1 Month Mark

What a month it has been. I've learned so much and experienced so much. 

Tuesday- What a day!! On our way to an appointment, we saw a couple of Air Force guys moving some stuff onto a truck. We stopped and helped them out. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and we talked a little about the restoration. They were so receptive. We gave them both a copy of the BOM and a restoration pamphlet. Our appointment was stellar. It was our first lesson with this guy. He says he wants to change and he feels that we can help with that. He is so prepared. We set him for baptism!!! He is super solid. A family in Havelock, North Carolina had their daughter in the hospital. She had fallen out of a two story window straight onto concrete. She had a broken femur and her brain was swelling so much, they had to take out her Frontal bone. While we were going to meet the family, another lady asked us if we would bless her granddaughter, who was in the room next to the little girl. We visited the little girl (her name is Abby. They had already administered two priesthood blessings) first. Then we went to give the blessing. I was asked to administer it. I don't have a whole lot of experience with blessing people, but I felt the Spirit tell me I was ready. Her little granddaughter was only 1 month old, and they wouldn't let me lay my hands on her head, so I held my finger. As I was giving the blessing, this little baby girl grasped onto my finger tight. It was a very powerful experience. We went out to meet Abby's family once again. I felt prompted to share an experience with the mother. She told me that this brought her a lot of peace. Heavenly Father's tender mercies were abound today.

Wednesday- We taught this guy named Ronshae on the side of the road. He felt like we were sent from God to minister to him. We set him for baptism!! Two first lesson baptism dates in two days!!! We found out that a member of the ward passed away this morning. He had been in the hospital since before I got here. His name was Brother Napier. 

Thursday- We had our apartment inspected today. Our apartment is one of the nicer ones in the mission. 

Friday- We only had one appointment today. We taught this less-active guy named Kalom and his friend Amy. Amy is an investigator and she is golden. She has already studied up on our church and is ready to learn more!!

Saturday- It was kind a crazy day. We attended Brother Napier's funeral. We taught one of our investigator who's close to baptism. He just needs to quit smoking. We went over the baptismal interview questions with him. If he can just quit smoking, he'll be ready. There was a pageant held in a small city called Bath. It's almost an hour away. We were given permission to attend, if we took one of our investigators. We took Paul and Susan. They're from Palmyra and have seen the pageant up there plenty of times. This was going to be the last pageant in Bath. We went up there and we saw President Baker and Sister Baker. The Pageant itself was amazing. Me and Elder Terril felt the spirit so strongly. I just hope Paul and Susan did. We didn't get home until 11:30 and we were beat.

Sunday- We had the best meal ever. We had been fasting, and then we went to eat dinner Sister Quesebarth's house. She is an amazing cook. She made us Southern BBQ pork, corn, the best corn muffins I've ever had, and green beans. She also gave us some pie. At the end of the dinner, she sent us home with all of the leftovers and the rest of the pies!!! There were 4 pies!!!

Monday- We helped a ward member in the other ward move today. It only took us an hour.

This past week has been life changing. My testimony in the gospel gets stronger everyday. I love you all. Keep the faith.

Elder Dumont

We named the frog Richard Simon David Shane Jesse Taylor Bellington V.

My new letter opener. This was a gift from our investigator Paul.

First Zone Conference

This past week was sort of a crazy one, so I'll get right into it. 

Tuesday- We taught a recent convert named Tommy. Tommy is so great. He's got schizophrenia and he's a little shy, but he loves the gospel. After that we had a lesson with Terry. Terry is a 40 something year old black man. He has a baptismal date. All he needs to do is quit smoking. We then went and talked with a guy named Gregg. He's suffering from memory loss, so they were teaching him for several months, but we extended the baptismal commitment and he accepted!!! So excited for him. He just needs to quit smoking. That is seriously a huge problem out here.

Wednesday- All of our appointments for the day cancelled!! We worked on getting the Spanish Elder's car cleaned up for inspection on Friday (they drive us around a lot, so it was only fair). 

Thursday- The Zone Leaders asked me and Elder Terril to go with them to another Zone to do their car inspection. We thought it was only going to be a couple hours, but it ended up being all morning. At was hot, but at least the wind was blowing. I did get to see Elder Siddoway, so that was good. On our way to an appointment, we found this guy washing a car. We stopped and talked to him. He is golden. He says that had quit drinking 6 months ago with no therapist except Christ. We gave him a BOM and got his number down.

Friday- We had our zone conference today. It was very good. I got a lot out of it. My favorite quote from it was "Faith is not knowing God can do something. Faith is knowing God will do something." Powerful!! That's pretty much all that happened.

Zone 

Moses came for a visit

Saturday- I had my first taste of North Carolina barbeque today. It was delicious. The barbeque over here is vinegar based rather than ketchup based. I was skeptical at first but it was very good. We saw so many miracles today. First we talked with this lady at an assisted living center (we have an investigator who lives there). She wasn't supposed to go into work today. We taught her about The BOM and a little bit about the Plan of Salvation. Something really clicked with her. Then as we were biking home, we ran into a guy we were trying to get into contact with. His phone had been turned off, and we were heartbroken. We saw him on the side of the road!!! We touched base with him and got everything figured out. We had an interesting experience. We were talking with this guy by the McDonald's by our house, when this super anti guy drove up. He basically said that our message was from the depths of Hell. He said that the only way to be saved was through the confession and repentance of our sins and to rely on the blood of Jesus Christ. We agreed with him, and that really seemed to confuse him. He's like "You two are Mormons, and you agree with that?" Haha it was awesome. We went to a baptism and it got me thinking a lot about Issac. Dude, you need to get baptized. It will bless you life so much!!!

Sunday- More miracles. We were originally planning on contacting a referrel from our ward mission leader. On our way to their house, we talked with this guy. He told us that he was going through so stuff and he felt that he really needed somebody like us in his life right now. Then a little further down the road, we talked to some people outside their house. We taught them the restoration. Something clicked and they were eager to learn more. Two houses down, we met a lady who had just gotten engaged. We talked about how she could be with her husband to be for longer than this life. We gave her a BOM and set up an appointment. Heavenly Father has really blessed us these past two days.

Super crazy week. The weather is getting hotter and super humid. We're trying not to get heat stroke but it's tough. Anyways, Love you all. Keep to the faith

Elder Dumont

First Days in the Field

So I'm finally out in the field!!!! My first area is Greenville North Carolina. This place is so prepared. My trainer is Elder Terril. He's a cool guy. Anyways, on to the week.

Tuesday- I was still in the MTC at this time. My companion was still sick so I was restrained to the residence hall all morning. We took him to the clinic after lunch and they said that he was going to get delayed. Poor guy. We were able to go to the devotional that night. Elder Cook spoke and is was a wonderful talk. 

Wednesday- We had a super early start. We had to report to the travel office at 3:30 in the morning!!! We got to the airport and I was able to talk to my parents for a while. It was so great to hear their voices. We got on the plane and this thing was sweet. It had touch screen displays and the seats were oh so comfortable. We had to switch flights in Atlanta to get to the Norfolk airport. That plane ride sucked!!! My back is still hurting from it. We landed and were greeted by President Baker. He's a really nice guy. We got some dinner at the church and had some orientation stuff.

Thursday- We traveled to the mission home to receive our assignments. I of course am in Greenville. I love it here. The only thing is that I keep getting lost. There are no mountains for me to tell directions with. We had to travel 3 hours from Newport News, Virginia to Greenville. Let me tell you something about the scenery. TREES, TREES, AND MORE TREES. We got to the apartment and did some planning. We then went to a member's house, Bro. Smith, for dinner. He made meatloaf and this was the best meatloaf I've ever had. We had my first lesson and it was definitely not anything like the MTC. Good thing Bro. Smith was there cause it was bad. I completely froze up.

Friday- We had our district meeting, so I was able to meet all of the missionaries in the district.  Elder Terril and the spanish Elders (they live with us, Elder Seastrand and Elder Lancaster) took me to a place called Cook-Out. It was awesome. We had a couple of more appointments that we biked to. We got so many potential investigators. We spoke with this one lady for probably 15 minutes. The second we finished, it started pouring rain. The Lord is watching out for us.

Saturday- We had correlation in the morning. We had an appointment cancel last second. This lady (Kecia) that canceled is very close to baptism. She just has to quit smoking. That's a huge problem down here. We had an appointment in an assisted living center. It was very hard to understand him. Afterwards, this guy in a wheelchair rolled up to us and told us that we were wrong. My first anti. We biked home so we could talk to people. We met a few Jehovah's Witnesses. Most of them were nice, but one of them really just seemed to want to argue. We went back to Kecia's house to see if she wanted a ride to church tomorrow. We met her cousin and we taught her about the Book of Mormon. She seemed really interested and we set up an appointment.

Sunday- We didn't have ward council, cause most of the council was out of town. Me and Elder Terril had to prepare and bless the sacrament. We also were asked to teach a little bit in Relief Society. That was definitely a new experience. We gave a blessing to one of the Sister missionaries' investigators. We tried to go visit one of our investigators but we just missed him. We started home and on the way, we stopped at another investigators home. He was gone but his cousin was there. She was an awesome lady. We gave her a BOM and set up an appointment in two weeks. We were supposed to have a lesson with Kecia, but she canceled on us again. We did meet one of her friends, Mike, and he was golden. We walked home with him and we taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We set an appointment up with him.

So those were my first few days. I am learning so much everyday. It's ridiculous!!! Hopefully my MTC companion gets to come out this week. Fingers crosses.

Elder Dumont

He Has Arrived!

Elder Dumont has arrived in the mission field and we received a wonderful email from President Baker this morning.

Dear Brother and Sister Dumont,

Sister Baker and I were delighted to welcome Elder Dumont to the Virginia Chesapeake Mission on Wednesday. He arrived in good spirits and has been assigned to his first proselyting area. He is assigned to labor in the Greenville 2^nd A Ward, in the Kinston North Carolina Stake. His trainer is Elder Shane Terril. I have attached two photos of Elder Dumont, one with his trainer and one with Sister Baker and me.

Elder Dumont’s address is:

2716 Meridian Drive #3
Greenville, NC
27834

Thank you for sending us such a fine missionary.

President Baker

Pneumonia Everywhere

First off, I would like to welcome my newest baby nephew, Grayson Staker. He was born on Friday June 6, 2014. Now for my week.

Monday- The older missionaries in our zone made a scavenger hunt and Monday was their last night there, so me and my companion Elder Ludwig completed it and became the first ones to get our names immortalized haha. We met our investigator Melissa and had a strong lesson.

Tuesday- We had a devotional and usually a member of the twelve or the presidency will come and speak, but not today. This was like the first time in 7 weeks one of them didn't come. It was still a great devotional.

Wednesday- Me and Elder Ludwig held a quick little companionship inventory. It's just where we sit down and talk. I kind of had an issue with him cutting me off in lessons. We talked about, made up a system for adding in comments when the other is teaching, and we have been on fire ever since. The new missionaries came today and me, Elder Ludwig, Sister Smart, and Sister Colledge welcomed them. They are a great group.

Thursday-We had an all day class called in-field orientation. It was long, but I got a lot out of it. Mine and Elder Ludwig's investigator Melissa, wanted us to give her a priesthood blessing on the second lesson!!! She is golden.

Friday- We got a substitute teacher named Brother Buahin. He's from Ghana and he is hilarious. He always says, "Look me dead in de eye," in an African accent. It is quite intimidating. I started feeling a little sick. Nothing major, just a sore throat and clogged sinuses. We had our last lesson with Melissa and she came ready with questions. I felt like we did a very good job giving her answers. After our lesson, we ran into another investigator (not one of ours) named Eric. Eric is just great. He really opened up to me and my companion and we talked for nearly two hours. We didn't get back to the residence until after we were supposed to be in bed (whoops haha).

Saturday- Our classes today were soooo good. Our teacher Brother Mullen gave a lesson on The Atonement and the spirit was so strong!!! We played some v-ball with the new missionaries and one of the Elders in my district (Elder Siddoway) tried to kick the ball to save it, but the ball went directly into one of the Sister missionaries face!!!! I almost died laughing.

Sunday- Elder Ludwig fell ill today, so I spent the morning in our room. The other Elders in my district came and took turns staying with him so I could go to Priesthood and Sacrament meeting. They are so great!!! We think he has Pneumonia.

Monday- I took Elder Ludwig to the clinic right after breakfast. They took him back and gave him a shot that would put him to sleep. The rest of my zone had gone to the temple, so I was stuck at the clinic for 4 hours!!! I did get to see Sister Cluff though and we talked a little bit. I heard about Brother Grey. My prayers go out to him and Sister Grey. 

That's about it. No pictures yet, sorry. I'm just waiting for my camera cord so I can upload them soon. 

Love you all,

Elder Dumont

P.S. Feel free to write me. Seriously, I would like to know what's going on in everybody's life.

First Week in the MTC

So this was my first week in the MTC.

Wednesday- Upon arrival here at the MTC, I was moving non stop. My host took me to get my tags. I received a room key and an MTC card. We grabbed some other things and then went to put my bags in my room. After that, I headed straight to my classroom to meet my district. I have an awesome district. There are two elder companionships and one sister companionship. The sisters are Sister Colledge and Sister Smart (they were made to me companions). The other Elders are Elder Brinkerhoff and Elder Siddoway. They make such great companions. My companion is Elder Ludwig. He is amazing. I just love the guy. We had a lot of classes. After all of the classes were over, we met the other district in our zone. They are rock stars. They are so spiritual and they make missionary work fun. They are leaving to enter the field within the next couple of days, so that's a bummer.

Thursday- We were told that the first few days are the hardest, and they weren't kidding. We have class after class after class. Every minute was planned out for us. After a long day of classes, we met our branch presidency and received our leadership assignments. Me and Elder Ludwig are Zone Leaders!!! After the meeting, we went back to our residence to find another one of our Zone Leaders (Elder Colburn, Coolest guy ever) trying to get something out of a closet. We found out that he had dropped a letter behind the closet, and there is no way to move it. He was finally able to dig it out, but not without damaging the closet haha. 

Friday- We had to wake up early to go do our service hours. We had to pull double, cause the elders in the other district didn't show up. We were pretty much last for everything. Me and Elder Ludwig taught our first lesson to our "investigator" Frank. Frank is really just one of our teachers acting. Our lesson bombed. Elder Ludwig was so nervous, he just had a doctrinal vomit. This means that he went through everything in the gospel without our investigator knowing anything about it haha. I didn't know what to do. He just kept talking!!! We finally had gym time and we went outside to the sand for some volleyball. 

Saturday- Today was just simply awesome. I had signed up for a Book of Mormon enrichment program. My tutor didn't even talk about the understanding the BOM. He had so much great advice for me and I just sat there and took it all in. I am so much more prepared for it. The spirit was so strong and it set the tone for the day. Elder Ludwig had a chance to redeem himself for his doctrinal vomit. We had another lesson with Frank and we did soooooooooo good!!!!!!!!!! We were riding a spiritual high. The other Elders' second lesson didn't go as well as they had hoped and they were so bummed out. It was really sad cause both Elders have such amazing testimonies and they are both so great. We had zone teaching that night and we had another chance to teach an "investigator." That lesson went just as awesome as our first lesson. After that, we had more gym time and of course we went out and played v-ball again. A few of the Tongan Elders came and played with us. They are soooo funny!! 

Sunday- Today started kinda slow. It was fast sunday, so we were hungry. Elder Ludwig had hurt his ankle pretty bad the night before, so we couldn't move as fast. We had testimony meeting and the spirit was strong. We went on a temple walk, but me and Elder Ludwig fell behind. It took us a while to get up there, and all of the other missionaries in our zone were about to leave the temple, but we got up there just in time. We had a devotional and then watched a recording of the MTC Christmas devotional from a few years back. Elder Bednar was the speaker and OH MAN!!!!!! The spirit just about knocked me out of my seat. It was life changing!!!!!

Monday- Elder Ludwig's ankle was feeling better. We went to the temple to do a session. I'm so grateful for the temple. We played a little v-ball, but not much cause the sand was so hot. And that brings us to now. Me and Elder Ludwig have our first lesson with a new investigator (who may be a real one or not) tonight that we are stoked for. We are so ready for it. 

That was my first week at the MTC. When they said that the days are slow, but the weeks are fast, they weren't kidding. We're getting two new districts in our zone on Wednesday. High School rush I guess. 

Love you all. 

Elder Dumont