"Ships have to go places" - July 21, 2014 - From Solothurn

Heyyyyy Family!!

I want to tell you a nice story. So remember the man from last week we met at a train station and then we rode the train together? Well here's the whole story (so far!). So his name is F. That will make things easier if I have a name (but I don't think I'm supposed to use names so you might have to leave out names on the blog). And he was actually in our phone as a potential because Sister Blohm met him on the bus once and he talked to her and said he had met with missionaries before so she got his number. So that's why I ended up calling him. Then he recognized us at bahnhof. Since we met him we have had 3 lessons. On the second lesson we set a baptismal date. It came very naturally and baptism is something that he really wants. But we set this baptismal date on Tuesday and we set another appointment for Saturday and he wanted to meet at this park that is easier for him to get to than the church but I told him we would talk about it again on the phone because I really wanted a member at that lesson and it's easier to have members come for lessons at the church than at a park. But it turns out he only has a home phone and he is never home. But we did not know this when we were calling him all week, getting really worried we would have no lesson with him on Saturday. Even starting to worry if he was avoiding us and if he didn't want to get baptized anymore. So what to do when it comes to Saturday and we're not sure if our appointment is at the chuch (in which case we would have to have another woman there) or at the park, or if our investigator is even going to come? Well what we did was we asked our dear friend Sister Pang who lives across the street from the church to keep an eye out and see if Fadil was there and to be our joint teach if he came and to call us either way. And we went looking for him at the park he suggested. But this is a big park. So we're walking around the park and there's these people having a picnic and this girl says hi to us. And who is she? I’s daughter! Who never really wants to talk to us and who is verrryyy innactive. But she said hi to us and we met her boyfriend and talked to her for a minute! Good. Then we kept looking for F. It's after the time our appointment should have started, we're still walking around the park, not hearing from Sister Pang, and getting pretty sad about F. But then we get a call from a flustered Brother Pang telling us to get there as soon as possible because Sister Pang is outside the church with our investigator. Sister Blohm and I were so excited. We hugged after that. Seriously we thought we had maybe lost him and all the information we had for him was this one phone number. By the time we got there with the bus F was in the Pang's home with them and we were able to have a good lesson. He still wants to get baptized. He came to church yesterday. He sat with the Pangs. Oh and what happened on the bus on the way to the church? An old man sat next to me. I started a conversation and he said, "Hey, you left me a note in my mailbox." Well we've been leaving a lot of notes in mailboxes. We do that for a lot of people who have showed interest but we just have their address. So I said, "Oh, really? What's your name?" Yeah we had totally left him a note. I remembered all about him and he is busy for the next two weeks but he gave me his phone number. Coincidence that we were on that bus at that time and in the park at that time? Nope, don't think so. God knows what he's doing.

What else. The elders now have 4 baptismal dates. But all of them speak English. F speaks German, which is wonderful for him to be integrated into the ward. Some of them still might be baptized on the same day. And one of the elders' investigators with a baptismal date Sister Blohm and I actually found and gave to them . . . just for the record. ;)

Yesterday at church Elder Kelly basically handed me the microphone and headphones for translation and basically said, "Look, Sister Lewis. I've been doing this almost every Sunday. You're up." And I said, "Sister Blohm?" She always talks about how she did it every week in St. Gallen (translated from German into English) and how she was good at it. And he said, "Uh no. You." So I translated Sacrament Meeting for one of the elder's investigators and two members who speak English. And it went okay. I usually try to avoid translating at all costs so I haven't done it very much.

Quote of the week:

Elder Cottam: Sister Lewis, don't think I'm discouraging you from translating but I just want to tell you my favorite part of today (this is something I said): "Ships are safe in the harbor. But ships have to go places."

Except that was a pretty good translation! The high councilman was giving this whole analogy on how ships leaving the harbor is like us leaving the pre-mortal existence and coming to earth.

After Sacrament Meeting the investigator sincerely thanked me for translating and one of the members said he wants me translating every week. I think I made Sacrament Meeting more entertaining for him.

Then it was Sunday School and I don't know what happened to the investigator class (Somebody seriously dropped the ball. Actually more than one person.) so we were all in the Old Testament class. Minor disaster. Brother Pang said later, you should have just taken your investigator for a lesson if there wasn't an investigator class. He was probably right. Hopefully it was all for a reason. But I was supposed to translate Sunday School too but it didn't take very long for me to say, "Yeah right, Elder Kelly. Here you go." And then I gave him all the stuff back. My knowledge of German/Kings and Chronicles was not sufficient.

We visited the referral from Hal! They are the best people ever. I want to know if Hal heard about our visit and what he heard! I hope good things. They treated us like queens and invited us to dinner and we ate Majestic Herring and Wild Boar. And not only were they just in Denmark, Jorgen is actually Danish! It was perfect. We talked about Denmark and how much we love the Tueller family. I really like them. We gave them a thank you note but their mailbox is hidden so we just stuck it in their door. I hope they got it. Tell Hal thank you from me for the referral! I hope the couple liked me and our visit. I really like them. (Hal told me that this couple – she is the president of the company he works for – really enjoyed them and thought they were “awesome”!)

Love you family! The church is true. The plan of salvation is real. Take the opportunity to share it this week. Pray for opportunities to share it. Byyee.

Do you remember this adorable family from Schaffhausen?? Sister Siems and I were the first to have contact with them (well, in Schaffhausen). And Fabrithio just got baptized!! Yaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy. I love this family.

Katie sent some more pictures from her MTC days along with

her first email from Vienna earlier this week, so I'm going 

to add them here. 

This huge map is on the wall at the MTC.  I've seen lots of pictures

of groups of missionaries pointing to where they will be serving.

In this case, Katie and her roommates are all pointing to where they are from!

Two from Utah, one from Scotland and two from Finland!

Katie and her companions with their two main teachers at the MTC.

On the left is Brother Hill, and on the right, 

Katie and "her Scottish Sisters"....

Sister Couper and Sister McEwen

With her friend from Jerusalem, Sister 

and finally...a few random pictures from her

MTC room which she shared with 4 other girls.

I asked for these ... a mom wants to 

know everything.

"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!

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!