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