I thought that, before I forget, I would tell you that I have not
gotten anything from our primary. I am SUPER sorry. I think it got to Namur,
because I vaguely remember them telling me that I had gotten something from our
ward, which means that I will get it this Wednesday at zone conference. For the
time being, tell them I said "thanks" and that missions are the best!!
TALLENS HOME!!!! that is .....weird! Give him a big fat bisou for me
(kiss)!! Thanks Chris that letter was just fantabulous!!!
OK, so now the big news!!!! It has been 3 weeks since we have found
anyone to teach and pretty much nothing had moved anywhere...until last week! So
Wednesday night we had a rendezvous with a recent convert. Afterward we had
about an hour and a half before we needed to go home so we decided to make a few
visits by some old old amies. We knocked on the first door and they let us in
and said we came at the perfect time and that they were eating. At first I
thought he was being sarcastic and I apologized, but Mr. Mambo said," NO, don't
be sorry. EAT and let's have a good exchange!!! " We were flabbergasted
and really had no idea what had just happened! They started serving us lasagna
(from heaven) and grapes and just threw out question after question about the
church. They were SUPER excited that we were there! The Mambo family is an
evangelist family from cote d'ivore and they love ,LOVE, love ,the gospel!!
Long story short, they want us to come back and help them to understand the
Book of Mormon and the Bible and study with us. We are pretty pumped for that!!
Then we had the most amazing rendezvous with Rémy. He is an
investigator with a 6 year old sheet and whom has not seen missionaries for at
least that long. When I called him he pretty much had a heart attack from sheer
excitement that I had called and we fixed a rendezvous for last Thursday. We
reviewed what he had remembered and then we shared our testimonies of how we had
become converted (or found our testimony) to the restored gospel and what
blessings it has brought in our lives. We taught with a young recent convert
,named Alexandre,who bore a powerful testimony of his conversion. I related my
history to Joseph Smiths. How I did a similar search ,in that I studied the
scriptures A TON, and through sincere prayer learned by revelation that this is
really the Church of Jesus Christ! HE LOVED it and he wants to be baptized!! We
fixed goals with him and he was even more excited and asked if we could start
now!! So.. we taught the next lesson. At the end he asked if we could just read
a little in the Book of Mormon. We read Moroni 7 together and talked about the
importance of faith hope and charity!!! He is pretty much a stud!! AND he is
close to our age so it makes it all the more exciting!!!!
This week was very enriching to see the miracle of the gospel work
within so many people's lives. We are now working with two great families and
this wonderful young man and a few others. There is no doubt in my mind that
they were prepared by our Heavenly Father! He has taught me a lot since I have
been a missionary. He always seems to know how to humble me more and more.
Right in the moment where we think we can't do it anymore or we think something
is pointless, Heavenly Father lovingly and patiently says," just keep on chuggin
a little bit more....you'll see. " Then if we are smart, we keep chuggin a tiny
bit more and thousands of blessings fall out of nowhere and we wonder why we
ever complained. Patience is SO important in missionary work!! I thank God for
being so SO patient with me; as well as my poor parents who got stuck raising a
poop like me! Despite it all God has refined me and loved my enough to chasten
and correct me and has molded me into the man that I am now. I am so grateful
for the trials God gives us and for the correction we all so desperately need!!
If He didn't care about us he'd let us do whatever we want and we'd all destroy
ourselves! This is why commandments are not a list of things we can and cannot
do!! They protect us from things that ACTUALLY hinder our agency, such as drugs,
pornography, violence etc. Repentance is a blessing and it allows us to escape
these traps and perfect ourselves!!
, I will let you go. I just want all of you to know how much I love my
Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ!! He truly leads this church and He
has walked through all of our trails!!! He knows us better than we know
ourselves and wants to help us!! Your great and I love you and I hope you get my
letter with my pics!!
Elder Lyons
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