One Of The Best!

Ward Halloween Party

This past week was probably one of the best ever!

Elder Lumpkin and I are getting along so great now! We trust each other and understand each other! I have seen him grow so much and I have seen how he has helped me grown even more!

Life is so good right now!

We had so many great things happen.

I'm not getting transferred! YAY! I'm so excited to be staying here in Greenwood! I couldn't have hoped for better news!

First off, we met with a Less Active John Mitchel, he hasn't been to church sense 1995! Before I was even BORN! CRAZY! He was so thrilled when we knocked on his door, he hasn't had contact with the church sense he was baptized 19 years ago! Anyways, we started talking with him and he was just so happy! (BTW John so you can get a visual is an older black guy in his late 60's, lives in a mysterious trailer home in the back of a jungle...)

He was so kind to us and so thrilled to have us teach him!

He came to church on sunday! I was so happy for him, for him to take the sacrament again after 19 years! What a story! Anyways he was great at church! And Guess what?! He brought a friend! (Suzie Rice)! She is a non member who after being at church yesterday loved it and wants to take the discussions with us and get baptized! I feel like I'm in a dream, things are just rolling out crazy! I felt so honored to help John get back to Church after all those years. He loved Church and is coming back next week! We are going to have him teach with us as we help his friend investigate the church!

 

On Saturday the Sisters in our ward had a baptism, I played a special musical number with the sisters at the baptism. "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" Sis Young sang and Sis Lower was on the violin. 

Bryan: 

He is doing great, he went camping last weekend, so he was unable to go to church, but he is still planning on next sunday. We are going to teach him with Bro Manley on wednesday, which will be really good!

Kathy:

She came down with a terrible flu! She is not doing good at all! She is stuck in bed! Please pray for her! We talk with her on the phone everyday. We are going over today hopefully to give her a blessing. She is so sweet and has done so much for us we are doing our best to help her get through this sickness.

There are lots of other great people who we are working with! I wish I had time to tell all the miracles!  The Lord's hand is there, you just have to know it!

I'm going to start getting pictures of my favorite people here in Greenwood, I'll post some of them next week! That way ya'll can put a visual to the people I get to work with!

I hope ya'lls week was as good as my week was!

Love ya!

Elder Dearden

Happy Halloween!   This is my District.

Hey People

Hey People

This past week was awesome! We taught some great lessons and had some great success! 

We went to Greenville last p-day and had a blast! We went to this waterfall in the middle of the big city. I'll attach some pictures of our adventure in the city.

Bryan: He is doing amazing!!!! We had some great lessons with him and he came to church on sunday! He loved it and wants to come back next week! He is so cool! I really believe that he is someone special! Especially because he gave me a rock! He ain't any normal guy that's for sure! I can see him in my mind as a great preisthood holder someday! He basically already lives the gospel, he has a strong masonic background and really likes that our church heavily reflects the same concepts. I can't wait to have him at church again! 

Kathy: She is as great as ever! We hang with her a lot, she called my mom last week apparently to have a fun conversation! She is so sweet and she is doing a lot with her family history! She has gone back 3 generations and realized she has some Cherokee background! That was a cool discovery!

I'm starting to think I'll be here in greenwood for a while longer...Elder Davis (my trainer who is home now) He says that he heard that they are pushing for 9 month areas to become the norm...so we'll see. 

I love ya'll and I hope your weeks go good! I would write more but I'm a little busy, got lots of emails to reply to.

Elder Dearden

A Message

reposted from October 13th. (I accidentally deleted it..)

Hey Family and Friends

Life is great out here, Elder Lumpkin and I are having a blast, today we are going up to Greenville to hang with the Zone Ledars for p-day, that should be fun!

Our investigators are doing great:

Kathy: She is still actively involved with Family History, she loves meeting with us and takes us out to eat every week. She is great. She is progressing, but it will be on her own time, which might be a long time....but that's alright, she loves the church and the people and in time she'll receive her testimony!

Brian: He is doing great too, he went to Texas last week to expedite some prisoners, so we didn't get to meet with him much. But He actually gave me some more rocks as gifts, I told him I felt like he was giving me to many gifts, but in a text he responded, 

"Let me throw this one at ya, You said in your travels people have given you tokens like those stone's or some other things you may have received. Those of Gifts. And like those things the messages you guys share can be considered as such. And this is what I mean by that.

G=God

I= IS

F=Forever

T=True

Hence the word gift. The message you share is that, a gift, a small token which will eventually lead you to the truth. Take care and have a good night". 

(FYI: he is a freemason, hence the terminology he uses :D)

Obviously Brian understands the meaning behind our message, I think in time he will be able to be baptized, but it may take some time, but I think the spirit has worked with him, especially with the way he sees our "message" as a gift, which to me shows that he understands what we are trying to do.

We have many other great investigators, but I don't have much time to talk about them, maybe next week i'll talk more about them.

Elder Lumpkin is doing great, his message and story of overcoming cancer is so inspiring to our investigators, the spirit rocks their hearts when he tells it! I feel so honored and privileged to serve with him! He is a special soul!

Sorry, no pics this week. I'll send some next week!

I hope ya'll have a great week!

Elder Dearden

A Special Gift!

Hi family and friends.

I Want to thank everyone for sending me so many gifts, cards, and letters! I loved it!

I had some really great experiences last week!

I'll talk about the best one first.

Brian- So we met Brian just over a month ago, he is a cop who serves warrants. We have been visiting him weekly, and he tells us his cool cop stories, like how he almost got blown up and stuff like that. He's really cool.

Well we sat down with him last week to teach him again (we had taught some of the restoration). We showed him the Mormon messages video about fatherhood. It was perfect because his 17 year old son sat in on the lesson with us and watched the video. His sons name is Trevor, we gave him a Book of Mormon and he loved it, had so many questions and was excited to learn more about it. I don't go into to much detail, sufficient to say it was a great lesson. ( Brian saw my square mission stone I haul around and asked me why I carry it, I told him It reminds me of Christ).

Anyways as we were about to pull away in the car Brian comes running out of his home and stops us. He approaches me and says, "I want to give you this rock, I found it 23 years ago by lake Michigan, I don't know why I've been hauling it around for 23 years, but I feel like you should have it". I was so touched by him giving me his stone! I mean, I really loved teaching Brian, but I didn't know that he liked us that much too! Now, I Didn't realize how amazing the stone was until we got home and Elder Reed pointed something out to me, it's in the shape of South Carolina! I'll attach a picture.

Anyways, that was one of the highlights of the week!!!! Great time! 

The second story:

So we had conference! I loved all of it!!! It was just great!! (I probably over exaggerate how great it was just because I'm out on a mission and I see the world from a skewed perspective now, where everything is righteous and spiritual haha.)

We'll I kept trying to get Kathy to come to conference with us, and she just was so busy and couldn't make it, but then we were finally able to get her to come to the 2nd sunday session! It couldn't have been a better session for Kathy! With the emphasis on Family History (which is why Kathy started investigating in the first place) and then Elder Bednar's talk directed to those not of our faith! She was emotional during Elder Bednars talk, I know she received a witness that he was an apostle and prophet of the Lord. Kathy had such a great time, loved the Mormon Tabernacle choir and it was just great for her! She is working with our ward Family History Specialists right now and that is perfect for her!

At "Five Guys"  after Zone Conference

We had interviews with President Turner last week too! I loved being with President Turner, the Spirit just burns true that he is a man of God. I am so honored to be serving under his direction here in the Carolinas! 

Life is so good right now, the Lord has lifted burdens and has helped me to overcome my fears and stresses! His Atonement is so endless and powerful, never underestimate the power of a sincere prayer! 

I couldn't be happier right now! 

I hope ya'll have a great week!

Love,

Elder Dearden

Smoke?

Friends and Family.....

So this past week was really interesting....lots of strange things happened...so i'll tell ya'll a story from last week.

Last Tuesday, I had an appointment to go see Dexter, a member (Bro Harrison) (He reminds me of Obama, the way he looks and sounds) he went with us to go see Dexter....well we got there and Dexter wasn't home, and so I was like....crap...I had this member drive out here to meet this guy and now he isn't here. But the Lord had another idea. A family from across the street came outside and quickly invited us to come into their home to teach them. I don't know why they wanted us to teach them, they had never spoken with missionaries before, so I was like...Ok....we'll come teach you?

So we taught them, the Cullen family. We taught them the restoration and it was very powerful, they wanted to come to church and have a desire to be baptized. They have so much Potential. Broth Harrison said he would pick up Dikerous (the 32 year old son of the lady we were teaching) and bring him to church....

Well Dikerous came to church alright...shaking like a skeleton. Half way through sunday school he asked where the bathroom was....I was like oh no.....so I took him to the bathroom, I thought I would walk out for a few minutes to see what he would do if no one was there....and sure enough when we walked back in he was smoking in the church bathroom.....I flipped out and made him come out, put out his smokes, I took him outside the church and chewed his fanny off....I explained that the Lord was upset that he would smoke in his church (Dikerous knew better) and I told him that if he wanted to come back into the church he needed to take his drugs somehwere else, and he could come back in for priesthood hour if he showed me his pockets and that he had nothing in them....so he disposed of his drugs and he came back in....well I hurried and found the bishop and explained to him why the bathroom was stinking...so while I was talking to Dikerous he told the priesthood brethren the situation, and they quickly put together a lesson to teach during the priesthood hour about addictions.........

It was amazing, there were so many brethren that were sharing stories about how they overcame alcohol and drug addictions, and how there was hope, all the while Dikerous had no idea that they were really talking to him, but Dikerous was super receptive of the lesson, he wants to keep coming to church, he has a desire to be baptized, he has a very, very, very long road ahead of him. I told him he would need to make some HUGE adjustments in his life if he wanted to be baptized, but he claims he wants to make those changes. He understands it will take a while and won''t be easy. 

I was really frustrated at first that the lord would send someone with problems like this to me, but then I realized that Dikerous is the one who found us, he knows he's got issues, and he wants to change so much, he is reaching out of the pit of addiction wanting relief, Bro Harrison (the High-priest group leader) is going to help, we're getting him involved in addiction recovery programs and hopefully we can make something happen, of course the Lord is who will make the difference. 

Thankfully we have individuals in the ward who understand Dikerous situation, they don't judge him, they want to help, which is really good.

This should be an adventure, I'm excited to help Dikerous. 

Well there's my story for the week, and I think it Qualifies for a WTH moment: Headlines for Elder Dearden's weekly Newsletter: INVESTIGATOR SMOKES IN CHURCH BATHROOM....

Yep was interesting...

Hope ya'll have an interesting week like Elder Lumpkin and I did!!

Elder Dearden

New Adventure!

Friends and Family!

This past week has been an interesting adventure!

Elder Davis went home! I was super sad when he left, I love him so much, and he was such a great example to me! I feel honored though to have been trained by him!

My new companion is Elder Lumpkin, He is an amazing individual. He had cancer when he was 10 yrs old. The cancer left him with Scoliosis, a balance disorder, and other concerns. He is actually legally blind.

I was given driving privileges, now I drive a Ford Fusion, it's a nice car, and I like driving.

It has been a stressful week for me, I now am the senior companion and run the show here in Greenwood. I didn't realize how much Elder Davis actually did for me until now that he is gone! I will need your prayers, I want to keep up the work that Elder Davis and I did, I don't want to work to slow down, hopefully I can live up to the example Elder Davis set here.

Our investigators are doing pretty well, we didn't have much time this past week to visit with them because of the transfers and adjusting to our new companions. I will do better to update ya'll on them next week.

I have learned so much about the Lord's atonement, HE is so real, His atonement can help us overcome stress and anxiety! I have had a lot of that this past week, but the Savior's atonement has made it possible for me to overcome those negative energies!

I hope ya'll have a great week, hopefully I'll have time to write more next week. 

Elder Dearden

Three Months Already?

People who read this blog:

Today is the 15th- Those of you who know me well know that good things always happen on the 15th ;D

Life is great out here in Greenwood, I will definitely be staying in Greenwood another transfer. I will find out who my new companion is on Wednesday. I am excited to travel back to Columbia and be with all the other missionaries! 

I will really miss Elder Davis, it will be a strange adjustment to get a new companion, but I'm sure the Lord has something good in store. 

Last week was an adventure with our investigators! We taught so many powerful lessons, I'll go through our investigators. 

Marshall:

We met with him last week with one of the members from our ward, they hit it off so quick! They related to each other and made great friendships! I am so excited that they like each other so much! Bro Manley is the name of the Member who is doing an amazing job at fellow shipping! Marshall recognizes that Satan is going to try to do everything he can to stop him from being baptized, life is difficult right now for him, but I am excited to see how the Lord will raise him out of the darkness. He has such great faith already that the Lord will help him! I love Marshall, and I look forward to seeing him again this week!

Kathy:

She is doing as great as ever! We are taking her today to meet the member in our ward who runs that youth school, we will be having dinner with them, along with many other members in the ward. They are having like a farewell dinner for Elder Davis, so lots of members will be there, so because of that we decided we would invite Kathy, so we are super excited to see her connect with those people!

Myia and her Mother Barbra: 

They are doing super well! We taught them the plan of salvation and they loved it! Myia has expressed a desire to be baptized, we will be meeting with them later this week! I love them so much, they have such a sweet spirit about them! It is neat to see people come closer to Christ!

Dexter:

We met him a few weeks ago while he was drinking on his porch. We approached him and he immediately threw down his cigar and put away his drink, he was embarrassed and didn't want to talk to us while he was indulging in the drugs....So we taught him about repentance and set a time to back and teach him. We gave him the restoration pamphlet, and came back a week later. He had studied it like crazy! He claims to believe it all, and expressed more interest in what we had to share. So we gave him the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and came back the next day. Sure enough he studied it like crazy again and said he believed all of it! He has made a commitment to give up smoking, we told him it will be a slow process but that the lord will help him every step of the way! So many other things happened, but it would take to long to type it up, but I am so excited to see Dexter Progress! He has some really good questions, like, "Who Created God?".....I was nervous to answer at first, but I told him that one quote, "As man now is God once was, as God now is Man may become".....strangely he thought that made perfect sense (which is awfully unusual for people in the south to accept that kind of thinking). So anyways, he's a deep thinker and he's realizing that our message actually can answer all his 'deep' thoughts....

Other stuff happened that was super fun and I learned a lot! But I ain't got no time to talk about it!

WTH moment of the week:

I was on an exchange with Elder Barrow and we were biking back to the apartment when a big bearded old man on a bike stopped us....(He looked like Si from Duck Dynasty).....He then started yelling (in a cheerful way) about how he had been 'saved'.....He thanked us for our service and told us we were doing a great thing....but then.....he....welll.....at this point tons of cars had stopped and were watching us from the side of the road listening to this crazy old man yell about his 'bein saved' experience.....He then Fell on his knees and screamed at the stop of his lungs, taking the Lords name in vane (I think he thought he was praising God or something), it was just super awkward, from a distance it may have looked like we were casting devils out of him or something....but ya...we just hoped on our bikes and rode away, I think he was high or something, it definitely wasn't normal....I remember saying to Elder Barrow, "What the Hell just happened"...........Yep....Life is Good!

Have a great week Ya'll.......

Elder Dearden

My District here in Greenwood.

This is the Litchfield property we go to on p-day, where I saw those indian paintings, I'm going there again today!