Last Week in Salzburg!

Sometimes I wear lederhosen in my room . . . 

just for fun. 

Hello friends and family! 

I hope that everyone is doing well back home.  Let's start with the big news that I have!  On Saturday I got the transfer call and they said that I will need to pack my bags and head up to Linz Austria! WaHoo!!  So Linz is a pretty big town in the northern part of Austria.  It is not as big as Salzburg but thats ok!  I have actually been there once for a Stake Priesthood Meeting.  I am really excited to serve there! They have the biggest ward in Austria which will be great.  I will be working with my new companion named Elder Spencer.  He is from Lehi Utah!  Linz is in the same Zone that I'm in right now so I have actually met him before at Zone training.  He is a great guy and it will be great to work with him.  I will send lots of pictures home next week of the new area.

Because I'm getting transferred and Elder Kingery is going home, the Salzburg two area is CLOSED! The Zone Leaders will start teaching our investigators which will be great because we know they will take good care of them.  We had our last lesson with a lot of them this week to say goodbye.  It was hard but I know that they are in good hands.  It will be a good test to see if they are really investigating the church for the right reasons or just hanging out with us because I'm extremely good looking and personable.  It will be good for them! (hehe)

My district also had a surprise birthday party for me on my birthday which was quit nice.  I will make sure to include pictures of the gang on my B-day!

This week will be one of goodbyes and packing.  It looks like this is GOODBYE SALZBURG!  Until zone conference in one month . . . . I am happy I will get to come back and visit.  I have loved it here!

Shöne Woche!!

Elder Lyman

Salzburg Austria Week 17

Dear Family,

Happy New Year everyone!!  We spent New Year's at our Bishops house which was really fun! They are a really great family!  It was even cooler because there daughter got set apart to leave on her mission the next day! It was really great to see that!  I was thinking a lot about how I felt when I left on my mission and it kind of put some things into perspective for me. Other than that we did not really do anything crazy. Just normal missionary work.

As far as missionary work in concerned, we are staying busy.  We actually found a new investigator this week in kind of a funny way.  Here is the story.  We were just going by to visit a former investigators of ours and when we got to his door found that his name was no longer on the building.  We were so bummed!  When we were just about to leave this guy walked up to us and said, "you are the Mormons right?" and we said "YES!!  We are the Mormons!"  He then said, "You are here for me right?" and we said "UH . . . YES!!"  So we went into his house and taught him the first lesson!  It was awesome!  It just proves to me that when you are doing what you are supposed to do, the Lord will put the people into your path who you need to teach!  We also are helping the Elders we live with right now teach a 17 year old girl who is getting baptized in two weeks!  That will be really cool! Pray that we can keep meeting with both of them!

Other than that, things are just normal mission life!  I will find out if I am staying in Salzburg or leaving this week.  I  hope I get to stay for a while longer but I think it may be time to move on.  I will let you all know! 

Much love,

Elder Lyman

Salzburg Austria Week 16

What a great week!  Celebrating Christmas in Salzburg was so much fun! We did a lot of really cool things and ate a lot of really amazing food! 

For Christmas Eve we spent most of the day with the Dengg Family in our ward.  They are great! We got on a train in Salzburg and went to the Chapel where Silent Night was written.  There was no room in the train beacuse there were so may people and we had to just stand on the outside platform the whole time.  I have never been so cold in my entire life!  Haha it was good though!  There was a big Christmas market there too which was really fun.  After that we went back to there house and had a big dinner then just played games all night!  

On Christmas day we opened all of our missionary presents from our families.  I think I have eaten my weight in chocolate this week which is not a good thing.  We then went to this super cool young couple in our ward for the afternoon.  We had a big lunch and played games and just chilled.  It was great!  After that we went to the Church and got to skype our families.  That was the best gift I could ever ask for!  It was so good to see my family! 

Austrians also celebrate the 26th here so we did the same thing that day too.  Went to a members house, ate food till we died, then played Phase Ten till we had to go home! It was a great couple of days.  

We did not get to do much missionary work this week because all our investigators were busy and could not meet with us. We are hoping to be able to meet with them this week. 

This was a fantastic week!  I really enjoyed my first Christmas on my mission!  It will definitely be one that I remember. I hope everyone back home had a great week as well. I love you all so dearly!

Elder Lyman

Salzburg Austria Week 15

Servus! 

I really can't believe it is Christmas this week!  The time is going by super quick in the mission field! In Austria they celebrate the 24th, 25th and the 26th!  It will be a great week!  We are going to be with members for all 3 days!  We have some really cool things planned.  We are going to visit the the Church where Silent Night was written!  Other than that it will be a pretty boring week I think.  All of our investigators can't meet just because they are so busy with Christmas stuff.  It is hard to do missionary work because if you knock on an Austrians door on Christmas they would probably punch you in the face.  They take Christmas serious over here.  I think the highlight of my week will be skyping my family!  That should be super fun!

Last p-day we went to the castle in Salzburg and took a tour.  I will send some of the pictures home. Today we are going on the Sound of Music tour as well so that should be super fun. 

I hope all of you have a amazing Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Love,

Elder Lyman

Salzburg Austria Week 14

Hallo Everyone!

This week has been great in Salzburg.  We are getting super close to Christmas and we are pretty excited.  I really can't believe it is almost Christmas.  It seems like yesterday that it was July and I was heading to the MTC and now next week is Christmas!  Soon after that it is my birthday (January 7th to be exact for everyone that really loves me and wants to send me a card or gift or both).  Then . . . on the 31 of January, I will celebrate my 6 month mark on my mission!  That is so nuts!!

One thing we did this week that was great was we went to a parade with all these really scary monsters.  It is a yearly tradition in Bavaria.   They basically walk around and scare the kids and make them cry.  It was pretty freaky but super fun.  We also had our Christmas Conference with President and Sister Kohler which was great.  It was at our church with the Salzburg and Vienna Zone.  We watched the new mormon.org video called "He Is The Gift" which I loved!  They also surprised us and we got to watch "Meet The Mormons" which was amazing!   It was so cool to see how the Church is spreading around the world!

This week I have come to more fully appreciate the gift that Heavenly Father has given us. It must have been the hardest thing for Him to give His Son to the world knowing all that would happen to him.  I can't imagine what that was like.  I'm trying my best to be thankful for the gift of the Savior especially during this Christmas season.  We can never repay Him for what he did but we can do what He asks of us.  I think we all know what we must do to follow the Savior.  Now we just need to do it!!

I hope everyone at home has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year (you filthy animals)! 

Shöne Woche!

Elder Lyman

Salzburg Austria Week 13

Servous!

This week has been a good one!  It is crazy how fast time is going by.  Every week goes faster and faster in the mission field!  People here in Salzburg are starting to go crazy for Christmas.  They celebrate every Sunday leading up to Chirstmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas day and the day after!  I can't wait! I t is going to be so much fun!  Hopefully we will get to spend some with the members and have a great time!

This week has been a good teaching week.  We have a new investigator that we found.  His name is Ibraham!  He is from Afghanistan which is pretty cool.  He actually has a baptismal date set for the 27th of this month!  It would be super cool if that worked out!  This is our first investigator with a date so hopefully it will! 

I'm starting to feel super grateful for the Savior during Christmas time.  Everyone says it, but Christ is not really the center of Christmas in most of the world.  He is the most important person that has ever lived on this earth and we get to celebrate his birth.  That's a pretty big deal.  I have developed a much more personal relationship with Him on my mission.  It gives me a lot of motivation to bring others to come unto Christ when I think about all that He did for us.  All I really want this year in to be a better instrument in His hands. 

Keep it real and thanks for all that you all are doing for me!

Love,

Elder Lyman

Salzburg Austria Week 12

Hallo People that read my letters!

Things are going great in Salzburg! We had a really big Thanksgiving feast at the Church this week with all the YSA people in our ward.  It was fun!  Most had never had a Thanksgiving dinner before so it was really cool! It reminded me of good old America!

This week has been full of great things!  I found out that I will be staying in Salzburg for another transfer! This is Elder Kingerys last transfer so I get to kill him which will be super fun! We have a new Zone Leader coming to live with us which will be cool as well.

As far as teaching goes we have not found anyone new to teach this week but we are still teaching a couple people which has been really great.  We have a couple people that are slowly but surely progressing towards baptism.  I really enjoy teaching people about the Gospel.  It gives me such a great appreciation for all the things I know.  Sometimes I wonder why the Lord has blessed me with the life I have.  I now just need to try my best every day to make Him proud and fulfill my purpose as a Missionary.

German is coming along good.  I feel like my understanding has expanded these last couple weeks which is great. It is nice to be able to talk to people.

Christmas is for sure here in Salzburg.  This place goes all out for Christmas.  We go to the Christmas markets as often as we can.  Kinder punch for dayzzzzzz.

Anyway things are great here!  Hope everyone is having a good time at home. 

Schöne Woche

Elder Lyman