Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Tuesday, July 29, 2014 "12 Lessons"








Hey there family!

So sorry to have written again on Tuesday! I promise that I am not going to make this a habit! We had conference yesterday so that is why I am writing a day late! I know, I feel the exact same way. . . I feel like I just wrote you guys yesterday. Time flies by! Ah that is crazy! Grandpa 72 years old and he can steal beat me in an arm wrestle! Not too shabby! I can't wait to get back and see all of the family! I miss you all so much! Sorry to hear that the Red Sox spanked them ;) That field looks amazing and you all look so great! Mom I love the OUI shirt!

Brock did look really, really happy. I completely understand though. I am going to be the same way with France! As for that, I would prefer to come back later if that is possible! What do you think about that?? 

That sounds like a fun trip! Enjoy Cali!

I can't believe Troy is home. He is such a stud and I would have loved to hear his talk. I bet that it was amazing!

There isn't too much going on right now. Although, we did have a really good week! We taught 12 lessons, other lessons and in the presence, this week! I could swear that that might be a mission high! We had a really good week and it was a lot of fun teaching so much. We also got to do a few exchanges with a few missionaries in the zone. I got to do a really fun one with Elder Frost from Arizona and one with Elder Gonzales Martinez from the Canary Islands. Both of them were a lot of fun! 


I have a funny story that happened this week.

We were on the metro and I was talking with this guy. The metro was a little crowded and because of how loud the metro is it is really hard to hear. Somehow it came up where we were talking about how many kids this guy had, he then turned to me and said how many do you have? I chuckled a little and said none yet, but I have three brothers! Okay, this is where it gets funny. . . In french to say that you say, J'ai trois frères. . . but the guy heard and understood, j'ai trois femmes. . . Which actually means I have three wives! When he said that I started laughing and said no no no, three brothers! All of the sudden this lady next to me just starts laughing her head off and I couldn't help but start laughing as well. After the guy got off at his stop I started talking to the lady and the people who she was with. . . in between laughs she tried to apologize for laughing, but then I started laughing and said no problem at all, that was hilarious! The funny thing is that when people see us they automatically say, ahhh, you are the Mormons, you have lots of wives! Hahaha, of course that was the mistake that was made! Classic!

Conference was really good yesterday. President Roney shared the story of Nephi and his brothers going back to Jerusalem to get the plates. He started the story in asking us which person we are in the story. We then proceeded to read the story and in the end we see that Nephi despite all crazy things that come before him always has his trust in the Lord. He helped us to realize that although we might not be there yet, this is the goal of our missions and ultimately life. We need to learn to trust the Lord, and above all Love him, more than we trust ourselves. It was a great conference :)

President decided to do conference in Clermont Ferrand and all of the other cites that we normally don't do them in so that we can start getting other members involved, and it was the best idea ever! The members there were seriously so amazing and so grateful to be able to help out the missionaries! The only problem that we ran into was that we had to get up at 5 to catch our train, which we almost missed haha, then in taking the trip to the chapel we all forgot umbrellas because the skies were clear in the morning. . . and we all got drenched! We all walked into conference absolutely soaked hahaha! President just started laughing when we walked in and said what happened to you guys? Conference went great though, in the end, we didn't have time again to interview with President, but that is okay, all of the other zone members got to talk to him for awhile and if that will help them work harder than all the better!

Everything is going great right now! I love being here in Lyon. It is truly a beautiful place. Although we spend most of our time under the city in the metros this is an amazing place.

Thank you so much for all the support that you give me! I love you all so much!

Elder Beyer

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Monday, July 21, 2014 "Go Red Sox!"

Dearest Amazing Family!

How in the world are you doing?? You all look like you are doing so good and the trip looks like a blast!! Haha Brock looked so excited to be with all of those missionaries! Not to mention, I was loving dad's shoes. . . I never thought that he would go with the bright yellow look. . . Brock and Mom, lookin' as good as ever as well! Yeah, you are going to have to plan a little trip like that so that you can meet all of the amazing members here in France. I bet that has been a blast going around and eating with all of the missionaries! At least I know that I was for them, anytime we ever go out to eat with a member it is a serious blast!

I cannot believe that Troy is seriously home! That blows my mind! You will have to give him a hug for me and if you could get his new email that would be awesome!

Tell Brock that I am going to be rooting for the Red Sox. . . (In Toronto we saw the Blue Jay's and Red Sox Game)

Hey! Congrats with the anniversary! That is so awesome!!!! Haha, when I first read that I was shocked that you went to London, but before I read the next part I remembered that that was a place that Brock had served. Too fun!


This week was a really good one, but there was not a whole lot that went on. It was just one of those really busy, nothing to crazy, fast passing weeks!

Like you had said, we did have our leadership council this week. As usual, the meeting was so amazing. I don't know how President does it every week, but he still manages to bring in the spirit like a ton of bricks every time that he teaches in a conference, Sister Roney too. . . Just hearing from them a few times a transfer gets me to make it through the whole transfer on a spiritual high. I love them both so much! This week they both talked about love and Jesus Christ, and the only way that we will ever be a good leader is through love. I really liked what they said and as always it is a good reminder to know how to work with all of the other missionaries.

Over the days following that we just had a few random lessons with people that had either been taught by the Elders before us, or a guy that is here on vacation from Marseille that Elder Powell taught. The guy from Marseille is here for three weeks and then when he goes back over there he is going to get baptized, so while he is here in Lyon we are going to help him prepare for his baptism! One other guy that we taught was M....., he is a really cool guy that is progressing really well who was taught by the Elders before, we are really hoping that he will be baptized in the next few weeks so keep prayin' for him!

You had asked about Elder Powell! He is from Santa Cruz, California! He is really cool and he plays football. He thinks he is huge, but he is really a wimp. . . Nah, just kiddin'. He would beat me up with a finger! He is going to try and play for BYU after the mission! I am having a lot of fun with him though and I feel really lucky to be with him!

This Saturday was really awesome because we had our Zone Training that went really, really good. I have a lot of fun teaching those training meetings. We have an awesome zone and in starting off the meeting we were able to talk about miracles that we had seen over the last little while and especially on July 5th, all of the missionaries shared the coolest experiences and it was so amazing hearing all of the incredible things that are happening in our mission right now. Sharing all of the miracles really invited the spirit and our meeting that followed went really, really well! We also had the Elders of Corsica there with us on Skype and they added a lot of great things to our meeting!

Later that day after the meeting we were able to play soccer with a few investigators and a bunch of members and missionaries which was a blast, we are going to try and start playing every Saturday now so that we can invite a lot more investigators to meet us in a non threatening way!

Church was great as usual! Not to mention we had a member come up after and invite us over to dinner out of the blue! Not to shabby huh?!! Gotta love when that happens!

Everything is going really good right now though. Today for p-day it is raining really hard, so I think we are just going to walk around. . . also, all of the suits are on sale. . . so if I find a good one I might be spending a little bit of money today :) We will see!

I love you all so much and keep having a great time in Toronto! Go Red Sox!!

Love,
Elder Beyer

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

July 15, 2014 "Fireworks"

Salut!

I was absolutely loving all of the pictures that you sent! You all look like you are having wayyyy way too much fun in the sun! Put some sunscreen on! The only one that didn't look fried was Caden and that is because he gets paid to sit in the sun :) Hey dad! You feet are looking great!

Ahh, gotta love Bear Lake and all of the memories that are there. I think that is by far one of my favorite trips that we take. There is nothing more fun than being with the whole family messing around in the sun. I am glad to hear that you all had so much fun!

Have a ton of fun in Toronto!! That is going to be an awesome experience! I can only imagine how excited Brock is to be going back, are you going to try and stop by and see some of the members that are there or are you just going to go around and see all of the sights that are there?

Tell everyone I love them and thank Gramps for his words!

Okay. . .

Elder Beyer and Elder Powell (New Companion)
Helping move a member!
So, the reason that I didn't send an email yesterday was because we were so busy doing a service project. We were helping one of the members move into her new apartment. So, as you know, yesterday was the 14th of July. That is one of the biggest holidays in France. Our President has been telling us over the past few months that if we work as hard as we can to have as many baptisms as we can on the 5th that we could celebrate as a mission on the 14th and go and Watch the fireworks, stay up late, and sleep in the next day. . . So, we had been working toward this reward for a very long time. Anyways, in helping the members slowly but surely we were realizing that there was still a ton of stuff to move and it was getting late. Load after load was taken back and forth and it kept getting later and later. Finally it got to the point that we missed all of the trains to come back to Lyon where we were going to meet up with all of the other missionaries to eat, play games, and go to the fireworks with some of the members. Because the service project we weren't able to make it :( I was seriously stressin' because I had been looking forward to this day for 3 months now! As it started getting really late, the members that we were helping were like, okay, we will drive you back as fast as we can with our families so that we can go see the fireworks together. We were so excited! So, we drove as fast as we could and after a few wrong turns we made it the perfect place to Watch the fireworks. . . but they were hidden by the buildings. As we were walking with 7 little kids over by the river to Watch the fireworks we heard them start going off. . . we didn't want to miss all of them so we all just took of running! We ran and ran until we made it to the river where we had a perfect view. When we made it past the buildings it was seriously so amazing. . . we were right next to the river and we looked up on the hill at a few huge old french buildings, one that looked like a little castle where they had the french flag flying high and just right behind that were the fireworks that we going off that were seriously amazing! I don't know why, but I love fireworks so much! I think that the July holidays are some of my favorites. . . After about 15 minutes they were over, but it was all well Worth it in the end. We all went out to eat after and then headed home. This morning we got to sleep in a little bit as well, although, my body woke me up at 8, so basically the same amount of time that I sleep every night :)

This week has been pretty crazy because we have been trying to figure out where we need to be going and what we need to be doing. . .

With that being said though, everything is going really good. We had a great week in which we talked to tons of people and we set up a lot of teaching appointments for this week! So, fingers crossed that they all go through :)

Not only that, but the people that the missionaries that were here before us were teaching are seriously amazing! They are so elect! One of them is a 12 year old boy that has grown up in the Church and his dad finally gave him permission to be baptized! We taught him about baptism and it was seriously incredible how much he knew and seriously how ready he is for baptism. His name is J....


and he is seriously awesome, if he doesn't have anyone to bring him to Church he rides his bike or his scooter to get there. . . how incredible is that?!

The other guy is named M.... and we were able to teach him right after Church. He is an awesome guy and he really wants to know if this message is true. He said the only thing that he wants to do right now is get closer to God, so he said that he thinks this message is the way to do it, but he is not sure yet. He is getting close to finding out though. We are going to spend a lot of time reading the Book of Mormon over the next little while so that he can know for sure and be baptized once he finds out!

I think that I told you last week, but like I said now on September 27th we are going to have another day like the 5th of July! It is going to be another one for the record books and the goal is to beat our last amount of baptisms, which was 22! I think that we are totally going to do it! It is so incredible seeing how hard all of the missionaries are working right now and how many changes are happening in the mission right now. It is amazing to be a part of!

Oh and by the way, this new ward that I am in is awesome! There is seriously so many kids running around everywhere. When I stood up to bear my testimony when I first got into the ward I said, Wow. . . your ward is so living! Where I was in Bordeaux really lacked all of the noise from the kids and I just realized how much I missed it! It is going to be a blast working with all of them and I think that we are going to see some miracles here in this city. . . As for Grandpa's question, I really hope that I spend the rest of my mission here in Lyon! But, I am not sure :) There is a big chance!!

Je vous embrasse!

Elder Beyer

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Monday, July 8, 2014 "Lyon"


Hello!!!!

It is so great to hear from you! Hahaha I was loving the pictures. . . although, that picture of Brock is kinda creepin' me out. . . I sure hope that I don't get home with that one on the wall of my room :) Ah that sounds like a blast! I would dare say that Brad tipped everyone on purpose. . . I am glad to hear that everyone is back safe and sound now though! Hahaha no way did you already find out! That is seriously so crazy! Hahahahaha! Yeah, I was surprised that they did that as well, I was thinking the same thing as Brock when you told me that, so I am not really sure haha.

So yes, I am leaving to Lyon! Well, I am in Lyon!

I am so excited and I think it is going to be so much fun! 

The two missionaries that were the zone leaders here both finished their missions this transfer, so they headed home and my companion and myself are taking over their companionship. So, for my companion. . . On Tuesday I received a call that my companion would be Elder Lago and I was really excited. . . But, Sunday night I got a call from the assistants saying that a missionary had torn a ligament (Elder Phelps) so he had to go to the office and my companion had to go to Switzerland to take his spot. So, because of that my companion is now Elder Powell!! Elder Powell is this really cool kid from California and he was in Bordeaux with me so we have already spent a lot of time together on P-days over there. He is an awesome kid and I am really excited to be able to work with him, we are going to have a blast this transfer. As for Elder Taylor, he is getting an Elder named Elder Zenger and yes, they will both be in Bordeaux.

Okay, this week was absolutely crazy! There was so much to do and it went by so fast.

I will tell you about the goodbyes and the baptism!



First was saying goodbye to our neighbors who I have come to love. After they had us over for lunch it was getting towards the time that we had to head out and they had to get going as well. I gave the two boys hugs and then gave the dad a hug goodbye, the mom then looks at me and points to her cheek and says do I get a kiss on the cheek since you are leaving? As you know, that is something that is such a big part of the french culture and just in us not giving them a bisous every time that we see them is kind of a weird thing for everyone that we are really good friends with. So, I look at her and say, I would love to, but I can't. . . I then stuck out my hand and she squeezed it really, really tight as tears came to her eyes and said, I understand, I am going to miss you. I told them that I loved them and that I was really going to miss them and headed out. As we were leaving Elder Taylor turns to me and says man! That is so hard. . . Go up to her and kiss your hand and then put it on her cheek. . . So, that is exactly what did. Although she was still really sad, she had a big smile on her face.

Friday night we were all able to go over to S........ house to celebrate one last time before the baptism. He was so excited! He invited over all of the missionaries and C..... and we all had a big party where we ate and joked around. It was so fun and the perfect way to get ready for his baptism.

Saturday afternoon we got to the church around 4:00, S...... was there to meet us with his hair all gelled up and his suit on ready to meet us. We sat down to have a good lesson to get him ready for this big event and the lesson was killer! We talked about John 14 and how Christ can establish feelings of peace in this world where is it so hard to find it. He was really touched and although nervous, at the end of the RDV he was really excited for his baptism. 

The baptism went great! Everything went perfectly according to plan. All of the members that we on the program came and not only that, but we had every missionary in Bordeaux there. It was so sweet seeing all of the missionaries there, and with all of our combined efforts we were able to see a baptism on July 5th!!

You are not going to believe how many baptisms we had in our mission. . . 

22!! 

All on the same day! How sweet is that?! When we saw the list of all the baptisms that President sent out we were all so excited! It is such an amazing time to be a missionary right now in the France Lyon Mission, and in the world, but we are seeing things change here and we are baptizing so many more people than were baptized in the years past! It is so awesome seeing the faith of all of the missionaries growing and seeing so many miracles happen because everyone is on the same page right now!

Right now we are all preparing for Elder Ballard to come on September 27th! So, we are fixing new goals and we are going to be seeing even more baptisms than we had on July 5th! It is going to be so amazing!

Oh yeah, July 4th we had a party with all of the missionaries and the American family, the Tate's, in our ward and we ate some great American food!

Sunday went great and although it was so hard to say bye to everyone it was amazing to see Stephane share his testimony and to see Carine there. . . So I left very happy :)

The leave was really hard for Stephane, and Carine was pretty sad as well, but I think they will get over it really quick :) Not to mention they still have Elder Taylor :)

Dearest family, have a wonderful week and I can't wait to hear from you next week!

By the way I got the package!! Thank you so much! We loved it so much! My new apartment is pretty cool!

This is the new address!
53 Professeur Rachaix
F-69003 Lyon France

Love,
Elder Beyer