Hola Amigos!

Elder Lewis here in Chile, serving the Lord and J-Chillin´ in the meanwhile! 

This is going to be a short one, because we have fumigators coming to blow up our house, we have an ANT PROBLEM! It's bad. We sweep the kitchen floor every day and extract about 2 pounds of little ants. They're in the kitchen, the bathroom, the fridge, and the best part, they're our snuggle buddies at night! 

Anyway, this was a pretty mellow week. I had another intercambio this week out in Linares with our Zone leader. It's always fun to go see a new place and meet new people.

 We celebrated my comps birthday on the 26th, which is also the birthday of my little sister Jane! Shout out to her and the other little brother, Carson, his birthday is today.

 My comp and I partied hard with some alcohol free beer that some members gifted to us, and did some Hymnal karaoke. 

Thats about it, but there always something new! 

I want to share a scripture real quick. Ether 12: 27. It says, " And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humblethemselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." 

I love this scripture because we all have problems, and challenges, and weaknesses, and it's so that we can be humble, and learn to overcome our problems. And with God, we can turn those problems into our strong suits! 

We can make our selves better every day, through hard work and Faith in God. I know each of us all have problems, and I ask try to be humbled in your challenges this week, and try to turn them to your superpowers! 

I love you all and thank you for your love and support. I hope you all have a great, safe week. 

Until next time!

Love,

-Elder Lewis

Our friends in town sent me this pic...

I love seeing this cute fat head!

Welcome back to the Chile Channel, with Elder Lewis!

This week, we´ll be cookin´ up some good times and also baptizing a SUPER AWESOME mother and daughter! 

GUESS WHAT!? This Sunday, we baptized Mariela and her daughter Andrea! These two ladies are amazing people, for real. So as the story goes, the night that Luis (our other baptism here) had his post baptism party, Mariela and Andrea were there. Mariela is the sister-in-law of Luis and Andrea is Luis niece. 

While at this party, we got to talking with them, and Andrea immeditaly invited over to talk about the Gospel, because she was interested and had some questions. Fast forward a bit, and Andrea is chuggin forward with our lessons and understands IT ALL! 

Que Mariela. She takes interest because Andrea has been talking to her about the things she's been learning. Fast forward a bit more. Both are learning, understanding, and acting with full faith and intent together and have baptism dates! 

Fast forward to Sunday, and they're BAPTIZED! Such a wild and great experience, it was really so rewarding seeing them grow in the gospel, their faith, and their testimonies, and here they are today, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! 

This is truly a magnificent work, and God really is there to help each and every one of us, even if we may not feel it. 

I know that this Church is true and I KNOW that the message of the Gospel can bring peace and joy to the lives of many. 

Another cool experince from the story.. Mariela has had health problems for the better part of her life, and she had a condition where her body just hurts for no reason. Its hard for her to move, walk, do really anything. She told us about this problem, and we invited her to pray about it, and ask for help. The next day, Mariela called us and said that she was pain free, and that she had prayed the night before for help and relief and she woke up pain free, and has been for the past 2 and a half weeks. I know for a fact that God only wants the best for us, and when we need help, He is always there to lend us a hand and bless our lives. 

Im so thankful for each and every one of you and for you prayers, love, and support. I hope you all have a great week and stay safe! Love you all!

Until next week!

love,

-Elder Lewis

Fun fact of the week: Roast beef in spanish is ROSBIF! 

I think spanish is just a ripoff of english. 

This was a great week, lots of hard work and WALKING!

As always. 

We have a new comp in the house, his name is Elder Rodriguez, he's 24 from Brazil, and is RIPPED! He's a cool dude. 

Another cool fact, I'm starting to turn latino! I'm super tan out here (we get roasted because were always out walking in the sun), I have a chilean haircut, and I can kind of speak spanish! Instead of people calling me gringo I actually get asked where im from! 

People actually think that our member friend Pablo is a gringo, he gets pretty upset about that. 

During our study this week, my comp wouldn't stop pestering me so I got up to beat him up, and after some smackdown he asked me to sit back down and continue studying. 

As I went to sit down, he pulled my chair out from under me and I had the SLOWEST, most comical fall to the floor of my life! We both layed on the floor for 2 minutes crying laughing because of it! What a great companion bonding experience. 

I don't have a super spiritual story or account for this week, but yesterday I had the opportunity to speak in church about el Día de Reposo, or the Sabbath Day. Each time I'm asked to speak, I love the opportunity because not only do I get to share a message with our branch in spanish, but I get to delve into a new topic and learn for myself the principles of this wonderful Gospel. 

And with this new knowledge, I can better share the Gospel with investigators and new friends we meet every day here in Chile. Im so grateful for all of you and your love and support, and all your kind words! 

I hope you all have a great week and stay safe! Love you all,

-Elder Lewis

           I've made it a whole transfer here in Chile, how crazy!

This week was another good one, of course. 

I had a "inter-cambio" (mini transfer) for a day out in Linares! It was crazy, I got to ride bikes with my comp from the Philipeans, and almost died about 4 times because I haven't ridden a bike in like, 5 YEARS! 

Haha, it was a good time though, to meet new people and see a new place. 

This week, we also learned that our member friend, is afraid of stairs! We had a lesson to teach, that was in an apartment, up a flight of stairs. Guess what, instead of a lesson with a member, it was a lesson with a member outside waiting at the bottom of the stairs! Poor guy, he made it up about 5 stairs, clutching onto the handle, but he just couldnt do it. The stairs are a challenge to tackle another day.

This was fast Sunday as well, and I had the opportunity to bear my testimony to the congregation about prayer. I know I talk about prayer a whole lot, but for me, it's one of the most import things in my life right now! 

This week was filled with prayer, as always, but I felt like my prayers this week were especially answered. We have a woman we teach, Irma (who likes gringos to sing to her), and we taught her about the importance of prayer. 

She asked a great question, "You talk about recieving answers, how does that work? How do I recieve an answer?" 

We explained to her that answers can come in many different forms, be it a feeling, a scripture that you come across, words or help from another person, or even a dream. She immediatly perked up and began to tell us about a dream she had, about how she had seen God, and He told her that she was going to be ok. 

Irma has some health problems with her bones and joints, and she loves to smoke. But in her dream, she had recieved an answer that if she would stop smoking, she would be ok. 

Its always awesome when investigators can make a connection in their lives with our lessons, and it's especially great because it has a much more personal, profound impact in their lives. 

I know that prayer is one of the best things we can rely on when we need help, or an answer, or somebody to talk to. Because God is our Heavenly Father, and we are His children, and what parent doesnt want their child to talk to them?! When we have faith, and a sincere heart, we can always recieve an answer from our Father in Heaven. 

I hope you all have a great week and stay safe, I love you all and appreciate your love and prayers! Until next time!

love,

-Elder Lewis

Happy New Year everybody! Hope you all had a good end of 2017 and a great start to 2018! 

This week we did some service, and of course, the first time I've seen rain here in Chile was during our outdoor service activity! 

We have an investigator named Irma, she's probably 75 years old, loves to smoke, has a boxer dog named Sasha, and loves gringos. And guess who's a gringo. YA, ME! So she asked me to sing for her, alone. So ol´Irma got to hear these gringo pipes squelch out a nice tune, she loved it. 

We also hit the beach yesterday, where I found $100! 

And also got a pretty good sunburn. Anyway, since I dont have much to say about this week, I thought I'd share some fun facts that Ive learned from my time here. 

Fun Facts:

1. Cleaning supplies are measured in "Lemons Power" (for example, Power of 100 Lemons!)

2. No empanada is made the same.

3. You have to pay to use the bathroom, and they never have toilet paper because people will steal it.

4. Flowers are basically the only things that grow here.

5. People love to wear fake tattoo sleeves for swag.

6. Sickness cannot be transmitted from person to person, so sanitation is not an issue.

These are just a few of the things I've learned here in Chile, and Im going to learn more! HAHA!

Anyway, a spiritual thought for the week. This week, I learned a very important concept of love. Everytbody needs it. We talk to people ever day, and sometimes these people want nothing to do with us. But the thing is, if we show love to those that may not love us, they are much more inclined to love back! Ive seen it with my own eyes, knocking doors. 

So this new year, 2018, I want to challenge each of you to show a little more love to those who may not love you. Because everybody needs love, and like the Golden Rule says, treat others the way you want to be treated! 

I love you guys and I thank you for your love and support, because this missionary work is not easy. I hope you all have a safe week and a great start to 2018. 

Love you all, stay safe!

love,

-Elder Lewis