Well this week was a lot of fun and this coming week is going to be crazy as well! This place lights up around the 4th and we hear fireworks (and gunshots) most every night now! It is a lot of fun and we are excited to celebrate the 4th. (They will be leaving the city for the 4th...I'm grateful.)
So this last pday was better than normal. we were able to meet up with Bro and sis Mullenaux and their family. They are great and even brought me some baked goodies from home! Just what my love handles
need! haha We walked around the mall and talked and they even fed us but the weirdest thing was being called Chandon. That is even weird to type it. (Thank you Kelly and Tiffani!!!) To end the day we visited with Aminata and Zendaya to help
finish their preparations to attend the temple for baptisms for the first time. Aminata anyway because Zendaya is 1 1\2 yrs old.
Tue... Today was a good day. We visited with a LA lady in the ward who is on the right path back. She has gone two weeks without a drink and is seeing how she needs to be at church to take the sacrament to receive that extra strength. It was amazing talking to her about being
"reclaimed" and building off of what we have and where we are. This evening was one of the most beautiful evenings ever. We had the biggest lightining storm I have ever seen and the thunder was just this terrible roar. I loved it! Then right at the sunset the clouds cleared and there was a very nice light orange (i think) sunset.(He's color blind, hehe) It was cool and we got a lot done referral wise today.
Wed... Ok so today we saw another mysterious way the Lord likes to work. We
had an appt that seemed super solid and we were all excited only to see that they really dont care and didnt even let us in. So we were going back to the car and saw these two ladies and felt we should talk
to them. So we did and they are amazing! We taught them instead and got a return appt for the coming day. That appt did not happen because they had some family accidents and stuff take place so we have not met with them yet but we have seen her since and she is very excited for
us to come back. We then spent a good chunck of time doing a mission office trip. When we got back we had to fill out some reports etc at the church and were in a rush to make it to our next appt. and guess
what happened? We locked the keys in the clerks office! Guess who did it? Yours truly :( It was not ideal but we quickly got the door open and were off to see Sis White. She is such a good lady but she had
some stuff happening at home that she needs to sort out. You will all love to meet her for sure! She shared some stories about how she has helped the disabled. She met a young man who had an infant body and a full grown slightly larger head and thats not even all of his problems. Needless to say he was not perfect. She met him and they became fast friends so she would visit him often. She ended up taking him home for every holiday for quite a few years. He met the missionaries and wanted to be baptized and did eventually leading to his endowment. It was the coolest story and he was such a good guy.
Lived to his 50s. We ended the night with Sis. Grant and Sis Scippio. Those two are a hoot! We just laugh and talk the whole time but when it is time to talk about the gospel they are serious and do it right.
Thurs... So today was the day I made the MoTab video. We made it at Strathmore Arts center in Bethesda MD. I did it during intermission of watching them perform! It was so cool! That choir is unreal! We had
such a good time and the spirit was for sure there. We brought an investigator who also loved it and he even was put on date to be baptized the following day. I was only bitter for one reason that day. They said the earlier you get there the better seats you get. So we got there are were in the first group of 10 people. We got the balcony
and the people who made it last got Orchestra center row A... I was bitter but calmed down because it is an audio experience. So I enjoyed the music and it really was a great day. That ended up taking most of the day but we were able to have a fun time at dinner with the Biolos
eating Ledos. E. Biolo taught me a cool math trick as well so i will play it with all who are willing. haha
Fri... Zone Conference! We had an amazing time. President and Sister Cooke gave very timely workshops on our purpose and how impurities in us, like in Corundum, make us shine and when polished we become a blue sapphire or a ruby. It was cool. I really had a good little self analysis on my purpose as a missionary as President was talking. He talked about how focused we should be and all sorts of other things
and I am studying my purpose now and the reason for coming on a mission. It is good. Those of you that did serve a mission reading this ask yourself why did you serve at first and how did it change over the course of your time there. Afterwards we spent the day staring into a computer screen preparing our zone statistical report for the stake coordination meeting on sunday. We have to compile all sorts of stuff and get it ready for when we present to the stake and mission presidents. We were able to sneak away and go to a few appts. It was a fulfilling day.
Sat... Today was the missions first recent convert temple trip. We took all the recent converts who were available to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for their first time with their own family names. We took Aminata and it was unbelievable. We went down to the baptistry and since she is female we could not do the ordinace for
her. E. Biolo did and I was the recorder and E. monsia was a witness. As they started with her grandma She put her head on E. Biolo's shoulder and started sobbing. The sweetest spirit filled the room and we all felt it. Then to my surprise E. Biolo stammered and this giant of a man who has never so much as thought about crying started to cry as well. It was the sweetest experience I have had in the baptistry.
It was a powerful testimony to me that day of how the end goal for all who we bring into this church is to get them to the temple to accomplish the great work of this dispensation of saving our dead. It really is the greatest work anyone can do. I love the temple and I will always do my best to be in a position to get there and serve the
Lord and my family. Try to go to the temple more and make every effort you can to serve therein. We had a great day and that night were able to teach Kevin. He is hard to teach because he just loves to talk and
almost preach to us but we kept him on track as we taught the Plan of Salvation. At the end you could just see it click in his eye and he said really quite loudly, "Ohhhh!!!!!!! So we..." and he goes on to re explain it back to us briefly and he has got it down. It was great seeing it all fall into place for him.
So this week was great. And this really is the greatest mission in the history of life. Who else gets to go with their recent converts to the temple and who else gets to take investigators to a mormon tabernacle choir concert? I mean come on... haha This is a great place to serve
the Lord and I am so blessed to be serving here. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Herring
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