Another week comes and goes in the blink of an eye. This was a long week for Elder Allen and I, we had a lot of things fall through due to two broken bikes (not mine) and bus trips that took up multiple hours of our day. Bus contacting doesn't really work so it was a lot of proselyting time lost. The whole week wasn't bad though, we had plenty of really good things happen and the work is going forward even if it’s not at the rate that we are both hoping and praying for.

Some quick funny stories for you: On Thursday we went out with a high priest to visit some less actives that had had no contact with the church in a long time. After we visited with these people we went over to his house where he gave us 50 pounds of bread. He is a farmer so he got the bread from a bakery that was throwing out the surplus (he uses the bread for his cattle). 50 pounds of bread goes a long way, even for two hungry Elders. We still have the large bag in our kitchen, and we eat two slices for every meal and we do nothing but snack on bread, I haven't been hungry since Thursday! On Friday morning we got a call from an older couple in the ward. They got an extra shipment of Nutrisystem meals so they called us wondering if we wanted the whole box. We agreed and went over to their house later in the day with the Hmong Elders. We took the box to our place and split it in half. So not only do we have a ton of bread to eat but we also have a few diet meals (I guess I need to lose weight). We are eating like kings, one loaf at a time.

Diet food in a bag - no comment.

On Friday, after a disappointing morning, Elder Allen and I got off the bus and we were heading back to our apartment for lunch. It was while the bus was pulling into the bus station that a thought occurred to me. Here is the thought: As Missionaries in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Mission, we have what is called the Standard of Excellence. I'm not sure if they do this in other missions but for us the Standard of Excellence is what each companionship if aiming to achieve each week. Our Mission Standard of Excellence is to have one baptism a month for each area, three investigators with a baptismal date, three investigators at church each week, and three new investigators found each week. With the lack of success that we had been experiencing throughout the week my thoughts were on how we can avoid another week like this. Then I thought about the members and it hit me. The Members of the Church should have a Standard of Excellence! I continued to think about it and this is what I came up with and Elder Allen "approves this message".

The Standard of Excellence for a Member Missionary:

1) Hand out 1 pass-along card each week with either the missionary’s phone number or the member’s phone number

2) Hand out 1 Book of Mormon each month with both the missionaries phone number and the members phone number as well as a hand written testimony

3) 1 person or family introduced to the missionaries and meeting with the missionaries every three months, that's four individuals/families a year (read Elder Ballard's April General Conference Talk)

4) Pray every day for missionary opportunities, AND for the missionaries by name serving in your Ward or Branch, AND for the missionaries "top 3" investigators and families by name (remember: specific prayers get specific results)

5) Read Preach My Gospel AND the scriptures everyday

6) Go on splits with the missionaries once a month

I cannot even begin to imagine how much more success there would be if every member put in an honest effort to achieve these goals. There would be less of a need to tract. and it would make for stronger converts and stronger members all around because testimonies would be shared. "Testimonies shared are testimonies made stronger" - loose quote of President Monson, Preach My Gospel.

The great success that Elder Allen and I are having is with our investigator M___. M___ was found by street contacting the day before I arrived in Appleton. We have been teaching him ever since. M___ has a very good knowledge of the Bible and he loves to read, so he reads the Book of Mormon a lot. At our first lesson, we extended the invitation for M___ to be baptized on July 19th. He agreed, since then everything else has been amazing. M___ is already finished with 2 Nephi, and he came to Church for the first time on Sunday. He shared with us the spirit that he has felt as he has read the Book of Mormon. He recently told us that he knows that the Book of Mormon testifies of the Savior Jesus Christ and he has compared it to the Bible and finds both of them to be in complete harmony with each other. M___ has also had the opportunity to pray about Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson being prophets of God. M___ said to us that if the book is true then Joseph Smith must be God's Prophet. Not only are we excited for M___'s baptism but he himself is excited to be baptized by telling us that "no matter how hard it is going to be to quit smoking and coffee, I will do it because I feel that I have found the truth." M___ is an amazing man, and a great example of faith. He knows that he can count on the Lord when he is doing the right thing. He has shared with us a few of his childhood stories that demonstrate the faith that he has and how he has come to strengthen it. M___ is a smart reader; I can honestly say that I am impressed with how much he has gotten out of the Book of Mormon for this being his first time reading the book. He shares with us the story line in great detail during lessons and pulls out doctrinal truths that have taken me years to find. No wonder he has developed a testimony of the book, he reads it and sincerely prays about it, he understands it.

Speaking about Prayer, I will be giving a talk next week in Sacrament meeting about receiving answers to prayer.

Scripture for the week: Alma 13:12

Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.

Thank you for your prayers and love, and tell me what you think of the Member Missionary Standard of Excellence.

Love,

Elder Luymes

L-R: E. Allen from Saratoga Springs, UT; E. Cutshaw from W. Virginia;
E. Lor from Fresno, CA.  The latter 2 are Hmong Elders.

A member gifted us Christmas lights on Sunday
so we jazzed up the pad.

Oh yah, don't yah know, up der in da U.P...I'm a yooper today can't yah tell. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY. Thank you to my dad and all the father figures who have helped me, taught me, blessed me, and have been such a wonderful influence on my life. I can't thank you enough, and you just don't know the magnitude of a blessing you are to me, thanks! J

I would also like to congratulate the Netherlands soccer team for beating Spain 5-1 this past week. Fifa has started in Brazil and it's an exciting time to be a soccer fan! Go Orange and Black - Netherlands!!!



Farewell to Elder Pounds; I'm moving on to Appleton.

My new companion, Elder Allen from Saratoga Springs UT.

This was a really good week for Elder Allen and me.  It was a roller-coaster week, however, meaning we had really good days followed by really unsuccessful days. It’s a fact of life and nothing to get upset about none-the-less; it was a really great week. On Tuesday we had a Zone Training Meeting, it was very inspiring, and I felt uplifted and edified. The Zone Leaders talked about finding "the one" the person or family that you and your companion were meant to find, teach, and bring closer to the Savior. It was kind of convenient because that same morning Elder Allen and I had talked about what it was that the Lord had intended for us and this area when he inspired President Cutler to put us together. The other major topic of ZTM was being a Capt. Moroni missionary. We watched a video by Elder Holland, after the video I commented in the lesson that Elder Holland does not say "the missionary, or the Elder" instead he says the "the Missionaries, or the Elders, the companionship." I commented that in order for a missionary to be like Capt. Moroni, the companionship must work together to become like Capt. Moroni. This too has been a topic of discussion between Elder Allen and me since ZTM. I'm grateful to be with Elder Allen, he has the desire to achieve many great things, he wants to work hard, and we both want to be a Capt. Moroni companionship. Wednesday was one of those slow days for us. We were out walking around the parks, tracting all day and we only talked to one person. It was a little upsetting but I kept telling Elder Allen that it's just one day, and tomorrow is a new day. And it was a new day. Thursday was amazing, we talked to many people, handed out many Books of Mormon and I got to celebrate my one year mark with a little tie burning. J Friday was slow though. Once again it was more tracting, more street contacting and also a broken buss that took away two hours of proselyting. Saturday was probably the best day of the week though. We taught more lessons on Saturday than the rest of the week combined, and we handed out a lot of Books of Mormon. It was such a great Saturday!!! Sunday was fun; I got to see the ward for the first time and met some people. The Bishop pulled a fast one on me by announcing my name early in the sacrament meeting program that I would be speaking (with no prior warning). Than after the first speaker he got up and said that I would not be speaking today but perhaps next week. The Elders and Sisters in the Ward describe Bishop Allen as sarcastic and comical - should be fun to get to know him better. J

I want to go into a little more detail into the broken bus experience on Friday. We were on the number 30 bus, and we were intending on heading back to the main station so that we could go home and eat lunch. The bus goes to the mall in between where we got on and where the main station was. At the mall, a woman was a little anxious to get off the bus, so she used the emergency exit (which normally wouldn't be a big deal) but as the emergency door was closing, something caught and the sensor and it broke. So, the doors are closed but the sensor says the doors are open and so now the bus can't leave the mall. 30 minutes go by and the driver is trying everything he can to fix the issue. Nothing works so he calls for a new bus. While these 30 minutes are going by, Elder Allen and I along with the rest of the already crowded bus are enjoying the comical scene as we see people from the mall waving down the bus so that it doesn't drive away. These happy people who think they caught the bus at just the right time swipe their cards only to be stuck on a broken bus. This scene continued on for the whole 30 minutes. Meanwhile the bus is getting more and more crowded, and Elder Allen and I are by now laughing our heads off as we see more and more people waving down the bus that won't be going anywhere for another hour. Eventually the bus driver lets every one off and so Elder Allen and I go into the mall and get pretzels. Well somehow we missed the bus and so we spent another hour at the mall, waiting for a bus to come and get us. Friday was not our best day, but hey, we got a really good laugh out of it all. And I haven't even told you the funny quote that we heard on the bus, but I don't think it’s appropriate for email.

Another short story:  On Wednesday June 4th (transfer day to Appleton), when I arrived at the transfer point I met Elder Allen and the two Hmong elders who serve in our ward. Elder Lor and Elder Cutchaw. When I met Elder Lor he gave him a hug he told me that on the prior Monday when he was looking at the transfer board. When he saw my name and that I was going to be the new District Leader. Apparently he thought that the “Y” in Luymes was a “V” and he didn't see the “S” so when he hugged me he called me Elder Lovme. Since then, this is my new nickname in the district, Elder Lovme.

Scripture for the week: Alma 9:27

And behold, he cometh to redeem those who will be baptized unto repentance, through faith on his name. 

Thank you for your prayers (I'm sick right now) and thank you for your support of the vast missionary movement!!!

Love,

Elder Lovme

Ritual tie burning ceremony on my 1 year mark on June 12th.

 

Bonjour!!! Appleton is great, I'm having lots of fun with Elder Allen and we are already seeing miracles. On Friday we set a baptismal date with a potential investigator, his name is S___. So we are thrilled and excited and the spirit of this companionship is great and very strong.

Elder Allen is from all over Utah. I couldn't possibly begin to name all the places in Utah that he has lived but just assume that he lived there for a brief time or maybe a long time. He did live in four different homes is Spanish Fork. Elder Allen is 6'3'' (same height as I am) and he weighs 320lbs (I still weigh 175; I haven't gone up or down my whole mission). He is a big guy and played football in high school. Between the two of us we are towers and when we play basketball we have to be separated. Elder Allen is a 2013 high school graduate and he worked instead of going to college, however his school of choice is BYU Provo!!! He is fun, he has a great personality and he has a smile on his face all the time so I really think that this will be a great companionship and a fantastic transfer or two together. From what little I have seen of the members so far (Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference so I have met very little of the Ward) the members are nice and they have a good relationship with the missionaries here in the first Ward. I have been told, but have not yet seen that the Appleton first ward has about 180 active members (the same size as the Sun Prairie Ward) and the ward has about 4-5 youth currently preparing to leave on their missions. So we are spending a lot of time with them in helping them prepare for their missions. It’s exciting.

My apartment address is:

Elder Andrew Luymes

317 1/2 E. North St.

Appleton, WI 54911

For our area we use bikes, legs, and buses to get around town. And when we really need help we can call upon the Hmong Elders in our ward for assistance and they can drive us wherever we need to be dropped off. It’s a nice perk but they obviously aren't always available because they are hardworking Elders and they have appointments to get to. The buses are...um...interesting. We get to meet and see a lot of interesting characters. My first buss story comes from Wednesday, my very first day in Appleton, and it wasn't even my first full day because Wednesday was the day that I arrived. We were heading home and an African American man asks us what church we were from. We replied with "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and then we quickly replied "Do you see Jesus on this bus?” Elder Allen and I took a quick moment to look at each other and then Elder Allen replied "no?" The man then said very loudly "good, because I was about to call the cops, it is that serious!" There was absolute silence until we got off the bus and the same guy approached us again and apologized. He told us that through the course of his life people have worshiped him because they think he is Jesus Christ because of his vast knowledge of the Bible. We had a good laugh; we also missed a buss, so I am getting the full experience. J

With our recent baptismal date, the day was Friday and Elder Allen and I had been tracting for about 2 hours already. Elder Allen wanted to visit this potential investigator - someone that he and his previous companion had tracted into a month ago and had lost contact with. When we knocked on the door on Friday, S___ answered the door and we asked him if he had been reading the Book of Mormon since the Elders last saw him. He told us that he had read a few pages and had liked what we had read. He let us into his home and we began to ask a few questions as well as teach very simply the Restoration. He asked if we had the time to sit down and talk more. We did so and then we began to teach the Restoration is greater detail. S___ then asked us about what our church believes in regards to Heaven and Hell. We pulled out a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and taught him the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how through the Atonement we can be forgiven of sin and be able to enter into God's kingdom if we also accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We did teach the Kingdoms and he then told us that his wife died about 7 months ago. We shared with him our belief in eternal families through the Temple and how baptism is the first step we can take. S___ told us that he was baptized as a baby and doesn't remember any part of it. The spirit prompted very strongly and so we invited him to be baptized on July 12th, and S___ said yes.

Elder Luymes

 

Well hello again, fancy writing you on a bright and beautiful Monday. It seems like only Tuesday that I last wrote you, but perhaps that's because it was last Tuesday that I wrote you, and I sent home many pictures. This week was amazing, terrific, fantastic, exciting, and everything good all rolled up into one. I am also being transferred on Wednesday June 4th. I will be moving to the Appleton first Ward. I'll write about that later, but now on why the week was so good.

Who can pass up a giant puddle?
After a rain storm we had a giant P-day Puddle Party.

We started our week off with exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Elder Gibbs and I were here in DeForest and Elder Pounds and Elder Thompson were in the Madison Second Ward area. Elder Gibbs and I started things off with a bang and it all just continued throughout the week. Elder Gibbs and I had some amazing lessons with a few investigators and while we were tracting we found two new families that we will be starting to teach. When we exchanged back on Thursday the miracles didn't stop. Elder Pounds and I continued to have amazing success in our teaching and finding. We dedicated our whole Friday to visiting an investigator and all the less-actives who live in the farther regions of our area. We visited Poynette, Wyocena, Rio and everything in between (farm land and forest) and we were blessed with the opportunity to meet with some of the less actives that had had zero contact with the church for years. It’s hard to meet with these people regularly because of our monthly limited miles and the lack of availability of the members to help us with the all-day excursions but we were able to meet with some of the less actives twice this month. On Saturday we helped out two member families in their spring projects. One project was organized by the Ward due to the family’s needs. We built them a hand rail to a door that they never ever use. I helped dig the holes, helped in the measuring and cutting and we got it all together. We were at this member’s house from 8am to about 1:30pm. The railing looks really nice and the Bishop was well pleased with how it turned out. We raced on over to the second members home and they fed us lunch. At 2:30 we were outside digging and digging and digging some more. They wanted to build a garden 20ftx20ft. And 16 inches deep so that the rocks and other debris could be removed. It was hard work from 2:30 to 5:30 just digging deep; using the pickax was really fun and helped out a ton to break up the compacted dirt. In the time that we were there we had dug up a pile of dirt that was half my height and 15ft wide. The total area where we had actually reached the 16inch mark was maybe 5ftx4ft. There is a lot more to do. By the end of the day we were extremely exhausted and dirty. They fed us spaghetti :) Sunday was a good day too; I bore my testimony and thanked the ward for all that they had done for me.



Dinner out with a member family at a Mexican restaurant.
Their 19 year old on orders a Burrito Grande and it came on a
cookie sheet.  Too bad I didn't order one for myself.

The transfer text came Saturday morning while we were at the first house building the hand rail. I am being transferred to the Appleton First Ward. I will be serving with an Elder Allen. I don't know him well but what I do know about him is that he came out into the field with Elder Pounds, so he has just finished being trained. I also know that Elder Allen played football in high school. That's about it. The Appleton area is about an hour west of Green Bay and maybe 2 hours north of Sun Prairie. Appleton is the fourth largest "city" in the state of Wisconsin so there will be a lot more people than what I am used to. I say that because Manistique, MI had a summer time population of maybe 5,000 people. DeForest, WI has a population of about 10,000 people. So now I will be in an area that has several thousands of people. I don't know anything about the Ward so I will have much to say next week about the Ward, the area, and my new companion. As for DeForest, the area is in good hands, my trainer - Elder Thompson will be coming here and Elder Pounds will stay here. It’s a multi-generation area with Grandpa and Grandson (missionary families) working together. I have full faith and confidence that these fine Elders will take great care of this area. The members will love them, and the investigators will progress well with them also. I'm ready and excited to serve the people of Appleton. Let us share the gospel with renewed energy and determination to find the Lord's hand and seek after the miracles. And let’s not even think about or talk about my upcoming year mark, I love my mission and I wish to serve with all my heart and passion.

Scripture/video for the week: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/heritage?lang=eng

The video is about 19 minutes long but please make the time and make the effort to watch the video. I know it’s easy to ignore it "just this one time" but please do watch it. The spirit can be felt and it made me have a much renewed passion to read the scriptures with great intensity and with a much greater purpose. Thanks <3

Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your love, and thank you for everything that you do. The Lord loves you for it.

Gospels true!

Elder Luymes

"M" the 9 year old we baptized last month.  He's kind of goofy.

Our most excellent Sun Prairie District.