The cold is here!

So I've already had to bust out the parka because it has been below freezing pretty much all week. They weren't kidding when they told me winter starts in October up here. It's been pretty cold. I have to be honest, I didn't think that it would get this cold this early...crazy.

Anyways, we got to go to Regina yesterday to watch the Calgary temple dedication broadcast. Pres. Monson was hilarious! It was snowing in Calgary, and there was all sorts of people outside at the cornerstone ceremony. Elder Ballard was also there. It was just so funny when Pres Monson was calling kids up to help put in mortar. He called up a little girl. She was struggling a bit, so he just says, "the backhand, show her the backhand. Every good woman knows the backhand!" And he swings his arm. It was so funny. I had never heard Pres Monson talk like that before.  ( First, I owe everyone who has ever read this a sincere apology. I hope this is not too little, too late. But please bear with me because I have some explaining to do. The reason I have not already responded is because I did not start this blog. This blog was started on my behalf while I was serving a mission. I did not even see the blog until about a year ago. When I saw the comments on this post, I was unable to post a personal comment, so I quit trying because I thought that, after all, it may have been too late. And everyone had already moved on. But I have been informed of some recent attention to this post, so I feel it is worth addressing my comment. To give some context, this blog was started as a way for my extended family and friends to have access to my personal emails home without necessitating a large email chain. These family and friends are well acquainted with me and the way I speak, so they have all understood the intent of my comments. But there are many who don’t know me, so they have misunderstood my statements. For that reason, I would like to make it perfectly clear what I personally meant by my statement in this post regarding President Monson. When Pres. Monson made his comment about the backhand, he meant that every good women knows HOW to backhand, not that every woman should be hit or abused physically. Let’s be honest, EVERYONE in this world has needed to be put in their place by their mother. And I believe, along with Pres. Monson, that it’s a commendable quality of a good woman that she is willing and able to give her children that necessary direction (although I’m not particularly advocating physical discipline). I am personally grateful for my mom’s willingness to counsel and inspire me, and even though I am certain I deserved physical discipline, she never gave it. In this context, I found Pres. Monson’s comment to be enlightening to his childhood, and that’s what made it humorous to me. It was funny for me to picture a young Pres. Monson acting much like the rest of us did while we were young and standing in need of being reprimanded. I am truly thankful for how transparent Pres. Monson is. He often shares his personal experiences that show that he is very much human. My biggest concern about this whole misunderstanding is that it has tarnished his reputation. I hope that this post clears up any confusion about his character. I recognize my own personal flaws, and you can form any personal opinion of me based on this misunderstanding that you would like. But PLEASE do not form your opinion about Pres. Monson based on this misunderstanding. He is a kind and caring man and a true prophet of the Lord. To learn more about his life and character please visit: https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/what-are-prophets/bio/thomas-s-monson?lang=eng .Sorry again for any confusion. )

He definitely has a sense of humor. After the dedication, I talked with some of the members from the Wascana ward. They thought I was coming back to stay. Some of them even thought that when I left Wascana I had finished my mission. I don't know how they got that idea. I was as green as grass! It was nice talking with them. It was funny, I was also standing with some of the members of our branch. They told one of the Wascana members to stop trying to steal our elder. This stake is just fantastic!

We got invited to lunch by our high council men. He is from Vietnam, so we ate this noodle and meat soup stuff. And we ate it with chopsticks! It was so good! It was authentic...I found some chicken bones in it. Unfortunately, I found them with my teeth. Other than that it was a fantastic meal! We had this soda, milk stuff. It was delicious. They are a very nice family. It was great. We also got invited to dinner last night at the Regnier's. We had homemade perogies and cabbage rolls. Sounds pretty weird but taste really good!

This week was sort of a miracle. Well, not even sort of, there's no short selling it, it was for sure a miracle. Hedley found a new job and received an insurance check just at the moment they needed it most. As of right now, it appears that their financial struggles are over! I know that the Lord will always keep His promises. I was thinking about Mosiah 2:41 a bunch since we met with them on Sunday. I wondered why they hadn't been blessed temporally as the scripture said. They were doing what they could and trying to be obedient. Then, they were blessed within a day of me wondering when they would be blessed! It was amazing! It continues to be a slow and steady progress with them. We'll be continuing to meet with them and helping them strengthen their testimonies.

We helped Bro Regnier with one of the houses in Radville he's going to rent out. I had to stuff insulation between the wall and the ceiling in the basement. It's an old house, so it's not a basement like you're thinking. There's no home theatre down there! At one point, I was crawling along this pile of rocks and dirt that was just about to the ceiling. It was pretty dark, and it was thick with cobwebs. I was taking out all of the cobwebs with a stick and crawling along, all of a sudden, I feel something hit my back. I looked behind me to ask why Elder French had thrown something at me, but he wasn't behind me. I backed out of there pretty quick! When I went back in there, I found what looked like a dead mouse. Best I can figure is that I knocked it loose from the ceiling with the stick, and when I crawled by it fell on me. At least that's what I'm going with! Well, I might have exclaimed something about spiders, so I got teased by Bro Regnier a bit. He was in the other room, and I just hear him yell, "Elder Lyons, you should be in here. There's a bunch of spiders!" All, I'm saying is if I could feel something land on my back, that's a big spider!

Oh, I can't forget about Tuesday! Sorry this email is really scattered. Anyways, on Tuesday Pres Thomas skyped into our district meeting. He wanted to talk with us about how the missionary announcement at conference is going to effect our mission. Apparently, before the announcement, about 700 missionary applications were sent in every week. Now there has been about 4,000 a week! They expect that the number of missionaries will increase from about 58,000 to 90,000+ in just the next 6 to 18 months! It will then level off to about 75,000. But most of these missionaries will be staying in North America in the central areas. My mission! So our mission is expected to triple in size. Increase from 56 missionaries to about 170! Yeah, all in the next 6 to 18 months! So basically Pres Thomas was telling us to step it up! It's really an exciting time to be serving!

Elder Lyons and Greg

Central Canada looks a lot like S.E. Idaho!

Elder Lyons chillin in his new trailor

1st snow!

Our one spot of bad news is that the family in McTaggart had a bit of a set back. Cory broke his ankle pretty bad, so one of our appointments fell through. The poor guy was in a lot of pain. But we'll get in touch with them, and hopefully set something up for this week.

Thanks for all your emails! It was great to hear from you! I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons