Week 2

Hello Everyone,



How is everybody doing? I am doing great. I had an awsome week with some amazing devotionals. On sunday we had a good priesthood session. Talking about magnifying our callings as missionaries. We had a devotional that night to where the head administrator of the MTC invited 5 recent convert missionarie on stage and asked them questions. It was so cool. Monday we had this incredible group meeting about disregarding previous judgements of our missions. He said if you were dissapointed to go stateside, repent now. I regret ever doubting the Lord. He also said to not lower your expectations if you ahve heard they don't baptize a lot in your mission. As your expectations decrease, so does your effectiveness. Tuesday night we had a devotional led by none other than Kevin W. Pearson. The most amazing talk I have ever heard live, hands down. His wife started off with Pray as if everything depends on the Lord, Work as if everything depends on you. So good. He spoke next and emphasized the importance of becoming a disciple of Christ, not simply doing the mission work. He also spoke on the importance of obedience as that it is the foundation of faith. It was super inspiring. Afterwards I went up and shook his hand, which was a bit of challenge considering the number of missionaries that wanted to. It was basically a mob around him, but I got up to him shook his hand and said, "I believe you know my father!" He ended up talking to me for a bit as the other missionaries drooled over my 15 seconds of fame.

Wedneday we hosted the new missionaries, meeting them curbside. It was a little diffferent being on the recieving end, but it of course threw me right back to when I was dropped off two weeks earlier. It was cool to be able to welcome the shell shocked missionaries and attempt to comfort them. Can be quite the task. Our teacher later assigned us teach a lesson to someone in our class. We were invited to teach them whatever we felt they needed to hear. It was a deeply spiritual experience to sit quietly and pray to Heavenly Father what we feel someone needs to hear. I testify that he does communicate with us. I had a distinct answer to what this Elder needed and I was able to teach him. I don't know if it benefitted him or me more, but it was the first time I have cried since I have been here. And it was great! I even watched the restoration hoping to shed a tear, and nothing get these eyes of mine to sweat. It felt so good to feel like a direct servant of the Lord, and a true mouthpiece of the Spirit. Later that night I was playing basketball and I landed on someones foot. I heard a loud pop and immediately hopped over to the clinic. They diagnosed it as a really bad sprain, but I would have to get X rays in the morning as that they feared I had cracked some stuff. I went back to my room and my companion gave me a blessing with all the elders in the distrcit gathered in the circle. It was so cool to not only recieve a blessing, but to watch observe faithful servants of the Lord participate in some of their firsts.

So my entire P day so far has been waiting in health clinics and being taken to BYU health services for X rays. It is only a sprain, and they think it is pretty bad, but I am sure I will be fine. Don't worry about a thing. I should be off crutches by tommorow! Unfortunately I did miss the temple though. Which was a bummer.

Life at the MTC really is good. I am getting so comfortable with lessons and teaching the plan of salvation to a woman earlier this week was so neat. She recently lost her mom to cancer and she was crying the entire time we told her about the celestial kingdom. I can't wait to get out to the field and meet real life West Virginians! my flight is at 7 so I will probably call you around 5;30 or 6 am. I also have a layover in Detroit so I may sneek in a second one. We will see. I love you all so much! Thanks for your letters and packages! They brighten my already beaming day. Can''t wait to hear more and talk to you in a couple days.

Peace and Blessings

ELDER DUMKE

PS lots of letters on the way! watch for them.

Week 1

HELLO!!

Family I am actually beginning to miss you guys. JK I have missed you from the get go. I am loving it here. The work is hard, but I have never done anything more fulfilling. EVER. I have met so many cool Elders (dudes, I am supposed to give up slang). My district is good. We have a couple of sisters and I am getting along okay with my farmboy companion. We are different in soooo many ways, but similar in enough to make it work. We started learning the first lesson last week and it was easy, then we tried to teaching it. Super hard. I thought there was no way I could do it. After practicing for a few days we had our first lesson on tuesday. We nailed it. The woman seemed very receptive. It was nice to be teaching "real people" (even though they were just role playing as investigators). You could feel the Spirit in a fake lesson. It has strengthened my testimony so much being here. I am so grateful for the MTC. That lesson was the first time I had really felt the Spirit since I had been here. I have been praying hard to feel it, so when my heart was filled with its power it melted my stress and boosted my confidence.

My district is good, but overly sarcastic. Big surprise I know. Mormon Sarcasm. We eat together at all the meals, so we are with each other about 16 hours a day. The food is pretty descent and I have been eating massive amounts but thanks to my limited one hour of gym, and fast metabolism I suppose, I have lost weight; 2 pounds ha. The 8 hour nights are really starting to wear me down and I have been sick the past few days with a cough and cold but I am on the mend. My samoan room mate Elder James snores louder than anyone I have ever met. It is out of control seriously. Even though I can hear it through my earplugs, I love the kid enough that I can mentally block it out. Today we went through the temple and I unfortunately fell asleep. I am just so tired physically and spiritually all the time. It was neat and different going through as a missionary, especially because I have been studying Moses and the Creation these past few days in Personal Study.

I am so excited to get out to the field, but I don't what I would do without the MTC. I would have fallen flat on my face and failed. Say that 10 times fast. I am sorry I haven't sent more letters, our days are packed and I already stay up late trying to fit it all in my journal. Last saturday we had a "service day." Basically a program institiuted to cut down cleaning costs. I was told we were washing windows and such. I put on my silver seven jeans and prepared for housemaid work. Turns out we were scrubbing the bathroom floors with clorox. Pretty well destroyed the bottom of my jeans. I guess just one more way to humble. I should have known with the number of costly apparel references in the BIble.

I love you guys so much and miss you when I think about you, but I couldn't be happier be so occupied with the Lords work. I can feel my testimony growing in so many ways. I entered the MTC with a testimony of the savior and intellecutal understanding of how and why the church worked. I know feel so indebted to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and truly love this gospel. I have never read, studied, and pondered a subject so much. This new adventure does often test my patience and knowledge, but I know that with these trials I learn more. I feel like I have to be rebaptized after all this understanding. I love you so much and will email you next Thursday around this time. Love you!

Elder Dumke