"So I live in Vienna . . . " July 29, 2013

I'm taking a guess that this is the street Kate lives on.
That's her on the sidewalk.

Hiiiiii Family!!

So I live in Vienna . . .

Remember when I said that about Jerusalem? (Katie studied a semester abroad in Jerusalem last Fall) Well now I live in Vienna. And according to my friend Richard Huy (who you should probably google. Apparently he's a really famous international lawyer and he was a billionaire and then he went blind and he's just now starting to work again), Vienna is the most beautiful city in the world. And he has traveled more than anyone I know. He has been to almost every country in the world. Seriously I think he's been to most of them. He and his wife Bogi (No idea how you spell that. She is from Mongolia.), have proclaimed themselves my "Vienna parents." And pretty much every missionary's who serves in this ward. They are ward missionaries in our ward. I serve in the Wein Erste Gemainde with my trainer Sister Judd. She is soooo great! She is from Las Vegas.  She has a really strong testimony and she's a very good missionary. She's especially good at teaching.

My MTC roommates are all over. Sister McEwen is in Switzerland now! Sister Packer is in Munich. And Sister Kervinen is somewhere outside of Vienna and we're in the same zone! So I'll see her every once in a while. And Sister Maatta is also somewhere in Switzerland.

I was really excited to find out when Sister Judd picked me up from the train station that we had an appointment that night! With a brand new investigator who she hadn't even taught yet. That was so fun. We taught this 16-year-old girl with our friend Miga who is another ward missionary. I will try and write you more information in print. She's out of town (like a lot of our investigators) but hopefully she will progress and want to learn more.

I can't even tell you how much fun it is to be teaching real live people. I love people. In a couple of cases we have taught in English so I have really been able to teach real people. There's nothing better.

We live with two other sisters who serve in the international ward in Wien. They are so amazing and so much fun! Their names are Sister Harmon and Sister Woods and they're from Colorado and Springville.

It is so hot and humid here! Ugh gross (Vienna has had temperatures up to 100 this last week). We are on public transportation all the time. The only setting where there has been air conditioning was this one bus we were on. Wien (I love that how you say the name of the city in German, is completely different than "Vienna"...it is spelled "Wien" and pronounced "Veen") is huge and we have to get around. I love being a missionary. Really I do. I'm sorry my emails are so scatterbrained and I promise you have more info coming. I love you all sooooo much.

Love,

Sister Lewis

Sister Judd (companion)  & Sister Lewis at the chapel

Saying goodbye to Sister Kervinen at the train station

A special treat for Kate's "mum"

It didn't take long to realize that as a missionary mom you are hungry for any

information about your missionary. So I'm sharing this sweet note from one of 

Katie's 4 roommates at the MTC.  I had asked Katie to let me know each girl's favorite treats, and 

included them in packages I sent during their MTC days.  

Okay, so my two favorite parts are these:  

#1 She calls me "mum". She's from Scotland and how cute is that?

#2 She gives me insights into Katie's missionary life.  Kate is NOT a primper with regard to her hair; unless, of course, you are doing it for her (sorry Kate).  So I was actually kind of impressed that her hair looked "done" in some of the pictures she sent from the MTC.  So now  I know the TRUTH!  Sister McEwen was doing my "little girl's hair"!  I'll have to ask Katie about the "tucking in" part!  

My daughter-in-law Lizzy told me last week that they had the missionaries in their ward in Washington over for dinner and afterwards she called the missionary's mom here in Lehi.  I know that meant the world to that mom!  

When we wake up tomorrow,  we should have an email with news from Vienna!  I'm excited!

assigned to . . . VIENNA, AUSTRIA !

On July 23rd Katie left the MTC to travel to the Mission Home of the

Alpine-German Speaking Mission which is in Munich, Germany.

Mission President Richard Miles and his wife Brenda welcomed this big group

of new missionaries at the Munich airport on the 24th.  They are from Bountiful Utah and 

Sister Miles is a daughter of Russell M. Nelson. 

We were excited to get an email tonight from

Sister Miles letting us know that Katie's first area

where she will be serving is -

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Since her mission covers four countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria and

Liechtenstein) we were really curious to learn where she would be serving. 

German is spoken very differently in different regions of each of these countries

so she'll be learning a "Viennese" brand of German to start.  

          Here's the email we got .....

Dear family of Sister Lewis-

We are delighted to tell you that Sister Lewis arrived safely in Munich this morning.  She is tucked away in bed now after a long day of orientation. 

We thought you might enjoy these pictures from this evening. Her new companion is Sister Judd, and they will be serving in Vienna, Austria. 

We are thrilled that she is here and are very impressed with her preparation and enthusiasm.  She will be a great missionary.  Thank you for all you have done to help her become the fine young sister she is today.  We love her already, and we will do all we can to help her grow as a missionary and have a successful mission.  Your daughter's preparation day is on Mondays and that is when she will be emailing you home each week. If you would like her apartment address where she will be serving - please email her before and ask her to give it to you in her first email. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.  May the Lord bless you and your family at this wonderful time of missionary service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Miles

Alpine German-speaking Mission

(I think it's kind of unfair to take a girl's picture after
she's been on an airplane all day and all night.)

FYI - "Preparation Day" (also known as P-Day), is the day when the regular
missionary daily  schedule changes.  This is a day to do your laundry, go grocery shopping,
maybe even take a nap,  do some non-missionary fun activities in the area you
are serving, write letters etc. So that means we can expect to get an email from
Katie on Mondays.  Vienna is 8 hours ahead of us, so I will be checking my
email first thing when I get up on Monday mornings! 

Another picture of the new group of missionaries.
What do you think I should make out of Katie
being right next to Sister Miles in both the group pictures?

FYI - in the LDS church, adult members of the congregation refer to each other
as "Brother" and "Sister".  I guess that is mostly true when you are speaking to or about
someone who isn't one of your good friends or are speaking in the 3rd person, and
it is also how children address adults.  This reflects the fact that we are all children of
our Heavenly Father who loves each of equally. 

MTC Wednesday Letter - "Oh Mensch" - July 17, 2013

The MTC Roomies

These are the fabulous girls that share a room at the MTC with Katie....from the left....Sister Zina McEwen from Edinburg, Scotland, Sister Maatta from Finland, Sister Aliisa Kervinen from Finland, our Kate, and Sister Packer from Lindon, Utah.

Dear Family, I have now been in the MTC for over five weeks!  Almost every day goes faster than the last. Class definitely goes faster and I think it's mostly because I can understand what they're saying now! When I fly to Germany in less than a week I will be back to understanding virtually nothing My German is infinitely better than when I got here, but I still have a loooooong ways to go. I feel like 6 weeks in the MTC is about right. I wanted this long but I think in about a week I will have learned just about everything I can from the MTC and it will be time for the next step

So we have been working on the invitation to baptism in PMG, all of D&C 4, unser ziel (our purpose), and the erste vision (first vision) auf Deutsch. So the picture of me writing on the board is of me working on memorizing verse 4 of D&C 4.

Okay soooo . . . we have amazing experiences. We have the best devos (FYI – Devotionals – talks given by invited speakers) ! So on the 9th L. Lionel Kendrick (an emeritus 70) gave our devo. So last Tuesday. All of the devos are so good but at the end of this one he said he felt impressed to give us all a special priesthood blessing. He blessed us that we might have the Spirit with us always (which is what his talk was about). He also blessed us with understanding and that our knowledge may be quickened. He blessed us that those of us who are learning a language will be able to master the language quickly. He blessed us that we might have fond remembrance of the truths we have learned, and instant recall of these truths when we need them. Cool, huh?! That was so cool to me. We also heard from Sister Susan Easton Black and her husband once. 

FYI – Priesthood Blessings – In the LDS church, the Priesthood refers to power bestowed on man to speak on behalf of the Lord.  A Priesthood blessing is a special blessing where an individual who holds the Priesthood typically lays there hand on the head of the individual being blessed and offers a special prayer.  With the associated faith of the individual(s) being blessed, a blessing can have a powerful impact.  Someone might ask for a blessing when they are facing illness, discouragement, a big decision, a life-changing event etc.  Giving such a blessing is taken very seriously by the individual speaking, because their desire is to understand what the Lord would have them say, which is not always a match with what they WISH they could bless someone with.

Yesterday our devo was from Richard G. Hinckley. I sang in the choir again and we sang an amazing arrangement of "Nearer my God to Thee." The MTC choir director is incredible. Singing under his direction is so fun and spiritual. That reminds me that I LOVE what Chase said about what Marcus told him. Something like, "Have you ever been to Priesthood Session and NOT laughed?" That really is what I think the gospel should be like. Anyway did you know that the song "Nearer my God to Thee" is actually about Jacob? And when he had to leave because Esau wanted to kill him because Jacob got the birthright? He had a dream in which he received his endowment. "Steps unto Heaven," get it? But if you look at the lyrics everything fits. He was sleeping on a rock. You'll see that in the song. But he gave a wonderful talk that was especially special to our branch because he talked a lot about one of our own sisters, Sister Hilakari’s, older brother. He talked about an Elder Hilakari who was in his Salt Lake City South mission (I think that's right) when Elder Hinckley was the mission president. He told a story about this elder working with the area book 10 years ago and about how when he met up with him at the Helsinki temple dedication he asked him how he pulled it off. It was really special for Sister Hilakari. After the devo she went up to him and told him she was his little sister. After that he had us all sit back down again and he said that Elder Hilakari's little sister was there and that she was going to the Alpine German-Speaking Mission and that if she was half the missionary her brother was she would be the best missionary ever. Or something like that. Cool, huh?

These are the missionaries in her "district".  

Katie and a friend from Orem High, Sister McNeil, who is going to Chili

There's a lot of studying that goes on at the MTC! 

Katie and her "dear Sister McEwen" from Edinborough
Hmmm.... girls will be girls.....they seem to have traded clothes.

Okay quote of the week. "Oh mench." That's basically like "Oh man." We say it all the time. Bruder Hill started it.

One of my funniest insights has been that two of Santa's reindeer are named Thunder and Lightning. 

Who knew Donner and Blitzen were so menacing?

I love you all! Thank you for all of the support! The next time I email you I'll be in Europe!! What?!

MTC Wednesday Letter - "Piep piep piep, wir haben uns alle lieb Guten Appetit." July 10, 2013

Fammmilllyyyy!! Where to start. Maybe with one of my funniest stories. So we do this thing called TRC (Teaching Recourse Center) where members who speak German come and we go share a message with them. It's more low-key than our investigators and we think it's so fun. So last time at TRC we taught this really nice man and we had all just been chatting so he knew where we were all from and right after I read a scripture he said, "You speak German with a Finnish accent." Ha ha ha ha ha ha. It makes sense since I'm with Sister Kervinen all day every day! So you're right Daddy, I am a mimic! Only I seem to be mimicking the wrong thing. Hopefully my accent will improve once I get to GERMANY IN TWO WEEKS! Ah life is good.

Oh so you asked about what Sister Packer was talking about with the dress stuff. The time she asked me to change was when I wore my spandex pants to work out in (ha ha bad move). And I could totally understand that so there was no drama. I'm keeping them though in case I want to wear them in the winter under shorts when I'm working out. The dress that I've decided is just barely too short is the Boden one with solid gray on top and stripes on the bottom. So I'll send it home and it will be fun to wear when I get back.
 
Letters, letters, letters. Maybe this will make it sound like I'm getting tons of letters and people will be less inclined to write me. That is NOT what I want to happen! But I want to say THANK YOU! Thank you to Marilyn, James, Grandma, Aunt Janie, Uncle Randal, Mikkel, Brother Syd, Collin, Ciarah, Phil, Sister Williamson, Jesse, Tara, Bella, Joe, Lindsey, Mommy, and Daddy for the letters/Dear Elders. And thank you to Chelsea, Court, and Aunt Brenda for the emails. And thank you to Sister Williamson, the Harknesses, and Mom for the packages!

The first day of my mission I wondered what I was going to do with all of this study time. What exactly would I spend all this time studying? Now I feel like there are not enough hours in the day to study. Most of my study is focused on my untersuchers (investigators). We normally teach zwei untersuchers jeden tag. Oh look at that. I speak German. Well not quite. But seriously that kind of just came out. Zwei untersuchers jeden tag=two investigators every day. I'm getting good at Danglish. Deustch is another matter. But it's coming. Slowly but surely. But I feel like we have so much to do to prepare to teach our investigators. And our lessons have been going well. They have both committed to prepare for baptism. Our companionship is becoming a better and better team.

FYI - In the MTC there are volunteers from the community who come to the MTC to serve as "investigators", the term used to describe individuals who are investigating the church.  Many of them are returned missionaries who speak the language.  This is obviously great practice for the missionary in the MTC to practice conversations of a spiritual nature.  

FYI - In our faith, baptism is an important covenant we make with our Heavenly Father.  We baptize by immersion.  Babies in our faith are not baptized as infants because we believe a child enters the world pure and without sin and is in fact incapable of sin because they are in an age of innocence.  A baby is given a special blessing, and we believe that 8 is the "age of accountability" when a child can make the decision to be baptized. 
 

My Spanish is being replaced with German. The other day when I tried to formulate a sentence in Spanish I was struggling. One of my teachers, Brüder Hill (who is AMAZING), studied Spanish before he went on his mission to Germany so he understands what I'm saying when a Spanish word comes out. The other day he explained to me the difference kennen and wissen by relating them to conocer and saber. Brilliant. And he avoids speaking English at all costs so sometimes he explains to me what a word means by saying it in Spanish.

So one time we had a fire drill because someone pulled the fire alarm just for fun at 6:30 am. So it was just like an extra loud alarm because that is when we get up every day except we had to leave the building and stay outside for a while. But I didn't think a SISTER missionary would do that. I have been very impressed with how cute the sister missionaries are dressing. ASOS didn't let us down. At the same time I sometimes wonder why it's so hard for us to follow the dress code (It said no denim and no see-thru. Can you read?). Seriously though, there are so many cute sisters.

FYI - in October of 2012 it was announced that young women could now apply to become missionaries at the age of 19 and young men at the age of 18.  Previously young men could go at 19 and young women not until 21.  After the age of eligibility changed, the number of young people volunteering to serve a mission skyrocketed, especially among girls.  So now there are MANY more young women serving missions than ever before.  In addition, up until a few years ago (I don't remember exactly when) the dress guidelines for female missionaries were much more conservative than they are now.  Typically they wore longer skirts and solid colors etc.  But now they are encouraged to maintain standards of modesty while embracing color, pattern and style in a way that fits their own personality and the culture where they are serving.  So, as girls will be girls, shopping for missionary clothes has become a topic of interest and conversation among girls serving missions.  

Wanna hear another funny story? One time the elders in my district were teaching an investigator about the kingdoms of glory and they said "Dritte Reich." Afterwards in class our teacher, who was the investigator (well Brüder Hill - I guess you know who he is now), explained that if you're going to say "Dritte Reich" you have to make sure that you say "Dritte Reich der Herrlichkeit." Ha ha ha ha ha. Germans are pretty sensitive to "Dritte Reich."  

The quote this week is  "Piep piep piep, wir haben uns alle lieb Guten Appetit." (Christie's translation of this is " Piep, piep piet, all of us that we love have a good appetite" in a rhyme.)  We say that every day when we leave class to go to lunch.

The Fourth of July was fun! We had a special fireside and then watched 17 Miracles. And then they had Magnum Bars and people watched fireworks. I say people because me and my companions actually did not. We were soooooo tired that we went upstairs and started getting ready for bed. We were still in bed late. But I have watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks show probably 15 times in my life so it wasn't a big deal to miss it.

Love you family!! Thanks for your prayers and support!

Companionship Update !

Okay, I just thought it was a treat to read about Katie from the blog kept for one of her companions.  Since this is posted on the internet for all to read, I think it is okay that I repost!  

from one letter - "Sister Lewis is a GEM.  So I mentioned that I was made the Sister Training Leader day 3 right?  All sisters should, but I check girls clothes and will remind them if it's not quite modest (see FYI below).  I told Sister Lewis once and she immediately went and changed.  ZERO drama.  Then today she went through her clothes and said, "Hey what do you think was too short that I should send home?"  Um OH-kay.  Gem.  She's had a harder time with German and tends to spout little Spanish words every now and then haha but she's a hoot and keeps us all laughing."

Remember Katie's letter about companionship issues?  Well, this is from another letter of the same companion - "I have two comps like I said earlier, Sister Lewis (from Orem) and Sister Kirvenen (from Finland).  Me and Sister Kirvenen were NOT the best of friends after a week.  Last Thursday was the peak of it and I KNOW it was divine help to have a third companion added before this happened haha." (Katie had mentioned that she was able to have a really positive impact on them resolving some of their differences and felt that she has been added to their companionship for a purpose).

FYI on Modesty - I just have to explain the "skirt check" referred to above.  We believe that modesty in dress is important because our bodies are a great gift from Heavenly Father and should be treated with respect. Being modest in dress is also a reminder that to be a disciple of Christ we are called to be "part of the world, but not of the world", meaning that we don't always follow every cultural whim of media, dress etc.  You will rarely see an LDS adult woman, or even young woman, wearing a sleeveless or shoulderless top or short-short dress or shorts unless they are in workout clothes or swimming.  As missionaries, men have their standard of dress and the women do as well.  For women, missionary standard means your skirt covers your knees when you are sitting.  Hmmm....I thought we had checked all that pretty carefully!  So I'm curious as to what didn't pass standard!  But it sounds like her companion was pleasantly surprised that Katie didn't give her any guff about her feedback! 

Below is a picture my friend and neighbor Jackie Williamson sent me.  Her son and Katie's friend, Chase, entered the MTC a week after Katie. He is going to serve in Korea and he sent this picture to his mom.  

Thanks for sending it on to me Jackie!

MTC Wednesday Letter- July 3, 2013 "That's why they say "damit" all the time!"

Dear Family! 

Thank you to my dear family for my packages and also to the rockstar Harknesses who have sent me two packages! And thanks to the Blacks for their cute package and to the Johnsons for their package. It had notes from some of neighbor kids and a note from my dear friend Ben Barton.

WOW! I leave 3 weeks from yesterday!! Mom thank you so so so much for the package! Ah it was the best package I ever got. Thank you!! I loved the pictures. Thank you, thank you! I've been showing everyone.  You guys are too good. Such cute parents. I loved being the bearer of people's favorite treats. They were so grateful.

Well this emailing about my entire week thing is rough. I don't know what to say! I'm in the MTC. I study, teach, eat, work out (not enough), go to class, go to awesome firesides, go to district meetings, laugh a lot, speak German . . . what else? Sometimes I sleep. So part of the reason I have trouble sleeping is the time when I am in bed is really the only time I have to think and process and reflect. So I get too caught up in my thoughts and I don't fall asleep right away. Sometimes I shower. Ha ha I don't know! 

I've been thinking about how much I'm going to miss the firesides though. We have one every Sunday and Tuesday night. The Sunday ones we still have in the gym and they're broadcast to the west campus. (Except one time it was at the west campus and it was broadcast to us. The was the first time they had ever done that and they acted like it was a major historic event.) The Tuesday ones we have at the Marriott Center with everyone. I like that we have to walk to the Marriott Center because it means I get to walk more. Except it has been hot! Those poor elders in their suits. On Sunday in Relief Society (see FYI below) we heard from Sheri Dew! Obviously a major treat. She blows me away with how well she knows the scriptures. 

On Sunday we heard from President Robert Swenson who does something at the MTC and is going to the president of an MTC in Brazil. On Tuesday we heard from Matthew Richardson, who is the second counselor in the general Sunday School presidency. A cool thing that we do after Tuesday devotionals is meet with our district and talk about the devotional and share our thoughts.

Fun fact. Every week for Sunday we have to write a talk. It only has to be five minutes, but it has to be auf Deustch. So every week you have to have a talk prepared and then when you get to Sacrament Meeting they announce which missionaries will be giving talks that day. And then there's been speakers from the branch presidency after that. And their wives. But halleluia this Sunday is Fast Sunday.

So I love my teachesr. Shout out to Matt Duffy, my bff's fiance. I always think about how awesome of an MTC teacher you must have been. You're perfect for it. My teachers are so good to us and they really care about our success.

The quote of the week is from when we learned da/wo compounds. Don't ask me to explain what those are. But when I was studying them I said, "That's why they say "damit" all the time!" But it's "damit", and in case you didn't know, that's not how you spell the swear word!

Family I love you sooooo much! Thank you to everyone for your love and support. Big shout out to Uncle Randall for making sure I get at least one piece of mail every day! I love being a missionary. Remember: God loves you, and Jesus is coming again! There's another quote for you. Sister Kervinen and I say it all the time.  Love, Sister Lewis

FYI - 

1. Relief Society - Relief Society is the name given to the Women's Organization in the church.  Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society in Nauvoo, Illinois in 1842.  It has approximately 6 million members around the world.  Every woman 18 years and older who is a member of the LDS Church is also a member of the Relief Society.  It is an organization founded on principles of service  and  is one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world.  The purpose is to help us prepare for the blessings of eternal life by increasing faith and personal righteousness, strengthening families and homes and helping those in need.  

Relief Society has been a great blessing in my life.  I KNOW that I am a better person through the service I have been able to give, the people I have been able to teach and reach out to that I would never have known through any other way.  I have been the beneficiary of service and prayers on my behalf that have changed my life.  In fact, 22 years ago a woman in RS who I did not know very well at all, but who knew I suffered a series of miscarriages, shyly gave me an article out of a woman's magazine about a little-known  intervention for miscarriages that ended up being THE key to our being able to have Katie.