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.