Working with Less Actives

We've had a pretty crazy day today, so I don't have my journal, or my planner. I'm not going to be able to do a day by day. I'm also short on time, so I'm going to a brief overview of my week. I'll do better next week.

We saw a lot of less actives this week: Brother Pochop, the Pierces, Tron, the Melearts, the Walkers, the Wades, and I can't remember the last person. 

I went to the Downtown Newport News branch on exchanges and it was a lot of fun. There's so many people to talk to there.

We taught a hippie guy that was kind of crazy.

We only taught one investigator this week. We didn't find any new ones, but we did get to talk to a lot of people. 

I think that's it. Sorry, and I'll do better next week. 

Elder Dumont

Biking Machines!

Tuesday- So we were on bikes this week, and my bike helmet disappeared, so we were walking everywhere today. We taught a less active named Tron (yes that's his real name, yes he's black). He's pretty cool though. He feels that God's helping him change his life. He started reading the Book of Mormon and he's doing very well. Brother King took us out to dinner.

My desk after study

Wednesday- We walked to Wal-Mart to buy a bike helmet. It took us a long while. We stopped on the way back and read the Book of Mormon with a member. We talked with Tron again, and two of his friends started asking us questions, so we taught them the Restoration. 

Thursday- We did weekly planning, then afterwards, I made pizza. It was really good. I should be a chef when I get home. We spent a lot of the day knocking doors and talking to people of the street. We had dinner with Bishop Hamblin. He's a cool dude. 

Tracting in a nutshell

Friday- We had district meeting and it was way sweet. I went to the meeting with a personal question, and it got answered in the first 30 minutes. We were biking to a member's house, when Elder Haddock's tire came loose and got wedged near his pedal. We had dinner with the Ganuza's. Both of them served missions. Brother Ganuza took us across town to a lesson with a recent convert named Seth Wilson. He's been having a hard time, but we were able to help him out a bit. 

It's me! Now to find a cross street named Zane!

Saturday- We had a lesson with Charlie at the Turley's house. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was going fine, until I said something stupid. It kinda ruined the lesson. Everything came out all right. I definitely learned from this experience. I'm grateful for the Atonement of Christ that allows me to come back and learn from my mistakes. We had a couple of more lessons that day, but they didn't go very well. I did make some really good fried chicken with rice.

Sunday- We had a short meeting with Bishop. Church was pretty cool. The Spirit taught me a lot. We had a correlation meeting with Brother Turley after church. We tracted a little bit more, then went to dinner with Brother Miani. He's from Italy and he is the man. He helps us out a ton. Just before we had to go in for the night, we went and taught a couple of potentials we met.

It was a good week. My knee is holding up pretty well so far. Good things are happening here in Hampton.

Elder Dumont

For you Lord of the Ring fans

So Long Roanoke Rapids, Hello Hampton!

Tuesday- We helped Brother Diettrich mow a few lawns, then he took us to lunch. I came home and took a little time to pack, then we had appointments, and a lot of them. We went and saw Chase Given and said goodbye to him. He took us out to dinner. We went and said goodbye to Bishop and his family.

Wednesday- The morning was spent with me packing. John Thomas invited us over for lunch. I'm going to miss that man. Elder Lewis told me that he went to church yesterday. We left for Portsmouth. We got there, and Elder Lewis and Elder Ward went to their meeting, and I was stuck in the chapel, with another missionary, for 3 and a half hours. We listened in to a little bit of the meeting, and I learned some things that I need to change. We had dinner with the new missionaries, all 30 of them. I slept at the assistant's apartment with some other missionaries.

Thursday- We had a mission conference, the first I've had since I've been here. It was mostly a meeting for our spiritual nourishment. We're reading the Book of Mormon as a mission, and we're marking scriptures on the Atonement, and the Doctrine of Christ: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. We took a mission picture. I got to see all of my former companions and friends. I met Elder Haddock, he's a pretty cool guy. We went back to Hampton, and spent the night planning, but we did get out to see a less active family, the Pierces.

Friday- Today was zone meeting, and President Baker came today. We talked more about the Book of Mormon. President Baker said that when he came in and saw me playing the piano, he was reminded about how us missionaries all have diverse talents that contribute to the work. We got home, had lunch, then went to try to track down a couple of referrals. We didn't find much success, but we did get to teach another less active named Brother Wade. He's a really cool guy with a really cool job. Earlier in the day, we got a call from the Sisters in the mission office. They said that a Fedex guy came in to drop some stuff off, and he was upset. They talked with him and referred him to us. We taught him that night at the church with the ward mission leader, Brother Turley. It was a pretty good lesson. The man's name is Charlie.

Saturday- We went and helped a disabled sister with her garden, then tried to see a couple of investigators, but no luck. We did get to see another less active, named Sister Crist. Elder Black baptized her. We talked about the Book of Mormon with her and she really seemed to enjoy it.

Sunday- I was asked to give a talk on Christlike attributes, so I chose to talk of Patience, Hope, and Charity. I tried Elder Bednar's suggestion to prepare a talk and leave it under my chair. It was a little scary, but it was a good experience. After  church, we had correlation with Brother Turley. I really like him. We went and saw another less active, and then an active member, who is just super great.

Spiritual thought- I was going along with the Book of Mormon reading schedule President Baker came out with. I was reading in 1 Nephi 3 today, and realized something that I need to improve. Nephi and his brethren are given the commandment to go and get the brass plates. Nephi has faith that this can be accomplished. After the first couple of tries, which both ended in failure, Laman and Lemuel were ready to give up. Nephi knew that the Lord would provide a way to fulfill this commandment. He went to the Lord for help. The Spirit led Nephi down the path he needed to go, and he was able to obtain the plates. I thought about how many times I felt prompted to go see someone or do something, and after one failure, I gave up. I realized that I need to be more persistant and rely more on the Lord for showing me the way to fulfill His commandments.

Elder Dumont

Last Week in the Rapids

Monday- We had a lesson with our investigator Milton, and he is awesome. We introduced the Book of Mormon to him and he agreed to be baptized. He's way solid.

Tuesday- We went to Angel's closet, then got to work. We had a lesson with a lady named Kimberly who's black but totally looks like there's a heavy dose of Asian. We tried to mow a member's lawn, but the lawnmower wasn't working. We had a lesson with a lady named Sandra. She doesn't understand very much. We had a lesson with Sharnai. We taught the Plan of Salvation.

Wednesday- We had a couple of appointments fall through. We had another lesson with John Thomas. He wasn't sold right off on the Plan of Salvation, but in the end, he said that he might could believe it.

Thursday-We had a lesson with Greg and introduced the Book of Mormon. After weekly planning, we had a couple appointments cancel. We went to visit a member, but we were a little early, so Elder Lewis and I decided to do some tracting. We knocked on the first house, but no one answered. I went to walk off the porch, when Elder Ward said "Elder, where are you going?" I said "Tracting." He was confused and said, "What? Wait, then who lives here." My response was, "I don't know, that's the point of tracting." He was zoned out when we decided to tract haha. He thought that was the member's house. We talked with a guy named Ronnie, who's way humblesauce. Then we had a lesson with Sandra.

At some point, I forgot my shoes, while Elder Lewis forgot what we were even doing.

Friday- We had district meeting and exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Lewis and I stayed in Roanoke Rapids with Elder Williams, who I totally went to High School with!!! We ended up doing quite a bit of tracting. We had a super good lesson with Kendrick Snow, a recent convert.

Saturday- We got transfer calls, I'm going to Hampton Virginia. If you've ever seen the Youtube video, "Hide yo wife, hide yo kids," that's where I'm going. Elder Lewis and Ward are both training. We exchanged back and had a really good lesson with this guy named Terel. We met him at Wal-Mart. It was a long drive, but well worth it. He's super prepared.

This was not creepy at all. The things you find while tracting.

Sunday- After weeks and weeks of frustration, WE FINALLY HAD SOMEONE COME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sandra came, but left after sacrament meeting. Terel was late, but he was there and he loved it. We had a couple of really good lessons. One was with a new investigator who knew a lot of the stuff we talked about already, and she's never met with missionaries before. We also had a lesson with Milton. He's read to 1 Nephi 9 already. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and he was making notes in his pamphlet. Today was so great.

Elder Dumont

Elder Lewis being...well Elder Lewis