Letter Number 55..

I exchange letter with Jake's companion's Mother....a little detail that Jake left out was that they were mugged this week.  Jake failed to mention this little detail to me. In all fairness, he previously mentioned that serving in Martinique there was a strong possibility of being Mugged.  In light of the death of three LDS Missionaries this week,  I should feel terrified, however, I read the account and felt peace and gratitude for the protection from the Lord of my Son and his companion.  Obviously Jake was more impressed with the Plantain party and the work he is doing.  I choose to focus on the highs as well.  I re-visited the calm peaceful feelings I had as we dropped him off at the Mission Training Center in Provo.  I was overcome with the most beautiful, peaceful, loving assurance that Jake was in the right place and that he would be fine.  He is right where His Father and I want him at this time in his life.  What an adventure he is having.  

The Missionaries around the world are amazing in their dedication and sacrifice...all from kids who are 18-26 years of age.  Today I am grateful for their example to me.  They love the Lord more than themselves!


I think since I have been on foot I have had a slight increase in appetite. Also I am pretty sure I drink between 3 and 6 liters of water a day..... maybe more! 

This week was awesome, we have been really working on our diligence in working, using time effectively to show our Heavenly Father our love for him. We have experianced some great results.  Usually it is really hard to find male investigators but recently all we have found is men who are willing to read the Book of Mormon and meet with us.  One of our members,  FL, he is really helping us by giving us lots of referrals.  He is from Haiti and if you are from Haiti you are a cousin to all other Haitians.  I think it is why the church is so large over there.  For example we are meeting with one family that he gave us who are waiting to be leagal so that they can be married so that they can go to the temple to be sealed.  It may take a few years to do the legalization's but in the end I have a firm hope that they can do it:) 

They are sweet investigators, because they integrate themselves.  On Saturday they invited us and a couple of brothers over to their house to eat banana paisé which is the best thing ever, ill explain in a second. But they told us to invite some other brothers also, so we invited another family from the branch and they came and we had a good time together.  When we arrived the computer had the french channel for "Mormon Messages on a playlist and we watched them as we ate.  Now to explain the meal.  So you take a plantain, and you cut it kind of diagonally and soak it in salt water.  Next you fry it, then you smash it, then you fry it againn, then you eat it.  But that isnt the best part,  the best part is the pickles.  They take cabbage and onion and garlic and sometimes other stuff and chop it up and mix it together.  Thennnnn they put tons of lime juice in it.  Then you put that on top of the banana chip and you eat it..... and you are edified. 

I have a strong testimony of pondering.  Being on foot there is a lot of travel time and I have found as I search to expound the scriptures I find hidden truths that I have never noticed before. I often think of the example of Nephi and how he said that his heart constantly pondered the scriptures and the things he had seen and heard. He must of been so close to the Lord, and brought closer to the Lord through this process. I feel like I have been brought closer to the Lord as I treasure up his word, and the doctrine of the priesthood distills upon my soul. 

I love you all,

Elder Lewis

This picture is of a kinet, my dad on his mission in Puerto Rico called them snot balls, you take it out and suck on the delicious fruit that surrounds the seed:) 

Just Chill'n

Jake's "King of the World" reenactment I guess!

Letter 54........Can you say "Rain" Tis the season

Jake's dad served his mission in Puerto Rico and these stories of heat, humidity, and water are all starting to sound vaguely familiar...ha ha. I love this wonderful missionary Son, and I am so happy that he is working hard and remembering to smile and have fun every single day.  He loves his new companion and he loves the Lord.  So I am grateful and inspired. In my personal letter Jake says he is the busiest and happiest he's ever been in his life,  and the spirit just keeps teaching him things.  


Great week, but lots of rain!

I guess you dont really appreciate how much it rains here in the Caribbean until you are a missionary on foot.... sometimes it will just be a scorching hot day like 36 degrees or sometimes 38 then out of the blue, here comes the clouds and 5 minutes of the biggest rain drops you have ever seen!  The worst though,  is right after it rains it goes back to being super hot with super hummidity and all of a sudden I go from being super hydrated to super dehydrated.  Some people give up on giving me glasses of water and just give me the whole bottle....!

The lesson of the week was yesterday,  I would like to just put it out there that Sunday is my favorite day of the week:),  but also we took out a returned missionary with us to work, and as we went into a lesson and started to teach this family that is waiting on being legal to be married and to be baptized (they are haitien, there are alot of immigrants from Haiti and Saint Lucia) .....anyway,  when we got to the spirit world one of his friends who is another investigator walked in.  This is when things got really good;  he had some objections to the spirit world because he thought we ceased to exist.   F. M woke up from his half sleepy self and started expounding the scriptures, and for a while that is all we did, questions scriptures explanations, and he had questions and it was awesome.  It is so wonderful to see how the spirit can change a person so quickly. 

The pictures are attached,  the one is a apple pie I made. I'm getting pretty good at that.*

I touched a jelly fish on that dock, just the top part.

Saw a puffer fish. 

Tried to get it to puff up with rocks but it didnt want to I guess,

Je vous aime tous,

Elder Lewis

Jake and his New Companion Elder Dayton

Jake the Missionary Baker!

For P-Day, the District went and learned from the Potter

Letter 53....Tropical Storm Bertha.....a total bust!

Each letter from Jake just seems to get better and better.  I love the testimony he bears of the atonement in this letter, and his testimony of repentance and how great you feel after going through that process.  I hope we can all focus on this more in our lives.

Tropical Storm Bertha No where to be found...... whew!

Hey everybody,

You could say that I passed a good week; or you could say that I passed a FANTASTIC WEEK,  it is more of a subject of preference, personally I prefer the latter.  So let me tell you about what has been going down town.

Me I'm down town,  the biggest city in Martinique and it is crazy!  There are houses built upon houses which extend all the way up the surrounding mountains.  It is a very beautiful area, probably the closest thing to Basse Terre, Guadeloupe  that there is.  But I love it..... there is a whole new feeling in this city,  still scary, towards evening we plan to NOT be in certain places,  but all is well:) Now that I am with Elder Dayton things are going to be crazy, we have a great relationship already and we are hoping to improve upon it, we both speak very good french,  I like that,  he speaks better so it pushes me to be a little competitive  and do better so that is always good:) 

This week we had a few improvs that threw us off our guard.  Friday we were supposed to be hit head on by the tropical storm Bertha,  as we bunkered down with a missionary stuck here headed home, we played Dominos durring the danger zone of the storm,  fortunately for me and fortunatly for my  mom the storm never hit Martinique,  I don't know details,  all I know is that something happened and we didn't get the brunt of it.  The next day we had a big storm durring the night though, and it woke us up.  Even me,  the rock sleeper.  We took Elder Kabango to a few lessons before he left for Belgium. 

We had a great miracle.  We went over to one of the brothers houses who has been relatively less or inactive for the last few years and we talked about going to the temple,  and we talked about why we must be worthy before we enter into the temple.  Then we talked about repentance.  It was incredible to feel the spirit guide us as we spoke and asked questions and listened to the desires of his heart.  This gospel must be true, because every day I see it change others lives.  I often see it changing my own life. 

There is so much I wish to say and no Ipad to talk to Siris in order to say it all, 

I love the redemptive power of the atonement. We are truely made clean, and oh, how good does it feel to be clean,

May we all do what is necessary to arrive at that point. 

I love you

Elder Lewis

The Missionaries Playing Dominos by Flashlight as they wait for "Electricity"

No Power....I guess it was time to try Sardine Sandwiches...ummm GROSS

Jake writes that it takes 180 steps to get to this view...lovely

Weird Fruit

District relaxed while awaiting Bertha