Salzburg Austria Week 3

Mom wanted to see our apartment!

Our church building.

The Von Trapp Family Home

Working on my Chaco tan!!

Salzburg Austria Week 2

Dear Family,

So my second week in Salzburg was pretty swag.  I do not really know how to start.  We do not actually have any investigators yet so that is kind of lame.  I was so excited the other day because we spent all day looking and calling people in our area book so we could have some people to teach and we finally got two appointments!  One of the guys was from Nigeria and the other was from Turkey. There are loads of Turkish people here.  I was way pumped to teach my first lessons in the mission field!  The next morning I was studying super hard preparing for what we were going to teach them and I got the lesson down and was ready to nail them with the gospel. Then . . . something that never happens in the mission field happened.  Both teaching appointments fell through.  I was a little sad because I had spent so much time finding these people to teach and preparing a lesson for them and now they don't want to talk to us anymore.  I'm not beating myself up too much.  I know that my purpose as a missionary is to invite all to come unto Christ. That is all I can do. You can't force anyone to do anything.  Sometimes I try to force my good looks and charm on girls my age when we are finding.  They seem interested in me until I open my mouth and they realize that I don't speak German.  It's all good though. 

Speaking of the language (no pun intended) its coming along really well.  I study super hard because I want to be able to talk to these people so bad.  It is hard to fulfil my purpose as a missionary if I can't talk to people.  I am slowing learning at my own pace. The Elders I live with say that my Greman is pretty good for only being out two weeks but I think they are just being nice because I'm a golden (greeny). 

We have a way sick ward here in Salzburg.  It is pretty big and is full of super cool people.  My Bishop is a BOSS and the ward mission leader is way sick too.  They are super committed to helping us out.  There are actually 8 missionaries in our ward.  The Zone Leaders we live with, 2 sisters a senior couple and my comp and I.  One of the sisters is Sister Wilkes!  Br. Wilkes in our ward is her uncle!  Well . . . I won't keep this too long because I know that all my family cares about right now is the other Elder Lyman coming home today which is ok.  That's weird to think about but its cool too.

Love you all, 

Elder Lyman

Salzburg Austria Week 1

Leaving for Munich bright & early!

Elder Gnome!

Munich Train Station

Dear Family,

Sooooo . . . Salzburg Austria is my first area!!  I am not going to argue with that!  I was really scared and nervous before I got assigned my area. When we got to Munchen, I was really nervous. But President and Sister Kohler are amazing!  I love them so much.  They have two kids with them here on their mission. They have a son that is 17 and a daughter that is 14.   

Anyway . . . so I traveled to Salzburg on a huge train through the German countryside and into the Alps!  This city is way sick!  Super nice parts and super crapy parts.  The Elders live kind of in between it all.  My comp is Elder Kingery from Spanish Fork Utah. He is way cool and we get along great.  He only had three transfers left.  We live with the Zone leaders.  Elder Packer is from Cedar Hills and graduated from Lone Peak the year before I did!  He is way cool.  We didn't know each other in school but we know a ton of the same people!  His comp is Elder Wasden from Hawaii.  He is not Hawaiian and his dad teaches at BYU H!  He is way cool tool!  

Elder Kingery and I just opened a new area here in Salzburg so we both got white washed together. That means we have no idea where anything is and we have zero investigators.  We get to start from total scratch.  The first night we got here, I got all my stuff unpacked and I was just so ready to go to bed when Elder Kingery said, "Lets go give away some Books of Mormon!" So we went out of our apartment onto the cold dark street and started looking for people.  As soon as we got outside I saw a lady walking towards us.  I was super scared but I started talking to her in my broken German.  I told her we were missionaries talking to people about this book!  I ended of giving her a Book of Mormon and got her name, address, and phone number!  First potential investigator of the Salzburg 2 Area - in 10 seconds!   I'm not saying this to talk about how great I am but to just prove a point.  The Lord can do whatever he wants!  Did he soften this ladies heart to listen to a message from an 18 year old boy with broken German on a cold dark street in Salzburg Austria?  Yes . . . he did!  No missionary in the history of missionary work has made it two years without the Lord's help.  If we trust in the Lord, he will use us as a tool in his hands.  We have given out 10 copies of The Book of Mormon and got 7 potential investigators in 2 hours of finding this last week.  That does not happen in this mission.  I know that the Lord is helping me to hasten the work and I am so glad to be apart of it.  I love this gospel and I am so glad so be sharing it with the people of Salzburg for the next few months.  Its not Michigan, but its the next best thing.  Love you all so much.  Pray for me to get the gift of tongues.  More importantly pray for the people I talk to for the gift of ears.  They need it more than I do!

Love,

Elder Lyman