Week 34: The Family is of God (plus temple blessings and a taste of home)

Hola Familia! Como Esta?

Well, tonight I am making this recording, usually I make it the day of, but I figured I would get on the ball and do it before. First of all, thank you so much for the packages! That was so awesome when I got to the Stake Center in Campiña on... I think it was Friday, and got 2 packages from my wonderful family. Right now I have them before me (this is actually the first packages I have gotten in Colombia) but I always laugh when I see them, or see other people getting packages when I got them this time they were so beat up because of what they go through. But, fortunately, if they have Virgin Mary stickers on them, they do not steal anything. I was told by my zone leaders that if you don’t put that on there, that they will steal things. So ya. Right as we speak, I am actually listening to Gentry as we speak thanks to you guys. It has been so cool! I just about did a backflip when I opened up the package. I got Reese’s, I got a stuffed teddy bear, I got a Gentry CD (If only my DVD player wasn’t a piece of garbage like it’s being right now) and the Lamb of God. Super Super cool. I like getting the DVD’s because I can see the commentary of the director that I have never seen before. So that’s cool. It was weird to get things labeled in English. Not gonna lie. It kinda threw me back when I got the plastic eggs. The Latinos thought that was really weird. I had to explain the tradition and they didn’t get it. But that’s ok. It made me happy. I did share with the people in the room at that moment, but I shared my Reese’s with my companion, with the zone leaders and hermanas, and President and his wife. They were well spent. I actually still have a bunch of them and I am eating them slowly. President took a picture of me with the package and said that he would send it to you. I don’t know if you guys got that yet, but I thought that was really cool that he did that. Thank you so much for the package. I thoroughly enjoyed getting things from home. I actually had a sister from the church who said “hey, I have a friend coming from Utah, what do you want?” and I had to tell ya, that was a hard decision. I had to tell her that I would call her later and tell her. I thought about it and after awhile I asked for Mountain Dew, because here in Bogota, they actually have Mountain Dew, but it’s absolute garbage. Not Mountain Dew. It doesn’t even taste similar. Something about the sugar they use. It makes Coca-Cola better and Mountain Dew worse.

Highlights from this week: we had an intercambio on Tuesday and it just all worked out that there were 8 missionaries in an apartment in one night, and if you can imagine… there was Elder Blair there that was from my group in the CCM, and that was a party! I actually have a video. There’s a fruit called Pitaya that is  yellow on the outside (It’s called dragonfruit in the United States) and theres a blue fruit on the inside with these seeds, and the seeds are actually really really good, but I am told it’s a laxative. I ate four of them and nothing happened… it doesn’t seem to affect gringos very much. But, ya. I have a video of them drinking Jugo de Pitaya, and then eating a raw egg and doing 20 pushups. They called it Cambino Inferno. Funny things happen when you get 8 missionaries together at 9:30-10 at night. I don’t know. We’re special. Don’t you worry, we were all in bed by 10:30 so we were all good. I have never slept so badly in my life, because the mattresses they had in that apartment were terrible, so we slept on the ground. It’s really awesome catching up with Elder Blair and the people from my group. I never realized how much I missed the CCM. It was really awesome. Aw Freak. I was really fortunate not to go to Bogota for the CCM because it’s a reformed church house, and it is puny. So tiny. You can’t leave, and it takes you 5 minutes to walk the perimeter. In Mexico it was an hour and a half to walk around the perimeter. I really lucked out on that one. So, Michael, if you go to Colombia or Ecuador or something and you go to the Colombian MTC, I am so sorry for you. but don’t worry it’ll be a good thing.

There are a couple of families I want to tell you about, a couple families of gold that we have found through members and different miracles. The familia Guerrero, who has really become close to my heart. They found the church after they lost their son, Gerson, in January in an auto accident. She was in Argentina and passed the temple. Her name is Jennifer. She walked in. That’s how they knew the church. So they came back to Bogota nad looked up the missionaries. I am fortunate to be teaching them, because they are right on the border between us and another companionship, and the other companionship started teaching but they had to pass the reference to us because it is right on the border. This family parks their car in the other area but they live in our area. But, ya. We have been teaching them for most of this cambio, and Miguel Guerrero, their 13 year old son, will be baptized. We had a family home evening with them on Monday night, and we showed them a video called together forever, and a family who was in a similar situation. None of us could hold back tears. We were bawling like babies and the spirit was so strong. Heavenly Father really let me feel for a second how it feels to lose a child…. It absolutely broke my heart knowing that they had to go through that. On Saturday, we went to the Temple. It was my first time in Bogota, and it was magnificent. The whole ward went and so they rented a bus to go from the chapel to the temple. Went with them, and the bus was full. We had 10 investigators go and most of the ward. So we took another bus. It was so jam packed with people. On Transmilenio, you have to count how many people are touching you at one time. I counted 5. 5 people touching me at one time. It was so jam packed. There were people hanging out the door as the bus was going down the road. But anyway, we we went to the temple, and we were about to leave with the ward when familia Guerrero called us and said “hey, we’re here!” So just as they were about to leave, we got off the bus and stayed and showed them the temple. Daniel, the father of the family, brought his mom, that’s why they were late, he wanted to bring his mom, so they were pretty late. We showed them around, and then we went in to reception and had one of the workers talk with them. I can’t even describe the special feeling you get when you sit in the temple and you explain to somebody what goes on there, and then you tell them that in this very place, you can be sealed to your son. In this very place, this sacred temple, you can bind your family together forever. I guess I feel a special connection with them, because of the Aunt that I never knew. I really felt that. They asked me as I was leaving the temple, as we were walking out of reception, we stopped in reception and they asked me, “Elder Lewis, you seem to have more of a connection to our situation than others, why is that?” The words just came out: “ you know, I have an aunt that I have never met”and I explained that she was singing in Germany, and was hit by a train, and how that affected my grandparents, and that I know, for certain, that I will meet her someday. That she is alive and well. As I explained and as I wept like a baby, Jennifer was crying, and I just felt such a sweet peace, that I have family there with me. I feel that.

            As we left, Daniel had the car, and he offered to lift us to our area, so as we were going I was talking with his mom, and I asked her, we got talking, and she is Catholic, but I asked her how she felt when she entered the temple. She felt peace. Something familiar. As she sat there, she felt like crying. Then me and my companion explained to her that the reason why that is, is because these things really are familiar. These things aren’t foreign. They just bring to your remembrance. It really strengthened my testimony. This family is progressing and they came to church today. Thank goodness.

Well, rats. Time to go to bed.

-Elder Lewis

Elder Lewis and his packages from home

The Following is a message to Jared's parents from President Laney, Elder Lewis' mission president:

Brother and Sister Lewis,

I had the privilege of interviewing your son today. He is a great young man and fantastic missionary. He is having some incredible spiritual experiences teaching the gospel to families in his current area.

He was very emotional telling me about a family whose teenage son was recently killed in an accident. The hope and confidence of eternal families and temple ordinances has changed their lives!

He was also happy to receive a package from home and he shared a Reese's cup with me, so thank you!!

Simon Bolivar park in Bogota

Elder Lewis' current area

A bus in Bogota. Notice the emblems on it belong to a Ford Mustang.... :D

*A note from Jessica: For those of you that are not well acquainted with the Lewis branch of Elder Lewis' family, Jared's aunt that is mentioned in this post, our father's oldest sister Darrelene, was killed at 19 in an accident involving a train while on tour for the USO in Germany. We, as a family, are grateful for Elder Lewis' testimony of eternal families, and we affirm and testify that what he says is true; our Aunt Darrelene is indeed alive and well, and that we will all get to be with her again someday.