Farewell, Canada 1/20/14

Good News!

So after a ton of asking and asking, President finally granted my request for an extension! See you in March!!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

OK, so I thought I could fool you, but apparently not :) As I have clearly expressed, it's just very sad for me to see my mission coming to a close so quickly. It's not that this has been the best 2 years ever. I've had my fair share of challenges and difficulties. It certainly has not been a relaxing vacation. But, Dad is right, this has been the best 2 years for my life. I wish I had another way to describe it, but that's just truly how a mission is. I've had many powerful and poignant experiences this week that have just confirmed my overall feelings that I have for the service I have been privileged to give. So today, rather than share the many positive experiences I have had this week teaching, finding, serving, learning, and growing, I would like to share some of the most important lessons I have learned from the 2 years of experiences I have been blessed to have.

 

So here it goes: I have met and grown to love SO many people in the last 2 years. It has been so incredible getting to know these friends. Each one has touched my life and impacted me very powerfully. However of all the relationships I've gained, the most important relationship I have developed is the relationship I now have with our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. I don't have the words to describe the love that I have felt from our Father and our loving Savior. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers. I have a powerful testimony of personal revelation, and God's timing in that guidance. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. I am coming to know that its effects are far more vast and powerful than I could have ever thought possible. Christ truly has felt every single hardship, heartbreak, sorrow, and pain that I have ever experienced. And I am learning that with his help, I can overcome all of these complications and have peace restored to my heart. I am so thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us. I know that as part of that plan, God knew that we would experience challenges that would be more than we could bear. I know that that is why He, in His infinite love, provided us with a Savior. I know that He does not want us to suffer. We can all choose to overcome by choosing to use the Atonement in our lives. I am so thankful for the Restoration that has allowed me to gain this knowledge of our Heavenly Father's plan. I know that the church is true. I know God and His son, Jesus Christ live. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

 

PS. I love you! See you Friday

Working hard, definitely not hardly working!!

We had some really good experiences this week. It's been great. A lot of what we've done has been serving members. You see, we've done this thing where we love and serve and it generally results in us teaching. Let me explain, back about a month ago we called a member in the ward for some help. (I can't remember what. Sometimes I feel like we're kind of needy). She was very helpful, so we asked what we could do to help her family. She just laughed and said, "you can come and shovel my walk anytime." So we did. She didn't expect that we would, and anyhow, long story, short, we got invited for supper and the rest is history. We just saw that it was a very effective way to get to know members and to have opportunity to be in their homes. Elder Beacham and I love to show that we will do what we say we will do. So we've been just shoveling walks and clearing driveways of members who need the help. haha, and this week we got caught almost every time! So we got invited to supper unexpectedly, and we were given opportunities to share messages. So good! I love it! This ward is amazing, and we've really gotten to know some great people!

 

This week we were able to teach Dami again. I think I told you about him. He's studied a ton of religions, so he has a very high level of thinking. It's been great teaching him. He had a junk load of questions about the Book of Mormon. We were able to help him get answers to all of them, and he is just in love with the Book of Mormon. It's great.

 

We had quite a few positive teaching experiences this week, but I just want to talk about one in particular. Tuesday evening, we were teaching a less-active member we've been working with named Cory. We were helping him to read in the Book of Mormon, and we started to talk about the Atonement. He didn't seem to understand or believe much about the Atonement. At one point, he made the comment, "maybe I've gone too far from the path." I testified that there was no where too far away for the Savior to reach him. He looked at me and said, "that's powerful." When he said that, the words to the hymn 'Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd' came to my mind. "Will you not seek for my lost ones?" With those words came the assurance from the Spirit that I was doing just that. That I was seeking those that were lost and bringing them back to the fold. This was such a powerful and timely experience for me. I know that the Atonement is real, and that Christ is calling us to come to Him. And then he is calling us to help others to do the same.

 

The rest of the week went well. We had a ZT

More Sun dogs!

Sun dog

M to plan and execute which is always a pain. But I've had some experiences that have definitely changed my life. I love it here!

 

I love you all! Thanks for your letters and prayers. Have an great week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

1/6/14 Survival of the most.... Insulated??

So it sounds like all of you have heard that it's been pretty crazy cold this last weekend. The temperature ended up dropping to about -51 with wind-chill yesterday. Because of the extreme weather, church was actually cancelled. So that was kind of weird. It was for sure a smart thing to do, but still I've never heard of church being cancelled because it was too cold. Anyhow, I've included some pictures of some of the cold weather phenomenon. Enjoy :)

This week was pretty good. Earlier on this week, it was only about -20 or -25 C, so we were out shovelling a bit. We completely demolished this one driveway that had about 6-8 in of packed snow and ice! It was a lot of work, but it's resulted in us teaching the less-active family we did it for. Totally worth it.

We also shovelled for a couple we've been referred to. Same story, lots of packed snow. But Mike and Doris invited us in for pizza because...well they caught us shovelling. It was super good homemade pizza, so I was somewhat glad that we got caught :)

We had the usual crazy meetings and exchanges to work with this week. But something super good that happened this week is that we took a priest named Garrett out with us for most of the day on Saturday. We taught Charlie while he was with us. It was a pretty good lesson. Charlie is super funny! We set a baptismal date with him! Whoo!! He's loving life, and is really progressing. So we're excited for him.

I'm afraid that's all that I've really got that was out of the ordinary. Like usual, I'm sure tons has happened, but unfortunately, I'm sick...and quite out of it. I'll have to fill you in some day on all the experiences that I've had. Love ya tons! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Sun Dog

Sun Dog

Elsa

Ian and Aaron

Holiday Madness!!

So this last week was super fun. On Christmas eve, we went to the Rouse family's home for supper. It was amazing. Bro Rouse has a ginormous Christmas village. I took a thousand pictures, but you won't be able to see them this week because I forgot my cord...I know. After supper, we met up with the rest of the district and went carolling to a few of the members and investigators in the ward. We went carolling to Charlie. He absolutely loved it. It totally made his night. It was great.

 

We spent a few hours on Christmas day at the Hamon's. I'm pretty sure that I told you about the Hamon's, but just a reminder, they're the best. I thoroughly love my life when we're at their home. Anyhow, after we skyped we hung out and watched a movie...which is super weird by the way. I didn't really watch one last year, so that was a new experience. We had lunch, which was amazing!! I was so full! But Sis Hamon called me a lightweight, so it's apparent that my eating capacity may have decreased a bit. Bro Hamon served his mission in Denmark, so we took part in a Danish Christmas tradition. It's called eat rice pudding til you puke. The object is to be so ill, that the thought of food is repulsive. That's really what the goal is, but Bro Hamon told us that the object is to eat all of the pudding until the one and only whole almond is found. Here's the catch: there's quarters and half almonds and even almonds with just a tiny wedge taken out of them. So it's a real mess. And turns out that you don't even have to tell everyone when you've found it. I got onto that really quick cause I thought I found it early on in the race, but I didn't know about the stupid wedge thing. When push came to shove, Sis Hamon found the stupid thing in her first bowl....and she kept it a secret until Elder Beacham and I were about to explode. Anyhow, the prize for the winner is something ridiculous like more food. That's just what I want after I've downed 20 years of pudding. I'm pretty sure they made up the whole prize thing. I think their prize was seeing us in pain. The best part was after we finished the pudding we had apple pie and ice cream, ha ha. So good!

 

We had exchanges and everything this week as well. It was just a crazy week. We had some good lessons. Charlie is super close to having a baptismal date. He's progressing quite well. He's a funny guy. He was at church yesterday and enjoyed it. We also had a lesson this week with Ravi. He is the one that is from India. He had never shovelled snow before. So he shovelled snow with us this week. Pretty sure he enjoyed it. It was good to be able to talk with him a bit more. As we taught him, I realized there's more of a language barrier than I thought. He's only been here for 4 months. And also, he is very firm in his beliefs. But it was good to teach him, and he's still open to learning more.

 

Yesterday we were able to teach Dami for the first time. He was the man that we helped shovel his driveway a few weeks ago. He's a great guy who's lived just about everywhere. But I think it's safe to say that he's from Nigeria. It was a pretty good lesson. We met with him at the church just after church was finished. So he actually bumped into one of the members that he knew. Dami had no idea that Bro Terry was a member. But we had Bro Terry join in with us. Dami's really open, so it will be good to meet with him again.

 

Anyhow, that's pretty well all I've got for this last week. I'm sure lots more has happened, but it's a blur for me. I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Merry Christmas!

This week has been really crazy with zone conference and exchanges and everything that was happening this week. Zone conference was great. I got to see the missionary I trained! It's been 6 or more months since I've seen Elder Burnett! It was so good to see him, and to see how much he's changed. He's really so much more positive and happy. It was so good to see. It was also really sad because that was the last time that I will see a lot of my friends in the mission. It was a combined zone conference, so it was the last opportunity for me to see them this transfer. It's so weird that things like that are happening.

We've had a lot of amazing things happen this week. Members being amazing and taking great care of us. We've met some really great people. And we've been able to see some of our investigators beginning to change their lives. It's really an amazing time to be serving.

I just want to share my testimony that Christ lives. That he invites us to come to Him just as he invited those at Jerusalem and the Americas in times passed. Although we cannot come to Him physically today as these people did then, I testify that we can come to Him today by living his Gospel. He has taught us and showed us the way to come to Him and receive His strength, peace, and comfort. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, so that we may all have the opportunity to experience the blessings of the Atonement. I know that the Atonement is real. While it does not change our circumstances, it does something far more powerful and lasting. It changes us. This is my testimony, and I share it with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love you all! See you on Christmas!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Me and Elder Beacham

All our junk food!

Joseph, one of our members kids!

Transfers are Over!!

This week was absolutely insane! Transfers are never fun, but due to winter conditions, travel in now prolonged. So that means we have to find places for thousands of missionaries and make sure that they all get sent off in the right places. Let's just say that there was a lot of yelling this week. It's kind of nice cause sometimes there's some pent up feelings that I get to vent while instructing everyone to please put their stupid bags in the vehicle if they want to leave. But, needless to say, it's been a bit of a stressful week, and I'm glad that it's over. That should be the last of the big transfers of missionaries coming in. So we'll no longer have to deal with thousands of missionaries coming in and out of our zone.

This week has actually been a really good one though considering all the distractions we had. We've been able to get to know a few more of the members, so now I almost know every person in the ward. I should've known them all sooner, but I feel like the people I do know, I know quite well.

We've had some really good experiences this week teaching less-active members and investigators. One was on Saturday with Charlie. We helped him understand the Apostasy so well. It was as clear as day to him. It was amazing! The Spirit was really there as we testified of the Restoration! At the end of the lesson, we invited him to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. It was so good! His prayer was so sincere.

Another amazing experience we had happened yesterday. We were driving down the road, and Elder Beacham just says, "hey let's stop and help that guy." There was this guy out trying to clear his drive way of the 3-4 in thick ice all by himself. We helped him get it all done in about 20 minutes. We talked with him as we worked. His name is D

ami, and he's from Nigeria. After we finished his driveway, he said, "I'm going to go ask my neighbor if she needs some help. So she came out and we talked with her a little as we cleared her driveway. Meanwhile, his neighbors on the other side had come out. Elder Beacham was talking with them, and it turns out that one of them is a less-active member. He said we could come back. Then, as we were finishing up, Dami invited us into his home. But, unfortunately, we had to get off to an appointment...that we were late for already ( I felt super bad!) But Dami said we could come back any time. He said he'd love to learn more. It was the best! And, he has a family! Yeah!

Anyhow, that's about all that I've got for today. I'm just lovin' life here in Regina. I'm super glad that I get to stay. It's going to be an amazing transfer! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

 Pics: 1) Elder Beacham and I
          2) Elder French (former comp) and I
          3) Charlie Brown!!!

Transfers!

This week was a crazy one. First off, I was super anxious because I didn't want to be transferred right before Christmas. Luckily, I was busy enough this week to hardly think of it at all. Anyhow, we got the call, and we're both staying. So I am so happy!

Anyways, like I said, this week was insane! We had to plan a zone training meeting....which was quite difficult actually. Usually they're not that rough. But it was good. We had an early morning temple session before, and we had some members help us again with the role playing. It was really good, and we learned a ton. As we were practicing and preparing before ZTM our ward mission leader helped us out tons. We role played with him. Bro Remington served his mission in England which means he's practically perfect, ha ha. He gave a ton of helpful pointers, so it was amazing.

ZTM took up a lot of our time this week. Other than that it's been freezing cold! We've been shoveling a junk load of walkways, so I had to buy some more heavy duty mittens. My hands were about to die! It was good, though. We helped a member family that really couldn't do it themselves, so they really appreciated it. It was good to get to know them a little better, too.

We've done a decent amount of teaching this week as well. It's been a little tough, though because most of our investigators are university age, and it's finals time. So that's been a bit of a struggle. But other than that, we're just trying to help our investigators overcome their crazy challenges.

The gospel's true! I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Meetings, planning, exchanges, headaches!

This week was another crazy one. We were on exchanges from Monday evening to Thursday evening. It was insane. I didn't even have time to think! Well, here it goes. Monday was really good. I was on exchanges with Elder J. Garner. He is form Utah. He's a super funny guy, and we learned a lot. We had an interesting experience Monday evening. I got a call from one of the missionaries in Swift Current, and he asked if I could give a member from the branch a blessing. Sister Trifaux was rushed from Swift to the Regina General because they weren't liking what the saw with her heart checkup. When we came to visit her she was as chipper as ever. She's an upbeat lady, sorta like Grandma Lyons. Never would've of guessed she was having health struggles. We gave here a blessing, and we were on our way. It was nice to see her again...but not so much to see here in the hospital.

Our next exchange was with the Assistants. I exchanged with Elder Pickett. He's from Declo. He's a funny guy. He's pretty much just like Hyrum. So we got along quite nicely. Not much too crazy happening there...besides that he totally forgot how to make KD. Ha ha...

Anyhow, we got taken care of for Thanksgiving weekend...even though I pretty much forgot it was even Thanksgiving.

We had some powerful experiences with some of our investigators this week. One was with Nicole and James. We haven't been able to teach them consistently....well, ever. But this week their lives just fell apart! And the experiences that they've had are just helping them realize that they need to take the gospel way more seriously. Nicole just kept saying that if they would be living the way they knew they should, they would be feeling tons better. It was an eye opener to hear from them how they were feeling. I'm impressed with how they are reacting to their challenges. It's amazing to see them really reaching out for the gospel!

Other than that, we've just had a junk load of meetings and planning which has lead to terrible headaches. Not fun. But after this week, things should quiet down as far as meetings go...whew!

Well, I sure love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Grey Cup!!

This week was another crazy, eventful one. Monday we took the car in to get the window fixed, and then Tuesday morning we were on the road again. We made it out to Yorkton and spent all day there. It was a good exchange with the elders there. I learned a lot. Especially about finding. It was a good experience. Hopefully we were able to help them out a bit. We were really focused on helping them work in unity as a companionship. Yorkton's a great place. There's a lot going on out there.

We had a few good lessons with Charlie this week. He's moving right along. He just struggles because he lives alone, so he's just a lonely man. But he's starting to cheer up a bit. So that's been good to see. We also had an excellent lesson with Jack. We made strides in helping him understand the gospel! We asked him at one point what he understood baptism to mean, and he told us that he thought it was something that would "purify" his heart. It was amazing! He's really starting to understand a ton more.

We stopped by this man named Stan that we helped with some yard work about a month ago. When we stopped by his two roommates, Troy and Carla, were there as well. And, man, they are prepared. As a result of the service that we did, they are so kind and open towards us! They told us we were welcome back any time. Troy even made us chili! They have all had super rough lives and are receptive to learning more about the restored gospel. It's going to be great teaching them! And that chili was incredible!

So this week was the Grey Cup. It is the CFL equivalent to the Super Bowl. And...it was here in Regina last night. And the Saskatchewan Roughriders won. So the town was nuts! There were cops and...yeah, we live in downtown where all the hotels and what not are. So it was just crazy all weekend. We could hear the noise from the stadium 20 blocks away! Yeah, so it was a noisy night last night.

So that's the crazy week. It was another blur, so I'm afraid I don't have too many details. Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Birthday Breakfast!!

This week was pretty crazy. We had some good lessons with Charlie this week. He is still learning and progressing very well, and he was at church yesterday. He loves church! The ward is really good at making everyone feel welcome at church. So he's had some really positive experiences. We also had a great lesson with one of our investigators named Bodie. I can't remember if I told you about Bodie.. so If I have you can tune this next part out. Bodie is a student at the U of R. He is currently majoring in Religious Studies. He is a very smart, young guy. He's very open minded. He loves the Book of Mormon, and he's just making sure that he's ready to make the commitment to be baptized. He's a great guy, and I can see him being a kingdom builder for sure!

We had some really different experiences this week. I'll start with Thursday. On Thursday morning, we went out to the car, and well, there was a huge hole in the window on the back door. All the glass was completely shattered and just about broken in to the back seat. Nothing was stolen. Someone just wanted to be dumb and break a window. Ha ha, one of the best parts was when I called to file a police report. The lady asked me what my date of birth was, then she said, "oh, happy early birthday." Yep, happy birthday and have fun driving in the snow! It has been pretty interesting not having a back window and driving in a Canadian winter. Luckily it's been pretty mild lately.

My birthday was super good. The Hamon's invited us over for birthday breakfast. It was amazing! Personally, my favorite part was when Sister Hamon brought out the cake and everyone was singing happy birthday, including Kasper ( who is almost 3). And then, this is the best part, Kasper and his sister Elsa helped me blow out the candles, ha ha. Turns out I actually needed the help. I don't know if you knew this, but I'm awful at blowing out candles. It was kind of embarrassing actually. I'm pretty sure little Elsa blew out more that I did. And she's not even 2! It was an excellent banana cake. Totally made my eternity! I was super happy. So don't worry, I was beyond taken care of!

That's about all I can remember. Like I said it was a bit of an insane week again. But I sure love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Take a Deep Breath!

This week was pretty much insane! Tons of stuff happened, so it sorta feels like it was a month. We had tons of meetings and planning to do, but we survived. I feel for  Elder Beacham because he literally had all of the responsibilities of being zone leader thrown on him in one week. But he did so good! It was great to be a part of it! So first on the list was MLC. President and Sister Thomas came to Regina, and we broadcast the meeting from here. It was great to see President and Sister Thomas. They are some of the best people I have ever met! The meeting was a bit overwhelming. There was a ton of instruction and information to pass on to our zone! And the fun part was that we had to have it all organized and planned by the next day...Yep. We had MLC Tuesday, and we had ZTM on Wednesday. Usually we have a few days to prepare and get everything figured out. It was nuts. But it was a great meeting. It was so much fun. We actually invited members to help us practice our teaching. They were excellent! They helped us out so much! Their evaluation was spot on with the instruction President Thomas wanted us to pass on. It was a very instructive and spiritual meeting if I do say so myself!

So that's how the first week of this transfer began! It was even a little overwhelming for me! But I loved it. One of the highlights of the week is that we got to go to the Hawke's for supper. I had never been to their home for supper, so it was an excellent opportunity. Their family is so good! They have a son named Jude and a daughter named Sadie. They are both under the age of 5, so it is so much fun to be around them! It was great to be in there home.

In other news, we had a man named Ravi come to church for the last couple of weeks. He was a turnover from the other elders. He is a champ. He's from India, and he's in the masters program for computer science at the U of R. One day we called him, and he said that he was too busy to meet. So Elder Wilson invited him to church (this was before he left). Ever since, Ravi has been coming to church. We gave him a tour of the church before sacrament meeting started yesterday, and we just talked about Jesus Christ. It really seemed to peak his interest, and now he's making time to meet with us! Before he left, he told me that he would be at church every Sunday. It caught me a little off guard, but I'm am super impressed with his commitment. It's really incredible. Hopefully he continues to learn and progress.

We had a pretty good week for teaching, but this week will be tons better because we won't have any crazy meetings to plan for. Elder Beacham and I have been teaching pretty well together. So I'm sure that with more experience that we will see a lot of success.

Well...that's all I got. I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder C. Lyons

Madness!!

So this week was just insane. At the start of the week I think that Elder Wilson and I were just in denial that we were going to be separated with transfers. We sorta just kept working like nothing happened. Then, on Wednesday, the day before he left, we realized that he should probably start saying his goodbyes because he would definitely be leaving. We crammed all of the goodbyes into one day! We even had breakfast with a member family. The Hamon's. They're the best. I've never felt more anxious in my entire life! We were literally flying all over Regina, and we were late to every appointment. It was a sad day. Most of the people we said goodbye to were tearing up. It was the worst! It was super hard to say goodbye to Elder Wilson. We've had tons of fun, and we worked really well together, too. It was just nice to be serving with someone who was as relaxed or more relaxed than I am. Elder Wilson really kept everything in perspective and did not overstress. Anyhow, the time came, and we had to say goodbye.

This week has actually been pretty good as far as teaching goes. Elder Beacham is from Southern Utah, and he works super hard. I love that about him. We really haven't missed a beat. He just jumped right in! We are still adjusting a bit to our teaching styles, but I can see that when we become united we will do incredible!

Ha ha, Elder Beacham's second full day here in Regina, we helped out at one of the most ridiculous moves I've ever seen. The lady was a less-active member who had been kicked out of her home....due to failure to maintain a healthy living environment. It was pretty gross in there to say the least. Anyhow, there were about 5 members there helping, and we had 2 companionships of elders. To make things even more exciting, the landlord came by a couple times to yell and swear at us and make sure that we knew that we were doing something "wrong". It was interesting. The neat thing is that one of the members, Bro Tondevold, talked with him the second time he came around. Bro Tondevold was completely calm and even had the landlord calmed down in a matter of minutes. It was incredible. The landlord walked away like they were best friends! I couldn't believe it! This ward has some truly amazing people.

We had a crazy Sunday! We had a few new investigators come to church for the first time. One is our investigator named Charlie. The other we've actually never taught. He was a turnover from missionaries in another ward. We just called him and invited him to come to church, and he came. His name is Ravitesa. He's from India. Ha ha, so we have a pretty big Gospel Principles class. (That's the class for new and returning members.) And it just so happens that for our investigators first Sunday, the lesson was on the law of chastity. It was slightly awkward, but our investigators still want to come back, so it must not have been too traumatizing.

 That's about all I can think of from this week. My brain is still recovering from transfers. But I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Transfer calls!

Aye Aye Mate!

Stake Activity!

So first things first, this week was transfer calls. I will be staying here in the Wascana Ward, and I will be welcoming Elder Beacham. He came out as the same time as the missionary I trained....and that's about all that I know about him. He's spent all his time on the other side of the mission. So I haven't talked with him much at all. I'm super happy that I get to stay, but I'm really sad to be losing Elder Wilson. We've had a ton of fun together, and we really work well as a companionship. So it will be a hard adjustment. But I'm excited for him. He gets to open a new area in Manitoba. It should be a good change for both of us.

This week was crazy. I am so tired from everything that we got to do. At the start of the week, we drove out to Yorkton to go on exchanges with the elders there. During our exchange, we went out to a small town called Kamsack which is a part of the branch. We went out to some of the native reserves to find some less-active members. It was amazing! The people were so nice, and I could see a lot of growth occurring in that part of the branch. That night, a member invited us to stay the night at his house. Brother Blowers is the one who makes all the work in Kamsack possible. He sets up lessons for the elders, drives them around, and lets them stay in his home. He is the nicest and most thoughtful man I have ever met! It was an incredible experience to be in his home!

This week we also had a few service opportunities. We were asked to help out at the temple baptistry. It was so much fun. And it was also 10 times better because the Regnier's were the ones who were assigned to work there that morning! So I got to spend some time with them. While there, I had some powerful spiritual experiences. It was a great opportunity, and I'm thankful that we got asked to help out.

We also helped out with a stake activity on Saturday. It was a lot of work, and the members really needed our help. I was glad that we could help out and ease the burdens for them a little.....There's really no way to explain this without it being weird, so here it goes. We had to dress up as pirates. We were "instigating" the entertainment, but clearly we know what the truth is. And we were handing out the prizes and what not. Essentially, all eyes were not "supposed" to be on us, but seeing as how we were the only ones dressed up as pirates, we got a little bit of attention. It was a little embarrassing, but I'm glad we could help out... even if it was in a bit of an unusual way.

This week was a bit of a crazy one, but hopefully things can start settling down for us. I'd really like to be able to focus a bit more on those we are teaching. Our zone has split, so we won't have to be out of town as much. That will be a blessing as we work to build our area in the coming transfer. It should be excellent once the dust settles after transfers this week. So...yeah. That's all I've got. I love you all! Have a great week!!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Let it Snow!!!!!

So we woke up this morning to some snow. Pretty amazing. It's still lightly snowing, and it's starting to accumulate a bit. I love Canada! The winters here are crazy!

This week has been pretty busy. I sorta lost my mind progressively as the week went on, so this will probably make zero sense. But we started off our week by going out to a small town called Odessa.  A member family invited us out for thanksgiving. It was super good! Go figure, I ate myself into a stupor....cause that's what we're supposed to do. It was nice to be taken care of over the holiday weekend.

Tuesday was super fun. I went on exchanges with one of the missionaries in the ward. His name is Elder Barton. Basically, he is a carbon copy of Mark Parry. So what I'm saying is we should be companions at some point. We get along super great, and we just taught in unity with the drop of a hat. It was amazing! It was great to have a learning experience with him and to provide what training I could. We had a lot of good discussion, and it was great to get to know him better.

Wednesday morning, we got a random call to go help out the senior couple in Carry the Kettle ( I know Canadian names). Carry the Kettle is a native reserve. So they needed our help to get their trailer placed. Yeah, trailers! I'm basically a trailer trash missionary, so that's probably why they called me....OK they were desperate for help. We had to dig a trench underneath the trailer for the electricity line. I tell ya that was something else to get done! We had about 3 feet of space to get under there, and then we still had to dig. It was crazy, but I'm glad that we could help out.

We had some great experiences finding and teaching this week. I just wanted to share one amazing thing that happened yesterday. We've continued teaching Cory this week, and his lessons continue to be some of the most spiritual of my mission! During sacrament meeting, I noticed that he got up and left with tears in his eyes. While we were teaching him after church he explained why. He said that as he took the sacrament, he just had memories flood into his mind of when he was active. He said he felt an overwhelming sense of love, AND he felt his testimony coming back! He said that it was now clear what he had to do to get back on the path. The Spirit was so strong as he told us about his experience. It was incredible! I know that obedience is the key to allowing God's power to take effect in our lives! This was just another testimony builder to me that God will bless us when we do what he says. It's amazing how simple and profound the gospel truly is!

I love you all! Thanks for your love and support! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Turkey Day!

So as you may have gathered, today is Canadian Thanksgiving. This ward is amazing, so every day so far this weekend we have had a turkey supper! And we have one tonight. It's the best! I'm going to be so fat.

Anyhow, this week has been a little tough for us as far as teaching goes. We've had a ton of appointments fall through, and investigators have just not been committed. Or they have moved out of our area. Or they are just no where to be found. So we gave it one last focused effort to contact and teach everyone this week. Now, we've decided it's just time to build up our teaching pool. It's sad to have lost touch with so many great people, but we'll keep trying with them. However, our focus will be on finding those who are prepared to act.

Well, that being said, we had a great week working with a less-active member named Cory. He just moved from Winnipeg, and he's amazing. He works doing drywall, and he reminds me a ton of Hedley in Weyburn. Teaching him has been incredible. I've had some of the most spiritual lessons of my entire mission with him. He just wants to change, and his life has been pretty tough lately. Great guy. We really look forward to working with him.

We also had some good success working with members this week. We volunteered to help Bro Cardona with his landscaping. He was really impressed and put us right to work. It was super tough, but a great way to spend a morning. Bro Cardona is an amazing man, and it was a great opportunity to get to know his family. They fed us lunch after, and well, they're Filipino. So it was amazing! Bro Cardona's granddaughter, Gabriana is a doll! She is 3 years old, and she is so funny. Apparently, she needed to change out of her school clothes. So when we first came into the house, she came up to Elder Wilson and said, "I'm gonna to go to my room, and I'm gonna get naked!" Elder Wilson told her that he would be staying right where he was, so she could go do that. Then she told him, "sometimes I run around, and you can see my butt!" Ha ha, Sister Cardona (her mom) was the best. She just told her to make sure that she didn't tell the missionaries all of her secrets. They're an amazing family. They are very missionary minded and just love to serve and help others. It was great to be in their home.

That's pretty much all that I have to report for this week. It was a challenging but good week. I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Numb Bum!

So this week was absolutely insane. We only had a day and a half in our proselyting area. It was ridiculous. I've never sat on my butt more in my life. OK, that's a lie, but still. By bum was completely numb by the time it was all over!

So this week we started off with exchanges in Moose Jaw. We drove out Monday evening and spent the day there on Tuesday. It was so much fun. I was on exchanges with a brand new missionary from Germany! His name is E. Frenkel, and he is my new favorite! He is so amazing. It was like he had been out a year! I was doing his training in the morning, and he was basically thinking 'duh' the entire time. It was so fun teaching and talking with people with him. They would ask where I was from, then they would ask where he was from. They didn't care about me from that point on, ha ha. But he's an excellent teacher, so he's going to do a great job. Plus, he's got an excellent sense of humor. The man is obsessed with fruit loops. Apparently, they don't have those in Germany. It was even the terrible, cheap Walmart kind that leave a wax coating in your mouth and a terrible aftertaste that won't go away no matter how many times you brush your teeth! But the man loves them.

So we got back from Moose Jaw, and Wednesday was zone conference. So began the butt sitting. There was a lot of it, believe me! But it was very informative, and we learned a lot about what we can do in our area...if and when we have time.

I learned so much from General Conference! It was amazing to see how much was focused on missionary work. I have been inspired to be even better and to step up in areas where I am weak. One thing that I loved is something that Elder Scott said. He said that weakness is different than rebellion. I feel I have mixed those two up a ton on my mission. I beat myself up a lot for the weaknesses that I have thinking that I am turning completely from our rebelling against our Heavenly Father whom I love completely. But really, these weaknesses are just a part of our mortal experience. Something that brings opposition that, If I humble myself and turn to God, will only make me stronger. This is much different to the view that I had previously. And it has helped me to feel a lot better about the challenges that I have. Conference always makes me feel so good! I know that our Heavenly Father speaks to us today! I love you all and thank you for listening to my ranting each week! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Fiesta!

This week was a bit of a slow one as far as teaching goes. We had a lot to deal with, but that's no excuse. Elder Wilson and I have talked a lot about it. And we both feel that we are better than we've ever been on our missions. We've really been working hard, and my desire to serve is SO high right now! It's just been a little tough to fit everything in with all the responsibilities that we have.

We were able to go on exchanges this week in Swift current. I love that place! It was just pouring the entire time! We were so drenched. I was with a relatively new missionary named Elder Binning. He's a champ. We had a good time working. We were knocking a few doors, and we talked with this really nice lady. It seemed like an average contact to me, but after we were walking away E. Binning said, "Well that was the longest I've ever been able to talk with someone." He was pretty excited. That's my favorite thing about exchanges, helping missionaries do things that they don't even think are possible. It's the best!

Anyways, our investigators have insane lives, so meeting with them has been a challenge. But we have had some success this week working with members. We've really been making that a focus lately. It's really hard for both of us because we are the 'old school' type missionaries who like to knock on doors and let the members do their own thing. But there's a better way. We've really been making an effort to get to know members and see how we can help them to do  missionary work. Mostly we've just taught members as part of meal appointments. As a positive side note, we got fed Mexican food this week! Twice! It was so good. The Wood's are an amazing family. They are a young family, and they made us fajitas. And the Remington's are also a young family, and they made us Cafe Rio burritos.. yeah! It's been so much fun getting to know them and seeing how we can better work together.

This next week is going to be very busy. We are going to Moose Jaw tonight, and we will be there all day tomorrow. And Wednesday is zone conference. And then it's general conference. I'm excited for all of it, but I just might lose my mind!

I love you all! Thanks so much for your support! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Grey Skies and Thunder Thighs!!

This week it's really cooled off a ton. It's starting to get colder. It's exciting! I love the fall.

Anyways, this week was so insane! At the beginning of the week, we went out to a town called Yorkton. It's northeast of Regina about 2 1/2 hours. It was a unique experience actually. I thought I had just about seen it all, but Yorkton and Melville are pretty nice places to serve. We had some good exchanges. We learned a lot and provided some timely training. It's been neat to see how much we all can learn from exchanges when they're done correctly. Anyways, Melville lives in a house! They have a house all to themselves! And they have a piano! It's crazy. There's about 5-10,000 people in Melville. I would love it there! The church building they use is a little different. I think it's the basement of a business or something. It's so amazing!

This week with transfers...to be honest I think I lost my mind! We are literally the middle ground of the mission, so everyone passes through us. Coming and going. We had to billet 13 missionaries in Regina on Wednesday night! Every apartment had 3 additional Elders. It was a headache. And of course, the train is never on time. All the missionaries didn't get here until about 10:15 PM. Then, we saw them off to Winnipeg at 5:30 AM the next day. It was a long day on Thursday. We had to send them off Thursday evening to Saskatoon. It's always a mess.

Let's see....for lesson this week, we were able to teach Mike and his family again. Mike is a great guy. He is super excited about church. He just wants us to help him to change. They had us over for supper again. They are so nice. It's been a miracle teaching them.

Something super embarrassing happened yesterday. We were eating supper at the Terry's. We were sitting out in the living room, and I was about to sit down on the couch. I was making my descent with ice cream cone in hand. Then the unspeakable happened, there was a gunshot like pop....and I blew out my crotch. Yep, it happened. And to top it off, the sisters were sitting across from me. One of them saw the whole thing, so she completely lost her composure. That made it difficult to keep the matter on the down low. So, yeah, there's now about a 2 inch hole in my pants. Never going to live that down. Pretty dumb. I didn't even think that I had thunder thighs!

That's about all that I've got for today. My head's gonna explode. Love ya! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Transfer Calls!

So this week was absolutely insane! I can't hardly remember what's happened. But anyways, as the title denotes, this week was transfer calls and.....I finally get to stay!!! Elder Wilson and I both get to stay together. We're super excited to have another transfer! And it works out with transfer travels that we'll get to see my mtc companion. All the group's together again! Alright! But yeah, we're stoked about transfer calls.

Early this week, we got to eat supper at the Hamon's. This is a highlight because they are just about my favorite family in the ward....OK, I'm not supposed to choose favorites. But they're my favorite. It was so fun to be at their home. They have 2 kids that are both under 2 1/2 years old. They have a boy named Kasper and a daughter named Elsa. They are so cute! They pretty much speak their own language. I can't understand a word they say. But the Hamon's love good missionaries. So they love us :) They volunteered their home for us to teach. It's a pretty big deal. They're amazing.

Also, this week we got to go out to Bishop's farm to help him out. We just went as a district. We pulled a junk load of weeds! Their kids were out helping us. They have a daughter named Vivian, she is 4 years old. She is so funny! She had us laughing the entire time. She's a lot like Natalie. She asked us what our names were, so we told her. I was with Elder Campbell at the time. She said his name like Elder "Camel", so she asked, "why do you both have animal names?" She's such a doll. It was so much fun to work on the farm! The Walter's have bees that make them honey. It was super good! Yeah!

We also got to teach the family from BC this week, Alicia, Mike, and Gord. They invited us over for supper. It was really good! They even had some more friends over that were not members. After supper, we taught about the Restoration. Mike is a champ! He's been investigating for a year solid! He loves the church, but he just hasn't gotten his answer yet. But he is so close! We can just tell.

We had another baptism for our ward this week. Our ward is on fire! There are so many people being brought into the fold! It's really neat to be a part of it. We also had supper with our ward mission leader and his parents. Bro Hawkes and Sis Hawkes and their family are so great. They are really involved and active in the gospel. They are so helpful and loving. It's the best!

Well, that's about all that I have for this week. Just remember that I'm staying here, so get ready to here some more amazing miracles! Love ya! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Shower of Blessings!!

This week was probably the most insane week of my life! We had exchanges early on in the week. We went out to Carry the Kettle ( I know you'll appreciate that name) to bale hay (which was an amazing experience). We prepared and presented a zone training meeting. We went to the temple. But, most importantly, We went to Weyburn to BAPTIZE! It was the best day of my mission. When Hedley and I saw each other, we were just speechless. I teared up a hundred times that day. Standing in the font, I had one of the most powerful feelings I've ever had in my life! I will be a changed man forever! Hedley has changed so much! I could just tell by looking at him that he was ready. So amazing. And Elder French came from Alberta to be there. I have never been more happy in my entire life!

So I would like to tell a little bit of a back story that will help you understand how much this baptism means to me. As you could probably tell, Saskatoon was a bit of a trying time for me. So at the pinnacle of my struggles, I prayed to ask if what I was doing on my mission was even helping the Lord at all. I prayed that I could be done with mediocrity and accomplish miracles for Heavenly Father. Shortly, after that prayer, I was transferred here to Regina. There have been many miracles that have happened here since that day. But the biggest one, of course, was being able to be close enough to Weyburn to participate in Hedley's baptism. I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of me. He has heard every prayer I have ever offered. I am so thankful that he has magnified my meager efforts in order to help His children. This is truly the Lord's work!

One of the miracles that happened this week was that we came in contact with a family that has moved from BC. They have been searching for the church for months.  Alicia saw the APs at the A&W where she works. She gave them her info, and we contacted her. Her husband, Mike, is not a member. Her father, Gord, is a member. And they have an 18 month old boy named Gabe. And they all came to church! We are going to be teaching them! In addition to them, just about every investigator we had texted us yesterday morning to tell us they were coming to church. We had a total of 9 investigators and less active members at church! It was insane! It was such a good day!

That's about all that I've got time for, but I sure love ya! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Elder Chris Lyons, Hedley, and Mason French

Cowboy Elders!

Elder Lyons, Hedley, Elder Reay, Mason French