Hello!
Brother and Sister Minus live up on the hill by In-N-Out Burgers. Their house is huge (they are rich.) Brother Minus was actually down here for the weekend so you wouldn't have seen him. I'm not sure what Sister Minus has been up to. They go all over the place.
That's cool that you're running into all these people from your mission Dad. I got a letter from Elder Jordan Call yesterday. Enclosed was a picture of Jordan in his missionary attire standing next to the man formerly known as Elder Rada, (currently known as Jaime, pronounced "High-may"), one of my favorite companions who served with me in Cerritos 1st Ward. Jordan was serving in Elder Rada's ward up there in Queens New York. I told Elder Rada that if he ever came across an Elder Call to say "¡Que Onda Guero!" for me. And he did just that. So Jordan wrote me a letter and said that made him happy. He's doing well up there in NY.
Elder Cluff and I had a great week. We've really been working diligently trying to find people to teach these past several weeks and we've received several blessings.
First let's talk about Allen. A couple months back while I was serving with Elder Collier I had an impression that we needed to go knock doors down around 1st Street in Seal Beach. We came across a trailer park there and we started knocking. We didn't have very much success. Later on Elder Cluff and I decided to finish knocking the little neighborhood. On the last side of the last street in that trailer park we knocked on the door of Allen. He was really friendly and seemed pleased to see us. He invited us to come back to his home to teach him and his wife. We attempted to visit him over the next couple weeks but he never let us in because we always caught him home alone and he really wanted us to teach his wife as well. Anyway, finally he gave in and let us teach him last week despite his wife not being home again. Allen is Australian and he considers himself to be a Christian-Buddhist. We taught him the message of the Restoration and answered some of his questions. Allen is really sincere-- he really wants to know if what we share is true. His wife is a less-active 7th Day Adventist and he's concerned for the welfare of her soul. That's why he wanted us to teach her too, but turns out she doesn't want to talk with us. Allen mentioned that he's never before been baptized. He told us that it bothers him that he hasn't been baptized yet and he knows that the Bible teaches that we all need to be baptized. I started extending the baptismal invite-- "So if you were to come to the knowledge that the Book of Mormon is true" and then he interrupted me and answered "Then I'd join your church!" We came by for another visit and we brought a member with us named Bro. Gravley and we taught Allen most of the Plan of Salvation. Many of Allen's beliefs are similar to our's. He even believes in a sort of pre-existence. Allen is planning on coming to church on Sunday. If everything goes right we'll have him be baptized either this month or at the beginning of July. He's going on a trip to Australia mid-July so we need to baptize him muy rapido.
Last week we also found a couple up here in Long Beach. We were led to knock a small cul-de-sac. A lady answered one of the doors with a smile on her face and she said "Elders! About time you knocked on my door! I've lived here for about a year now and the Elders have never knocked my door. This street gets neglected by you guys!" Her name's Denise and some members of her family are Mormons. Her husband is a Shaman, (yes, like an Indian medicine man or something like that.) His name is Mushroom. Yep. A few days later we came back and met Mushroom. He's quite an interesting fellow. He doesn't wear a shirt-- just shorts and sandals. He has a gray beard and a ponytail and a dark Indian-ish complexion. He fought in Vietnam and he said that he used to sell Deseret News as a kid. Elder Cluff and I don't think he's as ready or open to embrace the gospel as his wife is, but who knows?! A couple days ago we were passing by their neighborhood again and they saw us and came out to talk with us again. They both seem to like talking with us Elders a lot. Somewhere in our short conversation Mushroom told us a story about when he had a conversation with a mosquito that landed in his ear. He spoke with the mosquito's spirit and made a deal with it. He told the mosquito that he'd let it take some of his blood if the mosquito would go tell the other mosquitos not the bother him. I guess the mosquito accepted the bargain and followed through with its commitment. I love all the people I meet out here.
Diana's progressing the same. She came to church again with her kid. She still pretty much thinks that she needs to be perfect before she gets baptized. She's way more prepared than most of the people I've ever taught. She just needs more confidence! She's committed and she's prepared-- she has a testimony of the Restored Gospel-- she just needs to believe in herself. She can do it!
Transfers are today. Elder Cluff and I are moving. We have been living in an apartment in the Long Beach 10th Ward boundaries. We've lived on the same street as the Assistants, the Zone Leaders, and the Blakes and the same neighborhood and President and Sister Sexton. Now we're moving into our own ward boundaries. We're going to live right behind my favorite grocery store-- Trader Joe's! I'm happy about that. We're going to have 4 sister missionaries in our district now. And Elder Collier is being put in a trio with two other Zone Leaders. That's the first time I've ever heard of 3 Zone Leaders leading a zone. The reason for it is because on of the Zone Leaders is my replacement. His name is Elder Lynn. Elder Collier trained him. President wants Elder Lynn to have plenty of training time with me. So he'll replace me in 6 weeks. He'll spend several afternoons learning about Mission Secretary stuff.
Hey thanks for the package! Elder Cluff and I have listened to the Saturday's Warrior soundtrack a couple times now. Good stuff. That photage is really classy Dad. And gracias for the aftershave, T-shirt and toothpaste. My face, teeth and torso are all happy. On the same day I received your package I got a package from the Cordova family in Paramount. They sent me a card and a gift. In the card they told me how grateful they are for the Gospel. Alejandro said that he'll never forget that Sunday night Elder Beverley and I knocked on their door. They thanked me for bringing the Restored Gospel to their home. They said that their daughter Thania is going to institute now and that Alejandro and Beatriz are learning how to say prayers in English. It was the best letter a missionary could receive. The gift was a pen and a mechanical pencil-- a couple really nice ones too. They came in a box with my name on it. Both the pen and the mechanical pencil have "Elder Lewis" engraved on them. That was super nice. They must have remembered that when I left I said that I was going to go be a secretary.
Well, I'd say this is a pretty thorough e-mail. Hope you had fun and had a chance to relax in St. Jorge! Happy Dad's Day soon !
Love,
Elder Tyler J. Lewis
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
June 8th, 2010 (Email)
Hello!
That'd be awesome if you could go to President Bubert's farewell! Yeah I'll still be in the office when he comes. He'll arrive June 30th and I'll be in the office until July 27th. It's Church policy that I can't end my mission in the office. I would if they needed me to though.
That must have been neat to see your old mission president Dad. President Sexton keeps records for all of the missionaries that have served here with him and he said he's going to contact each one of us every year for the rest of his life either by phone, e-mail, letter or in person. So I'll get to hear from him quite a bit.
The work is going slow here in the Atherton Ward. But that gives Elder Cluff and I plenty of opportunity to struggle and to try new things. So that's what we've been doing. A couple days ago Elder Cluff and I attempted something that Elder Blake in the office said that he did back when he served his first mission. He said that he did something to the effect of "phone proselyting." So we took our list of less-active people and we spent some time "phone proselyting." Less-active people are sometimes great sources for finding people to teach. Unfortunately we didn't have any success with that activity. But tonight we're trying something else. Since tracting at 8:00 p.m. usually yields poor results we decided to go by the ward missionaries and help them get excited about missionary work again. We're going to try and sneak them into giving us referrals. They're supposed to be working on finding people for us to teach so we're going to go teach them about "praying with faith." We're going to make a list of people for us all to pray for. We'll present the people we're currently teaching (like Diana) and then we're going to ask them to add the names of the people they're working on. And then perhaps we'll just go ahead and ask where those people live! And hey, maybe we'll just speed up the process for them by going and visiting them! Maybe it will work. In any case we need some more people to teach.
I decided that one of the reasons my mission is the best is because of the wide range of diversity I'm exposed to down here. I've seen it all now. Of course I've become very familiar with spanish culture. I've grown to love the polynesian people-- both Samoans and Tongans alike. I lived with one Asian among many in Cerritos. I served around Little India for 7 months. A couple of weeks ago Elder Cluff and I went to Cambodia Town. We went into one of their art stores and we greeted the store owner in Cambodian (you say "Jom Rip Sua!" or something crazy like that). And then there's all my friends up in the Compton district. The Gospel is preached among all natians, kindreds, tongues and people here in the California Long Beach Mission.
Bishop Kovacs' daughter just turned 12. She graduated from primary and was welcomed into Young Women. I thought to myself, "oh my goodness that's happening to Hannah in a couple of months." 12-year-olds are way different from 10-year-olds. Speaking of 10-yr-olds the Activity-Day Girls cooked us dinner one day last week. Thay made chicken enchiladas. So I had cheese enchiladas. Out of all the wards I've served in this one tends to forget about my crazy allergies the most. That's okay though. I don't blame them. I just put the chicken to the side. I think I'm more allergic to it now after I did my little experiment with it last year when I was with Elder Harris. Last week I just ate some pasta that touched chicken and I had a little reaction. So I guess I shouldn't even do that now. Don't worry-- I'm not going to die. I'm careful.
How's Tim doing?
Tell G&G Lewis happy 60th for me!
Well that's what's been happening here. I'm just going to keep knocking, praying and working hard. Things will pick up. Have a dandy day!
Love
Elder Tyler J. Lewis
California Long Beach Mission
Mission Secretary
P.S.- Brother and Sister Minus are moving to St. George today! Maybe you'll see them. Maybe they'll see you. And maybe neither of you will know either way.
P.S.S.- A potential investigator referred to us from Bishop Kovacs named Sister Robertson said that she has a friend that is moving to Layton soon and they were wondering if you knew of any places that are up for rent.
P.S.S.S.- Thanks for the package! I'll watch for it.
That'd be awesome if you could go to President Bubert's farewell! Yeah I'll still be in the office when he comes. He'll arrive June 30th and I'll be in the office until July 27th. It's Church policy that I can't end my mission in the office. I would if they needed me to though.
That must have been neat to see your old mission president Dad. President Sexton keeps records for all of the missionaries that have served here with him and he said he's going to contact each one of us every year for the rest of his life either by phone, e-mail, letter or in person. So I'll get to hear from him quite a bit.
The work is going slow here in the Atherton Ward. But that gives Elder Cluff and I plenty of opportunity to struggle and to try new things. So that's what we've been doing. A couple days ago Elder Cluff and I attempted something that Elder Blake in the office said that he did back when he served his first mission. He said that he did something to the effect of "phone proselyting." So we took our list of less-active people and we spent some time "phone proselyting." Less-active people are sometimes great sources for finding people to teach. Unfortunately we didn't have any success with that activity. But tonight we're trying something else. Since tracting at 8:00 p.m. usually yields poor results we decided to go by the ward missionaries and help them get excited about missionary work again. We're going to try and sneak them into giving us referrals. They're supposed to be working on finding people for us to teach so we're going to go teach them about "praying with faith." We're going to make a list of people for us all to pray for. We'll present the people we're currently teaching (like Diana) and then we're going to ask them to add the names of the people they're working on. And then perhaps we'll just go ahead and ask where those people live! And hey, maybe we'll just speed up the process for them by going and visiting them! Maybe it will work. In any case we need some more people to teach.
I decided that one of the reasons my mission is the best is because of the wide range of diversity I'm exposed to down here. I've seen it all now. Of course I've become very familiar with spanish culture. I've grown to love the polynesian people-- both Samoans and Tongans alike. I lived with one Asian among many in Cerritos. I served around Little India for 7 months. A couple of weeks ago Elder Cluff and I went to Cambodia Town. We went into one of their art stores and we greeted the store owner in Cambodian (you say "Jom Rip Sua!" or something crazy like that). And then there's all my friends up in the Compton district. The Gospel is preached among all natians, kindreds, tongues and people here in the California Long Beach Mission.
Bishop Kovacs' daughter just turned 12. She graduated from primary and was welcomed into Young Women. I thought to myself, "oh my goodness that's happening to Hannah in a couple of months." 12-year-olds are way different from 10-year-olds. Speaking of 10-yr-olds the Activity-Day Girls cooked us dinner one day last week. Thay made chicken enchiladas. So I had cheese enchiladas. Out of all the wards I've served in this one tends to forget about my crazy allergies the most. That's okay though. I don't blame them. I just put the chicken to the side. I think I'm more allergic to it now after I did my little experiment with it last year when I was with Elder Harris. Last week I just ate some pasta that touched chicken and I had a little reaction. So I guess I shouldn't even do that now. Don't worry-- I'm not going to die. I'm careful.
How's Tim doing?
Tell G&G Lewis happy 60th for me!
Well that's what's been happening here. I'm just going to keep knocking, praying and working hard. Things will pick up. Have a dandy day!
Love
Elder Tyler J. Lewis
California Long Beach Mission
Mission Secretary
P.S.- Brother and Sister Minus are moving to St. George today! Maybe you'll see them. Maybe they'll see you. And maybe neither of you will know either way.
P.S.S.- A potential investigator referred to us from Bishop Kovacs named Sister Robertson said that she has a friend that is moving to Layton soon and they were wondering if you knew of any places that are up for rent.
P.S.S.S.- Thanks for the package! I'll watch for it.
June 1st, 2010 (Bonus)
hey, actually i have one other request besides toothpaste. could you get me some aftershave? like some old spice stuff or something fancy like that? i just went and got a really good haircut from a barber and he shaved my neck with a razor and he used some aftershave and i thought, "hey, i haven't used aftershave for like over a year now! i used to like that stuff!" anyway, we just had a zone activity here at the office. we played missionary jeopardy. i knew the book of mormon and preach my gospel stuff cuz for the most part that's all i really read. well, gotta go! love you and see you soon!
Love
Tyler
Love
Tyler
June 1st, 2010 (Email)
Hello
Bummer! No e-mails today!
This week Elder Cluff and I started running really low on our miles in our Malibu. We get 1050 miles a month and we went over the 1000 miles mark right before the weekend. So we walked a lot. Good news is that today's the beginning of another month so we have 1050 miles again. Our area's pretty big so we tend to drive a lot between Seal Beach and Long Beach.
Well, while we're on the subject of cars-- I got pulled over last week! Almost everything bad that's happened to me when it comes to driving has happened to me on my mission. Here's what I did wrong: we live right next to the Pacific Coast Highway and apparently I'm not supposed to turn right on red off of PCH onto Clark. I've done that many times without even thinking about it and one morning there just happened to be a biker cop waiting for a victim so he could reach his quota at the end of the month. So he got me. He didn't tell me how much it's going to cost though. And I've waited for several days and they still haven't posted it on the lasuperiorcourt website. So... maybe he forgot! Anyway, when I got to the office Elder Blake and President and the Assistants and the Zone Leaders all said they weren't aware of the illegality either so I guess I just had to be the vicitm so everyone else would know to be cautious on that turn. But lame! So I'll take care of that issue once they post the price. No worries.
I got some new slacks from Ross a couple weeks ago. They were real cheap and they fit real good. It looks like I'm back to being a 30/30, as long as the slacks have a capacity to stretch a little (for when I eat.) With my regular exercise schedule and comparably healthy diet I manage to stay between 130 and 135 pounds.
I went on exchanges on Friday/Saturday with my district leader Elder Young in his area which covers the gayest part of the mission. Literally, it is the gayest place I have ever been probably. It was strange. Half of his area was pretty ghetto though so I loved working there. I feel more comfortable doing missionary work in less well-to-do areas for sure. The other half of his area was really rich and very liberal. There were rainbow flags, NO on 8 stickers, aids assistance centers and gay rights facilities scattered abroad. While stopping by one of Elder Young's investigators we were approached by a transvestite who said hello, shook our hands and then went back to his/her own business. Down there in that part of Long Beach they hold the Gay Parade one month and then they have some sort of Aids Awareness Thing the following month. So sad.
There's not much going on with our investigators. Diana Giminez ALMOST seemed like she was going to set a baptismal date last week. This much we know: she has a testimony. She said that she believes the church is true. We helped her see that we look at baptism as being an act of initiation-- "the gate by which ye should enter" (2Ne 31:17). She understands that a little better now. We have found some good potentials while we've been walking around tracting and knocking doors out under the clear blue sky and the heat of the sun with the cool sea breeze blowing through our hair. Jealous?
Our mission had over 50 baptisms for two months in a row: April and May. We didn't reach our goal of 90 baptisms but today President sent us out an e-mail saying that we should renew that goal for June. He's really happy because we've never had over 50 baptisms two months in a row.
Hey I was wondering how things were going with my Driver's Licence renewal thing. Do you know if they'll have to put my old 16-yr-old picture onto it or can they get something more up to date? I hate that picture!
Well, you owe me letters now!
Love,
Elder Tyler J. Lewis
Bummer! No e-mails today!
This week Elder Cluff and I started running really low on our miles in our Malibu. We get 1050 miles a month and we went over the 1000 miles mark right before the weekend. So we walked a lot. Good news is that today's the beginning of another month so we have 1050 miles again. Our area's pretty big so we tend to drive a lot between Seal Beach and Long Beach.
Well, while we're on the subject of cars-- I got pulled over last week! Almost everything bad that's happened to me when it comes to driving has happened to me on my mission. Here's what I did wrong: we live right next to the Pacific Coast Highway and apparently I'm not supposed to turn right on red off of PCH onto Clark. I've done that many times without even thinking about it and one morning there just happened to be a biker cop waiting for a victim so he could reach his quota at the end of the month. So he got me. He didn't tell me how much it's going to cost though. And I've waited for several days and they still haven't posted it on the lasuperiorcourt website. So... maybe he forgot! Anyway, when I got to the office Elder Blake and President and the Assistants and the Zone Leaders all said they weren't aware of the illegality either so I guess I just had to be the vicitm so everyone else would know to be cautious on that turn. But lame! So I'll take care of that issue once they post the price. No worries.
I got some new slacks from Ross a couple weeks ago. They were real cheap and they fit real good. It looks like I'm back to being a 30/30, as long as the slacks have a capacity to stretch a little (for when I eat.) With my regular exercise schedule and comparably healthy diet I manage to stay between 130 and 135 pounds.
I went on exchanges on Friday/Saturday with my district leader Elder Young in his area which covers the gayest part of the mission. Literally, it is the gayest place I have ever been probably. It was strange. Half of his area was pretty ghetto though so I loved working there. I feel more comfortable doing missionary work in less well-to-do areas for sure. The other half of his area was really rich and very liberal. There were rainbow flags, NO on 8 stickers, aids assistance centers and gay rights facilities scattered abroad. While stopping by one of Elder Young's investigators we were approached by a transvestite who said hello, shook our hands and then went back to his/her own business. Down there in that part of Long Beach they hold the Gay Parade one month and then they have some sort of Aids Awareness Thing the following month. So sad.
There's not much going on with our investigators. Diana Giminez ALMOST seemed like she was going to set a baptismal date last week. This much we know: she has a testimony. She said that she believes the church is true. We helped her see that we look at baptism as being an act of initiation-- "the gate by which ye should enter" (2Ne 31:17). She understands that a little better now. We have found some good potentials while we've been walking around tracting and knocking doors out under the clear blue sky and the heat of the sun with the cool sea breeze blowing through our hair. Jealous?
Our mission had over 50 baptisms for two months in a row: April and May. We didn't reach our goal of 90 baptisms but today President sent us out an e-mail saying that we should renew that goal for June. He's really happy because we've never had over 50 baptisms two months in a row.
Hey I was wondering how things were going with my Driver's Licence renewal thing. Do you know if they'll have to put my old 16-yr-old picture onto it or can they get something more up to date? I hate that picture!
Well, you owe me letters now!
Love,
Elder Tyler J. Lewis
May 25th, 2010 (Email)
Hello!
Well we're working hard down here though there's not too much progress happening with our investigators this week. Diana didn't make it to church. She was going to take both of her sons this time but her "disorganization problems" got the best of her. That's okay though. She knows where she needs to be so she's hard enough on herself that we hardly need to re-commit her. She said that she's starting to feel more like our Church is the place she needs to be. We didn't get to teach her a lesson last week but we're scheduled to teach her on Wednesday. She's still has the most potential when it comes to baptismal candidates in our area.
I'm almost caught up again in the office. I started my own travel itinerary a couple weeks ago. I'm scheduled to submit my travel request tomorrow. Scary. I have the most terrifying job in the mission I think. I think that out of all the missionaries here I'm probably the most aware that the mission actually ends. Yesterday I printed out six more release certificates, six more release letters to parents and six more release letters to stake presidents for six elders that I've known pretty well throughout most of my mission.
So the elders that work with the Cordovas asked them if they really had been baptized back in 1988. They were apparently confused and said that they hadn't. So I guess we're supposed to take their word for it now. I was surprised myself when the Church sent the e-mail. The Cordovas didn't seem like people that'd do something crazy like that.
Hey, parents that know more stuff about computers than I do-- President accidentally set up some sort of program called Content Watch on his laptop and now it won't let him log onto the internet unless he has a password and he doesn't know nor has ever set up any sort of password. Neither I nor my companion nor the assistants are computer savvy enough to help him. He was originally trying to figure out how to re-activate the gadget on his laptop that scans his fingerprint to log on but we couldn't figure that out either. Do you know how to fix either of those things?
So I'm almost done reading the Book of Mormon again. I finished Ether today. I noticed that part of either teaches about the plan of salvation. In chapter two we learn about the Brother of Jared and the barges that the Lord commanded him to build. The little group of Jaredites are going to head on over the the promised land. In Ether 2:24-25 the Lord tells the brother of Jared that they'll be "as a whale in the midst of the sea" and that "the mountain waves will dash upon [them]." While reading that I remembered something that the General Authortiy named Bishop Edgley taught during the Southern California Multi-Stake Conference Broadcast last year. He said that before we came to earth the Lord let us know that this life wasn't going to be nor was supposed to be easy. We would be subject to all sorts of challenges and sorrow. So with that in mind, back to Ether. The Lord continues by saying "Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea." He also says, "And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross the great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come." Then the Lord asks the brother of Jared, "Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?" And what is the brother of Jared's response? He goes to the mount and moltens out of a rock sixteen stones, and they are prepared by the Lord to provide light for the Jaredites during their journey. Even so, Heavenly Father prepared for us a Savior (the Rock) to redeem us from the challenges we face during our separation from Him. If you keep reading the brother of Jared sees the Lord and He says in Ether 3:14 "Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people." And in Ether 4:12 "I am the LIGHT..." While studying those chapters I also learned taht the 16 stones probably represent the Gentiles. The stones were made clear and white when they were molten out of the mount to provide light for the Jaredites. Even so the Gentiles are supposed to "become sanctified in [Christ]" (Ether 4:7) and restore the house of Israel to the knowledge of the Gospel and the covenants of the Lord. That's the most I've ever learned from reading Ether I think.
Here's something interesting. President said that in the oldest copies of the Doctrine and Covenants a lot of the revelations changed people's names and had code-names in their stead. Some of the section headings in our books mention that the code-names were dropped in later publications. Well anyway, Joseph Smith's code-name was Gazelem. Now open your copies of the Book of Mormon and read Alma 37:23.
Now questions to answer. I may not remember them all. Diana has prayed and so far she said that she "thinks it's a good practice." I don't think she's got any definite answers yet because she hasn't prayed specifically enough yet nor with the amount of real intent necessary. Don't know about David and Dixie's plans just yet. I finished all the HAM Radio maps and President thought I did good. I'll only have to change a couple things due to a couple apartments getting closed. My apartment is clean. Mrs. Lowe is kind of old so I suppose she just fell. No she's not paralyzed. Oh by the way the Morgans (the member-neighbors) set us up with another appointment with them for last Friday and it went pretty well. We started reading the Book of Mormon with them. They don't really understand the purpose of the Book of Mormon yet so we'll keep trying to help them get it. It looks like we're going to go on over to Leisure World every Friday to teach them. Elder Cluff is great. We get along just fine and he's got positude.
I will pray for Tim. Hope he's alright.
Have yourselves a good week!
Love,
Elder Tyler J. Lewis
Well we're working hard down here though there's not too much progress happening with our investigators this week. Diana didn't make it to church. She was going to take both of her sons this time but her "disorganization problems" got the best of her. That's okay though. She knows where she needs to be so she's hard enough on herself that we hardly need to re-commit her. She said that she's starting to feel more like our Church is the place she needs to be. We didn't get to teach her a lesson last week but we're scheduled to teach her on Wednesday. She's still has the most potential when it comes to baptismal candidates in our area.
I'm almost caught up again in the office. I started my own travel itinerary a couple weeks ago. I'm scheduled to submit my travel request tomorrow. Scary. I have the most terrifying job in the mission I think. I think that out of all the missionaries here I'm probably the most aware that the mission actually ends. Yesterday I printed out six more release certificates, six more release letters to parents and six more release letters to stake presidents for six elders that I've known pretty well throughout most of my mission.
So the elders that work with the Cordovas asked them if they really had been baptized back in 1988. They were apparently confused and said that they hadn't. So I guess we're supposed to take their word for it now. I was surprised myself when the Church sent the e-mail. The Cordovas didn't seem like people that'd do something crazy like that.
Hey, parents that know more stuff about computers than I do-- President accidentally set up some sort of program called Content Watch on his laptop and now it won't let him log onto the internet unless he has a password and he doesn't know nor has ever set up any sort of password. Neither I nor my companion nor the assistants are computer savvy enough to help him. He was originally trying to figure out how to re-activate the gadget on his laptop that scans his fingerprint to log on but we couldn't figure that out either. Do you know how to fix either of those things?
So I'm almost done reading the Book of Mormon again. I finished Ether today. I noticed that part of either teaches about the plan of salvation. In chapter two we learn about the Brother of Jared and the barges that the Lord commanded him to build. The little group of Jaredites are going to head on over the the promised land. In Ether 2:24-25 the Lord tells the brother of Jared that they'll be "as a whale in the midst of the sea" and that "the mountain waves will dash upon [them]." While reading that I remembered something that the General Authortiy named Bishop Edgley taught during the Southern California Multi-Stake Conference Broadcast last year. He said that before we came to earth the Lord let us know that this life wasn't going to be nor was supposed to be easy. We would be subject to all sorts of challenges and sorrow. So with that in mind, back to Ether. The Lord continues by saying "Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea." He also says, "And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross the great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come." Then the Lord asks the brother of Jared, "Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?" And what is the brother of Jared's response? He goes to the mount and moltens out of a rock sixteen stones, and they are prepared by the Lord to provide light for the Jaredites during their journey. Even so, Heavenly Father prepared for us a Savior (the Rock) to redeem us from the challenges we face during our separation from Him. If you keep reading the brother of Jared sees the Lord and He says in Ether 3:14 "Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people." And in Ether 4:12 "I am the LIGHT..." While studying those chapters I also learned taht the 16 stones probably represent the Gentiles. The stones were made clear and white when they were molten out of the mount to provide light for the Jaredites. Even so the Gentiles are supposed to "become sanctified in [Christ]" (Ether 4:7) and restore the house of Israel to the knowledge of the Gospel and the covenants of the Lord. That's the most I've ever learned from reading Ether I think.
Here's something interesting. President said that in the oldest copies of the Doctrine and Covenants a lot of the revelations changed people's names and had code-names in their stead. Some of the section headings in our books mention that the code-names were dropped in later publications. Well anyway, Joseph Smith's code-name was Gazelem. Now open your copies of the Book of Mormon and read Alma 37:23.
Now questions to answer. I may not remember them all. Diana has prayed and so far she said that she "thinks it's a good practice." I don't think she's got any definite answers yet because she hasn't prayed specifically enough yet nor with the amount of real intent necessary. Don't know about David and Dixie's plans just yet. I finished all the HAM Radio maps and President thought I did good. I'll only have to change a couple things due to a couple apartments getting closed. My apartment is clean. Mrs. Lowe is kind of old so I suppose she just fell. No she's not paralyzed. Oh by the way the Morgans (the member-neighbors) set us up with another appointment with them for last Friday and it went pretty well. We started reading the Book of Mormon with them. They don't really understand the purpose of the Book of Mormon yet so we'll keep trying to help them get it. It looks like we're going to go on over to Leisure World every Friday to teach them. Elder Cluff is great. We get along just fine and he's got positude.
I will pray for Tim. Hope he's alright.
Have yourselves a good week!
Love,
Elder Tyler J. Lewis
