Another 6 weeks down, cambio #6 starting now!

Another cambio here in Valle Hermoso with Elder Guachalla, good times!

This has been one of the better weeks of this cambio, we worked hard and found some new people and taught some good lessons. 

We have been walking a lot, and have been blessed with good weather and strong legs. Valle Hermoso is all hills! 

We celebrated the 20th birthday of our convert friend Yan Carlos with our friend Sister Edita. 

We have also been practicing for master chef

And we played with cats again. 

We had our usual district classes in Tomé, heres the district. 

We played a good game of soccer this morning with the Elders from the zone, and Ive got some SORE feet! The Latinos can really play. 

This week we also recieved a reference of a family from Venezuela that just moved into our area. We went and visited them, and my heart broke. 

This family had left Venezuela in search of a new life. For those of you who dont know, Venezuela is a horror story right now. The government has destroyed the country, and the people are suffering. They left family there because they didnt have enough money to all move here to Chile. But this family is starting from nothing, and they are searching for work just to pay rent. The thing is, they have so much faith and are willing to accept the will of the Lord. They attended church and said they felt such a warm peace, and accepted a baptismal date. 

We will continue to work with this family and help them make their lives better with the Gospel. 

I love you all and thank you all for your love and support, you guys are the best. 

Until next week!

-Elder Lewis

HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE!

Even though im a day late, you get the love. 

Things are slower here in the Southern part of America ;) 

What a week! We had some killer days here, the weather was AMAZING! We had like 4 days in the mid 60´s, which was perfect to go out and knock some doors. 

Even though nobody wants to listen to us, we had a good time enjoying the weather. 

We had a family night with an older lady that has some cats. For those of you that don't know, I love cats, but I'm allergic to those lil whiskers. Here's me after playing with cats for an hour. 

The days keep passing and the work continues. We progress everyday as missinaries, so that we can help the people that don't have this gospel move forward as well. 

One of the ways that helps me progress every day is the scriptures. 

I almost never, except seminary, read the scriptures before my mission. But you can't be a very good missionary if you dont know the scriptures. These past 8 months, I've had the opportunity to read and FEAST on the scriptures! And man have I grown a lot. I still have ages to go! We can always learn from the scriptures, no matter how often we read them.

Another cool thing. I finished reading Elder M. Russel Ballard´s book, 

Our Search For Happiness. 

If you havent read this book, I encourage you all to read it! 

It has a great presentation of the church, and an inside look at why we believe what we believe.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Im sorry i didnt get a chance to write last week, so here's an extra big letter with some good pics. 

Love you all and hope you're all doing well! 

Thanks for everything!

much love,

-Elder Lewis

Look how time flies! LIFE IS FLYING BY HERE!

Elder Lewis back on the keys with another letter for my loyal fans.

This week was another good one. 

We started out with some torrential downpours on Monday, and some brutal cold all the rest of the week! Winter is officially starting here in Chile! And whoever thinks South America is just hot desert, you're sadly mistaken. 

We got to cook a few lunches this week, one of our dishes this week was rice with peas, and nuggets!

We've been working a lot with a woman named Sandra, she's amazing! 

Her husband is a less active member, and the missionaries have worked with her for quite some time. And we finally got her to accept the invitation to baptism! 

And guess who got to baptize her. 

YA BOI!

After that, we got to share a few words at a going away party for a good pal of the ward, Diego, who is leaving for his mission this Wednesday in Uruguay!

This week we also had a zone conference with our mission president. 

Zone conferences are one of my favorite things about the mission, beause we have the opportunity to learn so much in such a short amount of time. 

I'd like to share one of the things that impacted me the most from this conference. 

I was talking with President Catala about progress, and how we progress as missionaries and as children of God. 

One of the things he told me, is that there are 2 ways to look at new situations or changes. 

We can look at them as a blessing, or as an obstacle. 

Many times, we get upset to see an obstacle in our way, and ask why we didn't ever get the blessing. The thing is, God never wants us to fear obstacles, but He also wants us to progress. 

That's where fasting and prayer comes into play. If we pray, and ask for the strength, and help to confront obstacles, rather than just recieve blessings, well be set for whatever happens. 

If we have an obstacle, God is willing to prepare us, and we are also ready mentally to face that challenge. And if it turns out as a blessing, then we have nothing to worry about, and we can keep moving on. 

This is something that I know every one of us can use in our lives, and I know I will sure be using it a lot. 

I love you all and hope you all have a great week and stay safe and healthy. 

Enjoy the warm weather!

see ya next week!

much love,

-Elder Grant Lewis