1st Area

Family and Friends

Time is so stinking short here so I will write all that I can with the time I have!

Are you ready to hear my first area?! I am in a town called Columbus! We have a tiny branch here but rumors have it that we are getting close to being a ward! The great thing is that our building is literally a half building. It's so little and cute but I am excited for the time that we have enough members in our branch to become a ward and have a big kid ward!

My trainer is sister gomez! She is from Orange County, California and she is awesome! She has only been out for 12 weeks so that just goes to show how great she is because she is already a trainer. We are really different! She is really shy and I am NOT! I am loud and she is quiet! I think that we compliment each other very well!

I miss Sister Page so stinking much!!!!!! She is in Kearney in the Grand Island Zone, which is like 4 hours away from me! Sad day!

Well I am just loving it here in Nebraska, it is so pretty and the weather has been outstanding!!! Like 2% humidity and 70's since I've been here! I am trying to be prepared for the heat though. We have 2 investigators set for baptism but I actually haven't met them yet because they have been out of town. I learned quickly the importance of following the spirit. We passed this house while tracting and later when we went back to the car I couldn't stop thinking about this house. We went and knocked on the door and this man about my age answered. We taught him the whole first discussion and he was really open to the gospel. We invited him to be baptized and he said he would if he knew it was true so we left him with a BOM and the invitation to accept Moroni's challenge to pray about it. We forgot to get his phone number to check in on him so we will probably go visit sometime soon to check up on him.

The work is hard but it is so worth it! You realize that not a lot of people want to listen to you message but we have to keep pushing on because there are people who do need that. We also have lessons with less-active, recent converts, and Members to keep strengthening the area so that is always great! The members in our branch are so willing and wanting to come teach lessons with us or give us food, which is always a great thing! We get the opportunity to take one of our investigators to the Trail Center on Friday and spend some time with her and her boyfriend in that sacred place so I am pumped!

The other night I had a dream about the Duffin's...how are they doing? Have you heard anything from them in a while? Just wondering.

Will y'all do me a favor? For family home evening I want you to study the talk called member missionary work by M Russel Ballard! There was a talk on it given in sacrament meeting yesterday and it rocked! Also I just want to leave you with this thought. The cool thing about this gospel is that it is one of transformation, or progression. We never stop getting better! As long as we are trying to be better than we were yesterday we are improving and that is all that our Heavenly Father wants from us! As we strive to progress and become more like him we will notice that we are not focusing on ourselves but outward, thus becoming like Christ! SOrry the time is so short but I want to sent some photos! I love you all and thank you for your love and support! It gets me through my day! Also I would love to hear from my siblings because I haven't hear from them and I am not sure they still love me ;) haha 

I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have that we can be together forever!!!!!

 

Love always,

Sister Dumont :)

First Letter Home from the MTC

So i havent heard from ya and I am beginning to worry that y'all forgot about me! It has only been a week....gheez! haha I love you guys! How was Texas? Are y'all in Boston yet? Well I sent a letter home so you probably havent got it yet but i sent it last Thursday so I have a lot more to report so here we go:

I have been in the MTC for 8 days and I have already grown so much. It is crazy to think of the person that I was just 9 days ago and think how different my life would be if I didn't decide to serve a mission. My relationship with God has improved so much and I am already learning so so much. Each day my brain wants to explode but luckily it doesn't. We are learning how to best teach the doctrine of Christ to investigators. My comp Sis. Page and I have taught two investigators so far. Barbara was our TRC so she is an actor who comes in. She may or may not be a member in real life. Her story is....she wasn't raised with a specific religion. Her mom died when she was a baby and her dad when she was 14 so she was put in foster care. As she was bounced around in different homes she was also exposed to a plethera of different religions. We got to have three lessons with her. The first lesson she didn't believe in God. By the second lesson, we, and the Spirit, helped her to know who our loving Heavenly Father is and that she can pray to him! It was such a huge huge change. I am sad that we didn't continue with her :( Our second inv. is our teacher who actually plays the role of someone she taught in her mission. It is so so amazing at the love that I have for this woman, Christina, and I have never met or seen a picture of her. Her story is that she and her boyfriend live together with their 2 year old son Anthony. Both Christina and Jordan's moms were baptized but both have fallen away. Christina is really intelligent and picks up on the things that we teach her really quickly. We have 3 more lessons with her so hopefully before we leave she will commit to be babtized.

My companion is the best I could have ever prayed or hoped for! We are so stinking similiar it is nuts. Her name is Sister Kristin Elizabeth Page. She is 19 and played soccer for a year down at Dixie. We both are athletic so we love playing volleyball during gym time together with our district. Last night in a district game of tornado I took 2nd place out of all the elders! It rocked and i shocked them all! Anyway, I really love Sis P and I am the most grateful to have her as my first companion. She is convinced that she will one day be my made of honor! haha weirdo! At this moment we are both sitting at our computers, typing letters to our families in our matching Nebraska shirts! We're so cute! I will send photos once I get to OMAHA! Speaking of that, I leave on Wednesday at 6:00 am so be expecting a call super duper early! Sorry!!! Out layover is from 9:00-11:00. Also I would love to hear from y'all! Please dear elder or send letters. My address is:

JUL24 NE-OMA

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo UT 84062....

I do miss you but I am one of the super blessed ones who hasn't struggled to much with missing family or friends. The mission is super hard but how else would we grow on this earth? I am so blessed for our teachers. We have Sister Evans and Sister Murphy for teachers. They are the Bosses of all of the other teachers so you could say we're going to be the best prepared missionaries out there. I love them both so much and they are some of my dearest friends. Sister Evans actually served in Omaha! The sisters in my district are so cute! Greg Wrubell, the voice of the Cougars, his daughter is in my district so that's fun. There are 6 of us sisters and we all get along so well...it's great. The elders are awesome too! I am so exhausted at the end of everyday but it is so worth it. I want to share one of the millions of things that I have learned so far in the MTC:

In reguards to the Atonement, all of the unfair things that happen to us in life will all be made up for after this life. So much that when Christ gives us these blessings, we will not feel worthy to accept them. The Lord uses the law of compensation.

Well time is short. I love and miss you all! Please send pictures and letters telling me all about what is going on. I will talk to you in 6 days!!!

Love always,

Sister Courtney Dumont