Week 80: Burdens Lightened and Blessings Seen on the Border

Buenas tardes familia!


This week has been a week full of new investigators, small miracles, and great retrospection.


-We went this week to construct a chicken coop for the familia Moreno. It was funny, because none of us have ever done it, but it turned out really well. We found a frog as big as my fist that sprays poison milk. Jairo grabbed it, and it sure did jajaja! I´ll send pictures when Elder Prestwich sends them to me...


I downloaded a talk by Ronald A Rasband from a BYU devocional that talked about integrity. Something stuck with me. Speaking of Jon Huntsman, Elder Rasband said, "And most importantly, HIS WORD WAS HIS BOND!" I´ve tried to make that my motto this week. I want my word to be my bond, for the word of the Lord, is His bond as well. You all should listen to it, because it really is very inspiring.

I attended and sang at a funeral of a baby girl that died this week. Her father has come to be a good friend of mine, and it was so hard. He said "Elder, I know I´ll see her again, but it still hurts..." He is Venezuelan, and as you may have read in the news, things in Venezuela are NOT good right now. I watched brother José fight tooth and nail to get a passport for her and go to a city about 5 hours away called Bucaramanga to get a heart surgery. All that time, brother José always salutes you with a warm smile and a big hug. He got the passport and she had the surgery, but didn´t make it through the recovery. I sure feel for them, as they now face bills from the surgery, and more than anything, the loss of the Mayi. But When we got to the funeral, the little white casket there, and the family in front, José gave me his typical big smile and big hug. I sure love them. I want the whole world to know that families are forever, and death need not be the end. I know more than anything that God lives. His mercy is eternal, and His love infinite. These things are understood in the heart and "the misteries of God are displayed before (my) view,"(Mosíah 2:9) as I study the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it´s true, and I have the rest of my life to share it.


Well, I´m off my soap box, but it´s something that´s been on my mind this week.


Love you all!

Élder J. Lewis

Week 79: Bringing in the Fruit of the Season

This week has been a bit trying. We´ve had a few investigators fall by the wayside, which always breaks your heart, but others that are prepared to keep comitments come forth. We´ve also been working hard here with Elder Goncalves. I´ve really enjoyed being his companion. He is very energetic, and teaches really well for someone with so little time in the mission.

Today was a very strange pday. We had a ward activity, in which they had a little fair with lots of fun things that people could do by paying a certain amount of fake money. One of those things was that they could enter into a room that had a sign on the door "Heaven." It was the baptismal room, and my companion and I dressed in white, and Elder Gulla and Elder Prestwich explained baptism, and showed the video of the baptism of Jesus. Then they opened the doors and Elder Goncalves and I demonstrated how a baptism is done. We then bore our testimonies, there in the font, and invited them to be baptized. It really was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun! Although it wasn´t a regular pday activity, it was very fulfilling, and the investigators and members felt the spirit. I wish we could teach baptism that way every time!

We had an investigator named Veronica pray at the end of a lesson. She said "Thank you for sending the missionaries, for you know that I prayed that they would come this morning." It was a impromptu visit, but really it was something very special. They are going to get married soon, we´ve just got to help her and Renzo. They can´t read, so we´re arranging for some members to read with them a little every day.

Ilvanis has had some hard problems this week, as her husband is choosing some alcohol over her. It´s very sad to see, as I think that they will separate now, but it´s all she´s missing to be able to be baptized. We´re going to work with the president of the Relief Society to try to help and support her, as I think she also feels lonely. But her testimony is so strong.

I hit year and a half this week. Crazy how time is passing. Crazy how many changes I´ve seen in myself, my family, and in the mission.

- I don´t think I´ve changed much physically. Just a bit more hair on my face and maybe a couple pounds more. Not much jaja

- I really have come to realize how little I knew about the gospel before the mission. I had a cool experience reading Jacob 5 in the book of mormon. It´s always been a trying chapter to understand, but I prayed for the gift of profecy and revelation to understand. It was an awesome experience when I really dug in and tried to understand. The answers came clearly, one by one, teaching me new things. I got to know my Savior better that morning. Truly, His love is infinite, and His sacrifice as well. It´s really very simple, just that I needed to understand with the spirit. That is something I´ve learned how to do better in my mission. I´m just trying to adjust my life more and more to be able to understand.

-I don´t speak very much english now days. I haven´t forgotten vocabulary, I think, but grammar is a little mixed up at times...

-I´ve really found the beauty in the doctrine of the missionary lessons. If you think that you know how the Plan of Salvation works, and how it relates to the restoration and the doctrine of Christ, think again jaja! I´m convinced that I´ll never stop learning new concepts little by little as long as I live.

-In other news, we still haven´t found the crab.

-Remember the shoes that Conrad had that we all laughed because they were pointy? I have some now. I found them in the house and had them resoled. It´s the style here, I guess jaja!

- This week on two occasions we saw people walking around with "se compra cabello" hanging on a sign around their necks. Sometimes people have to do anything to be able to eat. Keep praying for Venezuela.

-There isn´t hot water in Cúcuta, but the water comes out warm thanks to the sun that has been burning us alive in the streets this week! It´s been about 97 degrees without a cloud in the sky, 70 percent humidity. Ouch...

Well, that´s my report for this week. Was it complete? jaja I think I like this a little better, because it gives me time to think about what i´m going to say.

Anyway, I love you all, hope to hear from you! I´m praying for you, and I feel your prayers for me. Please continue to pray, because the field is extra white here in Cúcuta, and we need the Lord´s help to bring in a lot of fruit for the season. 

71 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the blast time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come.

72 And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things.

73 And there began to be the natural fruit again in the vineyard;

Élder Lewis

Weeks 77 & 78: A Pillar of Light (18 month mark)

note from Jessica: Elder Lewis is having difficulty communicating with us via the recordings he usually uses, so this week is a two for one, again. Enjoy! 


Well, the recording wont work this week either...

here in the area we´ve had some great stuff going on. My perspective on things continues to become bigger and bigger. I´m very grateful for that.

-We found a woman named Ivanis, who left from a christian church frustated because she didn´t think that what they taught, apart from the screaming and "recieving the holy ghost" was right. She was praying to know which was the true church, out of frustration. At the same time, Elder Gulla and Elder Prestwich were passing by. They felt prompted to talk to her. But then she went up to her apartment... so they waited. Then after ten minutes she came down, and there they were. The answer to the prayer she had just said. The first lesson I had with her, I was on divisions with Jairo Tarazona. I don´t cry very often in the lessons, but as I said "I saw a pillar of light," the magnitude of the statement hit me. I wept, and so did she, and the spirit filled the room. She has a baptismal date for the 31 of march.

-We found out that this area has some impressive history. The church started here in 1986 with the family of Frank (our pensionista) and he told me about how much Elder Hunter and Elder Shepherd meant to him. He bore to me powerful testimony of how the gospel has changed and saved his life. We´re organizing a family home evening to see how we can bring that fire back to this area! I´m so excited!

-Elder Prestwich caught a crab down by the river. And it had babys. And then disappeared. We havent seen it ever since...

Love you all!
Que Dios Les Bendiga!
Élder J. Lewis

An old colonial cathedral. Here, Simón Bolivar signed the Declaration of independence of Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Perú, and ecuador from the Spanish rule! It was destroyed by an earthquake 300 years ago.

Pet Monkey 

For Dad: Here's a tire shop in Villa del Rosario! Pretty sweet, no?