Buenos dias!
Guess what I ate last week?! You're going to love this. I have a new addition to my list of things I normally wouldn't eat. This list includes various abominations including octopus, cow tongue, pig skin, purple carrot juice, etc. This one tops it off- tripe. Or, in other words, cow intestines. David and Dixie fed us cow intestine tacos! Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as the cow tongue or the pig skin. The pig skin was pretty much pure fat. And the cow tongue just disturbed me.
Anyway, David and Dixie decided for their own personal reasons to push their marriage back to June. :( Well, at least they still maintain a strong desire to be baptized and sealed someday. They're still actively engaged in the church and they still have us come over every week and they still feed us all sorts of stuff.
Rosie's gaining weight eh? Well, prepare fort this week's Elder Lewis Freakout- since September of '08 I HAVE GAINED 28 POUNDS!!! Ugh. That's 10 in the MTC and 18 in Buena Park. My metabolism is not strong enough for the ridiculous amount of food we are fed. What am I going to do about it? Not sure. I don't believe in skim milk and diet begins with the word die and I don't want to do that. I have cut down on candy and I have cut down a ton on soda. I only drink soda when it's given to me at dinner appointments and stuff. Other than that I drink water, lemonade, milk and fruit beverages. And outside of meal appointments I don't eat very much. Snap. That sounds a lot like a diet. I guess I've decided to diet. And when I feel conscious enough in the mornings I exercise.
Suli Crank is going to be baptized April 9th at 6:00 p.m. and that's final! We've reserved the font and everything so it's mas o menos set in stone. She was interviewed by Elder Thompson yesterday so she's all set. Suli's middle name is way Tongan. I've completely forgotten it. It starts with an apostrophe and it has like 5 or 6 syllables.
Ralph seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. We'll keep looking for him though. Bro. Stelly is recording an album and his family chose not to attend church this Sunday again. I wonder if the whole smoking thing is why they don't come to church sometimes. We brought it up in ward council and the ward's going to do all they can to support that family and show them their love. And we're continuing to visit them twice a week.
We met a guy on the street trying to sell his DVD player on the corner of Knott Ave. He looked pretty homeless at first but I guess he lives in a complex near David and Dixie. We approached him and he started talking to us. He got really excited about us serving the Lord and he started prophesying about places we should visit and then he asked us to pray with him. He had us get into a prayer circle with him right there in the middle of the sidewalk and he asked me to give a "power prayer." I did the best I could and he muttered some amens and then afterward he said he felt all tingly and he sat down on the grass. We gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, gave him our phone number, invited him to learn more and concluded from his breath that he was a little intoxicated. We passed him again later and he said "Read me something from King David!" I flipped open my Bible and read a random passage from Samuel that was pretty over his head but he seemed to like it. And then we moved on. We have his phone number now so hopefully we'll meet him again.
Sabrina Sanchez's husband came back from Iraq a little while ago. He came to church this Sunday and asked us to start teaching him. That was a blessing. We were struggling on Saturday trying to find new investigators. We knocked for three hours and nobody received us. Then the Lord blessed us according to His own time the next day. Remember, the Lord is able to do His own work.
So all's good. I don't think I need any pictures from my SD card, but if you'd like to send me some pictures of you guys and stuff you've been doing I'd love that. I'm going to try to get some pants adjusted today. My black and blue ones absolutely don't fit me anymore.
Still snowing eh? That's a shame. This has been the longest summer of my life. Good day. Sunshine.
I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
March 24th, 2009 (Email)
Hello again! I'm a little late today because I JUST GOT BACK FROM THE TEMPLE!!! Oh it was great. The Newport Beach Temple is amazing. I think it is already my favorite one so far. Are we supposed to have favorites? Well, I do. Elder Bliss and I went with the zone leaders. A temple worker from our ward named President Davis drove us there. He used to be a stake president. Really nice man. He does sealings now. This temple had a Telestial room, a Terrestrial room and a Celestial room. I've never been in a three room session before. Apparently the L.A. temple has two more rooms. I might get to go to that one someday if I'm transferred to the right place at the right time, but if not that is just fine because I love the Newport Temple. It's tiny. Not as tiny as the Bountiful temple I don't think but it is pretty small. It's pink too. And the walls in the Telestial room have this huge beach scene painted all over it.
About David and Dixie- they're still planning on getting married soon but it sounds like it probably won't happen while I'm here if I'm moved next transfer (who knows if that will happen though. Transfers have proven to be pretty unpredictable so I shouldn't make any predictions.) But anyway they fasted with us on Sunday because they weren't sure when they wanted to be married and then they met with the bishop and he encouraged them to do it soon but as for the exact date it is undecided again. But the important part is that they are beginning to take the steps toward baptism and a temple marriage (did I tell you they're already planning for their temple marriage which will happen a year after they're baptized? They're amazing people.)
So Bro. Stelly. He's doing okay kind of. He didn't come to church on Sunday though and... last week we found out he smokes. That's not good. We had no idea. We went to his house randomly a few days after his baptism and caught him outside smoking. Right when he saw us he quickly threw away his cigarette and then he invited us in and we re-taught their family the Word of Wisdom (Sis. Stelly smokes too so we get to work with both of them.) I was pretty devastated and I let them know it. I talked to President Sexton about it in our interview last Friday and he said all we can do is love them and be patient and work with them.
Zone Conference was a great experience as usual. During my interview before the conference I decided to ask President Sexton a doctrinal question- I said "I've been having lots of people from different religions this last transfer attempt to describe the Trinity to me and I want to know how to give those people a short and simple answer about who God the Father and Jesus Christ really are." President told me "That's actually something I'm going to talk about during conference today so if you'll be patient and wait I'll answer your question for you." He said we were on the same page. That was neat. So President Sexton taught us about the Great Apostasy. He read a little bit from James E. Talmage's book "The Great Apostasy"- he read the part that quotes one of the abominable creeds that describes the Trinity. The Trinity is nothing short of ridiculous. And Pres. Sexton showed us a scripture in John 17 which proved it was an apostate precept of man- YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO KNOW GOD THE FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST. They are not enigmatic incomprehensible nothings! God is our loving Heavenly Father and Christ is His Son and our Savior. It's really just that simple. No need to get confused and no need to worship an unknown God. In the New Testament I once read a part where Paul actually talks about how these people in Athens had an altar with the words "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" written on it. I think the Trinity is an Unknown God and it is NOT the same God Christ taught and NOT the same God worshipped by the saints in His time.
Anyway, Elder Bliss and I were asked to speak during sacrament meeting on Sunday. Pres. Brassfield from the mission presidency spoke too. We all talked about missionary work (go figure!) I enjoyed preparing my talk and giving it too. I still get slightly nervous in front of large bodies of people but I deal. My talk focused towards people preparing to go on missions and I extended Pres. Sexton's invitation to "sanctify yourselves" NOW so you can have a sacred mssion because a sacred mission is the foundation to a sacred life. I also focused on the ward members and told them that they're the full-time finders and I quoted a talk by Elder Ballard where he talks about how when the bar was raised it wasn't just for the missionaries: it was raised for the members as well. Then I quoted President Sexton and told them "Today is a good day to start to be better." Pres. Sexton focused on that thought a lot on Friday. We should never be satisfied with ourselves. Though we may be doing good we can always improve. I like that thought. I'm going to try and think that way everyday.
Ralph had to go to the hospital last week (diabetes) and he didn't feel well enough on Sunday to attend church. I'm not sure how the whole baptism thing would work for him either but might as well give it a shot. Robbie moved to West Valley because he needs to be close to his family so he doesn't screw his life up. California really isn't good for him. He's easily manipulated by his "friends" and they get him into a lot of bad stuff. So Utah will be good for him.
Dinner appointments have been going much better. It's been a much better week in that area. No complaints.
So Hannah's saving up to buy a horse huh? That's awesome! She'll be about half-way there by the time I'm back eh?
Oh! So Bro. Smedley got called to Cambodia? That is so cool- my zone leader Elder Salmon has a brother who just got his mission call to his area! I told Elder Salmon that his mission president is in my ward and he got way excited and now he's writing home to his brother about it. It's Tyler's dad right? Scott or Terry? Anyway that's neat.
Well, I love you guys! I'm probably not going to have time to write any letters today but we'll see. Taeler Herr wrote me last week! She touched Billy Joel's hand during his concert in Las Vegas a little while ago! Other than that I've had a little bit of a letter drought. Pero, esta todo bien.
Oh mi familia, les amo! Nos vemos!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
About David and Dixie- they're still planning on getting married soon but it sounds like it probably won't happen while I'm here if I'm moved next transfer (who knows if that will happen though. Transfers have proven to be pretty unpredictable so I shouldn't make any predictions.) But anyway they fasted with us on Sunday because they weren't sure when they wanted to be married and then they met with the bishop and he encouraged them to do it soon but as for the exact date it is undecided again. But the important part is that they are beginning to take the steps toward baptism and a temple marriage (did I tell you they're already planning for their temple marriage which will happen a year after they're baptized? They're amazing people.)
So Bro. Stelly. He's doing okay kind of. He didn't come to church on Sunday though and... last week we found out he smokes. That's not good. We had no idea. We went to his house randomly a few days after his baptism and caught him outside smoking. Right when he saw us he quickly threw away his cigarette and then he invited us in and we re-taught their family the Word of Wisdom (Sis. Stelly smokes too so we get to work with both of them.) I was pretty devastated and I let them know it. I talked to President Sexton about it in our interview last Friday and he said all we can do is love them and be patient and work with them.
Zone Conference was a great experience as usual. During my interview before the conference I decided to ask President Sexton a doctrinal question- I said "I've been having lots of people from different religions this last transfer attempt to describe the Trinity to me and I want to know how to give those people a short and simple answer about who God the Father and Jesus Christ really are." President told me "That's actually something I'm going to talk about during conference today so if you'll be patient and wait I'll answer your question for you." He said we were on the same page. That was neat. So President Sexton taught us about the Great Apostasy. He read a little bit from James E. Talmage's book "The Great Apostasy"- he read the part that quotes one of the abominable creeds that describes the Trinity. The Trinity is nothing short of ridiculous. And Pres. Sexton showed us a scripture in John 17 which proved it was an apostate precept of man- YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO KNOW GOD THE FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST. They are not enigmatic incomprehensible nothings! God is our loving Heavenly Father and Christ is His Son and our Savior. It's really just that simple. No need to get confused and no need to worship an unknown God. In the New Testament I once read a part where Paul actually talks about how these people in Athens had an altar with the words "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" written on it. I think the Trinity is an Unknown God and it is NOT the same God Christ taught and NOT the same God worshipped by the saints in His time.
Anyway, Elder Bliss and I were asked to speak during sacrament meeting on Sunday. Pres. Brassfield from the mission presidency spoke too. We all talked about missionary work (go figure!) I enjoyed preparing my talk and giving it too. I still get slightly nervous in front of large bodies of people but I deal. My talk focused towards people preparing to go on missions and I extended Pres. Sexton's invitation to "sanctify yourselves" NOW so you can have a sacred mssion because a sacred mission is the foundation to a sacred life. I also focused on the ward members and told them that they're the full-time finders and I quoted a talk by Elder Ballard where he talks about how when the bar was raised it wasn't just for the missionaries: it was raised for the members as well. Then I quoted President Sexton and told them "Today is a good day to start to be better." Pres. Sexton focused on that thought a lot on Friday. We should never be satisfied with ourselves. Though we may be doing good we can always improve. I like that thought. I'm going to try and think that way everyday.
Ralph had to go to the hospital last week (diabetes) and he didn't feel well enough on Sunday to attend church. I'm not sure how the whole baptism thing would work for him either but might as well give it a shot. Robbie moved to West Valley because he needs to be close to his family so he doesn't screw his life up. California really isn't good for him. He's easily manipulated by his "friends" and they get him into a lot of bad stuff. So Utah will be good for him.
Dinner appointments have been going much better. It's been a much better week in that area. No complaints.
So Hannah's saving up to buy a horse huh? That's awesome! She'll be about half-way there by the time I'm back eh?
Oh! So Bro. Smedley got called to Cambodia? That is so cool- my zone leader Elder Salmon has a brother who just got his mission call to his area! I told Elder Salmon that his mission president is in my ward and he got way excited and now he's writing home to his brother about it. It's Tyler's dad right? Scott or Terry? Anyway that's neat.
Well, I love you guys! I'm probably not going to have time to write any letters today but we'll see. Taeler Herr wrote me last week! She touched Billy Joel's hand during his concert in Las Vegas a little while ago! Other than that I've had a little bit of a letter drought. Pero, esta todo bien.
Oh mi familia, les amo! Nos vemos!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
March 17th, 2009 (Email)
Hello! It's P-day yet again!
The e-mail subject line is a lyric from Beck's song "Que Onda Guero" and it's so true. There really are vegetable vans driving around everywhere with horns that honk mariachi songs. And "in the middle of the street people gather around/put the dollar dollar dollar in the can... Que onda?" I am living a Beck song whenever I proselyte 9th street. Que bueno!
Denniray Billisean Stelly was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! That was another exciting baptism. Apparently there has been family tension between the Stellys and the Brakeys (Sis. Stelly's family) for a long long time and the baptism was the first time they've been in the same room together. It was obvious that Bro. Stelly was happy to be getting baptized. He calmly went under the water when Elder Bliss immersed him, not even plugging his nose. He looked content and ready for the ordinance. Yeah, Elder Bliss baptized him. He pretty much just decided he was going to on Friday which was kind of weird but oh well. He'd never got to perform the ordinance before that. But personally I think the baptismal candidate is supposed to make that decision. But it doesn't matter who performs the ordinance anyways. What's is important is that the person gets baptized. Although it would have been cool to have baptized the guy Elder Rodriguez and I taught all the lessons to back in January. I got to baptize him with fire though. That's the 5th confirmation I've performed in a row!
I've got some great news: we've set a goal with David and Dixie for their marriage and their baptism! April 18th is the day we've landed upon. They decided they want to be married and then baptized right after. That will be one busy Saturday. We're going to work hard with them and with the bishop to make this marriage/baptism happen and I am so excited! It's the Saturday before I (most likely) get transferred.
Suli Crank's baptism date is set for March 28th. We were supposed to teach her again on Sunday but she had something going on I guess so her parents were there but she wasn't. We can only teach her on Sundays due to some split family issues (she's only with the Cranks on Saturdays and Sundays) so we may have to move the baptismal date but hopefully not.
I don't remember why I was so frustrated about dinner appointments last week. We must have had another ridiculously huge meal Monday night or something. My stomach has expanded to the point where I can out-eat Elder Bliss and not feel pain...which isn't good but in a way is. Elder Salmon says I'm being prepared for the Samoan Ward. He served there and gained like 30 lbs or something like that. Ugh... But no I'm very grateful for all dinner appointments EXCEPT FOR THIS: this week two people have compelled us to take cash. That is against the rules and it states on the dinner calendar that we CANNOT accept money. When we are forced to take their money this is what happens: we go back to the apartment and eat our own food and the money goes to fast offerings. I'm going to find someone from the Relief Society Presidency and tell them that that's exactly what we do and then hopefully we'll never be given money for dinner ever ever again. It's always an awkward situation when we're offered DISOBEDIENCE!!!
Off my soapbox again. It was Ward Conference this Sunday and Stake President Wynder talked about the importance of food storage. He's a lawyer by trade so he was really loud. It was the most hell-fire sounding food storage talk I've ever heard. President Wynder's awesome though. He's loaded. He provided every church in the Cypress stake with tons of religious paintings.
Boom booms huh? Haha! Oh maturation. So glad that part of my life is over... or is it? The weather does give me crazy mood swings whenever it's overcast. Good thing I'm in California.
I love you and have a HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
The e-mail subject line is a lyric from Beck's song "Que Onda Guero" and it's so true. There really are vegetable vans driving around everywhere with horns that honk mariachi songs. And "in the middle of the street people gather around/put the dollar dollar dollar in the can... Que onda?" I am living a Beck song whenever I proselyte 9th street. Que bueno!
Denniray Billisean Stelly was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! That was another exciting baptism. Apparently there has been family tension between the Stellys and the Brakeys (Sis. Stelly's family) for a long long time and the baptism was the first time they've been in the same room together. It was obvious that Bro. Stelly was happy to be getting baptized. He calmly went under the water when Elder Bliss immersed him, not even plugging his nose. He looked content and ready for the ordinance. Yeah, Elder Bliss baptized him. He pretty much just decided he was going to on Friday which was kind of weird but oh well. He'd never got to perform the ordinance before that. But personally I think the baptismal candidate is supposed to make that decision. But it doesn't matter who performs the ordinance anyways. What's is important is that the person gets baptized. Although it would have been cool to have baptized the guy Elder Rodriguez and I taught all the lessons to back in January. I got to baptize him with fire though. That's the 5th confirmation I've performed in a row!
I've got some great news: we've set a goal with David and Dixie for their marriage and their baptism! April 18th is the day we've landed upon. They decided they want to be married and then baptized right after. That will be one busy Saturday. We're going to work hard with them and with the bishop to make this marriage/baptism happen and I am so excited! It's the Saturday before I (most likely) get transferred.
Suli Crank's baptism date is set for March 28th. We were supposed to teach her again on Sunday but she had something going on I guess so her parents were there but she wasn't. We can only teach her on Sundays due to some split family issues (she's only with the Cranks on Saturdays and Sundays) so we may have to move the baptismal date but hopefully not.
I don't remember why I was so frustrated about dinner appointments last week. We must have had another ridiculously huge meal Monday night or something. My stomach has expanded to the point where I can out-eat Elder Bliss and not feel pain...which isn't good but in a way is. Elder Salmon says I'm being prepared for the Samoan Ward. He served there and gained like 30 lbs or something like that. Ugh... But no I'm very grateful for all dinner appointments EXCEPT FOR THIS: this week two people have compelled us to take cash. That is against the rules and it states on the dinner calendar that we CANNOT accept money. When we are forced to take their money this is what happens: we go back to the apartment and eat our own food and the money goes to fast offerings. I'm going to find someone from the Relief Society Presidency and tell them that that's exactly what we do and then hopefully we'll never be given money for dinner ever ever again. It's always an awkward situation when we're offered DISOBEDIENCE!!!
Off my soapbox again. It was Ward Conference this Sunday and Stake President Wynder talked about the importance of food storage. He's a lawyer by trade so he was really loud. It was the most hell-fire sounding food storage talk I've ever heard. President Wynder's awesome though. He's loaded. He provided every church in the Cypress stake with tons of religious paintings.
Boom booms huh? Haha! Oh maturation. So glad that part of my life is over... or is it? The weather does give me crazy mood swings whenever it's overcast. Good thing I'm in California.
I love you and have a HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Saturday, March 14, 2009
March 10th, 2009 Letter to Hannah
Dear Hannah,
Sorry I haven’t written you in a while. I promise I’m going to start doing better with that. Mom and Dad told me you’re getting into crafts now. That’s awesome! You should make something and send me a picture of it or something. How’s my dog treating you? Is she still cute and hyper and hilarious? How’s school and how are your friends? Your friends are really important. They can either help you choose the right or they will lead you down some other path. Make sure you have good friends. Remember one of my favorite scriptures in Moroni 7: 16-17: “Everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ, wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.” Sammy sounds like a good friend. It may seem random that I am writing to you about this but I’ve seen lots and lots of people in California that have made REALLY bad choices because they chose the wrong friends. I’m thankful for my friends and the good choices they’ve helped me make. I’m also VERY grateful for Mom and Dad. You will notice more and more that they are the two best friends Heavenly Father has given you.
Well guess what? Both Elder Bliss and Elder Frampton have told me that I fart, giggle and talk in my sleep. I’m a very active sleeper I guess. At least I don’t snore like a grizzly bear (Elder Bliss makes Dad’s snoring sound like nothing).
So are you still listening to Coldplay? Coldplay’s awesome. I approve. I kind of miss my music but not too much. I listen to LDS artists now like Jessie Clark Funk, Mindy Gledhill, Alex Boye and Paul Cardall. They are pretty good actually. Well its bet time. I love you Hannah! Give Mom and Dad a hug for me!!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Sorry I haven’t written you in a while. I promise I’m going to start doing better with that. Mom and Dad told me you’re getting into crafts now. That’s awesome! You should make something and send me a picture of it or something. How’s my dog treating you? Is she still cute and hyper and hilarious? How’s school and how are your friends? Your friends are really important. They can either help you choose the right or they will lead you down some other path. Make sure you have good friends. Remember one of my favorite scriptures in Moroni 7: 16-17: “Everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ, wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.” Sammy sounds like a good friend. It may seem random that I am writing to you about this but I’ve seen lots and lots of people in California that have made REALLY bad choices because they chose the wrong friends. I’m thankful for my friends and the good choices they’ve helped me make. I’m also VERY grateful for Mom and Dad. You will notice more and more that they are the two best friends Heavenly Father has given you.
Well guess what? Both Elder Bliss and Elder Frampton have told me that I fart, giggle and talk in my sleep. I’m a very active sleeper I guess. At least I don’t snore like a grizzly bear (Elder Bliss makes Dad’s snoring sound like nothing).
So are you still listening to Coldplay? Coldplay’s awesome. I approve. I kind of miss my music but not too much. I listen to LDS artists now like Jessie Clark Funk, Mindy Gledhill, Alex Boye and Paul Cardall. They are pretty good actually. Well its bet time. I love you Hannah! Give Mom and Dad a hug for me!!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
March 10th, 2009 (Email)
Hey! I'm still in Buena Park! Elder Frampton got transferred to Long Beach and now the new Zone Leader is Elder Huffaker. So I'll get to stay another 6 weeks to see the baptisms of Denny Ray Billy Shaw Stelly and Suli Crank. Bro. Stelly's baptism is this Saturday and Suli's baptism will be the 28th. Have I told you about Suli? I don't know if I have. Her family just moved into the ward. She's nine years old and her parents just got re-activated so they decided she needs to be baptized. She's already come to church twice and she likes primary and she's a quick learner.
We haven't seen Sam since that last visit but I think she's doing okay. She didn't come to our ward this Sunday though. I hope she went to the Single's Ward. She said she's going to start going there sometime.
Hey guess what we've got a cell phone now! I'm responsible for it so there goes my whole being excited about not having a cell phone for two years. It'll be really really useful though. We can't text so that's a plus. Elder Bliss used to be a text addict. That kind of sounds wrong.
I'm not sure how David and Dixie are doing with the rated-R movie thing. They haven't really brought it up. We haven't either. It's kind of a touchy subject but we'll have to bring it up again sometime. They're not married yet. Our next appointment we're going to set a goal.
So Hannah's going to have to watch the maturation film eh? How fun. And she's into crafts now? That's cool. What's the charter school? Is that that one school she almost went to a while back? She'll be fine going to normal school. I went to a different High School than the Wardies and I got through it just fine.
Bob Dylan's coming out with another new album?? Snap. That makes me slightly trunky. I'll get over it. Speaking of trunky we went hiking last P-Day somewhere in Whittier on some mountain and I saw trees and squirrells and it was so cool. It made me trunky too. But I got over it. We saw Long Beach, the ocean and L.A. from the top.
I didn't know anything about that Tom Hanks stuff. That's absurd. The apostles are probably going to dust their feet off at him and that TV show. They're gonna get cursed from on High. There goes a lot of my respect for Mr. Hanks. :( If he keeps that kind of stuff up he'd better make sure to be wearing a tank top, shorts and some flip flops when he's buried.
Whoa $1500 on my card now? I got that much tax stuff? How does that work? That's cool. Gracias!
I think Elder Bliss might be kind of mad at me because I made sure we had the full two hours of sacred study time this morning. We were running kind of late because of the transfers but I didn't think that was any excuse for not getting full studies. But apparently he does. That's too bad. That may cause some unnecessary contention. I hope not. Gotta be obedient . My second interview with Pres. Sexton made clear to me that we are expected to study two hours every day NO EXCEPTIONS. Those studies are sacred. So we had them today just like every other day. He'll get over it. Next obedience thing I'm going to work on is with our meal appointments. More and more of the members seem to think that we can stay for longer than an hour. The dinner calendar makes it very clear that that's not the case at all. One hour exactly and no longer. And when 6:00 rolls around we need to be working not eating. These rules would be so easy to keep if everyone would conform. Sorry I'm venting a little. I don't want to sound like a stickler I just want to do what I'm supposed to do. The dinner appointments have been the biggest obstacle for me out here surprisingly enough. I mean I'm grateful for the food but I HATE overstuffing myself. Makes me feel like crap. Dessert is a luxury not a staple to every dinner. Okay I'll stop venting.
Launa and Jackie send me letters pretty regularly. I'm going to write back to them today. Sorry this e-mail's a little short so I might write you guys too. I hope I have time. I'm going to try to do four letters today cuz I want to send some word to Tyson. The Assistants from the Anaheim mission attend the Spanish Ward in our building so we see them every Sunday.
This will most likely be my last transfer in Buena Park so I want to do the best I can and end it well. I want to fulfill my purpose here. It's very very rare for an Elder to stay in his Greenie area for more than 4 transfers. I don't think it's happened here actually. The Zone Leaders told me that I'm for sure leaving in 6 weeks. Until then we've got at least two baptisms and we're going to work hard for more.
I love you and have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
We haven't seen Sam since that last visit but I think she's doing okay. She didn't come to our ward this Sunday though. I hope she went to the Single's Ward. She said she's going to start going there sometime.
Hey guess what we've got a cell phone now! I'm responsible for it so there goes my whole being excited about not having a cell phone for two years. It'll be really really useful though. We can't text so that's a plus. Elder Bliss used to be a text addict. That kind of sounds wrong.
I'm not sure how David and Dixie are doing with the rated-R movie thing. They haven't really brought it up. We haven't either. It's kind of a touchy subject but we'll have to bring it up again sometime. They're not married yet. Our next appointment we're going to set a goal.
So Hannah's going to have to watch the maturation film eh? How fun. And she's into crafts now? That's cool. What's the charter school? Is that that one school she almost went to a while back? She'll be fine going to normal school. I went to a different High School than the Wardies and I got through it just fine.
Bob Dylan's coming out with another new album?? Snap. That makes me slightly trunky. I'll get over it. Speaking of trunky we went hiking last P-Day somewhere in Whittier on some mountain and I saw trees and squirrells and it was so cool. It made me trunky too. But I got over it. We saw Long Beach, the ocean and L.A. from the top.
I didn't know anything about that Tom Hanks stuff. That's absurd. The apostles are probably going to dust their feet off at him and that TV show. They're gonna get cursed from on High. There goes a lot of my respect for Mr. Hanks. :( If he keeps that kind of stuff up he'd better make sure to be wearing a tank top, shorts and some flip flops when he's buried.
Whoa $1500 on my card now? I got that much tax stuff? How does that work? That's cool. Gracias!
I think Elder Bliss might be kind of mad at me because I made sure we had the full two hours of sacred study time this morning. We were running kind of late because of the transfers but I didn't think that was any excuse for not getting full studies. But apparently he does. That's too bad. That may cause some unnecessary contention. I hope not. Gotta be obedient . My second interview with Pres. Sexton made clear to me that we are expected to study two hours every day NO EXCEPTIONS. Those studies are sacred. So we had them today just like every other day. He'll get over it. Next obedience thing I'm going to work on is with our meal appointments. More and more of the members seem to think that we can stay for longer than an hour. The dinner calendar makes it very clear that that's not the case at all. One hour exactly and no longer. And when 6:00 rolls around we need to be working not eating. These rules would be so easy to keep if everyone would conform. Sorry I'm venting a little. I don't want to sound like a stickler I just want to do what I'm supposed to do. The dinner appointments have been the biggest obstacle for me out here surprisingly enough. I mean I'm grateful for the food but I HATE overstuffing myself. Makes me feel like crap. Dessert is a luxury not a staple to every dinner. Okay I'll stop venting.
Launa and Jackie send me letters pretty regularly. I'm going to write back to them today. Sorry this e-mail's a little short so I might write you guys too. I hope I have time. I'm going to try to do four letters today cuz I want to send some word to Tyson. The Assistants from the Anaheim mission attend the Spanish Ward in our building so we see them every Sunday.
This will most likely be my last transfer in Buena Park so I want to do the best I can and end it well. I want to fulfill my purpose here. It's very very rare for an Elder to stay in his Greenie area for more than 4 transfers. I don't think it's happened here actually. The Zone Leaders told me that I'm for sure leaving in 6 weeks. Until then we've got at least two baptisms and we're going to work hard for more.
I love you and have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
March 3rd, 2009 (Email)
I am no longer a Greenie! As of today! Remember 6 months ago? I sure do. To be completely honest I did not enjoy that first day much at all. It was a really really really tough day for me. It probably was for all of us. It was probably the hardest day of my life to tell you the truth. Definitely the hardest month of my life. I look back and wonder: How did I make it to this point?? How did I walk past that first step??? Lots of prayer and lots of help from my Heavenly Father is definitely a big part of the answer. I read 3 Nephi 27 during my personal study this morning and received a little more revelation and realization about the purpose of Christ's gospel. Jesus says something to the effect of "even as I was lifted up by men shall men be lifted up by the Father." His work is to lift us up. He has lifted me up countless times. And the blessings truly come after a trial of your faith.
Denny-Ray-Billy-Shaw Stelly is going to be baptized March 14th! So I'm torn; part of me wants to stay in Buena Park to see that happen and part of me wants to start a new adventure. I have no idea what the President's decision will be regarding whether or not I'll be transferred. We'll see!
We met with Sam on Saturday! Finally! We studied a little about Lehi's dream and extracted some deeper stuff and applied it to our lives. President Sexton explained last zone conference that the tree of life is Christ and that the fruit of the tree of life is His Atonement. Lehi never left the tree of life in his vision; rather he beckoned and called to his family inviting them to come and partake of the fruit also. But he never left the tree. NEVER LEAVE THE TREE. That's what we told Sam and then we asked if she'd like a priesthood blessing. She was crying at that point and quickly said yes. I'm always a little nervous to give blessings but I did it anyways. I think it helped because on Sunday she came to church AND SHE BROUGHT HER DAD! Sam mentioned that she'll probably start attending the Singles Ward pretty soon. That's a great idea.
Yesterday we had splits. I stayed in my area again and my companion for the day was my District Leader, Elder Thompson. He's an amazing missionary and he taught me a lot. We had no appointments yesterday so I was a little worried about planning the night before. It's usually pretty painful to plan for an empty day. But Elder Thompson had me use Preach My Gospel to guide our planning session and before we knew it the day was full. And we were way busy yeserday! It was a miracle! We set goals to teach one lesson with a member present, four other lessons and to find two new investigators. We met all our goals and exceeded our goal for how many lessons we taught-- we taught six! It was a really productive day. We also stopped by Robbie Reed and gave him a blessing because he's sick. I've had to give lots and lots of blessings on my mission already. I love it!
On Sunday we had FIVE investigators come to church! That's the most we've had this transfer! It pales in comparison to the eight investigators we had coming to church repeatedly when I was with Elder Rodriguez but then again most of those investigators have been batpized now so five is great! And David Guiterrez (Dixie's David) bore his testimony during sacrament! That was so cool. He talked about the night Elder Rodriguez and I knocked on his door and he bore testimony of the Word of Wisdom and how the Lord has blessed his family after he chose to give up certain things and he also talked about how thankful he is for Christ and his sacrifices. It definitely made my day to see him stand up at that pulpit. We actually subtly challenged him to do that during our last lesson when we read with their family what Preach My Gospel says about the importance of bearing your testimony often. David Guiterrez has come a long way during the brief four months we've been visiting his family. He's gone from ex-cholo (cholo means gangster) to saint!
I'm still loving the mission and I still love Buena Park. I'm excited to not be a Greenie anymore and I'm amazed that it's been 6 months already. I'm a quarter of the way back to that airplane and I'm going to keep living every moment of this time to its fullest because this is it. Gotta be obedient.
iLes amo! (I love you!)
con amor,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Denny-Ray-Billy-Shaw Stelly is going to be baptized March 14th! So I'm torn; part of me wants to stay in Buena Park to see that happen and part of me wants to start a new adventure. I have no idea what the President's decision will be regarding whether or not I'll be transferred. We'll see!
We met with Sam on Saturday! Finally! We studied a little about Lehi's dream and extracted some deeper stuff and applied it to our lives. President Sexton explained last zone conference that the tree of life is Christ and that the fruit of the tree of life is His Atonement. Lehi never left the tree of life in his vision; rather he beckoned and called to his family inviting them to come and partake of the fruit also. But he never left the tree. NEVER LEAVE THE TREE. That's what we told Sam and then we asked if she'd like a priesthood blessing. She was crying at that point and quickly said yes. I'm always a little nervous to give blessings but I did it anyways. I think it helped because on Sunday she came to church AND SHE BROUGHT HER DAD! Sam mentioned that she'll probably start attending the Singles Ward pretty soon. That's a great idea.
Yesterday we had splits. I stayed in my area again and my companion for the day was my District Leader, Elder Thompson. He's an amazing missionary and he taught me a lot. We had no appointments yesterday so I was a little worried about planning the night before. It's usually pretty painful to plan for an empty day. But Elder Thompson had me use Preach My Gospel to guide our planning session and before we knew it the day was full. And we were way busy yeserday! It was a miracle! We set goals to teach one lesson with a member present, four other lessons and to find two new investigators. We met all our goals and exceeded our goal for how many lessons we taught-- we taught six! It was a really productive day. We also stopped by Robbie Reed and gave him a blessing because he's sick. I've had to give lots and lots of blessings on my mission already. I love it!
On Sunday we had FIVE investigators come to church! That's the most we've had this transfer! It pales in comparison to the eight investigators we had coming to church repeatedly when I was with Elder Rodriguez but then again most of those investigators have been batpized now so five is great! And David Guiterrez (Dixie's David) bore his testimony during sacrament! That was so cool. He talked about the night Elder Rodriguez and I knocked on his door and he bore testimony of the Word of Wisdom and how the Lord has blessed his family after he chose to give up certain things and he also talked about how thankful he is for Christ and his sacrifices. It definitely made my day to see him stand up at that pulpit. We actually subtly challenged him to do that during our last lesson when we read with their family what Preach My Gospel says about the importance of bearing your testimony often. David Guiterrez has come a long way during the brief four months we've been visiting his family. He's gone from ex-cholo (cholo means gangster) to saint!
I'm still loving the mission and I still love Buena Park. I'm excited to not be a Greenie anymore and I'm amazed that it's been 6 months already. I'm a quarter of the way back to that airplane and I'm going to keep living every moment of this time to its fullest because this is it. Gotta be obedient.
iLes amo! (I love you!)
con amor,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Monday, March 2, 2009
February 24th, 2009 Letter & Pictures
Hey Fam!
This check is change from when I ordered "Jesus The Christ" for Jason Patterson. He started to read it and he liked it but it gave him all sorts of new questions like "Jesus was the Jehovah of the Old Testament?!" He moved before I could I could really answer that one. Anyway, if you could make that check useful somehow that'd be awesome.
So look at those pictures and compare/contrast my face. At Amalia's baptism there is definite improvement. The miracle of medicine at work! So MonRoe Martin;s this 8 year old girl from the ward. Her parents has us teach her all the lessons before her baptism, no naturally we decided to attend the service. She really reminds me of another little red-head only a couple years older than her.
I just got back from Wal-Mart and I got some new slacks for $18. I'm 32/30 now. don't worry about sending me pants there's plenty of places to get them around here like Wal-Mart, Target and Sears. Sears has some good deals sometimes. That's all I really use my debit money for - pictures to develop and pants if I need them. and when it comes to pants the stretchy-waist is the way to go.
Anyway just thought I'd send you these photos. We're going on a hike with the Zone Leaders today hopefully. Sweetaction!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis 
February 24th, 2009 (Email)
Buenas dias!
Denny-Ray Billy-Shaw Stelly (At least I'm pretty sure that's his name) was granted permission from the First Presidency to be baptized. Bro. Stelly's pretty excited about that. He should be. But here's the deal- HE HASN'T BEEN COMING TO CHURCH. We keep commiting him and re-commiting him but he just keeps NOT showing up to church on Sunday. [okay this keyboard's junk. the "w" key keeps sticking and the keyboard tray keeps breaking. oh well- ADD moment over] We visited his family last night and they knew they were in trouble. We don't even have to say anything or even look disappointed. They knew exactly what we were thinking right when we said hello. Anyways, they said they'll come to church next Sunday, and despite their past record with their promises of coming to church all I can do is EXPECT them to be there again.
Dixie's divorce is final now! Yay! She has her name back and everything. She got a deal from the judge and now it's all old news. I have no idea how any of that stuff works though so that's all I can tell you. Now we've just gotta wait for David and Dixie to get married and then we can baptize them. Hopefully they'll get married soon because I'm at risk to be transferred March 10th. In fact it's pretty likely that I will be. I'd like to stay because a lot of baptisms are probably going to happen here next transfer and I'd like to see the fruits of my labor through but at the same time I wouldn't mind starting a new adventure.
Amalia Ramos was confirmed on Sunday. We wanted Omar to confirm her but he got nervous and asked me to do it at the last minute. So I did. In English though because I'd rather not do my first Spanish blessing in front of the entire Buena Park Ward. Might as well have though, because right as we placed our hands on Amalia's head she started sobbing violently so I had trouble knowing what to say anyways. She was crying for two reasons- 1. Because she was feeling something inside of her that she had a lot of trouble explaining but whatever it was it made her really happy and 2. because she was sad that her husband didn't come. So the overall feeling of being way happy and way sad kind of made her hysterical. Elder Bliss and I didn't really know what to do so we just had to sit back and watch as she walked up to the podium and cried and explained her feelings to the entire ward. It was pretty cool though.
Still haven't been able to contact Sam Sakely. :( So I don't know what's going on with her. I hope everything's okay.
Elder Rodriguez called me a couple nights ago to check out how things are going. Here was our conversation: "Was Sam baptized?" "No." "What?" "And she's gone less-active." "What?!" "And Jason Patterson moved." "WHAT!?" Yeah. Jason Patterson moved. That was random. We stopped by his house I think Sunday and it was empty and his brother answered the door and said he'd moved to Tumekula on Saturday. That was pretty out of the blue. We knew he was kind of house-hunting but we didn't know he was that serious. We'd just visited him about a week ago. But now he's gone and I gave his information to the Mission Office so I guess some other Elders will visit him in Tumekula wherever the heck that is.
So I kind of have my bearings about where I am now. Disneyland's only about 15 minutes away from here. I kind of saw it yesterday; at least I saw its general area and some of the big buildings that are near it. We have a big chunk of Anaheim in our area and we were in that part yesterday crossing a pretty high bridge and I may or may not have seen Disneyland but I definitely saw where people say it is.
Yeah I like some of the Cheese Church music it's true. Still not into the B98.7 stuff but I've found stuff that I like. Yeah Mom please send me some tunes that'd be awesome! Jenny Philips, folk-country church music, that all sounds great.
The acne medicine has worked miracles and I'm still bleaching my teeth and that's amazing too. Still haven't found a dry-cleaning place in Buena Park but we're going to look into it again today. None listed in the phone book. It'll happen I promise. I'm not sure if my waistline has really grown much or if the washer just shrunk those pants. They said machine-wash cold so that's what I did but apparently the problem may be that they shrunk. I'll see what the people can do about it.
The mission had 21 baptisms this week. TWENTY ONE. That's the most that the mission's had in over two years. Milagros estan pasando en el campo de buena park. Verdad.
Yeah we visited Dara Walker's ex-brother-in-law and he was pretty nice. He's a 70- not a Seventy but the old priesthood office between Elder and High Priest 70- so he needs to get his act together. We'll visit him weekly and invite him to church every time and we'll probably bring up repentance and what it really is and how it really works and hopefully he'll start living up to the standard he already knows is true. The best thing for him to do would be to meet with Bishop Redding.
All's still buena in Buena Park! Have a great week fam!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Denny-Ray Billy-Shaw Stelly (At least I'm pretty sure that's his name) was granted permission from the First Presidency to be baptized. Bro. Stelly's pretty excited about that. He should be. But here's the deal- HE HASN'T BEEN COMING TO CHURCH. We keep commiting him and re-commiting him but he just keeps NOT showing up to church on Sunday. [okay this keyboard's junk. the "w" key keeps sticking and the keyboard tray keeps breaking. oh well- ADD moment over] We visited his family last night and they knew they were in trouble. We don't even have to say anything or even look disappointed. They knew exactly what we were thinking right when we said hello. Anyways, they said they'll come to church next Sunday, and despite their past record with their promises of coming to church all I can do is EXPECT them to be there again.
Dixie's divorce is final now! Yay! She has her name back and everything. She got a deal from the judge and now it's all old news. I have no idea how any of that stuff works though so that's all I can tell you. Now we've just gotta wait for David and Dixie to get married and then we can baptize them. Hopefully they'll get married soon because I'm at risk to be transferred March 10th. In fact it's pretty likely that I will be. I'd like to stay because a lot of baptisms are probably going to happen here next transfer and I'd like to see the fruits of my labor through but at the same time I wouldn't mind starting a new adventure.
Amalia Ramos was confirmed on Sunday. We wanted Omar to confirm her but he got nervous and asked me to do it at the last minute. So I did. In English though because I'd rather not do my first Spanish blessing in front of the entire Buena Park Ward. Might as well have though, because right as we placed our hands on Amalia's head she started sobbing violently so I had trouble knowing what to say anyways. She was crying for two reasons- 1. Because she was feeling something inside of her that she had a lot of trouble explaining but whatever it was it made her really happy and 2. because she was sad that her husband didn't come. So the overall feeling of being way happy and way sad kind of made her hysterical. Elder Bliss and I didn't really know what to do so we just had to sit back and watch as she walked up to the podium and cried and explained her feelings to the entire ward. It was pretty cool though.
Still haven't been able to contact Sam Sakely. :( So I don't know what's going on with her. I hope everything's okay.
Elder Rodriguez called me a couple nights ago to check out how things are going. Here was our conversation: "Was Sam baptized?" "No." "What?" "And she's gone less-active." "What?!" "And Jason Patterson moved." "WHAT!?" Yeah. Jason Patterson moved. That was random. We stopped by his house I think Sunday and it was empty and his brother answered the door and said he'd moved to Tumekula on Saturday. That was pretty out of the blue. We knew he was kind of house-hunting but we didn't know he was that serious. We'd just visited him about a week ago. But now he's gone and I gave his information to the Mission Office so I guess some other Elders will visit him in Tumekula wherever the heck that is.
So I kind of have my bearings about where I am now. Disneyland's only about 15 minutes away from here. I kind of saw it yesterday; at least I saw its general area and some of the big buildings that are near it. We have a big chunk of Anaheim in our area and we were in that part yesterday crossing a pretty high bridge and I may or may not have seen Disneyland but I definitely saw where people say it is.
Yeah I like some of the Cheese Church music it's true. Still not into the B98.7 stuff but I've found stuff that I like. Yeah Mom please send me some tunes that'd be awesome! Jenny Philips, folk-country church music, that all sounds great.
The acne medicine has worked miracles and I'm still bleaching my teeth and that's amazing too. Still haven't found a dry-cleaning place in Buena Park but we're going to look into it again today. None listed in the phone book. It'll happen I promise. I'm not sure if my waistline has really grown much or if the washer just shrunk those pants. They said machine-wash cold so that's what I did but apparently the problem may be that they shrunk. I'll see what the people can do about it.
The mission had 21 baptisms this week. TWENTY ONE. That's the most that the mission's had in over two years. Milagros estan pasando en el campo de buena park. Verdad.
Yeah we visited Dara Walker's ex-brother-in-law and he was pretty nice. He's a 70- not a Seventy but the old priesthood office between Elder and High Priest 70- so he needs to get his act together. We'll visit him weekly and invite him to church every time and we'll probably bring up repentance and what it really is and how it really works and hopefully he'll start living up to the standard he already knows is true. The best thing for him to do would be to meet with Bishop Redding.
All's still buena in Buena Park! Have a great week fam!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
