Welcome to Columbia South Carolina Mission

Last MTC Photos

Too Soon To Say Goodbye

Hello Family and Friends,

It's crazy that last week I was saying hello to the wonderful MTC and on Tuesday I will be leaving! I have made lifelong friends here and it is so cool! I love all the people in my District and when you are a sister there are alot of tears and hugs. It was sad this week because district B left and it is so sad to walk by their room and not see them in there or giving us treats at night or just coming over to say hi! I love them so much and know that they are going to be amazing missionaries!! 

Speaking of which it is a sad goodbye but I cannot wait to see the things in store for me in South Carolina! I fly out on Tuesday so I will probably send out an email on a monday! 

I cannot wait for the things that the MTC has in store for us on thanksgiving. We have a huge devotional in the morning with an APOSTLE THAT MEANS WE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN TO HEAR 2 APOSTLES SPEAK BEFORE WE FLY OUT COOL!! And the choir which I am happuily in are singing Come Thou Fount , the mo-tab version! It is quite cool actually! Also I was chosen in my zone along with sister Kniffen to be a table leader for the Thanksgiving service projec,t which is so cool because we get to feed over 350,000 children and families in Utah! I can't wait to assume my leadership role tomorrow! It is a great way to get to know more people and we get to wear very attractive hairnets let me tell ya! It will be so so fun! So just stay tuned! 

Also one fun thing about us Sisters is we do this thing every night called community prayer where all the sisters in our room say a prayer and then we do like a group huddle filled with all sorts of love and such! it is quite fun GIRLS CAMP IS THE BEST! (we call our residence that) How fun! Sunday was also a very cool time because I was able to teach the district meeting on the book of mormon by myself scary! I felt really anxious about it and was kind of scared but during my lesson I only felt the love and the spirit! When we have fear our faith disappears thy cannot coexsist! So don't be fearful when you have the lord in your corner, he will put words in your heart and all we have to do is say them! look how much I am learning! a cool part about the lesson was the book of Mormon is our key stone and is the best way to conversion... BUT... Jesus Christ is our corner stone and we cannot have the fullness of the gospel or truth without both which is why the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ! After my lesson before sacrament started Brother Ivins (in the branch presidency) told me that my lessons was one of the BEST lessons he has heard in the MTC and that it was full of power and by the spirit. So needless to say, I was freaking out for nothing! I also was able to teach relief society on repentence with sister Sherman and after one of the newer sisters who is going to Canada told me on our temple walk that it was something that she needed to hear! SO AWESOME! ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT IT WILL TESTIFY OF TRUTH! It is so great to be here because we teach all of the time and it is so easy to feel the spirit even if you are role playing! One of our investigators Jessica even commited to Baptism! YAY! But that was on our last lesson with her sad! The spirit can also tell us what to say in order to help people open up to us! That happened with our investigator Kai, he was very cautious when we first started meeting but I shared a personal experience of when I thought God wasn't there and how I realized that the Lord doesnt always answer our prayers in the way or time that we want! after that he was very specific on the struggles he was having in his life so always listen to the spirit!! 

Sorry for the grammer we only get a little bit of time to email and I got a B in english so sorry and I hope you can all understand my fun stories. I love you all dearly and hope that you have a fantastic Thanksgiving. Make sure to tell everyone who you are grateful for that you are! 

Count your blessings also if you can read Alma 34: 32 I think it talks about living in Thanksgiving everyday. I hope thats the right reference! But oh Whale!

Love you all!!

Sister Lewis

Sister Lewis the Sequel

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

First and foremost, I want you to know that I love you all so very very much! I love being a missionary and I can feel myself becoming more Christ-like every single day! The MTC is an amazing and spiritual place. I cry like 10 times a day! It's a joke in my district that Sister Kniffen and I are ALWAYS CRYING!!! It is strange because that is the complete opposite of how I was before the MTC. The first day here felt so surreal, and I quickly learned that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days! It only took about two hours for my companion and I to get super close, I LOVE HER SO MUCH!! She is like a mixture of my sister Shaeley and myself, which is cool; and we met before I came to the MTC. She seriously is such a blessing. I'm not saying it is easy having a companion, but it is amazing what two can accomplish!

" Ye shall go forth with the power of my spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of the trump, declaring my word like unto angels of god" - D&C 42:6

That is so true. Without my companion, I would probably be lost, confused, and alone.... I always forget where the buildings are, and we only go to like three of them! My companion is Sister Sherman, and she is a beautiful daughter of God! She is from all over because her dad works for the Air Force, but she calls Layton, Utah home because that is where her grandparents live. She loves to jam out in her car, and loves Taco Bell! She is just so amazing. She really makes the difference in our lessons because she is really good at being able to explain things that I have a hard time explaining in simple terms! She also worked as a dental assistant over the summer. She really likes to run, and one of her favorite colors is purple. We also have decided that I also am very good at starting the conversation when we don't really know where to start. In my district we have 6 elders, and 4 sisters. All of the elders are going to the Birmingham Alabama Mission, and all of us sisters are going to the South Carolina Columbia Mission. It is both really cool and really sad because we are already so close as a district and have a lot of really funny inside jokes together. I am really going to miss our elders! We have one named Elder Ramsey and he seriously makes THE BEST IMPERSONATIONS EVER! He makes me laugh so hard! He makes an incredible Barack Obama impression that is really cool! We also have Elder Steele, Elder Foster, Elder Childs, Elder Kadous, and Elder Sebastian. For the sisters, we have Sister Graves, Sister Kniffen, Sister Sherman, and of course Sister Lewis! I remember on our first day, all of the other companionships were so jealous that I met Sister Sherman before we came out here. It was pretty funny! Here at the MTC, we spend about 11 hours a day in a classroom, and we are on a very, very tight schedule. It’s a different place to be, but I love, love, love it here! I wake up every morning with a smile on my face! Our teachers are Sister Potter, who is the sweetest person on the planet, and Brother Forrales, who makes me laugh all the time. The first day we saw him, he told us to really take the time in the MTC to learn and grow, and when we have study times, to really take that time to study, "Because if you play tic tac toe on the board you are ruining the markers paid by tithing money." We also have had a lot of special appearances by Brother Swenson, who is the sassiest person alive. Sister Sherman and I were teaching him to practice, and I used an analogy to explain the Book of Mormon, along with the bible. Then he just started going off about how much he hated analogies. Needless to say, I was laughing so hard I was crying. He even told us his least favorite analogy is one that involves people thinking that ice cream trucks have the authority to baptize. We also got to sing in the MTC choir in front of the one ... the only... GARY E. STEVENSON, who if you know me, you know that he is one of my favorite apostles! I love being on the mission field because I feel the spirit so strong and I have a special bond with my district. Even when I am down, I can rely on my companion and the other sisters in my district to build me up. I was having a hard day on Saturday night and I just cried. The sisters in my room all climbed on top of my bunk, we all had a group hug, and I felt my saviors love for me!

I testify to each of you that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love each and every one of us. They are there to comfort us when we are lost, and when we are down. I know that if we put our faith in them ANYTHING can happen!

I love you all and hope that you can find time in your day to email me, or send me a letter. I will be on later today with pictures! [And I will send the MTC address to you guys, so you can use Dear Elder, but hearing from you all would be Fab]

HAVE A GREAT WEEK I LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,

Sister Lewis