A Bump in the Road

My Dearest Family and Friends,

This has been and probably will be the hardest week of my mission. Good to get it out early I guess. Last Tuesday was our Trainer/Trainee meeting in Grand Island. We split up into trainees and trainers so I got to be with my Sisters from the MTC. This was such a tender mercy of the Lord. These girls are my family out here and I was so grateful to be able to hug them and hear how they are doing. This was such a great meeting. President and sister Weston instructed us trainees. They are so stinking awesome! Pres. Weston in Justice and S. Weston is Mercy. I am so grateful for them.

That night we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Sylvia. We watched the Joseph Smith movie. Afterwards I was bearing my testimony on eternal families, which was odd because I usually don't when talking about the restoration, but I felt prompted to. I later came to find out that Grandpa had passed away and I know that it was the spirit and Grandpa prompting me to share my testimony on eternal families.

Wednesday we were in Seward for our district meeting and when we left I saw that I had a missed call from Sister Weston. I didn't think anything of it. She informed me that Grandpa had passed away. I was not expecting that to be what she was calling about. I was blessed to be able to tell her all about him and she let me know that we could go to our apartment and just relax for the day. After I hung up the phone we went to lunch with the sisters in our district. I pulled myself together and stayed that way until we got in the car again and I lost it. We went home and I crashed and slept for a few hours. That was the only way I knew to cope with the situation. I feel bad for S. Gomez because I'm sure she felt useless. When I woke up we went to the Branch Mission Leader's home and he gave me a great blessing of comfort and peace. That was such a blessing. We went to softball practice after that because it kept my mind off of home.

Thursday we had appointments all day so that was great to keep me busy. One of our appointments was with Miguel at his uncles, the Munoz's, home. The Munoz family is one of my families out here. We taught the plan of salvation. I was fine through the whole thing until it came time to bare my testimony and I lost it. I felt comfortable with telling them what was going on because we are close to Miguel and the Munoz family. Brother Munoz shared how lucky they are to have such valiant missionaries serving in this area. He told me how proud he is of me being out here and working through this hard time. How grateful I am for the members of this branch.

Friday was temple day. What a tremendous blessing it was that we could go. Usually the missionaries in Columbus don't get to go because it is 'too far away' but 2 weeks earlier we had permission that if we found members to drive us that we could go! Heavenly Father knew this is what I would need after loosing grandpa. I am so grateful for how aware and involved he is in each and every one of our lives, especially mine. Sitting in the Celestial room was such a sacred experience. The room was filled with missionaries and President and Sister Weston welcoming us in. I was able to sit and ponder about grandpa and as I did I felt him so close to me. Ashley was there too. We are so blessed to be sealed together as a family so that we can feel of their presence always. I could not be out here doing this right now if I didn't know that Ashley and Grandpa were here bearing me up.

We got to go to dinner with the sisters in our zone, which was another tender mercy. It was so nice to be able to be around these strong influences. They were all so supportive and loving to me and it definitely helped.

Saturday was the softball tournament! We.....lost 3 games and won 1 due to a forfeit....bummer dude! But it was still way fun! Kept my mind off home and we had 5 investigators there playing with us! I got a little toasty and I am still sore.

Sunday was a beautiful day. One of our closest member friends, Sister Spicer, was waiting as I walked into sacrament meeting to give me a big hug. I am not sure how she found out about grandpa but I am grateful. She told me that her grandpa passed away after being on Dialysis for so long as well. I talked and cried with her for a few minutes. I am so grateful for her! She and Brother Spicer invited us over for dinner so we got to spend more time with them. Sister Bishop went through almost the exact same thing that I am currently going through. Her grandpa also passed away her first transfer of the mission. She let me know that we are welcome to go over to her house anytime if I ever need to talk about anything. It was great to talk to someone who had gone through the same thing. She understands that it is something that I have to go through along with only my Savior, but who better to go through a trial with than with my perfect older brother who knows and has felt exactly as I do.

We went to the trail center and then to a concert put on by the missionaries in Omaha. It was called, " Oh how lovely was the morning" and it was songs about the restoration and Joseph Smith. Between the 3 sets of missionaries we brought 2 non-members, a non-member family and an inactive family. It was so great to be in Omaha with them allowing them to feel the spirit of the pioneers and their ancestors.

This week will not be quite as busy so I am scared that it will be hard to keep my mind off home. Luckily I get to see my sisters again on Friday. It is Zone Conference and Elder Robinson of the 70 is coming to 'tour the mission.' I am trying to refocus on the work, which is harder than it seems, but I know this experience will only strengthen me. There is time and a season for everything and I know that I am out here at this time for a reason. As hard as it is, I am grateful to be out here at this time. This is definitely strengthening my testimony and my ability to understand and teach our investigators better. "Thine adversities and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment." Keep that in mind no matter what you are going through this week. Always remember that we have an older brother who is perfect. He has perfect love for us and wants to help us through these times. Call on him to succor you in you time of need. I love and miss you all something fierce!

Love always,

Sister Dumont

"We can be together for ever someday, we will be together forever someday!"

P.S. I don't know if the Baucoms read this so if they don't, tell them I met Sister Youngberg, aka Kaela's roommate! She is Sister Page's companion! Small world eh?!

Columbus Softball Gang

CORN!

Guess who I saw?!?!?! Sister Page! Best day ever! Luckily I get to see her again on Friday!

Courtney and her Grandpa

One of the real blessings of the past few months is that Courtney's Grandpa Ray was able to stay with us long enough to see her leave on her mission. Grandpa Ray passed away on Tuesday. One of the hardest things about it has been that we haven't been able to talk to Courtney about it.

Reading her call to Grandpa and Grandma

One thing we do know though is that she now has another companion that will be with her for the remainder of her mission. She will feel his strength and comfort as she serves. As her parents, we would ask that if you feel so inclined,  that you write Courtney this week and express your condolences and love. (courtney.dumont@myldsmail.net) We are sure that will help her greatly as she is not able to be here with us at this time.

We also wanted to share a few of our favorite pictures of Courtney and Grandpa.

The morning Courtney left for the MTC.

At Jake Staker's 30 birthday party

Uncle Jared's Wedding

Courtney and Grandpa Ray loved each other so much and he was so excited and proud of her for serving the Lord, now he get's to be with her every day.

Love,

Kelly and Connie Dumont

This is so Fun!

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope that everyone is doing well! Everything is going great out here in Nebraska! Let me tell you about my week.

Last Monday, we went bowling with a less active member, Victoria, who is 22. We love her so much! She really wants to come to church and she is even considering going on a mission. She works on Sundays so it is hard for her. She paid for our game of bowling so we call her our sugar mama! haha! She lives in Schuyler, pronounced Skyler, so it is hard for her to come out here a lot. It is about 20 minutes away. We hopefully will have dinner with her this week. We are grateful that we can be her friends.

Tuesday we did service at the Witt's. They are a part member family. The wife is not the member, and she is waiting on a liver transplant. We are taking off wall paper and getting ready to paint. I love being to do this for them because they are not capable. Plus it's nice to wear jeans for a little while, even though they aren't very comfortable.

We met the third roommate to the house now known as Waters of Mormon. This is the house that we were prompted to knock that first Saturday I was here. All three of them are willing to learn about the gospel.

On Wednesday we had district meeting and I got 4 letters! It was like Christmas! haha Thanks so Susan Jaussi and Ky Bear for taking such good care of me!

So we thought we had a dinner appointment with a member family so we show up at their house and the son lets us in so we walk up the stairs and notice that it is a little messy...which is normal and we felt at home. Well we go into the kitchen and Sister Shaw is like, "I thought we feed you next Wednesday." So sister G and I look at each other in panic and we go, " well you're probably right, we will just come back." She insisted that we stay so we had the best pancake ever. She was in the process of pickling cucumbers so after we ate and chatted for a while we helped her cut up cucumbers. It ended up being a blessing for both us and her.

Practice was at 7 but it was raining so we assumed it was cancelled but the elders kept texting us letting us know that they were still practicing and there were like 7 investigators there. We finished helping sister Shaw and got over there by like 8. Apparently, it wasn't raining all that much until we got there. Never the less we practiced in the rain! The photo is of us and the elders soaked after practice. It was so much fun playing in the rain though. Our tournament is Saturday so I will let you know when we win! 

Thursday a lot of little miracles happened. We were able to bump into a less-active member and former investigator. The Munoz family fed us delicious tacos! Friday we had appointment after appointment and it kept us busy! Heath and Melissa, waters of Mormon house, told us that they love to learn and gain knowledge about religions but they don't think they would ever 'practice.' We said, " well you should just keep studying then." Because inside we know that as they do that they will not just be studying but they will want to act.

We went to Columbus days and ran into a less-active there. We are trying to get him and his girlfriend to play softball with us. Guess what we got at the fair? SNOW CONES! Needless to say that was the highlight of my week. They don't have snow shacks in Nebraska and it is really sad. I am glad I got to experience that :)

Saturday we visited a lot of people and street contacted some more at the fair.

Sunday was awesome! All three hours of church were exactly what I needed to hear. We also had Branch President Youth Discussion at the house where we live so we got to participate in that.

My challenge for this week is to read the talk on Sarcasm from this month's ensign. One of our awesome members, Brother Spicer says, "Sarcasm is Scarcasm." I know that it is something that we all could work on a little bit. It is an awesome article.

I love you all! thanks so much for the prayers and support. I really do feel of them out here. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to share of the 'desirable fruit' that I have tasted of. The joy that this gospel gives is something that you cannot get anywhere else. It is true joy that will last through the eternities. May we all seek for ways to share of this fruit with those we love most.

Love always,

Sister Dumont 

My Blankey

This week has gone by so fast. The weeks seem to be speeding up, which is good and bad. After this week we are half way through the transfer! That is wild! So Monday I got a very very soft Corn Huskers blanket at Wal-mart and lets just say bedtime is my favorite because of it! I have to hide it during the day so I don't get tempted to curl up in it (especially because the house is always at like 68 degrees).



So something I have been wanting to share with the world for a while now is that the path that we run on every day is basically the game of frogger. I have never seen so many dead frogs in my life! It is so sad. I have yet to see a live one. It is so sad and we try not to step on them when we run. We actually saw a smooshed snake the other day.

On Tuesday, one of the couples in the ward, the Carley's, came with us to an appointment with a less-active member. This woman (her name is Joyce Miller, cool huh) hasn't been to church for years after she was baptized. We were going to stop visiting her because she wasn't keeping commitments. Well brother Carley was able to be bold in a way that we never could have. Needless to say she was at church with her grandson on sunday. It really was a miracle to see her there!

Anyway, after that appointment the Carley's took us to lunch at his favorite Mexican restaurant in town. It was soooo good!!!

On Wednesday we had zone teaching in Lincoln. We talked about how to become better teachers. It was so great to be able to see who is in our zone. I also found out that for zone conference on the 30th, the grand island zones might be meeting with us. Do you know what that might mean?! That I will get to see Sister Page!!!!! Please bless that happens! haha After, the 4 sisters from our zone and the 2 from the other went to Culvers, this Wisconsin diner, for lunch. It was so stinking good!

The Reeves fed us like 3 times this week, they are so awesome! We love spending time with their family.

Friday we had 5 lessons scheduled and only 1 ended up happening! It was so heartbreaking! I mean, a few of them had a good excuse but the rest are busted! At one point we were at home waiting to hear about one of our lessons and in the mean time I read a talk out of the ensign. It was about same gender attraction but the part that was my favorite and really applicable to the day we was having was this. She said, "I believe that the Lord wants us to 'be believing' and that He wants us not to give up on Him or His timing or His ways." We can't get frustrated when investigators don't show up to appointments or people that we love don't accept the gospel because it is all in the Lord's time.

Saturday I hit my month mark! What the, I feel like I have been here for at least a year but at the same time I can't believe it has already been a month. Like I said before, I am really confused about time here.

We went to Lincoln for the stake fair! One of our investigators said they were going to meet us there but they actually never showed. We helped out with they Hyde's softball toss and had a blast! It was great to be able to meet people from the stake. The biggest tender mercy happened this day...I saw Caleb Duncan, aka friend from SUU going to law school in Lincoln. I also got to meet his awesome wife Venassa, who happened to know Kari Bowman because they served in Washington DC around the same time. They just got married two weeks ago and had just moved back to Lincoln on Thursday! It was a great blessing to be able to talk with them about everything. Caleb is such a big help! (They are pictured in the photo below). We rode with the Hydes to Lincoln. On the way there we stopped and got and ice cream. Well on the way back we stopped at Sams Club to pick up some stuff for the family and Sister Hyde bought a box of Drumstick ice cream cones and we each had to eat two or else they would melt! We were so full from ice cream it was gross!

We have started team teaching Miguel, who is the son of a recent convert family. He texted us one day and asked if we could do bible study with him (we assumed he meant BOM). He is so solid and I truly believe that he is ready to receive the gospel in his life. He is a marine. We are taking him to the trail center on Saturday to watch the Joseph Smith movie.

Sunday was awesome because Joyce was there and then Miguel and our other investigator Joan.

My spiritual thought for this week is this. The tree fold mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel, redeem the dead and perfect the saints. We can't perfect the saints with out doing the other two. Think and ponder on that this week or for family home evening.

I love you all!!!

Sister Dumont

Hola familia y amigos!

Hola familia y amigos,

Didn't know I could speak Spanish did you? haha Well this week was a pretty solid week. Monday, after p-day we went and visited some investigators. The Peschkes, the family we live with, spoil us! I am telling you we have it the best here in Columbus. They feed us ice cream all the time and they are just so generous. Sis Peschke was having shoulder trouble and just having a difficult time so we watched Finding Faith in Christ with them and it boosted her spirits. Tuesday was a rough day as far as contacting people go. We had 3 people in a row straight up reject us. We just laughed about it because that is all you can do. The members are so great about being willing to help and also to feed us!

So did I tell you I get to play in the softball tournament? I am so stinking excited! We practiced on Wednesday and it just felt so good to be able to get out there and do something more in my comfort zone. The Stake tourney is on August 24th in Lincoln so that will be bomb! The branch is really counting on me so hopefully I won't disappoint!! We need more girls to play so on Tuesday we were tracting and I saw a girl with a softball shirt on. I ran across the yard yelling at her,

 "Hey! Do you play softball?!" Luckily she didn't seem too creeped out so we continued to talk with her and she said she would be living in Lincoln in a few weeks and we told her that is where we are playing so hopefully she comes to play with us. 

So one of the sisters from my zone in the MTC, Sister McMaster, is in my district now so I get to see her every Wednesday. This is such a blessing because my MTC zone sisters are my mission family and I hate not being able to see all of them. 

Thursday around 5:00 as we had come home for dinner the weather radio came on saying there was a weather watch in affect for the next few hours. I have never seen it rain/wind so much before. We stayed home and just planned for the next day since we couldn't go out. There wasn't a tornado warning in our county but there was in some of our neighboring counties. It was really exciting!

On Friday, we went to Omaha with our investigator Joan and her boyfriend Brother Davis, who is a member, and also her nephew Brother Vavra, who is also a member. We went to the trail center. Sister Gaede, the sister who was here before me with sister Gomez, got to give the tour. This was so awesome because she knows Joan's needs and was able to cater to that. Then we watched the Joseph Smith movie. THe spirit was so stinking strong that whole time in the trail center but especially as we were watching that. I got to see another one of my MTC sisters, Sister Checketts and that was another big blessing!

On Saturday, we had lunch with some of our investigators and were able to watch Finding Faith in Christ with them. Ronney, the husband is just the greatest. He will just tell us stories for hours if we let him. LeAnn and Ronney take such good care of us sisters. We had dinner with a less active member and she took us to this really good pizza buffet (blessing because the next day was fast sunday). After dinner we took scripture cookies to members and the Hydes, both graduated from USU, invited us to go visit some of our other members who live like 20 minutes out of town so we hopped in the van and have a fun little road trip with them. The family we went to visit are farmers so we got some fresh corn from their farm!!!! The moment I had been waiting for my whole mission, some good ole Nebraska corn! haha On the way home we got a text from the lady we had dinner with saying that they just found out that they had lice! What the..... sis G and I started laughing so hard. I mean it's not funny but I think the fact that we are on a mission makes it funny. We got home and went straight to Walgreens to get some lice shampoo. So far we don't think we have it but we are still using that shampoo to be safe!

Sunday was such a great fast and testimony meeting. The youth, 4 young men, went to Nauvoo for youth conference with the Stake. They all got up and bore their testimony on Joseph Smith and it was a great reminder of my own experience in Nauvoo and how my testimony of the restoration was strengthened. After church the Reeves, branch mission leader and family, feed us yummy taco soup and cornbread and then zucchini bread. Once we left there we visited the Cerna family. They are the cutest family ever! He is from El Salvador and she is from....some other Hispanic country. He was raised LDS and she was converted after they were married for years and moved to Nebraska. She told us a story about how she was praying for a husband and promised to convert him to her church, catholic. She laughed so hard as she told us that because we all know that Heavenly Father laughed as she said the prayer too, knowing full well that the opposite would be true. We were still so full from the Reeves but the Hispanic culture is to feed your guests so they fed us Pupusas, el Salvadorian food, cornbread and hot cocoa! It was so good but I am just happy that I finished it. I didn't feel full until after we left their house. The spirit was sustaining me until we left.

Well I love you all so much. I learned so much this week! My invitation this week is for y'all to study what it means to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit. It is something that we hear so much in the church but do we really understand what it means?

I know that this is the true church restored on the earth. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet and that he restored Christ's church. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the true living prophet today. I know that Christ lives and that he loves each of us. I know that one day we will all be in Heaven together and we will be able to have the full joy that this life cannot provide. Thank you to everyone for you love and support. It really does help me!

Love always,

Sister dumont