Paradise

Dear Family,

How are we all doing this week?  I hope happy and healthy and just loving life!  I know I am... let me tell you about my first week in PARADISE!  So I started the week finishing in Ambohimangakely. I said bye to some great members... actually it was kind of really sad.  One of our investigators and father of a member family in our branch died on Monday... He was waiting for a bus on the side of the rode and the people said he just collapsed to his death.  Very sad time for the member family in our branch.  What was really great though was being able to talk about the fact that he will still be able to accept the gospel and be baptized through the great plan of salvation and through the temple!  Then on Wednesday morning I hopped on a plane (By myself I might add) and flew for about an hour to FORT DAUPHIN!  I got picked up by my new companion, Elder Lambert, and we drove to my new home.  I am going to add that my new house is about a football field length away from the ocean and I can see, hear, smell, almost fell, the ocean each and every day I wake up!  So, back to getting here, we went straight to work.  We taught like 7 times that day and like 6 hours of work!  I was drained.  IT IS SO HOTTT!! Fort Dauhpin is the most beautiful place, but one of the hottest in Mada.  I think I can stand the heat, if that means I get to live here... Haahaha!  So the next couple days that followed were amazing.  We have so so many investigators who love us, who want to learn, who are intelligent and know how to use their brain!  I am not saying that the malagasys didnt in my last area, but I am just saying people have brains here! hahah!  I love it!  My companion is great also.  I wasnt sure how we were going to work, but so far it has been magnificent!  He makes me laugh really hard.  So Saturday was a really long day.  A couple of times had dropped us and we were kinda feelin down.  Then my comp introduced me to the next best thing to Fort D... BREAD!  We bought this bread that I swear mom makes and just sends here to Mada.  Its your banana bread, just without the chocolate chips, SO good!  Little piece of home here!  So we were walking to our time with this bread and of course, many people passed by us and one of the men that did, started to talk to us.  So you have to know, the people here speak a different dialect, basically a different language.  All Malagasys understand Merina, which is what I learned, but not many people understand Antandroy... it sounds like so so so cool, so I want to learn way bad!  So, this guy walked by us and started talking to us in this dialect and my comp can understand most of it because he has been here almost 4 months.  But we were both just like dumb struck and didnt know what to say so my comp turned and said "eka, mandroso mofo" which translates to "yaa, have some bread"  ahahahah, I dont know why I thought that was so funny but it was just like something that really made me laugh!  When all else fails, mandroso the mofo!  Ohh so Sunday was great too!  We had 10 investigators at church and a total of 85!  My branch here is awesome!  Some way cool people and just way nice spirits in general here!  After church, we went to many times, but I ran into something that I had never run into before.  So we were teaching this man about prophets and apostles, and my comp let me start explaining that concept.  So I started with some questions... one of them being do we need prophets in todays world.  The man said no.  I said ok, well lets read Amos 3:7... and then I explained that God only works if it is through prophets, and proceeded to ask, does God work today?  The man responded with no.  He explained that the people in todays world are naughty, so God doesnt work.  The very next words came from my companion, and they were, so the people back then werent naughty...who killed Jesus? Hahahah, brain boggler for the man!  He was a great guy and we are just trying to help a brother out!  Then came today, PDAY!  The missionaries who have worked here before told me that the pdays in Fort D are the best in the world... so lets compare Brock!  Today, I got up and emailed for about 45 minutes.  Then, we went to Libanona beach where we got to walk in the water, walk out on top of the coral to a place where the waves crashed against the rock and showered over us for some AMAZING pictures. (Look up the beach, its on the web!)  When it was my turn, the largest waves just so happened to hit and knocked me over 3 times washing my sandals out to sea and cutting my feet and hands on the coral.  My sandals washed up to another beach where we found them and we walked around the beach!  Then we picked up so Leches on the way to lunch, ate, and now are cybering!  Tonight we get to be fed by one of the two branch presidents here in Fort D. That was just like 5 days here.... Paradise my friends!  I am so excited to be working here, to be helping the people, to teach the restored gospel, and to bless the Malagasy people here!  I am so grateful for your support and for your love, it does not go unappreciated!  Pictures to come!!!

All my love

Elder Herrin

Week 5 of the Transfer...

Dear Family,

How are you all doing this week?  I know that I say that in like almost all of my letters, but I genuinely want to know how you all are doing?  I dont get to hear from all of you so I just hope and pray that you are all doing as well as I am!  This week was great!  I had some great things happen and some really emberassing things happen!  All in all, it was a good week. 

So I started the week with the most emberassing moment of my mission thus far!  On Tuesday we have a dinner appointment with one of our member families.  It starts at 6, but because of how long winded my companion is we didnt start heading to their house until 6:30... I was not going to miss a dinner appointment, so I decided to run.  It was very dark and lets just say that I was running through a rice field.  The path was smaller than the size of Lukes foot and it wasnt smooth.  It was dirt that had piles of rice here, a rock or two there, up and down... So I must have lost all of my balance because I fell.  I forgot to mention that on either side of the small path is a ditch filled with water to feed the rice.  I fell waist deep in dirty muddy water.  I walked to my members house, and the father lent me a shrit and pants and his flip flops which were about a size 8... I could not have been more grateful!  It was funny looking back on it.  The work went ok this week.  We had a lot of people drop us, but we also committed 7 people to be baptized in December!  One of those families committed has become some great friends!  We had a time drop us on Friday and we just decided to pop by their house to see how they were doing, we ended up singing church hymns for 45 min with them!  They are great!  My week ended kind of down in the dumps though... As we were out on the edge of Ambohimangakely, we were waiting for a bus to take us back to where we needed to be to teach.  We got on one and so did about 45 other crazy drunk hyper people.  Within minutes there was yelling and people bickering over who got the window seat and what not... During all of this, my comp suggested that we get off.  We did so promptly and watched as a big fight broke out and people got hurt... Count your many blessings.  I thanked my companion for getting us off that bus and to safety!  Its the little things :)  I am still going strong, loving the people, and loving the work that I am doing!  I love you all so much! 

All my Love

Elder Herrin

So Training is over... Now what?

Dear Family,

I love you!  How are you all doing this week?  I hope your week was full of fun and joy and just happiness.  My week was good, it was one of those weeks as a missionary where you know that you are going to be transfered so I said some goodbyes and still did my best to not let that get in the way of the work!  Monday was good, we played soccer and tied... lame!  Tuesday we had a really big soiree with the family that I really love in my Branch.  I made peanut butter cups and I frosted brownies with strawberry pudding!  I felt like a baker fo sho!! They loved the treats so it made me feel really good! Wednesday and Thrusday were full of rain and lots of lessons!  I felt that I was blessed because with how much rain there was, I was only really wet for like one of the days... not bad!  Friday was good, nothing too special.  Saturday we had english class and I finally (the last english class in Ambohimangakely) mastered how to do it. There are about 6-8 people that show up.  3 of the students are really good and I can talk to just like I talk to you.  The rest are not good.  And since there is only one elder in my area who can teach english he has to try and teach both levels.  I finally got it this week.  I had exercises for the not so mahay and just was able to help the mahay learn better.  Sunday was way cool!  I got to eat lunch with our way awesome investigator.  We had rice and she made ravitoto... I can explain that one when I get home... she made that with crocodile meat.  Way good!  Then we taught a couple of times and they turned out to be like 90 minute lessons.  Is that how it is supposed to be... NO, but because my comp didnt bring an umbrella or a rain jacket, he prolonged the lesson because it was POURING rain!  We ended the day with a small soiree with members.  They wanted to say goodbye and it was just so nice of them!  So I dont know if you all remember my letter from about 6 weeks ago.  I talked about something called the BIG 3... Sooo I may or may not have been transfered to one of those BIG 3!! FORT DAUPHIN!  I am like so excited.  Mom, I dont know if you remember, but the day that we were driving up to BYUI and I was calling a few people to tell them about my call.  One of those people was Mrs. Gonzales and she was so excited for me that after the phone call I got like 3 pictures from her.  They looked like beach resorts and she was like thats where youre going.  We both kind of thought that thats not where I am going.... we were wrong.  Fort Dauphin is like the ultimate pretty vacation spot!  I was pretty excited!  I have a short plane flight on Wednesday and will start working there on Thursday!  So thats basically it for this week!  I hope you all know how much I appreciate your love and support.  I love you soo so much!

All my Love

Elder Herrin: the 1st

Fantastic Week!

Dear Family,

How are you all doing this week?  I hope that you are doing well and smiling each and every day!  I have truely been blessed this week and have just been so happy!  Let me tell you all about it.  So this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down, so Id like to take a minute just sit right here... ok yaa.  So Tuesday and Wednesday were great days.  The work is going well in Ambohimangakely and we are still doing our best to find people who are ready to hear our message.  Thursday was awesome.  We had Zone Meeting!  This transfer we got a new zone leader.  His name is Elder Hein.  I will explain a little bit more about Elder Hein later, but just know that he is like THE missionary.  So the meeting was great!  It was all about integrity and how we, as missionaries, need to be more accountable for our part of the Lord's vineyard... Kind of hit home to all of us and we are working harder than ever!  Friday was even better, I got to go on a split with Elder Hein.  Elder Hein:  Is from Texas, graduated 2013 and has been serving for just over a year.  He started in Ambositra just like I did!  Elder Hein is that guy that just brightens a room when he walks in.  He is the sociable, happy, smiling guy that everyone is just drawn too and comes to love as they know him.  He has come to be one of my biggest examples and someone I strive to be like more and more every day!  So that day, we taught 8 lessons... That is like my record as a missionary! It was so cool!  His area is so great and the people like can actually retain information so its a lot easier to teach!  We went back to his house and I stayed the night with him and the 4 other missionaries that he lives with!  That night, I stayed up talking with elder hein and elder koplin.  Elder Koplin is the kid from Kevins stake.  What a stud!!  Those two guys are awesome, we stayed up and looked at the clock after some good ole heart to hearts and found that it was 1 oclock in the morning... yaa thats not good.  The next morning we were up and gone by six because conference started at 8 up at the office... CONFERENCE!! It was so good!  I got a lot from it... including the fact that in my prayers, I should be asking for guidance as to who I should marry... probably wont be taking that advice just yet... I got to see all the missionaries from tana and sit and watch the talks of the prophet and the apostles with my elders!  It was just a great week and I could not be happier!  I will try and get some pictures home as I know it has been a while! I love you all so much and am so grateful for the thoughts and prayers in my behalf.  Attitude and Effort!

All my love

Elder Herrin

Summer time

Dear Family,

What a wonderful week it has been here in Antananarivo Madagascar!  I have been working in heat and rain and enjoying my time here in Ambohimangakely!  I also had some extremely funny moments and will share those with you! I hope that all of you are doing well, smiling oft, and enjoying the blessings of living the gospel of Jesus Christ!
So this week was great!  We had a lot of times drop on us, either because they were not home, there was no man at the house, or they just had stuff to do that couldnt wait... So we found some new people to teach!  One of the new families that we found turned out to be really fun and good to teach.  However, their father... So the father is like 50 years old (about) and he is like way ripped because he does manual labor all day!  He is bald with white hairs spread around his head that he missed from shaving... And the last adjective I will give about him is DRUNK!  So before I go into the story, I need you (Dad) to remember the episode of FRIENDS where I think that its Pheobe who has a boyfriend who doesnt wear any underwear and all the gang gets like a sneak peak at the coffee shop!  Ok, so back to the story, So we walk in and its everyone we teach except the dad... and things are going well, they tell us how happy they are to recieve us and all that and then the dad comes in like singing some random song at the top of his lungs! He then notices that there is a white man in the room and like takes his hat off and shakes my hand and goes off on this big shpeal about how he got in this fight with a white guy once... So his son, who is like 30, sits his father down and tells us to continue. So my companion starts the lesson, and no joke after every sentence my companion would say, the old man would ask for our address... Hahahaha!  Like thats the only thing he asked for... The mans son told us to try and talk over him.  So we tried to do that, but if you have ever tried to talk over a drunk, it doesnt work.  Then, all of a sudden he stood up.  He stumbled, because it was a quick stand, then stated that we all needed to pray... so he prayed.  In that prayer, he noted that he was grateful for his alcohol, for his girlfriend, then he asked Jesus to bless him with more money and said amen!  He was a happy fellow after that!  His son was emberassed, but couldnt do anything about it... So how does this all tie in to the episode of FRIENDS... yep, you guessed it, GPA didnt wear any underwear.  And he sat right in front of me.  I gagged a couple of times... tried to keep my eyes on the scriptures, but it was just like you know its there.  All of the friends in that episode like freak out every time he crosses his legs, so did I!  Hahaha.  Oh Madagascar!  The rest of the week was good.  I had some funny stories where I would ask who God was and get this strange answer like prayer... ok!  Other than that all is well here!  I am finding that the more I recognize the tender mercies of the Lord, the better my day goes.  I would extend a little invitation to you that if you are ever having a bad day, where people are be-littling you, or you just feel like you cant... seek for the tender mercies, his hand is always stretched out, we just have to reach out and grab it.  I am so happy to be serving here and cannot wait to experience more!   I love you all so much, I love being a missionary!

Elder Herrin

SUCK IT UP!

Dear Family,

I never realized how much I really appreciated the advice from Lloyd about just suckin it up!  Hahahah.  How are you all doing this week?  I hope that we are all doing well and loving life!  Remember: To be carnally minded is death, and do be spiritually minded is life eternal!  2 Nephi 9:39.  I gave that spiritual thought yesterday and the people loved it!  So this week has been up and down!  We had a good week overall with the work.  We racked up 26 hours of total proselyting time, taught about 20 times and felt pretty good about the area.  Tuesday was a good day, and so was wednesday. I am loving having more than one roomate in the house.  Its nice to come home after a day of work and just talk about it in english with other people who are doing the same thing! Thursday we had interviews with President Adams.  They went as well as they could have I think.  I am working with president to help my companionship grow.  I feel like every time it starts to get good, it stumbles and falls... That happened this week. It was going great, then we had interviews and all of a sudden I was a bad teacher and not a good companion, in my companions eyes.  So Saturday we went on a split with the AP's and I really enjoy having other people with us!  We taught some great times and got to do a little adventuring in my area.  We found this like winter wonderland area.  Every object was painted a different color and it was somewhat clean!  We found out that this area was owned by a man named Pedro.  He is like a pope and he buys homes for people but if you live there, you have to go to his church and do what he says and devote all your time and effort to him... seems cool right.. Sunday was good.  We had 54 at church which is way good for us!  We taught some way good times and got to get home a little early to do weekly planning that we werent able to do earlier this week because of conflicts.  So, just a side note.  I have had the WORST luck with using the bathroom this week!  In our house we, every couple days, lose power and water pressure.  But you never know when it hits or when water stops... So there have been like two times this week where I just go UNload on the toilet and then there is no water to flush it down.  So I just walk away and wait till I hear the "OHHH are you SERIOUS!!!" from someone in the house!! And then we were headed up the mountain to this time yesterday and I had to pee.  So I went inbetween two abandoned houses and started to go.  Mid stream, a woman walks up from the other side of the houses... ughhh yaa that was an awkward stare.  Other than that, I am doing well!  I am working hard and doing my best to help these short malagasys!  Thanks for all of the love and support.  I love being a missionary!

All my Love

Elder Herrin

I have ROOMATES!!

Dear Family,

This week has been great!! But I just like to pretend like I am not going to talk about myself first and ask how you are doing?  How is health, sports, and school? I hope that all is well and that we are all happy! Ok, so this week was just fantastic!  I recieved two roomates that live in my house now!  One elder I have previously worked with and he is training!  Elder Webb is the trainer and Elder Nelson is the trainee... both AMERICAN!! yes, that means they speak english!  I have been talking like non stop to them.  I dont have to talk to myself anymore.  I dont know if I shared this with you before, but when it was just my comp and me at the house, I would talk to myself and tell stories as if someone was listening to me... pretty pathetic, but it was nice to just talk.  Now I have two people who can respond to my speaking!! In other news, my comp and I are doing a lot better.  He finally decided to recieve my advice and we are teaching much better TOGETHER now!  He still feels the need to retrace my words every time, but at least we are switching off with the teaching...So this week was pretty crazy just with everyone moving to their new areas.  I did not get to work a full week because I was helping here, showing areas there, and I have the only set of keys to our house, so I had to be home early to let the other elders in.  I also got to experience my very fist rain storm.  Yesterday night we were way up in a mountain teaching a father about Joseph Smith.  We couldnt hear a word anyone was saying becuase it was so loud from the rain hitting the tin roof.  We walked down the mountain to the bus stop and by then I was literally DRENCHED in water.  Everything was wet and we had to wait about 20 minutes in the pouring rain for a bus to come through and swoop the missionaries! I was not happy at all that I was soaken wet!  Any way, things are going well here in Mada, just passed my 7 month mark if you can believe that?? I love serving here, and I love working with the malagasy people!  I love you all so much.  I love being a missionary!

Elder Herrin