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

Short on Time, We'll see how it goes

We taught lessons.

We found new investigators.

We had a lot of cancellations.

We had interviews with President Baker.

He says that I need to teach simpler.

He's right

We have transfer calls this week.

Roanoke Rapids has more flakes than the cereal aisle at Wal-Mart. We had no one show up to church. Stuff. That's all.

Sorry this is totally lame.

Elder Dumont

So Busy

We were constantly running around this week. Every day was filled with stuff.

Prepared Investigators

     We found a couple of people that have a ton of potential, real potential. One of them is John Thomas. He's an older guy that lives in Weldon. We had an appointment with him on Wednesday. We got there and we found out that not only did he remember, but he was prepared. He set up some chairs for us on his terrace!!! It was raining, so we had to do it inside. He had put a few water bottles in the freezer for us just an hour before we got there. We taught him the Restoration and he said, "How do I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet?" That's super exciting, cause it shows that he wants to know. We went back and introduced the Book of Mormon to him, and his lady friend came halfway through, so we introduced the Book of Mormon to her as well. He's gone for the week at a football camp. 

Our wasted hours

     On Wednesday, we had to take the car in to get it fixed. We got a shuttle ride to Angel's Closet and did some service. We got back, and we thought they were almost done, but they ended up taking another 3 hours, and the shuttle guy was on break. It was sucky.

Hooking a gator up

     We had a lesson with an investigator named Gilbert, and we had Chase Given with us. Gilbert asked us what we were going to do for dinner. Chase said that he was going to take us to Taco Bell. Gilbert said, "Have you heard of those news captain crunch delights?" We said no. When we were on our way to Taco Bell, Gilbert asked us if we'd bring him some Captain Crunch Delights haha. So we did, and he was super happy.

Weather sucks

     It's starting to get back up to the upper nineties, which sucks when the humidity is at 70% and we're outside mowing lawns for a few hours. I can't wait for the fall, when the weather is less sucky.

That was our brief week. I'm thinking about going back to the old style. We'll see.

There is something wrong with that tire!

My reading spot

Pot head (not what you think)

Snarky Selfie

Elder Dumont

Elder Bednar!!!

I'll get to Elder Bednar at the end.

Teaching

     We spent a lot of time this week teaching. We taught a total of 15 lessons this week, which is the most I've had for about a year. 

Donaheys

     4 of those lessons was taught with either Brother or Sister Donahey. We went out with Sister Donahey 2 days in a row, then went with Brother Donahey the evening of that second day. 

Service opportunities

     The Sister's investigators Kenny and Sha'qual were moving, so we helped them out. We put some stuff in Bishop's trailer, then went over to their place. They weren't there, and their door was locked, so Elder Ward and I threw a baseball. I miss baseball so much. They finally got there, and we finished up. We were at a car dealership, getting our car looked at the next day, and we got a call from Bishop. He needed some help with something at his movie theater. We got a shuttle to take us there. We did some service at Angel's closet, and then we mowed Sister Crawford's lawn.

Movie theater chilling (don't worry, we didn't watch anything)

Someone has to come

     We desperately wanted someone we were teaching to come to sacrament meeting. We had to have invited over 50 people to come. We called all of our investigators on Saturday. Sunday rolled around, and nobody came. It was very disappointing, cause Elder Bednar lit up the Chapel. We decided that we did all we could do, and that we want to say that every week. I want to say that I did the best I could do every week. We realized that we should be as excited every week for Sunday, no matter who's speaking. 

We had to get creative with food this week. Eggburger.

Elder Bednar

     The first glance I got of Elder Bednar: I was sitting at the sacrament table, and he walked by with Brother Lansing (his friend) and walked up the hallway towards the bathroom. The second I saw him, I suddenly received an inspired thought. If I'm this excited to see an Apostle, think about how great it'll be when the Savior returns to the Earth. I came to the conclusion that I, assuming I'm still living, want to be there to welcome the Lord back to the Earth at his second coming. Both Sister and Elder Bednar gave amazing talks. Sister Bednar talked about staying true to who we are as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Elder Bednar spoke about making the sabbath a delight. He urged us to not be afraid of repetitious teaching. Line upon line comes from this repeated teaching. They did a Q&A session for the 2nd and 3rd hour. They work very well together and they are hilarious. After church, everybody got to shake their hands, then Elder Ward asked for a picture and Elder Bednar agreed. It was the best ever, definitely a life changing experience. 

Elder Ward, Elder Bednar, Elder Dumont, Elder Lewis
Now that's a foursome for good!

Elder Bednar's Business Card

Sacrament Meeting Program

Elder Dumont  

My Special Noodles

Elder Ward eating my special noodles

The Ward Technique

Dr. King and I

I'm trying something new this week. This is how Elder Ward sends his emails. Without further a do (yes I'm aware that's not how you say write that) the Elder Ward technique.

The Work

     Things just blew up last week. With a trio, we can go into any house, even if it's a single female. We were able to teach more lessons than I've taught in nearly a year. We also found a lot of new investigators. At least one of them is going to be baptized. The struggle now is getting people to commit to appointments. Two of our new investigators are that couple (Thomas and Joyce) that Elder Lewis and I did service for a few weeks ago. We set another one for baptism on August 1st.

The Weather

     It was a very wet week. Nothing like tracting in the rain, oh yeah!!!

The 4th

     The 4th was such a great day. No parades, I guess they don't believe in parades in the south, and to that I say boo. There were fireworks though. We went early so we could contact people and found a lot of success. We came away with 140 I/O's and a funnel cake (so yummy)!!! The fireworks were pretty sweet, but during the finale, a truck stopped right in front of us, so we could only see the really high ones. If I wasn't a missionary, I would have grabbed a random egg, and hucked it into a frying pan, and the cooked it to perfection, then offered some to the guy, but instead of giving it to him, I would have ate the egg right in front of his face. What did you think I was going to do? Egging people is just mean.

The Testimonies

     Elder Ward got up to bear his testimony, so Elder Lewis and I followed him. I could not get through it, I was crying so much. Just so we're clear, I don't cry except on very special occasions, like when Mufasa died, or when my ice cream cone topples over. I bore testimony about the Love that God has for e'rebody. Sorta random but...yeah.

The Nap

     Elder Lewis started his fast early, so he took a lunch hour. Elder Ward and I were still fasting, so we took a Sunday nap. It was the best nap I've ever had. We woke up pumped to go do work.

I'm kinda hyper today, so sorry about the total randomness. On second thought, I'm not sorry. That email was sweet. Love you all. Have a great week. Bardledoo my friends. Bardledoo.

Love,

Elder Dumont

Elder Ward

Elder Ward

Creepy house

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