Friends and Family,
Hello again!! Well let me tell ya, this week has been one of the
craziest weeks of my mission here in Orlando this far. We had a lot of
random things happen this week that I can't wait to tell you about.
First, it's time to say goodbye to my companion Elder Stewart! He is
headed back to Cedar City tomorrow afternoon. I've learned a lot from
him, and made a new friend. Well, tomorrow is our transfer meeting,
and like always the anxiety level is high. I’m happy about staying out
here in Eustis for at least the next 6 weeks with a new companion!
So Tuesday we had our Zone Conference! It was a good day, but also a
really long one! We arrived at the chapel in Lake Mary at 6:30AM and
left the chapel at 4:30PM. It was long and exhausting, but I learned a
lot about what I can do personally to improve and get better daily as
a missionary. A lot of the trainings were on the topic of prayer, and
inviting the spirit into our teaching. I know I overlook this a lot as
a missionary, so it was nice to receive some further instruction on
this topic! It was also pretty fun to catch up with some good buddies
of mine there (Elder Crismon, Pututau, Johnson, the list goes on and
on!) it was a fun day! The big news is our mission got a new device
placed in all of their cars called "tiwis" that track the drivers
speed, rpm, and acceleration while turning. It's a little black box
that sits inside the windshield of the car. Overall, it's kind of
annoying, but it does keep us safer. After Zone Conference we started
an exchange with the Elders in Lecanto, Elders Pearson, Gubler, and
Lechimenat. Elder Gubler and Pearson came with me to Eustis and spent
the next day with me! These guys are hilarious!! Elder Gubler is from
Hurricane, UT so we had a lot of fun catching up on old times and
finding mutual friends. We headed straight to our dinner with Hunter
and his family after Zone Conference, and they are doing great! They
couldn't be happier about how their life is going. It's always a sigh
of relief to participate in a baptism and then witness them being
strong and active in the church!
Wednesday we continued our exchange with a solid start by doing some
service for Sister Santana, the lady with the Jungle in her back yard!
We planted a few trees, got scared by a giant snake, and then helped
reorganize their backyard. It was all worth it by the feeling we had
after.... We walked out of Ichiban with full stomachs :) We then we to
our investigator Jerry's and had an awesome lesson. He was really
interested in why we are on a mission, and what is our drive behind it
all. Jerry was saying that he really felt the spirit, and it sparked
his desire to learn more!
Thursday we were way busy! With most of Tuesday's time taken up with
Zone Conference, we were going from place to place all day. One of the
highlights of our day was honestly a pretty sad lesson. We were
meeting with a less active family who has been going through a lot
lately, and overall just kind of falling apart. Only the mom was home,
so we sat out on her front porch. When we finished the opening prayer,
the mom was already crying. She just fell apart and started breaking
down... She explained that she knows her kids haven't been making the
best decisions, but they just don't care to listen to her. She's had a
divorce a few years ago, and just feels like the world has been
against her. It definitely hit Elder Stewart and I pretty hard and we
genuinely cared about her, and this family. It's a unique experience and
kid of a weird opportunity we have to meet with others we hardly know
and have them be so open and honest with us. Sometimes it puts us in
some weird and uncomfortable situations, but I love this call to serve
and this chance to grow. We shared a couple of scriptures and really
did all that we could to help her. We're excited to go back this week
and see how things are going!
Thursday night those same Lecanto Elders came down for a sleep over
because Elder Stewart and Elder Lechimenat had their departing Temple
trip Friday morning. Lecanto is 2 1/2 ours away from the temple, so
that would have been an even earlier morning. Luckily, those guys were
able to spend the night so it was only a 1 hour drive the following
morning!
Friday, another day with Elder Gubler and Elder Pearson! We did a lot
of service in the morning, and gave a couple of blessings at the
hospital. At about 4 in the afternoon, we got a call from our
companions at the Temple, saying they had to pick up a new car to take
out to a companionship in the Zone. All was fine and well until they
pulled into our driveway with the new car. We then get a call from the
Mission Vehicle Coordinator telling us that the car is no longer
needed, and we need to drive it back to Orlando that night. So we
loaded up the car and drove it down to Orlando! The Lecanto Elders
followed us so they could take us back afterwards. The vehicle
coordinator was awesome and decided to take us all out to dinner when
we arrived in Orlando, after a somewhat frustrating day. On the way
back we had a full car with 3 bigger Elders in the backseat of a Chevy
Cruze. It was quite the drive back to say the least. When we got back
out to Eustis it was 10:20 and there was no way those Elders could
drive an hour and a half back to Lecanto that night, sooo President
Berry approved for another sleep over! 3 in one week! New record. It
was a great time, and those guys will be life long friends!
Saturday was another service filled day. We started by going back up
too the chicken coop and hanging up fishing line across the top so
Hawks and Eagles can't swoop down and pick them up. (We got to hold a
chicken, so that was pretty awesome.) We pulled out the famous "Do
chickens have large talons" quote from Napoleon Dynamite and
unfortunately it went right over the members head! After the chicken
coop, we went to a single mothers home and helped dig big holes around
their trees and under the roots so they can have someone come and pull
out all of the trees! This was a new service project and was actually
pretty fun.
Hello again!! Well let me tell ya, this week has been one of the
craziest weeks of my mission here in Orlando this far. We had a lot of
random things happen this week that I can't wait to tell you about.
First, it's time to say goodbye to my companion Elder Stewart! He is
headed back to Cedar City tomorrow afternoon. I've learned a lot from
him, and made a new friend. Well, tomorrow is our transfer meeting,
and like always the anxiety level is high. I’m happy about staying out
here in Eustis for at least the next 6 weeks with a new companion!
So Tuesday we had our Zone Conference! It was a good day, but also a
really long one! We arrived at the chapel in Lake Mary at 6:30AM and
left the chapel at 4:30PM. It was long and exhausting, but I learned a
lot about what I can do personally to improve and get better daily as
a missionary. A lot of the trainings were on the topic of prayer, and
inviting the spirit into our teaching. I know I overlook this a lot as
a missionary, so it was nice to receive some further instruction on
this topic! It was also pretty fun to catch up with some good buddies
of mine there (Elder Crismon, Pututau, Johnson, the list goes on and
on!) it was a fun day! The big news is our mission got a new device
placed in all of their cars called "tiwis" that track the drivers
speed, rpm, and acceleration while turning. It's a little black box
that sits inside the windshield of the car. Overall, it's kind of
annoying, but it does keep us safer. After Zone Conference we started
an exchange with the Elders in Lecanto, Elders Pearson, Gubler, and
Lechimenat. Elder Gubler and Pearson came with me to Eustis and spent
the next day with me! These guys are hilarious!! Elder Gubler is from
Hurricane, UT so we had a lot of fun catching up on old times and
finding mutual friends. We headed straight to our dinner with Hunter
and his family after Zone Conference, and they are doing great! They
couldn't be happier about how their life is going. It's always a sigh
of relief to participate in a baptism and then witness them being
strong and active in the church!
Wednesday we continued our exchange with a solid start by doing some
service for Sister Santana, the lady with the Jungle in her back yard!
We planted a few trees, got scared by a giant snake, and then helped
reorganize their backyard. It was all worth it by the feeling we had
after.... We walked out of Ichiban with full stomachs :) We then we to
our investigator Jerry's and had an awesome lesson. He was really
interested in why we are on a mission, and what is our drive behind it
all. Jerry was saying that he really felt the spirit, and it sparked
his desire to learn more!
Thursday we were way busy! With most of Tuesday's time taken up with
Zone Conference, we were going from place to place all day. One of the
highlights of our day was honestly a pretty sad lesson. We were
meeting with a less active family who has been going through a lot
lately, and overall just kind of falling apart. Only the mom was home,
so we sat out on her front porch. When we finished the opening prayer,
the mom was already crying. She just fell apart and started breaking
down... She explained that she knows her kids haven't been making the
best decisions, but they just don't care to listen to her. She's had a
divorce a few years ago, and just feels like the world has been
against her. It definitely hit Elder Stewart and I pretty hard and we
genuinely cared about her, and this family. It's a unique experience and
kid of a weird opportunity we have to meet with others we hardly know
and have them be so open and honest with us. Sometimes it puts us in
some weird and uncomfortable situations, but I love this call to serve
and this chance to grow. We shared a couple of scriptures and really
did all that we could to help her. We're excited to go back this week
and see how things are going!
Thursday night those same Lecanto Elders came down for a sleep over
because Elder Stewart and Elder Lechimenat had their departing Temple
trip Friday morning. Lecanto is 2 1/2 ours away from the temple, so
that would have been an even earlier morning. Luckily, those guys were
able to spend the night so it was only a 1 hour drive the following
morning!
Friday, another day with Elder Gubler and Elder Pearson! We did a lot
of service in the morning, and gave a couple of blessings at the
hospital. At about 4 in the afternoon, we got a call from our
companions at the Temple, saying they had to pick up a new car to take
out to a companionship in the Zone. All was fine and well until they
pulled into our driveway with the new car. We then get a call from the
Mission Vehicle Coordinator telling us that the car is no longer
needed, and we need to drive it back to Orlando that night. So we
loaded up the car and drove it down to Orlando! The Lecanto Elders
followed us so they could take us back afterwards. The vehicle
coordinator was awesome and decided to take us all out to dinner when
we arrived in Orlando, after a somewhat frustrating day. On the way
back we had a full car with 3 bigger Elders in the backseat of a Chevy
Cruze. It was quite the drive back to say the least. When we got back
out to Eustis it was 10:20 and there was no way those Elders could
drive an hour and a half back to Lecanto that night, sooo President
Berry approved for another sleep over! 3 in one week! New record. It
was a great time, and those guys will be life long friends!
Saturday was another service filled day. We started by going back up
too the chicken coop and hanging up fishing line across the top so
Hawks and Eagles can't swoop down and pick them up. (We got to hold a
chicken, so that was pretty awesome.) We pulled out the famous "Do
chickens have large talons" quote from Napoleon Dynamite and
unfortunately it went right over the members head! After the chicken
coop, we went to a single mothers home and helped dig big holes around
their trees and under the roots so they can have someone come and pull
out all of the trees! This was a new service project and was actually
pretty fun.
After cleaning up from service, we tried to go and visit the member
named brother BONECUTTER!!!! How cool of a name is that? Yes, it's
actually his name too! His name goes along with a pretty intense story
too. It was pitch black when we were looking for his home, and we
finally think we found it after about 5 minutes of searching. We
started walking up to the door on the drive way, when we slowly hear
some big dog paws pounding against the cement coming our way. It was
scary enough, then we hear a deep, angry growl... We were both sure we
were going to get our legs bitten off, so we just stand there, hoping
it doesn't charge. When the dog finally comes out of the shadows after
what seemed like hours. We finally see that it is a big, buff,
red-nosed Pitt Bull that doesn't look to happy. If we ran, we probably
would have been obliterated by this beast. The thought came to mind to
just pretend like you are a member in the home and just be friendly
and playful to this dog! We were basically out of options and ideas,
so I decide to make some kissy sounds and call the dog over! Thank the
Heavens this dog was nice!!! It came over and couldn't be more excited
to see us. We walk up to the door, have a lesson with Brother
Bonecutter and make it out alive!
Sunday we had a great day at church then started saying goodbyes to
some of the families in the Ward Elder Stewart really liked. Sunday
night was a cool experience! Two famous and professional musicians,
Vanessa Joy and Marvin Goldstein were in Orlando and offered to do a
special musical number for all of the missionaries, investigators and
Recent Converts in the F.O.M! It was way sweet. To save the mission
car miles, we had to double up with some elders in the Zone for the
drive there. so once again, we drove to Orlando with the Lecanto
Elders! The Concert was awesome, and the spirit was definitely there.
One of my favorite people I've met out here is Rick Roman! I taught
him while I was in Winter Park and I love that guy! It was awesome to
see him there and catch up for a little bit! It was also fun to see
every single missionary in the mission and have a chance to catch up
with them again. I feel like I've made so many friends out here. I
feel like I've known some of these guys forever and we are best
friends. The mission is awesome!
I'm grateful for this chance I have to serve a mission. It's
definitely stressful, hard, and exhausting, but this call to serve is
priceless. I'm grateful for all of the thoughts and prayers sent to
the mission!! I love and miss you guys, and hope for the best.
Godspeed,
Elder Doman
Luke 9:23
"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
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