Week 38: Not Easy, But Worth It.

Buenos Tardes Familia! Elder Lewis, another week here in paradise, here in Bogota Colombia,

This week has been average. From my chat that I just sent to you I hope that I don’t convey that I am not doing well, because I am doing well. Sometimes it’s just hard to stretch to the calling. It’s hard when all the pressure is on you. But, there have been a lot of good things this week. I told you last week about a woman named Luz Medina that we found through Danny going and getting a haircut, if you remember that story? Well we went in to teach her and she’s like “I think it would be better if we didn’t meet quite as often. I feel pressured.” “we said: “well we don’t want you to feel pressured, so what would you like to do?” and she said: “Lets meet one time a month.” And we were like No. WHY?! Then we did a little bit of digging. We asked some inspired questions and dug down a bit and she ended up telling us a story, a long story, about how she had twins and one of them died in a way that was really tough for her, in a way that was really slow for the baby. She talked about her struggle, and as she told the story, she was crying and I was crying and then we had the opportunity to tell her that her son could be hers but only if she does the things that will qualify her to live with her son, because her son lives with God. We told her that her son lives with God because he was too pure. I told her about Joseph Smith and his struggles with his children and as I told her she wept. We haven’t been able to meet with her,that was Thursday. We will try to meet with her tomorrow. What’s frustrating is that if they don’t do the reading assignments, it’s like starting over every time you go over there. They feel the spirit during the lesson, but they have got to read to keep that going during the week.

So this week, I have been really focusing on getting myself organized, working on our area book, we actually have two area books, if you have been a missionary with Preach My Gospel, you know how big of a pain that is! There have been some late nights trying to get that organized. Normally we stop at 10:00, and there’s not a whole lot that my companion can do because he hasn’t been here very long and he doesn’t know a whole lot about that. I am teaching him what I can but then I have to do the rest. Makes me wish I had done it when Elder Silva was here, but then again that was hard. For P-Day we went down to the center, and here in Bogota, the directions are nuts. There’s a system of Calle that runs from east to west. (calle means street) and a Carrera (which means road) runs north to south. We live in Calle 127 and every Calle has 127, 127A, B, C, D, E, and sometimes F. so we went down to Calle 13, which was lejos, it was really far. But it was cool! We didn’t have much time today, but next week we will go back there and visit some museums and stores. It’s actually a part of Bogota that isn’t very pretty. There are a ton of people, so many people. We got back here a little bit late.

I just wanted to tell you guys, to finish up this recording, about a dream that I had. I don’t know. It made a big impression on me. Sometimes, we as missionaries we dream about when it’s time to go home. So in my dream I was on my way home, on the plane back and I dreamed that, I don’t know, I had something left to do. I dreamed that I got home and I realized that I hadn’t finished my mission. That there was more. I realized that I went home with like a year and half. For no particular reason. I just felt like I had something left to do. I tried to talk to President about going back, but I don’t know. It impressed upon me how much I really do appreciate this mission. How much I love it. How much it has changed me, and I only have 9 months in the mission. I realized how great of an opportunity it is. Although I am learning and as I have learned, I have had hard experiences that have really knocked it into me, what this mission really means. I wish I could have gotten with it faster, and wish, still, that I could get with it faster. I feel like there are so many things I have to do to be an effective missionary. But I just realized how great and how much worth this mission has for me. I just realized…. I don’t know. I woke up at 6 this morning, and couldn’t go back to sleep just thinking about it. About how much I love this. Sometimes I don’t think that I am happy because it’s hard and I am stretched. I have the ward council at my heels all the time and…. But I really do love this opportunity. We have had good experiences where the Lord has put people in our path that need us. Well they don’t need us but they need the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t know how the gospel of Jesus Christ helps people in extreme circumstances from examples in my own life, but I have seen it so many times here. I really am grateful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to serve a mission. I don’t think that I would trade it for anything in the world. It’s taken some hard knocks to get me to realize how much it means to me. But this dream left me with the determination to do everything that I can, even though I sometimes feel like I don’t know what I am doing, to do everything that I can. To seek help, and that eventually it will all be alright. That’s my experience that I just wanted to share with you guys. Thank you for your prayers. I really do feel them on my behalf. When I want to give up I just think about that. I am very excited for what the future holds, and I think now that I have realized that I need the Lord so much, this is when he can really help me, when he can really lift me.

Well guys, I don’t have much time, so I will leave you now, Thank you so much for everything and I hope all is well at home. I love you guys. Chao Chao!


-Elder Lewis