Fear no man

Hello hello, 

This week was a lovely, we had interim from Tuesday to Saturday. Interim is when all the new missionaries and their companions come back to the mission home for a couple of days and we basically have gospel discussions for several days non stop. So I was pretty hesitant about going but it ended up being some of the best days of my life. My favorite thing that was discussed was about how as missionaries we need to fear no man. We watched a talk from Elder Uchtdorf  in which he talked about The Apostle Peter and how after Christ's death he had such a solid testimony in Christ he feared no man. The Apostle Peter also denied Christ, but after he began to testify boldly of Christ he feared no man. We applied this to us as missionaries and how when we testify boldly of Christ we need to fear no man. We also had the opportunity to go to the temple, which was probably the best experience of my life. One of the biggest things that I took away from it was that no matter where in the world a temple is, it is still the house of the Lord. The spirit we feel in one temple is the same spirit we feel in another. Unfortunately when we went to leave the temple someone had taken my shoes and left there shoes for me on accident. It was pretty nice to switch up my wardrobe but in all reality I would like my shoes back. As I look back on everything I learn this week there is a lot. The most important thing I learned is to simply just start. It doesn't matter where we are on the path to eternal salvation as long as we start to move in the right direction. I think this applies to most of life and hopefully I can continue to try my best to start doing things that I know will bring me closer to my Father in Heaven. Have a Great Week!

Loves

Elder Lewis

Lots to

Well this email is going to be really short and I am pretty sorry about it but I am also not sorry enough to skip out on ballin out some older gentleman in our ward. We had a really great week, we had zone conference and we talked a lot about preparing people for baptism and how when we are baptized we are committed to living a higher law, but that higher law allows us to be so much closer to the savior. Without Baptism we could not have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and without that I know that I would not be any where near where I am today. We also got another Investigator from Vaasa who is ready to be baptized so we are really excited about that. We will see how that goes. I send my loves and I send my apologies for the lack of pictues 

Loves 

Elder Lewis

Where in the world is fall?

Man this week went by fast. This week was a really busy week for us and really just a good week. I have no clue where fall went, but it sure is cold outside. I never thought I would be that kind of guy to wear a scarf but I cracked and now it is an essential part of my wardrobe.  

We had some really good lessons with our recent convert this week. She was teaching me more about the commandments then taught her. I love how every member of the church has something different to add and church allows us all to share with one another and grow together. We had 3 of our investigators come to church this week which was super awesome. In one of our lessons with one of them she said that she wanted to be baptized but first she wanted to know that it was true. So of course we were super excited because we were able to testify to her about prayer and how through prayer we can receive answers to any question that we have in life. My Finnish is still very broken and pretty poor in almost all respects but I was able to tell her that I knew that she could know if baptism was right. It was a really good lesson and we hope that she will continue to progress.

This week I also got roasted on multiple occasions by an older sister in our ward for my pronunciation. She is super awesome and will often come to lessons with us so we see here multiple times a week and during the lessons she makes sure that I pronounce everything right. I usually have to repeat a word until I say it right. She seems to think that by rolling her R's and then telling me to do it that I will be able to but for some reason it just hasn't been working. It has actually helped me a lot with my pronunciation so hopefully I will continue to improve and then one day I will actually be able to speak without any help. I have learned a lot this week and I hope to learn more. I feel like I am able to learn so much more when I focus on why I need to learn something. That reason is always the same and it is so I can invite others to come unto Christ. With that in mind I can learn anything.

Loves

Vanhin Lewis

1.Me and my pretty rough haircut in front of the oldest church in Finland

2. I tried to get myself in this picture but obviously I was way off but its all I have so enjoy

First Full Finnish Week

Well this week was a fantastically Finnish week. With Fall coming everything looks so well Fall like. I am finally getting into the swing of things here in Turku and I really just love it. We made some Salmon soup and it was of the utmost quality, I'm not sure if that was due to the Fresh Fish or my fresh cooking skills but either way it was good.  

On a more missionary centered note we have had some serious progress this week. We were finally able to get in contact with an investigator who has been who knows where for the past couple weeks. Anyways the lesson was going really good and then I knew it was my time to shine and ask him to be baptized. Well I tried my best and with the help of my trainer, Elder Henry, we got it done. Then he sat there for a moment and then that is when the holy ghost came in because he was like yes I will. This really helped me understand that the the only thing converting people is the spirit, not me. We are so happy for him and his decision and we are excited to help him prepare himself for baptism. 

Another moment we had this week was with this way cool guy that we see on the street every once in awhile. He is from the Dominican Republic and is probably the coolest guy in Finland. He is convinced that we are from the FBI and that we want to search his house and report back to our headquarters. So of course we were surprised when he invited us over to his house. We talked with him about his life and all that he's been through. He was kinda suspicious when we told him we didn't have girlfriends and so Elder Henry and I cleared that up real quick, and then he told me that I should come back to Finland when I can actually grow a proper beard. He probably could have talked for hours and hours about anything, we tried to get a lesson in and we eventually did. We were able to give him a Spanish Book of Mormon and he seemed really appreciative. We got to testify a little bit about the joy that the gospel can bring into people's lives no matter the circumstances and he seemed to like that. 

Finally General Conference was amazing as always and even though I didn't get to watch it in pajamas sitting on my couch I still enjoyed it, maybe even more so. We most of the day on Sunday in the church watching the sessions and talking with members. My favorite talk was by Elder Nelson about the Joy that is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love that and it is because of that that I am serving a mission. Thank you and good night. 

Vanhin Lewis

Pictures!!!

1.This is the first door I ever knocked

2. This is a really cool path I found

3. This is Elder Henry and I on our way to play some b ball with some wards