It's heartwarming to know there are patient, compassionate people out there!

As for transferring Contacts, most phones can either store contacts in the phone memory or in the SIM card memory. The ones stored in the SIM card memory will be transferred along with the SIM card. Any stored in the phone memory must be transferred separately, for example by exporting them to an external backup and then re-importing them on the new phone.

One problem you might have in updating from the C300 to the Y230 is the size of your SIM card. I think the older C300 uses a full-size SIM card, while the newer Y230 uses a mini-SIM or micro-SIM. You can cut the full size SIM card down to fit, either by getting someone to do it for you with a proper SIM cutter, or even using a pair of scissors and a template you can find on the internet. If you don't want to attempt that, then you would need a new correctly-sized SIM card from Speakout.

I have had a Speakout phone for 2 years. I use it mostly as an emergency phone.
I use about a $100 of minutes a year. The phone is the Nokia C300. My eyesight has diminished so I have just ordered a new phone : the Huawai Ascend Y 230.

My questions...

Will the minutes I still have on my Nokia transfer automatically to the new phone?
Can I transfer my SIM card from one phone to the other?
Will that permit me to transfer my contacts?
Will I still have the same phone number?

I realize all those are simple questions to which I should have found the answers myself but, darn it, it is SO confusing!