South End on Sea

I am seriously slacking on this blog but i have had a lot on my plate lately so i don't feel quite so guilty not updating it as well as i should be. Since the last post Elder Bourne has been transferred to South End on Sea, which is right on the east coast of England, just above Dover. He loves it there and has been busy there, more so than his last area. There is a pier there thats the worlds largest pier and they got to go see it on a Pday and took some fun pictures too. His companion when he first got to this area was Elder Juipual from Guyana, which is in Bethanys mission. He is brand new out of the MTC and was in there with Allie Mae Jacobs, so he was pretty excited to find out that Tyson grew up with her in the same town. His birthday was one day after tysons on the 18th. Now tyson has a new companion this transfer and he is from BC Canada!! Tyson is pretty excited to get his first Canadian companion. He also has a couple of other elders in his area now from Canada too, one is from Taber, his Name is Elder Olsen and they get along so well! the whole mission got to hear Elder Jeffery R Holland speak and also shake his hand and talk to him too. Tyson was so excited to hear him speak. that would have been such a great talk to hear. I love Elder Holland.

Here are some pictures of him in this area so far. He is doing so well and loving it. He hit his year mark on August 17th, its going too fast now, i love this experience of having a missionary on a mission because right now i need all the missionary blessings we can get! But also to see the growth of Tysons testimony and how much he has loved serving and has come to love the people on England. But with that also comes the part of me that can't wait to get my sweet boy home. I cant wait to get that hug after he gets off the plane. I miss him so much but i wouldnt want him anywhere else right now. He is doing so much good and bringing so much joy to peoples lives. I am so proud of him and the young man he has become. I feel bad that he has to deal with the fact that his dad and i are getting divorced but he seems to be handling things fine and he has lots of support to. But as a mom i worry about him being so far away from me right now but he seems to be loosing himself in the work.

Another Pday

This week Elder Bourne didnt have much time to email but he did say he has been busy. He told me today that he has to go to the dentist because of a tooth ache, it happens to be one of his front teeth too!! Yikes! The church doesnt pay for this like this and I just pray that my benefits work over there. I sent him with my card just incase it happens to work. Other than that he didnt have much to say this week. He sent some pictures her took in Cambridge. He didnt get transferred last week so he got a new companion. His name is Elder Klobcic from Slovania. Also Just over a week ago Tyson got to drive into London to go hear Elder Christofferson speak and to take the mission car and trade it for a new one! He was pretty excited for that. He said it was awesome to hear Elder Christofferson speak. He loves serving in England and has made so many friends over there. Miss this kid alot!

Missionary Miracles

This week was a good week. We got an email from Sister Westenskow, a sister missionary (she and her husband are serving a mission in England and live in Cambridge. She has sent me a couple of other emails along with pictures of Tyson and we love getting them!) She sent us pictures again of Tyson but this time she told us about how Tyson and His companion went to their house and said they need to find a guy named Clinton. A little bit of background first about Clinton, When Wes Balderson and his wife were serving their mission in Cambridge a few years ago they reactivated Clinton. So when we talked to Wes he said if Tyson ever gets to Cambridge he needs to look for Clinton and also a lady named Kim. So back to my story. Tyson and his companion arrived at the Westenskow's house and said they need to find a guy named Clinton and a lady named Kim and told them about what the Balderson's told us. Sister Westenskow couldn't believe it because Clinton was actually on his way to their house and would be arriving in a matter of minutes! Tyson was so excited! He sent a picture home of the two of them. Later on they saw the sisters talking to a lady and guess who it was!! It was Kim! She stopped and talked to them! Talk about Missionary blessings!

 

Tyson is loving his mission and having lots of success! He says time has been going by way too fast now and cant believe its almost his year mark! He gets along so well with his companion and loves this area! We got a bit worried the other day when the terrorist attack happened on the London Bridge and another location close by too. But after hearing that it took place late at night in a touristy place made me realize that all the missionaries should have been home tucked safely in their beds. Tyson assured us that he is safe and out in the middle of nowhere. Thank goodness for that! But he did say that today they would be in central London for a meeting with D. Todd Christofferson. So hopefully they are safe and sound and have a great experience at their meeting with him.   

Elder Bourne's new area! Bury St Edmond

I have been slacking again with keeping up with this blog. I hope to do a better job from now on but life gets in the way and this takes a back burner. So i will sum up the last few months in this post in hopes that it will not be too long.

The last time I wrote Tyson was in Bletchley. He loved it there and had a lot of success but also a lot of discouragement. England is a hard mission so at times its very discouraging.  Its easier to post the pages i have done that caption what the pictures are about rather than try and write out everything i have missed on here.

P-day pictures

Elder Bourne sent these pictures home to us on his P-day. He is doing so well and loving his new area. They received a referral the other day and it turns out the couple are members but they inactive and want to get back into the church.They said they kind of lost faith and they want to restore that again. They gave them the first lesson and Elder Bourne said it was the most spiritual experience on his mission! He said they are awesome and their scriptures are completely marked up and the wife said that she has the same burning in her chest as when she went to church years ago.  I cant wit to hear more about this next week. He also met a guy at the university in Buckingham, the town not the castle, who was in Canada this last summer and biked across the country and was in Cardston, so Tyson told him he lives 20 minutes away from there. The guy invited him for drinks, to which he had to decline but was going to try and meet up with him again this next week to  give a discussion. They are working so hard and finding people to teach. Their hard work is paying off. This month on the 17th of February marks Elder Bourne's 6 month mark! Its starting to go by faster now. it warms my heart to see him so happy and loving his mission so much!

What missionary work is all about

I know this is out of order but i forgot to put this one in with the others. Its one of my favourite stories for far from Tyson's mission so I thought I would share it. When Tyson first arrived in Kettering he met Brother Routley. The first time meeting him wasn't exactly a wonderful experience, Brother Routley was drunk, Smoking and said some pretty foul words to these poor elders. He told them to get out of his flat. Well these Elders didn't give up on him, they continued to visit him often and always tried to make him feel happy. Eventually his heart softened and he started letting the Elders in and listened to what they had to say. He stopped drinking and was trying so hard to stop smoking too. His whole attitude started changing and he eventually went to church with them. One day he asked if he could talk to the bishop. He even wanted to bear his testimony too. He ended up not doing that because he got scared and ended up leaving. But Tyson and his companion never gave up on him. They helped him see how important the gospel is in our lives and saw such a huge change in Brother Routley. He sent Tyson a really nice text when he found out that Tyson would be transferred. It said:

" It was a pleasure meeting you! You are a great ambassador for the Lord. All the Best in your life! XX  - Brother Routley

This makes all the times we miss Tyson worth him being so far away! Helping others to come u to Christ and strengthen their testimonies makes it all worth it!

Tyson's 1st transfer - Bletchley!

Tyson got transferred this transfer, its his 1st transfer so far. His new companion is Elder Chong from Singapore & his new area is Bletchely. This city is a bit smaller than Kettering but it has a ton of WWII history. This is where they decoded the German Enigma machine to win the war. Bletchley Park is where it all took place. So far Tyson loves it there and gets along well with his new companion who is a hard worker and loves being a missionary too. Fingers crossed it stays that way.  It snowed over in England too. Tyson was so excited to see snow, especially after seeing how much we have at home and having no snow over there for Christmas. Its been cold but no snow til now. He said it only lasted about an hour and then it had melted but those flakes are so big and fluffy. Also below are pictures of their flat, and the houses behind him are what the flats look like from the outside! Really nice places and this city is a lot nicer and new than Kettering. His style has sure changed since being over there! He has gone from sporto to posh! He said everything over there is super posh and he has been dressing in slim clothes and really nice shoes, that you can get for super cheap! There is a store thats basically a Walmart but its called Asda. Its just the English chain of Walmart.   He is loving his new area and working hard. He wrote home about how him and his companion were out tracting and they weren't having much success but Tyson knew they needed to be there and that there is a reason they were tracting in that area at that time. His companion wanted to stop and go home cause he was getting really discouraged but Tyson said they needed to keep going and that Heavenly Father wouldn't want them to quit, they are doing his work and that he wanted to listen to the prompting he was getting. So they continued on, knocked on a few more doors, nothing, but they got to the end of the street and went to the last door and the man living there was an excommunicated member, who hasn't had any contact with the church for 25 years. He let them in and had a really good talk with him and he invited them back again. Tyson said thats why you always listen to promptings from the Holy Ghost and why you never give up. He said it was such a wonderful experience for him and how he felt so grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing them and helping them find this man. This is what I love to hear about! It warms my heart to know that Tyson is doing so good and having these amazing experiences and how his testimony is growing everyday!!

Playing catch up!

Ok its safe to say i have fallen WAY way behind on Tyson's blog. I have been trying to keep things caught up so that I can have this to look back on and remember everything about his mission and for him to have as kind of a journal. So i am going to do my best to catch up without making this super long but including all that i need to include.
This was before transfers, with Elder Sanchez.

Since my last post Elder Bourne got a new companion. He didnt get transfered this tranfer and he was happy about that. His new companion is Elder Jacobsen from Norway. He was already in their flat and they just shuffled the elders around a bit. But Tyson's trainer got moved to another area. We found out that he was super lazy and didnt want to work. Not what you as a parent want to hear when thats your son's first companion in the field. Tyson always had to motivate him and get him out of the apartment. Long story short Elder Sanchez just wanted to be done and go home.

In the pictures below is on P day in Kettering. The elders in the picture are Elder Jacobsen(Tysons companion) , Elder Bourne, Elder Chatoa & Elder

This picture below is on the Sunday of Remembrance Day weekend. Instead of having it on Friday they have theirs on the Sunday. After church they attended their cenotaph wreath laying ceremony and laid a wreath on behalf or the church and their ward there. The Lady in the red coat is from their ward, Sister Twigger, who was in charge of the ceremony. Tyson and Elder Jacobsen were on the church facebook page for this too, it was pretty neat to see that!  

Tyson gets to stay in Kettering for Christmas. He was pretty excited about that. He has grown to love some of the people there and has become close with a couple of families. The one Family is the Williams Family, and they feed him and his companion all the time. His new companion is Elder Moraes from Brazil. He was a district leader in his other area and is now the district leader for this area too. He too was also not a very obedient missionary who didnt want to work and Tyson had to motivate him too. Im starting to see now why Tyson was assigned to talk on Obedience as his farewell talk! Im just proud of him for staying obedient and working hard. 

The couple of top pictures are of The new elders in the flat. Elder Kaden Wood from Spring Coulee Alberta is now living in Tyson's flat!! What are the chances of that happening!! Two elders from small town souther alberta ending up in the same flat all the way over in England!!

They were both so excited to be there together, especially at Christmas time. They get along so well and Im sure they will become great friends for life because of this too. Tender mercies i tell ya!

Tyson's 1st baptism! The sister missionaries had been teaching Krisz before he moved to Kettering, then when they found out he would be moving there they had skype calls with Tyson and his companion to get to know him and build that trust with him. They continued to teach him after he arrived in Kettering and they ended up baptizing him. He asked Tyson to be the one to baptize him so he was pretty excited about that! 

Christmas Day Skype call!! What a wonderful day!! I couldn't ask for a better Christmas present than getting to talk to Tyson! We all were so excited to see and hear him talk. Oh how we miss that voice. He was so happy and loving his mission! 

Zone meeting just before transfers. He found out shortly after that he would be getting transferred. This was at their zone training meeting. Its kind of sad to think some of these missionaries that he has been with since the MTC wont be in their zone anymore and who knows if they will see each other again. 

This picture above is the night before transfers. Elder Wood and Tyson's were quite sad to see each other leave and took pictures of them together holding the Canada flag. He is the first Elder from Canada/North America since the MTC that Tyson has had with them in their flat. All the Elders took Pictures together with their homeland flags. The picture to the Left is all the Elders from Alberta Canada! There is Elder Wood, then an Elder from Lethbridge, Elder Bourne & Elder Barfuss, who is Kristen and Brett Barfuss's nephew from Airdrie. They saw each other in London at the meeting point which is at the train station. It was a bittersweet day for sure. Thank goodness for Tyson being an a technology mission where they get to have ipad's and can keep in touch with other elders and members and investigators thru email and facebook! Some of these elders will be friends for life! 

Tyson's good friend from the MTC and thats from Cardston, Elder Bevans, had to come home due to health issues. I feel so bad for him, he was a great missionary who loved serving in the England South Mission, but we hope he can make a recovery and that his back and knees can heal. He is one Elder who is going to be a forever friend for Tyson too! They got along so well and had a hard time leaving each other at the MTC.  

So thats it for catching up! I hope you can see these pictures and read in more detail about them. I love the picture of Tyson beside the Bourne Close sign!! There is a town called Bourne just north of Kettering but its in another mission. He is loving his mission and excited to be going to his new area.