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