Well hello again, I hope your all enjoying warmer weather than I am. Last night we were tracting and the High school thermometer said 49 F. We tough men tracted till the very last minute in nothing more than some long sleeve white shirts. Since I have not been able to send pictures for three weeks (bad computers), I'm going to send some photos this week and send short paragraphs to explain what has been going on these past three weeks.

A couple weeks ago we had a less-active member in our group get hospitalized. He asked that we visit him to help him get through the rough time and that we teach him a few lessons. So we rode our bikes to the hospital almost every other day for about two weeks. Because he was in isolation we had to wear some hospital stuff: gloves, face mask, and apron type things. We had several great lessons and helped him understand many of his questions about the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been a true blessing in my life to see this man's testimony grow and blossom into a large and living thing. He is reading the scriptures every day and is coming to church. I think what has been most exciting is that he wants to help us in the missionary effort. He wants to attends lessons with us and to serve as best as he can. I'm glad that the three of us got to experience something like this because it has helped us all out.

 

 

With transfers being this last week we took group pictures of the Germfask missionaries and the Marguette (U.P) District. Also included is a classy picture of Elder Dean preparing to eat a crayfish. This picture was taken the morning of transfer day as Elder Dean and his companion and I were preparing to go down to Milwaukee to pick up our new companions that we would be training. I hope that all made sense. Elder Dean later cooked the crayfish and then ate it. He said it was pretty good.

1) Germfask group (the infamous Miss D--- is on the far left)

 

2) Marquette District

3) Elder Dean and his new friend

I have a new companion named Elder Baird. He is fresh out of the Provo MTC and is originally from Provo Utah himself. He lives about two streets above the Temple and is a 2013 High school graduate. He is 18 and loves to play baseball, golf, and basketball. Elder Baird is a ginger and for that the local members love him. He stands 6’3” (as do I) so together we tower over this town literally. Elder Baird is awesome and we get along really well. So far training has been going great and we have been able to get three new investigators since being together. When we do role plays in the morning for training we like to have fun and try to throw some interesting curve balls at the person acting as the missionary. Sorry mom, he doesn't know anyone named Hyer from the Provo area.

 

Introducing Elder Baird of Provo, UT

A new companionship

 

Scripture for the week Alma 23:14

And the Amalekites were not converted, save only one; neither were any of the Amulonites; but they did harden their hearts, and also the hearts of the Lamanites in that part of the land wheresoever they dwelt, yea, and all their villages and all their cities.

The following pictures are just short stories:

1) One day Elder Thompson decided to go rummaging through the closet of mystery and came across two Christmas stockings, a foam Christmas tree, and a ribbon. So we decorated for Christmas early.

From the closet of mystery!

 

2) Our wonderful neighbor got a bee in her bonnet to go claim a parking space down stairs. So she made a sign and unfortunately for her it rained that same day. Poor lady, her sign makes it look like she is bloody and evil.

 

Evil parking signs

3) A member family took us to a tourist place on the far side of Indian Lake, this fresh water spring bubbles right out of the ground and houses large trout that are several feet long; the spring feeds into Indian Lake and doesn't freeze in the winter.

 

Indian Lake and Springs - minus the mosquitos.

 

That's 10 photos that you all get to enjoy, I hope you find something you like.

Love you all, and thank you

Elder Luymes

Hello all,                                                                                  September 16, 2013

What a crazy week this was for us. Transfers are this Wednesday, but I'll go into more detail about that later. This week seemed to contain a lot of Manistique's finest. By that I mean some of the weirdest and funniest yet.

On Monday we had our usual P-Day, but we concluded the day by tracting into a man who was...stoned. He was so out of it. We asked him what he knew about the Book of Mormon and he proceeded to tell us that the Book of Mormon was a book about Avatars. These Avatars are part human and part cat. The humans can meta-morph into cats and the domestic ones are better than the wild ones. He continued to tell us that all of this was based on a TV show that he had seen about the Book of Mormon. When we replied that the Book of Mormon was actually scripture he replied that Christopher Columbus had read the Book of Mormon while he was crossing the ocean. He did accept a copy of the Book of Mormon that we gave him, and we have since nicknamed him Avatar man.

Next on the list for Manistique's finest are F__ and D__, who, we tracted into them and they at first didn't want anything to do with us. But we asked them a few questions and they began to open up to us... a little too much. They began telling us their whole back story about one being pregnant at age 16 and then being kidnapped by the Italian mafia. Then getting married to a man who died the day before their first anniversary. Now she's in pain and needs help. The other woman essentially gave her back story too but a little less descriptive. However, she did list off her sins in great detail and how she doesn't know what to do. It was all one big mess and both were drunk. They did accept a Book of Mormon though :)

Moving away from the topic of specific individuals and to the whole town, we are facing a very interesting problem. The whole town is starting to hibernate. The stores close at 5pm, people are in bed around 7pm and we are left with nothing to do, and no one to contact for two hours. We got told twice this past week around 7:30 each experience that we needed to go to bed. The people are literally going to sleep at 7 or 8pm. What do we do? We have been asking members in our district and other senior missionaries for suggestions but all of them don't apply to Manistique.

This weekend we had Stake Conference in Green Bay. Our boarders did not get changed, nor were we made a Branch. We are a bit disappointed but we know that we need more Priesthood holders before we can really become a Branch. We couldn't really hear the talks either; the speakers in the far back where we sat weren't working. We did have fun though with the Green Bay Elders who housed us and we went on splits with them.

This Wednesday is transfer day. I'm not leaving Manistique, but Elder Thompson is. He will be going to Madison and opening up a new area. I will be TRAINING a new missionary here in Manistique. Crazy huh? President Cutler approached me at Stake Conference and asked if I would accept the position. That's also when Elder Thompson found out that he was opening up a new area. So next week’s email will be all about a greeny. I hope things go well for us, and that we can find our way around town.

Scripture for this week is: Mosiah 4:9

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

Love you all,

Elder Luymes

 

Hi!                                                   Sept 9, 2013

We'll, I have already had to change computers at the library because the other one killed its internet connection. Fortunately, I wasn't typing my weekly letter yet, so not all was lost. With last Monday being Labor Day and last P-Day being Tuesday. This report will be from that Tuesday to today.

It was a pretty normal week as far as things go. We did lots of tracting because all our planned lessons fell through for a second week in a row. We’re not too discouraged, you can't do much when your investigators are sick or out of town for the holiday. We were successful at re-establishing appointments with most of them, and we know that many of them are still reading the Book of Mormon - hurray!!!

This week we continued to hit new ground because of our bikes. We met the L__family and the SJ__ family. We haven't had a lesson yet with them but both have scheduled lessons for this week. We gave them a Book of Mormon and invited them to read, we gave a basic introduction to the Book of Mormon. The Larson family has two sets of twins!

At Zone teaching meeting this week we learned that President and Sister Cutler are pushing to have more missionaries in more areas instead of just placing two sets of Elders in one ward. He would rather place missionaries in new areas where Missionaries have not been to yet. With our boarders changing THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My area will officially be 1/3 of the whole U.P with that much ground we are starting to wonder if President Cutler is going to place Elders in a town called Newberry. This is all a "what if" or a "He might" situation because no one has confirmed our thoughts on this. This does open up a window of opportunity for me to open up a new area of the mission and still be a young missionary.

On Saturday we had a pretty heavy bike riding day. We estimate that we rode 25 miles. First to Indian Lake to meet our nine potentials in that area, then to a lesson with a member that lives 30 minutes away from us by bike. He wasn't home and neither was the less active that lives in the area. It was a lot of bike riding with very little success.

To conclude the week, we met a woman last night while tracting who was born and raised Reformed LDS. She was extremely polite to us and shared her testimony of the Book of Mormon, we asked if she would be interested in meeting with us and she agreed. We also invited her to church and she said she would be interested. It was very interesting talking to her because she has a solid knowledge of the Book of Mormon as well as a testimony of it, and yet she wasn't LDS. It just seemed a little weird.

Attached is the link to my Mormon.org profile: http://mormon.org/me/CJCH/AndrewLuymes

Scripture for the week: Moroni 6:8

But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven.

Week of August 26th

Hello, I wasn't online yesterday because Labor Day is what we commonly call a "Prime Proselyting Day".  Basically it means that we are supposed to work harder than normal because families are usually together and at home or out enjoying the day off work. Not in Manistique apparently... yesterday was very cold, windy, and we saw hardly anyone all day. We tried to meet families that we have met with previously but not a single one of them was home. So then we tracted a new neighborhood on our bikes and we met very few people; one family that we did talked to were Jehovah Witnesses. We had a nice talk with them for about 40 minutes. It wasn't anything heated or a debate. We talked, asked questions about each other’s faith, and clarified a few other misunderstandings. That was about all that happened with them.



Green Bay Zone Conference

As for the rest of the week: last Tuesday we went to Zone Conference in Green Bay. I greatly enjoyed a wonderful lesson on the Atonement of Jesus Christ given by President and Sister Cutler. They talked a lot about how essential it is to have faith, and how simple repentance really is. They emphasized the importance of helping our investigators understand that the Atonement is for everyone and that all can repent, and enjoy the many blessings of forgiveness, and Christ's grace and mercy.

Thursday the 29th and Friday the 30th consisted of a total of six hours of tracting. You may be wondering if we even had a single planned lesson these two days, we did and they both went really well, but tracting was the bulk of these two days. As we have tracted more and MORE of Indian lake we have continued to gain mosquito bites, and a nice long list of potential investigators. Saturday we had two lessons with less actives, and a nice dinner with our group leader and their family that was in town for the holiday. On Sunday we had 36 people at church!!! On Monday we were able to briefly enjoy a nice car show outside our apartment; here are a few pictures of my favorites.

Thank you all for your letters, love, and support. I always enjoy them :)

The scripture for the week is: Alma 13: 27-30

27 And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance;

 28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;

 29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.

 30 And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell, that ye may not suffer the second death.

Love,

Elder Luymes

Car Show on our street

 

Pick a name...any name!

A quick story about one of the “characters” of Manistique:

Let me tell you about our neighbor? Her name is PF__, and she is notorious for getting so drunk each and every night that when she walks up or down the stairs she makes the loudest grunts, and breathes out loud breaths. She has a tendency to come home while we are planning for the next day and it is so funny to hear her come up the stairs each night that we often have to stop planning because we are laughing so hard (don't forget, this is a nightly occurrence). We play games like: how many moans and grunts are we going to hear tonight? Or, how long will it take PF__ to come up the 25 steps? Each night is funny and then in the morning... she snores so loud that we can hear her while we are studying. We often joke that a "PF__ nightmare" would be her dreaming of going up an endless set of stair case while she was drunk. Oh! She only has 3 teeth, and she also makes special brownies that have marijuana in them (we found this out from the lady who used to live in our apartment). You remember our former investigator D_ who likes to live off the grid, right? Well, PF__ and D__ know each other (of course they would) and they complement each other in the worst way. We can't complain too much though, PF__ gave us $20 while she was drunk one day, good thing she hasn't asked for it back Love,

Elder Luymes.

Beautiful sunset this week.

I'm sure there is a story here but I have no idea why a cow would
lift her skirt and a hotdog would pour sauce on its own head!

Two guys that are probably up to no good together!