Well my dear family and friends another wonderful week has passed. We
have had a lot of really good teaching opportunities and great
progress with our investigators. The mission really is a wonderful
place. I strongly recommend it. Especially to seniors because they are
amazing! Anyway...
Tuesday... So today was the first day we tried the whole wake up early
and go play basketball for exercise thing and it went really well. We
play every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday morning at 5:30. It is a
lot of fun and we get a good sweat going. After that invigorating
start to the morning we went to do the first specialized training for
the new missionaries. They are a really good group! The Lord is truly
sending his best. We met at the Kentkands chapel but did not last an
hour because the temperature in the building was 53 degrees. No
heater. We went to the mission home because the group was small enough
we could. It was fun. I did not do any of the trainings and left that
to Elder Ord and Tanner because Sister Cooke needed help setting up.
She is hilarious because even for a group of missionaries she still
has an esthetically rich home. She had candles, center pieces, nice
table clothes, etc etc for a group of elders. She is great. So mom I
now am a pro at table manners and set up haha. After that we cleaned
up and had an appointment with a member. We talked about missionary
experiences and helped encourage them to only open their mouths and
promised they would be filled. The husband was the first member in his
native country of Benin. It was a wonderful evening and following that
we picked up the new ASL missionary. He is pumped to work! We are so
excited for the fire that greenies bring.
Wednesday... Today was a day of learning life lessons. I had the
opportunity to talk to the mission doctor and his wife for a while and
both emphasized the importance of spending time with your kids. He
said that it truly is the most important thing. I knew this from
previous experiences with others telling me but when he spoke it
really clicked. But another experience was in studies this morning
reading in the BOM about the exchange between Korihor and Alma. The
Book of Mormon really has specific advice and help for our day. The
questions and comments that Korihor has are almost word for word of
what people say today. Lots of things to reflect on. We ended the day
with a lesson at a less actives home and his recent convert son. They
are good people and making things get a little better. But they have a
tough family situation. Ben, the son, is so solid! He is going to be
an amazing young man. He turns 12 soon. Crazy that he is as old as
Trace.
Thursday... Today was awesome! We had a busy day but good. We had a
few teaching appointments that we were able to hold while still
working out exchanges, dropping off mattress, training, and setting up
for President to train at the same time in another stake. All on time
to! We are getting pretty good at what we do. Not going to lie haha.
But we should be especially after four transfers. Anyway we had an
awesome lesson at the VC with Gabe, a Recent convert, on baptisms for
the dead. It was a good experience and we were able to help him
prepare. He ended up having schedule issues for the trip but is ready
and worthy for the next one! We then rushed to the Isners home who are
also recent converts and returning members. They are so cute! It is
two old ladies one is old enough to be my grandma and the other is her
mother in law. Both are very independent and drive. We are working
with them to get them into the temple as well. They have a cool story
but that is for another day. We talked about self discipline and how
to over come character defects. It was inspiring and we developed a
way to help quit bad habits. Accountability is the key.
Friday... So Dad we are teaching your twin... He is a little taller
and a little bit more weird but he is a physician and our
investigator. His name is Ian and he is the bomb! His wife joined the
church a while back and is truly amazing. He has held back and made it
very clear that he is not interested but has had a big change of heart
as of late. We visited and they fed us some amazing lasagna.
We talked about missionary experiences again because he has had some,
he knows almost all about the church. He has volunteered at the VC and
is just amazing! He finally opened up to us what his concerns were.
They are some good and big concerns. We shall help him. He loves our
emphasis on families and that we make people better. He struggles with
Joseph Smith and how he was not as perfect as he thinks a prophet
should be, the BOM, and the temple. He just does not know everything
about these and we are excited to help. We left them with the
invitation to read and pray together every day out loud as a couple.
So far they have not missed a day and I am excited to see how it goes.
Next time we meet we are going to help him understand and give him
some good answers. We just pray we have the spirit to help us. But it
was an amazing night!
Saturday... This morning when we played basketball we had almost all
of the Elders in the Senca zone come. In one week we have a good
tradition going. People are looking for something good to do for
exercise now that the gym is gone and we have found a good outlet! Woo
hoo! We had a good day and had some good service. We painted for a
member and there were a lot of non members there as well. Then we
spent a lot of time checking on referrals and potential investigators.
It was a lot of fun and we now have a few return appointments. Life is
good in the mission!
It got even better when for dinner we had chicken fajitas. They were amazing! That family was good. As we talked about
sharing the gospel they shared how they do it. For their daughters
baptism they had more non members than members there and the dads less
active sister came in at the end. When we saw the mom at church she
gave us a note and said that her kids have never behaved that well at
Home with guests before and that our talk really had good effects on their
family. And it did because yesterday, Sunday, at a baptism we saw the
less active sister at church! First time in a long time. Non of the
missionaries we asked recognized her. Woo hoo!
So that was our week. Lots of fun stuff and work. Life is good and we
are keeping busy. Remember to read your scriptures and pray. If you
consistently do those things you will see a huge difference! It is so
cool! Love you all!
-Elder Herring
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