Fort Jackson and Dutch Fork

Well to start off I just want to say that leaving Summerville was so
hard! I love that place and I want to go back so much! I have some
amazing friends in Summerville and it is going to be difficult to not
see them for a while! I've never really felt homesick on my mission,
but I am homesick for my previous area!

I'll send some pics of the rest of the people I took pictures with
before I left.

Sister Procopio, Elder Lumpkins mom

Summerville Missionaries

Last Picture with Ed and Bobbi

Jeffs Family

Chase

Apollo and Stacey

But last p day Elder Parker and I went to Fort Sumpter and had a
fantastic time! I have pictures of that too.
I'm really going to miss my Summerville missionaries! They were so
much fun to around! But time moves forward.

We got permission to ride on this ferry to get to Fort Sumpter, this
is us inside the boat.

Fort Sumpter

The Ferry we took to Fort Sumpter

So....I was transferred to west Columbia. The Ward is called Dutch Fork.
My companion is Elder Scarff, he is from Alberta Canada. I'm way
excited to get to know him and to work with him.

It's really funny, I still get to drive a car! I'm so spoiled. We have
this dodge van we get to dive, I Really like it. We also get the
fanciest apartment in the whole mission. It has new everything and
fancy crown molding everywhere. The bathroom is huge too. I felt
even more spoiled when I saw the apartment. The place is a gated
community and we have a fancy pass card that lets us in.

Elder Scarff and our van

 So....even more great stuff....

I get to be the office monkey, we move mail around and do some other
stuff for them when they need it. I actually just live a mile from the
mission office. I'm really excited about that. That's why we get the
van, so we can transport stuff.

The greatest of all is that I also get to serve on Fort Jackson, I
basically have two areas! (Dutch Fork and Ft Jackson) I couldn't ask
for a greater blessing, we get to go on base to teach soldiers who are
going through basic training. There are a lot of members who are there
and they bring their buddies to church and then we teach them. We get
to go to their sacrament meeting, which is really cool to have
soldiers pass the sacrament to us in their uniform. We baptize every
week there. Yesterday we baptized two soldiers, Pvt Doone and Pvt
Blanco were baptized yesterday. We have 9 people on date to be
baptized next week, I'm super excited. We work Fort Jackson with the
assistants to the president, which is so cool, I really enjoy being
able to spend lots of time win the assistants. I will have pics from
those baptisms next week.

So, guess what else?! There is a senior couple that serves in my
ward, Elder and Sister Mecham, and yes we are related! We discovered
that Elder Mecham and myself share Lewis Mecham as our common
ancestor. Lewis is my great- great- great- grandfather. Lewis is Elder
Mechams great grandfather. I'll send pics of the pedigree. It was a
great comfort to find a relative here to know I'm in the right place!
I'll get a pic with Elder Mecham next week for y'all.

Lewis Mecham

Alright, well, this week was busy and I'm excited for this new
adventure! I'll try to keep myself from thinking of Summerville,
because I have lots of emotion attached there! But I know the Lord
wants me in Ft Jackson and in Dutch Fork!

Love y'all!!!

Elder Dearden

Leaving Summerville :(

Hey Family and Friends

I have limited time today, I found out I am being Transferred away from Summerville and asked to be a District Leader somewhere else. I won't know where until I get to Columbia on Wednesday.

I took tons of pics. I'll hurry and attach them and try to quickly explain who all the people are. But I wish I had time to express the emotion I have had the past 3 days. So many amazing things have happened. Here are some pics.....

This is the Most amazing bishop ever, Bishop Justin Robinson and his wife. I am going to miss them so much! I could sit and talk forever about how amazing this couple is! I love them so much and I am so grateful for all that they did for me! I honestly would love to move back to Summerville sometime in my life and live in this ward!

This is Kent Robinson, The Bishops Dad. He is also our Ward Mission Leader, and the Father in Law of Jeff Hall. I Freaking Love His family. They honestly are one of the coolest families I have ever came across! I will always remember Kent, he has done so much for me and for this ward!

This is Bro George. He was recently Ordained and Elder. He will be going to the temple sometime this year! I am so excited for him. He will be feeding us lunch tomorrow. It will be hard to say goodbye but man, he is awesome! When he goes to the temple I'm pretty sure I'll get permission to meet him there!

This is Jeff Hall, He's the one that we shared the crazy coincidence where he knew some friends of mine who live in Mexico! After taking the picture he said, "We will go to Mexico, I'm serious!" So, hopefully one day we can continue to build the network of amazing people!

I'm gona Miss him! He is going to Baptize BEN on the 18th of July! I am so excited for Ben to be baptized. I'm sad I won't get to see it, but Ben is so ready! I should have pics sent to me afterwards of Ben's Baptism! I am so grateful to have known Ben and to have taught him for 6 months! It was fantastic!

I'll attach a pic of Ben too.

This is Ben.

This is James, I've talked about him the past couple of Emails. He is on the far left. Then Elder Paker, then Brother Wertz, one of the Ward missionaries we worked closely with. He also teaches Gospel Principles. Gosh Dang it, I'm going to miss these amazing people!!! James is working to get baptized, and I am hoping it will be soon! 

Sister Johnson, LeGrand Richins' niece.

This is Bro Johnson. He is really cool. I have had some fun conversations with him, He grew up in Richfield and knows where lots of native stuff is in the mountains. He's a really cool guy. He is also the Husband of the Relief Society President, Sis. Johnson, who is actually distantly related to me! She is a Richins. and LeGrand Richins is her Uncle! Crazy connections! But I love them. Above is Sister Johnson.

This is Bro Fish. He takes us out to Eat every p-day! He actually has Cancer but has set such an amazing example to me of how to continue to serve others despite the circumstances. It is amazing, it's Crazy, he will come out of radiation and go straight to taking us to lunch. He is such an amazing individual! I am so grateful to know him! I'm going to meet up with him in Charleston after emailing today!



Well, I will have even more pics after this week. I will be with Chase, Bobbi, and James and Nicole, and many others over the next 48 hours and I'll add more pics of them next week!

Fast and Testimony meeting yesterday was the most spiritual meeting I have ever attended. The Testimonies all revolved around Jesus Christ. The man blessing the Sacrament was emotional when saying the prayers and the whole Congregation was so respectful and the spirit just swung in full force. In Bobbi's words, "The Spirit was really heavy today". It was amazing to have everyone testify of the spirit that was in the room. Never before has the sacrament meant so much to me! 

It was also a very emotional day, I hated saying goodbye to people that I LOVE SO MUCH!

It will be especially hard to say goodbye to Elder Parker! I Love him so much, he has taught me something of value above all things! He showed me what Charity is! I will forever thank him for being a pure vessel of the Lord to Teach me by example of what it means to Love others! I have never met a more pure and loving individual! Elder Parker and I will be going to Charleston today to hang out one last time. I am grateful he will be only a few minutes away in Salt Lake after my mission so we can meet up often! I could go on and on about how amazing he is. But If his Mom reads this Blog, I want her to know she has a righteous son on a mission who touches so many hearts! He has certainly touched mine! 

Well, I am not happy about leaving Summerville, but I know the Lord is in Charge. I have so many terrific memories of Summerville with Elder Parker I will never forget! This closes an amazing Chapter of my life and It brakes my heart to turn the page! But I have to. 

Btw- I will never be able to explain in Words how amazing this past 6 months have been, but perhaps this quote from President Monson will scratch the surface.

"Beyond comprehension, my brothers and sisters, is the Love of God for us. Because of this Love, He sent his Son, who loved us enough to give His life for us, that we might have eternal life. As we come to understand this incomparable gift, our hearts will be filled with love for our Eternal Father, for our Savior, and for all mankind."

I have seen the Love of God from the people here in Summerville. Truly the Lord's hand is moving in the Charleston area! I just hope to get the point across that Love is the lesson of my mission, especially the past 6 months!

Moving forward, 

I WILL MISS SUMMERVILLE FOREVER!

Elder Dearden

 

Hey People!

Hey people!

Life is still going good as usual! 

Nothing super amazing or crazy happened last week.

I have some pics to share though! I will have even more next week probably.. 

This is Liz, she is a lady who was taught by the missionaries before we came. She has some memory loss, so sometimes she doesn't remember things. But She is so fun to go visit! 

This is Ladonna, Bobbi's Mom. 

This is Sis Hair. Her Husband died a month ago on the 15th of May. We were working with him, but he died in a brutal car accident. We have been spending lots of time with her the past little while. She is so sweet and fun to be around! We can sit and talk to her forever!

Transfer calls are this Saturday, I'm assuming because Elder Parker and I have been together for 6 months that there will be a change, but who knows?! Either way I'm anxious! I always dislike the unknown! But I know the Lord is in Charge.

Sorry, don't have much to say this week. But I know I will next week!

Hope ya'll have a great week!

Elder Dearden

Fantastic Week!

South Carolina Columbia Mission June 2015

Hey family and awesome people!

This past week was fantastic and so many great things are happening.

I'll start with iPad minis! We got the iPad last Friday and they are

awesome! Something cool is that I can receive email during the week

now. I can't respond until Monday's but I can read them throughout the

week.

I took some fun pics with the iPads too.

Here are some of the pics

This is brother Vines, he helped us build a gazebo, it was really
fun to be with him on top of the roof screwing in nails and stuff. I
didn't think I would enjoy building stuff as much as I did! It was
really fun and it makes me want to do get into that kind of stuff as a
hobby later on in life. You can see the Gazebo behind us in the
picture.

This is Sis Anderson
She put together the whole service project to build the gazebo. This
was a continuation of the project we did in April for the Summerville
day of service. Her son is on a mission right now in Utah and lives
10 min away from my home! So it has been fun for her and my mom to connect
over text!

This is Sister Vines, she has been a great help. She was the first
member to fellowship Bobbi and she likes to feed us. She is from
Hawaii and makes amazing food! Every Sunday she has bread for us after
church, she is awesome!

This  is a selfie with Bobbi. There was a baptism of a young girl
on Saturday and Bobbi came. It was the first baptism that Bobbi had
seen. It was great and the spirit was very strong. I love the unique
spirit at baptisms. Afterwards we went and got ice cream, it was very
good and I got to have my favorite superman flavored ice cream.

Our Investigators are doing great, I wish I could find words to describe the feelings that come from seeing the light of Christ Awaken in the souls of others! 

Bobbi and Ed have become like a second family to me! They had us over yesterday for Fathers day dinner, it was really fun. We were also with her Parents, who are just as awesome! I will really miss them and have a hard time when I have to say goodbye! But I am grateful that they have allowed me to be apart of their lives!

Chase came to Church again yesterday and is really enjoying it, he is pondering on a day to be baptized, which is exciting. I may not be here to see it, but I am so proud of the decisions he has made so far!

James and Nicole are on fire still, James invited me to go to his birthday party at a trampoline park...unfortunately I can't go, against mission policy, but we did get to have some fun last week, he can tumble on the grass, so we took turns doing backflips and stuff, I really enjoyed it. I'll try to get a video or a picture of us doing backflips or something so ya'll can see haha.

Last week was a really fun pday, we bought pizza and lots of cream soda and hung out at the church....I have pics of our mess....but we cleaned up haha. I love my district, probably the most fun district I've had yet!

I love my Mission! BEST TIME OF MY LIFE!

THANKS FOR ALL THE YEAR MARK PACKAGES AND STUFF!

I hope ya'll have a great week!

Elder Dearden

1 Year!!!

Hey Family and People!

<<<<<<<<<<!!!!! ---I HAD MY YEAR MARK---!!!!!>>>>>>>>>

Wow has time moved! I can't believe that 1 year from now I'll be home! 

I am loving life, Summerville is my Favorite and will probably always be my favorite! I want to stay here forever as a missionary!

The Work is moving forward great, all our investigators are doing fantastic and are progressing so well! I love teaching James and Nicole, they have such amazing insights and it is amazing to see the Light of Christ Awaken in their souls! Bobbi and Ed are doing great still and I will always treasure the friendship I have with them! 

Chase, our Friend we met at the Library came to Church yesterday and had a great time! He says he wants to be baptized, hopefully soon!

I love missionary work, this is the life! 

This week on Friday we get our ipads! About time! I am excited to have that technology and it will be cool to see how it hastens the work!

My commitment to ya'll this week is to get more pics! I'll do my best to take more pictures with my favorite people here in Summerville so ya'll can see them!

I love this Gospel! I love my Family and Friends! I owe so much to all of you for the blessings you are in my life! Thanks for everything!

1 more YEAR!

Elder Dearden

Fun Week!

Hey! 

This past week was super fun! So many amazing things happened!

To start off, (Previous Elder) Cole Davis came to visit! It was fantastic! He took Elder Parker and me out to lunch! It was really fun to reconnect with him! I'm sure we will continue to be friends and hang out after my mission is over!

On Saturday we were able to go to West Columbia to listen to Elder Christofferson speak. Bobbi and Ed took us up there and it was super fun to be with them all day. We went out to eat at Firehouse subs and it was super tasty! But Bobbi and Ed enjoyed being with the Apostle and got to meet him, it was a great day! It is always amazing to experience the spirit around an apostle!

Elder Parker and I did fantastic on our Organ and Piano Duet, it went perfect! I hope to find a way to record it so ya'll can hear it. 

I know Bobbi took some pictures, but I don't have them, hopefully I can get them so my Mom can post them on the Blog.

Some of our other investigators, James and Nicole came to church Sunday and have made many friends already and they both are making plans to get baptized! We are so excited for them!

I love Summerville! This place is amazing! I am amazed with the missionary work this ward does and the success that is moving in it!

I love President Turner! I love this mission! 

I hope Ya'lls week is great!

LOVE YA!

Bobbi did send me (Stacie) this picture.  :)

Life is Going Great!

Hey Family-Friends-people!

Life is going great! We have had a fantastic week! We picked up some new friends to teach, James and Nicole. They are a young couple with a toddler. Super nice people. We taught them the restoration and they loved it, and have read a ton of the Book of Mormon already. They came to church on Sunday and are super excited to keep coming. They are awesome! They already have friends in the ward too!

Elder Christofferson will be here over the weekend and we will be seeing him Saturday! They said whoever drives the missionaries to the meeting also gets to stay, so Bobbi and Ed will be taking us to Columbia for the meeting! It will be great! They are super excited just as we are to be with an Apostle! 

I really wish I had pictures, but I dont, but next week I will.

We got a new Elder in our Apartment. His name is Elder Appleton, He's from Canada, we get along pretty well. 

So, President Turner called us Yesterday and asked Elder Parker and I to play a musical number for Elder Christofferson on Saturday. We are really excited. President made a special request for it to be an Organ and Piano Duet. We just so happened to be at a member dinner when he called and so we asked Sis Jeffs if she knew of a song like that. She did! She found a really cool piece for us to play, "All Creatures of our God and King". It will be awesome! We are excited!

I hope your week goes great, life is fantastic here! So many great things happening!

Love Ya'll!

Elder Dearden

I (Stacie) had this pic sent to me via Facebook in February from a member they were with.    I didn't see it in my message box until now  :{