Moving all the time!

O.K. as Jason's mother and editor of his blog, I thought it would be fun to throw in one of his e-mails that has not been edited by me first.  As Jason's mission has progressed, his grammar has become more like the French and his spelling too.  This is what an e-mail looked like when it got to me:
 Dear Fam fam!

I am glad to hear everyone is doing so well and that you enjoyed the pisc! Thank you for the letters and i hope to get some more out soon. OK where to even start.....i dont know why but it is really hard to find service to do in this mission, thus whenever you get the chance it is taken as a treasure and a wonderful oppurtunity! I prayed alot to be able to notice little things i could do for people and just be able to give someone a hand every once and a while......well i think my prayers got answered at once these past two weeks and weve been going left and right from one service project to the next! My poor little cross country arms are exhausted! First off weve been helping Sophia (one of our amies) make several moves from her old appartment to a storge unit until she finnaly got the new appartement where we moved everything to this past saturday.....she is a single woman with more things than our family of 7!!!!! Why do women have so many things!!!! Anyways it was really cool though cause apparently she couldnt find anyone else but us and the member we brought to help her out and if we werent there she wouldnt have gotten her thnigs outta the old appartemnt fast enough....apparently ther is was a time limit to when she had to have it done or else they would just kicked her out....so that was cool! Then we helped a recent convert move some things as well as an amie that moved from the Lyon mission (TONS OF STUFF) and we also helped Damien clean out his attick and the garage woo!! I have diffinately been running faster than i am able but we had good things goin for us this week more particularly our amies.
 William is and amie from Ghana of whom we teach in english and we just fixed a baptismal date with him! He has made a ton of progress since i first taught him with Elder Fisher, at first he did not understand at all the apostacy or the need for authority but he has always been SUPER hungry to learn and understand and has reached the point where he understands it very well! He also has diminished smoking from 2 packs a day to two sticks a day! Woo wee! He will probaly get baptised next transfer meaning that it is highly likely that i wont see it but thats ok! OH and even better news we finnally had another wonderful rendezvous with Damiens family and we finnished teaching the complete first lesson! I was slightly scared to ask Damiens mom to be baptised because i knew that she was a jehovas witness and i didnt know how she was going to react and i didnt want to make any hard feelings especially with damien there, but i felt very strongly that i needed to do so and whata ya know the spirit is always more intelligent than us and she accepted the invitation with gratitude if i can say it! It was cool!! I probably wont see her be baptised either, but for some reason i am not as dissappointed as i was to missing past peoples baptisms.....i am just overwelmed with joy to have been able to teach Damien everything and even see his baptism reception of the preisthood see him distribute the sacrament and bless it and recieve a calling as ward missionary!! (and soon to baptise his own family members) I couldnt be more happy!! BTW his mom is super legit and super faithful! She came to church yesterday for the first time and liked it and everyone was super excited to se her so things are going well! The bishop (whom is pretty much my new grandpapy and whom i love TONS) even came up and told us personnally who proud of the work we were doin......it was kinda cool.
 Sweet well Elder Costner is doin really well and progressing a ton! He doesnt even realize it adn it reminded me of a time i had in Le Mans when i got super frustrated with myself like he similarly did this week and Elder Crump picked me up and brought me outta my self pity.....it was like Deja vu and i never felt a love so strongly for my companion than at this moment, where i felt the love that my Heavenly Father had for him and the oppotunity i ahd to pick him up and help encourage him. He truly is a stellar elder!
Well life is good and we got lots of stuff to do and i hope all continues to go well at the promised land! PS i cant wait to talk to yall next transfer on mommys day!!!
LOVE
ELDER LYONS

      AS  YOU CAN SEE, I HAD A LOT OF EDITING TO DO SOME WEEKS.  SOME WERE BETTER, BUT MOST WERE LIKE THIS ONE.  

        This is after it has been edited:

      Dear Fam fam!

    I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that you enjoyed the pictures I sent! Thank- you for the letters.  I hope to get some more out soon.

    OK, where to even start.....I don't know why but it is really hard to find service to do in this mission.  Whenever you get the chance it is looked at as a treasure and a wonderful opportunity! I have been praying a lot to be able to notice little things I could do for people.  Just be able to give someone a hand every once in awhile.  Well.. I think my prayers got answered all at once!  For the past two weeks we've been going left and right from one service project to the next! My poor little cross country arms are exhausted!

    First we've been helping Sophia (one of our amies) make several moves from her old apartment to a storage unit until she was able to get into her new apartment this past Saturday.  She is a single woman with more things than our family of 7!!!!! Why do women have so many things!!!!  Anyway it was really cool that we were able to help her because she couldn't find anyone else.  It was just us and the member we brought with us to help her out. If we hadn't been there she wouldn't have gotten her things out of her old apartment fast enough.  Apparently there was a time limit to when she had to have it done or they would have just kicked her out.   Then we helped a recent convert move some things; as well as an amie that recently moved here from the Lyon mission (TONS OF STUFF).  And... we also helped Damien clean out his attic and his garage, woo!! I have definitely been running faster than I am able, but we had good things going for us this week.  But more particularly good things are happening with our amies.
     William is an amie from Ghana (whom we teach in English) and we just fixed a baptismal date with him! He has made a ton of progress since I first taught him with Elder Fisher.  At first he did not understand (at all) the apostacy or the need for authority. He has always been SUPER hungry to learn and understand and has reached the point where he finally understands it very well! He has also gone from smoking 2 packs a day to two sticks a day! Woo wee! He will probaly get baptized next transfer, which means that it is highly likely that I won't be here to see it, but that's ok!

    Even better news.... we finally had another wonderful rendezvous with Damien's family.  We finished teaching the complete first lesson! I was a little scared to ask Damien's mom to be baptized.  I knew that she was a Jehovah's Witness and I didn't know how she was going to react.  I didn't want to make any hard feelings between her and Damien , but I felt very strongly that I needed to invite her to be baptized.  And  whata ya know, the spirit is always more intelligent than we are. She accepted the invitation with gratitude if I can say it! It was cool!! I probably won't see her be baptized either, but for some reason I am not as disappointed as I have been about missing past peoples baptisms.  I am just overwelmed with joy to have been able to teach Damien everything and to see his baptism, his reception of the preisthood,  to see him pass the sacrament and bless it, and to recieve a calling as ward missionary!! (Soon he will be able to baptize his own family members) I couldn't be more happy!!   BTW, his mom is super legit and super faithful! She came to church yesterday for the first time and liked it. Everyone was super excited to see her so things are going well! The bishop (who is pretty much my new grandpapy and whom I love TONS) even came up and told us personally how proud he is of the work we are doing......it was kinda cool.
      Elder Costner is doing really well and progressing a ton! He doesn't even realize it.  It reminded me of a time I had in Le Mans when I got super frustrated with myself (like  Elder Costner did this week) and Elder Crump picked me up and brought me outta my self pity.....It was like Deja vu.  I have  never felt a love so strongly for my companion than at this moment, when I felt the love that my Heavenly Father had for him, and had the opportunity to pick him up and encourage him. He truly is a stellar Elder!
    Well.. life is good and we have lots of stuff to do.  I hope all continues to go well in the promised land! PS I can't wait to talk to y'all next transfer on mommys day!!!
LOVE
ELDER LYONS

As you can see, I still miss a few things, but it is much better.  Don't you agree?

I love you all, I promise!

YES, YES, YES, it was a holiday last  week.  I am so sorry but there really wasn't anything I could do about it!!!  I still love you and yes mom, I am alive! he he. Well I don't even remember the last e-mail I sent but I guess I will never be stressed when I e-mail again...sorry to scare everyone like that....stress happens as a missionary though what can I say.  I am feeling a lot better.

    OK, so many questions I don't even know how to answer all of them.....ONE, the schedule is perfect. THANK YOU TONS, that is a lifesaver not to have to set that junk up.  I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am.  TWO,  I have no idea about who to room with, but after having 13 companions that I didn't choose I think I will survive one semester with someone I didn't plan on.  So the Glenwood sounds great. THREE,  places to visit .....oh boy let's start with Paris! The Louvre and the Palace of Versailles are musts and after that I am pretty much content, but would love to go other places. I have never served in Normandy and I would love to see the d-day beaches.  I have heard they are stunning.  I HAVE to go back to Namur and see some of the best people ever, and I think I am asking too much with all of that already.    I will tell ya if there is something else other than that.  I sent you a letter last week and I sent my SD card with loads of pictures so I sure hope it didn't get misplaced!!   Keep me posted on that one!!  I will send another in any case.

    Well I won't lie.  The work has kinda gone down the toilet these past couple of weeks. he he But don't worry we are doing well and are learning a lot from our difficulties!  At the same time we have been really blessed with a few new amies. We spent an entire week end moving a recent converts stuff out and later that same day an investigator from Bergerac (ville in the Lyon mission) moved to Limoges. She had two truck loads of stuff and she is a single mother of one daughter!!! ( PS french apartments are tiny and suck for moving big furniture).......plus cross country arms don't help out much. Mais on s'est débrouillé bien. This lady is so awesome though! Her name is Victoria and I don't know, we just got along right away and she has been going to church faithfully and progressing very well according to the elders there.  We are excited to help and serve her. Other than that, we found another amie on exchanges.  Elder Costner and Elder Barker were waiting at a bus stop and an African man from the Congo started asking them questions.  Since then we have taught him about the restoration of the church of Christ through Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and he is probably the most excited to learn about the gospel than anyone I have ever met.....except maybe Rémy from Valencienne.  But it is a close second....which is the ironic thing! He just lived in Valencienne like me! He even left at the same time! Weird....anyways all of our other amies have either been dropped or aren't progressing to well.

     Qiongji's date is changed for the 5th of May and she has been having some successful prayers but she still has not made the effort to keep all of the commandments and is not ready to make the necessary changes in her life to experiment upon the words of Christ!!!  She is so close and yet so far away.  We are going to be watching Joseph Smith the prophet of the restoration together at a members house soon and we will be having a kinda make it or break it rdv!!

    Cool well that is the 411 I hope all is going well and I wish I could be there to hear Meagan sing!!!!!!! I wanna see her finale badly but I guess you'll have to show me laters! Well keep up the awesome work and I am glad everyone had good weeks your awesome and I loves y'all lots!    

Stressed Out!

 OK this e-mail is going to be really boring because I am trying to get a lot of regulatory things out of the way! So, the other elders scared me when they told me that registration was due today and I had no idea you had already sent the confirmation that I will be coming back and stuff.  I still need to pick classes and that is the last thing I wanna do right now. I have lot's of things stressing me out right now!!!!!!!   I tried to do some things already but I couldn't figure out how to do it!! It's been to long.  I also think that I can't register for some of the classes I want because I have that I am a pre-animation major. If you could, (today was supposed to be the first day I could register and I know as soon as the freshman register, nothin will be left!!!) would you register me for some basic art classes so I can figure out what I would like to do more specifically. I also know I need to do figure drawing classes. If you could pick some of those for me and maybe a D&C class and something else like a generals requirement that would be good. For now I was thinking about going into illustration! If that's too vague I am sorry.  I should of thought of this sooner. As far as who and where I would like to live, I can think of a lot of people but I will need to talk to them first.  Kinda hard to do. Elder Nelson, maybe Nils but I really have no idea!!!!

     This week has been crazy and today we spent all of our p-day helping an investigator move!! It took 8 hours and I am dead! I didn't sleep last night because we only have three pillows and beings we had the Poitier's Elders over to see conference, I sacrificed my pillow for them!

    Qiongji is still doing well but there is still lots of work to do.  I am stressing out a bit if you haven't noticed yet. I have never wanted something good to happen for someone as bad as now! But I know the Lord will do what he needs to when and how it needs to be done.  A lot of that is up to Qiongji as well!  We are kinda in the middle of reconstructing Limoges. A lot of amies and potentials just got dropped. However some amies are just starting to make a ton of progress so it is to much of an emotional experience to describe how I really feel.  I have had some of the best and worst experiences of my life here in Limoges, it is really strange! But I am growing a lot.  I love you more and more the longer I serve the lord and I hope you are all doing well!

Love Elder Lyons

Up and Down

I unfortunately don't have to much time today but I won't wast time explaining! I just sent letters to grandma and one to home with pictures of Damien's baptism and stuff.
  First off!!  Thanks so much for the wonderful packages. I got the one from grandma and from mom!!! I must say the PB is the best!!!!

OK the biggest news is that we fixed a baptismal date with Qiongji!!! She is the Chinese amie we have been teaching since I got here, and she has been taught for almost a year now!! We had been really struggling to find out what we should teach her because we have taught her ...well I have taught her (with Elder Fisher and Costner) all of the lessons almost three times!!!!! BUT.. after a ton of reflection and spiritual planning me and Elder Costner felt super strongly prompted to invite her to baptism!! The one problem that she has been struggling with has been to find that conviction that everything is true, her testimony! She believes all of it is good but just hasn't been able to have good prayers. She feels like she is talking to herself. We talked a lot about how she could improve them, and we spent a lot of our time using the example of the brother of Jared. We told her that sometimes the Lord asks us to come up with some ideas to how we should resolve our problems and then to present them to him for his approval. This is what the brother of Jared did. The Lord does this because he wants us to work and he wants to make us better and increase our faith! This is how we presented the baptismal invitation to her;in saying that she needed to present her desire to be baptized and her sincerity and real intent to be baptized by fixing a goal and presenting it to the lord in prayer to help her prepare for this date!! It was a super powerful rendezvous and she accepted to prepare herself to be baptized the  14th of April which is cool because after I gave the invitation she said," WOW, that is cool that is the day I was thinking of!!

We also are having lots of success with Damien's family. His cousin Mandy in particular. She already agreed to be baptized after she gets her answer.....YEAH miracles! I guess I should go to the hospital more often eh!!! JK, and no I haven't gotten the results yet!!!! I will keep you posted!! Well transfers are over and I am still a district leader.....which means half of my time in the field I have spent being a district leader....weird well I love you lots and I hope y'all have a good week!!

LOVE Elder Lyons

Another Crazy Week!

Oh boy, where to start?  Sometimes I just don't know what to say about the crazy things that go down in France! First, no the food in the french hospital is still terrible....pretty much as bad as at Portneuf believe it or not....(which by the way, means new bridge in french).....I think the best hospital as far as care and food has to go to Seattle! However the nurses are very pretty here he he! Oh I am terrible.....but its true.   Anyways, the results of my tests should be coming by the end of this week or beginning of the next week. I have a few follow ups with the hospital in April and one with the mission doc this week at Poitier's.....I'll keep ya posted.
   OK time for the work!! Lets start with Damien's family. I had been working and praying and fasting (but not anymore don't worry!) SUPER hard and long to teach all of Damien's family at once, but I never could get em all to join....until NOW!! Last Thursday me and Elder Bequette (on exchanges) finally succeeded in teaching them! It was incredible! Danielle, Damien's mom, is legit and super believing! We taught a short lesson explaining why we are here as missionaries and explained Joseph Smiths story and the Book of Mormon!! The icing on the cake was Damiens testimony, which basically lit it up with spiritual fire!! I am so proud of this young man. He has strengthened my testimony SO much! He reminds me why I am here and that the work we do really is: 1, worth it and 2, effective!!  Mandy, Damiens cousin is the most progressive at the moment and has even started to go to church with Damien and his little sister! SO GOOD!
  We have also had some really good lessons with Armelle and she really wants to be baptized but she likes to take her time and is afraid that she might not get her answer......She needs to take a leap of faith but she continues to come faithfully to church every week not missing a beat!!! Quiongji has been taught it ALL!!!!! She has tried really hard to get answers to her prayers but has not been able to either recognize them or get to the point in her prayer where she feels like she is not just talking to herself!!!!! We boldly tried to fix a baptismal date with her and will continue to try this week.  She just needs to make the jump as well because she knows that it is the right decision but she needs to show her faith in fixing a goal to show God that she merits an answer!! It's hard!!
 Well things are going well and my comp is doing well. I'm trying to get him as involved as I can but I must admit that it is really HARD to sometimes!! He is getting a lot better at the French thing though and has even jumped into lessons a lot more, so things are going well!!
Well I love you and pray for y'all and I hope that this week is fabulous!!!
Love Elder Lyons