GO! split GO!

Dear Family,

How are we all doing this week?  I have heard that conference was just great... yes, still has not been seen by me.  Three new apostles is pretty crazy.  Much of my mission was betting that our old mission president, President Adams, would become the new apostle... funny things the missionaries say sometimes.  I think it just goes to show how much respect that the mission had for our him.  Sports seem like they are just ... goin.  Simply put.  Keep up the good work Herrins.

As for the "Elder" Herrin, his week was anything but simple.  I emailed last week from Fianarantsoa on Monday.  I had a split with Elder Godfrey and Elder Koncurat on Tuesday.  We taught some really cool times and enjoyed getting to know eachother since I didnt know Elder Koncurat.  We got up Wednesday morning at 5 and took off to Ambositra.  My very first area.  We went on a split with Elder Wootan and Elder Knight.  They are doing some awesome work, all things considering.  The area is going to be shut down this transfer so finding new investigators is hard for them.  All in all, they are doing pretty well.  We got up Thursday morning at and drove to Andranomaneletra to do a split with Elder Stringfellow and Elder Becker.  They are also doing well.  I just cant belive how many amazing missionaries we have in this Madagasikara mission.  I mean, all of these Elders are just motivated and willing.  Some could do better, but I love them all so much.  We got up on Friday morning at took off to Tamatave.  That is an all day like 7 hour drive.  So we got there in the evening and started doing splits there on Saturday.  We went with Elder Johnson and Elder Kunkel.  Two missionaries that are just not afraid to talk to EVERYONE!  I learned so much from the way that these two missionaries did their missionary work.  Then yesterday, I went with Elder Koplin and Elder Bassett.  Again, two elders that can just talk to people. 

So, now I wanna share some really cool lessons that we taught during this week.  I was teaching with Elder Koplin yesterday.  We found a couple of less active members just kind of roaming the paths of Tamatave and asked if we could share a small spiritual thought with them.  They obliged and let us into their home.  Elder Koplin started to talk about becoming like Christ.  Like the attribute part of it.  I asked kind of a bold question to these two un-married 20 year old kids.  I asked what attributed they needed to work on in thier lives to become more christlike.  One of them spoke up, Josea was his name.  He explained to me that he has a really hard time giving in to temptations in life.  Almost immediately, Brother Hammarstroms teaching from deacons quorum like 8 years ago came to my mind.  I told him that picking good friends was one of the most important things that he could do at this point in his life.  I used the example of me on the mission.  All my friends right now are obeying God's commandments so it makes it a lot easier for me to obey.  He was about in tears.  The spirit was strong.  Elder Koplin wrapped up the lesson well by sharing his testimony and committing the two men to acting on the lesson.  I hope they do as I know that I was inspired to be better. 

Another cool yet really weird lesson that I taught was with Elder Koncurat.  We taught this woman about the book of mormon.  We walked in and immediately she started to share with us how she gets these wierd dreams.  I first shared with this woman the story of Joseph Smith from his perspective.  We read from Joseph Smith tantara.  I told her that the devil knows that she is finding the truth and is trying to keep her from finding it.  She kind of accepted what I told her and we went on with the lesson.  Elder Koncurat has been here almost three months so he explained to her what the Book of Mormon.  This woman would not stop talking about the wierd dreams that she has every night.  Elder Koncurat was not really understanding what she was saying, so I kind of interrupted Elder Koncurat.  I looked at the woman and said "rehefa mahazo nofy ianao, dia amin' ny izay fotoana izay, tonga dia vakio ny bokin'ny mormon.  Manome toky anao aho fa raha manao izany ianao, dia lasa ny nofy ary ho matory tsara ianao."  It doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me in English and thats why I wrote it in Malagasy.  But I said that when she recieves a dream then at that time, read the book of mormon and I promised her that the dream would go away and she could sleep good.  I hope that she took my advice. I probably need to follow up with Elder Koncurat. 

Anyways, the mission is just great.  I love it here and I love being able to help people.  Have a great week.  I love being a missionary!

All my Love

Elder Herrin