out in the boonies" and "the popo" which means "the police."
Just so you know my next P-Day is on Monday due to the Mission Tour happening on Tuesday. Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Seventy will be coming to the mission that day. So expect my e-mail on Monday.
This week was a rollercoaster week. We invited Ana and Ramiro Rodriguez to be baptized on the 26th of this month and they said they'd prepare themselves. We had a member with us for the lesson named Hermana (Sister) Rubio and she's an amazing member missionary. She's deadset on helping us teach the Rodriguez family. However, the family didn't come to Stake Conference on Sunday so we're going to have to push their baptismal date back to October 10th (Dad's B-Dizzle.) We're planning on inviting their daughter, Erandi(?) to be baptized that day as well. I've never helped baptize someone into a spanish ward before so I'm excited.
Jessica Maulion got anti'd last week. Which means she received an e-mail from a stranger with a link to some anti-mormon clip on YouTube. It confused her and discouraged her a little so she decided she doesn't want to be baptized this weekend. She left us a note on her door that explained the whole thing. She said she's glad we gave her some direction and that she'd keep living the things we taught her but until she gets some answers she wants to hold back a little. So we stopped by her house and persuaded her to keep taking the lessons and then yesterday we set a goal with her for her to prepare herself to be baptized on the 26th. So we're just about back on track with her. We shared some things Elder David F. Evans of the Seventy shared during Stake Conference about testing Moroni's Promise and finding your testimony through obedience.
I got into a slight car accident last week. My first one hooray! There's this crazy freeway intersection next to an Asian Buffet we went to for dinner and I didn't see the long line of cars suddenly backed up at the red light until it was too late. Nothing happened to either of the cars and the men in the other car ended up being really nice. Our license plate was bent just a little. I called President Sexton and asked what I was supposed to do and he said "well if the other people don't want to call the police or anything I'd say that you don't need to do anything." So that was that. I gave the other driver $10 for gas and apologized and he was really happy about that. My bad! So now in accordance with the rules I can't drive until the beginning part of October. So now I'm on cell phone duty again!
I've decided that I really like sushi. The more I've had it the more I've liked it. I had some eel sushi a few days ago. It's just so simple: some fish, some tofu or some sort of veggie, rice and seaweed. So good!
So that was my week in a nutshell. We're still doing pretty good. We have some great investigators and we enjoy every opportunity we get to teach. I'm sure this second year will be just as amazing as the first. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S.- could you do me a favor and tell someone in the stake presidency that the mission office address is 6500 E. Atherton St. Long Beach CA 90815? They keep sending my letters to the Signal Hill address and we're not there anymore. Gracias!
Hello!
The subject heading is a direct quote from Elder Harris. I'm learning all sorts of Wyoming vocabulary such as "bufoo" which I guess means "way out in the boonies" and "the popo" which means "the police."
Just so you know my next P-Day is on Monday due to the Mission Tour happening on Tuesday. Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Seventy will be coming to the mission that day. So expect my e-mail on Monday.
This week was a rollercoaster week. We invited Ana and Ramiro Rodriguez to be baptized on the 26th of this month and they said they'd prepare themselves. We had a member with us for the lesson named Hermana (Sister) Rubio and she's an amazing member missionary. She's deadset on helping us teach the Rodriguez family. However, the family didn't come to Stake Conference on Sunday so we're going to have to push their baptismal date back to October 10th (Dad's B-Dizzle.) We're planning on inviting their daughter, Erandi(?) to be baptized that day as well. I've never helped baptize someone into a spanish ward before so I'm excited.
Jessica Maulion got anti'd last week. Which means she received an e-mail from a stranger with a link to some anti-mormon clip on YouTube. It confused her and discouraged her a little so she decided she doesn't want to be baptized this weekend. She left us a note on her door that explained the whole thing. She said she's glad we gave her some direction and that she'd keep living the things we taught her but until she gets some answers she wants to hold back a little. So we stopped by her house and persuaded her to keep taking the lessons and then yesterday we set a goal with her for her to prepare herself to be baptized on the 26th. So we're just about back on track with her. We shared some things Elder David F. Evans of the Seventy shared during Stake Conference about testing Moroni's Promise and finding your testimony through obedience.
I got into a slight car accident last week. My first one hooray! There's this crazy freeway intersection next to an Asian Buffet we went to for dinner and I didn't see the long line of cars suddenly backed up at the red light until it was too late. Nothing happened to either of the cars and the men in the other car ended up being really nice. Our license plate was bent just a little. I called President Sexton and asked what I was supposed to do and he said "well if the other people don't want to call the police or anything I'd say that you don't need to do anything." So that was that. I gave the other driver $10 for gas and apologized and he was really happy about that. My bad! So now in accordance with the rules I can't drive until the beginning part of October. So now I'm on cell phone duty again!
I've decided that I really like sushi. The more I've had it the more I've liked it. I had some eel sushi a few days ago. It's just so simple: some fish, some tofu or some sort of veggie, rice and seaweed. So good!
So that was my week in a nutshell. We're still doing pretty good. We have some great investigators and we enjoy every opportunity we get to teach. I'm sure this second year will be just as amazing as the first. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S.- could you do me a favor and tell someone in the stake presidency that the mission office address is 6500 E. Atherton St. Long Beach CA 90815? They keep sending my letters to the Signal Hill address and we're not there anymore. Gracias!
September 8th, 2009 (Email)
Howdy!
Elder Harris and I are still working hard just trying to find, teach and baptize people. It's been a good couple of weeks. Jessica is still progressing just fine. She committed to keep the laws of tithing and fasting last time we visited her. I asked her if she felt a difference since she started meeting with us and she said she really has. She told us that when she moved here from Las Vegas she was feeling lost and wasn't sure what she needed to do and then Elder Rada and I came and knocked on her door just two weeks later! She has a lot of faith.
We committed another investigator to a baptismal date. His name's Charles Cole. He's an african-american brother who lives in the same neighborhood as Jessica. Now, we don't think he really understands what committing to being baptized really means quite yet, so we're real anxious for our next visit with him so that we can explain a little bit more and invite his mother to be baptized as well. Neither of them have come to church yet (partly due to Labor Day weekend) so it may take a little longer for us to work with them. I've noticed that Heavenly Father really prepared a lot of people for us to teach in that particular neighborhood. There are at least two other investigators we're working with there as well. There are actually fish in the sea of Cerritos!
So remember Hyemi Choi? She was a Korean girl that Elder Rada and I taught for a few weeks and then she decided she just wanted to go to institute because we kept inviting her to be baptized and she didn't think she was ready. Well, as soon as we heard Elder Choi was taking over the other half of the area Elder Rada and I and the ward all knew that if a Korean Elder started teaching Hyemi the possibilities were pretty bright. And it's true! Even though Hyemi lives in my area we set Elder Choi and his companion up to start visiting her and now, just about a week later, she's committed to be baptized on the 19th! So I'm happy about that.
Elder Harris and I have been teaching a lot of people in Spanish as of late. We found this one spanish-speaking couple named Ana and Ramiro one day by tracting in a park. Ana had met with missionaries before in Mexico and Ramiro knew a little bit about the church already. As soon as Ramiro figured out that the Book of Mormon has to do with a branch from the House of Israel he got really excited. They're sincerely interested to learn more and we have a return appointment with them tomorrow.
Yesterday we met with a man from the Pentecostal Church named Ralph. I guess Pentecostals believe that the gift of tongues is evidence that you've received the Spirit. The gift of tongues is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. If you read Acts chapter 2 it's clear that the gift of tongues is a gift of the spirit with a specific purpose: to preach the gospel. Not everbody receives that gift. The doctrine of the gift of tongues was really messed up by the Great Apostasy. But anyway, Ralph is sincerely interested to learn more and we have a return appointment with him tomorrow too. We didn't get to invite him to be baptized during our first appointment because he likes to talk a lot and he kept sidetracking us from the lesson though it really was our intention to invite him to be baptized. We're going to take care of that early on in the lesson tomorrow.
During one of our lessons with a spanish speaking person I noticed that I truly felt like my tongue had been "loosed." It was pretty neat. Elder Harris' spanish is coming along great too. He's lucky he gets to start his mission in an area where we get to teach in spanish a lot. And I'm lucky I was trained by an Ecuadorian.
Wow Dad 218 pounds!? That's amazing! Keep it up! 175 pounds eh? Good goal. I'm not sure how much I weigh right now but I think I'm still sitting at 140. Elder Harris and I run every morning for 25 to 30 minutes. I should definitely be able to run the loop with you and mom when I get home next year!
I had Elder Harris hand someone a pamphlet from the car a few days ago. When we invite someone to learn while tracting we call it an "I.T.L." (an invite to learn) so we were driving with the windows down and we pulled up to someone else with their windows down at a red light and I handed Elder Harris a pamphlet and just started yelling "Car-T.L.! Car-T.L.!" and he actually did it! It was hilarious.
Well that's what's happening. Hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S. my inconsistancy with the time I e-mail is due to the inconsistancy of my P-day schedule. Sometimes we grocery shop first, sometimes not. I can't make any promises with that but for the most part I'll be e-mailing around this time.
Elder Harris and I are still working hard just trying to find, teach and baptize people. It's been a good couple of weeks. Jessica is still progressing just fine. She committed to keep the laws of tithing and fasting last time we visited her. I asked her if she felt a difference since she started meeting with us and she said she really has. She told us that when she moved here from Las Vegas she was feeling lost and wasn't sure what she needed to do and then Elder Rada and I came and knocked on her door just two weeks later! She has a lot of faith.
We committed another investigator to a baptismal date. His name's Charles Cole. He's an african-american brother who lives in the same neighborhood as Jessica. Now, we don't think he really understands what committing to being baptized really means quite yet, so we're real anxious for our next visit with him so that we can explain a little bit more and invite his mother to be baptized as well. Neither of them have come to church yet (partly due to Labor Day weekend) so it may take a little longer for us to work with them. I've noticed that Heavenly Father really prepared a lot of people for us to teach in that particular neighborhood. There are at least two other investigators we're working with there as well. There are actually fish in the sea of Cerritos!
So remember Hyemi Choi? She was a Korean girl that Elder Rada and I taught for a few weeks and then she decided she just wanted to go to institute because we kept inviting her to be baptized and she didn't think she was ready. Well, as soon as we heard Elder Choi was taking over the other half of the area Elder Rada and I and the ward all knew that if a Korean Elder started teaching Hyemi the possibilities were pretty bright. And it's true! Even though Hyemi lives in my area we set Elder Choi and his companion up to start visiting her and now, just about a week later, she's committed to be baptized on the 19th! So I'm happy about that.
Elder Harris and I have been teaching a lot of people in Spanish as of late. We found this one spanish-speaking couple named Ana and Ramiro one day by tracting in a park. Ana had met with missionaries before in Mexico and Ramiro knew a little bit about the church already. As soon as Ramiro figured out that the Book of Mormon has to do with a branch from the House of Israel he got really excited. They're sincerely interested to learn more and we have a return appointment with them tomorrow.
Yesterday we met with a man from the Pentecostal Church named Ralph. I guess Pentecostals believe that the gift of tongues is evidence that you've received the Spirit. The gift of tongues is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. If you read Acts chapter 2 it's clear that the gift of tongues is a gift of the spirit with a specific purpose: to preach the gospel. Not everbody receives that gift. The doctrine of the gift of tongues was really messed up by the Great Apostasy. But anyway, Ralph is sincerely interested to learn more and we have a return appointment with him tomorrow too. We didn't get to invite him to be baptized during our first appointment because he likes to talk a lot and he kept sidetracking us from the lesson though it really was our intention to invite him to be baptized. We're going to take care of that early on in the lesson tomorrow.
During one of our lessons with a spanish speaking person I noticed that I truly felt like my tongue had been "loosed." It was pretty neat. Elder Harris' spanish is coming along great too. He's lucky he gets to start his mission in an area where we get to teach in spanish a lot. And I'm lucky I was trained by an Ecuadorian.
Wow Dad 218 pounds!? That's amazing! Keep it up! 175 pounds eh? Good goal. I'm not sure how much I weigh right now but I think I'm still sitting at 140. Elder Harris and I run every morning for 25 to 30 minutes. I should definitely be able to run the loop with you and mom when I get home next year!
I had Elder Harris hand someone a pamphlet from the car a few days ago. When we invite someone to learn while tracting we call it an "I.T.L." (an invite to learn) so we were driving with the windows down and we pulled up to someone else with their windows down at a red light and I handed Elder Harris a pamphlet and just started yelling "Car-T.L.! Car-T.L.!" and he actually did it! It was hilarious.
Well that's what's happening. Hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S. my inconsistancy with the time I e-mail is due to the inconsistancy of my P-day schedule. Sometimes we grocery shop first, sometimes not. I can't make any promises with that but for the most part I'll be e-mailing around this time.
September 1st, 2009 (Bonus Email)
Oh yeah i want to tell you about this thing that just happened to us at Target. While we were shopping I suddenly decided I really needed butter. So we walked to the butter place and ran into a member from the ward who wanted to talk to us about some people she wanted us to visit. Somewhere along the conversation it dawned on me that I didn't need butter at all and that it would have actually been absurd for me to buy butter and leave it in the car for as long as I'd have had to. So the Spirit works in many ways. Just wanted to share that with you. Gotta go now love you bye!
September 1st, 2009 (Email)
Okay so I have to re-type this whole e-mail now because the computer erased my last one. It was a good one too. Oh well.
Things are going good now that I'm pretty much all situated. My new companion is Elder Harris. He's from Casper Wyoming and he's a great missionary. He is really enthusiastic about the work and he's diligently trying to learn spanish. I worry about grammar and he worries about vocabulary so together we're learning lots of spanish. I now realize that my spanish has come a long ways. I can actually hold a conversation with someone. It's pretty neat. Elder Harris is a little taller than I am (go figure) and his hair is the same color as Hannah's. We'll have a good time working together. Training is pretty fun. The key is to help the new missionary work towards independance so he has to be involved in every phase of the work.
Jessica, our investigator who's being baptized September 19th, is doing fantastic. She's come to church twice now and she has a lot of fellowship from the ward. Yesterday we had a lesson with a member present named Sister Fulcher and we taught Jessica about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sister Fulcher shared her testimony a few times and it was amazing.
The apartment is a lot better than the apartment I had in Buena Park. It doesn't smell like vomit and it's a lot cleaner. Elder Harris loves to clean and I have my OCD tendencies back from living at Sister Chun's so the apartment will become even cleaner. Our apartment decided we're living the law of consecration with food and that's working out great. Each of us only have to spend $20 each so that comes down to $80 of food every week! We've got grains, fruits, veggies - everything we need. And I used some of my birthday money to buy a 7-piece cooking set today.
I've really got to figure out why all these small dogs keep running up to me and biting my ankles. It's driving me nuts!
So that's an abridgment of my last e-mail (R.I.P.) Hopefully the computer won't eat next week's slightly longer e-mail. Sounds like fun changes are happening back home too. Gracias for everything and talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Things are going good now that I'm pretty much all situated. My new companion is Elder Harris. He's from Casper Wyoming and he's a great missionary. He is really enthusiastic about the work and he's diligently trying to learn spanish. I worry about grammar and he worries about vocabulary so together we're learning lots of spanish. I now realize that my spanish has come a long ways. I can actually hold a conversation with someone. It's pretty neat. Elder Harris is a little taller than I am (go figure) and his hair is the same color as Hannah's. We'll have a good time working together. Training is pretty fun. The key is to help the new missionary work towards independance so he has to be involved in every phase of the work.
Jessica, our investigator who's being baptized September 19th, is doing fantastic. She's come to church twice now and she has a lot of fellowship from the ward. Yesterday we had a lesson with a member present named Sister Fulcher and we taught Jessica about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sister Fulcher shared her testimony a few times and it was amazing.
The apartment is a lot better than the apartment I had in Buena Park. It doesn't smell like vomit and it's a lot cleaner. Elder Harris loves to clean and I have my OCD tendencies back from living at Sister Chun's so the apartment will become even cleaner. Our apartment decided we're living the law of consecration with food and that's working out great. Each of us only have to spend $20 each so that comes down to $80 of food every week! We've got grains, fruits, veggies - everything we need. And I used some of my birthday money to buy a 7-piece cooking set today.
I've really got to figure out why all these small dogs keep running up to me and biting my ankles. It's driving me nuts!
So that's an abridgment of my last e-mail (R.I.P.) Hopefully the computer won't eat next week's slightly longer e-mail. Sounds like fun changes are happening back home too. Gracias for everything and talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
August 25th, 2009 (Bonus Email)
P.S. - my new address is:
16031 Pioneer Blvd Apt. G-11
Norwalk CA 90650
And to answer Mom's last question my Spanish is coming along. I can pretty much understand people and with effort get across to them what I need to say. I'm not immersed in Spanish having worked in English wards all my mission but I think that I'll be alright. I do my spanish studies and I ask questions when I have them. Por lo mas puedo hablar la idioma. Pues, creo que si. I'd like to teach and baptize someone into the Spanish ward but most of the spanish speaking people we've found here have been pretty flaky. There's plenty of spanish speaking people in Hawaiian Gardens so we'll see.
love you!
Bye!
16031 Pioneer Blvd Apt. G-11
Norwalk CA 90650
And to answer Mom's last question my Spanish is coming along. I can pretty much understand people and with effort get across to them what I need to say. I'm not immersed in Spanish having worked in English wards all my mission but I think that I'll be alright. I do my spanish studies and I ask questions when I have them. Por lo mas puedo hablar la idioma. Pues, creo que si. I'd like to teach and baptize someone into the Spanish ward but most of the spanish speaking people we've found here have been pretty flaky. There's plenty of spanish speaking people in Hawaiian Gardens so we'll see.
love you!
Bye!
August 25th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
A lot of things just happened! But I don't have much time so let's see how fast I can type...
Last Wednesday evening I got a phonecall from one of the Assistants to the President telling me that I'd been called to be a Trainer. Friday morning I went to the mission office for the leadership meetings and President Sexton and the Assistants told the other trainers and I about our responsibilities. Saturday Raquel Piceno was baptized. She wanted me to baptize her so I did that. Her mom, dad and uncle all came to the baptism. There was some tension between the family and some people were late to the baptism so it was a little stressful but it turned out fine. Saturday night we received transfer calls and Elder Rada and I found out that we were both moving out of Sister Chun's house due to our area being split. So here's what has happened: Elder Rada went with another Elder to Cerritos 2nd Ward, the Spanish ward. He's living with a member in the One-Ways. I have moved to an apartment with Elder Colon (the District Leader) and his Greenie. Elder Choi moved into Sister Chun's house this morning and he's with me right now. We're both training new missionaries so we have to go pick them up in a little bit. So I'll be covering the big southern part of the area which includes Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Cerritos and a little bit of Artesia and Elder Choi will be covering the little northern part of the area which is mostly just Norwalk. Jessica, our investigator who just last week committed to be baptized September 19th, will be in Elder Choi's area so I have to hand her over to him. So the new missionary and I will have to work hard to find another person who'll prepare to be baptized. It's all good. I'm putting a lot of trust in the Lord and President Sexton on this one. It's a lot to handle but it will definitely be an adventure.
So that's what's up. Raquel Piceno was confirmed on Sunday by Elder Rada and she and her family will still be in my area so I'll still get to work with them. And Beatrice Allen will be in my area too.
I'm in the Cerritos Library right now and I just saw Elder Kemp! He's in my district now! He looks like he's doing great. He had a baptism a little while ago. Sister Choi's here too! She was in my MTC district as well. I haven't seen either of them for 10 months now! It's gone by fast.
No church wasn't canceled for that temple dedication on Sunday. I haven't even heard anything about it other than from you. That's cool that Hannah got to experience that. I hope she starts liking school. Oh that awkward part of life. I don't know what it's like for girls. I didn't notice how weird it was until it was over. That's awesome your exercise stuff is doing you good! I'll hopefully get to run with the Greenie. I couldn't run with Elder Rada because of his broken knee.
Well that's what's happening in my life. It's a little hectic now but it'll all be normal again in a few days. I get to drive now! It will be fun. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
A lot of things just happened! But I don't have much time so let's see how fast I can type...
Last Wednesday evening I got a phonecall from one of the Assistants to the President telling me that I'd been called to be a Trainer. Friday morning I went to the mission office for the leadership meetings and President Sexton and the Assistants told the other trainers and I about our responsibilities. Saturday Raquel Piceno was baptized. She wanted me to baptize her so I did that. Her mom, dad and uncle all came to the baptism. There was some tension between the family and some people were late to the baptism so it was a little stressful but it turned out fine. Saturday night we received transfer calls and Elder Rada and I found out that we were both moving out of Sister Chun's house due to our area being split. So here's what has happened: Elder Rada went with another Elder to Cerritos 2nd Ward, the Spanish ward. He's living with a member in the One-Ways. I have moved to an apartment with Elder Colon (the District Leader) and his Greenie. Elder Choi moved into Sister Chun's house this morning and he's with me right now. We're both training new missionaries so we have to go pick them up in a little bit. So I'll be covering the big southern part of the area which includes Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Cerritos and a little bit of Artesia and Elder Choi will be covering the little northern part of the area which is mostly just Norwalk. Jessica, our investigator who just last week committed to be baptized September 19th, will be in Elder Choi's area so I have to hand her over to him. So the new missionary and I will have to work hard to find another person who'll prepare to be baptized. It's all good. I'm putting a lot of trust in the Lord and President Sexton on this one. It's a lot to handle but it will definitely be an adventure.
So that's what's up. Raquel Piceno was confirmed on Sunday by Elder Rada and she and her family will still be in my area so I'll still get to work with them. And Beatrice Allen will be in my area too.
I'm in the Cerritos Library right now and I just saw Elder Kemp! He's in my district now! He looks like he's doing great. He had a baptism a little while ago. Sister Choi's here too! She was in my MTC district as well. I haven't seen either of them for 10 months now! It's gone by fast.
No church wasn't canceled for that temple dedication on Sunday. I haven't even heard anything about it other than from you. That's cool that Hannah got to experience that. I hope she starts liking school. Oh that awkward part of life. I don't know what it's like for girls. I didn't notice how weird it was until it was over. That's awesome your exercise stuff is doing you good! I'll hopefully get to run with the Greenie. I couldn't run with Elder Rada because of his broken knee.
Well that's what's happening in my life. It's a little hectic now but it'll all be normal again in a few days. I get to drive now! It will be fun. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
August 18th, 2009 (Email)
Hello and thanks for the birthday goodness!
Those new pants are amazing! They fit perfectly. And those new shirts are so white! Muchas gracias also for the spanish verb book. That's helping a lot. I know how to use the imperfect subjunctive tense now. And those eyedrops make a difference. My eyes feel nice and hydrated now.
Yep Sister Chun took Elder Rada and I to Macoroni Grill for my birthday. That was great. I had mushroom ravioli of course. The waitress had one of the employees come sing happy birthday to me. He was a tall bald white guy and he came and sang happy birthday to me in Italian - all by himself. It was so awkward I couldn't help but laugh a lot. And Elder Rada baked me a peach cake. That was super nice.
Raquel Piceno's back and we're still set to have her baptism this Saturday. We called her dad already to let him know so he won't kidnap her again. We were going to have family home evening with her family last night but they had to cancel so we're going to have it tonight.
Jessica's still doing great. On my birthday we had a good lesson with her with a member from the ward. Her brother Angel decided to listen to us too so now we're teaching both of them. Jessica's 20 years old and Angel is 14. Their parents found out that they're meeting with us and they don't really approve. Nevertheless Jessica and Angel are still interested and told us to keep teaching them. They want us to come anyday before 5:00, or in other words before their parents get home from work. So that'll be fun. We're really hoping to see the two of them at church next Sunday. We wouldn't need the parents' permission to baptize Jessica but we would for Angel. We'll see what happens.
I've caught a cough lately so Sister Chun's helping me build up my immune system by having me take all this essential oil stuff. I think I'm going to nickname her Sister Chun the Potions Master. She made some sort of wintergreen/honey substance for me last night and she's having me sniff this herbal oil stuff called Thieves. You know the stuff the wisemen gave Jesus when He was born, the frankencence and Myrrh or however you spell it? Those are essential oils and she actually has them and uses them. Awesome!
Jordan Call and I have been writing back and forth for a couple months now. That's awesome that his area covers Queens - that's where Elder Rada and his family have lived for the last 7 years. And if he's just Spanish speaking he'll be sure to meet them. He'll probably even meet Elder Rada since he goes home in November.
Sounds like Yellowstone was an adventure even though you didn't see much wildlife. I haven't seen much wildlife for a long time. A few weeks ago I saw a horse and I was surprised because that was the only horse I've seen for about 10 months! All we've got out here are stupid chihuahuas and pitbulls. I decided that among all of God's creatures chihuahuas are one of my least favorites. They're always trying to bite my ankles. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm a missionary and they're not footballs.
Well that's all I've got for you this week. Things have been kind of slow for the last few days. Lots of appointments have been falling through. Thinks should pick up soon though. Transfers are next Tuesday so we'll see what happens! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Those new pants are amazing! They fit perfectly. And those new shirts are so white! Muchas gracias also for the spanish verb book. That's helping a lot. I know how to use the imperfect subjunctive tense now. And those eyedrops make a difference. My eyes feel nice and hydrated now.
Yep Sister Chun took Elder Rada and I to Macoroni Grill for my birthday. That was great. I had mushroom ravioli of course. The waitress had one of the employees come sing happy birthday to me. He was a tall bald white guy and he came and sang happy birthday to me in Italian - all by himself. It was so awkward I couldn't help but laugh a lot. And Elder Rada baked me a peach cake. That was super nice.
Raquel Piceno's back and we're still set to have her baptism this Saturday. We called her dad already to let him know so he won't kidnap her again. We were going to have family home evening with her family last night but they had to cancel so we're going to have it tonight.
Jessica's still doing great. On my birthday we had a good lesson with her with a member from the ward. Her brother Angel decided to listen to us too so now we're teaching both of them. Jessica's 20 years old and Angel is 14. Their parents found out that they're meeting with us and they don't really approve. Nevertheless Jessica and Angel are still interested and told us to keep teaching them. They want us to come anyday before 5:00, or in other words before their parents get home from work. So that'll be fun. We're really hoping to see the two of them at church next Sunday. We wouldn't need the parents' permission to baptize Jessica but we would for Angel. We'll see what happens.
I've caught a cough lately so Sister Chun's helping me build up my immune system by having me take all this essential oil stuff. I think I'm going to nickname her Sister Chun the Potions Master. She made some sort of wintergreen/honey substance for me last night and she's having me sniff this herbal oil stuff called Thieves. You know the stuff the wisemen gave Jesus when He was born, the frankencence and Myrrh or however you spell it? Those are essential oils and she actually has them and uses them. Awesome!
Jordan Call and I have been writing back and forth for a couple months now. That's awesome that his area covers Queens - that's where Elder Rada and his family have lived for the last 7 years. And if he's just Spanish speaking he'll be sure to meet them. He'll probably even meet Elder Rada since he goes home in November.
Sounds like Yellowstone was an adventure even though you didn't see much wildlife. I haven't seen much wildlife for a long time. A few weeks ago I saw a horse and I was surprised because that was the only horse I've seen for about 10 months! All we've got out here are stupid chihuahuas and pitbulls. I decided that among all of God's creatures chihuahuas are one of my least favorites. They're always trying to bite my ankles. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm a missionary and they're not footballs.
Well that's all I've got for you this week. Things have been kind of slow for the last few days. Lots of appointments have been falling through. Thinks should pick up soon though. Transfers are next Tuesday so we'll see what happens! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
August 11th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
This week was kind of crazy. We were supposed to baptize Raquel Piceno on Saturday but a bunch of things happened that made that impossible. We'd prepared the baptismal service and the program was all set and lots of people from the ward were prepared to attend the batpism. But Friday night at about 11:30 Elder Rada and I received a phonecall from Raquel's uncle Robert. He told us that Raquel's dad (her parents are divorced) came and picked her up that night and took her away without Sandra's (the mom's) permission. So we lost a lot of sleep over that. Then in the morning I called Raquel's dad and asked him what the deal was. I asked him if he knew that her baptism was supposed to be that day and he said he did and he came up with a bunch of lame excuses with the overall message being that he didn't care. I asked him "Is she going to be able to be at her baptism today?" He said "No sir." I told him "Well, I've guess I've just got to call the entire ward now and tell them the baptism's off." We've postponed the baptism until the 22nd. Raquel's mom came to church this Sunday! Our goal is not only to baptize Raquel but to activate the family of course. So we're seeing progress despite this little setback.
Yesterday we had a great appointment with a new investigator named Jessica. Jessica's in her early 20s, has a 2-year-old son and lives with her parents. We found her tracting around the neighborhood of one of our Samoan/New Zealand-ish members named Bro. Logan Ruru. Jessica quickly accepted our invitation to learn and was all prepared for our appointment yesterday. I love it when people set up a return appointment and then are actually there for the appointment! That was awesome! We taught her the message of the Restoration of the Gospel and it was a great lesson. We emphasized the importance of baptism and we asked what her understanding was of the purpose of baptism. She said that she honestly didn't know so we taught her. The Spirit testified to her and she received it. She listened attentively and answered all of our questions thoughtfully. We asked her "will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" and quickly said "yes." Then we asked "we will be holding a baptismal service and the 12th of September. Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that date?" She asked what she needed to do to prepare herself and we told her that we'd teach her and that we'd be the first ones to postpone the date if she wasn't prepared. She said that she didn't want to commit to a date just yet but that she was "definitely considering it." She was prepared for our message. She said that she was way glad that we came and talked with her and we're going back to visit her again tomorrow.
I've started a new study journal for my personal studies. I decided over the weekend that I want to be more organized so I got a binder and some paper and some dividers and I separated the study journal into sections based on the order set in Preach My Gospel: My Purpose, the lessons (5 sections), Recognize the Spirit and then Zone Conferences. Preach My Gospel says that your study journal should be a sacred place so I wanted to improve on that.
Hope you have fun in Yellowstone! Sister Chun vented some of her frustrations to us about President Obama last week. It was pretty funny. Sounds scary what's going on in the politcal world but it always is so that's nothing new. It's either bad or worse. Maybe things will change but we don't need to worry about that stuff if we just follow the counsel of the prophet. So I'm just going to be of good cheer and all that.
Thanks for the tidings of birthday joy and have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
This week was kind of crazy. We were supposed to baptize Raquel Piceno on Saturday but a bunch of things happened that made that impossible. We'd prepared the baptismal service and the program was all set and lots of people from the ward were prepared to attend the batpism. But Friday night at about 11:30 Elder Rada and I received a phonecall from Raquel's uncle Robert. He told us that Raquel's dad (her parents are divorced) came and picked her up that night and took her away without Sandra's (the mom's) permission. So we lost a lot of sleep over that. Then in the morning I called Raquel's dad and asked him what the deal was. I asked him if he knew that her baptism was supposed to be that day and he said he did and he came up with a bunch of lame excuses with the overall message being that he didn't care. I asked him "Is she going to be able to be at her baptism today?" He said "No sir." I told him "Well, I've guess I've just got to call the entire ward now and tell them the baptism's off." We've postponed the baptism until the 22nd. Raquel's mom came to church this Sunday! Our goal is not only to baptize Raquel but to activate the family of course. So we're seeing progress despite this little setback.
Yesterday we had a great appointment with a new investigator named Jessica. Jessica's in her early 20s, has a 2-year-old son and lives with her parents. We found her tracting around the neighborhood of one of our Samoan/New Zealand-ish members named Bro. Logan Ruru. Jessica quickly accepted our invitation to learn and was all prepared for our appointment yesterday. I love it when people set up a return appointment and then are actually there for the appointment! That was awesome! We taught her the message of the Restoration of the Gospel and it was a great lesson. We emphasized the importance of baptism and we asked what her understanding was of the purpose of baptism. She said that she honestly didn't know so we taught her. The Spirit testified to her and she received it. She listened attentively and answered all of our questions thoughtfully. We asked her "will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" and quickly said "yes." Then we asked "we will be holding a baptismal service and the 12th of September. Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that date?" She asked what she needed to do to prepare herself and we told her that we'd teach her and that we'd be the first ones to postpone the date if she wasn't prepared. She said that she didn't want to commit to a date just yet but that she was "definitely considering it." She was prepared for our message. She said that she was way glad that we came and talked with her and we're going back to visit her again tomorrow.
I've started a new study journal for my personal studies. I decided over the weekend that I want to be more organized so I got a binder and some paper and some dividers and I separated the study journal into sections based on the order set in Preach My Gospel: My Purpose, the lessons (5 sections), Recognize the Spirit and then Zone Conferences. Preach My Gospel says that your study journal should be a sacred place so I wanted to improve on that.
Hope you have fun in Yellowstone! Sister Chun vented some of her frustrations to us about President Obama last week. It was pretty funny. Sounds scary what's going on in the politcal world but it always is so that's nothing new. It's either bad or worse. Maybe things will change but we don't need to worry about that stuff if we just follow the counsel of the prophet. So I'm just going to be of good cheer and all that.
Thanks for the tidings of birthday joy and have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Sunday, August 9, 2009
August 4th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
Sister Chun came home a few days ago with 81 pounds of peaches. She went peach picking somewhere up north. Needless to say Elder Rada and I are adjusting to a new diet.
Raquel Piceno passed her baptismal interview yesterday. So she's going to be baptized this Saturday! She wants me to baptize her and Elder Rada to confirm her. She's pretty excited. And her mom said she's going to come to the baptism so we have high hopes that she'll come to the confirmation at church too.
Hyemi Choi's progressing well. We've already invited her to be baptized twice but she still doesn't want to commit to a date yet. She wants to find out everything about the church before she becomes a member- which is pretty much what her brother did before he met with the missionaries.
I accidentally said something funny in Spanish the other day. Sometimes my mouth still has a hard time pronouncing things when I try to speak too fast. So the other day we were knocking in Norwalk and we came across a Spanish speaking fellow to whom I said "Estamos compartiendo un mensage sobre El Libro de Mono, un otro testamento de Jesucristo" ("We are sharing a message about the Book of Monkey, another testament of Jesus Christ.") I noticed the grin on the man's face as well as my companion. I asked Elder Rada "What did I say?" and he said "I'll tell you in a minute." Yeah that was a little embarrassing but not too bad.
We've started visiting a less-active Samoan family named the Moemais. We visited them Saturday night and they were having a barbeque. Bro. Moemai saw us and said "Elders! Eat!" so of course we had blenty of ribs and rice. Then we were given dessert: two strawberry shortcakes each. Then Bro. Moemai decided that each strawberry shortcake needed a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. That's okay - the whole family came to church the following morning.
Happy to hear Hannah had a fun birthday. Lagoon sounded like it was an adventure for everybody. Yeah Mom kids are crazy these days. Especially in California. Startin' 'em young. I'm observing that our society is regressing. From the length of the shorts to the capacity of the brain cells it's all going in the wrong direction.
Whoah Grandma's surgery sounds intense! Glad to hear she did fine. Elder Rada needs to have knee surgery when he goes home in a few months. Apparently he's the only missionary in the world with a broken ACL in the field.
Tyler Smedley's already home?! TWO OR THREE HOURS OF INTERVIEW?! Okey dokey I guess. I thought I'd just get a pat on the back and a pamphlet about dating or something.
Answers to some questions: Haven't been able to see Elder Kemp yet. He's somewhere by Huntington Beach so he's a few zones away. Regarding the birthday package I'll be happy with what you got me :) And I haven't found that eye medicine. I haven't really looked for it either (my bad!) But if it's coming with the package I'll be all right. It's not bad or anything my eyes just feel dry every now and then.
Muchisimas gracias! Have fun in Yellowstone next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Sister Chun came home a few days ago with 81 pounds of peaches. She went peach picking somewhere up north. Needless to say Elder Rada and I are adjusting to a new diet.
Raquel Piceno passed her baptismal interview yesterday. So she's going to be baptized this Saturday! She wants me to baptize her and Elder Rada to confirm her. She's pretty excited. And her mom said she's going to come to the baptism so we have high hopes that she'll come to the confirmation at church too.
Hyemi Choi's progressing well. We've already invited her to be baptized twice but she still doesn't want to commit to a date yet. She wants to find out everything about the church before she becomes a member- which is pretty much what her brother did before he met with the missionaries.
I accidentally said something funny in Spanish the other day. Sometimes my mouth still has a hard time pronouncing things when I try to speak too fast. So the other day we were knocking in Norwalk and we came across a Spanish speaking fellow to whom I said "Estamos compartiendo un mensage sobre El Libro de Mono, un otro testamento de Jesucristo" ("We are sharing a message about the Book of Monkey, another testament of Jesus Christ.") I noticed the grin on the man's face as well as my companion. I asked Elder Rada "What did I say?" and he said "I'll tell you in a minute." Yeah that was a little embarrassing but not too bad.
We've started visiting a less-active Samoan family named the Moemais. We visited them Saturday night and they were having a barbeque. Bro. Moemai saw us and said "Elders! Eat!" so of course we had blenty of ribs and rice. Then we were given dessert: two strawberry shortcakes each. Then Bro. Moemai decided that each strawberry shortcake needed a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. That's okay - the whole family came to church the following morning.
Happy to hear Hannah had a fun birthday. Lagoon sounded like it was an adventure for everybody. Yeah Mom kids are crazy these days. Especially in California. Startin' 'em young. I'm observing that our society is regressing. From the length of the shorts to the capacity of the brain cells it's all going in the wrong direction.
Whoah Grandma's surgery sounds intense! Glad to hear she did fine. Elder Rada needs to have knee surgery when he goes home in a few months. Apparently he's the only missionary in the world with a broken ACL in the field.
Tyler Smedley's already home?! TWO OR THREE HOURS OF INTERVIEW?! Okey dokey I guess. I thought I'd just get a pat on the back and a pamphlet about dating or something.
Answers to some questions: Haven't been able to see Elder Kemp yet. He's somewhere by Huntington Beach so he's a few zones away. Regarding the birthday package I'll be happy with what you got me :) And I haven't found that eye medicine. I haven't really looked for it either (my bad!) But if it's coming with the package I'll be all right. It's not bad or anything my eyes just feel dry every now and then.
Muchisimas gracias! Have fun in Yellowstone next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
July 28th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
I just had a stressful dream last night about mowing lawns. For some reason I thought I was responsible for mowing the Tebbs' lawn and that I hadn't cut it for a really really long time. Which would make sense. Anway in my dream I decided to hurry back to mow the Tebbs' lawn before they noticed that I'd neglected it.
I'm glad Hannah liked the Buddhist music box thing. I have another one for me that plays the same song but slower and with a choir of creepy voices.
Dad that's good to hear you're seeing some results from your exercising. Sister Chun and Elder Rada both agree that the trick is to not give up. People who go at weight-loss inconsistantly never see the desired results. Elder Rada says that a good idea is to run a lot in the morning and then not to eat anything for half an hour after the run. Of course drink water though. My weight had been everywhere between 140 and 145 lately. I think it's because I'm inconsistant myself.
We have a new investigator named Hyemi Choi. She's the brother of an amazing convert in the ward named Doug Choi. Doug was tuaght the lessons by Sister Ashton and Sister Choi last winter. He'd read the Book of Mormon twice and had studied tons of stuff about the church for two years before he decided to be baptized. The Choi siblings are very smart people. Hopefully Hyemi will decide to be baptized. We're pretty sure she will someday. We've already tried to invite her of course but she wasn't ready to commit to a date.
Beatrice Allen is still doing amazing. She came to church all by herself on Sunday (the Gonzalez family didn't come with her for some reason. Probably slept in or didn't feel well.) The Piceno family's doing alright too. All three of the Piceno kids came to church on Sunday! We've decided to push Raquel's baptism to August 8th. She was sad that we had to push it back but she's fine now. Whenever she prays she says "Please bless that I may be baptized on the 8th." She's been to church twice and we want to see her come three times before we baptize her since she's young and her mom hasn't been coming to support her. A member from the ward brings the three kids to church and visits them pretty often. It's sad but Elder Rada and I have decided that Anabel, the 15-yr-old sister, is a lot more responsible than her mother. That's all I'll say about that. Anabel supports her siblings and Raquel's really excited to be baptized.
Oh I forgot to tell you last week. During my interview with President Sexton I asked him how Elder Kemp's doing. He said he's doing great and his new companion's Elder Bliss! That's pretty funny. Elder Kemp and I have the same follow-up trainer.
By the way my shirt size is definitely 15.
This week we knocked a lot and walked a lot and it was pretty hot. I've been drinking LOTS of water. Well, sounds like thing are more or less fine and dandy back in the top of the mountains. Things are pretty good here too. Have a great week and talk to you soon!
Love,Elder Tyler Lewis
I just had a stressful dream last night about mowing lawns. For some reason I thought I was responsible for mowing the Tebbs' lawn and that I hadn't cut it for a really really long time. Which would make sense. Anway in my dream I decided to hurry back to mow the Tebbs' lawn before they noticed that I'd neglected it.
I'm glad Hannah liked the Buddhist music box thing. I have another one for me that plays the same song but slower and with a choir of creepy voices.
Dad that's good to hear you're seeing some results from your exercising. Sister Chun and Elder Rada both agree that the trick is to not give up. People who go at weight-loss inconsistantly never see the desired results. Elder Rada says that a good idea is to run a lot in the morning and then not to eat anything for half an hour after the run. Of course drink water though. My weight had been everywhere between 140 and 145 lately. I think it's because I'm inconsistant myself.
We have a new investigator named Hyemi Choi. She's the brother of an amazing convert in the ward named Doug Choi. Doug was tuaght the lessons by Sister Ashton and Sister Choi last winter. He'd read the Book of Mormon twice and had studied tons of stuff about the church for two years before he decided to be baptized. The Choi siblings are very smart people. Hopefully Hyemi will decide to be baptized. We're pretty sure she will someday. We've already tried to invite her of course but she wasn't ready to commit to a date.
Beatrice Allen is still doing amazing. She came to church all by herself on Sunday (the Gonzalez family didn't come with her for some reason. Probably slept in or didn't feel well.) The Piceno family's doing alright too. All three of the Piceno kids came to church on Sunday! We've decided to push Raquel's baptism to August 8th. She was sad that we had to push it back but she's fine now. Whenever she prays she says "Please bless that I may be baptized on the 8th." She's been to church twice and we want to see her come three times before we baptize her since she's young and her mom hasn't been coming to support her. A member from the ward brings the three kids to church and visits them pretty often. It's sad but Elder Rada and I have decided that Anabel, the 15-yr-old sister, is a lot more responsible than her mother. That's all I'll say about that. Anabel supports her siblings and Raquel's really excited to be baptized.
Oh I forgot to tell you last week. During my interview with President Sexton I asked him how Elder Kemp's doing. He said he's doing great and his new companion's Elder Bliss! That's pretty funny. Elder Kemp and I have the same follow-up trainer.
By the way my shirt size is definitely 15.
This week we knocked a lot and walked a lot and it was pretty hot. I've been drinking LOTS of water. Well, sounds like thing are more or less fine and dandy back in the top of the mountains. Things are pretty good here too. Have a great week and talk to you soon!
Love,Elder Tyler Lewis
Thursday, July 23, 2009
July 21st, 2009 (Email)
Hello again!
Great news! Beatrice Collette Allen was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! Elder Rada baptized her and I confirmed her. I had to help with the baptism because she was worried about being completely immersed. So all three of us were dressed in white! I'll send you a picture soon.
I don't know if I've told you Beatrice's complete story. Beatrice is 65 years old and she's Samantha Gonzalez's grandmother. She's met with the missionaries before (Elders Anderson and Slade) but she wasn't prepared to be baptized because she was stuck with her Word of Wisdom problems. We started meeting with her a few weeks ago and before we knew it she decided to quit smoking after over 52 years of being a heavy smoking. The consequence of her determined decision was that she caught pneumonia and had to stay in the hospital for several days last week. Bishop Driggs visited her in the hospital and gave her a priesthood blessing and before she knew it she was out of the hospital and feeling relatively fine. She was deadset on being baptized Saturday July 18th and that's what happened. We taught her all 4 of the lessons and she passed the baptismal interview on Friday and then everything went according to plan. It was a great experience. Also over the weekend Sister Gonzalez sold her car and now they have enough money to move to Las Vegas as they've been planning for a little while now. Beatrice lives with them so she'll be moving to Las Vegas with the whole family. I'm glad I got to work with that family.
We had Zone Conference last Friday and as usual it was great. President Sexton taught us more about his ultimate message - the doctrine of Sanctification. This is something President Sexton talks about every Zone Conference but this time it was especially emphasized. He'd decided back when he became Mission President that the most important message he could share with us was about having a sanctified (sacred) mission in preparation for a sanctified life. Here's what the doctrine of sanctification is in short:
Moses 6:57-60 explains most of it. In here we are commanded that we need to teach this doctrine to our children. Every person needs to be BORN. When we are born there is water, blood and spirit. Birth makes it possible for Heavenly Father's spirit children to enter this world and progress in their bodies. In order to live in the presence of God again, every person needs to be BORN AGAIN. We need to be born again with water (baptism) spirit (the Holy Ghost) and the blood (the Atonement.) Verse 60 explains that "by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified." Or, in other words, when we are baptized we are just being obedient. When we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost all our past sins are washed away- we are held guiltless before God or we are "justified." And when we make a conscious effort to change by continually applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ we make steps toward becoming spotless, or "sanctified." Sanctification doesn't happen quickly. It takes a long time. It's a process.
President Sexton also pointed out that even though the way to the Celestial Kingdom sounds extremely difficult there will be "many, exceedingly great many, who [will be] made pure and [enter] into the rest of the Lord their God." (Alma 13:12)
In my interview with President Sexton he shared something with me that I thought was pretty neat. He said that he was planning on calling me to be a trainer this transfer, but while he was in the temple he had a really strong impression that Elder Rada and I were supposed to be together for another transfer. He said that he didn't know whether there was someone we're supposed to find or something we're supposed to learn but that was the Lord's will for us this time. I'm glad because now we're starting to see the fruits of our labor.
The Picenos and the Bosses didn't come to church last Sunday so Raquel's and Shinelle's baptisms are being pushed back to August. And actually Elder Rada and I were discussing the possibility of us dropping Shinelle because she's not keeping her commitments. It's sad but that's what we've got to do sometimes.
It was a pretty good week and it sounds like you're all making fun plans and doing great stuff together! I'm going to want to go camping after I return, that's for sure.
I can't believe Tyson's already home! That was so fast!
I don't know what my shirt size is. I think it's a 15 or something? It's the same as when I left. I'll tell you next week. I haven't bought any eye medicine yet but maybe I'll look for it today. And I haven't been able to speak with David and Dixie at all since I left :(
Thanks for everything and talk to you again next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Great news! Beatrice Collette Allen was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! Elder Rada baptized her and I confirmed her. I had to help with the baptism because she was worried about being completely immersed. So all three of us were dressed in white! I'll send you a picture soon.
I don't know if I've told you Beatrice's complete story. Beatrice is 65 years old and she's Samantha Gonzalez's grandmother. She's met with the missionaries before (Elders Anderson and Slade) but she wasn't prepared to be baptized because she was stuck with her Word of Wisdom problems. We started meeting with her a few weeks ago and before we knew it she decided to quit smoking after over 52 years of being a heavy smoking. The consequence of her determined decision was that she caught pneumonia and had to stay in the hospital for several days last week. Bishop Driggs visited her in the hospital and gave her a priesthood blessing and before she knew it she was out of the hospital and feeling relatively fine. She was deadset on being baptized Saturday July 18th and that's what happened. We taught her all 4 of the lessons and she passed the baptismal interview on Friday and then everything went according to plan. It was a great experience. Also over the weekend Sister Gonzalez sold her car and now they have enough money to move to Las Vegas as they've been planning for a little while now. Beatrice lives with them so she'll be moving to Las Vegas with the whole family. I'm glad I got to work with that family.
We had Zone Conference last Friday and as usual it was great. President Sexton taught us more about his ultimate message - the doctrine of Sanctification. This is something President Sexton talks about every Zone Conference but this time it was especially emphasized. He'd decided back when he became Mission President that the most important message he could share with us was about having a sanctified (sacred) mission in preparation for a sanctified life. Here's what the doctrine of sanctification is in short:
Moses 6:57-60 explains most of it. In here we are commanded that we need to teach this doctrine to our children. Every person needs to be BORN. When we are born there is water, blood and spirit. Birth makes it possible for Heavenly Father's spirit children to enter this world and progress in their bodies. In order to live in the presence of God again, every person needs to be BORN AGAIN. We need to be born again with water (baptism) spirit (the Holy Ghost) and the blood (the Atonement.) Verse 60 explains that "by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified." Or, in other words, when we are baptized we are just being obedient. When we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost all our past sins are washed away- we are held guiltless before God or we are "justified." And when we make a conscious effort to change by continually applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ we make steps toward becoming spotless, or "sanctified." Sanctification doesn't happen quickly. It takes a long time. It's a process.
President Sexton also pointed out that even though the way to the Celestial Kingdom sounds extremely difficult there will be "many, exceedingly great many, who [will be] made pure and [enter] into the rest of the Lord their God." (Alma 13:12)
In my interview with President Sexton he shared something with me that I thought was pretty neat. He said that he was planning on calling me to be a trainer this transfer, but while he was in the temple he had a really strong impression that Elder Rada and I were supposed to be together for another transfer. He said that he didn't know whether there was someone we're supposed to find or something we're supposed to learn but that was the Lord's will for us this time. I'm glad because now we're starting to see the fruits of our labor.
The Picenos and the Bosses didn't come to church last Sunday so Raquel's and Shinelle's baptisms are being pushed back to August. And actually Elder Rada and I were discussing the possibility of us dropping Shinelle because she's not keeping her commitments. It's sad but that's what we've got to do sometimes.
It was a pretty good week and it sounds like you're all making fun plans and doing great stuff together! I'm going to want to go camping after I return, that's for sure.
I can't believe Tyson's already home! That was so fast!
I don't know what my shirt size is. I think it's a 15 or something? It's the same as when I left. I'll tell you next week. I haven't bought any eye medicine yet but maybe I'll look for it today. And I haven't been able to speak with David and Dixie at all since I left :(
Thanks for everything and talk to you again next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
July 14th, 2009 (Email)
Hey!
DAVID AND DIXIE GUTIERREZ WERE BAPTIZED LAST WEEKEND!!! I just read their names on the mission announcements. I'm so happy! I'm going to write them a letter this afternoon to congratulate them.
Some things have been happening around here too. Bad news - Beatrice Allen, the person we have scheduled to be baptized on Saturday, is in the hospital. She hasn't smoked for almost 2 weeks now, but the side effects are getting to her. She caught pneumonia so that's why she's been in the hospital for a few days. We call her every day to check up on her. Good news - she's still going strong and she still wants to be baptized. She may be getting released from the hospital today so we'll see whether or not we postpone the baptism.
We've been teaching a part-member family named the Piceno family for a few weeks now. I don't know if I've told you about them yet- but there's Sandra the mom, Anabel the 15-yr-old, Jose the 12-yr-old, and Raquel the 10-yr-old. They're a cool family. They've been less-active for a while but the kids are progressing towards reactivation. The mom is a nice lady but she's flaky sometimes. But we expect to see her come to church with her kids real soon. Raquel hasn't been baptized yet but guess what?!?! She said she'll prepare herself to be baptized on the 25th! And the family supports her. That's awesome. She came to church with Anabel on Sunday and the family already has a lot of fellowship with the ward so they're doing great.
Shinelle and Daniel Bosse are doing good. They didn't come to church on Sunday :( but they did meet with Bishop Driggs a couple times. They're set to be married on the 25th. So hopefully Shinelle will be baptized on August 1st!
Oh, so if you haven't noticed by now I didn't get transferred. I'm still here in Cerritos with Elder Rada and Sister Chun. Our District is getting switched up a lot though so that's good. Elder Rada and I both thought that our last District was pretty deadbeat. We'll see how the new one goes.
I played "Come Follow Me" at church on Sunday. I wanted to play something reverent and my versions of "How Great Thou Art" and definitely "If You Could Hie To Kolob" just weren't quite sacrament appropriate. I wanted to play "I Believe In Christ" but the men's choir sang that. "Come Follow Me" went well though. I'll play it for you when I get home if I remember it. I probably will cuz it was pretty simple.
Yeah I got my stuff back from the Pummells a couple months ago. Sorry I forgot to tell you. I don't know what happened but the important thing is that I've got it now.
Thanks for finding out about my eyedrop stuff! I don't think we have Walgreen's out here but they'll probably have it at CVS. It's not an urgent thing it's just something I think I should get back to doing to save my eyes from all the dryness. So if you're sending it I can wait.
So things are going well here. I'll send you some words again next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
DAVID AND DIXIE GUTIERREZ WERE BAPTIZED LAST WEEKEND!!! I just read their names on the mission announcements. I'm so happy! I'm going to write them a letter this afternoon to congratulate them.
Some things have been happening around here too. Bad news - Beatrice Allen, the person we have scheduled to be baptized on Saturday, is in the hospital. She hasn't smoked for almost 2 weeks now, but the side effects are getting to her. She caught pneumonia so that's why she's been in the hospital for a few days. We call her every day to check up on her. Good news - she's still going strong and she still wants to be baptized. She may be getting released from the hospital today so we'll see whether or not we postpone the baptism.
We've been teaching a part-member family named the Piceno family for a few weeks now. I don't know if I've told you about them yet- but there's Sandra the mom, Anabel the 15-yr-old, Jose the 12-yr-old, and Raquel the 10-yr-old. They're a cool family. They've been less-active for a while but the kids are progressing towards reactivation. The mom is a nice lady but she's flaky sometimes. But we expect to see her come to church with her kids real soon. Raquel hasn't been baptized yet but guess what?!?! She said she'll prepare herself to be baptized on the 25th! And the family supports her. That's awesome. She came to church with Anabel on Sunday and the family already has a lot of fellowship with the ward so they're doing great.
Shinelle and Daniel Bosse are doing good. They didn't come to church on Sunday :( but they did meet with Bishop Driggs a couple times. They're set to be married on the 25th. So hopefully Shinelle will be baptized on August 1st!
Oh, so if you haven't noticed by now I didn't get transferred. I'm still here in Cerritos with Elder Rada and Sister Chun. Our District is getting switched up a lot though so that's good. Elder Rada and I both thought that our last District was pretty deadbeat. We'll see how the new one goes.
I played "Come Follow Me" at church on Sunday. I wanted to play something reverent and my versions of "How Great Thou Art" and definitely "If You Could Hie To Kolob" just weren't quite sacrament appropriate. I wanted to play "I Believe In Christ" but the men's choir sang that. "Come Follow Me" went well though. I'll play it for you when I get home if I remember it. I probably will cuz it was pretty simple.
Yeah I got my stuff back from the Pummells a couple months ago. Sorry I forgot to tell you. I don't know what happened but the important thing is that I've got it now.
Thanks for finding out about my eyedrop stuff! I don't think we have Walgreen's out here but they'll probably have it at CVS. It's not an urgent thing it's just something I think I should get back to doing to save my eyes from all the dryness. So if you're sending it I can wait.
So things are going well here. I'll send you some words again next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
