Nathanael Pyron

Nathanael Pyron

Monday, December 17, 2012

Monday, December 17


Hello family!
     So things are going great. Things are way different.  There are at least 10 of the missionaries living in apartments, and in my last zone only 4 did. It's a nice area, like Deep Run, maybe slightly smaller houses..not like Brother Y.  There's some huge man made lakes, and lots of nice trees, it's cool.  I'm way lost though, the roads don't follow the same grid pattern, and there's some hills, and you can't see the strip... it's close to my last area but I feel so far most of the time.      
     So so far the singles ward is amazing.  From the missionaries in my last zone that covered the Willow Springs one, and with my brief experiences with the one back home and in Idaho, this one is way better.  There are a lot of really dedicated and missionary minded people.  I'm excited, and we've got 2 or 3 baptisms coming up, and there were 7 last transfer.  But Cimarron ward has some nice people in there, too.  I still haven't been able to meet a lot of investigators and such.. but we have some cool ones.  One guy M is from Egypt, his dad was killed there for reading and sharing the Book of Mormon, and he came here recently so he could get baptized, but he's waiting for his green card.  Then the singles ward has this guy named J who is from Korea I think, he's got a thick accent but communication works fine.  He's set for Saturday.
     Then there's another kid named J in the Cimarron ward.. he lives with his dad, is 13, and has no member relatives, or close friends.  He was baby sitting for an inactive family, saw a Book of Mormon on the shelf, got really curious, comes to church and has a testimony.  His dad has no interest, but approved baptism, and his mom is coming for Christmas and he's going to ask her.  He's a huge basketball/sports fan, and is pretty dedicated.  When I met him it was night in their apartment complex, and we went to the empty complex weight room to talk.  He reads from the Book of Mormon before every basketball game and practice.  He's just about finished with 2nd Nephi.  He's actually from VA, and used to go to Wizards games all the time.
     Oh, we also have a recent convert in the YSA, this kid named B from VA, and he has Savant's.. I've always wanted to meet one.  He's really nice too.  He has quickly scrolled through calenders from like the past century and has them all memorized.  If you give your year and birthday, of any year, he can tell you the day of the week you were born instantaneously.  Our ward mission leader Brother V showed us that.  When I was talking to B he asked if I preferred the Braves or the Nationals, and I had to go as he was asking, but he was gonna pull all sorts of ridiculous stats... It's so cool.  I don't even know how that works, like a photographic memory, do you store all the numbers, or is it photographic and he like actually recalls the cards or calenders or whatever perfectly, and then he just looks at it in his mind?
     Anyways this brings us to our apartment... its me, Elder P, K, and M. M is my companion.  We all get along super well.  Elder M has learned so much, and he's really fun to talk about things with.  We understand each others brains really well, and have the same type of questioning and understanding.  He's yet to get on my nerves in the slightest.  I think James would like him a lot too.  So like one night he quickly taught us all these very easy and simple mnemonic mind tricks... in 10 minutes I learned the system, AND the first 50 digits of pi. Just like that, I could give them to you now.  He also is the inventor of the technique to lucid dream, and has beneficial applications, and it's like so unknown, but amazing.  Yet it's simple and not that engineered, but it was an idea he had, spent time experimenting with, and has shared with a few friends before his mission, Elder O, and us in this apartment.  I want James to meet him, or at least talk to James about these new things.  Our whole apartment is very similar in ways of thinking and understanding, it's so awesome.  I am so happy right now. Anyways, we drive a corolla, P and K drive a ford fusion I think.  What other questions do you have? Thanks so much for everything!
Love, Elder Pyron

Saturday, December 15


Friday, December 14, 2012

Monday, December 10


 Dear family,

     So first off I’m getting transferred...tonight to Redrock Stake right next door.  So crazy stuff.  I’m covering the Cimmaron Ward and the Redrock Singles Ward, btw it’s a real wealthy area I hear.  It’s close though, the building this singles ward meets in is in Westcliff Ward boundaries, but no overlap besides that.  Its weird, I never thought I’d miss these people so much.  But I already miss some a ton.  Things were picking up big time so it’s real sad.  I didn't get to say as many goodbyes yesterday as I would have liked, but I’ll see people around, and I might try and write some.  Yesterday after church we saw the Ts and K for a bit, then we went to Ms for dinner, and then we went to the Js for Preach My Gospel.  I was hoping to visit the Ms, Ms, C, Rs, Ms, A, and  C and maybe some more but oh well.  The ward K moved to (1 minute out of Westcliff boundaries) meets at the singles ward building so I’ll probably see him, and we pass the M, Ms, T, and really the whole Westcliff Ward to get there. 
     After PMG I gave J and J signed ties.  It’s ridiculous how much I’m going to miss a lot of these people.  The Ms, I haven’t mentioned a whole lot in emails, but I probably should have.  C should be having his kid real soon, if not already, December 10th is what they said a while back.  Our investigators are doing good to, we  taught a long lesson with C the other day, who knows the gospel well, has been coming to church almost a year.. she home schools her two kids.  From the home school thing she is friends with some members and has been coming for a while.  She’s a really great lady, and has studied many religions, of all sorts.  We taught L again, the Spirit was very strong, and he told a story about his son a long time ago who drowned, and was being rushed in an ambulance and he was following speeding, and praying, and he miraculously recovered with no brain damage. 
     We also taught M again, he’s so interesting.  The lesson went great, he had read quite a bit from the BOM and found himself a favorite scripture.  He’s so broken and all from his past.  Wait have I mentioned him? It was our second lesson this week with him.  He’s a super rough guy, recently out of jail, almost 30 years old.  He’s white, about 6'1, muscular type build,  long black hair in a pony tail pulled tight and the bottom part of his hair is all shaved off like a Native American thing, he has a little beard with lines shaved through it, and he has scars all over his face and arms.  Our first lesson was nuts.  He was very interested and wanted baptism badly, but has a long path.  He’s very angry, but very eager.  He sits there scarily angry about the bad things he sees in the world, and about his actions in the past... but cries so sincerely with happiness and hope.  He’s clearly confused  and lost but open..  Second lesson he for the most part wasn’t so angry.  He had read from the Book of Mormon, loved it, believes it to be true, and was overall much more happy.  He brought up on his own how he knows he has a long way to go, and that Satan has chains all over him through his addictions. We didn’t even teach the Word of Wisdom.  He was sitting right next to me and smoked a ton, and it was like a cloud of smoke around me the whole time, but I left and didn’t have a hint of smoke on me.   I sat there 45 minutes...  He said he started drinking as a young child, and has a long ways to go obviously.  He gets so happy when we are there, crying, and he is just so indescribably genuinely happy.  He’s excited to fill his life with good things.  He came to church Sunday, he got there 20 minutes early, said he’d stay the whole thing, spent a good amount of time talking to us and M and D.. and he so genuinely delights in meeting happy people.  As rough as he looks the people that met him loved him.  He was wearing some big black jeans, a black unzipped hoodie, and a white shirt with skulls and stuff on it, and was so embarrassed by the reflection of the life he has lead, but was so happy to be there.  He sang every hymn, and after each song, was a little embarrassed and said he tried his best.  He was very attentive and loved it.  At the end of the sacrament meeting, he was still real happy and enjoyed it, but said he had a doctor’s appointment and apologized and left, and said goodbye to the people he had met.  It was sad.  We stopped by his house later because I had said I would get him a shirt and tie because I have one that’s a little too big, but he wasn’t home.  He walks everywhere, no car. 
     So Elder C is training and his greenie's first lesson is with M on Tuesday morning so that should be fun.  We also saw T again. Again, he’s gone, said he was drinking Jack Daniels and cough syrup. He basically stands in his front yard all day at this mad house with like 20 people, some of which are normal.  It's like 8 at night, and we're standing in his front yard, and this old Cadillac out of nowhere pulls up into his front yard right where were standing, and this guy is in there and he like yells, and a lady comes out of the house, gives him a wad of cash through the window, and he gave her a Walmart bag full of something and she goes back inside.  Then he’s like hey elders! and said he’s in the Rainbow Vista Spanish ward, just had elders over for dinner (he had their names right) and said that he was baptized 10 years ago or something, and said his wife sells tamales (that’s what was in the bag) and T is just standing there completely out of it, and then the guy says bye, pulls out and leaves.  So weird. As gone as T is, it's weird how intelligent of things he’ll occasionally say… like about the resurrection, or war in heaven even…so I’m confused about him. 
     On my last SD card there’s a picture of a guy walking with jeans pulled up high, and he’s all tatted and shirtless... I took that a while back cause he looked funny, but met T a month later and just realized that was him in the picture. So there he is.  I want to go back and get a picture with him before I head out, but probably not. 
     So Elder P is leaving Mesquite and going to Redrock and will be in the same 4 man apartment as me so that should be crazy, but good, we both work hard.  Elder M is my new companion... he’s best friends with Elder O who is one of my zone leaders who I recently went on exchanges with.  I like them both a lot… they’re both interesting, and love to learn, and are into neat things.  Elder M is a tiny kid, not into sports at all, but I’m excited, he seems real neat, and he’s really smart.  There’s all sorts of ideas that he and Elder O have that they work on together, wish I had time to explain those.  But O thinks we’ll get along really well.  And maybe in the mornings me and Elder P can go on exchanges to go play basketball.  But yeah, so that’s that, I’m almost done packing and I’m really going to miss a lot of the missionaries here as well, but there’s a few good ones in this zone as well, all my friends here in the Las Vegas Zone just about are leaving anyways Elders B, S, B...  I’ll miss Elders H and D a lot though.  We might get to play basketball in the mornings with Elders H, D and C since I cover that area where they play.  This morning we played for our last time (most likely) it was kind of sad.  But I’m really excited, and hey rich areas can’t be too bad at Christmas time huh? 
     I love you all so much!
     Elder Pyron

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Monday, December 3


Hey family!
     I just read Bompa's email.  I'm doing great.  We had C's baptism Saturday which went really well. We got a car that we will have for a little over a week.  It's a dark gray Chevy Cruze, we were the first in the mission to drive one.  It's nice, but so is the weather.  We taught V the third lesson last night, she loves it and understands really well, and really wants to get baptized.  We got a new investigator L who has been married to a member for 20 years and her activity has fluctuated some.  But he's a really good guy and we're excited.  He's been out of work for two years, but he works hard on finding jobs, and doing what he can.  He really loves the church and after 20 years has seen how truly good people we are.  I was on exchanges a while back with our Elders Quorum president (only time we've ever done that) and I dropped of a Thanksgiving basket and he saw me, so we talked and he was really appreciative, and has been to church twice since, with his wife who doesn't normally come.  There a good family, they've got a nice clean home, and are really nice people.  They've got a daughter with 2 young grandkids living there as well.  So I'm really excited for him.
     We also got in with a former from the area book the other day who was really nice.  He's a guy in his 40s named B, and we talked in his home for about 40 minutes.  He has known and loved missionaries for about 10 years, but hasn't really given the message much of a chance, he just knows it's a good one.  He wants to do like weekly Bible study so that should be fun.  Our stake also just had a Christmas concert we got to bring investigators to and that was really good.  They did different Christmas songs with all sorts of genres, but the stake has a lot of talent, and they had a group to come and do the sound and all, ward members had to take shifts sleeping in the gym to guard all the sound equipment.  C was at church yesterday, his wife is expecting soon so he's off work for a few weeks.
     We've been playing basketball in the mornings, 2s with another companionship and M.  One of the other missionaries doesn't play so he writes in his journal or plays piano, but it's a lot of fun.  Oh, and our move to M's is delayed because he has finals and is home later, so were going on like the 12th or so.  And with all the new missionaries, we just heard that after upcoming transfer, Evergreen and Westcliff Ward are going to be their own areas.  That's going to be crazy, I'll probably be gone though, but maybe not so President can avoid double transferring people into a new area.  Or it increases my likelihood of leaving this transfer, on the 9th, so that two missionaries will have been here a full transfer when they break.  But probably not. 
     Time goes by fast.  I'll wrap up now, but let me know if you have any questions.
Love you all so much!
Elder Pyron

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Wednesday, November 28

Dear Family, 
     How is everyone?  So sorry I'm writing now, we didn't have pday Monday because today was the temple trip and pday.  And with the different schedule I am just not myself.  I doubt I'll write a whole lot, all I feel like doing is sitting and sleeping or something. The areas still doing good, we've had some more lessons, we got C some clothes, and I just found out we might get a car!  I'm guessing a lot has happened since last I emailed, it was before Thanksgiving right? Well Thanksgiving was fun, we went to two dinners, and then visited another family.

     James should know how to get the videos off the SD card and I've been recording everyday on it now, so I'll send that soon or something.  I heard about the 138 point game recently, that's crazy.  And for your questions just about anything Christmasy is ok, I haven't listened to the Mo Tab yet, but yeah.  And about the Christmas type questions, I like the white g7900 (with a little purple and orange) watch, and I trust James pretty good on prices and all but I remember liking the Kobe 6 Avatars, and size 11, and then just different color sharpies and idk about speakers yet.
     I've got some questions about food and stuff, I've been eating a bunch of baby carrots, wheat bread peanut butter and banana sandwiches, yogurt, and cheese sticks and a lot of water.  I just want some research and to know what a really good diet would be, cause now I eat almost anything that doesn't take much preparation, I want brain food, (energy and focus and stuff), things good physically, and a strong immune system.  And then I have little control over meal appointments.  Oh and I've been drinking a ton of water, but I don't know if it's in my head or not, but does eating healthy and staying really hydrated give you a dependency, and then your impaired to a degree when you don't have access to it?  I'm really curious about that.  What does the internet say the most effective chapsticks are?  I'm hydrated enough I don't need it too bad but I really wanna know.  I'll wrap up now and maybe do some personal emails.
     Oh Acts is amazing, there's so much good stuff in there, and in most of the chapters shortly following, Corinthians, Timothy, James and all that is so good, probably my favorites.
     But love you all!
     Elder Pyron

Monday, November 19, 2012

Monday, November 19

Dear family, 
     So this library is more busy. Music would be great since you asked.  I'll hopefully get some letters and SD card in the mail today; it's a pain; I wrote a few like over a week ago, but before I get around to sending I always want to add more or something, and sometimes don't, but want to, and I just never feel ready to send.  I promise I'll get something in the mail by tomorrow.  Being so busy and everything journal writing is rough, I want to write for 40 minutes about everything that happened in the day, or nothing at all.  I hate the incompletion but it's just me being dumb.  I want to get like a voice recorder so I can just relax and hit everything, and with more detail.  So I'll soon send some pictures with our place.

     Our area is one long giant hill.  It got chilly a few days ago, and I bought a jacket.  It's way too hot with that, I bought a pretty nice one I really like from Ross, but it may not come out too often, it gets hot in there.  But it hasn't been too cold, and even at night it feels great in short sleeves.  Elder C always needs a jacket, but it's not bad at all.
     So for Thanksgiving we're set to win the turkey bowl, and then were allowed two dinners, we've got one at the Ws, one at the Ts, and one at Cs. We're not sure what times we're going to do and all, we are only supposed to eat at 2, and Cs is later so we might swing by in the evening or something.  That one will be all nonmember family.
     So the work is still doing great, and picking up, and my drive to write all about them all is going down, maybe because I share the joy more with Elder C and I don't have the same urge to share, maybe I'm getting dull to it, maybe my drive to write in general has dropped.  So we finally got in again with K.  We met again with T and A, and again they are high and drunk out of their minds, but we brought a member who was able to get really personal with T, telling him how he used to be the exact same, and they were speaking in Spanish for that part, it's crazy, we're all just on the porch, and A is talking to me and Elder C, and keeps doing his signature 'random page random verse' and reading from the Book of Mormon.  He just talks and talks, but we kept him distracted I guess while Thomas and the member talked in Spanish; the member was all excited and wearing a nice suit with a nice tie that matched his handkerchief and everything and T was shocked and he told him we don't teach the Word of Wisdom to control them but to bless them.  There were a lot of really funny things that happened, I don't have time to explain.  But so were not allowed in the house because I guess the step dad or something hates us, and there was another guy also on the porch with us, high out of his mind, just sitting in the background, shaking and petting his dog.  They're all really nice though.  We do it outside every time btw.
     So C who I mentioned we're teaching is still doing great, and we're excited for him.  C is so innocent and all; he's so small, clean, cute and innocent.  He's a great little kid.  And he always mentions in his prayers something about wanting for his brother to be a good example (he was baptized at 8, doesn't go to church).  We're doing a FHE there tonight.  We've got a ton of potentials who are looking promising that were picking up faster than we know what to do, but also a lot of lessons that fall through.  Saturday I've got two baptisms from Elder Gs area I might go to.  We just met the other day with a guy who is new to Vegas, with a good testimony.  He lives alone with his son who is 20, and at 14 suffered a paralyzing injury so he's in a wheelchair, and his upper half is functional.  He's a really nice kid, and he's going to start going to the singles ward.  He hasn't been to church in about a year, but I'm excited for him.  But yeah, there's probably so many people I haven't really covered yet, and so many experiences.
     Oh we met with S, he made us a nice a breakfast, and then just wanted to bash really.  He didn't want to bash, but he didn't invite us with the intent of learning, but out of curiosity and because he liked our company I guess.  He ended up calling his pastor who just talked on speaker phone for 20 minutes and refused to let us speak a word, so it was lame.  He's apostolic.  His big things were that the Holy Ghost can come by the laying on of hands, but doesn't have to, and the confirmation that it has is when you speak in tongues.  He told us we're clean living enough, that we, like them, could kneel with our hands in the air in praise, and within a few minutes speak in tongues.  So that visit was neat.  To prep and for fun really, I read the whole Book of Revelation, it's really neat, and really enlightening in some ways, but some things make absolutely no sense to me.  I want to talk more about that, Elder G was into that deeper stuff but Elder C isn't.  But my times running low.
     For Christmas, I'm thinking Kobe 6s,( I played outside some in mine, and I just love them so much), ties, music, speakers, another g-shock, a voice record thing, sharpies, I don't know, those are just some ideas.  New socks.  But I've got 10 more minutes so I'll send this now.  Oh the mission tour was cool, Elder Echo Hawk has one of the coolest conversion stories and stuff.  Love You all so much!! 
     Elder Pyron

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Monday, November 12


Hey Family!
     So it's been another good week, the work is picking up a ton.  We've been tracting and going hard and we've got a ton of appointments set for this week, it's crazy.  We have one baptism set with a date, December 1!  His name is C, I think I mentioned him last time, but we've taught him 2 lessons, he came to church and things are looking way up, he's really smart and excited.  We also got some appointments set with some more we tracted into.  One lady was super nice, said she's agnostic and practices Wicca, and she has this super creepy voodoo doll tattoo.  She said she knows the Bible well, used to be Jehovah's Witness, but is very eager to learn and read from the Book of Mormon.  She is an extremely kind lady as well.  I think I mentioned S last time, but let me know if I didn't.  We tracted into one guy who was extremely happy to see us, we have an appointment set for tomorrow afternoon, and he was saying at the door how he recently cheated on his wife and life has been awful and he needs Christ.  He was very sincere and very happy.  He was about 50.  We've gotten a handful of referrals, and got some appointments set with some old investigators we found in the area book or just hadn't been in touch with in forever.  So things are going awesome.       
     Yesterday our zone was asked to usher at the Las Vegas Zions Youth Orchestra or something in the Smith Center, so we saw two shows and were there from 215 to 945.  It was really cool, you guys should check it out.  From the two wards I cover combined we had about 10 youth in it.  So it's been really cold, we bike up hill straight into cold wind, my hands get numb and it's pretty brutal.  I think today I'm going to buy more sweaters and maybe a jacket and gloves.  On Monday by the way I was able to find some pants at Ross, I bought two clearance pairs $13 each, there both dark gray.  
     I'll try to get some stuff in the mail.  We've got our Turkey bowl coming up and I think we can win.  We get our shirts tomorrow.  One zone challenged us last Tuesday, and they had already played and beat 4 other zones and were really excited and cocky.  A few of them even had just bought brand new cleats and gloves and all.  It was our first time playing and we beat them, and they left without saying anything, it was hilarious.  But they have one player who plays wide receiver for BYU, so that was fun.  Hes doesn't take it all serious like the other ones though, so he's cool.  So we're playing again with just our zone for Pday activity today.
     Oh so we talked with a guy that has known the missionaries in this area very well for a long time, and apparently in Sundance apartments a while back some missionaries saw a guy getting chased by another with an ax, which I think is hilarious, and nuts obviously.  Oh I've been eating a ton of bananas, and I had always seen people with those little banana hangers so I threw some of mine over a hanger, and it's amazing!! They don't bruise at all, and they'll get super sweet with no brown spots! Find a nice green bunch and hang them on something, it's like bananas on crack.  I also eat a lot of yogurt if your curious, The Great Value banana cream pie, and vanilla are really good  and I put sunflower seeds in there.  Let me know what other things your curious about.
     I've kind of dropped my New Testament study temporarily to study Preach My Gospel, it's so good!  I think I'm ready to go back to the New Testament though.  Ok I'm going to wrap up now.
     Love, Elder Pyron
 PS Answers to your questions: Not much veggies, carrots occasionally.  Salads good though.  I heard eating too many bananas can be really bad for you, research that and let me know please.  S is a very unique guy we met, he had a chair nailed to his roof to represents Obama's empty chair or something, had Romney spray painted on his windows, and was full of obscure Biblical prophecies about things that are happening now, and Obama being a servant of Satan.  He knew an okay amount about Mormons and really agreed with just about everything we discussed.  He talks a ton, but wants to meet with us, so hopefully we can make it meaningful.  He's also got like 5 HUGE dogs that stay inside and bark and howl a ton, I'm scared to ever go in.  Things are going good (with my companion) we get along. He loves Atlanta, loves sports, and is BYUs biggest fan on the east coast. He's a great missionary, and likes just about everyone.  But anyways hopefully I'll get you some stuff in the mail soon.  And this week we're at the normal library and yes on bike.  Last week we carried our groceries home on bike which is no fun.

Here is a link to the Las Vegas West Mission blog, with information on the Zion's Youth Symphony (November 12 entry):  http://nevadalasvegaswestmission.blogspot.com/

Friday, November 9, 2012

Monday, November 5


Dear Family!
     How is everyone with the storm and all!? I'm doing great, but I'll let you know now, we're on bike and using the family history center libraries and the member with us can't stay long so I may run out of time.  My address is 6304 Brittany Way.  We are staying at Brother Hs.  I'll send you my SD card soon.  Elder C my new companion is great, he's very hardworking and obedient and likes to play basketball and stuff so I'm set.  He's from Warner Robins Georgia and lived in Portland for a bit before that.  We're on bike, which the weather is great for.  It was awesome to be able to go to church in Westcliff again.  With both my last companions I was never introduced to the area books.  Me and Elder C have been going through them a bit, have a nice list of formers and potentials, but it hadn't been updated in months.  We're keeping real busy, we've done a ton in Sundance apartments, have met a ton of people and done some tracting.  Tracting is fun, but having all the campaigners out there too isn't cool.  I wish I had time to talk about all these different peoples' progressions, but we've just met so many more and I have less time.  C hurt his eye at work recently and so he was able to come to church Sunday.  We've been reading with him and he wants to finish the Book of Mormon by Christmas.  Tonight were going over there and we're going to teach his wife the first lesson and read with C.  I'm really excited for that and he is to.
     This week with all the work we've been doing we've met so many people that really needed the gospel, or at least more abundantly.  Going around in Sundance with the long list we compiled from the area book, we had successes, but even quite a few we didn't plan on.  One girl approached us and it turned out she was going to church and stuff a while back, but her mom (who is a member) called it off before she was going to be baptized, and talking to members we were able to find out a lot about that situation. The girl was so nice and excited about church and all.  We also met another guy, who after talking to him we found out was baptized at 8 and went inactive at about 17.  He's in his 30s now, lived all over, so his records are elsewhere, but things in his life are really rough right now and were hoping to get him back on his feet.  We just stumbled upon him, there's no record of him living in Vegas that the church had.  He was really nice though.  Anyways, we've met a ton of people like that.  We've had a lot of cool experiences.  We met two guys the other day that were real interested, but were also high and drunk out of their minds.  Both of them had a blunt in one hand and a beer can in the other.  So we're going to swing by there soon, they were really nice, but out of it. It was really funny talking to them though.  When we were in Sundance we also saw a fight, we knew it was going to happen because there was a ton of high school, young 20s people out, talking in hurried voices, running around and stuff, and there were a bunch of police cars patrolling.  Then finally it broke out and there was a group of 40 or so people around it.            
     We also met this guy, Danny Vegas, who had some really funny stories I can tell you about after my mission or something, but claimed he talked to God, that he was told to take charge of Las Vegas, but we promised him we'd deliver a message to our loved ones from him -"What just happened in New York will come to Hollywood, and then Texas, so if you live in one of those places get out."  He was nice though and said to keep believing and praying, and we can come back to him if we have any questions, so we're on good terms with him.  We've been having some good successes with various less actives and things are going great.  This week has been without a doubt the best of my mission so far.
     The other day we met with a lady who is a single grandmother I guess, and her youngest grandson, C is 9 and is the only one that hasn't been baptized.  He's a really nice kid, and we're excited to start teaching him; we've got another appointment Tuesday night.  We found them doing our visits in Sundance as well.  And we're going to be back tonight because we have dinner with a member in there, and then C and his wife.  Last night we did a small preach my gospel class thing with kids preparing for their missions.  We do that at Js house, and last night it was just him and J2 who I've mentioned.  J knows it like the back of his hand but it was great getting to know J2 better and help him.  After the lesson  we challenged him to keep living as an example to his family and to always be prepared to bear his testimony to them. (The other day we stopped by his place and he wasn't home but we found out he's got 2 younger brothers and a younger sister).  I'm really excited for him and all the potential he has.  Afterwards we got to talk to J more about the situation, and I learned a lot about his homelife that I didn't know.  He's only 19 but J was saying he has a 2000 dollar art school debt, and J gives him a lot of work so he can pay that off and go on a mission.  He's coming to our dinner tonight (it's a single sister) and we're going to go straight to the lesson from there, he just doesn't know it yet.
     So things are going great and there's so much I'm excited for.  This morning we got word that W and J who are lifelong inactive sisters that we had been teaching pretty consistently said they are done and again asked for their records to be removed. Things were going pretty good there to.  So that's unfortunate, but things overall are picking up and I, and the ward, are very excited to get things rolling again.  We had a lot of less actives show up at church Sunday that we had been hoping for, but surprised us, so that was really cool to see.  Art is still doing good. I am really happy right now and so grateful for all of your support.  We're more situated now so I should get to writing.  Today were going to Ross so I'm going to look for some more socks, pants and sweaters. Oh man, so this week I had my first two blessings on my mission, and there was a cool experience I'll hopefully get to next week about that.  But know I am doing great, and we are well taken care of.  Oh and Saturday we had special permission to go up to Mesquite for one of Elder C baptism, so that was an interesting place.. and both there and the Halloween mission talent show I got to see a lot of MTC friends and had a lot of fun with that.  I'm meeting and have met soo many great people I've never written about, there's just too much good things surrounding me.  Our new district members are also really cool so I'm excited for them too.  I'll get pictures out soon, thank you so much.
     Love, Elder Pyron
PS I've got a little time but I don't know what else to talk about, I don't have time to go into more detail about people and all because for that to be satisfied I'd be here all day.  I am as happy as I have ever been right now though.  The bike I bought from Elder G (for 60) is great, SOO much better then my other one.  And so just about everything is uphill for us, and the best thing ever is having a successful day, and then coming home at night from the top of the hill, and it's a long easy smooth ride right through the city, and your sweat makes you chilly.  Oh and we heard some more gunshots the other night.  But everything's great, and again I'll hopefully write some this week and talk to you next week!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

October 29


Dear Family!
     That storm sounds so exciting and I really wish I was there for that, I'm super jealous.  Thanks everyone for the birthday letters and gifts, hopefully I can get to writing more when I'm in my new place and settled. The confirmation went great, were gonna start doing the new member lessons and all I'm excited, he's really happy.  So I have all my transfer info, and I'm really excited.  I'll be with Elder C, in my area, and I will in fact be staying at another member's house, but I'm excited.  So Elder G served with Elder C about 3 months ago, and he has been training Elder P from my MTC district in Mesquite.  So Elder G thinks me and Elder C will be really good together, and I think so too.  I hear he's a really good missionary, and very hard working, and loves basketball, so I should be good!  I haven't played in forever but we can start going in the mornings again and all.  We're going to be on bike, but Brother C who I may have mentioned said he'll take us in the mornings, and now they play Monday-Thursday, not just Monday Wednesday.  Which brings me to bikes, and I'm going to buy Elder G's, who has no more need for his, it looks and feels nice, and he's the same size as me.  So I'll buy that for 60 he said, which I think is a steal.  Oh and a lot of the things I've heard about Elder C remind me of James and my MTC companion, good control over scheduling and belongings, which sounds good, me and Elder L were kind of the same, but at the same time like total opposites, and we worked good.
     So yeah I'm pumped for that, and that kind of brings me to today and yesterday, which are insanely busy and confused.  So yesterday we had church all day, and then after church, our battery was dead, no idea why.  We got jumped and then went to a lesson with W and J which went all right.  We got out and the car was dead again, so we left it and got dropped off at dinner.  Our dinner took us back afterwards to jump us again, but it didn't work, and we messed with it for about an hour with him.  His name is Brother B and he was the last bishop, and he's worked with cars a lot his life so he had all sorts of equipment and knew a lot, but we couldn't get it started, and so he took us home and we had it towed this morning.  The van is 2011 so were expecting a warranty.  Also, our apartment isn't in our ward, and new missionaries are coming, so Elder G is moving out today as well. (And then he goes home 12/4).  But so last night was when we found out where both of us are moving, and we've got all our stuff to pack and move to get to transfers, and we're without our van, so it's a mess and we're still not sure how were going to do it all, but we'll manage eventually I guess.
     So my birthday was awesome, we went to the T's and she made me a banana cream and strawberry filled vanilla cake.  And she's an artist and has been doing cakes for about two years so it was like fondue or whatever(fondant?) and it was a pair of pants, with a white shirt and and tie with my name on the name tag, all like cakeboss style, so you'll get pictures of that soon.  So that was fun, they're a cool family. We also had breakfast at K's new place, and they're pretty settled  and really happy with the new place, and hopefully their new ward went well.
     So although C still works, he got his nonmember wife to come Sunday and she did!  I set up a a ride for her with Sister T who also lives in the same apartments, and they came together, and looked like they laughed a lot and got to know each other.  Sister T was baptized a few years ago, has a nonmember husband, and has a son that passes the sacrament every week.  I called her because she's the only other member in those apartments, and it turned out she walks every Sunday (which is a ways) but promised she would make it work, and she did. She's a really nice lady, and seemed so excited and happy to be able to help and all, it may have been more for her then it was for C's wife.  And I just realized I missed this, but Wednesday night we had a return visit with C, which went awesome, he's been reading the Book of Mormon again, we read with him some, and he really enjoyed it.  He's a lot of fun too.  But so Wednesday night when we came, Elder G (who had never been to Cs) parked right by Cs place, but I knew he didn't know that it was close, and I felt like walking and enjoying the night time air, told him to park on the other side of the park in the middle (where I played basketball once).  So we do that, and as were getting out of the car, a black women on her porch called out and asked where the nearest Mormon church is.  We went over and talked to her, she was about 30, was baptized at 12 and then went inactive at about 17.  She was pretty new to California, and said she had been thinking about the church recently.  She said that a few weeks ago she had heard the missionaries were playing basketball there, and had got to thinking, and found her Book of Mormon!  We only played that one time, and I didn't think the people playing even knew we were missionaries!  Hopefully she heard some good stuff, but any ways I thought that was super cool, and we're working on getting her set up with visiting teachers and the Bishop and all.
     But yeah, a lot has been the same old, we had a drunk guy approach us the other day asking about Mitt Romney, but he was calm, and held himself alright.  He said he respected all we were doing and all that, but was just curious.  From just the text of his words you probably couldn't tell he was drunk, but he had a can of beer in his hand, and his voice was all slurred and he couldn't walk right.  He had lived in Virginia a bit which is neat, I swear everyone I meet has an encounter with Virginia.  It's so surprising how many people I meet that raise their eye brows when I say Virginia, but I don't think anyone has actually named someone that I know.  Actually one person named a family from like Mechanicsville that I knew, but I can't even remember who now.
     We had dinner the other day with someone in Elder Gs ward who was a convert of about 3 years, super interesting.  He was baptized three years ago, has been through about 20 some temples, attended general conference, and goes to the temple about 3 times a week.  He takes the bus and it takes him all day.  So he lives in this apartment, and the whole things is super clean, candles and stuff, temple and Christ pictures everywhere and he has a really nice sound system that he plays Mo Tab on.  It's like the most Spirit inviting, clean, soft, home ever; it shocks me that he has the ability to give it the beauty and essence it does, it's not like gaudy and full of church stuff, it's actually REALLY nice.  He's a got a roomate who's a recent RM, just working.  They both also love to cook and stuff and have a fish tank.  But yeah, that's another cool person we've met.
     We got some referrals, and had a an older Indian man come to church who we will be having a lesson with this week.  And just now as I'm typing I just got 3 messages from the referral office I haven't checked so I'm excited.  But work seems to really be setting up to pick up, especially with J and the Indian man.  So I think Elder C and I can get a lot done and I'm really excited, not to mention it's been for ever since we've been to Westcliff.  I meet so many interesting members, I wish I could talk about so many.  Oh and I don't have my address yet.  And the guy who lives there I hear is super interesting, is extremely studied on Jewish culture and stuff, and does a ton of volunteer things at the local synagogue or whatever.  Oh and so we had my last lesson with A, she is doing awesome and loving the gospel, her son loved nursery and stuff the other day, and her 16 year old daughter enjoyed it too.  And in our Gospel Principles lesson, it's so cool, the way she answers questions, volunteers, and understands would make you think she's a member.  I still haven't heard back about voting, but hopefully I can. I'm doing awesome, and I'm gonna try and find new pants soon, and hopefully I'll write you all some more.  Thanks so much for everything, don't write to my apartment, and I'll talk to you all again soon,
Love Elder Pyron

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Monday, October 22


Dear Family,
     So first of all, we get a key in our mailbox which opens the package box, so the boxes make it safe.  Thank you everyone that has sent anything, I'm sorry I am bad at writing.  Oh, mom, the voter thing was apparently the wrong form so they sent a new one, but I should be set.  So I'll start with today and then work back.  This morning we got up at 5 and went with the zone leaders on a hike to the top of a mountain, to see the strip all lit, and the sunrise.  I took pictures of that,  I'm trying to do better.  And then because of the weird-ish day, I opened the presents, so I can study and be back on schedule for my birthday.  The ties were really good, I really liked the striped one especially.  I have not yet read the letters, I'm saving those for tomorrow since they'll probably be the best part.  The Zone Leaders also came by and we had a lot of bacon, someone gave them 25 lbs of bacon and they've got no freezer space, so that was fun.  It's a bummer the emails come late.
     So first, we rarely play volleyball anymore and the sand is really cold in the AM.  No one's that good so it doesn't bother me.  Monday before our activity we went to a local skate shop, which was a lot of fun, seeing new things I like, and seeing companies and what's popular and all has changed.  On shirts, posters, and deck graphics there's a lot of cool artists in the skateboard scene so that was a ton of fun, we and the ZLs spent about an hour there.  (Elder G is a sponsored downhill longboarder).  I bought an Element shirt I liked for $10, I promise that's the only thing I've bought.  But then we went and played ultimate frisbee and volleyball for pday activity..it was fun especially ultimate but it wears people out so we only played 15 minutes.  It's embarrassing, I was sore a few days later... It's been a while since I've played basketball.
     So Art's baptism was really good, we had stake conference so he hasn't been confirmed yet.  His daughter was very excited at the baptism, cried and took a lot pictures, and filmed everything but the ordinance on an ipad.  Art is a very stern and private type person, but he wasn't at all at the baptism.  He thanked everyone individually for coming pretty much even though he wanted it really small, and he bore a good testimony which isn't usually his type of thing.  It was a very good experience, I said the opening prayer and was a witness.  I didn't know I was doing that til they announced it as he was entering, but it's easy.  I am also giving him his confirmation on Sunday, which I am a little nervous about, but it's no big deal.  Well the confirmation is, but not the nervous.
     So we had another really good lesson with A, she is an amazing women.  She works 60 hours a week as a single mother, takes great care of her kids, and is a very nice lady.  You can tell she's really smart, and mothering is her first priority.  Her 2 year old son Justin is one of the smartest and best behaved two year olds I've ever seen, and her 16 year old daughter does great at helping out and all.  I wish I had more time, but anyways, were meeting again this week, and I'm excited, she is very smart, well read, and appropriately skeptical and questioning, but the Spirit has certainly prepared her and everything we have talked about has made total sense to her.
     So on Saturday, we got to help K move into his new place.  His couch was too big, so we had two people stand on a railing, and had two in the window, and we somehow got it through the second story window.  It was really cool, I wish we had pictures.
     So Elder G is good to serve with, but I am ready to go back to Evergreen and Westcliff with a new companion.  I think he was a good missionary, loved his time and the gospel, but he is very trunkie, and ready to go.  December 4th for him.  I'm out October 29.  He's about 6'0, thin and very athletic, but doesn't like sports or anything with a ball really.  He longboarded and likes stuff like climbing and cliff jumping or just being active in other ways.  He's from Edmonton Canada, and a lifelong member.  We get along fine, and he LOVES to talk.  He's great.  He's really into like survivalism I guess, like Dwight Schrute type stuff but to a much lesser extent obviously.
      So we drive a mini van with no middle seats, so it's a mess and we cleaned it the other day.  I found an Ensign with Sheryl Garner on the back, and intro thing to her Mormon.org profile which I though was really neat. Our water isn't that good so I drink a ton of water bottles, and it's weird, as much as I tried not to recycle at home, I feel really bad throwing them away, and look to recycle.  Nevada isn't at all into recycling which is different.  Another thing, there's Panda Expresses all over which is awesome, and same with Cafe Rios and Costa Vitas which are also good.  When we go anywhere, just about always a member that happens to be in there pays for us secretly.  Everywhere but McDonald's.  The other day it happened, and Elder G recognized him...Brother Thomas, who has an indoor rock climbing wall, and a helicopter with a helicopter pad on his roof and yacht.  His family also donated the UNLV basketball court, the "Thomas and Mack Center" so I didn't feel too bad after knowing that.
     So yeah, there's always so much more I want to share, but times running down.  I've got so much I like want to ask about and stuff, but it's a lot of unimportant stuff.  So here and there I have caught glimpses of the Tigers and it looks like they're doing good, keep me posted on that too!  President Black and the stake is still trying to find me a place to live at the end of the transfer, so I'm really curious about that.  
     Thanks mom and dad especially for your letters, the thing on sacrament was really interesting, and dad you did a good job answering questions.  The articles were really good, and the article on Brother Y I could have written myself, nothing's changed.   Oh, our stake confderence the other day was really good too, there were a lot of really great speakers, and I got to see D, who I had taught twice while on splits, and he was recently baptized.   Man I've got a lot more, but thank you so much everyone, your prayers and contacts mean so much.
Love, Elder Pyron

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Monday, October 15


HELLO FAMILY,
     So again I have had a great week. So Monday we went to a huge bowling alley attatched to a Casino for our Pday activity, so that was fun.  There is money there, we saw a few lambos just as we were walking in the parking lot.   Unfortunately I was kind of sick again for a little like Monday - Wednesday so that's not fun.  I am still meeting lots of very neat and interesting people, especially having Elder G's area too.  We had dinner one night with a man in the ward, who is one of the most loving, spiritual, charitable people I have ever met.  His name is Brother L, he takes a lot of time visiting and teaching people.  Another really cool person I have met is Brother B.  He is owns a pizza shop.  It's a nice pizza place, and he feeds all missionaries as often as they come by for free.  It is a super cool place.  (he gives all our own $20 pizza for free, it's CRAZY).  This is the 4th Pizza shop he has owned, and kind of does it for fun now, each of his previous 3 he sold.  He does a TON of missionary work there, like when people are sitting down eating he sits with them and talks, and usually bears his testimony, invites to church and has given missionary lessons several times.  He's a really nice and spiritual guy.  There's a lot of needy people he knows really well, and helps out a ton.  Often he lets these strangers spend a few nights at his house or gives them a job and stuff.  He's also very blunt, and confronts people about things like drug use and their struggles.  He goes to the temple a few times a week, and has a lot of very interesting experiences he has told us about.
     But so this week I have also had a few good street contacting successes.  It's so weird, I have had 3 good ones my whole mission, and for all of them for whatever reason it is always at a time when I'm outside the car, my companion is in, so I'm alone.  One was a 20 some year old guy that had just moved into our apartment complex from another state, and he had a marketing teacher who he really respected who was Mormon, so we talked for a bit and he asked for our number. 
     Then on Saturday, I met a guy from Fairfax, VA.  We talked for a bit about the church, and he talked about the Mormons he knew and the respect he had for us.  So it was neat, I kind of got to bear my testimony of how the Lord blesses us, kind of confirming the things he admired about us and all, so we talked about 10 minutes, he tried to give me 5 bucks and then I challenged him to take the lessons and so he took our number and stuff.  For both of these my companion was in the car, and both people lived out of our ward boundaries which is a bummer. 
     Then I think Monday night we didn't have a dinner so we called Brother Y, and he told us to come by, and took us to the neighborhood country club. It was nice.  We were following him and his huge group of friends in his Escalade, we were in our mini van, and he drives like 85 on this busy 40.  It's funny, he's so like distanced from the world and everything around him.  I bet he had no idea.  He's pretty neat.  It's so cool, and all the people that work there treat him like he owns the place, and I wouldn't be surprised if he did.  When we were there we were talking to his wife about the neighborhood and stuff, and asked if it was true Nicholas Cage used to live in there. It took some prying by Elder G, but so they lived in one house, sold it to Nicholas Cage, while they moved to this house next door, so they sold Nicholas Cage a house, lived next door to him, and then Cage couldn't afford it and left.  He always says how much he loves spending time with us.  Oh and he left with his party to see the debate at 6 and left Elder G and me there, so we had like this country club to ourselves.
     But so that night we taught one of our investigators who is making a lot of progress.  Oh so the other night we had HUGE storms, with hail and stuff (really the storms were short and no wind and not that bad compared to VA) but Vegas terrain and all is awful so it runs down the mountains and all the way down the hill to the strip, and we got caught in this on the way home, with bad flooding.  We saw several cars stuck in the water, and drove through many areas with very fast running water about 3 feet deep at some points.  The roads there are so nice too!  When we got home our front license plates case broke and the plate bent and flipped up so only the two top screws were in and it bent so you could only see the back and it stuck straight up.  That was a lot of fun, and man I miss storms.  But now there's rocks and gravel all over the streets.  Our zone leaders just got their car out of the shop, and yesterday was the first day we didn't have steam coming from our hood when we drive.
     So we went on splits the other day and I was with Elder M from Nashville.  I like him a lot and it was pretty fun.  In the AM we did this donation drive, because Saturday AM all these gated neighborhoods left their gates open for like an annual yard sale thing.  The church building had DI (like Goodwill) trailers and we had this letter from their ward mission leader, with details and the guy with a trucks number, so that people could have all their left overs picked up if they were big and had the info about receipts and all.  Four sets of missionaries did about 20 homes each, so it was pretty successful I think.  Of our 20, lots were really excited and thankful, and we had one guy start throwing a fit from afar as we were coming screaming "NO SOLICITING IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD" and stuff, it was weird, he was all like panicky and stuff.  I don't know what his deal was, probably that he didn't have a single customer at his place, and everyone else had like 20.  Poor guy, maybe next time.  So in Elder Gs area we got two referrals that worked out ok, one is in older lady who said she was going to go to church, didn't, and then left 3 voice mail on Elder G's phone late last night, saying something about how she got dragged out of her apartment and thrown in jail over a false accusation and is already back home.  No idea what's going on there.
     The other one, a woman named A, didn't have time for a lesson on Saturday, accepted a Book of Mormon, came to church with her son and sat with us Sunday, and set up a lesson for 6 that night.  (she only came to sacrament because she had work 11- 5)  So we came for the lesson, she had begun the Book of Mormon and loved church.  Golden Investigator.  We asked why she was interested in the church and went on and on about how she was raised Catholic, thought nothing made sense and everyone was hypocritical, she saw how happy the Mormons were and how straight their priorities and all were, and how family oriented and serving they are, while also being very faithful Christians, with religion that made sense.  It was like a 5-10 minute testimony of exactly what God's most valuable gifts are, and that she knew it was time for her to find out for herself.  The lesson went perfect, she understood and loved everything, and was very spiritual, excited, and committed.  It was ridiculous how true and correct SO many things she said were.  I wish I had time for it all.  We mentioned prayer to open the lesson, and she kind of jumped in, said she felt confident enough to "start" and went at it.  She was sitting and talking, not eyes closed or anything and didn't open or close as we do, but said the middle content of one of the most spiritual, heartfelt, prayers I had ever heard.  All the things she was thankful for, and the things she wanted.  And then afterwards, we described prayer a little more and she loved it.  It was so cool, and she had never been taught to pray any way other than the memorized ones she learned at Catholic school.  She was SO prepared.  And she knew very little about our church from the beginning, like just observing people she knew were members so it was a really cool experience.  She had a beautiful nice home, in a modest apartment, and is the single mother of a 16 year old girl and a 2 year old son.  She works two jobs to take care of them, and the kids are really good kids.  The son was as happy and obedient as any two year old, and the 16 year old was very quiet, but nice, like all she said was like do you want me to get you some water, and took our cups and stuff but she was really interested in the lesson.  Any ways,  that was by far my best teaching experience, because it was all new to her, but she was still accepting, but also understanding and understood things on a little deeper level.
     We also gave Art his baptismal interview yesterday and his baptism was announced in Sacrament meeting. Saturday at 10 am.  Stake conference though so confirmation is the next week.  He also somehow got his wife to come to church yesterday, and she had no idea he was getting baptized til it was announced in Sacrament! She is  also leaving for some time on Tuesday so she won't make it.  I saw them standing in the foyer, and Art and her looked very happy, Art  may have been glowing.  And it was so neat because that may be the first time I have ever seen Art genuinely smile.  He is very particular, serious, and private.  He's got a distinct personality.  He's loving, but he may have scared me as a child.  But I think great things can come from this and really hope they do.
     Another really cool experience I had was the other day on splits.  Elder M really missed his last area where he had 16 baptisms, so he was excited to go back to his old Zone, which was mine, and I made a long list of less actives to visit in Pirate's Cove.  It was night and dark.  As we are driving, list made, I felt really inspired to go visit someone in Sundance  instead, which was fine because it's the other complex where I played basketball once.  We knock on the door, and wait and it seems no one's home.  Elder M started to walk away after a while, so to stall I dropped and started to tie my shoes.  I did that for a bit, still no answer, so I started to walk away.  As we are about 15 feet from his door, it opens, and he says "COME IN!".  We sit and start talking to him, he is the one baptized 2 years ago, came here from Africa a year before that, and works a job that is weekend only so he can't make church.  And he spends lots of his weekday free time volunteering at the DI.  His wife is a nonmember from Chicago who I haven't met yet.  We talked and laughed for a while, and then he got a lot more serious.  He said that prayer and scripture study is getting hard for him and asked if it is because the Spirit isn't as strong because he hasn't been able to make church in forever.  We talked for quite some time, and he talked about how when he came here the missionaries were his only friends, who he loved a ton, but how he only got baptized when he knew it was ALL true.  The church has still been a big part of his life even though he can't make meetings.. Like he had recorded conference, and had pretty recently bought a big tree of life painting.  But he had no idea of who his home teachers were or anything, and had little contact with ANY members for a long time.  He felt really bad that he most likely wouldn't be able to be the one to bless his daughter who he is expecting in December, and he was really sad.  He was really scared of how recently prayer wasn't AS important to him, and when he read the scriptures he tended to get distracted, and didn't find the same love and joy as he did when he was able to attend Sacrament meeting every Sunday.  So now we are going to visit him every week to talk, and read the scriptures together, and hopefully talk to his wife, because he really wants to be sealed to her, but with life, getting her baptized hasn't been his top priority which he feels bad about.  It was an amazing visit, and he is real cool too.  I am so excited to help him.  Every night we send him and K scripture reference texts now.
     Sunday night we had a little preach my gospel class at J's home.  He is headed to Brazil on his mission in February, and does a lot of our missionary work now.  Another guy J also comes to these, I think I mentioned him, he is 19.  A few weeks ago while we were doing this, he began his mission papers, and is preparing now.  He was only baptized 10 months ago.  Our lesson there was a lot of fun and really spiritual, and J is getting really excited to be able to serve.  He's a really fun kid.
     Anyways, I wish I had time for more about these people but I have to go soon.  I'll try to do better writing, and I think money is a good gift.  I've got a list of things I want, but I have little time, and it is just easier for me to pick them up.  Please keep writing,  I really do appreciate it.
Love, Elder Pyron

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Monday, October 8


Dear Family,
     How is everyone? Did you like conference?  James, are you gonna leave right out of high school?!  It's pretty crazy!  This week has been good, but work has been slow.  First off, last Monday we went to the Ys for Pday.  They live in the same neighborhood as Greg Maddux and Nicolas Cage used to.  We came in and Brother Y was just sitting at a table in the back, in front of a massive window with a beautiful view of his fountain  /pool and the strip.  The neighborhood is called Spanish Hills, and that's because it is a giant man made hill with cliffs that's only function is to give the houses prime views.  He just sat there very calm, and I guess guests just come and go all day. There were janitors and like butlers and business associates all over, I guess he owns a company and pretty much does nothing now.  He's in probably his late 60s, he was the first person to import Aloe Vera to the US I hear.  Anyways, he holds pday activities there just so missionaries can like explore his place I guess.  It's got an elevator, and two stories underground.  His garage is 3/4 empty even though he has 8 cars in there, including a 2013 Ferrari.  He's got an indoor basketball court/racquetball court in the bottom level in a big glass room, with a balcony, and the hoop retracts into like a trap door in the ceiling, it's a pretty ridiculous house. There's about 12 refrigerators throughout the house, and every room has a touch screen thing built into the wall that gives a map of the house, and you can control everything from them, and many of the rooms have cameras.  So that was a pretty fun p-day. So yeah, that was a ton of fun, I guess you'd have to be there. Oh, and Elder G in his last area knocked on Mike Tyson's door, which is cool.
     But so this week there has not been a lot of progress, a lot of people canceled and all.  We taught K another lesson, and that went awesome though.  Since I challenged them last week, they have done morning and evening prayers together everyday, and he did good not having his coffee.  Elder G also has this challenge to write down 5 questions you have before conference and to see if they don't all get answered, that we have been leaving people to help get them excited and prepared for conference.  I tried it too and it was really cool.  I am definitely going to continue that one, too bad I couldn't tell you all before conference.  They should divide conference up more.  It was WAY fun indulging in 10 hours in two days, but it is so hard to fully appreciate each talk.  So many were so meaningful to me but get overshadowed and blurred by the next great one.  I took 45 pages of notes (smaller paper) on conference, and it would take forever to fully examine all of them.  Every talk has so much to get out of it.  It's so hard for me to pick a favorite, because there were so many.  One that kind of sticks out most is Henry B. Eyring's, but I'm not even sure which one now, maybe both together, more so the Priesthood one I think.  About praying to know who you can be and help others be, and how sometimes we don't even get the full vision of one's potential, until they decide to submit to God's will and then become that person, and about how he realized that our heart's desires ALONE are a great gift.
     And Elder Bednar's about the value of testimony, and its difference from conversion, despite its necessity.  But I could go forever about these. Overall it seemed there was a big theme on fully submitting to God's will, but the Gospel is so complete that it could be taken anyone depending on how the Spirit prompts the listener as it is all the same.  A main realization that stuck to me in particular throughout conference was how crucial we are to God.  I knew God loves us and has his perfect plan because he wants our success, which is SO amazing, but I didn't think about the trust he really has in us to return any glory upon Him, or at all repay Him.  His work and Glory is the eternal life of man, and individually, especially as members of the church we have SO much privilege and responsibility to use our gift of agency to further that.  We have SO much freedom, responsibility and power.  The good things we do for others are truly blessings to God, which is hard to comprehend because it seems hard to give something meaningful to God.  But we can truly lay up treasures in store for our Heavenly Father, and are actually PROFITABLE servants, we really have a gift to give God, and our services to men are ABSOLUTELY like we are doing them to our Lord.  We have real gifts to give, and He has MUCH more to offer those profitable servants who prove trustworthy to properly use such gifts.  So use your agency right, it's what we're here for, and we can master it, no temptation is unbearable.  And often we try to imagine an unbearable temptation as something huge, but really, aren't the ones we find unbearable the very small ones we fail to overcome everyday?  Or the bursts of hate, anger or pride we choose to have or dwell on, and we tell ourselves are harmless or inevitable?  ALL DAY, every moment diligence to exact obedience to following Christ is probably the hardest of all, because it is so hard to prepare for, happens slowly and gradually, and consequences often seem nonexistent or so minor.  So wouldn't fighting these things, which in reality are small, yet very difficult to overcome, (as they are the ones we do the most), the most profitable ones for us to strive to overcome?
     It reminds me now of Elder Cooks talk, and about sin dulling us spiritually, which we do not always notice.  We can again be sharp Spiritually to those small hinderments, which President Eyring compares to a pavilion over our testimony.  So we can overcome and gain dominion over those small ties that Satan has on us as natural men, and we can literally become more Christlike, with a cleaner vessel to be filled with the Holy Ghost to lead and teach us, all things of truth of light, which is God's infinite wisdom, and we can not only more fully be converted, and more truly reborn of Christ, but we can more clearly see the blessing and glory of God and his love towards us, which gives us so much more reason and determination to serve him valiantly, and get all of the eternal treasures on earth that God has in store for us now, and forever. 
     Ok I haven't been doing so good writing in my journal recently so I kind of just used this time to do it.  Me and Elder G get along great so I guess he is big distractor of my writing, which isn't a bad thing.  Just curious but dad, have you sent a letter?  I haven't got one in a while, and I just don't know if that is due to the move and mail going to my old address, so i just wanted to make sure, and if it's because you haven't written, it's not to make you feel bad, but you can still try and get one that. Just kidding.  But my time is running low, so I'll leave you all now, but let me know how things are going!  Oh and people are asking about my birthday, money and ties are never bad, and I guess maybe an ipod dock/small speakers, socks, tech decks, sweatpants, church pants might all be cool, but feel no obligations.  Or whatever else comes to mind.  Or an Ensign, especially a conference one.  But yeah, talk to you Monday!
Love
Elder Pyron

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Monday, October 1

HELLO FAMILY!
So first of all, it has been a crazy week.  So my companion went home Friday morning.  He found out Tuesday so it was a very weird couple of days.  But I'll focus on more positive things and then get to that.  So last week I don't think I mentioned it, but when I was on exchanges with two people that came out at the same time as me, Elder B and S, we taught an 18 year old named D.  He had been attending singles ward for months, and knew he wanted to be baptized.  The lesson was a lot of fun, and he is very committed, and really wants to be sealed in the temple and have an eternal family.  Because I was there for his first lesson (he already knew a good bit, but not everything) I felt attached and it was a really good experience and I was bummed about him not being ours.  So that's background.  Then I'll start with Monday the 24th, which was P-day and not much happened.
     Tuesday was splits (this time just Elder B and I, who came out with me, different MTC district).  We wanted to go hard to work, we had great studies together, and then went to visit an inactive in an apartment complex, and the girls mom wanted it to be less anonymous, so we were just going to "happen" to tract out her little complex.  She wasn't home, and we knocked on a total of 5 doors.  However, at one door we met an Asian man in his early 30s late 20s or so.  He seemed busy and his kids were sleeping, but Elder B is a champ, and was very loving but pushy, and eventually got him to open up a little and said he would be more free around 3.  So we headed back to the car, and we saw a group of Hispanics, or Mexicans as they openly call them in Vegas, who were sitting on their lunch break from a landscaping job.  Elder B approached them, and they seemed annoyed and said they spoke no English.  Elder B had 3 years of Spanish, and no experience, so he was pretty limited, but he kept going and spoke in slow Spanish, and eventually, again by being pushy but loving he got them to open up, and we ended up getting their number and setting him up with an appointment with the Spanish missionaries.  Well that's what I found out that he did as soon as we left and headed back to the car.
     But so then we ended up coming back to the Asian mans home.  He let us in, and we sat and talked and taught for a little over an hour.  His name was spelled "Shane" but it had just been given to him by his wife and he thought it was pronounced "Sean".  He has lived in the US 3 months and came from mainland China.  It was a very unique experience.  His English was very lacking, but not so bad that we couldn't teach a lesson, things just took a little longer.  So we come to find out, I guess in mainland China religion is so suppressed that he hardly knew what it was.  He accepted everything we discussed, and he had no reason to think differently about ANYTHING.  He had never even heard the name "Jesus Christ".  His culture was so different and he was telling us in China we would have been killed.  And he had NO understanding of why we would do something like that for free, and at the end asked us what he owed.  He was SHOCKED.  We left him with a Book of Mormon, pamphlets, and mormon.org (in Mandarin).  He said he would talk to his wife later to better understand culturally and all.  He thought it was weird that the American God loved Asians too, and so we described all that.  We really talked about a lot, and he really loves his family, and was very accepting so it was awesome.  We taught him prayer, which of all of the things we discussed, the word "prayer" was the only word he didn't know (and Jesus Christ).  Everything else he got though.  We taught him all about prayer, and he offered us a kneeling prayer, part Mandarin part English.  Elder B updated me the other day on their return visit, when they brought a Mandarin Book of Mormon.  His 4 year old son had drawn and given Elder B a picture on the second visit.  I'm pretty bummed Shane isn't ours.  I am super excited for him.  For the 4 year old, their walls were covered with different alphabets and math things, like the is doing genius prep.  And I think money is a big issue with them, they use like industrial grade paper towels for paper, so we want to do something to help in that way.
     But so right after that lesson, we had another appointment with D.  D had convinced his strongly Catholic dad to read the Book of Mormon, and got his mom to agree to attend church.  He also told us he was at McDonald's the other day and instead of getting his normal tea, he got soda, and then asked if that was ok, and felt bad about drinking soda.  He also said he was about to go to the gym on Sunday, and then felt he shouldn't and asked if that was right thing, or if he could have.  So he is really awesome, and very excited for his baptism.  He feels like mine cause I've taught him the majority of his lessons, so I bummed about that one as well.  So that was an AWESOME day.  But the next day, not so much.  So right after the lesson, I get a call from President Black, and it was confirmed that my companion was going home, and so it wasn't the best finish.  But splits ends after dinner, and I am back with Elder M and we have an appointment with K. Elder M was very quiet, which was honestly cool for me, as I had a GREAT time teaching K, had a great spiritual heart to heart discussion, and I was able to commit them to quite a few things, and really help him with all the struggles he is having to make the church be part of his life, and how he lives every moment of the day.  It was a very memorable experience, and it felt amazing.  He and his wife have so much potential, and they really know it.  So after that Elder M and I went home, and we had a lot of time to talk, and pack.  The plan was that I would be joining Elder R and B, who teach S and D, (I'm really good friends with Elder R and B) so I was excited to move in with them.  Thursday we finished packing, talked a lot, and made some good bye visits and all with missionaries and members Elder M was especially attached to.  The next few days with Elder M were a really good experience, spending time with him, and I really admired the way he handled everything.  I felt I got to know him far better in those few days then I had the whole other 8 weeks.  He thanked me a lot for being the companion I was to him and all, and I was able to learn more than I could have imagined from all this, and it really was a blessing for both of our lives, and all the people we serve, and we both know it.  So Friday morning when Elder R and B and I go with him to the Mission home and drop off the extra car, and send Elder M off on the plane, President Black tells me that a missionary in the stake over is now going home for a back injury, and I will be replacing him and serving with Elder G.  I was shocked and scared.  I was going to live with him, preside over the Spring Valley ward, and we would ditch my two wards, Westcliff and Evergreen for the most part, except for appointments.  I was so sad, and scared.  So many people Elder M and I had told that I would still be with them, and all the people we were working with that I didn't get to finish with, and all the members that had been so nice that I loved so much wouldn't be able to be thanked properly.  (The original plan was that Elder B, R and I, whose wards touch mine, would just cover 4 wards as a tripanionship, and we would do exchanges with members and all).  So at this time we found out since The Ws have had missionaries in their place since 2007, they were about done with missionaries staying at their place.  So we saw Elder M off, left President Blacks home, and Elder B, R and I went back to my apartment to do a deep cleaning of the basement bedroom.  There were boxes and boxes of things that had been left over the years by previous missionaries.  A lot of random food and toys especially.  So we finally got the room all deep cleaned, made a few runs because the car was full, and dropped off a lot at the DI.  At about 7 we headed to Elder Gs place and I said my good byes to Elder R and B.  They came with me and my new zone to get ice cream before bed, and so then at 9, everyone left, and I was able to start unpacking, and actually meet Elder G and H, who was about to leave in the morning.  So we saw him off Saturday morning, and then Elder G and I had to run a few errands and all, and there was a lot to get organized.  So Sunday we went to his ward in the morning and PEC meeting and stuff.  His stake just had boundaries redone, and so my first Sunday there, was also most of that congregations first Sunday, and it was crazy.  We then went and attended Evergreen ward, so I was able to update and meet with the important people, and kind of settle and clarify everything.  So now Elder G and I each have a phone for our areas, and things won't be too bad.  In 4 weeks I will go back to being fully Evergreen and Westcliffs, and I will have a new companion, and I will be living in an unknown place, because President Black is looking for one now.  Elder G is from Canada, has been out 22 months, and came to this mission a month ago from the (east) Las Vegas mission.  So I guess now with the ward deal and all, I am thrown in a position with a lot of responsibility, (I've got the Evergreen/Westcliff phone, and in charge of stats and communications, and appointments and meetings) and with all this I am quickly learning all the things that it is now evident I wasn't taught.  So it is very stressful but also a great experience and I am learning tons. I am fine.  Elder G is also District Leader.  My new zone plays sand volley ball 630-700 every morning so I am excited about that.  My new area is very rich, and its a culture shock.  Today we have an activity at Brother Ys, who has an indoor basketball court, private jet and everything, and I am now out of time, and missing a lot I want to fill you in on, and keep me posted on your lives, man I want another email hour. But bye, I love you all,
Elder Pyron