April 25th, 2016

Fun fact: there are cross walks EVERYWHERE. About every 200 feet there
is a cross walk. But are the used? No. It's like a video game trying
to dodge everyone.


I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
It is SO HARD. it's also SO LIFE CHANGINGLY INCREDIBLE!
I wish I could explain it. I wish I could help you all get a taste of
the greatness of missionary work. Hey! Guess what! You can! Just
invite. :)

Anyways, this week was stellar. 😎

We did a lot of street contacting because we are lacking in the area
of investigators. We worked really hard! We had some crazy experiences
too. Here are a few to give you an idea: we had the impression to go
to a near by less actives home. So we went in and she was telling us
that she wants to stop smoking, and there was a pack of cigs on the
table, and we both made eye contact, then both looked at the cigs,
then looked at each other, and she started to shake her head no, as if
she knew what I was thinking, but I said it anyways: 'I know you want
to quite, so I'm going to take these, ok?' And she said: 'yeah I know.
Just do it.' And she looked away as I stuffed them in my bag.

Mission accomplished. (Jk I still have 9 months)

Then, we were out walking the streets, and there was a really nice
car, tinted windows, totally rich, and there was this cute little
doggy poking his head out (perfect conversation starter, PETS!) so I
started petting it, obvi, and then I realized there was a person
inside so I poked my head inside his car and started to tell him about
the gospel and gave him a pass along card and invited him to learn! He
was totally cool, but respectfully declined.

#seeds

We had zone interviews this week with President Stoker. I can't say it
enough how much I love President and Sister Stoker! Interviews are my
favorite, because the council is personalized and the Spirit is always
so strong. I have a testimony that President Stoker is a man called of
God.
Something interesting that Elder Neilson (president of the missionary
department of the church) taught us when he was here last fall, is
that most often missionaries are called to mission presidents, and
then the mission area. The Spirit has born witness to me that that is
true! It will be hard to say goodbye to President Stoker in July, but
I know that President Blair was also called of God to come to this
mission, and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father knows us
missionaries here and has called someone that will be just right for
all of us.

Another incredible thing, is that we were all called by God to come to
earth right now, at this time, to aid in the coming of Christ. Isn't
that wonderful?! We are blessed to be His hands in the hastening of
the work.
So let's get to work!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

Sister Lewis

Pictures:
1: self explanatory
2: water fall ❤️
3: we did service with a group on a trial picking up trash, and the
waterfall was the end result! It was so beautiful! Can't wait for
everything to be green again! 🌿

April 18th, 2016

Fun fact: it's a Maine delicacy to put vinegah on your French fries.

Hello!
This week was AWESOME!!
We had new trainers meeting this week! It was divine! We live a couple
hours from the building, so all of us went to the mission home for the
night so we didn't have to travel so early the next day. It was so
fun! I LOVE being with so many amazing missionaries and the incredible
President and Sister Stoker! We woke up the next morning and played
basket ball outside, then came in and President Stoker made us all
waffles and homemade syrup, or what President calls it 'liquid gold'
that sister Stoker made that morning. It was so fun to be all together
telling mission stories and just having a good time. The Spirit was
just so strong the whole time, I never wanted it to end!
So we all got ready and went to the Manchester chapel for New Trainers
Meeting. It. Was. Amazing. I feel like I just came out and should be
the trainee! The meeting was so uplifting and also much guidance was
given. I feel the importance of being exactly obedience, especially as
we strive for that as a companionship, it's evident and obvious that
obedience brings blessing. It is not enough to just have good
intentions, it's the action that comes with the intention that
benefits us in the long run. 'If we want a faith promoting experience,
we must do something that requires faith!'
I know that is true! Its not just about having a testimony or
knowledge, but it's how we live that testimony. How we apply it. The
actions we take to make our beliefs into our daily living.

we went to a members home and they have a big flock of chickens and I
obviously did everything I could to get one of those bad boys in my
hands. It was brilliantly awesome!! I miss those little guys!! I love
chickens ❤️❤️❤️

The rest of this week was chuck full of missionary work and awesome
Spiritual stuff. So much so, that it's too much to write. :) and I
also honestly can't remember a whole lot. All I know is that this week
was so powerful! I guess you just had to be there. :)

Here is a spiritual thought for you:
“If ye love me, keep my commandments,” Jesus said. So we have
neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the
truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and
good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give
in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go
back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God,
nothing is ever again to be as it was before."  - Elder Jeffery R.
Holland

I testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. I know that
the Book of Mormon is true and I stand by it with everything I've got!
I know that our Father in heaven loves us so much, that He has
provided a plan and a way for us to live together as families forever.

I love you all! Invite someone to church! Give out a Book of Mormon!
Feed your missionaries!

Have a blessed week!

Sister Lewis


Pics:
1,2,3: PORTLAND HEADLIGHT!!!
4: mission home slumber party!
5: I HELD A CHICKEN
6: 5 minutes from our house 💗
7:new trainers meeting picture

April 11th, 2016

Fun fact: moose don't actually exist here. It's just a marketing scam to get tourists here. People get them mistaken for the infestation of squirrels. 

(Jk moose exist, I'm just bitter because I haven't seen one yet) 

Three cheers for exchanges!! 

This week we went on exchanges with the Sister Training leaders, who are also training a new missionary, so there was five of us all together squished in a cute little apartment, drenched in the Spirit, and rain. :) it rained a lot this week! 

A cool experience I had on exchanges was this: 

I set a goal on Wednesday that I was going to hand out a Book of Mormon to someone (harder than you think here in NE). We had lots of tracting time, so the opportunity was definitely prevalent. 

The hours passed on, and every house we knocked on was a bust. No interest, no one giving the time of day. 

We were getting down to the end, the wind and rain was beating us down, and I was nervous because I still had this Book of Mormon in my hand. 

We scurried up to the second to last house, gave a good knock on the door, and waited. 

And waited. 

Then finally after what felt like centuries, a woman answered the door. And it felt like my hands just floated up, and I knew this was the person! We talked to her, she said she wasn't interested, but that wasn't about to stop us. I showed her the Book of Mormon and testified of it, and started to hand it to her. She looked at us and with big eyes and kindness said: "are you sure? I can really have this? Thank you so much!" And then we gave her our number and walked away. 

:) 

Another miracle moment was: MOLLY CAME TO CHURCH!! Alice and James weren't able to make it, but Molly was very persistent and dedicated, and it all got worked out, and she came! She is so wonderful, she fits right in! 

This weeks district meeting was centered on the Sabbath Day. There is a line in Preach My Gospel that says: "when a community or nation grows careless in its Sabbath activities, it's religious life decays. And all aspects of life are negatively affected." 

The word decay means: to fall into disrepair. 

When something decays, it is unable to be repaired to its original state. 

Another quote concerning the Sabbath and church: "While there we are able to participate in the sacrament to remember Jesus Christ and his atonement."

When we repent, we aren't sent back to what we were before we sinned, before the decay, we change to a new and improved person, changing our lives.

So when we come to church, when we invite our friends to church, we are enabling the atonement to work in our lives, and our friends lives. Everyone matters, and every choice we make affects those around us. 

So, come to church, because that's how we change the world. :) 

I hope you all have an incredible week! We all have so much to be thankful for!! 

I love you all! 

Sister Lewis 

Photos: 

1: exchanges! We were 'soaked' in excitement to be missionaries! 

2: quick, someone get me my hammer pants

3: ...

4: church down the street

April 4th, 2016

Fun fact: in Texas it's like 80 degrees, and in New England it's 26 degrees.
Fun fact: Sister Ritchie (my new comp) is from Texas, and she is very
cold. Very very cold. :)

My new baby green companion is Sister Ritchie!! She is from Denton
Texas, and she has a serious Texas accent, that brings out my Texas
accent, that I don't actually have, it just appeared when she did.
So now I have this awkward New England/Texas/Utah accent, and I
honestly can't even understand myself sometimes...
She is super cool and excited to be a missionary! She is like 10 feet
tall (jk about 6) and and she is double jointed in her elbows.
(Freaky)
So there is my comp in a line or two... :)

This week was crazy!!!

It seems like when ever something really awesome happens, like getting
a new baby comp fresh from the MTC, everything else that's suppose to
be awesome, flops. And is no longer awesome. BUT! Part of being
missionaries is we make awesome stuff happen even when it's not
awesome! Therefore we made everything awesome. :) following?

Every single thing that we had going for us this week dropped.
...Welcome to the mission sister Ritchie!!
So we did what we could, made do with what we had, and worked hard!

There was one day though, when we were particularly exhausted, and we
still had about a half an hour left in the day. So we prayed to know
what we could go to use that time most effectively, and instantly the
though came: go see Alice and Molly! So we did! We haven't been able
to see them in a little while because they were super sick and kind of
disappeared. We got there and Molly was home and she she was so
excited to see us! We made a return appointment for Sunday at 2:30.

We were so excited about our appointment, and we planned an awesome
lesson for them durning our planning session Sunday morning. We were
going to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When went to the
appointment and at first it was just Molly, but then Alice appeared
and we hugged it out, and she joined us! We began the lesson, and
Alice says, 'wait! I think my brother would love to join!' So she ran
and grabbed her brother, and we started again.
But the lesson wasn't right.
So we asked a bunch of questions and prayed together, and then we
started talking about the Book of Mormon, and they were wondering what
Nephi's deal was, so we read 1 Nephi 3 with them, and they LOVED it!
They think Nephi is a really cool dude. It was such an awesome lesson!
And it was so cool to see the Spirit work, to change the lesson for
what they needed right then. It was a D&C 11:21 experience because
sister Ritchie and I started the Book of Mormon from the beginning in
our personal studies a couple of days ago, so we were preparing for
this lesson before we even knew it!
#BLESSINGS!

Conference was AMAZING.
I hope you all got answers to your prayers, and inspiration to guide
your lives.
I know I did!

A quote I want to share, that wasn't from this conference, but gave me
drive to apply the lessons learned, is from a talk called 'According
to the Desires of Our Hearts'.

'It is up to us. God will facilitate, but He will not force. Righteous
desires need to be relentless, therefore, because, said President
Brigham Young, “the men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the
celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle every day”.
Therefore, true Christian soldiers are more than weekend warriors." -
Elder Neal A Maxwell

Let us go forth boldly in our pursuit of Celestial glory!


Love you all!!!!

Sister Lewis

P.s. y'all will definitely want to watch the video at the bottom. Priceless.

Molly, Alice and James!

March 28th, 2016

I am so thankful for my dear sweet companion Sister Allen!! She is
going home this week! She was so much fun!

We had such an awesome week! Sister Allen got really sick for a few
days, but it was perfect because she has A LOT of stuff to pack, so we
packed! But we also got to do a lot of awesome stuff!
I love this area because it is so rich in heritage and history! So we
help a lot of people with their boat loads of family history, It's so
awesome! We did a lot of family history stuff and the Spirit of Elijah
was so profound!!

So transfer calls were Saturday and I am training! Aaahhh!!! I'm
freaking out a lil because this cute little baby missionary is in my
hands and I have to take care of her and make her happy and like, be
really nice to her...
Wowzers. That's freaky.

Haha my companion pointed out that it's like the circle of life, I am
'killing' her, and then a new baby missionary is being born! Yay for
real life application. :)

The women's conference was fantastic!! I am so thankful for the
overall message of service. I loved sister Neil F Marriotts talk. And
my dear friend Nerissa from my last area came to my church to watch it
with us!! It was such a fun surprise!!

Most importantly:
This week was also the last week of our Saviors earthly ministry. I
was asked to give a talk on the resurrection this past Sunday. Here is
a bit of it:
'Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, he performed the perfect
atonement, he made possible a perfect plan of salvation, and he was
resurrected into a perfect body. His scars are a symbol to us all that
he is the Perfect Christ and in him we can have a perfect brightness
of hope. He has literally engraved us upon his hands, and because he
loves us with a perfect love, he has made us a part of him forever.'

I bear testimony of the reality of the Resurrection. I know that Jesus
Christ lives! Hallelujah!

Sister Lewis


I sure love Sister Stoker. 💜  (mission presidents wife) (mom away from mom)