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
Sunday, September 14, 2014
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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