Thank you for your letter mom! I love you. I especially loved the stories about Elder LeGrande Richards so thank you for sharing them with me. :) I am understanding more and more the talents and the gifts God has given me to do His work on this earth. It's overwhelming how much He has blessed me. My blessing says I would come to the magnitude and responsibility I have, the talents and gifts I've been given. I feel a great debt to our Eternal King, to serve Him diligently and praise Him all the days of Eternity. I know he has given me talents and gifts so that I might serve Him and His children, and this is the purpose for which they were given. What a humbling responsibility it is to serve God, not just as a missionary, but as a disciple of Christ, a child of God and a member of His church.
So you’re going to be the shortest one in the family! You poor thing... hahah. Glad to hear its warm there, it's very warm here!! Tell Samantha I'm grateful she is doing that. I'll try and write her back every week too.
Things here are going great. We had 5 investigators at church on Sunday! Most of them were in one family. We're teaching a woman named Donna, and she brought her 4 kids with her. They are the cutest kids! They are black, and I don’t think they've been around white people much. One of the little girls is obsessed with my hair. She always wants to touch it, and last time we were over there she asked if she could say goodbye to my hair before I left...? Hahaha. On Sunday when they were sitting by Sister Atkin they were playing with her hair and one of the little girls said... "your hair is too long, it's going to break off! You need to put it in braids or these strands are all gonna fall out and float away and you'll be sad." I've learned since I've been out here that blacks can't let their hair get to long because it's too dry. If it's long and they don't braid it then it will break off. So this little girl was very concerned Sister Atkin was going to lose all her hair. A lot of the women I've met out here just wear wigs- I guess it's the new thing.
But Donna and her family all came to church, and it was great to have them there. We've had some really good lessons with her.
Also on Sunday we had someone we've been visiting tell us he was going to quit smoking! Sister Atkin and I were overcome with joy! This will allow their family to go through the temple and be sealed. This truly is the Lords work and I can see how he has worked for years with the individuals we're teaching, to bring them to the point that they are at now.
The other night someone came into the Visitors Center wanting to watch the Joseph Smith movie. Sister Castallano and I took him downstairs to put the movie on. As we walked downstairs I knew that we needed to know why he wanted to come in and watch the Joseph Smith movie. So we asked him a few questions, and eventually found out that he isn't active in the church. I tried to subtly pull out the answer as to why he wasn't active, but it wasn't working, so finally I just was blunt and asked him why he wasn't active in the church. He told us that he had started drinking again and that he actually was in a recovery program right now. He had just finished a phase of the program and had one free night. He said he knew he could either go drink, or he could come to the VC. I was so proud of him for making that choice, for choosing God in a moment of strong temptation. We started the movie for him and then went to a guide’s room and knelt down and prayed for him. Afterward, Sister Castallano wanted to give him a Book of Mormon, so we wrote our testimonies down in it, and when the movie was over we went back and started talking with him. As we talked I knew this man still had a testimony of this church, and I knew I needed to ask him to bear it. So I asked if he would share his testimony with us. He told us that he was in jail for a while, and joined another religious group there and eventually wanted the Bishop to excommunicate him. The Bishop told him to read the Book of Mormon first. So he said he did, and he went back to the Bishop and still wanted to be excommunicated. He said the bishop looked him in the eye and said... "You can't read can you?" So the bishop gave him a blessing and blessed him that he could read. He read the Book of Mormon and gained a testimony of it, he knew it was true. He told us, with tears in his eyes, that he knew this was all true. Sister Castallano and I bore our testimonies to him, that through Jesus Christ we could overcome all things. I can't remember all that we said, but the power of the spirit was there. It was a remarkable experience, and this man said as soon as he finished the other stage of his program he would come back to the VC.
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know He leads and guides this work, and that He is working personally and individually with all of His children, in all parts of His vineyard. Missionaries are simply his servants, and the servants of His children.
Mosiah 2:16-17
"Behold I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God. And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your god."
Mosiah 4:6-10
"I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that hereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body--
I say that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.
And this is the means whereby salvation cometh and there is none other salvations save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.
Believe in God; believe that he is and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
And again believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them."
I love you!!
Sister Lewis.
P.S. I will send pictures next week!
P.P.S. I hope it's not too late but tell Bro. Andrews that I'll write him a letter/story he asked for because I'm out of email time.
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