Cave Springs and Back Creek

Aloha-

After an unexpected call for transfers I took a one hour car ride up to Roanoke, Virginia. Same state, but whole different world. Cave Spring was a bike area until about 9 months ago, then they combined it with the Back Creek ward, so we are actually covering two areas and two wards. It makes for an exhausting Sunday. This area is the wealthiest area in the mission, so needless to say the work is quite bit slower. It is so beautiful though. Roanoke hardly has a city center, but everyone (in our area at least) lives in the gorgeous Virginia homes up hollers of the Blue Ridge Mountains. You could take what seems to be a nearly vacant road up the mountians and end up in a 5 star neighborhood. Truly a trip.

My new companion is Elder Dennison Conger from Orem, Utah. He is awesome. We haven't had the opportunity to teach together very much, with the lack of investigators, but we get along well and this will be a great transfer. He is super funny and energetic, and responsible. I am excited to work in this area. I am praying that those left in Lynchburg will take care of the people there.

We live in a members basement, but won't be for long. We will be moving to a different place during this transfer. So send everything to the mission home and they can forward it to wherever we are living. The ward is great though and we are moving to someone elses home.

The top investigator here is Danny Robinson, who will be getting baptized on June 4th. He is an awesome guy who's wife is a reactivated member with 4 boys under the age of 7. He is an Iraq vet and super solid guy. This area has a lot of potential.

I will let you know more as I know more. As of right now, new area and new companion is a bit overwhelming!
Much Love,
Elder Dumke

An unexpected change

Good morning -

We had one awesome new couple this week. Sam and Mary Beth. They are way nice, in their 30's and have a little 4 year old girl. They attend Thomas Road Baptist Church, and are fairly involved there. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and what it means to have a prophet. We found out they were moving, so the next day we helped them move from one house to another for a couple of hours. I know that it helped build a relationship of trust and I am looking forward to teaching some more.

This week was full of surprises. We taught a few lessons and gave out some good book of mormons. Thursday, after two days of nothing but fallen through apporintments we did some tracting. We prayed for the Lord to lift our Spirits, so we could enthusiastically spread the gospel. First door we knocked was 84 year old Dorris Glass, she ignored everything we said and asked us to leave. Kind of discouraging. 45 seconds later she called out "you boys want something to drink!?" We took her up on her offer and she allowed us in for Mountain Dew and Deviled eggs (which for some reason the entire fridge was stocked of?). She took us on a tour of her house, gave us a few of her deceased husbands ties and played us a few tunes on the piano. For about 15 minutes I felt my life was in fast forward and I couldn't stop smiling at how odd this situation was. I know Heavenly Father knows us and that chaotic tour was exactly what I needed to brighten my day.

The Next day was similar to the past two, nothing seemed to work out. We came back for our nightly planning and had a knock on the door at 9:10 at night. Seemed strange, so we answered it, only to find a pizza man there holding a pizza for us. It was confusing at first, because no one knew where it came from, and only to hear the 801 number did we realize who the mysterious pizza donor was. Thank you family for being my ministering angel!

My companion and I are beginning to find our stride and Lynchburg is more enjoyable. And right when you get comfortable is when you get ousted. I got a call last night to find out that tomorrow morning I am being transferred to Cave Springs, VA with a new companion Elder Conger. It was a real shock and I thought I would be here at least 6 more weeks. I am looking forward to the new adventure in the coming week. I know I will be living with members and the area is basically a suburb of Roanoke.

I now know that this is the right time for me to go and what I am supposed to learn here is just about through. I am grateful for my time spent and the many experiences I have had.

Much Love-
Elder Dumke

Happy Mother's Week!

What a pleasure it was to talk to family!

Living without family for a few months is like those who are living without Jesus Christ. You don't realize what you are missing until remember/realize it is out there. I love my family (extended included)!

This week was much harder, probably one of the hardest. We had many days without so much as a lesson or placing a book of mormon. Plus our top investigator Brian temporarily dropped us. He finally called us at the end of the week, just enough to get our hopes up of him coming to church, but then once again didn't attend.

Some amazing things still happened. Last sunday the hall phone rang and one of the members answered it and then ran to find the nearest Elder which happened to find me. I talked to them, trying to understand exactly what they were saying. After a few seconds I realized what it was they were trying to communicate to me. "I Needa geat mah hands on a Bok a Mormun!" I jotted down their address and later that week delivered it to them. She let us right in and explained she was a former member of the church then left for the jehovahs witnesses, but knew in her heart that the LDS church was true. She wanted to read the Book of mormon again before the the missionaries visit with her, but she is golden! She is out of our area, but her enthusiasm for the gospel really lifted our spirits!

On saturday we spent some time at the Library on mormon.org (as our mission president suggested us to). As we were leaving we passed by this woman, gave her a quick head nod and walked past. As we were about to get into her car she called out "sir, sir!" we turned to see that she was talking us. She explained that she had been having a rough time recently and she asked for us to pray for her. She hadn't ever heard of the church and we explained that the Lord has so many blessings in store for her. She is also out of our area, but the other elders are meeting with her this week.

I am grateful for my Mother and for all the mothers that have raised me over the years, whether that be grandmas, friends moms, aunts, cousins, etc. Thank you for all that is done in the name of Motherhood.

Much Love,
Elder Dumke

Update from Lunchbag!

Well one more week down.
It is true that the weeks feel like days, but the days can often feel like weeks too.
This week we spent some time in the other Elders area, which covers downtown Lynchburg, because one of the missionaries has been really sick. He is actually going home today because he is so allergic to everything that he can't go even go out to work. It has been really tough for his companion who has been couped up for the past 4 weeks. It was a lot of fun going on the exchange. Downtown Lynchburg is awesome. Big Beautiful Victorian homes on the James River contrasted with the hood and abandoned old brick warehouses. We were tracting when the huge rainstorms blew in. I got some video not realizing that only 60 miles away there were gigantic tornados. We had no idea until the next day. The storms were pretty insane.

We had a few fun lessons as well. One was yesterday with Ingrid Hamlet. She has been visiting with missionaries for years now, because she feels a real void in her current church despite being heavily involved. She is intrigued by it because of a good friend who seems to demonstate full joy. It is amazing how much being an example can influence someone elses life. "Preach the gospel at all times, and if neccesary use words." The lesson we taught she had heard, but her 20 year old son was glued to every word. It was awesome. We also had a lesson with 4 Liberty students. They brought up a lot of doctorinal issues that frankly I couldn't answer immediately, and I told them that I couldn't. I had confidence there was a answer and that I would find it and get back to them. So I dove into deep doctorines, beliefs and theologies and came up with a few scripturally backed answers and one real epiphany. A testimony of the restored gospel comes from one source. The Lord. I am grateful that the truth stands "boldly, nobly and independent."

Brian came to dinner at one of the members homes this week. Despite him being from the Hood of Virginia and the Greers being from Provo, Utah they found a commonality in Christ. It went pretty well. The ward is really gathering around him. Unfortunately he didn't make it to church.

The best part of the week came friday morning when we volunteered at the Daily Bread. It is basically like the soup kitchen, where people can come in and get a good free meal donated from restaurants and grocery stores. They come in and sit down and we basically just wait on them. It was very rewarding to see people working hard to earn ends meat, get some.

Love yall,
Elder Dumke

Easter Surprise

Hello there friends, family and fellow children of God

How grateful I am for Easter. Easter is the day we have set apart to remember the Savior, the atonement and the resurrection of all mankind. Being in the Belt Buckle of the Bible belt you wouldn't think Easter would be controversial. However I found that because of Easter's Pageant Origins many fundamentalist Christians find it offensive to celebrate, claiming that we should remember Christ daily. And isn't that the truth? Christ died for each of us individually, not collectively. On a personal level he felt our pain, experienced our temptation and fought through hardship. I don't understand it all but as it says in 1 Nephi 11:17 "I know that he loveth his children, yet I do not know the meaning of all things." Easter is a holiday to commemorate our love for our brother and redeemer Jesus Christ.

This week was once again a lot of tracting, not by choice, but by fate. We had a few days where literally every appointment fell through, but as a result we were in the area to meet people in need of an uplifting Christ centered message. Falling through doesn’t' equal Failing. There is some witty connection between the I in fail and not in fall, but I have a limited amount of time to make it. Maybe that is something you can find for yourself, the connection between fall and Fail. Anyway, we made some great contact and we even ended up tracting in the countryside. Our area covers the impoverished side of Lynchburg, the middle class and clear out to the country including the Appomattox courthouse. This place is big and beautiful. The green has come out and with it comes the humidity.

We had two lessons this week with members with us. One was with Ethel and the other with Brian. In Brian's lesson we brought a member of the bishopric, brother Davis. He rejoined the church just 3 short years ago and he is awesome. He had to quit smoking and made instant excellent fellowship with Brian. We also had 3 baptisms this week in the Lynchburg area (in the other wards), but it great. The mission had 6 this week so 3 from this area was way sweet. We invited Brian to attend the baptismal service and he promised he would be there, but he never showed up. We were truly bummed... until the next morning after helping pass the sacrament we took a seat and saw a lone black man sitting in the corner of the chapel! He made it without us reminding him. This was the first time I had ever had anyone we were teaching come to church. We talked with him after the service and he told us that something had pushed out of bed this morning so he could make it. He apologized for not making it the previous night and explained Rachel (his fiancé) had purposely kept him shopping for the kids all night so he wouldn't make it. It is tough how she is holding him back, because he really wants to get baptized! We didn't have a class for him to go to so I grabbed a couple members, found an empty classroom and ended up teaching a lesson for 40 minutes. My companion thought I had it all planned and was completely oblivious that it was on the fly. The Spirit does amazing things when others are in need.

This week we also had the opportunity to help some investigators cut down some massive 40-foot trees. They were appreciative of our service and ended up coming to church the next day as well. Once again charity never faileth.

Each week brings a new a challenge and each reflection brings a new perspective.
Love yall so much,

Elder Dumke

ReFINER's Fire

This week has been a true week of growth. A whole lot of tracting which I actually enjoy now. It is a little bit like going on a blind date every 2 - 5 minutes. They open that door and you start talking, and quick because they are already staring down that black name badge on your chest. Through out the past few weeks we have seen great success in finding new investigators. Actually leading the Zone nearly every week, but this week was even more tracting without a single ounce of success. Not to say we haven't learned or had fun along the way. A taste of tracting in Lynchburg: Thursday we knocked on the door of a minister at the church of God, an Apologetics (Evidence of the Bible - Without Faith) professor from Liberty and a past preacher who now teaches a community class on cults (Mormons included) all within a few hours. Needless to say it is a lot of fun.

Through it all I have learned a few things. Even if something is true no one has to agree with you. Christ teaches it perfectly in Matt 16:17 - 18 when speaking to Peter. He builds his church upon revelation from above. Prophets included, but belief and true spiritual knowledge come from two places. Above and Within. I feel obligated to question my purpose daily. Through this personal revelation I can feel my purpose emerge and the importance of the gospel message grow. I am grateful to be involved in this endeavor.

We also spent some good time with Less Active Members. The Ward roster has about 300 people on it, but each week there are only about 100 or so attendees. We helped one move, one we played frisbee golf with at Liberty (on our P Day) and the others we visited with spiritual messages and an invite to attend church.

Brian was not a church again, which was pretty crushing and we will have to push back his baptismal date. He has a lot going on his life. Satan is working really hard to keep him from experiencing the Freedom of the Gospel. We are still working with his living and smoking situations.

My companion and I are very different. It is hard not having someone as motivated or as focused, but we are working to improve each other. I have turned into the one that does all the teaching and talking, which is definitely not a good thing. Lessons go much better when we work together, which is currently our biggest struggle.

In times of doubt I turn to the Lord and the Word as simple as that.
John 7:17 - "If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctorine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."

Love yall
Elder Dumke