The family is the pattern of heaven.

And no, I'm not trunky:)

I don't know if I'm just really inefficient at writing e-mails or what, but it usually takes me about 15-20
minutes to write the big letter home. So because my computer crashed for about 15 minutes last week and I didn't get to write the main letter, I've got a couple weeks to catch up on.

First of all.... Happy birthday to extended family and my [BABY?!] sister?!?! Who's 6, what the heck! And I feel blessed to be celebrating my other little sister's baptism this weekend with one of our own, about 5 hours apart.

On the 26th, we had a giant snow storm that was the worst Moncton's had in years, apparently. It was horrible! And because we had Sisters Broadhead and Starkie staying with us through it, we went on a life-threatening journey to Sobey's to buy supplies for cookies, which we made in the apartment after knocking the building and inviting everyone to a concert we threw for them later that evening, with fresh cookies as refreshments! It was fun, we just threw together a bunch of piano and vocal pieces. The last song was "Souviens-toi," a French hymn which Sister Olson accompanied. There was an Acadian woman who came and cried through it because it reminded her of the lullabies her mother used to sing to her. Neat experience!

Last week, on Tuesday-Wednesday, we had Mission Leadership Council in Halifax.... And getting there alive was a serious miracle. It was horrible weather and if we hadn't all been fasting, I don't know what would have happened. There was one point where we and the elders completely lost control of our cars and were seriously miraculously safe through it. The Leadership Council was a completely humbling experience, as President Leavitt is going through a big personal challenge right now and was still working hard as ever through it. The STLs and ZLs all received a lot of training and inspiration to become better leaders.

Simone*'s baptism is this weekend. It has been stunning to see her growth and progression and change. We're excited for her to make such a special promise with Heavenly Father. The missionaries in Moncton are fasting tomorrow that her baptism, and Phil*'s (another investigator), will go through. We'll be making phone calls to invite the ward to do the same.

General Conference was uplifting and needed, like it always is. I love watching my questions get answered and the questions of our investigators too. Heavenly Father knows His children. I loved the overall theme of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, even when it's hard. One of my favourite talks was by Elder Corbridge, who said that family is the pattern of heaven. And I'm a missionary right now, and that's what I've chosen to devote my life to for the next little while. But what he said reminded me of my testimony of family. I know that the family is ordained of God. I know that this world is patterned after the old one, where family was central to God's plan still. I'm grateful for familial support and for the blessings that living our faith brings to our families. My family means everything to me, and I'm grateful that I get to live with them forever--and that family is the pattern of heaven, and not anything else.

Love you all! Soak up some vitamin D for me.

Sister Lewis

The kitchen when you first walk in the door to the right.

bedroom

living room/dining room

Saying goodbye to Elder Thunot, who went home last week  :(

What our district meetings are like...  I actually took this picture because we needed what was on the board.  But this just about describes all our meetings.

At game night we were playing Jenga...  When Sister Olson found THIS gem!

One of my friends in the Moncton Ward

Elder Widdup and I traded glasses between sessions of conference.