Opposition in All things!!

Hey Y'ALL

 

       As always, I will get little stuff outta the way. Ummm yeah, if letters didn't come it was because I sent them out today and not last week.  Sorry, I have been a little busy. Also, The dentist appointment will be covered and I am not sure if it will be too bad.  I am not even sure exactly what is wrong or if anything is wrong with it yet.  I think that is all for little stuff.

      This week has been extremely tough. It is already halfway through the transfer and we have had lot of success.   I think some really amazing things must be coming up though, because we have been nailed with opposition up the wazoo! First off, I have started to have that stupid not sleeping business start up again, like at the MTC. Plus I have had the flu or something like it.  Our money was not  reimbursed yet, and that  made shopping for food a bit more difficult.   There are a few less active families that seem to think we are God and can fix all their problems.  We have been trying to help a man that was planning to kill himself, and I had to plan and give my first district meeting.   ALL this was mixed in with, twenty amazing rendezvous and miracles, a super successful church activity (that brought a few new investigators), and a very tired Elder Lyons.

      I guess I probably need to explain myself now. OK, So the week started out normal with a super nice P-day, until we tried to pull out money for groceries.  Alas, it was not there but we called the bureau and they said it would be there soon.  We just scratched the food thing until later in the week and had a normal P-Day for the rest of the day.  We went exploring around and saw the castles and all that jazz.

    Then we had family night, which is held every Monday at our church, and I had to give the thirty minute lesson. I gave a lesson on missionary work and how missionary work is really spelled C -H -A -R -I -T -Y ! Than I proceeded to give experiences I had had thus far as a missionary. I told about the challenges I have had, how I got my testimony of this church, and how to share it. The members were very touched and we even had our amie Isabelle there, and she loved it!

     Tuesday......was different. It started out super awesome!  We did some contacting and met a really awesome lady that had taken the wrong bus and had gotten lost and wanted to come to church.  We did have to climb mount Everest to get there but it was definitely worth it.

    Later we headed to Beebee's house. The member who got baptized when I got here.  We ran into someone on the way. When he saw us he said MORMONS Right? And we, being a little surprised that someone actually thought we weren't Jehovah's witnesses and that he was speaking in English, ....replied yeah. So he started talking to us.  Apparently he was a member who had been baptized recently in Mons.  He had a TON of problems with his ex wife and was struggling to pay for himself to live .  He has to pay to see his kids, which he doesn't get to see hardly at all. He was ready to give up on life and was planing on staying in this park all night. (that is where we met him at)  He had prayed to God to basically give him a reason to live, and then we showed up right after he was done praying. He started bawling, and to make a very long story short, he was just a mess. So, we did all we could to just get him safely home.   He was very drunk and not in control of himself.  We managed to get him home safely and say a prayer with him and calm him down.

 The next day we checked up on him and he was doing a TON better.  It turns out that he had never gotten his records changed to Namur so no one knew who he was.  Now he knows where the church is, he is going to start coming back. WOW, how's that for a miracle!

     Well the rest of the day we had rendezvous with some really cool recent converts and one new amie that is the friend of the bishop

     Thursday was bad and good. We fasted that day because we felt really strongly that our rendezvous with Isabelle would be super important.  We started out by having a really good session of contacting for two hours and found a really cool African man from the Charleroi equipe, and another man who lives here in Namur.  I guess the fasting made us super tired and since we were already a little overwhelmed with everything else....let's just say the last rendez vous was less than perfect. It wasn't bad, but the members that were there kinda tried to take over and it just really didn't go anywhere.  It is OK, we forgive them, because they're just old

   Shoot, I really have to leave now, but now that things have cooled down a bit I have time to send stuff off.  Forgive me again for those empty mailboxes.  Don't worry I know how it feels, so at least I can cope with ya.

 

Love Elder Lyons

Namur

  First off,  all of the stuff from the Goldings was from Nina to Rachel.  I am gonna have to ask Elder Porter what their address is because I have already forgotten their number.  If you'd like. you could just send it straight to Elder Porter in Dunkerque and he could pass it on until I get it for ya.  I  have a ton of pictures and I will be sending those as soon as I can.  Probably not until after Wednesday.

  Alright a lot of things have happened this week.  I hope my typing abilities can do justice to what has happened. First off, This ward is on fire!!! Ever since the baptisms that have recently happened here, members are bringing as many people as they can to church, and family home evening and other activities.  We are now teaching two or three amies that are super solid.  All of whom were found by member's efforts! A lot of the ward's success has come from the recent converts and less actives.  As past elders, (and me and Elder Wood), have been visiting these less actives and recent converts, we have tried to aim their fire of wanting to return to church or just becoming a member of the church, towards sharing that with their friends. As they have shared their excitement, miracles have happened.

    For example, their was a less active that hadn't been to church forever, and Elder Wood and Elder Andrus simply passed by and she said," Yeah....  You know what?  I should come back and I will bring my friend Isabelle with me!"     Since then, Me and Elder Wood have taught her bits and pieces of the Plan of Salvation.  She was very touched by Elder Woods testimony on why there are bad things in this world.  Despite all the bad things that have happened to him,(and especially all the bad things his parents have done to him and his family), he knows what kind of father he wants to be for his children.  He knows  the kind life he wants to give them.  He has learned from all of these experiences. She has since been coming to church and various church activities and we have loads of hope for her!

    We have also had a ton of success finding people through our own efforts. We found a new amie named, M. Renier! He really wanted to know the difference between us and other churches.  He knew a ton of people that were Mormon who had just been such good examples to him. He had also heard of people that had done terrible things and then met missionaries and completely changed their lives because of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And then these people got baptized.

    We taught Him about Jesus Christ and how he established His church during His ministry and preached to many people.  We taught him  that His apostles continued to do so, after he returned to our Heavenly Father.  Eventually the apostles were rejected and His church became changed over time.  Many divisions were made from it and it became farther and farther from the truth.         Then we taught him about the power of prayer and how Joseph Smith, through prayer, found an answer in a confused world.   Tons of different faiths, each claiming to be true and each taking it's own interpretation of the same passage of scripture. Joseph studied a ton. He went to many different faiths, and when he asked God which one was true and which one he should join, he received his answer! There were many good things in all of the churches, but Gods church with the fullness of His gospel had been lost. Joseph was called to be the one who would re-establish His Church. He was also guided to an ancient volume of scripture that contained a fullness of Gods teachings.  He translated these texts, (that were in a language that no one could interpret), by the power of God.

     Then we offered M Renier this book, The Book of Mormon.  We told Him that he could read, and pray, and know for himself that theses things are true. By then  he was just super excited. Holy Cow!,  I wish you could have felt the spirit in that room and felt the excitement he felt learning these things! He couldn't stop asking awesome questions.  It got to the point where we had to say that we would answer all of them at the next rendezvous! So that was pretty sweet!

    We had SO much going on this week.  I will be very frank. IT WAS HARD!!! We had to run as fast as we could from place to place.  We actually had loads of our plans fall through.  We got re-buffed here and there, and both of us have had sleeping problems.  I had to see the dentist, because my filling fell out.  (I can feel for ya to dad ! )   We are EXHAUSTED. 

    However, because we did our best and were diligent in continuing to work. That's when all of these miracles happened! God is mindful of every thing we go through and he will consecrate all of our trials and afflictions for our benefit. First, we need to trust Him! It is NEVER during our trials that we learn why we have them, and we shouldn't be asking, why me?! We should be asking HOW?  How do you want me to get through this. Help me to have patience. Help me to know what you want me to learn, or to improve my faith. That is the moment when we start to progress and have understanding.

     Well I love all of you. And I hope all of you are having a wonderful time in your respective places. Y'all are the best and I am so grateful for your prayers..... I truly have felt every single one of them for me. Your the best

 

Love ELDER Lyons 

Greetings from Namur, Belgium!

Hey y'all

 

So, This week has been crazy! It being transfer week and all.

    It was so hard to say goodbye to Dunkerque. For example, the Goldings were very sad that I was leaving, and little Rebecca wouldn't let me go. They even came to church last week!  It was the first time in years that they'd come. They had an awesome experience!  I also got to talk at church that Sunday, so it was an awesome opportunity to share my testimony with the branch. I think the Goldings were probably one of the biggest miracles that I saw in Dunkerque!

      Well packing always stinks, but yes I did manage to get here in one piece this time! I talked to some really cool people on the train as well. One of the guys was a retired man from Charleroi who has been visiting places all over Africa and Europe and the US and  EVERYTHING! We talked about all his trips and he talked a bit about the politics in America.  I guess that's coming up soon. Then of course, he noticed the big black plaque I had, and we started talking a lot about religion.  He believes that there are good things in all religion but isn't quite sure if God exists or not. So, I got to share with him a little bit of my testimony and talk about the Church of Jesus Christ.  It's just to bad that I didn't get to give him a Book of Mormon or our number or something!!!

     Namur is the most beautiful place I have ever seen!!!!    When the train pulled in, I had had to take two trips to take all of my junk out of the trains and it was getting a little obnoxious... I was heading back on the train to get the last load and a very nice young lady had already grabbed them before I could get back on.  Never happens in Europe. She was about my age, super cool, and apparently knew a lot about the church and missionaries. I thought she was a member at first, but I guess she has a friend who is a member! But yeah, she helped me around the station and helped me find Elder Wood.  She was very pretty, but that doesn't matter.  Anyways, things are going very well here.

     We had a baptism for an amie named Beebee this Sunday.  Wow ! She is just the most amazing lady I have ever met. She is just super super nice and loving and yeah I can't find anything better than just happy to describe her!

    So Namur is pretty much on fire already! We have taught a few people already. We got one of the amies they had taught once before I came, to come to the baptism and she was very touched by the experience. We have also had a few awesome discussions on the street with people teaching them the importance of family and our relationship with our heavenly father and improving that relationship through the small and simple things such as: reading the book of Mormon, praying, and going to church. This is how personal revelation works.  This is how we receive answers, talk to God, and develop a relationship with Him. I have seen so many miracles happen by those small and simple things. God didn't want to make it complicated for us. If we can but do those small and simple things we can gain a witness that God lives and that He loves us and that we are His precious sons and daughters with divine potential to obtain the same blessings that He has!

     Yes, we have all these things going on with tons of work and studies and sickness and other difficulties.  God is always there and has provided a way for us to learn or for these experiences to make us strong and always abounding in good works!

    I love this gospel and I am excited to be a district leader with my companion Elder Wood. Good things are already and will continue to happen here. I hope that everything goes well in the USA, Avignon, China, and wherever else these crazy things are being sent!!!

 Loves y'all from the bottom of my heart....well I guess the sides and tops to.....anyways

Aimez

Elder Jason Lyons!

Moving back to Belgium

Hey everyone! I'm sorry this e-mail is gonna have to be short.  I am in a big hurry! I just got a call from the AP's and I am gonna be the new DL in Namur, Belgium.  Well, actually co DLS with Elder Wood from my MTC group. I am super stoked!  This is the new address:

                                                    1 Galerie Saint-Joseph 2AR
                                                                5000 NAMUR
                                                                      Belgium

I just sent a big envelope with a present for ma's b-day and some stuff from the Goldings kids for the girls. I also wrote some nice long letters. Hopefully y'all forgive me for being so short!