Words from Elder Chandon Herring in Washington DC

"Hello family!
This is the beginning of another transfer. I am staying in the DC 3rd
West area. I love it here and I am still with Elder Stevenson. We are
getting along a lot better as we learn patience and how to be
selfless. We had an amazing week. I love it here. Well Monday last
week was my Birthday and it was amazing. I talked about that last week
but after I wrote my letter we went to China town and it was so cool!
I bought a few things I dont think I should have but they will make
great gifts. You will see what I mean when they get there. We are
doing some more Christmas shopping today in a few minutes. We ate at
Hard Rock Cafe and it was amazing. It was just a solid day.
Tue... Ok this day was just not a good one, number wise, but it was
productive. We had great studies and then went to check on people and
get lessons. Well needless to say. We did not get a single one.
Everyone right now is sick! GRRRR!!! Then the few who were not did not
have a third male home so we could not do anything there. So we came
home for dinner and re did our map. It was way off and needed it so
that was a good thing to do. We then had FHE at the church and we had
an amazing lesson on the sacrament. One of the things that we did in
the lesson was watch one of those old 70's seminary videos where
"steve" takes himself back through time to see the origins of the
sacrament. It was corny but well done.
Wed... Today was transfers. We normally start at like 10 but we got a
call that we needed to start at 8:30. So we hurried and got there and
had a great meeting. Some really good elders went home. Sad but good.
Then President made an announcement that we could do whatever we want
on pday until 6pm. We can now sleep in and have the whole day to do
whatever as long as we dont do anything stupid and still represent
Christ. So I slept until 7\30 today. It was nice. Then he told us to
stay in our seats and to enjoy the movie! We watched Meet the Mormons!
It was so goooooooooooooddddddd! Afterwards Elder and Sister Kelly (the
senior couple who tell me all of the sports updates and are awesome!)
took us to Chipotle. It was super good and nice of them but as they
were about to pay a member who was there with his family walked up and
paid for us. It was super nice and kind of them! FREE FOOD! We came
home and hustled to ward Coordination. It was good and we now have 6
people going to be baptized in our ward! Hurray!
Thurs... WHITE HOUSE TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This whole week i have been super excited and just ecstatic for this
trip. A Sister in the ward took us. We went with our roomates E.
Porter and Humphrey as well as the Cooke's. It was so cool! We got to
see everything on the first floor and the East wing. We are setting up
the next tour where we will be able to see the East wing which
includes the oval office. I am so pumped. It is weird looking at
pictures of the White House though because I am like, I have been
there I looked through that window. I stood where he is standing for
that picture etc. It was such an awesome experience. When we went
through security there were multiple ID checks, a time where a dog
smelled you, and some cool metal detectors. It was funny going through
the metal detectors because sister Claude was the only one that went
through without beeping. So as she watched us all beep she was super
concerned and asked, "Why are all my missionaries beeping?!?" It was
good though. Afterwards we did weekly planning then off to the Ewings for
dinner. You all would love them so much! It was their 3yr old sons b
day and Ceasar was there. It was good. After that we walked home and talked
to people on the way.
Fri... Halloween. Today we were able to see a couple of members and
help them out. One was Bro Mays who is older and is now going to be
getting the Mel Priesthood. He is such a kind old man. We talked to a
lot of people and one of them was a group of kids and moms. The kids
after gave us each a piece of candy. SO NICE! That never happens in
DC. We splurged and ate dinner at Chipotle. We got a callout on the
way out of there that the mission was to be inside by 5 o'clock and no
exceptions. Then another callout for an emergency practice where we
have to go to the church building and wait until we are released. We
were there until like 5\30 so we were late getting home but it was the
leaders flaw. We had a good night telling scary mission stories. It
was cool hearing about some of the voodoo stuff in Honduras. Scary!
Sat... Today I started to read where Christ comes to the americas. He
is so amazing! I love him and his example sooooooo much! I love these
chapters because it is all of those sweet basic principles that we
often overlook and need to do better at. We had another classic day of
being busy. We had the fun job of balancing out companionships for a
leadership training thing so a lot of shuffling and trading and moving
and teaching. We were able to rest when we went to cheesecake factory.
It was divine. For my Birthday JS Armstrong gave me a $50 cheesecake
factory gift card! He does that for all missionaries in the ward.
AWESOME!!! I have been giving him a lot of baked goods to help pay him
back. But nothing too noteworthy happened.
Sun... The best Sunday by far in my entire life!!!!!!!!!! It was so
amazing! We had such a good turnout in church. We have this one kid
whose name is anjello. He is Anita's nephew and we have taught him a
few times. He is 7 to. not from a family that are members. But he
loves coming to church and he calls me Mr. President. He is so cool!
Anywho he prayed all week for his mom to come to church and SHE DID!
Not only did she come but she also shared her testimony!!! New
investigator!!!!!! She is so ready to hear the gospel! We are going to
try to meet with her this week. The entire meeting was amazing. There
were the normal ward members who came and had an extra portion of the
spirit today. Then we had a man from Pres Monsons ward who was
excommunicated and he shared his testimony. He is now a full member
and last week he had his blessings and priesthood restored. He was a
stud! Then of course that guy called you. (Received a phone call Sunday morning from a man traveling in DC who met Chan.  He wanted to let us know Chan was doing well and happy.  He was impressed with him and the great young man we raised, etc.  Was a nice surprise!) He was nice. Then I was able
to go with E. Stevenson to a convert baptism in one of his old areas.
Her name was Dee and she is just gold. I only talked to her once and I
want to help her. She is trying so hard and is changing. Her biggest
struggle now is not being able to hug missionaries. She just walks up
with a pouty face and says, "I wish i could hug you..." She is such a
nice lady. She is like 50-60 ish.
Mon... Today. We had a good morning of emailing and then we went to a
market place in the middle of nowhere and bought Christmas presents!!!
Family you should be excited! It is such a good place to. When we come
back we will have to go there. Now we are going to go shopping and
then to teach. So farewell!
Thank you all so much for your love and support! Have a splendid week
and choose the right! Don't do drugs!"
Love Elder Herring