12/19/16
Merry Christmas?

Newest baptized member!

Jenna's new favorite "treat"

Jenna and her new companion, Sister Namugenyi

Braids-lots of Braids

Holy moly you guys, I literally refuse to believe it is almost Christmas haha. I feel like I am still in August! Maybe it is due to the fact that it is hot here and I am used to snow, but it is more likely that I just have forgotten about everything except missionary work! I am SO, SO excited to talk to my family this Sunday! It will be the best Christmas present I have ever received in my life. Please pray for me that everything goes well with Skyping them. My mom and I don't do so well with technology, so having us both be in charge of this Skyping thing should be interesting haha. 

This week was so good! Sister Namugenyi and I worked HARD this week to be able to get some new investigators. We are doing great in Mambo! I love Sister Namugenyi so much! She is literally one of the sweetest missionaries I have met. I am so grateful to be companions to such a nice person. 

Monday - Regular type of P-Day! We cleaned, we ate, we emailed!

Tuesday - My companion was having some really intense pains in her stomach, so we stayed home that day by instruction of the mission president. It was SO weird to stay home on a day we were supposed to be proselyting haha. I was crazy bored. Sister Namugenyi slept for pretty much the whole day. I took a five hour nap and then I got up and did some cleaning and decorating around the house. Thankfully, one day of staying home was enough for my companion to get better! 

Wednesday - We worked hard on Wednesday in order to catch up from missing Tuesday. It rained pretty much all day on Wednesday, though, so we went home SOAKED! It is raining almost every single day now. #umbrellassavelives On Wednesday, it was Sister Burt's birthday! She came over to our house with her companion, and we celebrated Zimbaswe Missionary style!

Thursday - Nothing much to report about Thursday. We had Weekly Planning, which is always fun!

Friday - Friday was literally one of the craziest days I have had on my mission so far haha. We were able to get allotment with no problem (#blessed). Lots of things happened on Friday pretty much just in preparation for the baptism that we had on Saturday. We spent a few hours at the chapel trying to get everything ready and doing interviews and stuff like that. Something super cool happened on Friday, though. So we were outside waiting for the Zone Leaders to come and pick us up, and all of the sudden we were surrounded by these flying insects. I guess they are called "Insuwa" (spelling is completely wrong I am sure haha). So all of the sisters started getting super excited and they were like, "Let's go grab containers!" and I was confused, but I just followed their lead. Eventually, after flying around for a little bit, all of the wings fell off and the insuwa were just crawling around on the ground. Sister Bondo and Sister Namugenyi started picking them up, and they told me to, as well. I asked why we were picking them up, and the reply I got was, "Dinner!" So long story short, insuwa is my favorite snack ever now. We went home and fried up the insuwa and HOLY MOLY are they so delicious! I will attach a photo of what they look like haha. We ate them for dinner with sadza, but then we also just eat them like snacks. It is kind of like eating popcorn. They are super good. 

Saturday - We had another baptism! It was awesome. The guy that we baptized is so super cool. He is one of the smartest people I have ever met!

Sunday - So funny story about Sunday. While we were on our way to church, Sister Namugenyi and I were in this combi that got pulled over by the police. The car wasn't registered, and the police refused to be bribed this time around for some reason. So we all had to get out of the combi and start walking. We weren't ever able to get another combi, so we WALKED far haha. We left our house at 8:30, and we showed up to church by 9:30. Everybody was wondering where we were and if we were okay haha. I was bummed because we missed the sacrament, but it was a fun memory, anyway. 

Today - I BRAIDED MY HAIR! I have been wanting to make my hair ever since I have been here in Zimbabwe, and today I finally did it! I made "big carrots". I am obsessed. I don't know if they will stay in until Christmas or not because my hair is too soft, but we can hope and pray that it will! People have been loving it haha. 

So this email has been a whole lot of cool and funny stories, and not so much spiritual, so let me get down to the spiritual part. 

This week is Christmas, the time that we dedicate as Christians to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that as each one of you go into Christmas this week that you remember the real reason that we are celebrating. Christmas is a great time for family, and it is sure fun to get presents, but that is not what Christmas is really about. Christmas marks the time when our Savior entered into the world to save us all from our sins. Have you ever really thought about how incredible the Atonement of Jesus Christ is? Our Older Brother not only voluntarily gave up His life for us, but He suffered all pains, temptations, and sufferings for us, as well. I will never, ever be able to express in words the gratitude that I have for Jesus Christ. He lived a sinless life, yet He was mocked, ridiculed, and rejected by the very people that He was sent to save. As I member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have had the incredible opportunity to get to know my Savior personally. As I have diligently studied the Book of Mormon, I have come to an understanding of who Jesus Christ is and why He died for ME. The gift that I treasure most in this life is the relationship I have with my Savior. 18 months is absolutely nothing compared to what He did for me. I pray that we all remember Who Christmas is really about. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Lewis