Chad Lewis - from missionary to China representative

Editor's note: Second of two stories on Chad Lewis and his continuing work in China.CEDAR HILLS, Utah — Nearly two decades later, he remembers it vividly —

being humbled to tears in the private, late-night hours of a darkened

bedroom.

      A fresh-out-of-Utah Mormon missionary in his first weeks of a

two-year assignment in Taiwan, Chad Lewis was simply overwhelmed.

      Intimidated by a strange, new Asian land and its culture.

Self-conscious for towering over the shorter Taiwanese people.

Devastated by the prospects of learning to communicate in an extremely

difficult written and spoken language.

      And then there was the food — would he ever be able to stomach such different dishes of Chinese cuisine?

      "I cried myself to sleep at night because I hated the food — it was all too hard," he recalled.With equal parts of prayer, perseverance, and positive thinking,

Lewis turned a challenge into an opportunity, and an opportunity into a

success. He learned the language, loved the people, and gained

a new appreciation for the Chinese culture.

      And the food? He developed such an appetite for the local fare

that he often accepted challenges that if he could eat everything put

on his plate by servers, the meal would be his for no charge.

      No problem for Lewis — he came, he consumed, and he conquered.     It's just one stage of Lewis'

challenge-turned- opportunity-turned-success life. In football, Lewis

went from Orem High standout to BYU walk-on and later Cougar star tight

end as well as from undrafted NFL free agent to a multiyear All-Pro