Hello!
wow!
well, I have SO MUCH
to say but unfortuneately, not a lot of time to say it.... Because we (along
with the elders) helped a new family thats moving in, move all their stuff into
a storage unit. that took like 3 hours... soo... that took up all of our P-day!
but it was great though! And they fed us Chipotle after so, I cant really
complain;)
I'll just go day by
day.
Wednesday:
Woke up at 1 am.
the worst. Literally the longest day of my life. When we got to D.C. president
and sister Riggs took all 22 of us new missionaries to see the Lincoln
Memorial. It was pretty cool! I've always wanted to go to D.C. and see all the
sights and it seemed so unreal! but it was SOOOOO hot and SOOOO humid. yuck.
Thursday:
I met my new companion
and trainer, Sister Osmond!! [and yes, she is related to THE donny osmond!] nwe
serve in Centreville.
I absolutely ADORE
sister osmond. she is amazing. We get along so well and like a lot of the same
things. She's bright, and peppy, and has such a strong testimony. Plus shes a
great trainer!
The first thing we did
after transfer meeting was over was go out Tracting. uhhh yikes! I was SO
nervous. I did not want to do it. But we went anyway. Had a lot of doors shut
in our faces. Uninterested people. people who had already found Jesus. It was
hard.
But then, the last
door we Knocked on we found Dee.
Dee is awesome.
he and his girlfriend Ana let us into their apartment and just talked with
us for a bit. Turns out, demetrius used to attend the LDS church in D.C. in
high school with his step dad. He said the gospel is what got him through high
school. We asked if he had been baptized. he said no, but that at a time he had
wanted to! We asked him if he still had that desire and he was like "heck
yeah! ill do it if thats what the lord wants from me" both sister osmond
and I were like GREAT:D
So we taught a little
bit about the Restoration, and gave him a pamphlet. Then we invited them to
church with us on sunday. Ana works, but demetrius was ALL for it.
[[hip-hip hooray!]]
Later that night, when
we were getting ready for bed, we got a knock at our door. IT was the elders
that serve in the Centreville 2nd ward with us. now, Sis. Osmond had warned me
earlier that they were going to try and pull a prank on me.... Elder McDonald
had been transfered to the US from his mission in the Ukraine. He speaks
russian. They were going to have him just speak russian to me. Well we decided
that wasn't going to happen. I told her that I know some Sign language. We
decided that we would pretend I was deaf. The elders came to our door... and i
just started to sign. Sis. Osmond explained that I couldn't hear, but that I
was pretty good at reading
lips. You shouldve seen the
looks on those Elders faces!! hahahahah PRICELESS!
Turns out though that
elder payne knew some sign as well and we communicated a little bit. It was
sweet of him to try:) haha we said goodnight, and S. Osmond and I just died.
too too good. They really believed that I was deaf!
Then on saturday
morning we saw then in the gym.. and we decided they should know that I'm not
actually deaf. I walked up to elder payne and he immediately began to sign to
me, "good morning! ghow are you!" hahah I signed back to him
"I'm good. I'm also not deaf" he was like huh? his vocab is very
slim... so I signed and spoke, "I said by the way, I'm not actually
deaf."
ohhh boy. his face
went bright red! TOO TOO GREAT!:) hahaha everyone got a kick out of that!;)
You can't prank a
Greenie if the Greenie pranks you first!
Friday and saturday:
everything is a blur
from here. lots of tracting. meeting people in the ward. visiting potentials.
Lots of planning and studying.
I gave away my first
Book of Mormon! We were driving on the road, and there was a truck by us, with
two guys in the back and we waved. then, we were at a light and i was like
"I'm gonna give them a book of mormon!" They were stopped in front of
us, so I rolled down the window and stuck my head out and was like, "We
are missionaries of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints! Would you
like a book of mormon?"
One of the guys told
the driver to hold on, got out of the truck, and took the book willingly! it
was AWESOME!:) haha
On saturday sis.
osmond and I helped at a wedding reception for a members daughter. We just sat
at the sign in table and talked to everyone. it was pretty neat! A great idea
to get the word out there!;) It was a beautiful reception.
Sunday:
Saturday morning, a
brother in the ward had called us and asked us if we could teach his Gospel
Principles class for him because they wree out of town, we agreed. So we taught
the lesson on Service, and it went really well! It feels awesome to teach! We
aslo had the priviledge of teaching the Beehives about receiving the gift of
the Holy ghost. those girls were ROWDY. but the lesson went well.:) So i just
got here and already had to teach two lessons, also, since i'm new, everybody
asks me to pray. Sooo... My future husband is going to be Stunning. Just
saying. I've said more prayers on the mission than probably in my whole life!
Its great! I love prayer!
Remember Dee and
how we invited him to church?
well.. our church is
at 9. 9 rolled around and we dont see him and he didn't respond to our text.. i
was anxious. I really wanted him to come. About 9:15 he texted us and
asked what time it was at, i said 9.. he was like, "Shoot! I'll be there
asap!"
and he CAME!:)
he actually listened
to the speakers too. Then in gospel principles, he participated by giving
insights and reading quotes. It was awesome. then the elders took him to
Priesthood
we met up with him
after church to ask him what he thought and how he was feeling. HE said he was
SO gratefule he came. He has been going through a ROUGH time lately, and he
knows he needed to find his way back to god, to turn his life around. Attending
church was what he needed. We brought up the baptism thing again, and extended
an invite. We told him that we think he could be ready by September 20th,
if he wanted... he thought about it. then..
HE ACCEPTED! what?! We
found him on Thursday, he came to church on sunday, and he is already on
date for Baptism!:)
WE are meeting with
him every week on tuesday to teach him and help prepare him for baptism:)
Sister Osmond and I just about died. We are both so overwhelmed with gratitude.
I know that Heavenly Father has been preparing demetrius for this. He started
preparing him when he was in high school. And we are the ones who will help him
come unto christ! Its truly a miracle and I feel so blessed to have witnessed
God's greatness and glory first-hand. :)
We have had a lot of
other sweet experiences too, but unfortunately I dont have time to write them:(
But i will say this, I
love street contacting. It's the greatest. Sis. Osmond and I have a lot of
success with it too!
One morning for
companionship study, we practiced teaching the restoration simply. having just
a sentence or two for each point. then low and behold, we contact people in the
streets later that day who needed to hear that EXACT message! The lord is aware
of every people, and he is in the details of our lives. :) its just amazing!
My challenge to you
all this week is to memorize Joseph smiths first vision, and to practice
teaching it to eachother! I promise that if you get this down, whenever you
share it with someone, along with his story, the moment you say what he saw, in
his own words, the spirit will follow you SO strongly. It's powerful. and it
can change peoples hearts. I've watched it happen.
I love you so much and
hope all is well!
I would LOVE to
receive mail too! Because i don't have much time for emailing:( but write me!:)
Sister Carly Lewis
14203 Lotus Ln #625
Centreville VA, 20120
Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Lewis
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