Hey everyone,
Another week, another letter! This week went pretty well. We were finally able to find a few new investigators including a couple families. A number of the ward members came to us this week with friends they would like us to begin teaching in the coming weeks, so there are more new teaching opportunities to come! Unfortunately we didn’t get to teach many lessons this week. We had several scheduled, but only a handful of those came through with their appointments.
Jeremy, our newly baptized member, is doing absolutely great. He is very active in the ward and is making connections all the time. It’s so great to see him learning so much every time he is around other members. He is excited to receive the priesthood soon, and I am excited to hopefully see him bless and pass the sacrament. He and his wife have set a goal to go through the temple in a year’s time and they have promised me that they’ll invite me when they do so.
This past week, the Athens ward competed their “day of service” as prescribed by the First Presidency in commemoration of the anniversary of the Church Welfare Program. Elder Guerrero and I had the opportunity to take part in their service project for a couple hours and we had a lot of fun with the members. The project they chose was to clean up some lots on the older end of town that the city has been issuing citations for. The owners of the lots are unable for various reasons to do anything about the situation of the properties, so the ward decided to help them out. With about 30+ individuals, several trucks with trailers making trips to and from the dump all day, and a tractor with a front end loader, we were able to get the place looking great. It was pretty amazing to me the transformation that took place in just a few short hours.
Transfer calls are coming up at the end of the week and many of the members here are very anxious to know if there will be a change. We hear nearly every day how grateful the ward is for their missionaries and how they don’t want either of us to leave. Apparently it’s been a little while since they’ve had a solid companionship that they have really loved (not tooting my own horn or anything, this is just what the members tell us!). Who knows, maybe they say that to all the missionaries… Nah! I’ve grown to love this area and the people very much in these 2 short transfers. I’m hoping I can spend a little more time here to complete some of the work I’ve started.
Mom and Dad: In answer to your question, I haven’t done much singing since I was in Grand Prairie. I sang in their ward choir once or twice. When I was serving with Elder McNinch in Longview, we sang ALL the time. He and I have voices that harmonize very well together and we both love to sing. We would sing hymns and gospel songs at the Laundromat, while tracting(on the street and IN contacts, it was tons of fun!), at members’ homes, in investigators’ homes as part of lessons, and in about any other missionary situation you can think of. We had a blast. I haven’t had any other companions who can sing, or who want to sing, so things have been a little quiet that way for a while. Maybe I’ll get another companion who'll sing with me though, who knows?
Anyway, I think that about sums up my week. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life! I love you all very much and I look forward to hearing from you next week! I’ll have news (or not) about the transfer for my next letter because of the change to the way transfers are done (no more transfer meeting, and no more secrecy about where we are being transferred. They tell us everything on the phone and we go directly to our new area.).
Do me a favor and try to keep those little ones from growing up too much before I get home! Until next time; be good, stay safe, and keep the faith!
Love,
Elder Michael P. Lyman
Texas Dallas Mission
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