I'll give my whole heart to Him

Where the HECK did the last 6 weeks go?

I feel like the last transfer just slipped through my fingers... it's crazy. Time needs to take a break, and SLOW DOWN. haha

Anyway, I survived another transfer, and Sister Stewart and I are staying together in Leesburg! Good thing too--- because things are really going places, and this transfer WILL be one of miracles!

 

This week just seemed to zip by as well! And it was so full of lots of awesome things.....

Monday, we had a sweet FHE planned with a member in the ward, that they had invited friends over, BUT it snowed lots that night. And we weren't allowed to be out driving. So we weren't able to go :( #BUMMER

but they turned out to have a great night without us!

 

Tuesday after district meetings, we had our Zone party to celebrate reaching our goal! And for this party, I had been asked to bring a baked good... So on Monday, I made these scrumptious cookies called $250 cookies. Pretty much, they are melt in your mouth, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We made them with our WMLs wife a week ago, and I had decided to make some for the zone! Only problem is, it called for 2&1/2c blended oats, and 1 c. grated choc. chips.... but WE DIDN'T HAVE A BLENDER.

And we were grounded from driving our cars.

So. What did I do? I chopped those oats by hand, and took the chocolate chips and a cheese grater and grated them one.by.one.

It took f o r e v e r

I felt like a pioneer.

hahahahaha

but hey, those cookies were a real hit! Every body LOVED them, and were begging for more.

It's probably because I put a few special ingredients in there.... aka. blood, sweat, and tears. also LOVE. ;)

 

Moving on now.

We met with Michi that night and let me tell you.... my mouth is still gaping open from that lesson! The Spirit was so strong, it was almost overwhelming. We had planned on teaching her the plan of salvation... but ended up teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And then we pulled out Mosiah 18, and posed the question, "What have ye against being baptized?"

We told Michi that we love her SO much. We really do, and we will always love her no matter what. We pointed out how she is so amazing to us, because she is already living the life of a member of the church... she's just missing out on the blessings of having the Gift of the Holy Ghost! God has all these blessings he wants to POUR out upon her, and the way to receive them, is through baptism!

I can't remember the exact details and events... but I do remember that for the first time, she didn't cringe at the thought of baptism. And for the FIRST time, she opened up and shared some really deep, personal experiences.

Then she told us this, "You know, before we started doing.. this, when it came to God, I was like 'ehhhh'... but now, I'm all the way there."

 

WOW!

This girl went from not even believing in God as a being... she just believed you could find good and truth all around us.. in spiritual things. She prayed to the universe... and now, 5-6ish weeks later, she has faith in God! That, is a miracle. The Spirit has been working hard on her! :)

The lesson went on, and we discovered that her real concern now, is with Jesus Christ. So now, we are just trying to help her find faith in Christ, and come to know for herself, that he is the Savior of the world.

 

So lots of good things happening there!

 

Wednesday, we went to a lady in the ward, Sister Kowalski. She lives out in the boonies in a big farm house. She broke her foot 3 months ago, and it still hasn't healed, and now she's home in this huge house on a farm... alone. So we went to do some service for her... And you know what she had us do?

COOK.

haha. She had us put together big freezer dinners like casseroles and soup that she could just put in the freezer and give to families in the ward when they need them. It was sweet, because she is professional at cooking, so I learned a few neat tricks! [[mom-- wanna know an EASY way to shred cooked chicken? Just put it in a big bowl, and take the egg beaters to it!]]

 

Thursday we had another great lesson with Summer! We taught the Restoration using our Apostasy cup lesson. Once again, she loved every bit of it. We asked her how she knows that God loves her and she told us "Oh, because he guides me every day and grants me peace."

 

Ah.

Of course. Because that's how every 11 year old would answer that question. ;)

She is SO ready to accept this gospel! It is really just a matter of teaching her all the lessons!

 

Thursday night we dropped by a member's home, The Jones family, to give a sweet, short message. I love being in their home! They were one of the first families I met here, and I just love them to death. It's a family of all boys (even their dog is a boy) and then Sister Jones... and she LOVES us! haha she was like, "You know, we usually have the Elders over, and whenever they are over it's SO rowdy here.... But it's so peaceful when you come! You bring such a lovely spirit!"

Anyway. not sure why I'm telling you this. Just know, I love that family. And every time I go there, the night is filled with genuine laughter and I leave happier than I came! #tendermercies

 

Now, for the Highlight of the week....

Ya'll Ready For This?!

 

SATURDAY WAS A BLIZZARD!

Literally.

We got at least a foot of snow here.

Maybe more.

And we weren't allowed to drive our cars.... so we walked everywhere! and I LOVED it! It was so peaceful. Nobody was out. Just two sister missionaries, owning the town. haha

We were able to help push cars up a snowy hill, because Virginians don't know how to drive in the snow....

And when we went tracting, the Spirit led us to this home... and the guy let us in! His name is Aaron . and turns out, he met with Elders last summer! But they mysteriously stopped coming over... (turns out, it wasn't a mystery. those Elders just never kept a teaching record for Aaron, so he fell through the cracks.) He's an older guy. Retired. And now he's the drummer in a band. He's kinda crazy... but he's read the BoM and marked it up clear to Mosiah, and we got a return appointment! So, we will take what we can get!

 

Sunday.... church was ALMOST cancelled, because of the snow. (even though the roads were clear by then. and it was 50* yesterday) so they only held sacrament meeting... but only the youth speaker showed... So they did a special meeting. A "Hymn-a-mony" Where people could go up to the pulpit, and bear brief testimony on their favorite hymn, and then we would sing that hymn. I WISH THAT HAPPENED MORE OFTEN.

It was really touching to me..... that is when I wasn't being distracted by a 3 year old! haha. We sat by our Ward Mission Leader and his family... and his little girl, Hailey, is a handful. She reminds me of Piper. She thinks she's a dog. Also, she just randomly kissed both me and S. Stewart on the cheeks during the meeting! It was adorable! haha

 

There's so many other great things that happened this week..... Sister Stewart and I laughed lots, we met and found lots of cool people, a 90 yr old woman kept asking me why I'm not dating anyone and then giving me marriage advice, and my testimony was strengthened immensely.

I spent lots of time reading a CES Devotional from this January by Randall L. Ridd. I highly recommend it. It's all about the importance of REAL INTENT. And I realized that I need to work on my real intent!

I'm really going to focus, from now until the end of my mission, on turning my Will over to the Lord.

Missionary work is not about what I want, it's about what God wants.

As soon as I stop seeking to do the things I feel are important, or I want to do, and start having an attitude of "Thy will be done" I KNOW I will find true happiness in the work! And I'm starting by developing an attitude of gratitude. :) So this will be a journey!

This week I was flipping through the Book of Mormon, and came across Alma 27:27-28, 30.

That scripture changed my week.

I want to be like the sons of Mosiah... That even in strugglings and despairs, and suffering through ALL manners of afflictions, that I still give it my all in the hopes of maybe, possibly, saving SOME SOUL.

 

I Know that The Lord will NEVER leave us comfortless, but He will always fulfill his promise, "I will come to you"

He came to me when my heart was depressed, and I am forever grateful for that. The Lord is my Light! Then why should I fear? He IS my Salvation from sorrow and sin, His blessed assurance the Spirit doth bring!

 God has sent us here for a purpose, and he WILL help us find, and accomplish that purpose. He will always come to us in our time of need.

 

Wherever you may be at on your journey of becoming like our Savior, I encourage you to not give up hope. He is forever watching over you, and will not let you stray too far. God will not let you fail. So never give up. Never surrender. Never let despair overcome your spirit. Even in your darkest hour, hang on a little longer.... Pray with all the energy of your heart for deliverance, and just like Joseph Smith, suddenly, a Light will descend upon you. Christ will come.

 

I love you all and pray for you! Keep doing what you're doing! :)

 

Love, Sister Carly Lewis

 

pics:

Zone!

Blizzard

God is Good.

This week was a week of miracles!!!!

Ya'll already know about Laura... She's just so wonderful!
She wasn't able to come to church on Sunday, but that's okay! Because
Summer came to church! And Michi was there for all of Sacrament
meeting!

Also, there's a less active man, Brother Wood, and we have
invited him to church for the past three weeks! He's told us he will
come, but then he never comes. We go to his house, he talks to us on
the porch, makes some joke about us being out in the cold, we invite
him, he commits, then doesn't come.... But this last week, it was
FREEZING when we went... And he let us right on in! Brother Wood is
one of my favorites. He's one of those people that I just felt a
connection with right off the bat. We both have the same kind of humor
(aka he's just as sarcastic as I am) and turns out we have more in
common than that! He did theater and music all growing up! He played
Nathan Detroit in 'Guys and Dolls' and Professor Harold Hill in 'The Music
Man', so it was cool for us to connect on that:) When I told him my
decided major, he was really interested in it. And when I invited him
to church to hear me sing, he looked me straight in the eyes and
promised he would be there.... AND HE CAME,!!!! He sat right in the
middle, in the back of the chapel, and beamed up at me when I got up
to sing! I prayed really hard that the words of "I Stand All Amazed"
would touch his heart..... He came up to me after and thanked me. Said
he really needed that, and that it uplifted him. I love Brother Wood:)
he's a good guy, who's just seen a lot of hurt. We also gave him a
rock that says "pray daily" on it, because he collects rocks! Haha I
think he really was touched by that.

Remember how I talked about our zone goal of finding 20 people this
week? Well on Friday night from 6-9 (the coldest part of the entire
week) we went out finding as a zone... And MIRACLES HAPPENED. As a
zone, over this last week, we found a total of 30 prepared
individuals! And lots of those found were actually families! It was
really exciting. The saying "where there's a will, there's a way" is
soooo true. Also, the Lord will use those who are ready and truly
desire to help, in the hastening of His work! It's pretty neat! :)
Sister Stewart and I didn't actually find anybody on Friday night
though.... Why? Well let me tell you.
We happened upon this cute little farm house in the outskirts of
Leesburg,,, and knocked on the door..., and turns out, an Islam family
lives there. So the father talked to us on the porch for a good 15
minutes in the dark, freezing cold.... And then his son came out and
was like "you gonna invite them in?" So... We followed this man into
his house.

We ended up spending like an hour and a half there,,,, (whoops) trying to share
a message... But not succeeding...... So. We now know everything there is to know about the
Islamic faith! Haha
I would say that it was a waste of our time there... But it wasn't
really because the more they tried to tell us and convince us of their
ways, the more the spirit spoke to me and testified of the truth of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I KNOW this church is the one true, living church of God here on the earth.
Our beliefs are so simple.
Young children and the unlearned can understand it.
It's simple, yet it covers everything. It makes sense that a Savior
was sent to the earth. It makes sense that we are all children of God,
and because he is our Father, he blesses us immensely. God is not some
all-powerful being that we can't understand.
He is our Father.
He knows all.
He sees all.
And he loves us.
I just want everybody and their dog to understand this!!! Gahhh

Anyway.
Also.
They gave us tea. And even though we told them about the Word of
Wisdom and they assured us it was herbal... I'm pretty sure it had
black tea leaves.... Yikes. Good thing repentance is real!

Last night we met with Summer and let me tell you. She should've been
born into the gospel! Her spirit just searches after the truth! She
told us how she did some different bible studies growing up, and that
she'd been around places... But that she never felt the Spirit there.
But she felt it at our church! This girl is only 11 years old and she
is already soooo wise! We love teaching her! It truly is such a
blessing to us.... And she gets so excited about it! Cool story:

We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we told her about
the atonement, and how the icky feelings of guilt, worthlessness,
sadness, and loneliness can all be taken away and replaced with joy,
peace and comfort, because of Jesus Christ... She responded excitedly,
"really?!"
Yes:)
Really:)
She told us that she ALWAYS wants that peace to be with her.

She's a blessing. Keep Summer in your prayers:)

Hmmmm lets see... What else...,
Oh, we got to play with horses today for p-day!:) it was AWESOME!
And like 4 members gave us doughnuts for Valentine's Day.... Haha
The weather this week is supposed to be in the single digits....
YIKES. And we are supposed to get like 6-8 inches of snow tonight....
The storms are pretty bad here in Leesburg!

Well... That's all I have to say! This week was miraculous and I am
just so so so grateful for the blessings that are raining down on us.
The work is hastening and I'm struggling to keep up! Love you all!
Have a wonderful week, and seek out spiritual experiences!

Love,
Sister Carly Lewis.

p.s.
I just found out that they emergency transferred the Centreville
sisters on Friday... So.... Keep Sister Chandler in your prayers! And
Cynthia too! They are both in shock!

Pictures:
Me with horses!
Matchy matchy Valentine's pajamas!
#valentineswag

Edified and Uplifted

Today is just a really great day.

The sun is shining bright. It think it's like 60* outside. My belly is full of yummy tomato bisque soup from costco, and... oh yeah! I almost forgot!

WE FOUND SOMEONE TO TEACH!

okay.

we didn't really FIND her.

It's Laura, Sister Simmons friend. :)

We were finally able to  meet with her, and the lesson was a miracle. Really. Laura is SO prepared and ready to receive the fullness of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love it. The lesson was kinda all over the place.... but it was directed by the Spirit. She is just so very amazing, and she was just soaking up every little bit of what we had to share!

At the end she said, "Ya know, when I got here today, I was... I was just really not in a good place.... But now, I feel edified, and uplifted. I feel like this big weight has been lifted from me. I know that God had this meeting in his plans for me. I am really grateful to have been here today!"

Wow. Did she just use the words edified and uplifted?? I think she did! She described exactly the role of the Spirit in conversion. #GOLDEN

She was really excited to keep meeting with us, and we set up a time to meet with her next Tuesday! She also however, had some head trauma accident some years ago... so that affects her health. So keep her in your prayers, that the Lord will bless her with strength!

I also invited her to church at the end of the lesson, because I'm singing in sacrament meeting on Sunday, and she said she had plans... but that she was definitely going to try and arrange something, so that she could make it! Gah. This is the miracle we have been waiting for!

Missionary Work is awesome.

Another miracle of the week, is that a couple weeks ago, a lady in the ward, came up to us and said her daughter has a friend, Summer, who really loves coming to church and activities and wants to learn more about the gospel. The only problem is that Summer is 12, so we would need permission from her mother in order to teach her.

Well, after weeks of waiting, Sister Larsen got back to us and told us about the conversation she had with Summer's mom!

Her mom was all for Summer taking the discussions. She wasn't interested in it for herself (she's not ready or wanting to change her lifestyle.) but she recognizes that Summer is more spiritual, and she loves the people in our church, and she said she would love for Summer to be baptized if that is what Summer chose!

WHAT!

Things like this never happen.

Ever.

It was a miracle.

And so we have a lesson set up on Sunday night at 7, to teach Summer the restoration:)

The members of the Leesburg ward are seriously on FIRE with member referrals! It is SO exciting to be a missionary, and it is so much easier to do the work of the Lord, when we are on the same page as the members! I really want to point out, that both these miracles would not have even come if it wasn't for the missionary work that the members are doing.

It is SO easy to share the gospel!

I honestly cannot express that enough.

If a little 9 year old girl, can explain to her friend (Summer) at activity days, that the warm fuzzy feeling she gets from doing service, is in actuality, the Holy Ghost, then certainly, we ALL can do something to share a gospel truth with somebody in need.

And if you think about it...

Everyone around you is in need of SOMETHING.

So pray for opportunities to share what you know to be true! Then be on the look out for when those opportunities present themselves! :)

"God WILL put prepared people in the way of his prepared servants who WANT to share the gospel." - Henry B. Eyring

Test that promise out this week.

I Think you will be surprised at what happens! :)

Alright... so.... other exciting things that happened this past week......

--I got my hair cut. And turns out, that the lady who cut my hair is related to the Fredrickson family in our stake!  I went to school with her little brother, Matthew. He's a year older than me. And he played tennis for Orem High... soo we were pretty good friends!

--Saturday was Sister Stewart's birthday and it was a WAY awesome day! :) WE were able to go to the Temple visitors Center with Michi, Nikki and Sister Simmons to watch the Joseph Smith movie... it moved everyone to tears.

Michi was genuinely touched by it. She especially admired the character of Emma. So on the car ride home, we talked a lot about that. I shared my testimony on how I know that Joseph was a prophet of God, and how I also feel with surety that Emma knew he was too. She had to have known God as well as Joseph did in order to have endured all the trials and persecution they went through... and How I admired that she came to know the truth of the Book of Mormon for herself. Michi whole-heartedly agreed with that.

Michi is a very independent, do it her own way, gal. She is very strong too. In fact, she is a lot like Emma Smith.  And I just feel it deep inside, that she WILL come to know this gospel is true. In her own time. And for herself.

Anyway that was a great night.

--We had exchanges this week with our sister training leaders and that was MUCH needed. for all 4 of us.

. Whenever we have exchanges, the sisters give us a little mini "training". Mostly, it just feels like a therapy session to me. And I love them. It's a time to reflect and learn and look inside yourself. And this time, It was such a spiritual experience for me!! I was reminded of lessons that I have learned on my mission, that I had somehow forgotten... many tears were shed. I was just touched by the Spirit. Reminded that I am NOT alone, and that I don't need to feel that way. I know that God is aware of me, and what I'm going through, and I am going through these things for a reason.

I had a mini change of heart that day. Realized, that it's time to stop asking, "Why me? why this? why now?"

And start acknowledging that what I am going through is for my own good, and I need to ask, "What am I to learn from this?"

So I was reminded of the importance of being grateful IN EVERY circumstance!

-- I wrote Sister Stewart a song for her birthday. On the spot. It's pretty darn funny. I'll send a snippet of it!

-- I had the worst head ache of my life. Ever. I thought I was going to die. And I was confined to my room for the day. It was the worst. But I'm alive and well now:)

--I got the valentines package you sent! We love it! Sister Stewart says THANK YOU! :)

-- As a zone we made it a transfer goal to find 70 new investigators... well, as of yesterday we are at 50 new. So that means we have 7 days to find 20 new investigators... So we had a discussion on how we were to accomplish this, and if it was possible.... And I really wish I was better with words. But I am poor in writing. The gist of the story is that the Spirit was SO STRONG in that meeting yesterday, and we are going to find 20 prepared people this week. It isn't  going to be an individual effort either, but the effort of all of us together. TEAM WORK! being ALL in! :) Sister Stewart and I already found 2! woot woot! So here's to a week of miracles!

This week has been just so busy and full and all over the place.

I love being a full-time servant of the Lord.

There is just a wonderful Joy that comes from doing the will of the Lord, and standing as a witness of God at ALL times, and in ALL things and in ALL places!

And guess what?

You can do it TOO!

So get off your butts and go do some missionary work! ;) [[I say that with much love]]

Have a wonderful week!

Love you!

Sister Carly Lewis

Pics

Dinner with Sue!

Temple Visitors Center!

I forgot to wear a hat... and Sue hates it when we don't wear hats... so she gave me this to wear. She's great.