Letter 80... "Life is Beautiful"

My feelings mimic Jake's completely. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father that he has had this time in The West Indies to serve and to really discover who he is and how strong and capable.  I am most grateful for his growing knowledge of depending on the Lord 

Dressed down for P-day fun...love to see the Missionaries chill'n

La vie est belle,

What more can truly be said than that? I am so thankful to the Lord for this time I have out here in the mission field. As I begin to realize that the end is nearing up, I have felt a Spirit of great urgency. Every breath is becoming so precious that I take out here. There is no time to be disobedient, there is no time to be distracted, there is no time to stop. Even the time for sleep should be used effectively. I have a testimony of self consecration and sanctification. Whereas I am anything but perfect, I know that in Christ I can be made perfect. This week was  full of wonderful thoughts inspired by the Spirit, I have felt edified and filled. 

This week we saw Irena some more. She hadn't really understood the importance of the Book of Mormon, so we had a great lesson talking about how these great feelings that she has been having are really just testimonies of the Spirit. We talked about how that grows inside of us and since then she has engaged herself to read daily. Another time we had a great miracle, we have been looking all over Fort de France, the capitol city of Martinique for a nice quiet spot that we could teach Irena, normally we are not able to go to her house so we teach her in a park next to the board walk. There are always lots of people and tourists and children there so it is difficult. Frere Maugran, who is her friend showed us a place in the upstairs of this new mall complex that is hidden in downtown. There was a nice closed off deck with not very many people on it, we taught the plan of salvation. The best was sunday. At 10 till her phone was still off and the member did not know how to get to her house. We prayed and felt desperate but trusting the Lord we continued to call her. A few minutes later we were able to call her and Frere Maugran went and picked her up! The joy of her coming into the room was incredible! She was so happy and she loved church! She has a date for the 21st of march! I hope I am here! Transfers are next week! 

I love you all so very much.

have a wonderful week

Elder Lewis

                                        A rhumerie in Saint Pierre

Elder Lewis and Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen just all worked out!

Letter Number 79

Elder Lewis talks of Faith and Miracles.  I love the images of He and Elder Peterson's bus trip up the mountain.  A trip of faith to be sure.  I can never fixate myself of the constant danger my Son is in, but try to focus on closely he is living to the spirit of the Lord and trying to hear what direction he should go every day.  I have been praying for that in my life more lately..to hear and head the direction of the spirit.  To go where I am needed. 

So many fun pictures that capture Jake's full experience in Martinique.  The members look fun.  I am ever thankful for The Turners in these missionaries lives and Lance and I hope we can model our service after them someday...they are fun and supportive.

Jake and Elder Petersen get their Valentin's Day Package...to think I almost didn't send one...I would have missed making this guy so happy!  You can't put a price on that!  

Bonjour,

This week was incredible. For the last three or four months we have been trying to get our member work going in Fort-de-France and this week the Windows of heaven opened up and poured out the blessings. This week as we went from place to place we were filled with light and knowledge and the Spirit and all of this permeated into our lives and the lives of those around us. On Tuesday we were at a loss for where to go and we decided to take a bus we had never taken before up into the mountains around us.  As we climbed up we decided to get off at a certain point and told ourselves that we would not miss the next bus going down. We started to yell into a couple houses from their cement Caribbean walls and we found this lady who was interested in what we were doing. After the matter she went into the house  and someone made a comment about Mormons and that she needed to give back the book. When she tried to give us the book her son, who had walked up a little bit previously and was tentitivly listening, decided to take the copy of the Book of Mormon. He was sure he would read it. As we went back out to the road to catch the bus we were pâssed by the bus going up and the bus driver stopped in the middle of the street rolled down the window and asked us "what in the world are you doing up here?" or something to that effect. We said we would take the bus on his way down. We did and we taught him. He said he had lost hope in believing in God because of all the confusion that is caused by religion these days. We assured him of our testimonies with the Book of Mormon. While I taught him, Elder Peterson started to teach thèse other bus representitives. IT was sweet!

Irena is doing great and has a baptismal date for the 21 of March. She is starting to really understand the importance of our message for her life. She has a 15 month old son who is super cute as well.... that is just a side note.

Martine is doing fantastic!! She came to Church this last week and the member who had given her the Book of Mormon all that time ago was there and they were basically glued together after that. I dont even think I got an opportunity to shake her hand she was so happy to see her long lost friend.

Miracles are everywhere.  The tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen because of their faith to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance. 1NE1:20. 

Let us be faithful unto the Lord

I love you

Elder Lewis

A Valentine's Day Party with the Branch

I love the Elder teaching the young kids how to tie a tie..so sweet!

A P-Day adventure with the District

We are calling this the Scary Road...those are trees growing up through a deep ravine in the road and a cliff to one side. The Missionaries were out scouting for apartments...because of the road and a bunch of young 19 year old drivers...they passed this apartment up!

Letter Number 78..This week was sweet!

I was sent this quote today, what an exact description of what we believe our missionaries are doing while on their missions. They are testifying of the Savior's Love.

La vie est vraiment belle ces jours-ci, le soleil, les pieds, l'Evangile...

This week was sweet.

We Saw Martine, she is doing fanctastic, despite the opposition of friends and family coming a little bit from everywhere her testimony is growing under the pressure. It is really cool to talk with her because she will start a rant that is negitive and the Spirit comes in and changes her mind and she says something to the effect of "so pretty much i know this is true because i did pray last night, but ill tell you another day". She couldnt make it to Church this last week but she is comitted and willing to come next week.

Irena turns out is a best friend and work mate with the member that we randomly brought with us. We taught a powerful lesson and testified of the importance of baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ. Her ex boyfriend is trying to have custody of their child in  court, she knows that God will help her. She is preparing to be baptized.

A Young guy named Kenny who we met a while ago is starting to progress. He contacted us saying he wanted to get out of sin, stop smokeing and change his life so he could give it to God. We had a powerful lesson on the Book of Mormon.

 I think that there are just a lot of things that are going for Martinique. We had visitors that stopped by this island randomly at Church, one of them was the temple president and pattron of the Salt lake City Temple who was just released. There was a great reverance that emenated from him. it reminded me of a phrase in handbook 2 that says "true reverance comes from within each individual".

Incredible.

Je vous aime

Elder Lewis

Elder Lewis and Elder Petersen at the beginning of their 489 stairs set out for a night appointment!
I'd be lying if I said this doesn't make me a little nervous.

Beautiful moon over Martinique

Letter Number 77

A nice attempt at humor by Elder Lewis.  I grew up very close to the Canadian border and they really do insert that phrase a lot.  

Jake's words of love fit the season, and I am so happy to know without a doubt why he is serving his mission...Love for the Savior and his neighbor.  Great Testimony.

I guess I owe you a full email eh? 

The senior couple are canadian and so is one of my missionaires and i'm really digging this eh thing they do. It is kind of hard to do right at first but it is really catching on! 

This week was great, it is nice to be on foot again and start to use the bus system llike we should. We had a few mixups of bus times which was a little frustrating but no matter, the Lord always provides. This week we started seriously teaching a Ukrainian investigator named Irena. Her French accent is about the hardest thing to understand, maybe even harder than Canadians eh? hahaha,

We ordered a book of mormon for her in Russian and she has been loving the reading. She says it is really hard to find books in Russian on Martinique.... who whould have thought? She is very sincere and wants to know more about Christ, she feels super edified and we invited her to be baptized, she wants to think and pray about it. We proposed a baptismal date to Martine for the 28th of February and at first she laughed but then she got really serious and told us that she does believe these things are true. She Will come around to it, the Spirit has an interesting way of workin on her. She always fights against what we are saying, then in the middle of her rant she says something to the effect of "yeah acctually this makes sense and i prayed and know it is true". 

Life is looking up in Fort de France Martinique, I love it here, I love my companion, the people, the branch, and above all I love the Lord. I testify that this is his work and that the gospel has been restored to the earth in these last days. Lets us prepare ourselves so we may therefore be ready and not fear D&C 38:30

I love you,

Elder Lewis

Jake and Elder Bodily his great friend from Guadeloupe 

Jake and a Member

Letter Number 76

One of the greatest blessings of Jake's Mission has been the Senior Missionary couple Elder and Sister Turner.    As you can see here, they serve the missionaries and the mission tirelessly.  They take them on many adventures and provide parties and social experiences for them. Honestly, I am going to do this with my activity day girls this winter...looks so fun.  The District had a conference this week and Elder Lewis was feeling a little tired but looks happy and content here.  We have five more months and he returns.  How time has flown..I miss him every day but I am so grateful for these testimony and life-changing experiences.

This week has been crazy! we had 4 of five companionships change on the island!

All is well, we were contacting and we met this lady named Martine who was a really strong Catholic, well we missed our return rendezvous and came back a little while later and she told us we were bad predicators. She then let us in and we talked.  She had been given a book of mormon by a member 19 years ago but couldn't remember who. We brought a member and as we taught the restoration we felt inspired to ask if it was a certain member.  We didn't know her first name but the member did.  As soon as he said it she started almost leaping out of her chair in jubilie.  She was very excited. We are bringing back the member who gave her the book and she is preparing to be baptized.

Life is good and the Lord is great. Our testimonies are stronger than sight once they are written upon our souls never to be erased. one could almost say that our testimonies are distilled upon our souls as the dews from heaven. Interesting how that all comes togeather.

France is pretty crazy right now.

I love you all,

Elder Lewis   

What a fun activity

Elder Lewis and Elder Petersen roasting to perfection for the perfect S'more

Elder Pape's Birthday Roast...Thank you Sister and Brother Turner

Letter Number 75...The Sand Snowman

Wow...I love the excitement in this letter.  I'm can't wait to hear of the transfer in his next email, will the dynamic duo be together for another 6 weeks, or is Elder C on to another adventure elsewhere!  I was able to speak to his companion on the phone a couple of weeks ago, and we had a great conversation, Elder C is an awesome missionary.  Jake has been blessed to work with all amazing Young Men who are diligently trying to work hard and serve the Lord.  I feel such a blessing in this miracle!

Snowman Caribbean Style

This week was super great. We decided that there are no excuses not to have lots of member lessons and lots of high quality member referrals in Fort de France saying that we have a good portion of the members here. We really put ourselves to the work and things are really starting to get going now. We had a sweet miracle with this lady coming to church. She was super sceptical and thought we were a cult when we met her a few days previous and then she called us Saturday saying she had read the brochure and was bringing her friend with her to church.  She only came for Relief Society but was very touched by the spirit and proclamed that she will be coming here for a long time...... add a little conversion and I am thinking she'll be coming the rest of her life. 

Great things are happening here on Martinique, Many miracles:) 

This is the last week of the transfer and we are going to make it the best week ever, it might be the last week of me and Elder Christensen's epic 24 week journey together and there is  no limit to what we are going to do. There is a chance we will be staying together a 5th transfer but that would be super crazy. We would be in 100 percent sycronized together. We are great friends.

President Occolier and his brother are super pumped for the new year, they got up and did a presentation in Elders Quorum and talked about our goal of one baptism per month per companionship. They believe, and their faith is helping others believe as well. The branch of Martinique is experiencing real change and real growth. We had 14 baptisms in 2014  and that tripled what had been done before. this year we are going to quaduple that. The Lord is willing and we are willing, the branch is going to explode here. We are excited to see and experience the way it takes all of the members to their maximums. 

I love you all

Elder Lewis

Wrecked Slave ship Monument..Elder Lewis' t-shirt
says "think snow"  a Christmas present!

Monument to a lost Slave ship

Elder Lewis' District

Beach Baptism

Letter Number 74

What a wonderful Christmas Gift...the Gift of Baptism and the Holly Ghost.  I love this image and all of the images of the Ocean Baptisms. So touching and so Beautiful.  As I embark on the New Year I will follow Elder Lewis' invitation to reflect on the Atonement and how it is the cornerstone of everything in this life and the next.

Happy New Year 2015

What a wonderful time of year, as we have been in the process of increasing our teaching pool lately, we have noticed that there has been lots of hearts softened this time of year. Many people who would not have opened their doors opened them.

I don't have much to say about this last  week but I really do know this Church is true. My favorite topic of the gosple is the Atonement, being that it is the center of everything we do.  I love reading the scriptures and finding the relations that everything has back to the Atonement. Sometimes it is hard to see at first,  but in the end we find that everything really  just is "auxiliaries to the Atonement."

I hope that we can all reflect upon the Atonement as we seek to become better through Christ this next year.

Love you all

Elder Lewis

Renaud's Baptism

Jake and Elder Christiansen posing in Santa Hats for 2nd Christmas