June 30, 2014 - Chiggers!

I have a very strong dislike for bugs. So do my legs. I've never itched so much in my life. It's great. 

I used to freak out when there were bugs on me. Now it happens like everyday and doesn't phase me much. Like we go home to change. Oh there was a spider in my shirt? No big. Wow that thing was in my shoe? I hope he was uncomfortable while I was walking around all day. NBD. But yeah. I have 4 chigger bites that have swollen up to the size of plumb. They itch like they work for satan. I they're pretty common for everyone else here but yeah, I need me some bug spray.

Speaking of bugs! We went hiking for Zone P-Day last Monday. I know hiking in Kansas. I laughed too. But they have some pretty nice hill and trails to walk here so it was fun :) But I did get a tick. It was a living nightmare. After we got him out of my leg I took the pleasure of escorting him to the toilet where I dangled him and taunted him before flushing him. I love all of God's other creatures. :)

Well not a whole lot happened missionary work wise this week. We decided to help get the members pumped and so we're going to try to meet with as many as we can and teach them how to USE preach my gospel. So there was a lot of planning :)

We did however find this super awesome atheist couple. Well he's atheist. Patricia and Samuel. They've got a baby on the way! Her name will be Aphrodite. So we'll see how that all goes! We met with them Saturday and got to know them and introduced the Book of Mormon. They seemed pretty interested. Patricia more than Samuel, but we'll see how they progress :)

OH! and we finally met with Michelle again! She set up a blanket outside for us to talk and her neighbor Amgad from Egypt came out! He's super cool! Talked to us for the rest of the time! But we had to kind of cut it short because Michelle started to take on the member present role even though she's not a member and started by bringing up polygamy. haha! So we tied it up and got onto talk about the Godhead when she throws out How Lehi is the father, and Nephi is the son. He was so confused. Thought we believed in a God named Lehi. He eventually turned to me and said, ok you're the boss. So I had to reexplain everything without bluntly saying ignore everything that Michelle is saying right now :) haha! It was good.

I can't think of anymore exciting things that have happened this week. OH! the Elder's met a man named Hector who later texted them admitting that he wasn't really interested in their message but he was really attracted to them. Awkward. :) 

Ok that's all I got! LOVE YOU ALL! Pray for miracles! 

-Love Sister Herrin

(Me and Sister Judy on our "hike")

June 23 - My Dad Taught Me How to Ride a Bike

Yay bike week! So it's been a perdy crazy week. (understatement) Well not crazy as in crazy things happening. Maybe more like stressful and Miraculous :) 

I bought a bike. It's beautiful. I am in love :) It's not girlie old fashion, but classy. She's a classy lady. kind of cheep but You wouldn't know it if you didn't know anything about bikes :) haha! The whole bike buying process was NUTS! So Sister Judy (from IF) is training Sister Clerico's MTC companion. So when we get together it's like the ol' gang's together again. :) We went to Walmart and we were there from like 2-5. The new missionaries were so excited and wanted to get everything in Walmart. Sister Judy and I just watched lovingly. Then we took another hour to buy bikes. It was great! ;) hahaha!

That night Roxy came to FHE! We made mini pizza's and just talked. We introduced her to like everyone! She kind of seemed overwhelmed, but she's a trooper :)

Wednesday we visited her again. This whole time her girlfriend was out of town so we had made a plan to talk to her about her spiritual goals. Well when we got there she totally had a hang over :( She said that she had broken up with Alyssa Tuesday over text, and then she'd lost her job at taco bell that morning. So she got drunk. And we were like, Roxy! This is your chance! The Lord is opening doors for you and you need to take them! She seemed pretty tired and was just really angry. We left hoping when Alyssa came home that night that she wouldn't cave in. Next day we ran into them downtown and she'd caved in. They'd talked things out and were moving to Wichita. I was pretty ticked haha!Sister Clerico just kept saying that the Lord recalculates! He'll make another path for her. 

Also this week has been SO hot. I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my life! It is so humid! I just always feel sticky and stinky and gross. I LOVE KANSAS :) haha! It's a fun change. for sure. But helped a family move in Wednesday Afternoon. Gosh everyone was drenched! 

So the work lately has been pretty rough. President called all the missionaries in Manhattan to let us know that Manhattan will be the highest baptizing zone in the mission because of the people coming in and out. In to be baptized. Out to be saints. Super inspiring! So we're cleaning out our teaching pool and just FINDING as much as we can!

OOO 5 minutes left!

-It was hard finding people!

-Saturday and Sunday were miracles! 2 new investigators! Came to church! 

Roxy came to church! We taught her and her GF and GF's little sister the 1st Lesson! so awesome!

Little sister might get baptized!

I spoke in church about the hastening and the gathering of Israel and the second coming! WHOA!

ok that's all I got! I love you all so much! Keep loving the Lord! 

Have a blessed day!

Love Sister Herrin

My Baby "C"!

Sister Clerico

HI! wowie wow! This has been a fairly stressful week. no joke. Sister Hafen and I spent most of Saturday packing and saying goodbye to people. I was so sad to see her leave. But it's all for the best I guess :) We got a mysterious call Monday night from none other than my favorite Sister Gunderson! WHAT? President Bell asked her to sing for Transfers and said she could ask other Sisters to sing with her. She asked if she could call me and he gave his approval! YAY! So yeah, It was supper great to hear from her! We sang More Holiness Give Me, and she arranged it all cool cuz she's talented that way :) But transfers were crazy!!! We drove over two hours to Wichita and it was crazy! President Bell wanted Elder Neeley to sing our Kansas song together again and we had a mini talent show during lunch. There are so many musical missionaries in our mission! We're getting a CD together so that'll be cool :) anywho, So also crazy part with it was that the new sisters that we're going to be in the Manhattan 2nd ward were driving up with us. And they're whitewashing the area, plus training. OH! It's Sister Ashley Judy who is also from Idaho Falls. We're besties :) But I drove another 2 hours home and was soo tired. We had an appointment with Becca and Sister Clerico invited her to be baptized! She said yes! :) But she's in the 2nd ward boundaries so we had to give her to the 2nd sisters. Sad Day. Then we unpacked. It was a flippen long day!! 

The next few days were just full of driving the other Sister's around and giving them our best investigators so we didn't get much work put in ourselves. It was pretty lame. Sister Clerico was so excited to get out and work, but we didn't really get a lot of time to. Sad day. She's super awesome though! I love her! She's pretty nerdy, but so am I :) We're gonna get along just fine :) 

The only really productive thing that we did do was visit Roxy. We had a fantastic visit! She's really getting down that she can change and start now instead of later. She got a really cool blessing from Elder Thompson and I think it helped a TON! She was super motivation to do all sorts of great things :) She was planning on following us around Sunday and coming to all 6 hours of church with us. But we showed up and she wasn't home. We're guessing she got called into work or something. Bummer. haha! That pretty much sums up our last 4 days. Bummer man. 

Good things are going to happen though I can just feel it. This area was meant for Sister Clerico. We're gonna have a fun week. 

We're back to part time car, so you'll be hearing a lot more of my bike adventures, I know you've been really missing those! ;) 

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! :)

Love,

Sister Herrin

I'm Expecting…AGAIN!

.......... So funny story. We're walking up to to are apartment, and Sister Hafen has the mail. She says, we got our Ensign!!! (they usually come in a white envelope sent from the mission office) But weird, it's only addressed to you. I was like oh it's because they know me in Wichita and like me better ;) j/k. But it was weird. And that's when I remembered about 4 months ago when I received a similar envelope in the mail. NO. I ran inside. I frantically opened it and dumped out the contents. Low and behold it was a Twelve week Training booklet. I threw it across the room and shouted NO NO NO!!! hahaha! I was shaking so bad!!! I apologized for my behavior and looked over it a little more. But really I was literally shaking and had to take deep breaths. Talk about panic attack! I had to eat a banana! hahaha! It was pretty funny. 

I felt pretty bad that I over reacted and I decided that this time I'm going to love training! And really just have a positive attitude about the whole thing. I've been studying pride and humility lately a LOT. It's pretty cool actually. But I've been reaffirmed in that being humble isn't about thinking about yourself less, it's about thinking less of yourself. Confidence is part of being humble. You HAVE to have confidence that you can do things through the Lord. Because when you say I can't do this or I can't handle that or I'm no good at anything, I, I, I, me, me me! If you don't have faith that you can do what the Lord has asked of you, you're pitting your will against his. That's pride my friends. So. Duh I know but It's really hit me in a new life and I'm going to do all I can to rid myself of pride. Wish me luck :) 

We had our training call on Saturday and one of the biggest things that I learned was how important it is to teach by example. That was one of the Savior's main ways of teaching. How many times do we say we're trying to follow his example? it's one of the best ways to help us learn! So I'm really going to have to stretch myself and be the best example I can be. 

Well transfers are on Wednesday. I'm staying in Manhattan and my new companion's name is Sister Clerico. That's all I know about her :) But Sister Hafen's leaving me :( I am so sad to see her go. She has been the easiest companion. We got along so well and really needed each other. Not that I didn't like my other companions at all! Trust me I've been blessed. But we just had nothing bottled inside about the other. Nothing! :) But I love her and hope she does well in her next area.

In other news. Like I said in my last letter, we're getting another set of sister's in Manhattan to cover the 2nd ward. Which is great. But we are teaching a LOT of promising people in the 2nd ward. And we have to hand them over :/ They'll still get baptized, I'm just going to miss them is all. Like for example. We're teaching this girl named..... BECCA! :) hahaha! No joke! She's awesome :) We're also teaching a Rebecca, but that's another story. 

So Becca is super awesome and super prepared. She just recently found Jesus and we're helping her find a church basically :) Well Saturday night we had the BEST lesson with her. We taught the restoration and The spirit was SOOO strong. She loved it! When we told her about how Joseph Smith was visited by Peter James and John to receive that same priesthood power from God, she was like, Woah, Shiz just got real. Hahahah! It was so funny!!! But she mostly got excited about the book of mormon. like she wanted to tell everyone she new about it! We asked her if she found that the BoM was true if she would be baptized. She was like oh yes of course!!! I've been baptized but not with authority! I wanted to sing I was so happy! :) So yeah, she's great :) 

Well I better wrap it up here. I love you! Shout out to little brother Joe going to ORLANDO FLORIDA!! So proud of him :) and My Daddy cuz Father's day is coming up :) Love him too :) 

God Bless.

Love Sister Herrin

Manhattan Missionaries!