Heyyyyy Family! First of all, I have this whole
little family history booklet about my family that I need to fill out before the new president comes. So I need some help . If you need some motivation, read
what President Monson said about Hastening the Work in the June Liahona. Or
Ensign. Whatever. And actually you should just read that anyway, because it's really good. I'm so grateful to know families are forever.
So this week! Guess what? I had one of the most
spiritual lessons of my life in the funniest setting. We had a joint teach (when a member joins the missionaries to teach. It's just really good for people interested in learning more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ to get to know members of the local congregation who aren't missionaries) set
up for this guy and then what does he do? He doesn't show up for his lesson. So
before I could even suggest it our joint teach asks us to teach her a lesson.
And at first she wanted to know more about what we normally teach as
missionaries and then we ended up just having a the best discussion and the
spirit was so strong and I think it was something that she really needed. She
told us she had to run and write in her journal before she forgot everything
she had just learned. We talked a lot about the priesthood and missionary work
and it was just good.
Remember how I told you about M? Well she's
pretty much my favorite person. That girl is not even a member and she has been
putting up with so much anti-mormon ridiculousness. We are going to be seeing
her every other week. But basically in the schools here they unfortunately teach that
the Mormons are a sect. No really, they do.
I've actually encountered a lot more anti-Mormon things lately. (Seriously Satan is
working really hard. So I just have to work harder.). We had such a good lesson
with Ch and then these two ladies came in who are there because of helping her
with one of her sons because I guess he is sometimes a troubled kid and they
sat down and her husband brought them coffee and Ch jumps in and asks her
husband to bring us some coffee as well. Which is when one of these ladies
jumps in and says, "No no no they don't drink coffee" before Sister
Blohm and I can say anything like just a normal, "No thank you." And
Ch was surprised and then this woman goes on and on and talks about all these
things from the word of wisdom and then jumped right into how we have to pay
tithing (Yes, faithful LDS people do give the Lord back 10% of what he gives us. It's used to build chapels, temples, and provide materials to members all over the world, rich or poor. It's used very carefully because it is the Lord's money and is not squandered and does not go toward any personal gain) or we're not allowed to enter the temple a year after we've been
baptized and all this stuff. (the Word of Wisdom refers to a health code which includes not drinking alcohol and coffee that LDS members adhere to. I have always thought of the "no alcohol" not in terms of alcohol being like sulphuric acid or something, but that because so many people can't handle it and it causes so much pain and heartache, it is best that we all forego . . . for each other) It was in German and Ch’s German isn't awesome (we
talk in a combination of German and English) so I'm not totally sure how much
she understood. But there is a good chance that this woman made sure she
understood after we left. So I just told this woman how impressed I was that
she knew so much and corrected a few of her gross exaggerations. The other lady
who was with her had so many questions because she was just generally curious.
And we have nothing to hide. Most of what she said was true. And I explained
that the word of wisdom is because God wants us to not be addicted to anything
so that we can preserve our free will. And Christina was on board and says she
only drinks herbal tea anyway and the friend of the anti-Mormon woman could see
the sense in it but this one woman, while still being semi-polite about it, was
seriously trying to destroy us. Sister Blohm was pretty upset but as far as I'm
concerned she just made the woman who came with her curious to learn more about
our religion and made it so that Christina doesn't have any surprises when she
learns about the Word of Wisdom. The only problem is we don't know what she
said after we left. At one point I asked her how she knew so much and she said
she used to be a member of our church. There you have it. And this woman is bitter. According
to her, she was an active mormon for 10 years. We left the room without praying
and then at the door I asked Christina if we could say another prayer with her
(we had said an opening prayer and had a good lesson before these women came).
So we went in a bedroom and said a kneeling prayer. And Christina apologized
profusely because she could tell this woman had not been so nice to us. I could
go on and on and I already have but that's basically what happened. It's okay. People do have so many misperceptions but it's so sad when they are so angry with Heavenly Father that they want to hurt someone else's faith.
Yesterday was stake conference and we all watched a
broadcast from President Uchtdorf and Elder Anderson in Zollikofen. And guess
what yesterday morning President Uchtdorf rededicated the Swiss temple and
Switzerland to the spreading of the gospel.
This week I have an austausch with Sister Couper
and she planned it so that it's on our year birthday! Technically hers is on
the 11th and mine is on the 12th and our austausch is the 11th to the 12th. And
I'm going to Thun to be with her.
What else. We had to say goodbye to President and
Sister Miles this week at zone conference. That was sad but they gave us a
great introduction to our new mission president and it was actually just one of
the most spiritual meetings of my whole mission.
On Saturday we did two service projects. We helped
a member paint the outside of their house and we helped an investigator in his
garden. I spent so much time just picking up the trash that had collected in their garden.
What else. Quotes of the week:
After my prayer Sister Blohm was laughing. Sister
Blohm: I don't want to laugh but you just prayed for Ch to read in the
BOM and she doesn't have a BOM yet (we were still waiting to get one in
Portuguese from other missionaries).
One morning (actually it was Sunday morning after
two hard-core service projects for the entire day on Saturday) I was especially
tired and out of it and apparently not myself. Sister Blohm: Who are you and
what have you done with Sister Lewis?
Welll I hope that was a good update. Life is good.
I have purpose and peace. That is what the gospel gives me. Keep being the
best.
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