Welcome back to the Weekly Update everybody!

This week I had my birthday out here in Chile, and I must say, Chileans know how to party! 

We had a dinner, had some cake, laughed, and had a great night. Our recent converts Andrea and Mariela got me a pen with MY NAME ENGRAVED ON IT! 

Lets just say I've got a great family out here as well. 

This week Elder Arismendiz left, and I got a new comp. We are working hard changing Cauquenes! 

This week my comp and I were out contacting, and we stopped to talk to an old couple. After a bit of conversing, they asked me and my comp how long weve been in chile. My comp said 6 months, and i said 3. 

They asked me, "Are you Chilean?" And I laughed thinking it was a joke, and they actually thought I was chilean because of my accent! Lets just say that was a MAJOR confidence boost! 

A cool story from this week. Yesterday, we were about to leave the house to work in the afternoon, and I was not feeling well. I was about to tell my comp that we were gunna have to kick it in the house for a bit cuz I couldnt get to work. After a quick prayer and a self hype up in the mirror, I made up my mind to be strong and get to work. 

As we left the house and knocked the first door, we found a mother and son, both of which were SUPER interested in the church and we had a great lesson with them. And then right after that, we found 3 haitian brothers that were just as interested in what we had to say as the last!

Long story short, we have some awesome new investigators that, had we stayed in the house because I wasnt feeling well, we never would have met. 

I know that sometimes, life is hard, and sometimes it's easier to just take a nap at home than to go out and get to work. But when we have faith in the Lord, and do our part, He will bless us with the strengfth to do what we need to do. I dont have much time to write this week, but I hope you all have a great week and stay safe! 

I love you all, see you next time!

much love,

-Elder Lewis

This sweet boy of mine turned 19 yesterday!

I miss him everyday, but birthdays for me are the toughest.

Its hard for me to not make him a cake and spend time celebrating him and making sue he has a great birthday...

But you know what!?!??

He was WELL taken care of, cake and all.

Before he left on his mission, Farmer and I prayer that he would have people in Chile who would make him feel at home.

He has more than that, he has FAMILY over there in Chile, he is loved!

And they treat him like royalty.

What more could this mom heart want!

Howdy!

It's ya boi, Elder Lewis, out here in CHILE, one year older and MUCH wiser too! For those who dont follow my official fan page, today is my birthday! But enought about that, I've got my P.O. fanmailbox in the bottom so you can send me all of your earthly goods ;) HA! 

This week I will be getting a new comp, Elder Arismendiz is currently on his way back home to Lima! But, last week, we went to the beach at Pelluhue with our friend Pablo and our converts, Mariela and Andrea, and enjoyed some surf and some toasty coastal rays. We also spent some quality time in the hospital with Mariela because she's been having some bad reactions to some medicine that she's been taking for back pain.

 

This week I was had a rude awakening that some grapes have SEEDS! Sometimes, I think that God likes to play tricks on us. 

Speaking of awakenings, I'VE BEEN DREAMING IN SPANISH! You know you've come a long way in learning a language when your dreams start to be in spanish! How wild is that. Anyway, this week has been more of the normal, just finishing out my comps mission and working hard. 

This is a short email, but thats ok becasue its my birthday, right? 

Anyway, I just want to share a quick thought with you guys about this week. It's about attitude. 

There is a quote out there in this big wild world, and I forget who it's by, but its something along the lines of, 

"Life is 10% what happens to us, and 90% how we react to what happens to us". 

Every day, we have people shut doors in our faces, yell at us, and people drop out of appointments and commitments. And thats just life, it happens. 

Life is hard, and it's never going to be easier, but we always have the ability to choose how we react to certain experiences. When we react in a positive way, then positivity will follow. It's that easy. Basically, what I'm saying, just be POSITIVE! Give it a try. 

When something doesn't go the way you want this week, respond in a positive way. Find something good about that expereince, something you can learn and grow from, and be positive about it! It will change EVERYTHING. 

I love you guys, and I love your love for me. Thank you all for your support and your words and all the warm "happy birthdays" this week. You guys keep me running out here, so thank you. This has been a very different birthday from the rest, but its been one of the best thanks to all of you guys. Thank you! I love you all, and hope you all have a great week, stay safe and keep killing it!

much love,

-Elder Lewis

Dear beloved people of the United States,

This is your Captain Elder Lewis speaking from down South in Chile! 

Another day another dawn, or should I say week. 

The missionary life is interesting, but I always tell my family and friends that I feel like my emails get repetitive every week.

 I try my best to keep things spicy for y'all, so hopefully you can enjoy a bit of my life from Meowquenes! 

This week we had our weekly zone conference, but with our President and his wife! They talked about the importance of the work we do and some other things that I know were great but I can't quite remember cuz it was in argentinian spanish! How fun, spanish. :)

 Sunday morning, as I was getting out of the shower, my comp told me that I was going to talk for 10 or 15 minutes in sacrament meeting that morning! 

I told him no, because I was going to teach our gospel principles class second hour, and I hadn't prepared much for my class anyway.

 After a bit of fighting, I thought, I can do this, I've got the Lord on my side! 

We are all given challenges to learn and grow! And guess what ya boy did. Gave a 15 minute talk on prayer, taught my gospel principles class, and everybody said they really enjoyed me lessons in both. 

This email is gunna be a bit short cuz I dont have much time, but I learned from this story that God is always there to help us. We are His children, and He is our Father, and He wants the best for us. 

When we are living how we should, and doing the Lords work, he will always help us when we need it. How great is that, we can always have somebody to lean on, for anything, all we have to do is follow Gods commandments, offer a prayer, ask for help, and when we do all we can, God will pick up the rest. 

I know that this is real, because I've seen it every day on the mission here in Chile. 

If you dont believe it, give it a try. I guarentee it will work. Thank you all again for your love, support, and words of encouragment. You're the best and you make this work a lot easier. I hope you are all doing well, and staying safe. 

Have a great week, I love you!

love,

-Elder Lewis

P.S. Ive been told that I've been sleep talking in spanish, how wild is that.

and oh yeah,

i also got a FIRE cut from my chilean mom here! she studied hair when she was younger and then became a cop and started choppin for the police! she lined me up good!

As you can see, its been a doggy-dog week out here in MEOWquenes! 

If I havent made it clear yet (with my latino tan), Cauquenes is HOT and very sunny. And when you walk around all day in the blazing sun with a shirt, tie, backpack, and a name tag on your chest, you start to feel like an old dog out roastin in the sun! 

(which there are also a lot of in Cauquenes. Smelly, old, roasting dogs in the streets) 

HA!

 But the life out here is great. 

I get plenty of exercise, a nice tan, I get to eat a lot (usually), and the best part, I get to see people find true joy and peace in their lives through Jesus Christ. 

As missionaries, we´re always finding new people to teach, talking with everybody on the street, doing service for people we've never seen before, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everybody that will give us time to speak! 

If you can't tell from my emails, I've come quite a long way, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. This work has changed me so quickly, and I feel like a different person than who I was before my mission. And I get to witness that change in the people here in Chile. 

I won't share anything in particular, but we talk with a LOT of people every day. And after just a few visits, some people have literally changed their outlook on life. 

My first convert, Luis, was an atheist before we found him. He didn't believe in God, in Christ, and frankly had no desire to be a part of any church or religion for that matter. And now, after maybe, a month, he is a member of the church, attending church every Sunday (with one leg, as well as recovering from a recent heart attack) and praying every day. This old man went from no belief, to full faith and a complete change of heart, in less than a month. 

And for those who say that people never change, I've got living proof that change, big or small, is completely possible. All it takes is faith, and a true desire to work to be better, and CHANGE. As humans, we always have room to change for the better. We all have things that we could change, things we could better in our lives, and things that we know we are better with, OR without. 

Like Luis, all we need is faith, and a true desire to change. And with the help of God, anything is possible. Prayer is a powerful, and completely free tool that all of us have. 

USE IT! 

I know that this church, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, and I know that the teachings that it provides can help all of us change for the better. I know that it has helped me changed my life, and for that, Im here in Chile trying to help others change their lives. I love you all and thank you for your love and support. Thank you for the letters, emails, and words of love that you all give every day. I hope you all have a great week and work to make something better in your life, as well as help others change too! 

I'll talk to ya in 7, see ya then!

love,

-Elder Lewis

Oh yeah one more thing. We went to this new converts house to have a family home evening, and when we entered their house, the other elders told me that their dog had just died. I didn't believe it until we walked back into the house and heard some pretty heavy crying and sniffling from the other room. We walked back and the family was wrapping up their dog in trash bags cuz they had just had it put down and the mom was LOSING IT. 

I starting crying of course, thinking about Griff-bot and how we had just done the same thing like 3 weeks ago. They asked me why I was crying and I explained to them and it was a hard couple of minutes but after that, we cheered them up and headed out. 

Man it was so hard to see that mom crying like that and thinking about Griffin. Anyway, i know that stank daddy Griff is eating the finest kibble out of a golden bowl in heaven. God probably has shlock stains around his ankles on his white robe. HA! 

Anyway, love ya, have a good one! Tell jane and carson hi! Slap carson up the back of the head for me.  love ya!

-Elder Lewis