Temple Visit And New Companion

Brock at the Medford, Oregon temple.  The day he was named district leader
Brock and the other elders in his district went through the temple with President
and Sister MacDonald.  It's a great blessing to have a temple close by.

    

Brock with his new companion Elder Roberts.

Elders Mcmakin, Roberts, Osborn and Bird.

    Tuesday night I got my new companion Elder Roberts.  HaHa...his feet are thee worst smelling thing known to man, but other than that I really like him!  He has 4 months left on his mission and we get along really well!  During the day Tuesday we didn't do much but take pictures and send off the other missionaries to their new areas and get our new comps.
    We taught the Rorabauckers, members of the church, but they haven't been active in awhile. They started reading the Book of Mormon again and realized their ideas and the things they were doing weren't going to cut it!  They've decided to make changes in their life for their own salvation. That was cool to see the change in them.  They did come to church so that was good!
    On Thursday I had stake correlation with the stake president and zone leaders.  That's where we let the stake president know of everything going on in all the wards in the stake!  I also had to plan for district meeting the next morning.
    Friday we went to visit some part member families and less actives.  Saturday we had an appoinmtent with Cole.  Man it was frustrting because he would just accept what we were teaching and then turn it into his own thing. We finally just left it there and we'll teach him again later this week.  Other than that he is pumped for baptism!  He gets married the morning of the 20th and baptized in the evening the same day. (4/20!)  The two Daniels are also stoked for baptism.    
    Oh and Saturday we ate at the Hansens and Sister Hansen is like crazy with coupons!  She has a lifetime supply of everything that she gets for free and sometimes she'll buy nothing and actually come home with money!  "You need to teach me how to use coupons, " I said.  So she gave me like a lifetime supply of deoderant, body wash, and face razorz! I was stoked about the razors because they are expensive!
    I love you a lot dad!  Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! :)
   Love, Brock!

Just Put It All On The Table

Missionaries find some interesting things to do when they have some down time.  Elder Bird and the other missionaries in his district just need a table for a little entertainment!

Not Even Food Poisoning Will Hold Me Down! (Well, maybe for awhile.)

     Brock is busy teaching several people in Klamath Falls and was just called as a district leader.  He says it's a big responsiblity but we're sure he'll rise to the opportunity.

Elder Bird always manages to put an arm around
his missionary buddies.  This is at a recent zone conference.

     Tuesday we drove an hour and a half to zone conference.

  I got to see all my buddies from previous areas and the MTC, so that was fun just to talk with them. 



        

Elders Peterson, Bird and Lewis at another conference.

      As you may know I was bedridden with food poisioning for a couple of days. I am just barely gaining my appetite from the sickness, but I am doing better now!       Friday we taught Cole.  He is a really cool guy!  He lost his wife awhile back but has really come out of his shell and is starting to grasp onto the important things and getting closer to us. He is awesome!  Sometimes he goes off on random tangents.  He takes meds for anxiety so you can imagine! Haha!




      On Saturday we taught these two kids.  They're both named Daniel!  They are really cool!  One just got out of jail and doesn't know how to read, but is really sincere about getting his life back and learning about the message of Christ.  He is really funny though,  because his mind kind of wanders and he says things that are crazy.  The other Daniel is cool.  He plays ball and kind of relates to me.

     I  look forward to this new position (district leader)the Lord wants me to fulfill,  so I will do my best! :)


I love  you,
Elder Bird

Daniel and Daniel. Double The Blessings!

Elder Bird on a break along the
Willamette River last fall.

     We did our usual work this week.   We met with Cole and set a baptism date for the 21st.  We just had a few really good lessons with him, and he is really grasping everything very well.  We're also teaching his son and he too has a date set!  So that was cool!
   
 Annie is doing better since her bypass surgery.   We still visit her but are giving her time to recover before we start teaching her again!   Sister Lopes' husband, one of our Spanish investigators, is doing really well.  Just need to get him to church more consistently before we let him get baptized!

   
Tonight we will meet with two guys who have been coming to church that we thought were members but actually aren't.  Haha!  I think both their names are Daniel so it will be interesting.  We're going to set a date with them tonight!  All in all, we're working pretty well with members and going on splits twice a week, so it's all good! \
  
 Hope all is well!  I love you guys.  Stay safe!
 Love,  Elder Bird!

Stacking Up The Dates!

Inspirational shot of Elder Bird looking across the
Willamette River near Albany, Oregon.  Shot taken
in his last area, but we wanted to share it.

     Alright, we set a few dates with some people.  We reset a date with Annie Servantez for the 27th (March) but we don't know if she will be able to due to her bypass surgery this last week.  When she is ready she will get baptized!  Just all depends on her health, but she is still spiritually good and has been reading and praying and knows that it's true!  So that's always good! :)  Um, about Cole, we set a date for him on the 27th too.  He really wants to get baptized and knows the church is true.  He is funny and has a lot of off the wall questions which I like because I don't know the answers to them but the Spirit always directs me in a way to answer them correctly. But Cole is a great guy and is loving church! His wife passed away a few years ago and he is having a rough time but is excited about the Plan of Salvation and the blessings that come from it and the temple work he will get to do for her!



     Another person we visited this week was Henry Peterson.  He has been less active for two years because of work and looks into a lot of churches and like Cole, has off the wall questions.  But he says he's being directed towards the LDS church, so we talked about that for a while and explained the Spirit again.  By the end of the lesson he was ready to quit smoking and prepare for the temple.  He also showed up to church on Sunday. That was cool!  We're just going to keep working with him and help him stay on the right path.


     As for Morgan and his brother and sister, they are progressing slowly but progressing. We're gonna have a sit down talk with their mom because she isn't doing what she should and isn't being a good example.  That's where we are now! As for Nik Parazoo he is way solid!  Very active and loving the Gospel!

Love, Brock!

Too Much Lasagna and Ice Cream! Way Too Much!

Brock is still getting know the area and the people in Klamath Falls.  It looks like he and his companion are blessed with people looking for the peace and joy of the Gospel.

     We visited with Morgan and talked to him , his brother and sister and had a lesson with them.  It went pretty well!  We just talked about the Restoration and what it has done for us along with the Plan of Salvation!


     On Thursday we had interviews with president.  He pretty much told me to expect a greenie in May when Osborn goes home! Haha! Great!  The DL and training!  This will be interesting, but fun. It will hopefully start to warm up.  Lately (2 weeks ago) we have been getting pounded with snow. We're not allowed to drive in the snow if its bad like it has been. We have just been walking every where knocking on doors.


     We picked up two new solid investigators,  Sister Lopez's husband.  Sister Lopez is a recent convert to the church and now her husband is taking lessons in Spanish! :) And we're teaching Juan another Spanish investigator.  Yesterday we picked up a guy named Cole.  He is probably early 40's late 30's and we have a return appointment with him on Friday.  They all came to church this weekend so it was good.  We had 6 investigators at church along with some less active families, so the work is moving forward!


     On Saturday we ate at the Phillips' house.  Brother Phillips is the ward mission leader. Really cool guy!  His wife is a great cook!  I was stuffed!  After we ate lasagna,  Brother Phillips thought it was funny because I ate so much that he loaded my desert plate and made me eat it!  It was like 6 scoops of ice cream and two huge brownies.  I felt like throwing up! Haha! But it was funny! After we got home that night i did p90x ab ripper, 3x in a row along with some other ab work outs. When I got in the shower I threw up.  Haha!  But it felt so much better!  I just laugh about it!


     Friday we taught Nik Parazoo and other recent converts.  Nik is doing pretty well and has a really strong testimony.  On Tuesday and Thursday night we went on splits and visited a lot of people!  The work is moving forward and that's all that matters! :)

     We broke the news about the Jazz shipping off Deron Williams:

     I can't believe they traded Deron Williams! Wow!  I am shocked!  That's insane!

But oh well.
I love you.  Have a great day and week.
Love, Brock!