Monday, April 11, 2011

HOLA FROM GUATEMALA!!!

Well where to start!! So much has happened this week!! My companion is soo sweet I love him! He is a really good trainer and a really hard worker!! My Spanish has gotten tonnnnns better!! I met someone who spoke English and seriously for the first minute of it it was hard to speak English because my mind was only thinking Spanish, it was crazy!! All I speak is Spanish all day and I love it!! I actually have an hour out here in the field so its not as stressful! No the people we live above aren't members of the church but they are really nice Catholics.. so nothing to be worried about haha. Thats awesome dad is sitting at the computer doing that i knew he would be haha.. i can definitely still picture it. The main part of the city is split up into two different areas central and centro.  We are actually in the central not the centro. Yes my area includes the parque central.. our area is HUGE one of the biggest in the mission!! Before I left, Dad and I looked at  a picture of a street with a walk way connecting two buildings.  Its  an orange color, that building is in my mission.  Our house isn't very close to that part of the city but we still go there sometimes. There are tons of fruit stands and yes you can buy from them but you have to soak them in a clorox water mix before you can eat them and we haven't bought any yet!! They look really good though!! There are thousands of them here! We can see the volcano on a clear day and if we are on top of somethings because there are too many buildings in the city! Its huge and beautiful!! I have some pictures I will send them next week for sure! If i had to guess I'd say I'm closer to the presidents house than the temple but where we live is like right in the middle. I have yet to see the train but I bet its as safe as the buses hahaa the buses are crazy here they rule the road. They don't stop for anyone or anything.  Its awesome.  Dad has to come here someday.  I have not received my package yet but I did receive the pictures and they were awesome.  I do still need a phone card i think I'm not real positive but better safe then sorry.  I'm glad Dad is finally home, that makes me feel better it seems like he has been gone forever!! You could probably find my house.  Its 14 calle, avenida or avenue centro america b. 14-71 is the house number! You can at least see pretty close to where I am everyday!! That is way way sweet about Hillcrest!  I  hope they keep it up! I don't think I need anything the city pretty much has everything, just have to find it and don't always have a lot of time to walk into the heart of the city and garments here are a quarter is crazy, they are soooo cheap.  I'm sorry to hear about Bailey though, that really must be hard!! Just try to be grateful that you have medical care so close and so nice! Ii will keep praying for her I know she will get better! This week we have been meeting with a lot of members trying to get referrals and stuff because our area is huge.  We found these 2 families living together.  The Gonzalez famila and the Robles familia.  There are 4 kids that are all baptized and both the grandparents are baptized but the 4 parents are not! They are Catholic! They are super smart and really extremely nice! You can tell they want to believe but they feel obligated to stay with the Catholic church.. we taught them for 2 hours just answering some of the questions they had.  The spirit was really strong and after we invited them to church and they actually came it was awesome!! We sat next to them, then my companion and I got up and bore our testimony's in the meeting.  It was really cool.  Afterward we talked to them some more and they seemed a lot more interested and didn't have as many questions.  Tomorrow we are going back to teach them again!! We are going to teach about prophets and the priesthood authority we have in our church!  After church my companion and I and 4 other guys from the ward went and visited a member.  He has been sick for 20 days but can't afford to go to the hospital.  Then he also fell down some stairs and really hurt his knee. His son is on a mission and he lives alone.  Since he has been sick and hurt he cant go to work. He is really struggling so we took him the sacrament and gave him a blessing then after we had like a little testimony meeting it was sooo awesome!! The spirit can be anywhere with anyone if you only have faith.  I challenge you guys that no matter how hard times get or whatever happens, be grateful for what you have because some of the people here have nothing at all and would really give their life to have anything like we have in the states. They are still so happy and still give us food and still ask if we need anything when they can barely afford to buy for their family.  Just always remember how lucky you are and stop and count your blessings because the positive will always outweigh the negative always! I love you all so much.. and thanks for you support! Its awesome! I'm so thankful to have an amazing family and friends! I hope this week is awesome for you all! Love you tons until next week!

Con Amor

Elder Lewis 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

hola hola hola familia

 

Well this is it the start of the new adventure!! Yesterday we left the MTC and went to the presidents house we had a meeting with him and then just played some games.  It was really fun, we ate lunch there then had interviews with him and then went to the temple!! The president is amazing!! Seriously he has got to be the coolest guy ever I'm sad he will be leaving soon but I guess the next one will be just as good! I'm so sorry to hear about Bailey! I will definitely pray for her every night! I put her name on the prayer list yesterday in the temple! Its pretty interesting how parents can receive revelation about their children.  I will pray everyday!! Just like always! Prayer is worthless without faith,  well maybe not worthless, but still...I know you all already know that, but just make sure you exercise faith everyday that the our Heavenly Father will answer our prayers! I received those pictures from Baileys birth in the mail on Saturday i believe I loved them sooooo much.  Getting pictures is the best thing in the world! She is soo cute! I can't wait to receive more! All of you looked like you were doing awesome!! Its pretty sad that I couldn't be there but I promise being here is worth it! Conference was amazing!! I have never ever been so..... interested I guess you could say.  I was like on the edge of my seat the whole time... thats a little embarrassing to admit but as a missionary those are some of the things that happen to you.  It was amazing how inspired... all of the talks were about service and charity and love and marriage and hope and faith. The list goes on and on but they were awesome! I was dumb and forgot all my notes when I came to email and I was going to share some quotes I really liked but oh well, one of them was that the future is only as bright as your faith.  That is the most true thing I have ever heard.  The Lord will answer your prayers with faith and that will definitely make your future brighter! I loved Elder Hollands talk at the end as well it was amazing, he is a powerful guy! Well anyway today I met my companion.  Every new missionary in the mission got a gringo trainer or an American trainer that speaks English but...... i was the only one who got a Latino who only speaks Spanish.  It will be a challenge but I've only known him for about 6 hours now and he seems really sweet! Everyone stayed in the city which is really weird.  Our zone consists of all the new missionaries!! Its the first time they have ever done it that way!! I'm in the zone called centro its pretty crazy here.  Tons of people, its like a version of NYC! Its pretty crazy we live in the upstairs of some peoples house.  They are super super nice!! We also are opening a new area, so that will be interesting.  We've got our work cut out for us.... but it will be fun!! Elder Hymas and I are in the same district (my old comp).  Its only me and my companion and he and his companion.  That is another thing that is super weird!! But it will be fun! I'm excited to start this new adventure! I will definitely learn alot because it sure is alot different then anything I have ever experienced.  I found our that expectation is the surest way to kill happiness!  My companions name is Elder Vasquez and he is actually a native of Guatemala! He is a nice guy and has been out 14 months! Keep  us in your prayers! I love you guys tons and tons! I know you guys are praying for me always because I can feel it! I love you all more then you can know and I will write every Monday from now on.  And I was dumb again and forgot the address you guys are supposed to write me on ( hand letters)  but I will try to remember next week.  All the mail just goes to the office or the pouch po box so you guys might already have it.  It wont change my whole mission so that's good! Love you all! Especially you mom and dad thanks for everything! Until next week

con amor

Elder Lewis

Letter from March 30, 2011!

Sounds like everything is going great at home!! That is awesome about the FHE thing I'm glad I could be of some help! But yes I leave April 5 its pretty crazy that the real adventure begins!! Not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous all week and still am a little.  Yesterday we had an awesome experience.  We got to go out proselyting for 2 hours,   just with our north american companion. Three weeks ago we got to do the same thing but with a latino campanion and I didn't really talk much cuz I didn't have to! But this time it was awesome for the first half hour we couldn't get anyone to talk to us but after that we found so many that were so interested.  We helped some guys push their truck down the road then talked to them and gave them a book of mormon and they said that they would go to church.  It was awesome! We talked to 16 people and got 11 referecnes that wanted to hear more! We went out into a foregin world that speaks a language that neither of us spoke very well but by having faith we were able to speak and teach people about the true gospel of Jesus Christ!! It was amazing.  Its quite the different world here!! Everyone is soooo nice and so loving!! As we were walking back we saw one of the guards that I had talked to three weeks ago  (well my companion talked to) and so I went and asked him how he was doing and if he had read the pamphlet we gave him.. he went and got it out of his bag and said yes all done. He had marked it and asked me a few questions about it.. I gave him a book of mormon and a another pamphlet...he was really excited.  I  told him about conference and he said he was going to watch and go to church.. he is definitely  prepared. You can tell the Lord has prepared him for the gospel.  He was awesome. My P day out in the field will either be Monday or Tuesday I'm not sure yet but one of the two! This Tuesday we go to the mission home and meet with the mission president and the trainers and then we sleep either at the mission home or at the ccm one more night.  Then tuesday we meet our trainer and head out! I'm really excited,  it will be awesome I'll actually have some stories to write about.  The ccm is pretty repetitive!! I can't believe I have been gone for 2 months,  that's pretty crazy!! You can kinda tell I have been gone awhile because this week is general conference and I have never been so excited in my life hahah! Its like the Super Bowl or the World Series of a mission its the best it gets! Thats awesome about Hillcrest.  I haven't stopped missing baseball thats for sure.  Watching it I wont miss too bad but playing it I definitely miss that part!!  Keep me posted on them. I can't believe it snowed again.  We have beautiful weather its about 75 80 all the time and always sunny! Its awesome! I suggest to you guys that this Saturday and Sunday you guys take notes during General Conference,  that will really help!! Don't only take notes on what they are saying but of any impressons you feel while you watching, because the thing that really teaches you is the Holy Ghost and it will teach you all things! I read this really great poem this week and it says ... you are the fellow that has to decide, whether you'll you do it or toss it aside... you are the fellow who makes up his your mind, whether you'll lead or linger behind... whether you'll try for the goal thats afar or just be content to stay where you are. Take it or leave it... heres something to do... just think it over is all up to you.    Nobody here will compel you to rise, no one will force you to open you eyes, no one will answer for you...yes or no... whether to stay there or whether to go, life is a game, but its you who must say...whether to cheat or as a sportsman you'll play...fate may betray you, but you settle first.... whether to live to your best or your worst, so whatever it is you are wanting to be, remember, to fashion the choice you are free, kindly or selfish, or gentle or strong, keeping the right way or going the wrong... careless of honor or guarding your pride, all these are questions which you must decide.  Its your selection whatever you do, the thing men call character is all up to you!  I really love that because it really is our choice... no one can do things for us!! And if they do then did we really learn for ourselves.... no we really didn't!! So just remember that!! Its mostly for younger people but I love it and I thought Brad and Krista really would to! Krista and Will (and Bailey) I really encourage you to watch conference this week.  Prophets live and God truly does talk through them!! Just like the prophets in the Bible, our prophet has the same power.  It really is amazing and it will bless you and your families life more than anything.. I love all of you so much!! And everyday I'm so thankful for my family and for my trials I have gone through that make me the person I am now!! I love you tons please continue to pray for me!! Until next time!!  Love you tons! con amor Elder Lewis

Letter from March 22, 2011!

WOW! What a crazy week it sounds like!!! I honestly can't believe that my sister is a mom!! Wow!! That is awesome I can not wait to get pictures!! I can just imagine how perfect she is! I prayed and fasted that everything would be okay and it sounds like so far so good!!! I wish more than anything that I could have been there but I'm where I am supposed to  be and I love every minute of it Ill be there for the next one for sure!! Its crazy to think how fast the time has gone I swear it was just yesterday that Krista and Will got married! Now 4 more months till its Brad and Saras turn, and by that time ill be a quarter of the way done with my mission holy smokes that is crazy!! its going by way to fast!! Im so glad all of you are doing amazing! Bailey is the luckiest baby in the world to be born to such great parents like Krista and Will and to have such great grandparents like mom and dad... hahahah wow now thats weird that they are grandparents again!!  Krista and Will and Brad and Sara and Mom and Dad and Tawnia and Chris last week I wrote you a hand written letter so hopefully it gets to you soon!! But now that Im an assistant to the president one of my jobs is conducting meetings and devotionals!! Yesterday we had a devotional,  Elder Falavella spoke, he is the first counselor in the area 70!! And I conducted that meeting.  It was awesome!! Its amazing the power that they have! After the devo we had a district meeting it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever been apart of. The spirit was so strong everyone there cried, even the teachers, we all just bore our testimony about Jesus Christ!! Jesus Christ is the perfect example!! We all have to understand the reason why we are on this earth cuz we are all here for the same reason.  And that is to prepare for eternity to prepare to meet God!! We have to know that so that we have a direction in our life, we have a path to follow to eternal life!! The way to stay on that path is through Jesus Christ!! Everyone has challenges and trials but because of Jesus Christ we can get through them!! We can have hope when we work through our challenges that Jesus Christ will fulfill the promises he has made to us and that is a huge blessing! We have to use the atonement in our lives everyday and everyday we have to show that we trust him and that we love him!! He is always there for us!! We heard a quote this week that says the most important commandment that we need to keep is the one that is hardest for us to obey! Always remember that. Every commandment is important, but the one we have the most trouble with is the one that is keeping us from becoming like Jesus Christ!! We all have the ability to become like Jesus Christ but everyone falls short of that goal but through the atonement we can become closer everyday and we can live with our families forever!! Its crazy how many lessons a week we teach about the restoration of the gospel and about families!! But families are the most important unit to god!! Families provide a place of comfort and safety!! I know that with out my family I wouldn't be on a mission progressing and growing like I am!! Baby's are truly a blessing, but not only are they a blessing they are a MIRACLE  and I know miracles are real! A baby brings the best spirit into a home, they are perfect and soon enough the world will try to take that perfectness away!! I love you guys all so much!! And im so sad I don't get to see Bailey right now but I will soon enough!! I know this church is true and Ii know that God restored this church through Joseph Smith and I know that through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be together for ever I love you all!!

Hello everyone!!! letter from March 15th 2011!

So before I start my letter I have some pretty good news!!! ME AND MY COMPANION ELDER HYMAS ARE THE NEW ASSISTANTS TO THE PRESIDENT!! Pretty awesome!! They called us yesterday, kind of took me by surprise!! Its going to be awesome! Definitely hard work tho! We are in charge of giving everyone assignments for church and large group meetings and zone meetings and we have to conduct every meeting.  This Saturday a huge primary group is coming in and we have to give an hour long presentation to them and stuff, it will be a challenge but it should help my Spanish! I'm really excited it will be an awesome experience!! But anyway..
I am emailing today because all the missionaries left today except us so we got to go out on the town!! It was awesome! We got to go to this huge map of Guatemala like the size of a football field! It was a topographical map that was 3d. It showed all of the elevations and all of the lakes and a bunch of sweet stuff! The south mission, where I will be, actually has tons of mountains!! After that we went to the marcado it was awesome!! I don't really even know how to explain it! Tons of people lined up right next to each other selling tons of homemade things. It is crazy, imagine like the amazing race where they have to find like certain things in a huge market!! Now I understand why it is so hard! Everything is so cheap here but they raise the price for gringos.  Its pretty funny, you can watch a native buy something for 30 quetz but they will try to sell it to you for 50, so you have to do a little bargaining.. but  that makes it fun! I bought two soccer jerseys and a sweet sweater! They had some really awesome carvings and stuff that I wanted to buy to send home to the grandma's but we are not allowed to send packages from the ccm so I'll wait till I get in the field! Dad I think you would love it here, they have some crazy fruit that I've never even seen before! They have grapefruit the size of my head! And the avocados are crazy big too. One thing I know you wouldn't like tho dad and especially mom is the driving!! They are serioulsy so crazy!! I don't know how to even explain it. But dont worry I took some videos that I will send home with my memory card sometime.  They dont stop for pedestrians here, and the roads are sooo skinny.  Itts seriously a whole different world! After the market we went to the mall!! The whole town, not gonna lie is pretty ghetto but the mall is seriously the nicest mall I've ever been in.  Its nicer then any mall in utah.. I'm serious it isnt a exageration at all its huge and so fancy!! I loved it but its so much different being a missionary, you can tell how bad the world is ha! But I have a really funny story. My companion and I were talking to this guy about the restoration and families and stuff and there was this girl kinda behind him and as we were talking to him she was kind of eyeing us and stuff so after we talked to that guy I talked to her cuz she looked interested so we talked for like 5 minutes I left her with a pamphlet and in return she gave me a piece of paper so I look at it and it was her phone number.. so she wasnt interested in the gospel after all.... hahahaha.  It was pretty funny the hermanas in our district thought it was hilarious and it was pretty funny!! The people here love seeing white people it seems like they treat us like celebrities. At the market this old guy came up to us and said he was a member and invited us to dinner but we told him we couldnt because we were still in the ccm but we got his addresss and he lives in the south mission so i kinda already have my first dinner appointment! For lunch I ate taco bell and Mcdonalds haha i didnt really think i would miss american food but i kind of do!! The food is actually really good tho!! this week has been really good! I'm glad I only have three weeks left tho so I can get out and actually do what I came here to do the most of! and ill have more to write about! we get new nortes and new latinos this week so that will be cool.. I hope you all had an awesome week!! I've been praying for you all 
I love you tons and thanks so much for all the support I receive!! I hope Krista is staying healthy and that she is getting plenty of rest!! 
I cant wait to get pictures of the new baby when it comes!! That will be exciting! Oh I almost forgot, our district got to meet with Elder Clark of the Quorum of the Seventy of Central America.  It was awesome! He is an amazing guy!! He shook my hand and said you're from Idaho so you are supposed to be the best we have, so don't let me down!! It was a little intimidating but it was really cool! He is sooo nice I love him! Love you all so much!! Sorry I emailed today I wish I could have let you know but we didnt know till just the other day!! Love you tons!! Thanks for everything!

Hola Familia

This week has been so awesome! Last Friday there were a bunch of people from Honduras here. They were visiting the temple so we got to talk to them and teach them the first lesson in Spanish! They were still acting because they are members of the church but it felt real! I had my first embarrassing Spanish moment tho.  After we were done we asked him what he did in is free time and he started listing some things.  And then he yo soy un obispo which is I am a bishop.  But I thought for some reason he said I play baseball so i was like oh yo tambiene which is like me too!  But I obviously wasn't a bishop so it was embarrassing. I explained and he understood,  he laughed and so did my companion but its okay haha! It didnt help that he was like 5 feet tall and looked like he was 19 haha! Yesterday tho we actually got to go out proselyting!!! It was awesome, we got to go where ever we wanted for three hours in the city, they gave us 16 pamphlets and 2 books of Mormon!! We found 9 investigators that wanted the missionaries to come over and teach them more! It was so awesome really the people here are seriously so nice! They are way accepting and are willing to listen.  They are dirt poor for the most part but you can just tell how thankful they are for what they do have.  Its amazing! We talked to one guy who was sitting in the shade out side.  He was really interested and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon so we gave it to him and read him a little passage.  You could just tell how interested he was so we left him with a copy of it and then we left.  About an hour later we were on our way back and he was sitting in the same place reading it.  We asked him how it was going and he loved it! He couldn't stop smiling, we both bore our testimonys and the spirit was so strong it was awesome!  The missionaries are going house to house next week! I cant wait to get out and actually serve.  The MTC is awesome but its so repeatitive I can't wait to fall in love with the people! We went to the distribution center today and there were some missionaries that are serving in the south mission in there.  We talked to them for about a half hour.  They were really cool! They said in some places they have served its 110 degrees all day long its crazy! But i cant wait for that haha they said you just eat tons of awesome fruit and that all the people are so awesome.  They said the main problem is that they are so interested in everything but 60 percent of the people cant read! So it gets really hard to progress with them.. that will definitely be a challenge but it is possible!  The people here really are amazing and very loving! Its always really hot here I got a pretty nice tan yesterday haha (don't mean to rub it in mom). We also met our mission president today for about 5 minutes he is a really awesome guy he speaks English and he told us that he doesn't like people messing around.  So if we have a bad trainer to tell him and he will fix it. He is a really awesome guy! The temple here is beautiful,  its really small though! Its so much different then the one in the U.S but the Spirit is the same! Try to go to the temple as much as you can the spirit will teach you everything you need to know in the temple! I love this place it is awesome!  I really cant think of anything I need.. but yes I got grandma and grandpas letter yesterday it was awesome to hear from her I will try to write hand written letters next week and send them.  I sent one to Krista and Will today. I love you guys so much! Family is the biggest blessing in my life and you have all taught me so much! Thanks for everything I hope everything continues to be awesome until next week.. con amor elder lewis