December 30th, 2008 (Email)

Hey fam,
I forgot to tell you on the phone that President and Sister Sexton say "Merry Christmas!" Pres. Sexton commited me to say that, but I was so excited to get to call home that I just forgot.
Well Christmas was pretty good. I ate tomales for the first time in my life Christmas Eve. I had four dinners that night. It was nuts. We went caroling to the Spanish-Speaking people and they just kept feeding us and feeding us... No wonder I've gained weight so exponentially! I had six tomales that night. They're really good! I thought they'd just be like burritos but there's all sorts of types of tomales. Some of them were pinapple cake, some were spicy, some had beef, some just have cheese. But in any case they're all really good. And they take all day for the people to cook.
Well William Peters told us last night that he's moving to Victorville this Saturday. So we may not be able to baptize him. We'll see though. And Roxy told us that she's not sure if she's ready to be baptized yet. Her Mom's not entirely supportive. We're going to talk to both of them tonight. January's supposed to be our month of miracles! Well, this month was supposed to be our month of miracles too. But all sorts of things seem to be going wrong. Cold feet. Sandy foundations. Opposition and random happenstances. But it'll all turn out for the best. Esta todo bien! (It's all good!)
So before the phone died I was starting to tell you about how I'm studying Isaiah now. I've found that one of the big messages in the Book of Mormon is to read Isaiah. Even Jesus Christ himself flat out said "great are the words of Isaiah." In the New Testament the prophent Jesus quotes the most is Isaiah. In the Book of Mormon Nephi and Jacob and Jesus again quote Isaiah a ton. So now I'm figuring out why. Truly the words of Isaiah are great and they are helping me understand the Book of Mormon and its purpose to a much deeper degree. Isaiah has greatly increased my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and this church. He has even helped me understand the Temple ordinances better. Of course I won't delve into any explanations over this email, but I highly suggest you check out Isa. 22:20-25. I had to read it again and again, and if I had a celestial room available I'm sure I'd understand it even more, but during one of my studies that scripture absolutely knocked me over.
So why am I studying Isaiah? Because the Spirit randomly advised me to during one of my studies a couple weeks ago. I wasn't even studying anything related to Isaiah. The thought just popped into my head: "You NEED to read Isaiah." So I followed through and now my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown even more solid. I can't wait to read the second half. Nephi says that only those filled with the spirit of prophecy can understand Isaiah. I learned what the spirit of prophecy is last zone conference: It's a strong testimony of Jesus Christ. -"...but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah, for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning." 1Nephi 19:23. So anybody with a testimony of Jesus Christ can learn to understand the words of Isaiah.
Well I'll get off that subject before I get carried away. I'm pretty obsessed with it during my study time. So yesterday we visited David and Dixie and they fed us a pomegranite. Is that how you spell that? I don't know. But it was really really really good. They also gave us legit quesadias. Then we taught them about baptism. They really want to be baptized and they said that they even want to be married in the temple. They're full of questions now of course. It's great meeting with that wonderful family every week. We have a new investigator named Mayra and she came to church the day after our first lesson with her! Yeah she's pretty awesome.
Things are still going good! I'm loving the sunshine! Short sleeved shirts are where it's at! Sorry to rub that in! I'm sure you're enjoying the snow so it doesn't matter, right? ;)
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis