Our intent of this blog is to share Brock's adventures in Orlando, Florida while he's on his LDS mission. Hopefully, by reading about how Brock is changing the lives of so many, and seeing Brock's own personal growth in the gospel, the people reading this blog will also be able to feel the spirit and be inspired to strengthen or develop their own testimonies of Christ and the LDS church.

Monday, September 8, 2014

September 8th-"Brock's First Baptism!"

Friends and Family,

How was everybody's week? For me, I can't believe it's already the month of September! It seems like I left 5 minutes ago, but at the same time, it also feels like it's been 2 years already. Weird, I know. It's crazy that I'm almost 1/9th of the way done with my mission!

Well this week had its ups and downs for sure! Tuesday we had exchanges again which was definitely a blessing. Elder Willard is great and all, but exchanges are nice. It's good to get a break from your companion and connect with someone else for 24 hours. I went in the other Elders area this time which was good! On exchanges I realized that Florida is just weird. There are Cubans, Americans, African Americans, Jamaicans, And a ton of retired people from New York that live here. You never know what you are going to get when you knock in a door. This makes it kind of fun though. We made a game out of it and if one of us guessed who would behind the door, we'd get a point. I know, it sounds like a boring game. But as missionaries, we were loving it!

There was a constant thunder/lightening storm Thursday through Saturday, which makes makes biking kind of tough. We had to stay in for a lot of the day and was only able to go out for about 4 hours! It was very frustrating because we had a lot of success the previous week, and we were looking forward to seeing the progress of our new investigators. There isn't really anything we could do about the weather other than try to stay positive and busy in our apartment. Our apartment now very clean, and reorganized! When Saturday came around we both couldn't handle being cooped up any longer. We came to the agreement that God would protect us during the storm, and we were going to face it. It was one of the wildest things I've ever done. It was a total downpour, but there wasn't any lightening. It was raining so hard it felt like I was biking in the shower! it was incredible. The important thing is that we were able to get to all of our appointments and teach some lessons. When we arrived home, we were just soaking wet. Our notebooks, pass along cards, shoes, socks, just everything was drenched! It was a great experience!

I realized that I failed to talk about how the other planned baptisms went, and why they fell through. We had a baptism planned about a month ago. This investigator had a slip up on the Word of wisdom which
then got delayed. The investigator then got offended by this and no longer wanted to be baptized. The other investigator with a planned
baptism was offended by a question In the baptismal interview, and
didn't want to be baptized anymore either.

However, Sundays baptism was great!! Everything went perfect. It was
incredible to look back and over the past 2 1/2 months and see the
changes Kathy has made. She's accepted Jesus Christ and felt his love
so strongly each and every day as her desire to follow Him has grown
as well. I was nervous all day and just kept telling myself, "don't
mess up, make sure you say the ordinance perfectly, and the classic
'no pressure.'" I knew if I were to ask our Father in Heaven for comfort and peace, I'd feel a lot better. It was in the middle of church, so I decided to step out and go into the bathroom to be alone. As soon as I started to pray, the very second I said "Dear Heavenly Father" all of the stress, nervous, and anxiety was gone. I knew that everything would be okay. For the rest of the day I had a smile on my face and felt 100% relaxed. The baptism went smoothly and Kathy was so happy. She just kept saying "I feel so clean and pure now!" Ahh, I love it!

Things are going great here for me, I'm still loving it, and my testimony is growing each and every day, There are definitely some struggles, but that was expected! Let me know if you'd like to hear about anything else that I've left out or if you've been wondering something and wanted to ask! I miss you guys and hope all is well wherever you may be!

Much Love,

Elder Doman!



Here is a picture of Me, Kathy, and Elder Willard just before the baptism!
Kathy is the lady that calls Brock "Elder Handsome," and his companion, "The other one."  This cracks Brock up every time!  Brock also said that his area hadn't had a baptism in over a year, so he was thrilled!

The "Cocoa Zone" at their zone conference this month

A few things from Brocks letter's home this week:

This was what Brock sent to Britt for her birthday this week.  When Britt emailed him and said, "What is the purpose of this present, I don't get it!"  Brock responded with, "hahahahaha, I hope you liked your present.  I just thought you'd like it because it was a guy with his shirt off with a pet sheep!  Hah, and it's my favorite story in the Book of Mormon.  It's found in Alma chapters 17-19."


"I am now finally realizing what I am actually going to be doing for the next 2 years, and I definitely have mixed emotions. Mainly happy ones though :) it's exciting and pretty fun to see these investigators make progress. I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing, it's just going to be hard for the next little bit to get used to some of the
"boring" aspects of it! I'm in need of some confidence! I'll get there! I know that I can do it. I just have to accept my "new life" and be happy with it. I'm fine, I think I’m just ready for transfer."

"But overall, 
I'm doing great. When we are working and busy I'm loving it. Talking
 with everyone makes me so happy. Even if I sound completely stupid and 
don't make sense sometimes, at least it gives me a good laugh! It's so
 much fun to just talk to people! Also, my voice has been gone the 
entire time! It's sounds totally raspy! I don't know what to do about
it! Any ideas? I mean, I sound like I'm going through puberty again! I
hate it! Hahaha"

"So can you believe it's already been a year since I tore my calf up at
West?!  If my mission goes by that fast, it will be crazy! It seemed
like that was just yesterday!!"

"Mom, I sure do miss home, but this mission thing is a good for me. It
would have been really hard for me if I went straight to college. I
think it's a blessing in disguise that I can't communicate with home
as much as I want to. It would have been hard for me to stay in Ogden
hearing from you guys each day. This will be good college preparation."


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