Logan's first Handwritten letter home (still week 3 in the MTC)

September 24, 2010

Dear Mom & Family,

Thank you so much for consistently sending me letters and taking time out of your day to forward all the info about what is going on. Also, thanks for saving my e-mails, I think it will be fun to look back on these sometime. I’m sorry they’re short. I literally sign on and try to type as much as I can straight for the 30 minutes. Last time I was lucky since I finished with about 20 seconds left and pressed “send”, which is usually instantaneous but for some reason it was taking awhile and then it just kicked me off without sending it!! Luckily a missionary near me said he still had a minute left and let me sign on using his time and I got to send the last saved “Draft”, but unfortunately not the whole letter, so I don’t even know what all you got! Pretty frustrating! I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to read e-mails, I guess I’m just too slowL. It’s pretty hard thinking back over everything that happened over the last week, which is a lot, since every minute is schedules from 6:30-9:30, 16 hours every day! I try to give you a feel for how I’m doing personally, what I’m learning, Spiritual experiences, etc. but it’s a lot to fit in.

Anyway, yes I did hear about the choir and I signed up for it literally an hour after I showed up at the MTC. Luckily they accepted me since a lot of people filled out the form and a bunch didn’t get in. I didn’t realize we were singing at General Conference though until I got the acceptance letter. We’ve had practice at 6:30 A.M. the last two days and it’s so awesome to be in a choir again with a real choir director who’s a professional J Unfortunately I’ve had a sore throat the last two days in spite of getting 8 hrs. of sleep, and trying to stay healthy, I’m getting worse! Keep me in your prayers, It would be so sad if they didn’t let me go to General Conference because I as sickL

Also, I still haven’t received anything from LaDawn’s or Whitney, like my winter clothes. Whit, Aaron, Verlan & Katherine wrote me letters, (THANKS) but I still haven’t heard back form Aaron or Whit. Maybe they e-mailed me but I didn’t even get to look at my inbox. So if you could try to make sure I get my stuff. I really could use more normal T-shirts, I don’t like just wearing those plain white Tees over my garments when we’re in our P.J. or for gym, and I only have 3 shirts which get gross if I ever go running, or get all sandy (volleyball PDay). Also I really need my other suit. Aaron’s advice about wearing slacks way more than suits is probably true, especially in the field, but here we wear suits all of Sunday, for Tuesday Devotionals, temple session/walks, Firesides, Zone/District Conferences. Etc. My suit is taking a lot of wear & tear since I can’t ever give it a rest or wear another one. It’s also getting colder here already so at least before the end of October I’d really like to get my Sunday Sweater, gloves, beanie, etc.

Well thanks again for all you guys do for me, forwarding my glasses, the Memory card. Etc. I really am so lucky, no, blessed, to have been born in our family. Being surrounded by such a variety of members I’ve found even among the Mormon society we’re pretty rare. Thank you, thank you, so much for helping me prepare for this mission, financially, physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. It has been such a blessing and made the transition so smooth, I feel bad for all the elders who are struggling.

I’d love to get Parker’s letters and get Robert’s address if you could. It’s been great to see Ben (Elder Carlisle) at all our meals since we’re on the same meal schedule. I’ve loved seeing so many of my friends and already witnessing the maturity and changes in them, preparing them to better fulfill their purpose as missionaries. The Lord qualifies those he calls. That gives me a lot of hope for myself.

The MTC is great, it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity, no other like it. I Love you all! Can’t wait to get your next letterJ

Love, Elder Lewis

Week 3

9-27-10

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry lasts week letter ended in the middle of a sentence. I tried to send my finished letter, but for some reason my computer was being weird and wouldn't send it, and then it kicked me off. Luckily another elder next to me had extra time( how I don't know), so I logged on my account through his time and found the letter hadn't sent, so I had to just send the last saved draft, which I don't even know where that ended so sorry about that! Hopefully you already knew all that since I sent you a letter a couple days ago, hand-written, to try to explain everything, hope you got it!

So this week has been pretty eventful for me. One of my highlights was my opportunity to have my teacher interviews, as Dad probably knows from all our monthly interviews, I love getting to talk on and on and on and then I'd force him to sign all my Duty to God requirements even though he'd fallen asleep during our interviews! Hunter I hope you're doing your Duty to God, it really does prepare you really well for not just the mission, but life in general. Anyway, I loved getting to know my teachers a little bit better on a one to one basis, and then just discuss my goals, my Spanish, how I'm coming along, my companionship etc. Both of them are really awesome, especially Hno. Jensen since we're his first class he just shows such a love for all of us, he's so great, and so is Hno. Edwards! This week we learned a bunch of stuff, and it's hard since we've gotten past what I learned in my two years of high school so it's all new for me. Learning how to use por and para more properly has been nice since I use it so much and I never really knew the difference, now I wish English had a way to differentiate between our use of them since we just use "for" and it can mean so many different things, depending on the context. It's so awesome learning about Spanish, not only am I learning more about another language, but I think languages themselves are fascinating and I get to learn a lot about why we speak in English certain ways. It reminds me JRR Tolkien, since he was so smart he learned tons of languages, and even made up several for his books! Spanish really is a beautiful language and I can't wait to get in the field so I can inly use it. It's sometimes difficult to follow our H.S.E. policy of speaking our mission language when it's so much faster and more convenient to use Spanish, like right now! I could be trying to rearrange my sentences so I could use my limited vocabulary, but it would just take me the whole 30 mins to write one paragraph! It's coming along slowly but surely and I know I can receive the ability to speak it if I put all my effort into it=)

Another highlight of my week is our mission president letters. Again I love just discussing what I'm learning, how I'm doing, etc. It's great time for introspective thought and just a way to realize everything I've learned. Kinda like saying a prayer. God already knows our thoughts/needs.concerns, but prayers are ways we can figure out what we really need, realize all we have to be grateful for, and just an opportunity to come closer to our Heavenly Father. Prayer also is an awesome way to bring the spirit, that and singing or bearing your testimony, definitely great things we do a million times a day here! I love it! I also really enjoy comp study time (well also personal and Language, but companionship is more relevant right now), because it's such a good opportunity to strengthen our relationship and teaching ability. We've definitely found out that when we go into a lesson not on the same page, then it totally falls apart. Even if we don't completely agree with the other person, we have to compromise because if we can't support each other then we both just fall. It's been a good learning experience so in our hour each day we've been focusing on working on our lesson plans, and then picking an attribute of Christ from Ch.6 in PMG and then discussing it and writing out our thoughts. Not only does it help us learn how to be better companions for each other, but also how to help everyone. it is one of my favorite chapters...well actually they're all so amazing I don't think I could pick one since I just thought of several others that are also equally helpful and awesome! I'd highly recommend going through it and getting familiar with it. Some really great stuff=)

Along with my companion and I learning, we found out all this stuff from the TRC and TE (Teaching Resource Center, Teacher Evaluation). It's hard, but really beneficial when every Saturday we have to go practice our Spanish by contacting/knocking door to door, and then teaching a whole lesson. It really shows us what the mission field is like, and how far we have to come!

For everyone else that might be reading this, just to let you know, thank you so so much for all of your letters! I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to a lot of you. last Monday I got a ton right before e-mail and then dinner so I didn't get a chance to write anyone back, but I tried doing better today. Unfortunately I didn't spend that much of my free time writing like normally since I tried to get some sleep. I've gotten pretty sick this last week, which is really unfortunate and horrible timing=( I have a sore throat, congestion, head aches, etc.. The good news of this all is that I'm in the MTC choir so I get the wonderful opportunity to sing at the Priesthood Session of General Conference, the bad news is that my throat is horrible and I can't sing! I've actually been really blessed in that even though my throat hurts all day and I'm always coughing up a lung, every morning for practice I've been able to sing fine (just not my full range which isn't a problem since I'm a 2nd tenor) so I've been really blessed there, I just want to be better by Saturday so I've been doing everything I can to try and get over this as soon as possible.

Oh yea, yesterday was fast Sunday which was a neat experience getting to hear everyone's testimony's in Sacrament Meeting, and I understood them all even though they were in Spanish! Now I just need to be able to remember how to say it when I'm the one speaking=) I hope all of you had a great week. I can't wait to hear from you all! I love and miss you, but this is definitely where I'm supposed to be right now, and having that assurance is such a blessing. The gospel is such a blessing in my life, I can't wait to go and share it with those people in New York waiting for me=)

Hopefully LaDawn or Whit or someone can get me my stuff soon. Can't wait to get my first package!

Love,

Elder Lewis

Week 2 - still loving the MTC

9-20-10

Dear family and friends,

Thank you so much for all of your warm heart-felt letters. It is such a wonderful opportunity to learn as I read all your great advice and encouraging words. Thank you thank you!

This week has been really, really good and I'm just loving the MTC more and more! Now that we're really getting into a rhythm of how things work, where we're supposed to be, how to prepare for it. Also our zone/district/companionship are all just getting that much closer, it really brings the spirit into all of our meetings. That's what is so cool about this place, no matter where I go or what part of the day it is, I can always feel the comforter and his influence on all of us. So on Tuesday we had the opportunity to hear from H. Bryan Richards, a member of the 2nd quorum of the 70, or at least he was. He gave a simple but great talk, and every time I hear from one of our leaders I get so much out of them! A reoccurring theme I'm sensing is the importance of obedience. Afterward our District had a meeting, and it was a great opportunity to review what we learned and a chance to bear our testimonies. That's also what I love about being here, there are never a lack of opportunities to practice bearing your testimony, whether in English or Spanish=) We spend about half our class time focusing on Spanish, and then the other half on learning how to be a missionary. We also get lots of study time; companion, personal, and language. I'm trying really hard to develop my Spanish enough that I can incorporate it into my religious study time, and that is a challenge, but really good. I loved how my teacher Hno. Jensen put it: "Spanish becomes your spiritual language. When you get home you'll do all your worldly activities in English, but when you pray, read scripture, or bear testimony, all of those you can do in Spanish and appreciate the beauty of that language. It remains pure and holy to you." How true that is! I love getting to have sacrament meeting in Spanish, hearing the sacrament prayers in Spanish helps me to refocus on the meaning of the words, and what we promise and the blessings we are promised when we partake of the bread and drink the water. How lucky are we to get to do that every week!

Today I also had the chance to attend the temple, my 3rd time, and it just gets better every time! My companion and I heard you could go get breakfast there and that we should try it someday, so we went there before our endowment session time, but apparently the cafeteria is closed on Mondays, which is sad since that means we'll never get to go, but it was a good opportunity to walk around the temple grounds, which are still beautiful with all the flowers in bloom, and once again appreciate our amazing Earth. I truly love mornings, everything seems so clean and fresh, like after it’s been raining. Another great thing about being a missionary; you get to enjoy each and every morning, every sunrise, every sunset=) On Sat we had the chance to go to the TRC where we practiced contacting people in Spanish, getting to know them, sharing a short message and scheduling an app. Afterward we then taught the First Lesson, but in English, so basically it was the best thing ever! I love practicing my Spanish, especially on native speakers since I really have to pay attention to their every word to understand them, and then teaching the gospel, nothing compares! You feel so full of energy afterward, and during! When you know it's true, I just want them to have it too! The message of the restoration is so great, what a blessing to live at this time. How did we get so blessed?! I also love talking about our Heavenly Father and his love for us. No matter who they are, or what their religious views are, getting to share a testimony of God and how they are his children and he wants to have a relationship with them is so spiritual. I can't even emphasize enough how much I've been told, that I can't do anything as a missionary without the spirit, and how true that is!! Being open to the influence of the spirit is so awesome, knowing you are a tool in his hands. I can't wait to get out in the mission field and teach real people that need the gospel, but I have to learn how first! A district from my zone leaves this week, and a bunch of my friends. It’s fun to get to talk to them and hear how excited they are to teach. A lot of them didn't get visas and are going to Ogden, or other places in Utah, but I love that they all still have positive attitudes and know that the Lord has prepared children even in those places for those missionaries.

Anyway, I love the MTC, getting to play Volleyball, running, etc. is fun, during Gym, and we also get to have one morning a week where we do service by cleaning our building. It was really cool how our person gave us a lesson on how important cleanliness is, especially once we are out in the field. All of our study time happens in our apartments, and we have to have the spirit with us if we want to make those times effective, but if our apartments aren't clean, how can the spirit reside there? I'd never thought of it that way, I love being clean anyway, but it was just another reason!!

Also, yesterday, the Sabbath, is awesome because we get to go to the temple to just go on a walk around it and enjoy the spirit there, and also we have another speaker come. Yesterday we had Bro. Brown and he gave a great talk on being a 100 watt missionary, putting all of our effort into it and not holding back anything. The one thing we never want to happen is come home with regrets, knowing we could have done more. He gave some great advice about learning from your companion, and just how to live up to your full potential. We have so much potential, if we could just utilize all the gifts God has given us, we don't want to be the unthankful or slothful servant!

Well I only have a minute left, so I'll just end with the classic but true: The Church is True!!! We may have a testimony of that, but unless we act on the knowledge we have, it is useless to us. Don't be af

(and that's where it cut off. I guess he ran out of time)

Week 1

Hey everyone,

So this week has gone by in somewhat of a blur. My first day I got to see Whitney and Aaron who met me at the entrance to the MTC, and there said goodbye to them, and Brenly's cute family. Thank you Burton's for being so kind and taking me to the MTC! After farewells at the curb and a few quick pictures, Elder Alston (my BYU roommate) was my host who took me around to get my picture taken, get my key etc.. it was pretty hectic and very hot in my suit, but eventually I got to my classroom where I met my district! We're District D in the 17th Branch/zone. Most zones get a new district every other week. but our zone got a district the week before, and 3 the week I got there, so we have 6! It's fun though having so many people to meet, and with our group our zone got hermanas for the first time all summer. In my district my companion is going to San Jose, along with 2 others who are in a trio with an elder going to my mission (go figure), and then 2 elders going to Guatemala. Our hermanas are going to Tuscon, San Jose, Espana, and my mission, the best of all, New York New York South!

My companions name is Elder Russell, he's from Dallas,TX and he lived in Wyview the last two years. He's turning 21 in 4 days, but we still get along really well even though he's almost 2 years older than me. It's good for me to learn ro calm down and not rush everywhere because he likes to take his time and is pretty relaxed. We are in a room with 2 elders that have already been here 4 weeks and are going to Mexico, so it's really good for us to practice our Spanish with them all the time.

The schedule here is super organized and we have to plan every waking moment of our day, but I like that since I hate being disorganized and not knowing what I'm doing. I got called as the senior companion so I get to head our daily planning sessions each night, and in 4 weeks we'll switch places and I'll be the junior comp=) Our teachers are Hno. Edwards and Jensen and I liek them a lot! I've always loved Spanish, espescially when we had foreign exchange students from Bolivia, Argentina etc. so It's super fun to get to practice/learn it all day long!

During Gym I usually play volleyball, which I love, it's fun to play sand volleyball since I've never played it that much and the sand brings a whole new aspect to it, but we aren't allowed to keep score or anything so it really is all just fun! It's difficult when playing sports to call everyone Elder___ or something since we hardly know anyones first names and we aren't supposed to have nicknames or just call them by their last name. The position of a missionary, the responsibility, the blessing and power that we are given when we are set apart is so real that I totally understand why they'd want to retain the dignity and importance of our positions.

I love being surrounded by such outstanding people everywhere I go. Everyone is super polite, friendly, etc. which is probably good since we're all going on missions, but it's still nice to enjoy being in a mini zion. One heart and one mind. It's great how everyone helps each other out and tries to always be focused on our reason we're our here. A big thing at the MTC is learning the "My Purpose" at the beginning of PMG and it's so inspired, I can't believe I didn't seriously start studying it until just a month before I came here!

Today is Preparation Day which means we got to go to the temple, right after breakfast, the sun hadn't come over the mountains yet, but it was shining on a part of Provo Canyon (I think) and it was such a beautiful morning it made the experience all that much better. I've missed Utah, the mountains, and fall is so amazing with the mountain covered in hues of red, orange, etc. I love being here! It's sometimes hard when you're working basically non-stop and never get a break, but it's awesome all the same since the thing we do is what I love, the gospel! I can't wait to got to go out and share it with people. That's something that I've really been taught this week. We've all been called by God, and there are people in our areas that only we can help. It's such an exciting time to finally be here. I've looked forward to this my whole life I can't believe I'm finally 19.

Well time is short so I'll try to wrap up. This last week we had the opportunity to watch/participate in some mock scenarios with investigators and it was so educational to see what it's like and what we can do to be better missionaries. How we can share our important message even with complete strangers. Just getting to know who they are and always during the lesson focusing on them, their needs, what they know etc. It's super good to learn from our mistakes, when I want to just share the first lesson and let them know it's true, God loves them, he wants them to return to him, and he has restored his church to the Earth through the prophet Joseph Smith so we can have all the keys and ordinances to return to him. I can't wait to learn how to say all that in Spanish=) i basically can, but it's just memorized phrases, I don't know that much vocab, and conjugating future, conditional, etc. my class hasn't even covered that yet. I guess it's only been 5 days, but I just want to learn more. We have a lot of personal/companionship study time each day and I want to make that as educational as possible, so we're trying to do all the activities in the chapters, and always practicing Spanish wherever we are. On Sunday we had to prepare a talk in Spanish which was pretty hard because I actually wanted to say things with my words instead of just copying out of the spanish PMG, but it took a long time. Even though I wasn't called, I'll still have a talk on the Atonement all ready when I get to New York=)

Well I love you all. I miss you, but I'm glad that I'm here learning and getting this opportunity to serve. The transition hasn't been hard at all, which is good that I never think much about the outside world. HOpe you are all well. Keep up the good work always being a missionary. The Church is true!!

Love,

Elder Lewis

Farewell friends.

Dear friends and family,

So this is my last day before I leave for the MTC. I guess it's farewell, but at the same time hello since if you're reading this that means you're on my blog and will now have the opportunity to read all my letters I send home over the course of the next two years! The reason I've gone the route of the blog as opposed to the standard just having my mom forward all my letters to a specific mailing list, is for the benefit of all of you who don't know my mom, or are currently busy and haven't asked to be put on the mailing list, but in the future you'll want to know about my life. I know that happened to me when I was at Jacob Lake all summer and didn't hear from tons of my friends because I wasn't on their mailing list! The ones that have blogs though, I could just find it through being their friend on facebook, and it was such a delight to get to read their letters home. Missionaries are so awesome, it's a little daunting knowing I'll be one of them tomorrow and have all those expectations and responsibilities, but hopefully I'll be able to fulfill my role to the best of my ability, and the Lord will help me from there!

In case you are one of my friends from home and aren't sure why I'm writing this farewell message it's because I'm leaving on a mission as representative of Jesus Christ and for his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm serving in the New York New York South Mission, Spanish speaking, and will be engaged in preaching the gospel until the Fall of 2012. Thank you for taking your time to read about my adventures out on Long Island, I hope they can be of some help to you as you continue on your journey we all take called life. If you want to write to me my mailing address for the next two months will be

Elder Logan Malin Lewis
MTC Mailbox # 272
NY-NYCS 1108
2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

and at the beginning of November I will finally leave for New York and then you can write to me at

Elder Logan Malin Lewis

New York New York South Mission

85-69 60th Dr

Elmhurst, NY 11373-5547

United States

Anyway, I can't wait for this opportunity to go serve the Lord, and I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing for these next two years of my life. Until then, God be with you till we meet again!

Sincerely,

Elder Lewis