Week 6: Bienvenidos a Colombia! and a little language laughter ;)

Elder Lewis is in Colombia! Here is the letter from his Presidente and Hermana Laney.

Elder Lewis is the furthest back on the left

Letter from Mission President, also check out the mission blog!

A handwritten letter from Elder Lewis. A translation is provided below if you cant read it ;) 

Hola! I have arrived safe and sound in Bogota! I met with my mission president and he is amazing! I have a deep respect for him, and Hermana Laney. Bogota is beautiful! The first night I stayed with the office missionaries in the nicest apartment in the mission, where I was assured that I would not ever have such a nice apartment. They got it by a freak off-chance. It was great! I am now bidding a sad goodbye to my great friends from the CCM. I am going to a different area then all of them. 

My new area is... Bucaramonga! My comp is a Chilean named Elder Zunega. Not a lick of English. I dont have much time, so i want you to know how much I love you all. Sorry we got cut off at the airport! It was so good to hear your voices (at 4 am) 

Ustedes me amo! 

your faithful son, 

Elder Jared M. Lewis

****READ IF YOU NEED A LAUGH: As we were reading this message, we got to the end and noticed that the Spanish seemed a little off. Jared's brother-in-law, Conrad, speaks Spanish and immediately began to die of laughter because.... 

"Ustedes me amo" translates to: "You guys, I love myself!" LOL oops! 

Major Update from Jessica: Elder Lewis took off for Colombia early this morning. He called Mom and Dad at 4:30am and they said that he sounded great and is doing well. He landed safely in Bogota this afternoon! 

Week 5: Saying goodbye to Mexico and the CCM

Hola! 

Last week in CCM! This place has been amazing, and I've had so many wonderful experiences, gained many life long friends, and seen the hand of the Lord in all of it! It's bitter sweet, but I'm excited for the field!

- I'm leaving with the 7 other Elders headed for Bogota at 3:30 in the morning on monday! I'm the travel leader, so I'm responsible to make sure they get there in order without doing anything stupid! Fun fact: I was told very emphatically that I was not to let them preach or read Preach My Gospel at the airports as we could all get arrested! Fun stuff!

-Bonnie L Oscarson of the Gen Young Womens presidency vistited CCM this week, and everyone was so excited!

-Mexico City air has been the worst this week! I miss fresh Utah air! 

In closing, I'll send some spanish.

Dios es nuestro amoroso padre celestial. El quiere bendice nosotros, pero, necesitamos guardar Sus mandemientos para recibir Sus bendiciones.

From Mexico for the last time,

Elder Lewis

The next post refers to Jared's maternal grandfather, who passed away on Oct 18,2006. This week marks ten years since his passing. We love and miss him and his wisdom every day. 

Haha ya! I actually realized halfway through they day that it was the ten year mark. I felt sad at first, but then reflected on the last time I went and visited him the saturday before he passed away. I was filled with a deep feeling as the spirit testified to me that ten years to the day, I am doing exactly what i promised him I would do that day, and he is very proud of me. I am filled with the same feeling now. I still feel close to him.

Week 4: Leading and Learning the way (and pictures)

Hola!

Curve Ball! Este semana en la CCM fue un poco differente! Elder Nielson and I were made Zone Leaders this week, which is an amazing opportunity to pay forward the love I felt from Elder Lemon and Elder Kesler in the last 4 weeks. Now I get to serve and love like they did, and it's so cool! 

The weather here in Mexico has cooled off a bit this week, which is nice!
I'm sorry about the shortness of this one, but i want to send pictures, so I'm going to have to make the next one longer! 

Yo appredido este semana que este mission no es para a mi. Estoy aqui para servir en la vina de El Senor!

From his email to me: 

Tell Jayson hi for me, and I hope he's doing well! I'm beginning to see why coming home is hard. The spirit here is guiding me all the time! I know how Cici feels. We watched The Testaments on Sunday night and I sat there trying not to, but when he was crucified, it came in heaving sobs. I have had some experiences where in my mind's eye, I can see him suffering in the garden, and my spirit feels heavy for him. How unfair it was, but I know that with His stripes, we are healed. 

His email to mom:

your son is a Zone Leader! This was quite a curveball, as we figured the guys that were more experienced DL's would be it, but we got called out in priesthood meeting. I love this calling because my job is to Love my district, help them seek Christ, and organize sunday meetings. There is more  to it than that, but that's the essence of it! The ZL's before us are amazing. They left on monday, but they a huge part of the reason I'm doing as well as I am. They are the personification of just loving someone. When i met our new district we got today, and stood in front of them in a classroom and told them "We love you guys," I felt my Savior's love. The first week at the CCM is hard, and I am so happy that i get to pay forward the help that I got. Please pray for me in this new calling, as I feel the sacredness of the small, but meaningfull responsibility. 

There werent any explanations that came with the pictures, but from what I can tell, these are views in and around the Mexico CCM (MTC) 

Week 3: working, laughing, and parrots

Hey Everyone!

This week flew by, as we celebrated our half way mark in the CCM! This week was full of spiritual felicity and much joy in the service of my Savior. But first, the stuff I know you read the blog for: The funny stuff!

1. Yesterday, We woke up to screams in the next room. When we went to investigate, we found that there was a moth in room 3 in the shower. Moths aren't scary. Unless of course they're wingspan is about eight and a half inches. This was one of those. I call them Bat Moths, because in the dark, you can't tell the difference. Elder Tracy bravely threw a plunger at it from across the room and ran away haha! 

2. Elder Blair and Elder Karren were walking to the Thomas S. Monson building when it started to rain. That is until they discovered it was parrot crap. Yup. That was funny!

I wish I had time to say more, but I'll end with my message in Spanish:

Nuestro mensaje es un mensaje muy felicimente. Yo se que mediante fe en Jesucristo, puedemos hacer los todos cosas. Este evangelio es un evangelio de las familias eternas. Si tiene usted un deseo de hacer un cambia en su vida, recibir paz y consuelo, este mensaje es para usted. Es para los todos hijos de Dios. Yo se que, sin dudo, Dios nos ama, y El deseo que nosotros regresar, con nuestros familias, a viviamos con El. Este doctrina is verdadero. 

Moroni 10:3-5

Elder J Martin Lewis.

A little more spiritual wisdom this week from his letter to Mom
Dear Mom, i can't tell you how happy it makes me that you are doing missionary work! My heart is very full, because I have such a righteous mother. I've learned many things here, but the thing that ive learned most of all is that sharing the truth of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can only be done one way: in love, patience, and charity. I love  you so much Mom! I feel the spirit very strongly right now. I want to share with you an experience Elder Nielson and I had. We were caught off guard when we found that at 5:15 yesterday, we were teaching an investigator (our Maestro posing as ''Ricardo", a man who is investigating the church in search of guidance in his life) We realized we were teaching this at 5:10. I felt nervous, but then came to my mind a scripture I had read earlier that day. So we taught, and asked him questions, and discussed with him the guidance that comes through the Doctrine of Christ. We invited him to be baptized. He said yes. After we said the prayer, and the feedback started, Maestro Ordonez looked at us with tears in his eyes and said "I was going to say no, but the Holy Ghost stopped me. I felt like the only answer I could say was yes." I must tell you, that this was one of the defining moments so far in my experience here. When we study under the direction of the Spirit, and write down our thoughts, and ponder them, God blesses us so abundantly. Mom, There is no greater act of love than that which you are doing for Teri. Whether she accepts it or not is up to her, but you will be blessed greatly for your effort, and your charity. I love you so much. I know these things to be true. Jesus Christ is my Savior, and I know that this mission, serving Him, is the greatest thing I can do. It has broken my heart of stone repeatedly, and continues to do so, but always replaces it with a more loving, Christ-like one. He is so good, and I am getting to know him more and more every day. I'm stubborn, and it has brought me very low, but that's when i get to know him!

For Grandma Davis and Grandpa Lewis:
I'll pray for Grandma every day. Faith works miracles, I want her to know that! I love her very much.

Thank you all for the package and the letters, My room mates and I really enjoyed it all! (I reserved the Dr. Pepper for myself though, Grandpa!) 

over the past few years, Aunt Bonnie and myself have been working on transcribing my Grandpa Davis' journals. Jared was given a copy of his mission journal, transcribed by Bonnie, to take with him. I am glad to know that he is finding strength in it. Here is what he says: 

By the way, something interesting happened. My room mates have been reading grandpa's mission journal, ever since I read them the preface! We all gain a lot of strength and wisdom and hope from his experiences! He had some crazy one's, didn't he?!

His letter to Rebekah:
Bekah!
Here at the CCM (Centro de Capacitacion Misional) We only have one Tienda (Store) They sell a lot of cool things, as well as treats and drinks and supplies! The Mexico City temple was BEAUTIFUL! I'm acutally going again in about an hour! There are lots of cool things in it, its kinda built like a lamanite temple! There are lots of mosquitoes here, but there are also spiders, and what I call 'Mothbats." They are about the size of my handspan! HUGE! I'll send a funny story about one on the blog:)
Love you Boo!
Jared

Week 2: Learning differences in culture and mighty miracles

Hola everyone!

This week has gone by quickly, mas o menos. It kinda does that when you have every minute of everyday planned out! First off, i want to tell you about some things that've happened in the last two weeks:

1. Apparently it's not okay to do the whole rhythmic door knocking thing we Americans do, in Mexico. Elders Chase and Stevens found that out the hard way! haha Elder Nielson and I had a good laugh! Incidentally, we started noticing that when a Mexican driver is mad, theyll honk "shave and a haircut"

2. Blowing stuff up in the middle of the 2nd largest city in the world is considered bad form in America. No one bats an eye in Mexico. We don't think it harms anything, but it goes on from one spot to the north of us at random times, usually daily. BOOM! Then smoke rolls out from the hillside. Normal. 

3. It was La Dia de Independencia por Mexico last week. There was a really cool show that happened in the auditorium. They brought everyone in and had this dancing group come in and do traditional Mayan dances that were SO COOL! They also danced some more modern Mexican stuff to a live Mariache band. 

4. Our Maestro Villalobos, which means Wolf Town in english, has become a legend in our district. We make so many Wolftown jokes, which are similar to Chuck Norris jokes, only He's a 25 year old son of a seventy!

5. A bit about our district: 

Elder Tracy: Very funny, sometimes a bit over the top, invented the spanish verb "Kobir" which means "to sink a shot into the trash can across the room with a yogurt botttle."

Elder Watts: has a pilots license. Pretty good at Spanish.

Elder Blair: Speaks fluent French, can do every accent imaginable flawlessly. Enjoys saying weird things to our teachers in Spanish. Amazing testimony!

I'm out of time, I would like to tell you more, but Ive got to go to the temple here in a bit. Before I go, I'll leave you with this:

Si leemos El Libro de Mormon, y si oremos cada noche, puedemos ser la verdad de los todos cosas!

Nos Vemos!

Love you all!

Elder J. Lewis

P.S: If you want to tell me something during the week, look up missionary package mexico. it's The best way to send things to me!

The following is an excerpt of what Elder Lewis sent me in my personal correspondence with him. I thought it was a great example of the miracles that come with devotion to the Lord.

Our Savior is so merciful, and all He asks is that we let Him help us. I'm learning that lesson more and more, bit by bit everyday. That makes me so happy! God is wonderful! I know that miracles happen. There was a kid here at the CCM that was hanging on a soccer goal and it tipped over and crushed his face. Bad. He had to undergo some very complicated procedures last week and He is back on his feet being a missionary this week. Crazy what happens when you have 1000 missionaries praying for you, and you have faith. I saw him this week, and it is a sight that I won't soon forget. he has stiches going every which way on his face, and it looks like he should be in the ICU, but there he is.

this excerpt was from a letter he sent Rebekah

There are all of the usual sports we have in the U.S here! They have basketball courts, tennis, volleyball, soccer, a track, ping pong, a gym, and basically anything you want! We aren't allowed to play american football or rugby though, because they are a bit dangerous! Soccer here is called Futbol. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here. We have usually have a good mix of mexican and kind of american food here:) There are some really cool flowers, I'll try to send pictures next week! We drink lots of water, but there's also lot's of fresh juice! I'm kind of getting addicted to pomegranite juice! Yum:) I think the gospel is awesome too:) in spanish its called "'El Evangelio"'  Love you Boo! Keep asking questions, I love answering them! I'll try to send you a picture of a parrot:)

To the family members who sent him a letter in his luggage: 

To all those that wrote letters to me that I found in my carry on. 

I wanted to write a hand written letter for this, but knowing that it would take quite some time to reach you, I'm going to tell you now. THANK YOU! Those letters literally have seen me through some really rough days. When I found them the first night, I couldn't stop the tears that came. The advice and encouragement was so what I needed. I want to thank you all individually, but time does not permit. Thank you, you don't know how much it meant to me.

Muchisimo Amor,
Elder J. Lewis 

Week 1: Learning, Language, and Love of the Savior

We got our first long email from Elder Lewis, here he is answering letters from Mom, Michael, and Rebekah as well as his experiences from the first week of the mission, with pictures. Enjoy!

Hola Familia!

So much to tell you! First off:

Mom: I was able to buy some shoes for pretty cheap! (870 pesos) I have moleskin with my first aid kit, and I can get just about anything I need at La Tienda. (the store)  My teeth haven't given me any problems, so I think we're in the clear there. If something does happen, they have a fantastic med staff here and the CCM. I havent experienced any physical problems, really thanks to the Acidipholus and Colodial Silver. Your oils work wonders as well. I won't lie to you, this has been the hardest week of my life, and those oils really did help.

      The language is a very daunting task. We are relying very heavily on el don de lenguas! (The gift of tongues) I do get frustrated at times, but I have sufficent faith that if I work my hardest, he will help me speak to these people. Lot's of people in my District have previous High school and college experience with it, and they are definetly ahead of the curve. Elder Nielson (my companion) and I have taught five full lessons to an "investigador" to date. The spirit is very strong as we are learning to discern the needs of those we teach. 

      Tell Scotty thank you for that. It really means a lot right now. I can't say for sure that I have that same faith in myself, but I know that if I work hard, pray and study like there's no tomorrow, that he will make me into the missionary, and the man, that He needs me to be. I've had teachers and leaders that have pulled me aside and said some things and given me scriptures that I needed at that specific time. they are able to discern my needs, and it makes me feel like there is a loving Heavenly Father and a Savior. I believe, and I'm getting to know there is!

      I'm so happy for Holly! Tell her felicidades for me! I felt the spirit when I read that, and it makes me so happy:) Great are the tender mercies of our Father!

      I love you so very much, Mom, and even though I'm thousands of miles away, I can feel your prayers on my behalf. Thank you, from the bottom of my very humbled heart.

Your loyal son,

Elder J. Lewis

P.S, my p day here at the CCM is on wednesday, and I'll try to be here on the computer around Ten thirty am, Mexican time.

Bekah! 

My first days in Mexico have been hard, but very good! The people here are amazing! They are very helpful and kind, but also push you hard to do your best:) The food is pretty good! Fresh juice, lots of rice and good beans:) The only real thing I don't love is that they like lot's of spicy things for breakfast! Yuck! Animals... there are a ton of parrots! They're green, blue, red, and very loud! There are also some cool purple birds!

I Love you VERY VERY MUCH! I love talking to you:) 

Mike: There have been some funny things that've happened! We have an instructor named Hermano Villalobos, which literally means Brother Wolftown. We make lot's of Wolftown jokes, mostly because he is such a cool guy! They talk to us completely in Spanish most of the time, but I'm understanding most of it as they speak pretty slow haha! One night the water stopped to the building, and we all heard Elder Tracy yell down the hall "I'm gonna go to reception and lay town some FUEGO!" We all were crying! xD

I miss you too bud, love you!

Homesickness has been terrible, but that's to be expected, However: The Lord doesn't leave his children alone in their time of desperate need. He has shown me many tender mercies, and I am getting to know my Savior on a very personal level. 

Elder Lewis and his companion, Elder Nielson

The Tag, spanish triple combination 

Elder Lewis' district. He and Elder Nielson are currently district leaders. 

75 ft tall palm tree, and a man climbing it :p