Stephanie's Baptism

     It's always exciting to hear about a baptism.  Elder Bird and Elder Cooper baptized Stephanie this last week.  Here are some excerpts from Brock's last letter:
     We went and contacted some of the people who were potential investigators and some formers, to see if they were still interested in learning.  We did pick up a few people so that was really cool! But we will see how solid they are in this coming week.  We taught the Athertons as well as Stephanie, who got baptized this week.  We read with them and  planned Stephanie's baptismal program and went over a few things. We then headed over to Wylie's who got baptized the week before. Love that kid.  We talked with him and taught him and his family the restoration again.  It was a pretty busy day!

     So Wednesday was a pretty busy day too!  We did some finding in the morning and then we had a lesson with Emilio Melendez and made Pinewood Derby cars.  We didn't get too far in those few hours. It took us  three days to do it, not to mention I made mine from scratch!  when we were done there we had a lesson with Stephanie and read from the Book of Mormon.  She has really gained a testimony of it. She told us at first she started reading it as a text book, but as she kept reading she started to pay attention to how she felt.  The Spirit testified to her of the truth.  It was way cool to hear that from her!  Her family has come along way and now her step daughter has a date for the 24th of March!

    Thursday we had combined district meeting which went really well.  Elder Cooper and I taught it.  It went really well and the zone was excited!

    We had Stephanie's baptismal interview at the church on Friday.  We had weekly planning along with getting the baptismal program squared away.  We were lucky to be able to sqeeze in an appointment with Emilio. We taught him the Plan of  Salvation, and put the wheels on our cars for the ward party the next day.

Elder Cooper and Elder Bird with Stephanie on her baptism day.  (Friday, February 17, 2012)

     We headed to Roseburg, because Winston doesn't have a font, so we did it at the stake center! :)  Stephanies baptism was really good and went super well with a wonderful, spiritual atmosphere.  Afterwards we went to the Reed house for kind of a little after baptism party. It was fun, and we got to talk to a few part member families and we're going to start teaching the Van Acker family.  We're really excited about that! :)

     Saturday we had transfer calls, so we had to do that all morning and afternoon, plan where everyone was going and how they would get there!  Later in the day we had the ward party where we raced our Pinewood Derby cars haha!  Elder Cooper and I were the judges and our cars did very well!  
     Sunday we had church, and a lesson with the Beburgers, a partmember family that is being taught by the sister missionaries. President gave us a special assignment to teach him and set a date. We did so!  He will be baptized June 2nd, kind of a long time,  but he wants his son to do it and he is in Alaska fishing for work and won't be back until then which gives him time to read the Book of Mormon and be a little more prepared!  After that we had a lesson with the Athertons and taught Memory their daughter about the Book of Mormon. 

Wylie's Baptism

     It's exciting to see how well the work is going in Oregon.  Elder Bird and Elder Cooper just had two baptisms and they are teaching several people!

     We had a lesson with the Mackey family! They are doing great, just still reading with them and helping them progress at there own pace.  Usually for families it takes awhile, but in due time with patience and helping them the best we can they will do what's best for them.  They have 5 little kids and I don't know what it is about me, but every kid tends to think I am a jungle gym!  Haha! After that we had Wylie's baptismal interview which went really well.

Elder Cooper and Elder Bird with Wylie on his baptism day.  (Feb. 11, 2012)

     Saturday we had Wylie's baptism, it was great!  Wylie is a champ.  It was awesome. The whole family was there and they were so happy to see him get baptized!
     Our zone is only a one district zone and is doing the best in the mission right now.  Every companionship has people with baptism dates, 16 dates for our zone!  We are really excited and President is super thrilled with our work efforts!

The Miracle of Prayer!

Here's a shot with Brock and a couple of the elders in his zone while he was still in Bend.  We're still waiting for pictures
from his new area in Winston.  Elder Bird is great at putting his arms around elders to let them know he loves being around them. 

     Here's a quick update from Brock as he keeps the pace in Winston with Elder Cooper.  We're amazed and excited that the work continues without skipping a beat:
    
     "Elder Cooper and I are tearing it up in Winston. I enjoy meeting people and seeing how different they are. For the most part people are pretty nice here and we have some great conversations."

      "We had a lesson with Stephanie. She is doing really well and is excited for her baptism! We have grown really close with that family. They have had their struggles but they are so happy when we come over. Honestly it's just such a blessing to really see the difference the Lord makes in people's lives. After that, we went to the Wylies house to teach their son. He is such a remarkable kid! Only 12 and has autism, but he's very bright. It's so cool to see how he interacts with us. He is an awesome kid!"

    It looks like Elder Bird and Elder Cooper are teaching quite a few people who are getting close to baptism. Here's another experience:
    
  "We had a lesson with Marie and she is doing great. We read and talked about the importance of prayer and how much we need it in our lives! We all knelt and she prayed. It was so awesome to see her pray for the first time. She just looked so happy and peaceful! :)"
"Things are going really well. Elder Cooper and I are working hard and having fun! My testimony is growing so much!"