Words from Elder Chandon Herring in Washington DC

"Ok my week... well it was good. We are having a lot of success in our
district now. The North Elders (our roommates) have 6 b dates. WOW!!!!
We on Monday got another one. We had a referral that said she wanted
to learn more and we went to teach her the Restoration. She is a nice
lady who is straight from South Africa. She is super cool, when we can
understand her, and her name is Pamela. We had a good lesson but it
seemed kind of awkward the whole time. But we put her on date and she
seems to be like she is internalizing what we are teaching.

Tue. Ok This day started out good. We went lifting and we maxed. I beat E. Thornton in squats! It was really nice!

When we have time open in the less productive hours of the day
we normally go to the church to do some family history or facebook. I
have been doing a lot of indexing and my goal is to get about 5000
names done over my mission. I might do more than that because I have
done 200 already. We after had a Zone leader who used to serve here
say we needed to visit a LA names Bro. Clark. So we found his home and
visited. He is such a poor man. Physically and spiritually. He has
little and is just super depressed but trys to keep a positive outlook
on life. He is really nice and we are trying to get him back to
church. That night it was our turn to teach FHE. So E. Thornton and I
prepared a lesson on family history and temples. It turned out super
well and we were able to see the desire some of the recent converts
had to go to the temple. We also were able to bring back memories to
those who had gone and built a desire to go back. It went well.

Wed. Exchange day! Today I went with Elder Humphrey. He is an elder in
the South area of our district. He is a super cool guy. We had a solid
day. We went and visited a lot of LA because I could not find anyone
else because my Area Book app on my ipad was broken. We met with Bro Belemu who is a really nice man in his early 30's but had a disease
that makes him super week. He cant lift his arm to shake our hands and
he can hardly move his dead. super sad but he has a great outlook on
life and is at church every week. He is a great example to us all. We
saw sis Luna who did not have her juice! she had the v8 stuff that is
not near as good. but oh well we were grateful. We had about 40 minutes before we had
to head to the church so we decided to test E. Humphrey's spiritual
powers. The first home he picks we got 3 new investigators!!! They
have seen the missionaries before and they were excited to see us
again. It was good. The one lady named Chila has had 3 strokes and 2
heart attacks. And still driving? But i guess it is DC.

At the church
we had Ward coordination and dinner. Yummy pork ribs! But right after
for Bible Study we had a lady who has been calling us show up. Her
name is Justine and she is the most crazy person I have ever
met! She wants to marry one of the Elders, and was hitting on Elder
McKinley who is part of a senior couple.HE IS MARRIED!!!!! But she is
just crazy. She is scared to go outside because she said most of
the time she ends up in a loony bin or the jail...

Thurs. Today was one of those days that you are busy but don't
accomplish much. We had our normal morning routine and then were off
to our District meeting. We had it at the VC. We did a full tour to
see what all the options were for us to show investigators. The VC is
a super cool place to! The sisters are great teachers! When we got
home we ate and did some Family History and Facebook. After that and
dinner we went to help the spanish elders out for the rest of the
night. Elder Springer had wrecked his bike and has a super bad back
now and tore something in his arm. poor guy. We helped get their
apartment ready for and brought in furniture. It looks a lot better.
But ya the VC is super cool place to bring investigators.

Fri. Same morning ritual. In personal study though I was doing the BOM
read. We as a mission are going to finish before the end of the year
and I am a little behind so i needed to catch up. For lunch we went to
Ceasars. He fed us Chicken, ribs, homemade beans dip nacho stuff and
all sorts of jone. It was super good! We went to our first lesson with
one of our most solid families but they were not home. sad day. But
while we waited a little bit for them we had a great talk with the
McKinleys. This is their third mission! They gave us some good ideas
and it turned out great. soon after was sis Onyeka. We are really
trying with her because her daughter is not baptized yet and is 12.
This was our best lesson with them to! She turned off the TV, kept her
clothes on, and even participated! She made one comment which is 100%
better than before!

Sat, best morning. Waking up to a leak in the ceiling of the bathroom
and a text saying EMERGENCY GET TO THE CHURCH!!! TEST TEST GET TO THE
CHURCH. We had a practice for our emergency stuff. So we rode to the
church and did all that stuff. We got fed donuts after to! Right after
was interviews with president. It went well. He talked about things
that we are doing and how it is all good. We are going to be getting
bright orange vests for bike... Safety he says... get noticed more he
says... NOOOOO!!!!!!! But he is inspired so maybe it will save a life.
I just hope I am off bike soon. We went to the chapel afterward to
have a snack. Sister Mack the lady that sings her testimony made us
some stuff. She is a very poor lady but she wanted to feed us. We had
chicken nuggets and crackers with ham and cheese on them. It was
actually super good. She even had a cheese ball with BACON!!!! Then
she pulled out a little bowling game she had bought for us to play.
She got a kick out of that and gave each player 50 cents after he
knocked down all 10 pins. We had a tight evening after that though. We
had two appointments that were really close but we got them all in. We
met with SIs Bonner and Karen. They did a lot better with smoking this
week. I think they will be able to quit. Followed by Sis Galloway. She
is great. She was babysitting her 7 month old grand daughter. So cute!
Little chunk of Chocolate! :)

Sun. I LOVE OUR WARD!!!! We had a great fast and testimony meeting!
The spirit is so strong and they are all so welcoming. That is for
sure the ward we are visiting when we come back! This year has been
hard on the ward though. lots of people have been super sick and a lot
will probably die when it gets winter. There is no $ in our ward. No
one has any. Super sad. When got home we were not allowed to go out
after our studies and all because of the heavy rain and lightning. So
we called people and tried to set up lessons. No one would either
answer their phone or be able to go anywhere. I guess it was pre Labor
Day but who knows. Then when 9 o clock hit it was P day eve. Super
nice!!!! We played BANG. I love that game! and I won my first time
ever! but i was the first one out every other time...

So all is well here in the greatest mission in the history of life.
The work is moving forward and we are trying to change lives. Busy
busy but i know that this is the lords work. I love you all so much
and I know that you are the bestest!!!!!!!!! Thank you for your
support! Go to the temple! Choose the right! dont do drugs!!!"