Week 42: Falls Church, VA "End of November Already!?"

Hello, all!

How are ya? How was Thanksgiving? I hope you ate way too much pie, cause I did! (Jk, let's be real, eating too much pie isn't even a thing!)

It's getting cold here, that's for sure! And it rained a lot on Thursday, so it's been a really wet cold, but I haven't frozen yet!

We did our weekly drive to Manassas to meet with Ken again! He's doing well! We reviewed the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him, then taught the 10 commandments. He's retaining things we teach him, and you can tell he's learning a lot! Then we called him on Saturday to follow up and to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with him.

We didn't get to meet with Laura this week, which is frustrating. But we stopped by last night and set up a lesson for Thursday. Hopefully it works out and actually happens!

There hasn't been much progress with the other people we're trying to start teaching...  Sad, but that's the way it goes, I guess. Just gotta find those who are ready and willing!

Thanksgiving was pretty fantastic! We had dinner with our Branch mission leader, Brother Bellamy. His wife is seriously the best cook ever! I've never been a big sweet potato fan, but her's tasted like pumpkin pie!! Me and Elder Pauley were like addicted to them! So good!!! After we had another dinner with the Kendricks. Their family is awesome, and Bro Kendricks is like my favorite ever! They had a few singles from the ward over, as well as a friend from California who was here for an internship. The friend, I came to find out, is a convert who was baptized by Mr. Brown, my Junior year ASL teacher! The world gets pretty small when you're a member. But when your in the Deaf member world, it gets a lot smaller!

We got a few more referrals from some other missionaries this week (that's mostly how we meet deaf people) that we tried contacting. There were 2 that lived in one apartment building in Alexandria. So we went to check it out. One didn't answer, but we did meet the other, an older woman who wasn't very interested. But she said there was another deaf person that lived on the 12 floor. So we went to go check that out, and just knock the doors on that floor. We get to that floor and knock a few doors. Then we saw some keys still in the lock on one of the doors. So we knocked it to let them know about their keys. A man opens the door and we showed him his keys, then we asked if he knew any deaf people that lived on that floor. He said, "I don't sorry. But I'm a member of your church!" We were like, "What?! Really?!" Turns out he is a member of the single adult ward here. He was super nice and told us where another deaf person lives in that bulding! Turns out there's more than 2 in that building! Just gotta find them all! 

Nothing else too crazy happened this week, besides us getting offered food every time we go tracting! Seriously! We got offered cookies, hand warmers, water, and someone even gave us cider and some pumpkin cookies! So no need to worry about me! The good Ol' people of Virginia are taking good care of me! 

Love you and miss you all! Have a good week! Keep being kind! Keep loving the Lord!

Love, Elder Duke

Pics!

-You better believe I made a chocolate creme pie! I ain't missing out on my favorite part of thanksgiving!

- The cider that a nice lady gave us.

- A ceramic dog we found while tracting. It was dark and Elder Pauley walked up to it and started petting it and I thought it was real! I was so confused.

Week 41: Falls Church, VA "Another Week in Blessed VA!"

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a good week!

This week we got 2 new people were working with and teaching!! Pretty exciting!

Ones name is Faud. He's a father of 3 kids, and his wife's name is Sui. Faud is a super nice guy, and is really willing! We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to start reading it. He said he would, and he seemed pretty eager to start! We're gonna meet with him this week, so we'll see how it goes!

The other person is a woman named Ana! She is so funny! She's Hispanic, so her English isn't great. We gave her a picture Book of Mormon and she got way excited!! She is such a sweet lady! Hopefully things go well with her!

Ken is doing great, as always! We were on exchanges, so I missed the lesson with him, but we called him on Saturday to read with him and he's doing well! He's learning more and more every week! Super proud of him!

Laura is doing good! We didn't meet with her this week cause her schedule is pretty busy. But we've been keeping contact with her and she's been reading! Not sure how much, but some is better than none! 

So on exchanges this week, I was in the Arlington 2nd ward. Love that place! If i get transfered, that's where I wanna go! Plus it's where my boy Elder Poulsen was trained, so it's a pretty special place! But anyway, on exchanges we went by one of their investigators, Kristen. She's former military, and works for the government right now. She's the best! Just take Emily's size, and Kaili's witty personality, and you have Kristen! Shes doing really well, too! Her fellowshippers are amazing, and she's progressing really well! Can't wait to see her get baptized soon! (She doesn't have a date, but it's gonna happen! I just know it!)

So Saturday, we were tracting just this small group of town homes in McLean. It's gotta be the nicest group of people I've ever met here in Virginia! None of them were interested, but we got offered food like 4 times! One lady from Kenya gave us some African bread, which was way good! Such kind people.

I love you all and hope you have a great Thanksgiving! Keep being the best! Keep loving the Lord!

Love, Elder Duke

 (LtoR: Sisters Howell, Koch, Flake, and Pugh. Elders Jensen, Dunn, Pauley, and Duke

Some pointy thing...

Washington DC Masonic Memorial Hall

Week 40: Falls Church, VA "...and shall find pasture."

Hello hello everyone! I hope all is well and that you're doing good!

To start, I heard about Jacob and Peyton, as well as things with the Dunn's. I hope they're doing well and in good sprirts! Love them!

This week was another good one! Nothing too exciting happened, but we're making progress!

Ken is doing well! He's learning more and more! Funny story... I was sitting next to him during Gospel Principles, then Elders Quorum (they're in the same room). Both classes were taught by our Elders Quorum President. And try were both in basically the same topic, family history. So for an hour and half we watched the Elders Quorum President talk about his family history and stories of finding his ancestors. I think Ken was as confused as I was!  We both sat there with blank stares like "What is he talking about?" It was great!

We have a new investigator that we met with this morning. Her name is Laura. She's a young single adult from Mexico. She's pretty awesome! We met her the firs time a few weeks ago, but went able to setup an appointment cause of her but schedule. But we finally got to teach her again and go over the begining of the restoration. She had been meeting with JW's before, so she had a lot of questions about the differences. But it went well and she understood everything! We're pretty stoked for her!

Also this week we finally got our VP (Video Phone) set up! It's exactly what it sounds like. A phone that hooks up to a camera and screen for deaf people to use. But we finally got one and it's super nice to have! Gonna help the work go along much smoother!

Signing is getting better every week! I still make a fool of myself, but not as often ;) We went to a Deaf social on Saturday night, which was awesome! We met some cool people. It was one of the first times I didn't feel like everything that was being said went over my head, so that's good!  Just gotta keep studying and working hard! I'll get there!

Earlier this week, I was watching some bible videos, and I watched the one about Christ telling the story of the good Shepherd in John 10. I was reading that chapter, wondering how we become the sheep that "know Him" and "hear his voice." Then I remembered a scripture that's in D&C 19

"23 Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me."

When we learn of Jesus Christ, have Faith in Him, use His atonement, and follow Him, we'll have peace in Him. Or, as it's described in John, "by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved...and find pasture."

Idk, that sounds really peaceful to me. Finding pasture...

Also, another cool thing. The sign for "Faith" is a mixture of the signs for  "Believe" and "Trust" so that's super neat! 

Anyway, I love you all and hope you have a great week! Keep loving the Lord! He's the greatest!

Love, Elder Duke

Washington Monument

George Washington Masonic National Memorial

Week 39: Falls Church, VA "Transfer 7"

Hey all!

How are you? How was your Halloween?

It was another good week here in good Ol' Virginia!

Ken is doing really good!! We had a lesson with him on Tuesday and he remembered a lot of what we taught him, which is awesome! He's making good preogress, and were super pumped for him! His testimony is growing, and he'll hopefully accept a baptismal date for December sometime! I'll attach a picture with him, too.

Monday, we met with a referral from some Spanish Elders in Alexandria. Her name is Laura and she is awesome! She's from Mexico and has been meeting with JW's ocassionally. She is the sister of the Spanish Elder's investigator so they met her and then told us about her. She was really interested in what we were teaching! It's a little hard cause she doesn't know English very well, so we have to teach with more pictures and less words. But she seems pretty solid! Hopefully things go well with her!

I'm still working on the signing! It's getting better and better, but sometimes we'll be at a dinner with a member, and my mind will just completely blank! Then I make a good fool of myself, and everyone has a good laugh, so that's fun!

We took the "scenic route" to church on Sunday past the Mall and everything. Unfortunately you can only see the back side of the buildings from the road, lol. I do have some pictures of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial though. It's the closest I'll get to seeing it all before the end of the mission.

I'm loving the mission, loving the people, and loving beautiful Virginia that has the most amazing Fall! And Fall is the best cause pumpkin spice everything!

I hope everyone has a great week! Keep being the best! Keep loving the Lord!

-Elder Duke