A Baptism And An Apostle

     Brock is now in the thick of missionary work in Oregon! He just had his first baptism and it happened to be on conference weekend between sessions.
     "So I was all dressed in white. That was a really cool experience. I enjoyed it!" The new member's name is Misti Jones. Brock and his companion Elder Johnson had a wonderful experience getting to know her and teacher her about the Gospel:
     "On Saturday we went over to Misti's for dinner. They had a surprise party for me. (Brock's birthday was Sept. 29th) Her 5-year-old son gave me a present. Sooooo nice of them! They got me a Superman cake, a Superman t-shirt, and a Superman themed party because he calls me Superman. So that was really fun! Misti said that was the least she could do because we have done so much for her and her family.She is really stoked for her baptism!"  Watch for pictures from the baptism.  They will be posted soon!
     The work seems to be going really well in Corvallis.
     "We also committed three more people to baptism this week, one being Jordan Tranthum. He is 18 and his family is all converts but him. So I got the prompting to give him a call! So we did and set up a time, and now he is already sending out his invitations for his baptism! It's on October 16th, along with a girl named Teddy who is 16. We're also teaching Toni Reynolds who was a 7th Day Adventist. He is a really cool guy. He just married his wife. She is a member so he decided to take the discussions because it is important to her. We have worked with him and he is excited to get baptized now! We have a lot of investigators!"

     Brock had a special experience last month when Elder David A. Bednar stopped in for a mission conference.

Brock's zone posing with Elder Bednar.  Elder Bird is way in the back row.

     "Man he is so smart. He is just like a normal guy but every question that was asked he answered in a way that blew my mind. The things he taught us were incredible. He said our gathering wasn't a meeting or a conference, but it was a revelatory session where the Spirit would speak to us personally and reveal things that can help better us. It was so true!"
     Even P-days are good!
     "This week in Oregon has been great! We went to Newport Beach for P-day. Man, it was a blast! We played football and soccer on the beach with the whole zone."
     "We have had a lot of good work going on. We have been working hard. We just started a new program called "Collect the Elect." We went around to every house in every ward and basically sought out referrals. Just from the young women alone we got 145. Altogether we are close to 200 referrals, so we're definitely happy we don't have to spend all our time tracting. We have been promised for every 5 referrals we should have one baptism. So we have tons of work to do!"
     "This week I went on exchanges with a Spanish speaking Elder named Klienfelter from Arizona. It was really fun. We met a lot of people on the OSU campus. I got the chance to brush up on some Spanish and even helped teach a lesson in Spanish, so that was pretty neat. I enjoyed it. We actually committed one of his investigators to baptism! He is a really chill missionary...he's my district leader."
     "This last week I have really focused on the Preach My Gospel and how to better myself as a missionary. I spent a lot of time reading the scriptures, praying, pondering and trying to listen to the words of the Holy Ghost. It has built me up and my faith has grown. I read Ether 12 and studied it for hours. Take a look at it. It's my favorite chapter."