12/26/16
Happy Christmas and  Merry New Year!

Hey, everyone! I hope you all had an incredible Christmas Day! I know I did!

So I can't even remember anything about this week haha. I was so excited for Christmas that the rest of week was just kind of a blur! I will tell you the few things I remember haha.

On Thursday we had interviews with President Mkhabela, which ended up lasting ALL DAY! We didn't even get to go to our area haha. The whole zone was being interviewed, and the sisters went last. It was so nice to see President again and talk to him one on one! He is one of the most spiritual people I have ever met in my life. His testimony of Jesus Christ is inspiring. 

On Saturday, my district went to a hospital and walked around singing Christmas hymns! It was nice to do some service. We all made matching shirts that say, #LighttheWorld. It was a great spiritually uplifting experience! After the activity, my companion and I went to our area for a few lessons, and then we went to a Christmas party for the Mkoba ward, which is one of the wards in our stake. We sang again Christmas hymns for the members and investigators. It was a fun Christmas Eve! 

Sunday was CHRISTMAS!!! It didn't really feel like Christmas without the snow, though. It was strange haha. It didn't even rain on Christmas, it was just hot! Sister Namugenyi and I went to church, and then we went and proselyted for a few hours! It was fun seeing investigators and members on Christmas. Everyone was trying to feed us haha. At around three o'clock I got to Skype my family! It was SO good to see them all! The thing that surprised me the most was how much my nieces and nephew are growing up! They will be totally different people by the time I get back haha. It was SO GOOD to hear my mom and dad's voices! We ended up staying at the chapel until around nine o'clock so that everyone could finish talking to their families. We were SO hungry by the time that everyone was done! All of the sisters came to our house, and Sister Kayembe cooked us an AWESOME Christmas dinner! It was so yummy! After we ate dinner, we all fell asleep on the floor until the other sisters had to go home. It was a great day!

I am ready and excited to start this week fresh and focus on the work of the Lord. Seeing my family gave me added motivation to help other people understand how they can be with their families forever! I am ready to WORK! 

I hope you all have a great week! I will talk to you next year! Enjoy the last few days of 2016, and don't forget to SET GOALS for 2017! My family told me that for 2017 I need to set a goal of sending more pictures, so I will try to do that haha. 

Ndino Kuddha! ( I love you!)

Love, Sister Lewis

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

12/12/16

Jenna at Christmas Devotional

Jenna and Sister Kayembe

The girls Jenna lives with at the Gweru House

Missionary Selfie

At the Christmas Devotional

The Queen of Gift Giving...

Macadini, Shamwaris!

This week was one of the craziest weeks I have had on my mission, but it was so good! So on Monday, my new companion Sister Namugenyi came! She is SO SWEET! She is literally one of the nicest people I have ever met, and I am so excited to be her companion. She is so incredible. 

So a lot happened this week, and I have like no time to email today, so I will write what happened fast fast!

My favorite thing that happened this week was on Friday. We had a Christmas Devotional! It was our Gweru Zone, Bulawayo Zone, and Kwekwe Zone. It was so fun to see some of the missionaries that I haven't seen in awhile! President Mkhabela was also there, and it is always SO GOOD to see him! 

At our Christmas event, we got to watch the Christmas Devotional that was done by the church. My favorite talk was President Eyring's. I loved the music and the decorations that they had. It was so weird to see Salt Lake on video haha. I was surprised to see snow because I forgot that it should be snowing at home! We also did a gift exchange! Some missionaries brought really cool things, and some missionaries brought really stupid things haha. I brought a magnetic dart board, and literally EVERYONE wanted it haha so I got crowned the Queen of Gift Exchange. I was given a water bottle and a cup. Originally, I had picked this really beautiful carving of a giraffe, but someone stole it from me! (It was part of the game to steal gifts) I was so bummed. I would have named him Jeffrey the Giraffe, but alas. I will meet with that giraffe again one day, I am very sure.

So I am good! We got money on Tuesday and we are eating nice nice again! I have been trying to introduce some "American" food into the house, so on Tuesday I made tacos, and last night I made sweet and sour chicken. I also learned how to make Sadza this week! I cook a few times a week at home, since we all switch off. 

Gweru is treating me well! I am just teaching my new companion how to get around our area and introducing her to our investigators! We have another baptism this week, which I am excited for! Things are going great. I am so happy!

That is all I have time for today. Sorry for the bad blog post, but I will do better next week! In the mean time, enjoy some pictures!

Love you all! Ndino Kudda! (I love you)

Beautiful skies

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Jenna's last day with Sister Talemwa

"I may not be my Sister's keeper, but I am my Sister's sister." 

This week was actually incredibly crazy in contrast to last week haha. Let's start from the beginning. I know you are all itching to hear my transfer news, but I am going to make you wait until the end MWAHAHA. 

So last week on Monday we got some bad news from the Mission Office. Because of the new bond notes that Zimbabwe introduced (you can Google it, but the situation is crazy), banks have been either really busy or have not had any money. We were supposed to be able to receive money on the 1st of December, but we haven't been able to get any even until now, the 5th of December. We were running out of money before we even heard the news, so we were in big trouble this week haha. We fasted quite a few meals! We haven't been able to buy groceries, so we have been eating a lot of random stuff that we still have left over in our house. We are experiencing a little bit of a tight budget right now! We need $4 for transport everyday, so that is our main focus. I have some money that was sent with me for emergencies, and we have been using a little bit of that, but we are trying not to in case we can't get money for even longer. This is the main part that I want you all to focus on, though. I didn't tell you about our unfortunate situation so that you would feel bad for us. I told you because this is what I have learned from the situation. THE LORD TAKES CARE OF WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO US WHEN WE TAKE CARE OF WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO HIM. Even though we didn't always eat before we left the house, we always went to the area. Each day we have been giving our all to the work we have been called to do, and we have been blessed beyond measure. I can't even count the miracles I have seen this week. I never felt hungry when I was working hard. On Friday at Zone Meeting, some Elders from Masvingo offered to buy us lunch since they had been able to receive their money. On Saturday, our District Leader gave us $6 to buy some groceries with. On Sunday, our Branch President's wife gave us a huge carton of eggs. Heavenly Father loves His children. I have a testimony of the promise that He made to take care of His missionaries. In the Bible and in the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ told his apostles to not worry about anything but preaching the Word of God. I know that the same rule applies to me. I have no need to worry about food because my Father in Heaven will provide for me! I am so blessed. 

So this week was week 6 of the transfer, or the last week of the transfer. Week 6 is hard because you have been working so hard for so long, and you know transfer news is coming soon, so Satan tries to tempt missionaries to not work hard during this week. Sister Talemwa and I worked as hard as we could, though, since we knew it would probably be her last week in our area. We WORKED, you guys. It was awesome. This week has been so incredibly rewarding. 

So, here is the much anticipated TRANSFER NEWS (drum roll please) Sister Lewis is...Still in GWERU!! Yaas! I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to spend some more time with the people here. The sad thing is, though, is that Sister Talemwa left me today. We both knew it was very likely to happen, but we were living in a lot of denial. Sunday was one of the hardest days I have had on mission because we spent the whole day visiting all of the people that Sister Talemwa really loved. It was so hard to watch her say goodbye over and over again. When she left me this morning, I cried. She is safely in Harare. Her new area is called Epworth. 

My new companion is called Sister Namugenyi! I haven't met her yet, she is still on her way from Harare, but she is ALSO FROM UGANDA! #blessed I love my Ugandan people! I am so excited to meet her. She is 6 weeks older than me mission wise. She is just one transfer ahead of me! The Lord decided that I was to be the Senior Companion, though. I keep joking with people that me being the senior companion is like a baby leading a child because Sister Namugenyi and I are so young on mission! I am so excited for the opportunity, though. I know we will enjoy Gweru together! 

I am doing so well here in Zimbabwe. People ask me how home is and I forget that they mean America. I usually answer in relation to Zimbabwe haha. I can't imagine leaving this place. OH! By the way, I found out from the mission office the exact day I will start heading home! I board a flight on Tuesday, March 13th, 2018. Just a fun fact for anyone who is counting down my coming home (shout out to you, Mom). I had no idea when I was supposed to leave because of the way the transfer ends that month, so I checked. I will be praying to have the days go by slower because right now I am almost 3 months old on mission which is CRAZY. Does anybody have a time machine?

So the last part of this email is about the Light the World campaign that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is doing. Every year, the church finds some special way to remember Jesus Christ during Christmastime. This year, it is Light the World. The idea behind it is to do some act of service every single day that will make someone's day brighter! It is the coolest thing. We as missionaries have been given a lot of information concerning it, and we are all actively participating. GO TO GOOGLE and type in #lighttheworld or look up Light the World on MORMON.ORG and read more about how you can help Light the World this year for Christmas!

A Christmas Message from Mormon.org #LIGHTtheWORLD ... mormon.org Jesus Christ is a perfect example of serving others. We invite you this Christmas season to #LIGHTtheWORLD and to serve others as Jesus did.

I hope everyone at home has a good week! Don't forget to read your scriptures! Say your prayers! Enjoy the Christmas season! 

Love, Sister Lewis

Hey, everyone! 

So this group letter today is going to be crazy short and boring because I am super tired today and nothing very eventful happened this week haha.

Tuesday - We had District Meeting! I love District Meeting. I was laughing so hard because one of the elders shared a scripture about increasing the beauty of Zion...he was telling us all to baptize wakanakas (beautiful people). Some boys never change, you know? We were all laughing so hard though. It was just the joke that we all needed to start off the week well.

Wednesday - Sister Talemwa and I met this CRAZY AWESOME lady by accident (though nothing ever happens by accident, does it?). So she was a nurse for a long time, but she got this sickness that made her have to amputate both of her legs. She is a really devoted church goer, so every Sunday she WALKS on her prosthetic legs to get a combi to her church. A few weeks ago, a combi driver didn't see her and hit her with his combi. He ran over her hand. The whole time she was telling us this story about her life, she was telling us about the gratitude she has for her Father in Heaven. I learned so much from that lady. Wow I loved meeting her. How many people do you meet without their legs and the use of one hand who says she is grateful for everything that God has given her? It made me realize that I never have anything to complain about!

Thursday - I didn't even realize it was Thanksgiving until 8:00 p.m. I ate cereal for dinner because my companion and I didn't feel like cooking lol. 

Friday - We got to visit one of my favorite families in the ward. Their name is the Mhuri's. In Shona the word Mhuri means family lol so whenever I say Mhuri Family I always giggle a little to myself because I am just saying, "Family Family." The things that make me happy are so dumb sometimes haha

Saturday - It rained on Sister Talemwa and I all day! It was so fun haha. We ate chibage (corn) before we left our area and it was like heaven to eat something hot when we were so cold! 

Sunday - The Sabbath is always a good day! It was especially good because we spent almost the whole day visiting members and asking for referrals. They fed us a lot of food on Sunday  Also I have been spending the past two weeks in Primary because as much as I love Relief Society...I was missing having children in my life! I LOVE playing with those Primary kids! They love Sister Lewis, too!

Guys really this week was so good, but I am drawing a blank as what to say haha. Transfers are this week, so the next time I write a blog post I will have a new companion, probably. I also could possibly be leaving Gweru, but maybe not! We will see! I will miss Sister Talemwa like CRAZY!

Have a great week! Say your prayers and read your scriptures! I am on my second time through the Book of Mormon on mission and I am loving it. I have the worst memory, so every time I read it, it is like I am reading it for the first time! Haha it is awesome.

I love you guys! I will see you in December!

Love, Sister Lewis

11/21/16 

Promises, Prayers, and Pig Feet

Masqer asi, shamwaris! (Good Afternoon, friends!)

I had a great week here in the land of Zimbabwe! Gweru is great as usual! The rains are still coming down over here, but usually only at night time. I haven't been drenched...yet!

Promises - Sister Talemwa and I had another baptism this week! Let's call him Charles; he is 58 years old. So Charles met with missionaries THREE years ago for the first time! They gave him the Book of Mormon, and he read it through twice, but he never prayed about it. Sister Talemwa and I have been meeting with him since the beginning of my time here in Zimbabwe, but Sister Talemwa even met with him when she was still being trained by Sister Erickson. We had taught him and his wife the Restoration almost every time we met with them because they were confused about a few things. They were not progressing, and Sister Talemwa and I knew that we probably needed to stop seeing them soon. We bore powerful testimonies to Charles and his wife, invited them to be baptized, and then left them knowing that we would only come back one more time before we had to drop them. When we came back for the last time, we were SHOCKED at what Charles had to tell us. He told us that he prayed, and he knew that our church was the ONLY true church in the world. He had previously been going to a Methodist church for his whole life, but after that day that he prayed, he never went back. Yesterday, Charles was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have never seen a happier man. He is so, SO excited about the gospel. He loves learning. Something else incredible about Charles was that he had a problem with smoking. He smoked about 20 cigarettes per day. After we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, he cut back to ONE cigarette per day! He is following the Word of Wisdom with all his might, and smoking is no longer a problem for him! Charles is one of my favorite people ever. He always asks Sister Talemwa and I, "Is is too selfish if I ask you to come twice this week?" He is such a cool guy. The coolest part, though, is that he made covenants with his Heavenly Father this week. Charles has entered into the path of eternal life!

Prayers - This week we had a lot of fall through appointments. These are normal in missionary life, but Sister Talemwa and I were a little bummed about it. We turned to prayer and were comforted. Heavenly Father asks all of us to be patient in all things. I find patience a lot easier when I use prayer ALL DAY! 

Pig Feet - Yesterday, the Branch President's wife (Sister Kwenda) made us pig trotters! It was actually surprisingly really good. I would eat it again for sure haha. I tried my hardest to just not think about what I was eating haha. They really don't waste any part of the animal here! I have now eaten intestines and hooves! What a powerful country!

I am starting the Book of Mormon over again, and I am so excited about it. I read it during my first month here, and then I read Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Now I read Jesus the Christ in the morning (best book ever holy cow) and the Book of Mormon at night. I could not live without my scriptures wowowow. 

I hope you all have a great week! I love you and keep you in my prayers. Don't forget to pray! 

Love, Sister Lewis

P.S. Gweru is getting SO beautiful! These trees with the red flowers on them are everywhere!

 

 

 

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11/14/16
 

THE RAINS CAME TUMBLING DOWN! It finally rained in Zim for REAL! The sky was dumping buckets of water on Friday! We didn't even get to leave the house at all because it was raining ALL DAY! That won't usually happen, though. We definitely get to proselyte during the rainy season, but Friday was just not safe. AFRICAN LIGHTENING AND THUNDER IS SUPER SCARY AND SUPER COOL! I was telling my trainer Sister Talemwa how much I loved the thunder and lightening that was happening, and she was like, "Companion, African lightening is scary! People die! So don't go outside, okay?!" And I was like, "Oh, shoot. Yeah. I'll stay in and watch!"

Another beautiful week in Zimbabwe! This week was kind of crazy, but it was fun! 

Monday - Just a P-Day like usual! We got to go to a member's house for Family Home Evening again, but I didn't get thrown up on this time 😋

Tuesday- Zone Meeting! It was so nice to see all of the elders in our zone! We only get to see the ones that live far about once a month, so it was cool to see them all again. I got to see Elder Barrus (missionary from my hometown), since he is in my zone, and we had fun talking about Viewmont and people from back home. It is so fun just to all get together and talk about how we can all help each other and our investigators.

Wednesday - Normal proselyting day! We had some cool lessons, but nothing crazy happened haha. 

Thursday - Exchanges! Sister Nafula and Sister Ngwenya came and did exchanges with Sister Talemwa and I! I got to work with Sister Ngwenya on Thursday. She is a powerful missionary! I learned a lot from her and had a really fun time walking around with her. It was cool because it was the first time I was like the senior companion in my area! I DIDN'T EVEN GET LOST! It was a miracle.

Friday - Like I said before, the rains kept us inside. I was super bummed because Sister Nafula was supposed to be my companion for the day on Friday and she is one of my favorite people! She is from Uganda like my companion, and she is so hilarious. We studied all day and had some REALLY COOL gospel discussions! It was powerful. 

Saturday - Normal proselyting day! I had missed my companion! It was so nice to teach with Sister Talemwa once more!

Sunday - Church! Sundays are always our busiest days. We leave the house at 8 a.m. to make it to church, and then after church we proselyte all day until like 6. Yesterday, we had dinner with a family in our ward, so the zone leaders came and picked us up from our area at like 8! We were in our area ALL DAY LONG! We were so tired! 

So pretty much everyone and their dog is asking me if I knew Donald Trump was voted President. I didn't actually find out for myself until yesterday. I had no idea! Everyone has an opinion about that guy haha. It is funny, though, because no one in Zim knows the actual political stances of Trump and Clinton, they just don't like Trump because they say he is racist. Either way, I don't really care about all of that because I am in Zimbabwe preaching the gospel! I have heard that there have been some riots, though, so I hope you guys all stay safe there in America! I am blessed to be on the other side of the world right now haha. 

I love you all! I hope you have an incredible week! Don't forget to read your scriptures and say your prayers! Toonana! (See you!)

Sister Lewis