Words from Elder Chandon Herring in Washington DC

"Well Hi family. How are you? Good good glad to hear it. This was
another good week here in the greatest mission in the History of Life.
We had a full week this week as well. Yet our investigators are being
a little frustrating. The whole "come to church" thing just does not
click for some reason. Even when we have entire lessons on the
importance of church. But that is good if that is the only problem we
have. I am loving my comp and area. We are all getting along just
nicely. I had a great chance this week to make Pound Cake and Brownie
pudding!!! Hurray! It is super good.

Ok Tuesday...
This was a slow day. We had bad weather so people cancel on us. It is
good in the point that we get to call upon a lot of people to see how
they are doing and if we would be able to come and meet with them sometime.

We had the FHE again. I love these little meetings! The spirit
is so strong and the people there are just amazing. We have been
getting better turn outs these past few weeks too. Elder Hart (Who goes
home next week) and Elder Porter (The new guy that is super fun and
sarcastic.) taught the lesson. It was on faith. They started out with
just simple questions but when the people participated they really
felt the spirit and we were able to have a great time. Anita and her
kids came! She is a LA and her two kids are hard Good at heart but
Difficult. They do not know how to handle
being told no or be quiet. Especially if it comes from their mom. But
they are a struggling family and it was super good to have them there.
Anita needed the break. As we biked home the rain stopped and it was
just super beautiful as we rode in a super green, wet, and cool night.
It was so pretty! But so awfully humid.

Wednesday...
Temple day! These are the best days of the transfer. We get to go to
the temple for a long time! I was able to start some of Sis Carriger's
names too. One of the workers though was a little cranky. It was the
weirdest thing in the world to see someone who was in the temple truly
just mad at the world. On our way to the Celetrial room he was asked
to scoot over and just blew up! It was kind of sad. But I was able to
go to another worker and focused back on the work I was there to do. It was an amazing experience yet again. I read a talk from GC on
preparing to go to the temple. When we take that extra time to prepare
The Lord notices and we feel his spirit more abundantly. It is so
cool! Then we had Ward Coordination. Bro Harding made these waffles as
you saw on FB. They were super good and it was a great meeting.

Thursday...
Sadly only short study time this morning. We had District Meeting. I
gave my first workshop! It is on how to begin teaching, It was good
and I feel like i did a good job. The Elders and Senior couples really
were interacting and we had a good discussion. When we had finished
with the meeting and had lunch and FB time we talked with the Spanish
Elders about the chance of another terrorist attack. We think it is
super likely and so does President Cooke. So on Sep 11 we are going to
be spending all day at the VC for mandatory meetings and safety stuff.
Pres took the liberty of being oh so kind as to buy us all bright
green reflector vests so people think we are cops and we are seen....
I dislike them but I guess he was inspired so we will
obey.

We taught Anita at night and had a decent lesson. She is trying
so hard. She is a single mom with two kids. Then after we had no
luck contacting. Now that school is starting no one is willing to talk
to us past 7 at night! It is pathetic. Our golden hours are the least
productive now! Everyone is home but they WILL NOT let us in to talk
if they even answer the door. But we will find a good way to contact.

Friday...
I almost died this morning while lifting. Literally. I was doing super
deep squats to work on my flexibility and when I was on my 4th rep at
315lbs I lost my balance. Elder Thornton is a good spot and I did not
die but it was close. Good thing it was friday so no one is in the
weight room.

I, in personal study have been in the end of 2 Nephi,
Jacob, and Enos. I love them! Nephi and Jacob are an amazing example
to us all! I LOVE THE BOM!!!! We had our apt cancel so we started
weekly planning. Super fun times. I had a good time and made some BBQ
chicken spinach pizza for lunch. Homemade everything except the sauce,
cheese, spinach, and chicken, so ya just the dough. But delish!

After planning we saw sis Luna again. She is such a silly lady. She made us
some Juice again and we had a great lesson. She is going to try to get
someone to watch her son so she can come to church! Sweet! Then the
moment of weakness when we got home. E. Thornton looked at me and said
I am eating a cake. He normally eats really healthy and when he
decides to eat jone he does. It cracks me up! He trys to eat good but
has no discipline when it comes down to it. Just offer and he eats
everything. So what did I do? I made a POUND CAKE!!!!!! DELICIOUS!!!!

Saturday...
I was on exchanges with E. Hart today. We had a good day. He is odd
and frustrating but super fun. I love him. Today I got in a fight tho.
When we went to the Bike House to volunteer and help out after we had
an appointment dog us I was trying to take this guys pedals off of his
bike. They had not been taken off for like 20 yrs and he wanted them
on another bike. So as i was helping him they did not want to move. I
pushed and pulled and swore (jk) and nothing. So I, now soaked in
sweat, tried one more time. BANG! It broke loose and I was able to get
it off! But I noticed on the gears of the bike, the pointy parts where
the chain is, had these huge chunks of skin... my skin. AHHHHHHHH My
hand bled a lot but it is all better. I looked super scary. Bloody
hands, sweaty and holding a wrench in the blazing 93 degree 10000000%
humidity. It was fun!

We had FB and Family History time next. All of
our appointments cancelled. It was irritating We had a dead end
referral to. But the night ended super well. We met with Umu Sesay.
She is from Sierlion Africa. Not sure where. she was baptized the
transfer before i came out. She has the most powerful testimony I have
ever heard on my mission!! She is so cool! One of those amazing golden
people that you find. Then E Hart and I sang scripture power as we
walked home in the rain :)

Sunday...
We had a good yet disappointing sunday. Good because Ben Coleman (the
16yr old only member in that family, adele's bro) was ordained a
priest. SO COOL! He is making a lot of progress. Bad because NO ONE
ELSE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! NO ONE!!!!!!! Not a single investigator. None
of bens family even came. But they will come next week i hope. to make
me feel better I had to make brownie pudding when we got home from
church during our lunch time. It turned out super good and it was a
happy going away gift for E Hart. He loved it! We had some good
Facebook time where I was able to teach 3 good lessons. I love using
the social media to teach! Then at 9:00 The whole district came over
to our home to celebrate P day eve. We had a ball. including lighting
E Jensen's arms on fire. We are still teenage boys. It was super fun.

Today...
I got to go to the mall. I spent 3 hours on just the first floor of
the Air and Space Museum. I had fun but we should have moved on. We
had waffles and ice cream for breakfast. and I even changed my sheets
and washed my towel. Mom you should be proud. FIRST TIME IN
MISSION!!!! jk i have multiple times.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I love you all and
your letters make my day. I know that this gospel is true and that it
really is the work of God. The BOM is true and it will bring you more
happiness by abiding by it precepts than anything else you do in this
life. Family matters. That is one thing that is super important to
people here is family. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!"