Last Report from the Field

This is it. My next report will be done at home.

Monday- We went to Cape Hatteras with Jacob during P-day. That was a blast!!! We had dinner with the Drake's, then we went and saw Mike Harris and Brother Hulet with Brother Drake.

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​Tuesday- We went and saw Mike again today. We helped him with a couple of projects he was working on, then we talked about the Word of Wisdom. We had dinner with the Estes, then went out and tracted a bit. We talked to a guy that said we could come help him lay some mulch later in the week. We started exchanges with the English Elders. I went with Elder Ferrero.

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Wednesday- We had a pretty good day. We got to see a lot of less actives and members. Elder Ferrero's a really good guy.

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Thursday- After weekly planning, we went out with Jacob to a couple of appointments. They both fell through. We were able to have a meeting with him though. We went and helped that guy lay the mulch, and we taught the Restoration. The Packer's brought us pizza for lunch. We went out and did some bike riding (first time on a bike since December).

Friday- Today was a blast. We woke up early to drop our car off to get an oil change. The Albemarle Elders came and picked us up and took us to Suffolk for our Specialized Training. We received 3 trainings: A personality training, a health and safety training, and a budgeting training (I really needed that last one). In the afternoon, we split up into teams and all played Oompa!!! It was kinda weird playing with Sisters, but it was fun. We picked up the car and Brother Packer hooked us up with some Wendy's. We contacted a referral and that was all we had time for.

Saturday- Brother Winters came with us to a lesson with James. Brother Winters saved that lesson big time!!! We contacted a referral, then went and invited Mike and Dan to church.

Sunday- We had Branch Conference. There were some really good talks given!!! Jacob came with us to a lesson with a Spanish Lady. Jacob translated while we taught. He is awesome!! We had dinner with the Etheridge's.

Love you all!!!

Elder Dumont

They Call Me Elder

Trunky thought of the week: If it wasn't for my week long extension, this would have been my final week in the mission. But alas, I have more time in North Kakali and I love it!!!!!

Monday- We actually washed the car today, like we're supposed to.

After P-Day was over, we had dinner at the Johnson's. We asked them for counsel on how we could help the Greene family come to church. They offered some good ideas that then said they would come with us to our next lesson!!

Tuesday- We had a busy morning: My Plan, DL Call, MLC Call, lunch, DL time, then we went out. We didn't have a whole lot of success today. We got to see Sister Halko and the Hamilton's fed us dinner, but that was about it. We did get this cool pic.

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Wednesday- Today was just plain rough. Nuff said. I guess this would be a good spot for the Meme of the week. We're the worst secret ever!!

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Thursday- Today was much better. We had a good weekly planning session. We both made a goal to not quote movies anymore so we could be more focused.  Not much else happened after that.

Friday- Today was interesting. Us and the zone leaders caught a ride down to Nags Head for district meeting. District meeting was good, but we ended up getting stranded for 3 hours in Nags Head.

​I went on exchanges with Elder Vanisi and we had a really good day. We met with the Johnson's real briefly to get coordinated for the lesson with the Greene's. They had to cancel, but the Johnson's did a great job at inviting them to church and explaining our worship services to them. We met with Brother Smith briefly, and Brother Connel fed us dinner. We did some late night tracting (late night being 8 o'clock). We found some good potentials.

Saturday- Elder Vanisi and I taught a new investigator on our way to exchange back. Elder Collier and I spent much of the day tracting with not much success. We went and worked out our own arrangement for "I Stand All Amazed" for church the next day.

Sunday- Elder Collier sang while I played the piano for the special musical number. People said it was good. My Mom has the recording. We did a lot of tracting and had dinner with the Bairs.

Sorry that was an abrupt ending. I've got to run so I can go to Hatteras. Love you all.

Elder Dumont
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I'm Not Trunky!

But this week sure didn't help with that at all.

Monday- We had dinner with the Moster's.

While we were over there, we found out that Brother Eller had passed away.

Tuesday- It was deep clean day...my last one...(sarcatic) yippee. We went and saw Mike and talked to him about church. He said he really liked it and wants to come back.

Wednesday- I got a wedding invitation from Shane Terril, my trainer. That wasn't crazy at all. We went straight from My Plan to Grandy. We grabbed lunch down there and went and saw Sister Cartwright. We spent a good amount of time tracting, with zero success. It builds character, and knuckle strength.

Thursday- Today, I got my flight itinerary. I'm officially terminal (get it, because like, airport terminal) Following weekly planning, we had a correlation meeting with Jacob. We were thinking that we could walk to one person's house. It turned out to be like 3 miles away. We got a mile in and then were told that it was going to rain soon. As we were heading back to the car, we got drenched ha ha. Thank goodness for waterproof bags. We did get to contact a couple of people, so that was really good.

Friday- We had zone meeting. I gave my departing testimony which is kind of dumb because I still have a month left pretty much. Everybody's going to forget it by the time I leave. I went on exchanges with Elder Edwards. We went and saw Brother Connell and helped him get set up on family search. Apparently, Brother Connell's house is named Lochnagar.

​We hurried home to meet Jacob and he took us up to see a new investigator named Rachel. We introduced the Book of Mormon to her and she was super excited to read it!! Elder Edwards is a funny guy.

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Saturday- We exchanged back. We went and helped Mike with a project and read the Book of Mormon with him.We had dinner with the White's. Sister White prepared my Dad's Sweet and Sour Chicken and Ham Fried Rice recipe. It was sooooo good.

Sunday- We were asked to help run the Primary with Jacob. That was just nuts!! Women of the church, Kudos. Major Kudos. Nah, it was fun though. We met a new less active named Molly. She has a son on a mission in Provo. We went and saw Dan, then Brother Hulet. We went and saw Joshua Greene and his son Malachi joined in. We gave them both a Book of Mormon and they were both excited to read, especially Malachi. We went to the Etheridges for dinner and I skyped my family (actually it was facetime).

I love you all and stuff. Here's my meme of the week.

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Elder Dumont

April showers bring May flowers

Tuesday- I worked on My Plan in the morning, then had a district leader call. While we were out, the GPS sent us down an unpaved road at 45 miles an hour. My driving ability sure was tested yesterday. We were able to deliver a Book of Mormon to a family, and had dinner with the Huggins. I'm going to try to start putting pictures up of the families that feed us. I just don't have any this week.

Wednesday- We went and saw Mike Harris. We talked about him coming to church and he said he would!! We went and saw Brother Eller and Brother Connel, then went to dinner at the Hamilton's. BBQ is sooooooo good!! Sister Hamilton can cook!! Roy and Nick Johnson were there, as well as Brother Smith. We went out with Brother Hamilton and tried to see a couple of people.

Thursday- After weekly planning, Jacob Packer came out with us to see come people. We had quite an adventure!! We went down this neighborhood that was unpaved and just had sand. We were super close to running off the road a couple of times, but it was fun!! We got to see a less active lady that we hadn't seen in a while. We had dinner with the White's and it was super good!!!

Friday- I exchanged with Elder Bearnson after district meeting. We went to lunch at a place called Pass the Salt that was super good!! We did some service for Mike and talked more about him coming to church. We rested for a while, then Jacob and Nathan Packer brought us pizza for dinner, so we had a pizza party in our trailer. They came out with us to a couple of lessons. We taught this guy named Joshua and had a really good lesson with him!!

Saturday- We drove down to Nags Head to get Elder Collier and then back. We were very short on miles. We drove up to Wedgewood, parked the car at Mike's house and walked around. We were able to see Dan and Brother Hulet. We were out tracting when Brother Drake pulled up randomly and asked if we wanted to go home teaching with him. We went and saw Brother Boyd. We gave him a blessing and shared a short lesson.

Sunday- Church was super good today. After church, we had a short meeting with President Evers, and then went and was Sister Sears. We tracted a little bit, then went to an appointment. The guy said he didn't want to waste our time. He started talking about all of these different translations of the bible, and we were like.

Not really, but he was pretty funny about it. We had dinner with Sister Nixon and the Cartwrights.

I love you all. Mom, I'll get pictures of the trailer next week!! For now here's where I sleep. I love you all!!

​Love,
Elder Dumont

Standing Up for Truth

Monday- We went and saw the Sanderlin's and talked about the Book of Mormon. They asked for a large print copy that they could read.

Tuesday- We had our last correlation with Elder Davis, then went and contacted a less active family that ended up coming to church this week!! Elders 1 Satan 0. We also taught this guy that works with Brother Hamilton. We had to cut it short with him, but should be teaching him this week. We had dinner at the Drake's, then nobody showed up for Book of Mormon class.

Wednesday- I started the My Plan thingy for soon-to-be return missionaries. I thought it was going to do nothing but trunk me out, but it was amazingly spiritual. The first week talked about remembering what we've learned and who we've become on our missions. Then it invited us to study out patriarchal blessings looking for certain things. It's amazing!!  President Evers picked us up and drove us to Elizabeth City for transfers.IMG_0054.JPG Elder Collier is a super cool guy I mean Elder!! President Evers took us out to lunch, then we got home. We were there for just a little bit, then we were off to an appointment with Mike Harris, which fell through. We went and saw Brother Eller, and then Brother Connel. Brother Connel gave us an entire chocolate cake!! We had dinner with the Estes' and then went and saw a less-active couple with Brother Estes.

Thursday- After weekly planning, we went down to Grandy. We stopped by the Harvley's and talked with them a little bit. We also saw Sister Cartwright, who absolutely loves family history by the way. We had dinner with the Packer's, who are still just so much fun to be around.

Friday- We had district meeting down in Nags Head, and then Jacob Packer took us out to lunch. We went and taught Mike Harris about the Plan of Salvation. We turned around and taught Dan McCarthy the same lesson. We had dinner at the Waller's house. They made some amazing shrimp fettuccine alfredo!!

Saturday- We went and saw Big Rob and Nichole. We started into the Restoration, then Big Rob went off on us about Joseph Smith. We pretty much just stood there and took a verbal lashing. Nichole started defending us though. We just bore our testimonies and then left. Honestly, the whole experience just strengthened my testimony of the Restoration. We went and saw Brother Eller again, then had dinner with Taryn Smith and her family. They are great!! We talked with Brother Hulet about coming to church.

Sunday- Church was really good today. We had a linger longer afterwards. We had a good conversation with this guy in the trailer park, then went to the Etheridges for dinner. More shrimp!!! I love the shrimp out here!!

Elder Dumont
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Last Call (transfer call that is)

Tuesday- We didn't do a whole lot today. We managed to get out a little bit, but I was not feeling up to it today. We saw Brother Eller again, then we had Book of Mormon class. Brother Smith was the only one there so we started into the chapter, but then felt prompted to watch some videos instead. The Nags Head English Elders drove up to exchange. I drove down with Elder Ferrero.

Wednesday- We didn't get a whole lot done. We tracted a little bit, taught a lesson, had dinner with the Bishop, then exchanged back. We did get to tour a yacht, so that was pretty cool. The Hamilton's drove with us. I love them so much!!

Thursday- After weekly planning, I finished planning district meeting. We went over to Camden. We saw the Sanderlins and set up a lesson with them. We went and tried to contact some potentials, but had no luck. We had a lesson with Andrew Xenos, Brother Xenos' brother. We talked about the Book of Mormon. He was pretty quiet during the lesson, but after we left, he asked a ton of questions. Sister Kynaston hooked us up with pizza, so we had that for dinner.

Friday- After district meeting, I had exchanges with Elder Edwards. We had a lesson with one of their investigators, and had dinner with a recent move-in family.

Saturday- The Johnson's came to help us with exchanges. We stopped at Home Depot (there was a sale on mulch), then we got a call from the assistants. I'm going to stay in Currituck and my new companion will be Elder Collier. I know him a little bit, and I'm super excited. Elder Davis is going to Virginia Beach. After studies, and lunch, we got out there. We helped Taryn Smith and her husband rake some leaves, then went and got some honey from Danny. That honey is amazing!!! Best honey I've ever had.

Sunday- I played piano in sacrament meeting and didn't lose any organs!! I also played for the Young Women's new beginnings. We took the sacrament to Brother Eller, and got to see Brother Hulet.

One last transfer. I'm going to make it count. I love this area and am so grateful that I get to spend the rest of my mission here.

Elder Dumont

Joey's Baptism

Joey's Baptism

 
The baptismal service for Joey was amazing!! The Spirit was so strong. Joey had a really good experience with his baptism. While I was sitting next to him, after the actual ordinance, I felt the Spirit whisper to me, "I love him, and I'm proud of him," and I was allowed to feel a portion of the love that Heavenly Father has for him. Us and the YSA's did a musical number together. I played while they sang "Nearer My God to Thee." After the baptism, we went out to Van's pizza.

Brothers in the Gospel

We confirmed him yesterday, and he was all smiles. After church, we ordained him to the office of Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. He's doing so well.

Sorry this is so short. I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

Spiritual Powerhouse Week!

We had interviews, zone meeting, and general conference in the same week!!! It was a good week!!

Interviews- My interview with President Baker was great. I got my temple recommend renewed. We talked about the needs of the district and said I was doing a good job as a leader. He also explained what's going to be happening with the My Plan thing that the church put out for missionaries last 6 weeks. We had district meeting right after. We went from there to Correlation at the Packer's, to going home teaching with Brother Hamilton, to dinner with the Hamilton's, then to Book of Mormon class. I was spent after that.

Joey Barstow is getting baptized- We had a lesson with him on Wednesday, and he had his interview on Friday. He passed!!!! He couldn't come to conference because he was working, but he watched some of it as soon as he got home. He's just awesome.

Zone Meeting- Zone Meeting was all about prayer. It was really good. Afterwards, I went on exchanges with Elder Hintze. This was the first day I was able to be out all day working!! I felt great. Elder Hintze and I got a lot done. He's a really good missionary.

General Conference- This was my favorite general conference ever!!! There were so many good talks. I loved Elder Ballard's talk on family councils, President Nelson's on being priesthood men, Brother Owen's on leadership, President Uchtdorf's on being rescued, Elder Oaks on opposition, and Elder Holland's on how the Lord blesses us when we try. All of it was just amazing. I look forward to going back and reviewing all of the talks that were given.

I love you all. Have a great week.

At mom's request, some pictures.

Nimrod the Mighty Hunter

The Smith's snoozing during conference

Another plus for Chick-Fil-A

Taking advantage of the free mouthwash

Happy Easter!

We still spent a lot of time resting, so I'll just give a brief summary.

Lessons- We were able to teach a lot more lessons this week. This was due to using the phone more effectively in setting up more lessons. We were able to go out, teach a lesson or two, then come back and rest. It was really rewarding.

Joey- Joey is doing solid. He's been reading the Book of Mormon a lot. Me and him are actually in the same place, so I challenged him to a contest to see who could finish first. I'm gonna win!! He'll have his interview this week.

Easters- The Easter service was super good. Chelsea and Madison Packer sang Gethsemane, which has a lot of meaning in my family. For dinner, we went to the Packer's. The Evers, Smiths, and Gabbie were all there. It was a blast!!! Jacob talked about taking me cliff jumping when he comes to Utah in June!!

Mosiah 3- I read Mosiah 3 Saturday night before bed. It talks all about the Savior's atonement, the reason for the Easter season. I felt the Spirit very strongly testifying that Jesus the Christ lives, and that He did take our sins upon Him. I testify that I know that the Savior suffered "more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore." I know that He lives, and one day soon, He will return to Earth. I eagerly look forward to when I will meet my Savior face to face.

Elder Dumont

Appendicitis

Not much happened this week. We spent most of it in the trailer resting. So instead of having 7 straight days of "we sat at home and studied," I'll just his the highlights.

Appendicitis- Last Sunday morning, I woke up and my stomach was hurting a little bit. I thought it was just hunger pains due to the fact that it was our fast Sunday. I went to church and was doing fine. I even played the piano during Sacrament Meeting. During 2nd hour, I started getting really uncomfortable. I was trying to shift positions constantly, but nothing was comfortable. We went to call the mission nurse, but she was about to teach a Relief Society lesson. After Priesthood opening exercises, I got a blessing from Brother Packer. I survived through the end of church, but as soon as it was over, we drove home, and I curled up in a ball on my bed and called Sister Steadman. She told me to go to the urgent care in Elizabeth City. We would have to wait a hour and a half to be seen. During that time, the pain started going away. The doctor came in and started pushing around on my stomach. When he got to my appendix, I flinched in pain and he said, "Crap." He was a funny doctor. They took a blood sample and came back and said "You have appendicitis." They sent me to the ER after that.

      We checked in and some nurses took me into a little room and did some initial tests. One of them started feeling around my stomach and asked me, "Are you holding you breath?" I said "No." She said, "You have some really nice abs." Ha ha score. Sister Steadman met us at the hospital. They took me back into a room. I got to call my family. They gave me some pain killers in an IV. The surgeon came in and explained to me what was going to happen. They did the surgery lyposcopically. They made a could a small incisions and put a camera through my belly button to get it out. After he left, we waited for the OR team to get set up. They took me to the OR prep room and I was there for about an hour waiting for the anesthesiologist. I went into the operating room at 10:05. The next thing I remember was being waken up and wheeled into my hospital room. Apparently, I called my parents again, but I was so out of it. The nurse asked some questions and then I finally got to go to sleep. The nurse, who was extremely pretty by the way, woke me up every couple of hours to take my vitals, or give me more pain medicine.

     I spent most of the day in the hospital recovering. I was discharged at about 6:30. Hospital food is not desirable. They gave me Percocet for the pain.

Zone Conference- We went to Zone Conference on Wednesday. We had two different sessions, a morning and an afternoon. I made it most of the way through the morning session, before I went to the Mother's Room to rest. I made it through all of the afternoon session, but just barely. We talked a lot about using the Book of Mormon more effectively.

Exchanges- We did two exchanges this week, one with Elizabeth City A (Zone Leaders) and Elizabeth City B so Elder Davis could go out and do some work.

Big Changes- We had a pretty big shake-up in the branch yesterday. The Branch Presidency was reorganized. President Evers is still the president, with Brother Packer and Brother Johnson as counselors. Brother Hamilton is the new Elder's Quorum President, and Jacob Packer is the new Branch Mission Leader.

Elder Dumont

Eventful

Sorry I don't have time to write a weekly update. Here's the brief version.

The work is doing really good here. We taught a lot and we found a lot of new investigators. We had to move Joey to the 26th of March.

The biggest thing is that on Sunday, I got appendicitis and got my appendix removed Sunday evening. I spent most of yesterday in the hospital recovering. I'm doing pretty well, but I still have a lot of pain. I'm going to be taking it easy for the next couple of weeks. I'll try to remember to write a fuller account next week.

Love you all.

Elder Dumont

A Slight Hiccup!

This is from the Dad!

Yesterday was pretty momentous for us, and more so for Elder Dumont. Yesterday morning we received this awesome video of him playing the piano for sacrament meeting in the branch he is serving in.

Made momma so proud.

Around 4:00 pm we received a phone call from the mission nurse who told us that she was in the emergency room with Elder Dumont and that he had appendicitis. We were able to speak with him at that time for a few minutes (blessing) We also were able to talk to him just before he went into surgery and for a minute when he arrived in his room for the night after recovery. He was groggy but doing well. We are so grateful for the blessings of modern medicine and that he was in a place where healthcare was not a concern. We are grateful for Sis. Steadman (mission nurse) and President Baker for keeping informed as to his condition.

He will have a few days of recovery then should be back to the work. We are grateful for his service and looking forward to him coming home in 78 days, although we don't tell him that.

Life is Good!

Tuesday- I had a district leader call, and then I had a mission leadership call, and then we had deep clean. We squeezed a lesson in with our neighbor Tony. We had a lesson with Joey about the Plan of Salvation and temples and family history. It was super good. We had dinner with the McMahon's.

Wednesday- We had quite the adventure today. Brian McMahon picked us up and took us down to Grandy. We saw Sister Reedy and shared a short message with her. Brian dropped us off at the food pantry and we were there for a couple of hours. We had a ride arranged, but that fell through, so we were on foot until dinner. We saw Sister Cartwright and tracted. Brother Hamilton picked us up and took us to his house for dinner. Poor Sister Hamilton was sick, but managed to make us a fine southern feast of pork bbq, baked beans, and eclair cake. That woman is my hero ha ha.
Brother Hamilton came out with us and we saw Kim. We talked about praying in and for our families a little bit. We then had to do a split. Elder Davis went with the Needhams to teach the Harvley's, and I went with Brother Hamilton to a couple of other appointments. They both fell through, but we had a good time just talking and getting to know each other. We picked up Elder Davis and went home.

Thursday- After weekly planning, we had another lesson with Joey. We went over the baptismal interview questions with him. He seems all good to go. Jacob took us out afterwards and we went and saw Lonnie. He was in a better mood, relatively speaking, today. We talked more about the Book of Mormon. We tried to visit a few others, but no luck. We had dinner with the Packer's. They're still the best. Brother and Sister Packer took us to Book of Mormon class and it was so good!!!

Friday- We had a great zone meeting about planning and finding. I got a ton out of it. We grabbed lunch at Firehouse Subs (Thank you Jessie) and went straight to our appointments. First was Brother Connell. He's this really old Scottish guy and he's a hoot. After that we went and saw Mike Harris. That was an interesting Restoration lesson to say the least. We had dinner with the Estes's, and then went home teaching with Brother Estes. We went and saw the Smith's, and I love the Smiths. They're the best.

Saturday- We went to Grandy. Brother Smith met us there and we went and saw Gabbie. We listened to part of Sister Stephan's talk from last conference. Mainly her power struggle with her grand daughter. It was funny, because while we were listening to the talk, Gabbie was having a power struggle with her nephew ha ha. We tried to see some more people around Grandy, but no luck. We did see Sister Cartwright again. We drove home and waited for the Smith's to pick us up for dinner and stake conference. We had dinner at this Japanese place and had some legit Japanese soda. You had to pop this glass ball to get it opened. It's hard to explain. Stake Conference was sooo good. Elder Wilson of the Seventy was there. Afterwards, the Smith's took us to Arby's for ice cream.

Sunday- The Harvley's drove us today. I got to see Elder Ward for the first time since August!!! It was another great session. Several people bore their testimonies about finding God. We came home and started studies, then went and saw Brother Hulet. We stayed in his neighborhood and contacted former investigators. We got some referrals from one man and one of them seems super promising. We got a lot of appointments set up. We had dinner with Sister Nixon, Nick Johnson, and the Smith's.

Life is good. Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

It's a Twister!

Monday- President Baker came and played Oompa with us. It was awessome.

Tuesday- We went with the Drake's to go see the Harvley's and get them started on family history work. The Spirit of Elijah was so there!!

Wednesday- We had to shampoo our carpets in two of our rooms today. It took a couple of hours to get that all done. We finally got out to work, and then a couple hours later, there was a tornado watch, so we were instructed to go to the nearest safe location. We drove to the Hamilton's and would end up being there until 11 when the tornado watch was lifted. We had a fun time. We had dinner, watched 17 Miracles, The Testaments, and some Bible Videos. The Smith's were there too. We were exhausted by the time we got home. Way past our bed time.

Thursday- After shampooing our last room, and weekly planning, we went down to Grandy and saw Sister Cartwright. We had dinner with Sister White.

Beautiful View

Friday- Sister Smith and Roy Johnson drove us to Nags Head for district meeting. After the meeting, I exchanged with Elder Rubow and stayed in Nags Head. We taught a couple of investigators and had dinner at a place called Garden Deli. They give the missionaries a free meal once a week!!! It's really good food too. Elder Luque cut my hair later that night.

Saturday- We had breakfast with a investigator couple. They were super nice. We had a lesson with Irvin Taylor, who is getting ready for baptism. He's super excited and I can't wait to give him his interview. We went to the baptism of Stephanie, Sabrina, and Shantal. The Harvley's drove Elder Davis and Elder Bearnson down. Josh told us that on Sunday, he was going to be ordained a priest, so he can baptize Leigh Ann!!! We also got transfer calls. We're both staying. Elder Rubow and Elder Gibb are both leaving. We came back to Currituck and went and helped Sister Smith move some stuff into a storage unit. We had dinner with the White's again.

Sunday- We participated in Josh's ordination to the office of priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. Joey wasn't able to come to church here, but he went in Maryland and said he took pictures to prove it ha ha. We had a late lunch with the Etheridge's, then Brother Etheridge came out with us. We saw Brother and Brian Steponik and read a scripture with them. We went to a fireside about studying the Book of Mormon. It was very good.

Now that's a crappy truck!

Love you all. Have a great week.

Happiness come from a lollipop, and the Gospel!

Monday- We had a lesson with Joey and Jacob. Joey said that he'd be at church no matter what on Sunday!!! We set him for March 19th to be baptized!! Then we went and had dinner with our neighbor Miss P. Her friend is a member of the church, so she was there too. We taught her the Restoration.

Tuesday- We had a specialized training with President and Sister Baker. It was basically two hours of role playing and it was amazing. We had dinner with the Drake's and then we had a lesson with the Harvley's about family history work and temples.

Wednesday- We went the Joe and Laura Etheridge to get some furniture and appliances for Sister Bair from Nags Head, then we had lunch at their house.

Thursday- We went and saw Sister Sears, Sister Cartwright, and we taught a new investigator. Joe and Laura Etheridge brought Papa Murphy's down from Virginia Beach!!!!! They are my heroes!!!!

Friday- We exchanged with the Nags Head Spanish Elders. Elder Gibb and I spent a lot of time trying to contact potentials, but we did see a dog that had a lollipop in it's mouth. We did get to see a guy, but I couldn't tell how the lesson went, because I don't speak Spanish.

One happy dog!

Saturday- I practiced my dunks on the Nags Head Elder's hoop during lunch. After lunch, I interviewed three of the Spanish Elder's investigators for baptism. They are all amazing!! We went home and tried to contact some less actives, but nothing came from that. We did get to see Lonnie though. We had dinner at Frog Island with the Holders.

Sunday- We had 3 investigators come to church!!! Joey, Leigh Anne, and Austin Spence. Elder Davis and I both spoke. It was a great sacrament meeting. we spent the rest of our day after church contacting potentials and tracting. We had dinner with the Bairs.

Sorry I was so brief, but I literally have 40 seconds left. I love you all. Have a great week.
a hard core ex navy seal guy, then we saw a less active family. We had dinner with Owen and Renee Etheridge, then we went to our Book of Mormon class.

Birthday Week

 Well he fooled us and was able to resend emails.

Sorry if you are getting this again. I tried to send this out earlier this week, but apparently it didn't work for some people.

Monday- We had a lesson with Joey at the church. We talked about the Word of Wisdom, which Joey is doing great with. We had dinner with the Johnson's.

Tuesday- Happy Birthday too me. We went to a place called Coinjock and tracted a good chunk of the town (it's a very small town). A lot of interesting things happened. We had a stray dog following us for a while, we got to try a new soda called Moxie (it wasn't very good), and it started sleeting, just to name a few. We didn't have much success. We went and had dinner with the Packer's though, so that's always a good thing. After dinner, Brother and Sister Packer came with us to see the Harvley's. And here was the best part of the day: Leigh Ann set a baptismal date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Her date is April 10. We're so excited for her.

Our Stray

Moxie

A little sleet

Wednesday- We went and helped out at the food pantry, then we visited Sister Cartwright real briefly. We met up with Jacob, and he took us to see Austin Spence. It was basically just a Q&A session, but it was still good. Austin committed to coming to church. We then went and saw Gabbie and talked about the temple. We went and contacted a couple of referrals, then went to McDonald's for dinner. We headed back to the church and had the Book of Mormon class.

Thursday- After weekly planning, we went and visited Sister Sears, then we spent some time tracting. Brother Waller came with us and we contacted a referral, then went and met with Sister Williams. We hurried back home and got picked up by Brother Joe Etheridge. We had dinner with the Etheridges and their niece and nephew. We had a really good restoration lesson with the niece and nephew after dinner.

Friday- District Meeting was super good. After it, we had exchanges with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Cowley. We met with the Steponik's family and got to know them a little bit. They're a part member family. By the way, it was snowing all day. It was sweet. We went tracting for a bit, then we went and saw the Sanderlin's and they fed us dinner, and introduced the both of us to snow cream. It's like ice cream, but with snow. We shared a scripture with them, then we went and saw the McPherson's and taught them the Restoration.

Saturday- We went back to Coinjock to continue tracting. We met one couple and taught them the restoration. We were outside and there was a cold wind blowing. I had lost my hat, so the wife started looking around her car for a hat for me haha. We had dinner with the White's, then went and visited the Hamilton's. We then went over to the Smith's house and we taught Sister Smith's sister Macy the restoration. It was a powerful lesson. The Smith's are so great.

Sunday- Church was super good. Sister Smith gave her first talk ever and it was amazing!! Later on, we went and read the Book of Mormon with Don Mancuso. We went to the Etheridge's again for dinner, then rushed home and went over to see our neighbor Miss P. We shared a scripture with her, then she hooked us up with some spaghetti!!

Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

Birthday Boy

Elder Dumont's email was not working this week so we didn't get a chance to converse or an update from him. We did receive this message and media from a member in his branch for which we are grateful.

Brother Dumont,

Elder Dumont wanted me to let you know they were having some issues with the internet on Monday so he wasn't sure if his emails went through, he's doing good though. Thank you for sharing him with us here in the branch! He's an amazing missionary!

Yes, Elder Dumont turned 21 last week. We are so proud of his service to the Lord and to the people in Virginia and North Carolina.

It done rained...

...A lot.

Monday- We went and contacted a part member family named the Sanderlins. They are such a nice couple. We read a scripture with them.

Tuesday- Today was deep clean day, so that's always fun. During the evening, we did get to teach the Harvley's. They are so much fun. They're really honest with us and I love it.

Wednesday- We taught Joey about fasting. He said that he's quitting his job soon so he can join the Air Force, which means he'll have Sundays free!!!!!!! We committed him to fast and to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true  yesterday. We went and picked up Brother Hamilton's bike. We're going to start doing a little biking to save some miles. Brian McMahan picked us up and took us around today. We saw 3 less actives with him!!! and he gave us a referral!!! We had dinner with the Moster's, then we did our Book of Mormon class.

Thursday- We had weekly planning. We went to Tull's Creek. We stopped by the Goddard's house and their son Alex was there!!! Elder Thurgood and I taught him a while back, but he went off to college. It was just great seeing him. We went and saw the Sanderlin's again. They gave us some snacks after the lesson!!

Friday- We had zone meeting today, and President Baker was there!! He wants us to teach temples and family history work right after the Plan of Salvation, which I think is great!! After zone meeting, I exchanged with Elder Luque. We had to take the car in to get our brakes looked at, but they couldn't find anything. We had a big day of tracting.

Saturday- Jacob Packer took us down to Nags Head to exchange back. We saw Sister Sears and talked about the Book of Mormon. We also saw Sister Cartwright and talked about prayer.

Sunday- Shout out to my Mom. Happy Birthday. Testimony meeting was super good.The rest of the day was rough. We tried to get as much done as we could before the Super Bowl, and it was pouring rain all day. We did have a lesson with a new investigator named Mike. We were also able to see George Allen.

Quote of the week: My dear young friends, there is another great truth that you young men must learn. It is that everything has a price. There is a price to pay for success, fulfillment,accomplishment, and joy. There are no freebies. If you don’t pay the price that is needed for success, you will pay the price of failure. - James E. Faust

Love you all.
Elder Dumont

Miracles do happen today!!!

We saw a lot of miracles this week.

Monday- After P-day, we went and contacted a member referral named Lauren. They live in our trailer park. We taught Lauren, her roommate Asia, and her other friend Benny the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a great discussion on repentance.

Tuesday- We went to Elizabeth City to help the Needhams move some stuff into a house there. We came back and went out to Camden. We didn't find much success, but we did get the opportunity to teach Joey Barstow about prayer. We're praying that he will be able to find a new job that allows him to come to church. We went out with Brother Drake in the evening, but it was a slow night.

Wednesday- We went to the food pantry and the people there were asking about out beliefs. It turned into a little bit of a bible bash. Things didn't get too heated. We won by the way ha ha. Elder Davis calmly explained what we believed and answered their questions. We went and taught Austin Spence about the Plan of Salvation. He had done some studying up on us before we got there and he was ready with questions. We went pretty deep at some points. We went and taught Sister Sears the Restoration, then stopped at a gas station/arcade for gas. I'm not kidding. It was an arcade inside of a gas station, a pretty good size one too. Stay classy Currituck. We had our Book of Mormon class and it went very well. We had a brief meeting with the branch presidency then went home.

Thursday- After weekly planning, Jacob Packer brought us lunch, then we went out to try to see some people. We saw a less active named Janet Higgs. We only had enough time to get to know here, and then we were off. After dinner, we went and contacted a member referral in the trailer park named Bunkie.

Friday- We had district meeting today. After district meeting, we exchanged. Elder Bearnson, who was trained by my home slice Elder Lewis, came with me in Currituck. We went and did some service for Danny, then we met Brother Needham at a restaurant and he came with us to a lesson with a woman named Beverly. That was pretty interesting. She has a lot of beliefs. After dinner, we went and taught the Harvleys about scripture study and prayer. They are soooo great. They have a lot of faith, and Leanne has gotten a witness that the Book of Mormon is true!!!

Saturday- We exchanged back really early. Brother Packer came and took us to Nags Head and back. We came back and did our studies. We went and saw Nichole and Big Rob. We read Matthew 3 with them. We went and saw Lonnie. We discussed the Restoration with him. He's committed to praying about the Book of Mormon. We spent the rest of the day trying to track down people, but no luck. Sister Kynaston did hook us up with some chicken and pastry (basically chicken pot pie soup) and ice cream.

Sunday- The Harvleys came to church today. We were completely wiped on miles, but Brother Winters helped us out a ton. We went to see Brother Hulet. He gave us a referral for his back door neighbor. We contacted a referral, then went to the church for dinner. Two members from the stake came and did a Book of Mormon fireside. I'll share an observation I had from it:

Brother Merrell and Sister Merrell came and spoke. They talked about a lot of archeological evidences of the Book of Mormon, but the conclusion was that if we were to build our foundation of our testimony on physical evidence, we would be building upon sand. This reminded me of the rock of revelation that Christ tells us to build on. Revelation is essential for anyone to withstand the storms of life. It reminds me of President Packer's quote "No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration." We cannot expect investigators to withstand the storms of life without them gaining a spiritual manifestation of the truthfulness and divinity of the Book of Mormon. We can't expect anyone to withstand the storms of life without that spiritual manifestation.We start on the bedrock of revelation. We get our foundation.We get a testimony. Any further knowledge after that just adds to the structure of our testimony, but without that foundation, the foundation of a spiritual witness that Jesus is the Christ and that He directs His church, our structure will fall. We need to read the Book of Mormon, ponder in our hearts the message it contains, and then ask God, our Eternal Father if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony by the power of the Holy Ghost, that Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Lord has again reached out and established His church upon the earth.

That's all I have this week folks. Love you. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

Snow Elders

Parent note:  To recap the last couple of weeks, Elder Thurgood finished his mission, Elder Dumont received a new companion, and was made district leader.

Monday- Today I said goodbye to Elder Thurgood. I was assigned to spend today and tomorrow with the Elizabeth City Bike Elders, but I still had the car, so no biking for me.

Tuesday- Elder Ashcroft, Elder Trane and I spent the day contacting investigators. We had a couple of really good lessons.

Wednesday- We drove to Portsmouth for transfers and the worldwide missionary broadcast. The broadcast was soooooooooo good. I learned a lot about how I can improve. I got Elder Davis, and we drove Elder Ashcroft and his greenie back to their apartment. We went shopping, stopped for some dinner, dropped off our groceries and went to the church for our Book of Mormon class.

Thursday- We were in the apartment for a while. I spent the morning planning out our district meeting, then we spent much of the afternoon planning out our week. We had dinner with Brother Owen Etheridge and his wife. We talked about the pre-earth life and about adversity and trials with them.

Friday- Today was pretty stressful. We had to go down to Nags Head for district meeting, which is way too far for us to drive. We had a member take us down, but he couldn't drive us back. We had to have another member come and pick us up later on. He had to drive through a little bit of snow to get to us. We didn't really see any snow today. We spent the day in Grandy, trying to contact former and potential investigators. The only success we had was teaching a less active lady. We went to the church to plan out tomorrow. We're limited on miles, so we wanted to make sure we could have something to do all day and still be able to conserve some miles.

Saturday- Today was amazing!!! We contacted a less-active/part-member family in our trailer park. We taught them about the Atonement. After lunch, we were off to Camden. Our plan was to try to contact less active members and if they didn't work out, tract in their areas. This worked out very well. While we were on our way to a less active, we found that the directions we printed off had us take an extra left turn into a similarly named street. We felt prompted to tract it, so we did. The second door we knocked let us in, Lonnie's his name. We talked about the Atonement a little bit, then he started dumping on us all of the rough things he's had to go through in the past 2 months. We just listened to him, and that's what he really needed. He invited us back next week. We had a short lesson with the Packer's and with a less-active family, then went home. Most of our time was spent in the snow. It was so fun.

Saturday- Church was cancelled and we were grounded for much of the morning because of snow. We had to make some new plans, because with church being cancelled, we had a couple of extra hours that we didn't plan for. We felt that we should tract for the first hour. The first door we knocked on let us right in. Vick talked to us about how the Lord had prepared him for different things that have happened in his life. We talked about the Atonement and read Mosiah 3:19 with him. We committed him to reading Mosiah 3 and praying about it. We went and contacted someone that Elder Thurgood and I taught, Don and Amber. We read the Book of Mormon with them. We went and saw Brother Hullet and talked about the temple with him. We tried to contact a potential, but he wasn't home. His mom told us to visit the people next door. Brett answered the door and we taught him a brief restoration lesson. We had dinner with Joe and Laura Etheridge and then came home.

We had a really great week and I'm excited for this transfer. Elder Davis is a great companion. I love you all. Have a great week.

Happy New Year

Tuesday- Today was a pretty crazy day. We were scheduled to go on exchanges with the Nags Head Spanish Elders in the evening, but our ride called and asked if we could go down just after lunch. Our ride, Jacob, had lost his wallet, so his dad was taking him down to the DMV in Kill Devil Hills to get a new one. So we get down there and do our little exchange thing while Brother Packer took Jacob to the DMV. Elder Free (my exchange) were expecting to go back to Currituck, but then we got a call. Jacob had to retake the written and driving test, so we were going to be a couple of hours. We decided to start our exchange by splitting the area. Elder Free and I went and talked to a Hungarian investigator. There was a clear language barrier but through diligence and the language of the Spirit, we were able to help this man realize that reading the Book of Mormon will make him happy. It was a pretty big miracle. We got on our way and had dinner with the Moster's. We went with Jacob, his brother Nathan, and his sister Chelsea to see a recent convert named Gabbie and that was a lot of fun.

Wednesday- Elder Free and I went and saw a less active brother. While we were waiting for him, his little chihuahua started having a seizure. His wife was freaking out and trying to snap him back. The dog survived. We went and exchanged back, then tried to see a bunch of people, but nobody worked out. 

Thursday- Brother Packer picked us up to take us to interviews with President Baker in Elizabeth City. President Baker gave me a lot to think about and challenged me to be my best these last few months. Brother Packer took us to a chinese buffet, and then home. We did a little bit of weekly planning, then Jacob picked us up and took us to the Packer's for New Year's. We played some more ping pong and I got to hold a little puppy (didn't get a picture though).

Friday- We had zone meeting in Elizabeth City and then exchanges with the zone leaders. I was in Elizabeth City with Elder Cowley. We had a pretty rough day, but managed to have a pretty good night. We were able to do some teaching in a couple of finding situations. 

Saturday- We exchanged back and then went and did service for a man Elder Thurgood met on Friday. He has some property that is pretty worn down, so we helped him with a couple of projects. We went and saw a family named the Goddards that Elder Thurgood met on Friday also. The parents were on their way out, but we did get to teach their son Alex the restoration. He's going to school in Raleigh though, so we won't get to teach him again, but those missionaries will. 

Sunday- Fast and testimony was great. After church, we went and tried to see a few people. We were able to see two different Smiths. Brad is a great guy. He's going very well. Then we went and saw Don Smith.

That's our week. Have a great New Year.

Elder Dumont