Dear Family,
How are we all doing this wonderful week? One month of 2015 already down... crazy right? I pray for you and always am hoping that you are doing well. So... not to get all selfish on you all, but I had a pretty great week that I would love to tell you all about.
So, it was extremely sad to be leaving Fort D. We had our last soiree with our Branch President on Monday, and left on Tuesday morning. I didnt really say goodbye to anyone. So, Tuesday morning I got on a flight to Tana. Pretty mediocre flight. Peanuts and a cup of juice. The rest of the day was just hanging out at the office. We stayed the night with the AP's then got up Wednesday morning really early and were at a bus stop that was taking me and one other elder to Tamatave. I went with Elder Tiu. He is deffinitely Asian American. He doesnt talk... at all, so we got along great. I tried to sleep, didnt happen. 8 hours later, we arrived in Tamatave. It is very very very hot here. I am also on bikes. My new comp picked me up from the bus stop and I was expecting to put my luggage in a taxi home, but we just bot a little pus pus for my luggage, and we rode our bikes home behind the pus. The work here goes pretty well. We are teaching around 20ish lessons a week. My companion is great. Elder Bowler is his name, and he is NOT from Utah. (Gasps everywhere) He is a funny kid who is great at the language. So, this week not a whole lot happened. I am trying to learn a new area, a new leadership position, and how to be a better missionary. I think I might have to swich the way I do my hair becuase the helmet that i have to wear is definitely messing my hair up. Not ok with me. So I ride my bike in all sorts of sand, which makes it really hard to go straight. I have already hit a bambo fence, fallen once, and made myself look pretty silly. Its all part of the process right? Ohh, so we did have a baptism this week. I didnt know the guy at all, but it was cool to be apart of another baptism here. I know that this gospel is true, that it brings the family the most happiness. I know that this work is what I need to be doing right now in this part of my life. I know that we recieve more blessings as we are more obedient to following the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thanks for all the support and love that you send. I love you all so much.
Elder Herrin
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Monday, February 2, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Four Missionaries and 3 Bandits... Sitting in the same car
Dear Family,
Wow, what a week. First, I need to apologize for not writing that much last week. I will do better at that, I promise! Secondly, I need to kind of prepare you all for this weeks letter. I am going to blow your minds with the story that I have for this week. Now, before I start with that I just want to say that I love you all and that I hope you are all happy and healthy!
So I am going to start with the big story that I have. Wednesday, January 28th 2015. Elder Herrin and Elder Yeagley were coming home from a great days work. Like six times of teaching and over 5 hours of proselyting time. We were quite happy with our day. As we were walking up the stairs to our house we could tell that something wasnt quite right... We walked in the door and the two other elders were in there with panicked looks on thier faces. They immediately said "We were robbed, everything is gone, the window is open...." Yaa so my heart kind of sank and I ran into my room. My camera was gone, the little amount of money that I had was gone, my camera cards, the dvd player that we use, I mean anything that you can think of was gone. They got a good amount of my stuff. So I quickly scanned and noticed that it was true, we had been robbed. I quickly walked into the living room where the other elders stood in confusion. Elder Fisher, the oldest of us all, said something rather wise. He stated that he knew who the bandit was. And after that we all left. We went to chase down our bandit. I will have you know that it is now about 10 at night. We went to one house, not there. However, someone knew where he was. We didnt share the reason that we were searching for our friend, just that it was quite important. (I should note, that this man we are looking for is a less active member of the other branch in Fort Dauphin) So we were on the road with a guy who said he knew where we could find Olivier. Thats the kids name who Elder Fisher figured stole from our house. We showed up to his house and ... he was not home. By this time the malagasies could tell something was up so everyone and thier mom were out of their house. We talked to the landlord (if thats what you wanna call it) and we asked if it would be ok if we entered the home of this young man named Olivier. He said of course and let us in. What would you know, we came across the majority of our stuff in this small little shack of a home. We found my chapstick, my companions tooth brush, three of the four cameras, a bag of ours, basically most of the stuff. I sat in the house with Elder Fisher while the other two went back to our house to get the phone charger. While they were out we talked to our mission pres, and branch pres. We had the branch pres, and the police coming. Ill get back to the police in a sec. So while I was waiting in the house I heard a really big russel outside the house. Appearently, Olivier had come home and had seen the big crowd of people at his house. First instict... RUN. Not on Elder Johnsons watch. Elder Johnson, in flip flops and pros clothes on, leaped and tackled the bandit to the ground. There was some resistance, but I tell you, "Johny" wrapped him up with great form so that he could not get away. The next hour and half, Elder Fisher and I sat in Oliviers house with him. He denied having part in any of the breaking and stealing... So now to the police. Elder Johnson went and got picked up by our Branch President to go pick up the Police. Yes, to GO PICK UP THE POLICE. They informed us when we called that they had no working vehicles at the moment so they needed a ride... Oh Madagascar! So Elder J and Y went to pick them up. They showed up to the scene in shorts, flip flops, holding an AK - 47. I was astonished, but whatever works right. The first thing they did is hand cuffed the Bandit. Then we left to where the Bandit said the "real bandits" were. We walked to another house and we didnt walk in, just the police. They came out ten minutes later with some the rest of our stuff and about a fifth of the money that we lost. And two more small teenagers in handcuffs. We walked (now about 11:30) to the car that picked us up to go to the police station. Talk about an awkward bus ride. All the missionaries, 3 bondis, a driver and branch president. When we got to the Police station we just dropped off the kids and basically left. We were told to come back first thing in the morning to do the paperwork, the statement, the whole deal. As we got in the car to drive away, we saw the very sad way the Gov. runs here. The 3 teenagers were starting to get beat by the six drunk police officers that were there. It literally was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to witness. I felt so bad for those young men. So the next morning we were at the Police Station for about 5 hours. We sat for a lot of it. Then we had to give a statement, retrieve our stolen items and do all that annoying stuff. There should be a trial, but Im not sure if they are going to do one. Anyway, that happened. Fun times. We also had a baptism this week. I was able to baptize an 11 year old who is in a part member family. His name is Bien Venue. Great kid. Then we got transfer news. I unfortunately am leaving Fort Dauphin. I am going to another beach province but its just not the same as Fort Dizzle. I am so great though. No one can take my spirirt from me. Thats all that I need here in Mada. I mean, its nice with a camera, and money, but none of that stuff goes with us to heaven right? I love you all so much and send my love from here in Mada.
Elder Herrin
Wow, what a week. First, I need to apologize for not writing that much last week. I will do better at that, I promise! Secondly, I need to kind of prepare you all for this weeks letter. I am going to blow your minds with the story that I have for this week. Now, before I start with that I just want to say that I love you all and that I hope you are all happy and healthy!
So I am going to start with the big story that I have. Wednesday, January 28th 2015. Elder Herrin and Elder Yeagley were coming home from a great days work. Like six times of teaching and over 5 hours of proselyting time. We were quite happy with our day. As we were walking up the stairs to our house we could tell that something wasnt quite right... We walked in the door and the two other elders were in there with panicked looks on thier faces. They immediately said "We were robbed, everything is gone, the window is open...." Yaa so my heart kind of sank and I ran into my room. My camera was gone, the little amount of money that I had was gone, my camera cards, the dvd player that we use, I mean anything that you can think of was gone. They got a good amount of my stuff. So I quickly scanned and noticed that it was true, we had been robbed. I quickly walked into the living room where the other elders stood in confusion. Elder Fisher, the oldest of us all, said something rather wise. He stated that he knew who the bandit was. And after that we all left. We went to chase down our bandit. I will have you know that it is now about 10 at night. We went to one house, not there. However, someone knew where he was. We didnt share the reason that we were searching for our friend, just that it was quite important. (I should note, that this man we are looking for is a less active member of the other branch in Fort Dauphin) So we were on the road with a guy who said he knew where we could find Olivier. Thats the kids name who Elder Fisher figured stole from our house. We showed up to his house and ... he was not home. By this time the malagasies could tell something was up so everyone and thier mom were out of their house. We talked to the landlord (if thats what you wanna call it) and we asked if it would be ok if we entered the home of this young man named Olivier. He said of course and let us in. What would you know, we came across the majority of our stuff in this small little shack of a home. We found my chapstick, my companions tooth brush, three of the four cameras, a bag of ours, basically most of the stuff. I sat in the house with Elder Fisher while the other two went back to our house to get the phone charger. While they were out we talked to our mission pres, and branch pres. We had the branch pres, and the police coming. Ill get back to the police in a sec. So while I was waiting in the house I heard a really big russel outside the house. Appearently, Olivier had come home and had seen the big crowd of people at his house. First instict... RUN. Not on Elder Johnsons watch. Elder Johnson, in flip flops and pros clothes on, leaped and tackled the bandit to the ground. There was some resistance, but I tell you, "Johny" wrapped him up with great form so that he could not get away. The next hour and half, Elder Fisher and I sat in Oliviers house with him. He denied having part in any of the breaking and stealing... So now to the police. Elder Johnson went and got picked up by our Branch President to go pick up the Police. Yes, to GO PICK UP THE POLICE. They informed us when we called that they had no working vehicles at the moment so they needed a ride... Oh Madagascar! So Elder J and Y went to pick them up. They showed up to the scene in shorts, flip flops, holding an AK - 47. I was astonished, but whatever works right. The first thing they did is hand cuffed the Bandit. Then we left to where the Bandit said the "real bandits" were. We walked to another house and we didnt walk in, just the police. They came out ten minutes later with some the rest of our stuff and about a fifth of the money that we lost. And two more small teenagers in handcuffs. We walked (now about 11:30) to the car that picked us up to go to the police station. Talk about an awkward bus ride. All the missionaries, 3 bondis, a driver and branch president. When we got to the Police station we just dropped off the kids and basically left. We were told to come back first thing in the morning to do the paperwork, the statement, the whole deal. As we got in the car to drive away, we saw the very sad way the Gov. runs here. The 3 teenagers were starting to get beat by the six drunk police officers that were there. It literally was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to witness. I felt so bad for those young men. So the next morning we were at the Police Station for about 5 hours. We sat for a lot of it. Then we had to give a statement, retrieve our stolen items and do all that annoying stuff. There should be a trial, but Im not sure if they are going to do one. Anyway, that happened. Fun times. We also had a baptism this week. I was able to baptize an 11 year old who is in a part member family. His name is Bien Venue. Great kid. Then we got transfer news. I unfortunately am leaving Fort Dauphin. I am going to another beach province but its just not the same as Fort Dizzle. I am so great though. No one can take my spirirt from me. Thats all that I need here in Mada. I mean, its nice with a camera, and money, but none of that stuff goes with us to heaven right? I love you all so much and send my love from here in Mada.
Elder Herrin
Monday, January 26, 2015
Sorry
Yaaaa so had a bunch of things to do on Pday so I will write on next monday!! i love you all... the gospel is true!
elder herrin
elder herrin
Monday, January 19, 2015
You Would Not Believe...
Dear Family,
What a wonderful week I had this week. I just want to first call Brock out and say that I was totally jealous of all the wonderful parties... (Martinellis, Chick-fil-A, member meals) that you were able to partake in. I shared your pics and stories with the 3 other missionaries down here and we all came to the conclusion... "Must be hard as an American missionary" Hahahah! I miss you a ton though man. I also wish I was home with you guys for the super bowl and the wonderful sports that just happen to be taking place right now! Man I miss watchin that stuff with mom and dad. I hope you are enjoying all of that and just imagining how happy Cole would be if he could be watching it with you. So... you would not believe the week I had, or the things that happened!
So this week was awesome. In a different way than usual. We started off the week really well. Last Monday we had a Soiree!! Yes, that is where we got fed! Soooo cool! But the way cool part was the game we played. The game was called ... well there is no name. The game goes like this... One person stands in the middle of a room. He is blindfolded and spun around till he does not know where he is, direction wise. While he is being spun, the other players move around on the couch so they are not sitting where they were when the (it person) was still seeing. Then the (it person) walks around with a big spoon... trying to hit someone. When someone is hit, the (it person) says "make the sound of a..." and the person that was hit had to make the sound of the animal that was asked of him. If the (it person) guesses who made that sound, he wins. It was so so funny. Let me get to the real fun this week. So about Wednesday, there started to be this huge cloud. It looked as if a huge paper covered the sky and took away the nice blue sky with sun. It rained a little on Thursday, but nothing too bad. We were drenched by the end of the day, but it wasnt anything too out of the ordinary. Then came Friday. It was EXTREMELY horrible weather. Like rain, wind, flying things... so we called the AP's. It may have been because we wanted to go home and not be caught in this weather, but we had good intentions. The news we got back, was that it was a class one hurricane, so we were still good to work. REALLY?? So, I got that goin for me. Then, later that day while we were just walkin to a time, a man stopped us. I had taught this man a couple of times before. His name is Axel, and he just isnt all there. So, he walked up to us and asked us why we were "manaratsying" his church. Which means why were we making his church bad. I was confused, but like literally 2 seconds after he said that his father was an American. Ok, first I know thats just not true, and second, like I am trying to make the connection as to why his father being an american has anything to do with the apocolypsy church. Then, he made a little more sense and said that because his father was american, he started the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. He was like, "yaa, my dad started your church" So I was like ohh, your dad is Joseph Smith... He didnt use the wording "started" but "mitondra" so it makes sense to talk about Joseph Smith. Ok.. so my comp and I by this time are like just realizing he is just crazy. Thats when things went from one level to the next. He explained to us that he could transform into a dragon. Yes, you did read that correctly. Now, when he said this, I was about in tears from laughter, but I tried to compose myself and just act like a missionary. My comp did a great job and said.. well go for it. He just asked him to transform for us right then and there. I was so laughing and just then, he said he could transform into a tiger, eagle, a sea animal... ohh man. Then he went into how and why he transformed... I will explain that another time. Ohh, the things you get to see in Mada. Then I come to my last crazy story. So in Mada, we are always asked by anyone and everyone to give money. ALWAYS! One day this week, there was a crazy grandma who asked for money, and I explained to her that we were not allowed to give money, but I had a piece of bread that I could give her. Before I could finish my sentence, the bread was gone. I thought that I was done with this grandma. Then came Saturday night. We were talking to an investigator about changing a time, when all of a sudden my bottom gets slapped. I kind of thought it was a kid, but when I turned around to see, it was gma... AHHH! She was doing her best to be seductual. Like moving her hips and kissing the one bill that she had in her hand. I was just flabergasted that gma actually had the cojones to slap my butt. I turned around to finish my convo when I got slapped again... oh heck no gma. I told my comp we were leaving and he turned around and shook gmas hand. Mistake. As she shook his hand, she pulled him in and made an attempt at a little kiss. Matrix hit Elder Yeagley and dodged gma. When we tried to leave, but as I side stepped, so did she. So I ran. Take the advice of momma Herrin. RUN! Other than that, the work is going great. We are going to have at least on baptism on the 31st so we are really excited. I miss you guys so much!
All my love
Elder Herrin
What a wonderful week I had this week. I just want to first call Brock out and say that I was totally jealous of all the wonderful parties... (Martinellis, Chick-fil-A, member meals) that you were able to partake in. I shared your pics and stories with the 3 other missionaries down here and we all came to the conclusion... "Must be hard as an American missionary" Hahahah! I miss you a ton though man. I also wish I was home with you guys for the super bowl and the wonderful sports that just happen to be taking place right now! Man I miss watchin that stuff with mom and dad. I hope you are enjoying all of that and just imagining how happy Cole would be if he could be watching it with you. So... you would not believe the week I had, or the things that happened!
So this week was awesome. In a different way than usual. We started off the week really well. Last Monday we had a Soiree!! Yes, that is where we got fed! Soooo cool! But the way cool part was the game we played. The game was called ... well there is no name. The game goes like this... One person stands in the middle of a room. He is blindfolded and spun around till he does not know where he is, direction wise. While he is being spun, the other players move around on the couch so they are not sitting where they were when the (it person) was still seeing. Then the (it person) walks around with a big spoon... trying to hit someone. When someone is hit, the (it person) says "make the sound of a..." and the person that was hit had to make the sound of the animal that was asked of him. If the (it person) guesses who made that sound, he wins. It was so so funny. Let me get to the real fun this week. So about Wednesday, there started to be this huge cloud. It looked as if a huge paper covered the sky and took away the nice blue sky with sun. It rained a little on Thursday, but nothing too bad. We were drenched by the end of the day, but it wasnt anything too out of the ordinary. Then came Friday. It was EXTREMELY horrible weather. Like rain, wind, flying things... so we called the AP's. It may have been because we wanted to go home and not be caught in this weather, but we had good intentions. The news we got back, was that it was a class one hurricane, so we were still good to work. REALLY?? So, I got that goin for me. Then, later that day while we were just walkin to a time, a man stopped us. I had taught this man a couple of times before. His name is Axel, and he just isnt all there. So, he walked up to us and asked us why we were "manaratsying" his church. Which means why were we making his church bad. I was confused, but like literally 2 seconds after he said that his father was an American. Ok, first I know thats just not true, and second, like I am trying to make the connection as to why his father being an american has anything to do with the apocolypsy church. Then, he made a little more sense and said that because his father was american, he started the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. He was like, "yaa, my dad started your church" So I was like ohh, your dad is Joseph Smith... He didnt use the wording "started" but "mitondra" so it makes sense to talk about Joseph Smith. Ok.. so my comp and I by this time are like just realizing he is just crazy. Thats when things went from one level to the next. He explained to us that he could transform into a dragon. Yes, you did read that correctly. Now, when he said this, I was about in tears from laughter, but I tried to compose myself and just act like a missionary. My comp did a great job and said.. well go for it. He just asked him to transform for us right then and there. I was so laughing and just then, he said he could transform into a tiger, eagle, a sea animal... ohh man. Then he went into how and why he transformed... I will explain that another time. Ohh, the things you get to see in Mada. Then I come to my last crazy story. So in Mada, we are always asked by anyone and everyone to give money. ALWAYS! One day this week, there was a crazy grandma who asked for money, and I explained to her that we were not allowed to give money, but I had a piece of bread that I could give her. Before I could finish my sentence, the bread was gone. I thought that I was done with this grandma. Then came Saturday night. We were talking to an investigator about changing a time, when all of a sudden my bottom gets slapped. I kind of thought it was a kid, but when I turned around to see, it was gma... AHHH! She was doing her best to be seductual. Like moving her hips and kissing the one bill that she had in her hand. I was just flabergasted that gma actually had the cojones to slap my butt. I turned around to finish my convo when I got slapped again... oh heck no gma. I told my comp we were leaving and he turned around and shook gmas hand. Mistake. As she shook his hand, she pulled him in and made an attempt at a little kiss. Matrix hit Elder Yeagley and dodged gma. When we tried to leave, but as I side stepped, so did she. So I ran. Take the advice of momma Herrin. RUN! Other than that, the work is going great. We are going to have at least on baptism on the 31st so we are really excited. I miss you guys so much!
All my love
Elder Herrin
Monday, January 12, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
Happy New Year
Dear Family,
I can only imagine the week that you all have had. I hope it was fun and full of laughter. I know that laughter just makes everything a whole lot better! I sure did miss family though. With Christmas just passing and now New Years, the traditions of Martinellis at the Browns, card games, the ball drop, all run through your head as you are walking around in the dead beat of summer spreading the great word of God. My week was just wonderful, let me tell you all about it!
So our week started off kind of lame. Last week we were supposed to have this really cool P-day where we went and saw this huge waterful and maybe or maybe not walk through it... We got to the gate and they were trying to make us pay extra because they said we were touristst... Uhhh then he realized we spoke his language. So he called his boss who is a white French man. He spoke little english and actually quite rude stated: "If you dont have a residence card with you, you can either pay or leave" He sped away on his motorcycle after that. I thanked the Malagasy man and we left. Really disappointing, but we just dont have that much money to go and spend. So we just walked home all sad. The week of work was better than last week. There was just as many drunks... but for some reason we were able to teach more times than we were last week! Soo, we had some real funny happenings go on this week. As we all know, it was New Years. The fomba here in Madagascar is whenever there is a celebration Malagasies do this thing called bisous. That is this little kissy thing from cheeck to cheeck. You go one side to the other and back to the first side, each time your cheecks touch. Yaa we had a couple of old men, and some women come up to us this new year and expect this little bisous. Should I have done it, probably not, but did I want to ruin the fomba and be a disgrace, no. So I did it, and boy it was awkward cause of the sweat beads that ran down my cheeck. You know, I am positive that there were more funny things that happened this week, its just hard to remember. But so there was this one thing that still hasnt happened yet. So, last Tuesday, we got a call from the mission office that said they sent down the mail that we 4 elders have recieved on a bus. That meant that like packages from family, letters from girlfriends, and hopefully lots of candy was headed our way! We got way excited and headed over to the bus stop where the bus was supposed to be. Not here yet. The next day we found out that the bus was in an accident. Now, this probably doesnt make sense to you, but the bus was supposed to get here Tuesday, which meant that the bus left Sunday. Its like a two day drive through the worst roads ever. AND, 50% of the time, the bus's get hit up by a gang and people lose all they have. But its the only way for us to get mail. So we found out that there was an accident and we waited and waited... STILL has not shown up. UGGGHHHH! I guess there are more important things, but who knows what is in those packages?? Today we tried to get our mind off of that by cleaning. We got up and did a deep cleaning of the house and I feel really relieved! Anyway, cant complain that I am working here in paradise! I love it here and the people I have come to know! I continue to feel the spirit here and feel myself growing in the language, spiritually, and ... physically :( I love you all so much!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
I can only imagine the week that you all have had. I hope it was fun and full of laughter. I know that laughter just makes everything a whole lot better! I sure did miss family though. With Christmas just passing and now New Years, the traditions of Martinellis at the Browns, card games, the ball drop, all run through your head as you are walking around in the dead beat of summer spreading the great word of God. My week was just wonderful, let me tell you all about it!
So our week started off kind of lame. Last week we were supposed to have this really cool P-day where we went and saw this huge waterful and maybe or maybe not walk through it... We got to the gate and they were trying to make us pay extra because they said we were touristst... Uhhh then he realized we spoke his language. So he called his boss who is a white French man. He spoke little english and actually quite rude stated: "If you dont have a residence card with you, you can either pay or leave" He sped away on his motorcycle after that. I thanked the Malagasy man and we left. Really disappointing, but we just dont have that much money to go and spend. So we just walked home all sad. The week of work was better than last week. There was just as many drunks... but for some reason we were able to teach more times than we were last week! Soo, we had some real funny happenings go on this week. As we all know, it was New Years. The fomba here in Madagascar is whenever there is a celebration Malagasies do this thing called bisous. That is this little kissy thing from cheeck to cheeck. You go one side to the other and back to the first side, each time your cheecks touch. Yaa we had a couple of old men, and some women come up to us this new year and expect this little bisous. Should I have done it, probably not, but did I want to ruin the fomba and be a disgrace, no. So I did it, and boy it was awkward cause of the sweat beads that ran down my cheeck. You know, I am positive that there were more funny things that happened this week, its just hard to remember. But so there was this one thing that still hasnt happened yet. So, last Tuesday, we got a call from the mission office that said they sent down the mail that we 4 elders have recieved on a bus. That meant that like packages from family, letters from girlfriends, and hopefully lots of candy was headed our way! We got way excited and headed over to the bus stop where the bus was supposed to be. Not here yet. The next day we found out that the bus was in an accident. Now, this probably doesnt make sense to you, but the bus was supposed to get here Tuesday, which meant that the bus left Sunday. Its like a two day drive through the worst roads ever. AND, 50% of the time, the bus's get hit up by a gang and people lose all they have. But its the only way for us to get mail. So we found out that there was an accident and we waited and waited... STILL has not shown up. UGGGHHHH! I guess there are more important things, but who knows what is in those packages?? Today we tried to get our mind off of that by cleaning. We got up and did a deep cleaning of the house and I feel really relieved! Anyway, cant complain that I am working here in paradise! I love it here and the people I have come to know! I continue to feel the spirit here and feel myself growing in the language, spiritually, and ... physically :( I love you all so much!
All my Love
Elder Herrin
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