OK first I will get the little things outta the way. NO, I don't need new or more contacts because I have been wearing my glasses pretty much my whole mission. I have more than plenty, even if I were to use only my contacts for the rest of my mission I would still have leftovers. However, I am pretty sure that my glasses are from the old prescription and I just want new ones, so I think that will be my Christmas gift to myself....but I see perfectly with the contacts! Yes, I got the new drivers license like months ago.....sorry that I didn't send an update!
I can't believe that Chris is gonna be leaving in a couple of days!!!!! THAT'S so crazy!
Well, last week was another marathon week and I am WASTED!!! We pretty much never eat dinner because all of the rendezvous that we have seem to fall at that time. Even when planned rendezvous fall through we seem to pick up plenty of unplanned ones on the way!
Damien is still progressing really well and he even walked an hour and a half to come to church yesterday!!! He is super sweet, and hopefully we will be having his baptism the fourth of February. We just finished up with all of the lessons and will be reviewing everything to make sure that he understands and there isn't anything missing.
We met two awesome men from Nigeria this week! We were passing by and old amie that we had fixed a rendezvous with and he stood us up. When we called him to see what was up he said he was running late and would not make it but that we should teach his friend who would be at his place....OK why not! SO, we knocked his door and sure enough, Ike (like mike without the m), answers and was more than happy to learn about the Church of Jesus Christ. It was weird because he is new to France which means that he hasn't learned to really speak French but, he speaks perfect English. It was more difficult to teach him in English than when we have taught others in French!!! Just not used to it I guess. It went really well! He loved the message and now we are teaching both him and Victor ,(the old investigator), and they are super pumped to read the BOM and to learn more. The last rendezvous Victor gave a sweet prayer and asked God to help them to know that our message was true after diligently studying and applying the principles of the BOM!!! It is amazing how many wonderful miracles I have found by updating and using the area book like we should! A lot of missionaries think it is a waste of time or that it takes to much effort, but it is a sacred record, or it should be a sacred record, of how certain people have progressed or been dropped ,where they live, and what past missionaries thought they needed to work on. Even Elder Ballard emphasized the importance of missionary work in this domain when he said,"if the Savior came to you and asked you to give a report of the piece of His garden he has entrusted you with, and he asked to see your area book to see what you've done, would you be comfortable with what HE saw?" A lot of the baptisms I have seen have been through area book work, in one way or the other. Whether it was through the actual old investigators, or asking for referrals from them ,or porting in their area. There is a lot of potential there!
We also had a few rough porting sessions this past week, but we testified our little faces off trying to show how much God loved these people. Most everyone I have talked to lately has been atheist and you can only imagine how hard it was to try and find something to relate to, and even when we did find something they wouldn't let their hurt feelings, pride, or hate, move for long enough to let the spirit testify to them that God loved them. I KNOW that a lot of them felt something, because we had some intense contacts about the atonement with some of them. It broke my heart when they chose to disregard their feelings despite how strong they were! I can only imagine how much God feels for these people and how much patience He has as well.
I have really grown close to my Savior this week. We taught the plan of salvation a lot, and I have grown an increasingly stronger testimony of the reality of our Savior's atonement. How precious this gift He gave us to repent really is!! I love being a missionary and I hope you are all loving life as well. Know that despite whatever difficulty we have, there is absolutely NOTHING that our dear Savior didn't overcome for us. GO TO HIM!! He will guide you over the gulf of misery and through the valley of sorrows! He knows what it's like for us ,better than we do, and no one gets back to our Heavenly Father without taking at least one step towards Gethsemane!
I love you guys, and I love my big brother Jesus!! Keep on chugging and I will send another letter with some pics tomorrow!
Love Elder Lyons
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