Brock To Stay In Bend!



Elder Lyon and Elder Bird at University of Oregon's
football stadium.  They will continue to lead the Bend zone
for at least another 6 weeks.


     We were happy to see that Brock will stay in Bend for awhile longer.  He has really enjoyed the area and the Lord has blessed him and Elder Lyon with great success.  They had five baptisms last Saturday, November 26, 2011.  We will share his pictures and comments from that memorable day in our next post. (Soon!)
     In the meantime here are a few thoughts from Brock:

    Glad Thanksgiving was good! Mine was too!  We woke up and went down to Redmond for a big turkey bowl, which was fun.


     It's nice to know Brock and the elders had a nice break to celebrate Thanksgiving and to have a  traditional meal.  He sent us a nice note:
     I am truly grateful for the Lord's love and the support from the ward.  Mostly you and mom!  I have the greatest love for you guys in my heart and soul.  There is nothing that can replace the blessing my Heavenly Father has given me, and and that is you two! :)  I love you guys so much!
     Brock



    



Brock and some of the Elders in his zone take a break during
their Turkey Bowl game on Thanksgiving day.



P-Young Is My Home Boy!

Elder Lyon and Elder Bird with Marc and Jessica.
They were baptized November 5, 2011!

     Tuesday we were pretty crazy booked with appointments, not to mention our car was in the shop so we got to bike all around Bend.  We went and talked  to people for a few hours just on the streets. We also had a few appointments including Marc and Jessica who got baptized this last weekend!  Later we went to the Bean's house, an older couple in our ward and the sweetest people ever.  We put up their Christmas lights and ate dinner with them.  Then we had our evening appointments with Jim Jensen and later with Mikey,  Abby and Alondra!

     Wednesday we went and talked to people all morning until about one o'clock and then had a correlation meeting with our district leaders because we were heading to Eugene the next day! We went to the Bakers for a lesson with Melissa, Romie, and Thomas. We set a date with them to get baptized on the 29th of this month and they are excited for it. The lesson was really good and spiritual.  The kids absolutlely love us.  Haha!  The little six year old girl's name is Birdy!  Haha! We thought that was funny! Really random though.  Then we had dinner and President came up for our stake correlation, which went really well.  He payed me a huge compliment in front of the stake president by saying that the whole reason the work has changed and is doing better was because of me.  I thought I have nothing to do with what the Lord wants in this area!  The missionaries just have the desire to help people!  Elder Lyon and I then split and went with two different members of the ward to teach Jan and I went with Brother Carlson to teach Terry and Kelly!  The lesson was super good!  We gave them blessings and they were both crying and Kelly asked, "When can I get baptized.  I was like, sweet!  The Spirit was so strong. 


     Thursday we had a special meeting with President about what we can do to help the church experience real growth. It was pretty amazing I must say! Then we had some finding hours where we just searched for families.  It went alright though everyone was really rude that day.  After lunch we had a lesson with Jodi which was awesome.  We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism and then showed her around the church.  We went into the baptismal font and and she just broke down and was asked, "What do I need to do to be baptized and become a member of the church?"  So we told her! She is awesome! :) After Jodi we had a lesson with Michelle and talked about the Plan of Salvation.  She had some questions and we explained it to her and she said it totally made sense! :)

President Young surrounded by zone leaders wearing
their P-Young t-shirts.  Notice Sister Young is
wearing one too!

      After Michelle's lesson we drove to Eugene and spent the night at the assistants place. We came up with the idea to make some shirts with President's face which says, "P-Young is my home boy." We were up at 5 to go get stuff ready for zone leader council with the assistants!  We did that and then started ZLC at 7am and went to 12.  We took a break and toured the U of O football stadium and basketball arena.  It  was crazy.  They have underwater tredmills, super nice lifting equipment, flat screens in their own locker, just crazy! They have a Nike equipment place in the locker room where they go and tell them what they want or need.  It's literally a Foot Locker and they get all shoes, shorts and anything Nike for free! even stuff that hasn't been released yet! They never have to wear the same socks twice.  They get a new pair everyday! After all that craziness we had lunch and finished ZLC.

Elder Bird and his zone leader buddies standing on the field
at the University of Oregon stadium.  (Go Ducks!)



Zone leaders with President and Sister Young
on the steps of the impressive Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.



     Saturday we had a few lessons with the Wakemans and Jodi along with a new guy, Scott.  Then we got everything ready for the baptism, had our correlation with the AP's.  Then it was time for the baptism.  It was awesome to see Marc and Jessica become members of the church.


     Sunday we had PEC and then church, which was awesome.  All of our investigators came!. We had a few lessons after church with Jon , the Bakers, and Emily's mom. It was really good!  We finished the day with a conference call with the president. 

P.S  Brock had an opportunity to go to a Dixie State--Western Oregon football game with the president, since his son plays for Dixie.  But Brock opted not to go:  "I told President it would be fun and way cool to do that, but we had some lessons with our investigators and it was more important that I go to those."

Love,
Brock

Makin' It Through The Maze!

What an awesome view!  This is Bend as seen from Elder Bird's balcony!

It's P-day and I just barely came off the mountain to e-mail you (after mountain biking). I am still covered in dirt!     

Elder Bird and Elder Hill on a P-day mountain bike ride in
the mountains near Bend.

      
      My week has been really crazy!  Super busy meeting with all our investigators.  Friday we had our ward Halloween party which was fun for all of our investigators.  All the kids did their "Trunker Treat." They were all cute and dressed up. 
       
      Jodi Bohon came to the "Trunker Treat." She is so ready to be baptized.  We taught her the Plan of Salvation on Friday and went really well.  Jon also came and we have met with him  throughout the week to answer his questions.  His date is set for the 19th of November. He is really stoked.  The Millers are doing really well.  They are get baptized this weekend. It's so awesome to see a family really come together and see the change in their lives as they attend church and have that unity they haven't had before! They are really excited.  
    
     The Wakemans are doing really well.  They love having us over to teach them and their boys, who are real hoot, haha! The mom really opened up to us and  let everything out, but the Gospel has been really good for her since she knows it's helping her with what's she going through. It's been good to help her in any way we can because they are a really cool family!

Elders Bird, Lyon and Hill with investigator Mikey
and another friend identified as Pimentel at the corn maze.

     Saturday, we went to a corn maze with the singles branch.  Michelle and Charlie Bot came and are doing well.  Michelle just got home from Hawaii so she has been busy!  So we did that in the morning and then we had a correlation meeting with the AP's about our work and how it's progressing.  The zone is doing really well, better than it had been doing in the past!  Later that night our singles ward did a haunted house. It actually wasn't bad, haha, kinda funny but, hey they tried!  We met with Terry and Kelly Johnson who are getting baptized on the 19th. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and it was really well.  They loved it and are ready to move forward!  After that we met with the Orsillos and it went well too. We will set a date with them this next week!

     Sunday we had a lesson with Abby, Mikey, and Alondra!  They are doing really well and plan to move to Sandy around the same time I get home! :) haha! That will be cool!

Here's an added photo of Elder Bird and his last companion Elder Jensen who was
just transferred to be one of President Young's assistants.  Brock
says he and Elder Jensen developed a special bond as
zone leaders and hated to see him leave Bend.

Love you hope all is well!
Love, Brock