FOLLOWING THE RULES
I'm sad to say that I am done responding to messages on both email and messenger on days that aren't my P-day, which is on Wednesday for me while I am in the MTC. I have been doing a ton of pondering on what type of missionary I want to be, and the answer to that is an obedient one. I don't care what other missionaries do, or how they act, so I’m not going to be trying to control others. I will work in silence. But for me personally, I know that I need all the help I can get from the spirit, and he is more likely to help me if I am following the rules that have been provided. Along with this, I have been making sure that I wake up at 6:30 every day. At a devotional, the speaker said that we have a schedule for a reason. We don't get up at 6:32. We don't get up at 6:31. We get up at 6:30, and I realized that I needed to adhere to those words. It has been the best thing. First of all, I get the first shower every day. Second, I get about 30 minutes every morning to read my scriptures before breakfast, and it gets me thinking about a different spiritual thought every morning.
ALMA IS MY FAVORITE
I have a goal to read the Book of Mormon again by the end of the MTC. I am currently at the end of Alma. When I first read it, my favorite was Moroni because I thought that he seemed super strong and powerful and confident. But reading it now, I might be changing my answer to Alma the younger. He is such a humble person who gives all glory to God, and sticks up for everyone, and for what he believes in. His mentality is super admirable.
HELPING KURI
I'm going to be honest right now. Working with Elder Kuri has not gotten better, and I have not been the person I should be. I haven't been going out of my way to talk to him, or trying to help him learn. Don't get me wrong, I know that what I was doing was not right, but it is so difficult. I still pray for him every day, and put his name in the prayer box at the temple, but that's been the extent of my efforts. Until... I was sitting in class, and Kuri was struggling to answer a simple question that the teacher asked, and a thought popped in my head. This thought was as if someone was talking to me. It wasn't me saying, "I need to," it was "you need to do language lessons with Elder Kuri at night." So, that's what I've started to do. I'm going all the way back to the basics. And it's hard to teach, especially since I barely know the language, but it feels so good to help him, see him succeed, and become closer to him.
HELPING CRIDER/LANGUAGE
Remember when I said this language was weird? Let me give you another example. The number system is Cebuano numbers for 1-10, and then after that it's all spanish numbers from 11-99. And then… it switches back to Cebuano numbers! I am just so happy that I knew Spanish numbers already before coming here. Having said all that, I am picking it up super well. Both of my language teachers have told me separately that they think I am really strong in the language, and that they trust me to help the others in my district. So that is super motivating. This one elder, Elder Crider, asked me what I was doing to learn the language so well. I told him that it sounds crazy, but I am not spending a ton of time studying the language. I am reading my scriptures, listening to talks, and if I feel that I need to study the language, then I do. I told him that he needs to make sure that he is keeping spiritually strong, and in doing so he will have the spirit with him to help him in the language. Fast forward a bit, he did super well in the next class, and afterward said, "I need to give you a hug Elder Lewis." He said that he had only read three chapters of the scriptures, but that it helped him have success. I practiced the character of Alma and told him all glory to God.
GYM
Simple. I miss the gym. I miss driving there every night, and the atmosphere of a commercial gym.
FISH
If you know me, you know that I am not picky when it comes to food, until it's seafood. I hate seafood. One day I was so hungry. I walked into the cafeteria, and we were having tilapia for dinner. I was so mad, and I made that known to probably everyone in the cafeteria. BUT, I got a plate with some chile lime soy sauce, and with a bowl of frosted flakes on standby, and I tried it. I ended up eating the whole thing and ended up going up and asking for two more fish. You can see a picture of it in my photo album.
TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE
This one elder asked me what the best life advice I could give someone is. I told him to see people as daughters and sons of God. This is something that I have been working on for a while now, and I think about it a lot. I find myself looking at people and thinking that they are weird, or annoying, or irritating, but then I have to remind myself that they are a child of God, and as such were created in his image. This has greatly influenced my mindset. It makes it so much easier to forgive people, and love everyone when I think that they have a divine purpose, and are simply, a daughter or son of God. Being in the MTC, when I have caught myself doing this, I tell myself that since I judged, now I have to go have a conversation with them. This has been such a great practice. In doing this I have had some conversations with some amazing people, one of them I even got to teach how to shoot a basketball. So, to everyone reading this. See everyone as a daughter or son of God before seeing them as anything else.
PRESIDENT NELSON’S TALKS
I have made a goal to read, listen, or watch every single one of President Nelson's talks. There are 114 of them. I started at the bottom, and I am working my way up, saving each of my favorites. Once I finish all of them, I will tell you guys my thoughts and give you my list of favorites. So far I am really enjoying younger President Nelson. He's insanely smart, and I would give anything to have a conversation with him. The way he carried himself and his confidence is super inspiring.
YELLOW BUTTERFLY
In my family, any time we see a yellow butterfly, we say that it is my grandma. This day, I was deep in thought, struggling a bit just thinking about some thoughts that have been stuck on my mind recently. And as I was thinking about this, a yellow butterfly flew right in front of my face. I tried to follow it to get a picture, and then suddenly it was just gone. I swear it just disappeared out of thin air, but it was just what I needed in that moment. I know that that was her letting me know that she is with me.
Seconds away from being a filipino,
Elder Lewis
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