Dear Family,
How are you doing this week? I cant imagine that things can be that bad, it was just Christmas and the spirit during Christmas is just magical! I hope that you are all healthy, not to stuffed from all the sweets that come with Christmas time! I am so so so so grateful that we were able to skype. I dont know if you could tell how frustrated I was to not be able to skype in the morning, but I am so grateful that it started working in the evening. I didnt realize how lucky I was to skype that night until my comp tried like everyday and nothing would work for him. He finally got things to work this morning. As I speak, he is skyping his family. So happy for him!!
So this week... the work was hard. Malagasies do not exactly spend Christmas the way that we do in America. The Malagasy way is have some family over and you just enjoy some alcohol and just sit and talk. Now, I do understand that Americans do that, but its not as bad, trust me!! So, we tried to do our best with times and teaching. We taught 27 times this week, I think and only got about 25 hours worked. Usually we are in the 30s with both of those numbers. So, my Christmas was so great!! I will tell you about it! We got up, we had a wonderful breakfast... at least in terms of Malagasy food. We made pankakes and hash browns with some syrup and ketchup for our hash browns! After that, I cleaned the house. Just went crazy on the cleaning, we needed it. We cleaned, prepared food for dinner, for dessert, and got ready to go out to work. So, we planned on just eating lunch at one of the little hotely's and eating rice like a malagasy... but no one was open. What is this? Someone has got to feed the missionaries!! I guaruntee that Brock was fed like for every meal. The least that Madagascar could do is have an open hotely so we can buy rice and Laoka... hahahaha. So, yaa we found a stand where they had a cold bottle of juice, so my comp and I shared a cold bottle of fanta for lunch. Memorable. Then we went out to work. So, it being Christmas time and all, it was snowing and just freezing cold... Yaa then I woke up. So it was probably like solid 90's but 80% humidity... it was death. Merry Christmas though. We walked around trying to find people to teach. We had some times scheduled, but they werent home, and if they were, they were drinking and just havin a jolly ole christmas. Midway through the day we had planned to go to the local hospital and sing to the sick. Let me tell you, we did not sound good. Me and one other elder could hit notes... the other two are tone deaf... they did the best they could to make as little noise as possible while we sang silent night in english and malagasy mixed. Although we were not good at singing, the spirit was so strong! Even though we were singing to old men with cathiters in their stomach, to naked women, to kids who were sleeping, you would have been amazed at the spirit that was in the room as the parents and family of the sick thanked us for taking the time to visit. Meant a lot to them. The rest of the day we were running errands to prepare for the massive dinner we had planned. We got home after about 2 lessons that day and started getting dinner ready. One elder was preparing hawaiian haystacks, while the rest of us cleaned up and got ready for our guest. Yes, I know that guests are not allowed at the missionary home, but our leadership made an acception for the 1st counselor in our branch presidency! Odilon is the name. One of the nicest men I have met here in Mada! He was married about 5 months ago to a very nice woman. However, about 3 months ago his wife left to another part of Mada for work and still had not returned. He was going to be alone for Christmas... NOT ON MY WATCH! I had him over for dinner. I also took the liberty of getting a small gift for him. I bought him a nice little button up shirt. So we enjoyed our meal, talked in Malagasy and English because he can do both and just enjoyed company. Then he opened his gift. The light in Odilon's eyes just lit up. In English, he stated over and over, "thank you thank you" "oh man its wonderful, perfect" You know that spirit of Christmas that you can feel when you do something for another person, or you walk down the stairs on Christmas morning to the tree... I felt that, when Odilon asked if he could try it on and take a picture. He looked great in the shirt, perfect fit, great night. The rest is history. I hope that you were all able to feel the spirit of Christmas and remember the true meaning. As the new year roles around, I am reminded of goals that I made in the MTC... time to make some new ones. I love you all so much and hope that life will continue to be good to you. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Elder Herrin
Monday, December 29, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
The Transfer Week
Dear Family,
Ohh what a week it has been... I guess ill start from the beginning. However, like always, I like to start with saying how much I miss you. I hope that you are all happy, healthy, and enjoying this Christmas season with eachother. May you all remember the true meaning of Christmas and the importance of being unselfish. Not tryin to come down hard, but being here has really just made me appreciate what little I have as a missionary, and how much I have been blessed with. Look at where youre sitting... Its 100 times nicer than anything in Mada.
So anyways, this week was great!! Elder Lambert enjoyed his last 3 days here in Paradise by saying goodbye to many of the wonderful investigators that we are teaching. He was able to purchase items that he has been wanting for a while, to really just soak it all in before he left. Anyone who leaves Fort D is always pretty down in the dumps, but he held it in pretty well! So Wednesday we were able to say goodbye to all of our members because there was dance practice for the primary, ym/yw, and any of those who were performing in the Christmas party that happened this week. Our President showed up and said goodbye, and many pictures were taken. (I am like a professional photographer now) Thursday morning was the day! We were up at like 5:30 because the new elders were getting here at 6:45 and Lambert left at 7. We got to the airport and everyone and their mom was their because people were either leaving to go home to their family, or coming to see family for the holidays.... I was just recieving a new comp, which is almost as good as family. Elder Yeagley is the name!! He is a newer missionary than me. From Utah... every single american comp that I have had (all 3) have been from Utah... hahahah! He is so cool. He is a convert to the church of only 3 years and is now serving a mission at 22 years old. We get along great and I am really liking this transfer so far. Soo, Satruday the 20th. Maci's birthday!! Happy Happy Birthday from your older brother in Madagasikara. We actually had a huge party for your birthday. The activity was supposed to start at 2... so the missionaries showed up at 1:30 trying to be helpful right... we didnt start till about 3:45. Yaa it was stressful. But the activity was wonderful. It was basically a talent show where people danced and sang about Jesus Christ and his birth. So, quick little funny story... When Lambert was still here, we had sort of practiced a dance to do with some young women, but when we heard that he was leaving we just called it off... at least thats what I thought. In the middle of the primary and ym singing and dancing, we get told that we are up next... uhhhhhh! Soo, I threw on a nice little elf costume, my comp was santa, and we just wowed the malagsies with our white dancing! They loved it. The only thing that went wrong was the food. We had a solid 250 people at the activity. Probably 200 children... so when we passed out candy, brownies that I made, juice, kids were complaining that they didnt recieve their fair share. That it turned angered some parents and just not fun. But other than that, it was really good. Sunday rolled around and church was good. Both me and my companion were not feeling great, but we perservered and went out and taught some really great times. I do not know how well the work will go this week. Many people have already started partying and doing things that probably shouldnt be done, but we are going to do our best to tell everyone in Fort D about the birth of Jesus Christ! Oh, this gospel is so true! As I continue to listen to Christmas music, see families together, boy does it make me miss you guys. I remember the traditions that we had and still have. I sure hope that you are going to read in Luke, get in pj's and drive around to see the beautiful lights. I hope that Rhet, Maci, and Ty all sleep in the same room so you can all wake up together and feel the wonderful feeling that kids get Christmas morning. I hope that Mom and Dad are just so happy to see your face as you walk down the stairs and see the gifts that Santa has brought you. I also hope that you can feel of my love here from Madagasikara. I love you all so much. Thanks for love and support!!! See you on Thursday morning!!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Ohh what a week it has been... I guess ill start from the beginning. However, like always, I like to start with saying how much I miss you. I hope that you are all happy, healthy, and enjoying this Christmas season with eachother. May you all remember the true meaning of Christmas and the importance of being unselfish. Not tryin to come down hard, but being here has really just made me appreciate what little I have as a missionary, and how much I have been blessed with. Look at where youre sitting... Its 100 times nicer than anything in Mada.
So anyways, this week was great!! Elder Lambert enjoyed his last 3 days here in Paradise by saying goodbye to many of the wonderful investigators that we are teaching. He was able to purchase items that he has been wanting for a while, to really just soak it all in before he left. Anyone who leaves Fort D is always pretty down in the dumps, but he held it in pretty well! So Wednesday we were able to say goodbye to all of our members because there was dance practice for the primary, ym/yw, and any of those who were performing in the Christmas party that happened this week. Our President showed up and said goodbye, and many pictures were taken. (I am like a professional photographer now) Thursday morning was the day! We were up at like 5:30 because the new elders were getting here at 6:45 and Lambert left at 7. We got to the airport and everyone and their mom was their because people were either leaving to go home to their family, or coming to see family for the holidays.... I was just recieving a new comp, which is almost as good as family. Elder Yeagley is the name!! He is a newer missionary than me. From Utah... every single american comp that I have had (all 3) have been from Utah... hahahah! He is so cool. He is a convert to the church of only 3 years and is now serving a mission at 22 years old. We get along great and I am really liking this transfer so far. Soo, Satruday the 20th. Maci's birthday!! Happy Happy Birthday from your older brother in Madagasikara. We actually had a huge party for your birthday. The activity was supposed to start at 2... so the missionaries showed up at 1:30 trying to be helpful right... we didnt start till about 3:45. Yaa it was stressful. But the activity was wonderful. It was basically a talent show where people danced and sang about Jesus Christ and his birth. So, quick little funny story... When Lambert was still here, we had sort of practiced a dance to do with some young women, but when we heard that he was leaving we just called it off... at least thats what I thought. In the middle of the primary and ym singing and dancing, we get told that we are up next... uhhhhhh! Soo, I threw on a nice little elf costume, my comp was santa, and we just wowed the malagsies with our white dancing! They loved it. The only thing that went wrong was the food. We had a solid 250 people at the activity. Probably 200 children... so when we passed out candy, brownies that I made, juice, kids were complaining that they didnt recieve their fair share. That it turned angered some parents and just not fun. But other than that, it was really good. Sunday rolled around and church was good. Both me and my companion were not feeling great, but we perservered and went out and taught some really great times. I do not know how well the work will go this week. Many people have already started partying and doing things that probably shouldnt be done, but we are going to do our best to tell everyone in Fort D about the birth of Jesus Christ! Oh, this gospel is so true! As I continue to listen to Christmas music, see families together, boy does it make me miss you guys. I remember the traditions that we had and still have. I sure hope that you are going to read in Luke, get in pj's and drive around to see the beautiful lights. I hope that Rhet, Maci, and Ty all sleep in the same room so you can all wake up together and feel the wonderful feeling that kids get Christmas morning. I hope that Mom and Dad are just so happy to see your face as you walk down the stairs and see the gifts that Santa has brought you. I also hope that you can feel of my love here from Madagasikara. I love you all so much. Thanks for love and support!!! See you on Thursday morning!!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, December 15, 2014
Another Week In Paradise
Dear Family,
How are we all doing this week? I sure have been thinking a lot about you as Christmas comes closer and closer. I hope that you are all getting into the spirit and thinking of others! There are kids in Africa who would love to be where you are... ok, thats harsh. I wont use that. I am doing just great and loving the work right now. This week was a solid week of work. Nothing to exciting, nothing to boring either. We are teaching a lot of great people right now who are so close to being ready to be baptized, except for one small problem. Either a drinking habit, or a marriage problem, work, just one small little thing that is holding them back. Its so great to be able to help them, but there just isnt much that we can do. Pray Hard.
So this week we taught some really good lessons that I think really helped our investigators. Its amazing how well the gospel of Jesus Christ is placed together. It makes so much sense, and when you have all the information in a book and you can read it. You know, this mission has just made me want to tell everyone about this message. Like, how on earth, would you now want to follow this..? Then I look at my life before my mission... hahah. So we had one lesson this week where we walked in and the father told us how the previous night he was not able to sleep. He read all of the first pamphlet and wrote down like 8 questions concerning Joseph Smith... I was so so happy! This week we also started preparing for our Christmas party. I am doing a dance with a couple of the ym/yw. Should be interesting to say the least. The only christmas music that malagasies have is like the music that the catholic church makes... and the kids do it. Very strange to say the least. Sundays are always great here in Fort D. Yesterday we had 24 investigators attend sacrament meeting! We also had our Young Mens President come for the first time since I have been here. He has been in jail because he hit a child, which really isnt anything abnormal, but the kid who he hit comes from a family of power... he is a cool guy! Then we had transfers... My companion is leaving me. I am getting a new kid. Not brand new, but newer than me... I am so so so scared. That also means that we wont have a santa any more cause elder Lambert was gonna be dada be noele here for the activity... so many things to work out because he is leaving. Lots to do, people to save, and salvation to teach! Hahaha. I miss you oh so much. I am doing all that I can to not be trunky this Christmas season. I am so excited to skype with you and see the love you all have. Thank you for all your love and support.
All my love
Elder Herrin
How are we all doing this week? I sure have been thinking a lot about you as Christmas comes closer and closer. I hope that you are all getting into the spirit and thinking of others! There are kids in Africa who would love to be where you are... ok, thats harsh. I wont use that. I am doing just great and loving the work right now. This week was a solid week of work. Nothing to exciting, nothing to boring either. We are teaching a lot of great people right now who are so close to being ready to be baptized, except for one small problem. Either a drinking habit, or a marriage problem, work, just one small little thing that is holding them back. Its so great to be able to help them, but there just isnt much that we can do. Pray Hard.
So this week we taught some really good lessons that I think really helped our investigators. Its amazing how well the gospel of Jesus Christ is placed together. It makes so much sense, and when you have all the information in a book and you can read it. You know, this mission has just made me want to tell everyone about this message. Like, how on earth, would you now want to follow this..? Then I look at my life before my mission... hahah. So we had one lesson this week where we walked in and the father told us how the previous night he was not able to sleep. He read all of the first pamphlet and wrote down like 8 questions concerning Joseph Smith... I was so so happy! This week we also started preparing for our Christmas party. I am doing a dance with a couple of the ym/yw. Should be interesting to say the least. The only christmas music that malagasies have is like the music that the catholic church makes... and the kids do it. Very strange to say the least. Sundays are always great here in Fort D. Yesterday we had 24 investigators attend sacrament meeting! We also had our Young Mens President come for the first time since I have been here. He has been in jail because he hit a child, which really isnt anything abnormal, but the kid who he hit comes from a family of power... he is a cool guy! Then we had transfers... My companion is leaving me. I am getting a new kid. Not brand new, but newer than me... I am so so so scared. That also means that we wont have a santa any more cause elder Lambert was gonna be dada be noele here for the activity... so many things to work out because he is leaving. Lots to do, people to save, and salvation to teach! Hahaha. I miss you oh so much. I am doing all that I can to not be trunky this Christmas season. I am so excited to skype with you and see the love you all have. Thank you for all your love and support.
All my love
Elder Herrin
Monday, December 8, 2014
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Dear Family,
How are you this early Christmas season!? I hope that you are getting into the Christmas spirit and listening to ole Frank sing, maybe the little chipmunk Alvin? Ohh I know that I have! We have Christmas music with lights that we bought this week and the 6 inch tree that we found! It looks so good with the two presents that I have underneath the tree! This week was another fabulous week! Not exactly the week that I had in mind, but when you look back, it was so wonderful! We started off the week pretty well. We went out and bought some Christmas lights and started the play of Christmas music!! I love it! On Tuesday we had a Zone Conference. How does that work you ask? So we had to do a skype call with all of the outlying areas like Mahajanga, Toliar, Mauritius, and then President and the AP's. Let me tell you how awkward it was. We started the skype call in the very busy cyber when President says, "So this morning we will start by singing hymn number ... Joy to the World"... Ummm, are you serious? All the other missionaries were in their church, so it was no big deal for them, but we were in a packed cyber... so we sang joy to the world as people just stared and laughed even. So me and my comp say at one computer and he had the headset the whole time so I just sat there and watched the screen not knowing what was going on. All of the sudden, my comp looks at me and says that Pres. is asking me a question... Oh man President Adams just grilled me with this deep doctrine question that I just tried to babble on about the topic and my Pres just kept responding with WHY? AHHHH, I dont know Pres... im sorry! Hahahah, he finally accepted one of my answers and said, can someone help him out? Hahahah, we finished the meeting with yet ANOTHER song... and he asked me to lead it... uhhh yaa ill wave my hand in front of the moniter. I got a laugh out of Pres as I waved my hand though, felt pretty good. So we had a couple of our investigators this week give us some pretty big news! Sadly, we wont have any baptisms on the 13... but, aza kivy! Our best investigator told us that he has decided to hold off baptism. We were shocked until he told us why. His wife hasnt been able to attend church because she works at a catholic school and if she attends a different church, she loses her job. Can you imagine? So Emille, the father, told us he is going to wait for his wife. He said that he wants to be married in the temple TOGETHER, and in order for that to happen, they need to be baptized TOGETHER. Such a testimony builder for a young 19 year old kid! I was so happy. Our other investigators are doing great also. One drank alcohol... so he is still trying to get off that habit. Our others just need to be legally married... Just playing the waiting game with them! So I just want to tell you about the strangest day that I had this week. Like the wierdest on my mission thus far. We had like 3 or 4 run ins with different gmas who just creeped us out. One was laying in the sand by her house when she saw us. She got up to her hands and knees and started to crawl toward us and scream at the top of her lungs in all the english and french that she knew and then malagasy by default. She was trying to say give me money... but he chased us a good 100 yards... we saw a naked gma in the backseat of a taxi with a look of "ive been kidnapped" as she clung to the window. We had some drunks talk to us in French, and one time I responded in Spanish... The drunk responded as if he gathered and understood what I said. Then we had a time with this crazy dad. First off he thought I was 31... thats a new one. Then we asked him to read a scripture. It was Alma 40:11 and 12 about the spirits of all people go to heaven. He like overly pronunciated every 3rd word and when he got to that third word he would look at us as if we were supposed to say "Halleluhah" But it was so hard not to laugh because his... yaa it was just hard. We ended the week well, 20 investagators at church and a really good testimony meeting! I am so grateful to be here right now. Each and every day, something happens that just makes me so happy and feel the spirit that my testimony is strengthened! I have no doubt in my mind that this church is true, that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bless our lives if we live it. I love serving here and coming to know these people. As the holidays roll around, a challenge you guys to do something to serve another. I promise you will feel better about your Christmas. I love you all so much and cant wati to skype!
Elder Herrin
How are you this early Christmas season!? I hope that you are getting into the Christmas spirit and listening to ole Frank sing, maybe the little chipmunk Alvin? Ohh I know that I have! We have Christmas music with lights that we bought this week and the 6 inch tree that we found! It looks so good with the two presents that I have underneath the tree! This week was another fabulous week! Not exactly the week that I had in mind, but when you look back, it was so wonderful! We started off the week pretty well. We went out and bought some Christmas lights and started the play of Christmas music!! I love it! On Tuesday we had a Zone Conference. How does that work you ask? So we had to do a skype call with all of the outlying areas like Mahajanga, Toliar, Mauritius, and then President and the AP's. Let me tell you how awkward it was. We started the skype call in the very busy cyber when President says, "So this morning we will start by singing hymn number ... Joy to the World"... Ummm, are you serious? All the other missionaries were in their church, so it was no big deal for them, but we were in a packed cyber... so we sang joy to the world as people just stared and laughed even. So me and my comp say at one computer and he had the headset the whole time so I just sat there and watched the screen not knowing what was going on. All of the sudden, my comp looks at me and says that Pres. is asking me a question... Oh man President Adams just grilled me with this deep doctrine question that I just tried to babble on about the topic and my Pres just kept responding with WHY? AHHHH, I dont know Pres... im sorry! Hahahah, he finally accepted one of my answers and said, can someone help him out? Hahahah, we finished the meeting with yet ANOTHER song... and he asked me to lead it... uhhh yaa ill wave my hand in front of the moniter. I got a laugh out of Pres as I waved my hand though, felt pretty good. So we had a couple of our investigators this week give us some pretty big news! Sadly, we wont have any baptisms on the 13... but, aza kivy! Our best investigator told us that he has decided to hold off baptism. We were shocked until he told us why. His wife hasnt been able to attend church because she works at a catholic school and if she attends a different church, she loses her job. Can you imagine? So Emille, the father, told us he is going to wait for his wife. He said that he wants to be married in the temple TOGETHER, and in order for that to happen, they need to be baptized TOGETHER. Such a testimony builder for a young 19 year old kid! I was so happy. Our other investigators are doing great also. One drank alcohol... so he is still trying to get off that habit. Our others just need to be legally married... Just playing the waiting game with them! So I just want to tell you about the strangest day that I had this week. Like the wierdest on my mission thus far. We had like 3 or 4 run ins with different gmas who just creeped us out. One was laying in the sand by her house when she saw us. She got up to her hands and knees and started to crawl toward us and scream at the top of her lungs in all the english and french that she knew and then malagasy by default. She was trying to say give me money... but he chased us a good 100 yards... we saw a naked gma in the backseat of a taxi with a look of "ive been kidnapped" as she clung to the window. We had some drunks talk to us in French, and one time I responded in Spanish... The drunk responded as if he gathered and understood what I said. Then we had a time with this crazy dad. First off he thought I was 31... thats a new one. Then we asked him to read a scripture. It was Alma 40:11 and 12 about the spirits of all people go to heaven. He like overly pronunciated every 3rd word and when he got to that third word he would look at us as if we were supposed to say "Halleluhah" But it was so hard not to laugh because his... yaa it was just hard. We ended the week well, 20 investagators at church and a really good testimony meeting! I am so grateful to be here right now. Each and every day, something happens that just makes me so happy and feel the spirit that my testimony is strengthened! I have no doubt in my mind that this church is true, that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bless our lives if we live it. I love serving here and coming to know these people. As the holidays roll around, a challenge you guys to do something to serve another. I promise you will feel better about your Christmas. I love you all so much and cant wati to skype!
Elder Herrin
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
An Eventful Week
Dear Family,
How are you all doing this wonderful week!? With the end of Thanksgiving and the start of December comes lots of food and Christmas music and hopefully lots of happy people! Here in Madagascar, no one knew what Thanksgiving was, and a select few people celebrate Christmas because no one really has the money to do anything. But, that does not get the missionaries down! I must start by sharing with you the wonderful week that I was blessed with! So, I told you all that last Monday we went crocodile hunting... well we at least set the trap for the crocs to bite on...The next morning we got up at 5:30 in the morning to hike out to the place that we set the trap! We got there and followed our member out into the swamp and trudged out to the spot where our traps were set. Before we could see the traps, our member kind of stopped and starred at the place where the traps were because he couldnt see the fish hanging from our trap. We were all behind him, having a slight heart attack and not knowing whether or not to run or to just stand still. He creeps up and we follow... NOTHING. The traps had like fallen over and no crocs were in sight. We had a sword in hand, and were ready to wrestle, so we took some pics and walked home... still a cool story to tell my grandchildren when im old and yucky! Then we came up to Thanksgiving day... we went all big here in Fort D. We bought a live turkey... like we literally bought it off the streets for 40 000 ar and brought it home with us. That night, our malagasy missionary killed him. I have a video, but I dont want to send it home, not only is it gross and disgusting, but the sounds that I make in the video make me want to puke... so we can just wait to see that when I get home. We worked a full day on Thanksgiving so we got home at 9:30, cooked everything and had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, cider, and I made a peanut butter cups type dessert for us! It was soo good! Saturday we had a church activity where we played musical chairs... My companion played the guitar while the little kids walked in a circle around the chairs. Every time someone would lose, the entire room would bust out in laughter and clapping and just love the hype of musical chairs! Malagasys are great in their way of making little things fun! So with all of this fun and excitement that I had this week, the work went along with it. This week we had some of our best investigators commit to a baptisimal date. One inparticular, who my companion had said already denied 2 dates, was totally ready to be baptized on the 27th of december! This branch hasnt had any baptisms since earlier this year, so the missionaries before me have been working really hard, and I am reaping their hard work. To top the wonderful week of work off, we had 19 investigators at church!! That is like insane! I also happened to be giving my first talk in country this week! I gave a talk about the work of (it doesnt really make sense in english, sorry) the missionary work inside the family! I talked about three main things that the family can do. 1... Pray for missionary experiences, or better yet, for the health and safety of our friends. 2...Serve our friends, and be an example to them. 3...when you get the chance, testify. Its the most important tool missionaries have. I did that all in malagasy... probably didnt make a lot of sense to the congregation, but i hope the spirit translated! My week was so wonderful, and getting your emails and pictures from thanksgiving put the cherry on the cake! Thank you so much for all of your love. I can feel it each and everyday! Keep the faith and know that Elder Herrin loves you all so much!
With Love
Elder Herrin
How are you all doing this wonderful week!? With the end of Thanksgiving and the start of December comes lots of food and Christmas music and hopefully lots of happy people! Here in Madagascar, no one knew what Thanksgiving was, and a select few people celebrate Christmas because no one really has the money to do anything. But, that does not get the missionaries down! I must start by sharing with you the wonderful week that I was blessed with! So, I told you all that last Monday we went crocodile hunting... well we at least set the trap for the crocs to bite on...The next morning we got up at 5:30 in the morning to hike out to the place that we set the trap! We got there and followed our member out into the swamp and trudged out to the spot where our traps were set. Before we could see the traps, our member kind of stopped and starred at the place where the traps were because he couldnt see the fish hanging from our trap. We were all behind him, having a slight heart attack and not knowing whether or not to run or to just stand still. He creeps up and we follow... NOTHING. The traps had like fallen over and no crocs were in sight. We had a sword in hand, and were ready to wrestle, so we took some pics and walked home... still a cool story to tell my grandchildren when im old and yucky! Then we came up to Thanksgiving day... we went all big here in Fort D. We bought a live turkey... like we literally bought it off the streets for 40 000 ar and brought it home with us. That night, our malagasy missionary killed him. I have a video, but I dont want to send it home, not only is it gross and disgusting, but the sounds that I make in the video make me want to puke... so we can just wait to see that when I get home. We worked a full day on Thanksgiving so we got home at 9:30, cooked everything and had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, cider, and I made a peanut butter cups type dessert for us! It was soo good! Saturday we had a church activity where we played musical chairs... My companion played the guitar while the little kids walked in a circle around the chairs. Every time someone would lose, the entire room would bust out in laughter and clapping and just love the hype of musical chairs! Malagasys are great in their way of making little things fun! So with all of this fun and excitement that I had this week, the work went along with it. This week we had some of our best investigators commit to a baptisimal date. One inparticular, who my companion had said already denied 2 dates, was totally ready to be baptized on the 27th of december! This branch hasnt had any baptisms since earlier this year, so the missionaries before me have been working really hard, and I am reaping their hard work. To top the wonderful week of work off, we had 19 investigators at church!! That is like insane! I also happened to be giving my first talk in country this week! I gave a talk about the work of (it doesnt really make sense in english, sorry) the missionary work inside the family! I talked about three main things that the family can do. 1... Pray for missionary experiences, or better yet, for the health and safety of our friends. 2...Serve our friends, and be an example to them. 3...when you get the chance, testify. Its the most important tool missionaries have. I did that all in malagasy... probably didnt make a lot of sense to the congregation, but i hope the spirit translated! My week was so wonderful, and getting your emails and pictures from thanksgiving put the cherry on the cake! Thank you so much for all of your love. I can feel it each and everyday! Keep the faith and know that Elder Herrin loves you all so much!
With Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, November 24, 2014
Ups and Downs and Fort D!
Dear Family,
How are we all doing this week? Doesnt it seem like it was a long week since the last time we talked? I hope you all know that I love you very much and that you are on my mind often... when I am not trying to think about the 30 investigators that we have, the lesson to share with them, or how many packages of seddaap to buy... other than that you are always on my mind! This week was a crazy one here in Fort Dauphin! The week started off great! Tuesday and Wednesday we taught like a total of 17 lessons and just really felt the wonderful spirit here in Fort D! People here are so so kind, always inviting us in, and it seems like they are more prepared by our Heavenly Father to hear and accept our message. For example, this week it was about 7 o clock and we were headed to our second to last time for the day. We were approached by a young man who eargently stated something in Malagasy. I thought that I heard him correctly so I smiled and replied "thats great!" The conversation was pretty quick, we talked about a time to come by his house and teach him, said goodbye and he left. I quickly said to my comp, "Thats so cool that he wants to learn!!!" My comp said, "He said that he wants to be baptized in our church..." DUDE!!! Can I get an AMEN! Thats a little apostate, but it was so cool. The next couple days that followed were the exact opposite of Tuesday and Wednesday... they were horrible! We only taught like 3 or 4 times and had 8 people drop us! However, with that all being said, we had some crazy moments contacting people! We talked to a couple of younger men (in thier early 20's) who introduced themselves in english. Talk about catching a missionary off guard. One of them started with this, "I believe that you have a message to share with me!" Cant get any more easy than that right? I know it may seem like its easy, I promise the missionary work is still really hard. That man's wife wanted NOTHING to do with us when we entered the mans house. She told us, "maybe you can come by... next week" Yaaa, so we probably wont be going by! We also had one of the funniest times on Friday! We were headed to a new investigators house who has already been to church twice! A father, his wife, and two kids! We found thier kids before we got to the house so we followed them to the house and when we got there they told us to come in! Elder Lambert was ahead of me so he kind of peaked his head in to make sure things were all good... they werent! Lets just say its been REALLY hot here and the people do all they can to cool off! My companion saw more than he wanted to! They told us to come in and we started to teach. They are NOT the smartest people in the world so we were just teaching about Josepth Smith again and the right way to pray! After the segment with Joseph Smith we asked, "so who is Josheph Smith?" And the father took a second to really get this answer right... "Jesus Christ" he replied... The effort it took to hold back laughter was intensive! We quickly helped them respond to that question with prophet! Then we moved on to prayer and when we finished the lesson we asked the man to pray. " Dear Jesus Christ.... in the name of the Father, Amen." Right as he started I opened my eyes to see my companions head droop between his knees into the fetal position. So it wasnt that bad, but his head droped a mile! We kindly thanked the man for the prayer and left! Oh, I love being a missionary! The week ended somewhat well. Sunday we had 10 investigators at church and we got to watch a conference with Africa. We taught some really good lessons and helped our investigators really understand the restoration. If they truly understand that, they understand that all other churches are... well wrong! Ohh, then there is today. So today, guess what we did?! WRONG! We went crocadile hunting, no joke! We walked, about 10 kilometers, to a far away lake type swamp thing! We rolled our pants up and walked thigh deep in swamp where we set up three different traps! I was like shakin in my boots the whole time we were standing in the water, watching our investigator set up the trap. So, im sure youre wondering if we caught anything, or what happened... so here it is. We set up the trap, and the member said, "ok, lets go home!, Tomorrow well see if we get anything?" Yaa not what I had in mind either, but it was still cool, and hopefully tomorrow we will get something! The rest of the day went like this: We ate rice, bought a live turkey, and are now emailing home. Thanksgiving is coming up so we are going to murder a turkey and cook it for Thanksgiving! (Pictures, and maybe video next week?) As the holidays start to come in, man do I miss you guys! Like you have no idea! Eat well. I will be eating at 9:30 on Thursday and hopefully things go well. But, eat well and love eachother. Rhet and Maci, hit a brother up with some emails! Ive been pretty dry lately! I love you all so much, and would love some pictures of the wonderful fun and family this week!
Elder Herrin
How are we all doing this week? Doesnt it seem like it was a long week since the last time we talked? I hope you all know that I love you very much and that you are on my mind often... when I am not trying to think about the 30 investigators that we have, the lesson to share with them, or how many packages of seddaap to buy... other than that you are always on my mind! This week was a crazy one here in Fort Dauphin! The week started off great! Tuesday and Wednesday we taught like a total of 17 lessons and just really felt the wonderful spirit here in Fort D! People here are so so kind, always inviting us in, and it seems like they are more prepared by our Heavenly Father to hear and accept our message. For example, this week it was about 7 o clock and we were headed to our second to last time for the day. We were approached by a young man who eargently stated something in Malagasy. I thought that I heard him correctly so I smiled and replied "thats great!" The conversation was pretty quick, we talked about a time to come by his house and teach him, said goodbye and he left. I quickly said to my comp, "Thats so cool that he wants to learn!!!" My comp said, "He said that he wants to be baptized in our church..." DUDE!!! Can I get an AMEN! Thats a little apostate, but it was so cool. The next couple days that followed were the exact opposite of Tuesday and Wednesday... they were horrible! We only taught like 3 or 4 times and had 8 people drop us! However, with that all being said, we had some crazy moments contacting people! We talked to a couple of younger men (in thier early 20's) who introduced themselves in english. Talk about catching a missionary off guard. One of them started with this, "I believe that you have a message to share with me!" Cant get any more easy than that right? I know it may seem like its easy, I promise the missionary work is still really hard. That man's wife wanted NOTHING to do with us when we entered the mans house. She told us, "maybe you can come by... next week" Yaaa, so we probably wont be going by! We also had one of the funniest times on Friday! We were headed to a new investigators house who has already been to church twice! A father, his wife, and two kids! We found thier kids before we got to the house so we followed them to the house and when we got there they told us to come in! Elder Lambert was ahead of me so he kind of peaked his head in to make sure things were all good... they werent! Lets just say its been REALLY hot here and the people do all they can to cool off! My companion saw more than he wanted to! They told us to come in and we started to teach. They are NOT the smartest people in the world so we were just teaching about Josepth Smith again and the right way to pray! After the segment with Joseph Smith we asked, "so who is Josheph Smith?" And the father took a second to really get this answer right... "Jesus Christ" he replied... The effort it took to hold back laughter was intensive! We quickly helped them respond to that question with prophet! Then we moved on to prayer and when we finished the lesson we asked the man to pray. " Dear Jesus Christ.... in the name of the Father, Amen." Right as he started I opened my eyes to see my companions head droop between his knees into the fetal position. So it wasnt that bad, but his head droped a mile! We kindly thanked the man for the prayer and left! Oh, I love being a missionary! The week ended somewhat well. Sunday we had 10 investigators at church and we got to watch a conference with Africa. We taught some really good lessons and helped our investigators really understand the restoration. If they truly understand that, they understand that all other churches are... well wrong! Ohh, then there is today. So today, guess what we did?! WRONG! We went crocadile hunting, no joke! We walked, about 10 kilometers, to a far away lake type swamp thing! We rolled our pants up and walked thigh deep in swamp where we set up three different traps! I was like shakin in my boots the whole time we were standing in the water, watching our investigator set up the trap. So, im sure youre wondering if we caught anything, or what happened... so here it is. We set up the trap, and the member said, "ok, lets go home!, Tomorrow well see if we get anything?" Yaa not what I had in mind either, but it was still cool, and hopefully tomorrow we will get something! The rest of the day went like this: We ate rice, bought a live turkey, and are now emailing home. Thanksgiving is coming up so we are going to murder a turkey and cook it for Thanksgiving! (Pictures, and maybe video next week?) As the holidays start to come in, man do I miss you guys! Like you have no idea! Eat well. I will be eating at 9:30 on Thursday and hopefully things go well. But, eat well and love eachother. Rhet and Maci, hit a brother up with some emails! Ive been pretty dry lately! I love you all so much, and would love some pictures of the wonderful fun and family this week!
Elder Herrin
Monday, November 17, 2014
Paradise
Dear Family,
How are we all doing this week? I hope happy and healthy and just loving life! I know I am... let me tell you about my first week in PARADISE! So I started the week finishing in Ambohimangakely. I said bye to some great members... actually it was kind of really sad. One of our investigators and father of a member family in our branch died on Monday... He was waiting for a bus on the side of the rode and the people said he just collapsed to his death. Very sad time for the member family in our branch. What was really great though was being able to talk about the fact that he will still be able to accept the gospel and be baptized through the great plan of salvation and through the temple! Then on Wednesday morning I hopped on a plane (By myself I might add) and flew for about an hour to FORT DAUPHIN! I got picked up by my new companion, Elder Lambert, and we drove to my new home. I am going to add that my new house is about a football field length away from the ocean and I can see, hear, smell, almost fell, the ocean each and every day I wake up! So, back to getting here, we went straight to work. We taught like 7 times that day and like 6 hours of work! I was drained. IT IS SO HOTTT!! Fort Dauhpin is the most beautiful place, but one of the hottest in Mada. I think I can stand the heat, if that means I get to live here... Haahaha! So the next couple days that followed were amazing. We have so so many investigators who love us, who want to learn, who are intelligent and know how to use their brain! I am not saying that the malagasys didnt in my last area, but I am just saying people have brains here! hahah! I love it! My companion is great also. I wasnt sure how we were going to work, but so far it has been magnificent! He makes me laugh really hard. So Saturday was a really long day. A couple of times had dropped us and we were kinda feelin down. Then my comp introduced me to the next best thing to Fort D... BREAD! We bought this bread that I swear mom makes and just sends here to Mada. Its your banana bread, just without the chocolate chips, SO good! Little piece of home here! So we were walking to our time with this bread and of course, many people passed by us and one of the men that did, started to talk to us. So you have to know, the people here speak a different dialect, basically a different language. All Malagasys understand Merina, which is what I learned, but not many people understand Antandroy... it sounds like so so so cool, so I want to learn way bad! So, this guy walked by us and started talking to us in this dialect and my comp can understand most of it because he has been here almost 4 months. But we were both just like dumb struck and didnt know what to say so my comp turned and said "eka, mandroso mofo" which translates to "yaa, have some bread" ahahahah, I dont know why I thought that was so funny but it was just like something that really made me laugh! When all else fails, mandroso the mofo! Ohh so Sunday was great too! We had 10 investigators at church and a total of 85! My branch here is awesome! Some way cool people and just way nice spirits in general here! After church, we went to many times, but I ran into something that I had never run into before. So we were teaching this man about prophets and apostles, and my comp let me start explaining that concept. So I started with some questions... one of them being do we need prophets in todays world. The man said no. I said ok, well lets read Amos 3:7... and then I explained that God only works if it is through prophets, and proceeded to ask, does God work today? The man responded with no. He explained that the people in todays world are naughty, so God doesnt work. The very next words came from my companion, and they were, so the people back then werent naughty...who killed Jesus? Hahahah, brain boggler for the man! He was a great guy and we are just trying to help a brother out! Then came today, PDAY! The missionaries who have worked here before told me that the pdays in Fort D are the best in the world... so lets compare Brock! Today, I got up and emailed for about 45 minutes. Then, we went to Libanona beach where we got to walk in the water, walk out on top of the coral to a place where the waves crashed against the rock and showered over us for some AMAZING pictures. (Look up the beach, its on the web!) When it was my turn, the largest waves just so happened to hit and knocked me over 3 times washing my sandals out to sea and cutting my feet and hands on the coral. My sandals washed up to another beach where we found them and we walked around the beach! Then we picked up so Leches on the way to lunch, ate, and now are cybering! Tonight we get to be fed by one of the two branch presidents here in Fort D. That was just like 5 days here.... Paradise my friends! I am so excited to be working here, to be helping the people, to teach the restored gospel, and to bless the Malagasy people here! I am so grateful for your support and for your love, it does not go unappreciated! Pictures to come!!!
All my love
Elder Herrin
How are we all doing this week? I hope happy and healthy and just loving life! I know I am... let me tell you about my first week in PARADISE! So I started the week finishing in Ambohimangakely. I said bye to some great members... actually it was kind of really sad. One of our investigators and father of a member family in our branch died on Monday... He was waiting for a bus on the side of the rode and the people said he just collapsed to his death. Very sad time for the member family in our branch. What was really great though was being able to talk about the fact that he will still be able to accept the gospel and be baptized through the great plan of salvation and through the temple! Then on Wednesday morning I hopped on a plane (By myself I might add) and flew for about an hour to FORT DAUPHIN! I got picked up by my new companion, Elder Lambert, and we drove to my new home. I am going to add that my new house is about a football field length away from the ocean and I can see, hear, smell, almost fell, the ocean each and every day I wake up! So, back to getting here, we went straight to work. We taught like 7 times that day and like 6 hours of work! I was drained. IT IS SO HOTTT!! Fort Dauhpin is the most beautiful place, but one of the hottest in Mada. I think I can stand the heat, if that means I get to live here... Haahaha! So the next couple days that followed were amazing. We have so so many investigators who love us, who want to learn, who are intelligent and know how to use their brain! I am not saying that the malagasys didnt in my last area, but I am just saying people have brains here! hahah! I love it! My companion is great also. I wasnt sure how we were going to work, but so far it has been magnificent! He makes me laugh really hard. So Saturday was a really long day. A couple of times had dropped us and we were kinda feelin down. Then my comp introduced me to the next best thing to Fort D... BREAD! We bought this bread that I swear mom makes and just sends here to Mada. Its your banana bread, just without the chocolate chips, SO good! Little piece of home here! So we were walking to our time with this bread and of course, many people passed by us and one of the men that did, started to talk to us. So you have to know, the people here speak a different dialect, basically a different language. All Malagasys understand Merina, which is what I learned, but not many people understand Antandroy... it sounds like so so so cool, so I want to learn way bad! So, this guy walked by us and started talking to us in this dialect and my comp can understand most of it because he has been here almost 4 months. But we were both just like dumb struck and didnt know what to say so my comp turned and said "eka, mandroso mofo" which translates to "yaa, have some bread" ahahahah, I dont know why I thought that was so funny but it was just like something that really made me laugh! When all else fails, mandroso the mofo! Ohh so Sunday was great too! We had 10 investigators at church and a total of 85! My branch here is awesome! Some way cool people and just way nice spirits in general here! After church, we went to many times, but I ran into something that I had never run into before. So we were teaching this man about prophets and apostles, and my comp let me start explaining that concept. So I started with some questions... one of them being do we need prophets in todays world. The man said no. I said ok, well lets read Amos 3:7... and then I explained that God only works if it is through prophets, and proceeded to ask, does God work today? The man responded with no. He explained that the people in todays world are naughty, so God doesnt work. The very next words came from my companion, and they were, so the people back then werent naughty...who killed Jesus? Hahahah, brain boggler for the man! He was a great guy and we are just trying to help a brother out! Then came today, PDAY! The missionaries who have worked here before told me that the pdays in Fort D are the best in the world... so lets compare Brock! Today, I got up and emailed for about 45 minutes. Then, we went to Libanona beach where we got to walk in the water, walk out on top of the coral to a place where the waves crashed against the rock and showered over us for some AMAZING pictures. (Look up the beach, its on the web!) When it was my turn, the largest waves just so happened to hit and knocked me over 3 times washing my sandals out to sea and cutting my feet and hands on the coral. My sandals washed up to another beach where we found them and we walked around the beach! Then we picked up so Leches on the way to lunch, ate, and now are cybering! Tonight we get to be fed by one of the two branch presidents here in Fort D. That was just like 5 days here.... Paradise my friends! I am so excited to be working here, to be helping the people, to teach the restored gospel, and to bless the Malagasy people here! I am so grateful for your support and for your love, it does not go unappreciated! Pictures to come!!!
All my love
Elder Herrin
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Week 5 of the Transfer...
Dear Family,
How are you all doing this week? I know that I say that in like almost all of my letters, but I genuinely want to know how you all are doing? I dont get to hear from all of you so I just hope and pray that you are all doing as well as I am! This week was great! I had some great things happen and some really emberassing things happen! All in all, it was a good week.
So I started the week with the most emberassing moment of my mission thus far! On Tuesday we have a dinner appointment with one of our member families. It starts at 6, but because of how long winded my companion is we didnt start heading to their house until 6:30... I was not going to miss a dinner appointment, so I decided to run. It was very dark and lets just say that I was running through a rice field. The path was smaller than the size of Lukes foot and it wasnt smooth. It was dirt that had piles of rice here, a rock or two there, up and down... So I must have lost all of my balance because I fell. I forgot to mention that on either side of the small path is a ditch filled with water to feed the rice. I fell waist deep in dirty muddy water. I walked to my members house, and the father lent me a shrit and pants and his flip flops which were about a size 8... I could not have been more grateful! It was funny looking back on it. The work went ok this week. We had a lot of people drop us, but we also committed 7 people to be baptized in December! One of those families committed has become some great friends! We had a time drop us on Friday and we just decided to pop by their house to see how they were doing, we ended up singing church hymns for 45 min with them! They are great! My week ended kind of down in the dumps though... As we were out on the edge of Ambohimangakely, we were waiting for a bus to take us back to where we needed to be to teach. We got on one and so did about 45 other crazy drunk hyper people. Within minutes there was yelling and people bickering over who got the window seat and what not... During all of this, my comp suggested that we get off. We did so promptly and watched as a big fight broke out and people got hurt... Count your many blessings. I thanked my companion for getting us off that bus and to safety! Its the little things :) I am still going strong, loving the people, and loving the work that I am doing! I love you all so much!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
How are you all doing this week? I know that I say that in like almost all of my letters, but I genuinely want to know how you all are doing? I dont get to hear from all of you so I just hope and pray that you are all doing as well as I am! This week was great! I had some great things happen and some really emberassing things happen! All in all, it was a good week.
So I started the week with the most emberassing moment of my mission thus far! On Tuesday we have a dinner appointment with one of our member families. It starts at 6, but because of how long winded my companion is we didnt start heading to their house until 6:30... I was not going to miss a dinner appointment, so I decided to run. It was very dark and lets just say that I was running through a rice field. The path was smaller than the size of Lukes foot and it wasnt smooth. It was dirt that had piles of rice here, a rock or two there, up and down... So I must have lost all of my balance because I fell. I forgot to mention that on either side of the small path is a ditch filled with water to feed the rice. I fell waist deep in dirty muddy water. I walked to my members house, and the father lent me a shrit and pants and his flip flops which were about a size 8... I could not have been more grateful! It was funny looking back on it. The work went ok this week. We had a lot of people drop us, but we also committed 7 people to be baptized in December! One of those families committed has become some great friends! We had a time drop us on Friday and we just decided to pop by their house to see how they were doing, we ended up singing church hymns for 45 min with them! They are great! My week ended kind of down in the dumps though... As we were out on the edge of Ambohimangakely, we were waiting for a bus to take us back to where we needed to be to teach. We got on one and so did about 45 other crazy drunk hyper people. Within minutes there was yelling and people bickering over who got the window seat and what not... During all of this, my comp suggested that we get off. We did so promptly and watched as a big fight broke out and people got hurt... Count your many blessings. I thanked my companion for getting us off that bus and to safety! Its the little things :) I am still going strong, loving the people, and loving the work that I am doing! I love you all so much!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, November 10, 2014
So Training is over... Now what?
Dear Family,
I love you! How are you all doing this week? I hope your week was full of fun and joy and just happiness. My week was good, it was one of those weeks as a missionary where you know that you are going to be transfered so I said some goodbyes and still did my best to not let that get in the way of the work! Monday was good, we played soccer and tied... lame! Tuesday we had a really big soiree with the family that I really love in my Branch. I made peanut butter cups and I frosted brownies with strawberry pudding! I felt like a baker fo sho!! They loved the treats so it made me feel really good! Wednesday and Thrusday were full of rain and lots of lessons! I felt that I was blessed because with how much rain there was, I was only really wet for like one of the days... not bad! Friday was good, nothing too special. Saturday we had english class and I finally (the last english class in Ambohimangakely) mastered how to do it. There are about 6-8 people that show up. 3 of the students are really good and I can talk to just like I talk to you. The rest are not good. And since there is only one elder in my area who can teach english he has to try and teach both levels. I finally got it this week. I had exercises for the not so mahay and just was able to help the mahay learn better. Sunday was way cool! I got to eat lunch with our way awesome investigator. We had rice and she made ravitoto... I can explain that one when I get home... she made that with crocodile meat. Way good! Then we taught a couple of times and they turned out to be like 90 minute lessons. Is that how it is supposed to be... NO, but because my comp didnt bring an umbrella or a rain jacket, he prolonged the lesson because it was POURING rain! We ended the day with a small soiree with members. They wanted to say goodbye and it was just so nice of them! So I dont know if you all remember my letter from about 6 weeks ago. I talked about something called the BIG 3... Sooo I may or may not have been transfered to one of those BIG 3!! FORT DAUPHIN! I am like so excited. Mom, I dont know if you remember, but the day that we were driving up to BYUI and I was calling a few people to tell them about my call. One of those people was Mrs. Gonzales and she was so excited for me that after the phone call I got like 3 pictures from her. They looked like beach resorts and she was like thats where youre going. We both kind of thought that thats not where I am going.... we were wrong. Fort Dauphin is like the ultimate pretty vacation spot! I was pretty excited! I have a short plane flight on Wednesday and will start working there on Thursday! So thats basically it for this week! I hope you all know how much I appreciate your love and support. I love you soo so much!
All my Love
Elder Herrin: the 1st
I love you! How are you all doing this week? I hope your week was full of fun and joy and just happiness. My week was good, it was one of those weeks as a missionary where you know that you are going to be transfered so I said some goodbyes and still did my best to not let that get in the way of the work! Monday was good, we played soccer and tied... lame! Tuesday we had a really big soiree with the family that I really love in my Branch. I made peanut butter cups and I frosted brownies with strawberry pudding! I felt like a baker fo sho!! They loved the treats so it made me feel really good! Wednesday and Thrusday were full of rain and lots of lessons! I felt that I was blessed because with how much rain there was, I was only really wet for like one of the days... not bad! Friday was good, nothing too special. Saturday we had english class and I finally (the last english class in Ambohimangakely) mastered how to do it. There are about 6-8 people that show up. 3 of the students are really good and I can talk to just like I talk to you. The rest are not good. And since there is only one elder in my area who can teach english he has to try and teach both levels. I finally got it this week. I had exercises for the not so mahay and just was able to help the mahay learn better. Sunday was way cool! I got to eat lunch with our way awesome investigator. We had rice and she made ravitoto... I can explain that one when I get home... she made that with crocodile meat. Way good! Then we taught a couple of times and they turned out to be like 90 minute lessons. Is that how it is supposed to be... NO, but because my comp didnt bring an umbrella or a rain jacket, he prolonged the lesson because it was POURING rain! We ended the day with a small soiree with members. They wanted to say goodbye and it was just so nice of them! So I dont know if you all remember my letter from about 6 weeks ago. I talked about something called the BIG 3... Sooo I may or may not have been transfered to one of those BIG 3!! FORT DAUPHIN! I am like so excited. Mom, I dont know if you remember, but the day that we were driving up to BYUI and I was calling a few people to tell them about my call. One of those people was Mrs. Gonzales and she was so excited for me that after the phone call I got like 3 pictures from her. They looked like beach resorts and she was like thats where youre going. We both kind of thought that thats not where I am going.... we were wrong. Fort Dauphin is like the ultimate pretty vacation spot! I was pretty excited! I have a short plane flight on Wednesday and will start working there on Thursday! So thats basically it for this week! I hope you all know how much I appreciate your love and support. I love you soo so much!
All my Love
Elder Herrin: the 1st
Monday, October 27, 2014
Fantastic Week!
Dear Family,
How are you all doing this week? I hope that you are doing well and smiling each and every day! I have truely been blessed this week and have just been so happy! Let me tell you all about it. So this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down, so Id like to take a minute just sit right here... ok yaa. So Tuesday and Wednesday were great days. The work is going well in Ambohimangakely and we are still doing our best to find people who are ready to hear our message. Thursday was awesome. We had Zone Meeting! This transfer we got a new zone leader. His name is Elder Hein. I will explain a little bit more about Elder Hein later, but just know that he is like THE missionary. So the meeting was great! It was all about integrity and how we, as missionaries, need to be more accountable for our part of the Lord's vineyard... Kind of hit home to all of us and we are working harder than ever! Friday was even better, I got to go on a split with Elder Hein. Elder Hein: Is from Texas, graduated 2013 and has been serving for just over a year. He started in Ambositra just like I did! Elder Hein is that guy that just brightens a room when he walks in. He is the sociable, happy, smiling guy that everyone is just drawn too and comes to love as they know him. He has come to be one of my biggest examples and someone I strive to be like more and more every day! So that day, we taught 8 lessons... That is like my record as a missionary! It was so cool! His area is so great and the people like can actually retain information so its a lot easier to teach! We went back to his house and I stayed the night with him and the 4 other missionaries that he lives with! That night, I stayed up talking with elder hein and elder koplin. Elder Koplin is the kid from Kevins stake. What a stud!! Those two guys are awesome, we stayed up and looked at the clock after some good ole heart to hearts and found that it was 1 oclock in the morning... yaa thats not good. The next morning we were up and gone by six because conference started at 8 up at the office... CONFERENCE!! It was so good! I got a lot from it... including the fact that in my prayers, I should be asking for guidance as to who I should marry... probably wont be taking that advice just yet... I got to see all the missionaries from tana and sit and watch the talks of the prophet and the apostles with my elders! It was just a great week and I could not be happier! I will try and get some pictures home as I know it has been a while! I love you all so much and am so grateful for the thoughts and prayers in my behalf. Attitude and Effort!
All my love
Elder Herrin
How are you all doing this week? I hope that you are doing well and smiling each and every day! I have truely been blessed this week and have just been so happy! Let me tell you all about it. So this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down, so Id like to take a minute just sit right here... ok yaa. So Tuesday and Wednesday were great days. The work is going well in Ambohimangakely and we are still doing our best to find people who are ready to hear our message. Thursday was awesome. We had Zone Meeting! This transfer we got a new zone leader. His name is Elder Hein. I will explain a little bit more about Elder Hein later, but just know that he is like THE missionary. So the meeting was great! It was all about integrity and how we, as missionaries, need to be more accountable for our part of the Lord's vineyard... Kind of hit home to all of us and we are working harder than ever! Friday was even better, I got to go on a split with Elder Hein. Elder Hein: Is from Texas, graduated 2013 and has been serving for just over a year. He started in Ambositra just like I did! Elder Hein is that guy that just brightens a room when he walks in. He is the sociable, happy, smiling guy that everyone is just drawn too and comes to love as they know him. He has come to be one of my biggest examples and someone I strive to be like more and more every day! So that day, we taught 8 lessons... That is like my record as a missionary! It was so cool! His area is so great and the people like can actually retain information so its a lot easier to teach! We went back to his house and I stayed the night with him and the 4 other missionaries that he lives with! That night, I stayed up talking with elder hein and elder koplin. Elder Koplin is the kid from Kevins stake. What a stud!! Those two guys are awesome, we stayed up and looked at the clock after some good ole heart to hearts and found that it was 1 oclock in the morning... yaa thats not good. The next morning we were up and gone by six because conference started at 8 up at the office... CONFERENCE!! It was so good! I got a lot from it... including the fact that in my prayers, I should be asking for guidance as to who I should marry... probably wont be taking that advice just yet... I got to see all the missionaries from tana and sit and watch the talks of the prophet and the apostles with my elders! It was just a great week and I could not be happier! I will try and get some pictures home as I know it has been a while! I love you all so much and am so grateful for the thoughts and prayers in my behalf. Attitude and Effort!
All my love
Elder Herrin
Monday, October 20, 2014
Summer time
Dear Family,
What a wonderful week it has been here in Antananarivo Madagascar! I have been working in heat and rain and enjoying my time here in Ambohimangakely! I also had some extremely funny moments and will share those with you! I hope that all of you are doing well, smiling oft, and enjoying the blessings of living the gospel of Jesus Christ!
So this week was great! We had a lot of times drop on us, either because they were not home, there was no man at the house, or they just had stuff to do that couldnt wait... So we found some new people to teach! One of the new families that we found turned out to be really fun and good to teach. However, their father... So the father is like 50 years old (about) and he is like way ripped because he does manual labor all day! He is bald with white hairs spread around his head that he missed from shaving... And the last adjective I will give about him is DRUNK! So before I go into the story, I need you (Dad) to remember the episode of FRIENDS where I think that its Pheobe who has a boyfriend who doesnt wear any underwear and all the gang gets like a sneak peak at the coffee shop! Ok, so back to the story, So we walk in and its everyone we teach except the dad... and things are going well, they tell us how happy they are to recieve us and all that and then the dad comes in like singing some random song at the top of his lungs! He then notices that there is a white man in the room and like takes his hat off and shakes my hand and goes off on this big shpeal about how he got in this fight with a white guy once... So his son, who is like 30, sits his father down and tells us to continue. So my companion starts the lesson, and no joke after every sentence my companion would say, the old man would ask for our address... Hahahaha! Like thats the only thing he asked for... The mans son told us to try and talk over him. So we tried to do that, but if you have ever tried to talk over a drunk, it doesnt work. Then, all of a sudden he stood up. He stumbled, because it was a quick stand, then stated that we all needed to pray... so he prayed. In that prayer, he noted that he was grateful for his alcohol, for his girlfriend, then he asked Jesus to bless him with more money and said amen! He was a happy fellow after that! His son was emberassed, but couldnt do anything about it... So how does this all tie in to the episode of FRIENDS... yep, you guessed it, GPA didnt wear any underwear. And he sat right in front of me. I gagged a couple of times... tried to keep my eyes on the scriptures, but it was just like you know its there. All of the friends in that episode like freak out every time he crosses his legs, so did I! Hahaha. Oh Madagascar! The rest of the week was good. I had some funny stories where I would ask who God was and get this strange answer like prayer... ok! Other than that all is well here! I am finding that the more I recognize the tender mercies of the Lord, the better my day goes. I would extend a little invitation to you that if you are ever having a bad day, where people are be-littling you, or you just feel like you cant... seek for the tender mercies, his hand is always stretched out, we just have to reach out and grab it. I am so happy to be serving here and cannot wait to experience more! I love you all so much, I love being a missionary!
Elder Herrin
What a wonderful week it has been here in Antananarivo Madagascar! I have been working in heat and rain and enjoying my time here in Ambohimangakely! I also had some extremely funny moments and will share those with you! I hope that all of you are doing well, smiling oft, and enjoying the blessings of living the gospel of Jesus Christ!
So this week was great! We had a lot of times drop on us, either because they were not home, there was no man at the house, or they just had stuff to do that couldnt wait... So we found some new people to teach! One of the new families that we found turned out to be really fun and good to teach. However, their father... So the father is like 50 years old (about) and he is like way ripped because he does manual labor all day! He is bald with white hairs spread around his head that he missed from shaving... And the last adjective I will give about him is DRUNK! So before I go into the story, I need you (Dad) to remember the episode of FRIENDS where I think that its Pheobe who has a boyfriend who doesnt wear any underwear and all the gang gets like a sneak peak at the coffee shop! Ok, so back to the story, So we walk in and its everyone we teach except the dad... and things are going well, they tell us how happy they are to recieve us and all that and then the dad comes in like singing some random song at the top of his lungs! He then notices that there is a white man in the room and like takes his hat off and shakes my hand and goes off on this big shpeal about how he got in this fight with a white guy once... So his son, who is like 30, sits his father down and tells us to continue. So my companion starts the lesson, and no joke after every sentence my companion would say, the old man would ask for our address... Hahahaha! Like thats the only thing he asked for... The mans son told us to try and talk over him. So we tried to do that, but if you have ever tried to talk over a drunk, it doesnt work. Then, all of a sudden he stood up. He stumbled, because it was a quick stand, then stated that we all needed to pray... so he prayed. In that prayer, he noted that he was grateful for his alcohol, for his girlfriend, then he asked Jesus to bless him with more money and said amen! He was a happy fellow after that! His son was emberassed, but couldnt do anything about it... So how does this all tie in to the episode of FRIENDS... yep, you guessed it, GPA didnt wear any underwear. And he sat right in front of me. I gagged a couple of times... tried to keep my eyes on the scriptures, but it was just like you know its there. All of the friends in that episode like freak out every time he crosses his legs, so did I! Hahaha. Oh Madagascar! The rest of the week was good. I had some funny stories where I would ask who God was and get this strange answer like prayer... ok! Other than that all is well here! I am finding that the more I recognize the tender mercies of the Lord, the better my day goes. I would extend a little invitation to you that if you are ever having a bad day, where people are be-littling you, or you just feel like you cant... seek for the tender mercies, his hand is always stretched out, we just have to reach out and grab it. I am so happy to be serving here and cannot wait to experience more! I love you all so much, I love being a missionary!
Elder Herrin
Monday, October 13, 2014
SUCK IT UP!
Dear Family,
I never realized how much I really appreciated the advice from Lloyd about just suckin it up! Hahahah. How are you all doing this week? I hope that we are all doing well and loving life! Remember: To be carnally minded is death, and do be spiritually minded is life eternal! 2 Nephi 9:39. I gave that spiritual thought yesterday and the people loved it! So this week has been up and down! We had a good week overall with the work. We racked up 26 hours of total proselyting time, taught about 20 times and felt pretty good about the area. Tuesday was a good day, and so was wednesday. I am loving having more than one roomate in the house. Its nice to come home after a day of work and just talk about it in english with other people who are doing the same thing! Thursday we had interviews with President Adams. They went as well as they could have I think. I am working with president to help my companionship grow. I feel like every time it starts to get good, it stumbles and falls... That happened this week. It was going great, then we had interviews and all of a sudden I was a bad teacher and not a good companion, in my companions eyes. So Saturday we went on a split with the AP's and I really enjoy having other people with us! We taught some great times and got to do a little adventuring in my area. We found this like winter wonderland area. Every object was painted a different color and it was somewhat clean! We found out that this area was owned by a man named Pedro. He is like a pope and he buys homes for people but if you live there, you have to go to his church and do what he says and devote all your time and effort to him... seems cool right.. Sunday was good. We had 54 at church which is way good for us! We taught some way good times and got to get home a little early to do weekly planning that we werent able to do earlier this week because of conflicts. So, just a side note. I have had the WORST luck with using the bathroom this week! In our house we, every couple days, lose power and water pressure. But you never know when it hits or when water stops... So there have been like two times this week where I just go UNload on the toilet and then there is no water to flush it down. So I just walk away and wait till I hear the "OHHH are you SERIOUS!!!" from someone in the house!! And then we were headed up the mountain to this time yesterday and I had to pee. So I went inbetween two abandoned houses and started to go. Mid stream, a woman walks up from the other side of the houses... ughhh yaa that was an awkward stare. Other than that, I am doing well! I am working hard and doing my best to help these short malagasys! Thanks for all of the love and support. I love being a missionary!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
I never realized how much I really appreciated the advice from Lloyd about just suckin it up! Hahahah. How are you all doing this week? I hope that we are all doing well and loving life! Remember: To be carnally minded is death, and do be spiritually minded is life eternal! 2 Nephi 9:39. I gave that spiritual thought yesterday and the people loved it! So this week has been up and down! We had a good week overall with the work. We racked up 26 hours of total proselyting time, taught about 20 times and felt pretty good about the area. Tuesday was a good day, and so was wednesday. I am loving having more than one roomate in the house. Its nice to come home after a day of work and just talk about it in english with other people who are doing the same thing! Thursday we had interviews with President Adams. They went as well as they could have I think. I am working with president to help my companionship grow. I feel like every time it starts to get good, it stumbles and falls... That happened this week. It was going great, then we had interviews and all of a sudden I was a bad teacher and not a good companion, in my companions eyes. So Saturday we went on a split with the AP's and I really enjoy having other people with us! We taught some great times and got to do a little adventuring in my area. We found this like winter wonderland area. Every object was painted a different color and it was somewhat clean! We found out that this area was owned by a man named Pedro. He is like a pope and he buys homes for people but if you live there, you have to go to his church and do what he says and devote all your time and effort to him... seems cool right.. Sunday was good. We had 54 at church which is way good for us! We taught some way good times and got to get home a little early to do weekly planning that we werent able to do earlier this week because of conflicts. So, just a side note. I have had the WORST luck with using the bathroom this week! In our house we, every couple days, lose power and water pressure. But you never know when it hits or when water stops... So there have been like two times this week where I just go UNload on the toilet and then there is no water to flush it down. So I just walk away and wait till I hear the "OHHH are you SERIOUS!!!" from someone in the house!! And then we were headed up the mountain to this time yesterday and I had to pee. So I went inbetween two abandoned houses and started to go. Mid stream, a woman walks up from the other side of the houses... ughhh yaa that was an awkward stare. Other than that, I am doing well! I am working hard and doing my best to help these short malagasys! Thanks for all of the love and support. I love being a missionary!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
I have ROOMATES!!
Dear Family,
This week has been great!! But I just like to pretend like I am not going to talk about myself first and ask how you are doing? How is health, sports, and school? I hope that all is well and that we are all happy! Ok, so this week was just fantastic! I recieved two roomates that live in my house now! One elder I have previously worked with and he is training! Elder Webb is the trainer and Elder Nelson is the trainee... both AMERICAN!! yes, that means they speak english! I have been talking like non stop to them. I dont have to talk to myself anymore. I dont know if I shared this with you before, but when it was just my comp and me at the house, I would talk to myself and tell stories as if someone was listening to me... pretty pathetic, but it was nice to just talk. Now I have two people who can respond to my speaking!! In other news, my comp and I are doing a lot better. He finally decided to recieve my advice and we are teaching much better TOGETHER now! He still feels the need to retrace my words every time, but at least we are switching off with the teaching...So this week was pretty crazy just with everyone moving to their new areas. I did not get to work a full week because I was helping here, showing areas there, and I have the only set of keys to our house, so I had to be home early to let the other elders in. I also got to experience my very fist rain storm. Yesterday night we were way up in a mountain teaching a father about Joseph Smith. We couldnt hear a word anyone was saying becuase it was so loud from the rain hitting the tin roof. We walked down the mountain to the bus stop and by then I was literally DRENCHED in water. Everything was wet and we had to wait about 20 minutes in the pouring rain for a bus to come through and swoop the missionaries! I was not happy at all that I was soaken wet! Any way, things are going well here in Mada, just passed my 7 month mark if you can believe that?? I love serving here, and I love working with the malagasy people! I love you all so much. I love being a missionary!
Elder Herrin
This week has been great!! But I just like to pretend like I am not going to talk about myself first and ask how you are doing? How is health, sports, and school? I hope that all is well and that we are all happy! Ok, so this week was just fantastic! I recieved two roomates that live in my house now! One elder I have previously worked with and he is training! Elder Webb is the trainer and Elder Nelson is the trainee... both AMERICAN!! yes, that means they speak english! I have been talking like non stop to them. I dont have to talk to myself anymore. I dont know if I shared this with you before, but when it was just my comp and me at the house, I would talk to myself and tell stories as if someone was listening to me... pretty pathetic, but it was nice to just talk. Now I have two people who can respond to my speaking!! In other news, my comp and I are doing a lot better. He finally decided to recieve my advice and we are teaching much better TOGETHER now! He still feels the need to retrace my words every time, but at least we are switching off with the teaching...So this week was pretty crazy just with everyone moving to their new areas. I did not get to work a full week because I was helping here, showing areas there, and I have the only set of keys to our house, so I had to be home early to let the other elders in. I also got to experience my very fist rain storm. Yesterday night we were way up in a mountain teaching a father about Joseph Smith. We couldnt hear a word anyone was saying becuase it was so loud from the rain hitting the tin roof. We walked down the mountain to the bus stop and by then I was literally DRENCHED in water. Everything was wet and we had to wait about 20 minutes in the pouring rain for a bus to come through and swoop the missionaries! I was not happy at all that I was soaken wet! Any way, things are going well here in Mada, just passed my 7 month mark if you can believe that?? I love serving here, and I love working with the malagasy people! I love you all so much. I love being a missionary!
Elder Herrin
Monday, September 29, 2014
Transfer Week!
Dear family,
How are we doing this week? I hope that we are all happy, healthy, and doing well! Well things are going pretty well on this side of the earth. It is like dangerously hot... dangerous for my skin that is... This week was good, lots of work, and lots of fun activities! First, let me start by setting the stage for transfers. There are many areas that you can serve in here in Madagascar. There is the big city, TANA, which has like 20 areas in it, ANTSIRABE, which has like 7 areas, then there is TAMATAVE which is by the ocean! OK, so then there are three areas that every missionary here dreams of going. Known as the "Big 3" These areas are all near the ocean, they are somewhat clean, and its just like amazing. The first is Fort Dauphin. My companion is from there... the church is literally on the beach and the place is just unbelievably beautiful. The next is Mahajanga. This is the only place in the mission where you can still baptize in the ocean, and its the place in Mada where all of the baobab trees are! The last is called Toamasina. This place is like a desert, but also right near the ocean! So, like I said we had transfers this week... I am not going anywhere. I am still training for the next six weeks! Yaayyyyyyyy!!! Hahahah, but we are getting 15 new elders so it should be fun! This week was great. We taught like 21 times and had a really good week. On Saturday we had this huge branch activity where we went to this wierd place in the woods and played games, ate rice, and played a soccer game against like a legit madagascar team. Our branch did pretty well only losing 2 to 1. So I want to share with you one of the best feelings on my mission thus far. And if you can believe it, it has to do with sports. After the soccer game, we had a little testimony session which was really nice and then we did some question and answer type games. My comp got up and said, (in malagasy of course) "for a piece of candy, who can tell me who the best soccer player today was...?" There was a small pause, and then all at once everyone started to literally chant my name. "HERRIN HERRIN HERRIN HERRIN" Like, yaa that was the best!! We also danced and sang at the activity. Yesterday we had a fun zone activity and all of the elders from tana came. we played soccer basketball volleyball tennis and of course found rice to eat. Other than that, I am just doing well, trying to learn this language, and trying to endure! OH, I am receiving new roomates! For the first time in my mission I will have more than one roomate! Its and elder who I know (lil wierd) and he is going to be training a new missionary! I am way stoked! I continue to count my blessings, like my health, attitude, and family. I dont know what I would do without you. I love you so much. I love being a missionary!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
How are we doing this week? I hope that we are all happy, healthy, and doing well! Well things are going pretty well on this side of the earth. It is like dangerously hot... dangerous for my skin that is... This week was good, lots of work, and lots of fun activities! First, let me start by setting the stage for transfers. There are many areas that you can serve in here in Madagascar. There is the big city, TANA, which has like 20 areas in it, ANTSIRABE, which has like 7 areas, then there is TAMATAVE which is by the ocean! OK, so then there are three areas that every missionary here dreams of going. Known as the "Big 3" These areas are all near the ocean, they are somewhat clean, and its just like amazing. The first is Fort Dauphin. My companion is from there... the church is literally on the beach and the place is just unbelievably beautiful. The next is Mahajanga. This is the only place in the mission where you can still baptize in the ocean, and its the place in Mada where all of the baobab trees are! The last is called Toamasina. This place is like a desert, but also right near the ocean! So, like I said we had transfers this week... I am not going anywhere. I am still training for the next six weeks! Yaayyyyyyyy!!! Hahahah, but we are getting 15 new elders so it should be fun! This week was great. We taught like 21 times and had a really good week. On Saturday we had this huge branch activity where we went to this wierd place in the woods and played games, ate rice, and played a soccer game against like a legit madagascar team. Our branch did pretty well only losing 2 to 1. So I want to share with you one of the best feelings on my mission thus far. And if you can believe it, it has to do with sports. After the soccer game, we had a little testimony session which was really nice and then we did some question and answer type games. My comp got up and said, (in malagasy of course) "for a piece of candy, who can tell me who the best soccer player today was...?" There was a small pause, and then all at once everyone started to literally chant my name. "HERRIN HERRIN HERRIN HERRIN" Like, yaa that was the best!! We also danced and sang at the activity. Yesterday we had a fun zone activity and all of the elders from tana came. we played soccer basketball volleyball tennis and of course found rice to eat. Other than that, I am just doing well, trying to learn this language, and trying to endure! OH, I am receiving new roomates! For the first time in my mission I will have more than one roomate! Its and elder who I know (lil wierd) and he is going to be training a new missionary! I am way stoked! I continue to count my blessings, like my health, attitude, and family. I dont know what I would do without you. I love you so much. I love being a missionary!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, September 22, 2014
God Does Love Me
Dear Family,
How are we doing this week?? I know that my week was one of the, if not the best week I have had with my current companion. Although things were a little hard last week, the famous quote "SUCK IT UP" from ole Lloyd. Hahaha, oh man thinking about that just brightens my day! So Monday we lost our soccer game... not a happy elder herrin. But, gotta remember I am a missionary....I also went and bought some lamba for something that I am making here. Tuesday and Wednesday were just great. We worked really hard this week and taught more times this week than I ever have in this area. On Thursday we had zone meeting and I got to spend some time with my scottish friend and make friends with an elder named rice. Such a stud, his sister is a model and he is talking to a model right now... Ok so I had a really good week, but there is one specific time that I want to share with you. Last night, Sunday night, we went to our last time of the night. It was a family. Mother and Father with 5 kids ranging from 10 to 2. I was so happy that we could teach them because they are really great. So the youngest daughter who is 2 is deathly afraid of me because I am tall and white... like she sees me and just starts to scream and cry... I tried to make that better by giving her chocolate. There were two small bars in a bag so I gave one to the 2 year old and the other to the 4 year old. The two year old didnt know what it was, but the 4 year old new it was chocolate. I honestly dont think that this little girl had seen a wrapper before because she didnt know how to get into the chocolate. At first she stared at it and then I watched her brain work and she thought, "I can do this with my teeth" So the small girl started to bite at it. I want to paint this picture for you so try and catch my thoughts. She bit down on the wrapper, then with all her might, she pulled up with her head and pulled down on the chocolate with her hands crushing the chocolate. She repeated this motion probably 60 times and got nowhere. Her kind older sister tried to help, but the small girl wanted the chocolate so bad that she didnt want anyone to even touch the chocolate. FInally she realized she was defeated and let her older sister open it. This girl was crazy. She was running around and playing and it was like YESS, this is what a normal family is like. Later during the time, the youngest daughter passed gas... really loudly! She just smiled a smile of relief almost. I couild not control myself and burst out into laughter. The father looked at his youngest daughter with a confused look trying to understand how that noise came out of his youngest daughter. He then chuckled emberassingly and apologized saying that when it gets later at night thats what his daughter does. I just laughed and am laughing even now writing this to you!! That time was so good for me because it reminded me of my hectic family back home. Ty running around, dad saying to sit quietly, ty not listening... oh man. I am grateful for this time. I am so happy and love being a missionary. I love you all so much.
ALl my Love
Elder Herrin
How are we doing this week?? I know that my week was one of the, if not the best week I have had with my current companion. Although things were a little hard last week, the famous quote "SUCK IT UP" from ole Lloyd. Hahaha, oh man thinking about that just brightens my day! So Monday we lost our soccer game... not a happy elder herrin. But, gotta remember I am a missionary....I also went and bought some lamba for something that I am making here. Tuesday and Wednesday were just great. We worked really hard this week and taught more times this week than I ever have in this area. On Thursday we had zone meeting and I got to spend some time with my scottish friend and make friends with an elder named rice. Such a stud, his sister is a model and he is talking to a model right now... Ok so I had a really good week, but there is one specific time that I want to share with you. Last night, Sunday night, we went to our last time of the night. It was a family. Mother and Father with 5 kids ranging from 10 to 2. I was so happy that we could teach them because they are really great. So the youngest daughter who is 2 is deathly afraid of me because I am tall and white... like she sees me and just starts to scream and cry... I tried to make that better by giving her chocolate. There were two small bars in a bag so I gave one to the 2 year old and the other to the 4 year old. The two year old didnt know what it was, but the 4 year old new it was chocolate. I honestly dont think that this little girl had seen a wrapper before because she didnt know how to get into the chocolate. At first she stared at it and then I watched her brain work and she thought, "I can do this with my teeth" So the small girl started to bite at it. I want to paint this picture for you so try and catch my thoughts. She bit down on the wrapper, then with all her might, she pulled up with her head and pulled down on the chocolate with her hands crushing the chocolate. She repeated this motion probably 60 times and got nowhere. Her kind older sister tried to help, but the small girl wanted the chocolate so bad that she didnt want anyone to even touch the chocolate. FInally she realized she was defeated and let her older sister open it. This girl was crazy. She was running around and playing and it was like YESS, this is what a normal family is like. Later during the time, the youngest daughter passed gas... really loudly! She just smiled a smile of relief almost. I couild not control myself and burst out into laughter. The father looked at his youngest daughter with a confused look trying to understand how that noise came out of his youngest daughter. He then chuckled emberassingly and apologized saying that when it gets later at night thats what his daughter does. I just laughed and am laughing even now writing this to you!! That time was so good for me because it reminded me of my hectic family back home. Ty running around, dad saying to sit quietly, ty not listening... oh man. I am grateful for this time. I am so happy and love being a missionary. I love you all so much.
ALl my Love
Elder Herrin
Sunday, September 14, 2014
A Week
Dear family,
How are we doing this week?? I dont know about where you guys are, but where I am it is starting to get HOT!! I think about you guys a lot and pray for you everyday! So this week was hard, not gonna lie. Each morning this week we had somewhere to be... whether it be a doctors app or district meeting or meeting our zone leader for splits... we had something everymorning. Thats all good, but I really like my study time. I am in 3rd Nephi right now reading about how Jesus is just like "REPENT, just listen to me and things will be good, repent you dumb people that are my children!" I shouldnt word it like that, but its like why dont they just do what he says... then I look at the words I just said... How easy is it to see from the outside looking in. Anyways, like I said pretty hard week. Didnt get to work on Wednesday again because my comp was feeling not to good from all the dental work being done. Thursday we got out to work and had a lot of app drop but at the end of the day we went to this family who is learning from us. We had taught them about the Book of Mormon and we were testifying to them of the truthfulness of it. Man was the spirit so strong. I thought it would be a good opportunity to bless them with the hard work of the Wood family. I gave them each a bracelet. The smile on their face when they got this was like getting bread after not having food for weeks. Just brightens up their day and week. Friday we had a a split to do a bap interview for a 12 year old boy. Elder Weber is now the zone leader. I came to find a friend in him as we shared our experiences of how tough our companions are right now. It was really nice to be able to speak english for a day. Havent been able to do that in a while. Saturday was the baptism and things just tanked. It was my first baptism that I put together all by myself. It went just smooth as butter, no problems, and everyone was happy. All returned missionaries know that all of that is false!! I had to ask people to give talks the day of, we were not able to print off the schedule thingy, and one of my talks showed up late. All in all, the baptism happened and everything went. I knew that it didnt go well, but my comp thought he would let me know that he didnt think it went well either. I got to sit there and take that Malagasy to my dome. Yesterday was way nice. Church was nice and the times that we had went well. My zone leader let me know that my area is being carefully watched by the stake because there are many problems behind closed doors... just great!! I love it though. I am so grateful to be here, I am so grateful for prayer. Try it sometime, it really helps. Thanks for all the support!! I love you so much.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
How are we doing this week?? I dont know about where you guys are, but where I am it is starting to get HOT!! I think about you guys a lot and pray for you everyday! So this week was hard, not gonna lie. Each morning this week we had somewhere to be... whether it be a doctors app or district meeting or meeting our zone leader for splits... we had something everymorning. Thats all good, but I really like my study time. I am in 3rd Nephi right now reading about how Jesus is just like "REPENT, just listen to me and things will be good, repent you dumb people that are my children!" I shouldnt word it like that, but its like why dont they just do what he says... then I look at the words I just said... How easy is it to see from the outside looking in. Anyways, like I said pretty hard week. Didnt get to work on Wednesday again because my comp was feeling not to good from all the dental work being done. Thursday we got out to work and had a lot of app drop but at the end of the day we went to this family who is learning from us. We had taught them about the Book of Mormon and we were testifying to them of the truthfulness of it. Man was the spirit so strong. I thought it would be a good opportunity to bless them with the hard work of the Wood family. I gave them each a bracelet. The smile on their face when they got this was like getting bread after not having food for weeks. Just brightens up their day and week. Friday we had a a split to do a bap interview for a 12 year old boy. Elder Weber is now the zone leader. I came to find a friend in him as we shared our experiences of how tough our companions are right now. It was really nice to be able to speak english for a day. Havent been able to do that in a while. Saturday was the baptism and things just tanked. It was my first baptism that I put together all by myself. It went just smooth as butter, no problems, and everyone was happy. All returned missionaries know that all of that is false!! I had to ask people to give talks the day of, we were not able to print off the schedule thingy, and one of my talks showed up late. All in all, the baptism happened and everything went. I knew that it didnt go well, but my comp thought he would let me know that he didnt think it went well either. I got to sit there and take that Malagasy to my dome. Yesterday was way nice. Church was nice and the times that we had went well. My zone leader let me know that my area is being carefully watched by the stake because there are many problems behind closed doors... just great!! I love it though. I am so grateful to be here, I am so grateful for prayer. Try it sometime, it really helps. Thanks for all the support!! I love you so much.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, September 8, 2014
Useless Week
Dear Family,
So what a boring week this week was. Also, what a cold week it was!! I wore sweaters and scarfs almost everyday because of the extreme wind and cold. Kind of strange for being September, its the start of summer here!! So this week was just not good. Tuesday we went out to teach and not only was like none of our investigators home, but my companion was complaining of pain in his head and sinus pain too. The next day we had an appointment with the dentist. I should have sent a picture home earlier, but he had a huge cavity in his two front teeth and there was a whole from the cavity. Our mission President paid for that to be fixed. He got a filling, an extra tooth pulled and some other little things done. Needless to say he was drugged up and we couldnt work the rest of Wednesday! Thurdsday I got him to go out to work with me, even though he still complained of pain. However, we came home early because I gave into his plea for pain. Friday the same sort of thing happened, we went out to work and then we came home because he was not feeling good. This was not only getting to be annoying, but the area that we serve in NEEDS the missionaries. I, once again, became his little nurse, tending to his needs, giving him medication every couple hours. Saturday we got out and we went to an activity with the JAS... its french for young single adults. We had a small lesson, and then learned how to do malagasy dances, kareoke, and other fun things. It was a really good activity because there were non members there and they were able to be in the church and have a good time with the members. If you were wondering, yes I did dance, but no, I did not sing kareoke. My companion somehow had the energy to dance with us, pretty much a miracle in my eyes. Sorry I shouldnt say that. I just hope that he can get better soon. Sunday we went to church and it was really cool to listen to the members bear their testimony on repentance, or the sabbath day, or certain topics. After the second hour, we left to meet our mission doctor to see if she could help my companion any more. All that she could do was give him stronger medicine until we can get to a doctor. So, yesterday he took some codine and slept all day... I was left to study, take stats for my district, and just kind of hang around till it came time for bed. All in all, I am doing great, I am happy to have a companion who can teach me the language, I am happy to be healthy, I am happy to be serving the Lord. What more can you ask for right? I am doing my best. I love you all so much and hope that you have a wonderful day. Sorry the letter is not that long this week... not a lot happened.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
So what a boring week this week was. Also, what a cold week it was!! I wore sweaters and scarfs almost everyday because of the extreme wind and cold. Kind of strange for being September, its the start of summer here!! So this week was just not good. Tuesday we went out to teach and not only was like none of our investigators home, but my companion was complaining of pain in his head and sinus pain too. The next day we had an appointment with the dentist. I should have sent a picture home earlier, but he had a huge cavity in his two front teeth and there was a whole from the cavity. Our mission President paid for that to be fixed. He got a filling, an extra tooth pulled and some other little things done. Needless to say he was drugged up and we couldnt work the rest of Wednesday! Thurdsday I got him to go out to work with me, even though he still complained of pain. However, we came home early because I gave into his plea for pain. Friday the same sort of thing happened, we went out to work and then we came home because he was not feeling good. This was not only getting to be annoying, but the area that we serve in NEEDS the missionaries. I, once again, became his little nurse, tending to his needs, giving him medication every couple hours. Saturday we got out and we went to an activity with the JAS... its french for young single adults. We had a small lesson, and then learned how to do malagasy dances, kareoke, and other fun things. It was a really good activity because there were non members there and they were able to be in the church and have a good time with the members. If you were wondering, yes I did dance, but no, I did not sing kareoke. My companion somehow had the energy to dance with us, pretty much a miracle in my eyes. Sorry I shouldnt say that. I just hope that he can get better soon. Sunday we went to church and it was really cool to listen to the members bear their testimony on repentance, or the sabbath day, or certain topics. After the second hour, we left to meet our mission doctor to see if she could help my companion any more. All that she could do was give him stronger medicine until we can get to a doctor. So, yesterday he took some codine and slept all day... I was left to study, take stats for my district, and just kind of hang around till it came time for bed. All in all, I am doing great, I am happy to have a companion who can teach me the language, I am happy to be healthy, I am happy to be serving the Lord. What more can you ask for right? I am doing my best. I love you all so much and hope that you have a wonderful day. Sorry the letter is not that long this week... not a lot happened.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, September 1, 2014
This is Harder Than I Thought
Dear Family,
How is everyone doing this week? I hope that all is well and that you are all healthy and happy! Never a better day to smile than today! So, this week was probably one of the hardest weeks of my mission by far... my comp is just a wonderful man that drives me insane. So first I will just tell you about the work this week. It went so great, like literally, small miracles everyday through contacting, teaching, and just being willing to sacrifice everything we have as missionaries makes all the difference. Tuesday and Wednesday were just full of contacting and looking for new people to teach, new people that are READY to hear our message. Hopefully they all work out. Since my companion is a native, he likes to be in command thinking that he can do and say better than I can. True. Still bugs me a tad. Anyway, Thursday and Friday we got to teach a lot more and I got to see what kind of teacher Raza was. (Raza is what I call him...) He is a very in your face, preach preach preach, kind of teacher. He would make a great pastor or preacher. He is VERY knowlegdable about the gospel and can answer any question that comes his way. Saturday was good too, we taught, I taught english... Funny story about that. One question that was brought up in english class was, and I quote... "What does, 'lets f*** around mean' because my friend said it was slang in english..." Oh, havent heard that word in like, six months. That was where I just said, ok next question. Hahah. Anyway, Sunday we had nine app. scheduled and got to teach 6 of them. Great day, lots of teaching and new investigators. Okk, so now I am not going to complain, or tell you how much my companion bugs me, I am simply going to give you a couple of my experiences from this week. So, during one of our lessons this week, we planned that we would teach this family from the very beginning as it was their first lesson with the missionaries. So that meant ask questions like who is God, and who is Jesus Christ... my comp started teaching about Joseph Smith... Not exactly the stuff we planned that morning. After he taught about J-dog, he was like, so do you have anything else to add to that... So I tried to get it back on track by asking some of the simple questions, and in the middle of them answering questions, he started to teach about the Great Apostasy... AHHHH! That night, I tried to give him some tips and tell him that you should teach in order the way the pamphlet has it lined out. Before I could get through that sentence, he said "I understand, I understand, I understand" and left the room... I just keep telling myself how great the work is going. So, I found that after he showers, he uses my towel... thats a big no no in my book. He actually spends a longer time in the bathroom that I do, believe it or not. We are always running late because he irons his shirt for 20 min. And shines his shoes everyday, and just likes to look at himself. Thats cool with me, I look at myself too, but longer than a minute is just a little obsessive. My companion is awesome, do not get me wrong, he just doesnt respect me yet because he thinks I dont understand his language. True, to an extent. I was talking with Elder Davis about this matter and his solution to that problem was... In a scottish accent "Just pin the lad against the wall and give him a couple right hooks, then look him the eyes and sing, 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to YOU" Hahahahah, I love that elder! I am learning to love, thats forsure. I am grateful for him, and the many trials that he brings to my life, just love it. I love you all so much, thanks for your prayers and love.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
How is everyone doing this week? I hope that all is well and that you are all healthy and happy! Never a better day to smile than today! So, this week was probably one of the hardest weeks of my mission by far... my comp is just a wonderful man that drives me insane. So first I will just tell you about the work this week. It went so great, like literally, small miracles everyday through contacting, teaching, and just being willing to sacrifice everything we have as missionaries makes all the difference. Tuesday and Wednesday were just full of contacting and looking for new people to teach, new people that are READY to hear our message. Hopefully they all work out. Since my companion is a native, he likes to be in command thinking that he can do and say better than I can. True. Still bugs me a tad. Anyway, Thursday and Friday we got to teach a lot more and I got to see what kind of teacher Raza was. (Raza is what I call him...) He is a very in your face, preach preach preach, kind of teacher. He would make a great pastor or preacher. He is VERY knowlegdable about the gospel and can answer any question that comes his way. Saturday was good too, we taught, I taught english... Funny story about that. One question that was brought up in english class was, and I quote... "What does, 'lets f*** around mean' because my friend said it was slang in english..." Oh, havent heard that word in like, six months. That was where I just said, ok next question. Hahah. Anyway, Sunday we had nine app. scheduled and got to teach 6 of them. Great day, lots of teaching and new investigators. Okk, so now I am not going to complain, or tell you how much my companion bugs me, I am simply going to give you a couple of my experiences from this week. So, during one of our lessons this week, we planned that we would teach this family from the very beginning as it was their first lesson with the missionaries. So that meant ask questions like who is God, and who is Jesus Christ... my comp started teaching about Joseph Smith... Not exactly the stuff we planned that morning. After he taught about J-dog, he was like, so do you have anything else to add to that... So I tried to get it back on track by asking some of the simple questions, and in the middle of them answering questions, he started to teach about the Great Apostasy... AHHHH! That night, I tried to give him some tips and tell him that you should teach in order the way the pamphlet has it lined out. Before I could get through that sentence, he said "I understand, I understand, I understand" and left the room... I just keep telling myself how great the work is going. So, I found that after he showers, he uses my towel... thats a big no no in my book. He actually spends a longer time in the bathroom that I do, believe it or not. We are always running late because he irons his shirt for 20 min. And shines his shoes everyday, and just likes to look at himself. Thats cool with me, I look at myself too, but longer than a minute is just a little obsessive. My companion is awesome, do not get me wrong, he just doesnt respect me yet because he thinks I dont understand his language. True, to an extent. I was talking with Elder Davis about this matter and his solution to that problem was... In a scottish accent "Just pin the lad against the wall and give him a couple right hooks, then look him the eyes and sing, 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to YOU" Hahahahah, I love that elder! I am learning to love, thats forsure. I am grateful for him, and the many trials that he brings to my life, just love it. I love you all so much, thanks for your prayers and love.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, August 25, 2014
Transfer Week
Dear Family,
How are you doing, I apologize that this is coming late crazy week and day! So its going to be a short one because the cyber closes in like 5 min, but I will write you a lil somthin somethin.... So as you know I am training. And I would love to tell you how it all went down and stuff, but I dont have time. Anyway out of the 14 new missionaries that came, 13 were American and 1 was a Malagasy... I am training the 1 Malagasy.... His name is Elder Razafimandimby. He is 21 and oh boy, is it different. He speaks English, you know he says yes and no... thats it. He likes to sit by the washer and watch it go, he leaves the shower on after he has used it, he turns the light on at 3 in the morning to ask if he can get some water... its an experience. On Saturday we had a member of the 70 come and speak to us. SO AWESOME!! It was exactly what I needed. These next couple months are going to be hard because I still dont speak Malagasy and its hard to talk with my comp. The BEST part of the week was the I was reunited with Elder Davis!! Can you believe it, its so awesome to see that guy, I love him!! He is working in Tana and we are in the same zone. Ok, other than that things are still kinda in the works. OHH, one more quick thing, I did meet the Elder who is in the stake of Kevins! I dont know how he knew, but during our training meeting, before we knew who was who, he leaned over to me and said, "Do you know Pres. Hathaway?" I had to think for a second because I dont know Kev as Pres. Hathaway, but then it hit me and I like jumped up and said yaaaa I know that guy!!! Cool kid! I love you guys so much!!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
How are you doing, I apologize that this is coming late crazy week and day! So its going to be a short one because the cyber closes in like 5 min, but I will write you a lil somthin somethin.... So as you know I am training. And I would love to tell you how it all went down and stuff, but I dont have time. Anyway out of the 14 new missionaries that came, 13 were American and 1 was a Malagasy... I am training the 1 Malagasy.... His name is Elder Razafimandimby. He is 21 and oh boy, is it different. He speaks English, you know he says yes and no... thats it. He likes to sit by the washer and watch it go, he leaves the shower on after he has used it, he turns the light on at 3 in the morning to ask if he can get some water... its an experience. On Saturday we had a member of the 70 come and speak to us. SO AWESOME!! It was exactly what I needed. These next couple months are going to be hard because I still dont speak Malagasy and its hard to talk with my comp. The BEST part of the week was the I was reunited with Elder Davis!! Can you believe it, its so awesome to see that guy, I love him!! He is working in Tana and we are in the same zone. Ok, other than that things are still kinda in the works. OHH, one more quick thing, I did meet the Elder who is in the stake of Kevins! I dont know how he knew, but during our training meeting, before we knew who was who, he leaned over to me and said, "Do you know Pres. Hathaway?" I had to think for a second because I dont know Kev as Pres. Hathaway, but then it hit me and I like jumped up and said yaaaa I know that guy!!! Cool kid! I love you guys so much!!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, August 18, 2014
Activites, Soccer, and... TRANSFERS...
Dear Family,
How is everyone doing? Never been a better day to smile than today!! I have had a very exciting week, nothing new there! So on Tuesday, it was a pretty slow day... not many times, just a really fun suaree with a member family. Wednesday was much cooler, not really. Another slow day becuase my comp was sick, so I swept the whole house, cleaned the bathroom, did the dishes, you know, big boy stuff! Thursday was better though. I taught a 12 year old the word of wisdom, the way the we do in Madagascar is so much easier and I like to teach it with kids. Haahahah! Then we had a couple more lessons that I taught. More like spiritual thought, but they were still good. We were supposed to have a meeting with our Branch President on Thursday but he never comes. We call him in the morning and he says, ya ya ill be there... never once has he shown up... kind of annoying. Friday was where the F.U.N. began! We went to our first time at 1 o clock and they were headed to the church for an activity... we talked to them for a little while and we found out that on that day, for some reason, all malagasys went to their church to pray... which meant all of the investigators we were supposed to teach that day were going to be at thier church, praying... So we thought, hey! Lets go to the activity! They were making pizza and I like pizza so sounds good. We had a small lesson about how to properly bear your testimony and then we started the cooking. The one and only picture that I put up this week is of me just before they asked me to roll the dough. They said I needed to do it because I was strong... yaaa my friends and football coach would beg to differ with that statement, but I did it! We got to eat it too, they really like the missionaries here in Mada! Then we went to our member suaree where they fed us, drum roll please...., rice! This family is so fun and I love talking with them. They have 3 daughters, and no thats not why I like going there, I promise. Its kinda like Uncle Jason and Romis family! The parents are so so funny and the daughters are just as fun to be around! I love the dad because he is kind of quiet because the girls tune him out a lot and he is just funny when he gets the chance. Anyway, so we didnt end up leaving until like 8... and busses stop going at like 7:30... So we waited at the bus stop area for like 30 minutes and got nothing. It was like an hour walk back to our house and we really didnt want to do that... then something happened. God does love me!! There was this car that passed us, and then it turned around and pulled up in front of us. They asked us where we needed to go and told us to get in! OH MY HOLY MIRACLE! It may not seem like it to you americans, but you gotta understand that this sort of thing almost never happens for white people in madagascar!! This couple was so so nice and when we got out, I tried to give the 1000 ari ary and they would not accept any money. Ya, God does love his missionaries! Saturday was cool too. We had Mormon Helping Hands. So I was expecting something like we do in America... oh no. What we did was we went to a members home and we re cemented his water well. It took like an hour and we were done... more like a little service project, but hey, it felt good to help. Then we had a soccer game. It was against some guys that were our age and on my team we had members... I am not going to say anything more than we lost. Yep, so after the game we went home, showered real quick and had to be at the church because I was teaching the english class. It went really well, the students that come are really good and can understand almost everything I say. That night, I came home and did the dishes, again, and pretty much just hit the pillow hard. Sunday we had Branch Conference. It was really good. After church we always go to this investigators house because they feed us lunch, rice. Midway through, we had the branch president come and he was teaching how the correct way to do home teaching to the guys he brought with him. It was so cool to know that the church is the same throughout the world. Leroux was basically saying his goodbyes to people because he was pretty sure that he was getting transfered out this transfer. Then we went to a couple other people and gave spiritual thoughts and Leroux said bye bye. We also gave a couple blessing because two young women have the "BAK" test, its some test that says wether or not you can go to university. Big deal. Then we talked with the family that has three girls. We went home and awaited the transfer news. Well, you guessed it, I am training. Oh wait, no one guessed that because I have only been here 4 months and am still learning the language. Should be interesting though. I am so grateful to be here and to be apart of this wonderful work. I love being a missionary!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
How is everyone doing? Never been a better day to smile than today!! I have had a very exciting week, nothing new there! So on Tuesday, it was a pretty slow day... not many times, just a really fun suaree with a member family. Wednesday was much cooler, not really. Another slow day becuase my comp was sick, so I swept the whole house, cleaned the bathroom, did the dishes, you know, big boy stuff! Thursday was better though. I taught a 12 year old the word of wisdom, the way the we do in Madagascar is so much easier and I like to teach it with kids. Haahahah! Then we had a couple more lessons that I taught. More like spiritual thought, but they were still good. We were supposed to have a meeting with our Branch President on Thursday but he never comes. We call him in the morning and he says, ya ya ill be there... never once has he shown up... kind of annoying. Friday was where the F.U.N. began! We went to our first time at 1 o clock and they were headed to the church for an activity... we talked to them for a little while and we found out that on that day, for some reason, all malagasys went to their church to pray... which meant all of the investigators we were supposed to teach that day were going to be at thier church, praying... So we thought, hey! Lets go to the activity! They were making pizza and I like pizza so sounds good. We had a small lesson about how to properly bear your testimony and then we started the cooking. The one and only picture that I put up this week is of me just before they asked me to roll the dough. They said I needed to do it because I was strong... yaaa my friends and football coach would beg to differ with that statement, but I did it! We got to eat it too, they really like the missionaries here in Mada! Then we went to our member suaree where they fed us, drum roll please...., rice! This family is so fun and I love talking with them. They have 3 daughters, and no thats not why I like going there, I promise. Its kinda like Uncle Jason and Romis family! The parents are so so funny and the daughters are just as fun to be around! I love the dad because he is kind of quiet because the girls tune him out a lot and he is just funny when he gets the chance. Anyway, so we didnt end up leaving until like 8... and busses stop going at like 7:30... So we waited at the bus stop area for like 30 minutes and got nothing. It was like an hour walk back to our house and we really didnt want to do that... then something happened. God does love me!! There was this car that passed us, and then it turned around and pulled up in front of us. They asked us where we needed to go and told us to get in! OH MY HOLY MIRACLE! It may not seem like it to you americans, but you gotta understand that this sort of thing almost never happens for white people in madagascar!! This couple was so so nice and when we got out, I tried to give the 1000 ari ary and they would not accept any money. Ya, God does love his missionaries! Saturday was cool too. We had Mormon Helping Hands. So I was expecting something like we do in America... oh no. What we did was we went to a members home and we re cemented his water well. It took like an hour and we were done... more like a little service project, but hey, it felt good to help. Then we had a soccer game. It was against some guys that were our age and on my team we had members... I am not going to say anything more than we lost. Yep, so after the game we went home, showered real quick and had to be at the church because I was teaching the english class. It went really well, the students that come are really good and can understand almost everything I say. That night, I came home and did the dishes, again, and pretty much just hit the pillow hard. Sunday we had Branch Conference. It was really good. After church we always go to this investigators house because they feed us lunch, rice. Midway through, we had the branch president come and he was teaching how the correct way to do home teaching to the guys he brought with him. It was so cool to know that the church is the same throughout the world. Leroux was basically saying his goodbyes to people because he was pretty sure that he was getting transfered out this transfer. Then we went to a couple other people and gave spiritual thoughts and Leroux said bye bye. We also gave a couple blessing because two young women have the "BAK" test, its some test that says wether or not you can go to university. Big deal. Then we talked with the family that has three girls. We went home and awaited the transfer news. Well, you guessed it, I am training. Oh wait, no one guessed that because I have only been here 4 months and am still learning the language. Should be interesting though. I am so grateful to be here and to be apart of this wonderful work. I love being a missionary!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Picture Heaven
Dear Family,
What a fun week I have had!! The work is going, slowly but surely, and I am just loving learning how to be a better missionary! So, Tuesday was fun, no running water. That meant no shower... man I just hate when I feel dirty and that all that gross stuff. Work was alright, kinda slow actually. Lots of appointments that just dropped us so we had some time to see some members. Hahah, funny story... dont take after my example Brock, but at our members house they had started to watch the (I believe) new Need For Speed movie... and they asked us to stay and watch it with them. Of course, being the nice, generous missionaries that we are obliged and helped them! It was in french though so wasnt much fun for me... Wednesday was the day!! All of our appointments dropped us so we had like all day to tract. Our area is like the biggest in the mission, it just goes on forever, so we took a bus and took it to the last stop that it went. We got off and started hiking. It was a B-E-A-utiful day! Sun was shining, wind in my face, walking across the hills of Madagascar! With the honest intent of finding people to teach we just hiked up this mountain and along the way found some way cool opportunities for pictures! Then we saw this HUGE sign that said CARMEL and it looked like the Hollywood sign thats says HOLLYWOOD, so we hiked to it! We got some way cool pictures by that sign, on a rock, with a painted picture of Jesus, it was all just so cool and so pretty! Long day, Thursday was a better day for the work. We got times and taught people of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. An interesting thing happened though that night. Every night the 4 sisters who are in our district must call the district leader (my comp) and tell him that they have made it home safely. So, just like every night, they called and told my comp they had made it home, and then one of them asked to speak to elder herrin... I have no idea why she did this because its not like I speak spanish or malagasy (those are the languages she speaks) but she began to tell me about a problem that she and her companion were having with one of their investigators and she wanted my "priesthood help" as she called it. I was just shocked... what the heck was I supposed to say to help her, I mean she was literally in tears she loved this woman so much and wanted to help her with her problem but didnt know how. So, I just kind of told her to first talk to her branch president and take him with them to their next app. with her and if that doesnt work to call me again... wow. So Friday was cool too. We worked and then that night we went and stayed the night with some other elders in their brand new home. They opened an area so they got a new home and boy was it nice!! We came home Saturday morning and went out to work that day! We had a couple times and then I taught English Class. That is an expereince in and of itself. The people wanted to know about dating and marriage in America, so I demonstrated how a man gets down on one knee and asks a girl to marry him, pretty funny! Sunday was nice, but a little dissapointing too. We only had 41 people at church and only one investigator... I know that numbers dont matter, it just makes me sad you know! We went to church, and then went out to work. We worked until about 6 and my comp was not feeling to well so we went home a little early that day. I think he is nervous about transfers, but that is just my opinion. Yesterday was soo fun! We went to the Croc Farm. We saw humungeous crocodiles, I got to feed a lemur and I got to hold this wierd lizard looking thing on my arm. I also got to see a Fossa or Fosa, not sure how to spell it but it was a wierd looking creature. After that, we went to the one and only mall in Madagascar... can you believe it, there is a mall here and it is SOOOOOOO expensive. I saw so many white people in there it was ridiculous!! We ate at the little food court they had and looked at the nice watches and rings they had... one day. We then stopped at the office and to my surprise, I HAD A LETTER! It was from Sis. Tolman, so I ripped it open in excitement. It was a dear elder. I got it open and read the last two sentences of the letter, thats all that ther was... the first part of the letter either was lost or didnt make it this week? So thank you Sis Tolman for the letter, hopefully I get it all next week. Thats been my week so far. Next week I will have transfer news which is always exciting for a missionary... I love you all so much and cant wait to share my experiences next week.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
What a fun week I have had!! The work is going, slowly but surely, and I am just loving learning how to be a better missionary! So, Tuesday was fun, no running water. That meant no shower... man I just hate when I feel dirty and that all that gross stuff. Work was alright, kinda slow actually. Lots of appointments that just dropped us so we had some time to see some members. Hahah, funny story... dont take after my example Brock, but at our members house they had started to watch the (I believe) new Need For Speed movie... and they asked us to stay and watch it with them. Of course, being the nice, generous missionaries that we are obliged and helped them! It was in french though so wasnt much fun for me... Wednesday was the day!! All of our appointments dropped us so we had like all day to tract. Our area is like the biggest in the mission, it just goes on forever, so we took a bus and took it to the last stop that it went. We got off and started hiking. It was a B-E-A-utiful day! Sun was shining, wind in my face, walking across the hills of Madagascar! With the honest intent of finding people to teach we just hiked up this mountain and along the way found some way cool opportunities for pictures! Then we saw this HUGE sign that said CARMEL and it looked like the Hollywood sign thats says HOLLYWOOD, so we hiked to it! We got some way cool pictures by that sign, on a rock, with a painted picture of Jesus, it was all just so cool and so pretty! Long day, Thursday was a better day for the work. We got times and taught people of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. An interesting thing happened though that night. Every night the 4 sisters who are in our district must call the district leader (my comp) and tell him that they have made it home safely. So, just like every night, they called and told my comp they had made it home, and then one of them asked to speak to elder herrin... I have no idea why she did this because its not like I speak spanish or malagasy (those are the languages she speaks) but she began to tell me about a problem that she and her companion were having with one of their investigators and she wanted my "priesthood help" as she called it. I was just shocked... what the heck was I supposed to say to help her, I mean she was literally in tears she loved this woman so much and wanted to help her with her problem but didnt know how. So, I just kind of told her to first talk to her branch president and take him with them to their next app. with her and if that doesnt work to call me again... wow. So Friday was cool too. We worked and then that night we went and stayed the night with some other elders in their brand new home. They opened an area so they got a new home and boy was it nice!! We came home Saturday morning and went out to work that day! We had a couple times and then I taught English Class. That is an expereince in and of itself. The people wanted to know about dating and marriage in America, so I demonstrated how a man gets down on one knee and asks a girl to marry him, pretty funny! Sunday was nice, but a little dissapointing too. We only had 41 people at church and only one investigator... I know that numbers dont matter, it just makes me sad you know! We went to church, and then went out to work. We worked until about 6 and my comp was not feeling to well so we went home a little early that day. I think he is nervous about transfers, but that is just my opinion. Yesterday was soo fun! We went to the Croc Farm. We saw humungeous crocodiles, I got to feed a lemur and I got to hold this wierd lizard looking thing on my arm. I also got to see a Fossa or Fosa, not sure how to spell it but it was a wierd looking creature. After that, we went to the one and only mall in Madagascar... can you believe it, there is a mall here and it is SOOOOOOO expensive. I saw so many white people in there it was ridiculous!! We ate at the little food court they had and looked at the nice watches and rings they had... one day. We then stopped at the office and to my surprise, I HAD A LETTER! It was from Sis. Tolman, so I ripped it open in excitement. It was a dear elder. I got it open and read the last two sentences of the letter, thats all that ther was... the first part of the letter either was lost or didnt make it this week? So thank you Sis Tolman for the letter, hopefully I get it all next week. Thats been my week so far. Next week I will have transfer news which is always exciting for a missionary... I love you all so much and cant wait to share my experiences next week.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
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