Big Day Tomorrow

Hello everyone.  First, I want to report that Jodee had her surgery today and it went great.  The doctor said that the gall bladder seemed to be non-functional and had a stone larger than a golf ball.  He was able to do it laproscopically and it took an hour and a half.  We were home by 2:00pm, and she is doing even better than we had hoped.  She will have a few difficult days, but she is used to that after her year with a bad gall bladder.  Thanks for all your prayers!  They made a huge difference.

Mindy is our granddaughter and Janell's niece...she is serving a mission in Russia.

For those of you who are not aware of all missionary terms...'Transfers' happen every 6 weeks, and the missionary is usually transferred to a new area and gets a new companion...but Janell is remaining in the same location with her current companion. - Val

Hello my family!

Oh gosh I wish my letters were more like Mindy's. She gives so much detail and information. I forget what my week was like because everything just kind of goes together. Sounds like life has been busy for all of you. Tell JoAnn that I want pictures of my baby...I miss her so much. That is so awesome that she got a job at a charter school. Tell her to write me. Also, i briefly was able to read some of Mindy's letter and it mentioned something about PC. Did Diane go to PC?? I'm jealous if that happened! I want everybody to go 2013. So...everyone prepare to do that:) I want to know how the surgery for Dobie goes. You should be there right now actually. I sure do miss that Dobie:)

Yesterday we had our first transfer. I am staying here in DC 2nd ward with Sister Otieno. This is her last transfer before she goes home. It was weird to see some of the sisters go home. They were all so great! I was so excited for all of them. It was weird to think about it because it seems like I will never be there and never go home. Ha. Not that that is bad, it just seemed weird cause they were all saying how it went by so fast. Pretty sure I've been here 10 years now and pretty sure I have 10 more to go!:) Oh, I wish I could remember my week better. On Tuesday we helped out a girl in our ward clean her wheelchair, scooter thing. It was fun. I love doing service. Her chair was pretty dirty so it was nice to see it all clean afterwards. She is a funny girl. Her name is Deb. I need to remember to take more pictures...I am so bad at that. Wow, I really can't remember anything that I did this past week. It seriously all goes together. Yesterday at the VC I had a cool experience. I chat online in the mornings 3 days a week and sometimes the people want missionaries to come by and bring them a copy of the Book of Mormon. A couple of weeks ago there was a man named Simon from the UK that wanted that. He had a BofM at one point in his life, and even read it, but lost it. So we referred missionaries to him. I called him yesterday to follow up with him to see if they came. I talked to him for about 15 min about the blessing of the Book of Mormon. It was fun to hear his accent. He is from northern England so it is more of a thick Scotish accent. I told him that I would call back in a week and we would talk about the Book of Mormon and what he read. He agreed. It was so fun. Also chatting yesterday I chatted with a guy named Carlos who was just looking for answers to questions. I taught him how to pray via chat. He was so grateful. I also sent missionaries to him. He said that he didn't know why he came online to chat but he felt good inside. HA! I love the Spirit! I will call him back in a week or so to check up on him as well. It is interesting, I was reading in Alma today about Ammon and Alma and how they had so much joy when they saw others come unto Christ. Now, I haven't been out long but it is amazing how wonderful it feels just to have someone feel the Spirit even though they might not realize that they are feeling it. So great!

Well, I don't know if I have much more to say. I really forget my days...must be my old age:) I am praying for all of you. I love you all so much! The gospel is so wonderful. Keep me updated with everything. Send pictures if you can. 

Love you all!

Sister Lewis:)