This week was amazing! President said the temple was like a rising tidal wave. No matter where the ship is on the wave, they are all lifted by it. He said the temple will do the same for the people in this area. I testify that this is true. THe miracles we've seen are miraculous. Every day Sister Crystal and I have a moment where we look at each other and ask... "did that just happen?" The blessings the Lord is pouring out upon us and the people here are amazing. I truly feel an unquenchable desire to offer God more grattitude, more commitment, etc. Yet I know I could never repay what he's given. We've have found so many prepared and elect people who desire to prepare for baptism. It's incredible, day by day we are lead by the spirit to them/they are lead to us. Because we're not perfect at hearing the spirit, more often than not the Lord has just brought them to us. Haha... it's just amazing and I don't have the words to describe it.

 

I want to quickly tell you about our experience this weekend, however, with the temple dedication and cultural event. I don't have much time so unfortunately I'll have to give you the brief version.

 

On Saturday we were privileged to participate in the cultural event to celebrate the opening of the temple. This event truely was a celebration for our God and prophet. I will never be able to adequetly express the feelings of grattitude and joy that touched our hearts that evening. Watch the mormon message for the San Salvador temple dedication. (Amanda post that video with this blog entry). You'll get a taste of what the temple has done for our area, and what the celebration was like. This is my ALL-TIME favorite mormon message- I saw it in the MTC and loved it. The best part, is I am currently living it.

 

All the youth have spent the last few months preparing various dances and songs to preform for the prophet as a celebration for the temple dedication. The things they preformed were so touching and inspiring. I was filled with so much love and admiration for these youth. I knew they were special beacons of light to a world suffering in the darkness of sin. I could feel of their goodness and purity.

 

They preformed several numbers and asked the full-time missionaries to participate in one of the closing songs. It was a missionary medeley. They started off singing some missionary songs, and then would end by singing "The armies of Helaman." During that song the missionaries were supposed to walk onto the stage. The group of youth would part and we would file into the center while the youth continued to sing. Then we would all finish together by joining our voice to these words...

 

"We have been born as Nephi of old to goodly parents who love the Lord. We have been taught and we understand that we must do as the Lord commands. We are as the armies of Helamen, we have been taught in our youth, and we will be the Lords missionaries to bring the world His truth."

 

The most humbling part of the whole experience was as we walked in and began to sing, the Youth surrounding us knelt to the floor. We knew before hand that this was the plan. President Keyes had explained to us that they would kneel down and we would stand and sing the song. What feelings of humility poured into my heart as I saw these valiant and special youth kneel down as we stood to sing. We are their servents, and there they knelt for us. Even now as I write it my eyes are wet. We are their servants, yet there they were kneeling. As we sang a powerful spirit filled the center and all the Audience stood up. Including the Prophet of the Lord. Again, we are their servants, and there they stood for us applauding us and weeping. The prophet of the Lord included. We stood to face him the whole time, we were singing for him.

 

It was such a special experience. As I was surrounded by all the missionaries in our entire mission, I knew that they were called and set apart by a special calling. I could feel that the power of the Lord was with them, and that they were representatives of Jesus Christ, serving under a holy calling. It was remarkable.

 

The next day in the dedication President Monson said these things about the celebration. "Last night we touched the veil of Heaven." And speaking of the preformances, "I have never seen it done better." When he said that last part the spirit bore powerful witness that this was a message from Heaven, and that the Lord had accepted our offerings, and it truly had been our best.

 

I am just so grateful. President Keyes called us that night and told us all the missionaries were going to get a DVD of the celebration. I AM SO EXCITED :) hahaha. We are just unbelievably blessed by our God. He has given us his house here in Missouri, and the effect it's had upon member and non-member alike is tangible, and noticable.

 

I know He lives, I know Jesus Christ is our Savior, I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restored church of Jesus Christ upon the Earth today.

 

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

P.S. YES I CAN CALL HOME FOR MOTHERS DAY. WRITE ME ASAP AND TELL ME WHEN YOU HAVE CHURCH SO I CAN PLAN AROUND THAT. I'LL CALL YOU SUNDAY MORNING TO TELL YOU WHAT TIME I'LL BE CALLING.  I LOVE YOU LOTS. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY:):):)

 

Sorry I haven't exactly been updated with Rachel's letters of late but I finally got to posting so here is all of the letters and pictures from the month of April. (:

Well as for work in the area things are going well! Jason Hatt was baptised this last Saturday, and confirmed on Sunday. It's funny because when Selene was baptized her entire life fell apart. We knew it would happen, the adversary always works hard against something as important as baptism. For Selene her trials, however, were an opportunity for her to show her faith and commitment to God, and she passed the test with flying colors :) (No shocker there). As Jason's baptism approached this last week, I kept asking myself, when will the trial come? Everything was going so smoothly... which, from my experience, is not typical! We didn't see any problems until the day of the baptism, but like clock work- they eventually came. Haha. At first we weren't supposed to be able to come- but we all prayed that God would open a way and he did. We were able to switch a shift last minute with another companionship so we could go to the baptism. But then Brother Tonga, who is Jasons life-long friend and was supposed to baptize Jason, had his flight re-routed last minute. He was out of town and was supposed to be back by 3- but with the re-route of his flight he wasn't going to make it back in time for the baptism. We had to get someone else to preform the baptism. Then Sister Crystal and I, who have been to church a million times, somehow ended up on the wrong free way- wasted tons of miles and gas and ended up being half an hour later than we planned. We were supposed to be there early to set things up, but we got there just as they were starting the opening hymn. Hahah.... oh man. Luckily our ward is amazing, and they didn't need us at all. The Ceremony was beautiful, and the confirmation the next day was even more touching. The grattitude the Lord filled me with was so tender. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the peace, the joy and the clarity he offers us. I am grateful for how willingly he answers prayers. I know he loves us. I know Him personally, He is my Savior and friend. Oh how great is my joy to be able to say such words! How great is His mercy that allows me to utter such things- the atonement is in everything. Of this I bear witness, in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I love you so much!!! Thank you for all you do. :)

P.S. I'll try and send pictures next week- forgot my camera this week.

Okay first things first. Yes I love veggie chips! Amanda, thank you for sending them to me! Hahah.

P.S. sorry I forgot to tell you my P-day changed. It's on Thursday this week- but next week and for the rest of the Transfer it will be Tue.

 

Glad to hear things are going well. I hope dad is feeling better. It was fun to hear about Carson. Sounds like he had an amazing mission! Also... point taken... no getting into Cabs with strange people. Lol.

 

This week has been a whirlwind. We're working at the temple 3 times this week and so we only have roughly 4 hours in our area. God has blessed us with miracles, however. He knows our challenges and so we're being led to all the places we need to be. On Tuesday we had an hour or so and we experienced a beautiful miracle. The night before Hermana Crystal felt prompted to spend time in a specific area. We looked through some old names of people who had investigated the church, and we had several people written down, but when we finished I still felt like there was one more. So we looked through again and found one more name we felt inclined towards. That was the first person we stopped by to visit. The man no longer lived there but his cousin did. We ended up talking with her and she just kept saying over and over again... "I know it's not coincidence that you're here. I know it's not coincidence..." Then she asked us if she could come to church on Sunday. Usually we're the ones calling people Saturday night and begging them to come... This was a welcomed change. She's excited to read the Book of Mormon and meet with us again.

 

She was funny too, when she first came out of the house she was wearing this baggy gangster jacket. Later she took it off and said- I'm really a country girl, but when I moved to Kansas City I bought this so I would blend in. Hahahah. Oh man, it's a different world down here.

 

Yes Brother Hatt is doing well! His baptism is this Saturday :) Unfortunately our schedule is so crazy that we can't go! But we just keep telling ourselves that the important thing is that he's getting baptized- and he's close with the ward so they will all be there to support him. The Hatt's just blow me away. We went over the commandments with them in our last lesson and everything we taught them they simply said, "yes, we will live that." They also decided to go back to the month where they received the biggest bonus from work, and pay tithing on that, and every month since then, up till now. They said they wanted to show their commitment. They're also willing to give up happy hour at sonic on Sunday. :) I just love them. They're so inspiring. It's amazing how much I'm learning from the people around me.

 

At church on Sunday I was amazed by the testimonies and character of the people around me. We have a wonderful ward.

 

It is getting really warm here, and the bugs are coming out! The other day in our apartment there was a HUGE spider! It was disgusting. Hermana Crystal told me that if she killed it for me I would never learn anything. So I caught it under a cup and we flushed it down the toilet. She was flickering the lights on and off the whole time I did it. It was a very trying experience.

 

I also called a referral from the Visitors Center this week and talked with a woman (Aunt Pearl) who is just a gem. She reminded mea little bit of Dad, and so I knew exactly how to talk with her. She has gone to church on and off her whole life- Aunt Pearl is her name. She's really close with the ward where she lives. She's moving, however, and half the ward came over to help her get packed up and ready to go, and she cooked them all fried chicken for dinner. She also said the missionaries in her area needed new beds and she had two spares- so she donated beds for the missionaries. I asked her if she had ever thought about just becoming a mormon since she already spends so much time with us. She paused and said, "well no, I suppose I never have thought about that." I said, "Well Pearl, you practically are one, you just need to be baptized." she just laughed and laughed. We talked about the new place she's moving to and what church she would go to, I told her "Pearl, I think you oughta go to the Mormon church." She said, "You might be right..." I'm supposed to call her next week and see how moving went. She was such a fun lady.

 

Being a missionary is wonderful. There is a deep happiness and peace that comes from living life for others, instead of for yourself. There is true joy that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ to its fullest. I can feel it build with in me day by day.

 

Well I better get going but I love you and I hope all is well!!!

 

Sister Lewis

Hello! Another week has gone by, and it's been a beautiful week! We have witnessed the Lord work wonders for us. :)

 

I received a referrall from someone in the V.C. this week, and I gave the girl a call and taught her the plan of salvation over the phone. She said it all made so much sense- more sense than what anyone else has taught. :) She wanted to meet with missionaries to learn more and agreed to pray about whether or not what we talked about was true. She had searched for truth for a while, but eventually quit. She said it felt good to be searching out truth again. :) i'm supposed to call her in a few days and see how it went with the Elders.

 

I love being a missionary!

 

I also can't remember if I've told you about this family or not but we've been teaching a part-member family for the last month. The Husband is not a member- but the wife is. He called us Thursday night and said, "Sisters I've decided to be baptized." I got a little over excited, squealed a little (very dignified) and then said "...are you serious!?"

He said, "no." and my heart plummetted. I thought... "what a mean joke!!"

Then he laughed and said... "yes I'm serious!"

So we're having a baptism on April 28! We are so excited. This is such an incredibly special family, they are all valiant spirits who desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. It's my privelege and honor to have been a part of seeing them learn more of their Savior Jesus Christ, and the plan he has for us in this life.

 

I'm even more excited to see the father of this family be baptized into the family of God and become a "Son of God." I know it is only through baptism that we can become a part of Gods family. It is in baptism that we covenant to "take upon ourselves the name of Christ." and by so doing, we become part of the family of God. The Bible teaches this. The Book of Mormon teaches this. Baptism is an essential part of our salvation, for as Jesus Christ himself said, "except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

 

He then said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again."

 

I love these verses because they illustrate so plainly the need for baptism, and they are plain for all who will learn by the spirit of God. We are born into this world by flesh. That flesh which we are born of is carnal and devilish by nature. If we are to be "born into the kingdom of God" (a better world) we must be "born again." As the Savior said, "marvel not that I said unto thee ye must be born again." We must forsake this world, and enter into a better- and it happens through baptism. Baptism is how we are 'born' into a new world- even the Kingdom of God. Paul teaches us in Romans that after baptism we walk in "a newness of life." What is this new life? It is a life which is set apart from this world, it is a life lived after the manner of God. As the scriptures teach we only enter into this new world- or "newness of life" through baptism.

 

This is another reason we are told to become as "little children" because through baptism we are 'born' again into a new world- even the Kingdom of our Father in Heaven.

 

The symbolism continues- just as we are "born" into a family here, and become children of the parents we are born to, so likewise, through baptism, we become the children of God- because we are born unto Him, taking upon ourselves His name, similar to the way we receive our Father's last name when we are born into this world.

 

Speaking of this King Benjamin said to the people,

 

"And now, because of the covenant which ye have made *(the covenant of baptism) ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters; for behold this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives. And it shall come tp ass that hwosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called for he shall be called by the name of Christ. And now it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall not take upon him the name of Christ must be called by some other name; therefore, he findeth himself on the left hand of God."

 

We take Christ name upon ourselves only through baptism. And it is only valid if it's done by someone holding the priesthood power of God. I would that all men would come unto Christ and be baptized in His name, becoming then a spiritually begotten son or daughter of God. My heart yearns for this blessing to be upon all men, nevertheless the power is given unto them to choose, and they will be rewarded according to their choices and desires. Whether it be unto life- a new life in the kingdom of God, or death- being cut off from the Kingdom of God.

 

I bear you my witness that these things are true.

 

In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Easter Present from Aunt Wendy loved it!!

The Andersons!

Sister Thorne's attempt at eating an egg all at once. She lost by a few minutes to Sister Whittier. Haha.

The beginning of the egg challenge- Stuff an entire egg in your mouth and eat it at once. Very dignified. Sister Whittier (pictured grabbing the egg) did it in like 5 seconds. It was ridiculous.

Delicious breakfast at the Anderson's

HAPPY EASTER (yesterday)!

 

This has been such an amazing week, and a busy one! The Temple open house began this weekend and as a result our schedules have been crazy! We're helping with the open house, as well as working in our area and at the V.C. The Visitors Center has really picked up as well- the last few days we haven't had a moment to sit down. We finish one tour, and then almost instantly take another one. So many miracles occured during those tours. I love being at the V.C. day by day we see the Lord work in miraculous ways to guide people closer to Him. Then on Friday there were over 600 people at Liberty Jail, and we had about half that at the V.C. After our shift, we did our studies (V.C. sisters schedule is different than a normal missionaries) and tried to eat some lunch while we studied. Then we went straight to the temple where we answered questions, talked with people etc. until 10 pm. Our missionary hours have been extended for the open house- so instead of our typical curfew of 9, we now get home around 10.30.

 

We're really learning the importance of planning every hour a week in advance. The only way we're going to be able to take care of our area and work at the temple and the V.C. is if we have all our appointments and activities scheduled a week in advanced. It's been good for us, we're becoming better, more planned missionaries :) And as a result even though we have less time the Lord is blessing us to still fit in nearly as many appointments- especially as we've tried to combine dinner and teaching appointments.

 

On Wednesday we were trained by Elder Walker on the temple open house. It was such a special experience and the spirit was so very strong, as we rejoiced in the blessing of having a temple here. Elder Walker implied that out of all events to ever happen in Independence Missouri and the surrounding area, (which is full of so much history for the church) This temple, is, thus far, one of the most important things to ever happen since the world was created. I fully believe that is true. Try as I might, I could never fully express the importance of a temple. It is everything, it is here the power of God unto salvation is made manifest. I love the temple. We carpooled up to the temple with all the Sisters, and as we pulled in we all broke out into song and sang the primary hymn,

 

"I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday. To feel the holy spirit, to listen and to pray. For the temple is the house of God, a place of love and beauty. I'll prepare myself while I am y oung. This is my sacred duty."

 

After our training we were given our own special tour of the temple. We walked through the rooms and as we all stood in the Celestial Room, the spirit was remarkable. Many eyes welled with tears which fell freely as we were filled with grattitude and humility for the blessings of a temple. So many sisters have not been to a temple in over a year, even though it's not dedicated yet, to be able to be in a temple again, the house of our Father in Heaven, was undescribable. It was very hard to leave it, no part of me wanted to.

 

Then on Friday, we were invited to speak for "good friday" to a group of non-denominational christians. It wasn't a very large group but it was still exciting. It was a good opportunity for others to see that mormons are christian! The Savior is at the center of everything we do!

 

This Saturday we also witnessed so many miracles! It was Sister Atkin's birthday, and one incredible thing happened after another! Saturday was the first day the temple open house was open to the public, and we were on shift! It was busy. We had around 500 people come through every hour- we might have been a little under that but it was relatively close to that number. The church is incredibly good at crowd control, it was all very organized and things ran smoothly. There was one point that we ran out of hosts to take people through the temple, but we didn't fear, it's the Lord's house afterall! We all said a little prayer in our heart and within minutes more showed up and the tours continued. We met some very nice people and except for a few instances, everyone who came was very kind and enjoyed seeing the inside of a mormon temple. 

 

This was so fun for Sister Atkin because it was her birthday, and she felt like it was her present from God to be able to serve at the opening night of the temple on her birthday. But this is not all! She experienced another miracle earlier that morning! Her younger brother (who is also her best friend) is currently serving a mission in Oklahoma. That morning when we were at the V.C. a group came through the center, and as she took them into God's plan she found out that they were from Oklahoma. It turns out they are in the same ward that her brother "Elder Atkin" is currently serving! They told her all about how he was doing, and they took a picture with her to take back and show Elder Atkin. Everything worked out perfectly because I had just finished a tour, and had just a few spare minutes to snap a picture with her camera for them as well- then next thing I knew I was on another tour. The Lord's timing is impecable. It was incredible to see how God gave her one gift after another to make it the best birthday she's ever had :)

 

I'm so grateful.

 

I know Jesus Christ is our Savior, I know he overcame death and rose again on the third day. He did all he said he would. His promises are sure. He's always kept His word, even unto overcoming death for us, both physical and spiritual. He always will keep His word. In Him I trust.

 

Love Sister Lewis!

 

Hello!

 

Hope all is going well! Wasn't conference wonderful?! I loved it. I don't know if I have a favorite talk, I want to go back through and read them carefully. What I gained most from conference was the outpouring of the spirit that came as men called of God testified of the Savior, and the divinity of this work. I want to share with you something I wrote in my journal as I listened to conference yesterday:

 

"I am grateful to the uttermost farthing. I am humbled that God would be mindful of me in my imperfections, that he would extend so much- even His son, for a soul so rebellious and proud as mine. My heart expands with love for Him as I yearn with all of my heart to serve Him in perfect love, which is perfect obedience. I feel as if all the nerves and fibers of my being crave Him and yearn for his spirit, that I might, as Lehi describes, be wrapped everlastingly in the arms of my beloved God. I know this is His desire for me, and how humbling it is to know such pure, selfless and kind feelings exude from His divine being. He is my God. It is through the sacrifice of the Son of God, who is in the express image of the Father, I may come unto them, being, one day, pure and holy without spot."

 

I know that through the gospel of Jesus Christ which is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, we may be purified so that we can live with our God again, this is the desire of my soul for all men, that they might come unto Him and be perfected in Christ.

 

We had some miracles occur this week- as we do every week :)

 

We had the impression to call every less-active and part-member family on our ward list and invite them to listen to conference this week. So we started going through the ward list and there were many people who did not know about conference this weekend and expressed an interest in watching it. There was very special feeling that came as we called all of these people. It's a wonderful privilege to be able to call people and tell them that this weekend the prophet of God is speaking, and if they turn on their TV they can hear it :)

 

We're also teaching a young man named John. He has very pure desires- he wants to serve God and to go to foreign countries and run a non-profit organization. He says he can understand those people because of his circumstances. We've had a lot of inspiration on how to help him lately. We're going to try and get many people in the ward to give him rides to church every sunday, so they can meet him and be a part of his conversion. We're also going to try and have families invite him over for family home-evening every monday. If the ward can adopt him like a son, he'll find the strength to progress in the gospel. We feel that John really needs to feel and see that the Savior is in this gospel, he needs to feel his relationship with God strengthening as he takes the discussions and reads the scriptures, we've been praying for that a lot.

 

Here was a small miracle that occured yesterday: John's mom is a member- but she was baptized so long ago she doesn't even know she's a member. She considers herself methodist. Missionaries saw her on the ward list and tried to visit her months ago, they made contact but never could make a return appointment work. Then a few weeks later she randomly disapeared off the ward list. Sister Atkin and I went back when I first got into the area on an impression from the spirit. We caught her right as she was getting back from the store. We talked with her for a bit, but we haven't been able to catch her home since. That, however, is how we first met John. On Sunday we felt impressed to call the Knights and ask them to have us and John over for FHE. As we talked about it Brother Knight realized that John's mom is a woman he's been trying to home teach for a long time! He's never been able to catch her around, and then when she disappeared off the ward list he figured she moved or something and so he stopped trying.

 

Because of all the times he's been by their house, however, he's met John before when he was trying to tract down his mom! The Lords hand is in this work, and it's incredible to see how he prepares people, and brings about the connections that need to be made.

 

"And now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." (Alma 37:6)

 

I have a testimony that this is true. When we follow small and simple promptings great things are brought about.

 

This church is also a witness to that statement. It began with 6 members, but because it is the Saviors church it has rolled forth throughout the corners of the world, and is now a church with 14 million members. The Book of Mormon is translated into over 100 languages. Joseph Smith prophesied that it would fill the world, how could he have known that? What would have possibly made him so sure, that the little church with it's six members would fill the world? The answer is simple. The Lord told him. This is Jesus Christ's church, and he revealed to Joseph Smith the destiny of His church. Joseph Smith trusted him. I too trust the Savior and I know that all his promises are fulfilled. Just as we are seeing the fulfillment of the promise that His church would fill the world, we too can trust in the promises he makes to us personally. For His word will not fail. If we do what he asks, he is bound to His word. The mercy of our God is great! I love Him, and I am grateful for Him.

I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

 

I love you all so much!

Sister Lewis