Pray continually

Okay so, a bit has happened since the last email I sent home. This transfer has absolutely flown by. I love my area, my comp, the members & investigators here, and honestly just the opportunity to be here in the Lord's service. The past month and a half has been a blast. I know it might seem weird that I'm loving the mission, when my circumstances are taken into account. We live in a more difficult area, 50% of the few planned lessons and meetings that we have with people fall through, and on top of that, it's all digital. I love it anyways. Here's some info on our investigators:

We have someone on date for baptism! I know it seems kind of out of the blue, but Mariah is an investigator of ours that has been really flakey, so I didn't count her in last weeks email I think. But out of the blue, she came to church. After church, she said "hey I've chosen the church for me." The next day we taught her the Doctrine of Christ, and she wanted to be baptized. There may be some family stuff to work around, but for now, her baptism is scheduled for the 29th! It should be awesome

We also taught another lesson this week to Rochelle (another person that I think I've only touched lightly on if at all). She just got married go her husband, who's been a fairly inactive member, but wants to become active again. They want to progress towards temple marriage, which is honestly incredible. She wants to be baptized, but first we need to help her grow a testimony. She's such a sweetheart. I'll keep y'all posted on her!

We've been trying to contact Gwen, but she's never picked up. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with her this week

We've kept working with Beaumont, just reading the Book of Mormon with him and being his friends. He's been through heck. It's so cool to see how he's so happy and positive and nice despite the dark hole he was in just a couple months ago.

Danielle is another inactive member that we've been working with. She's been through heck as well. We taught a lesson with her where she cried. It's amazing to feel the Holy Ghost working through you to help others and touch their hearts. 

I have such a genuine love for the people here. I'm not sure where it came from, but I just love them so much. I wasn't planning on using this as my scripture for the week, but it just came to my head, so here ya go.

"For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry" (2 Nephi 33:3).

I honestly love these people so much. There are nights where we come back to the apartment and I just feel like crying, knowing what they go through, what they've had to deal with in their lives. I wish I could help them in any way I can. I've shed many tears for these people. But, I'll keep working, keep doing my best to help them see the goodness in life and in the gospel, and come unto Christ, and find joy and peace. I know that even though the work is different, it hasn't stopped. Why would I be here if God has stopped the work? I've been commanded to serve, and with that commandment, I have the assurance that I can accomplish that. There's people to help, hearts to soften, and lives to change. The mission is still dope. 

Love y'all

-Elder Lyman

  

Transfers happened and Elder Lyman has a new companion, Elder Cardwell from Tampa, FL.

Somehow this happened...  we don’t know the story behind the photo.

blessed

Well well well. I apologize for not writing for the past couple weeks. I hope I'll be able to go over everything that's happened.

To start. I am so blessed to be here right now. My area, my comp, my apartment, really anything that could be a blessing, is. My comp, Elder Wolfgramm and I get along really well. Elder Rowley and Elder Layden are a companionship that usually give us rides to places when we need to go far. They're really cool as well, and I guess I played Elder Rowley in soccer a couple times (he played for Delta). I love all the missionaries here.

I feel like I can't express enough gratitude for the members here. The love and selflessness that they have is incredible. One day we told them that we didn't have bikes, and that same day we had 5 or more offers to give us bikes. The 3rd ward hadn't been feeding us, but when they found that out, within a couple days they had people signed up to feed us into August. I love the big meals, but my favorite one was when an old couple gave us a little bit of beef stroganoff and some canned pinto beans. They don't really have much, so it was even more touching that they would give what they did have to us. Their kindness towards us and each other is amazing.

One member family in particular that I love is the Lybbert family. They feed us each Monday, and we love going over there. That family is very spiritual and also very funny. They're also some of the strongest members I know. Sister Lybbert has been fighting cancer for 10 years. Frequent trips to the hospital, health restrictions, and medications have been their normal routine for around a decade. I don't know how they all keep such a positive attitude, but they do. 

Okay now I'll go back to Shawntelle who I talked about in my last email. We had another lesson with her this past week and she's so sweet and loving. She shared with us her concerns for her family and how she might have stomach cancer. We taught her about what happens after this life, and I think it helped her a lot. It's so hard to teach her because her data is pretty terrible, but it's okay, I think she understands us. Hopefully we will be able to get her to church this Sunday.

We got a referral from some missionaries in South Dakota? North Dakota? Middle Dakota. Wherever Mount Rushmore is. I guess that the missionaries met this guy named Isaac there, and talked about the Book of Mormon. He's living in my area right now, so they referred him to us! He's honestly so cool. He's going to try to read from the Book of Mormon every day, so we'll see where that goes!

Last but not least, Beaumont. Beaumont was a really inactive member, but came to church one day and wants to fix things up. We went to dinner with him on Saturday, and he shared some of his life experiences with us. It wasn't pretty, he's been through so much. It was actually really surprising to see how positive and friendly he was, despite his trials. I have such a genuine love for him. Elder Wolfgramm and I are hoping to prepare him for a mission.

Here's my scripture for the week:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt 5:16).

This is one of my all time favorite scriptures. We can make such a huge difference in the lives of others. No matter what we say or do, any positivity that we share makes a difference.

Sorry, I'm kinda tired and my thoughts are all jumbled, so hopefully this email makes sense haha. I love y'all, have a good week!

Elder Lyman

*I may or may not have biffed it the first time we took the bikes out.

Service project at the flower mound the city gets its name from.

Fishing on PDay, hoping to catch a Gar.