"I still hate lost letters" - November 25, 2014 - From Luzern

November 24, 2014 

Hiiiii. I hope I can write a good email this week for a change. I think how tired I am is really showing through in my letters. It wasn't until last week that I started actually feeling excited thinking about how many days it would be until I left to come back home. But now I think I am getting a little smarter and I am getting sad. A week and a half isn't very long. And I know that real life will be hard too. Harder than I can imagine. And there are so many things I will really, really miss. Of course I will miss Switzerland. I'm actually worried about how much I will miss it. But there so many people I will truly miss, so many people I already truly miss, and so many things about just being a missionary. About this sacred calling. Oh now I'm sounding all missionaryish. Well guess what, I am one. I have been one for almost 18 months now and I am going to miss being one.

Well enough of that. Guess what yesterday was the musical fireside. Do you know what that means? That means it's OVER. And that is soooo awesome because it was not only a lot of work but stressful with all the uncertainty and my own fears about singing "When you Believe" since I'm really not Mariah Carey!  And guess what?  It went really well!!! The district number was a complete flop, but nothing else was, and Sister Oswald and I already knew that it would be and were against it the whole time so unfortunately it was an I-told-you-so moment. Except of course we didn't say that. And my song with Tabby went so well! Everyone has been on Tabby's case this whole time but it was so good. Apparently everyone was sooo worried. And they were worried after hearing our first run through on Sunday. But we didn't really care about impressing them we were just kind of messing around and trying not to wear out our voices because we were both on the verge of sore throats. The second run through we put a little more of our voices into it. But then for the real thing obviously we gave it all and everyone was really impressed. Some people had been so difficult about Tabby participating, which, of course, was so annoying to me because they should have been totally behind her wanting to be involved!  Ah, sometimes people just don't get it!  So we were really hoping that she would just show them and she did. We were pleased with it. It was a success. Several non-members were in attendance! Ingrid couldn't come because Chris was sick. But René (the hiking guide) was kind enough to come! Along with friends of members and less actives and our new friend, whose name I don't even really know for sure. It sounded like Kurdi. But she is a miracle. She was referred to us from missionaries in Kosovo but she was just visiting. She lives in Luzern! But we haven't gotten to meet with her yet. We were given her number by the bishop, who got it from the mission president in Albania/Kosovo, who he knows personally, and who Sister Oswald and I also know! But this phone number we had been given was not working. We called and called. We were sad. She sounded so awesome. But then one day Sister Oswald called and the call went through! And then she called us back. She came to the musical fireside and loved it and met a few members and we have our first meeting with her tomorrow. Cool, huh?! That lady that I told you about who we met on a Monday morning who has never even been to church in Luzern and has been innactive for such a long time came with her partner! Way cool. And the spirit was there and things really did go really well.

Check out my cool pics. I made my own Swiss Army Knife at the Victorinox factory. Rad, huh? And it has "Kate's Knife" engraved on it so that everyone will know that's it's mine and that I made it. And on the knife blade it says it was self-made in Brunnen.

Today we were in Zurich with a member (Kimberly. You know who she is? and we went to the Grossmünster and we took the stairs to the top and we visited the Fraumünster and we wandered through the old city (Altstadt). Writing about wandering through the old city makes me think of Jerusalem. Altstadt is more accurate. Then we went on a boatride on the Zürichsee with other missionaries who are going home while Kimberly ate and shopped.

Guess what a missionary who is in Schaffhausen now said I had still gotten some letters (and she said like 5!) and she gave them to her zone leader to give to me. I have never ever seen them. They are lost forever. Way sad. I still hate lost letters. So if you have any letters you want to send, send them within the next day. There's not much more time and I don't want any lost letters. This weekend was really crazy. I found letters in the mailbox from James and Mom on Saturday night and I didn't even have the chance to read them until this morning on the bus!

Well life is good. The church is true. I'm tired. What else is new? Also we continue to be able to teach Gabriela which is great. Also I randomly ran into Phil Mast today in Zurich! Huge tender mercy. Well, I love you all. Thanks for being the best.

Missionaries in the Zurich Zone at zone conference

"I think Swiss German sounds like German with rocks in your mouth." November 11, 2014 - From Luzern

I'm happy. It's been a good week. Momma I forgot to tell you that last week at stake conference one of my dear Schaffhausen members asked me to say hello to my mother. He is the sweetest. He still remembers the Schaffhausen Chapel gingerbread house you made! 

And Sunday Jon Schmidt and the Piano Guys came to our ward!  They had a concert in Luzern the night before and then they gave an impromptu mini concert after church.  It was amazing!

Click on the link below to see a video of Jon Schmidt playing his famous Waterfall!

Jon Schmidt playing after church in Luzern

Well where to start. Yesterday we went to the Einsiedeln Kloster. Way cool. And yesterday morning we met with a less active who we have been trying to see for so long and she would only see us yesterday. And we already had an appointment with a member family in the evening so we had to do emails today.

The Kloster was amazing.  It is a Benedictine monastery in the town of Einsiedeln in the Canton Schweiz. It is a really important place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Switzerland for Catholics. It's well known for the "black Madonna" and the St. James pilgrimage path goes through this monastery as well.  It's over 1000 years old. It was quite something to see and we loved it.  Just Sister Oswald and I went.

  

Did you see the pictures of me at the Freitag store? That was a P-day a while ago. 

(FYI - "Freitag" is apparently a super hip Swiss Brand.  They make products such as bags, purses, laptop cases etc out of recycled tarps that are used to cover large semi-trucks when transporting goods.)

More about our appointment with the less active yesterday. First time we have met with her, first time she has met with missionaries in YEARS, first time her new partner had the chance to learn anything about the church, and yeah it went pretty well. It was just a miracle that we were even able to get an appointment with her. We've been trying for months. But it's just kind of hard with people like that, when they're saying things that are completely incorrect and they have just gotten the wrong ideas. And I don't ever want to offend them . . . you would like there to be a next time . . . but they also have so much misinformation! She kept telling us that there was no need for organized religion and that Jesus didn't actually establish a church while he was on the earth and that he always taught in the outdoors and not at the temple or in synagogues. So false. She acknowledged that Jesus was in the temple twice, when he was a boy and when he overthrew the mini mall on the temple grounds. But he was there way more than that. We just really tried to listen and understand what she was thinking and feeling but I think that she and her partner are coming to the musical fireside! We really think they will come. I also just bore testimony of a living prophet and basically the many reasons why having a church is important to God's plan.  Ingrid is also coming to the musical fireside!!

About the musical fireside . . . Can't remember what I've really told you. Next Sunday at the one in Schwamendingen I'm singing a duet with a member from Solothurn because I didn't want to sing by myself.  And we had planned on singing together in Solothurn but it never worked out. We're singing "Whole Again" by Sally DeFord. Then the Sunday after that is our musical fireside here in Luzern and I'll be singing in "Christ Alone" with the district (which I already sang with two other missionaries at the first musical fireside but now we will be singing it in German and there will be more of us). And I'll be singing "When You Believe." The Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston version. Listen to it and you will understand why I am semi-terrified. I'm singing the Mariah Carey part. Except I cannot sing like Mariah Carey (surprise surprise! ha ha). Pray for me! The less active I am singing with is black and insisted on being Whitney Houston. And she came to church on Sunday!! With her daughter!! It was amazing. She even bore her testimony. And you know who else bore her testimony? The member I told you about who had thought of going inactive but we have been working with her and she's amazing. I want her to be my friend forever. And you know who else bore his testimony? Jon Schmidt. That's right, two of the piano guys came to church. It was such a good Sunday for so many reasons. Except for that another less active, Nancy, PROMISED to come and didn't. That was sad, but we love helping people take even the smallest steps to being closer to the feeling that comes from living in the footsteps of our Savior. 

Another less active is doing SO WELL. She has vacation time from work right now and she has been spending her time studying the gospel. And it is showing. She is incredible. She gets her patriarchal blessing at the end of this month.

I got an email from Jenni today. :-) I will direct her question to all of you and see what you come up with: "By the way, I still cant have fun reading the book of Mormon... any suggestions what might help ?" I have a few thoughts but give me what you have! I am just happy that she would ask me that.

Quote of the week:

"I think Swiss German sounds like German with rocks in your mouth." - Brother Warburton

Today I will give my last testimony to my fellow missionaries at zone training. Really crazy. I'm trying to get time to slow down a little. I still have over 3 weeks!! That's longer than I had in Kenya and that already impacted me for the eternities. I heard from Sister Judd that Elder Teixiera said that trunky missionaries should think about what the Savior accomplished during the last week of His life! I know that I still have much to do and I'm definitely not feeling trunky anyway.  I just hope I can do everything that my Heavenly Father wants me to before I leave.  I really want to own the next three weeks.

Byeeee love you.

"I know it to be true on all levels" - November 4, 2014 - From Lucerne

Hi to the fam. Well . . . where to start.

I actually haven't had my last fast and testimony meeting  yet because we had stake conference!! Which means I got to see so many people from Schaffhausen!! (not sure if I've described this yet on the blog.  The first Sunday of the month in our church is "Fast and Testimony" meeting.  We  fast  from food and drink for two full meals Saturday evening until Sunday evening and donate the money you would have spent ...and more if you can....to the welfare programs sponsored by the church, both local and national and international. These programs reach far beyond church membership and is a program of our church that I'm incredibly proud of.  Anyway, during this meeting anyone in attendance can come to the front of the chapel and share their thoughts and "bear their testimony" of the truthfulness of the gospel and how it strengthens their life.)

So we had a really weird weekend which is actually really not ideal. We had stake conference Saturday night and Sunday morning in locations closer to Olten and I had to practice with Salome and Elder Cottam for the song we will be performing in the Schwamendingen musical fireside. And Solothurn is also closer to Olten. And we had interviews early the next morning also still closer to Olten. So we spent two nights with the sisters in Olten. Not ideal. We had permission, but after talking to President it sounds like the permission from the zone leaders isn't typically backed up by him. But while we were in Solothurn we went to see Esther. I loved it.

Please pray for me that I can be an extremely effective missionary these last few weeks.

We saw miracles this week, as we do every week. And if we by chance didn't see any, then we are the worst noticers of the Lord's miracles. So here's one. We decided on Monday, the one over a week ago, that we would go stop by on this new member couple in the ward and bring them something. The woman is from Utah, married with a small baby, and is super smart, talented, and beautiful. Just the person who you expect to have it all together, you know? She has moved around a lot in the states, but moving oversees to German-speaking country when she doesn't speak any German has been hard on her. We already knew all that, but we went by and it was pitch black like it is way earlier these days after daylight savings. So we only rang the doorbell once, and then we were just going to leave a Swiss treat and a note in her postbox because it seemed like it was already so late (because it was soooo dark!). But suddenly the door buzzed open, and we were in her building. She was home alone with a sleeping baby and her husband on a business trip. She hadn't heard the doorbell, and she only happened to see my flower trench coat in the camera when she walked past her front door and then she hurried and let us in. A few weeks ago we had a Relief Society activity about food storage, and she came late. We had heard through the grapevine that she is pretty much a professional violinist and we had planned to ask her if she would participate in the musical fireside. So after the activity, which I did a terrible job of translating, Sister Oswald went to talk to her. She didn't want to start talking about the musical fireside right away, so they had a nice little chat. Later I talked to her too and that Sunday where we watched some general conference at church I talked to her forever. You could kind of see that she was starving for a friend. She told us while we were there on Monday night that she had struggled so much with this move and with her testimony that she had planned to just take a break from church for a few months. She came to that Relief Society activity, but she didn't feel like she had any friends there, so she had planned to leave that Relief Society activity and not come back for a while. That's when Sister Oswald approached her. She said if she had waited 10 more seconds she would have been gone. We talked about the things she has been struggling with, specifically the atonement, and it was really an incredible experience. It took a while for her to even trust us enough to share that with her. But we talked for a while and the spirit was very present in the room, and then she felt like sharing that with us. We are staying in regular contact, and we are planning on doing something else with her later this week. I know that God is aware of this woman and trusted us as His missionaries to reach out to her. It has been a very humbling experience, and it's not over.

So our progressing investigator is G, who I think I have talked a little bit about. She's amazing. She's not progressing this week because we went there this morning and she hadn't read in the Book of Mormon or in the restoration pamphlet we gave her :-(. But we taught her about the Plan of Salvation today. At least the first part. We really focused on teaching through the scriptures, and it was such a privilege to be there as she had her eyes opened to new doctrine. We also emphasized the importance of her asking God if these things are true. Her concern about prayer was interesting. She said she doesn't want to be the bratty kid who demands things from God, because she knows what it's like to be a parent. When she does pray she usually just expresses gratitude. So we talked about how we can ask God to reveal truths to us without being demanding, but I think it's something we'll have to talk more about.

That sure made me reflect on my prayers. I'm pretty sure I am just the bratty little kid 99% of the time. I want to try to be more grateful and adopt more of a "be it according to thy will" attitude. Not easy, as you all know.

Well, while we're on the subject of the Plan of Salvation, I just want to bear testimony of it. It is the truth. It answers the questions of my soul. Nothing that I believe goes against my logic. I know it to be true on all levels. I love it, and I'm so grateful for it. Well . . . Keep being the best.

Happy Birthday to Austin!

"By the dawns early light" October 20, 2014 From Luzern

Heyyyyyy Family! Guess what I did today?!? I hiked to the top of Pilatus. Yes, I did! With my companion!  We gave ourselves an extended P-day because technically we didn't have one last week because on that P-day  we helped a member move all day.

So, we´re having a musical fireside on the 23rd of November in Luzern. And do you know why? Because musical firesides have become somewhat of a phenomenon in this mission. Sister Siems and Sister Peacock and Sister Maatta and I planned the first one and everyone loved it. So since that Fireside was the first lesson, then came the second lesson and the third lesson in Winterthur. And the second one was more about art and yeah they have gotten really good. Every time they have been more professional, and they're trying to make them more standardized so its easier for other missionaries to create them as well.

But I did not push for this musical fireside. Elder Schumaier did (and thanks to him you have all those new pictures to look through. There aren´t very many of me but there are some good scenic ones.). So it has been kind of a drama and on top of that they are having a musical fireside in Schwamendingen (Zurich) the week before and they asked me to sing in it. And I am probably singing in the Luzern one too so that a less active can participate. Pray that it works. Otherwise we were trying to get as many members as possible involved and not so many missionaries. 

In an effort to keep it easy for the Schwamendingen fireside, I'm singing a song I already practiced with a member in Solothurn and with Elder Cottam on the piano. We had planned to preform it on my last Sunday, but the member got sick. So now we will perform it! As a result, I had to talk to Elder Cottam on the phone to let him know, and the first quote of the week is from him.

Me: Okay bye I have to go . . .

Elder Cottam: Wait Sister Lewis! Oh say can you see . . . (he's not singing, just saying it)

Me: By the dawn's early light?

Elder Cottam: Oh good! I thought maybe you had forgotten 'Merica!

(I’m guessing this is because they were the only two Americans in the district when she was in Solothurn)

One time Sister Oswald and I were having some small public transportation issues and we had the following conversation (while walking next to the great, big, beautiful lake):

Sister Oswald: We could just hitchhike and get someone to pick us up.

Me: Or we could just steal that boat (There was a boat right there on that gorgeous lake.)

Uh...that leads into another story. Seriously I don't think there is a more beautiful lake. And I may or may not have gotten the chance to ride in and even drive a private boat on this lake. It was necessary I promise. We were with our referral. And it was just a blessing from Heavenly Father because I have been dreaming about going boating on that lake! Here's what happened. Greg (Greg is the owner of Alpenwild, and Sister Kate has worked for him in his office and as a hiking guide in the Swiss Alps)   referred a Swiss guide he works with who lives in Luzern and so we called him and he invited us to come hiking with him and a client for no cost. Missionary opportunity! Maybe not so traditional, but a missionary opportunity nonetheless. He had questions for us and we all talked about religion and how it played in to the history of Luzern and we met so many people who had been to Utah or something and even to temple square (for example the guy selling cheese). It was good. Aaaand then we were waiting for our boat to take us back to Luzern and a guy came out and offered us a ride in his private boat. That's it. See pictures. I don't feel guilty. I AM obedient. But normally missionaries are not supposed to be on private boats for reasons you can imagine . . . but no I did not get in the water nor will I ever on my mission. (Missionaries are asked not to swim throughout their missions. This is primarily for safety reasons and simply avoids many potential safety hazards that could be encountered by potentially inexperienced swimmers, dangerous waters etc.) 

So more about my great day today . . . It was a harder hike than Timp. (Mt Timpanogas is our local mountain where we live in Utah.  It's elevation is 11, 752 and the trail starts at 6,910 and is about 16 miles round trip)  Four hours up. Lots of elevation. And then we climbed around all over on top and added some more elevation and I was just obsessed with today!

Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit a nice member of our ward. I had the feeling more than once that I needed to do something with her. She is always at church, but never at activities. She has some friends in the ward, but not many. Sister Oswald had never spoken to her. I have had a few occasions to speak with her and I even sat next to her last week and I just asked her if Sister Oswald and I could come by to practice teaching one of the lessons by teaching it to her. She wanted to also feed us, but I expressly told her that we are just fine without any food involved and that we would just like to come and see her. We made an appointment for yesterday, and we went. She did insist on feeding us, and her inactive son was also there for dinner. It's these people who Heavenly Fathers needs us to visit! It's these people who need the missionaries in their homes every once in a while. Her ex-husband has tried to turn their children against the gospel and the church.  And here she is, ever faithful, coming to church by herself. We talked about the first part of the second lesson (the Plan of Salvation) and it was good. It wasn't like it was the best lesson the world has ever seen, but we all bore testimony, and she enjoyed it. She mentioned afterward that she never has had the missionaries over because she thought it might be boring for us with just her there. Of course we assured her that we had enjoyed our time with her very much, and she told us she would like to have us over again before I leave. I just had such a good feeling leaving the house because I had paid attention to a prompting from the Holy Ghost in making sure we spent some time with her. Sister Oswald was also very happy that we went. It was just good. I really felt like the Lord's servant, which is my favorite feeling in the world.

I got so excited talking about boats that I forgot to finish the Sister Oswald quote of the week. I'll try again:

One time Sister Oswald and I were having some small public transportation issues and we had the following conversation (while walking next to the great, big, beautiful lake):

Sister Oswald: We could just hitchhike and get someone to pick us up.

Me: Or we could just steal that boat (there was a boat right there and that gorgeous lake).

Sister Oswald: At least my idea was realistic.

Me: Mine was more fun.

Sister Oswald: True.

Well Family, I love you. My letters from Liddy and Jesse were special treats this week. The Church is true, and Jesus is coming again!! Ha ha I don't know if you remember me telling you that Sister Kervinen (one of her companions in the Missionary Training Center) and I ran around the MTC saying that. We were reminiscing about it on our exchange.