Munich Germany Week 2

Hallo!!

This has been a crazy week to be an office Elder! So we have been really busy making the transfer plans for all of the missionaries that are going to a new area. That involved a lot of train times and tickets and stuff like that. After we had worked on it all week and had it finished we got news the day before transfers that the German train company Deutsche Bahn was striking! That means that none of the trains were going to be running! That was the worst thing that could have happened! We scrambled to put together a new plan using buses and not trains which is really hard just because our mission is so big! After many hours we finally got a plan but together that would work. Then come transfer day some of the bus companies would not let us use their buses because the missionaries had to much luggage! It was very stressful but we somehow made it all work! I'm glad the next transfer is not for another five weeks!

As far as teaching goes, we are teaching a lot of cool people right now! The highlight family of our investigators are this couple named Andrew and Rebecca! They are a really cool family from Nigeria! They have four daughters that are all under the age of four! They have come to church twice now as a family! They are really amazing people! We met with them today and they decided that they want to be baptized! They will be baptized in about a month! We are really excited for them! I hope everything continues to go well with them! Put them in your prayers!

One other cool thing that happended this week is that one of by best friends Elder Plumb got transfered to work in the office! it has been so fun getting to work with him! We are two peas in a pod! 

Im loving the Muncih international ward! It is full of cool people from all over the world! We have had tons of A&W root beet at appointments which is sooo cool! it is always a taste of America! 

Well that is about it. Im really happy with things right now for sure! I hope this next week is as cool as this one was!

Much love,

Elder Lyman

Munich Germany Week 1

Hi everyone!

Well this week has been a great first week in my new area! I really love working in Munich I must say! It is a really amazing city! I must also say that I'm really enjoying working in the office! I did not think that I would like it as much as I do! 

So as far as office work goes, Elder Evans my comp and I are in charge of the money and travel tickets for all of the missionaries! We have some other responsibility but those are the big ones! Our mission has a lot of missionaries and is HUGE so it can be a lot of work! We are been really busy this week especially because it is transfer week next week! That means that we have to make this huge transfer map with all the missionaries that are getting transfered to a new area. We then have to plan all the travel for them like which train to take, time and all that stuff. There are 250 missionaries in the mission right now so it is a lot of work! that had taken most of the time from us this week! That being said, we have a good amount of time to go outside and do normal missionary work! We have some really cool investigators right now that we are working with so we are busy with that as well!

Our ward is super cool as well! We serve in the international ward which is awesome! There are a lot of Americans and people from all over the world that are here with there families for work. That makes up most of the people. there are also a lot of new members that live here that are from African and speak only English that come to our ward. it is really different but really cool! I get to give my first talk in church tomorrow so that should be fun! I will let you know how it goes!

i have not seen toooo much of Munich yet but we are going to go look around the city right now and go shopping and stuff like that! i will take some cool pics and send them home tonight when we get back!

Have a great week everyone! I hope to hear from you all soon!

Elder Lyman

Happy Mothers Day!!

Linz Austria Week 16

Well . . . HOLY COW is about all that I can say to sum up this week!

Well I'll start with the big stuff first. Instead of being in Linz right now I'm in MUNICH!!!! Yep I'm serving in Munich as of now! You might be wondering why, but I got a call from one of the APs on Thursday telling me that I was going to be emergency transferred to the office in Munich! So I had one day to pack up all of my stuff and say goodbye to as many people in the ward as possible! It was so crazy! I spent all day yesterday packing and I got on a train this morning and came here! It has been really crazy! I am working in the office and will probably stay here for a while. There was once an office Elder that stayed here for almost a whole year.  My new comp is Elder Evans. We know each other already because we were in the same district in Salzburg for two transfers! He is a really cool guy! He is training me to be the new office guy so we have lots to do! 

Well to be honest I really can't remember what I did earlier this week! I had a exchange with an elder in my district on Wednesday and that is when I found out I was getting emergency transferred! After I found out that I was getting transferred I called the ward mission leader in our ward to say goodbye. We met up yesterday and he took us around Linz and showed us some really cool stuff I had never seen! I will say that Linz was a lot cooler than I thought.  It was really fun! Last night we got to say goodbye to one of my favorite members Brother Ivanoski! He is the less active that we do service for at his house! We had dinner with him and his wife and they gave me a bunch of gifts! They are really cool! Other than that this week has been basically a blur! 

Well I'm not sure what else to say. I'm happy to be here in Munich and in the office! It will take some serious getting used to, but I am going to do my best.  Hopefully next week I will be able to give you a better report on things here in Munich!

Have a great week everyone! Oh and my Pday is now on Saturday so email me before then!

Love,

Elder Lyman  

Linz Austria Week 15

Hi friends and family!

This was a great week for us in Linz! I can't really remember to much of what we did! I don't have to much time either so I will make it short and sweet!

Highlights - I got to go on exchange with one of my best friends Elder Plumb! We lived together my last transfer in Salzburg and we have became really good friends.  It was really fun to work with him in my home court of Linz. We really had a great time together! Also something that was cool was our ward youth put on a musical called My Turn on Earth! It was really cool! We got to meet a lot of non members who attended so we are hoping we may be able to start teaching anyone that may have more interest to learn about the church! 

Investigators - Well the highlight for investigators was that after a really long time we finally got back in contact with this amazing family that we started teaching a month ago the Bülls! They are an amazing family! We lost contact for a while but finally got to meet again! That was really cool! The sisters in Linz are teaching two guys from Nigeria right now which is really cool. I was with them on Sunday at church translating for them. They are really funny. It just gave me a glimpse of what my Grandparent had to deal with for 2 years! 

Pday! We actually had a pretty cool p-day today!  There is this big carnival in Linz this week that we got to go to. It is pretty stereotypical Austrian stuff. Just a bunch of people that want to get together in a big tent and drink a ton of beer and eat a lot of meat! It was fun though! 

Well I don't know how interesting this letter was! All is well from Linz! Have a great week everyone!

LG,

Elder Lyman 

Linz Austria Week 14

Hi friends and family! I'm super sorry that last week I did not get to send out a weekly letter! Our email time got cut a little bit short and I have a lot of people to write! 

Anyway this week was a good one I would say. It started out in Salzburg on Tuesday for Zone training. That is always a good time. I do not know why, but I just love to go back to the city of Salzburg! I think it is just a special place for me because I started my mission there and it is just such an amazing city! There is just like this high energy that you can feel! It was really fun to see as well all the new missionaries in the zone! There are "Goldens" in the zone right now. We call them goldens and not greenies because they are just golden missionaries! They have so much energy to do the work! Anyway zone training was just and it was cool to see some of my friends in the zone. And as always, I have kind of started the tradition in the zone that after zone meeting all the Elders go to this amazing Döner Shop in Salzburg! It is the best Kebab shop in Austria! if you do not know what im talking about look it up on Google! So ya its awsome! 

Well this week consisted of a lot of work that you do when there are not too many people to teach! Unfortunately we still do not have very much contact with most of our investigators so we are doing a lot of finding. That consisted mostly of visiting less active members, former investigators, talking with people on the street, and doing this little serve thing that we made. We got a few potentials that we are trying to now meet with so hopefully that goes good! It is always really fun to meet and talk to people on the street! You never know who you will meet! We also did some service on Saturday for that member in our ward that we help a lot. His house is coming along really well thanks to the Elders hehe! It was the first time that I have helped him when there has not been tons of snow on the ground! He lives on in the hills so it was really pretty and green! The weather has been a lot better this week which makes missionary work a lot more enjoyable! 

This week we have a lot a head of us! We have luckily a few eating appointments with members. We also get to en change with the Elders in Wels which is always fun! The elder that i will be working with is from san bernardino California so S/O to my dad Gare Bear so serving his mission there. Any way then on friday we are traveling to Munich for the big mission conference this weekend! The whole mission will be there! We are staying in a hostel friday night and then the conference is all day saturday! Elder Bednar, President Teixeira, and Elder Allen! Should be a party! Most of it is training for Ipads which everyone is pretty pumped for! It should be really cool! That is about it for the week!

We are really enjoying things in Linz right! We are working hard and having fun doing it! This is a great time to be a servant of the Lord and im so grateful to be here right now! have a great week everyone and i hope to hear from you all soon!

Elder Lyman

Linz Austria Week 13

Farewell Elder Spencer!

Hello Elder Pippenstock!

Linz Austria Week 12

Hi family and friends! 

Highlights - This week has been amazing here in good old Linz! General Conference would have to be the big highlight! I am never disappointed that is for sure! I think most people would agree that Elder Holland nailed it as usual and that story he told was killer. President Uchtdorf killed it as well with the topic of grace. Conference always gets me pumped up to be a better person and missionary! We got to watch all the sessions but the Sunday afternoon session. We do not get to watch that one because it goes too late but we are going to watch it today after we do emails at the church! Should be fun! 

Another highlight of the week was going more service at Brother Ivanoskis house. He is a less active that we work with quit a bit. We have not worked with him for a couple of weeks so it was nice to do that again. Basically what we did all day was remove these steel door frames in his house with a Jack Hammer. It is fun but I'm  always really sore and tires after. 

The last big thing this week were transfer calls on Saturday. We got some sad news. Elder Spencer is being transferred from Linz to Ellwangin a little town by Stuttgart in Germany for his last transfer on his mission. It is kind of funny that he will only be there for 6 weeks but sometimes it happens. I got some news then as well. Something actually happened to me that does not happen very often in Austria. My new companion is Elder Piepenstock and he is from GERMANY! That is right people I am getting a native comp! Most of the European missionaries have to stay in Switzerland because they do not let Americans in right now so it is really rare for Americans to be able to work with the German Elders. He only has two more transfers on his mission so he will "die" here in Linz. I am super excited to me able to work with him! Hopefully my german will be amazing by the time we are done working together! Transfer day in on thursday so that is when Elder Spencer will leave and Elder Piepenstock will arrive! Should be fun!

Investigators - Not much to say about investigators right now. We are trying hard to find new people to teach. We have had no contact with out other investigators this week because of the Holidays and stuff. Hopefully next week will bring some new people!

Pday - Well today is actually a holiday here so everything is closed! We are basically chilling at the church watching General Conference eating chocolate all day! 

Well this week has been full of surprises! Hope to hear from all of you soon! have a great week!

Elder Lyman

p.s. S/O to my main girl Calyn Barry for getting her mission call to the Leeds England Mission! You will kill it! xoxoxo