Brock's Orlando Mission: Missionary and Marriage Counselor

Friends and Family,

It was definitely a packed week here in Winter Park! Elder Wesemann and I are seeing success and a lot of blessings coming from our hard work! The temperature is definitely rising too, as I find myself going through 3 water bottles and 2 different shirts each day because of all the sweating going on... It's nasty, but everyone in the state of Florida is going through the same thing! I'm starting to love talking to people with sweat dripping off all of our faces. The scary news is, it's only the middle of May!

Tuesday-

We went right to work Tuesday going to find less active members in our area! When Elder Clarke came to the mission, he really pushed the mission to find and reactivate the Members in our Mission! We spent a lot of the day trying to tract down these members going from house to house for the majority of the day. I came

to the conclusion of how important this is in missionary work. For most of my mission, I really haven't focused on reactivating members, rather I'd prefer to go and find new people to teach. However, the more returning members we talked to, the greater appreciation I had for this aspect of missionary work. I had to realize that at some point in time, these members were once a missionary’s dream come true. It was a blessing to realize this when I still have time to better implement this! Tuesday evening we went to talk with the new investigators we found last week Alfred and Franklin! We had a really great lesson as they ended by bearing Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Pretty fantastic!

Wednesday-

Exchanges with Elder Hemsley! Let me tell ya, I love being in a District with 3 sets of Elders. I feel like I've made a lot of great connections these last 3 transfers here in Winter Park. With an exchange every week, I've gotten to know a lot of good hard working missionaries I hope to stay in touch with them after these 2 years are up!

We had a great day talking with everyone and running into a lot of "different people." Wednesday night, we had a Ward Party! Lots of fun, and a lot of good memories!

Thursday-

We have a few investigators who are getting very close to baptism, but they just doesn't want to give up some old habits. As missionaries, this makes us pretty frustrated! They know the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, they just aren't willing to change. This consisted a lot of the day visiting these investigators. The Lord continued to bless us as we found a new investigator who is loving the Gospel! Thursday night was one of the most awkward/"pressures on" moments of my Mission. We are teaching this man who's wife is a returning member of the church, and recently the husband has wanted to take the lessons. We knock on the apartment door, and as soon as we entered the home, we felt the awkward tension. Apparently the couple hasn't been getting a lot all week, and has been in a major argument. As we sat down on the couch the wife says "We don't know what to do from here, but we figured you missionaries are close to God, so what can we do to get our relationship back to where it needs to be?" Man, I was shocked! I felt so much pressure! I prayed so hard in my heart to know what to do with this situation, as I thought for the next 10 seconds or so, out of nowhere I remembered a scripture Elder Wesemann and I found in studies (Ether 2:24-25) I read in personal study a few mornings ago. After sharing it with them, not much changed. There was just an awkward feeling in the room. We concluded with a prayer, and off we were unsure if we fulfilled our purpose.

Friday-

We woke up Friday morning with a text message from those we visited the previous night. They said that we had helped them out in just a simple way. They told us the most important thing we did was just to bring the spirit into the home which helped them sort everything out! It was a major stress relief knowing we did what we could for them! It was a total miracle and such a strong testimony builder of learning to trust God and have faith in personal revelation.

Saturday-

Exchanges with Elder Oxborrow! Another good day of missionary work! We spent the majority of the morning and afternoon doing service for people in the neighborhood we live by. We did a lot of mowing lawns, pulling weeds, and other service projects!

Sunday-

It was Fast Sunday yesterday because of Stake Conference last weekend. Everything was going great and our Investigator was receiving some strong

revelation telling him to go up and give his testimony. As he was walking up, I couldn't decide if I was more excited or nervous for this to happen. I wasn't sure if this was okay, or what I should do. Luckily I caught the bishop’s eye and he just looked at me and gave me a smile raising his eyebrows. I was so nervous! He ended up bearing a great testimony on the love of God and how we have helped him get back on the right path. It was awesome to see!

Well today is District P-Day, and we are playing some basketball, volleyball, and having an intense "connect4" tournament! I really am enjoying my mission and can see the changes happening to me and also around me. It's so true when I heard the that "The biggest convert you will have on your mission is yourself." I'm growing each and every day in the gospel, and am having a great time while it's happening!

Have a great week!

Elder Doman