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| Exchanges with Elder Gillen |
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| Brock with Elder Stewart |
Friends and Family,
Another week in the books! It's been one roller coaster of a week here
in Eustis! Ups and downs for sure. We had some really great
highlights, and some low lows. I feel like this happens at least once
a transfer where you just have an "off week" and then you are able to
come back stronger the next! This next week we are looking to wrap up
the transfer strong and end on a high note.
Monday night we had an awesome miracle. One day last week when we were
knocking some doors, a random lady drove by, introduced herself to us,
and told us to stop by her house sometime to catch up. This family in
the Ward named the Richter's hadn't been to church or had missionaries
over in 3 years! It was awesome to be in their home Monday night
having them tell us their conversion story, and bring the spirit into
the home.
Tuesday was quite the day!! It's always a fun time when President
Berry comes to the Zone for individual interviews with each of the
missionaries. While President is interviewing missionaries, we were in
charge of running a 2 hour meeting. So our day consisted of having an
8:30-10:30 meeting in Clermont (a city) then driving to Leesburg
(another city about an hour away) for 2 more meetings! Luckily the
Mission President provided some lunch for us. :) When 4:30 came around
and we wrapped up the final meeting, it felt like the bell ringing on
the last day of school! After dinner, we went to another meeting about
a new program on the church called "JustServe" that's sounds pretty
awesome. As you can guess it was all about service. When that finished
up, it was 8:30 and we had a day full of meetings! I never would have
thought that on my mission I would have had meetings literally all day
long! We felt pretty accomplished when we were all finished up.
Wednesday we did some finding in the morning and really didn't find
too much success. It's been a struggle here in Eustis to find people
who are receptive of our message! Hopefully with the holidays coming
up, people's hearts will be softer and more receptive to us and we
continue working out the kinks. Later in the day we had another lesson
with our investigator Juan who only speaks Spanish. It's pretty tough
for me to give some good input in these lessons, but from what Elder
Stewart is telling me, he's progressing little by little. We had a
pretty sweet dinner with a family in our Ward on Wednesday. They took
us their clubhouse out in the middle of a Florida forest with ponds
and cool scenery. Unfortunately, our cameras were dead so we couldn't
snap any pictures. We were sitting underneath the roof! But the
building didn't have any Windows! It was way cool, it was almost like
a big cabana! As we were eating it was pouring rain and we were in the
middle of a lightening storm! It lasted about 15 minutes, and was an
awesome experience. I'm loving the Florida weather. I'll miss these
type of storms!
Thursday we had exchanges and we saw a ton of miracles! I'll just
share one with you for the sake of time. We were stopping by some less
actives in the Ward in the afternoon, and we're running out of people
to see in the area. We saw that this younger lady whose name was
Jennifer and she was struggling to balance her mail and take in the
trash at the same time... so we ran to the rescue! After helping her
out, we started talking with her and her niece was just about to go
into a serious surgery. We said a quick prayer with her and taught her
briefly about the Plan of Salvation. She said she'd love for us to
come back with her cousin and her family this upcoming week!! It was
way cool and she was excited to read from the Plan of Salvation
pamphlet. It was a cool experience for me, because lately I've really
been trying to just go about helping out other people, and just
becoming a good guy! I felt like I was getting caught up going from
place to place too quickly with out slowing down and really looking to
help people. This opportunity was great for me to put it into action.
Friday we had some weekly planning... We also were able to go less
active hunting later that evening. It cracks me up doing this. Is so
funny to listen to the different replies that come our way, "my dog
licks people, so now isn't the best time" "I'm tired, so no thanks."
"I'll text you later when to come by." Etc... We do get several
members who let us in and offer us a drink, but really just don't want
anything to do with the church anymore. It's pretty discouraging and
tough to see. But when we do find those who are ready for visits make
it all worth it. We were also dropped by a few investigators Friday
night which is always pretty tough to have happen.
Saturday. Service, service, service. From 10:30 to 3:30 we found
different service projects to do. In all honestly, I feel like service
is really fulfilling and it's nice to get after it again. One thing
I'm grateful for my family members teaching me is that it's a
privilege to work. On Saturday we started out by trimming down bushes,
trees, and cutting back Palm Trees (something I learned how to do from
my grandpa! Thanks uncle Gary!) We then went over to a part member
family who needed their storage shed organized. Lastly, we found
ourselves back out at Sister Mcfaddens. The chicken lady! This time we
were able to help build a chicken coop. Definitely not my forte. It
was something I've never had to do, and probably will never do again!
But, it was still a fun time! When we finished up, she sent us off
with 2 dozen eggs and we were some happy campers.
Random story... So, we ate dinner with the first councilor in the
Bishopric this week, and he lives in an awesome house along the side
Another week in the books! It's been one roller coaster of a week here
in Eustis! Ups and downs for sure. We had some really great
highlights, and some low lows. I feel like this happens at least once
a transfer where you just have an "off week" and then you are able to
come back stronger the next! This next week we are looking to wrap up
the transfer strong and end on a high note.
Monday night we had an awesome miracle. One day last week when we were
knocking some doors, a random lady drove by, introduced herself to us,
and told us to stop by her house sometime to catch up. This family in
the Ward named the Richter's hadn't been to church or had missionaries
over in 3 years! It was awesome to be in their home Monday night
having them tell us their conversion story, and bring the spirit into
the home.
Tuesday was quite the day!! It's always a fun time when President
Berry comes to the Zone for individual interviews with each of the
missionaries. While President is interviewing missionaries, we were in
charge of running a 2 hour meeting. So our day consisted of having an
8:30-10:30 meeting in Clermont (a city) then driving to Leesburg
(another city about an hour away) for 2 more meetings! Luckily the
Mission President provided some lunch for us. :) When 4:30 came around
and we wrapped up the final meeting, it felt like the bell ringing on
the last day of school! After dinner, we went to another meeting about
a new program on the church called "JustServe" that's sounds pretty
awesome. As you can guess it was all about service. When that finished
up, it was 8:30 and we had a day full of meetings! I never would have
thought that on my mission I would have had meetings literally all day
long! We felt pretty accomplished when we were all finished up.
Wednesday we did some finding in the morning and really didn't find
too much success. It's been a struggle here in Eustis to find people
who are receptive of our message! Hopefully with the holidays coming
up, people's hearts will be softer and more receptive to us and we
continue working out the kinks. Later in the day we had another lesson
with our investigator Juan who only speaks Spanish. It's pretty tough
for me to give some good input in these lessons, but from what Elder
Stewart is telling me, he's progressing little by little. We had a
pretty sweet dinner with a family in our Ward on Wednesday. They took
us their clubhouse out in the middle of a Florida forest with ponds
and cool scenery. Unfortunately, our cameras were dead so we couldn't
snap any pictures. We were sitting underneath the roof! But the
building didn't have any Windows! It was way cool, it was almost like
a big cabana! As we were eating it was pouring rain and we were in the
middle of a lightening storm! It lasted about 15 minutes, and was an
awesome experience. I'm loving the Florida weather. I'll miss these
type of storms!
Thursday we had exchanges and we saw a ton of miracles! I'll just
share one with you for the sake of time. We were stopping by some less
actives in the Ward in the afternoon, and we're running out of people
to see in the area. We saw that this younger lady whose name was
Jennifer and she was struggling to balance her mail and take in the
trash at the same time... so we ran to the rescue! After helping her
out, we started talking with her and her niece was just about to go
into a serious surgery. We said a quick prayer with her and taught her
briefly about the Plan of Salvation. She said she'd love for us to
come back with her cousin and her family this upcoming week!! It was
way cool and she was excited to read from the Plan of Salvation
pamphlet. It was a cool experience for me, because lately I've really
been trying to just go about helping out other people, and just
becoming a good guy! I felt like I was getting caught up going from
place to place too quickly with out slowing down and really looking to
help people. This opportunity was great for me to put it into action.
Friday we had some weekly planning... We also were able to go less
active hunting later that evening. It cracks me up doing this. Is so
funny to listen to the different replies that come our way, "my dog
licks people, so now isn't the best time" "I'm tired, so no thanks."
"I'll text you later when to come by." Etc... We do get several
members who let us in and offer us a drink, but really just don't want
anything to do with the church anymore. It's pretty discouraging and
tough to see. But when we do find those who are ready for visits make
it all worth it. We were also dropped by a few investigators Friday
night which is always pretty tough to have happen.
Saturday. Service, service, service. From 10:30 to 3:30 we found
different service projects to do. In all honestly, I feel like service
is really fulfilling and it's nice to get after it again. One thing
I'm grateful for my family members teaching me is that it's a
privilege to work. On Saturday we started out by trimming down bushes,
trees, and cutting back Palm Trees (something I learned how to do from
my grandpa! Thanks uncle Gary!) We then went over to a part member
family who needed their storage shed organized. Lastly, we found
ourselves back out at Sister Mcfaddens. The chicken lady! This time we
were able to help build a chicken coop. Definitely not my forte. It
was something I've never had to do, and probably will never do again!
But, it was still a fun time! When we finished up, she sent us off
with 2 dozen eggs and we were some happy campers.
Random story... So, we ate dinner with the first councilor in the
Bishopric this week, and he lives in an awesome house along the side
how his house has been claimed as "haunted." It even looks like a
house that belongs in a scary movie!! He told us of all the different
stories he's had living in his house, and what was told to him before
he moved in. There are some pictures below!
Anyways, Sunday was just an average Sunday! Nothing too crazy happened
this week. Some exciting news is that our investigator, Artie sent out
his wedding announcements this week! Once he's married he'll be able
to be baptized! Things are starting to look like positive and
promising for Artie. He was at church and is quite the character. He
is 6'5" and about 300 pounds. He's a brick!!! He comes from New York
and has such a strong accent. For his job, he cuts up giant trees that
fall over and block up roads, or trees that fall onto houses. This
guys is awesome, and definitely loves it in the south! Hahah
Well, Thanks again for all of the support, love, and prayers sent this
way. I hope you know how grateful I am for it. Being on a mission is
definitely the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's also the most
fulfilling! I know this is where I need to be! I love and miss you
all.
Godspeed,
- Elder Doman
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| The "Haunted" House |
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