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
Monday, August 25, 2014
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
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Holy Tracting!
Dear Family,
What a wonderful week I have had working here in Ambohimangakely! On Tuesday we had a couple of appointments with some contacts that we had recieved the week earlier. How funny that all of them (3) dogged us and either werent home or "couldnt learn". So that day we tracted for 6 and a half hours!! We got a total of like 11 contacts and it was just a really good feeling to have worked so hard that day and to have it pay off. Wednesday was crazy too, we were asked by our branch to practice soccer with them because they want to be ready for their match that is coming up this week. So we went for like two hours in street clothes, and then quickly changed in the church and went out to work. We taught a couple of times but for some reason, many of our times fell through. Very frustrating. Thursday was a new experience for me as well. We had district meeting in the morning. In Ambositra we never had meetings with anyone because we were so far away from people. Now in my district, it is my companion and I and then 4 sisters... One is American, one is from Portugal, one is a Malagasy, and the other is Tahitian. They are fun and I still dont really know them but know that I will be working with them longer. After the district meeting we went to lunch with them and then went out to work. So since we have basically dropped our whole schedule, we are pretty much tracting every day because we need people to teach. And oh boy is it an experience to knock on someones door in Madagascar. We have had both good and bad and funny experiences. Some people will come out and let us share our message with them and then say, "I already have a faith, I dont have time for yours" others just look at us from a window above and shake their heads... thats the best. One guy, while I was in the middle of sharing my little intro, just walked inside without saying a word...Ok, I think I can take that SMALL hint. One lady, while we were walking home, kind of threw herself at me and started to grab for some areas that we not free for grabbing, so I ran from her. Also while tracting we found ourself in an area by a church where the people who attend this church are given a house the exact same as all the other members. But they must work for the church everyday and do everything that is asked of them. While I was writing that I kind of thought it sounded like our church, but its way different because we have agency to make our own choices. Yep, good times. On Saturday we had two baptisms as well! However, the reason we had the baptisms this week and not last was because the wife would not get baptized in cold water... so we went to another church (still LDS) that supposedly had hot water in the font. When we got there we tested the water and oh boy was it so not warm... When it came time to baptize her (which I had the wonderful opportunity to do) she started to walk in the water and she kind of gasped and not yelled but said out loud "ANDRIAMANITRO" which is God in Malagasy... so ya she basically used the Lords name in vane while about to be baptized... it was great. When I put her under the water, she came up freaking out. I had to hold her still because she was like having a spasm attack and I wasnt sure what to do, but she, after about 10 sec, gained control. Sunday was another odd day. Church was really nice, I was fasting, I was feeling the spirit, and I was ready for the schedule that we had. We had like 6 lessons to teach that day. Our first one dropped because they were leaving town for the day... We got our next time and then my companion and I tried 8 houses that we could teach and none of them could! Are you serious. It was about 3:30 and our next time was at 5. So we just decided to go early... This time was a contact that we got earlier in the week and it was like 3 different families that lived together so it was a lot of people and they seemed really interested so we showed up and half of the adults were drunk, like wayyyy drunk. Are you serious... Oh, I was not just going to leave after the day that we had already had so I made them listen to me pray, and then I started to preach, I really thought I was going to make this work. But if any of you have tried to teach a couple of drunk women oh man I couldnt get a word out without one of the woman hitting the other, yelling something, laughing out loud... so we asked if we could pray and we left. Our last time worked out well though. We got to teach about God, Jesus Christ and the role they play in our lives and how they bless our families. So that was kinda my week summed up, the short version. Just some quick side notes, I cut my own hair this week for the first time ever... Yes, I did. Did I know what I was doing, NO. Does it look good, NO. But hey, who really cares, I am in Madagascar. My comp, who does his hair just laughed at me the whole time I tried to do it. I also continue to play soccer and beat the club team here in Madagascar. And one last thing, I finally got a bible in Malagasy... so useful! Hahaha. I love you all so much and know that the work I am doing is true.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
What a wonderful week I have had working here in Ambohimangakely! On Tuesday we had a couple of appointments with some contacts that we had recieved the week earlier. How funny that all of them (3) dogged us and either werent home or "couldnt learn". So that day we tracted for 6 and a half hours!! We got a total of like 11 contacts and it was just a really good feeling to have worked so hard that day and to have it pay off. Wednesday was crazy too, we were asked by our branch to practice soccer with them because they want to be ready for their match that is coming up this week. So we went for like two hours in street clothes, and then quickly changed in the church and went out to work. We taught a couple of times but for some reason, many of our times fell through. Very frustrating. Thursday was a new experience for me as well. We had district meeting in the morning. In Ambositra we never had meetings with anyone because we were so far away from people. Now in my district, it is my companion and I and then 4 sisters... One is American, one is from Portugal, one is a Malagasy, and the other is Tahitian. They are fun and I still dont really know them but know that I will be working with them longer. After the district meeting we went to lunch with them and then went out to work. So since we have basically dropped our whole schedule, we are pretty much tracting every day because we need people to teach. And oh boy is it an experience to knock on someones door in Madagascar. We have had both good and bad and funny experiences. Some people will come out and let us share our message with them and then say, "I already have a faith, I dont have time for yours" others just look at us from a window above and shake their heads... thats the best. One guy, while I was in the middle of sharing my little intro, just walked inside without saying a word...Ok, I think I can take that SMALL hint. One lady, while we were walking home, kind of threw herself at me and started to grab for some areas that we not free for grabbing, so I ran from her. Also while tracting we found ourself in an area by a church where the people who attend this church are given a house the exact same as all the other members. But they must work for the church everyday and do everything that is asked of them. While I was writing that I kind of thought it sounded like our church, but its way different because we have agency to make our own choices. Yep, good times. On Saturday we had two baptisms as well! However, the reason we had the baptisms this week and not last was because the wife would not get baptized in cold water... so we went to another church (still LDS) that supposedly had hot water in the font. When we got there we tested the water and oh boy was it so not warm... When it came time to baptize her (which I had the wonderful opportunity to do) she started to walk in the water and she kind of gasped and not yelled but said out loud "ANDRIAMANITRO" which is God in Malagasy... so ya she basically used the Lords name in vane while about to be baptized... it was great. When I put her under the water, she came up freaking out. I had to hold her still because she was like having a spasm attack and I wasnt sure what to do, but she, after about 10 sec, gained control. Sunday was another odd day. Church was really nice, I was fasting, I was feeling the spirit, and I was ready for the schedule that we had. We had like 6 lessons to teach that day. Our first one dropped because they were leaving town for the day... We got our next time and then my companion and I tried 8 houses that we could teach and none of them could! Are you serious. It was about 3:30 and our next time was at 5. So we just decided to go early... This time was a contact that we got earlier in the week and it was like 3 different families that lived together so it was a lot of people and they seemed really interested so we showed up and half of the adults were drunk, like wayyyy drunk. Are you serious... Oh, I was not just going to leave after the day that we had already had so I made them listen to me pray, and then I started to preach, I really thought I was going to make this work. But if any of you have tried to teach a couple of drunk women oh man I couldnt get a word out without one of the woman hitting the other, yelling something, laughing out loud... so we asked if we could pray and we left. Our last time worked out well though. We got to teach about God, Jesus Christ and the role they play in our lives and how they bless our families. So that was kinda my week summed up, the short version. Just some quick side notes, I cut my own hair this week for the first time ever... Yes, I did. Did I know what I was doing, NO. Does it look good, NO. But hey, who really cares, I am in Madagascar. My comp, who does his hair just laughed at me the whole time I tried to do it. I also continue to play soccer and beat the club team here in Madagascar. And one last thing, I finally got a bible in Malagasy... so useful! Hahaha. I love you all so much and know that the work I am doing is true.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
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