Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Holy Tracting!
Dear Family,
What a wonderful week I have had working here in Ambohimangakely! On Tuesday we had a couple of appointments with some contacts that we had recieved the week earlier. How funny that all of them (3) dogged us and either werent home or "couldnt learn". So that day we tracted for 6 and a half hours!! We got a total of like 11 contacts and it was just a really good feeling to have worked so hard that day and to have it pay off. Wednesday was crazy too, we were asked by our branch to practice soccer with them because they want to be ready for their match that is coming up this week. So we went for like two hours in street clothes, and then quickly changed in the church and went out to work. We taught a couple of times but for some reason, many of our times fell through. Very frustrating. Thursday was a new experience for me as well. We had district meeting in the morning. In Ambositra we never had meetings with anyone because we were so far away from people. Now in my district, it is my companion and I and then 4 sisters... One is American, one is from Portugal, one is a Malagasy, and the other is Tahitian. They are fun and I still dont really know them but know that I will be working with them longer. After the district meeting we went to lunch with them and then went out to work. So since we have basically dropped our whole schedule, we are pretty much tracting every day because we need people to teach. And oh boy is it an experience to knock on someones door in Madagascar. We have had both good and bad and funny experiences. Some people will come out and let us share our message with them and then say, "I already have a faith, I dont have time for yours" others just look at us from a window above and shake their heads... thats the best. One guy, while I was in the middle of sharing my little intro, just walked inside without saying a word...Ok, I think I can take that SMALL hint. One lady, while we were walking home, kind of threw herself at me and started to grab for some areas that we not free for grabbing, so I ran from her. Also while tracting we found ourself in an area by a church where the people who attend this church are given a house the exact same as all the other members. But they must work for the church everyday and do everything that is asked of them. While I was writing that I kind of thought it sounded like our church, but its way different because we have agency to make our own choices. Yep, good times. On Saturday we had two baptisms as well! However, the reason we had the baptisms this week and not last was because the wife would not get baptized in cold water... so we went to another church (still LDS) that supposedly had hot water in the font. When we got there we tested the water and oh boy was it so not warm... When it came time to baptize her (which I had the wonderful opportunity to do) she started to walk in the water and she kind of gasped and not yelled but said out loud "ANDRIAMANITRO" which is God in Malagasy... so ya she basically used the Lords name in vane while about to be baptized... it was great. When I put her under the water, she came up freaking out. I had to hold her still because she was like having a spasm attack and I wasnt sure what to do, but she, after about 10 sec, gained control. Sunday was another odd day. Church was really nice, I was fasting, I was feeling the spirit, and I was ready for the schedule that we had. We had like 6 lessons to teach that day. Our first one dropped because they were leaving town for the day... We got our next time and then my companion and I tried 8 houses that we could teach and none of them could! Are you serious. It was about 3:30 and our next time was at 5. So we just decided to go early... This time was a contact that we got earlier in the week and it was like 3 different families that lived together so it was a lot of people and they seemed really interested so we showed up and half of the adults were drunk, like wayyyy drunk. Are you serious... Oh, I was not just going to leave after the day that we had already had so I made them listen to me pray, and then I started to preach, I really thought I was going to make this work. But if any of you have tried to teach a couple of drunk women oh man I couldnt get a word out without one of the woman hitting the other, yelling something, laughing out loud... so we asked if we could pray and we left. Our last time worked out well though. We got to teach about God, Jesus Christ and the role they play in our lives and how they bless our families. So that was kinda my week summed up, the short version. Just some quick side notes, I cut my own hair this week for the first time ever... Yes, I did. Did I know what I was doing, NO. Does it look good, NO. But hey, who really cares, I am in Madagascar. My comp, who does his hair just laughed at me the whole time I tried to do it. I also continue to play soccer and beat the club team here in Madagascar. And one last thing, I finally got a bible in Malagasy... so useful! Hahaha. I love you all so much and know that the work I am doing is true.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
What a wonderful week I have had working here in Ambohimangakely! On Tuesday we had a couple of appointments with some contacts that we had recieved the week earlier. How funny that all of them (3) dogged us and either werent home or "couldnt learn". So that day we tracted for 6 and a half hours!! We got a total of like 11 contacts and it was just a really good feeling to have worked so hard that day and to have it pay off. Wednesday was crazy too, we were asked by our branch to practice soccer with them because they want to be ready for their match that is coming up this week. So we went for like two hours in street clothes, and then quickly changed in the church and went out to work. We taught a couple of times but for some reason, many of our times fell through. Very frustrating. Thursday was a new experience for me as well. We had district meeting in the morning. In Ambositra we never had meetings with anyone because we were so far away from people. Now in my district, it is my companion and I and then 4 sisters... One is American, one is from Portugal, one is a Malagasy, and the other is Tahitian. They are fun and I still dont really know them but know that I will be working with them longer. After the district meeting we went to lunch with them and then went out to work. So since we have basically dropped our whole schedule, we are pretty much tracting every day because we need people to teach. And oh boy is it an experience to knock on someones door in Madagascar. We have had both good and bad and funny experiences. Some people will come out and let us share our message with them and then say, "I already have a faith, I dont have time for yours" others just look at us from a window above and shake their heads... thats the best. One guy, while I was in the middle of sharing my little intro, just walked inside without saying a word...Ok, I think I can take that SMALL hint. One lady, while we were walking home, kind of threw herself at me and started to grab for some areas that we not free for grabbing, so I ran from her. Also while tracting we found ourself in an area by a church where the people who attend this church are given a house the exact same as all the other members. But they must work for the church everyday and do everything that is asked of them. While I was writing that I kind of thought it sounded like our church, but its way different because we have agency to make our own choices. Yep, good times. On Saturday we had two baptisms as well! However, the reason we had the baptisms this week and not last was because the wife would not get baptized in cold water... so we went to another church (still LDS) that supposedly had hot water in the font. When we got there we tested the water and oh boy was it so not warm... When it came time to baptize her (which I had the wonderful opportunity to do) she started to walk in the water and she kind of gasped and not yelled but said out loud "ANDRIAMANITRO" which is God in Malagasy... so ya she basically used the Lords name in vane while about to be baptized... it was great. When I put her under the water, she came up freaking out. I had to hold her still because she was like having a spasm attack and I wasnt sure what to do, but she, after about 10 sec, gained control. Sunday was another odd day. Church was really nice, I was fasting, I was feeling the spirit, and I was ready for the schedule that we had. We had like 6 lessons to teach that day. Our first one dropped because they were leaving town for the day... We got our next time and then my companion and I tried 8 houses that we could teach and none of them could! Are you serious. It was about 3:30 and our next time was at 5. So we just decided to go early... This time was a contact that we got earlier in the week and it was like 3 different families that lived together so it was a lot of people and they seemed really interested so we showed up and half of the adults were drunk, like wayyyy drunk. Are you serious... Oh, I was not just going to leave after the day that we had already had so I made them listen to me pray, and then I started to preach, I really thought I was going to make this work. But if any of you have tried to teach a couple of drunk women oh man I couldnt get a word out without one of the woman hitting the other, yelling something, laughing out loud... so we asked if we could pray and we left. Our last time worked out well though. We got to teach about God, Jesus Christ and the role they play in our lives and how they bless our families. So that was kinda my week summed up, the short version. Just some quick side notes, I cut my own hair this week for the first time ever... Yes, I did. Did I know what I was doing, NO. Does it look good, NO. But hey, who really cares, I am in Madagascar. My comp, who does his hair just laughed at me the whole time I tried to do it. I also continue to play soccer and beat the club team here in Madagascar. And one last thing, I finally got a bible in Malagasy... so useful! Hahaha. I love you all so much and know that the work I am doing is true.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, July 28, 2014
Another week
Dear Family,
So yet another week has passed me by... where does the time go? This week was a really good week. I already got to tell you about my Monday, but Tuesday was way different than usual... At about 6:45 we got a call from the zone leaders saying that today we were doing a split... uhhh thanks for the heads up guys! I had to pack my things because I would be staying the night at thier house that night and going on a split with Elder Fisher. It takes 3 hours to get from our house to thier house as we are at the top of Tana and they are at the bottom. We got there safely. However, while I was on one of the four busses that we had to take, there was a lady who was sitting next to me. She handed me a piece of paper with a picture of her and a bunch of stuff written in French. She said to me in english... "do you understand?" I said no I dont speak french. My comp however does and he said she was asking for money because she was extremely sick and needed medical help... uhhhh I didnt really say anything else to her but when we got off the bus she said again in broken english... "pray for me!" I said I would. So, Elder Fisher, what an odd duck. I got to do four hours of tracting, teach a couple lessons with him and just have a wierd day. When we tracted we were always running into little children who would gather by the dozens just to get a look at the vahazas... I felt like a zoo animal that day. They loved to listen to us speak thier language and joke around with them. We also (as always) ran into some drunk guys who just wanted to talk... some guys who were mentally not all there, according to thier friends, and some women who wanted to talk to the white guys. Our last app. started at like 8 and we taught it outside. It was freezing cold, but we had 16 people come and listen to our message, I taught about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, they wanted us to sing a hymn, ya sorry thats gonna have to be a no go. Maybe Jordan Williamson can come back on a mission and sing for you! Hahaha. Oh, ok so then we get home and I have to sleep in the zone leaders bed who is on splits with my comp in my area... GROSSSSSS, to say the least, I didnt really sleep that night because I was just grossed out. The next day was zone meeting. It was good, there is a new stat that we have to keep that tracks our time of actual teaching. Like that lesson was 45 minutes, and we add all of the times up at the end of the week and report it. I think they want to see how much time we are wasting... We got back home on Wednesday and our branch asked us to practice soccer with them because we have a game on Saturday against another branch. Its all fun in games till someone takes out elder herrin...I should be carefull not to get too into it. Thursday was a great day. We taught a lot of lessons, got a new investigator and a new contact, and had a great suaree with a member family. They made me eat three plates of rice and a boiling hot cup of milk... I couldnt move after that. Friday was good as well, we got to tract... Our app. fell through so we had about 4 hours to tract in our area. Of course, we tried the really big houses, couldnt get in, got rejected a bunch, but got 5 contacts! Its the small blessings that we need to see right? We then had our weekly suaree with this great family and great food. Rice of course. Saturday was both your high and your low. The high was that we had this big activity where our branch played a soccer game against the branch closest to us. Its the four sisters who are in my district, its their branch that we played. I am now forever known as "defense" to everyone. I was kind of a really big jerk and didnt let anyone by me even if it meant using a little bit of my body...hahahah, I had the people telling me they were scared to bring the ball near me! We won 2-0! We may or may not have gloated to the sisters who told us they were going to win... The down was that we were supposed to have 2 baptisms after the game that didnt happen because of a couple reasons. It was raining and cold all day, and Malagasys do not like rain or cold so they all stay in. The water in the font was no where near where it needed to be to baptize someone, and things just didnt work out. Sad day. Later that day my comp had to do a bap interview so I had the VERY unique opportunity of going on splits with the sisters... I checked, its not against the rules! Let me tell you how wierd it was to only be with them and no elder companion. They were really good teachers though thats for sure. Sunday was good, we had more people at church than I have seen in this branch since I have got here... 56! Hahahah. We worked like a normal day and then returned home to call in our stats for the week, prepare dinner, and hit the pillow! I am having a wonderful time here in Tana. Although its so loud, dirty, and annoying, Tana is where I need to be right now. I hope that things are going well at home and that all is well. Know that I love you so much.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
So yet another week has passed me by... where does the time go? This week was a really good week. I already got to tell you about my Monday, but Tuesday was way different than usual... At about 6:45 we got a call from the zone leaders saying that today we were doing a split... uhhh thanks for the heads up guys! I had to pack my things because I would be staying the night at thier house that night and going on a split with Elder Fisher. It takes 3 hours to get from our house to thier house as we are at the top of Tana and they are at the bottom. We got there safely. However, while I was on one of the four busses that we had to take, there was a lady who was sitting next to me. She handed me a piece of paper with a picture of her and a bunch of stuff written in French. She said to me in english... "do you understand?" I said no I dont speak french. My comp however does and he said she was asking for money because she was extremely sick and needed medical help... uhhhh I didnt really say anything else to her but when we got off the bus she said again in broken english... "pray for me!" I said I would. So, Elder Fisher, what an odd duck. I got to do four hours of tracting, teach a couple lessons with him and just have a wierd day. When we tracted we were always running into little children who would gather by the dozens just to get a look at the vahazas... I felt like a zoo animal that day. They loved to listen to us speak thier language and joke around with them. We also (as always) ran into some drunk guys who just wanted to talk... some guys who were mentally not all there, according to thier friends, and some women who wanted to talk to the white guys. Our last app. started at like 8 and we taught it outside. It was freezing cold, but we had 16 people come and listen to our message, I taught about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, they wanted us to sing a hymn, ya sorry thats gonna have to be a no go. Maybe Jordan Williamson can come back on a mission and sing for you! Hahaha. Oh, ok so then we get home and I have to sleep in the zone leaders bed who is on splits with my comp in my area... GROSSSSSS, to say the least, I didnt really sleep that night because I was just grossed out. The next day was zone meeting. It was good, there is a new stat that we have to keep that tracks our time of actual teaching. Like that lesson was 45 minutes, and we add all of the times up at the end of the week and report it. I think they want to see how much time we are wasting... We got back home on Wednesday and our branch asked us to practice soccer with them because we have a game on Saturday against another branch. Its all fun in games till someone takes out elder herrin...I should be carefull not to get too into it. Thursday was a great day. We taught a lot of lessons, got a new investigator and a new contact, and had a great suaree with a member family. They made me eat three plates of rice and a boiling hot cup of milk... I couldnt move after that. Friday was good as well, we got to tract... Our app. fell through so we had about 4 hours to tract in our area. Of course, we tried the really big houses, couldnt get in, got rejected a bunch, but got 5 contacts! Its the small blessings that we need to see right? We then had our weekly suaree with this great family and great food. Rice of course. Saturday was both your high and your low. The high was that we had this big activity where our branch played a soccer game against the branch closest to us. Its the four sisters who are in my district, its their branch that we played. I am now forever known as "defense" to everyone. I was kind of a really big jerk and didnt let anyone by me even if it meant using a little bit of my body...hahahah, I had the people telling me they were scared to bring the ball near me! We won 2-0! We may or may not have gloated to the sisters who told us they were going to win... The down was that we were supposed to have 2 baptisms after the game that didnt happen because of a couple reasons. It was raining and cold all day, and Malagasys do not like rain or cold so they all stay in. The water in the font was no where near where it needed to be to baptize someone, and things just didnt work out. Sad day. Later that day my comp had to do a bap interview so I had the VERY unique opportunity of going on splits with the sisters... I checked, its not against the rules! Let me tell you how wierd it was to only be with them and no elder companion. They were really good teachers though thats for sure. Sunday was good, we had more people at church than I have seen in this branch since I have got here... 56! Hahahah. We worked like a normal day and then returned home to call in our stats for the week, prepare dinner, and hit the pillow! I am having a wonderful time here in Tana. Although its so loud, dirty, and annoying, Tana is where I need to be right now. I hope that things are going well at home and that all is well. Know that I love you so much.
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Monday, July 21, 2014
More Experiences
Dear Family,
So this week has been another wonderful week here in Ambohimangakely! So we worked and did normal stuff on Tuesday and Wednesday but on Thursday, we had interviews with President Adams... Not that that is a bad thing, but its just a little nerve wracking. So he asked me how I was doing, and I said... "good" No, I said I was doing great and he asked me what I had learned so far. I went on to talk about the many things that I didnt think I could do before my mission, or even on my mission, but as a missionary, and with faith, we can do SO much more than we think. Then he asked me a really scary question, he said... "Do you feel comfortable as a missionary, like with the language, and the way of the missionary?" Oh boy, I just know that I am going to have to train next transfer... AHHHHHH I cant do that, I am going to have to be district leader to because the only other missionaries in our district are sisters... Anyway, my interview was not that long (go figure) and after that I was really not feeling well, so we went home and I threw up so hard... I felt like little TY Herrin yackin up his food... After that I went to bed... woke up the next morning feeling fine! So... Friday and Saturday we worked. I am teaching a lot more than I have been... A. Because my comp doesnt like to teach B. Because he is about as good as me C. Because I need to get better if I am going to train. Saturday we teach english, well I do because my comp is french, so they wanted to talk about cars and stuff from america. They also had an activity at the church on Saturday which consisted of the sisters talking and the kids playing fifa on a TV that the church bought... It was so funny. Sunday we had a pathetic 43 people at church. We really need to step our game up in Ambohimagakely. So we went out to work and we had one app at the church with that woman I talked about either last week or the week before. She is the one who lives in the area with a gang and they are always on the run. So we met her at the church and she has decided to move to Toliare which is a long way away and right now they are living with family in a different part of Tana. They want to be baptized and learn, but I dont know how that is going to work if they cant come to church, but its great that they want to be baptized. When we finished work we headed for home. Usually we have to take a taxi (and yes spend some money) to get to our house which is in Mahazo or about ten minutes away. But my comp wanted to see if we could walk and take a short cut. Yaa set up for a bad ending I know... So we walked across rice patties, through little villages and we were finally to an area where my comp recognized. "Just up that hill he said, thats our house right there!" So we started up this hill, which didnt have a path, we just were walking through brush and crap. We saw snakes, which is a no bueno thing, so we steered clear of them. We were almost there when my comp said "hold on!" we paused and waited a second, and thats when we saw not one, not two, but three large security dogs running at us ferociously.... "RUN" my comp said. Oh he didnt have to tell me that, I was gone in the blink of an eye! Jessy Owens style Bishop! hhahahaha! I dont know how we got away, but we did! We had to walk the long way home and I was ok with that! Today we got to play soccer against an actual team... the missionaries usually lose every week they play, but this week oh no! 5 to 3 we won! I am not saying its me cause it really wasnt but we have some really good players or missionaries and we put on a show today! Oh how I missed soccer. Today I also got a couple yellow ties! Miracles for Makenzie! If thats how I can show my love from Madagascar then thats what I will do! I also got a yellow bracelet! Its been a good week and next week should be fun as well! Thanks for all of the love and support. I love you so much
All my Love
Elder Herrin
So this week has been another wonderful week here in Ambohimangakely! So we worked and did normal stuff on Tuesday and Wednesday but on Thursday, we had interviews with President Adams... Not that that is a bad thing, but its just a little nerve wracking. So he asked me how I was doing, and I said... "good" No, I said I was doing great and he asked me what I had learned so far. I went on to talk about the many things that I didnt think I could do before my mission, or even on my mission, but as a missionary, and with faith, we can do SO much more than we think. Then he asked me a really scary question, he said... "Do you feel comfortable as a missionary, like with the language, and the way of the missionary?" Oh boy, I just know that I am going to have to train next transfer... AHHHHHH I cant do that, I am going to have to be district leader to because the only other missionaries in our district are sisters... Anyway, my interview was not that long (go figure) and after that I was really not feeling well, so we went home and I threw up so hard... I felt like little TY Herrin yackin up his food... After that I went to bed... woke up the next morning feeling fine! So... Friday and Saturday we worked. I am teaching a lot more than I have been... A. Because my comp doesnt like to teach B. Because he is about as good as me C. Because I need to get better if I am going to train. Saturday we teach english, well I do because my comp is french, so they wanted to talk about cars and stuff from america. They also had an activity at the church on Saturday which consisted of the sisters talking and the kids playing fifa on a TV that the church bought... It was so funny. Sunday we had a pathetic 43 people at church. We really need to step our game up in Ambohimagakely. So we went out to work and we had one app at the church with that woman I talked about either last week or the week before. She is the one who lives in the area with a gang and they are always on the run. So we met her at the church and she has decided to move to Toliare which is a long way away and right now they are living with family in a different part of Tana. They want to be baptized and learn, but I dont know how that is going to work if they cant come to church, but its great that they want to be baptized. When we finished work we headed for home. Usually we have to take a taxi (and yes spend some money) to get to our house which is in Mahazo or about ten minutes away. But my comp wanted to see if we could walk and take a short cut. Yaa set up for a bad ending I know... So we walked across rice patties, through little villages and we were finally to an area where my comp recognized. "Just up that hill he said, thats our house right there!" So we started up this hill, which didnt have a path, we just were walking through brush and crap. We saw snakes, which is a no bueno thing, so we steered clear of them. We were almost there when my comp said "hold on!" we paused and waited a second, and thats when we saw not one, not two, but three large security dogs running at us ferociously.... "RUN" my comp said. Oh he didnt have to tell me that, I was gone in the blink of an eye! Jessy Owens style Bishop! hhahahaha! I dont know how we got away, but we did! We had to walk the long way home and I was ok with that! Today we got to play soccer against an actual team... the missionaries usually lose every week they play, but this week oh no! 5 to 3 we won! I am not saying its me cause it really wasnt but we have some really good players or missionaries and we put on a show today! Oh how I missed soccer. Today I also got a couple yellow ties! Miracles for Makenzie! If thats how I can show my love from Madagascar then thats what I will do! I also got a yellow bracelet! Its been a good week and next week should be fun as well! Thanks for all of the love and support. I love you so much
All my Love
Elder Herrin
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
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