Sugar gliders and "The freshest white guy!"

Friends and Family,

Week 5 of the transfer here in Daytona Beach is complete. It's crazy

looking back and thinking it was just 5 weeks ago when Elder Crismon

and I first started to be companions. We've really bonded and

basically became brothers. Definitely a fun transfer! We are both

hoping we stay here in Daytona Beach for another transfer. It's very

possible, but I guess we will find out Saturday. If I stay here, that

will be 6 months here in Daytona. I wouldn't be mad at all!  I'm

convinced that this is the Promise Land inside the Promise Land.

So there were a lot of good times that happened this week that I'll

always remember. For this email, I think it would be fun to just share

specific experiences.

On Tuesday, we are teaching a recent convert named Ivet (she likes us

to call her "Abuela.") to get an idea of Abuela, she is a 4'10"

Hispanic lady that absolutely loves the missionaries. Every time we

are over there, she feeds us beans and rice. It's pretty awesome. She

has less than 20 dollars a month after paying her bills, and continues

to insist on feeding us. She is totally devoted. She says it "brings

her blessings of Joy." How cool is that. Anyway, we have been meeting

with her to prepare her to go to the Temple. She was almost there and

wanted to meet with the bishop for an interview the following day. The

following day, when we went to the church to see how the interview

went, she was trying so hard not to cry when she saw us. She said she

needed to talk with us and ended up breaking down. She told us she

just couldn't pay that much tithing, and it would put her on the

streets of she did. It honestly broke our hearts hearing it. After

talking with her more this week, she is going to put it to the test.

She has so much faith! It will be great to see how this plays out.

This week we found a new less active family to teach named the

Mulin's... It's a crazy home to say the least. For a profession, they

breed small rodents and specifically Sugar Gliders. (See picture

below) A long time ago, they were offended by another member in the

ward. We are excited to work with them and to help them come back into

the fold.

Saturday we had "Feeding the Homeless." Again, this was a fun

experience. One homeless man told me "I was the freshest white guy

he's seen all day." What a compliment, what a compliment. It

definitely puts things into perspective.

A funny story for the week: BYU's football team... Hahahha no but we

went knocking for a little bit last week and Elder Crismon being the

goofball he is, was singing "Come Come Ye Saints" meanwhile, and I was

in the background doing some type of dancing with my hands. The door

opened and we stopped so quickly and just stared at this lady. It was

so silent you could hear a gator in the pond behind us.... And I don't

even know if they make a noise, but you could have heard it then.

Luckily, this Saint of a lady just laughed it off and ended up wanting

us to come back again. We were in awe! He spirit of our beautiful

performance must have touched that lady's heart... Or something like

that. Hahah it was pretty awesome.

We also found this one guy named Louie. He was just one humble dude

walking out of Walmart while we were walking in. He said he's seen

missionaries before when he lived over in Louisiana, and has always

wanted to meet, but they never talked with him. How cool is that?!

Definitely a miracle. We are looking forward to meet g with him!

Another great experience this week was the beach play this morning!

This is two in two weeks!! We were pretty lucky for this to happen.

This hardly ever happens because district are only able to go once

every 4 months. What a blessing they ended up falling on back to back

weeks :) there are some pictures below!

It was a fun week this week and we are seeing some great progress. We

are looking forward to this upcoming week and the miracles it will

entail. A big thanks for all the support with emails, letters, and

prayers sent my way.

Much Love,

-Elder Doman

Better week for Brock!! He's feeling good and bouncing back!

This is a picture of the poster and Abby and Britt made Brock this week, he's going to love it!!

One thing Brock told me this week that I thought was kind of crazy was, “To be honest I kind of miss it. It would/will honestly be a little weird being able to sit and do nothing for a little bit. It's been a little while! Out here it seems like I haven't sat down and just thought for a really, really long

time. The workload is hard and there is a ton to do, but the results are irreplaceable. There isn't a greater joy I've felt before than when I'm out here on my mission.”  I’m so proud of him for being able to see what’s important in life!

Friends and Family,

Howdy Ya'll! Hahahah haven't said that in a while. It's been a really

good week here in Daytona Beach! Vroom vroom! We really picked it up

and had a much better week! It was exciting to see the zone buckle up

and have some fun while doing it! Elder Crismon and I are really just

loving life. We get along really well and have had a lot of good

conversations about the work, football, football and more football.

Hopefully by the end of the time we have serving together, he'll be

persuaded to come down and play some ball! We've been trying to really

get to know the missionaries and what they like. Doing this, we've

just had a good bond and strengthened the trust throughout the zone.

This morning we had a Beach P-Day with one of the districts! It was

way fun to go to the beach earlier this morning, and play some sand

volleyball! The weather was perfect, and it just felt nice to reward

ourselves with a fun beach morning!

This week Elder Crismon and I really tried to used our time

effectively and stay positive. When we showed up to Brandi's Monday

night, she told us she was moving out to NY with her family the next

morning so that was tough. It was hard to see her and her family pack

up and move right before baptism.... One of the most discouraging things

that's happened on my mission. We were pretty discouraged after a tough

week with the Zone along with it. On the way home, we got a call from the

Lawhorn family of 15 saying they were no longer interested, and they

didn't want us to stop by anymore... Boom goes the dynamite. Needless

to say, we had a rough start to the week.

We went home and tried to think of a plan of action to take, we

decided to pray and fast for some divine intervention, some

confidence, and some encouragement. As we were getting ready for bed,

good ol "grandpa" gave us a call just to make us laugh. Pretty cool

how that happened. We woke up the next morning feeling positive and

ready to go to work! We were excited to go find some new people and

have some new peeps in our teaching pool! After diligent work and

definitely some help from The One above, we are stoked for these new

people to teach. One being this guy named Corey who was a media

referral! He requested a bible, but we were able to help him recognize

that the Book of Mormon was another book from God as well! At first he

put up a front like Alabama's offensive line. Nothing was getting past

him... Other than the spirit!! He opened up and was ready for us to

come back when we needed to leave! What a miracle.

Most of our other Investigators are in quite a pit right now... We are

still taking baby steps, but we are climbing up a grand-staircase. We

will get there one day! It's pretty funny how the fundamentals are

always stressed and needed to be focused on, and I’ve learned it more

on my mission than anywhere else!

Well, I hit my 15-month mark this past week! It really was just like

another day. I remember when I hit my first couple month marks and it

felt like years. Now, time is just going crazy and picking up too

quickly. When I've lost myself in the work, I've been happier,

smarter, and just an all around better testimony. Thanks for all the

support I received this week particularly. You're the best!

Godspeed,

-Elder Doman

It looks like Brock and Elder Crismon like to goof off!!  It's so good for them to be able to chill and have fun together.

Titanic?????? Weird.

Speaking at the tri-zone conference!

This is a picture of "grandpa."  Brock absolutely loves him!  Not only does he take them out to dinner a couple of times a week, he also buys them groceries sometimes.  I was lucky enough to talk to grandpa on the phone this week.  He called me because Brock asked him to call because needed some more money in his account to buy a new suit jacket.  Grandpa and I talked for a long time, he loves to talk.  He let me know how special he thinks Brock is, he said he's not a regular kid, "there's just something about him that makes him special."  Then he told me I couldn't let him play football when he gets home because he doesn't want him to get injured!!!  It was a great conversation and I loved every second of it.  It helped me feel closer to Brock.  I love having "grandpa" there to take care of Brock while he's Daytona.

An old picture, that's his last companion, but this is the first time he sent it to me.

Friends and Family,

It's been a great start of the month of September! The weather is

starting to cool off a little bit, but the missionary work is still a

hot topic! Hahah I love thinking of cheesy ways to start off emails

and other subject lines. Elder Crismon and I are working hard and are

seeing the fruits from it! We've been trying to work more with Zone to

help them catch the fire as well!

The week started off with a bang. Tuesday we had zone Conference and

I was given the opportunity to give a training in from of half the

mission and the mission presidency. It was definitely one of the more

stressful things I've done, but it was also really fun. The topic was

"Choose to have exceedingly great faith in the work." It was

definitely something I needed as I was shaking in my boots before the

training started. But, once I stood up in front of the 105

missionaries all the fear went away. It was pretty cool! It reminded

me of the days back in high school football.

We had some rough news with our investigator named Brandie who will

most likely be moving at the end of the month. We are working with her

and trying to decide where it would be best for her to be baptized. Of

course, we feel like she should be baptized here, but it might be

better for her to be baptized where she will be living for the next

little while! It's pretty intense. We are on the edge of our seats!

In the DeLand Zone we've seen some complacency happening. We hit a

good stretch there for a little bit, and now we are seeing it plateau.

We've worked a lot this week trying to help them continue moving

forward, and growing week by week. We've adapted the saying "you vs.

yesterday" through out the zone, and we hope it motivates the

missionaries to personally improve each and every day.

MIRACLE ALERT: Friday night there was a ward activity at the church,

and the LAWHORNS came out to it! It was so funny to see their children

come in the door one by one for about 30 seconds straight, then to see

mom and dad follow in after. They loved the activity, and their kids

did too! They were able to make a lot of friends, and good fellowship.

Their kids were running around in the gym laughing and having a good

time. It helped me understand why Christ said, "become as little

children" In Matthew chapter 18. Just full of Joy!

Another miracle we saw was Sunday night, we had an awkward 45 minutes until we had to be in our apartment. We were unsure what to do, and we're in a pretty sketchy part of our area. We wanted to use our time really effectively, but we just didn't know what to do exactly with an appointment that just fell through. We were about to just go tracting when we got a phone call from an unknown number! We answered and it was from a recent convert named Evelyn who was baptized in May. She said she's been out of town for the past 4 months living with her cousin in Switzerland. She said she has been really missing the gospel in her life, and wants to meet up with the missionaries again. She said she had some free time, and could meet tonight. We went over and she had 3 friends over who weren't members, but we're interested in learning more about the gospel! It was awesome!

Thanks again for all the support I've received this last 15 months of

my life. I've looked back and thought about all the letters, packages

and emails sent my way. THANK YOU! Have a great week!

-Elder Doman

Alma 34:8-10

8 And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

 9 For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made.

 10 For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice.