So far this week I've met 2 people that dress up like Buzz Lightyear, Ariel, and the dog from "UP"

Friends and family,

What a crazy, but good week it has been! I hope everyone back at home had a good week as well! Last week we had transfers and it was very sad to say goodbye to Palm Bay... I loved that ward, and they were so welcoming to me. We stopped by Kathy's house Monday night to say goodbye and she just started crying. It was really sad, but one thing that made her happy was when we started talking about the temple. One really cool thing about this whole mission thing is when one of our recent converts go through the temple, they can call the mission office and the companionship that baptized her is able to go through with the recent convert! So hopefully we will have a nice little reunion when she makes it to the Temple!

Transfers were a great time! It was nice to see the familiar faces of the Elders in the same District as me in the MTC. Our District in the MTC was really close and we bonded well together. We were able to catch up with each other before the transfer meeting started and share some good experiences. We all agreed it was one of the hardest things we've done to step out of the plane and go into a place we have never been, live with people we had never seen, and do something we have never done. But again, we all agreed we had grown more over these 3 months on our mission then the previous 3 years of our lives. I'm definitely on the highest point spiritually I've ever been, and I'm loving it. 

My new companion/companions are the greatest! We started out as a tripanionship with me, Elder Fullmer, and Elder Albin. To make a long story short, Elder Albin had previously served in Mexico for 3 months and went home to get his Gallbladder removed. He was home for 4 months, then came back out a transfer before me and ended up having more stomach problems last week. He then had to go home again on Saturday. Poor kid! I felt so bad for him. So now it is just me and Elder Fullmer! We are clicking great and getting along well. This should be a fun transfer and are enjoying serving together!

I am now serving in the Buena Vista South Area! We are about 5 minutes away from the Disney World entrance, how cool is that? Another fun thing about this area is, it is a "YSA" ward, or Young Single Adults. We've done a ton of fun activities here in the YSA ward already. Every Wednesday night, we have Night Games, where we gather together and play volleyball, ping pong, soccer, basketball, and any other games we want to! It's a blast. Monday nights we have Family Home Evening where we will meet at the church and have a spiritual thought, then play more games and have dinner. 

The members here have been awesome. We mainly work out of 3 apartment complexes that are housing for the Disney workers taking the CP or College Program. This Program is basically for students who need a break from school. Students can register for the program, then have to get interviewed and get accepted into it. They work for Disney for around 9 months, then return to college. A lot of students do this because they are able to say they worked for Disney, so their job resume looks more appealing. So for example, I've met 

- 2 people that dress up as Buzz Light Year

- Ariel

- the dog from "UP"

- and many more people that run the rides throughout Disney. 

All 3 of the apartments are within 2 miles of each other with giant parks and lakes in between them! It is a really cool experience to serve here and I am enjoying it! We talk to so many CP students a day it's crazy. I guess the best way to describe it is a College Campus, where the students don't go to school, but work at Disney World instead. Crazy right? It's pretty funny to see people walking down the sidewalk to the bus dressed up as a "Tower of Terror" bellhop! I'll try to take a picture next time I see one for sure! It's weird to go from Palm Bay where like 80% of the community is retired, to an area where it's only 18-29 year olds. Major difference!

We have an investigator we've met with twice this week that is progressing so fast! It's so cool to see the importance the Book of Mormon plays in the process of conversion. We met with her Tuesday night after transfers for just her second appointment with the missionaries. We were going into the lesson a little hesitant thinking she may drop of because of how the first lesson went. We finished up our lesson and gave her a Book of Mormon. She promised to read it. We get a call Wednesday morning around 8:30 from her saying she read it all night and wants to meet with us again as soon as we can for the next step or lesson! How great is that? 

Experiences like that make being out here on a mission so cool. I'm pretty sure I say that just about every week... but I really am enjoying this time I have to serve. I'm blessed to have these experiences. I miss you guys at home, and I'm praying you're all doing okay! Let me know if you want me to talk more about anything going on or if I left anything else out! I love getting emails from you guys. They always make me laugh! Have a great week! 

Much Love, 

Elder Doman

From his emails home this week:

I asked Brock if he’s eating enough, he looks like he’s getting so skinny, I wanted to make sure he’s not sick or anything.  Plus, I’ve had a lot of other people ask me the same thing about him.  This was his response:

“Yes mom, I'm doing great! Eating plenty! I've just never run this much before in my life! I'm almost up to 3 miles a day. I hardly ever eat out which helps too. I'm still lifting and staying muscular. I know that's so Important for when I get back. I'm doing fine! I'm still weighting around 260. I came out at 270. It's not like I'm going anorexic. I'm just trying to lose my belly. It will help my with college ball so much. I'm doing fine! :)

“It's been a long week! Very stressful, but pretty fun as well! It was hard to change from one area to another. I think I'd like it if I stay in an area more so I can get into a routine and a rhythm. That probably means I'll be changing around a lot hahah. This area is super nice. It seriously is right next to Disney World. Every night we can hear them! It's cool. It makes me want to go there like we did a couple years ago!”

“I'm not going to lie, a mission is so hard. There have been multiple times where I've doubted myself, but I know I should be here doing this work. There hasn't been an easy day, but a mission shouldn't be easy at all. There is a quote from president Erying saying, "a mission should be the experience that pushes your spiritual envelope each and every day. But the growth from your mission is irreplaceable." Kind of cool, right?”

“I'm liking my new area so far! We are full car so that kind of stinks. I'll make sure to keep running in the mornings. But his area is alright! I'm still pretty new to it so I'm not sure what it's all about, but "I like it a lot" as of now. About being happy. Honestly it just depends on the day. Some days you wake up and life couldn't be better, but other days are rough, and you were wishing you were home. The longer I've been out, the more days I've had where I'm happy.  If that makes any sense?”

“No,we aren't able to go to Disneyworld.... Even though it's my back door” L

Brock and his 2 new companions.  The one on the end is the one that had to go home today because of illness.

Here is a picture of one of my favorite members in the YSA ward! His name is John and he is autistic.  Me and him are best buds and we are loving it!

This is my favorite member in Palm Bay!  He was awesome, it's very hard to leave that area!  This is also the guy that I (mom) got a phone call from when Brock needed bike repairs.  He was ready and willing to help Brock get his biked fixed!  What a great guy.

This is our tripanionship again!

This is a picture of me and Buzz Lightyear!

Brock's last letter from Palm Bay, can you believe he's already ⅛ of the way through his mission???

Friends and Family,

To start out, I wanted to let you know that I loved he emails that were sent to me this week. You guys always make me laugh! Thanks for the time each of you are spending to read and respond to my emails every once in a while!

The farm on Monday was great! We learned how to survive in the wilderness if we have a pet rabbit with us. It was a little weird, but my survival skills increased. We were also able to help out with their chicken coop that held over 200 chickens!! They were everywhere! I've never seen so many chickens in my life! It was a fun time and we were able to have a lesson after dinner with their neighbor who isn't a member!

Well, we got our transfer call last night, and I will be leaving Palm Bay! I definitely have mixed emotions, but I think the change will be good. It was nice to be so close to the ocean and to see it almost every day, but it will be fun to experience more of the Florida Orlando Mission! I won't know where I'll be going, but this makes it kind of fun! To be honest, it felt like the Hunger Games a little bit. We got a call last night from our Zone Leaders and all it said was, "Elder Doman, you will be getting transferred." hahaha it was kind of crazy. I'm excited, but at the same time a little nervous.

We had another great cooking story this week.... Elder Willard wanted to make homemade cookies for the last district meeting of the transfer. The idea of that is fine, but when it started to become an action it wasn't the best idea anymore.

Problem #1- The recipe for the frosting asked for some powdered sugar, but we didn't have any of it, so we just used regular granulated sugar. We didn't think there was a difference and all would be good...

Problem #2- We finished making the dough and then realized we didn't have a rolling pin. This was a major problem. We searched for something, anything that would work. We looked in the back of the closet and found an old PVC pipe. We washed it off and called it good.

Problem#3- The recipe called for a cube of butter. This was fine. We had some butter in the freezer. We took out a cube and put it in the microwave to thaw it out. Somehow, we forgot to add the butter once it was thawed…. What a bone-head move, I know.

Solution- once the non-buttered, granulated sugar cookies finished baking in the oven we gave them a try! I took my first bite and almost broke off my tooth. They were hard as a rock! We just threw them away and pretended like we didn't even try. Bottom line is, Elders shouldn't bake cookies.

I have finally finished my "12 Week Training!" I'm no longer a trainee and am now Junior Companion. The special prize for this is I am now able to do online proselyting! I'll have a Facebook starting Wednesday. There are many purposes for online proselyting and I get a training for it on Wednesday. We are able to do a group message on Facebook, and have members join in and talk with an investigator that may not be comfortable having people over. It is an awesome tool, and it will be effective.  I'll be able to add you guys, but then have to block you. So you'll be able to see what I'm posting, but I won't be able to see your posts. I'll post links and quotes everyone in a while, so there can be some benefit to being my "friend."

On Thursday we had an awesome day! There is an investigator couple who is progressing well, and we had an appointment with them early in the morning. They are hilarious. They were previously Pentecostal (that's the religion that sing, dance, and clap through out the meeting!) They have been at church the last couple of weeks, and they are practically in awe after. Both times they have attended, they have been surprised how quiet and calm it is. They told us that they are used to having this high energy, wild, church service, and they aren't used to feeling the spirit at church! It was crazy! Like feeling the spirit at church is what you are trying to do through out the whole service, right? The husband has read all of the Book of Mormon in 9 days! He is loving it! It's amazing to see how quickly the conversion process speeds up once they start to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. they are progressing along very well! It will be sad not finding out what happens further along the road.

Later Thursday night we had a cookout with Kathy (the recently baptized member,) her visiting teachers, and a few other members that came along to some of our lessons with her. It was a good time and she is starting to feel like she is a part of the ward and belongs there. For missionaries, this is like one of the best things to hear! We then know we did our job! We finished the cook out with a testimony meeting. When it got to Kathy's turn, I was excited. I knew she was ready and I couldn't wait. She gave one of the best testimonies I've heard. Maybe it was just because we baptized her, but it was definitely something I won't forget. She talked about how much this has changed her. She said she was never happy prior to meeting

with us and has been sad ever since her husband had died 13 years ago. Now that she knows she can be with him again changed everything. She goes about with a smile and just being happy. She kept saying "there is something different about me, and I wouldn't change it for the world."

This church is true. I'm learning so much each and everyday. I love being out here and serving the Lord. Thank you for all of the support I am getting! You guys are the greatest! I hope everyone has a great week!

Much love,

Elder Doman

“That love never changes. … It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve [it]. It is simply always there.” October 2013 General Conference "Like A Broken Vessel" 

Jeffery R Holland

September 15th: "I'm loving my mission so much, but at the same time, I miss you guys!"

Oh, sweet joy this sentence gives: "I know that my Redeemer lives."

Friends and family,

I honestly can't believe how fast time is starting to pick up. It felt like it was just a couple days ago when I sent out an email! I remember the first week in the MTC and how felt like a month! I guess it's a good and bad thing. I'm loving my mission so much, but at the same time I miss you guys!

Leading up to Kathy's baptism, we focused most of our efforts on her

and preparations needed. There is a lot of work that needs to be done

prior to a baptism at I had never thought about, (cleaning the font,

letting members of the ward know, making a program, etc..) but the

feeling after the baptism was indescribable! This area hadn't had a

baptism in 14 months! I was so happy for Kathy and the covenant she

has made with our Father in Heaven. I was also very excited for our

other investigators that were there. They said It was a very spiritual

experience just watching the ordinance, and it strengthened their

testimony so much! When we met with the investigators that attended

this week, we were able to feel the impact it made on them. Now that

Kathy is baptized,  we only get to meet with her once a week. This

leaves us more time now to meet with our other investigators and spend

more time finding.

We were outside finding so much this week, and I loved it! I love

being out in the sun sweating to death, even if I'm in a shirt and a

tie! I did have one pretty embarrassing moment though... On Thursday,

it was 91 degrees with 70% humidity. This is like a perfect formula to

make a grown man sweat to death, I swear! We were on our 3rd

consecutive hour of door to door knocking, when a nice, older man let

us in for some lemonade and air conditioning. As you can imagine, we

were both extremely sweaty and gross. We took our backpacks off not

realizing we were soaking wet and about to sit down on his light

tan,very comfortable couch... We explained what we do as missionaries

and got to know him while enjoying our cold lemonade. He ended up not

being interested and said he had to go. We stood up off of his couch

to find that we had both left an imprint of our back-sweat all along

his couch! We were both extremely embarrassed and luckily, the older

man didn't care too much. We apologized over and over again and walked

out disgusted in ourselves because of the the amount of sweat we had

left. You can definitely say we ( left our mark..)  TA DUMMM TSSSS!

(Shout out to my sister Brittany)

We had an awesome experience on exchanges this Saturday. One of the

coolest experiences in my mission for sure! Me and Elder Husbands were

biking home Saturday evening for dinner, and we were passing by the

church when we stopped to talk to a man walking a long the sidewalk.

Right off the bat he asks us if he knows where we go after we die and

what we do. At this point we hadn't even introduced ourselves yet. We

talked to him for a little bit and he agreed to go in the church to

get out of the heat and for us to continue to talk to him. He ended up

being 24 years old and got out of prison 2 years ago. He'd been trying

to find God and didn't know where to turn. We taught him the first

lesson and by the end of it he was just crying his eyes out. He was

repeatedly saying throughout the lesson,  "I know this is where God

wants me right now." It was so spiritual! This man had never truly

felt the spirit before and when he did on Saturday night, it changed

him. He agreed to the baptismal invitation and couldn't stop smiling

after we had talked to him. SO AWESOME.

I know this is a shorter email, and I'm sorry! We had to shorten our

emailing time today because we are headed over to help a member clean

out his horse stalls and fix up his barn! His name is Brother Buffalo

which I find kind of ironic because he is a big time rancher and loves

horses. He said for dinner he's going to cook up some rabbits he

killed this morning. I don't know how I feel about that, but i'm sure

it will be fun. I'm normally not one to enjoy this "cowboy" work, but

I'm actually pretty excited to go out and see some farm animals, fix

up a barn, and wear a cowboy hat. I'll make sure to take a lot of

pictures and I'll e-mail them next week! To finish, I just wanted to

say being on a mission is so cool. Just look at that scenario that

happened to me on Saturday. We just happened to be riding past him the

same exact time he was looking for someone to answer life's questions.

This church is so true. Our Heavenly Father is blessing us in so many

different ways. He has a plan for each of us, and I know that to be

true. I love being a missionary and seeing our Father in Heaven direct

his sons and daughters to us missionaries!  I hope everyone is doing

great!

Much love,

Elder Doman

"You are going to face some Goliaths ahead--big challenges. Don’t fear

them. Meet them. Move into them, knowing that the Lord is with you, if

your cause is righteous."  Wendell J. Ashton,  April 1971 General

Conference

In his letters home this week:

“I love it that murph broke his paw. I think it's hilarious. I can't believe how much of a spaz he is! He is so big now! When I saw that picture of him I was dying! He was so tiny before I left. Tell him I say hi and give him a treat for me”

“I can't believe St. George is flooding again! I thought they had it prepared so good for if it were to ever happen again, it would be okay! I'm glad everyone is safe though! The world is crazy. I only hear bits and pieces about "Isis" and what is actually happening. I hear they are capturing people and cutting off their heads and sending them in video? Soo messed up. As a result, we are no longer able to teach Muslims! Kinda racist, but it's for the best I guess. Better safe than sorry!”

“Can you believe it's been a year since I blew my knee out?! If 2 years goes by this fast, you better start making preparations for me to come home! Goodness that has gone by fast! So mom, I honestly think I'm the skinniest I've ever been! I'm loving it. I've been running 2 times a week and lifting the other 4 now. Unfortunately, my pants are getting a little too big. I think we may go to target later today and I may get some more pants. I'll keep these in case I gain the weight back, of course. And my arms feel like they are getting smaller! I really don't like that fact. Could you maybe send some of those workout elastic bands with some exercises you can do with them. When you aren't able to exercise when ever you want to, that 30 minutes in the morning is like golden time. It's been getting dark early here, so I've been able to work out a little bit at night as well. There is a jump rope I've been doing here, and I think if I have those bands my arms won't lose their muscle as fast.”

“So my favorite person this week was a new investigator we found! We

knocked on her door on Friday, and she invited us to come sit down on

her porch. We were kind of sketched out because we were in the ghetto

part of town, and we saw a bunch of beer bottles and cigarette

packages laying around. She has an Hispanic boyfriend and he was home

as well. This lady is covered from neck to toes in tattoos as well. We

went through her house to get to her back porch and through out the

house, there were hundreds of crosses hanging on all of the walls (and

I'm not even exaggerating) it was solid crosses on every inch of every

wall. They must have spent thousands of dollars on all of them. I

don't know about you, but when I see crosses and candles, I get a

terrible feeling in my stomach and just feel kind of sick. I felt like

I was in a scary movie. I mean, It's good to remember Jesus Christ and

his Atonement. But I'm so glad our religion doesn't focus on that and

we are more centered on the fact that he lives and performs miracles

daily. Anyway I was so glad we got out of the house quickly and onto

the porch. We sat down and got to know her and established our purpose

right off of the bat. She was acceptng of our message and wanting to

learn more. We went through the first lesson (the restoration) and she

loved it! She was so excited to read from the Book of Mormon and

thrilled there was more teachings of Jesus Christ found outside of the

Bible! It opened up a whole new world for her!  She committed to come

to church as well and was just so anxious to learn more about our

religion! It was so fantastic. She loved church and felt totally

welcome, even though she stood out a little bit with her tattoos. The

members were awesome and super accepting and welcomed her with open

arms!  It was just awesome. Totally cool!”