Blessing upon Blessings

Dear Family,

I feel as if it has been forever since I last emailed you.  How has the month of October treated you?  Did you see what I did there?  Hahah, the missionary still gots it.  And yes mother, I know that it was incorrect grammar.  Sorry to hear that Ty is dont with soccer.  "on to the next one, on to the next one" Basketball!  And, gotta throw my youngest a Happy Birthday shout out!  Love you Ty!!  Everyone needs to give him and extra hug for me here in Mada.  Im gonna miss another birthday of his, thats 3 in a row I have missed.  Sorry man.  As for my week...

It was so so great.  We got back from Mahajanga last week and we were doing a lot of preparation for the visit from Elder Bednar!  Yes, THE Elder Bednar.  He flew in to Mada on Friday at 2:10.  He was picked up by President Foote and then was driven around Madagascar to see it as this was his first time being here.  My mission president asked Elder Rigby and I to sit by one of the popular tourist places in Tana just in case Elder Bednar wanted to get out and walk around.  We were going to get to translate.  We put on our whitest shirt, polished our shoes and just looked good.  We got the text from President that he was heading our way.  So I felt as if I was on my way to pick up a prom date cause I was gettin the nervous sweats and checking my hair constantly in the mirror.  We saw the large white van pull in, so we got out of the car and just stood there waiting to know what to do.  They drove right by... we felt pretty stupid, I tell you what.  We got in the car to drive away thinking that we were not needed anymore when I recieved an SMS from Pres saying to wait.  I replied with "and do what"  the response was great.  "Stand, smile, and wave!"  They flipped around and drove right up to us.  I started to wave and smile.  But they stopped and Elder Bednar opened the door.  He shook each of our hands, asked where we were from and then told us that we looked great.  One thing that he said stuck out.  "I can see the happiness of this great work shining from your faces"  What a blessing.  What a compliment. What a great moment.  I attended his member devotional an hour later and was able to see him interact with the people and teach some great things about the priesthood, the book of mormon and about the temple.  He kind of slayed the members.  We took off the next day.

I am now in Antsirabe doing some splits and preparing for zone conference here on Thursday.  I will be in Tamatave next weekend for zone conference there.  I cant tell you how much I love the mission.  How blessed I feel to be apart of His work here and to feel the warmth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I love you all so much. 

All my Love

Elder Herrin