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