Friends and Family,
What's good everybody? It was a pretty fun week out here in L-Town. We
saw a lot of pretty awesome things take place in the Land of Promise.
Luckily this week I didn't get chased by any dogs, didn't have to bike
up a giant hill, or have anything else too crazy happen. We are
looking forward to another solid week heading into Christmas time and
this season to focus our thoughts on the Savior. It's been pretty cool
to see people happier, and more friendly during the holiday season. It
makes our duty as missionaries a lot more fun!
So this week started off pretty strong with a good lesson with an
Investigator Sherry! She decided to put up a cry in the sky to know if
the Book of Mormon is true! After about a month or so of
inconsistently teaching her, this has the first prayer she's said
about the Book of Mormon. It was a pretty big step forward for her and
she's getting pretty excited about this whole process. Elder Chidester
and I were pumped about getting the ball rolling early on in the week.
On Tuesday we started off the day with some service for Sister Santana
(who has the jungle of a backyard) and basically just moved a bunch of
pots around and plant trees. Kind of cool, but the reward of Ichiban
made it all worth it :) Afterwards, we saw some less actives for the
rest of the afternoon. That evening we went and visited ana couple
named Rodger and Sabrina. They are a couple who are just trying to
find a good, uplifting, and wholesome church to join (basically in the
most prepared situation there is.) We weren't able to meet with them
long, but we have some good plans for this upcoming week!
So there was a District Leader in the Zone who went home a little
early last week to start up school next semester, which then gives us
the chance to be the District leaders over that District and still
work with the whole Zone until the transfer ends next week. It was
pretty fun to work closer to those missionaries this week and really
connect with them. It's hard to feel close to about 30 missionaries
when you rarely see them. But since we were their District Leader, we
drove out on the long lonely drive to Sumterville, Fl. I'm pretty sure
in Sumterville, there are more cows than people, and the people there
love their cows more than they love other people. We tried to find
some cow "pastors" to teach but ran out of luck... Dum dum tss.
(Pastures, pastors... Kind of a stretch on that one.) it was pretty
far away from Eustis so we had a loooong drive back. It's almost as
long as a drive from St. George to Beaver, so it was a little journey
for us! It was fun to catch up with those fellas in farm country
though.
Wednesday night we had a dinner with a two time bishop, previous Stake
President, and a returned Mission President who has been home for
almost a year now. I felt like I was basically eating with the
Prophet. This was the fanciest home I've been in on my mission. It
kind of reminded me of a home that belonged in the movie "The Great
Gatsby." Elder Chidester and I were on our best behavior to say the
least. Mom, I know you'll be proud of me, I didn't even spill my drink
at the dinner table. Overall, the dinner went well and he was a really
nice guy. He gave us some good advice and we felt pretty motivated
afterwards.
Thursday we had Exchanges. If you think back to the time of Daytona
Beach, I went on an Exchange with Elder Black. Elder Black is probably
one of my favorite missionaries in our mission. He has a high
functioning case of autism, and him and are are just best buds. We
were both pretty excited to go on another exchange. This would be the
fourth we've been on! Sadly, this is his last transfer before he
returns back home to Idaho. It was fun to sit and talk with him about
his mission and how's he's grown out here. It was definitely an
experience I'll remember listening to him share his testimony with me
before going to bed. This guy is a stud. Miracles followed the next
day when we received a phone call from a member in a local Ward giving
us a referral. When we stopped by the home, one of the first questions
the women asked us "what do I need to do before I can attend one of
your services, because I'm willing to do it." Her name was Jana and is
a single mother. Her family situation just got bad real quick and
didn't really have much left. After talking to her and explaining our
purpose as missionaries, she couldn't have been more excited. We are
looking forward to it!
A lot of the times in these emails, I mention a lot of cool
experiences that take place like this previous one. Unfortunately,
most of the time they don't always work out, but we try to stay happy
and optimistic with people. It probably seems like I've mentioned a
lot of people and haven't talked about them again. Unfortunately this
is because they've explained down the road that they are just looking
for welfare, some type of financial aid, or if the church can help
improve their living conditions. This has been a hard thing for me to
deal with, especially in areas that it happened pretty frequently in.
I've mentioned Nana and GM in the Ward who act as our missionary
parents in the Eustis Ward. They are kind of like "grandpa" out in
Daytona Beach. This week it was Nana's birthday on Friday! Just so you
know what Nana is like, she is probably one of the most sarcastic
people I've ever met. She fits right in with the missionaries and
always gives us a hard time. She's a great cook and she has all of the
missionaries sign a tile on their back patio before they get
transferred. Anyways, we thought we'd make Nana laugh for her birthday
and make her a cake! Funny right? Actually the cake turned out good,
but the candles were the best. She was cracking up when she saw the
cake and thought it was funny. We thought we were pretty funny too!
There is a video and some pictures below!
Friday night we had the Mission Christmas Devotional! All of the
missionaries had a meeting at a Stake Center near Orlando and had a
fun Christmas meeting. It was a good time to catch up with old friends
from the mission. I say that every time we have a big mission meeting,
but it's always a highlight. I've made a lot of lifelong brothers out
here. It's hard to think I never would have met these guys if I didn't
serve a mission. It's beginning to feel like I've known some of them
my whole life.
We had another exchange Saturday and I went down into the Minneola
area! This was a pretty sweet exchange for a lot of reasons, but a
definite tender mercy was eating dinner with a somewhat familiar
family. This is kind of hard to explain how we have a connection, but
it was with one of my moms friends sister that I met when my younger
sister Abby was in the hospital with her heart transplant about 4
years ago. It was fun to catch up a little bit and make the connection
again. They have a cool tradition in their home of having the
missionaries cover their hand in paint, and leaving their handprint on
the wall in their garage. They fed us "enough to feed and army" as my
grandma says and I was stuffed to the brim. We were definitely taken
care of. The time flew by with them, and we didn't get to stay and
chit chat for too long before we needed to head out. A special shout
out for the Grazziano's for an early Christmas present too!
It was another jam packed week and there just isn't enough time in the
day to write it all in a short little email. Thanks for all those who
continue to read this and support me on my mission. Know that I'm
grateful and love each of you. This Holiday Season came and left
faster than Lebron James and his hairline. I hope everyone has a Merry
Christmas!
Much Love,
- Elder Doman
"Each of us is an innkeeper, and we each get to decide if there is
enough room for Jesus this year."
- Sister Berry
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