Week 97: A Baptism, An Unexpected Visit, and Sugar Cookies.

Hey Family!

This week has been alright, we ended it with a baptism and a confirmation, so that was really great. Henry Villarraga got baptized. It was a very spiritual experience. We organized the baptism and everything, it went off almost without a hitch. But anyway, we got all that organized. It was really great because after the baptism he and his wife gave their testimonies. Alisa, his wife, is already a member. She gave a strong testimony that it was the best day of her life that he husband was now baptized in the church. And Henry, who is a complete… I don’t know how you would say it… jokester I guess? I mean he doesn’t take anything seriously. But he got up there and bore a powerful testimony and ended up shedding a few tears. I am very grateful for the opportunity of getting to teach him for the past month or so. But ya, they have actually turned into a great help for us with all of our other investigators. He is going to receive the Priesthood this week or next week. I am looking forward to that.

Well this week, on Tuesday I just remembered that we had a good day. It was incredible. We focused in on trying to follow the spirit that day. So in the morning we really tried to get everything and to get to everything on time. We ended our studies on time and asked the Lord where he would have us go out and contact that morning. The Lord told us to go to the north of our area. To an area that we haven’t contacted before. Feeling the same impression, both of us, we went. We didn’t make a lot of contacts, but the contacts that we made were great! Actually, it was inspiration completely because we went there and all the people that we contacted rejected us. But then we had 3 people, on 3 different occasions over the course of an hour that contacted us, that walked up to us and started talking to us and asked us who we were and what we were doing and it was actually next to a really pretty, (I didn’t know this existed in Bogota) a really pretty extension of green grass. It looked like a bunch of field, I didn’t know it existed, it was just so GREEN! I will have to take pictures. It looks like Sogamoso. On one side you have Bogota that is the urban jungle, and on the other side you have this farmer kind of feeling. It was really weird but it was a good spot to go contacting. We are looking to see the fruit of that this week. We really felt the spirit, and as we came back I will never forget this feeling that we had, the feeling was this peace. In that moment I didn’t want to do anything, or think anything or say anything that would interrupt that feeling. It just came back with this feeling of peace. Later that day that peaceful feeling followed me as we went to contact again. After lunch we went and about 4 o’clock we were contacting and again everybody was just turning us down. “we don’t want to listen to anything”. Shutting doors and windows in our faces and…well we got to a building with 5 floors. We rang the first doorbell, and nobody came out. Normally in Bogota all the houses have 3 floors and they are all stuck one to another. All of your view is concrete. It’s a really narrow street with 3 floored houses, all different colors in the street. We normally try to just hit the first floor because when you start, when you look up and you start saying “Hey! We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ! We have a lesson to teach you about Jesus Christ and how much he loves you!” They just slam the window right in your face. So we were just hitting the first floors. So that building of 5 floors, we started to walk away and I stopped. My companion said “The Spirit?” and I said “Ya.” I just felt this burning in my chest. I have learned this lesson: That in any moment, when I just feel peace, when I just feel my chest start to burn, when something fills my chest, in that moment I know I have to listen. It’s like a warning signal. It’s like “Hey. Listen.”. I stopped and I listened. The Lord told me through the Spirit that we had to hit all 5 floors. That’s really tough because you yell up at a 5th floor and they are going to shut the window right in your face. BUT.. my companion did it and I stood out in the street…. And…. Nobody came out. So we were like: “alright, what was that impression for?” and then a woman came walking up right as we were about to go and accepted the invitation to have us come back. Then we understood. SO that was the great spiritual experience and the spirit followed us throughout the day. Later that night we went to Henry’s house, the same that got baptized this week, and taught him a very spiritual lesson. We read 3 Nephi 11, which talks about Jesus coming to the Americas. And man… that was a great lesson. I felt the spirit for sure. It was just great to help him to firm up his testimony to be able to be baptized that Saturday. We left the house with such a peaceful feeling. We have been trying to replicate it ever since. But it’s the same feeling that I feel right now. When we look for guidance from the Lord, he will give it to us. What I have learned is that… I used to think “Well, I’m not going to ask the Lord where to go to contact” for example, because that’s something that I can do on my own because Doctrine and Covenants says that if the Lord has to direct you in everything that that servant is a slothful servant. BUT…. I think that now we should ask the Lord what he would have us do at the beginning of every day. We should promise him to do it, and then we should do it. Then when we have done it, we should ask him what we should do next. It takes a lot of faith to be able to trust in the Lord that way but it’s the only way to do his work. I would even say that he can direct us in our day to day affairs. But I have never experienced such a peaceful feeling than that which I experienced that day and the truth is, I haven’t felt it the same way since. Up till right now actually. So it’s interesting that as I say this to you, how the spirit is… I don’t want to make this sound like I a righteous or a great missionary or anything because I listen because the Lord talks to me and my companion through the Spirit because he will talk to you anytime, anywhere, no matter what. It’s not something that’s just exclusive to missionaries. But even now I feel the spirit. Things come to my mind that I need to do. Most of the time they are not crazy things, sometimes they are just very simple things that we can do. Other times, they are kind of crazy things. But you can always know if you are following the spirit by the way that you feel. If you feel good with what you are doing, Well, shut out the nervousness first and then.. I don’t know. If ti’s a good feeling, it’s from the Lord. That’s what I have learned. I guess this recording has been long enough, but I appreciate you guys listening to my rambling about this. This is what I have learned this week. However, I have learned equally in my mission that if we don’t do the things to be able to feel peaceful, for example, if I am not on time for my studies in the morning; if I take too long doing other things, shining my shoes or if I have to pull my shirt out of the washer and iron it so that it dries because dryers doing exist here, then a lot of times I wont have such a spiritual experience and the Lord wont direct me. Not because he doesn’t want to, but because I am not in a place to receive his direction. So there was also something interesting, we started to experience these things after last week. We had a really rough week. Just a bad, bad week. It has kind of been bad this week except for the baptism of Henry. But It caused us to really repent of the little things that we were doing wrong and that was when we were able to listen. The voice of the spirit has become clear. I don’t know, it just becomes so obvious when you feel it. It’s like “OOHH that’s something different.” If you pay attention, actually, you feel it all the time. I don’t know, it’s just something that I have been meditating about.

Thanks for listening to my rambling, I am not trying to preach. Haha. If you want to know what’s going on in the world of Elder Lewis, that’s it. That’s what occupies our thoughts all the time and when I think about the things that I want to share, the things that have been the best things for me, that’s what comes to my mind. So sorry if it sounds preachy, but ya. Well I think that’s it for today. I hope you have all had a good week. AH YA! Well I have to tell you about Mauricio and Alma! They told me about 2 weeks ago that they were going to the United States and that they were gonna go up through Utah, that they were going to Orem is what they said. And so I thought I would try to send something with them. The shirt and the horns were some things that I sent through them. They said they would go up and “Try to call your sister or your parents and get those things to them.” I didn’t hear anything from them for a little while UNTIL… on Friday they called me and they said “Hey, can you come over to the house at 3? We’ve got something for you from your family. And I was like “WOW! YA WE CAN COME OVER!” haha. So we went over and they showed me the pictures of them in the house. And at Crystal Hot Springs. And I was just floored. I was SO excited that they got to do that! (Note from Jessica; Mauricio and Alma made a stop last Tuesday in Deweyville at Elder Lewis' parents home! It was an amazing visit and they are amazing people!) I 

talked with them and Conrad, a compliment for you, they said your Spanish is really good! Alma told me that you hardly even speak with an accent. So a big compliment to you! They said that your cookies were delicious, mom. They said that Mom, you were very excited and Alma said that she gave me such a big hug and I almost suffocated! But your mom is beautiful! SO take that compliment, Mom. I have a beautiful Mom. What more… they really enjoyed Utah. They said that when they went through St. George that they saw the temple and when they got close they didn’t see the angel Moroni. They saw what looks like a cross on top. They thought that it was just a Catholic church, dang it. But then they got closer and saw the “Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord” and knew it was the temple. They didn’t know that not all temples have the angel Moroni. Same thing when they went to the Logan temple. But ya, they really enjoyed the house, they enjoyed Crystal Hot Springs, they enjoyed… the thing that people from here who have been to Utah say is that it’s so organized. That everything is so clean. And it’s true! So count your blessings. Anyway, I got your cookies, and your sugar cookies were a hit with me and with my companion.

ELDER LEWIS’ COMPANION, ELDER ARREDIA: “Your cookies, Sister Lewis, are so good! I love it! I never have tasted a cookie like yours. I like it. You need to send me your recipe because it is so good. In Ecuador we don’t do cookies but I love that cookies. You are the best with the cookies!”

There you have it! A message from Elder Arredia de Ecuador, but ya we will have to swap recipes (I got your recipe as well) because he made us soup the other day that was AMAZING. Our lunch with our cocinista…. She was in another place so we cooked lunch that day. My companion cooked us soup that was really good. We were doing a little bit of service in.. how do you say… a place that they ship out ribs. We took 70 boxes of ribs and dumped them in water. afterwards he gave us some and my companion cooked them up and it was really good. So ya we will have to swap recipes there. But ya. This recording has now gone over 21 minutes, so I better shut it down. I love you guys so much, thank you for all the candy, and all your love. We celebrated the baptism of Henry with Root Beer, and with Cookies, and with Reeses and it was the best. I didn’t even know how much I missed those cookies. They got to us all soft and everything. The cookie was soft and the icing was just a little bit hard and it was perfect. Actually Mauricio has a video of us eating them and I was on his couch and I just had to sit back and they all laughed at me. But I don’t care! Love you all so much. Talk to you guys next week, alright? Bueno. Chao!

-Elder Lewis

Elder Layton... what are you doing???

OK now you're just being ridiculous.... jajaja

Conrad translating for Mauricio and Alma and their family! 

Mauricio on the far right, and their 2 sons

Alma on the left and their cousin from Brigham City UT on the right

The Lewis family and Mauricio and Alma and family at the Lewis home, Deweyville UT

Week 96: "...Cry REPENTANCE Unto This People...."

Hey Family, Buenas Tardes!

It’s been kind of a rough week, truth is, a few of our things that we had going for us fell through. But the Lord is opening other doors, so we are gonna roll with it. So this week we found quite a few new investigators just by hitting the streets and checking out all of our contacts and everything. It was a really good time, truth is the best day was Tuesday. Tuesday we really did a lot of good. We did a lot of contacts, we got some new investigators, also, Henry Viaraga is going to be baptized this week. He has been an investigator for awhile, and the missionaries before us kind of paved the way so that they got married and all we had to do was finished the lessons and invite him to be baptized. He overcame some stuff with his wife who is a member, and he is going to be baptized on Saturday at 6:00. So pray for Henry. Looking through my planner…. So Friday night we had exchanges with our District Leader. Sorry, Tuesday night we did splits with some members of the ward, which was really fun. It was fun to go out with just members of the ward and teach the gospel. Then on Friday night we had intercambios, we had exchanges with the District Leader. It was Elder McFadden from Washington. We had a pretty good time. We have an investigator named Arturo, I don’t know if I have told you about him yet. But he is really good. He is really coming along. They just gotta separate because he is married but just hasn’t done the paperwork to get divorced yet even though he is living with another woman and they have been separated for quite a long time now. So we are gonna see what happens there. But he has a testimony and everything so going strong with him. He also presented us to a roommate… or how do you say it…. Someone who is renting a room in their apartment. Her name is Kendris. She is really awesome as well.

This week I have been really trying to focus in on teaching the simple things of the Gospel. Like Joseph Smith taught; I was reading some of the teachings of Joseph Smith in Preach my Gospel and he said “Just preach the simple principles of the gospel. Faith to Repentance and Repentance leading to Baptism.” He said to a group one time, on a mission to New York, he said simply: “Repent and be Baptized and as a servant of God I promise you that you will receive the Holy Ghost.” It was just something that impacted me. The simple things of the gospel are really so important. I am very grateful to have 2 years to dedicate just to those simple principles. As a missionary, you are to go out and teach repentance and baptize converts, and that is it. You aren’t supposed to go out and fight with people about politics or about the Book of Revelation or the mysteries. You are just supposed to preach repentance. It’s a real blessing to me. I have learned the value of repentance this week. As all missionaries, we have made mistakes this week. We actually pushed a couple of investigators a little too hard to get married and now they are kind of iffy. That hurts. We just felt so strong that they were ready and they are ready but we are just going to kinda take a step back and try to guide them more than push them along. It’s something you learn as a missionary. Missionaries aren’t perfect, but I know that repentance is there so that we can get better. I know that conversion is a process that cant be pushed and cant be rushed. It’s all the time of the Lord. The Lord actually warned us to take it easy, and we didn’t really listen. It blew up in our faces. It reminds me of Doctrine and Covenants chapter 3 where the Lord rebukes Joseph Smith for not listening to him, and I felt rebuked this week. But I take comfort in what it says there, it says “My servant Joseph, remember that God is merciful, and you are again called to the work.” I know that every time that we repent, we are again called to the work. What other way could I ever bear testimony, any moving, lasting, testimony of the Atonement if I have never experienced it? And how could I experience it if I didn’t stumble and fall? But thanks to the fact that God allows us to stumble and fall, he gives us the opportunity to repent and get to know the power of the Atonement. That is my testimony that I have gained this week, and that I am going to continue to gain because it’s not over. Just know that repentance is always positive. Repentance doesn’t really necessarily need to be for big things, it can be for small things too. Big or small, it’s always positive.

Well, that’s what I wanted to share with you this week. It’s how I feel. It’s really been a positive experience in my life this week. I love you all and I will talk to you later! Chao!


-Elder Lewis

Week 95: Short and Sweet

Sorry I didn't get to make a recording, or send pictures. It's because we went to the center of Bogotá today and got back late. It was super cool though!

   But basically what happened this week is that Leonardo called us on monday night and told us he wanted to be baptized! We were so excited! He talked to his girlfriend and she wanted to too. But, she has been slowing him down, and now I don´t know if he is still so motivated. It was really a dissapointment this week, but that´s how it goes sometimes, no? But I´ll tell you what happens next week.

   On the brightside, Juan Gabriel and Viviana were able to get 400.000 of the 700.000 pesos that they need to get married! It was  a HUGE answer to prayers, and fasting. We´re now selling some cookies that I learned how to make from Elder Goncalves to make up the rest. Who knows if God won´t extend His hand again to help us. I know He will.

  Love you so much

   Élder Lewis

Week 94: One Door Closes, and Another One Opens.

Hi Family!

So I just got back from the Bogota Temple like an hour ago, back here to the apartment. We decided to go for p-day. We decided to delay our fast a little bit so that we could go fasting to the Temple. So we did. And the reason for that was for Viviana and Juan Gabriel who are still progressing in that we have seen miracles with them. But ya, I will tell you about that a little later on.

So this week has all kinda been a blur. I don’t know where it all went, but I guess I will read you what I have from my journal: 27 June 2018. Last night was very special. We contacted a referral that we received from the Zone Leaders and set an appointment with them for that very day. We got there and met Arturo, a shorter man, bald on top and round in the middle. Also, his Venezuelan girlfriend, who is a member, but hadn’t attended since coming to Colombia about 7 months ago. We went in, got to know them more, and started the lesson. We learned that Jocelin, the Venezuelan, was looking for the church but she hadn’t been able to locate one close. That’s when Arturo happened upon Elder Robinson, the same Elder I worked with In Bucaramanga, and Elder Olivera while they were contacting. They then passed the reference to us and so forth. I asked Arturo, “what is your interest as far as religion?” he responded to me that he didn’t understand why so many churches. He said that they taught that a sinner goes to hell and a saint to heaven but then what? That was a great question. We taught about the restoration and he was very attentive. Then afterwards we invited him to pray. Then he said with some emotion: “Elders, many times I feel my prayers don’t get heard. I feel like I am talking to a wall.” I saw tears in his eyes in that moment. I thought for a moment then remembered something that Hermano Villalobos in the CCM showed us, he showed us something one time that I wanted to try. I found myself saying: “Arturo, if you want to know, get on your knees and ask God: ‘God, are you there? Can you hear me?’” he agreed, and we then got on our knees. Arturo offered a short, but beautiful, heartfelt prayer. He said: “God, are you here with us tonight?” We then stayed on our knees in silence. He began to cry. We stayed for 5 minutes in silence. He then told us that he felt a peace and a tranquility and a tingling feeling on his back. He said that he had only felt it once before in his life when he took his dying wife to a Christian church and when he prayed out of desperation for her. We all felt the spirit. What a beautiful experience.

1st of July, 2018. Wow it’s now July. Crazy to think that I go home next month. But then again, I have still got 2 months to go. So I am going to settle in here and really put the pedal to the metal. I saw pictures from Hermano Laquiero, a member in our area, of President and Sister Laney getting home to their family in the airport. It still doesn’t feel real to me. I love and respect them so much. I often think of the time that I was on exchanges with Elder Picuasi some 8 months ago and we were taking Elder Reyes to the mission house, for he had some problems and was going to go home that next day. President invited all 3 of us in for Ice Cream from Crepes and Waffles (Not cheap) and Hermana Laney’s famous brownies. I will never forget the feeling of love that I felt that night. The love that they have for every missionary. Really, I felt the love of the Savior. We now have Presidente Valladares from Honduras.

That concludes my journal entries from this week. So as you heard, President Laney has finished about a week ago, I got a picture with President and Sister Laney, they finished their mission the 30th of June. The day after, I saw pictures of them in the airport, I was talking to Sister Laney the other day at a multi-zone conference and I asked her how she felt. You have to get to know Sister Laney, she is really funny. But she is very much a lover of her own culture. It was kind of hard for her to come to another culture. But she told me with tears in her eyes, and I never thought that this would happen, she told me “I am really gonna miss Colombia. You know we have lived here for a long time.” And I said “ya I know” and she said “Well, the bright side is that I have got 3 grandkids that I have never met and a son in law that I have hardly met” so she was looking forward to going and meeting them. Then I saw pictures with her with her new grandkids and President Laney hugging his family for the first time in who knows how long. Even though your family is allowed to come visit you when you are a mission president, it’s still… ooof…. It’d be really hard to go away for 3 years. But President and Sister Laney have truly made an impact on my life. They have been a great example, and as the apostle, Elder Stevenson, told us, that we should try to pattern our lives like President and Sister Laney have. President Laney is a powerful man that has the love of Christ, that has an incredible amount of charity and patience. That just resonates from him. I hope one day to be a man like President Laney. I think it goes for the same as what Mormon wrote about Captain Moroni. That is that if all men had been, were, and ever would be, like President Laney, then Satan wouldn’t have any power over the hearts of the children of men and the very powers of hell would be shaken forever. SO that was really sad to see them go. But as I looked at the picture of President Valladares and his wife from Honduras, originally we were supposed to get President Valim from Brazil but like 2 weeks before they came they switched it. President Valim is now going to Costa Rica, and President Valladares is coming here. I am going to have relatively short time with President Valladares but I really do feel the spirit when I saw their picture. We are praying for them. He is already here, I haven’t met him though. I hope to meet him soon. But it was kinda just a big chapter in my mission that closed. It’s hard for me to think of the mission without President Laney. But he is resting now for a little while and he deserves it. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear him getting a calling that’s elevated, that’s higher than a mission president. Maybe a 70 or Patriarch or something like that. He’s already been Stake President, Bishop, Young Mens President, but ya.

Well, today we went fasting to the temple, fasting for Juan Gabriel and Viviana as well as some other investigators, but mainly for them to receive revelation as to what we should do. We just kinda hit a wall with them. We have kinda felt frustrated with their marriage where it is so expensive. BUT… I told you guys about a miracle that happened the last week where we fasted and found, and God led us to a brother that would help them. NOW we went to the temple and me and my companion both received the inspiration that we should, as It says in Exodus, “stand still and the Lord Jehovah will fight your battles.” That’s the inspiration that we received. We actually called them that day and said “Hey, come to the temple and we will give you a tour, and then we will pay you to bring us back” because he drives Uber. So we would pay you the trip back. So they came and we walked around the temple, we got into reception and everything like that and they felt peace. Then when we got in the car, it turns out that Alejandro, this member that we found, sent them a message. He said Hey I was looking around for another legal office (here it’s called a notary or notaria) We found a notaria in a place called Fontibon that some friends of mine have more kids than you guys outside of their current relationship (which is what makes it so expensive) this family that had more kids outside of their relationship got married there for 300,000 pesos which is a big difference from the proposed 700,000 pesos that they want for the marriage of Viviana y Juan Gabriel. We were just ecstatic! So we might be able to get it chopped down to like 200,000 pesos which is roughly like 60 dollars. But we really felt humbled about that. The Lord just told us “look, sons, have patience.” It’s like what Joseph Smith said: “dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do everything within our power and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance to see the salvation of God, for his arm to be revealed.” We felt that in a powerful way. God does give us revelation. He does fight our battles. We must trust in him. I do trust in him. I have gotten to know him by these experiences, having to trust him.

Well, that’s about it for this week. I love you all, I hope you feel the Savior’s love this week. Chao!

-Elder Lewis

Meeting Elder Stevenson in Bucaramanga. Elder Lewis is on the back row, 8 in.