What a great week in Appleton! The weather was nice and warm, clear skies all week, no wind. I'm being serious; this was the best week for weather. Biking or walking was comfortable in this weather and perfect for fall service projects that need to be completed before the snow dumps on us and we begin to freeze. It might be our last week where we get some natural sun vitamins but whatever, the winter is out of my control and it has to come sooner or later.

Fall has begun -- it will be interesting to see how
fall here compares to "da UP"

A great week for weather and a great week for the Lords work. We had many appointments this week and few cancellations!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were booked pretty solid for the whole week with only an opening or two. We were blessed with the privilege of seeing many of our top investigators and having quality lessons with them. We currently have no baptismal dates but there are a few families and some individuals that we have high hopes for. It may take some time but it'll happen. Outside of planned lessons we had two really great experiences with people that we met on the street. One man owns a karate studio and has a brother who is a member of the church in New York. We talked with the man for a while and answered his questions about the Book of Mormon. We gave him an assignment to read and we set up an appointment for the end of this new week. As we were departing from this guy he gave us a little pep talk and told us that if we believe our message is this important then we should do better to reach out to more people. Fortunately this was the first person we saw that day and so we made extra effort for the rest of the day and we certainly saw miracles from it. Another person we talked to was someone that we had seen weeks previous but didn't have the time to stop and talk to him because we were anxious to catch the bus and not miss an appointment and he was in a rush to get home. We saw him again this week and he asked if we had time then to talk and share our message. Miraculously we did have some time and so we found a park bench and started talking. This man was adopted by an LDS family in Salt Lake City when he was a kid. The family wasn't very active in the church so he never got baptized but was surrounded by the church and the members left a good impression on him. He now lives here in Appleton with his girlfriend and their two year old son. He knew a lot about the church but still had some questions that we were able to straighten out and clear up any confusion. We taught him the Restoration and exchanged numbers and then left him with a prayer before he went home. Miracles happen, and great things are taking place here in Appleton. The next step is getting members involved and teaching towards baptism.

Outside of teaching we had some service opportunities this week. Service was something specific that I had been praying for as a way of getting into members’ homes more often and sharing a gospel message. A prayer answered. We had our two weekly service appointments at the Salvation Army and St. Vincent De Paul. In addition to those two we had one member family ask us to help them move a large pile of wood so that some workers could gain access to their basement windows. This family is lots of fun and they currently have one son on a mission and another that will leave summer 2015. They also fed us burgers. Another service project was helping out the High Priest Group leader at his farm. I had been to his farm before but the other three Elders had never been there before. This was the same farm that I mentioned in June that had the pigs. Yup! We did more poop duty. We separated a pig from its best friend in preparation for the slaughter house. BACON! Then we cleaned up the pig pen and all of their nasty waste. We collected wood and trash around the farm and had a roaring fire that was hair singeing from 20 feet away. Our last service project was helping out a non-member family remove rocks from their basement. They knocked down a wall that was not serving any and they wanted the wall down, so they did the demolition and we did the heavy back lifting and took out the rocks. They fed us pizza, and we also had a roaring hot fire at their place too. Service is good, service is fun.

Happy Birthday to ME! Thanks Dad, this was rather unexpected.

General Conference is coming up and I'm excited. I'm really hoping to get an opportunity to watch it with some investigators in their home or at the church with them.

Scripture for the week: Mosiah 4:10-12

10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

 11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

 12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

Thank you all very much; your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Much Love,

Elder Luymes