Trio Time

Monday- After P-Day was over, we went tracting. We knocked on this one door, and the man let us right in. We were able to share the restoration with them. They are way sweet. They are "in between churches right now."

Yeah, we tracted it!

We found PomPoms

Tuesday- We had lunch with Bishop and his family at a chinese buffet. It was amazing. We tracted, but didn't find any success. The were few people home. We had dinner with the Donaheys.

Wednesday- We tracted a lot. We found a lot more success today though. We also had a crazy lady hit on us. It was scary. We had dinner with Chase Given, then we went out with him to try to see some less-actives. We found one less active at home, but she wasn't too interested. 

Thursday- We had weekly planning. We tried to see a less active, then we tracted around his area. We tracted after dinner as well.

Friday- We had district meeting. Elder Hubbard in the Rocky Mount has been super sick lately. His new companion is Elder Ward. We went to lunch, then drove back to Roanoke Rapids. We did a little tracting, then had dinner with the Barracato's. They made fried cauliflower and fried squash and it was amazing. Elder Lewis started feeling sick after dinner.

Saturday- Elder Lewis was still feeling a little sick in the morning. We got a call from President Baker. He told us that Elder Hubbard was going to stay with a senior couple until the figure out what's wrong with him, so Elder Ward is with us until they figure something out. We got home and hit the ground running. We went tracting, and we able to teach a guy named Marshall. We visited a potential named Gilbert and talked to him about the Book of Mormon. We had dinner with the Brletich's. Then tracted afterwards.

The trio poolside

Sunday- After church and studies, we tracted. We were able to teach a guy named Terrance the restoration. We had dinner with the Fortier's, eating cheeseburgers poolside. We went and were able to teach Lola the restoration. She said she believes it's true. We checked up on Judy. She's finally over whatever sickness she had. 

I don't have time for a spiritual thought this week. I love you all. Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Dumont

"Happy Future Father's Day"

I had a ton of people say that to me yesterday. That didn't make me trunky at all (thick layer of sarcasm).

Tuesday- We had zone conference in Goldsboro, so there went all our miles. It was super good though. We role played the new teaching method and we were video recorded doing so. I found out that we really suck at it. We learned how to introduce the Book of Mormon in a new way that I'm super excited to use. We drove home, went and saw Chris Love, then went home.

Wednesday- So we were planning on doing some service at Angel's Closet, but instead we ended up changing a flat tire for one of the sisters' investigators. That was the first time either of us had changed a tire and we killed it. We had a lesson with Malik. It didn't go too smooth. His stepmom is super anti. He didn't really listen to her, but he had a ton of questions. 

Tracting Selfie

Thursday- We did weekly planning, had lunch with a member, then went tracting, oh yeah. We got to teach a lesson to a guy. He gave us the wrong phone number though, and we don't know where he lives. We had dinner with the Brletich's and correlation. We found out the Brother Brletich is being released as Ward Mission Leader, which makes me sad. 

Friday- We saw David and talked to him about the Book of Mormon. We went and helped out Thomas and Joyce. We helped them build a playset. It was a blast. I'm learning how to become a handy man and stuff. We assembled an AC unit on Monday. We taught a lesson to a guy named Gilbert. He may have been a little drunk, but it was alright. 

We're tracting in the rain, just tracting in the rain...

Saturday- A member of the ward passed away last week, so we went to the funeral today. It was a very moving service. We went out and did a little contacting and tracting, then we went to a Baptism. It was for the sister's investigator. They asked me to play the piano. First time I've played hymns outside of district meeting. It was fun though. After the baptism, we went tracting, and while we were tracting, it started pouring rain. Like, sheets of rain. We decided to keep on tracting. We had one family let us in. We sat there dripping on their carpet. We're going back there next Saturday. It was legendary!!! Transfer calls were today and it looks like we're both staying for another 6.

Time Distortion

Sunday- Happy Father's Day!!! In case anyone was wondering, I love my Dad. A lot. After church and studies, we had dinner with the Brletich's, then went and had 2 appointments cancel. We got a call from Brother Jones and he said Chris Love was out making a scene. We went to the house he's working on, and he was on the roof, ranting. He's having a very hard time right now. 

Alma 26:27 has been one of my favorite scriptures on my mission. "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." We can replace the word Lamanites with whatever trial we are going through. The Lord promises us that we can and will be successful, even among so much afflictions, if we are patient in them. 

That was my week. It was really hot and really humid. Much fun. Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

I be so busy

Common phrase we hear.

Tuesday- We went and saw David and had a pretty tense moment. He tried to give us the Book of Mormon back. His Sister really tore into him the night before and he was clearly shaken up. We were able to calm him down. He hadn't been to any church in a while, because he felt that the people at his church were two-faced. We invited him to our church, and he said he would come. We mowed a member's lawn, then we had dinner with the Donahays. We were out tracting and we saw a couple of guys playing basketball. I asked if I could shoot a couple. We got to talking and one of them had a ton of questions. His faith in God is shaky at best. He loved what we had to say. His name is Malik. His friend Andre was super quiet.

Wednesday- We had a lesson with Rick. He's been trying to read the Book of Mormon. That's progress. We were out tracting, when we got a text from Brother Jones saying that he knew a guy named Chris Love, that prayed and received inspiration that he needs to be Mormon!!! We didn't get to see him today though. We had dinner with the Coburns.

Thursday- We had a split exchange with the zone leaders. Basically, both sets of missionaries worked in our area. I was with Elder Dickerson again. We did some tracting, then had dinner at the Brletich's. We went and visited a potential named Lola. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She's a super sweet lady.

Friday- We saw Malik again. One of his biggest concerns was when he tried to read the Bible, he couldn't understand it at all. He tried reading the Book of Mormon, but couldn't understand it. We sat down with him, and started reading. It started off with us explaining everything to him, but then we asked him to tell us what he thinks the verses mean. He nailed every single verse. He was getting super excited by the end of the lesson. We tried to contact some less actives, but had no success. We went to correlation and worked on splitting up the ward roster between us and the sisters. 

Saturday- It was a pretty crazy day. Elder Lewis gave a baptismal interview, then we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch (thanks Mom and Dad). We tracted a bit. It was very hot and very humid. Elder Lewis first taught Chris Love on Thursday with Elder Williams. We taught him again today. He's way sweet!!! He just wants to do what's best for his little girl. We had dinner with the Garners, then went out with Brother Donahay. We had no success.

Sunday- We had church, had lunch, had studies, tried to visit a couple people, then went to the stake general priesthood session. It was all about keeping the sabbath day holy. I got rebuked pretty good. President Judd, the stake president, talked about how every General conference, all of the general authorities gather in Salt Lake City for a training session right after conference is over. The focus of these trainings is on what is called "The Prophetic Priority," which is keeping the sabbath day holy at church, and at home. It was a super great meeting. 

Spiritual thought: In the last general conference, Elder Nelson gave a talk on keeping the sabbath day holy. He talked about how our conduct and attitude on the sabbath "constitutes a sign between (us) and Heavenly Father." What kind of sign are you sending to your Heavenly Father on the day he has appointed to be a day for us to enter into his rest? Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

Knock Knock

Monday- We taught David and gave him a blessing. He was supposed to go in for surgery on a hernia Tuesday, but because of breathing problems, it was a no go. We went to the local grocery store to talk with people and met a couple

Tuesday- We did deep clean pretty much all day. We did get a less active youth to come with us to a lesson and he bore super powerful testimony. We went to dinner after that.

Wednesday- We did some service for a couple we met on Monday. They're nonmembers. We helped them lay mulch all around their house. The kept calling us angels and stuff. It was pretty great.

Thursday- We weekly planned, and went and finished laying mulch. We went to dinner with Brother Diettrich, then went and tried to contact some less actives. We ended up walking in during one of the Sister missionaries lessons haha whoops.

Friday- We had zone meeting in Goldsboro. Surprise!! Elder Terril was there. We sat together and did good missionary things and stuff. District Meeting was dedicated to the new teaching style. We didn't get home until 3. I was on exchanges with Elder Broyles. We didn't have much success with anything. We had double exchange night at correlation. Brother Brletich and I had a goal to get the Chicago Blackhawk's theme song stuck in Sister Dalton's head. We succeeded.

Saturday- Started the day off with a miracle. We were trying to find someone to talk to. We drove to an investigator's apartment and saw that his upstairs neighbor was moving some stuff. She had been forced to move, so she really appreciated the help we gave her. We were able to talk to her a bit. She was super excited to meet with the Sisters. We exchanged back, then went and taught David again. We read the Book of Mormon with him. We finished weekly planning, then had dinner. We went out with Brother Donahay. Our appointments all cancelled. We contacted a potential. They invited us in, we talked for a while, then we shared the Restoration. The mom is super great. She said she had a Book of Mormon when she was 14, but it didn't mean much. Now, she says that she can see it being true. It was sweet.

Sunday- We had dinner and a lesson with Andrew and Chelsea at the Donahays. Brother Donahay makes the best egg rolls ever!!! Andrew has some pretty big concerns about baptism.

We taught Gospel Principles yesterday and the lesson was on Repentance. Someone made the comment that when we withhold repentance, it's like carrying a backpack full of rocks, it's painful and unnecessary. As we go along, we realize that we can't keep living like this. This bag full of rocks is holding us back. We hand the bag over to our guide (Jesus Christ) and he gives us his bag that's lighter and is filled with stuff we need. As long as we fill our bags with essential things, such as prayer, scripture study, and church, our load remains light. When we fill our bags with rocks, we become weighed down. Don't procrastinate repentance. The faster you get rid of that load, the further you can progress in this life.

Elder Dumont

The most interesting week of the mission

Tuesday- Lots of cancelled appointments. We went tracting and the first door we knocked on let us in and we were able to teach the Restoration. He wanted us to talk to his sister as well, who was having a hard time. We had dinner with the Donahays and were able to practice the new teaching style on them. They loved it. I'm in love with it too.

Wednesday- We had to take the car in for an oil change, so we went and tracted a nearby neighborhood. We went to try to contact a potential. He wasn't home, so we started talking to his neighbor. By the time we finished talking to him, the potential came home. Come to find out, he had been in jail for the last few days, cause his car had stolen license plates on them. That's the way he got the car.

Boss stereo!

Thursday- Hump day. Year Mark. Whatever you want to call it. We struggled today. 5 cancelled appointments. We went out with our Bishop and he told us what he thought would be the best use of our time. He wanted us to work the ward roster and do all we can to give service. Then he bought us ice cream.

Friday- District meeting. I went on an exchange with Elder Hubbard. We actually had an appointment go through. We taught this guy named David a brief Restoration lesson and he accepted our baptismal invitation!!!!! He's set for July 11th. We had correlation that night.

Now that's a burger

Saturday- We did service for Brother Diettrich. We went tracting, and we met a very interesting man. He came out and right off the bat, tried to convince us that we were wrong. He said he was an Isrealite prophet. He believes in Christ, but his view of the bible is all sorts of backwards. He preached to us for 40 minutes. He told us to read the Torah probably 50 times. He kept pretending to cry, and he was hitting on us. I've never been more scared of another human being in my life. I can't explain everything about how weird it was, but I think this will suffice. We had dinner with the Tuppers, then went out with Brother Donahay, but had no success.

Sunday- We had food after church.  A lot of it. We gave a blessing after the meal at Bishop's house. The person was a friend of Sister Given. We did some tracting, then had dinner with the Jones family. Brother Jones came with us to a lesson. The lady's name was Katrina and she said she'd think about being baptized.

What made this week the most interesting week of my mission? Here are some statistics.

We were offered alcohol 4-5 times.

We talked to 3-4 people that were wasted. One of them started bawling when Elder Lewis gave him a Book of Mormon. He hugged Elder Lewis like, 3 times.

We were hit on 3 times... and not all by chicks.

We talked to 3-4 Hispanic people.

We met the Isrealite "Prophet." That was probably the most interesting contact ever.

We had 15 appointments fall through.

We found 4 new investigators.

We set one for baptism on July 11th.

Alma 26:11-12-"But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

"Yea I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

This is what came to mind when I was thinking about my year mark. I have learned to rely more heavily upon my Savior for my strength, my wisdom, and my skill. Without him, I am nothing. He makes his servants mighty in word and in deed. Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

Not enough sense to come out of the rain?

And this is what happens