Two handsome mugs -- compliments of Pres/Sis Cutler's blog;
Oshkosh/Appleton district conference.

I love having busy weeks! We had five appointments on Saturday and three on both Thursday and Friday. Couple those lessons with service projects, helping people move, lunch, studies, and some stop-offs to try and get in with people, we had little or no time for anything else. We haven't tracked for two weeks which is good in some ways but also hurting us in others. We haven't found any new people to teach for some time, so our teaching pool is small and a little shaky. We didn't call 911 this week, but the phone is still trying.

We had interviews with President Cutler on Tuesday after District Meeting. These interviews are always refreshing and supportive. My interview had to be cut short because I went last and President also needed to interview someone for baptism after me and then make it to the airport to take some missionaries there. If I think my schedule is packed on a good day, his schedule is over booked nearly every day. When you factor in driving time and what he does I'm not sure how he copes with the high demanding schedule - It must be the blessings of the Lord.

Our 10 year old baptismal date is going to most likely have his baptism rescheduled. Our lesson with him on Saturday was filled with anger, parent abuse, cuss words, and a few other things. And very unfortunately at church yesterday he cussed during primary. Elder Merrill and I knew that this kid was not going to be easy to work with; his reputation is well known among the members in the ward. There are several concerns surrounding him and his potential upcoming baptism. It is stressful because there are so many limiting factors for what we can do. Mission rules, the family’s personnel finances, and the members hesitation to help with him create so many obstacles for us to work around. I don't know what we will end up doing but there has been a lot of prayer and fasting for this kid, and Elder Merrill and I probably spend more time talking about him and the family than we do on any other topic, so companionship counseling is very high. It is comforting for me to know that whatever we decide to do, Elder Merrill wants to make a unified decision.

Getting Cheesy with cheesecake at district conference.
Picture compliments of Pres/Sis Cutlser's blog.

Other highlights from the week: We had a second investigator come to church this week. He is our Latino investigator. He is doing very well, and we are glad that he comes to church on his own accord. We introduced him to some members this Sunday and we were delighted to hear that he already knew a few of them. He refs soccer for many of the members kids and adult leagues that the members participate in. Talk about great fellowship. The members can interact with him on the court and then we can bring them to the lessons. With this investigator there is little drama for us to worry about. In our last lesson he told us that he believes the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith to both be true, but he still thinks the Catholic Church us true too. We will work on this; hopefully the members who converted from Catholicism can help him.

Scripture for the week: 3 Nephi 18:24

Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.

Thank you for the letters and prayers, love,

Elder Luymes

 

Selfie in the car on the drive to Princeton to help a family move.
We saw a bald eagle eating breakfast - the eagle was beautiful.

It is so hot out here that the swim suits have already come out on the shelves at Walmart and Target, and the snow and the ice are melting! It isn't actually hot, but it was a very warm week. Elder Merrill and I went on a late night walk around a neighborhood to go visit some people just last night and I only had on a jacket, no gloves, and no beanie. It is so much more enjoyable having a normal winter as compared to last winter where we seemed to never be higher than 0. I'm grateful for the milder winter, and I am grateful that we have investigators to keep us busy with lessons. Sadly the Packers lost. We were told that the bars were packed until the game finished.

In other news, we accidentally called 911 twice this week. The supposed lock on our phone that is meant to prevent these kinds of things is so far proving otherwise. The first instance was while we were moving a family in the ward to a new home. The cops showed up and asked for the people with our number. Elder Merrill (who has the phone) had to talk with the officer about it being an accident. The second occasion was while we were saying our morning companionship prayer. Somehow in the few seconds that I had my elbow on the phone I called 911. When the prayer was finished they called us back asking if there was an emergency, I told them no. That pesky lock is really annoying for us humans to unlock, but the pockets and elbows don't seem to have any problems at all unlocking the phone and calling the same number. Nearly every time Elder Merrill pulls the phone out of his pocket we usually will find a 9 dialed.

It was a good week of missionary work. We met with our baptismal date twice this week. He is doing okay for a 10 year old. We have begun dropping off note cards with reading assignments for him and his parents to read together. Although this is only showing minimal success it is a whole lot better than him not reading anything. A few of our other investigators, we are working with a Latino man from Costa Rica. He speaks great English, and since the Spanish Elders don't have the miles to come and teach him we are working with him. This guy reads a lot, sadly he isn't reading the Book of Mormon though, instead he spends about an hour each day reading the Teachings of the Living Prophets books, or the Ensign, or the Gospel Principles book, or the pamphlets. He is so sincere and he really wants to know if the church is true, his only set back is his family and Catholic heritage. He refs soccer too, so he and I spend some time talking about FIFA World Cup. Another one of our investigators is Hmong...we are a culturally diverse companionship - didn't you know that? Elder Merrill loves to teach the Latino investigator because he spent one transfer in a Spanish area and he is learning Spanish. While I on the other hand have an Asian background thanks to my mom’s side of the family, I also served closely with the Hmong Elders while I was the District Leader in Appleton. This Hmong guy is sweet. He has 10 kids, he loves soccer, and he has really taken to the Plan of Salvation. Our African American investigators are doing super well now too. They are starting to read the Book of Mormon more consistently, and they should be coming to church next Sunday after they get the car fixed. I'm being serious, we are teaching all kinds here in Oshkosh.

Our new tracting buddy. He came up to us and begged for a tummy rub
then moseyed on home when he wanted to go inside. Sweet Doggie. 

Scripture for the week: 3 Nephi 17:6

And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you.

Thank you all, enjoy the week, Love,

Elder Luymes

Do you want to know what is depressing? When your P-Day starts and you log onto your missionary email and see that most of your emails are about college and not about the Lord's work. What a sad day, I still have 5 months left. We hit -30 on Wednesday, and the wind was brutal, freezing my nose hairs. We still had to tract though. We had exhausted all of our other plans and were left with knocking doors for 1 1/2 hours during the day time. On Tuesday night Elder Merrill was teasing me that we should man up and go tracting at night when the temperatures really drop. I got a good laugh out of it because when Tuesday night actually came Elder Merrill was the one to shout out first "I'm not tracting!" I admire his greenie fire but sometimes neither of us want to knock on doors at late hours and freeze our B-hinds. It was a fun week, and we did have appointments and several service projects that kept us out of the wind and cold.

On Tuesday we had a Zone Training Meeting here in Oshkosh. What a short drive for us. The meeting was very good and focused on developing Christ-like attributes, as well as using the Book of Mormon better with our investigators. After the meeting we enjoyed a nice buffet at Golden Coral with some of the Elders in the Zone. Can you picture 20 Elders at a buffet? Can you picture the mountain of plates that we used? Can you picture how much food we ate? What a wonderful lunch, our bellies were full and we got a couple good laughs. I had a customer approach me at the restaurant asking who we were and what sort of business we were involved with (we all had suits on) I got to explain to him that we were Mormon Missionaries and that we are all from different states or countries and how we are sent her to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I answered a few of his questions and offered him a Book of Mormon which he declined. When I regrouped with the Elders they asked if I had extended a baptismal invitation, it was a disappointing no.

20 elders Chillin' like Villains and going all out on the buffet

The rest of the week was pretty typical; teaching lessons to our investigators or less actives. Tracting and teaching lessons to people that we had only met just moments earlier. We did our regular service at the Oshkosh Humane Society - playing with the cats, serving at EAA our local Experimental Aircraft Association, and The Salvation Army lunch line. On Saturday we helped a ward family move to a new home. It wasn't too cold for that so everybody was in good spirits and happy that we had no major road bumps to prolong the move. We met a Hmong family on Saturday and we taught the father the entire Plan of Salvation. We don't typically teach Hmong people because some don't speak any English. But this nice Hmong man speaks great English and also loves soccer. We are keeping him as our investigator because the Hmong missionaries live in Appleton and they don't have the miles to come down to Oshkosh and teach him. The Hmong culture is very different from anything I'm used to. Many Hmong people practice what they call "old culture" which has a creation story, and an Adam and Eve equivalent; however they have no God and no higher power. Old Culture is a form of ancestral worship. The best part about Old Culture is that when a person dies, Hmong funerals can last up to six months, and they burn real money that has been origami-ed into boats. They believe that the money is used in the spirit world as a form of wealth and status by the deceased spirits, but they don't spend the money in the spirit world. Gotta love the foreign cultures that you can find in America.

The Packers won yesterday! Most people are too drunk to remember that here. And the Oregon Ducks will win today! J

Article for the week: An hour to watch with Him, Ensign January, 2015

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/01/an-hour-to-watch-with-him?lang=eng

Thank you, have a fantastic week!

Elder Luymes

Drinking mild from a Chocolate Santa.
Not quite chocolate milk but still pretty tasty.

Happy New Year! It has been a really fantastic start to the new year but also a very sad one. The missionary work went fantastic this week despite all of the parties, football games, and other typical new year stuff, we taught a lot of lessons, we met some new people, and we met almost all of our goals or fell short by only one or two (typically we fall short by a lot) So we were very busy, and I was very happy to see us go place to place and hoping not too tract and we ended up in a lot of homes. On the flip side, the sad start to the new year is that our recent convert had a 27 year old daughter pass away Thursday morning. This was her second daughter to die and also her last biological child. Then Friday afternoon one of our members who helps us out a lot with the missionary work had a stroke on the left side of his face and was hospitalized. We visited him Saturday morning and he wasn't in the mood for visitors. I am very grateful that we were welcomed into the homes of many people and they allowed us to warm up. We have appointments every night this week!!!

New Year’s isn't a holiday in the missionary world. We still wake up at 6:30am and we come home at 9pm and were off to bed at 10:30. We still tract, we still visit investigators, and we still get rejected at the door in both nice and rude ways. The week was solid though, on Tuesday we got a call from a nonmember that likes attending our church services and he asked for a blessing. We joyfully accepted because this meant that he had to give us his address (which he had denied giving us on two previous occasions) That was a very sweet experience and we were also able to sit and talk about him and his interest in coming to church and why he had not made the decision to be baptized yet. Later on Tuesday we taught our 10 year old baptismal date. A___ is doing alright, he understands the lesson material well thanks to a lot or repetition. He isn't reading the Book of Mormon yet and the part member family is struggling at coming to church. Our goal is to get him baptized on Sunday February 8th.

Our new year’s eve was pretty simple. We gave a blessing to a Sister missionary here in Oshkosh and also talked to some of the missionaries at transfer point (I got to say hi to my trainer and a few other missionaries that I probably will not see again because they go home in the coming transfer or two). Then we played a few rounds of UNO with a returning less active and also taught a short lesson to his medical staff. In the evening we enjoyed a great dinner with the Orr family. They are great members of the Oshkosh Ward, they have three kids, and we celebrated New Year’s Eve with them until it was time to go home.

Bowling for Buzzards!

Friday and Saturday were more miracles and great lessons with those whom we were able to catch and sit down with. Today, we played two games of bowling with the Sister Missionaries. I scored a 108 on the first game and a 116 on the second game. 

Scripture for the week: Helaman 8:23, focus on the redeemed part.

 23 And behold, he is God, and he is with them, and he did manifest himself unto them, that they were redeemed by him; and they gave unto him glory, because of that which is to come.

Thank you all so very much, this is going to be a very cold week in Oshkosh. Love,

Elder Luymes

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am not leaving Oshkosh this transfer. Elder Merrill and I are stickin' together for another six weeks! This makes me happy, and I'm grateful because there is much to do here in Oshkosh. We are searching out less actives and we have a baptismal date set with a 10 year old who is part of a part member family. We are working towards February 7th with A____ and his family.

 

Merry Christmas Skype with Mom, Dad, Adrienne and Dixie.

My Christmas week was great. We were well fed by the members, and believe it or not but Santa found me all the way out here! And he must have known that I wasn't getting transferred because I'm still receiving gifts. We spent Christmas day with the Bishop and his family as well as some of the single members of the ward. In the Afternoon we went with the Sister missionaries to a senior center and sang Christmas songs to them. We had a grand old time. In the evening we spent dinner and skype with the Kakushcke family. They are a wonderful family with older kids our age; it was very enjoyable spending time with others my age. Dinner was great; skyping with my family was great too.

Christmas décor compliments of the Kukushcke Family

During the Christmas season the missionary work slows down a lot. We had few lessons, and we didn't see much success from tracting. Most of our service projects that we do each week were cancelled. However we did spend some time on Saturday with the cats at the Humane Society. We drove out to some of the small towns in the Oshkosh Ward boundaries. Our purpose was to visit less actives that don't get visited often or if ever, as we worked our way further and further from Oshkosh we eventually ended up at a member’s home who is active. They had signed up to feed us dinner. On the same drive to this same member, the Sister missionaries hit a deer with their car. Fortunately there was little damage to their car, however the deer did limp away with a broken leg says the Sisters.

I'm ready for the holidays to be over, the holiday season affects the work so much, I'm anxious to get going again and set up more appointments with people, see more success from tracting. Elder Merrill and I have spent some time since Saturday talking about our expectations for this second transfer that we have together. How are we going to start the year off with a bang? It is great being with a companion that works hard. Elder Merrill and I make up a great team. Things that I slack off on he does well to pick up while the vice- versa is true. I would venture to say that Elder Merrill and I make up the best and most dynamic companionship that I have had yet. It should be a productive and fast paced transfer.

Christmas antics! Still a team for another transfer.

I don't have a scripture this week but a question instead: How are you going to make the Book of Mormon the keystone of your 2015? See Book of Mormon Introduction

Thank you all for your well wishes and letters, thank you for your prayers, love, and support.

Have a Happy New Year - 2015!!!

Love,
Elder Luymes

Back by popular demand. Fat Squirrel -- still in the same spot we left him.

 

If you plan to send a holiday card to Elder Luymes please use the mission address as transfers take place on New Years Day and he thinks he's going to get transferred:

Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission                  

7111 W. Edgerton Ave. Ste 100
Greenfield, WI 53220
Oh yah, don't yah know, it’s Christmas week EH! This new week is going to be fantastic. We have many dinner appointments, we have Christmas, a Zone Training Meeting, we have Skype calls with the family and puppy on Thursday, and the weather won't be all that bad either. Actually the weather hasn't been too bad at all this December. We did have a few windy days that made things less desirable, but overall, in summary I could enjoy my last winter in Wisconsin if the temp stays where it is right now. Wisconsin still needs mountains though, what the locals call skiing I would call a bunny hill at most.

It was a great week in Oshkosh. On Tuesday we had District Meeting with the Oshkosh Sisters and the Elders/Sisters from the Fon Du Lac Ward. Having 8 missionaries in a District is a lot of fun. We had an entire DM on the Atonement, which is easily the best topic ever for a Pre-Christmas District Meeting. We shared our testimonies, talked about what we had been learning in the Book of Mormon recently on the Atonement, and we also listened to Bruce R. McConkie's talk on the Atonement: The Purifying Power of Gethsemane. The Spirit filled our hearts and we each expressed our gratitude for the Savior and His wonderful Atonement. It was an amazing District Meeting; I will never forget it, and those whom I was with. At the close of District Meeting I expressed my gratitude for each Elder and Sister, and then we had our white elephant gift exchange. This district gets better and better. There were some top of the line white elephant gifts, by that I mean the ones that make you belly laugh forever because the gift is so funny and the person who picked it just seem to fit the picture. I got a clay cat that stands 1ft tall, and is plastered with tacky mail stamps. The cat had beads for eyes and whisker hairs that looked more like an Adolf Hitler mustache. It was very comical. Some other highlight gifts were Elder Walley and his Pope John Paul II picture frame that also came with a scary looking clown that you could wind up and it would sway back and forth very slowly with eerie music playing. Another highlight was Sister Kilger and her Christmas lawn deer that has broken lights, and also Sister Cosgrove and her Santa Hot tub cookie jar. We had a great laugh; I took a district picture of everyone with their gifts. (My gift got stolen and so I ended up with brownies in a jar)

District white elephant gift exchange. My postage stamp
covered clay cat got stolen so I ended up with the brownies. Great Fun!

I went on exchanges with Elder Walley after District Meeting. He and I had a good time together; we found some people and made contact with a few Less Actives that hadn't been seen in a while.

We got a Church Headquarter Referral on Friday. The only problem is that the person lives in Oakland California and not Oakland Wisconsin (which doesn't exist). That made for an interesting phone call. She had typed in the area code wrong and that's why the referral was sent to us. That could have been my one shot for getting to California for the winter and also for Christmas (sorry family)

Our Ward Christmas program was on Sunday. It was very nice and I messed up in the choir, that's why I shouldn't sing. The speakers did a great job and the Bishop and his wife read Luke 2 along with a few other scriptures that go along with the nativity scene. I love this holiday season because as a missionary there is a whole different focus. It’s not about the gifts or the meals or skyping family. The season, the time, and really all of life, is all about Jesus Christ. He is our Lord and Redeemer. He is our Savior and He is filled with love and compassion. He has taught His gospel and has invited all of us to "come unto Him", I am grateful for these 18 months of service, I am grateful that He has let me serve these people, and to testify of Him.

* Merry Christmas *

Love,

Elder Luymes

FAT Squirrel that hangs out in a tree near our apartment.
He doesn't move too fast and probably has a secret loot
somewhere nearby to keep him in shape.

 

The week wasn't too cold; low-30's is alright. If only we could somehow convince Mother Nature to let it stay at low 30's for the whole winter. Right now its mid-40's, which feels really nice and all I have to wear is a sweater. We survived from not having a car for two days. Wednesday was a ton of walking.

Tuesday after District Meeting we took all the Elders and Sisters in the district to a members home who has recently been coming back to church (this is the same A___ who we helped fix the broken chair) We surprised him and came into his home and sung Christmas carols, and finished it off with Rudolph the red nose rain dear. It was bitter sweet because one of the Sisters from the Fon Du Lac Ward knew A___ from a previous area that she had served in and where A____ used to live. It was a sweet reunion and the two of them got to catch up and share stories. The Sister goes home in a month so it was really nice. After Christmas caroling we decided as a district that we would do a white elephant exchange for our upcoming district meeting which is tomorrow.

Wednesday morning we turned in the car, and got a ride home from the car dealership. From then on we walked all over town, trying to see as many promising people as we could so that we weren't walking all day long and tracting. It was a long day but we made it through. We met some people on the streets and talked with them about their Christmas plans. We finished off the night by playing basketball with the young men and some of their non-member friends. That was a great way to finish off the day.

Sittin' on Santa with Elder Merrill, Sis Peel, and Sis Woods.

The Ward Christmas party was on Saturday. Saturday was already a great day because we met a new family while tracting and they let us into their home. It was also a great day because of the anticipation of the party so we worked hard and with great motivation even though most doors we knocked on said "no". Saturday just felt good, and the party was fun. We had a lot of non-members come and enjoy; we had a lot of great food too. We got to take home half of a ham, a couple pounds of funeral potatoes, and some brownies. Taking home food is always fun, and keeps us happy because then we don't have to buy as much and worry about running out of money for the month. I got a picture with me and Santa along with the other missionaries in the Oshkosh Ward (Elder Merrill, Sister Peel, and Sister Woods). It’s great to relax with the members and enjoy an evening with them.

Ritual burning of a tie on my 18 month mark.
Yup! That's one of my new ties that mom sent for my birthday.

Friday was my 18 month mark. Being 3/4 done with a mission is an interesting feeling. Not only does it go by quickly but you question whether or not the 18 months even happened. I remember the MTC, and my first day in the mission field with Elder Thompson in Manistique, Michigan. Everything in between seems to have somehow squished itself into a month’s time. That's enough of the 18 months. I burnt a tie as is customary. We went to the first counselor in the Bishopric's home. He has a portable fire pit that we opened up and put some gasoline and paper towels in. We lit it up, took a few pictures and I took off my tie and tossed it in. After the tie was burnt up we had fun tossing paper cups with some gasoline in them, into the fire. I should be specific that Elder Merrill and I watched from a distance while we cheered on Bro. Palmer as he filled up the cups and threw them into the fire. I have a video of the grand finally. Wisconsin natives are crazy; this same family prepares their deer in the living room while they watch TV. He got two kills this year while bow hunting.

Sunday was crazy. Every child in the chapel was yelling, screaming, running around. Sacrament meeting was loud and very distracting. So many parents were coming in and out with children that I had to help out with keeping some of the older kids (5-8) in line and quiet. It was so bad that a member of the Bishopric told me later in the day that it was a good thing that we didn't have any investigators at church because of how embarrassing it was during Sacrament meeting. Sunday was not relaxing at all.

Scripture for the week: Alma 25:15-16

 15 Yea, and they did keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. But notwithstanding the law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances until the time that he should be revealed unto them.

 16 Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of prophecy, which spake of those things to come.

Thank you all, have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the wonderful season as we remember the birth of our Lord and Savior.

Elder Luymes