Note from Jessica: This post is a long one because it includes 2 of Elder Lewis' recordings, one from last week (which had to be resent due to technical problems) and one from this week. Both are inspiring and beautiful. Please enjoy!
LAST WEEK:
Buenas Tardes!
I’m here in Cucutá, in the ward Aeropuerto, in the area
Aeropuerto Uno. It’s been a crazy week so I guess I will start from the
beginning. We received the cambios on Sunday, then I went Monday from Sogamoso
to Bogotá where I was with Elder Mangum and Elder Heninger. That was really fun
there for acouple of days just to go out and work with them. We also visited
some old members from Suba, that was a blast. Tuesday night we got home to the
house of Elder Heninger, and his companion, he was a zone leader too. They
brought Elders from the CCM to stay at their house to stay the night before
they would get their companions to go out to the field that day. When we were
there there was an Elder, big big guy, sitting there in his chair and I saw that
he wasn’t talking. So I asked him how he’s doing and he started to choke up. So
I took him into another room and he told me: “ I just can’t speak the language.
We have been proselyting today and I just cant do it. “ He was having such a
hard time and it just reminded me how I was here just about a year and a half ago. I just felt so much
sympathy for him. We talked for a little while and he was alright. It just made
me think. It’s been awhile since that day, but it just really made me reflect.
We went the next day to the mission home. We had some
training with the President, us who are trainers, while the new missionaries
were at integration. Then we got our new companions. My companion’s name is
Elder Arcos from Lima, Peru. He is a great Elder. I have enjoyed being with
him. Not gonna lie, I was super sad to leave Elder Varillas, he was by far the
best companion that I have ever had. So we got on a bus for 15 hours to go up
to Cucuta. The moment we got off the bus, the heat just hit my face. BOOM. OH GOODNESS,
it is SO HOT HERE. I’m just getting used to feeling wet all the time again.
When you get out of the shower and the heat just hits you again… haha. So we
got to the house and put some stuff away… Anyway, so we got to work getting to
know the members. Not gonna lie family, I am really stressed. I don’t know
anybody. I feel really lonely. It’s crazy how comfortable you get in one area
and then you have to go to another. Normally theres somebody there that knows
the area, but there’s not here. So for me to help Elder Arcos with his training
and everything has been kinda tough. But I think the worst of it is behind us.
We have gotten to know some really good members here.
Story of the week is that when I was thinking about that, I
got really down on Saturday, maybe it was Friday. Ya it was Friday. During
personal study I was reading a talk by Elder Renlund about the Priesthood. It
talked about how a Melchizedek Priesthood Holder honors his covenants, and he
specifically mentions 4 points: Live or give diligent heed to every word that
comes from the mouth of God, the words of everlasting life. Not boasting of
yourself, and trusting the Savior, or treating the Saviro as a friend and
trusting him as a friend would. As I kept reading he gave a list of promises:
that Jesus Christ will prepare the way before you, and angels will bear you up.
As I read that, I began to weep. Because there hasn’t been a way prepared
before me. I am overwhelmed. But it gave me strength. I know that the promise
is true. I have felt it.
One of the ways that I have felt it is when we met a member
names Jaido. (HI-DOE) Jaido has had a hard life. He has Tourette’s Syndrome. So
when he is talking and everything, just randomly he will make some strange
noises and sometimes he yells. If that wasn’t enough, his family is very poor.
He lived in Venezuela for just a little bit, and he had a meat store. And he
lost it. He lost that and his car and he came back to Colombia with nothing but
the clothes on his back. He came back to his family and he is staying in a part
of the house where he just has a dresser that looks like he pulled it out of
the garbage. He sleeps on a couch and there is nothing more. The couch is
filthy with a sheet over it. He has 2 short sleeved Sunday shirts, 3 ties that
a missionary gave him, a pair of shoes, a pair of socks, and a pair of pants.
The roof in his room is falling, it is a brick house with a tin roof, and the
tin roof has fallen in. As I walked into his room, it surprised me because he
is so happy. Then we walked out to the street and he said “you know, some
people complain about not being able to go to church because they were sick.
Some people complain about not being able to go to church and complete their
covenants because they are tired. That wont ever be an excuse for me. If you
don’t see me in the church, you know that something is wrong. I fyou don’t see
me in church, come to my house because something is wrong.” When he said that I
got a big lump in my throat and in my heart. I prayed “God Bless these people.”
Not everyone is like that, but It is pretty poor here. It has really opened my
eyes. I don’t know what to do yet. I will let you guys know as soon as I find
out. But anyway… ya. That was the week.
I read your letter,
Mom, don’t worry about me. I am doing fine. Everything is alright. Just
continue to pray for me, for my companion, and this area. We also have a cocinista, his name is Frank. He is
fantastic. I have never eaten better food in Colombia. Seriously, it is so
GOOD! I love going to eat lunch everyday, and it’s funny, his room, we call it
the Embassy, because his room is covered in flags and pictures of the United
States. He has been there a couple of times, he went with a group of
missionaries when they were going home, because everyone who comes here loves
Frank. Us 4 missionaries eat in his house every day.
Well, I will try to send photos and everything, but I want
you all to know that I love you and all that you have done for me. For helping
me be here, for helping me spiritually, for helping me financially. I want you
to know that your sacrifice doesn’t go unnoticed. I love you guys so much. Talk
to you next week. Chao Chao!
-Elder Lewis
THIS WEEK:
Hola!
We are in Cucutá and this week has been really good. We have
been getting to know the area a lot better, we are getting to know a lot of
members, and we have gotten to know a lot of investigators. So we are doing
good with that. This week we saw a lot of little miracles that helped us out. I
just wanted to tell you about one of those.
I was on exchanges with Elder Prestwich, and we went to a
family that we were going to teach a lesson, and it turns out that the Grandma
of the family was on her bed and she was really not feeling well. Turns out
that last week, she is a big lady, she has had some Thyroid problems is what
they told us. She fell twice, and you know what that does to your spine. Bad
news. So she was on her bed, and when we got there she was crying because her
head hurt so bad. And her back hurt something terrible. We got there and
instantly felt bad for her. So we followed the prompting to give her a
Priesthood blessing, which is kind of a tough thing to do when they don’t know
very much about the church, we have taught 2 lessons to them. It’s kind of a
tough thing to bring up that subject, but we followed with the prompting, and I
got down on my knees by the side of the bed to talk to her, and I just felt the
Savior’s love for her. As I searched my feelings afterward, I recognized that
by the Spirit, it was one of those things that happens just once in awhile, by
the spirit. I realized that the Savior wanted to help her in that moment, that
he was conscious of this daughter’s suffering. that he wanted to heal her. SO
we opened the scriptures to James 5, which says “are there any sick among you?
call the Elders and pray for them,, anointing her with oil.” I realized that in
Jesus the Christ, it was the same thing that happened to Adali awhile ago. I
asked her if she had faith in Jesus Christ. She said yes. I asked her if she believed
that Jesus Christ could heal her. She said yes. Elder Prestwich asked her if
she would be willing to accept the outcome, no matter what it would be. She
said yes. Following that, Elder Prestwich anointed her with oil, and I sealed
the anointing. I felt the spirit fill me. I felt the love of Heavenly Father, I
felt the love of a tender parent for his daughter who was suffering in that
moment and his desire to relieve her of her suffering. The words that came out
of my mouth and expressed the thoughts that came into my head and the feelings
that came into my heart, and at the end I said: “according to your faith, be it
unto you.” We took our hands off her head and helped her to lay down again. She
layed down and we left. Actually, I forgot my Bible there. I was so involved in
what was happening that I forgot that I left it there on the side of the bed.
Later, we were walking down the street about 3 hours later and someone called
my name. Her husband said “her you forgot your bible” and so we went over and
there she was sitting outside her house. We asked her how she was feeling and
she said “Great!” although she still has pain with her back, in that moment she
said that she was able to go to sleep, and when she woke up she didn’t feel the
pain.
I have thought a lot about that experience and the feelings
that I had. Like I said, I was searching a little bit for what I was feeling in
that moment, but that the Savior wanted to relieve her suffering. I don’t know
if that makes sense, but…. Then I remember what I read in a talk by Elder Dale
G. Renlund last week, that the Priesthood is like a rocket, and the rocket has
the function to deliver a payload. The payload can be a satellite, it could be
a communications device. That’s what the Priesthood is. A rocket that delivers
the blessings of the Atonement for his children. I was just grateful I could do
that errand for him, and that me and Elder Prestwich were put in that situation
in that time and that we both felt the need to give her a blessing even though
that wasn’t the thing to do without giving her knowledge, in that moment. Then
we went back the next day and taught the restoration again, explaining to her
that it was by that authority that we were able to help her. It was just a cool
lesson one. It was just a cool lesson. Just because she understood by her
experience that Priesthood is a real power and that faith is the principle of
Power. That was a beautiful experience that I had.
The rest of the week we have been teaching quite a bit, we
have been trying to get ourselves more organized. We had a contact activity
with a lot of missionaries on Saturday morning that was really good. We got to
go out and contact for 2 hours, 14 missionaries, 7 companionships, and that
really helped us out because we were in our area and it helped us get more
investigators. It’s kinda hard because this area has really been worked. We go
up the street and everyone has listened to the missionaries. “Oh ya! You guys
have come and given us the discussions before, OH YA! We know who you are.” SO
we are trying to branch out a little bit more and find people that are really
ready to listen. That’s our quest right now. Also, member referrals are going
to be really important. We have been able to have a good number of
investigators come to the church, we have had a good number of referrals this
week and the Lord has really blessed us. I have really been feeling your
prayers on my behalf, and I wanted to thank you for that.
Well family, I love you all. I know the church is true. I know
that Jesus Christ, I know this more than ever now, that Jesus Christ knows our
pain. He knows our pain and wants to relieve us. I know it because I have felt
it. In a way that my words cant describe. It reminds me of when the only time
that a leper asked him “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole?” and he
said “I will.” The only time in the Bible someone asked him if he wanted to do
it. I know that he wants to do it. I have a testimony of the Savior. This is
the church. He leads and guides it through a living prophet who is Russell M.
Nelson. The restoration is still happening. May we be a part of it.
Love you all, please have an awesome week.
-Elder Lewis
