Tyler's 7th week in Maryville

This week was a jam packed week full of work and service! And I loved it!!! We visited a ton of less-active members of our church and invited them to come to church on Sunday and learn more about Jesus Christ and increase their faith in Him. I loved visiting with them and being able to talk about how we can increase our faith together. We also did a lot of service this week. We redid the siding on somebody's house which took up the majority of our day. I really loved being able to learn something new about how to put up siding on a house. This could definitely come in handy some day! We also sanded the walls of another member’s house so she could get ready to paint. I feel like when it says that "charity is the pure love of Christ" in the scriptures, that it is one of the truest statements. You cannot feel anything but love while serving someone else or receiving the service. Christ’s entire life was directed towards service in one way or another. He also performed the ultimate act of service with His atoning sacrifice. The least we can do for Him in return is to strive to serve our fellow man at all times and in all places. So if you are reading this I challenge you to try and do at least one act of service for another person anonymously. I promise you will feel good about it when you're done and you will feel the love of Christ. I love hearing from everyone so please don't stop writing me! And if you haven't written me yet, it's never too late to start Have a great week everyone!!
tyler.byron@myldsmail.net

Tyler's 6th week in Maryville

Tyler's 6th week in Maryville-- This is a picture that was sent to me from a friends son who recently moved to Knoxville. He ran into Tyler at stake conference. 

Hello everyone! This week was a pretty fantastic week to say the least! On Preparation day this week we did our normal shopping and emailing home. Then we went to the car wash and had the car cleaned inside and out. This was fun because we were given money to bring it through a car wash so we didn't have to do it ourselves! Then after that we went to the field to play soccer for the first time on my mission. It felt good to use a soccer ball again! After that we had our usual ultimate Frisbee game followed by dinner and a teaching appointment with the Baptist ministers. They are awesome! Tuesday we had zone conference which was basically training from 9-3. That was long, but it went by surprisingly fast! The next 2 days after that we went through our usual routine of eating food and teaching people. Friday night we ate at the King's house. Now this wasn't just some ordinary dinner appointment. Brother King is a chef by trade for the last 15 years. We had bread and muscles for an appetizer and linguine with a shrimp, mushroom and cucumber sauce, with pie to top it off. Probably one of the most legit dinners I have ever had! Out of my district of 13 in the M.T.C., 4 of them have made it to Brazil. So visas are actually coming in surprisingly fast! Elder Forsgren also just got his visa; he came to Tennessee with me. He fly's down on Monday. Saturday night was the adult session (18+) of Stake conference where we go and hear from speakers more stuff about our church and its Gospel doctrine. You can never learn too much. It was one of the best sessions of anything I have ever heard, just fantastic! Well that's it for this week! Have a great week everyone!!

Tylers 4th and 5th week in Maryville

Week 4: This week was like a roller coaster! The week started off great! We taught some amazing lessons, had some real progress with our investigators and my relationship with my companions was only getting better! Then right after we taught our best lesson ever on Wednesday, the week started to go downhill quickly. Something came up with two people where we had to drop their baptismal date, and two of our other investigators dropped us, which was a huge bummer! Then the week got way better yesterday which was my birthday! Even though nothing special actually happened on my birthday, we got fed a great roast meal and I made myself a cake, lit the candles and blew them out. It was probably the weirdest birthday I have ever had! But i loved it, thanks for all the birthday wishes! On Wednesday we had an exchange which is where one of the Elders in our companionship went with an Elder from the Zone leader’s companionship for 24 hours. Elder Christensen switched places with Elder Antileo. Elder Antileo is from Santiago Chile and speaks fluent Spanish and English, which is the closest thing to Portuguese that exists up here. So somewhat talking to him was nice because I got to practice... sort of. He is also a really interesting guy! I also think that I’m going to stay here until right after Christmas, and then I think I will fly down to Brazil to start off the New Year right.

Week 5: This week flew by faster than any other weeks on my mission so far! Last Monday on P-day we ate some rice bowls from a really good Japanese place called Osaka's. The best part was they were completely filling, tasted great, and only cost $5. I love it! Then the rest of the day we played basketball at the church, ate dinner, and taught a lesson to finish the day off. Oh and we played some sand volleyball which was the first time I had played in like a month. I was a little rusty to say the least! The only thing more depressing is I haven't played in a soccer game since August, it's killing me! But besides that my time here is amazing. I am absolutely loving Maryville Tennessee and all of the people here, redneck or not. Now that I’m really getting into missionary mode, time is going by faster than i want it to. I'm really enjoying the missionary life and i don't want it to end! Things went really well this week with the people we are talking with as well as finding new people who are curious about our church and what we believe. If you don't know a lot about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, email me or visit mormon.org to learn more. I love this church with all my heart and I want to share it with the entire world. That's why I’m on a mission, because Christ said that if we love Him than "feed my sheep". And that's exactly what I’m out here to do. I love and miss everyone. Have a great week!