Can't Seem to Get Away from That Smell!

The paper mill here has been going like crazy, and it smells really bad, like all the time.

Monday- I got to go to the rec center and play some basketball with some kids. It was a blast. I love sports.

Tuesday- We had interviews with President Baker. The biggest thing I got out of it was he told me that once I decide to be more diligent, nothing will stop me. We had a special district meeting. We had a training on vehicle maintenance stuff, then Sister Baker gave a training about Faith, Hope, and Charity. We did exchanges with the Rocky Mount Elders. I went there with Elder Broyles. Every appointment he had planned fell through, so we walked around and talked to people. We met one guy who kept telling us that he was "Holiness." It took a lot of self-control to not whip out 2 Nephi 9:48 Behold, if ye were holy I would speak unto you of holiness; but as ye are not holy, and ye look upon me as a teacher , it must needs be expedient that I teach you the consequences of sin. 

Wednesday- We exchanged back. We just walked around and talked with people.

Thursday- President Baker challenged Elder Fullerton and I to seek more revelation during weekly planning. So we did. We went to try and contact a referral that lived at the edge of our area. He wasn't home, so we tracted his street. It was a lot of walking cause everybody's so spread out. We went to dinner at the Brletich's. We then went to give a blessing to a less active. Her daughter was there and also needed a blessing, but wasn't really sure if she was worthy. The Spirit spoke through us very powerfully. The day after, things started going her way. That's Priesthood power for ya. 

Friday- We had an appointment, but it fell through. We tried contacting some referrals, but had no success. We got to talk to some people. We had dinner with a PM couple. The non member husband is super cool. We talked about cars, sports, and music. His passion is music. Both Elder Fullerton and I play the guitar, so he said we could come play with him some time. We had a very funny coordination. I thought our ward mission leader was going to burst from laughter. He apparently likes me, so good stuff. 

Saturday- We did service from 8 in the morning till about 4:30 in the afternoon. We helped some members move stuff out from their old place to storage. They had a ton of crap to get through. It was a hoarder's paradise. We did some studies, then went and stuffed our face at Carolina BBQ buffet. 

Good eatin' right there

Sunday- There was an area broadcast from Salt Lake. Elder Hales presided. Elder Kacher, Sister Reeves, Elder Anderson, and Elder Hales all spoke. Darrel and Marquette came. We tried to meet with them afterwards at their house, but they weren't there. We had lunch, then the Elders Quorum President asked for some assistance. A family from Clayton had been driving back from Virginia Beach. Their car broke down just across the state border. We were going to help them put it on one of those car tow thingies that U-haul has, but the car had already been towed. We walked around and had some really good contacts with people. We went to dinner at the Given's house. We talked about New York, sports, broadway, and all sorts of stuff. It was great. Brother Given has a pretty good collection of autographed balls. That's my new happy place.

My thought comes from Elder Anderson. He talked about his General Conference Talk. Those that speak at General Conference are required to submit their talks to the First Presidency a week before it begins for translating. Elder Anderson's talk was on the second coming. He found out a couple of days later that the song that would be sung immediately before his talk was "Come, O Thou, King of Kings." He asked the First Presidency if the song had been selection because they saw the subject of his talk. They told him that the music had been selected and submitted a month earlier. Just to make sure, he asked the Tabernacle Choir director about it. He confirmed that he had chosen that song several months previous. Also, it was the first time that song has been sung in conference since 2002. The talks and music in General Conference are truly inspired. Review them. Doing so will bring greater light and knowledge to you. 

The paper mill smells really bad still. I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

Dragon-dog guardian fellow. 

Family of Ducks

If You Need Something, Ask the Missionaries

That seemed to be the theme for this week.

Soda Can Cube - Conquered by me.

Tuesday- We went and saw Brother Moody. We just read some scriptures with him. He practices the sacrament prayers whenever we come over. We went and walked around a bit. We got to talking with one really cool dude named John. We owns his own landscaping business. He does it all by himself. He's a super good guy. He told us that he would read the Book of Mormon. We got to see some less active youth named Ya-Ya and Traveous. Traveous said that he might come to church, but he didn't. We had dinner with the Myrick's. Brother Myrick is in the bishopric and asked me to give a talk on Sunday, cause the person originally assigned cancelled.

You see old worn down houses like this everywhere. I saw one once that had a tree growing out of it.

Wednesday- We got a call from the Bishop, asking us if we could help him move some stuff. We ended up loading over 2000 lbs. of old movie theatre equipment onto a trailer and to the scrapyard. It took up quite a bit of the day, but it was fun. Bishop is a really funny guy. He told us that one day, he would let us go to the movie theatre he owns and watch "Meet the Mormons" or something.

Thursday- We went and walked the streets a bit. I found a couple kids that wanted to shoot some hoops with us a bit. It was fun and they were super receptive. We had dinner at the Brletich's again. We had a really good conversation about hope, which Brother Brletich says that the people in this area lack.

Friday- Guess what we talked about in District Meeting...Hope. After district meeting, we went and walked around a little bit. It wasn't very effective though. We had dinner with the Tupper's. They love missionaries. Brother Tupper made some bacon cheese burgers that were extraordinary. We had a really fun time, then we went to coordination.

Look at all of that gravel. That's 8 tons right there.

Saturday- We went and helped Brother Dietrech put gravel into his back yard. It required 11 tons of gravel. We were working from 8-12. We went to a baptism at 1 for the sisters investigator Delores. We went home afterwards and I finally got some time to work on my talk. I sat there during personal and companion studies and just pounded it out. It was on Elder Holland's talk from General Conference. We went and saw Andrew and Chelsea. Chelsea's a member, Andrew's working on it haha. We've gotten pretty far with the discussions. They have a daughter, and the best news it, they're married. For once I don't have to worry about telling someone they have to move out and get hitched to get married. We went and saw Thomas afterwards. We got there and he just asked us if we could just talk. We were sitting on his porch just talking to him. He's got some crazy stories. We ran to the church so I could type up my talk.

Elder Fullerton draws funny pictures that make me smile

 Sunday- There were two really good talks given, then some noob spoke in the middle of them. Before church, everybody was all like, "ooh Elder Dumont is speaking." Apparently I did a good enough job. That's what people told me at least. Andrew and Chelsea came to church, but The Boys (Darrel and Marquette) didn't. They wanted to, but weren't able to get a hold of their ride. We had dinner, again, at the Brletich's. They're awesome.

Elder Mustache

My favorite quote from Elder Holland's talk: "That first Easter sequence of Atonement and Resurrection constitutes the most consequential moment, the most generous gift, the most excruciating pain, and the most majestic manifestation of pure love ever to be demonstrated in the history of this world. Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, suffered, died, and rose from death in order that He could, like lightning in a summer storm, grasp us as we fall, hold us with His might, and through our obedience to His commandments, lift us to eternal life." He will not abandon us, ever. There are no lost causes. If you're at the point where you think you're done, take that leap of faith. He will catch you and he will refuse to let you fall. If you get that chance, review talks from General Conference. There will be something there that's specifically designed by Heavenly Father for you.

That's my peace, that's my sense, that's my entry for this week. Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

Sweet Week

Tuesday- We had a less active named Serman Moody call us up randomly last week. We met with him today and he said that he wants to come back to church. We went to a city called Weldon and just walked the streets. It was pretty sketchy. We did meet a super sweet couple named Toby and Angela. We gave them a #Becausehelives card and they said we could come back on Friday. We had dinner with the Donahays. They are awesome!!! They help out both us and the sisters a ton. Sister Donahay said that she could come with us to teach Toby and Angela since it's just down the street from her. 

Wednesday- We went out and street contacted some neighborhoods. Elder Fullerton had to give a baptismal interview. We had dinner with a part member family. They talked a bunch about camping and they took us out to their camper. Who knew camping could be so luxurious.

Thursday- We went and once again walked the streets. We did a lot of that this week. We tried to contact a couple of potentials but got nothing. We went out to Littleton. We didn't get to talk to a whole lot of people, but we did do a butt load of walking. We got a call from our ward mission leader asking us if we could help him move a couch. We got there and they decided that they're going to leave it down for a couple of days. We got food out of it so it was all good.

Friday- We had zone meeting in Goldsboro. The zone leaders announced that President Baker is doing something called "Miracle May." His vision is for every companionship in the month of May to get a baptism. He said that this month and next month are going to full of challenges, trials, miracles, and blessings. 

Zone Conference
Elders Dumont, Ludwig, Black, and Fullerton

We had that lesson with Toby and Angela...and their 3 daughters. Toby and Angela are engaged. They're going to be married in July. The Spirit was so present while we rehearsed the story of the first vision. Everybody was focused in on what we had to say. They said that we could come back next Friday and that they were going to try to get more people there. We might end up having to preach sermons haha. 

We had coordination that night and made s'mores afterwards.

Cookin' up some S'mores

Saturday- We talked to so many people on the street today it was nuts. We walked to an investigators house to set up an appointment for next week. We talked to everybody we saw. Later we went to the projects in Weldon and talked to a bunch of people. We talked with a couple of 12 year old boys and they asked us if they can come to church with us. We got their info down. Their names are Darrell (pronounced like Duh-Rell) and Marquette (pronounced like Marquwet, they live in the projects what do you expect)  We found a couple of more potentials. 

Sunday- Darrell and Marquette and Darrell's little sister came to church. They were very reverent up until church was over, and then it was like an explosion of energy. We tried to contact some less actives in Littleton but came up empty. 

This week I want to bare a brief testimony on the Atonement. This life is hard. There's no sugar coating. This life is extremely hard, but with Christ, it's possible. Because of his loving sacrifice, we are never alone. No mistake or defeat has to be permanent. The only thing that is permanent is the infinite amount of love that our Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ have for us. Don't allow Satan to come between you and happiness. If you make a mistake, call upon the Savior's mercy. If you feel defeated, call upon your Heavenly Father and he will come to your rescue. I love all of you and I know that God and Jesus Christ love all of you too. Make it a great week.

Love,

Elder Dumont

Love Carolina license plates

One of the prettiest sunsets ever

Transfers and Conference

This was a busy week.

Monday- Elder Sanderson and Elder Bettilyon came down from New Kent and we schooled some guys at basketball. We had a lesson that night and it didn't quite go the way we had hoped.

Tuesday- Elder Cameron and I spent a good portion of the day packing. The New Kent Elders came down again. We went and all visited a less active, then Elder Bettilyon and Elder Aitken had a meeting with the Stake President, so Elder Cameron, Elder Sanderson, and I went and walked around New Town and just talked with a bunch of people.

Wednesday- Transfer day. We got everything packed up, and we left for Portsmouth. We met in Newport News to get a ride down with some other Elders. We got to P-Town pretty early. We just hung out until President Baker was done with the Trainers meeting. We got everything loaded up, and got on our way. We stopped in Elizabeth City where I got to see Elder Terril. He's a zone leader there. We then left for Greenville. It was me, Elder Cameron, and Elder Ferguson in the truck. We listened to a few talks and some music. At last we made it to my old stomping ground. I got to see Elders Black, Ludwig, and Siddoway. I found Elder Fullerton and we left for Roanoke Rapids, about a 1 and a half drive. We had a lesson with an investigator named Justin. He came to church before, but didn't feel very comfortable there. He said that he'd come again soon.

Thursday- We did some service for a sister in the ward named Sister Crawford. We went back and did weekly planning. We had coordination with our ward mission leader, Bro. Brletich and the sisters. This is the first time I've had sisters serving in the same ward since Greenville. It's weird, and they're both Canadien.

Friday- We had district meeting in Rocky Mount. We went with the Rocky Mount Elders to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. We came home and helped a member move something heavy from his truck. It was like, 300 pounds or so. We went and walked around a neighborhood for about an hour and we got 14 I/Os. We went to the Brletich's for dinner, then we left to try to visit some less actives.

Saturday- We went to the church for conference. I was very upset when we were sustaining the leaders, and those people shouted "opposed." I heard that it's the Ordain Women group. Conference was absolutely spectacular except for that part. I loved Elder Clayton's talk in the morning session and also Elder Renlund's in the afternoon. We met at the church at 7:30 for some pizza before Priesthood session. Not a whole lot of Brethren were there. It was a great session.

Sunday- We went to the church for the morning session. I loved Elder Nielson, Elder Holland, and President Uchtdorf. We went for lunch at the Brletich's house and stayed for the afternoon session. Elder Pino's talk was probably my favorite from this session. We went later that night and tried to visit some less actives. We struck out the first two times, but the third time was the charm. This less active wants to come back to church and wants his wife and kids to start taking the discussions. Miracle of the week.

Spiritual thought- Taking from Elder Dale G. Renlund's talk about keeping on trying. God truly does care a lot more about who we are becoming and who we are, then who we once were. The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes gives us an unlimited amount of chances to change. "No failure need be final." It is the adversary that tells us that we are too far gone to change, or that there is no hope. Don't listen. He's been the destroyer of hope from the beginning. Christ offers all men and women hope. It doesn't matter who were once were, all that matters is who we are becoming. The only way to condemn ourselves is if we stop trying. If you fall down, get back up. One of my favorite quotes on this subject comes from Rocky 5, "The world ain't full of sunshine and rainbows, it's a mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it's not about how hard your hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning it done." My beloved friends and family, we don't have to do it alone. Christ is there for anyone who will take his hand. The new church video Because of Him urges us to reach out and to call out to him. Make this a priority in your lives. I know it's a priority in my life. I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont