February 25, 2013

Dear Momma,

So I am going to write my letter first, and then I will ask my questions!

Well this week was interesting! We didn't have the best numbers, but we did get a lot done! It's finally warming up here, but the problem with it warming up here is that the girls on campus seem to think that, as the temperature goes up, the amount of clothes they have to wear goes down.... It's really annoying!!!! Also, people seem to think that they need to drink more too... Saturday night was an interesting night for street contacting.... But Elder Moore says you kinda get used to it! But it's fun being in a different.... culture? Haha ya.... So I've learned a couple different things about the people here; First, most of them believe that they are saved as long as they say they are Christian. Which at first wasn't a problem, until we met a couple people who congratulated us for going on a "mission trip" and for "hitting the pavement" and that we should go find the people who aren't saved and preach the Gospel to them.... Little to they realize that we are trying to help them too, not just the "non-believers"... Haha ya... It's really interesting! I definately didn't think that people would be saying things like that to us! I assumed that they would say "sorry, not interested". Or things like that! But no! They shake our hands, thank us for going on missions, and then say "Go talk to the guy next door!" It's really funny! We are still trying to figure out what to say to that! We will figure out eventually! Another thing I have learned is that the females who go to college at Miami University all have the same clothes for winter: Black tights, Brown knee high boots, and a north face jacket that comes down to their knees! It's really funny because all the girls here have the same style, but all of them are slightly different! I think on a good day we see 10 pairs of jeans out of 2000 pairs of black tights! It's pretty crazy! The people who are making black tights must be making bank! So ya, those are the funny things I noticed this week!

Love, Elder Lemmon

Now, how did Zane's surgery go? And yes Cincinnati will be REcreated in July! and I didn't get Eric's e-mail, And Elder Moore says you should find his mom on the Facebook page!

-Elder Lemmon

February 18, 2013

Dear Family,

Well, I guess you want to know where I am, who my companion is, what he is like, and how well we are doing! First of all, I am serving in the Oxford, OH area. It covers Oxford, Somersville, and College Corner. The area is mostly in Ohio, but we do go a little bit into Indiana. Oxford, OH is the home of Miami University so most of our time is spent on campus. My companion is Elder Moore, he is from Pason, Utah. He has been here for 4 and a half months. He just barely got done being trained himself! Scary thought huh? So ya, he is really good, He has taught me a lot so far. Neither of us are very good at street contacting, but we have gotten four new investigators through tracting in apartment complexes.

So, a little bit more about the area and the members within. Our area is the same as the Branch here. There are about 20 or 30ish members here. We have a grand total of 2 students who go to Miami and the rest our families in the area. We are not the only missionaries in the area. Elder and Sister Bass are the senior missionaries here, they are really helpful. So far, I like all the member's that I've met! They are all nice people.

So yesterday, we had dinner with the Proffitts. They are an inactive part-member family. They love the missionaries, but don't want to go to church. We ate really well there! We had a small salad, then we had STEAK and POTATOES!!!! It was probably the best meal I have had since I've left. Zane would really like Brother Proffitt, they would get along very well.

So ya, that was my week! I will be sending my journal entries today!

Love all of you!!!!

-Elder Lemmon

p.s. You can still e-mail me back!

2/6/2013

Dear Family,
Well, I just sent you pictures, so I hope you have fun with those!! This week at the MTC was interesting, I loved it, but I really, really want to be out in the field!!! This place is definately starting to feel like prison!!! I do have a lot of spiritual moments, but when you spend more time in a small classroom with over 10 people then you do in your actual bedroom, you start to feel like a caged animal!!!! AHHH!!!! But thankfully, I only have 6 days here :) But the negative feelings only happen at the end of the day when I'm tired and want to be eating or sleeping (I guess thats just the 'Natural Man' in me speaking!)

So ya, I should be sending Great Grandpaps name back today, I have forgotten about it until now.... But I remembered because it is on my desk, and we went through the Temple again today. It was super good, I needed some time to just sit and not really think about anything for a while. I really want to do baptisms for the dead, but I think we can only do endowment sessions here. Well, it is what it is. I gave a blessing yesterday, it was a really different experience, but it was really good for me and for Sister Drake. Oh! That reminds me, I have a pretty cool story to tell.

 Sister Drake was feeling really sick, and her back hurt even more, and she hadn't been able to go to class for half the day. When she came back to class, she didn't look very good, and wasn't really studying because she hurt. I felt prompted to ask if she needed a blessing (because we have 7 worthy priesthood holders, all of them willing to give a blessing), and at first she didn't want one; so I went and sat back down. I guess she started to feel worse, because then she asked Elder Campbell and I to give her a blessing for the sick. I anointed her (thats the first time I've ever done that!) and Elder Campbell said the blessing while I ( and some other Elders in our District) stood in the circle. After Elder Campbell said amen, she started crying, and we asked her why, and she said that she instantly felt better!! It was amazing! She was completely healed!! So ya, Faith and the Priesthood are amazing things. I

So that's my story for this week, it was pretty amazing! Oh! You should put my e-mail address on facebook so that people will talk to me! And you should tell people to Dear Elder me, because I need some more communication!!!! And you can tell people that they can send me packages too, because I need more food!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
-Elder Wesly Lemmon

1/30/2013 First Email

FAMILY!!!!!!

Well, today is my P-day, and the first time i've been able to use my email! So, the MTC is really cool, but we never have any free time! We get a little less than an hour at night of free time, and most of that is spent getting ready for bed and making sure I'm ready for the next day! And yes, I do like my companion! His name is Elder Strong from Harriman, UT. Elder Strong and I get along pretty well. And the answer to the third question is, probably, I won't be able to tell if I'm learning everything I need until I get out into the field!! But I'm pretty sure that I'm learning everything I need, the teachers here are really good and teach a lot of stuff I wouldn't have even thought of if they hadn't told me.

Oh some extra info, I don't leave for the mission field until February 13th. So it would be really nice if you told Elder Allred (Jake) that I will still be here when he gets here. Some other things, I brought Great-Grandpaps name through the Temple today. It was really cool. The Provo temple is super cool inside, even though it looks funny from the outside. Oh, also you guys should send me the adapt because I am absolutely exhausted every day until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon because we have to be up at 6:30 every day and we have to be in bed by 10:30 everyday, and I have been having trouble sleeping even with the Advil PM. Dad should also send one of his leathermans because I could have used one a couple times already.

So I should tell you about my District because everybody is super cool. First of all, there is Elder Bishop and Elder Furniss (JT) (they are our Zone leaders, and have been since Monday) They are the ones that are sharing a 'residency' with Elder Strong and I. We have actually been getting along really well. Elder Bishop reminds me a lot of Taylor Wilson, he really fun to be around. Elder Furniss is actually really fun. I actually regret what I said about him before I left. Since we have been here, I have really come to love him, even though he is different. He brings a lot of comedy to everything he does, its really awesome! Next is Elder Toombs, Elder Campbell, and Elder Hatch. They are a 'tripanionship', or at least until today, today we got a new missionary in our district and apparently he is Elder Toombs companion now. So Elder Toombs is our District Leader, and he is really good at what he does, to be honest, he really reminds me of Buzz Lightyear (without the misconception of being a Space Ranger) Elder Campbell is pretty awesome, he is just really fun to be around. Elder Hatch is a super good drummer, and is a really good singer. Next are the Sisters. All of them are absolutely amazing!!! They have such a good Spirit and are really fun to be around!! Sister McDougall and Sister Allen are really funny, they actually knew each other before they got here and are super good friends. Sister Drake and Sister Rasband are a really good companionship, Sister Drake is really bouncy and loud and loves to talk, Sister Rasband is kinda quiet (not shy) and says the funniest things! She is super sarcastic and I love it! But in all, I have the coolest District and everybody in it is super spiritual and really good people. Oh, and I don't know if I told you in my letter or not, but Elder Strong and I are the Sacrament Coordinator, which means we have no responsiblilities (except on Sunday) and we can claim to be super awesome, I have a lot of fun with it.

So I have a super cool story to tell everybody. At the MTC they have this thing called TRC (I dont know what it stands for) and its when actors (super good ones who are both members and non-members) pretend to be investigators and we teach them. So Elder Strong and I got Daniel Limon (Ya, its really Limon) and we were about to go teach him, and we were told that Sister Drake was going to teach with us because her investigator was sick and couldn't meet with them. So we got to the room we were supposed to meet him at, and he wasn't there! So we sat down, said a prayer, and waited. After we said a prayer, one of the teachers asked us what were doing, so we told him, and he asked if he was the guy in the lobby next to us (BTW we hadn't met him yet, so we did know what he looked like) so we went and talked to the guy, and it was him! So we started talking to him and the first thing he asked us was if this was a joke (which really threw us off!!!! oh, and this was a Member Referral) And we told him that it wasn't a joke and that we really were represenatives of Jesus Christ. And he told us that he was Catholic and didn't want to talk to anyone about Religion, he told us that he respected other religions, but he was happy were he was. Well, eventually we got him to let us into his 'house'  and share a message with him. Well we started talking, and right off the bat, I could tell that he didn't like what we were saying... So by the time Elder Strong and I had finished talking, he actually asked us to leave and not to come back, which really sucked. But Sister Drake (And more importantly, the Spirit) had a different idea! (Sister Drake hadn't really said anything yet) She started talking to him and told him how much she already loved him and how much she loved her family and how sad she felt for him and how his Mother and brother had died, and how she was so happy that she could see them again! After a short silence, Daniel told Sister Drake (and us) that he really didn't want to see his brother again because he beat him and a child, and he used to be terrified of him. Sister Drake then told him that she was the oldest sibling and that sometimes she wasn't the best person to her younger siblings, and how she felt sooo bad about that! And then she promised him that his brother felt horrible and all he wanted to do was say sorry to him. Then Daniel started crying! and said "But it's too late..." And then I finally said something useful "It's not too late, Daniel" And Sister Drake agreed with me. But then Daniel said he really needed to do something, but to come back whenever we could! So moral of this story is, Sister Missionaries are absolutely amazing and I would encourage the girls at home that they should go because there are some people who only connect to the Sisters!

so ya, I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Lemmon

Wesly Lemmon MTC

Okay here I go!! I thought it might be fun to blog Wesly's mission or at least give it a try.

Wes went into the MTC in Provo on January 23, 2013. He will be there until Febuary 13. I will post some of his letter and pictures.