Monster Week, is DONE!! 

We call the first week of the transfer monster week because it's crazy. 

We work all day everyday for the first week, helping with conferences, trainings, the new missionaries that come in, and all that other fun behind the scenes jazz. 

It's fun, but only for a little while, then it gets stressfull. :) 

I started this week off with a nice batch of chocolate chip pancakes, a classic plate from the Lewis house that I hadn't eaten in about a year. What a nice start to the week! 

As I said, we have to help with all the new missionaries that come in. I had to make some cards to put in the Mission Presidents office of all the newbies. I was using the laminator to make the cards, and I put in a sheet, and the machine ate the sheet right up and didn't spit it out! So I put myself into Tech Mode and got some screwdrivers and went to work. Let's just say that after about and hour, lots of doubtful comments from the other missionaries, and some sweat and tears, I got the laminator fixed and is now running better than before! Lets just say, I'm a big deal around here. 

As you might remember from a few weeks ago, I talked about a little girl named Camila that weve been teaching... The news is that, we lost her. She had a baptism date, was all ready to go, and was excited. We went to visit, and she was packing her suitcases to head out to live with her Dad. She'd been having some problems with her mom and decided to head out. We lost her like that. We passed the information on to the sisters in her area, and are hoping that she gets in contact with the missionaries. It was sad, but we did our work to plant the gospel seed in her heart. 

Something I wanted to share with you guys was a scripture that I found about 2 weeks ago that always helps me when im doubting. Its Proverbs 3:5, and it says,

 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart ; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 

When things arent going how i want, or when things aren't going at all, I think of that scripture and it helps me remember that we don't need to rely on our own wisdom and timing, and when we don't know what to do, we can always rely on Christ. 

He Knows everything that we pass through, and He understands all of our pains and problems, and He is always willing to help us out. 

I love you guys and thank you for your support and your letters, you're killin it! 

Keep rollin, stay safe! See ya next week!!!

-Elder Lewis

eating a boston burger, shouts out to home

visits to the temple as a district

Season 2 of The Office starts NOW!!!

Elder Ranck and I will be working in the office for another transfer, and we are excited. 

We have everything we need: nice chairs, air conditioning, a bathroom at all times, 

and the TEMPLE SUPER CLOSE!!

Speaking of the temple, the open house has officially begun! 

September 15th has passed and the people are VERY excited to go and visit the temple. My comp and I were walking close to the temple, and like 5 people drove by asking us how to get to the temple. It was awesome to know that the people of Chile are out looking for the House of the Lord!

Another cool experience. Our mission president told us that we could go to a special temple visit with Haitians if we could get together a group of 5. After going on a wild haitian chase, we pulled together our group and my MTC comp elder Gumm and I made our way to the temple with our haitian friends. As we entered the temple, we could feel such a spirit and such a tranquility. The tour was in french, so we didn't understand much, but the spirit that was felt there was unreal. We left the open house with such an uplifted soul and with a new drive to bring people to the temple.

 

This week starts the Chilean festivals as well! September 18th is like the 4th of July in the states, and the people are very excited. There are lots of decorations, cookouts, and an ample amount of alcohol. We have to be with members basically all day the 18th because things get a little frisky out in the streets! HA! 

We found our little friend Camila this week and finally got to teach her! She is loving learning about the church and is progressing a lot. She goes to live with her dad on the weekends, so we will have to plan some things for a baptism, but God will help us out with that. 

I'm so grateful to have a temple opening in my mission, and for all the blessings that it has brought to us. The people of Chile will be forever blessed, wether they realize it or not. The beacon of hope in Chile will be a light for all the lost souls of this country, and we are here to go and rescue them. 

I love you all and thank you for your love and prayers! Thanks for everything, see ya next week!!!

-Elder Grant Lewis

The first transfer in the office is coming to a close, and as far as we know, it will all be the same for at least one more transfer!!

Updates for last weeks general:

I haven't seen the street dog as of yet, but I've been using my big temple banner as a sword to fend off wild pooches. Its been working well so far, the power of the temples is physical and spiritual!

The van is in the shop, and it seems like I'm finally over all the problems from my, uh, bump :) 

We lost the van for about a week, because its in the shop, but it will be coming back Wednesday to go back to work. Pray that we have the luck to not damage the van again!!

This week has been filled with lots of hard work, as always, finding new people and talking to EVERYBODY about the temple. We are about 5 days away from the open house, and the whole mission is buzzing with anxiety for the open house. Everybody is working like crazy, passing out invitations, talking with everybody, and showing the big banner photos to everybody possible. 

We have a special opportunity for the Haitians in the temple this Thursday, and our President told us that if we have a group of 5 haitians, we can go with them to visit the temple this Thursday! Lets just say that my comp and I are out on the hunt to go round up a group of haitians to go visit the Temple!

The weather is changing to spring, the sun is coming out, and the TAN IS COMING BACK! I'll keep you updated on that as the time goes on. 

That's about it for this week, hope youre all doing well and staying safe. I love you all, thank you for everything!! 

NOS VEMOS EN LA PROXIMA SEMANA!!

-Elder Grant Lewis

Well, we have some good news, some bad news, some good bad news, and more good news. 

Whaddaya wanna hear first?!

Lets start with the bad news. 

Our mission president told my comp and I that we had to go to the bus station to go pick up some sister missionaries, like 12, so we took the van! And my comp doesnt like to drive in Conce much, so your man was behind the wheel. Me being a little new around town, I don't know exactly where I need to go exactly. 

So as my comp was trying to tell me in spanish what lane to get into, we were going through a roundabout, and after a bit of confused spanish driving instructions, I gave our lane neighbor a little love tap on the right fender! 

WHOOPS! 

The damage wasnt bad, but the paper work that I had to fill out and the stress that was produced from that interaction almost made me lose my thick head of hair!! 

We're all good now, but man, what a time to be an office man.

Good news!

I have officially identified the devil dog that attacked me last week. Here's a photo of that stinky old street dog.

More good news!

This was a good week, busy with lots of work and things to do. My comp and I have been killin' it here in Conce, and we've been seeing new fruits every day. This week we headed into the city center to do another invitation attack, and it was a success. We passed out over 2000 invitations in conce centro. 

The temple has been the biggest focus right now, and it's been the biggest blessing of all time to have a new temple opening in the mission. 

2 weeks to go until the open house! 

My comp and I have been working with a sweet little girl called Camila. She is 12 years old, her parents are divorced, and she lives with her mom and some other siblings. She was introduced to the church from a friend, and has been really interested. This week, she came to an activity where we played a game like telephone, but with drawings. Someone had to draw something, and then somebody had to write down what they saw, and then someone had to draw what was described. And as the game progressed, the image was slowly changed until it was something totally different. We used that game to explain the great apostacy, and then we watched the First Vision video. It was a really cool experience to watch the video with somebody who was just getting to know the church. 

We talked with Camila after, and asked her how she felt watching the movie. She told us that she felt something different, and felt like somebody put a warm blanket over her. We talked with her a bit about baptism, and she told us that she has thought about it (she had told us before that she'd wanted to get baptized) and that she was ready to be baptized. 

We were all so excited, and we have a baptism date ready to go. We've got a lot to teach and lots to do! 

Its experiences like that that keep the spirits alive in the mission, the things that just work out so well, things that only God could make happen. Many times, God works in mysterious ways, but the important thing is that we recognize the blessings from God and that we thank Him for all that He has done. 

I love you all and I thank you all for your love. 

Have a great week, and stay safe!

until next week,

-Elder Grant Lewis