April 14, 2014

We had a pretty good week here in DeForest. It was filled with a lot of different things and we had some great miracles happen. We did two exchanges this week, one with the Beaver Dam Elders, and the other with the Sun Prairie Elders. These two exchanges filled up our week well and a lot was accomplished because of it.

I have to start off with the sad news. On Tuesday morning we were driving to the church building to go to District Meeting. As we were driving through the farm land and going over the dozen blind hills we were enjoying the beautiful day, all was well. I crested a hill, saw a squirrel, and couldn't react fast enough to brake or steer away (it’s a 1 lane road on a blind hill, so swerving wasn't an option.) The poor squirrel took a little trip with the front left tire, around the wheel well and back down on the road, flat, and dead. The squirrel made an impressive noise as my companion and I went from calm and peaceful to all out shock as we took in what had just happened in the blink of an eye. This was my first roadkill in my entire history of driving. Remember when I was in da U.P and a deer jumped in front of our truck as we were driving to church, good thing we missed the deer. But the squirrel had no hope. It made for an interesting day.

But now I'm being haunted by a squirrel spirit. On the same day that I killed the squirrel, an albino squirrel appears on our neighbor’s property. This white furred squirrel looks so cool (I would send a picture but sadly my camera took a fall this week and it died. So I need to get a new camera. Why is my email all about squirrels and death?) We talked to a member about the squirrel and they told us that DeForest has four albino squirrels and all four hang out in very distinct spots, not near each other but separated, they are territorial. J  The Squirrel spirit is out to get me, repent ye repent!!! Alma 34:33-35

Guess what! DeForest has a baptism on Saturday the 19th. His name is M and he's 9 years old. He is from a part member/less active family. What makes this story so amazing and successful is that we first reactivated the family, and then began teaching M and now we get to enjoy the fruit of our labor as we get to see M get baptized on Saturday. He is so cool and loves video games, cheese and goofing off. Teaching a 9 year old can be a bit difficult because of a short attention span, but he also impresses us because he soaks up the gospel really well, he currently is on 2 Nephi. It was also interesting teaching him the Law of Chastity that was different, and fun! At our last lesson with M, we asked him if he felt like the Book of Mormon was true. His reply was "well of course it’s true!" Dang right it is! The Book of Mormon is true, the Prophet Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God, and this Church is absolutely 100% true! M knows it, and to see him get baptized is proof that he knows is and wants to act upon it. Amen.

Scripture for the week: Alma 5:62

 62 I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.

Thank you all, enjoy your week, enjoy your Easter, and enjoy yourself in celebrating the: Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection of our Savior - Jesus Christ.

Elder Luymes

                                                                                                April 7, 2014

Aww snap! We were completely thrown off our schedule this week with all the stuff that went on. We did no tracting the whole week and met just enough people to somehow teach 9 lessons (I'm not sure how we accomplished that) It felt like we didn’t do any missionary work this whole week. Do you want to know why? Here's why:

Monday: P-day, we played basketball, did laundry, emailed, ate dinner at a member’s home and concluded our day.

Tuesday: We had a zone training meeting that took up half our day. When we got home we did a short study session, taught a scheduled lesson, attempted to visit a few people and eventually went home and ate dinner.

Wednesday: We had a District Meeting along with Mission President interviews. Because I'm District Leader I had to be interviewed last (so that President and I can gossip about the district, teehee, not really though) These interviews took up more time than we thought, so we had to forgo some plans, eventually did service at the Sun Prairie Museum and then ate dinner at a members home. Again, we visited with a few people but nothing planned, and then went home.

Thursday: We did our weekly planning session, met with one investigator, ate dinner, and then had a lesson with another investigator who should have already accepted the invitation to be baptized... come on man, just get dunked already!!! He's been meeting with the missionaries since 2009. Gotta love him though :)

Friday: Was our only normal day of missionary work. We had a few lessons, met with some potential investigators, did service at the Museum again, and then ate dinner on our own.

Saturday: We lived at the church building, watched all three Saturday sessions and had a back flip awesome BBQ with the Sun Prairie Ward Priesthood holders!!! Like a Boss, we ate meat, and no salads or green things were present. Just beautiful meat!

Sunday, we lived at the Church building some more, ate lunch with the ward. After the afternoon session we ate dinner with another member family and got fed more delicious meat. Needless to say, I have slept well these past two days :)

We really did do missionary work, and we didn't waste any time. But with General Conference and so many meetings we were just thrown off our rocker. We also had four lessons cancel on us throughout the week, two were because Wisconsin made it to the final four for the NCAA tournament (and lost by one point, that's what they get for not meeting with the Elders and coming to conference.)

General Conference was spectacular!!! I enjoyed the testimonies shared and was especially touched by the testimonies shared during the Saturday Morning Session. I loved Elder Stevenson's talk about the Winter Olympics and how this life is already the race. In so many ways our life like a...hurdle race (you know I was going there) we take off and before your know it, the first hurdle is already in front of us. If we trust our skills developed in practice, if we trust the Lord and his gospel, than we will defeat our hurdles of life. Each hurdle race has multiple hurdles set up specifically for us (our assigned lane). So too in life we find challenges set up just for us, but the Lord has provided a way for all of us to make it over the barrier. Gotta Love It!

Scripture for the week: Mosiah 15:7-9

7 Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.

 8 And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men—

 9 Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.

Thank you all for your prayers, love, and faith.

Elder Luymes


"My name is Juan, I like the view from the Sun Prairie Museum, the Elders think they are funny by putting me in a high chair"

The mega-blister on the bottom of Elder Pounds' foot
because I've been working him so hard.

Proof that Spring has Sprung.  Mom says these are called Crocus
and they are the first flowers to bloom when snow melts.

Celebratory Mexican Coke (mission contraband) after
meeting with our eternal investigator aka "eterna-gator".

It probably doesn't come across, but this is my
favorite Sun Prairie sunset thus far on my mission.

 

                                                                                                     March 31

I hope you are all as excited as I am to see sunshine and the number 63°F. Dang, aww yeah!!! We had a really great week, maintaining a busy schedule with many appointments and also finding new people to maintain that busy schedule, that's how we role in DeForest, Wisconsin.

Our investigator S___ had a happy and successful baptism in Manitowoc on Saturday March 29th. He texted us at 3am on Saturday to tell us that he was so excited to be baptized that he couldn't sleep.  Apparently neither were we allowed to sleep that night either, oh well, who needs rest when you have faith in Christ. J  Our ward mission leader Bro. Williams was able to drive up with his family and perform the ordinance. He commented that the whole time S___ was a little shaky and couldn't put to words what he was experiencing. What a unique and special day it was for S___.

Our teaching pool here is doing well, we have a solid number of investigators that we are meeting with as regularly as we can and many of them are reading the Book of Mormon regularly. Elder Pounds and I are trying to do better at getting our investigators to church. We had one on Sunday, and two others were expected to come. When I called one of them she said that she was just too nervous. I tried to explain over the phone that the Spirit is one of peace and not something that we get nervous about, but welcome into our life often once we have experienced it once. She asked that we help her overcome the fear at our next appointment.

Essentially, the summary of my week is that we had a lot of teaching appointments and also had a good amount of success in finding new people to start teaching. #Lovingthemissionlife J

Scripture of the week: Mosiah 13:27-28

27 And now ye have said that salvation cometh by the law of Moses. I say unto you that it is expedient that ye should keep the law of Moses as yet; but I say unto you, that the time shall come when it shall no more be expedient to keep the law of Moses.

 28 And moreover, I say unto you, that salvation doth not come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses.

Thank you for your prayers, enjoy General Conference!

Elder Luymes

 

My first baptism S__ (center) with his wife. 
Our ward mission leader Bro Williams (left) did the honors.

                                                                                               March 24

We had another monumental week in DeForest. We had several great lessons that have helped so many of our investigators to make big steps in progress, and so many of them are reading the Book of Mormon more regularly. This brings huge benefits and blessings because in a very simple way, the Book of Mormon brings the spirit into our life (1 Nephi 1:12) and once we begin to feel the influence of the Spirit... they will have a desire to enter into a covenant with their Lord (Mosiah 5:2-5). I have so greatly enjoyed this week and the quality of the lessons that we had. Another thing that has helped us out so much are the members stepping up to the plate to help us out with lessons. We had planned on 6 member present lessons, but only three of them actually happened. Half may not seem like a very good average, but three member present lessons is the best we have ever had here in DeForest.

To share more about the lessons we had this week: we went over the baptismal interview questions for an investigator that we have who gets released from parole this week, and gets baptized this Saturday! We are thrilled for this guy; he has made some big changes in his life and has come to follow the Savior step for step. He shared with us his testimony and his conversion story (which I filmed). He is a great person to be around and can truly uplift anyone through the power of the Spirit and the scriptures. This is the same investigator who is already doing missionary work by sharing the Book of Mormon with his parole officer and other people who live in his small town. Sadly we won’t be able to see his baptism because he is moving to Manitowoc, WI this same week.

Another investigator we had a lesson with this week is an interesting guy. He has a Catholic background but has denounced the church. We shared with him the January 2014 CES Devotional by Elder Tad R. Callister called "the Blue Print of Christ church". This lesson brought up many deeper questions about our church and its doctrine. What made it so special and the reason why I’m sharing this experience is because it greatly highlights the blessings of the influence of the spirit. His questions were smart, articulate, and deep. And two 20 year olds with little knowledge of the "real" world would have had a struggle answering his questions in a manner that would have satisfied him. I am so grateful for the guidance of the spirit during that lesson; it greatly helped us out and brought to memory key scriptures that highlighted the truth of what it is that we were teaching him.

The last lesson that I will be sharing is with a great guy who has a true love for his family and wants what is best for them. He has told us that he is soul searching and wants to find the true church. What I loved about this lesson was that he felt that the scripture texts that we had been sending out each night to him and 7 other people had been sent specifically to him. He felt the personal power of the Book of Mormon, he felt it touched him specifically and answered a lot of his questions. When we told him that the scriptures that we send out are for him and several other people he was shocked that the scriptures which were sent to a general audience could impact him in such a way. I loved the lesson that we had with him and it was really exciting to see our efforts in doing a scripture text every night have positive success.

Such great lessons, it brings a smile to my face and love to my heart. Our upcoming week should hold many more exciting things and were praying for more of our investigators to accept the invitation to be baptized.

Scripture for the week: Alma 1:30

30 And thus, in their prosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were naked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon riches; therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect to persons as to those who stood in need.

Thank you all, enjoy your spring!

Elder Luymes

This is T---, he is getting baptized on March 29th at 10am. He is officially my first baptism of my mission even though I won't be able to see him get "dunked" He is still an awesome guy. He comes from a very rough past and so he and I have some good bonding over the "Thug Life". I have always said that LA has been good to me.

We found this 2009 news paper while we were doing service at the Sun Prairie Museum. As we were casually flipping through I spotted this and took full advantage of taking a picture. It has been the laugh of the week for the missionaries serving in the SP ward.

March 17, 2014

Warmer weather, a new missionary, great missionary work, funny stuff, and a great church service on Sunday. This was an awesome week. The weather is getting more comfortable and more favorable for street contacting and less winter clothing. We may even get into the 50's this week, if that's so and the sun is out, then I'm tracting with a short sleeve shirt.

My new companion is Elder Pounds. He is from Simi Valley California (he doesn't know the White family), and at age 15 he moved to Gilbert Arizona (he doesn't know the Toone family). Elder Pounds is my first non- Utah companion so this does change our dynamic and our companionship a little bit (in a good way). He is 19 years old and graduated in 2013. He didn't go to college but does plan on attending ASU; he worked at a deli market for a time to save up for a mission. Elder Pounds is a self-described "nerd to the word", he loves computers, and video games, and he is also a band geek. But that doesn't mean much. He is funny, energetic about the work, and ready for a great mission experience. Once he learns the natural flow of the mission work he will begin to make great strides in the work that is already making drastic improvements in DeForest. It's so exciting, and the members really stepped up their game this week and helped us fill up our appointments with member presents appointments. If all goes as planned, we will have more member present lessons this week than I have on any other week of my whole mission (I think). So far, training has gone well and the district is also doing well too. Happy days!!!



My new companion, Elder Pounds arrives from Gilbert, AZ & Simi Valley CA.

The funny stories: Elder Pounds is about 80% color blind. He can only see bright colors, but everything else is just a shade of grey. And for those who know me, I'm not the best at colors; I often say that I’m color lazy, which was "diagnosed" by a doctor. So, Elder Pounds and I were out tracting on Saturday and approached a door. I asked him what color the door was and he replied "blue?” I told him that I thought it was green. So essentially we are screwed if anybody asks us a color based question because we both know that we are going to get it wrong. During the same tracting adventure, we came across and Indian family who was in the process of cooking for a party. Indian food is good and smells really strong. So when Elder Pounds and I were on the far corner of the street that the Indian family lived on, we could still smell the food and began laughing for no reason other than we could smell the food. Then we saw a dead bunny that had been covered by the snow all winter, we joked that it was only sleeping, poor bunny.

A bit gross - but poor dead, frozen bunny.

Church was so great. The Sacrament talks were on developing Faith, and why we need to develop faith, the actions of how to develop faith, and the outcome of having stronger faith. It was a great sacrament meeting. Than for Gospel essentials, we watched some Bible videos on the life of Christ, it was a little different from a typical lesson, but amazing regardless. And for Elder Quorum we talked more about Faith, and how we can be an example of faith in our homes. It was a really inspiring Sunday, and we also got fed homemade pizza at a members home :)

Holy cupcake Batman! I've been here for 9 months already!!!!

Scripture for the week: Moroni 7:12-19

12 Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.

 13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.

 14 Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.

 15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.

 16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

 17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

 18 And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.

 19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the Light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.

Thank you all, have a fantastic week!!!

Elder Luymes

March 10

Another transfer gone and it’s almost my 9 month mark (Wednesday March 12th) It’s so amazing at how fast the time has flown by. And this amazing warm weather has brought a new spirit to the work here and probably mission wide. J

We have transfers this week on Wednesday. Elder Ferney will be moving up north to Neenah, WI. I'm staying here in DeForest and I'm going to be training again; a new missionary fresh off the plane! I don't know who he is yet because he's currently still in the MTC. So on Tuesday night I will be driving to Milwaukee to spend the night with some missionaries there. Then on Wednesday I will meet my new companion and begin the process of training and teaching, no greater calling!!! I really am looking forward to this; I loved training Elder Baird so I'm excited and very optimistic about this second training. Also, because I will be training, we can safely assume that I will stay in DeForest until June (my one year mark), so now I don't have to worry about getting transferred for a while, Woohoo! DeForest is a great place to train; the members are awesome and engaged in the work. We currently have several investigators who will/should/could have a baptismal date very soon. So much great stuff is happening right now, and a new missionary will bring a great spirit to the work and more unseen blessings are to come. I'm happy and excited for the next two transfers.

We have a new baptismal date set! His name is Stephen and he's 9. It's a part member less active family that hasn't been to church in years. We found them mostly by accident while on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. We started communication with the mother and the next thing we know she has been coming to church since without missing a single Sunday. The mom has a great testimony and only really needed an invitation to come back to church. Then Stephen came once and we asked him if he wanted to learn more. Teaching him has been an experience because I have never taught children before. So we do less talking and more engaging activities like play the Plan of Salvation game. The game is similar to the game of life, but it has a pre-earth life, spirit world, and a resurrection twist to it. Currently he is set to get baptized on April 26th, but that's the Madison stake conference (we didn't know) so were planning on moving the date to the 19th of April.

I forgot to write down a scripture for the week, ummm Moroni 6:4-6

 4 And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.

 5 And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.

 6 And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.

Have a great week!!!

Elder Luymes

                                                                                      March 3

What an awesome week we had. I am so happy with how this area is starting to progress. Our efforts in tracting have paid us back with two new investigators who have great potential, lots of questions, and a sincere interest in reading the Book of Mormon and watching the DVDs that we have to offer. What's even better is that we have set up another great week ahead of us. I'm looking forward to it. Elder Ferney isn't supper happy though. He has been here for 6 months and next week (March 12) is transfer day, so most likely he (Elder Ferney) will be getting transferred. He feels cheated that all the success that is happening right before he likely leaves. He isn't really disappointed, he's fine, and the Lord will have great success for him in other areas of this mission.

I'm so happy it’s finally March! I'm going to pretend that this means warm weather and radiant sunshine. I know I always talk about the weather but let’s be honest, when its 10 degrees, seemingly forever, how can you not mention the freezing cold. My watch tan from my high school track and field days has gone - not cool! Bring on spring, we welcome you with all the open arms we can muster in this cold. At least I sleep warm (thank you for the blessings of heaters and electric blankets).

As for the missionary work, we have spent a lot of time in the cold, knocking doors. This week I went on exchanges with the Beaver Dam Elders. While we were out visiting a few potential investigators and freezing because it was something like 0 degrees, we decided to go to the house of a man that we had tracted into a few weeks earlier. He had accepted a Restoration pamphlet, but closed the door before we ever could get his name. When we knocked on the door during our exchange this past week we were thrilled that he was willing to let us in. We ended up talking with him for 45 minutes answering all the questions he had from the pamphlet (he had read it cover to cover and had gone online to try and learn more). I was so happy to see that our previous efforts in tracting had brought forth good fruit. J Another happy story is that of an investigator who told us recently that he spent three hours on Sunday reading the Book of Mormon. That's kind of crazy; he is reading more that we do in a single day.

Scripture for the week: Mosiah 4:15

But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

Thank you all for your prayers, your thoughts, and all your letters and packages. Have a wonderful week.

Elder Luymes

Sun Prairie Historical Museum - we volunteer twice a week.

Our fabulous Sun Prairie District!