Week 2. Say whaaaaa?

Hello Family and Friends!

Mom&Dad-- Thank you for the candy and the shirt!:) I know you all sent me another package but I havent had time to run to the mailroom and pick it up yet. i will today though:)

Tell Emily Lewis thank you for her sweet letter! I've treasured it dearly:)

Jessie Beck has written me a couple of times and its been wonderful:) She always says just the right things that get me through the day!:) 

I see elder aaron love everywhere. Its the greatest:) haha 

Dad, I'm not sending this email to everyone this time, so feel free to forward it on:)

I have been at the MTC for over a week now! Like, I swear I just got here yesterday... but at the same time it feels like i have been here for 3 million years. When they told us that the weeks feel like days, and the days feel like weeks, they really weren't kidding. It's the truth. It doesn't make sense to you probably, but if you were in our shoes you would be saying "amen" because it's truth. 

The days are SO long.

>>we wake up at 5:45 (schedule says not til 6:30, but lets be real. I cant shower, and get dressed, and do my hair, and gather my things, and have a morning devotional with the Lord in 30 minutes). If you want the Holy Ghost to dwell with you throughout the day, don't start it out in a hurry feeling rushed!

>>Breakfast is at 7:10. We sit together as a District and it's done amazing things for us! My district is my Family and I love them:) the food here is pretty great! however, I have a problem that even though I eat SO MUCH FOOD, i'm still starving like 30 minutes later. Like what. where did this even come from. Who knows. All I know is I usually count down the hours til I can eat again :) haha

>>Class starts at 7:40. we have to walk up 5 flights of stairs to get there. I've done it probably 100 times and i am still out of breath by the time I get to the top!

>>At 10:40 we are given 1&1/2 hours of personal study time. This is my absolute FAVORITE time of the day. It's a time for me to really listen to the spirit, and have him be my teacher. I learn So much, and am growing so much closer to my heavenly father. sometimes we do an hour of personal study, then get together for companion study for the last half hour, so we can really plan and study together for our Investigators, and try to listen to the spirit so we can meet their needs.

>>Next, we have Gym time. The big gym is under construction, soooo we can either use the weight room and elipticals, or go out to the field in front of the temple, or exercise in our own rooms... This week the sisters and I decided we would go out to the Field with the elders in our district/zone. We played frisbee with them and it was SOOO fun!:) it was a great way to truly learn everyone's names and it just was a good time to bond! Like I said, i love my district. These are people that I honestly never want to lose contact with!

>>Lunch starts at 12:10. once again. love this time. i love food.

>>something else happens next... Oh! It's more personal and comp study. because honestly, its the most important time!

>>More Class at 2:15. so that's another trip up 5 flights of stairs. Seriously, my legs are going to look SO GREAT by the time i leave the MTC!;) we walk up and down those stairs 300 times every day I think. okay not that many. but you get the picture. 

>>Dinner is at 5:15

>>Daily planning at 6

>>More class time, but this is Doctrinal Study, where we really get to know the doctrine.

>>zone training at 7:00

>>Then at 8:45 we teach investigators. It's kind of scary, but it's a good time

>>Return home at 9:30 and get ready for bed and the next day.

>>Last comes the best time of the day. better than personal study. from 10:15-10:30 is quiet time. It is the time for us to have a personal devotional with our Heavenly Father.  I love to spend this time kneeling in prayer, just talking to my Heavenly Father. It doesn't matter how long the day has been, or how hard it has been, or how sad I was, when I kneel in prayer sincerely, and speak openly and  honestly with my Father, I know that he listens. And he comforts me. Every Time. the key though, is HONESTY. The more open you are with the Lord, the easier it is for him to help you, and the more you learn about yourself as a child of God. Try it. Be open and honest. Speak your mind. Even if the things on your mind aren't that happy, and you're angry, I promise that if you start by being honest, your heart will be softened and the anger or guilt or sadness will just fade away, as you feel God wrap his loving arms around you.

Now, I'm going to be honest with you... around... okay i don't know what day it was because they all blend together and seem the same.. but ONE of the days this week, I was feeling really down. I was sitting in class and I was frustrated. I was frustrated with my companion, I was frustrated with my teacher, I was frustrated with the immature high school boys in my district, and I was frustrated with myself. It seemed that I had hit a brick wall in learning. I couldn't learn any thing else. I was trying to teach with the spirit and ask inspired questions, but it's a hard thing to do when you are actually teaching another missionary or a teacher who is just pretending to be an investigator. Not impossible, but hard. I felt very inadequate on this particular day. While my comp was in a doctor visit, i just sat in the waiting room and began to pray to Heavenly Father and tell him how I was feeling. I was crying. I felt pathetic. nobody likes a cry baby. But i was tired. When I was done, I immediately got the feeling that I should ask for a priesthood blessing... so when i returned to the classroom where my district was having personal study, i asked for a blessing. 

They asked me who I would like to give it.

I thought about it for a while.... prayed about it. I eventually decided to ask Elder Bagley if he would give me a blessing. {{{Now some information on E. Bagley. He is VERY shy. He's from some small town that nobody's heard of near Richfield, and he's related to like half the people there. Very much a simple country boy. A sweet heart. He has a little bit of a learning disorder. Things don't come as quickly to him, and he often has a hard time conveying a message. He's been just as frustrated as I have been with the whole letting the spirit be the teacher and listening to the spirit, who will tell us what to say. Anyway, he's really kind and actually pretty funny.}}

E. Bagley accepted gladly and all the Elders in the room circled around me and placed their hands on my head. They stood there in silence for probably a good 2 minutes..just waiting for E. Bagley to begin speaking. i was a little nervous and almost wanted to be like "hey you don't have to do this if you don't want to!" but instead, I began to pray in my mind to Heavenly Father for E. Bagley. 

The second that he spoke my full name, I felt the spirit SO strongly. His blessing was short, and simple, and to the point, but it was so powerful. He had no idea what i was struggling with, but he was able to listen to the spirit and be guided by it.

Afterward, he thanked me for the opportunity. It was his first blessing ever. 

Now, E. Bagley has broken out of his shell quite a lot. He's not as shy anymore, and he speaks up in class. Whenever he and his comp teach a practice lesson in class, he makes sure he's the one that starts it out. 

Heavenly Father is truly in the details of our lives. I needed a blessing. I needed to be reminded of his love for me, and that I have strength to make it through. E. Bagley needed to exercise faith in himself and realize that he can speak by the spirit. 

The Priesthood is a powerful thing. I feel so blessed and grateful to have it here on the earth again, and to be surrounded by worthy Priesthood holders, who are all so willing to exercise their power when needed. 

Now I want to share with you probably the most important thing that the MTC has taught me.

THE ATONEMENT. IT is seriously everything. It is the center of this gospel. The center of Gods plan. Without it, our journey would be pointless. We know that it is only through entering the waters of baptism that we can live with Heavenly Father again, but baptism is just the first step. we must also receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and then endure to the end, and continue to renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament Each Week.

The Atonement is what changes us and helps us become like Jesus Christ. It doesn't just cleanse us from our sins, but it helps improve our very beings. Through the powers of the Atonement, we can obtain Christ-like attributes, and it is what helps the children of God truly endure to the end. We CANNOT return to live with Father without the atonement.

There truly was a purpose to the FALL. it brought to pass the NEED for a Savior to come to this world. There is wisdom in everything Heavenly Father does. 

Now that we know how important the Atonement is, and that it is essential for our salvation, and we know that the ONLY way to access the powers of the Atonement is through baptism... it makes sense why people say as missionaries, we want to baptize people. Our purpose is to INVITE others to come unto Christ, by HELPING them to receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, BAPTISM, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then enduring to the end. 

We want all of gods children to be baptized so they can be on the right path to salvation. But baptism isn't our end goal, and it shouldn't appear that way. the end goal is eternal life. Investigators must be baptized, and then endure to the end, and THAT is where member missionary work comes in! We as missionaries can't always be there for our investigators! You as members should fellowship them and help them endure to the end!

Heavenly Father is hastening the work in order to bring ALL of his Children home. 

Before we came to earth, we ALL knew we would be tried and tested, but we knew we had to go through this life to become like our Father. We knew the truth. We were promised we could return home and we all desired to. That's why we chose to come here. Now, think about all those people here that are not members of this church. All those souls that are lost, have not come unto Christ. They TOO had all that knowledge in the pre-earth life. They had to have SO much Faith in God and his plan, that they would one day be able to come to know the truth, whether in this life, or the spirit world. God is preparing them to hear the word, and they are waiting for the truth to find them.

                  Knowing this, I feel a GREAT responsibility to reach out to ALL of Gods children! To search out and teach those "other sheep". I know the truth, I know the gospel, and I know this is the ONLY way back to God. Because of this, I have a specific responsibility to share this truth with those who don't have it. Now, i'm not serving the Lord just because I feel responsible to, or because he asked me to. I am here, and I am searching for the lost sheep because i DESIRE to. I love my Heavenly Father. I know he loves All his children. I have felt the father's love for his children.... or in other words, Charity.

               I have had sacred spiritual experiences here where, through revelation, I have been able to look at an investigator, or a sister, or an Elder, through Heavenly Father's eyes. My eyes have been opened by the spirit towards God's Children. I have felt his love for individuals, and let me tell you, Heavenly Father loves his children IMMENSELY. This feeling is so powerful that I can't even explain it in words. I just shed tears of joy. I love god's children and I desire for them to come unto Christ and return home with us!

I wish I could better explain what it's like to feel this way.. but I can't. all I can do is challenge each and every one of you to feel of it yourself. Charity is a Christ-like attribute. It is a gift from God. Some people are already blessed with it, some have to seek after it. Every time i pray, i ask the Father to bless me with Charity. To help me truly love my companion the way he loves her, to see the investigators as who they can become. It's something that we must continually seek after. 

I know that if you pray in humility and you truly desire, you can ask Heavenly Father to have such an experience for yourself, and the Lord WILL bless you with charity. Pray to feel the Father's love for all his children. he will open your eyes and you WILL be changed. I testify of this, and I challenge each of you to truly pray with a desire and real intent. I think you'll find that it will be easier to wake up every day, and you will feel closer to the Lord

Okay. So I apologize my letter is SO long. and it feels Kinda like a sermon... i'm not trying to preach to you i promise! i'm just wanting to share with you what I've learned, experienced, and felt!

Also, I don't wanna end on such a serious note sooo... here's some fun stuff:

>>Sister Watson and I really work together well! I think we are united in purpose and that makes us better teachers. In fact, we are so in-sync that we have matched outfits (not on purpose) multiple times this week!;) hahaha

>>Brother Gleason, my morning teacher, looks JUST like Dave Franco, but blonde. If you don't know who that is, look him  up. hahaha

>>Brother Cena, my afternoon teacher, is ITALIAN. he's got the coolest accent. and he's a POWERFUL teacher. Also, apparently he's like crazy good at soccer. I guess if you're Italian, you're good at soccer. hahaha

>>Remember last week, when I told you about my companion sister Watson getting a blessing? well.... Let me tell you the WHOLE story:

                  Along with the 4 elders from our district, there was a member of the branch presidency there, to help show the elders what to do. his name is Brother Bliss. He looks like hes 100 years old. But he's a sweet heart. 

Well, E. Hogan started giving the blessing, and I stood in the circle across from him, holding up the guidelines for giving a blessing. He started blessing her, and at one point he paused, in order to listen to the spirit. Right at that second of silence, Brother Bliss FARTED. 

Like what?! I couldn't even believe that was a real thing...  i wasn't even quite sure if it really happened or not! I felt the Elders on either side of me tense up and all of us tried SO hard to not lose it. E. hogan did an amazing job of keeping it together, and he went on with the rest of the blessing. It was a powerful blessing. Afterwards, nobody talked about it, and brother bliss didn't even acknowledge that It happened. We returned home and didn't speak about it until two days later in class when Bro. Gleason asked us if we had any good stories of our MTC experience and all the elders BURST into laughter! 

It was funny to get everybody's point of view. We still can't even believe that it happened. It was a good time. And whenever things become too intense and we start to get discouraged as a District and as missionaries, we have something to laugh about and lighten the mood;)

hahaha

Well. My time is up, and i have to go get my laundry out of the machines. But I Love you all very much! I fly out to Washington D.C. This Wednesday at 6 am! woot woot. Time flies way fast. 

Love you all, and I pray for you daily! 

Love,

Sister Lewis