Monday, December 21, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
My Journies
Dear Family,
Wow... it seems like it has been a long long time. Well, it has been. I apologize if it has taken me too long to write. I know that there are no excuses, but I have just been traveling and found that there is a lot to do. With that being said, I know that my family comes first... so starting now until I mess up again, I will keep it that way. I miss you all so much. With the holiday season coming up, I think of you often. I dont feel like its Christmas time, not even a little bit, but I know that this time of year brings great joy to us all. I hope that you find someone to spread this joy with during the season.
So its been a couple weeks and boy have I had some crazy adventures. We have been to Toliara, another beach province on the South East corner of Madagsikara, and we have also been to Tamatave. I want to share a couple of amazing experiences with you from those two week long trips.
Our first trip was originally planned for Fianarantsoa. We went and visited the missionaries down there so that President could do his interviews. We got down there and President looked to us and said, "We are already half way to Toliara, do you wanna continue on down the road and do interviews down there while we are at it?" Of course, Elder Covey and I agreed and we took off. We got in the car the next day and were on the road. Fun times when you get to talk to your mission President and his wife and learn from their experiences. We got to the beachy sands of Toliara and started interviews. That evening, President treated the 4 missionaries and us to dinner on the beach... Just amazing views. The food was good too. Then came the excitement.
The next day we got back on the road to head back to Tana. It was going to be a two day trip as its a cross country drive. We had planned to go all the way back to Fianarantsoa on one day and then make the rest of the drive the next day. The total km's for the first day was 511. We made it almost 300 when we stopped for lunch in this nice little town. We took off for the second half of the drive. When we got to km 500 we saw that cars had started to slow down to a complete stop. We werent sure what was the matter. So my companion and I started to ask around. We found out that there was a bridge that had given way... No one was going through the night. People had started to "set up camp" in their cars, on the road, wherever they could. We figured that it would not be a good idea to be there because we were white and we had things that were of value in the car. So we turned around headed back down the other way not knowing what to do. We pulled over to pray. We prayed that we would be able to find gas (something that we were running low on) and we prayed for protection and the reassurance that we would be ok for the night. We stopped to talk to a road police guy for a little bit after we had finished praying. He told us that he wasnt sure when the bridge would be fixed. We asked about gas. He happily responded that 10 minutes down the road was a gas station that was open 24/7. That in and of itself is a miracle because many gas stations are not 24/7 so to find one in the middle of no where was amazing. We got gas and decided that it would be best to meet up with one of the senior couple who was leaving Toliara the same day. We drove about 200km back towards toliara to the place that we had lunch. We had the couple get us a room and it all worked out. I know it may not seem like a whole lot, but to be in a situation like that where you are driving at 11 oclock at night praying that things will work and then to have them work out is just amazing to me.
This last week Elder Covey and I spent working in Tamatave. We took two other elders with us to go and do splits up there to boost the areas and the work. Two of us went with one companionship (4 total elders). One set of elders taught the program that they had scheduled, the other set tracted all day long to look for new investigators to teach. It is still amazing to me just how receptive people are here to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I would tract and most times the very first door would let us in to share our message. One cool thing that I got to be apart of was the District Meeting. The district leader had asked me to give the lesson. I had thought that I had a lesson ready and then at the last minuted changed the lesson. I talked about exact obedience. I felt that some of the elders really needed it. We read from the white handbook and then from King Benjamins address in Mosiah. We talked about that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. I have a strong testimony of that. I know that obedience is the first law of heaven. I think that its just great that we have been given so much help from our heavenly father to help us here on earth. I had a couple of elders ask me after the meeting how they can start being exactly obedient. I thought it was really cool that they wanted to apply something that I taught. Made me feel like I was making a difference. I hope that I gave good advice and that I am a good example for them.
I have sent a couple of pictures home. I hope that you got them. I played with the lemurs a little, that was fun. I love you all so much. Thank you for all your prayers and help. I love being a missionary.
All My Love
Elder Herrin
Wow... it seems like it has been a long long time. Well, it has been. I apologize if it has taken me too long to write. I know that there are no excuses, but I have just been traveling and found that there is a lot to do. With that being said, I know that my family comes first... so starting now until I mess up again, I will keep it that way. I miss you all so much. With the holiday season coming up, I think of you often. I dont feel like its Christmas time, not even a little bit, but I know that this time of year brings great joy to us all. I hope that you find someone to spread this joy with during the season.
So its been a couple weeks and boy have I had some crazy adventures. We have been to Toliara, another beach province on the South East corner of Madagsikara, and we have also been to Tamatave. I want to share a couple of amazing experiences with you from those two week long trips.
Our first trip was originally planned for Fianarantsoa. We went and visited the missionaries down there so that President could do his interviews. We got down there and President looked to us and said, "We are already half way to Toliara, do you wanna continue on down the road and do interviews down there while we are at it?" Of course, Elder Covey and I agreed and we took off. We got in the car the next day and were on the road. Fun times when you get to talk to your mission President and his wife and learn from their experiences. We got to the beachy sands of Toliara and started interviews. That evening, President treated the 4 missionaries and us to dinner on the beach... Just amazing views. The food was good too. Then came the excitement.
The next day we got back on the road to head back to Tana. It was going to be a two day trip as its a cross country drive. We had planned to go all the way back to Fianarantsoa on one day and then make the rest of the drive the next day. The total km's for the first day was 511. We made it almost 300 when we stopped for lunch in this nice little town. We took off for the second half of the drive. When we got to km 500 we saw that cars had started to slow down to a complete stop. We werent sure what was the matter. So my companion and I started to ask around. We found out that there was a bridge that had given way... No one was going through the night. People had started to "set up camp" in their cars, on the road, wherever they could. We figured that it would not be a good idea to be there because we were white and we had things that were of value in the car. So we turned around headed back down the other way not knowing what to do. We pulled over to pray. We prayed that we would be able to find gas (something that we were running low on) and we prayed for protection and the reassurance that we would be ok for the night. We stopped to talk to a road police guy for a little bit after we had finished praying. He told us that he wasnt sure when the bridge would be fixed. We asked about gas. He happily responded that 10 minutes down the road was a gas station that was open 24/7. That in and of itself is a miracle because many gas stations are not 24/7 so to find one in the middle of no where was amazing. We got gas and decided that it would be best to meet up with one of the senior couple who was leaving Toliara the same day. We drove about 200km back towards toliara to the place that we had lunch. We had the couple get us a room and it all worked out. I know it may not seem like a whole lot, but to be in a situation like that where you are driving at 11 oclock at night praying that things will work and then to have them work out is just amazing to me.
This last week Elder Covey and I spent working in Tamatave. We took two other elders with us to go and do splits up there to boost the areas and the work. Two of us went with one companionship (4 total elders). One set of elders taught the program that they had scheduled, the other set tracted all day long to look for new investigators to teach. It is still amazing to me just how receptive people are here to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I would tract and most times the very first door would let us in to share our message. One cool thing that I got to be apart of was the District Meeting. The district leader had asked me to give the lesson. I had thought that I had a lesson ready and then at the last minuted changed the lesson. I talked about exact obedience. I felt that some of the elders really needed it. We read from the white handbook and then from King Benjamins address in Mosiah. We talked about that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. I have a strong testimony of that. I know that obedience is the first law of heaven. I think that its just great that we have been given so much help from our heavenly father to help us here on earth. I had a couple of elders ask me after the meeting how they can start being exactly obedient. I thought it was really cool that they wanted to apply something that I taught. Made me feel like I was making a difference. I hope that I gave good advice and that I am a good example for them.
I have sent a couple of pictures home. I hope that you got them. I played with the lemurs a little, that was fun. I love you all so much. Thank you for all your prayers and help. I love being a missionary.
All My Love
Elder Herrin
Pictures from Lemur Park
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| This is me feeding a lemur... on my shoulder. |
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| Then me trying my best to feed a small lemur while not making out with him... |
Pictures from Toliara Trip
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| Picture of Sis. Foote driving and Pres. in the passenger seat. Long drives... means change of drivers often. |
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| A beautiful picture of a sunset. |
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| Some people that sold us some great fruit along the way. They were happy to see that we spoke their language |
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