We have had a great week in the temple. It has been busy and lots of people on vacation walking into the temple. Some have brought children to be baptized and others to do an endowment session. We have had several sealings with children. This is always a special blessing.
Paul and I were able to be on a session together and also match up at the veil. We always love when that happens. We are working on learning some Spanish. People are so generous and helpful. There have been several occasions when we could have been helpful at the veil.
Weekly we cross paths with people we know or who know people we love. Thank you for saying hello. This last week we met Zak and Danica Hicken children of our dear friend from Camarillo Jeff Sweet. We also work with Elder & Sister Sullivan's (Hong Kong missionaries) daughter on Friday night and Sister Murdock, sister-in law of Nathaniel Sullivan. It's fun to run into people from home.
We have many wonderful workers at the temple. It has been fun to get to know them and how they found the gospel. I'm going to add a story of Sister May from India.
My Conversion Story
Margaret May
June 8, 2014
My brother, Samuel May, was the first member of my family to join the church.
After he joined the church, I was very much surprised to see the changes in
him. Every time he told me about the church and the gospel of Jesus
Christ, I wanted him to answer my questions from the Bile and not from the Book
of Mormon.
As a matter of fact, I was stunned to see the knowledge Samuel had
gained. Being a new member of the church, he told me the answers to my
questions were not in the Bible because many principles were lost during the
apostasy. He answered my questions by using the Book of Mormon and
testified to me that it is another testament of Jesus Christ.
I still had my doubts, knowing in the last days that many false prophets would
come as wolves in sheep’s clothing to deceive the people.
One day my Samuel invited me and my younger sister, Christina, to visit his
church. I decided to go to find out what the church was all
about. The sacrament meeting was held in the Elder and Sister
Humphreys home—the Humphreys were from Cardston, Alberta, Canada. They
welcomed me and my sister Christina. They were loving, caring and
friendly people. I was amazed that they had left their children and
grandchildren behind in Canada to come to India to serve the Lord and teach the
gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of India.
As I walked into the Humphreys living room, I saw three rows of chairs, neatly
arranged, and a sacrament table. I thought there would be a lot of people
attending. When my brother said it was time to start the meeting, I
looked at him and ask, “Are you not going to wait for other people to come,”
supposing there were others coming that had not yet arrived.
Samuel said, “”There are no other people coming. It is just the six of
us.” In other words, there was the missionary couple, my sister
Christina, my brother Samuel, me and Michael Anthoney.
I laughed in a mocking manner and said to Samuel, “What kind of church is this
with only six people. How does it function?” I had been in churches
with large congregations and never seen anything like this. I had never seen
a church quite like Samuel’s church.
I will never forget the look on Samuel’s face. He looked straight into my
eyes and said, “One day all of these chairs will be filled with people.
Many will embrace the gospel, because it is the truth, and you will be a
witness of it.”
At that very instant, I felt the spirit testifying to me that what Samuel had
just said was the truth. As a result I started taking the
discussions. When the Humphreys taught me the discussions and showed me
the First Vision, I was empowered by the spirit to know it was true. I
requested baptism. In fact, I requested baptism before they challenged me
to be baptized.
Since the missionaries were teaching me, my father, Simeon, and my sister,
Christina, they waned to baptize all three of us at the same time. Three
months earlier, my father had an accident and had broken his hip. As a
result, he had a hard time bending his knee. When he was challenged for
baptism, he refused. He did not want to give up his church, the Seventh
Day Adventist Church.
My younger sister, Christina, went to visit my older sister, Mary, who was
living in Hyderabad, India, to help her with her son.
Since I was the only one who was eager to get baptized, the Humpherys, the
senior couple, set my baptismal date for June 7, 1984. Words cannot
express the joy I felt when that day arrived.
There were no baptismal fonts in India at that time. However, because of
the scarcity of water in India, each household has a big water tank on the roof
to store water. It is not easy to get baptized in a tank that is not very
deep and not very wide, but these things did not matter to me. All I
wanted was to be baptized like the Savior had done by immersion by one who had
the authority to do so.
My father was invited to my baptism, and he did come. After the baptismal
talks, which was held downstairs, we all headed to the roof top to the storage
tank. My father, because of his hip and knee problems, could not walk up
the stairs. The missionaries offered to carry him up the stairs so he
could witness my baptism. My father was afraid they would drop him and
declined the offer.
As I climbed on the chair to get into the tank, I felt very sad that my father
could not watch me get baptized. To my surprise, and to the surprise to
everyone present, I saw my father on the roof top. I was shocked to
see him there.
After I was baptized and got out of the tank, I went to my father and asked him
how he got on top of the roof. He said, “After everyone left to the
top of the roof, I was sad that I could not be present to see you
baptized. At that moment, I felt someone literally lift me up and carry
me to the top of the stairs. I felt the Lord’s hand in it. At that
instant I decided to get baptized. What greater witness do I need for I
saw the power of God’s miracles right before my eyes.”
So, my father was baptized on the same day I was.
It has been 29 years since I joined the church. There has not been a day
that I thought that I made the wrong decision. I have encountered many
blessings. I have served the Lord faithfully and diligently without fear
and doubt.
After baptism, life was not easy for me. I had to learn line upon line
and precept upon precept. But, I have always felt the hand of the
Lord carrying me though all of my trials and tribulations.
I would like to share some experiences associated with my mission call. I
was called to serve in the Singapore Mission. My father was not
able to be with me when I felt for my mission. He had to go to his sister’s
home to take care of her. She was very ill and close to death. My
father’s last words to me were to never leave my mission, even if he died, and
to return home with honor and dignity. Unfortunately, my father did die
while I was on my mission. When he died, his counsel to me gave me courage to
keep going. I did fulfill his wishes. I stayed in the mission field
and did return with honor.
When I arrived in Singapore and went through immigration, the officer asked me
why I was in Singapore, and if I had any money. Not knowing the laws of
the land, I boldly told him that I was a missionary for the church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that I had no money.
The immigration official was furious, and told me that missionaries were not
allowed in Singapore. He told me that there was a flight leaving for
India at 10:00 P.M., and that I would be on it.
I was very worried and did not know what to do. This was the first time I
had been out of India. To tell the truth, I was a nervous wreck. I
was further traumatized when I was put in an airport cell that was three feet
tall with two watch dogs to guard me. I sat down on a stool, stooped down
with my head on my lap and started crying. I felt like the Prophet Joseph
Smith in Liberty Jail.
All sorts of questions entered my mind, like “Why me?” I pleaded for God
for help. I was in a strange land, in trouble with the immigration
authorities, with no money and no one to help me.
At that moment, I heard someone walking toward me. I looked up to see an
Indian official with a gentle look in his eyes. He asked me what had
happened, and why I was in the holding cell. When I explained to him my
situation that I was in Singapore to serve a mission, he said I should not have
told them I was a missionary.
The Indian official then asked me if a spoke Tamil, it is one of the Indian
languages that he spoke. I speak five languages and Tamil is one of
them. As a result, we spoke in Tamil. He then asked if there was
anyone coming to pick me up. I told him the name of the missionary couple
in the area, Brother and Sister Turner. As it turns out, the Turners had
been waiting for me the whole day but had been prompted to stay in the arrivals
area.
The Indian official also asked me if I had any money. With a no answer,
he went to find the Turners. He found them and explained my
situation. They were happy to know that I was alive. He then asked
them to give him 5,000 Singapore dollars. By the promptings of the
spirit, without any hesitation, they gave him the money, not knowing exactly
who he was.
The Indian official gave me the money and told me to follow him to the
immigration office. He told the Singapore officials that there had been a
lack of understanding, due to language problems. He then gave them an
alternate explanation as to why I was in the country, and that I had 5,000
Singapore dollars in my bag.
The Singapore immigration officials had no other choice but to release
me. They took my passport and stamped it for a two-week stay in
Singapore.
When I collected my passport and turned around to say thank you, the Indian
official had disappeared. He had disappeared in a few seconds. I
tried to find him and looked all over the airport but there was no sign of
him. I knew then that the power of God was being manifest in my
behalf. I knew then the man who helped me was none other than one of the
three Nephites.
I stayed in Singapore for two months and enjoyed serving there. But I had
to keep going to Malaysia to renew my visa. I got sick of flying.
Finally, my mission president spoke to the mission President in Manila about my
visa problems. As a result, I was transferred to the Philippines. I
served in the Philippines for almost 20 months. When I returned to India
from my mission, I served a mini-mission in India.
There have been many deaths in my family. Life was not easy for me but
with the true gospel of Jesus Christ it has been worth it!
My testimony of the restored gospel has brought such great joy in my life,
especially knowing that families are forever, and through the atonement of
Jesus Christ all things are possible. I am very grateful for the
temple. It is my Sacred Grove and my heavenly home on earth!
One important thing I learned on my mission. If it is not for eternity,
forget about it! I have lived by this philosophy to this day
Margaret May, now serving in the Manhattan NY Temple.
There are many more wonderful stories that we are learning and strengthening our own testimonies.
This week we went over to Roosevelt Island. We had come home from the temple and found a Panda Express not too far away on the bus. A lady on the bus overheard us and said to follow her. She lived just across the street. She was so kind. She also pointed out that the gondola was just a few blocks down the road which takes you to Roosevelt Island. After dinner we decided to try it.
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| the gondola is on it's way |
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| getting ready to get off |
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| Roosevelt Island on the bus going around this small island |
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| coming home we decided to take the subway |
When we got to the bottom of the escalator we ran into Martin from Argentina. He was headed just a few blocks beyond our exit. He was very nice to us. We left the station and walked thru Times Square again pass Radio City. Martin is headed back to Argentina this week with his wife and two daughters. He has been here four years.
Saturday night Paul got an offer to go to the Yankee game. Sister Janice Wilson has her son and family here. They ended up with an extra ticket. He had a good time and even got one of the famous Yankee dogs. I stayed home and did my nails and watched a Hallmark movie.
Sunday we headed out to Kingsbridge 2nd Ward early. In spite of our efforts to get it right we somehow got on the A subway instead of D and ended up at the end of that line. Had to come back and switch over. We still made it in time for Ward Council meeting. The Elders and Sisters had sent us a list of people they have been working with and we were able to solicit help for them. We also presented a Ward Mission Plan. Everyone seemed to like it so we will present it in a couple of weeks. We will get to speak in Sacrament meeting with Sister Grant, the RS President.
We have a wonderful ward, very diversified and many people have lots of problems but the gospel is blessing each of their lives. The classes we have been in have wonderful teachers. We will begin teaching a Temple Preparation class next Sunday. Paul has also been asked to teach priesthood the first of the month focusing on preparation for the priesthood .
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| Sister Gladys Suleiman from Nigeria. She is from the city Lbo |
She taught our RS lesson and did a great job. What is greatness?
Today, Monday, Paul got up early and did the laundry and I got up and cleaned the house. By ten we were ready to go out. He had his wash line up in the bedroom and we headed out. While we were gone the cleaners came and cleaned our windows. This made Paul really happy. He was trying to figure out how he could do it. Marisol from Facilities left us a note.
"Elder & Sister Lewis: You have a very clean and neat apartment. Sorry we had to move your laundry. We had to clean the windows. Sorry unable to return them the way it was. I'm impressed--very innovative way to dry clothes. Marisol"
When we left this morning we went to the Bronx Lebanon Hospital to visit Francine Ferguson. She is the Bishop's wife and has been in the hospital for about a week. She was coming home today. We hadn't met her yet so we wanted to get there before she came home. A delightful woman and also has a great conversion story.
After leaving there we headed for the Museum of Natural History. We spent a couple of hours walking around checking it out. You can see Paul really enjoyed it. Glad we only made a small donation. One of the Sisters at the temple told me that it has a suggested donation but you can offer whatever so we offered $5 each.
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| American Mammals |
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| Paul really enjoying the afternoon |
This evening we have been invited to President and Sister Bench's for dinner. We are looking forward to it. The Presidency has been wonderful to us.
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| Terry, Melba Grimley, Paul, Dorothy and Mark Bench |
We are looking forward to another great week in the temple. Let us leave you with Sister May's comment. "If it is not for eternity, forget about it! "
