Apparently Jos A Banks long sleeved, wrinkle resistant traveler shirts do not have a life span of two years when worn and washed each week. He started with 7 and is down to 4. Thank goodness he comes home in June.

 

Guys!!! Guess what! We made a discovery here in Kenosha! The whole town is excited and the missionaries made the historic discovery. We discovered tiny little blades of grass underneath the layers of snow. Who knew that they had grass here? Who knew the weather could break 40, or maybe 45. Who knew the sun could produce enough heat to warm up the polar Wisconsin and wake her up from hibernation. Who knew that we would actually enjoy this week and the weather it produced. Free at last from winter, spring is on her way! Grass does exist!

Speaking of the sun...Here is a beautiful Kenosha Sunset
and traffic to remind me of home.

In other Kenosha news, Elder Reynolds and I are going to go into the hypothetical food business together and call our restaurant Taco Tims. Our menu as of right now includes the:

~ Mergatroid Burger

~ Unbeweavable chicken tenders
~ Frown fries
~ Bobe sauce
~ Schlichter Burger

Each of these unique names comes from quotes that the people here in Kenosha have said or from members that Elder Reynolds and I have served with over the course of our mission. A word of caution, these are comical food items and not meant to be taken seriously.

On Saturday the Kenosha Ward had two members moving to new homes. We were busy from 8am to 3pm moving and doing the heavy lifting along with most of the Elders Quorum. I am grateful that there was nothing back breaking and that with so many able hands the work got done relatively quickly and without the Elders having to do all the work. In between the two moves we 4 Elders went to a Mongolian BBQ Buffet restaurant called Hu Hot (Pasadena needs one of these places) Hu Hot has some excellent food, and they have lots of variety that allow you to experiment and try new plates and combinations for an excellent Mongolian lunch/dinner. A special that they had on Saturday was S’mores. They bring to your table a small pot with a gel inside that burns for ~15 minutes. The plate comes with two chocolate bars, 4 sticks, 8 marshmallows, and 16 crackers. I got to make some golden s’mores that my mamma would be proud of. It was a great way to rest in between the two moves.

Delicious, golden brown, s'more to make my mamma proud!

On Saturday March 21st, the entire mission (230 missionaries) from all areas of the mission: Houghton, Rhinelander, Manistique to Prairie Du Chain, Platteville, and Kenosha and every area in between are gathering in Milwaukee to meet Elder Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This All Mission gathering will be a spiritual blessing and a fantastic social reunion with old mission friends and companions. The whole mission is greatly looking forward to this event, and President Cutler is getting us prepared spiritually and temporally for this special opportunity to receive personal revelation from an Apostle.

After emails today, I’m going to the Kenosha Jelly Belly factory with Elder Reynolds and the Senior Couple that serves here in Kenosha.

Scripture for the week: 3 Nephi 23:1 search the words of God, study them diligently.

And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.

Thank you all, have a wonderful week!!! Love,

Elder Luymes

My Kenosha Homies - Elder Stafford, Elder Muir, Elder Reynolds and myself.
We must be brothers cause we all start with "Elder".

Good bye February, hello March (and what will eventually bring spring like weather!) I'm not feeling sick anymore. I got my energy back thanks to some better sleep that really made all the world of a difference. I was able to focus during church and I wasn't as miserable during our many hours of tracting this week. On Sunday we had an entire investigator family come to church, this was super exciting but also an eye opening experience for me and the family. I also had a great experience learning about the Atonement this week. Other than this, we tracted a lot, we taught some lessons, and tomorrow we have Zone Conference with President Cutler and the Assistants.

Elder Reynolds preparing to put the Zone Leaders on hold. We are now officially Kenosha B Inc. And Elder Reynolds is my secretary. I'm such a busy boss; we put all people on hold. Except President Cutler, he's the real boss.

Our investigator family -- The father is from Africa. I forget the actual country that he was born in but I do remember that it was near Ethiopia. The mom is from Minnesota. They have three kids, the oldest is 9, then 7, and the youngest is 3. The family has been meeting with missionaries since before I got to Kenosha. I'm still trying to catch up on what they have been taught from the Elders in the past (poor record keeping). The parents want to get baptized but there are some legal issues that will need to be cleared up first. I'm grateful that it is nothing serious, both parents are very humble, and hard workers in their profession. Unfortunately, the soonest they can get baptized is October so I won't ever see them get baptized. Bummer! Our goal for right now is to baptize the 9 year old. He is a smart kid and loves football. Our first official lesson with him was on Saturday, and he will begin reading the children Book of Mormon. He and the 7 year old did really well during sacrament meeting. The 3 year old though, she has one crazy personality. She is full of spunk and energy. She is always talking back to her parents in the funniest of ways. She's not rude to them; she just likes to voice her opinion to her parents. The father told us, that if you tell her "no, you can't have that" She will reply, "Umm, we need to talk". During lessons she usually does alright. Once, Elder Reynolds pointed a laser pointer at her feet and she freaked out and booked it up the stairs because she was scared of the laser. It was super funny, now she thinks it’s a game to run away from the laser. The eye opening experience for both us and them on Sunday was more or less a culture shock. You could tell church was different for them. Elder Reynolds and I had taught them what goes on during service and the Elders in the past had done the same thing. But no matter how much preparation we could have given them I don't think it would have made a difference. The kids didn't know what to do with the sacrament, and the girl kept asking "when's it going to start". My learning opportunity from this was how different our services can be to those outside our faith. That first time walking in and seeing the building organized differently than other faiths, or seeing most people dressed in white shirts and ties with suits on and dresses for the woman. And the sacrament is passed to the congregation instead of everybody getting up and approaching the front of the chapel. Our service may be very different from their past experiences of Sunday worship at another church. We will get the family more comfortable with Sunday services.

No shortage of apple juice in Kenosha!

As for my Atonement study on Sunday morning; I'm not sure if I ever told you, but the whole mission did a Christmas study of the Book of Mormon starting in October and ending Christmas morning. We were to read 7 pages a day and highlight red and green only. Red highlights are things pertaining to the Atonement and the Christ-like attributes. Green highlights are how we can access the enabling power of the Atonement. Because of my district leader duties, I got behind on the reading and finally finished it mid-February rather than Christmas day. On Sunday morning I found a piece of paper that President Cutler had given the Green Bay Zone back in July 2013. President Cutler's first Zone conference, and mine as well. I had kept this paper in my quad all these months but never looked at it. On Sunday I remembered that the paper was about the Atonement, so I coupled it with my new Atonement Book of Mormon. I spent two hours reading every scripture that President Cutler had referenced. I cannot even begin to tell you all of the sub topics that President Cutler put on this paper, all of which are connected back to the Atonement. The short story is: The Atonement of our Lord and Savior is amazing. It is a wonderful gift from our Father in Heaven. It is peaceful, and wonderful, and amazing to know and understand the Atonement. I am forever grateful for the love that my Savior has shown me, I am grateful for his teachings, and example.

We have an Apostle coming to our mission on March 21st. We don't know who yet, but we are all very excited! I also found out from President Cutler today that I will be finishing my mission in Kenosha.

Scripture for the week: 3 Nephi 18:15-16

Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always, lest ye be tempted by the devil, and ye be led away captive by him.
 And as I have prayed among you even so shall ye pray in my church, among my people who do repent and are baptized in my name. Behold I am the light; I have set an example for you.

Thank you; enjoy the warm weather,

Love -- Elder Luymes

I didn't choose Kenosha thug life, it chose me!

With Elder Reynolds.
(Quick take a selfie for mom to make her happy).

It was slow week in Kenosha. We tracted for 15 hours throughout the week (5 hours on Saturday), and the wind was relentless. Then on Thursday I woke up sick with a sore throat and runny nose. Which I still have and I'm just kinda along for the ride (it feels like). It was certainly not how I was hoping the week to go but sometimes we all have to do the hard work so that we appreciate the miracles and fun work. If the hard work never gets done then the work won't be accomplished at all. It is certainly challenging. I am grateful that over the course of my mission I have a learned a great deal about the principle of diligence.

We met with one of our investigators A___ this week; he has been investigating the church for a ridiculously long time. The Ward Mission Leader in Kenosha told us that A___ has had contact with the church since he was 12 years old, and somehow this guy has not been baptized. He is married to a member of the Church, and has come to church off and on for about a decade. He is now in his late 20's and the time is now. We had a very simple lesson with him. We read 2 Nephi 2 with him and briefly touched on the principles of the Plan of Salvation. Then we established expectations with A___ on what he felt he needed to do in order for him to be baptized. His list was: regular church attendance, daily scripture reading, and a calling to get him more involved with the Church and the members. I was so happy that A___ came up with this list all on his own. It shows his understanding of the importance of these things and also gives us a better view of his commitment to live the gospel and be baptized. We extended the invitation for him to be baptized on March 14, but only if he felt the he could keep all the commitments and live the gospel as he currently understands it. He said he could, so he agreed to the date. We'll see how things go.

I wish there was more to report on. As of yet there hasn't been a whole lot. The members are feeding us well :)

Scripture for the week: D&C 68:4

And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.

Thank you, enjoy the week. Love,

Elder Luymes

Have lazar pointer, will goof-off.

 

Greetings from Kenosha Wisconsin! My first impression – it’s still cold and windy. We had the coldest week here in Kenosha. Of course the cold and windy weather wasn't only for us. It hit all of Wisconsin, and the wind chill was probably in the negative teens, or maybe -20 on the big gusts. But my stay in Kenosha has been great so far. The Ward is so much larger than any of the Wards that I have previously served in, especially the Germfask group, which only had 21 active members while I was serving there. My address for Kenosha is:

Elder Andrew Luymes

4013 39th Ave. #11
Kenosha, WI 53144

Wednesday is transfer day for our mission. What normally takes place on transfer day is all the missionaries gather at the stake centers for the stake they currently are serving in. Then from the stake center the members drive all the missionaries that are getting moved to the central point of the mission - Oshkosh. We gather in Oshkosh, have a short devotional, move all the luggage, and then climb in the car that will take you to the stake center of the new area you are getting moved to. You meet your new companion and go to your area. Normally transfers take about 5 hours, except for U.P missionaries where transfers take two days. What actually took place this past Wednesday was a complete and total disaster. Since I was getting moved to the Milwaukee south Zone, I was to take the Milwaukee south vehicle to get to my new area. But somebody in the mission office miscounted by 7 and forgot to factor in the missionaries that are going home. So the Milwaukee car coordinator was informed that he was only bringing back to Milwaukee 8 missionaries, but he had 15 standing outside the car all hoping for a spot. This delayed our departure from Oshkosh by an hour while President Cutler and the APs worked out logistics. They asked me if I knew any members in the Oshkosh Ward that could drive 7 missionaries, but sadly there were none that could. So the Milwaukee "fun bus" as we call it, took off from Oshkosh with all the departing missionaries (those going home). This left me and 6 others in Oshkosh to wait another 1.5 hours for a team of mission cars to come and pick us up. Due to this, the Appleton Zone leaders had to stay and the Oshkosh Elders (my former companion Elder Merrill and his new companion). So 11 missionaries went to lunch at a Chinese buffet. Eventually the car train arrived, but we had to make a special trip further north to Appleton because a Sister left her luggage in Green Bay. So another half hour north, then two hours south and we eventually made it to Milwaukee. I was supposed to arrive in Milwaukee around 3pm, but we got there at 5:30pm. My new companion - Elder Reynolds and I drove straight from the Stake Center to our dinner appointment in Kenosha.

My new companion - Elder Reynolds or "El Rey"
as they like to call him.  He's from SLC.

Elder Reynolds, or El Rey as he is often called, is from Salt Lake City, Utah. And by Salt Lake City I mean he is from Salt Lake City proper. He has lived in the same home his whole life, a 2013 high school graduate. He started his mission in April of 2014, so he has been out 10 months or so. Right now he is at the Chicago Temple. So I'm on exchanges with the other Elder that just got transferred to Kenosha. Elder Reynolds is a peculiar fellow, as one elder described him. "Elder Reynolds is like a hobbit, you can learn everything you need to know about him in five days. But, after 1000 years he will still surprise you." He loves video games, volleyball, and is a bit of a pyro. He carries with him at all times a flame thrower that he purchased at Menards. I'm pretty sure he is mentally sane, so we have no worries there. But this could be a very interesting transfer or two. Elder Reynolds is the second oldest in his family out of 6 kids. He has an older sister who is married, and three younger brothers and the youngest is a sister.

We ate a special Valentines dinner with the other Kenosha Elders.

Scripture for the week: Ether 12:11

Wherefore, by faith was the law of Moses given. But in the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way; and it is by faith that it hath been fulfilled.

Thank you for your love and prayers. Have a warm week - we won't,

Elder Luymes

Food, glorious food! Lunch at zone conference.

 

I have to apologize; this week’s update will be short because I have a lot to do and very little time to get it all done. I'm getting transferred on Wednesday the 11th. I forgot to tell you and remind you that transfers were coming up; hopefully you didn't send any letters or packages that will take more than two days to get to Oshkosh. I'm getting transferred to Kenosha Wisconsin!!! I will be serving there, and quite possibly finishing my mission in that area but we will have to wait and see. Kenosha is a special place for me and the Luymes family heritage. Kenosha is where the Luymes family settled after moving from the Netherlands in between the two world wars. My Grandpa - John Luymes was born in Kenosha and distant relatives still live there. Now I will have the great privilege and joy of serving the Lord in this special town, and labor among my brothers and sisters in helping them receive the Restored Gospel. In addition to moving to Kenosha, I will continue to be the district leader for the area, as of right now, I have been a DL for 16 months straight. I am so excited, and so grateful for this. The Kenosha ward is the biggest Ward in the whole mission, and has four companionships serving within it. One of those four is a senior couple.

Merrill and "My Mustache" (thanks Ally for the stick ons).
I'm really going to miss serving with Elder Merrill.

Highlights from the week: A busted tire. We didn't bother taking any pictures of the flat tire. It happened on Thursday, which was by far the coldest day of the week. We were driving to an appointment that wasn't too far from our apartment and I heard a grinding noise, the car didn't feel right and Elder Merrill noted that the car looked tilted. We pulled over and immediately recognized the issue. The driver’s side front tire was completely flat. We put on the hazard lights, and we quickly jacked up the car, and put on the spare. We were parked for less than five minutes. We had to go to two repair shops, but finally got the tire fixed two hours later. We had to cancel two appointments because of this.

Tres Mustachios!

Our second highlight, through the grace of God, we got 11 new investigators this week. And it felt as if we were barely even trying. Some we found through tracting, others were former investigators that Elders in the past had worked with and a few others were potential investigators that we already knew but had never been able to establish a return appointment with. We taught 15 other lessons and had two member present lessons. It really was a great week for us. I spent some time in Fon Du Lac on exchanges to help the Elders down there, and we saw some great success. They have a really great family in Fon Du Lac that the Elders are teaching. The family needs to solve one minor problem and they will be getting baptized shortly. They will someday make a great addition to the Fon Du Lac Ward.

Church on Sunday was very great; I started saying goodbye to some of the members. I will miss the Oshkosh Ward a lot. This was a great area to serve in, and the members were great fun. As for our baptismal date -- the 10 year old will continue to be taught by the Elders.  In ward council they talked about how the members can help him quit cussing. It isn't easy working with him, but someday he will get baptized.

Thank you for your love, and prayers. Next adventure will be in Kenosha. I will get the address next week.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND LETTERS OR PACKAGES TO THE MISSION OFFICE ANY MORE, ONLY TO MY APARTMENT, BUT NOT OSHKOSH

Elder Luymes

Distrito de Mustachio de Oshkosh!

 

This was such a great week, Elder Merrill and I worked hard, and we taught a lot of lessons, we saw and visited with a lot of people and we had some really great memorable experiences. This was a fun week, the weather wasn't too bad, and it was really funny to hear all the locals say "NO, I'm not watching the Super Bowl!" As you might assume the Wisconsinites are still a little hurt that the Packers lost, but I'm sure nearly all of them watched the game anyway. It provides an excuse for them to get drunk, their second favorite past time :)

Five week old puppies at one of the member's homes.
There are five puppies in this litter -- so cute!

So what happened this week? I'll work backwards, starting with Sunday. Sunday was a great day of church, snow, and heavy wind. We were small in numbers but we had a constant flow of members coming up to bear their testimonies. We also had a confirmation for someone that the Sisters had been teaching, she was baptized Saturday and Confirmed Sunday. After Church Elder Merrill and I put on the heavy boots and coats and drove to a less active member’s house. We were blessed that he was home and willing to let us in. We spent some time with him and we shared a message. Then we walked around the block to our investigator's house that has a baptismal date, the 10 year old and his family. We only spent a few minutes at their place and confirmed our Tuesday appointment with the mom. The family didn't come to church on Sunday :(  With the high winds and heavy snow fall Elder Merrill and I drove a few blocks, parked the car and tracted out 10 houses (because that is the Zone Leaders goal, to knock 10 doors every day minimum) So in the freezing wind and snow we knocked our 10 doors with no success and then drove home. While we were driving home we saw a car stuck in a snow drift. We parked our car behind his and hopped out to help him. This was so much fun, hard work too. The car was more stuck than we had anticipated. It took us 15 minutes and another person showed up to lend us her shovel. I'm grateful to have a companion from a cold part of the country because Elder Merrill certainly knows more than I do about getting cars unstuck from the snow. We pushed and shoved, tires spun, and eventually we were successful. The guy offered us a $10, but Elder Merrill had the quick draw on him and offered a pass-a-long card instead. What a great service opportunity!

Saturday was the baptism for the investigator that the Sisters had been teaching. It was a wonderful baptismal service. Nothing went wrong; there were plenty of emotions and happy smiles. It was great to see her get baptized, her husband has been a member his whole life, but fell away from the church at a very young age. He himself has made some dramatic changes in his life and was able to baptize his wife.

Blurry puppies - but at least you can see his face better.

Friday: Elder Merrill and I had a wonderful lesson with our Catholic investigator. This man used to be the pilot for the Wisconsin State Governor and Senators. Not only is he an experienced pilot but also a knowledgeable Catholic. He enjoys meeting with us for the purpose of learning and understanding, for now he is not searching or considering conversion. He likes to have our lessons on certain topics. Two weeks ago we taught an entire lesson on "Laying on of Hands", our lesson this past Friday was on baptism. As our lessons usually go, he teaches us first what the Catholics do and believe about baptism. He explained to us the classes that perspective converts go through and how they administer baptism to babies, on up to adults. He explained the service to us and it was all very interesting to learn about. Then he asked that we explain it to him the "Mormon way" as you might put it. We started by talking about missionary work and how someone would take lessons with the missionaries just as he is. Then we talked about the interview and the baptism by immersion as well as the confirmation which takes place the Sunday after the baptism (for converts). Instead of stopping there, Elder Merrill and I continued to teach about Family History work, and Temple work. We explained what proxy baptisms are and why we do them, then we taught him Temple marriage sealings and how it all connects back to baptism and family history work. I pulled out my family history chart and showed him what work has been done, what more needs to be done and we explained further the why. It was very powerful talking about all this with him. The spirit of Elijah is real, and all those who have a knowledge and understanding of the love of God can understand at the very least why we do this Temple work. This was a very enjoyable lesson to teach, and I bore my testimony on Sunday about the Spirit of Elijah and Family History work.

Skip Thursday and move on to Wednesday: Our Wednesday was almost completely tracting. And mornings are rarely successful for finding which is why we normally do service in the mornings. However, on Wednesday morning I had a once in a life time opportunity; a golden treat and hoopla of excitement. On Wednesday Elder Merrill and I walked into two people who had just come to America from mainland China on December 1st. Their English was very broken and communication between us and them was pretty dang hard. I'm not even sure they understood that we were Jesus people. But I snagged their attention with this spiritually powerful statement, “ Dalai Lama-de ge-ge shr wo-de pengyo”,* I don't really know how to type it, but the Hyer family will know what I'm talking about. "The Dalai Lama's older brother is my friend!" I used that and the Chinese couple was super thrilled with me and they even gave me their address! I was so ecstatic when it happened; I can't believe that the one and only phrase I know in Chinese actually got me somewhere. I felt as if my life was complete, I could have died Wednesday and been happy with it. I need some Chinese flash cards and some quick phrases that will help me to tell them that we are missionaries representing Jesus Christ, and something about the Book of Mormon. I am getting a simplified Chinese Book of Mormon next week and I'm hoping I will be able to introduce the book to them. Isn't this so cool!!!

Scripture for the week: Mormon 9:27

O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.

Thank you very much, enjoy the week, Love,

Elder Luymes

*Andrew's Granddad travelled through Tibet in 1996 with 3 Hyer siblings and  he used that phrase often to get him into doors and other special places; the monks really loved it.  The truth is that the Dalai Lama's older brother really is a friend of Granddad's and would come to the Hyer family home when he was traveling through Provo UT.

The book with a promise,
The elder who is trying to share it.