Spring???

Pictures at the Royal Canadian Mint!

The Royal Canadian Mint

So this week was a little slow at the start. We did some spring cleaning in the apartment (much needed), but it was not that much fun to do while being sick! I still felt pretty terrible on last Monday, but I was on the mend and pretty much recovered by Wednesday. I was a little tired on Thursday, but I feel that since that time I'm back to myself. So there's the update. Yes I did buy some medicine at the pharmacy. I would have used my allotment card, but I lost it a few weeks ago. So long story short, I finally got the replacement card last Monday, but it only worked once. I called and asked if I had any money. I had plenty, but the card had been reported as lost/stolen...again. So I am again without a card for another 2 weeks. And, needless to say, with just E. Burnett's card....we were low on money. But we've received some extra money, so we should be good for the next few weeks. Just a mess though.

On Wednesday, we ate supper with a member family, the Smith's. They have 2 little girls and one little boy. Abby is 5, Natalie is 3 or 4, and Jared is 18 months. And they are adorable! Natalie was sitting next to me, and she would just look at me with her big blue eyes. Oh, man! If I have daughters that cute, they will have everything they want! There's no way I could say no to that face! Anyways, sometime during supper, Natalie scampered off. Apparently she had gone to the washroom cause we just hear this faint yell, "Dad?"......

"What, honey?"...."Will you wipe my butt?"

"you can do that on your own, honey"...."But I want you to do it."

"What if I don't want to do it?"......"Mom?!"

It was super funny because I've gotten into the habit lately of teasing E. Burnett any time he's in the washroom: Mommy, will you wipe my butt? And it was even more funny cause who did I get that from? Nobody but our very own Natalie. All sorts of back stories there. So I was dying. Hopefully Bro and Sis Smith were not embarrassed. They didn't seem to be. But seriously, their kids are the best.

Most of this week we've been advertising for an English class we're starting tomorrow in downtown. We actually just got a call this morning from someone who's interested in coming. So all of our flier placing and inviting is paying off! Oh, which is some of the money I spent. It was for packing tape. Some, well, most of the pharmacies here are combined with post offices. But it was fun walking around and talking with everyone in downtown. It was super warm! It even got up to the...60's I believe. If my conversion is accurate.

Zone Conference was fantastic yesterday! Elder Foster is a really nice guy. Of course, cause he's from Idaho! But it was a very instructive conference. It was mostly about working with members. He provides some very timely advice and counsel. We are already putting it to practice. We'll see how it works!

Also, something that you may be interested to know, we ate supper at another member's home yesterday: the Crowton's. Brother Gary Crowton is the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' offensive coordinator. Bro and Sis Crowton are very, very nice people. Bro Crowton served his mission in Korea. I even got to eat with chopsticks again. I have to say, I'm starting to get alright with chopsticks! He sorta intimidates me though. At one point during the conversation, he got very animated and slammed his fist into his palm. The whole table shook! And I was starting to wish I had some brown slacks ;) Very good members, though. It will be exciting to get to know them more.

I can't really think of anything else. I love ya! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Sick Again!

This week has been pretty rough for me. I've had a wicked, nasty cold all week. This is the first time in a long time that I can remember losing my voice. I couldn't even talk all day yesterday. So you can imagine how easy it is to do missionary work when you don't even have a voice. Pretty frustrating. But it gave E. Burnett ample opportunity to talk and teach more.

 

Well, when it rains it pours, and on top of being sick, we've had a family that we've been working with drop us. So this week has been a little difficult that way as well. To be honest, I've been pretty frustrated lately. But I keep my head up and keep working. One thing I've learned on my mission is that whining does not accomplish a thing! I don't want to do it, and I sure don't want to hear it! So I'm not going to dwell on any of the negatives this week.

 

We've had some positive experiences teaching some less-active members. There's really a ton of potential in this area. So many of the less-active members we've contacted are just waiting for the help to come back into activity. Also, on Saturday, we were able to help a nonmember in our area to move into her apartment. She is related to a member family in another ward in Winnipeg. Apparently as part of the deal for us helping, she has to listen to us. She they're going to call us and set up an appointment. She seemed like she wasn't actually being drug into it; however, she did inform us that she is an unlikely convert. Very nice lady. We'll see what happens.

 

Well, other than me trying to teach without a voice, that's about all that I've got for today. I love you all, and I will email on Tuesday next week....I think. We have zone conference on Monday. Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Rollercoaster! April 15,2013

This week has been another crazy one. Last Monday Elder Burnett sprained his ankle pretty good. I didn't think it was going to be that bad, but then he showed me....yeah, it was pretty gross. I've got some pictures :) The poor guy landed wrong when we were playing basketball. So he's been pretty sore for the last few days.

In the last few weeks, we've really been focusing on contacting and meeting with as many less-active members as we can. We've had quite a few positive experiences, and we've met several families who are interested in meeting with us. We met with one man from Chile this week. His name is Bro Ruiz. He's a pretty funny older guy. He's got a very thick accent, so it's hard to understand him at times. I look forward to meeting with him in the future. We met a few others this week, and hopefully we can help them take the steps to coming back to church.

We had a good appointment with Shengtuo and Amy. They're both way too smart, so their questions are difficult to answer at times. If there wasn't a bit of a language barrier, I'm pretty sure it would just be ridiculous to teach them. They are super nice, so hopefully we can help them strengthen their understanding of the Restoration.

Our English class was really fun this week. A Chinese family came. They had the cutest little boy. He was shy, so he'd just stare at you. We would move around, and he would just follow us with his eyes. I'm pretty sure he was just thinking, 'crazy white people.' It was pretty funny.

I got to give a talk on Sunday about missionary work. It was pretty interesting. I've given a talk in every area I've served in. I just can't get away from it for some reason. It was a good opportunity for me to learn. I was feeling to well on Sunday, though....I seem to be doing a bit better today, though. Also on Sunday, this guy just walked into church. His name is Vincent. It was pretty incredible, one of the assistants and I both talked about how people are prepared to receive the gospel, and in walks a total stranger to everyone. Pretty neat. He stayed for all 3 blocks, too.

I'm pretty sure that's about all that I've got for this week. I sure love you all! Have a great week!

Spring in Canada!

Fried Rolo's

Elder Burnett's ankle

Rotten Eggs??

This week was actually a really busy week for us. We had transfers this week, so that means that 15 new missionaries came into the mission. One of them is Miss Idaho. I didn't meet her, but apparently she's from Ammon. Another is 18 years old, but he is 6' 9"! I barely make it to his chest! But the most exciting thing is that I met the other Elder Lyons for the first time! He looks absolutely nothing like me. I'm actually referred to as the Blondie Elder Lyons....anyways, he's a great guy. He served in Weyburn, so we had a good chat.

We also met with a part member family this week. Amanda is a member, but her husband is not. Currently, he is not very interested. But they have a 9 year old son who is a champ! He has a strong testimony, and he is asking his mom a lot of questions. Which is why she's decided she wants to have us over. We had a great lesson about prayer and our Heavenly Father. I'm really looking forward to working with them. They are a great family.

We've also been contacting and hunting down a ton of less-active members! We have been able to contact quite a few of them, but many of them have moved. We met with a member who hasn't been active for quite a while. He's expressed a sincere desire to make changes in his life. I'm excited to keep working with Robert. It's been exciting to contact and work with less-active members. Many of these members have friends and relatives who are not members, so it's clearly where we need to be spending our efforts.

Conference was really great! I love the counsel I receive every time without fail. So in between the Saturday morning and afternoon session, we ate lunch with our Chinese investigators, Shengtuo and Amy. They made very, very authentic Chinese food. They're Chinese and they made food. It was really good! But there was this ominous looking dish that looked like a pile of white cubes with black chunks and green spots. They told us it was tofu with eggs. Sounds pretty normal... wrong. The eggs had been buried in the ground. Then, after they take a nice dirt nap, they go digging for them and cook them! And I ate it! Let me but all myths to rest, it was disgusting! I don't want to be rude, but it's the truth. The funny think is that it wasn't the flavor. The texture was just off. It's solid in your mouth for all of a second, then it's instantly peanut butter! So I'm eating this tofu (if you want a good picture of what happened think of Robert eating the tofu turkey in Everybody loves Raymond), and I played it off like it was no big deal :) But other than that, the day was not that out of the ordinary. 

That's all I've got for today. I hope all of you enjoy the nice weather down there. I love looking at the shots of the conference center. It always surprises me, "wait it's spring?....Oh yeah, I'm in Canada. That's why it looks nice down there." Have a great week, and I love you!!

Love,

Elder C. Lyons 

Conference Again?

This week was really good. We got to know the ward much better this week. We had a supper appointment every day this week except for Saturday! It was great to be in the members' homes and feel of the Spirit there. It was an excellent opportunity to get to know everyone better. Getting fed this much almost makes me feel like I'm back in Regina, so I'm probably going to get obese again, ha ha. We don't have a scale, so I'm not going to worry too much about it :) We actually had lunch and supper with members on Friday. I ate way too much. I felt like I was going to explode pretty much the entire day long! But it was really good because we got to eat supper with the bishop. I feel that we are really strengthening our relationship with him. We have been trying to do all that he asks us to do very, very promptly, so that he will have trust in us. So far so good.

 

Another meal that was really good was with the Aquino's. They are Filipino, and basically, they cook the most amazing food on the planet. We had sweet and sour fish (pickerel to be exact) and some sort of pork. It was so good! It's been a really fun experience to get to know all the members.

 

This week was a little bit slower as far as lessons go because people were sick, and of course it was the week of Easter. We did manage to have a lesson set up with an investigator named Jeremiah. We meet at the library cause he's not sure if his roommates will like us. We went to the library, but he wasn't there. So we started to look for him, but we never found him. So as we were walking down the stairs, the fire alarm went off. Everyone starts to look at the 2 guys walking down the stairs wearing dark, conservative clothing. Yeah, we didn't look suspicious at all! Long story short someone pulled the fire alarm or something, so our lesson wouldn't have worked out anyways.

 

We had a great lesson with our Chinese investigators, Shengtou and Amy. They are so excited to learn. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are now really curious about how the Book of Mormon and the church came to be. Now that they've learned more about Christ and why we need him, I feel they will really understand the importance of the Restoration. I'm excited to continue meeting with them.

 

Our English class was really fun. We had five new students! Wei was from China, Ken was from Africa somewhere ( I think), and there were 3 girls that I believe were from Korea. Their names are hard :(

 

On Easter, we went to the Widtfeldt's for supper. It was really good. We had ham and potatoes. Kinda like at home, but not quite. It was really fun. They have some adorable little kids, so they're fun to be around. Other than that, Easter wasn't really that far out of the ordinary. I did get the package. Thanks so much! I love those mini Cadbury eggs. They are my weakness for sure! Thanks for the clothes. I guess now that I've compared the new with the old, my stuff has gotten a little worn out. But nothing major. It will be nice to have a nice bright white shirt, though! I love you all! Enjoy conference ( can't believe it's already here) !!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Easter

This week has really flown by. Most of the week we have been working on contacting some of less active families the ward has given us to contact. We have talked with nearly all of them, and we gave the report back to the bishop. He seemed very impressed. I feel that we are really starting to gain the trust of the ward. I had several really neat experiences as we were contacting less active families. One of them was on Wednesday evening. We were told to contact a less active man named Israel, but he doesn't have any information in the directory. So we called his parents in another ward to get some info. They told us to stop by their daughter, Amanda, who is also less active.So that's what we did on Wednesday. The neat thing was that it was even our plan to stop by. Our primary fell through, so I felt that we should stop by. Ha ha, the first thing she asked us was, "who sent you?" She is super funny, and we set an appointment to meet with her and her nonmember husband this Wednesday. She also has to little boys that are very active. It's going to be really great meeting with them. On our way out she looked at her son and said, "Grandpa has been saying we need to go back to church." I'm excited to help them do it.

 

There are several other less active members that have told us to try back and have also set appointments with us. One of them we met yesterday. Also not our primary plan. But I felt it would be a good time to stop by. Brother Ruiz let us in. I asked him how his day was. He told us it was very bad because his wife passed away only four months ago. We will be meeting with him later this week to help him feel the peace and comfort that only come from our Heavenly Father. He is preparing people. The ward is really helping us find them! We are going to do all we can to help the ward with their own missionary efforts. That's the only thing that's been working for us.

 

English class was really interesting this week. We had 2 Chinese people there this time that did not speak hardly any English. I didn't teach them. But they were really friendly. So humble, too. I would never be able to do what they're doing. We also met with one of our investigators who has been really busy lately. His name is Jeremiah. He's from Ethiopia. He's really great. The entire time that we read from the Book of Mormon, he was connecting it to verses in the Bible. He's really going to start progressing soon. I can see it!

 

This week we had a meeting with the zone leaders and Pres and Sis Thomas. It was for all of the missionaries in training. It was very helpful. We had a portion of the meeting where trainers and trainees split up for discussion. It was comforting to hear that the other trainers are having the same difficulties as me. Yeah...training is the hardest thing I've been asked to do in my life! But the meeting was really helpful.

 

I'm pretty sure that's all I've got. I love you all! Happy Easters!

 

Love,

Elder C. Lyons

Hold on!

This week has gone by really quickly. We've been getting a lot more appointments set up and things to do. This week we will be really busy! It's really exciting. It's been super tough to get to this point, but I'm glad that we got here! The ward has given us a few names of less active families to work with. I love working with less active members. I think that's my favorite thing about serving a mission. I had a really neat experience as I was calling a family in a different ward to get some information on their son who lives in our ward. I guess that they have a couple of kids in our ward that are less active. As I was thanking her for the information, she said, "no thank you for helping us bring our children back to Christ." It was humbling for sure. Every once in a while I get those wake up calls. Keeps me focused. I like it :) We have plans to contact one of the families this week with our assistant ward mission leader. I'll let you know how it goes.

In addition to working with less active members, we have made a lot of progress with an investigator named Tara. She really loved the last missionaries, so it's been tough for her to adjust. But we've been working on her! She came to a baptism on Saturday, and now we will be working on setting a date for her own baptism. She also had a pretty crumby day on Thursday or something like that. So we brought her jello ( she really loves it. I told her she should move to Utah). Yep...I used my baking skills. They worked. She likes us now :) Well, it wasn't just the jello, but still.

Let's see....what else happened....we've been trying to contact all of the former investigators. Especially those who stopped investigating because they were busy. And they are truthfully busy. But we got in contact with one more of them. He's the last one that we will try, and he's still interested. So that's pretty great! We also ate at a family from Guatemala's house. It was super good. They are a funny family. I was laughing the entire time. Picture a Hispanic Cox family. That's basically them. It was like walking into a real life Nacho!

We also got to serve at a homeless shelter with the ward this week. It was the same place we were at last week, but we didn't different stuff. It was really good. We got to know some more of the ward. And it's a really great place to serve. I guess one of the ward members overheard some of the volunteers talking about Elder Burnett and I. I guess they like us. Woo! Probably cause we're clueless. It was basically like the first day of school. I was pretty confused. But apparently good things happen when I'm confused.

English class this week was really neat. We had 3 new students show up! One of them didn't speak a lick of English. It was out of control! I wasn't teaching him though. He was an older Chinese gentleman. I was teaching a man from Korea, a few ladies from India, and one lady from Sri Lanka. Yeah...it's really diverse here. Oh yeah, and there was a member of our ward there to. He's Filipino. If you want names here they are: jimbau, bhupinder, kulwinder, komodu, and Bro Aquino. Now you know why names are tough for me, ha ha. It was a super neat class.

Sunday was good. Tara was at church. So was James. He's the recent convert we've been meeting with. There's really some great members in the ward. Pretty solid week. This week should be good too. Have a great week. Love ya!

Love,

Last night in Weyburn!  Boo Hoo

Downtown Winnipeg

Elder C. Lyons