Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello there...It’s ya boy Elder Durante. This was quite a good week. I am enjoying service with some great elders, but I'm still set on seeing all of North Carolina, especially Greenville. I am most certainly excited for General Conference this next week and church is finally starting back up. It's been way too long for me. Sadly, I haven't heard any news about Andrea, but it sounds like it won’t be progressing more for a while. We finally had a lesson with a new investigator for the first time in foreverrrrr! It was good, but it seemed like we bashed more than had a clear lesson. We did have some good discussions though and she said she is excited to make more questions for us next time sooo....lol. I finally had some one on one time with president with interviews this past Sunday and we really hit it off. I bribed them with some of our chocolate so they won’t be upset with what went down with my video haha. Sister Maurer is hilarious and President is awesome! He played rugby as well;) While talking with him, he told me that 40 missionaries will be coming in this next transfer and it seemed like I might be training, but idk. On my way out the door, the Maurers said that I will be called out in our zoom meeting that night. And low and behold, president starts out with saying, "for those who want to talk in this discussion, raise your hand. But we'll have Elder Durante show us how it’s done." they're great and I am excited to be serving under their guidance. Thanks for all the amazing gifts and birthday wishes! I can’t believe I’m 20 years old! Falou!

Meet, Eat, and Greet

Howdydiddilydooo! This week was awesomesauceum! We tried getting into contact with more members and set up some lessons throughout the week. It was a blast finally talking to people here. We are finally able to eat at their houses and at one of the places we had dinner, we roasted hot dogs and s'mores! 

Church is starting to get up and running again, and one of the wards had sacrament last Sunday. Our ward’s first sacrament meeting will be after General Conference! Speaking about conference...I want to know what some of your predictions are. I think Elder Bednar will be going to the middle east, if you know what I mean;)

For some reason, it jump started into winter this past week where one day it was 90°, then the next day it was in the 60’s. With that crazy drop in temperature, we were able to get in more service and meet new people. Sadly, we had no new investigators this past week, but MAN WILL WE HAVE A FEW THIS NEXT ONE! I'm ecstatic to finally be able to teach some people this next week and it actually gives me something good to study about. We are talking to a college gal who has been talking with some sister missionaries for a while. She has 2 jobs and goes to school, but we'll find a time to squeeze in a lesson. We have also been getting to know her more over Facebook messenger. 

We got to meet President and Sister Maurer this Monday. That's why we are doing everything today. They are really cool and Sister Maurer is hilarious! They have really given a boost to my morale and I can’t wait to reach the potential the Lord knows I have! I can’t wait to see y’all today. Tchau!

Transferred to Fuquay-Varina

Sup?! Nothing really happened besides me doing service and saying goodbye to the ward. But this week was pretty lit if you ask me. I am in an area called Harris Lake and it is located in the town Fuquay-Varina. I share one church building with 3 other companionships. There isn't much success investigator wise, but that will change soon;) but for real though because we literally aren't teaching anybody, we are going to become THE BEST video making missionaries in the world. We are working on something BIG, so be sure to see it this coming week.  During my time here, I have become addicted to the bang energy drink and I believe it has given me special spirit enhancing powers.

Every day this past week we have been tasked with reading 2 chapters from preach my gospel, then have a discussion with the zone at night. I loved it and have learned more than I usually do in times past from reading it. I encourage you guys to read it all through, especially chapters 4 and 6!!!

(Spiritual Time)

I was going through the potential investigators in my area book and found a guy who "believes his own god". So I thought he would be a perfect person for me to call! He picked up and I explained who I was and he made sure that I knew that he didn't want to learn of Jesus. That's when I started to ask him what he believed in. He said that ultimately he is just too busy with work for religion. Then he asked me why I chose to go on a mission instead of just staying home to go to college and help others when I have extra time. I shot back by saying, "because I have my whole life after my mission to do that". I began to complement him about him being willing to serve others and be a good person, even though he doesn't believe in God, and we had a really nice conversation. For some reason I had the urge to tell him that faith in God isn't just believing, but it is action, and I told him that if he ever prayed to God, don't ask Him to take away your problems (because that rarely will happen), but ask Him HOW you can solve your problems. He said that he really appreciated my call and offered for us to call him if we have any computer problems in the future (he can fix them) or if we don't have anything to eat. He even went out of the way to say my communication skills were so advanced that he would like me to keep his number and get in touch with him if I want a job with him after the mission! It was an awesome experience and I KNOW IT WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED IF I DIDN’T SACRIFICE MY NAP TO MAKE THAT CALL! Just saying... sacrifice is key – and God will reward his servants for showing Him that kind of loyalty.