Beginning Another Transfer

Is it just me or is life in fast forward!
I can't believe another 6 week cycle has come to an end. I have to say I have learned the most in the last 6 weeks, then have compared to any other transfer. Not only about others, but a lot about myself and my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I don't know how I remained calm in the past, or if I even did, because there has been a new light shined upon the principle of "Trust in God." I am thankful for that.
 
4/17/12
This week we were able to teach our good friend Brother Fred Young a few times with a Recent Convert named Richard who joined the church in October. It has been neat to see how much it strengthens the both of them. Fred was able to come to church Sunday and he has a new baptismal date of May 20th. Pray that he can make it. Amanda, who we were excited for, is temporarily out of the picture. Her boyfriend answered the door last time we went, and 'politely' told us to never come back and if she was interested she would come to church and then proceeded to slam the door. Vince didn't go to the temple in DC because of traffic, but he is reading the Book of Mormon with his girlfriend. We also saw Sister Dorsey who has investigated forever and were bold with her about baptism, but she still isn't quite there. Part way thru the lesson her husband called (he was helping out at scouts that night) and asked us to bring him his car key kit. The lesson had to be cut short a bit so we could go break into a car at the church because someone locked their keys in the car. It was funny trying to slim jim and wedge a car door in the parking lot, but now I know how. The things you learn on a mission.
 
Well with transfers, Elder Butler and I will be staying together which is good. And Elder Maxwell is training so I will be a Grandpa! And if I haven't explained this then here is the run down. Your trainer is your dad and your trainee is your boy. Therefore Elder Brady is a great grandpa. Pretty phenomenal that we we will have a 4 generation pedigree within the mission. Anyway - I love you all so much and look forward to reporting on the progress of this week!
 
Much West Virginia Love,
Elder Dumke

Easter

Happy Easter Everyone,

If I were to relate my Week to an Easter Egg hunt this is how it would be:

1.Tuesday we found a nice, perfectly decorated egg and is quite fit for the holiday. It was waiting to be found and was excited when the seeker discovered it.
2.That same evening we saw another egg that we have seen for a while, but haven't really been able to reach, and finally we were able to grab it. Only was it till two days later that we discovered it was not ready to be found.
3. Egg that would rather stay dressed in white, than be decorated

1. We found a new investigator named Amanda, we taught her on her front porch, and she was so ready. She accepted a baptismal date in the first lesson and has a very strong desire to be baptized. She has a long list of things to work thru but she is determined.

2. Pam - We taught her Tuesday and she was glad to see us. She enjoyed conference, read from the Book of Mormon everyday and seemed to have a testimony of the church. We invited her to baptism for Easter Sunday, she said she would really like to be! What a miracle! We taught her the following day to finish up the last few bits and she was committed to living the commandments, but was planning to attend both churches. Her testimony wasn't quite there yet. We invited her to pray. We came back the next day and she dropped us, with a lengthy letter. It went from baptism sunday to no longer teaching. It was really rough.

3. Vince is doing very well. He is getting excited to be baptized in the future. He went up to DC this weekend for spring break with his family and they were planning on stopping by the DC temple visitor center.

We had a really fun dinner with a bunch of families for Easter. Most of them are Utah transplants in Medical School. The night ended with a part member family we have been teaching - the Dorseys. Her name is Angela and she goes by Gigi! How crazy is that? Plus they live on Sherwood Lane. We ate ramps. They are these tiny potent onion things. My stomach was churning all night. I would not recommend eating them off the root.

I love you and I have a video and package on the way home! Hope you enjoy it.

Much Love,
Elder Dumke

Happy Conference

4/2/12
Another week that really flew by!
 
Most of this week we were in meeting and traveling to district meetings giving mission business. It was a really unique experience to get be with President for a few hours everyday. Hopefully the Spirituality grows thru osmosis! The real miracle of the week was the fact that we were able to teach even more lessons, than any other week, despite us being gone the better part of everyday. We had one of the most intense lessons of my mission with Pam.
 
We called her to set up an appointment and she was eager to see us, even offering to see us that night, we couldn't so we set up for the following day. As we began our lesson, we came to find out that she hadn't read any since the last time we had seen her, which was unusual. Almost immediately she went in that the Lord had in fact answered her prayers and the church wasn't for her. She had a big letter she gave to me (which I later read) that said she appreciated everything, but was definite on her decision. We listened carefully and soon found out she had gotten online and found some Anti material, but the real issue was that last lesson, she had opened up quite a bit and felt exposed and embarrassed. In all honesty I don't even remember what we said, but she told us that the moment she decided to 'shut the door' on us, her whole life fell apart. It seems that nothing was going right. By the end she explained, that she must compare the fruit of her life when she was reading and living the gospel and when she wasn't. We invited her to read daily and see how she will better cope with trials and how the days will seem to go smoother. She was excited to and yesterday she came to conference sitting with the Bishop and his wife, and behind President and Sister Pitt. She was riveted and really enjoyed it. I will keep you updated! (obviously ;) )
 
We saw Fred a few times this week too. He has this thing called a Roku? Well we downloaded the Mormon channel and BYU TV on to it and he has been watching it all week and steadily reading one chapter a day. He has really had a new light come into his eyes, despite how sick he is. Still working on smoking, but he watched 3 sessions of General Conference!
 
I am doing well and stoked as ever to be part of this phenomenal work.
Love ya
Elder Dumke
 

DISASTER STRIKES!!!

Hey yall 3/26/12
 
This was another good and busy week. You may have heard about the fire in Charleston, its just a few miles from our apartment and actually the Landlord of the apartment is a member. It was a big blow to the whole city. Really sad story. Also there have been floods throughout the state over the last few weeks. One of the most devastating was in Logan, just about an hour away. On Saturday we loaded up the 12 passenger van with missionaries and went volunteered for the day cleaning up flood damage. We spent most of the day shoveling mud out of peoples yards. You always hear how incredible the church is when there is a natural disaster, and it is true. On short notice we had 70 people in 2 days with new wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, gloves, masks and goggles. It was a super neat experience and another testimony of the church. The Protestant church we were working with said it was the best organized group that had seen. It was tons of fun!


 
Earlier this week we also went to help our investigator Fred clean his house a little bit. He has terminal lung cancer and has a hard time getting around to pick it up so we offered to help him out. It was a big boost for him and gave him a much better environment to live in. Then a few days later he called us and said he was feelin better then he had ever felt and he wanted to come to church. Yesterday he came and loved it!. He has an extreme fear of large groups of people, but in priesthood he stood and introduced himself and said, "Hi I am Fred, I live in Kanawha City and I am planning to be baptized April 15th, as soon as I quit smoking." It was kind of a shock because we set him with a date a few weeks back but hadn't shown much progress until now. Keep praying for him.
 
We weren't able to see Pam this week because her 90 year old father fell and she spent most her week in the hospital, but after not being at church yesterday she texted us and apologized for not coming. I really do love teaching her, because she cares about finding the truth for herself. Sure it is patience trying, to have it a slow process, but she will be a stalwart member.
 
While on exchanges this past week we were able to give two very different people Book of Mormons. My morning studies each day start by first asking a question that we often get and then studying it out in the Book of Mormon for an answer. That morning I studied "If I am happy without God in my life, why do I need to believe in Jesus Christ?" Not a super common question considering we are here in the Bible belt, but interesting none the less. Well we ran into Atheist Lawyer that day and I was able to call on my study that morning and he was very willing to read the chapters we left and to check it out for himself. Next door was a lady who was fed up with churches, but read her Bible daily. She explained her fascination with the John the Baptist and we explained the priesthood and the restoration and she was pretty ecstatic. What a wonderful to share the gospel!
 
The trees are greening and it was beginning to be so beautiful! It hit the 90's this last week already. Excellent driving weather ha. We drove nealy 600 miles this last week and visited all but one companionship within the huge zone. I was aching to get out and knock some more doors. There are just so many miracles everyday. I am amazed how well things work out, when we trust in the Lord. I love yall so much and hope you have a blessed day!
 
Much Love,
Elder Dumke

Blessings

Hey there! 3/19/12
 
The included pictures are us at the dump! Elder Wiederholt and I went a few weeks ago, but had to go again this last week. It took me right back to the Montana days huckin barbed wire, same smell and everything. What a load of fun that was. I got sick for a few days this week as well. (not connected) It was actually the first time on my mission that I have had to stay in because either me or my companion have been sick. Definitely a something I am grateful for. We also had a specialized training meeting that Elder Butler and I had to teach at for an hour about teaching to peoples needs. I was really nervous, because I didn't have a voice hardly at all and I was going to have present to the whole zone. President and Elder Hilton gave me a blessing that I would be able, according to our faith, to speak as the Lord would have me. I was so anxious to say Amen to the blessing, because I knew it would be fulfilled. As it was and I was able to teach for that hour. It was so neat.
 
Yesterday at Church Pam came for the 3rd time, but she split right after the closing hymn again. We even had a member assigned to catch her, but she was too quick. It was a bit discouraging. The meeting was sweet for her too. She has two major concerns before baptism. Baptisms for the dead and she still feels that she will study her Bible during the week and the sermon at her church will fit in perfectly, almost as if the Lord is still directing her to her old church. Well when we taught her earlier in the week we left her to pray about baptisms for the dead and to read 3 Nephi 11. At church one talk the speaker read almost the entirety of 3 Nephi 11 and the other talk was on the temple and doing work for the dead. We thought it would have really touched her - Nope. But we went and taught her with President Pitt and it was amazing! She seemed like in the past that she was almost begrudgingly taking it in. As President shared experiences of others conversions Pam talked about the loss of her husband more and more and her tears flowed as she intently listened to each of his words. She began to feel the impact and joy that comes from the gospel. She won't be baptized next sunday as we had planned, but she will be truly converted when she does.
 
Also continuing to teach vince and luke. Vince is getting stronger in the gospel and we met with his girlfriend this week. We also met luke's girlfriend, but Luke isn't as strong as he was before. We are keeping the faith though! Yesterday the ward had a baptism of the elders that were just put in 4 months ago in a new area. She was a 70 year old woman that went into a members grocery store and heard the book of mormon playing. He has played the book of mormon on his stereo for the last 6 years and hasn't really had anything come of it. This lady ruth however heard it playing and felt something she hadn't felt in 30 years. She had been meeting with elders in Virginia 30 years ago and was set to be baptized and then she moved and she lost contact with the church. This brother gave her a Book of Mormon and an audio cd and then contacted the elders. They went over to her home 30 minutes later and she was already listening to it. Yesterday she was baptized and it was so neat to see a real testimony of how the Lord knows and loves his children and wants them to return to live with him.
 
Looking forward to another great week!
Love yall!
Elder Dumke