Monday, December 5, 2016

Week 12: Lighting the World and a "full moon" over Bucaramanga....

A note from Jessica: Elder Lewis has lately been writing us via voice recordings. We love hearing his voice and listening to his stories firsthand. So, the format of this blog will change just a little bit. I am not able to upload the recordings, so I will type up the highlights and most important points from his messages and post them here! 

The work goes slowly forward this week in Colombia. One of Elder Lewis and Elder Zuniga's investigators, Paola, has disappeared and they cannot find her anywhere, which is sad and discouraging. There is another couple investigating that haven't been to church in a couple weeks due to various reasons, but are still strong in their testimony of the gospel and are expected to keep their baptismal date sometime in February. Elder Zuniga told Elder Lewis that he (Elder Lewis) will likely have the honor of performing those baptisms, and he is very excited about that.

Elder Zuniga has been sick the latter part of the week, so Elder Lewis cleaned and studied, and "beat my head against the wall". Elder Lewis hasn't had the typical experience of being violently ill in Colombia yet (crossing his fingers), and believes that some probiotics that Mom sent him with are helping. Elder Goth (another Elder in their area) had to return home this week due to severe illness, which is very sad, because he was a good missionary. The tip to know about not getting sick is that it is NOT a good idea to eat from street vendors, as there is no clean water to cook with or drink. So they stay away from the street vendors.

A High Council member from their area joined the Elders this week. (Jared gives names, but they are so fast and in Spanish that I cannot understand if I wanted to!) This High Councilman is a Taxi Driver by trade, and in Colombia it is the law that Taxi Drivers have the day off on Sunday and one other day during the week. This particular man chooses to use the last half of his Sundays off going with the missionaries, which helps the Elders get into homes that they otherwise could not. They are very grateful. Members are a great help in the work.

STORY OF THE WEEK: The High Councilman, Elder Zuniga, and Elder Lewis were walking down a street and a man came running past them who was clearly a Gringo (Spanish slang for foreigner). All of the sudden this man proceeds to drop his pants in front of them, giving a "full moon" and starts saying terrible things about Mormons and Joseph Smith, etc. Elder Zuniga smiled and said "Thank you. God Bless you!" Both of the Elders found this experience to be absolutely hilarious, but were confused by 2 things:
1. Whats a Gringo thats not an LDS missionary doing in the suburbs of Bucaramanga Colombia?
2. He really had NOTHING better to do than moon the missionaries?
Elder Lewis says "Ah... The life of a missionary. :)"

Elder Lewis answers Rebekah's Questions: 

Rebekah: Have you served anyone?
Elder Lewis: YES! we serve everybody. thats what we're here to do. A lot of people need physical and spiritual service. We serve them (cleaning, putting up Christmas decorations, etc.) and then ask if we can share a message. The gospel is the solution to every problem. What a joy it is.

REGARDING THE "LIGHT THE WORLD" CAMPAIGN PUT FORTH BY THE LDS CHURCH:
Tonight is "visit someone sick" and we are going to visit a lady that is the aunt of one of our investigators (Again, name trouble on my part, but I think the investigators name is Christia...?) I'd appreciate your prayers on her behalf. She has some super hard things going on with her family. This is our first visit. I'm super excited!

the 25 days of Christmas (Light the World) is a great thing. I'd encourage you guys to do that with us. There's a cool thing online where you can take pictures and document what you're doing. Share your faith and service with the whole world!
***To accept Elder Lewis' challenge to Light the World this Christmas, please follow these links:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/light-the-world-25-days-of-service?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/blog/25-ways-to-lighttheworld-this-christmas?cid=HP_TH_1-12-2016_dOCS_fBLOG_xLIDyL2-2_

"I love you all a lot. I hope all is well. Talk to you all later! Hasta Lluego!"

-Elder Lewis



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