Planting seeds (chili peppers)

Hello hello, unfortunately I am just out of time and we have to go pack for transfers tonight. I will be staying in Kemi, my new companion is Elder Johnson and I am excited to get to work with him. Things are going well here, I think Spring is coming but then again it snowed today so I don't know what that's about. This week went by really fast. Last night I made some zucchini bread. This week we met with our Investigator from Africa and it was pretty good. With it being Elder Jaccard's last time we got the emotions going pretty easily. We decided to read with her in the Book of Mormon because we really want her to have a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon before she is baptized. We shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and of Jesus Christ. There really is nothing better than a sincere heart felt testimony of the Savior. I love it.  

This week we have been getting everybody super pumped for conference. I have found that conference is a great opportunity for us to learn, but it can often depend a lot on our preparation before hand. When we are prepared for conference we learn so much more because we know what we want to learn. Needless to say I am pretty excited for conference. This week I also planted some chili pepper seeds so I will keep you updated on their growth. Tons of prayers

Elder Lewis

Pictures:

this is some Arabic that someone we teach, taught us

this is me getting ready to bike over a frozen puddle.

Trip to Tornio

Hey all this week was a lot of fun and pretty strange. We are split teaching a man with the Rovaniemi elders because he lives in Tornio, which is our area, during the week and then lives in Rovaniemi on the weekends. We had not been to Tornio yet this transfer so we were pretty excited to go and teach this guy. So we arrived in Tornio but we didn't have a map or anything so we had to ask around until we could find the shopping center. We met our investigator and then we had a lesson right there on a bench so that was fun. Teaching in public is fun because everyone just stares at us and I just love all the attention. 

This week we were knocking some doors and a heavily intoxicated man walks out of the forest. There was about two feet of snow so we were pretty confused what he was doing walking through the forest. Anyways he came over to us and asked us who we were. He then asked us if we could forgive his sins. We told him that we couldn't but that Jesus surely could. He told us that he was a really bad man and that he could never be saved. We told him that God loves him and it really hit him hard. He started to cry and then started hugging us. It has been awhile since I've had a good hug so I just let it happen. Anyways we gave him the Book of Mormon and he promised to read it. I doubt that this man will remember our encounter when he wakes up sober but it still felt good to make someone see that there is hope in this life. 

This week we had our two African investigators come to church and it was a lot of fun. We also just got a Branch mission leader and so we are really excited about the direction that the work is moving. There have been too many blessing to count this week and for that I am so grateful. 

Love your Life

Elder Lewis

Hello

Hello to all, this week really just flew by. We didn't have too much happen this week so I'll just apologize right now for the letter. This week we had a really great lesson with our one investigator who has been investigating the church for a really long time. We like to read from the Book of Mormon with her. She is one of those people who really really loves the Bible. Most times our conversations will go back to the Bible and then she starts talking really fast and it is just impossible to bring it back to the lesson. She can even do that thing where you talk as you are breathing in. Anyways the lesson with her went really well. She talked about a spiritual experience that she had while in church last Sunday so that was really cool. Our other investigators were not able to come to church this week so that wasn't too fun. But we have some good lessons planned for this week so we are hopeful. 

This week I read about Abinadi. Abinadi is a great example of diligent obedience. His highest priority was his obedience to what God had commanded him to do. Abinadi died most likely unaware of if he was even a success or not. Success was not what he cared about. Abinadi was obedient and that was all that he cared about. When obedience is our highest priority then success will come. Abinadi's only convert was the leader of the Church and he baptized many. I have a lot to learn from him. Love you all

Elder Lewis

Well these are all the pictures I took this week

Clayture

Wow this week went by so fast. This week we made a new friend and his name is Genghis. He is pretty sweet. A lady in our Branch gave us some cheesy crackers and I am eating those right now so life is pretty good. This week the Rovaniemi branch came down to our chapel to watch the Northern Europe Conference. It was really good and it was a lot of fun to see so many more people than usual in our church. One of the talks was about Joy. They talked about how joy has been around for all long as mankind, but many of the modern day luxuries that we have, have only been around for a little bit. So obviously joy comes from something much deeper than worldly possessions. Joy comes from consistently living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

This week we had a lesson with our two investigators from Africa. They were about to have a party so there were people coming in and out of the apartment and it was a little more chaotic than we were expecting. At one point someone brought in some nightstands and just set them down in the middle of the room so needless to say there were some distractions. It still went ok and we are excited to continue helping our one investigator prepare for baptism. 

This week we have also talked a lot about service in our various lessons and meetings. Service is one of my favorite things ever because it really is just a win for us, God, and the person we are serving. We offered to sweep the snow off a man's porch this week and once he agreed he just laughed as he watched us clean off his porch. Although it was really awkward it was pretty nice to serve someone and hopefully it left a good impression of the church with him. 

So down to the reason for the subject line, this week we taught an Iraqi family English. They are some of my favorite people.We can't really communicate too much with them but we still get by and usually end up laughing anyways. They made us this fig pastry called clayture and it was super tasty. The father also told us that he considers us as sons. So I've been riding on the high of achieving sonship for the last couple days. Anyways thanks for all the love and support. 

Elder Lewis