Splits

Hello hello everybody, 

So this week really just flew. We spent two days in Rovaniemi which was a lot of fun. It is the city that people go to to visit Santa so there were a bunch of tourists. So needless to say they kept me entertained. We were in Rovaniemi for splits. We taught this family from El Salvador and it was super fun. They really really like Jesus so we had a pretty good time together. I don't know how they got here but they are super cool. 

This week we also picked up a new investigator. She is actually the friend of our current investigator with a baptismal date. She is super cool and we are super excited, hopefully we can get them to strengthen each other with their testimonies. They both came to church as well so that was really great. In church I had the opportunity to translate for our recent convert. I was doing ok, but then one of the speakers started relating the gospel to some concept about cooking or eating and I got really lost. At one point I was really just making up what I thought sounded good and church like. Overall it was a pretty fun time and so that was good. I tried to jump my bike this week but I just ended up in a bunch of snow so that was also fun. Well that's all he wrote. 

Elder Lewis

Miracles

This week was super amazing and filled with a lot of miracles. This week we met with our new investigator (the one from Africa) again. We were really excited about the lesson so we prepared a lot beforehand. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and about priesthood keys and authority. Everything was going well and she was loving that we have the same priesthood that Christ had when he was on the Earth. We asked her to be baptized on March 25 and she said "of course that is the least of my worries" So we were pretty blown away. Then she asked us if we believe in tithing because she refuses to join a church that doesn't believe in tithing. She then taught us the doctrine of tithing. It definitely strengthened my testimony. We are super excited about her and we are really excited to see her progress towards baptism.  

This week we also had one of our investigators which we have been teaching for a very long time, show up to church. In our lesson with her we asked her if she prayed about the Book of Mormon and she said that she had and that she had received and answer that it was true. She also told us how she shared her testimony with her friends who told her to stay away from our church. She is a great example to me of defending your faith.

This week we were also teaching our recent convert in the library and some man came up and sat down with us. Usually when people want to talk to us we know it probably isn't going to be too much fun because usually they just like to read us some verse from the bible and try to argue with us. Well this man was doing exactly that. After he talked for about 20 minutes we really just thanked him for his opinion and shared our testimonies with him. I love testimonies because there is really no trump card when it comes to a testimony. Anyways this week was great with lots of miracles. 

Elder Lewis

1. this is a picture of me at Mark Wahlberg's door (yet to be confirmed)

2. this is me this morning 

3. this is me about ten minutes after the previous picture

Happy Friend Day!

So today I just learned that Valentines day here is actually called friend day. I like that idea a lot more so I think I am just going to adopt it right now. This week was pretty crazy we spent half the week in Oulu for our ward's district conference, and then some other zone meetings. On Sunday we had 17 Elders sleep at the zone leaders apartment so that was a lot of fun. At our zone meeting we talked about the importance of really serving our members. I think it is so important to serve because as we serve others we come to love them. I can definitely tell the difference in my relationship with someone when I serve them.  

The work this week was also pretty exciting, we got a new investigator. We knew her before we taught her but we didn't have her number, one night we were contacting and we got her number from her and we taught her the next day. She seems really interested and super genuine. We are super excited to see her progression over these next couple of weeks. 

This week we also talked about grace at our zone conference. Grace is something that is often times misinterpreted. Grace doesn't mean that we can do whatever we want and we will be saved. It also doesn't mean that we are expected to be perfect. Sometimes I have the mindset of what is the least that I must do, but grace should be what pushes us to become better. I probably won't ever understand grace fully and that's ok, but for now I just really want use grace as a pushing force in my work. Thanks for all your love and support. 

Best Regards,

Elder Lewis

Pictures and info about the ice castles:

I don't really have any clue how they were made but I assume some of the statues were casted and then they also have a bunch of carving that are in the walls. The only opened like 3 weeks ago so I know it takes them a long time to make them. One room in there costs like 600 a night and all it is, is a bed and a door with a light switch so that is pretty much insane.

Kemi part 2

This week really felt like it was about 3 1/2  days. We had a zone conference in Oulu. We talked about how we are here to find the one lost sheep. God has many lost sheep and sometimes it can seem overwhelming, but when we just take time to focus on one we realize how much of a difference we make to the one. It reminds me about the story of the boy throwing the starfish back into the ocean. When he was told that he would never make a difference because of the vastness of the starfish that he wasn't going be able to save, he choose to focus on the difference he made to the ones that he had thrown into the ocean. This week I have been tying to make a difference in people's lives even if it is something very small.  

This week we had an Iraqi feast with a family that we teach English to. It was fascinating to me how much fun we had even though we still had a huge language barrier. I don't exactly know everything we ate or what it was called because I don't speak Arabic, but it was super tasty. I tried to focus this week on simplicity. I think that a lot of the times I tend to over complicate stuff especially the Gospel, but really when it comes down to it, the Gospel is sooooo simple. As we choose the right and do what God wants us to do then we will be happy. In someways I am still learning from the primary lessons we had about Choosing the Right. I think that for the most part everything that I need to know about this Gospel I learned when as a child, and now is the time when I actually have to apply it to myself. Well that is all I have for this week, enjoy the pictures of me at Ice castles.

Love

Elder Lewis

Chilly beans

Hello everyone! I made it safely to Kemi, and it is pretty cold here so that has been fun but also not so fun. Kemi is a lot smaller than Turku but I am really excited to get to work here. A fair portion of the people here are immigrants from various countries so we have had a lot of fun talking to people and asking them about where they used to live. There are a lot of stranger things about Kemi which really just makes me love it even more. We live next to a giant paper factory which basically runs 24/7 and it makes the air sometimes smell like fireworks or something like that. We also ride our bikes everywhere which is a lot of fun in snow. I have been working on my drifting lately and I am getting pretty good.  

This week we had a lesson with a family from Burma, the problem was that they spoke very little English or Finnish and the are not any church materials in their native tongue. So after about 30 minutes or so of talking/making hand gestures we told them we believe in God. Then we showed them a picture of Jesus and that was about all we could do. It was a good reminder for me that the spirit can always testify regardless of a language barrier. 

so on Saturday night I was informed that I would be speaking in sacrament meeting the next morning. Because our branch is pretty small I was going to be one of the two speakers for the meeting. Things went kinda ok and I was happy with that. I talked about Faith and how we sometimes have our faith tried because it is an opportunity for us to grow our faith. I also think that Heavenly Father gives us trials of Faith because after the trial we are able to see how faithful we really are. I am super grateful to be here in Kemi and I already know that I am going to love the Branch and all of the wonderful people here. 

Loves

Elder Lewis

Enjoy the pictures of me with some reindeer pizza, some socks a member gave me, and my favorite factory