Hello!
We had an earthquake last night at about 4:00 a.m. It woke us up. I heard the blinds rattling and my bed was moving a little. Elder Collier thought I was shaking his bed. It wasn't very strong and no damage happened. It was a 4.4. Some car alarms went off. Most people slept through it though. It wasn't nearly as jerky as the earthquake that happened last year while I was anointing a lady for a priesthood blessing.
Last week President Sexton gave me a really big project that he's been wanting to have done for a while. He had me look up every missionary that he has presided over for the past two and a half years and he had me make a list of their birthdays. I made it on excel and then organized it on microsoft word because excel frustrates me sometimes. But I finished that project yesterday.
The Lord has blessed us with many opportunities to teach. We hardly ever have to go knocking. Being in the office for most of the day really helps us stay busy in the evenings. I went on exchanges on Saturday with an elder from Mexico named Elder Serrano. He and his companion work in a very difficult area. We knocked doors all day and didn't teach any lessons. It made me really grateful that I've had the privilege to work in so many areas where I actually get to teach people and see some of the fruits of my labors.
I've decided that Preparation Day isn't my favorite day of the week, nor has it ever been. The only good part about it is e-mail. I've decided to call it Chore Day. Laundry, car wash, groceries, clean the apartment, write letters... blah blah blah blah blah
We had ward conference on Sunday and in Elders Quorum we were taught about home teaching. The Atherton Ward does amazing with their home teaching--- about 90% of their people get visited. So the stake person said that instead of giving us a "ra! ra!" motivation speech he was just going to talk about improving the quality of home teaching. Pretty much you just need to got he extra mile-- have lunch with those you teach, be there when they need you, be their friend. It sounds like you do great with your home teaching too. I'm excited for home teaching. That's really what missionaries are-- glorified home teachers.
Nick is still doing well. We're on good terms with his parents. His stepdad said he'd let Nick go to any of the church activites as long as he gets notice ahead of time. Nick didn't go to church on Sunday because of the time change. He didn't get enough sleep apparently. I didn't either but I was still there!
We haven't got to teach Paul Williams yet. And I don't know anything else about David Ramos going on a mission. I'm glad to know he's planning on it though. Here's what he said to me: "Hey Elder Lewis, Right now im preparing to go on a mission and I have started a lawn mowing business with omar to raise money for it. I miss you very much and I hope your doing well. Well Samantha Sakley says hi and hopes your doing well. Sorry I havent wrote you in such a long time. Hope all is well. Love, David." By the way, how did you find out he was going on a mission before I did?
So Hannah's developing huh? Weird. I wouldn't know anything about that though. I still haven't received any proof that my family still physically exists. ;) jk lol haha
Last week we had dinner at the Sexton home. The Blakes and the Assitants were there. President cooked up some mean juicy steaks. Sister Sexton was there along with their oldest daughter and their twin daughters. President had Elder Collier and I teach them a little lesson after dinner. Talk about being put on the spot. It was fine though. He told us to leave them a commitment so Elder Collier said "Will you all... continue to read the Book of Mormon?" What else could they do?
Here's something I studied today. A couple times yesterday I encouraged our investigators to ponder about God before they pray to Him. I've received an impression repeated times that it's a good idea to consider who I'm speaking to before I pray to God. Moroni counsels thus in Moroni 10:3. And in one of my favorite scriptures King Benjamin gives the same counsel before inviting his people to repent: Mosiah 4:9-10. And here's another good scripture to consider as well: Jacob 4:8-10. A good thing to remember is that we're the workmanship of the Lord's hands. He knows us far better than we know ourselves-- we were with Him for an infinite amount of time before this existence, so of course He knows what we need more than we could possibly comprehend.
Well have an extraordinarily pleasant week. Keep working hard, remember that I love you and that I'm thankful for what you've taught me.
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Friday, March 19, 2010
March 9th, 2010 (Email)
Good morning!
Something from the e-mails I received from you last week didn't really click in my mind until later. David Ramos is going on a mission!? That's so amazingly fantastic! He actually e-mailed me today! He said that he and Omar have started up a lawn-mowing business to save some dinero. Omar is the friend who gave David the Book of Mormon pass-along card when it all began. Those are a couple of swell young men.
Speaking of swell young men, our 16-year-old investigator named Nick Katanjent came to church on Sunday! That was definitely a highlight of the week. Nick is a good kid. His parents aren't very religious but for some reason he's always willing to talk with us and he likes learning about the Gospel. And he loved church. He bonded really well with the priests quorum. The Atherton Ward has a good group of youth. The Thompson family took Nick to church. Trevon Thompson is about Nick's age and he's been wanting to help fellowship an investigator into the church for a while. Nick has already talked to his parents about baptism. He said they'd support him if that's what he really wanted to do, but his dad brought up a great point-- "you haven't even been to the church yet!" Now he's come once, so he's definitely on the path towards baptism.
William Gowen, the dog-walker with amnesia, has decided he doesn't really want to go to church. We called him Sunday morning to see if he was going to go but he said that he decided not to be a part of the church a long time ago. So we're sad for him. Maybe he'll come around someday.
Last week I got to attend my first re-baptism of a former member of the church. There's a lady in this ward who has been working with Bishop Kovacs for over a year now and she finally got to re-enter the waters of baptism on Saturday. That was a unique experience. She's a great lady. We're actually teaching another former member of the church and he's been to church several times now. When the aforementioned sister bore her testimony on Sunday the man we're working with turned to Elder Collier and said "that will be me someday." I have seen several times throughout my mission that the power of the Atonement is very real and miracles happen to those who have faith in it enough to repent. I remember something Bishop Redding of the Buena Park ward once told me. He said that more than anything he wants the members of the church to understand that they can be absolutely cleansed from all sin through Christ's Atonement. He says that there are many who don't believe or understand that doctrine, but it's true.
I may have told you already, but the Atherton ward is a very missionary-minded ward. I have been very impressed with how determined they are to find people for us to teach. Elder Rada taught me something that I've applied since I worked with him. At the end of dinner appointments with members instead of sharing some random spiritual thought we'd teach a couple principles from one of the lessons and then commit the members to give away one of our pamphlets to whoever they feel prompted to. I've taught that to the elders I've trained and now Elder Collier and I are doing that too. This ward does a very good job with keeping their commitments. One lady named Sister Sandy Jackson who has recently become an active member again called us yesterday and asked us if we could give her some copies of the Book of Mormon so that she could give them away. She had a good experience last week giving a Book of Mormon to a lady she works with (Sis. Jackson's a cop) and that must have strengthened her desire to share the gospel with her friends.
I was taught something yesterday when we went to visit another less-active lady in our ward. She's the daughter of a former stake president and bishop from Cerritos named Bishop Vidmar. I know Bishop Vidmar and he was a great example to me so I was excited when I found out that this sister was actually his daughter. Well, Bishop Vidmar's daughter is probably about Mom's age and she has a son a little younger than I am. She married outside of the covenant and she's a little more liberal in her appearance and interests. She has tattoos all over her arms and she's very artsy. Thanks to my past experiences throughout my mission her appearance didn't really phase me when I met her. Most of the priesthood leaders in the Long Beach 7th ward have tattoos all over themselves due to different circumstances and cultures and sometimes rough pasts. I'm grateful that I've been taught better to not judge someone by their appearance. It's hard and it's something that we all do to a degree but the Savior taught to judge righteously. Anyway, she said that in her past wards the members avoided her and didn't treat her or her son very kindly. She didn't receive support when she needed it the most. She cried when she shared that with us at her doorstep. I understand that no unrighteousness should be justified---but to neglect the Lord's commandment to love one another is a sin in itself. She helped me realize that if our wards become clicky and neglect their lost sheep then we are in nowise prepared for the kingdom of God. The Spirit testified that I need to remember after the mission to help and love those who need it most.
I'm glad to hear that Rory Porter is going on a mission and I'm also happy to hear that Jared also said that he's preparing. President Sexton told us that the Church has seen a decrease in its number of missionaries. Elder Collier and I have started putting forth some extra effort to help a couple prospective elders in our ward prepare to go on missions. We've invited them to a couple of our companionship studies.
Well, have a splendid week and a dandy day!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S.- Any photage coming my way anytime soon??
Something from the e-mails I received from you last week didn't really click in my mind until later. David Ramos is going on a mission!? That's so amazingly fantastic! He actually e-mailed me today! He said that he and Omar have started up a lawn-mowing business to save some dinero. Omar is the friend who gave David the Book of Mormon pass-along card when it all began. Those are a couple of swell young men.
Speaking of swell young men, our 16-year-old investigator named Nick Katanjent came to church on Sunday! That was definitely a highlight of the week. Nick is a good kid. His parents aren't very religious but for some reason he's always willing to talk with us and he likes learning about the Gospel. And he loved church. He bonded really well with the priests quorum. The Atherton Ward has a good group of youth. The Thompson family took Nick to church. Trevon Thompson is about Nick's age and he's been wanting to help fellowship an investigator into the church for a while. Nick has already talked to his parents about baptism. He said they'd support him if that's what he really wanted to do, but his dad brought up a great point-- "you haven't even been to the church yet!" Now he's come once, so he's definitely on the path towards baptism.
William Gowen, the dog-walker with amnesia, has decided he doesn't really want to go to church. We called him Sunday morning to see if he was going to go but he said that he decided not to be a part of the church a long time ago. So we're sad for him. Maybe he'll come around someday.
Last week I got to attend my first re-baptism of a former member of the church. There's a lady in this ward who has been working with Bishop Kovacs for over a year now and she finally got to re-enter the waters of baptism on Saturday. That was a unique experience. She's a great lady. We're actually teaching another former member of the church and he's been to church several times now. When the aforementioned sister bore her testimony on Sunday the man we're working with turned to Elder Collier and said "that will be me someday." I have seen several times throughout my mission that the power of the Atonement is very real and miracles happen to those who have faith in it enough to repent. I remember something Bishop Redding of the Buena Park ward once told me. He said that more than anything he wants the members of the church to understand that they can be absolutely cleansed from all sin through Christ's Atonement. He says that there are many who don't believe or understand that doctrine, but it's true.
I may have told you already, but the Atherton ward is a very missionary-minded ward. I have been very impressed with how determined they are to find people for us to teach. Elder Rada taught me something that I've applied since I worked with him. At the end of dinner appointments with members instead of sharing some random spiritual thought we'd teach a couple principles from one of the lessons and then commit the members to give away one of our pamphlets to whoever they feel prompted to. I've taught that to the elders I've trained and now Elder Collier and I are doing that too. This ward does a very good job with keeping their commitments. One lady named Sister Sandy Jackson who has recently become an active member again called us yesterday and asked us if we could give her some copies of the Book of Mormon so that she could give them away. She had a good experience last week giving a Book of Mormon to a lady she works with (Sis. Jackson's a cop) and that must have strengthened her desire to share the gospel with her friends.
I was taught something yesterday when we went to visit another less-active lady in our ward. She's the daughter of a former stake president and bishop from Cerritos named Bishop Vidmar. I know Bishop Vidmar and he was a great example to me so I was excited when I found out that this sister was actually his daughter. Well, Bishop Vidmar's daughter is probably about Mom's age and she has a son a little younger than I am. She married outside of the covenant and she's a little more liberal in her appearance and interests. She has tattoos all over her arms and she's very artsy. Thanks to my past experiences throughout my mission her appearance didn't really phase me when I met her. Most of the priesthood leaders in the Long Beach 7th ward have tattoos all over themselves due to different circumstances and cultures and sometimes rough pasts. I'm grateful that I've been taught better to not judge someone by their appearance. It's hard and it's something that we all do to a degree but the Savior taught to judge righteously. Anyway, she said that in her past wards the members avoided her and didn't treat her or her son very kindly. She didn't receive support when she needed it the most. She cried when she shared that with us at her doorstep. I understand that no unrighteousness should be justified---but to neglect the Lord's commandment to love one another is a sin in itself. She helped me realize that if our wards become clicky and neglect their lost sheep then we are in nowise prepared for the kingdom of God. The Spirit testified that I need to remember after the mission to help and love those who need it most.
I'm glad to hear that Rory Porter is going on a mission and I'm also happy to hear that Jared also said that he's preparing. President Sexton told us that the Church has seen a decrease in its number of missionaries. Elder Collier and I have started putting forth some extra effort to help a couple prospective elders in our ward prepare to go on missions. We've invited them to a couple of our companionship studies.
Well, have a splendid week and a dandy day!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
P.S.- Any photage coming my way anytime soon??
March 2nd, 1020 (Bonus Email)
Well, I've still got some time, so I'll write you some more.
On Sunday Elder collier and I were asked to visit the Primary and teach the chillins about the 4th Article of Faith. That was fun. Those kids are hilarious. When teaching them about the gift of the Holy Ghost I taught like thus: "Have any of you ever taken a drink from the ocean?" To that I got various answers, some of them being "yes." "That's gross!" I said. "Well, normally we don't drink from the ocean because it's filled with bacteriums and amoebas which are bad for you. Well, I was watching a show once where a person took some water from a lake and put it over a fire to boil it. When he did that he killed all of the bacteriums in it so he could drink it. Well, the Holy Ghost is just like that..." The kids had lots of comments and answers to questions. One of them rose his hand and said "[something, something, something, gibberish we didn't understand] GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY!" To that I said "Yeah! The Gospel does actually mean glad tidings of great joy. Good job!" I didn't know what else to say. And when Elder Collier asked them what the Holy Ghost was the three-year-old asian kid raised his hand and said "Hole. When you're stuck in a dark hole you need a ladder to get out." I guess he heard the word "holy" and made a connection with the word "hole." I don't know. Anyway that was a fun experience.
All of the missionaries currently serving in Chile are accounted for (there are some missionaries from my MTC district serving in Concepción, Chile.) The only conern we have is that President Sexton can't get hold of Elder Henriquez, one of the Assistants who just went home last transfer. We all hope he's okay. An 8.8 is a HUGE earthquake. I learned in my geology class that the earthquake scale goes up exponentially. 8.8 is pretty crazy.
Well, I should go now. Love you!
On Sunday Elder collier and I were asked to visit the Primary and teach the chillins about the 4th Article of Faith. That was fun. Those kids are hilarious. When teaching them about the gift of the Holy Ghost I taught like thus: "Have any of you ever taken a drink from the ocean?" To that I got various answers, some of them being "yes." "That's gross!" I said. "Well, normally we don't drink from the ocean because it's filled with bacteriums and amoebas which are bad for you. Well, I was watching a show once where a person took some water from a lake and put it over a fire to boil it. When he did that he killed all of the bacteriums in it so he could drink it. Well, the Holy Ghost is just like that..." The kids had lots of comments and answers to questions. One of them rose his hand and said "[something, something, something, gibberish we didn't understand] GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY!" To that I said "Yeah! The Gospel does actually mean glad tidings of great joy. Good job!" I didn't know what else to say. And when Elder Collier asked them what the Holy Ghost was the three-year-old asian kid raised his hand and said "Hole. When you're stuck in a dark hole you need a ladder to get out." I guess he heard the word "holy" and made a connection with the word "hole." I don't know. Anyway that was a fun experience.
All of the missionaries currently serving in Chile are accounted for (there are some missionaries from my MTC district serving in Concepción, Chile.) The only conern we have is that President Sexton can't get hold of Elder Henriquez, one of the Assistants who just went home last transfer. We all hope he's okay. An 8.8 is a HUGE earthquake. I learned in my geology class that the earthquake scale goes up exponentially. 8.8 is pretty crazy.
Well, I should go now. Love you!
March 2nd, 2010 (Email)
Hello!
Yep, I've hit the 18 month mark.
Things have slowed down in the office because I'm all caught up on the things I'm supposed to be doing. The last two hours of the day I usually spend reading the Ensign, studying spanish or skimming through stuff saved on the computer. President has started giving me random side projects-- for example the other day he told me to start re-taping the boundaries on the giant map of the mission on the wall by his office. That shouldn't take very long though. President has had a hectic week. He's had to send four elders home- one for back problems, one for personal reasons, one for not being prepared, and one for a random mysterious stomach problem. The last one hopefully will come back in a couple weeks though. So President has been a little stressed lately. Along with all that we're having a missionary from Mongolia come to our mission this week-- right in the middle of the transfer. He's getting kicked out of Mongolia because of visa problems. One day Elder Collier and I came and had dinner in the kitchen here and we stopped by President's office to say hello. He was sitting in a chair in front of the transfer board pondering and trying to figure out what to do. He was kind of doing what I imagine to be something like "Missionary Tetris."
Our ward mission leader and his wife are awesome. Brother and Sister Minus will be moving to St. George in August so we can go visit them whenever we go down there. They're the ones who live in the little neighborhood called Naples. Their next-door neighbor is Paul Williams (rainbow-connection guy) and the Minus's are trying to set us up to teach him. They had lunch with Paul Williams and his wife a couple weeks ago. Paul Williams' wife is actually an inactive member of our ward.
On Saturday I was on splits with one of the zone leaders named Elder Warburton. We were knocking on the Peninsula. All of a sudden a car raced by, its horn honking at the mailman who was crossing the street. From the driver's seat a lady yelled out "There's a tsunami warning!" Elder Warburton and I looked at each other, befuddled. I asked him if we should leave. We decided to just keep knocking. Nobody else seemed concerned or even aware of any problem. Had there been a tsunami we would have found ourselves in a precarious situation-- after all, we were on a peninsula. Turns out there was a tsunami warning but it wasn't anything dangerous. It was just kind of funny because that lady was the only person on the whole peninsula who seemed to be particularly alarmed.
I've been having some really good studies lately. I've been studying mostly about the Restoration. I've noticed that the first three books of the Book of Mormon explain quite a bit about the Restoration. 1Nephi and 2Nephi often refer to the Restoration as a restoration of knowledge- particularly of the knowledge of the true Redeemer (see 2Nephi 10:2 and 30:5-8.) So on that note I started studying about knowledge. John 8:32 and John 17:3 make it clear that knowledge of the truth, especially a correct knowledge of the nature of the Godhead, is essential for one's salvation. Jesus Christ in Luke 11:47-52 talks about the restoration and apostasy pattern, and says that when the apostles and prophets were killed "the key of knowledge" was taken from the people. The key of knowledge is found in the Lord's prophets and apostles-- the priesthood and the gift of the Holy Ghost. President Sexton shared this verse from the Book of Mormon during our office staff meeting: 2Nephi 9:20. Here God's holiness is linked with his knowing all things. So if God's purpose, His work and His glory, is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man as He says in Moses 1:39 (or, in other words, to help us become like Him) and if knowledge is what makes God who He is, then of course there needed to be a Restoration. Church is true.
We haven't been able to teach Michelle lately and Nick and Zack are doing about the same. Things should start picking up soon. We're finding good potentials, the ward is preparing some great referrals, and the bishop and the ward mission leader are doing everything they can to help us in our missionary efforts. Miracles are bound to happen.
That's funny about the General Authorities coming to our ward. Was that Elder Jensen Elder Jay E. Jensen? He's really neat. He came to the MTC while I was there.
Have a fantabulous week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Yep, I've hit the 18 month mark.
Things have slowed down in the office because I'm all caught up on the things I'm supposed to be doing. The last two hours of the day I usually spend reading the Ensign, studying spanish or skimming through stuff saved on the computer. President has started giving me random side projects-- for example the other day he told me to start re-taping the boundaries on the giant map of the mission on the wall by his office. That shouldn't take very long though. President has had a hectic week. He's had to send four elders home- one for back problems, one for personal reasons, one for not being prepared, and one for a random mysterious stomach problem. The last one hopefully will come back in a couple weeks though. So President has been a little stressed lately. Along with all that we're having a missionary from Mongolia come to our mission this week-- right in the middle of the transfer. He's getting kicked out of Mongolia because of visa problems. One day Elder Collier and I came and had dinner in the kitchen here and we stopped by President's office to say hello. He was sitting in a chair in front of the transfer board pondering and trying to figure out what to do. He was kind of doing what I imagine to be something like "Missionary Tetris."
Our ward mission leader and his wife are awesome. Brother and Sister Minus will be moving to St. George in August so we can go visit them whenever we go down there. They're the ones who live in the little neighborhood called Naples. Their next-door neighbor is Paul Williams (rainbow-connection guy) and the Minus's are trying to set us up to teach him. They had lunch with Paul Williams and his wife a couple weeks ago. Paul Williams' wife is actually an inactive member of our ward.
On Saturday I was on splits with one of the zone leaders named Elder Warburton. We were knocking on the Peninsula. All of a sudden a car raced by, its horn honking at the mailman who was crossing the street. From the driver's seat a lady yelled out "There's a tsunami warning!" Elder Warburton and I looked at each other, befuddled. I asked him if we should leave. We decided to just keep knocking. Nobody else seemed concerned or even aware of any problem. Had there been a tsunami we would have found ourselves in a precarious situation-- after all, we were on a peninsula. Turns out there was a tsunami warning but it wasn't anything dangerous. It was just kind of funny because that lady was the only person on the whole peninsula who seemed to be particularly alarmed.
I've been having some really good studies lately. I've been studying mostly about the Restoration. I've noticed that the first three books of the Book of Mormon explain quite a bit about the Restoration. 1Nephi and 2Nephi often refer to the Restoration as a restoration of knowledge- particularly of the knowledge of the true Redeemer (see 2Nephi 10:2 and 30:5-8.) So on that note I started studying about knowledge. John 8:32 and John 17:3 make it clear that knowledge of the truth, especially a correct knowledge of the nature of the Godhead, is essential for one's salvation. Jesus Christ in Luke 11:47-52 talks about the restoration and apostasy pattern, and says that when the apostles and prophets were killed "the key of knowledge" was taken from the people. The key of knowledge is found in the Lord's prophets and apostles-- the priesthood and the gift of the Holy Ghost. President Sexton shared this verse from the Book of Mormon during our office staff meeting: 2Nephi 9:20. Here God's holiness is linked with his knowing all things. So if God's purpose, His work and His glory, is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man as He says in Moses 1:39 (or, in other words, to help us become like Him) and if knowledge is what makes God who He is, then of course there needed to be a Restoration. Church is true.
We haven't been able to teach Michelle lately and Nick and Zack are doing about the same. Things should start picking up soon. We're finding good potentials, the ward is preparing some great referrals, and the bishop and the ward mission leader are doing everything they can to help us in our missionary efforts. Miracles are bound to happen.
That's funny about the General Authorities coming to our ward. Was that Elder Jensen Elder Jay E. Jensen? He's really neat. He came to the MTC while I was there.
Have a fantabulous week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Feb. 23rd, 2010 (Email)
Good morning!
Dad, thanks for sharing that experience with me about the last 3 months of your mission. I didn't know that. I told President Sexton about it since he's here talking with us. He said that he talked with President Bubert the other day and told him that I'd be here in the office as the mission secretary when he comes. President Sexton told him that I'm Roger's nephew and then President Bubert told him a little about Roger's family. The switch will happen June 30th.
It was another great week working here with Elder Collier. Things are going well in the office. One day I had to do a lot of catching up (the elder I replaced was behind on his work) and so I had to print out 92 letters from President to the recent converts baptized over the past several months. And then President had to sign all those letters, and then I had to print out addresses for all their envelopes, and then I had to put all those letters in the envelopes, lick them until my whole mouth tasted like glue, and separate them according to their zones. It wasn't something complicated--it just took a long time. And thus we see that one should not procrastinate the day of his recent convert letters.
Elder Collier told me that this last week was the most productive week he's had in this area since October. I'm glad I could be here to be a part of it. Bishop Kovacs and many other members of the Atherton ward are working hard to find people for us to teach. Bishop found us a part-member couple named the Casons. They live in some military apartments near the borders of our area. They're young newlyweds. Carlton is the husband and he's a less-active member. Michelle is the wife and she's not a member. We taught them a lesson with the bishop and it went really well. We extended a baptismal invite to Michelle but she said she'd have to pray about it a lot first. They said we're welcome to visit them whenever we'd like. A miracle happened at church on Sunday. A woman named Sister Miller finally came to church. She's a less-active lady who I'd met long before coming to this area. Sometime last year I had to go on exchanges with an elder working in this area named Elder Newby. Remember when we came to Disneyland the July before my mission and we saw those two elders on bike in downtown Long Beach? Turns out one of them was Elder Newby. Anyway while I was with him we went and visited the Millers. They weren't keeping their commitments and they expressed little interest in coming back to church. Anyway now that I'm with Elder Collier I can see that the Millers have come a long way as the missionaries have kept visiting them weekly. Sister Miller is reading Alma and she's said that she likes that book a lot. And then this Sunday she finally came to church. That's the first time she's come to church in years probably. Elder Collier has never seen her at church and he's been here since October. And she said she may come for Sunday school next week (she just stayed for sacrament this time.) Anyway, that was a miracle. Elder Collier and I have also been teaching a couple young men. We're teaching a 17-year-old named Nick. He's an investigator and he has a good heart. Of course being in High School he's a little caught up in the things of the world but that's normal. Yesterday he was telling us that if he decided to be baptized he said that his mom wouldn't be against it. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to tell you that he has a baptismal date set. I learned from David Ramos that many miracles can come from converted youth. We also visited a 13-year-old member named Zack who looks like a 16-year-old named Zack. His parents are re-activated newlyweds and they're working so hard to help their son. He's a videogamer who previously has expressed very little interest in the church as far as Elder Collier has told me. But yesterday we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ using the old water, pepper and soap trick to teach him about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and he got it! He said that he'll come to church this Sunday in his tuxedo. Nick and Zack seem like kids that could go down either path so they really need good influences in their lives. They've helped me recognize just about how much I really owe to my parents and my priesthood leaders.
Bishop Kovacs taught Elder Collier and I a cool word during church on Sunday: EQUANIMITY. It means to be able to handle stress and pressure calmly and patiently. It's synonymous with the word meekness. I just thought that it was a cool word.
During my studies I've been listing scriptures that have influenced me throughout my mission. Here's some of them you could look up:
2Nephi 31:17-21 -- "this is the way"
Mosiah 4:10 -- "if you believe all these things see that ye do them"
Mosiah 4:12-15 -- the gospel blesses individuals and families
2Nephi 32: 5 -- the gift of the Holy Ghost "will show unto you all things what ye should do"
D&C 121:45-46 -- the power of virtue enables one to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost
Helaman 14:30-31 & John 8:32 -- the intelligent use of agency requires knowledge of the truth
Mosiah 2: 22,41 -- "ye should consider on the blessed an happy state of those that keep the commandments of God."
There are more but these are enough for now.
Hey I was wondering if you could send me the addresses of Bro. Green, Bro. Tebbs, Bro. Porter and Bro. Bradshaw. I'd appreciate that.
Don't worry Mom I understand that you get busy with work. On P-Days I'm usually too busy to write anyone other you and the converts I taught. And when I'm not busy on P-Days sometimes I just need a break.
Dad I was wondering if when you send me those pictures if you could also try and send me another copy of that CD. The one I have just has half of a Jeff Tweedy song saying "I heard the voice of Jesus/I heard the voice of Jesus/I heard the voice of Jesus" over and over again. And I'm really really excited for those pictures by the way porque les amo mucho!
Love you long time! (that's the name of a band that a young hip couple in our ward used to be in-- brother and sister harris. they live on the peninsula.)
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
Dad, thanks for sharing that experience with me about the last 3 months of your mission. I didn't know that. I told President Sexton about it since he's here talking with us. He said that he talked with President Bubert the other day and told him that I'd be here in the office as the mission secretary when he comes. President Sexton told him that I'm Roger's nephew and then President Bubert told him a little about Roger's family. The switch will happen June 30th.
It was another great week working here with Elder Collier. Things are going well in the office. One day I had to do a lot of catching up (the elder I replaced was behind on his work) and so I had to print out 92 letters from President to the recent converts baptized over the past several months. And then President had to sign all those letters, and then I had to print out addresses for all their envelopes, and then I had to put all those letters in the envelopes, lick them until my whole mouth tasted like glue, and separate them according to their zones. It wasn't something complicated--it just took a long time. And thus we see that one should not procrastinate the day of his recent convert letters.
Elder Collier told me that this last week was the most productive week he's had in this area since October. I'm glad I could be here to be a part of it. Bishop Kovacs and many other members of the Atherton ward are working hard to find people for us to teach. Bishop found us a part-member couple named the Casons. They live in some military apartments near the borders of our area. They're young newlyweds. Carlton is the husband and he's a less-active member. Michelle is the wife and she's not a member. We taught them a lesson with the bishop and it went really well. We extended a baptismal invite to Michelle but she said she'd have to pray about it a lot first. They said we're welcome to visit them whenever we'd like. A miracle happened at church on Sunday. A woman named Sister Miller finally came to church. She's a less-active lady who I'd met long before coming to this area. Sometime last year I had to go on exchanges with an elder working in this area named Elder Newby. Remember when we came to Disneyland the July before my mission and we saw those two elders on bike in downtown Long Beach? Turns out one of them was Elder Newby. Anyway while I was with him we went and visited the Millers. They weren't keeping their commitments and they expressed little interest in coming back to church. Anyway now that I'm with Elder Collier I can see that the Millers have come a long way as the missionaries have kept visiting them weekly. Sister Miller is reading Alma and she's said that she likes that book a lot. And then this Sunday she finally came to church. That's the first time she's come to church in years probably. Elder Collier has never seen her at church and he's been here since October. And she said she may come for Sunday school next week (she just stayed for sacrament this time.) Anyway, that was a miracle. Elder Collier and I have also been teaching a couple young men. We're teaching a 17-year-old named Nick. He's an investigator and he has a good heart. Of course being in High School he's a little caught up in the things of the world but that's normal. Yesterday he was telling us that if he decided to be baptized he said that his mom wouldn't be against it. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to tell you that he has a baptismal date set. I learned from David Ramos that many miracles can come from converted youth. We also visited a 13-year-old member named Zack who looks like a 16-year-old named Zack. His parents are re-activated newlyweds and they're working so hard to help their son. He's a videogamer who previously has expressed very little interest in the church as far as Elder Collier has told me. But yesterday we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ using the old water, pepper and soap trick to teach him about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and he got it! He said that he'll come to church this Sunday in his tuxedo. Nick and Zack seem like kids that could go down either path so they really need good influences in their lives. They've helped me recognize just about how much I really owe to my parents and my priesthood leaders.
Bishop Kovacs taught Elder Collier and I a cool word during church on Sunday: EQUANIMITY. It means to be able to handle stress and pressure calmly and patiently. It's synonymous with the word meekness. I just thought that it was a cool word.
During my studies I've been listing scriptures that have influenced me throughout my mission. Here's some of them you could look up:
2Nephi 31:17-21 -- "this is the way"
Mosiah 4:10 -- "if you believe all these things see that ye do them"
Mosiah 4:12-15 -- the gospel blesses individuals and families
2Nephi 32: 5 -- the gift of the Holy Ghost "will show unto you all things what ye should do"
D&C 121:45-46 -- the power of virtue enables one to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost
Helaman 14:30-31 & John 8:32 -- the intelligent use of agency requires knowledge of the truth
Mosiah 2: 22,41 -- "ye should consider on the blessed an happy state of those that keep the commandments of God."
There are more but these are enough for now.
Hey I was wondering if you could send me the addresses of Bro. Green, Bro. Tebbs, Bro. Porter and Bro. Bradshaw. I'd appreciate that.
Don't worry Mom I understand that you get busy with work. On P-Days I'm usually too busy to write anyone other you and the converts I taught. And when I'm not busy on P-Days sometimes I just need a break.
Dad I was wondering if when you send me those pictures if you could also try and send me another copy of that CD. The one I have just has half of a Jeff Tweedy song saying "I heard the voice of Jesus/I heard the voice of Jesus/I heard the voice of Jesus" over and over again. And I'm really really excited for those pictures by the way porque les amo mucho!
Love you long time! (that's the name of a band that a young hip couple in our ward used to be in-- brother and sister harris. they live on the peninsula.)
Love,
Elder Tyler Lewis
