Busy, Busy Week!

I'll try to keep things brief.

Tuesday- We saw Sister Hunt. We went over the baptismal interview questions and the requirements for baptism. She wants to get some things in order before she makes the commitment. She really understands how much of a commitment it is. She's awesome.

Wednesday- We had an interesting dinner. We had dinner with the Garn family (Holla), and one of the Sister's investigators haha. Sister Garn is really good friends with this investigator so...yeah. It was a fun night.

Thursday- We taught Jermaine at the home of Scott and Stephanie Smith. Brother Smith is such a good guy. We taught priesthood and service. We later found out that because of our lesson, Brother Smith felt motivated to serve and helped a man find  hotel that night.

Friday- We had our last District Meeting of the transfer. Big changes are happening. Stay tuned. 

Saturday- We had a lesson with Khylique. We're just trying to get everything taught quickly. He already knows a lot, but we still have to cover the material. We had Stake Conference in the evening. It was super good!! The Raleigh Temple President stood up and talked. He is very tall. He's taller than President Baker. They had some members of the stake go out in the middle of the meeting and work on clearing some names for family history. In the span of 45 minutes, four people cleared a total of 40 names!!! The Lord is hastening is work on both sides of the veil.

Sunday- We had to travel to New Bern, which is about an hour away. It was held in the New Bern convention center haha. It was a really good meeting. President Baker's talk was prompted to be towards one individual who is an investigator. We'll see if anything comes from that. They had the Primary children sing in the choir, and a couple of them gave talks!!! They were really good talks and the Spirit was really strong. Later that night, while eating dinner with a member, we got a phone call. I'm leaving Greenville and heading up to Newport News Virginia. I'm excited and ready for this change. My companion will be Elder Brimley. He's only got a 1 or 2 transfers left, so I could be his last companion.

I found this poem that can be related to Individual Worth.

’Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer

Thought it scarcely worth his while

To waste much time on the old violin,

But held it up with a smile:

“What am I bidden, good folks,” he cried,

“Who’ll start the bidding for me?”

“A dollar, a dollar”; then, “Two!” “Only two?

Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?

Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;

Going for three—” But no,

From the room, far back, a gray-haired man

Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,

And tightening the loose strings,

He played a melody pure and sweet

As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,

With a voice that was quiet and low,

Said, “What am I bid for the old violin?”

And he held it up with the bow.

“A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?

Two thousand! And who’ll make it three?

Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice,

And going, and gone!” said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,

“We do not quite understand

What changed its worth.” Swift came the reply:

“The touch of a master’s hand.”

And many a man with life out of tune,

And battered and scarred with sin,

Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,

Much like the old violin.

A “mess of pottage,” a glass of wine,

A game—and he travels on.

He’s “going” once, and “going” twice,

He’s “going” and almost “gone.”

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd

Never can quite understand

The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought

By the touch of the Master’s hand. 

We may not look like much, but when we are baptized, we become one of the children of Christ. He refines us with the holy hand and shows that we are of great worth to our Father in Heaven. Ponder this poem over through the week.

Gonna miss Greenville, but excited for Newport News!

That's all for this week. I'll be leaving for Newport News on Wednesday. From what I've heard, it's a fun place to be. Lots of missionaries there. The ward is pretty big. There's another set of Elders serving in the ward as well. You'll hear a better report next week. Until then, have a happy Thanksgiving. Love you all

Elder Dumont

On the right track!

Blessed Week

This was a crazy week.

Tuesday- We went and did some service for a former investigator. He had us rake up the pine straw in his backyard. There was soooooo much pine straw. Picture to come. We went to teach the Grimes family, and crazy little miracle, we were able to also teach two new investigators that happened to be sitting on the porch. One of them, Barry, we had received revelation that we need to start teaching him and that he was prepared to hear the gospel. He was so excited when we gave him a Book of Mormon, he ran inside, grabbed a pen and wrote his name and the date in the cover. That night, we taught Charlene Hunt (we found out that her name is spelled with a C haha whoops). We taught her the commandment of Tithing and she, like always, loved it. She loved the confidentiality of it all. She's just awesome.

Mucho Pine Straw

Wednesday- I went on an exchange with Elder Morgan (one of two exchanges for the week). We taught Jermaine about keeping the sabbath day holy. He's really struggling right now, so we're doing all that we can to help him. We send him a scripture about faith almost daily. He was doing good yesterday.

Thursday- We taught Charlene Hunt again. Well, when I say taught, I mean the Fox's taught. Let me explain. The Fox's are the Family History Center Consultants and they are awesome. We went with Charlene over to their house for a family history lesson. It was awesome. They are amazing at family history. Charlene really felt the Spirit of Elijah. They helped her to set up an account on Family Search and helped her to get started. She was so enthusiastic about it.

Friday- So remember when I said I went on two exchanges for the week. The second one was today with Elder Hunter. He's our Zone Leader. We were able to see Rodney and Barry. They were both down in the dumps a little, so we were able to help uplift their spirits. It was an amazing experience. The advice to just open your mouth and the Spirit will take over is true. Before I could even think of what I could say, words were already coming out. It was sweet. We visited a lot of Less Actives that night, to invite them to Stake Conference.

Saturday- We met at the church to exchange back. Elder Zonts and I had to fill the font. Kenneth Staton got baptized!!! He was a child of record, but it was still awesome to see him enter into the waters of baptism. Elder Zonts baptized him. It was a really good baptism. Later in the day, we met with Khylique again. We took Brother Morgan (the Young Mens President) with us. We taught the Plan of Salvation. We asked Brother Morgan to share his thoughts on the Atonement. When he was bearing testimony, the Spirit was so strong. We committed him to be baptized, and he was excited. His date is for December 6th.

Sunday- Today was very interesting. We went to Ward Council. While we were there, they found out that the youth speaker was not prepared, so they asked for a volunteer to take his place. I volunteered!!! I literally had about 10 minutes of preparation. I was the first speaker, so I went from my seat up to the Stand. I decided to give a talk about Self-Esteem and Individual Worth. These are both things that I have struggled with in the past, so I focused my studies this week to those topics. I related a parable I had just recently read in a BYU devotional. It was the parable of the Eagle who thought he was a chicken. This will double as my spiritual thought for the week. 

To be brief, a farmer found a baby eagle one day. He put the eagle, the king of birds, with his chickens. As a result, the eagle grew up thinking he was a chicken. A naturalist came to the farm and saw the eagle pecking around with the chickens. He inquired of the farmer and the farmer said, "That eagle has grown up among the chickens. He is convinced that he's a chicken. Therefore, he is a chicken." The naturalist disagreed and asked the farmer to let him prove that he was still an eagle at heart. The next morning, the naturalist took the eagle and put him on his arm. He said "Eagle, thou art an eagle. Thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly." The eagle looked around, and seeing the chickens pecking around on the ground, jumped down and joined them. The farmer boasted that he was right. The naturalist asked for another chance. His request was granted. The next day, the naturalist took the eagle up on the roof. He said, "Eagle, thou art an eagle, stretch forth thy wings and fly." Again, the eagle saw the chickens feeding, jumped down to join them. The naturalist begged the farmer for one more try. The farmer consented. The next morning, the naturalist took the eagle to the mountains, away from the farm. For the last time, the naturalist told the eagle, "Eagle, thou art an eagle. Thou dost not belong to this earth, but to the sky above. Spread forth thy wings and fly." Just then, the sun was peaking over the mountain. The eagle looked into the sun, spread it's wings, and began to soar.

     We each have a divine purpose in this life. We are meant to soar. Satan would have us to believe that we are but mere chickens. He wants to keep us grounded where he can reach us. The Savior is our advocate. With his help, we can realize our divine destiny. We can realize that we are eagles, and then we can fly.

After sacrament meeting, we taught Gospel Principles, so there was a lot of talking on my part this Sunday.

And that's all she wrote. It's been pretty cold here. Transfer calls are this Sunday. Stake Conference is also this weekend. President Baker is coming to speak, so he could just tell us in person haha. Have a great week. Love you all.

New Motto

Yeah we got egged

Love,

Elder Dumont

This Post Has No Title!

Just kidding, it does, I just can't think of it right now.

Tuesday- We met with Sharlene. She wanted a day in the life of an average Mormon, so we told her what an average day for us before the mission was like. We also went through the articles of faith one by one.

Wednesday- We got to help with the mutual activity!!! It was so much fun!! They were doing a mini MTC activity and zombie apocalypse. We taught about door approaches and meat shield convincing. It was so much fun. It made me reminisce about my days in Mutual with the man Parker. You rock bro.

Thursday- We planned and we cleaned. We were inside for a lot of the day for a chunk of the day. We did get out to go see a few people.

Friday- We had Zone Meeting, and then coordination right after. It was just a big chunk of meetings and it wiped me out. We were able to go see Rodney. He told us that he's ready to quit drinking and turn his life around. At night, we went to visit some new investigators. There's a mom with 6 kids that lives near Jermaine. She flagged us down last week. We taught her family the Restoration. It was a wild lesson. Her kids were just super wild.

Saturday- The Spanish's investigator got baptized, so they asked for our help filling up the font. The water heater is janky, so there's a technique to it. We sang the closing him "I am a Child of God," in Spanish. Later on in the day, we tried to do some street contacting near a BMX event. There were a few interested people. The kids riding were anywhere from 14-26 in the expert class. It was sweet.

Sunday- The area seventy Elder Lansing came to just our ward. President Walker invited him. He came to ward council and did some training. He talked about the hastening of the work, and how it hasn't started recently. It started when Joseph retired to a grove of trees one beautiful spring morning. It's just picking up speed. He also spoke in Sacrament Meeting. President Walker gave a talk on finding happiness. Elder Lansing followed it up with a great talk. Both talks were very instructive and inspirational. Both these men have truly been called of God. There is no doubt. 

Something I want to start doing is giving an spiritual thought from my studies during that week. I studied a BYU devotional given by Brother Merrill J. Christensen, a professor at BYU. It was given in 2007. It's entitled Comparing, Competing, and Individual Worth. Part of it focuses on student and professional  life, but the other part focuses on our personal lives. My favorite part of the devotional, is when he talks about Queen Esther. In Esther 4:14 Mordecia (Esther's cousin) reminds her, "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" We are each given unique talents and abilities. No two people are made up the same. We each experience different trials as well. With this in mind, it is vitally important for us to trust in the will of the Lord. As missionaries, we get moved around to different areas and it can be hard, (I wouldn't know...yet) but accepting the calling to your new area will open up opportunities to reaching out and touching the life of a stranger. Former Relief Society general president Bonnie D. Parkin in a devotional talk in 2007 suggested that when we pray, we can pray "Help me to be the answer to someone's prayer today." We all have unique talents, abilities, callings, and experiences that can be used to be a blessing in someone else's life. Never compare what you have, with what someone else has. Doing so will take you out with a position to be a blessing to someone else. Just be you. That's what the Lord expects.

Plate -1, Elder Dumont - 0

Well the thought was longer than the weekly report haha. I'm awesome. All you are awesome. Everything is awesome, except the plate that nailed me in the face last night. It's not so awesome. Have a blessed week.

Elder Dumont

Biking in Greenville, all day every day!

New Hairdo 

Pizza Sandwich

That cake was my bestest creation, and you ate it!!

Hahahahahahahaha ha. Okay on to stuff.

(Dad's note: The title made no sense, so I asked. Apparently an in joke between companions based on bad movie lip reading)

It's Cotton Season

Monday- Last Monday was awesome. We played Soccer with some youth in the 1st ward. I scored the first goal on a sweet header. Then for the rest of the time, I played goalie. I never knew how awesome I was at soccer (not really, I still struggle, but it was fun). After that, we helped a family in the ward move, the Millers. It was super sad to see them go. They are an awesome family. They left us a desk, a new desk chair (very needed), a dresser for Elder Zonts, and a Christmas Tree.

Tuesday- We were able to see a couple of people during the day. We were also able to see Sharlene Hunt that night. She is so sweet. She told us how much of a difference we were making in her life. That is such a special thing for a missionary to hear.

Sharlene Hunt next to the Missionaries

Wednesday- We spent a huge chunk of the day helping a family in the 1st ward move. We were there from like, 10 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon, packing and cleaning. The Brother had everything planned out to a T (not sure if that's the right way to spell that, but just go with it). Just as we were finishing, I cut my hand pretty good. It was really my pinky that got the worst of it. We went home, showered, changed, and then went back to their house for Pizza and Ice Cream.

Thursday- We had interviews with President Baker. It was in Kinston. We were there pretty much from 10-4. We had a District Meeting, then went out to lunch, and then patiently (maybe not so patiently) waited for our interviews. It was such a good experience for me. President Baker just seems to know what is best for us to do to continue to progress.

Friday- Halloween was pretty dull. We had an appointment with Jermaine in the morning. He is still awesome. Elder Zonts fixed his bike for him, and while he was doing that, Jermaine's neighbor from across the way came and said to me, "Preacher, Do you have any of those pamphlets from God?" I sure did. She wants us to come teach her, but only if her 6 kids are there as well!! We had an early curfew, cause people are cray cray. We were in at 6. We played some board games with the Spanish Elders.

If these were the costumes, it must have been gross

Saturday- Today was sweet. We did something called the Social Media Exchange. Basically, we had a Brother with us all day, taking pictures and what not. Then they posted the pictures on Facebook or Twitter and posted about their experiences. The hope is to get the word out that we are human too. We were able to teach a couple of lessons in Member's homes. We taught a boy named Khylique, who I've been trying to teach since July. He comes to church every week. He just doesn't want to take the discussions. We taught him in the home of his best friend in the ward. After that, we taught Sharlene Hunt in the Bishop's home. It was such a sweet day.

Sunday- We had 5 investigators come to church!!! It was super exciting. After church, we had to catch a ride with the Sisters (with permission). We had to stop by an investigators house to help them. This investigator is named Ann. Elder Terril and I knocked on her door several months ago. She has MS, so she has a hard time walking. She has to use a wheelchair to move about, and needs help getting from the car, to her wheelchair. Elder Zonts and I walked her dog while the Sisters were helping Ann get to her wheelchair.

Something super sweet from my studies this week. I've been reading the Book of Mormon, looking for ways that I can increase in Diligence. I read Jacob 5, the Allegory of Zenos. Near the end of the chapter, some verses really struck me. Near the end of the chapter, in verse 72 it reads: "And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them." I have been struggling as of late, but this verse really struck me. The Lord really does care about his vineyard. In all things that we do as missionaries, he is right there beside us. We just need to recognize his presence, and focus on the promptings that he gives us. In verse 75, it reads: "Blessed art thou (my servants); for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard." I bear witness that the Lord is at the head of the church, and any hastening that is going on is by him. We need to do our best to keep up. It we "thrusteth in our sickle with all our might" he will be right there beside us. He will not leave us to labor by ourselves.

You are all just so wonderful. We get to go help with a mutual activity on Wednesday, and I'm super excited about that. I haven't been to mutual for like, 2 years. SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THE WEISS FAMILY. That coat that you guys donated is sweet. I've really needed it lately. The temperature just dropped these last few days, but I need not worry, cause of the Weiss family. Thank you guys so much.

Love you all,

Elder Dumont