Back To the COLD!

Dear Family,

How are you all doing this week?  It was so good to hear from mom again and have her tell me all about the adventures that you had.  I am so excited for Rhet and Maci to do that Trek thing and I am also way stoked to find out how the NBA finals play out!  I hope that you are all doing well, healthy and are smiling.  We live a wonderful life!

Sooo, this week was one for the books! I got transfers on Sunday night and left Tamatave on Tuesday morning.  It was a really long trip.  The bus broke down about a half hour in and we had to wait for another bus to come pick us up.  We left at 7 ish and got to Tana at 5:30... Long trip.  That night was so fun. I said goodbye to Elder Hein as he has finished his mission.  He was someone that I really looked to as a role model on the mission.  And we had a "sleepover" with all of the coolest missionaries.  Elder Davis being one of them.  So good to see him again...

Wednesday morning, we got on another bus and headed down to Antsirabe.  I got there and took a shower, then got to work.  No rest for the missionaries here.  My new companions name is Elder Obioma.  He is a 6'4 black guy.  Yes, I had to include that he was black because he wouldnt be elder obioma if he wasnt black.  He is awesome!  24 years old, convert to the church, and just knows what he is doing on the mission.  He is one of those people that is driven, who wants to work hard, to do whats right.  With all of that being said, my life has changed!  I workout with him every morning... well I try. My body is more sore that it was on a friday night game after Escalon.  I eat at home for every meal.  I am learning to cook.  And I am learning to work hard.  Its amazing what one black man can do for a white man.  Thanks Martin Luther King Jr.  Anyway, Antsirabe is awesome.  I just wanna share a couple of stories with you.

In the Antsirabe Branch there are sooo many returned missionaries.  One of them happens to be ex. sis. Zanarisoa.  She was in my district when I was training... We walked into their home for one of the two soiree's that we have and I heard the words, "Papa!" come out of her mouth.  I was shocked to find her sitting in the house.  It was so nice to sit and talk to her though.  I can actually speak malagasy now.  In terms of the work.  ITs going great. 
This week we found a lot of time to tract.  That was because a lot of people dropped us.  It happened all week.  Then Sunday rolled around.  We had two times in a row with "newer" investigators.  At the end of the restoration of the gospel lesson, I invited them to be baptized.  They both responded with yes and a testimony of how they had been waiting for something like that to happen.  It was so cool.  I am going to love it here, and if I dont freeze to death, I will turn this place into Zion!   I love being a missionary!

All my Love

Elder Herrin

The best family in Tamatave.  Fr. Christophe and his wife and kids.

The bus trip down to Tana...

The one and only Elder Obioma doing some contacting

More Goodbyes

Dear Family,

How are you all doing this week?  First week of summer, summer, summer.  A dip in the pool, a trip to the spa, endless days in my chaise, the whole world according to moi!  Ohh man, Maci was the only one that probably got that.  So, hows sports?  I hear that the warriors-cavs series is just insane.  Ohh man do I miss it!  Life in madagascar is just not slowing down.  Elder Herrin is, once again, moving areas!

I got transferred to Antsirabe!! It is the farmyy part of madagascar.  That means they have really good food for dirt cheap!  That means rice patties.  That means lots of fun.  It is also the coldest place in Madagascar right now, that should be really not fun since I am pretty zatra to the hot hot hot.  So let me tell you of the happenings this week.  Pretty eventful. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were great days.  We taught a total of ten lessons during those two days and were helping two of our investigators prepare for their baptism that they had on Saturday.  One lesson inparticular went to well.  We taught one of those investigators preparing for baptism about the temple.  We taught about the ordinances that we have to opportunity to  in them.  Oh the spirit was so strong as we testifies of the blessings we can recieve from doing temple work.  I miss the temple.  GO, if you have the chance. 

Wednesday and Thursday were quite good as well.  We met with our branch president to go over things for the baptism and after the meeting, he asked if he could help us teach.  I gladly said "yes please please" as we dont have member help often.  He is a baller!  We taught a family and our branch president like killed it in the lesson.  He was so nice to have.  Then I realized he was a returned missionary!  Still ballin!

Friday was a pretty slow day. 

Saturday was Baptism/Basketball day!!  Sooo, in Tamatave right now, there is a huge basketball tournament going on.  Its the "pros" of madagascar playing in a tournament trying to earn a spot on the national team.  One of the malagasy missionaries who is in tamatave right now actually played on the national team before the mission.  So he knew all about the tournament.  Now Elder Herrin knew that he had to teach English at the church at 12 and then the baptism was directly after that.  That meant that I had time in the morning to attend the basketball games.  That also meant that I gave permission for the other elders in the zone to attend as well.  I kinda felt a little bad that we were going during our studies, but come on.  Basketball. 

Baptism went great.  Everyone showed up and things went relatively smoothly.  Nohing really goes smooth as butter here in Madagscar.  I will send some pictures.  Sunday rained all day long, non stop.  Not fun to work in. 

I love you all so much and hope that you are having a great summer so far.  Remember, You can do what you want to do, when you do what youre supposed to do.  Nice.

Elder Herrin

This is a picture of Elder Razakamandimby blowing up a "balloon".  The elders thought that putting these around their feet would keep the water out.  DIdint work.

This week's update

Dear Family,

How are you all doing this week!?  I hope that graduation was fun and exciting.  I hope that you all enjoyed the thrills of the NBA playoffs.  And, I also hope and pray that you are happy and healthy.  "Because Im happpppy, come along, if you feel happy!!"  I hope that your summer looks great, I know that my winter looks awesome. 

So this week was great.  We started off the week great.  But, I have yet another emberassing story to tell.  So on monday night... My companion had returned home to our living quarters and were playing a card game before the other elders had returned home.  We decided that we would play one more game and then go to bed.  As we said that, we heard a small sound come from the kitched.  I figured it was just another lizard (as that it was it usually is).  We finished up the game and i went into the kitchen to brush my teeth (that is the only place with clean water) and I heard something moving in a box we had stored under the microwave.  So, elder herrin being elder herrin, he called for his companion to check it out.  Elder Trujillo walked in and I told him to look in the box.  He, realizing how freaked out I was, grabbed a broom to look and not use his hands.  He tilted the box to see inside and all he saw was something furry.  It was too dark to see.  So he called for me to get him a flash light.  We flashed the light on the box and a RAT the size of a gatorade bottle jumped out of the box and started to run....  This happened and I freaked out.  I screamed for like 5 minutes straight.  We didnt want it to leave the room, so we shut the door and tried to trap it.  I was still sceaming, so loud that a neighbor was frantically banging on the door thinking that something really bad was happening... well there was.  The other elders were still not home... so it was up to Trujillo and I to kill the rat.  We had him  in a corner... but we didnt exactly know where. We were pokin bags of rice and moving this and that.  We probably stood there for 10 minutes before I decided to start moving things. As I moved the microwave, out came ole Johnny!  I freaked again.  He had no where to go, but we had no idea how to kill him.  I grabbed a stick and Trujillo grabbed a pole.  As Johnny started for the door we got into position.  The elders were getting home and they heard me screaming so they ran upstairs and watched from the window as i shouted to not open the door.  I stood back as Trujillo started to swing his pole, furiously.  He was swinging back and forth hitting both the trash can and the oven.  He connected on a swing and Johnny layed limp.  we gave the pole to the malagasy to finish the job... we lit him on fire after that, just to make sure he was not gonna come back... oh good times. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were great teaching days.  We got a lot done and were really making some good progress with our investigators.  On Thursday we had a zone meeting where elder trujillo and I talked about becoming the 4th missionary!  its froma talk given by an old man in 2002.  Its an amazing talk for missionaries and just pushes you to be better and better.  We taught a new family this week who has aleady learned twice from different sets of missionaries.  We hope that he will be ready this time to enter the waters of baptism.  Friday was a little rough as I fell asleep during our studies and didnt wake up until 3... I guess i was just really tired.  We went out to work after that and taught some great times.  We met Alex (who is gettin baptized on Saturday) and we had a little soiree with him.  I made moms or gmas chocolate cookies and they turned out awesome! I love cooking, well, baking.  This week my companion and I made mexican food for a couple meals.  It took forever, but boy was it good. 

We end every week with a meal at Pres. Pauls.  He is the District President here in Tamatave.  He feeds all 10 missionaries every Sunday night.  Such a nice man.  And SUCH GOOD food.  Last night we had cotelette with beans as the laoka. 

I love you all so much.  I feel so blessed to be serving here.  I know that this truly is the Lords work. 

Elder Herrin 

Elder Trujillo, Stringfellow, and I

Cross eyed maybe

Us at Pres. Pauls

The RAT

The mexican food that Trujillo made

Playin Ball

Goals... Not Met

Dear Family,

How are we doing this week?  Excited?  Nervous?  I know that its the last week of school, thats always a fun thing.  Maci is going into High School, Rhet is gonna be concidered an "upper classmen"... CRAZY!!  And cant forget about the big man on campus, Ty is going into Pre-School!  Hahaha, just kidding, he is almost 10 years old.  That means I am old and mom and dad are even older.  Ohh, this week was a hard one.  Just another reason to smile, right?

Tuesday, we were supposed to have MLC... we missed the memo on it getting changed to Thursday.  That morning when we found out that it got changed, the AP's told us that they had some goals for the zone here in Tamatave.  I wont explain cause it wont make much sense, but it was a lot more work for the elders, but reachable.  There was incentive though... thank goodness.  Because that Tuesday it poured raining.  Just dumped.  I told it to go to Cali... didnt really listen to me. 

Thursday... i hated Thursday.  So if you havent thanked God for where you are living right now, DO IT!  On Thursday, Jirima (the power and water company) came to our house and shut our power off... Not good.  They claimed that we had not paid our bill the last 3 months.  (This story sounds familiar) But, we HAD paid, so I got to go to the cyber, print out the bills, take them to the not so happy woman at Jirima... go BACK to the cyber to print out a bill from 2012, go BACK to Jirima and the angry woman.  Listen to the angry woman call us maditra (naughty) and then go to the house and wait for the guy to come to our house and turn our power and water back on.  Meanwhile, we got a call from the AP's telling us that one of the elders from our zone would be leaving on monday to go to La Reunion.  Meaning that one elder will not have a comp for two weeks until the transfer.  Wow.

Friday was a pretty good day of work.  We got quite a bit done to make up for Thursday's Jirima day.  We got invited to our branch presidents birthday party (on accident) and spent some time watching how a birthday party in madagascar happens.  They had the missionaries and some family over.  They got a "cake" and the little boy ate the cake with us.  He got 5 pieces of chocolate as he loves chocolate for his gift.  Then they played music and all the little kids in the neighborhood danced with the newest 3 year old in town!  Awesome!

Saturday was the epitome of bad days.  We had about 8 lessons planned, all of which I thought were going to be awesome.  We caught 1.  It was just one of those days where all the world falls in on you and you feel totally useless.  Elder Herrin needs to work on Patience. 

Sunday was really stressful as well.  We had some times that didnt help.  One time dealt with a really old member that is less active.  He was telling us how he doesnt feel like the church is normal, so he now attends the catholic church because its more organized... Ohh that just made my fists clench.  But, you know what, when it all comes down to a dot.  The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is TRUE.  I know it, I live it, I love it.  Who ever would have thought that Cole Herrin would be saying those words? 

I am so grateful to be serving here.  I know that we are all giving trials and tests to help us.  Keep the faith and pray hard.  I love you.

All my Love

Elder Herrin

This is yaa boii playin some ball with the malagasys on P day.

Me throwin an alley oop for elder razakamandimby

My dinner the other night! (name: ravitoto)

The birthday boy.. pickin his nose!

Rain Rain, Go Away

Dear Family,

What a long week.  After being able to skype you guys on Monday, it seemed as though this week was way long.  It didnt help that it rained like every single day this week making work just that much harder.  Every morning, Elder Razakamandimby would play that guitar and sing Jack Johnsons "Bananna Pancakes" and sing about how its raining and we dont need to go outside... Real hard to get out to work sometimes.  But, we always did and we were always grateful that we did. 

This week was full of surprises, as is every week here in Madagascar.  One of them being that we had Branch Conference yesterday.  That wouldnt have been that big of deal, except for the fact that my companion and I were asked to be a part of the choir.  They were in desperate need of male voices and the white guys were the ones they wanted.  So that was an interesting experienc as we sang in both Malagasy and French... My french accent is not good AT ALL... hahah.  It was quite a crack up as I had to stop after every line and ask how to read the phrase in french. 

The work is going great.  This week we were able to visit a lot of less actives, just like the last few weeks.  haa... let me tell you about one of the times that we had with a less active family.  So, the husband is like 79 and the wife is 52... yaa its a malagasy thing, dont ask.  They have one daughter who I believe is not baptized, but learned from the missionaries when the parents were baptized.  We talked to them about the importance of prayer and how to recieve answers to prayers.  They didnt really have much to say, so before I ended the lesson I asked if they would be attending church this week. The mother told me that because her daughter was attending some catholic communion or something.  And because of that, the parents cant attend church.  My companion knows kind of what was going on so he explained to me what the catholic thing was, but I, (being kind of stubborn) asked why the parents couldnt come to church.  My comp, again, tried to tell me in english why they couldnt and explain the catholic thing, but I just wanted to be a butt I guess and ask why thieir daughters  catholic church was effecting them.  They didnt have an answer other than it would be too hard to go to both... some things just bother elder herrin I guess. 

In other news, things are going great here in Tamatave.  It is starting to cool down, only at night though.  I love working here.  I love the mission.  I love you more.  Sorry the letter is kinda short this week.  Just know that I love you all.  Keep the faith. 

All my love

Elder Herrin

This is a picture of that dog i was telling you guys about. My comp is about 5'9... and the dog is still on its way up.

Thats the new church

This week's pics

Mother's Day skype with the family

Small boat that was sitting on the beach.  Gotta love it

This is the best golfing pose that I could come up with

Le Tour de Andranomadio

Dear Family,

Wow, after talking to you all today, it seems that things are going great!  It seems as if people are happy and healthy and living it up!  SMILE!  Hahah, I love receiving emails from you all and hearing about your lives and what you are doing.  It makes me happy to hear how well all of you are doing.  "Because i'm happy!"

So, this week was up and down and biking this way and that way.  On Tuesday morning we sent away 5 of the 10 elders here in Tamatave.  On that same day, one of the elders in the house got sick, so we had to stay home all day... dikan' izany hoe, CLEAN!! I cleaned the house.  I swept, mopped, did the dishes, and the tsisy.  It was a great day of getting things done around the house.  Then on Wednesday, we received 5 new missionaries, what an addition.

In my house we have 3 americans, a mexican, a malagasy, and a tahitian.  It is a party... well for the malagasy and the tahitian it is, but im pretty mellow, so I dont really party. But they are singing and playin the guitar, playing cards, and just having a great time.  Its fun to have them in the house.  My new companion's name is Elder Trujillo, he is the mexican if you didnt catch the name.  He is almost done with his mission, he has about 4 months left.  He is such an awesome elder who knows the bible like way well.  He is kinda quiet though, so I am gonna have to get him talkin a little more! 

The work this week was kinda slow. We were literally on our bikes for hours upon hours this week.  Riding this way and that, trying to find all of our less actives to teach.  I would get home and my shirt would be brown because of all the sweat and sand that came from my face.   I felt bad that I put my comp through all that on his first week here, but thats just missionary work baby.  How does it go Lloyd?  "SUCK IT UP!"  Hahaha.  We had 3 baptisms this week.  2 of them were member baptisms, so it was really cool to see a father baptize is child.  Well, only one kid had a father there, so I did the other member baptism.  Our investigator should have been (key word SHOULD) a member baptism, but his family waited till he was 10 before they told us (the missionaries) that he needed to be taught.  Uhh #misisonaryprobs.  It was a great day and a great baptism none the less.  I do have one story to share this week.  I think I finally understand my purpose as a missionary.

So after the baptism, we had a time that night with a family of 5.  A father and a mother and thier 3 sons.  They have been learning, only once a week, for about 2 months.  On saturday night, we planned to teach about the Plan of Salvation.  They are a fun family, always having fun, crazy questions to answer.  As we taught about our life before this one, things started to get out of control.  Like, I got the question by one son, do animals get saved?  And we had questions about life after death... lots of questions.  The mother, understanding what we were teaching, looked distressed and almost as if she were about to cry.  She softly said that she would never be able to make it heaven because she couldnt get baptized.  I was shocked when I heard that.  Obviously, so was her "husband" cause he asked why.  The mother responded abruptly and almost in a yelling manner with "satria tsy vita mariajy isika, ok!" or in english "because we arent married ok!"  Then she turned to us missionaries and held up her ring finger to show us that there wasnt a ring.  That quickly changed the mood and setting of the lesson.  Long story short, the father realized that they couldnt get baptized unless they were legally married and it kind of boggled his mind.  He asked what our purpose was in coming to madagascar.  For one of the first time in my mission, I felt the stong impression and power of the Holy Ghost testify through me.  I told the wife that we were there to share a message about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and then to help the people that we share that message with, understand and accept it.  But our main goal is to help them live the gospel in thier lives so that they can one day live together in the Celestial Kindgom with thier family and God.  Man, it was crazy awesome saying all that in malagasy and with the spirit of God helping me out. I know that what I do and what I teach is true. 

I cant wait to be together with you all in the Celestial Kingdom.  I love you all so much.  I cant wait to skype next week, I love you.

Elder Herrin

 This the member baptism that happened.. love that family

Me with the two kids I baptized