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