A Great Time (MTC Week Three)

Kumusta mga taong ko!

This week has been pretty great. I'm still excelling at the language and loving my time in the MTC! Elder Ossola and I taught a killer lesson the other day, we planned on teaching about the Atonement and then we had to give a lesson on the restoration. We hadn't quite prepared for it but through the power of the Holy Ghost we were able to deliver the correct message. Elder Ossola gave the whole first vision in Tagalog and he had never really looked over it. The spirit was so powerful! We had a member of the seventy come and speak to us on being better companions and I feel like I was able to learn a lot from it. On Sunday Loyd Newell from music and the spoken word came and gave a devotional and we sang with him, it was awesome! The choir sang How Firm a Foundation and the spirit that was present was absolutely amazing!

Also this week I got a some bean and cheese dip and we didn't have a microwave to heat them up, so we took the clothes iron and used that to heat it up. It totally worked and tasted great! I'll include a picture with this email. I also made a rubber band ball, its pretty awesome!

Elder Lewis

A Great Time (MTC Week Three) - pictures

Me cooking with Elder Ossola

Us just chillin'

The rubber band ball I made

My new Laoag shirt

MTC Week 3 pictures

District picture

Dylan and Elder Earnest #swag

What we do when we are bored - both of us

What we do when we are bored - yours truly

Loving the work!

Kumusta!

This has been a truly great week. Elder Ossola and I taught our two new "investigators" Marlan and Chloe. The lessons went as expected and so far our investigators our keeping their commitments. Every time we teach the spirit is with us. When we bear our testimonies to them in Tagalog I end up saying words that I had forgotten or did.t even know, I can form perfect sentences and truly teach by the spirit. Reading in Tagalog is becoming easier and easier as well as speaking it. There are times when I don't even remember English words and I just say the Tagalog words instead.

We got two new districts this week as well as sent two district out to the field. The new missionaries are pretty cool, so far the have taken the culture shock of the MTC well. The MTC is a pretty great place. The spirit here helps with everything. From times of missing home to teaching and learning. Being here is such a blessing and as much as i want to just be in the field already I know that I need to finish here first.

We had an awesome devotional tonight and since my district is in choir we had awesome seats to watch the devotional and had the opportunity to sing to Sister Wixom of the primary presidency up at church headquarters. As a closing Hymn we sang the primary song Army of Helaman ( not sure if that is the actual name but it's something like that). As we sang the spirit was absolutely over whelming. It was amazing!

Well thats about it for this week, talk to you all later!

Kitakits,

Elder Lewis

MTC Week two - Kumusta!

Kumusta! This last week has been super busy. We did two service projects in the MTC and had some pretty amazing experiences. We finished teaching Jodi and now she is one of our teachers, and our old teacher Brother Broadhead is our new investigator. His name is Marlon Delacruz and he is also our teacher while he is our investigator, its kinda weird.

When we taught Jodi it was amazing. The spirit really guided us through the lessons and we got her to read the Aklat ni Mormon, to pray everyday, to come to church, and we committed her to being baptized. Even though it was fake, it felt real and the feelings from the Holy Ghost were real. The spirit when we teach is almost if not more powerful than that of the temple.

The gift of tongues is a legitimate thing. I'm learning the language at such an incredible rate. All my prayers are in Tagalog, and most of the time when i speak i say Tagalog words. 

My district is super cool. There are two Sisters and eight Elders. We are all learning at a very quick rate and might end up passing the missionaries that have been here longer than us. An average day consists of about seven and a half hours in the classroom. That is more time I spend in my room.

The MTC is becoming my home the more time I'm here but I really want to just get to The Philippines so I can teach actual investigators.

On Sundays we watch a video of a devotional talk which is pretty awesome. On Tuesdays we get someone that comes into the MTC to give us a devotional. Me and my district are in the choir here so we get really good seats for the devotionals. Just last Tuesday we had Bishop Gerald Causse come to talk to us. He and his wife talked to us about how we are going to be heroes by teaching families the gospel.

This is my testimony in Tagalog

Alam ko po na totoo and simbahan. Alam ko po na mapagmahal po ang Ating Ama sa Langit dahil ibinagay po Niya only begotten son. Alam ko po na kinakailangan po ang tagapagligtas at tagapagligtas po si Jesucristo. Alam ko po na upang maramdaman and pagmamahal ng Diyos magdasal, magbasa and Aklat ni Mormon po tayo. Alam ko po na magiging masaya po tayo kung magsisimba. Alma ko po na totoo kaloob ng mga wika. Sa pangalan ni Jesucristo. Amen.

Mahal ko kayo!

Elder Lewis

​Elder Earnest, Elder Jones, me and Elder Ossola

More pictures from the MTC

A package from Lisa at the mailroom, she went to Loaog and we talked to her about it so she gave us cookies

All the missionaries going to temple walk

Dylan and Elder Jones after one week of lifting weights

Dylan and Elder Jones

Dylan and Elder Ossola with Sister Marcucci (Jodi)

Elder Tafuna after he shot the exit sign with a makeshift sling shot and bouncy ball

Provo temple grounds

Temple trip

Temple trip

This is how we study - Elder Limb and Elder Jones

This is how we study - Dylan and Elder Jones

Dylan's room and his mates

Dylan and his district

MTC Week two - Dylan and his district. His room and his mates.

Week one

Everyone,

I have been crazy busy. My first day here I dropped my stuff of at my residence and then went straight to class. We have had two workshops where we learned a lot about teaching and understanding investigators and people. My companion is Elder Ossola, and me and him both share our residence with Elder Jones and Elder Earnest. All of us are going to Loaog.  Me and my companion both taught our first investigator in only Tagalog. 

The teacher we have is pretty awesome and he only speaks to us in Tagalog. He is a huge help in learning the language. Tagalog is really fun to speak I can't wait to be able to be really good at the language.

Time in the MTC is weird, its only day four but it feels like I have been here for weeks. The spirit is really strong here, you can see it in everyone's eyes. The other missionaries always are checking on the new missionaries to make sure that they are doing well. Our first investigator is named Jodi Marcucci and she only speaks Tagalog which makes teaching a really humbling experience. We plan our lesson the we really have to rely on the spirit to help us teach. Oh and I learned how to pray in Tagalog so all my prayers are in Tagalog. As hard as it has been so far it has definitely been worth it. I can feel the support and prayers from everyone!

Thank you and love you all!

P.S. I have taken pictures but can't get them to upload, so I will be sending them next week.

Where in the world...

May 9, 2015

Dylan opens his mission call.