Elder Lyons, Kerry, and Elder Call

My District!

Alright so the baptism was amazing! Kerry was in tears as she stepped in the font, and she was so happy afterwards! It was incredible! It's a really neat experience to see someone take those steps and progress in their relationship with our Heavenly Father! The service went really well. The ward did a great job accepting assignments and organizing. We still had some crazy running around setting stuff up moments, but the ward definitely did their part! It seemed much less hectic than Shicona's baptism!

Confirming someone is just as terrifying as I remembered. But I think it went better than Shicona's cause I was more prepared this time. It was kinda insane, though. Elder Call and I only got to church 5 minutes before sacrament meeting started. Yeah, I don't recommend it! To make things worse, Kerry wasn't there yet! So we were sweating, but she walked in just as bishop opened the meeting. Whew!

Oh, another neat experience. Sister Anderson in our ward gives out pass along cards to pretty much everyone. Yeah, the Anderson's are basically full-time missionaries. But anyways, she gave a card to a man at a gas station. He just says,"you gave me one already, and I can't find your church." So we talked to him. And the Anderson's brought him to church. He really liked it! Our ward really took him in.....but he lives in the Lewvan ward. However, he is from Pakistan, and a man from India who lives in the Lewvan ward is going to take him to church. So I guess it works out! AND the Anderson's invited him over for dinner!

For the baptism, we brought a bunch of ice cream sandwiches, but pretty much no one ate them. So we have 2 boxes of them. When we brought them home I said, "these will last us 2 weeks!" Elder Call just says, "or 2 days." I'm pretty sure he's already eaten about 10 of 'em, so they may not make it 2 days.

Today, a Chinese investigator from YSA played bball with us. Yeah, he crushed every single stereotype. He got passed the ball, and no one really went out of their way to guard him. Next thing we know he drives it in for a reverse layup. It was out of control! Everyone was just kinda like, "Whoa!' The man had never thrown a football in his life, within 5 minutes he could through it the length of the basketball court! It was a lot of fun!

I can't really think of much else to write. Most of this week was getting ready for the baptism. I sent a couple of pictures. Hopefully you get them. I should probably get better at sending pics. Sorry

Well, I love you all!

Love,
Elder C. Lyons

June 11, 2012

This week has been pretty intense. We started off pretty busy on Monday evening. We had a lesson with Kerry. It was sort of to help her be prepared for her baptismal interview. We really focused on the Book of Mormon and why it is important. It was a really solid lesson. I was struggling trying to find out what to share, but we eventually got there. So now we have no doubt that she is ready for her baptism! Plus she passed her interview with flying colors! Elder Duford said she was one of the best investigators he's ever interviewed!

We actually had some of my first service opportunities this weekend. On Friday, we got to help out at the Relay for Life. I was so excited! I had no idea that was what the service was going to be. We were just told by Pres. Walton to go to this park. Turns out it was this amazing track, and there were loads of people helping out. It was the best! We got free shirts and sunglasses. It was neat, for most of the time I was directing people to the survivors registration. I was really great to see all the people who had overcome cancer. Then, we also got to help set up the memorials for all the victims. It was great. Definitely one of the highlights of last week!

We helped for a little bit on Saturday morning taking stuff down at the Relay for Life. And then we helped Bro Schroeder set up his pool. (He's Kerry's boyfriend.) It was pretty funny, Elder Call and I were trying to set up the filter, and Elder Call was trying to screw it on. But it wouldn't catch. He was starting to get frustrated, so of course I started to tease him! He just looks at me, "Yeah, then why don't you do it yourself there, Heman!" It was hilarious. Basically, that's how that whole service opportunity went. It was fantastic.

We tracted a whole bunch this week and found some pretty good potentials. I'm pretty excited cause I called this headquarters referral named Olakunle. Yeah, he's African, and basically I can't wait to teach him tomorrow! He just really, really wants to learn more about Jesus Christ. It was great cause that's what I'm here to teach people about! We'll see how that goes.

We have a pretty busy week planned with a lot of lessons. It will be the last full week of this transfer. Sorta crazy. I have no idea where this transfer has gone! Anyways, I should find out on Thursday or Friday what will be the plan for next transfer.

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder C. Lyons

 

6/4/12 It's already June?

First off, how on earth is it already June? This year is flying by! I feel like this transfer just started. It sounds like you all will have a really busy summer. That's exciting that a new family moved in. I'm sure Natalie's excited, and probably Mom, too.

Well, I legitimately thought I was dying this week. I had some really bad chest pain on Monday, I thought it was just heartburn, but it just got worse and worse throughout the week until I was starting to get shooting pain from my chest to my shoulder. I was eating antacids like they were goin out of style, but it still hurt. So I called Pres Walton (1st councilor in the mission presidency) on Saturday, and he came to see what was up. Turns out I did something to my ribs, so basically, the antacids wouldn't be very helpful. And I also didn't need to be eating just plain white rice. But now I've been on ibuprofen, and I'm no longer dying. But it hurts like crazy to laugh! So it may be a boring week.

Even though I was a little out of it this week, we were able to find 2 new investigators! It's pretty great. Cole and Sean are seniors in high school, and pretty much they just want to know that God is there. It's going to be really great teaching them!

And also, Kerry's baptismal interview is this Thursday. We'll see how that goes down. I know that planning baptisms is stressful, but definitely rewarding! Speaking of baptisms, I actually found out this week that one of the investigators that I was teaching in Prince Albert got baptized on Tues! Mary Ann from the Philippines. Also, 2 other investigators told the elders in Prince Albert that they got their answer, and they got baptized on Friday! That was pretty great news. 

I really can't remember this week too much. I know we were walking a whole bunch cause we were low on k's. That's probably why I don't remember much cause all I could think was, 'ouch.' When I'm in pain that tends to dominate my thoughts.

Anyways, Cole and Sean are a neat story. We had planned to meet with Cole on Monday. We had set the appointment when we found him on Friday. We even called and confirmed. But he wasn't there on Monday. Turns out he loaned his car to his friend's dad, and he couldn't walk back to his house on time. So he rescheduled and asked if he could invite some friends, too. We thought that was OK, so Sean came along. We're really looking forward to meeting with them again.

We also have a really solid appointment with a referral tomorrow. Joy was referred to us by her brother who is a member. She's kinda having a rough time, and she's really appreciated the guidance her brother's given her. So she's agreed to meet with us. Yeah! It's pretty great! Now basically we just can't do something green and mess it up! It should be a great lesson!

I know this is pretty short, but I really can't think of anything else. I hope that everyone has a great week. I love you!

Love,
Elder C. Lyons