Christmas Week

I hope y'all had a very merry Christmas!

Last week we went grocery shopping at Walmart after e-mails and IT WAS PACKED! I didn't think there were that many people in this town. I think everyone was there.

Christmas eve was so great! We had a lesson with Tara, which hadn't happened for a while. Turns out she lives right by the Spicers. We volunteered at the GLC and played shut the box with a few of our favorite ladies :) The Reeves had us over for dinner around 4 so we went early and helped her cook. Sister Reeves is due in a little less than a month and she is having her first little girl after 3 boys. Dinner was so good! They showed us this youtube video called the 'Rapstoration.' Look it up! It is the restoration in a rap. I've never felt the spirit in a rap before but I promise it will change your life!!!! It changed mine! I am going to learn it somehow and teach the Restoration that way! Just you wait! We then went and looked at Christmas lights. There was this one house that had this amazing light show and you tuned in to a radio station and the lights went with the music! Gaul people are great!

Brother Reeves was killing us because Mannheim Steamroller (or however you spell it) was playing and he was like, I don't think they're allowed to listen to heavy medal. He's such a good, protective Branch Mission Leader :) haha Next we went to they Hyde's. There we dressed up with the other missionaries, the bishop kids, and the Hyde kids to act out the nativity. Sister Case and I were shepherds....I think. Then Mama Hyde busted out her bells and we played Christmas songs! Of course, we ended the night with ice cream :) **This is random but I need to make an anti-shoutout to Jess Beck! Where you at homegirl?** Okay time in....Next we went to Sylvia's because we hadn't seen her for weeks! We got there just as they were pulling in! Coincidence....I think not! We wrapped presents for her because she is....not the best at wrapping :) haha Then they opened presents right then and there! Emily got a tablet and I've never seen her so happy in my life! We went home and opened our Christmas eve presents from our families. WE GOT MATCHING PJS! Mom, you're the cutest thing known to earth and we LOVE LOVE our jammers so stinking much!

CHRISTMAS!!!! We woke up and opened our presents! That was so stinking fun! I made crepes....family tradition! They were so stinking yummy and I was so happy :)

We went to see Dorothy, a resident at the GLC who didn't have anyone coming to see her on Christmas so we told her we would visit. She bought us lunch at the care center so we ate with her. That was so great! 

We went to the Bishop's and SKYPED! Gaul that was the greatest thing! I felt disobedient. I think they brainwash us on a mission but it's a good brainwash! I just wanted to stare at everyone the whole time! That would have been aca-awkward! I LOVE YOU FAMILY! The Bishops gave us pizza. We drove to Lincoln that night to have out sleep over. One of the Sisters was sliding on the floor and slipped and sprained her wrist. haha whoops!

I have to wrap this up but our investigator, Barb, Tayna's mom, passed away on Friday. It's hard and we are trying to help Tayna find the peace. Sorry to wrap it up so quick but I love you all so much! I challenge you all to 1. read your scriptures every day this week, and 2. pray night and day this week! see what happens :)

Love always and forever,

Sister Dumont

SANTAAAA....I KNOW HIM!

Well, another week is come and gone. I can't believe it. I probably say that every week huh? Well it's true! Is it going this fast for anyone else? This past week has been the busiest/ craziest weeks ever.

We spent Pday in Lincoln last week and slept over at the Pioneer Sister's house. Our car was SOOOO dirty from living out in the country so we figured we'd go get it washed before zone conference. We went to the car wash and halfway through it just stopped so the front half of our car was clean and the back half now was frozen mud! We went in and told the lady and she gave us a free car wash and said to try again and it was out of service. Yikes. Plus, it we were like 10 minutes late getting back to their house and I felt bad because I like to be obedient so we walked into their house and I was just being bummy.

We go down the stairs and turn the corner and there sits SISTER PAGE! I hid behind the wall and looked again because I thought maybe it was just a figment of my imagination. They tricked me! I didn't think she was going to be sleeping there too but she did! That was the best surprise ever!

Zone conference was incredible. We focused on the atonement and everyone had to write a 1 page talk on the atonement and then they drew names out of the 'Christmas box' and they had to give their talk. Sister Case and I didn't get called. We did, however, sing "I Know/I Feel" mashup. The best part was a video that President Weston showed about Christ. It was part of a talk by president Erying and Part by Elder Holland given to the mission presidents. Elder Holland is addressing the question, " Why is a mission so hard?" I had been thinking that same thing for a while now. I mean, I never expected it would be easy but I didn't think it would be hard either. haha Well he threw down. He said something to the effect of, "Christ never once had it easy. He was rejected, spit at, exhausted beyond belief, and many other things. Why would we have it any easier? What we go through in this life is just a teeny tiny token of the price he paid. Use that! Call on the atonement every day!" Elder Holland is the best! This was exactly what I needed to hear. "None of this is easy because salvation isn't cheap!"

My second favorite part of zone conference was the 'Elf yourself" video the Weston's son made for us. It was president and sister Weston. I have never laughed so hard! It was incredible! Wednesday was the day we moved back into town to live with the Spicers. They were there until Saturday and then they left for Utah so now we have the apartment to ourselves until Jan. 1st. It's great! We call them Mom and Dad and we are their twin girls! It's a blast! We are sad they are gone!

Thursday we made enchiladas and had family dinner with the spicers. They were so good! The relief society did an ornament exchange where you bring an ornament you don't want anymore and then we play like a white elephant game. Some of these ladies are so stinking crafty it's crazy! There was a really cute homemade Grinch one and then ninja turtles. I got a cute little flower one made from toilet paper rolls (Shout out to sister Kelemen!)

Joan moved her date up! Instead of getting baptized 2/22 she's going to get baptized 2/21.....not exactly what we had in mind but it is moved up. HaHa! We had to go get our battery changed on Friday. 

Saturday was SHOPPING WITH JETT! We went Christmas shopping with her and it was so much fun! We went into Omaha for a little while but ended up getting presents at Walmart anyway. We listened to Disney music the whole way and she wanted to kill us but we made her sing along with us and have fun.

I gave a talk in church on Sunday about the gift of the Holy Ghost and Eternal life. It's the first time I have given a talk in church out here and we're supposed to do it once a transfer. I'm not complaining though :) I was grateful for the opportunity to study and prepare for it. GJett came to church for the first time ever. She is so great! She brought cookies and juice for all the kids. She is so willing to help out anyway she can! Sister Case and I decided to just wear flats to church and we regretted it the whole time. Our feet were so numb! Now we know that we will never not wear our boots again until it is warm!

The Cerna's had us come over and they gave us cute little Christmas presents. Grandma Cerna gave Sister Case and I turtle necks so we are excited to wear those for matching District meeting! We then visited Eileen (92 year old). She is so stinking sweet. She tells us that we have the faith to move mountains and then went on to explain, not literal mountains but mountains within us. That was exactly what I needed to hear! She is incredible. Then she said, " I will say a special prayer for you two tonight as you are away for the holidays but it will be okay because you have ME!" She's so stinking adorable!

Well I hope you all have an amazing Christmas! Remember the real reason for the season and think of how you can involve Christ more in your life everyday. I love you all so much and I am grateful for your love and support!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS HARRY!

Love always,

Sister Dumont

Homeless....Homeless...Like the Christ-Child Was

That's right folks...Sister Case and I are homeless. Just kidding, we just have to move like every few days until the 26th. Right now we are living out in the Country in Osceola at our Branch Presidents house. We will be in Lincoln until Tuesday night and then on Wednesday we will move back into Columbus with the Spicers, PARTY! Actually, they leave for Utah Thursday morning so that'll be great. We are watching their house for them. I don't know if I ever said but the reason we are homeless is because the Peschkes are in Florida and they didn't want us there alone so it has been crazy couple of days moving and packing and unpacking and packing again. Phew!

Well here is a funny story for ya from last Monday. So we were at a Members home and she has a 2 year old daughter who is brilliant and speaks full sentences and knows us missionaries by name. Well she was asking her mom for milk (breastmilk) and she said No like several times. Well finally Kayla goes, "Does Dumont have milk?" Sister Case and I about died. She wanted me to breastfeed her. YIKES! That was so stinking funny!


Tuesday was my 5 month mission birthday! What the crazy, I can't believe that. We helped out at the Golden Living Center (nursing home) with their Christmas party. A high school group sang for the entertainment. Afterwards we were standing out in the hall and the choir all comes out. I am just smiling and saying good job to them when all of the sudden this high schooler gives me the "nod" and raises his eyebrows at me. I was mortified/bright red and I looked over at Sister Case who was on the other side of the hall from me and she had her mouth opened so wide. We were dying! She told me I needed to stop flirting with the High schoolers. Gaul, she's the worst. That was super funny!


Wednesday we had zone training in Lincoln and it was super great! For lunch we went to Olive Garden and I about died I was so happy. By the time we got home we had to pack and move out to the Lindquists (22 miles away).

Last funny story.... so we did work out in Osceola on Saturday because we never get out here to see people cause it is so far away but we are living here for the week. We visited a less active family and they have 4 dogs. Well one dog just sat still in the corner and they tell us that she is deaf. Later on the dog comes and is sniffing Sister Case and they remind her that she is deaf so naturally, Sister Case waves at the dog. It was the funniest thing and we about died. Obviously that's what you would do to a deaf dog :) haha I love her!

Well this week we all wrote talks on the atonement for our Christmas Zone Conference that is tomorrow. They are going to draw a name out of a hat to decide who will give their talk. I wrote mine this morning after pondering on it all week. My favorite line is, "Don't strive for perfection, strive for progression." We will never become perfect in this life but as we are applying the atonement in our lives we will progress. Heavenly Father has great plans for each of us and it is up to us to reach that potential. The atonement is amazing! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love always,

Sister Dumont

P.S. Shout out to my Kate girl getting married on Thursday! There better be a cardboard cutout of my face somewhere! :) LOve you girl!

S*N*O*W

I don't know if y'all know this about me but I love the snow! So maybe I already said this but Sister Case and I made bows and flowers last week at Sister Bishop's! Sister Case burned herself on the hot glue gun so that was sad....or funny!

We met this guy named Richard. I have seen him a few times but never officially met. He knows the elders. Richard is a little bit crazy but we love him just the same. He has called us every day this week telling us how much he wishes he was in Texas. He wants a postcard from both Texas (Sister Case) and Utah so Mom or Dad if you could send one with the Salt Lake temple on it that would be fantastic! :)

So Vickie is our age, less-active we have been working with for a while. She like this other less-active, Nate who wants to start coming back. They are so good for each other and they are helping each other back to the church. We met Nate for the first time last Monday and he is super great! I gave them permission to get married in the temple! :)

Thanksgiving Delish

Must Fight Trytophan

For FHE we played apples to apples. Whenever Sister Case was the judge she picked my card without knowing it was mine. It's obvious I know her more than she thinks I do! It was so funny. Grandma Katie (Sister Peschke's mom) fell and broke her arm Monday night so we woke up Tuesday morning to a new housemate. Poor little thing. She had surgery Wednesday and is now in the Golden Living Center (assisted living).

So every Monday we turn in our 'numbers' but I had forgotten my last transfer's planner to enter those numbers so we ended up going Tuesday morning to do it. This was a small miracle because we saw one of our investigators there. She had cancelled our appointment for later that evening because she was having a rough day. We got to talk to her for 30 minutes and just brighten her day. Heavenly Father has such a way of lining everything up to work out so perfectly.

Here's our Boots, Mom!

We have been volunteering at the Golden Living Center (GLC) and have grown close to the activities director. Her name is Kris. We went to visit and see if there was anything that we could help her with but we couldn't find her so we ended up visiting some residents we know. We were on our way out when a cute little lady stopped us to tell us how pretty we looked. She then gave us just lots and lots of advice like Live Life to the Fullest, and Always Be Happy, and Don't Ever Get More Than 3 Cortisone Shots a Year....haha She was so sweet! We felt like we needed to go back to Kris' office one more time to see if she was there. Lo and behold she was! We scheduled some days we will come and help. She was having a rough day and we were so glad to help brighten her mood.

Our Lava Lavas

We had a lesson with Sylvia and Emily. Our district is all sister except one set of elders (our district leader and his comp). It's really weird but we love it! The dream team is still together! (Sisters Fuller and Willis, Sisters Schrader and Wilding, and us) Plus we added another set of sisters! The poor Elders! HaHa!

The Sisters

 I gave a training on how to help 'others' have a more powerful experience at church. The conclusion was that the ticket to a more meaningful church experience is the preparation you put into it. My challenge is for each of you this week to think how you can better prepare yourself to partake of the sacrament and have a powerful experience :) There is so much more to write but I don't have enough time! I will try to write it in a letter and have you type it up Dad! I love you all:)

More to come :)

Love Always,

Sister Dumont

"I am only sassy because I have to defend myself!"

That is a quote from....myself. Sister Case and I are really sassy to each other and it is really funny! So I told her I was going to try not to be sassy because Christ wouldn't be sassy and then I thought about it and came to the conclusion that I am only Sassy because I have to defend myself :) Oh and guess what?! WE ARE STILL TOGETHER IN COLUMBUS! It truly is a Christmas miracle! We did not think that was going to happen! We screamed SO loud when we found out. The only one out of the 6 of us missionaries in Columbus  who left is Elder Tatafu. That was so so hard to see him go. Now who are we going to sing with?

Well I am telling ya, this week was crazy! Mostly, our memories are fading and we can't remember anything that happens like....8 hours previous. Last Monday we were in Norfolk for pday. We got to go shopping at Target and play volleyball and eat Samoan food! It was such a blast!

On Tuesday we had an appointment with Tayna. I don't think I have talked about her yet so I will now. She is Brother Vavra's friend from work. He originally introduced us so that we could meet her mom and teach her but it ended up that her mom, Barb, wasn't quite ready so we started teaching Tayna and boy is she prepared. She accepted to be baptized Dec. 28!!!!! I can't tell you how exciting it is when someone commits to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, Barb loves everything she learns. She has COPD and Tayna thinks this will be her last Christmas. Barb told us she wants us to be by her side when she passes. That was so sweet. I have a feeling that Barb is one of those I promised in Heaven that I would find her and bring her to the gospel. She has such a sweet spirit. Then Tayna's friend Tara who is always there for lessons read the BOM in 2 days....2 DAYS, ARE YOU KIDDING! That was incredible. She is thinking about baptism. Then....Tayna's son said he wants to learn more. This is now called the WATERS OF MORMON house for real! We thought we had one before but this is the real deal.

We also got to go play "Shut the Box" with the assisted living people at the nursing home and it was so much fun. They are a crack up!

Thanksgiving was incredible. Holidays on the mission are so fun because you just get to focus on the Savior even more. Sister Case and I ran the 2 mile Turkey Trot. Considering we didn't train....at all....we did pretty well. It was SOOOO cold. Then the priesthood every year does a turkey bowl so we went to cheer them on. President Linquist was trying to get us to play and we said, "No, we can't touch boys." "Well sisters played a few years ago," "well were they being obedient?" Then he said, "Well I will have my blinders on today!" What a silly man. NO, we did not play!

Turkey Bowl

We helped Sister Peschke get ready for our Thanksgiving dinner by making potatoes and gravy. She taught us how to make 'lump-free' gravy so we got to be Domestic Divas for a moment. We also made delicious FLUFF (jello, yogurt, whip cream). Sister Case and I are obsessed so we bought some flavors to mix and try this week. Then we just visited people and shared the 'High 5 for Fatties' scripture with everyone since it was a feast.

Friday we went black Friday shopping.....JK we did not. We helped 2 families move in David City. That was so much fun. There were so many members from the branch there helping and It was so great. Then sister Case and I stopped and got tacos from the best taco stand around and they were delish.

Saturday was weekly planning and deep clean. We were supposed to go bowling with Tayna and her crew and Sylvia and her crew but we realized the coupons were only until 6 and so we played foosball instead.

I love fast and testimony meeting! We got to help Shirley (less-active) decorate her Christmas tree :) I am so grateful for this time of year when most of the world celebrates Christ's birth. I know so many miracles will come as we ALL strive to share that message with those around us. Stay warm! I love you all so much :)

Love,

Sister Dumont

My Uke Brings All the Gators to the Church!

(Put the subject line to the tune of Milkshake)

Aloha y'all!
So at this moment I am sitting in the library listening to music.....well the guy next to me is playing games and has his headphones up really loud. I am actually trying really hard to not laugh because he is singing along and dancing....he's great! Tender mercy from Heavenly Father for sure!

So for FHE last Monday the elders were in charge. They had us play jeopardy (scripture edition) and it was so hard!!! I think it was more like embarrass the missionaries night. HaHa! They had the most random questions on there. It was fun though. Sister Case and I were on opposite teams and we got a little more than competitive. We still love each other though :) HaHa!

Tuesday was Sister Case's birthday! Well this whole month is her birthday but the actual day was on Tuesday, the 19th. Sister Gomez and Vogel came down for exchanges Monday night. I knew they were coming but Sister Case didn't so she was pleasantly surprised when they walked into our study area. The birthday fairy decorated her study space so when she woke up it was all birthdayyyy! The sad part is that I didnt' get to spend much time with her because we were on exchanges but it was a good day for everyone! Lots of miracles happened, which is normal for exchanges. I wish we could do them every day! The Spicers had all 4 of us sisters over for birthday dinner. We had such a blast and took lots of photos. (speaking of....sorry i'm not very good at sending photos home. I will try harder). Sister Vogel caught a good one of Me and Sister Case after I put the candles in the cake.

On Thursday it was the coldest it has ever been. The Christmas Stroll was this day so we bundled up. At one point we were waiting for one of our investigators in the car so we decided to start a video diary! Best idea ever, I'm not sure why we didn't do this sooner! We are pretty funny if I do say so myself! One day I will grace y'all with seeing these videos.

We ended up going to the Christmas Stroll around 6:00. At this point it was SNOWING! Excuse me....we didn't say this could happen! It was so stinking cold! For enrichment night we made gingerbread houses! The tradition continues :) Sister case had never decorated one so I showed her the ropes :) 2 of our investigators and 1 less active member came! It was a miracle!

Friday was our BFF day! Reason being...the date was 11/22 right? well My favorite number is 11 and Sister Case's favorite number is 22 ergo....OUR BFF DAY :) We gave an investigator a BOM on Friday and 24 hours later she was in MOSIAH 27...are you kidding?! She is amazing. She loves it! We can't wait to continue teaching her! I am sorry this is so short but we are short on time.....like always.

Shout out to Aubrey, Locked out of Heaven is playing in the guys ears right now...thought of you :) Anyway, I love you all so much :) This week is transfers so please bless Sister Case and I stay together....chances are probably not likely but we can always hope right? I will let y'all know what ends up happening in next week's e-mail. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU! I truly am so grateful for all the amazing people I have in my life! If you decide to send me a letter this week make sure you send it to the mission home which is

11027 Martha Street
Omaha, NE 68144

Have the best week ever! And don't forget to P.U.S.H (pray until something happens)!

I LOVE YOU :)

Love always,
Sister Dumont

We Have Dancing Ladies

Gaul y'all,

Time sure flies when you serve with your best friend! Seriously, Sister Case is the best! Don't mind this first little bit being about how much I love her. Also pardon the lack of photos. She takes the photos and I just get them from her so they are to come. So confession session time, Sister Case and I cry at least once a day because of how awesome our companionship is. D-day (transfers) are coming up next week (the day after thanksgiving) and we are nervous that one of us will leave so we cry daily. 

Elder Tatafu gave us a CD and on it is "When somebody loves you," the song on Toy Story 2 when Jessie sings to her friend. He said he put that on there especially for us. It is our song! Ha, Ha! We're so crazy!

Also this shout-out is actually an Anti-shout out to Weston because I haven't heard from him....ever and I thought we were best friends so.....I hope to hear from you! Here's my address:

11027 Martha Street

Omaha, NE 68144

I would love to hear from any and all of you because I love hearing how everyone is!

So this week was incredible! On Tuesday we did a lesson with the Elders at Georgettes. Elder Tatafu made fried oreos and we did the lesson on Repentance using a magic trick. One day I'll send y'all a video of it because....well you just gotta see it! GJet was freaking out trying to figure out how the trick worked and I just told her it was because she had really strong faith! haha

Wednesday was Zone training in Lincoln. Elder Cotrell is finished after this transfer so he gave his last training and it was incredible! He shared the parable of the push-up...look it up because it is a parable about the atonement. I got to say goodbye to Sister Vance for the third time (She was my STL first transfer and basically I hope to be the missionary she is one day). I apparently was really emotional because I just cried to her....why am I crying? She's the one leaving the mission and having to go back to real life. She offered a prayer for us and gave me the best counsel I have ever received.

Mom, I'm gonna have to have her come visit you when she gets home because she is awesome!

We got to do our nails with an investigator so that was awesome because we all needed it. We had dinner at the Shaw's and their daughter Evelyn (4) was telling me how she is learning all the ABCs so silly Sister Dumont said, "Well, can you say all of them?" So she says, "All of them." Such a literal little bugger! We were laughing so hard.

On Thursday we were so busy...it was awesome! So first of all, us and the elders were practicing for a performance at a lunch for the nursing home volunteers and we were just messing around with songs and we came up with a BOMB version of 'Search, Ponder, and Pray.' I promise I will send y'all videos soon of our singing. It is so much fun to be with such a musical bunch of missionaries.

Then we went to a trailer park with Brother Gaunt (87 year old). He wants to serve a mission so bad but his wife passed away a few years ago so he can't serve. Well instead, he goes "Canvasing" aka tracting by himself and invites people to church. He gives us at least 1 referral a week. Well he wanted to meet us up there so we could visit some of those referrals and go canvasing and can I just tell you how awesome that was? He is the funniest old man I have ever known. At first people weren't answering the door so he would say things like, 'if they don't answer I'm going to jump off this deck.....okay here I go!' and then he would yell, "We're just trying to save ya, open the door!" We started heading back and ran into a family he has been working with. We started talking to them (they are awesome) and then their neighbor came by so she stopped and talked to us. Sister Case went to give her a hug and she backed away scared because she thought she was going to do something to her to 'save her' haha. We asked if we could all say a prayer before we left and this lady goes and stops a car driving by and makes them come pray with us. So there's 9 of us standing in a circle ready to pray and someone goes, well we should hold hands.....so we do. We straight up had a prayer circle consisting of 9 people. When we got in the car to leave we started laughing so hard! It was awesome. 

Friday we performed at a lunch for the volunteers of the Golden Living Center. Sister Case and I sang a song from EFY 2013 on the uke. In the song there is clapping in the background so Sister Case decided to try it, well.....it didn't go too well and we all just ended up laughing the last half of the song. It was okay because the audience was laughing along with us. Afterward some people came up and asked for our CD....so we're gonna have to make one. Ha, Ha! We just love singing.

Saturday we took GJet and her kids to the trail center. It was so much fun and the spirit was so strong. Then we had a movie night with Sylvia and Emily and Cree. We had dinner, made cheesecake, and watched the Testaments! It was so much fun.

Sunday was great! We sang, "Search, Ponder, and Pray" in nursery. I love this branch so much! My Spiritual thought is also a shout out to my one and only BAI BONES JR. But it applies to everyone, you just might not think it is as funny as we do: So I was reading in 2 Nephi 9:51 and it talks about how we should FEAST upon the words of Christ because those are the things that we can take with us in the next life. Then it says, "...let your soul delight in fatness," So naturally the first thing that came to my head was 'HIGH FIVE FOR FATTIES!' It is a good thing to be fat from feasting on the words of Christ so let us all become Fatties in the Word! But really! We should feast upon His word just as we feast upon real food....and for me that is a lot...................

Well, until we meet again! I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and love and support! Keep it coming :) This work is so amazing. Be safe and stay warm :)

Love Always,

Sister Dumont :)

Together Forrrrevvverrrrr

Howdy Y'all! (This cowgirl companion is sure rubbin off on me),

This week was absolutely incredible. Gaul I sure love being a missionary. So first of all I need to make a shout out to my Lil' Sis Joshlyn for being officially engaged! And to all of my friends who are pregnant! That just straight up blows my mind. Everyone is getting married/having babies and I'm just over here like, "I'm saving some souls!" But really, congrats to all y'all. Also IT'S MY HALF BIRTHDAY! That's right, I am now 21.5 years old. That is crazy. Also yesterday was my 4 month mission birthday. Crazy! KyBear, how is the countdown lookin?

So Monday....For FHE last week S. Peschke gave a lesson on how hymns bring the spirit. S. Case and I got to sing I Know That My Redeemer Lives/I Feel My Saviors Love. It was so great and we were able to help with the lesson so that was happy. One of the Elders is trying to learn how to cook so he made key lime pie and it was SO SO good.

On Tuesday we went to our 11 year old investigators basketball game at the middle school. Afterwards her mom, Sylvia, invited us over for dinner. She is the sweetest thing. We went and visited a less-active family who is working on getting to the temple. Their three year old daughter, Kaylee Blue, is the funniest thing. She reminds me so much of Lily! She was dancing and she goes, "I'm feeling jiggety." We decided that is what we are going to say when we started getting tired. I'm getting jiggety! 

Wednesday we had district meeting in Seward and it was just what I needed to hear. We talked about how we can have more meaningful prayers and how we can help our investigators do the same. We had dinner at the Reeves and Sylvia came along and then we taught the Law of Chastity. Thank goodness Sister Reeves was there because us little girls didn't know how to answer some of her questions and it was just a whole lot less awkward. haha Oh the joys of being a missionary!

OOOOhhhh shout out to my Baby Brother, Chomper aka Zane for being so awesome! Love you buddy!

Thursday was a busy busy day. We had appointments and helped people move and dig holes for a fence and we changed our outfit like 3 times from skirts to pants to skirts and back a few more times. We were doing some service tracting, which is where we tract in our service clothes and ask if there is anything we can do to provide service for them. People are a lot less mean when we're not dressed up in skirts. haha They're not mean, they just don't always want to listen to us. We ran into this sweet old lady, Twila, and she just kept telling us how good looking we are! Ha, ha, S case and I are getting really good at digging post holes so we're gonna start a business....not really. It's just a great stress relief. Could someone please explain to me what chicken gizzards are? K thanks!

Friday we had an appointment with Miguel before he headed into Omaha for the Marine Ball. We had our lesson at McDonalds and had breakfast there. I LOVE MCDONALDS BREAKFAST! there was a bunch of older people there for breakfast so we decided that will be our breakfast club when we are older. Sister Case and I were planning and decided to teach the plan of salvation to some investigators. We remembered we had a video called Together Forever that was all about the plan of salvation so we decided to watch it and see if we could use it in our lesson. Neither of us had ever seen it before but all I had heard from Sister Gomez is that it is a cheesy 80's film (which is kinda true). We started watching it and the more and more we saw the better it got. It is a bunch of different videos and examples of how the Plan of Salvation blesses us. At the end it plays "We Can Be Together Forever Someday," and I just lost it. That song reminds me of Ashley and then our Garn family video so I was thinking about grandpa. Sister Case and I sat on my bed crying for a good 15 minutes. Then we started laughing at how funny that was that this moving touched us so much. Needless to say it is our new favorite movie so if you haven't seen it I HIGHLY recommend it. Just make sure you have some tissues, K?

We finally had another appointment with our investigator Joan after like 3 weeks! She is set to be baptized in Feb. but she is so totally ready now! It is nuts how ready she is. We talked about baptism and confirmation and she knew everything! Gaul we are going to move up her date! We have to. 

Saturday we went and got our oil changed and tires rotated. The elders came and gave our investigator, GJet's, son a blessing because he has epilepsy and they are trying to figure out If he needs surgery or not and they were just stressing out about it. We think the blessing helped calm them down. Sylvia invited us over to make Sister Linquists recipe of carrot pineapple cake. IT IS SO GOOD! I crave it all the time. luckily Sylvia sent us home with some!

Sunday the Spicers had us over for lunch to celebrate my half birthday. She made me a cake and everything! Gaul they're great! We did some planning and Then we had dinner at the Bishops. We felt prompted to stop at a less active member's house and we are so glad we did. We had an awesome talk about obedience and she figured out what she needs to do to get her life back in order!

So 2 nephi 4 is awesome and Nephi reminded me of myself. His dad just died and he is having a pity party for himself saying how awful he is and how he isn't perfect and won't be but then he snaps out of it and realizes how blessed he is. We are all so blessed and have so much more to be thankful for than to be sad or down about. My challenge to each of you this week is to read this chapter and strive always to be grateful, even through the trials! Heavenly Father loves each of you so so much! I hope to hear from y'all this week! Keep on keepin on! I love you all so much :)

Love always and forever,

Sister Dumont!

Hello My Loves!

Where does the time go? I am quickly approaching my 4 month mark. Are you serious? The time sure does fly when you are having fun! This week was quite the crazy one. 

Last Monday we were supposed to go down to Grand Island and spend the night because we had Zone Conference the next day. We were going to do our Winter shopping that we needed to and get that out of the way. Well while we were doing e-mails we found out that we couldn't go and we were kinda sad because, ya know, we want to stay warm and stuff. We kinda had a pity party and just partied at home instead. I borrowed a uke from a member in our branch and figured out how to play a song from the EFY cd so that video will be coming. (P.S. Dad, what is the best way to send a video to y'all?)

This is sister Vance aka my Hero! She goes home the day after Thanksgiving :(

Tuesday was Zone Conference. It was my first real ZC because the last one was actually a mission tour because a member of the 70 was here. It was awesome! We went fasting and with inspired questions and the first 2 trainings answered my questions. The church is true! I got to see a lot of my MTC family so that was a tender mercy for sure! Sister Case got to meet Sister Page for the first time. S. Page might be a little jealous but what can ya do :) haha.

   Sister Page :)

Wednesday Vickie (less-active) came out with us on team ups. She was recently called as a branch missionary. We had a blast and she is loving missionary work. The Chili Cook-off and trunk or treat was that night. Sister Case and I switched nametags for our costume. Then we threw on some mustaches and then a wig and hat (pictures to follow) There were 145 people shoved in our little branch building. It was awesome! Now we just hope we can get that many people at church so we can get a building extension.

Halloween was awesome! I woke up feeling sicker than a dog so that was rough. We got to help out at a nursing home with some of the activities for the day. They ended up making us sing some songs so that was a blast. We had to be in the house by 6:00 but we went Trick or Treating with Sylvia, Emily, and Cree. Once we got home we planned for the next day and then I caught up on my journal and knocked out about an hour early because I didn't feel well at all. Friday was possibly the craziest day of my life and I am not even exaggerating! Are ya ready?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER ASHLEY! So the day started out normal. We had an appointment with GJet at 9:00. She decided to quit school and just work. She is on disc 3 of the BOM so we read a little bit with her. We did some weekly planning and then by the time we finished we had an appointment with Dalia and Yara. The Linquists came with us and we taught the restoration. The spirit was so stinking strong! We went grocery shopping for Sister Martens and while we were there we picked up some pink balloons. Sister Case was so cute and joined me in writing a message to send to Ashley. We sent off our cute messages and then dropped the groceries off. This is where it gets crazy......

So we had a dinner appointment with some of our investigators, a husband and wife. These Gators call us their kids and they just love having us over. We get there and the music is playing so stinking loud. We knock on the door and the man answers. We asked where his wife was and he said she was upstairs so we figured she would be coming down. We quickly realized that we were not going to be eating with them. He insisted that we sit down and I could tell that something was wrong because he was not acting like himself. He told us that he was drunk. He said, "you never talk about your parents." 

So we both pull out our photos of our families. And he looks at them. I noticed a gun on the table and got a little nervous but I didn't think much of it. He told us that we needed to tell our parents we love them every day. His brother-in-law was murdered a few weeks ago and he told us that when he gets of parole in 6 days (back child support) that he is going to Oklahoma. Trying to understand what he was getting at I asked him why. He then picked up his gun, cocked it, and set it back on the table. At that point I knew we needed to leave but I also knew we needed to not to anything too suddenly. We saw a big ole pocket knife on the floor. Long story short. He never threatened us but we were very scared that if we did anything to upset him that he might have. He said a prayer and we quickly left. His wife never came down so in all honesty we don't know where she was if she was even there. As soon as we drove a way we broke down! That was the scariest things I have ever experienced.

Sister Case and I at the Temple

We know that our Guardian Angels were there protecting us. :) Don't worry Mom and Dad! All is well :)

Sorry I run out of time every time! I want to challenge all of you to pray for a missionary experience every day! I love you all so much :)

Love Always,

Sister Dumont

Hoedown Throwdown

Mi familia y amigos!

Y'all are so great! So let me tell ya a little more about my cowgirl comp! She is the best! She is from Charillton, Texas (just out of Dallas). She is the oldest of 4 girls (poor papa case). She played volleyball (and softball....In 2nd grade haha) and she did musical theatre. She went to BYU for a year. Her major is Food Science and she will go on to dental school. Her biggest wish is that BYU had sororities! Lucky for her she has a sorority girl for a companion....haha. She is such a hard worker and is so stinking awesome! She is going to be comps with me and Sister Page someday.

Monday we had a pizza party as we wrote letters. I haven't had much of an appetite these last few weeks which is weird! Sister Case and I got matching huskers shirts so one day we will take a matching photo for ya'll. Her mom sent her this cookbook especially for missionaries and cooking for only a few people. We have yet to try is out. At FHE that night a movie quote popped into my head and I couldn't figure out what it was from. Sister case and I tried for hours to figure it out. Well as I was going to bed after my prayers it popped into my head. Sister case prayed and asked for Heavenly Father to help her figure it out and he did that instant. Prayer works ;) haha

There are some girls in the branch who are like 4 and 2 and whenever they wear flowers in their hair they call themselves Sister Dumont! it is so cute!

We got to go to the temple again on Friday! It was so awesome! I am grateful for the opportunity I had to go and serve in the temple. President Weston, when I walked into the celestial room, said (joking), 'you and Sister Case need a little more energy!' haha if he only knew! We are wild in a good way.  I got to talk to Sister Page on Saturday and I will get to see her on Tuesday! I am so excited for her and sister Case to meet!

I am so sorry that this so short but time just flies so stinking fast! Gol, I promise I will better prioritize my time next week so I can tell you more stories! For now, I love you all! Keep being so awesome and never forget to pray :)

Love,

Sister Dumont

I'll send photos next week! Love y'all and I love hearing from ya :)

HOWDYYY!!! (as my new companion would say)

Yup..that's right, I have a new companion! But I will get to that in a minute.

Last Monday it rained and rained and rained all day but don't worry, I wore my rain boots! S. Gomez and I decided to have a Halloween party by ourselves because we figured it would be our last p-day together. We got popcorn and candy and hot cocoa and Mexican sweet bread and all sorts of yummy stuff and we watched the Joseph Smith movie and President Monson's Biography. It was so much fun. 

We had dinner at the Bishops and guess what. I decided it was time to take Russel M. Neilson's counsel and Control My Appetite so I only had one serving and I controlled my portion size. The hardest part was only having one brownie because her brownies are my favorite but I did it anyway! Yay S. Dumont :) We did a little service at a less-active's house and then we had a lesson with Sylvia.

On Tuesday we were to find out about transfers. From what we understood, if either of us were training we would hear by 8:00 and if we were switching comps we would hear by 9:00. Well Sister Gomez started packing even though she didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't hear anything by the time we left for District meeting at 9:00 so we figured that we were staying together in Columbus and we laughed because all of her stuff was packed. The Norfolk sisters met us in Columbus and then we drove to Seward (hour away) for our District meeting. On the way there S. Fuller told us that if you are just switching companions or going to a different area then they call you after 10:00. Lo and Behold our Zone Leaders called us about 10:40 and gave us the news. They said, "have you talked to president?" "Well...no he hasn't called yet" "Okay well we will just tell you...Sister Dumont, you are staying in Columbus and you will be companions with Sister Case." (secretly I was screaming and jumping on the inside but I didn't want to make any of the other sisters in the car feel bad so I just smiled and said okay) "

And Sister Gomez is going to Sioux City and her companion is Sister Vogel." I knew Sister Case from exchanges a few weeks ago in Sioux city and on Sunday when I talked to her for stewardship I asked how she was feeling about transfers and she jokingly said, " if I have you or Sister Gomez as my companion I will be fine." Well Sister Case, your wish came true! So basically Between the 4 of us we just swapped companions because S. Vogel was with S. Case and now she is with S. Gomez. I seriously could not contain my excitement. We and the Pioneer sisters got to Seward around the same time. I got out of the car and ran to Sister McMaster and S. Schrader and found out that S. McMaster (she came out with me and we have been in the same district for our whole mission) is going to be with her first companion again and a sister trainer leader in Omaha. S. Schrader is training for the first time but she is still in Lincoln. Things just got so crazy! When we got back from Seward we helped a less active member move into her house and then we had dinner with the Shaws and the rest of the night was spent saying goodbye to families for Sister Gomez. That made me realize how hard it will be when that day comes but I can do hard things so it's fine!

Wednesday we drove to Lincoln to drop S Gomez off and pick up S Case. We got there and they said the transfer van hadn't even left yet (45 minutes away) so we went and ate breakfast. Meanwhile Sister McMaster, Schrader, and Wrubell walked in. I haven't seen S. Wrubell since The end of August! She is one of the sisters who came out with me so like family! I had a minor freak out. Also I thought I said goodbye to Sister McMaster but luckily for me I got to see her again! There are so many awesome missionaries in this mission I can't even stand it. We all took photos and then S. Case finally got there. When she got out of the car we screamed and ran for each other. I think everyone else was jealous. HaHa! This sister is my homie and I love her so much! So I have a step daughter now. We had a few appointments and then took her home to unpack.

Thursday we had 2 concerts scheduled at nursing homes so we practiced for that. I don't know if I told y'all but when we did exchanges with S. Case a few weeks ago S. Case and I sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives/ I feel My Saviors Love mashup and we recorded it. Well now that we are comps we sing it everywhere for everyone and we got to sing it at the concerts. We had appointments pretty much all day. Brother Vavra invited us over for dinner so we could start teaching his friend Tayna. We had an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon and she is so prepared to hear the gospel it is nuts. The spirit was so strong and everything she said just led back to the Gospel being the answer. We will be teaching her and her mom every Thursday so we are really excited about that. Then we got to go the the RS Enrichment activity which was pie making/eating. S. Case got to meet some of the RS Sisters so that was awesome!

Friday we got to do some service for one of our investigators sisters and then we went with Vickie, our less-active, to the trail center. We had such a blast and the spirit was so strong through the tour. She said she thinks she wants to serve a mission so hopefully she keeps feeling that. She works on Sundays so that prevents her from coming to church.

 :( K I am out of time but I just wanted to share a funny story. We were at an investigators house and somehow it came up that we were gangster cause we are so cool and so he called us Gangsters for God! Also we got called the singing nuns at the nursing homes! Life is so good here in Nebraska! It is getting cooler by the minute but the work is not! Please write me everyone :) I want to know how y'all are doing! Peace and Blessings!

Love Always, 

Sister Dumont

Malolele!

This week we had our Mini-Mi (mini-missionary)! I encourage all of you who are thinking about going on a mission to do this! You spend a week with missionaries doing exactly what they do. It is a great way to see if you can handle a mission! haha We had such a blast teaching and learning from Sister Mejia this week.

So Monday I got my hair cut, Jess, you would be proud :) it's not crooked anymore! haha I just trimmed it and got little layers! One of our less active members, Vickie, was there getting her hair dyed. She is our age and I had only met her once when we went bowling but we really clicked. We have been trying to get ahold of her for probably 2 months and just haven't been able to. This was such a miracle because she lives in Schuyler, which is like 20 minutes away. She said that she finally had a sunday off and that she would be at Church! YAY!

Tuesday we had a laminating party at Sister Spicers house. She is so nice to let us use her laminator. We read an article from the ensign about becoming men and women of God. (Speaking of, if you haven't read the ensign from this month you should, it is AWESOME). You know how in Alma is says if all men were like Moroni the very gates of Hell would be shaken forever? Well something that I never realized is that in the next verse it compares him to all of these other prophets and missionaries in the BOM and then says, "and they were all men of God." This made me realize that we can ALL be like Moroni; it is not some impossible feat. As long as we are striving to be men and women of God we are being like Moroni and we have the power to shake the gates of Hell! Alma 48: 17-18...read it :) Gosh, the church is so true! Later that night we taught one of our investigators and her husband the Restoration. She whispered to us as we were leaving that this is what she was looking for! Everytime we have taught her something she has just agreed with us but carried on in her own belief but Tuesday she told us that she had been looking for something else. We have yet to follow up and see what more she meant by that! Missionary work is so exciting!

Wednesday we had the most amazing Zone Training ever! I think I said that last time but I literally don't think I have felt the spirit as strongly my whole mission as I did during our role plays. We taught one of the other missionaries as themselves before their missions, with the concerns and problems they had about the church. It is so amazing how much you can feel the spirit when you aren't even teaching a 'real investigator.' This just bore testimony to me of how strong the spirit is as a teacher and how blessed I am to be the tool for teaching. I LOVE IT! We started family research with Miguel, our recent convert so that he can have names to take to the temple for the baptism trip coming up. We were able to find a bunch of names for him! We can't wait until he gets to go to the temple. 

Thursday Sylvia invited us over for dinner. She is the best investigator ever! haha She feed us just as much as the members do :) The missionaries all practiced for our performance at the nursing home. Friday we performed at the Golden Living Center. It was so much fun and the spirit was definitely there. I guess the sister missionaries who were here like 9 years ago used to go every week and do service there. We had no idea they were so close to the activites people there but we set it up so we will get to do service there every week too :) One of our investigators, Georgette, was in a play at the community college. We didn't think we were allowed to go see it but she really wanted us to go so we told her that we would go and wait outside when it was over and have a sign with her name on it. It was so great and she was so happy we were there, even though we didn't get to watch it. We later found out that we could have gone to see it. Lame huh?

Saturday we went with Miguel, Lily (his girlfriend), his little sister Brittney and her little brother, Daniel to a.....wait for it.....PUMPKIN PATCH! It was so fun :) we all had a blast watching the kids and petting the animals and exploring. I kissed a LLAMA (this isn't the first time). Is that against mission rules? haha Afterwards Miguel gave us a gift because we helped bring him to the church. He got us necklaces with pictures of Chirst on them. He is so thoughtful. Sister Mejia's mom came and picked her up and took us all out to lunch. they are the nicest people. Sister Mejia is so ready to serve a mission! We helped Sylvia move next door into a bigger place. Wanna hear a funny story about sister Gomez? She might kill me if she knew I wrote this but I can't resist. So we were having coordination meeting with the elders and for some reason we were talking about Patriarchal Blessings. Elder Tatafu asked S. Gomez what tribe she is from (ya know, meaning like Ephraim, Menassa) and she goes..."uh Navajo" (apparently she has a little native American blood in her) We were all laughing so hard and she still didn't get it so she went to her Mexican tribe which is Aztec. We couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell her what kind of tribes we were talking about. She is so stinking cute!

Sunday was amazing. Fast and testimony meeting was incredible. I love this branch so much! Transfers are Wednesday but we will find out tomorrow morning what the Lord has in store for us these next few weeks. Predictions are that I am staying and will be training a new missionary (I'm gonna have a baby :) and that sister Gomez is leaving :( We will have to see if these predictions are correct or not. I have no idea what will happen but I know one of us is probably leaving. Well I hope you all have a great week! Thanks so much for everything :) I love you all! Remember WHO you are and WHOSE you are :)

Love always and forever,

Sister Dumont

Howdy Y'all

This week was a busy one. 

Last Monday we were getting ready to head to Lincoln when one of our members called us up and said we needed to come over now. We were both scared because we didn't know what to expect and we were afraid something was wrong. We rushed over there and knocked on the door. Brother Cerna opened the door, invited us in and told us to sit down on the coach. Sister Cerna brought us cookies and a guava drink and then their 10 year old daughter Catherine brought us out the cutest teddy bears. They are sister missionaries!!! I will include a picture of them but we love them so much. This family is the cutest. They are Salvadorian and they treat us so well and do so much for our investigators.

We headed to Lincoln to stay with the Pioneer sisters because on Tuesday we had interviews with President Weston (duh duh duh....). And we were lucky enough to get to go to TARGET! Wahoo! We were so stinking pumped. We got socks and I got a shirt for $3.00 :) We miss target so much and we felt right at home there. We ate at Raising Canes. It was so good! Then we went to the Pioneers sister's house and planned and went to sleep. Tuesday we had interviews with President Weston and I was pretty nervous. Not going to lie. But it was just fine. The work here is focusing on members and getting less actives back to church. We asked the Lincoln missionaries where we should go for lunch and they sent us to this sandwich shop owned by a member. He is from Chicago and makes Italian beef/pastrami sandwiches. It was so stinking good. He didn't make us pay because he said when he was taking the lessons from the missionaries 4 years ago he asked a lot of hard questions so this is his way of paying the missionaries back. haha Such a great guy.

Wednesday we had back to back appointments so we didn't have time to stop and eat dinner. Our 7:30 appointment was running late so we went to the gas station and got 'dinner' which was a candy bar and Flamin' Hot Cheetos with Lime :) We sat in the car watching the thunder storm eating our dinner. haha  Thursday was Sister Schrader's birthday. She is obsessed with mustaches so we make her a cake and put plastic mustaches on it. Elder Tatafu got some mustaches so we wore them during District Meeting.

We headed to Omaha for our Leadership Counsel on Friday. We got to the trail center and Sister Peterson was there. She told me that she was going home the next day because she is having medical problems. She is one that came out with me and before our mission we went to the temple together. I am so sad that she had to leave but she said she feels at peace with it so that makes it better. Heavenly Father has a very specific plan for each of us. We stayed at a house near the trail center. The Leadership Counsel was awesome! Sister Page was there so I got to catch up with her. I got to share with Sister Weston a little bit about grandpa's funeral. She is the sweetest thing and always asks how the family is doing. 

We got back to Columbus and it was our investigator Sylvia's birthday and she wanted to spend the day with us. 

Conference was incredible and so inspiring. My favorite talks were Ulisses Soares, S. Gifford Nielsen, and M. Russel Ballard. We have a third sister with us for this week. She is on a mini mission so she is from Omaha and before her stake president will let her turn in her papers she has to do this and see if she is fit for a mission. So far so good :) She is so great and is definitely ready for it.

Time is short as always but I love you all so much. Thanks for you letters and support. Have a great week :)

Love always,

Sister Dumont

Una Buena Semana

The weeks just always speed by!

Monday was a pretty busy day last week. We drove up to LaMars, Iowa to start our week full of exchanges.

LaMars is the Ice Cream Capital: Blue Bunny Ice Cream

Tuesday was exchanges with the LaMars sister. With Sister Curfew I did service at their Ward Mission Leader's house picking up branches and cleaning up their big yard. It was so fun! I got to see Sister Smith, who was in my MTC district. Before S. Curfew and I left we went into say goodbye to Sister Walker and we got talking about how they got the house and property. She said they could not afford it financially. It wasn't supposed to be able to work out. But she prayed to Heavenly Father to ask about what to do because she didn't think they could keep up with the payments. Heavenly Father answered her prayer through the scriptures and she has the very strong feeling that their land will be used for the saints at the second coming when people gather with the Savior. The land that we were able to clean and take care of is or one day will be very sacred land. We were so blessed to be there.

Narnia Tree S. Curfew and I

S. Curfew and I, earlier, took sometime to go into the woods and pray. We had such an amazing experience and after we each finished our prayers we started singing, "Oh how lovely was the morning."

We switched companions around 3 and I went with Sister Kent. We found a guy who actually was married to a lady who is the granddaughter of a general authority. He wasn't baptized but his daughter was. I hope that they are able to teach him. That night we drove 30 minutes to Sioux City to be with the Sioux City 1st sisters. Sister McFadgen has been out for a few weeks. She is from Canada. I love her so much. It was so fun getting to know her. We have a lot in common. She is already a great missionary. 

S. Smith, my MTC sis, is my favorite. We got to teach a less-active family. We had such a blast together and we decided one day we are going to be companions.

Sister Smith and I Love doing headstands. She Taught me how at the MTC

Wednesday night we went to stay with the Sioux City 2nd sisters. Sister Vogel and I were friends on Instagram before we came on our missions but I finally got to meet her in real life. haha she is so great. Sister Case is another sister who just came out. She is from Texas. We had a lesson with a member and then we all went to serve at a Christian food kitchen. S. Case is an amazing singer so we sang I Know That my Redeemer Lives/ I Feel my Saviors Love  We recorded it so I will have to send it home somehow. It was hard being away from 'home' but we are so blessed to be able to care for and love these sisters.

Friday and Saturday we had appointment after appointment so that was fun. It kept us busy. Saturday was the Broadcast. It was so amazing. If y'all haven't seen it you should! It is all about making and keeping covenants. One of our investigators, Sylvia came to it.

Sunday I sang Savior, Redeemer of My Soul and sister Gomez played the piano. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share my testimony through talents. It is going to be another great week! Sorry there isn't tons to write about today. I hope all of you remember how much our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you. We are so blessed to have living prophets on the earth at this time. They truly are messengers of our Heavenly Father. They speak for him on this earth today. I hope all of you can watch as much of conference as possible. Keep up the great work!

Love Always,

Sister Dumont