Letters from Canada: Transfer 11... Here we go!

Bonjour!

We received the letters of transfers yesterday! It's crazy. Sister Olson has been by far my longest companion (3 transfers). She's being released as sister training leader and will be going to Sydney (Cape Breton). My new companion (as of this Thursday) will be Sister Coleman, who's been out for 9 or 10 months. She's French-speaking and from BC. We'll be co-STLs together here in Dieppe. By the end of our transfer together in Dieppe, I'll have been in the Moncton ward for a total of almost 11 months.... Crazy. Not complaining.

Elder Widdup (district leader) got called to be a zone leader in Cole Harbour. Elder Roberts is going home. We have some great new missionaries coming in, it should be an exciting transfer.

We had another week full of knocking. We had Mission Leadership Council on Tuesday and spent Friday in Tracadie working with the Bathurst sisters (Sisters Coleman and Vera) and Elders Nzojibwami and Waldie. It's a completely French area, so it was a great immersion experience.

Yesterday the missionaries were in charge of the third hour at church!!! One of the most exciting things for missionaries. We showed the ward mormon.org and taught them of the importance of creating profiles on it and sharing the gospel with their friends. It was really inspiring, at least for the missionaries:)

So my thoughts today are all centered on member-missionary work.

One of my favourite talks was quoted in the June Ensign. It's by Elder Bednar. He says:

"We properly pray for the safety and success of the full-time missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request that the missionaries will be led to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach. Missionaries are full-time teachers; you and I are full-time finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the full-time missionaries to do our work!"

Now, basically all I've been doing for the last several weeks is knocking on doors and street contacting (which I actually enjoy a lot of the time) and hardly any teaching. And that's fine because that's the most I can be doing with my time right now (even if it is 32 degrees when we do it!:)).

My favourite part about being a missionary, though, isn't the act of knocking on doors or walking down the street, but it's the joy I get from inviting people to learn about the Saviour.

Before my mission, I was a good little Mormon girl. Except I basically NEVER shared the gospel with anyone! So I wasn't letting my light shine, which means I wasn't fulfilling my basic responsibilities as a full-time finder.

I wish that someone had told me what my responsibilities were back then. I wish I could've felt this great joy for the 19 years before my mission, instead of having to wait until now to know what my job was.

The fact is exactly what Elder Bednar said: YOU are full-time finders. YOU are responsible for securing the blessings for yourselves that come from sharing the gospel. YOUR responsibility is to find those who are prepared for baptism. YOUR responsibility is to invite others to come unto Christ, as much as it is mine. Members do that through finding, missionaries do that through teaching.

President Monson said (and I've heard this so many times I have it completely memorized), "NOW is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labour in the Lord's vineyard to bring souls unto Him."

Now is that time!! It's happening! There are almost 90,000 missionaries in the world right now! Today there are more missionaries out than there ever have been! And we're completely at the disposal to the 15 million members worldwide. We want to teach the people YOU find so YOU can feel what we've been feeling our whole missions. I don't want it so I don't have to knock on doors anymore, so I don't have to pass out in the middle of the street it's so hot (seriously guys, I thought I was gonna DIE hahaha). I want it so YOU can be more converted, so YOU can feel the way I've had the privilege and honour of feeling for the last 14 months.

I know that this is Christ's Church. It is His. We are in the tiny minority of all the children of God who were blessed enough to be reminded of His truth early on. It's our responsibility, but more than that--our blessing--to bring this to His other children.

"And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.

"And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.

"And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

"Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many."

This scripture doesn't have to be about full-time missionaries. It can be about YOU. I feel honoured that this scripture describes the work I'M doing. Does it describe you?

End overly-passionate e-mail about my favourite thing in the world:)

LOVE,

Sister Lewis