I'm going back to France! Dunkerque

Transfers are coming again ALREADY!  Next week I will be leaving to France again! My new address will be:                                               Elder Lyons

                                                (les missionaires)

                                        150 Quai des Anglais N°125

                                               59140 Dunkerque

                                                         France

        Sorry my last e-mail was so skim, but hey, I got a camera and next time I can send some pictures of what will be my last ville! MAN this week has been crazy! Right when we start finding a good amount of people to teach, I get sent to another country! hehehe Oh life, gotta love it!

            Well, last Wednesday we had a finding activity in Bruxelles.  We switched companions for an hour and went separate ways to do some solid contacting! I went with Elder Curtis ,who was in my district in the MTC, whom I love very much. hehe  He is obsessed with animation and art stuff and if you ever got to meet him you'd think he was straight outta some cartoon! Well for some reason he was kinda timid ,so I led the way a bit ,even though I didn't know ANYTHING about this huge town. We went into some really sketchy parts of town and there weren't much people there but I figured I would just talk to all of them that were there. I stopped one guy that I don't think spoke much french.  He said he didn't really believe in God but I told him that's ok, I know there is a God and He loves us very much.  He has a plan and purpose for us. I learned a lot about Him in this book, (woop! pull out the book of mormon ) and you can learn about him and find many blessings in your life. He was more than willing to take it but he thought he had to give us something for it. He tried to give us a sandwich he apparently had just bought somewhere. I said," no it's ok ,its for free!" hehe  Funny guy ,but anyways we handed out 3 Book of Mormons to people we found and got their numbers all in the matter of a half an hour! We actually had to find different ways to contact people cause we ran outta stuff to give away!

           The book of mormon really is our most powerful tool and I have seen it change so many peoples lives! It's amazing to see how, even in just the first contact with people, when we explain the book to them and why we are here and how this gospel has changed our lives, they see that! And they know it is good and want to have it in their own lives and families! We are only 19 year old boys ,at least I still feel like I'm a boy sometimes, but yet many learned , older, and much more experienced people have been amazed at what we do.  The cool thing about that ,is that it really has very little to do with us! Yes, we have all worked really hard to be worthy of our calling (and I do not diminish our efforts one bit) but without God and His spirit, we can not do anything to help these people.  It is by His power that this great work is being carried and we get to be lucky enough to be a part of it, and participate in His miracles! Yes, I have seen miracles because God does not cease to be God! God was a God of miracles and He does and will continue to be a God of miracles! How else could boys and girls like me become men and women of God bringing so much happiness to a world that is fading in the dark! By the simple bearing of testimonies I have seen doubt turned to hope, fear turned to faith, bad habits turned to obedience, and inevitably sadness destroyed by an overwhelming sense of joy and light in the lives of many! I have not seen a baptism, but I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that many of the people that me and my companions have seen, and others, that havent made this step, will one day make it! For example, after today Hélène will become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! That is a miracle! I don't get to see it but that does not diminish my testimony one bit, only strengthens it!

        Well, I will have loads of time to write this week beings last week was taken up from being in Bruxelles.  The library is closed and that is the only way to do emails so......no e-mails next week but hopefully letters come your way cause I still think the post is rather sketchy!

                                                  Elder Lyons

January 24th

                OK,  I  got a new camera. Sorry it took so long, but there is nothing in Nivelle as far as stores go.  I got one today because we spent our p-day in Bruxelles.
                Ummm, I actually don't have much time to say stuff today so I will just tell you about the biggest thing that happened last Saturday. We were sent to stop by a less active couples home who had left the church a ton of times. Including asking to have their names removed from the church at one time. But, they been making some serious headway recently towards coming back to the church. They had  even started getting ready to go to the temple. Well two weeks ago they quit again because they had a problem with tithing. We planned on stopping by just to see how they were. Things looked bad! It looks like Chris had started to smoke again because they really didn't see a point in doing anything church related.  They said it was impossible to pay tithing and you can't go to the temple if you don't  thus, all hope is lost. They said, "it is just not right that you have to pay tithing before you can go to the temple."  I boldly testified that god gives no commandments without a reason.  That he gave the law of tithing not only to help "build up the church", but to get us to put trust in God and not in money. You might think it is impossible or hard but Christ overcame the world for us. Anything is possible with God. I almost gave up my life because I thought it was to hard. Christ saved my life, put trust trust in Him and you can accomplish anything!" 

           Well, I hope they heard us.  I got to go, so I will write y'all some letters. Miss you & loves ya lot's,

                                                       Elder Lyons

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may

We Found People! Gasp!

So first ,let me get random things outta the way! I got all the photos you made for me and I got the package grandma sent. I haven't opened it yet though, because I just barely picked it up!  Oh,  to whoever wrote me letters when I was in Le Mans and didn't get a response yet......it's because I am not in Le Mans anymore.  Elder Wood is sending those up to me and I will send y'all something soon..

           ANYWAYS, we have amies again! WOOOOO!!  The first amie is one that me and Elder Dystra found on exchanges.  We were doing pass backs (addresses of ancient amies that were dropped) and we knocked on someones house who hadn't been contacted for years.  Turns out that he didn't live there anymore so we were all like......WELL , we're missionaries and we talk to people about Jesus.  Can we come in and talk?  The man that answered said SURE!  So we taught this young African man a simple lesson on the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon and wham-o, a new amie! His name is Francise and he has wicked awesome dread locks! He is maybe twenty- two-ish and very open to our message! SO COOL!

            Later that day we had a rendezvous, on the same exchange, with an ancient amie who has participated in a lot of different religions,(except Jehovah's witnesses), she says they are not very nice. But this family was super nice and we shared another brief lesson on the restoration and how and why we need to know if it's true! The mom and dads names are Aimé and Jean and they have 4 kids!

           Then later that week we pounded the pass packs again and now we have a list of about 6-8 solid potential amies, who told us to return at certain times when they were available! YEAH, patience is the key to life I tell ya.  You just never give up and the results will come! They might come slowly, but they come "quand meme!"

            We had an awesome Stake Conference this week and our President and his wife were two of the speakers! They gave really inspiring talks about getting the members involved in missionary work! Later that day we took the sacrament to a super tight old lady with another member! We even sang a cantique (hymn) with her, Je sais qu'il vie mon rédempture ( i know my redeemer lives)  She was so pumped to have us. She gave a prayer at the end and I don't think I have ever heard a more spiritual prayer in my entire life, WOW! She thinks we were blessed for helping her out, but I could literally feel how much God cares for this special daughter of God.....and it is not just a little bit! I learned a lot that day and it reminded me of the good o'l days with Chuck and his sweet wife. BTW how is she! Tell her I love her and that I know Chuck has been watching out for me!

           I was also sad to hear that Sister Peterson passed away! They were always so cool when we came over with the sacrament!

               Well that is Nivelle ,and holy cow I have learned a lot! Every time I think I understand something or feel like I have reached my max, God just stretches and tests me some more. Sometimes I wanna say hey, stop it! or slow down, that kinda hurts....... then it's over and I am like.....OK so I guess that wasn't so bad, and I grew a ton..... thanks.  Then He does it again!

              There is an awesome scripture in .....Romans or maybe Corinthians. I don't remember, but it talks about Chastisement being evidence of Gods love for us. Paul is speaking and he makes a wonderful analogy to our earthly parents and says something like this," when your earthly father chastised you, you reverenced him and loved him. So how much more should you reverence the father of spirits!" Interesting concept, but when life is difficult that is when we should be the most thankful! This is where we grow, this is where we learn, this is where faith blossoms, and quite honestly the whole reason we are here! We came here to learn, and progress so we can enjoy the same blessings our Father has! We learn through experiences,  and yet we complain when we have them? It's like this: I want to be a great runner........but I don't want to experience any pain.....well then I guess you don't really want to be a good runner, because the only way to be great is by building up endurance, stretching and tearing muscles, and burning tons of energy! But look what happens when you faithfully do those things! Stretched and torn muscles get bigger and are strengthened, endurance builds and our body can withstand much more physically demanding tasks! But you have to break your body down to do so! This is all the Lord wants for us! He wants us to become stronger spiritually! So what does he do? He let's us stretch and tear some spiritual muscles and endure painfully long trials, and what happens? WE GROW! and if we grow? WE CAN ACCOMPLISH EVEN BIGGER THINGS! This process continues, and our faith emanates and soon our faith turns into the knowledge that when we see God we will know Him, because we will be like Him!

cest triste. P.S. Chris you will definitely be ready for your mission! Your like 500 steps ahead of me already!

          MEAGAN, AHHHHHHHH there is no one quite like you here...... I miss how spasmodically spontaneous you were .( ho ho  howd ya like them fancy words) 

         Rachel ,how is school goin', hows life and what is going on in your little girly head these days?

            Natters one of these days I'm gonna have to call you by your real name. Soon but hopefully not too soon cause I don't want you growing all up with out me.....and I can't spell natily....

            MOM AND DAD, how do you do it? We are too crazy and somehow you manage to control us .....(somewhat) and get us doing all of what we need to be doing.  That in itself is a miracle! Well I loves all of y'all and I will write y'all soon!

Loves Elder Lyons

Contacting and lot's more contacting

         First off, my camera is officially lost.  I think I am just gunna buy a new one because everything is so cheap right now.  I figured out the post and have sent some letters! OH, and I officially got my first letter since the MTC from one of my friends! Good ol' Sara Hegsted. he he (PS Belgium has tons of random street accordion players..... who can't sing, so it might as well be yodelling he he, in-side joke!)
           I loved Chris's email hahaha I miss your orangutan arms! I also loved hearing from Natalie he he. Shes so cute. Holy cow! When you sent me that Christmas picture I was SO surprised to see how grown up everyone is! SCARY! Thanks dad, I'm glad to hear everything is going so well.  Something I really have noticed about Pres. Finn's blessing is how I would feel my family's prayers.   Y'all must be praying really hard cause whenever I get discouraged, even the slightest bit, I feel an overwhelming love swarm over me! I also noticed how he he said I was gunna have to work REALLY HARD and EVERYDAY to find people.
              Me and Elder Fortuna have been working our tails off and haven't really found too much yet.  But if there is anything I could have taken from my preparation before my mission, it was that most miracles take a lot of cookin' to brew up! Patience is something I had to work really hard at before my mission and what I have learned applies to every aspect of my life! My art work, my ability run, enduring trials( such as many hospital visits), schooling, and most importantly missionary work! There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven that says, no one can be forced to enjoy the blessings of eternal life. We have to make a choice. I could proselyte all day, pushing for people to apply saving principles to their lives, but it all will inevitably fail unless someone makes a choice. What is that choice. Well, it is the same choice that we made before this life. The choice to follow God, and His divine plan, or to follow Satan, who tried so hard to take our freedoms away, taking the honor for himself in forcing all of us to obey his command. Life is so simple, the plan is perfect, but we like to make everything so stinking complicated! I cannot count the number of people that have asked us, why does your church have TW0 bibles.  If God exists why can't I see Him, or my personal favorite, that all sounds good and I know it helps a lot of people but it doesn't help me! GOD IS NOT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND. You have no need to do more than understand yourself to understand God! We are literally God's children, and if we listen to Him we have the divine potential to learn and become LIKE Him, if we obey His commandments. The wise counsel of John tells us that we can grow to understand God by keeping His commandments. Many people feel God is to foreign of a concept to try and understand. Well why don't you ask Him and get to know him yourself through prayer. The only problem in this world is that we don't understand ourselves! That is all me and any of my companions try to do when we talk to people on the street. We talk to them about families and testify of our Heavenly family, God Himself being our Heavenly Father! Nivelle is crazy small and I have seen a lot of the same people I have contacted already he he. OH if only these people new how much their Heavenly Father cares for them.  Then they would think twice before saying "ça m'interrese pas" before I can even form words on my lips!
       Well me and Elder Fortuna have gotten really good at stopping pretty much everyone we see, so if anyone is out there, we will find them! We have actually had alot of success in the area book and we are starting to fix some rendez vous there.  A lot of them have moved though, so we keep sending them as referrals to other places! We have also given 7 Book of Mormons out to people in the last week and a half, so I know we will see fruit blossom from there if we keep working hard!
      Well I will stop mumbling and tell ya a bit about Fortuna. He is kinda quiet, but is a funny guy who loves video games and anything to do with computers. He wants to be a computer programmer our something like that,( or the people who make video games). Some of those categories actually fall into animation stuff so he really likes art as well! he he.  He is kind of a nerd, but I love him to death! He has been an AWESOME example to me in diligence with our contacting! We might stink at explaining things in french, but at least we talk to everyone we can and do our best!
        Well thanks y'all for everything you do and sorry if my emails seem kinda preachy lately ......gotta preach to someone if no one here well listen he he jk! LOVES and KISSES  Elder Lyons

Nivelles

Bonjour tous!

 

       Nivelle is .......still dead! Ha ha.  Well, I take that back, we have a TON of less actives in our ward and we have fixed a lot of rendez vous with them. We have a lot of ,"actively reactivating the less actives", as Elder Clawson would say! We also have a ton of porting!!!!! Not so  successful but I am starting to get pretty good at squeezing my testimony into the 10 seconds most people give us!

         Ummmmm, we spent new years and new years eve in Bruxelles....or Brussels if your English, and we played a lot of soccer and basketball in the stake building.  I forgot how bad I suck at those sports, but now I remember he he.  Oh well, I was really good at the ........running part, and I was really good at stealing the ball part, but that was pointless after immediately tossin' up a clinker! Il était amusant en toutes façon!

          Well our district recently made a goal to hand out a ton more BOMs to people as a way of finding, and me and Elder Fortuna have gotten out three since last Wednesday so that was really nice. I know we are gonna see a lot of results from that!

       PMG really hits hard on focusing on the BOM and using it as much as possible. That book has changed my life and its amazing how it continues to do so! I have even seen it change the lives of others, which brings up REALLY AWESOME NEWS!!!!! I saw all of the other elders from my MTC district last Wednesday when we got our Belgium legality done! I talked a lot with Elder Wood, who took my place in Le Mans, and he told me some really good news!!!!!!!!!!!  For starters, Domitille has made some serious progress (who I normally referred to as Anne in my emails cause it was the name on the sonnerie/ (doorbell in french) she corrected us later) She was an old amie I found in the area book.  After I studied the area book prayerfully, me and Elder Crump decided to try and see her towards the end of the transfer.  First time we tried she let us in and she was SUPER SHY!!!!!!! Elder Crump felt SUPER awkward and didn't want to see her again. After our transfer was over I still wanted to see her and couldn't shake the idea of visiting her, so me and Elder Clawson picked her up again and we taught a really good lesson on the plan of salvation. She actually opened up to us and said she had been really wondering if there is a life after death because her mom had recently died. We taught her about the atonement and how Christ suffered not only for our sins, but for all of the emotional and physical pains we suffer. He was perfect and did not need to die but since he willing gave up his life in an incomprehensible act of love, he broke the bands of death making it possible for all men and women to ,in turn, conquer physical death. We all will be resurrected! We then talked about our sacred responsibility to keep Gods commandments because there is a spiritual death we need to overcome. Spiritual death is simply when we are separated from God and this happens every time we sin. However, the atonement conquers this death as well, but only on conditions of repentance and faith! We have a responsibility to follow Christs example, and though we are imperfect we can be perfected through Him when we repent! .....She really liked that lesson and we left her with some chapters to read from the Book of Mormon that explain the plan of salvation more and the atonement and to pray about its truthfulness! She always said she really loved our message but that she is catholic and doesn't want to change, so she wouldn't pray. However, she continued to open up more and more and the last rendez vous I had with her was with Elder Barrett on exchanges before I left for Belgium. It was very powerful and we hit really hard on the Book of Mormon and  how that was the key to knowing if our message was  true. It is either something Joseph Smith fictitiously created our he was inspired by God ,but there is only one person who can give her that answer, and that is GOD for He lies not! So....Elder Wood and his new companion went to see her recently and just got to know her anDomitile this? I testify that the Book of Mormon is not some concoction of the imagined feign! God Himself provided a way for this book to be brought into our time! Joseph Smith is a prophet, and by divine aid, he restored the fullness of the gospel again to this earth never to be taken away!!!!!!  Lots of other amies are also going really well and it sounds like Helen  wants to be baptised soon! WHAT?  Well, that is enough about LE MANS, but its nice to see what is going on after such hard work there.

        So in Nivelle we have also started to tare apart the area book to find old amies and try and reincarnate a few of 'em! I kid you not I made like 40 calls before anyone even answered the stinkin' phone! Finally I had the impression to call a random one in middle of the area book who hadn't seen the missionaries for 6 years! He was super surprised and excited to hear from missionaries again and was willing to see us, but you would think the Lord could save me time and just start out with those calls hehehe......yes I know it doesn't work like that!  It also turned out that he lives in Bruxelles now so we gave the referral to the Elders there! Blast! Oh well its all the same work! Love all of you  and sorry this was so long but I still haven't figured out how to get  post out yet ,so consider this my letter to ,y'all

Aime,

Elder Lyons