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