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