As many of you are aware from last week’s email, two weeks ago was very tough for Elder Allen and I. Thankfully, the Lord knows our physical and mental efforts to share the gospel and so He has blessed us with a Miracle week. We were blessed to have met two new families that were former investigators and also many other individuals that asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked us when we could come back to share more. It seemed like we were handing out Book of Mormons left and right all week. We even ran out of copies and had to give a woman a pass-a-long card with an "IOU a Book of Mormon" (that was a first for me and it was while we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders - awesome!)

In August we will be having a mission tour. This is similar to a Zone Conference but instead, two zones get together and an Area Authority comes to the mission to give training. Elder James Martino will be coming to tour our mission this year. He has asked us to study diligence in the Christ-like attributes section of Preach My Gospel and to come prepared to the meeting ready to give a three minute talk on how we have applied diligence into our ministry. In preparation for this I have set apart some time in our weekly district meeting to talk and give some training and teaching on diligence. This past week I talked about how diligence takes discipline. I shared some scriptures from Alma of the great missionary stories there and what discipline they showed. I concluded the teaching with a comment about the Wisconsin state flag. It has the word "Forward" on it. I invited the district to "diligently press forward" this week, for the sake of Wisconsin. I am greatly appreciative of the Elders and Sisters in my district. I am proud of their hard work and diligence, and I’m looking forward to this upcoming mission tour and what more we get to learn about diligence.

Due to the lack of success we had two weeks ago, both Elder Allen and I emailed our Mission President about it. Our emails were similar enough where we got similar suggestions from him, but they were also different enough where the advice was focused on two parts of the same overall message. Essentially, we need to use the members better. During our weekly planning session on Thursday, Elder Allen and I spent a lot of time focusing on how we were going to accomplish this. We came up with an idea, fine-tuned it so that it would better match our ultimate goal and focus. And now we get to put that plan into action. We have asked the members to join with us in prayer for the mission wide vision - "to have a convert baptism in every area of the mission before the October General Conference". Our plan of action is to visit as many members as we can in their home and share with them a powerful message of missionary work. We are inviting them to do something specific with someone they know that they could share the gospel with. A "who, what, when" as they sometimes call it. We write down with the members who they are going to invite and what sort of invitation they will be leaving with them. Then Elder Allen and I follow up with them on a later date to see how the experience went. We know that as we use the members more and as they join with us in mighty prayer that the powers of Heaven will be opened up and we will see more miracles as the Spirit is poured out upon the Appletonians.

Scripture for the week: 2 Nephi 4:24-30

24 And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me.

 25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.

 26 O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?

 27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?

 28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

 29 Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

 30 Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

Thank you so much for your love and support. I am grateful for all that you do. Enjoy your week!

Love,

Elder Luymes

This guy attached himself to my shirt and took a 3 mile ride
with me on my bike.  He as in tune with the spirit but
made a very unexpected exit when I hit a speed bump.

 

Service at the Salvation Army: they needed a specific box that was smack in the middle
so I burrowed in and dug it out creating myself a "Fort of Boxes".

Thanks Emily Aranda for the cool masks! Servants of the Lord
come in all sizes, shapes, and super-powers!

Hello again. The weeks go by fast, and the month is almost over with. Before we know it August will be here, and school will start again. This week for Elder Allen and I was tough; very physically tough. We did a lot of biking, a lot of walking, and we tracted hours and hours.

That really does sum up the week though. Tuesday was filled with biking to visit people because 3 of our 5 appointments canceled. So we were left to fill our time visiting people that we had found in the area book. Wednesday only had one appointment, so the rest was filled with tracting. I think your starting to get the idea. Our investigator T___ called us this morning and told us that he doesn't want anything to do with religion and asked that we stop coming over to his house. This heart breaking news puts our teaching pool at 1. Our 11 year old named G___ who is dependent on his less active father. Right now we have an uphill battle, it’s a struggle. Thankfully the Lord knows our struggles, and he matches our efforts to preach the gospel.

The blessings, or at the very least the Tender Mercies of the Lord were that a random stranger paid for our dinner on Saturday night. The man isn't a member, his only connection to the church was a high school friend who served a mission in California, got shot, and thankfully he lived. The man asked that we not offer a Book of Mormon or anything but he was completely happy to pay for our meal. Another blessing came on Sunday when our dinner appointment fell through because of a power outage. Thankfully the Relief Society President stepped up and fed all six of us missionaries with only a 2 1/2 hour notice. And she gave all four of us Elders 2 ties each because their son comes home from his mission in 9 days. He is serving in the Philippines.

There isn't much more I can say. We knock doors, we bike, we are trying our best and something good will happen. 

Scripture for the week: Alma 7:11-16

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

 13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

 14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

 15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.

 16 And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me.

Love,

Elder Luymes

I'm having fun! This was a good solid week of missionary work. Elder Allen and I did a little of everything: Service, tracting, buses, biking, walking, lessons, good lessons, not quite as good lessons, training exercises, laughing, hard work, motivating each other, and a few “what the heck” moments. All wrapped up into a solid week. This is the life of an Appleton Elder. I went on exchanges this week with the Hmong Elders again. Most of the lessons were in English, so I wasn't too lost. However we did have a lesson that was in part Hmong and part English, so I was very lost and confused at times. When they would switch back into English I would just listen for a while until I had a grasp of things and then I would contribute and share scriptures and testify. I had fun with it.

One of our baptismal date investigators T___ came to church for the second time yesterday. We were so happy, and he told us that he was grateful that he made it on time. T___ is progressing really well. He has started to read the Book of Mormon more regularly and he has shared with us some experiences with the Holy Ghost that he has had recently. T___'s prayers are being answered and his excitement for the gospel is filling his life with greater happiness. We have 3-4 lessons a week with T___, which makes us happy. He loves to have us over and he has even fed us twice. We are still teaching the lessons but most of the lessons have already been taught, so we will put more focus on the Book of Mormon to help him get the most out of his reading and to help him understand what he is reading.

On Friday we had a dinner with one of the members of the ward. While we were there they informed us four Elders that they had a wasp nest that was causing them some problems on their deck. We told them that we would take care of it if they would let us come back tomorrow. They did, and so on Saturday, the Wasp Squad was formed, and we united in our Brotherhood for the cause to destroy evil and pesky wasps. And we beheld what we had created and saw that it was good. So the Wasp Squad collaborated and met at the member’s house with our protective suits. And we attacked relentlessly and ferociously at the wasp's nest. And there were no casualties to the Wasp Squad because of their exceedingly great faith in the Savior. And it came to pass that we won our first and probably only battle. Amen!

Wasp Squad Activate!

Wasp Squad Success!

In other news, I have lots of pictures to share with you all, so this email will be short, but I have many pictures that will share many stories of what has "gone down" the past two weeks.

Also, this week is the start of a new transfer; I'm not going anywhere :)

My address is still:

Elder Andrew Luymes

317 1/2 E. North St.

Appleton, WI 54911

Scripture for the week: Alma 26: 3 (See moon picture to help put an image to this scripture)

 3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.

Super cool full moon.

Thank you all so much. I thank you for your prayers and your testimonies.

Love,

Elder Luymes

The dancing monkey on the corner let me snap a picture.

Just my charming personality here.

Happy July Fourth!!! We didn't see any fireworks during the whole weekend but we did hear them all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Appleton has their firework display on the 3rd each year, while Neenah and Oshkosh have their fireworks on the fourth. So between the three cities the people here have lots of opportunity to watch some dazzling display of fireworks. Our week was great, I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then on Saturday I went on exchanges with the Hmong Elders. We also had a great week because we had many appointments with Investigators and Less-Actives. We were busy, and happy, and fed too.

I'll start off with this. I now have a Hmong name. In each Ward where there are Hmong people, it is customary for each missionary that comes and goes to receive a Hmong name. The requirements are that you are named by a Woman who is above a certain age. One of the Hmong Elders introduced me to a Hmong woman and told her in Hmong that I needed to be named. She named me: Blong Vang. Blong is my first name and it means: The Leaf. Supposedly this is considered a good strong first name. Vang is my last name and it places me in the tribe of Vang. Vang is the most common last name for the Hmong people here in Wisconsin. So there yah go, Blong Vang.

On Friday morning we helped a member at his farm that he co-operates. We helped him throw bread into the back of his truck and then rode the truck about 20 minutes outside of town. We were working with the pigs. It was really smelly, poop and pee everywhere. We moved some feed around, picked up trash, and did a whole lot of other stuff. We spent about 1 hour at the farm. Mostly we helped the member prepare for the new set of 25 pigs that arrive today at the farm. It was fun and we did some heavy lifting. When we got back into town he bought us cinnamon rolls, and he also gave us 50lbs of bread. This is the same member that did this last time (about two weeks ago).

The exciting thing that happened this week was our new investigator T___. We met him last Sunday while he was sitting in his driveway. He called out to us and so we went over and started talking to him. He offered us water and let us into his home. We had our first appointment with him on Wednesday of this past week. Everything went amazing. He was asking so many questions and he asked us what he would have to do to be baptized. We talked about it and then we invited him to be baptized on August 16th. On multiple occasions he has shared with us how he feels when we are with him and it’s amazing to hear how powerfully the spirit has touched his heart. We have had a lesson with T___ every single day of the week from Wednesday too today. He fed us last Saturday, and he is feeding us tonight!!! On Thursday we had a church tour with T____ and he absolutely loved it. His wife told us on Friday that when T___ came home after the church tour the day before, that he was beaming with happiness. She said it was the happiest she had ever seen her husband. She is completely supportive of T___ and his decision to be baptized. As for right now she has asked that we not teach her but T___ and us both feel that she just needs a little more time to warm up to us and that we will soon begin teaching her in a month or two. When we give T___ a reading assignment or a pamphlet to read, he reads it the day we give it to him, and he re-reads it right before we come over. T____ is so amazing, he has lots of questions and every time we mention the word baptism he always replies "August 16th!!!" I wish you could meet him; he is going to be a great convert and a wonderful addition to the Appleton first ward. T___ even came to church with us on Sunday wearing a full suit. He was looking so fresh!!!

Scripture for the week: Alma 17: 9-10

 9 And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness, and they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct.

 10 And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted.

Thank you all so much, the work has picked up a lot here in Appleton and we are keeping busy!

Love,

Blong Vang

 

The Awesome Appleton District!

Service at the Pig Farm.

The Three Little Pigs - but no wolf!

Have you seen my bathtub anywhere????

We had a fantastic week. It was so hot and humid, we had a broken bike (again, but still not mine), but we also set a third baptismal date and we found some new investigators that are super promising and will probably have a baptismal date this coming Wednesday when we have our first return appointment with them. Elder Allen and I are having lots of fun. People still stare at us because we are two giants that walk around in our beaming white shirts and ties. We also get asked if we are stupid for walking around like we do in the humidity, then I remind them that we also walk around in -50 in the winter and we are still doing the same thing. The short answer is yes, we are kind of weird, but I like it because I’m having fun, I'm studying the scriptures and learning so much. The Spirit of the Lord is continually teaching me and helping me along the way. I'm grateful for my Father in Heaven and his patience.

Tracting in City Park and goofing with the kids.

 

Some of the highlights of the week were: setting a baptismal date with G___, Spanish tracting, and a drug deal. But I'll go through them one at a time :)

 

On Tuesday we had an appointment with a less-active part-member family. The husband is a member but has not been to church in about 13 years, he is recently married to his second wife. She is not a member and was not home at the time the lesson took place. This member has two kids, the oldest is 11 (he is the guy that we have the baptismal date set with) and then a younger daughter who I think is 4 maybe 5. Right from the start I felt a very natural spirit, so I began to be bold. I asked the less active father about his conversion story then as he concluded that story I told him in a nice way, "That's really great and all, even cute, but now it’s time for a new chapter where you come to church and your son is baptized by you, and your wife hopefully too." I know that sounds very rude and very overbearing but take my word for it, it felt right, it felt natural and the father took it well by agreeing with us. The rest of the lesson was talking about our game plan to get him back to church and worthy so that he can baptize his son. We set a baptismal date for July 26th. What I loved about this baptismal invitation and what also made it different was that the invitation was so much more than a "will you be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God?" It also included a "will you Bro.J___ prepare yourself to baptize your son on July 26th, and are you yourself Bro.J___ committed to that date?" When his son G___ said yes, it came as no surprise because the kid has expressed interest in being baptized for a long time, what was more important was the father saying yes, and he did! We said a closing prayer and we had happy smiles all around. I loved that lesson, it was powerful and it will be a great turning point in the lives of Bro. J____ and his son G___! Our other baptismal dates as for right now are S___ for July 12th, M____ for July 19th, and G___ for July 26th. July and August should be very busy for Elder Allen and me.

 

The Spanish tracking is a short story and perhaps not as funny for you as it was for us. We were just tracting on a regular street, not much different than any other. We got to a door and the woman immediately told us in poor English that she could not speak English. So Elder Allen and I looked at each other and we thought and then we said to her “Hola”! Then we said to her that we are “los misioneros (missionaries). She said yes and hello back. She asked us something along the lines of "what church are you from?" This question really stumped us because neither of us knew the church's full name in Spanish (we do now). So to make do, I pulled out a Mormon.org card and said Mormon with a Spanish accent. She tried to tell us that she knew Mormons and pointed at her neighbor’s house who just so happened to be the first counselor in the Bishopric. J  Then we asked her if she would be okay with missionaries who spoke Spanish coming to her house and she agreed. We did have some language barrier problems because it took us a while to get her phone number and availability date. It all worked out and we sent the referral off to the Spanish Elders.

 

The drug deal (dun, dun, dunnnnnn)! On Friday we had a wonderful time riding the #15 bus three times totaling 3 hrs of bus riding. It made for a long day and a really long morning in particular. It was while we were on the #15 for the third time around 3pm. We were headed to a lesson with an investigator and Elder Allen and I were sitting in the back of the bus. Only two rows in front of us were a couple of guys. We could tell immediately that they knew each other because right as one climbed on the bus they began to yell and talk to each other. They had a long conversation which got more and more heated as time passed. There was a little bit of frustration and yelling between the two men and then before we really knew what was going on, they switched cell phones, made a few phone calls on each other’s phones, then they shared cigarettes, money got passed and a few other stuff that I can't identify. All of this took place two bus rows in front of the two of us. I couldn't believe it! Both of the guys got off at different stops and then we later saw them together when we got off the bus ourselves. It was obvious that they were together on something, but still funny. Drug deals in front of the Mormons, what will they come up with next?

 

I gave a talk on Sunday. The topic was receiving and identifying answers to prayers. I really enjoyed the talk and many of the members complimented me and thanked me. A rough outline of my talk goes as follows:

1) An introduction of who I am and where I am from, how long I have been on my mission.

2) I read two sentences from the bible Dictionary Prayers section. I expounded on them and why it’s important to recognize the Lord will when we pray for things.

3) The importance of listening instead of speaking

4) The miracles that can come by the power of prayer

5) The small and simple things such as daily prayer and scripture study, patience and keeping an eye open to the blessings of the Lord.

 

Scripture for the week: 1 Nephi 14:14

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.

 

Thank you all so much, and enjoy your 4th of July and all that great stuff.

Love,

Elder Luymes