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!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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
