Today I Rode a Camel

3 June 2013

What a big week!!! I'm talkin' about in Utah! It sounds like a ton has been happening! So congrats on the trillions of friends leaving on missions soon... Guys, this is crazy. Church is true!!!

Birthdays! Mommy, Nellie... Gosh, I'm failing. I promise I'm better at birthdays than I make it sound like. But HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMACITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you, old lady:') And Nellie Coleman!!! Someone get Danielle Seegrist to write me! Freak!

Yes, the camera came! Last Tuesday! And apparently I have a bunch of letters waiting for me at the mission office that I'll get Wednesday or Thursday... OUIIIII!:)

Oh by the way, I didn't ride a camel today, I just couldn't come up with something interesting to say, so I went with that. Sorry to anyone I may have offended.

Quotesof the week:

1. Elder Waldie--on the phone with us this morning as we asked him and Elder Woodbury (who replaced Elder Nzojibwami) if they wanted us to pick up Subway for them on our way to meet them at the church. Elder Waldie was uncomfortable with us paying, and said, "How would we pay you back?" We answered, "Well, if we can use your priesthood [for blessings] whenever we want it..." To which he replied, freaking out: "My priesthood?! Sisters! What! That's priestcraft!"

2. An investigator--over text, as we left her lesson on the law of chastity: "I've been chastified!"

This week we had exchanges again, and this time I lead them (WHAT?! YOU'VE BEEN OUT FOR 3 WEEKS AND YOU LEAD EXCHANGES BY YOURSELF?!) in Riverview with Sister Thompson, who's also still in training! So it was a little crazy, a little stressful.

But I committed the Choret* boys to baptism.

By myself.

Kachiiiiiiiiiiing-uh! (Mika voice at the end of that song. Shoot, can't even remember the name

 of the song. This is what missionary work does to youuuuu D:)

So yeah, June 22 and July 13 will be great days for us! And as far as mission goals go, Riverview is smiting down those goals and surpassing them like crazy! Heavenly Father is hastening His work, and is beginning to trust the Moncton ward with His children.

Life is good.

I keep getting a lot of questions about French, so here I go! Everyone listen up.

I've been picking up French like CRAZY. Seriously, it's a miracle how much I've been learning. I am by no means fluent, but I can say way more than I ever thought I'd be able to say. This week, President came to New Brunswick for interviews, and he asked me about my French. I told him how difficult it is to learn it without a French companion and without someone to teach it to me, and he is going to have one of the French Elders call me weekly to have a half-hour conversation with me in French. Kind of intimidating, but I'm glad to be doing it because I have a lot of work to do, and it's hard to do it on my own.

And my understanding of French has been crazy too! I could understand a lot when I left home, but with everyone's weird accents here (Acadian, Chiac, Canadian French), I couldn't understand quite as much. And then BOOM, this last week, I've been suddenly able to understand so much more. It was a huge breakthrough for me. I spend a lot of time speaking French now and am much more confident in it.

Hey, remember how I skipped a year of French? Because the homeschool thing threw everything off?

Yeah, that was the year everyone else learned a ton of verb tenses. And did Sister Lewis learn any of that? Nada. So my biggest problem right now is saying anything that's in a tense other than "Nous te remercions de ton evangile" and "J'ai oublier mes Preach My Gospel". Haha ahhhh it's really confusing and stressful. I need to get a French-English dictionaire aussi.

In the BoM right now, I'm in Alma 32. I just read about the people getting wicked again and praying irreverently at Rameumptom. Alma prays to God because the wickedness of the people sickens him and makes him sad. He says: "Behold, O my God, their costly apparel, and their ringlets, and their bracelets, and their ornaments of gold, and all their precious things which they are ornamented with..." as he describes the wicked people in his prayer. That reminded me of Isaiah 3. Let me quote a few verses from that chapter, but replace a few words with their definition:

Moreover the Lord saith, Because the church is haughty, and walks with stretched forth necks and desperate eyes, walking with short, rapid steps in an affected manner it goes, and making a tinkling with its feet: Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the church, and the Lord will discover its secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their hairnets, and their ornaments shaped like a crescent moon, The chains, and the bracelets, and the veils, The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, The rings, and nose jewels...

Now picture a person like that. Someone with chains about their neck and their wrists and their ankles, walking with their neck stretched forth because they're being dragged by the chain around their neck. This person has desperate eyes. Later in the scripture it says this person has a bald head. This is a slave. And by reading Moses 7:26, we know that this person is a slave to the devil: "And he beheld Satan; and he had a great CHAIN in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced."

Now go study this some more, because with those two references, you can go on studying about Alma for days:)

Okay, that's all for today! I love you all, I LOVE YOUR LETTERS, and I miss everyone like crazy!!!!!

Church is true!!!!!!!!!! Love you!

Sister L

Sister Lewis and Sister Hart

The Calls are serving as senior missionaries in Halifax.  I mentioned to Sister Call that because Amber has lost her mission, we hadn't gotten very many photos.  So the next time she saw Amber, she took this photo to send to me!

Photo Feast (part 2)

We were working on our area map! So tedious.

 I <3 Sister Hart:)

Canada is so beautiful

On our drive to Salisbury

 DON'T I LIVE IN THE BEST PLACE EVER

Sister Hart workin on the map... Isn't she cute?:)

I'm...cool....?

Gangsta comps

 The river in Salisbury (after a lesson with Isabelle.)

 Yeah, I'm artistic, get over it.

Supa cool companions

 .....I'm embarrassed by this one.

Quinn's letters always come with a kiss hahahaha. I love my wife.

More of the river in Salisbury

Photo Feast (part 1)

Francais, puking, the atonement, and ribs

WHAT UP!!!!!

So, awesome week. I'm losing it here and I really can't remember any birthdays other than THE BEST DAD'S EVER!!! So I apologize if I'm forgetting anyone, but hey, I like my daddy better than you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!! You old man:') Wish I was there to make jokes about your white hair, but know I'll be killing myself all day with my hilarious jokes I make up in my head throughout lessons and such. LOVE YOU!

And Elder Savas... Good freakin luck in Korea!!!!! Give Quinn a good hug for me and pretend I'm there in the middle of it.

Quote of the week now. There were two really good ones that I couldn't choose between, so I'll just do both.

1. Elder Nzojibwami--a conversation I had with him in French, after I just told him how hungry I was: "(laughing) Soeur Lewis, tu es un peu bizarre....! Tu auras la chance de manger beaucoup de nourriture chez les Calls'!"

2. Sister Hart--I refuse to give context for this one: "I feel like we should go back to the casino."

Hahahaha my life is great.

This week was a week of a lot of firsts:

1. My first investigator(s) came to church. Isabelle* and the Choret* family. I was so happy.

2. I played the organ in church for the first time. Sigh. And the regular organist is about to move, they better not get any ideas here.

3. I said my first prayer in French. Poor Heavenly Father was probably confused by my weak verb conjugations.

4. I listened to sacrament meeting en français for the first time. I actually understood a lot, so that was a pleasant surprise.

5. I went to St. John for the first time! It is beautiful there, and people there have great teeth, but I was TOO happy to be back in Riverview. Sister Hart said that it was like I was getting out of jail when I came home. "Look at the river! It is so beautiful! Oh my gosh, I missed Riverview soooo much. Oh I love Riverview. Let's baptize that man from Moncton! I love Riverview! I missed you so much, Moncton!"

Okay, a lot of people have been asking about the real status of my French haha... Okay, I'll be honest, I get stage fright whenever someone expects me to respond in French, and since just about everyone here knows English anyway, I always chicken out and respond to their French in English. So that's something I'll need to work on. On the other hand, I've been studying my tail off. Reading the BoM from the beginning in French out loud and referring to the English BoM whenever there's a word I don't know. I made French flash cards, so that's nice. I also prayed in French finally, so I can say a little bit, but the prayers are always really short. On the other hand, it's really, really hard to teach myself French. I don't have a companion to help me with it, and I didn't spend 6-12 weeks in the MTC learning it. I'm relying on a few years of high school French, which is pretty weak. So it's a little discouraging, and I found out I'm seriously the most qualified French-speaking Sister here, which is overwhelming and stressful, but I'm working really hard and hey, at least I can understand it! And now I can pray for help speaking French IN French, so heh heh heh, I'm awesome.

I was so happy when Sunday morning I woke up without a cough or a headache! But Elder Waldie's been really sick, and I guess my weak stomach was around him too much, and both the companionships in Moncton ended up spending all Sunday afternoon and evening in our apartments while Elder and Sister Call ran around bringing us gingerale for medicinal purposes... What sweethearts. We're spoiled. I haven't thrown up yet, but I really hope I can start eating again because sleeping in the apartment for 13 hours instead of getting 6 less active visits in was a blast... Not. Haha.

In Preach My Gospel, we're promised that as our understanding of the Atonement increases, so will our desire to share the gospel. And I guess if you know me really well, I'm almost manipulative when it comes to getting something I want really bad. If I want it badly enough, it'll happen no matter what. And I want to share the gospel and find more investigators, but I think if I had a real, pure desire for it, I would kick into gear and get it done. Obviously, even though I want all these things really badly, I don't want it enough, otherwise I would've found a way by now. So I've been studying the atonement a lot so that as my understanding of it increases, my desire to share the gospel will as well. Doctrine and Covenants 16... Wow. Go read it and when you get to the last verse, read it over again and ponder. That is so powerful. And Doctrine and Covenants 19:16-19? WOW. Christ went through more than any person has ever gone through, and he still gives all glory to God. And in Mark, I was reading about the atonement obviously, and I got to the part where he says, "Abba, Father,..." and I remembered that Elder Holland gave a talk once and he explains that "Abba" is the equivalent of "Daddy" (go look it up in the Bible Dictionary too). How profound is it that through Christ's most difficult hour, he calls on his Father and says, "Daddy, Father." He doesn't have a formal relationship with Heavenly Father: he has a personal, real, deep relationship with Him. I feel like I've worked really hard on my relationship with God for a long time, and I feel like I definitely know Him a little. But I'd like to get to the point where I know He is my Father so perfectly that I could say, "Abba, Father, help me" through the difficult times.

Every Saturday now, we have dinner with the Choret family. Last Saturday was hot wings (that's when I cried from the spice) and this past Saturday was RIBS!!! So delicious. Ryan put out some hot sauce and I was going to town with the tears. But I had to accept every challenge, so I ate through the pain haha! It was really funny actually. One day I will be a man when it comes to spice. This week we're having steak... Bless my soul.

It was a really cool night because the people who were there were Sister Choret (Rachel), Ryan, their sons Lawrence (12) and Benjamin (8), Elder and Sister Call, Elders Nzojibwami and Waldie, and Sister Hart and me. We're working really hard on getting the Spirit into the home whenever we go over. So even though we can't bring up the gospel when we're there (except when Sister Hart and I teach the boys), we've started singing songs at the end of the meal. This time we sang "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and holy cow. The Spirit was sooooo strong. We didn't know it before we started, but it turns out all 6 of us missionaries are musical and singers haha, so it was surprising when we began singing and all these amazing harmonies came out of nowhere... It was incredible. When we finished, there wasn't a way you could deny it. The Spirit was thick. You could feel it. It was amazing.

And some bad news now... Elder Nzojibwami's getting transfered tomorrow morning:,( He's goin' to Bathurst, where he spent the first 6 months of his mission before coming to Dieppe for about 2 months. We're all REALLY sad (and I don't know how my French will react to this--he's the one who answered all my French quesions and translated Sacrament meeting!), so all the young missionaries from the district are together today--the Elders from Amherst came over and we're going to spend the day together. It's kind of a bummer because Elder Waldie, Elder Nzojibwami, Sister Hart, and I were going to go to Bay of Fundy (wink wink nudge nudge Baba, BitBit, Daddy...) next week or the next, but now our zone leader won't be there! So it's pretty sad. Sister Hart and I wrote him a song to the tune of "I Will Survive" so he'll have something to remember us by hahaha.

Story time. Every Friday, we have missionary coordination meeting at the church. It's with the Dieppe Elders, the Riverview Sisters, Elder Call, and the ward mission leader (who is INCREDIBLE), Brother Despres. And as a sidenote, I hate saying his name, because it's obviously a French name, and he and his family are all French speakers, but everyone in Riverview Americanize (Canadianize) it and just pronounce it Dih-pray. So I don't even know, I wish I could call him by his first name all the time, my life is so hard. Anyway, at the meeting I was feeling all great because I was wearing my hair down for the first time since being in the field, and I was having a happy day, and I was laughing and smiling and looking like a psycho. Well, after the meeting, we went out to the car and I saw my reflection... NOOOOOOOOoooooooo! I forgot about the dang humidity here! People, it was Mufasa hair. It was horrible. I was laughing so hard at what an idiot I must've looked like through the whole meeting--my hair was HUGE!!! It was so great. I love my life. It's in a Mufasa ponytail this morning, and shall be forever after.

Alright. This is a lame e-mail. But I love the work, I miss you all, the gospel's true! Hey, God speed:) Promise next week will be more spiritual haha.

Love you!!!!!

Sister L

Je suis missionaire de l'Eglise de Jesus-Christ

Salut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so before we get to birthday business, you have to understand that my mind is everywhere right now, so I'm sorry that the only birthday I can remember at the moment is...

CHRISTOPHER FREAKIN LEWIS!!!!! Holy moley bro, you're almost as tall as I was when I was your age! Hahaha crack myself up. But seriously what the heck! My Cry Baby is growin up... You're a TEACHER, HOW COOL IS THAT?! I wish I could be there to spoil you, Row-Row. I love you.

So, Happy Victoria Day! I have no clue what it is, all I know is that the grocery stores are closed today...:( Which means I have another day to pig out on all the food in the apartment. Let's just say that the people of Moncton, New Brunswick know how to feed the missionaries!!!

Wow. I read almost all my e-mails before writing this one and I am so overwhelmed right now. In a good way. This past week has been by far, no question, the best week of my entire life. I have never been so deeply happy or more at peace. I love being a missionary. I love this work. I love Jesus Christ. This is exactly where I'm supposed to be, and I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. So this morning I was already feeling the best I could feel, then I came here and got to read about home, and I'm feeling even better. Wow.

So in response to what friends and family told me today:

1. John-John, I love and miss you like crazy. None of the Elders I work with get me quite like you do. I tell hilarious jokes all the time and they're just not gettin it! Maybe it's a Canadian thing, but all I know is that I miss my big/little brother John.

2. Umm Matt Savas?! Goshhhh I want to hear about your farewell and your whole life, so could you please write me a dang letter?!?! Is it weird to say I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!! Sheesh, I mean Korea isn't as cool as New Brunswick, but I'd still love to hear about how you're doing right now... I mean it's not like we hung out everyday before I left or anything.......

3. Daddy, please let yourself heal dang it. Don't make me worry about you. Sending prayers to you, Pippy:)

4. Bell. I love and miss you. I wish I could see you.

5. QUINN MY ZONE LEADER JUST GAVE ME YOUR LETTER THIS MORNING, I AM SO HAPPY, I CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT. LOOOOOOL.

Yep. Thank you for letting me do that. Now back to my mission haha.

Quote of the week:

Sister Hart--walking into the kitchen where I was: "SISTER LEWIS!!! Third lunch?! Seriously?!?!"

Haha... Guys, I have never eaten more food in my life. It's become this huge joke with the missionaries I work with--I have become known as "Hobbit" because of second breakfast.... I really don't know what the problem is. I'm eating waffles, french toast, eggs, oatmeal, toast, sandwiches, pasta, crackers, pizza, pudding, soup.. So I'm eating really good foods.. Just all in the same meal haha. Don't worry, I'm not planning on coming home a chunk haha, and I'm working out since I have to, but I'll just say that my work-outs consist of mostly crunches hahaha. But really I have no clue why I'm suddenly eating like a pig. Seriously people, 6 or 7 HUGE meals everyday. Aye aye aye, Fast Sunday's gonna be fun.

YESTERDAY I ISSUED MY FIRST BAPTISMAL INVITATION (my favorite of all the invitations). Let me tell you the story.

Isabelle* is 18. Her mom is a devout Catholic, and her little brother is 14. That's her family. She decided that Catholicism wasn't what she wanted anymore (after having attended a Catholic school her whole life) and started looking for another religion. On YouTube, she found a critical documentary on the LDS Church, and as she was watching it, she realized she loved the Church. She got super interested in it and studied LDS beliefs and doctrine, and started developing a testimony of it. She requested a free Book of Mormon online (oh, you referred yourself? Want to just baptize yourself too?) and after a few days, when it still hadn't come to her, she decided to call someone about it. So she called the only LDS meetinghouse in Moncton--mine--on Wednesday. It's a miracle that someone happened to be here, and the relief society president, Sister Leger (AWESOME lady), answered the phone. Isabelle explained that she requested a Book of Mormon and no one had brought one to her yet.

I was working on creating a wall area map in the church library with Sister Hart when I said, "I'll be right back" and opened the library door and stepped out in the hall (still within sight and sound of Sister Hart, don't worry:)). I noticed Sister Leger on the phone down the hall and she turned to me and said, "Sister Lewis! Someone on the phone needs to talk to a missionary." I was really confused and I answered the phone. Isabelle explained to me her situation. I was practically worshiping her and trying not to scream out of excitement!! I got her address and number, the next day we brought her the Book of Mormon and gave her a mini lesson about what it is, and on Sunday we had our first real sit-down lesson with her.

She came prepared with questions about temples (YES!) vs. meetinghouses, what it means to be sealed (she loved that), tithing, the law of chastity, fasting--all these questions that are sometimes tough to explain because they're not easy commandments to follow. But she LOVED our answers and was so willing to live them!

Then she asked, "So what are the steps you need to take to be baptized?"

!!!!!

We taught the restoration to her. I got to tell the First Vision (best part), and the Spirit was so strong. Then Sister Hart asked her, "What do you think of that?" Isabelle answered, "Obviously Joseph Smith was called of God. He's the real prophet and has the priesthood." OH MY GOSH.

So then I said, "Isabelle, as you come to know that things we've been teaching you are true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?"

"Yes!"

"We will be holding a baptismal service on June 22. Will you prepare yourself to be ready by that date?"

"Yes!!!"

SO I WAS FREAKING OUT, SISTER HART GAVE ME A LOOK (SHE GIVES ME THIS LOOK FREQUENTLY) THAT MEANS I CAN'T START SCREAMING. I WAS SMILING SO HUGE, PEOPLE.

After the lesson, as we were walking back to the car, I kept whispering, "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh." Sister Hart said, "Not now, Sister Lewis. Not yet." And since I couldn't stop freaking out she said, "Fine. Go run to the car." So I ran about 200m in a skirt and a huge bag to the car, got in, and screamed my head off. "THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!! I LOVE THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Haha guys, this is my life!!!!! We have another appointment with her tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One more story and then I'll wrap this up. Last week, Sister Hart and I went to a part member family's house with Elder Call. In the Choret* family, the mom is less active, the dad is non-member, and their sons are non-member (Benjamin* is 8 and Lawrence* is 12). We got to know them and played some music with them (apparently there's a video of our mini orchestra--violin, clarinet, viola, flute, and me singing--on Facebook now haha). I got to know Rachel* (Sister Choret) really well while everyone else was rehearsing, and I LOVE her! Seriously, an incredible woman. She loves the Church, and knows she needs to go more, but it's tough with a non-member family. So I asked her questions about her husband. Apparently he LOVES missionaries. Loves them. He wants his sons to be baptized. Long story short, it turns out Ryan* (Brother Choret) has had all these competitions with missionaries in the past--he invites them over for hot wings and sees if the missionaries can handle the heat! So Rachel called Ryan and told him that there were new Sisters in Moncton (Moncton hasn't had Sisters in years) and he said to invite us for wings! Then he said, "Tell them to bring some towels--they won't be able to handle the SWEAT!" And I said, "I can do it without the towels! BRING IT." And he said, "IT'S ON!" Haha I'm gettin into this story.

But Saturday was the dinner appointment with them. We got to invite the Elders too. I met Ryan* and he was not opening up very well. Kinda quiet and reserved. He's really stalky--a big, shorter guy--and he's in like, his late 50s. So I decided that if I wanted him to like the missionaries, and get to know us, I'd have to get cheeky with him haha. So when we started eating dinner, I finally got the guts to try these bright red wings and immediately started crying. They were SO HOT. I was sitting in the "hot seat" right next to Ryan and he started cracking up and said, "What? Too hot for you, Sister Lewis?" And I said, "Are you kidding me? This is nothing, I thought your wings would actually be spicy." Hahaha he gave me the best death glare then started laughing really hard. Then later Sister Choret said, "Ryan's always loved having the missionaries over. They're fun and young!" And Ryan said, "Don't say young, that makes me seem old! I'm not old, am I?" Sister Hart and Elder Nzojibwami said, "Noooo way! So young!" And I said, "You are so old. I didn't know people got that old until I met you." or something stupid like that. And thus came my new nickname: "Motormouth" hahaha. He's cooking something spicier for me this Saturday, and every Saturday after that. Ryan doesn't know it yet, but he's getting baptized this summer. I'll make sure of that. Love him.

Okay, wrapping things up. AKA why do I write long letters.

Last week I got really sick and I'm still not over it--I would love the extra prayers so I can get back to feeling my best. I really don't want to miss a day of work, and this is day 8 of feeling like this, so any prayers people have would be SO appreciated:)

And no, I haven't gotten your letters yet! This morning I got my first letters since I've been in Canada (Quinn and Erin Clegg!!!) and they're dated May 11, so I think it takes about a week to get to me (they really arrived Friday or Saturday).

And lastly, I was tested on my French this week by a Quebecois Elder, Elder Morin! It was terrifying, but I guess I passed because he said, "Thank you Sister Lewis, I am definitely recommending you to President. Your Frens ees very gewd." Haha. Elder Nzojibwami told me this week that President's dream is to have French-speaking sisters, and that I'm top of the list right now. Which is really scary because I have no gospel vocabulary at all, and I feel like I couldn't have more than a 10-minute conversation with someone, because after 10 minutes it would start to get too deep for my vocabulary! And it's hard because all the French-speaking missionaries spent 6 weeks in the MTC and have French-speaking investigators and a French-speaking companion, but I'm completely teaching myself. It's tough. But my favorite sentence this week has been "Je suis missionaire de l'Eglise de Jesus-Christ des Saints des Derniers-jours." I hope that's correct because I've said it 80 times a day.

PS I got to go to Amherst next week, and I get to go again tomorrow! It's the cutest little town until you see the statues. Everyone turns their trees into giant statues of people and they paint them... It is the creepiest thing I have ever seen in my life. I am so glad I'm not serving there hahaha. I'll have to take some pictures.*morrow.

ANYWAY, I'm really ending this now. See ya! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Je t'aime,

Sister L

Link to see examples of creepy Amherst tree statues.

I'M IN CANADA EH

Let me start off by saying this keyboard is so confusing and I keep hitting the wrong buttons (stupid French, right) and I can't find the question mark key to save my life, so I apologize in advance!

BUT HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First things first... Birthdays! I know Aunt Bonnie's was sometime this week, right (question mark). If so HEY I FOUND THE QUESTION MARK??? That's confusing, you have to press shift+6. Great, I can't even type in Canada. But HAPPY BIRTHDAY BONNIE!!!!!!!!!

And Happy Mother's Day to the best mommy in the world. Seriously, how did I get so lucky to get that babe. Mamacita, thanks for giving me food, and giving me the best 7 younger siblings in the whole world, and thanks for sending me camera chords when I get to the MTC and realize I never packed one. HEY EVERYONE I LOVE MY MOM.

Okay, since I didn't do this last P-Day, and then my P-Day got skipped last week, I have 3 quotes of the week for you:

1. Sister Starkie--at dinner in the MTC: "I wish I could actually eat! Like Sister Lewis! Sister Lewis, how do you EAT that much?!?!" (my face was seriously too stuffed full of food to answer her. Fun fact for future missionaries: there's a scale in the gym under building 2M. Do not use it, because you'll realize on the anniversary of your first week in the MTC that you gained 10 pounds in 7 days off of cafeteria 19-year-old boy food. Seriously 10 pounds. True story. Guys, this is real.)

2. Sister Falaula--in dorms, pillowtalking one night, arguing about snoring: "No, no, snoring only happens when your mouth is closed, because the snores come out your nose and ears." The rest of us: "........HAHAHAHAHA WHO TOLD YOU THAT."

3. Elder Fortier (from Quèbec, so he speaks French)--at dinner with President and Sister Leavitt: "Oh. I need to go get something from the kitchen (comes back in wearing an apron)." President Leavitt: "What's that for?" Elder Fortier: "It's to protect my skirt from my food." Sister Starkie: "Protect your what?" Elder Fortier: "My skirt." He told me he always confuses "shirt" and "skirt" in English hahaha, I've never heard Sister Starkie laugh harder, she adores the "Frenchies".

So whoever told me Canada is just like America is so full of it!!!!! I am experiencing culture shock here like crazy. I can't get used to it. Everyone speaks French all the time, when you buy food at the store it's in French (like my stinkin biscuits à la crème oatmeal... disgusting), and everyone's ENGLISH accents are weird. But I'll talk about the language in a second. Back to culture shock. One of the weirdest things is the streets and driving. Canadians here think of traffic lanes as merely "convenient". Seriously, they're nice if the streets are busy, but hey, don't use them if you don't feel like it. The drivers here are super nice (which means I have to stop being a rude Utah driver haha), and everyone drifts all over lanes in the road. It's crazy. And on my first day in Halifax, this less active we were teaching said, "It was 20 degrees, and I was outside all day, so I got sunburned." WHAT ARE YOU SAYING WHO ARE YOU YOU MEAN YOU GOT FROST BITE. Yeah, I'm having trouble converting my head to Celcius. Also I had a heart attack of excitement when on my way to Moncton, the speed limit sign said 110 and I said to Sister Hart (new comp) "WHY WON'T THEY LET US DRIVE LIKE THAT IN UTAH." Ohyeahthatsinkilometers.

Ok the guy sitting next to me in the Moncton library just flipped off his computer and now I'm scared.

Our first day in Halifax (Wednesday), we got to go to the Halifax temple!!! It's not actually in Halifax, it's in a town between Halifax and Dartmouth called Cole Harbour. In fact, go Google map it--you'll see the stake center right next to it. Try to figure out which is bigger--the stake center or the temple hahaha. Seriously, it's this huge debate amongst missionaries here. No one can figure out which one is bigger! So maybe if you Google map it, you can tell from your angle:)

So I don't know if anyone outside my family knows this, but I'm in Moncton, New Brunswick!!!!! And it looks like I'll be the first French speaking Sister in the history of the mission! Right now I'm studying this MTC French book Elder Call gave me (senior missionary in my area) and reading the BOM and Bible en français. Elder Fortier gave me the French Bible as a gift. "Seesterr Lewis, I want to give to you a, umm, cadeau (I can't find the circumflex accent for that... there is one, right?). Thees ees a Bible, umm, en French, and you keep it and learn to speak, umm, French." What a sweety yo. So I've read the first part of Genesis 1 haha. It's actually really cool. Elder Fortier explained to me that already in French, he has a hard time comprehending things he reads because, as he says, "French ees umm, compleecated but when I read the umm, Bible, I understand nothing." Haha I am experiencing a similar feeling... But yeah. On the plane from Dallas to Toronto, we were seated next to each other and he gave me this giant Canadian French lesson, which messed with the French in my head, and now I'm just confused about life. But now I know some good slang words. Ugh I was just about to put an evil smiley face in here, but I can't find the right buttons, hate my life. Just kidding I don't hate my life, I'm in love with it.

So no one told me there were 8 kinds of French in Canada! Quèbecois, Acadien, Shiaque (actually I have no clue how to spell that, I just threw in some French-looking syllables to make myself seem smart instead of spelling it "Shee-ak" like it sounds haha). But Shiaque* or whatever is the French version of Spanglish--just throwing French and English words together to create confusion and distress for semi-French-speaking Sister missionaries, who are too busy to buy good food, who have to live off of cookies and cream oatmeal:(

The Elders I work with are French-speaking (but it's their second language) and they're incredible. So I'm in Riverview, the Calls are in Moncton, and the Elders are in Dieppe. Their names are Elders Nzojibwami and Waldie, and we get to teach lessons together and work together a lot. In fact, we're all about to go to Quizno's for lunch, I bet you wish you were us!!!!! But seriously, they're incredible missionaries. Elder Nzojibwami is from Alberta and he's been out 9 months I think, and Elder Waldie's from Colorado. He's been a member for 17 months (LOOK AT HOW COOL HE IS) and he's been on his mission for a total of about 4 months (so he's not done being trained). Love working with them. We feel lucky we get to be so close to them and the Calls.

The New Brunswick accent. Is so cool. "Everywhere" is really pronounced "everrwers" with really hard Rs. Everyone sounds either Irish or Scottish. It's especially hard to understand seniors because their accents tend to be thicker. But they also pronounce "pasta" like a hick haha, which I'm trying to get used to because EVERYONE talks about pasta, all the time. And they say "aboat" and "oatsiiide". And you know our unreleased Ts in words like "right"? They pronounce it "rrauiightt" haha I don't know how you'd spell that. But it's weird. Lots (which would be pronounced "loats") of people are difficult to understand sometimes. Especially when they throw weird French vocab into the Scottish English. This place is crazy, people.

Oh! Before I forget, here's my new address:

Sister Amber Lewis

712 Coverdale Rd #108

Riverview, NB E1B 0E2

So SEND ME LETTERS, PEOPLE. I have an always-reply policy, so I swear I'll reply, even to creepy love letters from my fan club of men at home. It might take a while because there are a few mission rules regarding writing letters, but I swear I'll always respond:) So let me hear from you!!! I was so blessed in the MTC... My final tally was about 32 letters and 6 packages. I'm one lucky girl. But have I received a single letter since I got to Canada? No sir. Not one (that's what Uncle Vernon says in Sorcerer's Stone. No post on Sunday). So people, write me, I'm a missionary and ah miss mah howme.

My ward is amazing. I got to meet a ton of people yesterday and I was overwhelmed with love for them ("I felt an overwhelming feeling of love..." If you get that, smile at the computer, and if you don't get that, just move on). A lot of the members have a lot of serious emotional problems, but it just makes me that much more excited to serve them. I got to speak in church yesterday and I expressed my love for them because I'm sittin over here bouncing up and down in my seat dying of love. Okay this doesn't make any sense. But we're really excited because the Elders came up with an idea to reactivate the YSA here (only about 5 of 25 are active) and this week we're starting YSA activities for them. They're all awesome! (Even creepy ones who don't treat you like a Sister missionary!)

I MISS MY FAMILY. I MISS MY FRIENDS. A lot. I miss the MTC. So a couple shout-outs here... If I have brilliant nicknames for you like Q or Am1 or Lover Boy or Pat or Reese-Reese, and especially if you're leaving on a mission this month... Y'all better e-mail me or something dang it. And good luck serving!!!!! It's the hardest thing ever, and also the best.

I miss the piano too. Someone go play songs for me, I miss it like crazy. And the violin while you're at it. Thank you.

There's a bunch more to say, but this is already 3 miles long. LOVE YOU ALL! And sorry, family, since I rambled about a lot of this stuff yesterday already:)

Love,

Sister L

*  Chiac.  We looked it up.
** Here's a video example of some French Sister Lewis might be hearing.