Hello again!
Last week was a good week. I found out something last week that could change the rest of my life. Alright, so during my last interview with President Sexton I asked him if I could go anywhere to get an allergy test. President asked why and I explained my chicken issues and also told him that I'm pretty sure that I've accidentally had chicken on more than one occasion on my mission. I explained the epi-pen and President told me he didn't see any problem with me just eating some of the stuff with the epi-pen close by. I know that President isn't a doctor and I know that what I did was a little rash but that's what I did. Last Tuesday I stopped by Church's Chicken while jogging and I picked up a fried chicken thigh and a biscuit. And then I ate it. And it was good. A day or two later I had a chicken taco from Del Taco and then later I had a chicken sandwich from Burger King. So I'm cured! Awesome!
Daniel Clay, the guy with the three kids, accepted our invite for him to be baptized November 14th! He's really sincere and looks forward to our visits. He makes and sells "therapeutic meditational multi cultral prayer beads" for a living. He's a very interesting character. His son is 8-years-old and Daniel's raised him to live the life of a Nazarene-- so the kid never cuts his hair and he never eats grapes or partakes of anything from the vine. Just like John the Baptist. We're going to see if the son wants to be baptized with his dad. Daniel and his son and two daughters all came to church on Sunday and they came to the ward halloween social the night before. Daniel told us he wants a triple combination so we're going to go get him one today. He told us out of the blue that he wants to have the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. And one Sunday in Priesthood when he heard someone say the word "Melchizedek" Daniel got really excited and turned to Elder Harris and said "I know about that! That's important!" And in Sunday school when he was asked what he thought about the Book of Mormon he had us turn to the very last verse in the gospel of John. As you can see this is a golden investigator family. And yesterday Daniel committed to live the Word of Wisdom and he gave us his cigarettes.
The stake president here spoke on Sunday in our ward. His name's President Nunnaly(?) and he gave a good talk about peace and harmony. Every stake president's different. The stake president in Cypress is a lawyer and he always spoke with POWER AND AUTHORITY let me tell you what. The stake president here is very soft spoken and very involved with the missionary effort.
Glad to hear Grandpa's surgery went well and glad to hear Hannah has a good friend. Hope she has fun trick-or-treating on Saturday. Sad to hear about the golf club incident. Still haven't got any letters from anyone but I got an e-mail from Launa and "Daniel" Rodriguez today. Elder Rodriguez told me he's sending me a letter that should get to me soon. He said Jason Patterson got baptized!...and then removed his records...? Don't know the story so maybe we'll see. And Elder Harris saw his first possum a couple days ago in our parking lot. Man those things are ugly.
Have a fantastic week and Happy Halloween!!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
October 20th, 2009 (Email)
Hello again!
I just got back from Los Angeles a couple hours ago. We went to the L.A. temple and it was pretty amazing. It's a 5-room session there: Creation, Garden, Telestial, Terrestrial & Celestial. I've heard that it's the biggest temple in the world. We woke up at 4:30 this morning so we could make the 6:30 session, so I feel kind of tired. It was nice to finally go to the temple again though. Now I just have to wait 6 more months until I go back... :(
Elder Harris and I read something in Preach My Gospel last week that we've started focusing on and it really works! Sometimes we receive Media Referrals from Church Headquarters by text message and we're supposed to contact those referrals as soon as we possibly can. Oftentimes the referral people either aren't home or aren't really interested but we read in Preach My Gospel that when we receive one of those referrals it means that the Lord has prepared someone in that area-- either a family member, a neighbor, or someone just passing by. So we're encouraged to knock all around the homes of the media referrals. We've started applying that more and it's been fantastic. Yesterday we went to the home of an old referral that we couldn't teach because they were Korean speaking and we knocked their street. No one living on that street wanted to learn but when we were at the very last house someone from the street called at us and asked "why don't you guys ever come knock on my door?!" It was an african-american man with three young kids. His name was Daniel and he talked with us for a few minutes and set up an appointment with us for this evening. Cool!
We've started receiving referrals from church members! Yay! We received more referrals last week than I've ever received on my mission! We got 5 referrals: 1 from church headquarters and 4 from members. So far one of the referrals looks really promising. His name's Christian and we're teaching him the 1st lesson tonight.
I'm glad to hear we're going back to the old church building. And 10:00 church is perfecto. Justin's coming home next week? Wow. That is weird.
So that's all I've got this week. Sorry it's a short one. We're still working hard and I'll tell you when someone commits to a baptismal date again. We still commit every 1st lesson but our people keep declining or coming up with excuses. Someday we'll find another one who's prepared.
I hope everything goes well with Grandpa's surgery. Have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Mom: Socks would be great. I need socks that aren't too hot. Garments would be great too. Can I get briefs for the bottoms this time? Yeah I wrote Jared but receiving mail is like finding a unicorn. All's good in the apartment. Elder Harris is still awesome. Yeah I've been driving for a couple weeks now.
Dad: Nice poem. ;)
I just got back from Los Angeles a couple hours ago. We went to the L.A. temple and it was pretty amazing. It's a 5-room session there: Creation, Garden, Telestial, Terrestrial & Celestial. I've heard that it's the biggest temple in the world. We woke up at 4:30 this morning so we could make the 6:30 session, so I feel kind of tired. It was nice to finally go to the temple again though. Now I just have to wait 6 more months until I go back... :(
Elder Harris and I read something in Preach My Gospel last week that we've started focusing on and it really works! Sometimes we receive Media Referrals from Church Headquarters by text message and we're supposed to contact those referrals as soon as we possibly can. Oftentimes the referral people either aren't home or aren't really interested but we read in Preach My Gospel that when we receive one of those referrals it means that the Lord has prepared someone in that area-- either a family member, a neighbor, or someone just passing by. So we're encouraged to knock all around the homes of the media referrals. We've started applying that more and it's been fantastic. Yesterday we went to the home of an old referral that we couldn't teach because they were Korean speaking and we knocked their street. No one living on that street wanted to learn but when we were at the very last house someone from the street called at us and asked "why don't you guys ever come knock on my door?!" It was an african-american man with three young kids. His name was Daniel and he talked with us for a few minutes and set up an appointment with us for this evening. Cool!
We've started receiving referrals from church members! Yay! We received more referrals last week than I've ever received on my mission! We got 5 referrals: 1 from church headquarters and 4 from members. So far one of the referrals looks really promising. His name's Christian and we're teaching him the 1st lesson tonight.
I'm glad to hear we're going back to the old church building. And 10:00 church is perfecto. Justin's coming home next week? Wow. That is weird.
So that's all I've got this week. Sorry it's a short one. We're still working hard and I'll tell you when someone commits to a baptismal date again. We still commit every 1st lesson but our people keep declining or coming up with excuses. Someday we'll find another one who's prepared.
I hope everything goes well with Grandpa's surgery. Have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Mom: Socks would be great. I need socks that aren't too hot. Garments would be great too. Can I get briefs for the bottoms this time? Yeah I wrote Jared but receiving mail is like finding a unicorn. All's good in the apartment. Elder Harris is still awesome. Yeah I've been driving for a couple weeks now.
Dad: Nice poem. ;)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
October 13th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
A Bob Dylan Christmas eh? You never know what that man's going to put out next. Interesting.
Jessica Maulion was confirmed on Sunday! It was crazy. She was late to church because her ride got lost. Jessica brought her 2-yr-old son to church for the first time and he was out of control. While we were confirming her the kid was sitting in her lap and he reached over and hit me in the gonads while we were blessing her. Then he ran over to the organ and started playing some freestyle noises. The ward-members got a kick out of it. Jessica was a little embarrassed but not too bad. It was the first confirmation Elder Harris performed so we were excited about that.
Charles Meachum has it fixed in his mind that one of the speakers during General Conference said that "God doesn't like a free man." We've tried again and again to explain to him that they said "natural man" but he won't buy it. We used his story to teach him briefly about the Plan of Salvation and that was fun but he doesn't feel like he needs to pray or be baptized so we don't see much progress. We do know a little more about him now though. He fought in Vietnam so that explains a little bit more about why he's so bitter about God.
We tracted into some fun people last week. There's "Clint Eastwood man", for example. We were walking past his house and we saw him in his front yard so we started inviting him to learn. He was a tall skinny man with a trucker's hat, sunglasses, a tucked in T-shirt, levis, cowboy boots and a long skinny cigarette in his mouth. He saw us, dramatically told his dog to stay put, and growled out a question: "Mormons?" We confirmed his suspicion and to that he shook his head, walked towards his garage and advised us, "Now don't get too many women pregnant." It was awesome. Yesterday we knocked into a Korean woman who knew very little English. She came to her door and yelled out "What's happening?!" She then stared at us for a second and then yelled out "Praise Mormon!" and ran away. A couple days ago we were walking in a neighborhood, heading towards an appointment we had. We were both wondering why we'd decided to walk when all of a sudden we heard a loud tapping noise on the window of the house next to us. Then a lady yelled out "Are you Mormons?!" We introduced ourselves and then she asked "Are you handing out free Bibles?!" We asked whether or not she meant the Book of Mormon and she said yes. She took a copy and we asked her if we could visit her. Then she said, "Saturday at 1:00!" The Lord truly places those being prepared to receive the word in the path of His missionaries.
We had zone conference on Friday and President Sexton instructed us to try harder to exercise moral discipline so we can always have the Spirit with us so we can teach with POWER and authority. We were also told to work harder to have lessons with members present. We're doing our darndest to do that. President came to our apartment on Saturday morning to interview us and the companionship that lives with us. President asked me which talks I particularly enjoyed from conference and I told him I liked Elder Richard G. Scott's talk and I also told him about the impression I received to write Jared during the talk by Elder Choi. President addressed my concern I expressed to him a few weeks ago about finding new investigators and he told me that we've been doing it right and that we should just keep doing what we have been. He said that he wants us to go by exactly what Preach My Gospel says and not to change anything. So now I know that there are several missionaries in this mission that are making finding way more difficult than it needs to be. President even told me that the Brethren are aware that we may never see our new investigators again because so many fail to be there for their return appointment. So that cleared that up. Apparently President decided to interview us in the apartment because he felt an impression that the missionaries we live with are struggling a little bit. When we came back for lunch that day we found out that surely enough those two Elders didn't have very pleasant interviews. I feel bad because one of the Elders is still just a Greenie and his new Senior Companion isn't the best example for obedience. The younger Elder has come to me a few times for advice and I just told him to follow the example of his trainer and to utilize his interview with President Sexton for help. He didn't follow up on that very well so that's why he got himself into a pickle.
So those are the adventures I had last week. Elder Harris and I ran in the rain this morning and it was great. No I haven't heard from David and Dixie :( and yeah I know the birthday card had a swear ;) Have a good day at work! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S.- I could use some good reliable pens. I write A LOT so my pens keep running out on me. Other than that I have the hardest time coming up with requests for packages now... Thank you!
A Bob Dylan Christmas eh? You never know what that man's going to put out next. Interesting.
Jessica Maulion was confirmed on Sunday! It was crazy. She was late to church because her ride got lost. Jessica brought her 2-yr-old son to church for the first time and he was out of control. While we were confirming her the kid was sitting in her lap and he reached over and hit me in the gonads while we were blessing her. Then he ran over to the organ and started playing some freestyle noises. The ward-members got a kick out of it. Jessica was a little embarrassed but not too bad. It was the first confirmation Elder Harris performed so we were excited about that.
Charles Meachum has it fixed in his mind that one of the speakers during General Conference said that "God doesn't like a free man." We've tried again and again to explain to him that they said "natural man" but he won't buy it. We used his story to teach him briefly about the Plan of Salvation and that was fun but he doesn't feel like he needs to pray or be baptized so we don't see much progress. We do know a little more about him now though. He fought in Vietnam so that explains a little bit more about why he's so bitter about God.
We tracted into some fun people last week. There's "Clint Eastwood man", for example. We were walking past his house and we saw him in his front yard so we started inviting him to learn. He was a tall skinny man with a trucker's hat, sunglasses, a tucked in T-shirt, levis, cowboy boots and a long skinny cigarette in his mouth. He saw us, dramatically told his dog to stay put, and growled out a question: "Mormons?" We confirmed his suspicion and to that he shook his head, walked towards his garage and advised us, "Now don't get too many women pregnant." It was awesome. Yesterday we knocked into a Korean woman who knew very little English. She came to her door and yelled out "What's happening?!" She then stared at us for a second and then yelled out "Praise Mormon!" and ran away. A couple days ago we were walking in a neighborhood, heading towards an appointment we had. We were both wondering why we'd decided to walk when all of a sudden we heard a loud tapping noise on the window of the house next to us. Then a lady yelled out "Are you Mormons?!" We introduced ourselves and then she asked "Are you handing out free Bibles?!" We asked whether or not she meant the Book of Mormon and she said yes. She took a copy and we asked her if we could visit her. Then she said, "Saturday at 1:00!" The Lord truly places those being prepared to receive the word in the path of His missionaries.
We had zone conference on Friday and President Sexton instructed us to try harder to exercise moral discipline so we can always have the Spirit with us so we can teach with POWER and authority. We were also told to work harder to have lessons with members present. We're doing our darndest to do that. President came to our apartment on Saturday morning to interview us and the companionship that lives with us. President asked me which talks I particularly enjoyed from conference and I told him I liked Elder Richard G. Scott's talk and I also told him about the impression I received to write Jared during the talk by Elder Choi. President addressed my concern I expressed to him a few weeks ago about finding new investigators and he told me that we've been doing it right and that we should just keep doing what we have been. He said that he wants us to go by exactly what Preach My Gospel says and not to change anything. So now I know that there are several missionaries in this mission that are making finding way more difficult than it needs to be. President even told me that the Brethren are aware that we may never see our new investigators again because so many fail to be there for their return appointment. So that cleared that up. Apparently President decided to interview us in the apartment because he felt an impression that the missionaries we live with are struggling a little bit. When we came back for lunch that day we found out that surely enough those two Elders didn't have very pleasant interviews. I feel bad because one of the Elders is still just a Greenie and his new Senior Companion isn't the best example for obedience. The younger Elder has come to me a few times for advice and I just told him to follow the example of his trainer and to utilize his interview with President Sexton for help. He didn't follow up on that very well so that's why he got himself into a pickle.
So those are the adventures I had last week. Elder Harris and I ran in the rain this morning and it was great. No I haven't heard from David and Dixie :( and yeah I know the birthday card had a swear ;) Have a good day at work! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S.- I could use some good reliable pens. I write A LOT so my pens keep running out on me. Other than that I have the hardest time coming up with requests for packages now... Thank you!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
October 6th, 2009 (Email)
Hello!
Sam Sakely got baptized last week! I just read her name at the top of the announcements today! That made my day.
Sounds like a lot's happening back home. I hope all goes well with the website deal today Dad. I told a few members about it. Don't give up on running! That's the whole problem when people try to exercise is that eventually they give up! Mom, please tell Hannah not to be sad. I don't know what's going on next year at this time so nobody needs to worry about missing me yet. And I hope Grandpa's surgery goes well. Lots of prayers.
General Conference was great as usual! Yeah I missed home a little bit too but not too much. I've only got about 11 months left and that's no time! It freaks me out sometimes so I try to ignore it. I learned a lot from the prophet and the apostles. I especially liked Elder Richard G. Scott's talk about spiritual communication and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon.
Two members from our ward passed away last week. One was Bro. Ray Hall. Bro. Hall was a great man. I'd visited him several times these past six months. We'd go over there to share a brief lesson with him mostly because he just liked having the missionaries over. He came to a couple appointments with us and he attended our Gospel Principles class every week. Whenever we'd visit he'd always give us a banana, a cookie and a soda. Every time. He was a sweet old man and we'll miss him. He died peacefully in his sleep Saturday night. Sis. Kawamoto passed as well. Several months ago I went with Elder Anderson and Bishop Jensen (ward mission leader) to go give her and her husband blessings before she went to get treated for cancer. I suppose it was their time for both of them.
Elder Harris and I had an interesting experience last week with a man named Charles Meachum. Charles is a man somewhere in his 50s who just had open-heart surgery. We ran into him knocking and when I started speaking to him he quickly said "I don't believe in any of that." He's an atheist. So we offered to give him some service. He looked a little intrigued and asked if we mowed lawns. A couple days later we had a great service project! It was great. His yard needed some work to say the least because he just flat out couldn't do it. So we trimmed some trees and cut up some branches and I mowed his lawn and weedwacked some weeds. It was so much fun! After that we set up an appointment to teach him the Gospel. He watched a session of General Conference over the weekend and yesterday he told us that he didn't like how we believe that we're so dependent on God. He said he didn't believe in God and didn't think He'd ever done anything for him. He said that he didn't care what happens after this life and he didn't credit God for anything. And then he started rambling and told us a fascinating story about motorcycles. I listened intently to the whole thing, feeling very enlightened. Here's his story:
He had a nephew who wanted to buy a motorcycle from him. It was worth $5,000 but he sold it to his nephew for $3,000. He gave his nephew this nugget of advice: "There are two types of bikers on the road: there are those that have fallen and those that will fall." He said that there were some parts on the motorcycle that needed to be fixed before it hit the streets. He gave his nephew a list telling him exactly what needed to be fixed and replaced. His nephew took the bike home and fixed some of the parts but neglected to repair some vital parts. Then he hit the highway. Eventually he crashed on some off-ramp and he broke his wrist. As a consequence Charles took the bike back and told his nephew he could have it back when he could afford to repair everything on the bike. He knew that his nephew wasn't capable of paying for everything so he mercifully gave him a deal that if he'd help around the yard he'd eventually earn the bike back. Eventually Charles returned the motorcycle to his nephew. He said "I liked the kid- I just didn't want to be responsible for his death." He also explained, "I raised the kid as my own. I'd give anything of mine to him- all he'd have to do is ask."
Do you get it? It's a very profound explanation of the plan of salvation from God's point of view! I explained it to Elder Harris after the conversation and he was amazed. He was wondering why I let Charles ramble on for so long. We're going to use a lot of Charles Meachum's own words when we teach him the plan of salvation.
Sister Chun's dinners are always good. She bought us some burritos from Chipotle's yesterday. They were huge and they were good, but man they messed me up this morning. While I was living with Sister Chun I paid for my haircuts because I had extra money due to Sister Chun not wanting us to waste any food. But other than those four months I've just let other missionaries cut my hair. It works out just fine. I can hardly tell a difference.
Yay a package! Hm... I'd like some stamps if that's okay. Maybe some colored pencils and some zebra pens? Definitely some letters and some more drawings from Hannah. PICTURES. I want to see some recent photage of y'all!
Gracias. I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Sam Sakely got baptized last week! I just read her name at the top of the announcements today! That made my day.
Sounds like a lot's happening back home. I hope all goes well with the website deal today Dad. I told a few members about it. Don't give up on running! That's the whole problem when people try to exercise is that eventually they give up! Mom, please tell Hannah not to be sad. I don't know what's going on next year at this time so nobody needs to worry about missing me yet. And I hope Grandpa's surgery goes well. Lots of prayers.
General Conference was great as usual! Yeah I missed home a little bit too but not too much. I've only got about 11 months left and that's no time! It freaks me out sometimes so I try to ignore it. I learned a lot from the prophet and the apostles. I especially liked Elder Richard G. Scott's talk about spiritual communication and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon.
Two members from our ward passed away last week. One was Bro. Ray Hall. Bro. Hall was a great man. I'd visited him several times these past six months. We'd go over there to share a brief lesson with him mostly because he just liked having the missionaries over. He came to a couple appointments with us and he attended our Gospel Principles class every week. Whenever we'd visit he'd always give us a banana, a cookie and a soda. Every time. He was a sweet old man and we'll miss him. He died peacefully in his sleep Saturday night. Sis. Kawamoto passed as well. Several months ago I went with Elder Anderson and Bishop Jensen (ward mission leader) to go give her and her husband blessings before she went to get treated for cancer. I suppose it was their time for both of them.
Elder Harris and I had an interesting experience last week with a man named Charles Meachum. Charles is a man somewhere in his 50s who just had open-heart surgery. We ran into him knocking and when I started speaking to him he quickly said "I don't believe in any of that." He's an atheist. So we offered to give him some service. He looked a little intrigued and asked if we mowed lawns. A couple days later we had a great service project! It was great. His yard needed some work to say the least because he just flat out couldn't do it. So we trimmed some trees and cut up some branches and I mowed his lawn and weedwacked some weeds. It was so much fun! After that we set up an appointment to teach him the Gospel. He watched a session of General Conference over the weekend and yesterday he told us that he didn't like how we believe that we're so dependent on God. He said he didn't believe in God and didn't think He'd ever done anything for him. He said that he didn't care what happens after this life and he didn't credit God for anything. And then he started rambling and told us a fascinating story about motorcycles. I listened intently to the whole thing, feeling very enlightened. Here's his story:
He had a nephew who wanted to buy a motorcycle from him. It was worth $5,000 but he sold it to his nephew for $3,000. He gave his nephew this nugget of advice: "There are two types of bikers on the road: there are those that have fallen and those that will fall." He said that there were some parts on the motorcycle that needed to be fixed before it hit the streets. He gave his nephew a list telling him exactly what needed to be fixed and replaced. His nephew took the bike home and fixed some of the parts but neglected to repair some vital parts. Then he hit the highway. Eventually he crashed on some off-ramp and he broke his wrist. As a consequence Charles took the bike back and told his nephew he could have it back when he could afford to repair everything on the bike. He knew that his nephew wasn't capable of paying for everything so he mercifully gave him a deal that if he'd help around the yard he'd eventually earn the bike back. Eventually Charles returned the motorcycle to his nephew. He said "I liked the kid- I just didn't want to be responsible for his death." He also explained, "I raised the kid as my own. I'd give anything of mine to him- all he'd have to do is ask."
Do you get it? It's a very profound explanation of the plan of salvation from God's point of view! I explained it to Elder Harris after the conversation and he was amazed. He was wondering why I let Charles ramble on for so long. We're going to use a lot of Charles Meachum's own words when we teach him the plan of salvation.
Sister Chun's dinners are always good. She bought us some burritos from Chipotle's yesterday. They were huge and they were good, but man they messed me up this morning. While I was living with Sister Chun I paid for my haircuts because I had extra money due to Sister Chun not wanting us to waste any food. But other than those four months I've just let other missionaries cut my hair. It works out just fine. I can hardly tell a difference.
Yay a package! Hm... I'd like some stamps if that's okay. Maybe some colored pencils and some zebra pens? Definitely some letters and some more drawings from Hannah. PICTURES. I want to see some recent photage of y'all!
Gracias. I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
September 29th, 2009 (Email)
Hello again!
Elder Harris and I had an amazing week last week. On Tuesday Elder Craig C. Christensen of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy came to the mission and taught us about what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It was an amazing conference and I learned a whole lot. He taught us that the Atonement is the substance of everything we do and that we (the missionaries) are the evidence of the reality of the Atonement. He also taught us how to receive more personal revelation during our studies. Elder Christensen was really happy with the work going on in our mission and he said that the only suggestion he had for us was for us to ask the Lord for more miracles. Elder Harris and I applied that and a miracle happened.
Jessica Maulion was baptized on Sunday!! After a lot of prayer and thought and some revelation during the mission conference Elder Harris and I realized that we needed to invite Jessica to be baptized on September 27th. She prayerfully considered it and she followed through. She's made friends with some amazing sisters from the ward. About a month ago I felt an impression that Jessica needed to meet one of the sisters from the ward named Yolanda Fulcher. So we brought her to some of the lessons with Jessica and they turned out to have a lot in common. Sister Fulcher speaks spanish and she's a convert and her previous religion was catholicism. Sister Fulcher helped us a lot and I know that the portion of the Spirit that she brought to those lessons really helped convert Jessica. So we asked Sister Fulcher to give one of the talks at the baptismal service. Jessica looked really positive on Sunday. A lot of people from the ward came to support Jessica at the baptism that night. Jessica had asked me to baptize her so I did that and everything went well. Jessica couldn't stop smiling after she was baptized so I know that she was ready for that big step that day.
Elder Choi, Elder Clegg, Elder Harris and I all gave talks during sacrament meeting. Elder Harris and I talked about virtue. While studying I realized that I needed to speak about virtue in relation to having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Preach My Gospel says that virtue is prerequisite for that Gift. Sister Christensen during the mission conference taught us that virtue means "power" and that it may have been the Savior's virute that made Him who He was in the pre-existence. Here's my talk in a nutshell: Through the ordinance of confirmation it is made possible for us to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Through the power of virtue we can remain worthy of that gift. Virtue is power over your thoughts, words and actions- power over all that which could offend the Spirit. I shared an experience with the ward about when I went to Flaming Gorge with the priests last summer- the time we saw all those rattlesnakes. While on that trip we saw several rattlesnakes. One evening I went hiking with a couple of the priests and we started to realize that the snakes were waking up so we headed off to find the trail. All we had was one little flashlight to guide us through the rocks and the bushes. We saw one huge rattlesnake on our way so that made us a little more anxious to find the path. When we finally got to the trail it was night but it was easier to see with the flashlight while on the path. Suddenly we heard a loud crazy noise and we immediately saw a really aggressive rattlsnake right in front of us on the trail. The priests wanted to go off the path to go around the rattlesnake but I told them to stay put and wait for the snake to leave- after all, we'd be able to see that snake much easier than the ones that were probably in the bushes off the trail, right? The priests were eventually convinced to stay on the trail and the rattlesnake slithered off into the bushes, which enabled us to safely walk back to the campsite. I think you can already see the spiritual significance in this story in relation to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost - it's easier to detect the things that will harm you when you have the Spirit guiding you on the path to eternal life. Virtuous living is what will keep you on that path. I also shared an example about how when I go running with Elder Harris every morning we pass a big poster of a lady with a revealing leg. I use scripture memorization to help me concentrate away from that poster. The ward thought that story was funny.
Thanks for all your advice for last week's number dilemma. Tell Mogie thanks for sharing that miraculous mission experience with me. After a couple days I started to realize that I didn't need to worry about anything. I'm doing my best so whatev. I e-mailed President and asked what I needed to do and he hasn't said anything to me so I think that means that he thinks I'm okay. President Sexton came to Jessica's baptism! That was a surprise. He called a little bit before the service and asked if it was still happening and said that he was planning on attending. That was neat.
So time for Mom's questions: Last week I cut Elder Harris' hair and he cut mine. We both think we did splendid jobs. I think I'm good with my stuff for now. Got some groceries today and I'll have more dinero on my card next week. Dogs are doing better now. I just have to fake being short and tiny when I'm around them. We're probably going to drop that spanish family tonight because they're just NOT keeping any commitments! Argh! Sister Heather Norris went through the temple and she looks like she's feeling great. Her health is doing a lot better now and she's going to General Conference this weekend and then she's going through the Salt Lake temple. I think we'd only get to go through the temple with our converts. The Norris famly's doing just dandy. And yep we get to see all the sessions of conference this weekend yay!
Thanks for all your prayers and support!
I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Elder Harris and I had an amazing week last week. On Tuesday Elder Craig C. Christensen of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy came to the mission and taught us about what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It was an amazing conference and I learned a whole lot. He taught us that the Atonement is the substance of everything we do and that we (the missionaries) are the evidence of the reality of the Atonement. He also taught us how to receive more personal revelation during our studies. Elder Christensen was really happy with the work going on in our mission and he said that the only suggestion he had for us was for us to ask the Lord for more miracles. Elder Harris and I applied that and a miracle happened.
Jessica Maulion was baptized on Sunday!! After a lot of prayer and thought and some revelation during the mission conference Elder Harris and I realized that we needed to invite Jessica to be baptized on September 27th. She prayerfully considered it and she followed through. She's made friends with some amazing sisters from the ward. About a month ago I felt an impression that Jessica needed to meet one of the sisters from the ward named Yolanda Fulcher. So we brought her to some of the lessons with Jessica and they turned out to have a lot in common. Sister Fulcher speaks spanish and she's a convert and her previous religion was catholicism. Sister Fulcher helped us a lot and I know that the portion of the Spirit that she brought to those lessons really helped convert Jessica. So we asked Sister Fulcher to give one of the talks at the baptismal service. Jessica looked really positive on Sunday. A lot of people from the ward came to support Jessica at the baptism that night. Jessica had asked me to baptize her so I did that and everything went well. Jessica couldn't stop smiling after she was baptized so I know that she was ready for that big step that day.
Elder Choi, Elder Clegg, Elder Harris and I all gave talks during sacrament meeting. Elder Harris and I talked about virtue. While studying I realized that I needed to speak about virtue in relation to having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Preach My Gospel says that virtue is prerequisite for that Gift. Sister Christensen during the mission conference taught us that virtue means "power" and that it may have been the Savior's virute that made Him who He was in the pre-existence. Here's my talk in a nutshell: Through the ordinance of confirmation it is made possible for us to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Through the power of virtue we can remain worthy of that gift. Virtue is power over your thoughts, words and actions- power over all that which could offend the Spirit. I shared an experience with the ward about when I went to Flaming Gorge with the priests last summer- the time we saw all those rattlesnakes. While on that trip we saw several rattlesnakes. One evening I went hiking with a couple of the priests and we started to realize that the snakes were waking up so we headed off to find the trail. All we had was one little flashlight to guide us through the rocks and the bushes. We saw one huge rattlesnake on our way so that made us a little more anxious to find the path. When we finally got to the trail it was night but it was easier to see with the flashlight while on the path. Suddenly we heard a loud crazy noise and we immediately saw a really aggressive rattlsnake right in front of us on the trail. The priests wanted to go off the path to go around the rattlesnake but I told them to stay put and wait for the snake to leave- after all, we'd be able to see that snake much easier than the ones that were probably in the bushes off the trail, right? The priests were eventually convinced to stay on the trail and the rattlesnake slithered off into the bushes, which enabled us to safely walk back to the campsite. I think you can already see the spiritual significance in this story in relation to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost - it's easier to detect the things that will harm you when you have the Spirit guiding you on the path to eternal life. Virtuous living is what will keep you on that path. I also shared an example about how when I go running with Elder Harris every morning we pass a big poster of a lady with a revealing leg. I use scripture memorization to help me concentrate away from that poster. The ward thought that story was funny.
Thanks for all your advice for last week's number dilemma. Tell Mogie thanks for sharing that miraculous mission experience with me. After a couple days I started to realize that I didn't need to worry about anything. I'm doing my best so whatev. I e-mailed President and asked what I needed to do and he hasn't said anything to me so I think that means that he thinks I'm okay. President Sexton came to Jessica's baptism! That was a surprise. He called a little bit before the service and asked if it was still happening and said that he was planning on attending. That was neat.
So time for Mom's questions: Last week I cut Elder Harris' hair and he cut mine. We both think we did splendid jobs. I think I'm good with my stuff for now. Got some groceries today and I'll have more dinero on my card next week. Dogs are doing better now. I just have to fake being short and tiny when I'm around them. We're probably going to drop that spanish family tonight because they're just NOT keeping any commitments! Argh! Sister Heather Norris went through the temple and she looks like she's feeling great. Her health is doing a lot better now and she's going to General Conference this weekend and then she's going through the Salt Lake temple. I think we'd only get to go through the temple with our converts. The Norris famly's doing just dandy. And yep we get to see all the sessions of conference this weekend yay!
Thanks for all your prayers and support!
I love you!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
September 21st, 2009 (Email)
"today's forecast - Jesus reigns forever"
Hello!
That subject heading is a direct quote from the billboard of some church just around the corner from our apartment. I laughed pretty hard at that one. The last one said "if there's no God then there wouldn't be any atheists."
Jessica Maulion's doing better now. She prayed and she says she's at peace now. We've taught her all the lessons and now she just needs to be interviewed and be baptized and confirmed. But here's the thing- she was on vacation this weekend so now she's missed church three times in a row. She's been to church twice but Elder Harris and I feel that she should come one more time before her baptism. So we're trying to decide on what we'll switch the date to when we talk with her tomorrow. Our District Leader, Elder Choi, thinks we should baptize her on the 27th (this Sunday) but that would leave a 2 week gap between her baptism and her confirmation due to General Conference (converts get confirmed during sacrament meetings.) So I'm not sure what to do yet. We've been praying for direction a lot on this one.
Things aren't going too well with that spanish family we've been teaching. They're still interested to learn and they're still there for our appointments BUT they never go to church and the mom and the dad aren't married. We taught the family the law of chastity (the 14-yr-old daughter has a 2-yr-old daughter!!) and we invited them to keep that commandment but none of them said they're willing to live it. :( The mom and the dad aren't willing to get married yet, so... well, they can't get baptized yet that's for sure. We invited the daughter to be baptized with the parents a couple appointments ago before we knew their whole situation but she didn't want to commit to anything. We're having another appointment with them tomorrow and if things keep going as they are we're going to have to drop them. I've enjoyed teaching that family though. We've been teaching them in Spanish because their English is very limited and we've received a lot of help from a sister from the Spanish ward named Hermana Rubio.
The mother of one of the less-active families we've worked with ever since I've been here is going through the temple this Saturday! She's been through a lot. She's cuaght three different kinds of cancer and last night she shared an amazing experience with us about one of the times she died. I believe she said that was the third time she's technically died. I love that family- we're focusing on helping the 14-yr-old son and daughter be more active in the church. The son hasn't received the priesthood yet. And last night Elder Harris and I felt a strong impression that we need to try to invite the non-member husband to take the lessons again. Elder Anderson, Elder Rada and I have all invited the husband to learn and be baptized but we didn't see any progress. It's been a while since we've tried again so that's what we'll do.
Last night I had to report our weekly numbers to our district leader as is usual on Sunday evenings. Elder Harris and I tend to find a lot of new investigators because we follow what Preach My Gospel says to do to count new investigators: we teach a lesson and set up a return appointment. I've been taught from the beginning of my mission that to count someone as a new investigator you need to teach a principle or two, set up a return appointment, and leave them a commitment. Anyway last week we found 12 new investigators and our district leader sounded like he and the zone leaders think I'm being dishonest about how many people we find since we only have one investigator with a baptismal date. It's true that about a week ago we had four people with a baptismal date but that didn't work out but no one took that into account. I'm willing to cut back on the actual number of people we count when we find just to avoid unwanted attention but when it comes down to it we honestly found 12 new investigators. I'm not sure if they're concerned about how we count them or if we're inviting people to be baptized during the first lesson but either way I thought I was doing what I was supposed to. I could be wrong though. The district leader did give me some good advice, which was to invite more people to be baptized when we invite them to learn. I'll follow that. We invite during the 1st lesson when we get to actually sit down with people and teach them the full 1st lesson.
So there's some missionary drama for you. I'm going to ask President what I should do because 1.I don't want attention and 2.I don't want to teach Elder Harris false doctrine if I've been doing this wrong. And if you've got some advice I'd appreciate that too.
And that's the week as far as I remember it. I haven't heard from David Ramos or David and Dixie since I left and I don't need any medicine but thanks. I'm suspicious about whether or not I'm still allergic to poultry because I have definitely been fed chicken by accident at least once. So I wouldn't worry about the shots but I'll still be careful. That's funny about Karsten and that's scary about Hannah! Just kidding. But seriously am I going to recognize my little sister anymore in a year??
Have a good day out there in bufoo!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Hello!
That subject heading is a direct quote from the billboard of some church just around the corner from our apartment. I laughed pretty hard at that one. The last one said "if there's no God then there wouldn't be any atheists."
Jessica Maulion's doing better now. She prayed and she says she's at peace now. We've taught her all the lessons and now she just needs to be interviewed and be baptized and confirmed. But here's the thing- she was on vacation this weekend so now she's missed church three times in a row. She's been to church twice but Elder Harris and I feel that she should come one more time before her baptism. So we're trying to decide on what we'll switch the date to when we talk with her tomorrow. Our District Leader, Elder Choi, thinks we should baptize her on the 27th (this Sunday) but that would leave a 2 week gap between her baptism and her confirmation due to General Conference (converts get confirmed during sacrament meetings.) So I'm not sure what to do yet. We've been praying for direction a lot on this one.
Things aren't going too well with that spanish family we've been teaching. They're still interested to learn and they're still there for our appointments BUT they never go to church and the mom and the dad aren't married. We taught the family the law of chastity (the 14-yr-old daughter has a 2-yr-old daughter!!) and we invited them to keep that commandment but none of them said they're willing to live it. :( The mom and the dad aren't willing to get married yet, so... well, they can't get baptized yet that's for sure. We invited the daughter to be baptized with the parents a couple appointments ago before we knew their whole situation but she didn't want to commit to anything. We're having another appointment with them tomorrow and if things keep going as they are we're going to have to drop them. I've enjoyed teaching that family though. We've been teaching them in Spanish because their English is very limited and we've received a lot of help from a sister from the Spanish ward named Hermana Rubio.
The mother of one of the less-active families we've worked with ever since I've been here is going through the temple this Saturday! She's been through a lot. She's cuaght three different kinds of cancer and last night she shared an amazing experience with us about one of the times she died. I believe she said that was the third time she's technically died. I love that family- we're focusing on helping the 14-yr-old son and daughter be more active in the church. The son hasn't received the priesthood yet. And last night Elder Harris and I felt a strong impression that we need to try to invite the non-member husband to take the lessons again. Elder Anderson, Elder Rada and I have all invited the husband to learn and be baptized but we didn't see any progress. It's been a while since we've tried again so that's what we'll do.
Last night I had to report our weekly numbers to our district leader as is usual on Sunday evenings. Elder Harris and I tend to find a lot of new investigators because we follow what Preach My Gospel says to do to count new investigators: we teach a lesson and set up a return appointment. I've been taught from the beginning of my mission that to count someone as a new investigator you need to teach a principle or two, set up a return appointment, and leave them a commitment. Anyway last week we found 12 new investigators and our district leader sounded like he and the zone leaders think I'm being dishonest about how many people we find since we only have one investigator with a baptismal date. It's true that about a week ago we had four people with a baptismal date but that didn't work out but no one took that into account. I'm willing to cut back on the actual number of people we count when we find just to avoid unwanted attention but when it comes down to it we honestly found 12 new investigators. I'm not sure if they're concerned about how we count them or if we're inviting people to be baptized during the first lesson but either way I thought I was doing what I was supposed to. I could be wrong though. The district leader did give me some good advice, which was to invite more people to be baptized when we invite them to learn. I'll follow that. We invite during the 1st lesson when we get to actually sit down with people and teach them the full 1st lesson.
So there's some missionary drama for you. I'm going to ask President what I should do because 1.I don't want attention and 2.I don't want to teach Elder Harris false doctrine if I've been doing this wrong. And if you've got some advice I'd appreciate that too.
And that's the week as far as I remember it. I haven't heard from David Ramos or David and Dixie since I left and I don't need any medicine but thanks. I'm suspicious about whether or not I'm still allergic to poultry because I have definitely been fed chicken by accident at least once. So I wouldn't worry about the shots but I'll still be careful. That's funny about Karsten and that's scary about Hannah! Just kidding. But seriously am I going to recognize my little sister anymore in a year??
Have a good day out there in bufoo!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
