"You will be the wife of the Prophet!" - August 25, 2014 - From Solothurn

August 25, 2014

Hi to the fam!! Mom I got your letter today but I think you forgot to copy and paste some things into the last paragraph of the first page . . . And I still want those parts ha ha. I appreciate what you said about not wanting to talk too much about me coming home. I realize that there are some things we will have to figure out before then, but yeah I don't really want to hear from anyone how soon I come home or anything. I mean at least wait until my last transfer!! I have time. And if I feel like figuring out how much longer I have until I go home then I can do it myself!

Quotes of the week:

My best friend Esther: "You don't have to be a cheesy American!"

Me: "But I am a cheesy American."

Esther: "No you're not . . . you're half Swiss."

Elder Cottam: "There's a lot of German going on around me that I don't understand . . . Just kidding! I understand at least 10%."

Nuria: "Sister Lewis you will be the wife of the prophet."

Now that's a new one!

Sister Bognar: "Every ward has its problems, but this ward . . . Whoa."

Ha ha I had to laugh.

Last P-day we went on a little hike to Einsiedelei, or in English, the Verana Gorge and Hermitage. That was a fun little baby adventure. The hermitage has been in existence since the 17th Century and has "stations of the cross" dating from 1613 that were restored around 1990.

Sister Kate the tree hugger...some things don't change even when you're a missionary!

  

So I was writing this email and I started realizing a common theme: MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK! I am so grateful for the people who are actively involved in the work of salvation. There are so many different ways to be involved. So here are just a few examples.

As you can see from the pictures, we had a relief society activity (These activities typically occur on a weeknight from time to time and can range from being a service project, to simply a gathering that reinforces gospel living and friendships). They made znüni and zveri more exciting for little kids (their healthy snack time at 9 and 4). The member missionary work lesson here is that I was grateful for an older sister who talked with Tatyana (a new convert) and I think they really formed a friendship during this activity.

Just barely an investigator called us who I sort of thought we had lost. Since Sister Bognar has been here she has cancelled two appointments and Sister Bognar hasn't even met her. Last week we went by and left her a note and a little treat and we still heard nothing. But she just called! And she apologized for being MIA and told us about how bad her health has been but that she appreciated that we left something at her door. So that made me happy.

By the way, we found this lady through "gardening." This was my new plan, especially for summer. It's obviously better than dooring, because the people are already there. Just when you're walking somewhere you look for the people who are outside in their yards. So it's different than dooring and streeting. And I named it "gardening."

So this weekend we had our two baptisms! Good stuff. We were really grateful that Mulugatha didn't come for the baptism on Sunday. Yes Mom, like you said in your letter, I have heard a lot of things from members about auslanders and stuff and I appreciated your scripture. Obviously it is tough that Mulugatha doesn't speak German, and yes he could have been better integrated into the ward and I wish the elders would have had more joint teaches, but all I can say is the people who came to his baptism are PURE GOLD. I am so grateful for them. The Meyers were there, Gregor was there, Bruder Schmidtke was there, Guisseppe was there, the Pangs were there, Bruder Sturzenegger was there, the Launers were there, Osax was there (not a member but the one Sister Blohm and I found who was going to be baptized on Saturday), and 5 sets of missionaries were there. And that was everyone. Sister Bognar took pictures of everyone for Mulugatha. And he is so grateful. Sister Bognar and I were talking about how Mulugatha is one of the most humble people we have ever met. I love the picture where he and Elder Ekenobaye are practicing for the baptism. He was so sincere about the whole thing. And he was confirmed yesterday by Bruder Meyer. I just gave my talk in English but I think it went well. We invited a lot of people so we were a little disappointed that not more of them came.

These next two examples of member missionary work make me think specifically about following up (see Elder Ballard's talk from conference).

It was such a contrast to have Mulugatha's baptism on Saturday and Megi Jäger's on Sunday. We knew it would be. The food at Megi's was like the food you would prepare for a small wedding. So the first example. I was so proud of Sister Jäger for not only inviting her non-member friends to the baptism, but for making sure we (the missionaries) knew who at the baptism was visiting (there were also several members from other wards there so you couldn't just count on it being the people you didn't already know). We were already trying to find the people ourselves, but she would come up to us and ask me which of her non-member friends we had talked to and how it went. And she had Books of Mormon out and she gave one of them away to one of her friends who came! I was just so grateful that she not only invited her friends, but made sure they interacted with the missionaries and were really there for a great event. I love her so much. And we (the missionaries) had some good discussions with her non-member friends. They seemed to really enjoy it. I think there were at least 5 non-members there.

So this miracle happened where Sister Bognar and I were on our way to go by on a less active when we ran into a member. And because he's one of the best member missionaries I have ever met (he is the one who found Guisseppe), he said, "Hey I'm on my way to visit my friend do you want to come and meet him really fast?" So we did. We met his friend and his cute family. They are very Muslim and very nice and they are in the middle of moving. So of course, we offered our help. We gave them our card and let them know that we really would love to help them in any way we could. But, because people are people and they don't like to ask strangers for help, they probably would have never called us. But this week we got a call from him. He was at their house again and he just played the middle man and talked to the wife of his friend and to us at the same time and set up a time when we can come help clean the old house after they have moved out.

Then another time this week we ran into some members on the bus. And the man asked Sister Bognar, "Now what is your name again?" And she taught him how to say her name and she practiced. And he said something like, "Oh good now we can pray for Sister Lewis and Sister Bognar instead of just praying for Sister Lewis and her companion." They pray for us by name! Every night! How cool is that?! Praying for the missionaries serving in your area by name is not a bad idea.

So in line with this member missionary email, is this quote from President James E. Faust:

"Each one of us can be on a mission and be involved in a cause that is greater than we are, the greatest cause of all in the world: the salvation of each of our Father's children."

I'm grateful for the involvement of members in member missionary work, more accurately described as the work of salvation. I get that some people are frustrated because they can't "find people for the missionaries to teach." But that's not the only way to help the missionaries! Get creative. Use your strengths. Befriend less actives or recent converts. Strengthen active members! Everyone needs strengthening. Do your home teaching and visiting teaching! Go to the temple! Do your family history! Fellowship the people the missionaries are already teaching! Attend convert baptism, even if you don't know the convert personally! Or send your husband to a baptism baptism with a cake for after the baptism even though you have five kids and have too much going on that night to go yourself (I love Sister Schmidtke). And keep trying. Don't base your success only on the progress you can see (someone getting baptized or going to the temple or coming back to church). When you talk to your Father in Heaven about your efforts to serve His children, He will let us know that He is pleased. And that we have been successful in helping someone come nearer to Him and His Son Jesus Christ.

Also, I hope you don't think I'm just being preachy Sister Lewis. Yeah I'm not going home for a long time, but this email about member missionary work is also for me when I one day (ohhhh nooooo sad day) don't wear a name tag anymore.

I love you all. Life is good.

"Lángos in Hungary is like hamburgers in America" - August 18, 2014 - From Solothurn

 Family!

I loved seeing the pictures and I am so happy that you had such fun in Lake Powell. Now I know you are just all even more excited for when I can come. :-) Mommy, I got my letter with the pictures this morning and I was sooo happy!

So I thought I explained this at one point but I guess I will give writing down a "typical day" my best shot, since Daddy asked. But every day is seriously so different.

So the morning doesn't usually change a whole lot unless we have an early appointment for some reason and have to do study later.

6:30 - wake up, pray, and exercise for 30 minutes

7:00 (or actually a little later when the 30 minutes is over) - get ready, eat breakfast

8:00 - personal study (the best)

9:00 - companionship study

Now things start to change a lot. Sometimes we do language study and then lunch and then get out and start doing missionary work outside the apartment. Sometimes we leave at 10:00 and then we come back for lunch, have a lunch appointment, or grab something outside. Sometimes language study actually gets jipped which would explain . . . wait I'm not allowed to say that my German is bad.

So I'll walk you through Wednesday. We had normal studies (including language study after companionship study) and then we took a bus and then a train to get to our lunch appoint with an older couple who is less active. Now I will tell you about that. In Switzerland I don't see so many unsanitary things, but I did this day. I used their bathroom and in order to do so I had to walk through their kitchen. Which meant I had to see where our food had been prepared, and the kitchen was disgusting. Not only was there cat food right next to our food on the counter, but just everything was grimy and dirty. They have a toilet in their garage but there is no door. Or any soap at the sink next to the toilet in the garage to wash your hands with. Which meant I had to wash them in the kitchen and see even more of the kitchen before I ate lunch. Rough. We are trying to help this couple but they are just old and part of the reason they don't come to church is because she has such bad health, but I think there are other reasons too. On this day I heard all the same stories I heard when I visited this couple with Sister Blohm for the second or third time. The man actually got baptized insanely fast and went through the lessons in one week so he could marry the woman. So we would like to teach him the new convert lessons and we started to but it didn't go that well because they just never stop talking and telling stories. But he could really use the lessons again because he even said himself that he doesn't know anything anymore.

After that we had planned to help a member in her garden but we couldn't because it had been raining and she said the soil was too wet. So we made our own service project and cleaned the outside of the church. I actually feel like our building is not well-kept enough, especially on the outside. About a month ago some kids drew on the side of the church with sidewalk chalk and the sidewalk chalk has just been there for about a month now for the whole world to see and has been really annoying Sister Lewis. So since no one had taken care of it we decided washing off the chalk was a job for the sister missionaries (see pictures).

During our service project we got a text from A. that she couldn't meet that night. Then we were miraculously able to make out an appointment with T. for that night.

So we tried going by on a referral, who wasn't home, and then we went took another train and taught Tatyana a lesson.

Sister Blohm and I once found a potential who lives near T. who wanted a BOM in Arabic but he was never home when we tried to bring it to him. And we didn't want to just leave it in his mailbox. So Sister Bognar and I tried again and he was home and we gave him his BOM in Arabic.

After that I think we had to take the train to Bellach and walk home and eat dinner and then plan the next day and go to bed. And of course we tried to talk to people who were put in our path during the day. So that's one day.

The picture of us with the Olten sign at the train station is because we were in Oensingen trying to go to Oberbuchsiten, which is richtung (direction) Olten, but apparently I put us on a train that went directly to Olten without stopping. So we were outside of our area. Awkward how in the 10 minutes we were in the Olten train station before we could get on a train back to our area we ran into the Aarau elders. But it was great because we also ran into a member who needed to take our same train and we were able to have a really good talk with her on the train ride back. Apparently I will still make stupid mistakes like that after 14 months on a mission and after 5 months in this area. 

That being said, I have, predictably, never been so led by the Lord in what I do as I have as a missionary. My goal is obviously to be a tool in his hands, and when plans fall through we have to expect that He has a greater plan. And when things go wrong, we can even assume that the change of course may also be part of His plan. That isn't always easy, but my goal is really that I want Heavenly Father to be able to count on Sister Lewis. I want Him to know that He can put someone across from me on the bus who is ready to learn something about the gospel and that Sister Lewis will speak to them. I don't care if all our plans fall through if we can accomplish something greater for Him (although we did try to make our plan with His inspiration in the first place). So I'm not going to say that God didn't actually really want for us to interact with the man on the train that we met or have this good talk with one of our ward members.

Also don't be too disgusted by the picture of the bread in the oil. It's Hungarian, okay?! It's called làngos (but you say it langosh) and we're never going to make it again . . .  I hope. But you eat it with sour cream and meat or cheese (did I tell you Sister Bognar is allergic to all meat? except not to fish.) Also her name is actually Sister Bognàr but I'm too lazy to put the special a every time.

So quote of the week:

Sister Bognar: "Làngos in Hungary is like hamburgers in America."

Oh also we got controlled by the police this week. Apparently in Grenchen, where we were at the time, they have been having some problems with beggars. So they asked for our ID and stuff and asked the old man we had been talking to (who knew some members!) about our conversation with him. And he was the nicest and was very defensive of us. He is from Italy so one of the police officers spoke Italian with him and he kept saying, "Solo Gott!" meaning that we had only spoken with him about God.

So actually only one of the elders' investigators is getting baptized this Saturday. Apparently the one we found for them and his friend are not quite ready yet. But this investigator's name is Mulugatha and I have never taught him I just always talk to him at church and whenever I see him (we had to escort him to Zollikofen for his baptismal interview with the mission president this week because the elders couldn't). 

You'll see a picture of him in front of the temple. And then after Mulugatha's interview we had district meeting and interviews with President Kohler. But yesterday we had ward council before church and we were talking about the baptism and the bishop was asking about the baptismal program and the elders said it was all finished and Mulugatha had decided what he wanted. So they asked who was speaking and Elder Kelly says, "There will only be one talk and it will be Sister Lewis." That was the first time I had heard of this. So not only am I talking at Mulugatha's baptism this Saturday, I am the only speaker. One man show. Sister Lewis. Speaking in English and German so that Mulugatha and the ward can both understand. No idea how that's going to work. :-)

And my dear little Megi Jäger (she's the one who wrote on the board that I am the best sister, the sweetheart. I asked Sister Bognar to take a picture ha ha) is getting baptized on Sunday

Spiritual quote of the week:

This is commentary from Jesus the Christ on when Jesus Christ condemned divorce: "By making marriage indissoluable, He proclaimed the equal rights of woman and man within the family, and in this, gave their charter of nobility to mothers around the world. In her nobler position in the Christian era, compared with that granted her in antiquity, woman is indebted to Jesus Christ." (J the C p. 484)

Isn't that cool? Thanks Jesus.

Bye love you.

Looks like instead of names on Coke bottles, they have phrases!
This one says "eternal love"! 

LIFE IS GOOD

"Your accent is nearly perfect" - August 11, 2014 - From Solothurn

Hiiii Fam.

I'm glad you missed me at Lake Powell. Ha ha. And I'm glad you had fun. And I'm excited for pictures.

Soooo the picture with the hurt feet, actually our feet weren't hurt. Just dyed. I wanted to say, "So who was wearing black shoes and who was wearing brown shoes?" It has rained  A LOT. So without rainboots, your feet can change colors. Gross.

I hope I get to hear more about the homecomings.

Quote of the week:

So I've been learning a little Hungarian (3rd hardest language in the world and there are 22 different cases. Ridiculous.).

Sister Bognar: "That's good! I don't know how but your accent is really perfect."

I just wish it were that way with German . . .

I'm really impressed with Sister Bognar. She has such a strong testimony. She built up her foundation of faith very independently. She met the missionaries because one of her friends wanted to go to their free English class but didn't want to go alone. She got baptized but the friend didn't. Last night I asked her about the first time she heard about Mormons having more than one wife. Ha ha that was funny. She and her friend found a National Geographic about the FLDS church or something like that and read all about Mormons having more than one wife. Obviously after that, they were finished investigating the church, but they already had an appointment with the elders and they decided to go anyway to see what they had to say for themselves. Luckily the elders did a good job explaining the truth.   And now Sister Bognar is my companion. I love contacting with her and when someone talks about being Catolisch she can say, "Oh I was also Catholic"  and give them her special insights from her perspective.

Guess what... life is so good. I love being a missionary. This has become my life. The weeks fly by. It's just like everyone says: Days are long, weeks are fast. Mommy, I am finally getting better about writing down some of the little miracles that we see every day. So I will share some with you because I think you will like them.

We brought an innactive lady we had never met cookies for her birthday and we found her at home and had a nice talk on her porch. It's really interesting when we find innactives we have never met at home and then say that we're new missionaries from the ward and we would like to get to know them etc. etc. And then they have this uncomfortable moment where they realize they should probably tell us that they're not actually active in the church. And I just am always interested to hear their reasons for not keeping the covenants they have made with the Lord. I think so often people don't live the covenants long enough to really reap their blessings or gain a testimony of them. People are just interesting. 

I'm totally not one of those missionaries who expounds on the mysteries of God in my letters home. Yes, you've probably noticed. I probably should have done this my entire mission, but in addition to the silly quote of the week I normally include, I want to try and remember to at least sometimes include sometime a bit more spiritual. Because those thoughts are such a big part of my life, but not of my letters. I hope my emails up until now have been at least somewhat spiritually uplifting, but maybe this will help. Yes, I do study every day. And I really love study time. I was just looking at my study journal trying to pick one, and there are about 21 quotes I would like to share. But maybe someday. This week's is from True to the Faith under the section for happiness.

"Your happiness can be contagious. As others observe you, they may desire to know the source of your joy. Then they can also experience the happiness that comes through living the gospel of Jesus Christ."

There's a scripture (1 Peter 3:15) that goes along with that. It says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you"

So if someone does notice your happiness and your hope and asks you about the source of it, be ready to speak to them about the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Then you will help others to experience this same happiness.

Picking raspberries . . . yum!

We had three lessons with a member present this week. All of them were with F. He is continuing to make progress. He loved the activity about the word of wisdom that we did with him. But guess what's happening this week? He's going out of town for at least 3 weeks. Back to Kosovo to see some of his family. His new tauf datum is the 21st of September.

Our less active who made the most progress this week is A. Have I talked about her? She came to church for the first time in forever and we had such a good lesson with her where she bore her testimony. And oh yeah, I translated at church again. Actually 4 less actives were at church. One of them only doesn't come sometimes because she is really old. But she is so excited that Sister Bognar is here because she is Hungarian. We had a lesson with her. I told Sister Bognar I was just going to take a nap. Way too bad that I can't do that. They mostly just talked in Hungarian and I felt like a golden again... ha ha.

Forgot to mention the fact that the elders are homeless. They walked to the church at 3 in the morning after they had to leave their apartment because of a fire. At 6:30 they called us and asked us if we could bring down some food from our apartment because they were really hungry. Sister Bognar interviewed them when they were outside our apartment. Then the bishop came and picked them up and outfitted them in his suits for church. His suits were far too big for them and they looked so funny. The funny part is, Elder Kelly has been praying for a new apartment. Their apartment is apparently far too small and even the senior couple who does our cleaning checks said that it wasn't up to mission standards. So, the fire in their apartment building definitely spread up the process.

Evidence of apartment fire

Elders in PJ's begging for breakfast

Well I love you all! Thanks for being so good to me.

Liebe Grüsse,

Sister Kate