It Was a Good 7 Days!

Monday- Nothing really to report, other than someone stole our pizza that a member left on our doorstep for us haha. 

Tuesday- I had physical therapy in the afternoon. We had an appointment with someone named Bernie Christian, but he forgot our appointment. We had a lesson with Daunte and Brother Doyle came with us. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was the first time I had taught the Gospel to someone in 7 months. All in all, it went pretty well. We did a active member lesson with Brother Williams, then Brother Doyle brought us Hardee's (Carl's Jr to you western folk).

Wednesday- We had interviews with President Baker. I asked him for advice on how I could further develop my love for the Savior. His inspired counsel to me was to read the 4 Gospels. So that was great!! We went and saw William Joseph. We just read the Book of Mormon with him. We were on our way to another house when we saw Bernie Christian and his wife outside, so we taught them the Restoration. They agreed to be baptized when (not if) they come to know that the church is true. We went and saw Brother Greene, then had a meeting and dinner with Bishop Hamblin. 

Thursday- Elder Heagy had a new missionary conference call in the morning. After weekly planning, we went and did some service for Sister Sedgewick, then came home and got picked up by Brother Miani. He came with us to dinner at Sister Johnson's. We came home and tried to contact a new less active, then came home. 

Friday- After district meeting, we went and cleaned out some lady's gutters with the other Elders. We had a couple appointments fall through. We went and visited our investigator Dawn. She's still solid, but she's been really sick for the last little while. We talked to her about receiving a priesthood blessing before her next Doctor's appointment, which she agreed to. We went to the Christians' house, but Bernie wasn't there. We gave Karen (the wife) a Book of Mormon and she was excited to read it. We had another lesson with Daunte, then tried to visit a couple of less actives. Jim took us to Chili's and they have a new cookies and cream molten cake that is to die for. 

Saturday- We taught William Joseph the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the morning. We took Daunte to a baptism in the afternoon. And we had dinner with the Massey's in the evening. They took us to Golden Corral.

Sunday- Church was really good today. After studies, we went to a couple of appointments, but they both cancelled. We decided to go see the Walker's and we had the best lesson I've had there. The Spirit was in control the entire time. We went to Brother Turley's and he showed us how to make Ramen Noodles, but way better. We role played the Gospel with him.

That was our week. No transfer call. Finishing training this time. Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

Servicable

Cool Sunset

Tuesday- I had a doctor's appointment for my tendonitis today with Doctor Durbin. It hasn't gotten any better, so he recommended Physical Therapy. We went and saw a man named George and taught him the Restoration. He's read the Bible quite a bit. Afterwards we went to see the Walkers and they fed us dinner. I love the Walkers. I started my exchange with Elder Tolman in the evening.

Wednesday- We had a pretty good day today. We saw Joseph Garcia, and basically just had a bash. Not fun. We went and saw Brother Greene, and he introduced us to his upstairs neighbor who may be interested in learning. We saw William Joseph and just read the Book of Mormon with him. We saw the Christophers and encouraged them to fill their home with the Book of Mormon. We then went and saw Daunte and taught him the Plan of Salvation. He's so solid. His sister joined us for the closing prayer. We then went to dinner with Jodi (Sister King's friend) and the Kings at Panda Express. So good. Jodi had a question that we were able to answer. We went and exchanged back.

Thursday- I had Physical Therapy in the morning. They said that my tendonitis was caused by my muscles being too tight, so they gave me some stretches to do. We got home and helped another one of Sister King's friends move some stuff to her new house. We finally got to weekly planning, but weren't able to finish because we had dinner with Jim. He took us to Five Guys, oh yeah. 

Oh my Five Guys!

Friday- We had district meeting today, and afterwards we helped a less active member move apartments. We got home and did companionship study for a bit, then we went and had dinner with the Pierces. They fed us Yakisoba and it was sooooooooo good. We went to try to contact some less actives, but had no luck. 

Saturday- We helped an active member family move out today. Afterwards, we met with a new sister in the ward named Sister Bruhn. She's really cool. We tried to swing by Marcus and Sheena, but Sheena wasn't home. We got in Marcus' face a little and told him that he needs to read the Book of Mormon for his family. We went and tracted a little bit. On the street we were on, every Christian person we ran into was pretty rude, but the one pagan guy we ran into was super nice haha. Talk about irony. We had dinner with Sister Crist.

Sunday- Daunte came to church once again. He's on fire. He brought his niece with him too. It was the primary program today and a little girl did a solo with the song "Gethsemane." She did super good. After coordination and studies, we went out and worked. We were able to talk to a few people. One lady thought we weren't Christian, so I pointed at my name tag and said, "But it says Jesus Christ right here." haha We had a laugh at that. She asked for a Book of Mormon. It was really cool.

La Cucaracha is no more!

Transfers are this week, but I doubt we're going anywhere. Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont

The Field is White

Monday- The only thing that really happened today is that we met a guy who wanted a debate. We bore testimony and walked away.

Lego Bible

Tuesday- We got a few contacts in, but the majority of our time today was spent cleaning our dirty apartment. We did go out to dinner with the Kings, then went with them to see Sister Crist. We exchanged with the zone leaders, and I got a blessing for my knee. 

Wednesday- Today was the start of a really good day. Our morning kind of tanked, but after lunch, it really picked up. We taught a man named William Joseph about the Book of Mormon. He has a little trouble reading small print, so we told him we would get him a large print Book of Mormon. We then spent some time going around and trying to meet some less actives. We didn't get to sed any, but we were able to talk to a lot of people. We had dinner with Brother Greene, then went to help one of Sister King's friends move a fridge. We hurried home and got picked up by Brother Turley for a lesson. We taught a guy named Joseph Garcia and he's awesome. He says he's Christian, but he believes that we need to obey the commandments. We had a really good lesson, and afterwards, he gave us Chipotle coupons (he's a manager there). We went and taught the Pierces about family history, then went and exchanged back.

Thursday- After weekly planning and lunch, we went and taught Seth Wilson about the Law of Tithing. He said he needs to get back into it. We went and did some service for a sister in the ward, then had dinner. We went and taught a new less active named Robert Parks. He's a way good guy. He's taking care of his wife at home, so he's not able to come to church. 

Friday- District Meeting was all about increasing our faith through willing obedience to the Lord's commandments and mission rules. It was really inspiring. We went and taught William again with Brother Massey. We went and did some service for the Elders Quorum President, Brother Young, then we had dinner with the McAvoys. They are amazing. We invited them to fast and to pray for opportunities to shard the gospel, then we asked if there was anyone they would like us to fast for with them. They brought out a huge list of people they're trying to share the gospel with!!! What a blessing members are.

Saturday- Our 3 appointments in the morning bailed. As we were heading home, we started talking with this guy and we ended up just teaching him the Restoration right there. He had some really good comments. After lunch, we biked around and talked to people. We went and taught a guy named Daunte. He had met with missionaries in New York, and he is prepared. We set him for baptism on November 14th. We tried a couple of more people, then came home and waited for our friend Jim. He took us to Cafe Rio!!! The only one in the mission, and it just opened a few weeks ago!!! I was super pumped. When we got there, we saw the AP's. I got to see Elder Terril one last time!!! It was a super great night.

Cafe Rio comes to Virginia!

Sunday- Daunte came to church today. He said he really enjoyed it. He was pretty quiet until Elder's Quorum. He opened up a little bit more then. After studies and dinner, we went and biked around for a bit, then got picked up by Brother Miani for a lesson, and it was great. It was with a girl named Joy. We gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet before. She had read it and wanted to get baptized!!! We set her for November 14th as well. 

Elder Moustache

Things are really starting to pick up here. The Lord has truly blessed us. I love you all. Have a great week.

The River

It's Raining Spirit!

I know, that was really lame, but that's all I could come up with. It rained a ton this week, and General Conference was just so powerful.

Tuesday- We spent a lot of time tracting and trying to contact less actives, but we were met with very little success. We had dinner with the Short's and they made some pumpkin ice cream that was off the hook!!! We drove to Downtown Newport News to do exchanges with the Elders. I stayed in Downtown.

Just a small sample of all the rain last week

Wednesday- It was a very wet day. After studies and lunch, we went to the stake center to do a family history course that the stake president wants all missionaries to do. After we got back, we went out in the rain and worked. I tried to focus on having better contacts with people. We had a couple of contacts that went super good. We exchanged back that night.

Hand pedal bike. So hardcore.

Thursday- We had a crazy morning. After studies, we did lunch, then we had an apartment inspection. As we were getting ready to do weekly planning, we got a text that we were to prepare to evacuate in response to the potential of Hurricane Joaquin hitting us. If we were going to evacuate, it would be the next morning. After weekly planning, we drove to the Jacob's house and shared a little lesson with them. We found out that they're moving. We came home and did dinner, then we went to see the Christopher's. We got word that the hurricane was veering away from us, so we were safe.

Guess who's working harder!

Friday- We had zone meeting today and it was really good. It was mainly focused on increasing our faith in finding, cause in reality, I've lost a lot of faith in that regard. It was a motivating zone meeting. We were on our way to an appointment when we stopped and talked to some people, and we really tried to focus on talking with them and not at them. It worked wonders. We were able to discern their concern (haha that rhymed) and address it. They were excited to meet with us. We stopped by the Walker's for a quick lesson, then went to dinner at the Wade's house. They asked us to share a lesson about patriarchal blessings. 

Brother Nelson, I love this man!

Saturday- GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!! In order to keep this email somewhat short, I'll share a highlight for me from each of the sessions. 

Morning Session: I really liked Larry R. Lawrence's talk. I especially loved his suggestion to go home that night and ask Heavenly Father "What is keeping me from pregressing?" I tried that and the answer I got surprised me. I'm going to be sure to act on that revelation.

Afternoon Session: I enjoyed Vern P. Stanfill's talk about preparing ourselves with a bright light of testimony that will enable us to cut through the darkness that seeks to overthrow us. 

Priesthood Session: I loved the talks the First Presidency gave, but my highlight for this entry is Elder Anderson's talk about faith. It may be because the name of the boy in the story he told was Zane (my name), but I really felt that his address on faith was meant for me. 

Shoutout to the Children's choir from my hometown Riverton, Utah. That was so awesome.

Sunday- Morning Session- The testimonies of the three newest apostles gave me a powerful witness that they truly are called of God to witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. Elder Renlund's testimony hit pretty well a key principle of missionary work: seeing people the way Heavenly Father sees them. Something that I could improve on.

Afternoon Session- As much as I love the new word Ponderize, I really liked Von G. Keetch's talk. "Don't be too critical of the barrier, it's the only thing keeping you from being devoured." To that I say, from personal experience, respect the barrier. Respect the commandments. President Monson and Sister Stephens both hit on commandments as well.

That was our week. A whole lot of rain, but no hurricane. I hope you all will take the opportunity to go back and review General Conference.

Elder Dumont

After much tribulation...

Cometh the blessings.

Monday- I locked our keys in the car. $110 for the locksmith. We weren't able to do anything as a result.

Tuesday- This is kinda funny. Our smoke detector malfunctioned and wouldn't stop going off. We ended up calling 911, cause I didn't know what was happening. We just went around today trying to talk to people and contact people, but we didn't have any success. We went to Cracker Barrel with the Massey's.

Wednesday- We had zone conference today, and it was probably the most spiritual zone conference I've had. We got black boxes installed for the cars. Tracks speed, acceleration, location, brake pressure, and reckless driving. Fun stuff. We had a lesson with Brother Greene, then went home and had dinner. We talked with people for the rest of the evening. 

Thursday- We had weekly planning, then went and saw Seth Wilson. The rest of the day was spent trying to contact people, but again, we were met with little success.

Friday- We just tried to contact people and talk to everyone but once again, little success. 

Saturday- We went and saw Sheena and Marcus in the morning. We just read the Book of Mormon with them. We biked clear across our area for another appointment, but he wouldn't answer the door. After lunch, we just tried to contact people. Little success. During the evening, we were planning on role playing with Brother Turley. What happened instead is he took us to the Swetish's house, where he, Brother Swetish, Brother Carroway, and Brother Young were babysitting so their wives could go to general conference. We had dinner with them and did a group role play. We got a lot of good feedback.

Sunday- Church was so good today. Both the talks during sacrament meeting were amazing, and we had two members bring friends to church. One of them signed up to feed us in a couple of weeks. Today was the spiritual recharge I needed. We didn't get a whole lot of proselyting in, but we tried to make the most out of what we had. We had a good discussion with a man about the Book of Mormon and talked with some other guys about the Restoration. 

It was a rough week, but so worth it when considering the miracles we had yesterday. Love you all. Have a good week.

Elder Dumont

Training in Hampton

It's been a pretty crazy week this week.

Found a new bike helmet for Elder 

Tortirici

Tuesday- We had Elder Ray with us. Trio party!! We went and taught Sheena and Marcus the Book of Mormon. They absorbed it pretty well. We went tracting a little later on and were able to teach a lady named Andrea. We went and had dinner with the Walkers, then went and saw the Christopher's, a less active family. 

Wednesday- I had to be down in Portsmouth at 9 for a meeting, so we had to leave pretty early. President Baker met with Trainer's first and just talked about his expectations for us. He then welcomed the Greenies into the room. My new companion is Elder Heagy from Farmington, Utah. He just graduated from high school last year, so he's super fresh. We went home and did our first companionship study, then went and saw Brother Greene. We had a couple of appointments cancel, so we tracted haha. We had dinner with Brother King, then went to try to contact a couple of people. As we were on our way to contact someone, we started talking to a guy named Melvin. He's a really cool guy. We taught him the Restoration, but we had to leave a couple of things out because of his beliefs. It was a good first lesson though.

Elder Terril begat Elders Dumont and Jensen and Elder Dumont begat Elder Heagy

Thursday- We had weekly planning and stuff. We ended up doing quite a bit of tracting. After we had dinner, we went and saw Chris Nelson. We had a really good talk about the Atonement. I love that guy.

Friday- We had district meeting, and we got two more companionships in our district, the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders. We role played giving a church tour, so that was a lot of fun. We went and saw the Wade's and talked about the stake Book of Mormon reading. They're so willing to improve and get better. I love them. On our way to the Walker's, a car in front of us started having problems. We didn't know what to do, so we just sat there and talked with the guy, you know moral support and stuff. We went to the Walker's and really helped Brother Walker out. He was kinda bummed when we got there, but he perked right up by the end of the lesson. 

Saturday- We went and did a day of service at Fort Monroe. It was a stake activity. It was way fun, and we got a picture by the bay. We had lunch, then went and did studies. We had dinner, then tried to contact some people but didn't have any luck.

Day of Service

By the Bay

Sunday- Church was really good today. We had a new family move in, so that's big. After church we had a correlation meeting, then we had studies. We went to try to teach a guy, but he wasn't home. We did get yelled at by the apartment manager. He told us to stop soliciting? Anyway, we had dinner with the Browns and they are so funny. Sister Brown kept feeding her baby an acocado , and the baby did not like it, but he kept eating it. We went and tried to contact some less actives, but didn't have much success. However, after one of them, we went and talked to a guy and taught him the Restoration. He's a way good guy. 

Elder Heagy's a stud. I love training. I love life. I love my friends. I love my family. And most of all, I love my Savior. Have a good week.

Elder Dumont

Brings new meaning to the phrase "tree hugger"

Matt Foley, motivational speaker.

Sorry, My Bad!

Tuesday- We had a pretty busy morning. We taught a lady named Dawn and she is solid. She loved the Restoration. We then went and taught another lady with Brother Anderson, but she wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Dawn. After Lunch we went and talked to a bunch of people, but didn't have much success. 

Wednesday- We went and took a survey thing in the morning. We tried stopping by a bunch of people, but no one was home. We went and did service for a member family with the other Hampton Elders, Elder Ray and Elder Ballantyne. We cleaned up their back  yard. There was a ton of junk back there. We carted everything out to the curb for them, then we had dinner with the Ganuza's. There son is so funny. He stood right in front of us and pooped his pants. He is such a funny kid, I love him. The Ganuza's are super great.

Thursday- We did our weekly planning, then tried to contact a bunch of people, but no dice. We biked clear to downtown for a cancelled appointment, but it was worth it. Downtown Hampton is way sweet. We saw Brother Green, then had dinner. We tried to set up a lesson in a member's home, but it fell through. We're going to try again tomorrow. We went and saw Brother Pochop. We talked about prayer and it was a way good lesson. The more time I spend over there, the more I grew to love and respect him. 

Friday- We had district meeting today and stuff. We got a member present miracle. We're were going to teach one of our less actives, and one of our investigators was there, so we taught both of them. We then went to the Wade's house and taught the Plan of Salvation. We focused on their 8 year old. He had a ton of questions. I love that kid. We went to the ward fish fry that night and had a grand ole time. 

Saturday- We introduced the Book of Mormon to Dawn and she loved it. I think she thanked us for bringing it to her 8 times at least. She is so prepared. We got transfer calls. I'm getting another shot at training!!! I'm super stoked. We went and saw Brother Walker. We had the adult session of stake conference and it was super great. I got to see a lot of the New Kent Brothers: Brother Chrisofferson, Brother Baird, Brother Turner, Brother Rivord, Brother Fairbanks President and Sister Hansen, and President Johnson. I miss New Kent so much. Stake conference was interesting. They used a website to do a live poll, then the stake presidency based their talks around the results.

Picture sent by member after Stake Conference

Sunday- We had an hour before we had to leave for Stake conference, so we went and taught a lady and her husband. We talked to a bunch of people on the way there and back. Stake conference was super great again. The biggest thing I got out of it is the importance of yielding to the Spirit. I defined yielding as: slow down, pause, look, listen, discern, act. Those are 6 things that I need to do better at, and I'm confident that if I do these 6 things, I'll be able to be led by the Spirit more. We had dinner and coordination at the Turleys, then we went to see the Pierces.

It was hot and humid most of the week, but it's cooled off. I'm so glad we're in the car this week. Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Dumont