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Alma 29:9

I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.



Monday, February 24, 2014

Digging Ditches

The first week in Pembroke was great. We are fed here all the time.  We never tract, it is useless.  We get a lot of referrals from the ward, and most of our investigators are friends or family to ward members.  The ward is great, they do a lot of missionary work!  There is not a LDS institute, at most there are a dozen YSA at the college.  

Elder Brinkerhoff goes home in June, I may be his last companion. He has only been here one transfer more than I have, so we are both trying to learn the area. We do have some investigators, but it is too soon to tell if they are going anywhere.

It has warmed back up to the 70s but it is supposed to snow again. (Everyone has been freaking out, apparently this has been the worst winter in years).  Pembroke is built on top of a swamp so there is a lot of people with water drainage problems.  The sister missionaries yard has turn into a lake, so I have been digging a lot of ditches lately.

I did receive the package you gave, thank you.  As far as the memory card goes I am waiting to fill it up before I send it home.  There is a Walmart in Pembroke, so we can stay in town to shop.  Need wise I just need to buy a few things at Walmart, I should be fine otherwise.

That is great to hear that Taylee is coming to Raleigh. As far as advice goes, go to mission prep, study The Book of Mormon and study the places with in the mission and the big religions in the South.  And bring clothes that you can sweat in.  Most of the mission is either country or inner city.

I really like this thought(Elder Holland's talk "Remember Lot's Wife").  It says in Luke 9:62 "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God".   We have to keep our hearts and minds single to the Glory of God.  There is a talk called the 4th missionary, that is really famous, that talks about it.

Thanks for your love and support, and I will email you again next week.

Love, Elder Lakey




  



Monday, February 17, 2014

Hello Pembroke

Transfer day it was snowing, but it didn't change much.  I love being in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission, because each area is so unique!  We did have a bad storm come through, everyone freaked out, but I didn't think it was that bad. But apparently it was the biggest snow storm in years.

I am now in Pembroke, which is not your ordinary sleepy country town.  89% of the town is Native American and a part of the Lumbee tribe.  It is one of the biggest tribes out there.  I'm basically living on a unofficial reservation.  Pembroke only has about 2500 people in it, yet it has a ward, and many of the branches nearby are split offs from the ward.  

The area is highly rural, but we live in a really nice large duplex, I get my own bathroom.  The church is not too far from us, it is located next to a small university, UNC Pembroke.  We mostly use the car to get around, and we have a set of sisters in our area.

This week has been good, doing missionary work in Pembroke is different, because here everyone is related to each other.  We have to call people by there first names or else no one will know who you are talking about.  Everyone here has the same last name, there are 4 pages of Locklears on the ward roster!  There are also a lot of Oxendines, Lowerys and Jones.

I like my new companion, he is great, and once again I am with a district leader.  Elder Brinkerhoff he is from Altamont in the Uinta Mountains.  He is darker than half the Lumbee tribe, and many people think he is Native American.  He has been on his a mission for a while now.  I might be his last companion.

That is great that soon the grandparents will have a home.  I don't know if there is anything you can ship out here that I need that I can't get anyways.  There are some things I need to buy though with my card, so keep an eye on the money.  We are not doing anything special for President's day.

I am glad you think I have integrity, as a missionary you need it.  Because, we want people to trust us so they are willing to listen to our message.  People can sense if you have integrity.

I love you and I will email you next week.


Love, Elder Lakey


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Goodbye Jacksonville

This week has been an interesting week, I found out that I am going to Pembroke, a small country town that also has a small university, UNC Pembroke.  It should be a lot different then Jacksonville.  I am going to be with Elder Brinkerhoff, I don't know much about him yet.  While I love Jacksonville, I am also very excited to go to Pembroke.  I will miss the members the most they were willing to do anything for you, it was great.

I am almost done packing and I have a ton of space still in my suit case. A member in our area takes us to Raleigh with our luggage and bikes.  There we are informed by President Bernhisel where we are going.  Then we find the member that corresponds to our new area and we put our luggage and bike into his car and we travel to the next area.

Golfing was fun,  I am not sure what I like to do on p-day, most missionaries just like to shop and play basketball.  Jacksonville does not have any good seafood places.  It is very much a military town not a coastal tourist town.  You could live in Jacksonville your whole life and not realize your living on the coast.

It is funny that your weather is warming up. Everyone around here is freaking out again. One snow storm in a year is rare, yet the weather report is saying that there is suppose to be an another storm this week, which would be the 2nd one this year.

I love you and I email you next week about Pembroke.
Love, Elder Lakey

Monday, February 3, 2014

State of Emergency

This week was a little slower, North Carolina shuts down during a winter storm.  We didn't get to teach much.  The Governor of the state declared a state of emergency, the base was on lock down, and Onslow County had a curfew at 7 each night.  What did we missionaries do?  Drive to the Dominos, got pizza, ate it at the church and got on Facebook.  While there was ice on the road, there was a ton of over reacting.

It is 70 degrees today and I am going golfing, the snow is all but gone now. We did teach an active member lesson during the super bowl (they didn't care for the superbowl), but that is it. I hear it was a pretty one sided game anyways.

Transfers are next week.  I know I am being transferred, but I do not know where to yet.  I will probably not find out where I am going until the transfer meeting next Tuesday.  Everyone is saying I am going to Durham though.  

I actually met Sister Arave back in December.  We do not have a problem with bugs, but it all depends on your apartment.  That is great that Taylee is going on a mission.  We did make it to the beach I have been there several times now.   

It is not always easy to see the spiritual danger.  But, that is why we have prophets to warn us of the danger.  It is very important to review old general conferences talks.  It is amazing to me to see old conferences talks, and to see the modern day fulfilling of prophesy found in those talks.

Preach My Gospel and the mission prep manual are great!  If you can love the people, listen to the spirit, and have a basic knowledge of the Gospel you can be a missionary.  There's is a reason why many of the best missionaries were less active before there mission and came back or were recent converts. 

I love you I and I will email you again next week.

Love, Elder Lakey