Week 29: Great Falls, VA "Another Week in the Amazing Great Falls, VA!"

Hello hello!!!

How is everyone!? How is school going? Is it the 2nd week? Idk, it feels like last year just ended but it's already like September!!

This week was okay. Not a lot has happened. We're still working with Marco, but he has been crazy busy with work. He's still smoking... a lot... Gisella's wife, Neil, is really busy, but he told us that we need to have more discussions about the gospel. He's come to church like every week for the past month, and him and Gisella talk about the church a lot. It's just a matter of time! 

The awesome Roane family, that gave us the watermelon, got back from their vacation last week. So we went by this last weekend, but their dad wasn't home. So we talked at the door for a little, then played some frisbee with the kids for a few minutes. They are the best family ever! All I want is to teach them!!! It's gonna happen soon!

Earl is still doing well. We've been continuing to read with him and he is loving it!!! The Book of Mormon is SO GOOD!! He should be going to the temple with his wife's name in the next couple weeks! He's super excited, and asked one if his friend's in the ward to be the proxy for his wife's name! And her husband is gonna help Earl baptize her! (because he's like 75) It's gonna be so amazing!! I'm so sad I won't be there!!

We had Zone conference on Tuesday. It was pretty great. We had our stake President and a member of the neighboring stake at the conference. It was seriously the best part of the whole conference. They talked about how to work with the members and about how the stake is helping to get the members involved.

We were told by the area authorities that they want all the missions in the North-East to double their baptisms! I'm so for it!! It's totally gonna happen! But only if we work with the members and help them find and teach! We're working on it here in Great Falls! Stay tuned! 

I love you all!! Have an amazingly fantastic week! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! Keep loving God! I've been keeping a personal revelation/impression journal, and one of the things I wrote down recently was, 

"One of the blessings of keeping God's commandments is greater love and trust in Him!" 

Just thought I'd share that neat thought with you all!

Love, Elder Duke

Pics

1. Shoutout to Nathan! Didn't know you were coming to visit!  Love you bro!

2. Coldstone 

Week 28: Great Falls, VA "íHola!"

¡Hola mis increibles familia y amigos! ¿Como esta?

Totally didn't use google translate! I told Dad I'd learn spanish and I totally am from my district leader and duolingo! 

Funny story! We were in the lobby emailing president, and a lady who was cleaning the building walked up to us. We've seen her tons of times, but she's never talked to us except in passing. She only speaks Spanish and she came up to us and started talking to us. She was telling us that she knows our church, and if we were gonna teach the people of God, we needed to learn Spanish!  She also said we needed to be more humble if we are going to teach the Word of God! (We found that out after we called the hermanas to talk to her). She was just messing with us, but it was funny!

Nothing much has happened this week. Only 3 people were working with came to church yestersay and they were all in 1 family. It was Gisella's husband, daughter, and other daughter's boyfriend. Everyone else was out of town for the end of summer, I guess. But we had a good conversation after church with the daughter's boyfriend, Jimmy. He's 14 and is kinda shy. He doesn't talk much, so me and Elder Poulsen ended up doing all the talking. Towards the middle of the conversation, we asked a good question about how he felt about church (he's come like 3 or 4 times). He wqs gonna answer, but then Gisella walks up and says, "Let's cut to the chase, are you going to be bptized, or not? If you and to marry my daughter, you better choose to be baptized! Do you want to marry my daughter?" Elder Poulsen and I were like, "What!?!? Calm down, Gisella!! He's 14!!" That ended our slow progressing conversation pretty quick...

Other than that, nothing much else has happened. We've just been visiting tons of members to help them continue to do missionary work. My favorite talk has been Witnesses unto Me by Elder Holland. Part of living the gospel is sharing it! When we are baptized, we take upon us the name of Christ. That means being apart of gathering Israel! Plus, who wouldn't want to share the Gospel!?! It's kinda the best ever! I've seen time and time again on the mission, people living harder lives than they need to because they are following the way the world is going... The teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are the only way to true and lasting happiness!

Sheri Dew once said, "The commandments gave me a good life!"

That's pretty neat!

Anyway, I love you all! I hope you have a good week!

The gospel is true! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! Keeping praying! God loves you!

Love, Elder Duke

Week 27: Great Falls, Va "Enter Title Here..."

Hello Hello!

This week was pretty great! Nothing too big happened, but the work is moving forward!

The biggest thing that happened is that we got Earl's wife's name ready for the temple! It's all printed out and ready for him to go! He was super excited and wants to get his parents, brothers, and wife's family done as well.

Nothing too big happened with any investigators. Marco is still struggling and is getting pretty discouraged, but we went over last night and promised him that if he would read and study the Book of Mormon, he would get the strength and motivation he needs to quit smoking and join the church! He told us last nightn

 that he knows it's true, he just isn't ready to be baptized. Keep praying for him! I tell him that my friends and family are praying for him and he gets so excited!! It's a special feeling watching someone have that feeling of being loved and cared for come over their face!

We had 2 missionaries return home in this ward last week. They both gave their homecoming talks yesterday, which were really good! We have a lot of missionaries coming home soon and it makes me think about how I want to spend the rest of the time I have on a mission, and what kind of missionary I want to become.

A family in the ward, the Funn's, had a baptism for their daughter on Saturday. Funny story. They went to the church that morning and someone who was cleaning the church unplugged the font. They can't do the baptism there anymore, so another member says, "We can do it at our house and baptize her in our pool!" So that's what the did! They had the whole service in their living room (which was probably as big as the primary room), then her brother who just got back from his mission baptized her in their swimming pool! Pretty neat!

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! Keep being the best people ever! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! Keep coming to Christ! The gospel is truly the ultimate source of true happiness! I've discovered that more and more as I've been out!

Love you all!

Love, Elder Duke

Pics!

-Sister Rhee!!! The Rhee's are the best and are moving to borrow to Berlin :( She is seriously the best ever!

-An awesome pizza we had at lunch with a member

-Exchanges with my boy, Elder Larsen, in the Spanish ward again!

-More pics

-Cooking in my Insta Pot! (Dad sent this to him.)

Week 26: Great Falls, VA "End of transfer 4!"

Heyyo!!

Oh my goodness! Another transfer down! Feels like me and Elder Poulsen just got together! We've got another 6 weeks together! I'm excited! Great Falls is the greatest ever! The members are just the best and we're seeing the blessings come!

To start, we blessed Marianna's baby yesterday! Elder Poulsen did it and it was awesome! Such a cool experience! Also, Marianna's parents were there, and they thought it was so cool! We're gonna try to start teaching them this week! Pray that all goes well and that they are prepared!

Marco is still smoking... a lot...... It's so hard to keep his fire going when we meet with him maybe once a week cause he's so busy... I told him you all are praying for him! He was so excited to hear that! He seriously loves the church!!! He says all the time that we are his family and that he feels so much love! He's totally gonna get baptized! He just needs to keep going on kicking his addictions!

Gisella, Marianna's friend that she nannies for, her husband that we are trying to continue teaching has been wanting to meet with us, but they were on a trip for the last couple weeks. But they got back so were gona visit them a couple timess this week! Should be good! Gisella is so convinced that he is getting baptized soon!!

We also have another awesome family that we are going to start teaching this week! They are friends of a member and came to church last week and loved it! The plan is to have dinner with them and the member family! They are so nice and really open! The mom just really wants her kids to be spiritually well and have good values and such. They came to the right place! 

I had another exchange with Elder Larsen, our DL, this week. He came here and we had a really good day! Nothing too crazy happened, but it's nice to get other missionaries ideas and work with them for a little!

We had our first zone conference with President Caplin this week! It was pretty good. We got to know him and his wife better and they are AMAZING! His wife is literally the best! She has such a tender relationship with the Savior! Also, I found out that President Caplin knows ASL!! I saw him do small signs here and there and asked him about it afterwards! Then we signed a little and everyone was like, WHAT?! It was pretty neat! He told me that when am find a deaf person, we'll teach them together! Guess I gotta brush up on my gospel ASL vocabulary, lol!

Tons of good is coming up in Great Falls! Operation "0013, License to Baptize" is in progress! The members are so involved and the blessings are coming!

Love you all! Keep praying and reading the best book in the world! (A.K.A. the Book of Mormon ) Heavenly Father loves you and wants to bless you! Give Him the opportunities to do so! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Duke

Pics!

-We were helping a member begin building a fence and we had to find the gas line. It was marked by the maintenance guys, but it was not there! Elder Poulsen dug like a 2 feet deep hole and never found it, lol!

-Audi R8. Just had to take a pic, lol!  Same 5.2 Liter V10 in a Lamborghini Gallardo!

-Elders Simpson and Southard! They are the YSA missionaries in McLean. They're the best! 

-Champ, Marianna's parent's dog. The dad, Rey, says Champ is 5 going on 6 months!  He's super hyper!