Called to Serve

October 19th‏
Hello!

Things here are going well. We have a baptism this Saturday with Zak. I'm very excited for him. He's very humble and willing to believe. Every commandment we taught him he has been willing to live without question. Zak is such a good kid, and I know the Lord has and will continue to bless many people's lives through Zak and his example.

Dad I appreciated your letter a lot, that's something I'm really being taught about by the Lord, the need for and the totality of charity. I'm so grateful that we have the chance to repent, overcome our weaknesses, and develop charity. Charity is was produces pure desires, and pure desires produces greater Charity. From what it seems to me, it encompasses all other attributes, and, I feel, is the only acceptable motivation for following Christ- pure love for Him, and His children.

The Lord has been teaching me a lot lately about working with those who have fallen away from the gospel. I've learned that helping someone keep their baptismal covenant is just as important as helping someone make that covenant. The reason people fall away from the gospel is rooted in a lack of faith and love for Jesus Christ. If we love Him, we keep His commandments. I'm learning that to help these people return to the gospel of Christ, they must have greater faith in and love for Jesus Christ. I know that above all things I am supposed to promote within those around me that Jesus is the Christ, the very Son of God. He was made in the image and likeness of His father, and He is our loving Savior. His life was given for us. How could we not love him back? I desire to help people develop greater love for Him, I desire to love Him more. I know by developing this faith in and love for Him, we become converted, and never fall away. I really appreciated Elder Holland and Hales talks in Conference on John 21, I'm learning a lot from studying this chapter and their talks.

Sister Crick and I are also learning more about the converting power of the Book of Mormon. We've been reading it more often with our investigators, and I can see the spirit teaching them, and changing their hearts as we do so. It has the power to change us, it's one of the first steps in the gospel path. We first must believe in the words of the prophets, which are the words of Christ. We must feel the Holy Ghost prick our hearts as we read and hear these words, and we must desire to act, and choose to act on what we've felt. The Book of Mormon is the words of Jesus Christ. This I know. It will prick our hearts if they are soft and humble. If it does not, we must soften and humble our hearts, and try again.  We must act on what we've felt. It is only by doing this that we can develop faith strong enough to produce Salvation. We must have a correct knowledge of Christ and His attributes to develop the faith in Christ that is necessary for us to live with  Him again. The Book of Mormon is not just helpful, but essential, in doing this. I love this Book with all my heart, because it is the words of my Savior, and it was given so that I might be saved, as well as all of God's children.

Well that's all for now. I love you all so much!!!

Sister Lewis