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

 

Good ole Weyburn!

So this week has been another interesting one. We are currently continuing to brainstorm creative finding ideas. Which is actually pretty difficult when all I've been encouraged to do in the past is tract. It's just different. It seems to be working pretty well, however. Before Elder French left, I had the idea about volunteering at the Salvation Army, so last week Elder Christensen and I went to see what we could do. I had my qualms about volunteering there because, well, they are a church. But I've knocked on the pastor's door about 3 times, and he seemed like a really friendly guy. And we also went with the branch to do the food drive in October. The branch knows several of the people, and they're basically the only consistent volunteers for the drive. So I talked myself into it. And it actually went really well. When I walked in, he recognized me, and they were actually just wondering how they were going to do one of their projects before we walked in. We volunteered, and he's going to give us a call when they're ready. And the branch is willing to help out, too. So it should work out pretty well.

 

Let's see, we also were able to get back in contact with some of our investigators. We have about 3 families that we are now currently working with. It's so much fun to be working with families. Weyburn is definitely the most I've ever worked with families. However, this Sunday there was some freezing rain which prevented some of our investigators from coming, and others had high fevers. Yeah....sort of one of those weeks. But we just have to keep doing everything that we can.

 

We've set up some appointments with new investigators, so there should be some progress going on with finding. Something that we have the branch's support with is holding a Book of Mormon Study class. We feel it will really help our investigators understand the Book of Mormon and strengthen their testimonies of it. And it's an opportunity to get to know members, and even a chance for members to invite nonmember friends. Some other things that we are contemplating starting are a ping pong night and a missionary prep class. We have a ping pong table at the church, and several of the members enjoy playing. It's something fun that members can invite friends to. And with the class, I think it would help out the branch because they are unable to have young men's and young women's activities regularly, so we could help give them an activity they could do regularly. We need to discuss these ideas with the branch, but we'll see what we can do.

 

Another creative idea we tried was volunteering at the animal shelter. Ha ha, I'm convinced we could have sold tickets to watch us in there. We were asked to brush these cats. Ha ha, so I grabbed one out of its cage and so did Elder Christensen. His cat was hiding under the row of cages for about 30 minutes, and mine was going to town trying to bite my neck. Ha ha, I'm sure we just looked absurd because I wasn't sure if we were going to volunteer right then, so we didn't bring service clothes. Oh man, I'm sure they just thought of what would look the most ridiculous for 2 guys in shirts and ties to do. They found it! I haven't quite decided if we will go back there. Probably, but we'll just come more prepared.

 

Well, for an update with Hedley and Brandy, their trip to Loyd Minister sort of set them back a little. Hedley is now preparing for baptism on February 23rd. But he continues to be committed and to make great progress. They are still as funny as ever. They've started right off with teasing Elder Christensen. They've welcomed him right in. It's pretty funny. Hopefully, we'll be able to help them in any way we can to be prepared to be baptized.

 

Let's see, I don't really have much else, other than that it's pretty fun to be driving again. The Cruze is sort of a weird car. I'm not going to argue with it, though. It's much more manly than the Cobalt. It's pretty interesting driving in a Canada winter, but so far so safe! Thanks for all the emails. I love you all!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

 

1-Sunrise in Weyburn

2-Comp chippin away at freezing rain

Life in Weyburn

So it's been pretty weird parting from Elder French. We were serving together for an eternity. The majority of the start of last week was spent packing, and for me it was spent cleaning. We met with Hedley and Brandy for Elder French's last time on Monday evening. It was pretty good. They're just so great. It's amazing to see how much they have come along in the past few months. Unfortunately, we have had to move his baptismal date back. But he still really wants to be baptized, and his new goal is the 23rd of February. We also went to the Tiefenbach's for one last time with Elder French. The Regnier's also joined us for supper. It was good to be able to spend some time with them. President Tiefenbach's a really funny guy. At one point during supper, Sister T asked him to toss something behind him on a table. He took it and just tossed it over his shoulder. Ha ha...it was just like a piece of tinfoil or something. So funny. Sister T didn't see it, but I did. And I just started laughing. So great.

 

Wednesday we had a few lessons, and then we were off to Regina. We met up with the other Saskatchewan elders that were getting transferred, and we stayed the night in Regina. Elder French left for Winnipeg on Thursday morning, and I spent the day with the Lewvan elders. It was pretty weird being in a tripan....and being in a city. I saw a few members and investigators that I met while I was in Regina, so it was good. Thursday night, the Manitoba elders made it to Regina, so I met up with Elder Christensen. We left Friday morning for Weyburn. I got to drive :) In a brand new car! Yeah it's a Chevy cruze, so I don't have to drive the girl car! It's pretty great to be able to drive. Just a little bit about Elder Christensen, turns out he's from the same town as Bart. A town in Alberta called Magrath. Elder Christensen's dad was Bart's vice principal in high school. Bart thought it was pretty funny. He said it was a good thing he wasn't too bad in high school, but he knows that office well. The branch is taking to Elder Christensen pretty well. Our investigators seem to be taking to him, too. Hedley and Brandy started right off with the teasing, so he's been initiated! He's been out a little bit longer than me. He likes sports and stuff, so we should fair alright. He's just been sick since Friday, so that puts a tamper on things. Hopefully he recovers soon.

 

This week Ashely walked to church again....and it was -40! She is really committed, but I'm a little worried about her safety. Hopefully she can become more familiar with the members, so she can be comfortable accepting a ride to church. She doesn't live to far away from the church but still.

 

I think that's about all I've got. I'm just glad that all of the traveling is finished for the near future. Traveling is really boring. It's better now that I get to drive, but I would still rather do other things. Well...I sure love ya. Have a fantastic week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

 

Hedley holding Kia, Brandy holding Sam

Gas station where they film a TV show in SK

Nacho!!

1-Hedley holding Kia, Brandy holding Sam

Transfers 1/14/13

So big news first, we got our transfer call on Thursday. I will be staying in Weyburn and welcoming Elder Christensen. Elder French is off to Celkirk, MB. I'm very excited to be staying in Weyburn. I will meet up with Elder Christensen most likely on Thursday. He has to come from Winnipeg. Hedley and Brandy have been gone this last week, but we will be meeting with them tonight. I'm glad that I get to stay for the baptism, but I'm also upset that Elder French doesn't get to stay for it, too. But we both expected that he was leaving. It will be pretty weird being with a new companion since we've been serving together for 6 months.

 

This week was a little slow. We had a zone training meeting on Tuesday that we were supposed to travel into Regina for, but the roads were bad. So we ended up just skyping in. Apparently we're supposed to be trying to get away from tracting being our primary source of finding. It's been a little difficult to do, but we're working on finding places to volunteer at and what not. We've really had to rack our brains though!

 

There was a couple of reasons that our week was a little slow. Because we had ZTM, we had most of our lessons scheduled for Wednesday after we would have gotten back from Regina. But I had the flu on Wednesday. It was really bad. I had to stay in the entire day, so we had to cancel and reschedule all of our lessons. I was really frustrated, but what to you do?

 

Snow Day!

All bundled Up!

Huge Reeses Cup! Mmm

Thursday, was a little better, but I was still pretty out of it. We did some service. We helped the Morrissette's paint. And we helped a less active member named Dave put up some drywall.

 

Friday was actually a snow day for us too. It really stunk because we were stuck inside basically all day. And we had just spent the day in the trailer on Wednesday! I was pretty mad. We tried to get out at one point, but there were so many drifts it was impossible. But we ended up helping another guy get out. He told us he was stuck for 3 hours. And he had a truck! Yeah, it was super windy, and it was white out conditions for most of the day.

 

Saturday night I got a phone call from Bart asking if I could give a talk on Sunday. He wasn't able to find another speaker to talk with Elder French. I was told when he asked Elder French that if they needed to fill time they could just call on me to bear my testimony, so needless to say I thought I had gotten off the hook. But he didn't give me a topic, so I just chose the easiest one for me: The Book of Mormon. I actually was able to take up 15 minutes. I was pretty happy of myself. And no one fell asleep either.

 

It was pretty neat, we went to see if Ashley and Peter were ready for church. We had planned to help push their car out. It had gotten stuck with all the snow. But it wouldn't even start. So Ashley and her 3 year old daughter walked to church! It was pretty cold out too. She's very dedicated!

 

I don't really have anything else. This morning we helped the Morrissette's pull out their old hardwood floor. It was pretty fun. We basically just did a bunch of service this week. Which is definitely good. Elder French is trying to get all the service in that he can, I think. But that's really all I've got for this week. I love you all! Hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

 

Pics 1-snow 2-half pound Reese's 3-all bundled up!

 

Great Year Already!!

New year's was pretty fun last week. We actually had 2 meal appointments. We went to the Regnier's at 5 and ate these South African taco things. It was a lot like Cafe Rio minus the heat (Canadians despise spicy). I really liked it because I've been missing Mexican food pretty badly. But I ate way too much. Then we went to the Abad's. They're a Filipino family in the branch. They had an absolute feast! I was so full! They even had like the whole fish with the eyes and the fins and the tail! It was Tilapia, so it was really good....well except for the first bite I took. I didn't know what to do, so I just cut into my piece and ate fins, scales, bones, and all. It wasn't fun. Sister Abad was practically in tears she was laughing so hard. Needless to say, I learned to go just for the white meat underneath all the scales and what not. After that it was much more enjoyable.

 

I got the package from the Sorpold's on Tuesday. It was really great. So much candy! I am drowning in it! But thanks :) I loved the picture Natters. That was really good. I'm afraid I didn't describe the belt, so I don't even think the one you sent is mine. Sorry about that. Don't worry about it though. The CD is great. I'm sure the BYU CD is some where in Meagan's room though. I was almost positive about that....I might be crazy though.

 

We had some pretty good lessons this week. Our lesson with Hedley and Brandy was really scrambled though. They were both really worried because Brandy lost the keys to the truck they were borrowing from a friend. So we decided to go help them look for the keys on Saturday morning. We looked for a while, and it was pretty difficult with all the snow. Brandy was even looking through the trash. She didn't like that job very much, ha ha. Finally, E. French got on his hands and knees next to the mailbox and started sweeping through the snow. Then, he found them. Brandy was very excited! Hedley was also very thankful.

 

This week we also helped a man we met tracting move a bunch of snow. He has a raised front yard, so we were removing a bunch of the snow from his lawn in front of his house in order to prevent flooding...if that makes sense. Basically we just moved a whole ton of snow! It was actually pretty fun. The guy was a bit older, and after we finished, he invited us in for hot chocolate. I was actually super sweaty because it was a nice day, only about -15 C. But it was really great hot chocolate. And his wife made some amazing chocolate cake! She sent us home with some cookies and buns, too. It was fantastic. Really nice old couple.

 

Sunday was a really good day. We met with 2 Filipino investigators in the morning before church. Sam's brother is a member back in the Philippines. He had some really good questions. Dianna also was very interested. They both came to church. The Abad's were very excited. They spoke Tagalog a bunch. It was neat. Peter and Ashley also came to church. It was a full house! It was really great to see that many investigators at church. The branch was really excited. Bart was actually conducted, so he was the first to bear his testimony. He started to talk about the missionaries, and how he was grateful for the chance he had to talk with Mom in person. He said that my siblings may appreciate that they get my room (yep that's you Meagan), but he could tell that you all really missed me. He shared that it really just hit him that I'm some one's son, and he really appreciates your willingness to loan me to the branch. Everyone laughed at the part about the room, but Bart seemed really impressed with our family. I just love this branch so much! After church Sister Regnier stopped me to tell us good job. She told me that she's been coming to more teaching appointments lately than she had on her mission! It was funny, but it's really great to feel the love and support of the branch. This branch is really full of golden people!

 

Oh one last thing before I forget: after we found the keys, Hedley invited us in for some hot chocolate. Sam tried to give me one of her lip gloss things. Brandy asked if it was the one that actually smelled good. She took a sniff and said that it was. She told us that one of the things that Sam has smells...then she paused and said, "Well....it smells like butt, is what is smells like!" I laughed so hard...oh man! I want to stay in Weyburn forever...but transfer calls are this Friday, so we'll see what happens. I love you lots! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons