So this week was been pretty different. We had a super long drive to get to Winnipeg. It was the worst leaving Weyburn. Tuesday night was the last night that I got to teach the Crowther's. It was by far one of the toughest days of my mission! Brandy made me a cake. It was really good. I'll send pictures later. I accidentally forgot my cord. Brandy said the closing prayer. She was choking up....yeah that didn't help me out any. But at least Elder Call is in Winnipeg with me. It was good to catch up with him. Actually my whole MTC group is in the city, so it's pretty neat.

 

Winnipeg is a whole lot bigger than Weyburn. It was so bad, I basically just got handed the keys and had to start learning everything. We got lost at least 20 times the first day! It was so frustrating! But on the bright side it helped us both to have a spiritual experience early on in our companionship. We got lost for maybe the 15th time, and we were trying to get back to the apartment. Elder Burnett suggested that we pull over and say a prayer. We did. I felt much better....then we got lost again. But this time a man walked up to the the truck (yeah we got a truck!) and gave us directions. We must have looked obviously confused.

 

So you may have gathered, my new companion's name is Elder Burnett. He towers over me and stands at 6'6". He is 19, and he is from Goodyear, Arizona. So, yeah, it's been super warm this week, and he's dying! ha ha...poor guy. I've been serving with Albertans, so it's weird to hear someone complaining about the cold. Basically the best description I've got for Elder Burnett is that he reminds me a lot of my cousin Steven. So he's pretty great. It's a challenge training though. It's weird having to explain everything I do. "It's not that complicated you just put the toothpaste on your toothbrush"...ha ha, okay, it's not that bad. But I guess a lot of missionary stuff has just become second nature.

 

Whitewashing has also been a challenging experience. Along with getting lost driving around, I'm a little lost with who we should work with and what not. Yesterday, some homesickness for Weyburn hit really, really hard. I love Weyburn so much, so it's been rough adjusting. But there's some great members. I just have to give it time, so I can get to know them.

 

One neat thing that we got to do this week is the English study class we have. I got to teach English. It was really humbling cause I learned that I'm awful at teaching. I'm afraid it was a bit like dry toast for my students, ha ha. Still a good experience for me. It will be good being able to work with other missionaries and be able to get some more ideas and what not. But that's all I've got for today. I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Transfers!

So we got informed about our calls on Thursday at our zone meeting. The assistants stood up at the end and announced them. I will be going to the Waverly ward in Winnipeg. And I will be training. I was really, really upset when we were first informed. I was basically in tears. I will be in the same ward as the assistants and President and Sister Thomas, so one of the assistants came up to me and asked me if I was excited. I feel bad cause I told him flat out NO. He asked me why, and I told him it was because, I really, really do not want to leave Weyburn. So after that I had a flood of people that came to try and cheer me up. Senior couples, assistants, zone leaders, and even President and Sister Thomas. But it's still been really tough. It was the worst when I had to tell Hedley and Brandy. Hedley's initial reaction was, "well that sucks." To which I replied, "yeah, it really does." He was actually the one who said it was time for me to get tied up underneath the trailer :) It was pretty funny. But....it will work out. The elder coming to replace me is really great. Hedley's not too excited to be stuck with 2 Albertans at once, but hopefully he can adjust. I told him to just throw out as many Alberta bashes as he could the first time he meets Elder Gordan.

Training should be interesting. I haven't put too much thought into it. I will also be whitewashing the area, so that should be a good challenge. It's funny, the ward mission leader in Waverly actually reads my blog. Hi Brother Steinbush! I will look forward to getting to meet him. Hopefully I haven't made any negative impressions.

But I had a really neat experience as I was feeling all depressed after our meeting. I had planned to call Kerry (hope you remember her) while I was in Regina, so we could visit for a minute cause it's been forever since I last saw her. Anyways, I had way too much on my mind, so I totally spaced it. Until we were driving back to Weyburn, and we passed the turn off to get to her house. I was even more frustrated at this point, but I kept going onward. Then we turned into this parking lot so we could fill up before we took off, and I saw her! She was walking to her car, so I pulled over. And I got to talk with her, and I got her address :) I thought that was pretty neat. Just a reminder that Heavenly Father's watching out for me!

Some other big news that happened this Sunday is that Dave came to church! He is an inactive member who has not been in about 15 years! We've been working with him for about 5 months, so it was really good to see him. I thought that was a really special last Sunday. He even stayed for potluck. But wait, it gets better. His home teacher was supposed to be out of town, but he ended up being able to come. So he saw Dave there, too! I wish you could have seen his face when he saw Dave. He's been working on him for years. Nice guy, Bro Shugart. He's from Northern California, and he served his mission in Quebec. So he's gotta be a nice guy :)

A couple more interesting things that happened this week...We volunteered to help out with an activity at a care home....ladies' club...yeah, we got teased a little. But it was super good to help out, and it was a really neat way to meet people. And they want us to come and help again...well, not me :( But we also tried to do a church tour on Saturday..yeah, no one came. The most exciting thing that happened was when the ambulance drove by, ha ha. But we didn't really advertise well, so it was somewhat expected.

Well, I will be leaving on Wednesday morning :( Don't worry I'm already starting on the goodbye pics. I'll make sure to send them all next week. Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder C. Lyons

Feelin' the Love!

So this week was really good and challenging at the same time. We drove up to Regina again on Tuesday morning for a zone training meeting. (It was another white knuckle drive, but that's beside the point.) We were challenged to think of a new finding idea and make plans during the meeting of when we would try it in the coming week. So we've been organizing a church tour for this Saturday. We hope to invite many of our current investigators who have not been to church, and we have also been trying to find an effective way of advertising our tour. Pretty difficult actually. But we've got some pretty solid ideas, so hopefully we'll have a decent turn out.

 

I've been really excited this week because we've been able to get in contact with some of our investigators that we haven't heard from for a really, really long time! We've also been working on meeting with this Filipino man named Eddie. We've stopped by and called pretty steadily for about 2 1/2 months now. We finally met with him on Saturday. It was really great! There is a bit of a language barrier, so we didn't really get to teach much. He understands English well, but new words are difficult for him. Anyways, basically he just opened up and told us why he let us in. He lives on the a few streets down from the church. Every summer he takes his son on a bike ride and rides by the church. He told us that every time that he sees the church that he feels in his heart that he wants to go. It was crazy! But he said that he is super busy. We are going to invite him to the church tour and see what happens!

 

We had some good lessons with Hedley and Brandy this week. Hedley is really starting to get frustrated. He wants to progress, but it's just hard for him to change. It's amazing to see how far he's come. I feel that he's so close to being ready. I can't wait to see him take those steps. It's really neat, Brandy's starting to come along, too. That family has changed so much in the time that I've been here. I'm so grateful to have been a part of it! Hedley actually said that the one day Elder French and I came to help him out on one of his construction projects has completely changed his life. I'm so glad that we followed the spirit that day! It's pretty neat, their anniversary is this week, too.

 

This week we were also able to figure out a service opportunity at one of the care homes in Weyburn. We had scheduled to meet with the activities director, so we walked in and everyone was directing us on where to go. It was great....cause I have a tendency to get lost sometimes. When we figured out where we were supposed to be, we asked for Patty. This other lady looks at me, "I recognize you, you've knocked on my door before." Yep, everybody recognizes me. It's pretty great. But Patty was super nice, and she seemed happy to have the help. We will begin helping out next week.

 

Let's see... Hedley got called to work at 1:00 AM on Sunday, so yeah, he didn't make it home until 6:00. He couldn't make it to church. You can see a bit of why he's frustrated. And Peter and Ashley ended up going to Regina earlier than we thought they would, so they missed church, too. Really sad. It's really starting to make me sad that all these great people miss out on the blessings of coming to church.

 

On Wednesday, we get to go to the Regina temple. And on Thursday morning we have another zone meeting with the assistants and President and Sister Thomas. It should be good driving conditions on Wednesday I've heard. But sadly, this transfer is a week shorter. I guess because missionaries only go to the MTC for 2 weeks instead of 3. So my mission is now a week shorter...yeah thanks a lot for squashing my dreams! Anyways because of all the hoopla, we will most likely be getting transfer calls on Thursday. I'm completely stressing out about it!!! I really, really, really do not want to leave Weyburn! But the odds are against me :(

 

But that's as much as I've got for an update. I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

So this week has been pretty crazy. Last Monday I got to drive into Moose Jaw, which would have been more of an enjoyable experience if I could see more than about 15 feet in front of the car. We were driving in the evening, and it was super foggy! It had also warmed up a little, so the roads were a little messy. Let's just say that it was a bit of a white knuckle drive! And I like to think that I'm a pretty laid back guy. But that's enough of that, I don't want to stress Mom out :)

 

We actually got to stay over an extra night in Moose Jaw because there was a pretty serious snow storm going on. Travel was not recommended on the highway back to Weyburn. We made it from Swift Current to Moose Jaw alright, but it was really bad at times. So we made an executive decision to stay in Moose Jaw. The District meeting in Swift was good, but it was a huge sacrifice of time (2 days) for a 2 hour long meeting!

 

Oh well, we made it back to Weyburn on Wednesday morning. Brandy was pretty worried about us, so we had to text her when we made it back safe. We taught them that evening, and it went really well. Hedley and Brandy told us more of their concerns, and we are now going to be better able to help them progress and prepare for baptism. We taught about tithing, and they like the idea and are willing to pay tithing. So that was really good.

 

This week was a bit rough with investigators being sick or busy, but we were able to find some new investigators. We were able to teach a single mom and her son. It was really good. We shared about the Book of Mormon and both of them committed right away to reading it. It was great! They really understand why we're there. It's should be really great teaching them. They are all about family! Their names are Melanie and Dustin.

 

Something interesting that also happened this week was that we were invited to have supper with an inactive family that has basically told the branch that they aren't coming back. So...yeah, I was interested to see how it would go. They allowed us to share a thought and everything. It was good. They seemed to enjoy it for the most part. They were both very friendly and everything. I was impressed. I sort of expected them to be counting the minutes until we left. But I guess I was wrong. Their daughter is active and is preparing to go on a mission, so that probably makes the difference.

 

I don't really have any other updates. I'm racking my brain, but it was a bit of a slower week like I said. Hopefully we don't get caught in Regina tomorrow. We have a meeting there, and we have good amount of appointments this week that I don't really want to miss! It should be good.

 

That's great for Natalie. I hope you had a great B-day Natter's! I love ya lots!

 

I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons