7/31/17

ZVAKAOMA! 

Guys haha so the rules for emailing got changed and for sure I only have TWO HOURS to email literally everybody and before I was using THREE HOURS so please forgive me if I did not get to you this week! I am trying to just be the most obedient person I can be, handiti? Also, I am apologizing beforehand for the Shona because eish nhasi my mind is scattered and filled with Shona so sorry mhuri wangu. 

MONDAY: Nothing interesting happened on Monday last week haha EXCEPT I found out that my brother and sister in law are having a BABY GIRL!! WOOT WOOT. It is African tradition to name your children after your family...so...JENNA?! Haha no ndiri kutamba but MAKOROKOTO (congratulations) Jake and Jaime for your little baby girl. She will be the cutest thing ever. I am so pumped to meet her when I get home! We also got to see my best friend LILLIAN on Monday. She is like my favorite. 

TUESDAY: ZONE CONFERENCE HAHAHAHAHAHA GUYS I SAW ALL MY FAVORITE PEOPLE LIKE SISTER NDHLOVU AND SISTER TALEMWA AND SISTER MZUNGA AND ELDER ALLEN AND ELDER BARNETT AND EVERYONE WAS THERE HAHAHA SO HAPPY. Sorry. I can't control my excitement. No, but honestly it was an awesome Zone Conference. It was so spiritual and I was just feeling the power of the Book of Mormon. My goal is to just know every single verse in the Book of Mormon when I get home. Will it happen? Probably not. Will I try? YEAH FAM I WILL. We were in Harare literally all the day long and eish NDANETTA NE KUGARA (I am tired of sitting). Sister Tonga was randomly called on to give a talk in Zone Conference and she did so good honestly I was so proud. She killed it. 

WEDNESDAY: Weekly Planning! We had just a whole bunch of lessons on Wednesday, which was good because Tuesday was just sitting, sitting, sitting. I am so in trouble when I get home because if I am not constantly moving around and teaching people I get bored. Zvakaoma. 

THURSDAY: Interviews with our mission president! It was good. We had to SIT AGAIN at the chapel from like 10 to 3 because every person is interviewed individually and we were like last...but it was good to talk to President. He gave me such good advice! I love and support and sustain my mission president 100%. Also we went to go see Sister Uchena's daughter, Sharon. She is 15. She seems like she is holding it together okay, but I know she misses her mom like crazy. 

FRIDAY: Baptismal interviews! We had four baptisms this past weekend, and all of them had to be interviewed on Friday. Elder Oliphant (my District Leader) was the one doing all the interviews. While he was doing the interviews, me, my companion, and Elder Banks (Elder Oliphant's companion) started playing NINJA with the kids around us in the area. I can't even explain what Ninja is, but pretty much it is just a fun game. We had so much fun! Go BANKS for thinking of the idea haha. We also taught plenty of lessons! It was a good day. 

SATURDAY: MAKOROKOTO to Sister Kanyoka, Brother Jeremiah, Brother Piyo, and Brother Tinashe! Do you remember Brother Tsungayi Chikwenya that got baptized the last weekend of June?! WELL his BROTHER, TINASHE, and his TWO SONS, JEREMIAH AND PIYO got baptized this weekend! It was awesome! Now their whole family is baptized ALMOST! We are preparing Rumbie to get baptized this weekend. Coolest family ever. Love them to pieces. 

SUNDAY: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER PARK! THE BIG 21! You guys remember that KOREAN COMPANION (hahahah Sister Park I hope you read this one day and laugh) I had in Kuwadzana in January/February?! It was her birthday on Sunday! Sister Tonga and I called her and kutamba HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! It was awesome. Also just the day was awesome. Ndanetta ne kuteacha Primary, asi ndinofara steriki. Primary always makes me tired, handiti? But I love it so much!  Fun fact: Last night after we got home, closed the week, and did all of our studies, Sister Tonga went to go make dinner. I told her I was about to follow her to the kitchen, but instead I FELL ASLEEP IN MY BED haha. Poor Sister Tonga had to cook and eat by herself. To be fair to me, though, it was like 10:00 p.m. when she started cooking. Funnier fact: I woke up at 1:00 a.m. and I found a plate of food by my bed so I ate it and then went back to sleep. Also we slept with the light on ALL NIGHT because we were both too lazy to turn off the light.

MY COMPANION BRAIDED HER HAIR TODAY HAHA LIKE MOTHER LIKE DAUGHTER except I haven't taken any pictures yet, so next week I will. This letter is literally so crazy because ndiri hyper but I am just trying to hurry so I don't break mission rules. WICKEDNESS NEVER WAS HAPPINESS. Okay hahahahah i am so done and I am annoying myself so I gotta go.

Ndinoziva kuti chech ra Jesu Kristu ichech chokwadi. Ndinoziva kuti Bhuku ra Mormoni ibhuku re chokwadi. Ndinofara kuti ndirimissionary. NDINO KUDA.

Ndinoswa Shona steriki, asi handi goni taura zvese. 

I hope someone from Zimbabwe/a returned missionary just reads this blog and absolutely laughs at my Shona because eish pakaipa. It is hard to write Shona haha. LOVE YOU!

Sister Lewis

Squad UP!

Obviously Talented

BROTHERS

Bapatidza

AUGUSTINE

He loves me....

SISTER MZUNGA

MOM AND DAUGHTER

7/24/17

Rainbows Follow Rain

Hey fam!

This week was a good week! I think even if it was a bad week it would have been a good week compared to last week haha but really it was good! I felt all the love and prayers being sent my way this past week, so thank you all! I am feeling so much peace about Sister Uchena. We went to visit her daughter this past Thursday and I just felt her spirit so strongly that she was so happy that we were there to visit Sharon.  Let me tell you about my week!

Monday: After emailing, Sister Tonga and I hung out with Sister Namugenyi and Sister Leatu'u. We just went around looking in the shops to see if there was anything we wanted to buy. Then we went to visit the Pepa Family and had dinner with them! SADZA YAAS! It was a fun time. Family home evening for the win!

Tuesday: District Meeting! As always we had a good district meeting. The elders in our district make me laugh. Later we had some sweet lessons and the less active people we visited on Tuesday came to church this week so WOOHOO for reactivation! Four out of four of them came to church haha. 

Wednesday: Kind of a hectic day, but a good day! We taught a lot of lessons and ended up eating sadza with a family again so that is always a win in my book. 

Thursday: Weekly Planning! Also Happy Birthday Nanny! We had a lot of good lessons just visiting mostly recent converts and less actives. We ate sadza again that night haha imagine so many people fed us dinner this week. 

Friday: Lessons lessons lessons lessons. We taught plenty of lessons and had some new investigators, which was fun! 

Saturday: So...we went to go help the elders with their wedding/baptism and it turned out they needed a lot more help than we thought haha so we ended up being there until like two...but then after that we got to go out and teach some sweet lessons! 

Sunday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Literally I am the worst daughter ever because I didn't email my mom last week on Monday to tell her happy birthday for Sunday...So I will have to do that today. Hectic day as always, but my favorite day as always! Just church and teaching lessons!

Tomorrow is ZONE CONFERENCE Which means that I get to see all my friends this week like SISTER TALEMWA AND SISTER NDHLOVU WOOT WOOT. I am so pumped. I will send plenty pictures next week. 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Thanks again for all the prayers! 

Love, Sister Lewis

Breckfast everyday

Chinese?

Alex

Companion joined the club

Me and Tongaaaa

Selfie as always

Sunday dinner

LEWIS AND TONGA FTW

7/17/17

A Letter for Juliet Uchena

Masquer asi. Eish guys...so some of you will notice that I have not responded to your emails this week...please forgive me, but I just needed a little bit of a break today. This week on Wednesday, I found out that one of the recent converts in our area, Sister Uchena, passed away from a stroke. Sister Uchena and I were extremely close, and I am still kind of processing her death. I never really thought I would get to experience anything like this on mission, but I am grateful for the chance that I have grow and become better. I am doing good, though! I am tough and able to continue on with my missionary work without any delay.

I have visited Sister Uchena every single week since the end of February. She was baptized by some of the sisters who came before us, so our job was pretty much just to strengthen her, but I found her strengthening me a lot more. Every week without fail, Sister Uchena had something to share with us from the Book of Mormon. She had such a unique view of the scriptures, and she was so good at applying them to herself. She really could speak English well, but she did not have confidence in it, so she would always giggle whenever she spoke her English. She never got frustrated with herself, though, she just kept on learning! I always laughed when we visited Sister Uchena. She loved experimenting with cooking and would always bring us her newest thing when we visited her. More than anything, Sister Uchena loved everyone. She is humble, sweet, and so faithful. Sister Uchena was a real light to my life. I will miss her so much, but I will be so excited for the day when I get to meet her again at the feet of our Savior.

I am grateful beyond compare for the knowledge that I have of the Plan of Salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know Sister Uchena is not gone, and I have felt her spirit with me since she has passed. I know that she is resting in paradise until the day of her judgement. I know we will meet again and that day will be the sweetest reunion.

I am grateful to my Father in Heaven who allows me to experience different things in my life that help me to become a better person. I have felt so much peace this week. I have found that when I focus on others instead of myself, I don't feel pain. I really am okay and happy, I just need this week to balance out my emotions a little bit more. Please don't worry about me because I am okay! I love you all like crazy and I hope you have a good day!

Sister Lewis

What our night study looks like

Sister Tonga and Sister Lewis

Happy Birthday Sister Mpiyakhe!

Hahaha baby ready

Birthday girl!

Mother and Daughter

Me and Noku!

Weekly planning lol

You know us...selfies!

7/10/17

Up, Down, and Back Up Again!

Hey guys! This week was a little crazy, but it was a good week nonetheless! I am lazy to write as always, though, haha. Especially today because we went for an activity as sisters so I am tired tired tired. 

Monday: After emailing, we went to go pick up SISTER LEATU'U. She is from...you guessed it...TONGA! My companion has been having a blast speaking in her language again. Sister Leatu'u is the craziest and funniest person ever and I love her so much. She is Sister Namugenyi's companion. Did I ever tell you all Sister Namugenyi came back this side? It has been so awesome having her back in my zone! I call her companion all the time lololol.

Tuesday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! Yeah, that's right. We totally remembered it was the Fourth of July! In District Meeting I made my whole district sing "America the Beautiful" for our opening hymn, even though only two of us were from America haha. They were good sports about it lol. After lunch with Sister Namugenyi and Sister Leatu'u, we went to the area! We had a few lessons, and then we got to go to a birthday party for one of my FAVORITE PEOPLE EVER, LILLIAN! We had pizza and cake and goat and it was awesome! We seriously had such a fun time. 

Wednesday: Day fullll of lessons! We had one guy try to Bible bash us, which hasn't happened in a loonnnnggg time, but after the lesson my companion was like, "Wow, you know so much about the Bible!" Even me I was confused like when did I learn so much about the Bible? But whenever people try to Bible Bash us we just stop the lesson because the Spirit will not be there when there is contention. The Spirit is the teacher, not me!

Thursday: Weekly Planning! We had a few good lessons that day, but we also had a few fall through!

Friday: Lessons, lessons, lessons! You know that picture of that guy wearing the headband in my photos? That is Moses haha. He is a returned missionary who helps us translate our lessons into Shona when we need help. He found Sister Burt's headband in the back of our car and he put it on hahaha. Moses. 

Saturday: So...we were supposed to have a baptism this Saturday, but on Wednesday, when we went to go visit Concillia, she told us she called her mom and told her she was going to be baptized...and her mom told her she was not allowed to get baptized into our church. PAKAYIPA. So we are going to try this week to talk to her mom, but she stays really far away and phone calls aren't always good, so just pray for us please!

Sunday: I GOT A BREAK FROM PRIMARY HAHAHAHAHA. I mean I really did miss my kids and stuff, but seriously I was okay with the break haha. We had a branch conference in Bindura, so the Retreat group came this side for our conference. It was so cool, but so strange to sit in Relief Society again haha. I made an "American" Sunday dinner haha. I baked chicken and made mashed potatoes, but I also added Sweet Chili Sauce because me I am not American all the way anymore oops. 

Monday: I went all OCD again and cleaned the heck out of my house. I think I am becoming more and more like my mom because she likes cleaning and even me I love cleaning, but I only get to do it really properly on Mondays! We also went to this really pretty lake with Sister Namugenyi and Sister Leatu'u and just hiked some pretty waterfalls! I am dead tired though haha.

So...cool story. I cut my own hair this week...HAHAHAHAHA. Imagine. My hair was reaching down to my bum and I was just not a fan of that so I cut it myself! Go me! I just tried to do it in a way that it still has layers and it kind of worked. I got inspired from Sister Tonga because she cuts her own hair all the time lol. Just a fun fact. 

So I am LOVING being companions with Sister Tonga. We literally laugh every single minute of the day that we are not teaching. I can't believe we have been together 7 weeks because it feels more like 7 days. She is the sweetest person in the world and has taught me so much about sharing. Tongans love to share everything they have. Everything I have is hers and everything she has is mine hahaha. 

LOVE YOU FAM. See you next week!

Sister Lewis

Lillian's Birthday!

Cake and Pizza fam

Sweet Island Lady

Sister Kaingo (aka my best friend)

So Hipster. Very wow.

Sunday Dinner

The Lake Today!

Sister Namugenyi and I

Sister Tonga and I

Found a dead snake!

7/3/17

WHAT ARE THOSE haha Elder Tu'ua

Comp and I on P-Day!

Did you guys know I could play soccer? Me neither

The China District

Best district ever haha

Bro Mssa Sis Chikwenya

Made a cake this week!

Drew would be proud lol

Fell asleep in Tonga's bed!

BYE BYE BECKY!!!!

Hey!

Oh my goodness today I am lazy to write for sure haha but let me try to put myself together for just a moment haha.

Monday: So after emailing we went to the chapel to go pick up something from the chapel, and then we ended up playing soccer there for a little bit haha. Turns out I am pretty okay at soccer? I scored a few goals? Maybe all of us were just bad actually haha. I was trying to play in my long skirt, so I just tied it up and went from there haha.

Tuesday: Our last district meeting went great! Elder Tu'ua asked me to give the doctrinal study again...even though I did it like last week but one. It was good, though. We went to the area and had some good lessons! 

Wednesday: Most blessed day every haha I had exchanges with SISTER MPIYAKHE (South Africa) and we literally had like 11 lessons in one day. Don't even ask me how we did it because I myself am not sure, but it was incredible. We had lessons with BROTHER MSSA and SISTER CHIKWENYA in preparation for their baptism on Saturday! It was seriously the sweetest day. Sister Mpiyakhe is so cool and I love her so much. We laughed every minute between lessons. I did miss Sister Tonga, though. When we got back together I just hugged her for a solid minute. My companion is the coolest!

Thursday: Weekly planning and lessons! I don't even remember what happened that day to be honest haha.

Friday: Lessons and interviews! Whenever we have interviews we always get to hang out with our District Leader and his companion for a little, which is funny. Elder Tu'ua and Elder Banks make me laugh. The whole time Elder Tu'ua will just be telling Sister Tonga that Samoa is better than Tonga and Elder Banks and I just laugh and watch the fight between islands haha. 

Saturday: Baptism for Brother Mssa and Sister Chikwenya! Brother Mssa is a 19 year old guy we met in the street and he is just POWERFUL. Every time we gave him a pamphlet to read, he literally MEMORIZED it and then taught us the lesson himself haha. He has been asking us like crazy when he can go on a mission and he is already working with us. I love Mssa haha so cool. Sister Chikwenya is the wife to Brother Chikwenya who was  baptized last weekend. She is the sweetest lady, and I think they are going to call her to be the Primary teacher in Retreat with me so HALLELUJAH because this past Sunday I had 20 kids so PAKAYIPA. 

Sunday:Favorite day of the week, as always! I especially loved it because it was FAST AND TESTIMONY SUNDAY! Can I just tell you how cool it is to see all my recent converts bear their testimonies? It is like watching your baby learn how to walk...I think haha. It is so rewarding. I have SIX WEEKS ONLY left in Bindura. President Mkhabela told me that when I am done training Sister Tonga, I will leave Bindura. I already knew that, though. I have been here for a loonnnggg time and that is not always normal for sisters.

Today is transfer day, and can I just tell you that it feels NICE TO not have a new companion for the first time in a LOONNNGG TIME. Sister Talemwa trained me two transfers, but then I had Sister Namugenyi for one, Sister Park for one, Sister Jili for one, Sister Ndhlovu for one, but now Sister Tonga for TWO because I am training her. You all know me, I don't love saying goodbye to people so today has just been nice and sweet and stress free for me. I know when I am going, so I have time to prepare. I am going to work HARD the last six weeks so I can leave MY HOME in good terms. Bindura has been so sweet to me. I love it so much.

I hope you all have a great week! 

Sister Lewis