11/2/2015

Hey,                                                                                              Nov.2,2015

A very busy week here in the Queenstown area. The elders from Mntata drove over for Zone training. So they came on Monday and spent P-day with us. We ate at this middle eastern restaurant and afterwords had a ultimate Frisbee contest.

So funny story. There is always a good number of homeless people in most South African cities. We were sitting down at this restaurant and eating some spicy chicken when two of them ran in and stole the bones off my plate. The owner of the restaurant yelled and chased after them. It was a very funny scene.

We had an ultimate Frisbee game which was good fun. We spent all of Tuesday at zone training and interviews. My interview with president went well. He confirmed that I am going to be training a new elder next transfer. So that is exciting.

The work in Ilinge is going well. We have a sizable teaching pool so we are never bored and there is always someone to see. We have two baptisms scheduled for this next Sunday. One is this fifteen year old boy named Locke and the other is this 19 year old girl named Nonkosi.

Ilinge is a nice area. We don't have do to any finding. People just bring their friends and relatives for us to teach.

We went on exchanges Sat. I went with Elder Hoffman from Utah in a area called Mlungisi. It is the big township in Queenstown. It is a densely packed place. Most of our appts dropped so we did some tracting. Loads of drunk people. It was hysterical.

So last Friday marked a year since I put on the name tag and entered the MTC. So I wanted to celebrate. All the missionaries in Queenstown showed up to our flat and we ordered pizza and I burned one of my white shirts to commemorate one year missionary service. It was a lot of fun.

So lots of exciting things going on. I am so gratfull for the what this last year on mission has taught me and I am excited for the adventures that await me in this my final year.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

10/19/2015

Hey!                                                                                                  Oct. 19th,2015

It has been a week of adjustment for me as I try to learn my new area and remember all the names and faces of people that we are teaching. I must admit it has been difficult thus far. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon. This is a great area though. It has a lot of potential for growth as well. The bishop of the ward is great. He is very willing to work with us. 

The ward is nice as well. Though, it needs some older members. Most of the active members are Young men and women some of whom are barely older than children. I think that the reason for this is that it is a struggle to teach the older people and they are typically more conservative and have poor English skills. 

Elder Fonua is great. He is a very sincere teacher and his desires are golden! I know that we're going to do a great work together as we serve in our area.

Our area is a very dry and hot place. It honestly looks like Wyoming at times. Weird huh?

So I actually don't work in Queenstown. We do live in Queenstown with all the other elders in a very nice flat complex. We drive to our area every morning and come back in the evening. It is a 30 min drive from town so if you forget something at the flat your're out of luck.

We live in a four man boarding with the Sada elders.There area is also a distance from Queenstown so we both have to make a drive everyday. There is a huge ward in Queenstown that is about to split into two. There is a ward in Sada and also a ward in our area.

Spiritual highlight this last week has easily a lesson that we taught to some recently baptized young men. They will soon be reaching missionary age. We take them fellowshiping a lot but we felt inspired to sit down and teach them a lesson. It was powerful! we talked about the potential that they had and how much good they good do for their lives if they served a mission. We felt the spirit so strong!
So yeah things are going great!

10/12/2015

Hey,                                                                                                          October 12th,2015

So a lot has happened! I am being transferred. I received a phone call Saturday night that I'm being moved to a place called Ilinge. It is about 35 mins outside of Queenstown in the Eastern Cape. It is also in the Xhosa heartland and probably the most rural place in the whole mission. 

It's 100% pure Xhosa. So it is almost like I'm getting transferred to another country. My companion is going to be Elder Founa from Utah.

I am leaving Wednesday morning by plane to East London. Than we will drive three hours north to Queenstown where I will live.

I said most of my goodbyes yesterday. It was awesome to see how many people's lives were touched by the gospel and the positive influence that we had one them.

I am sort of sad to leave this area though. I have many great memories of this place and built strong relationships with many of the people that I have come into contact with. 

Yes this was a difficult area. But at the same time, a very rewarding experience. We baptized three wonderful people who have tremendous potential. We taught countless others and I am sure that the seeds that we planted will be harvested by future missionaries. Cape Town has become almost a second home for me.

My last couple of P-days in this area have been fun. We went to Kirstenbosch gardens and then hiked a portion of Table Mountain and. It was hecka fun! It is always good to be among my fellow missionaries. They are like brothers to me. We also went to Cape Towns chinatown. All the merchants there are Chinese and they sell some very interesting goods.

In a few weeks, I will hit my year mark on mission. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I'm planning on doing something cool for the day I turn one year.

Over the course of my mission, I have learned how of a good influence we can be in other people's lives. It really isn't the big things that we do either. It is the small and constant things that we do over a period of time that have the biggest impact.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

9/28/15

Hozit!                                                                                                   Sept. 28, 2015

So a lot has happened over the course of the last few weeks. A good time in for our area and investigators. We had a baptism on Sunday. The person being baptized was  a member referral and a father of a family. Though he is the only member of his family that has gone to church his wife and son seem interested so we're working with them as well. His name is Anton from Zimbabwe.

Anton gave a very powerful testimony after it was finished. He said "Before I joined the church I was afraid of death, but now I stand here today and I don't fear death because of the knowledge that I've received and I know that I am part of the true church!" Powerful stuff right?

This week went well in lessons. We went and worked on the ward list with the High Priest group leader. Visited a lot of people who have been inactive for a long time. Some seem willing to meet with us in the future. I hope that they do. This ward is in need of a boost of enthusiasm.

I also got to confirm Christian and Astride as members yesterday. First time I've ever done that! So yeah the work is moving forward.

P-days have been kind of a bore recently. Not a whole lot going on right now. I hope next Monday is better.

The weather has been very pleasant, though I'm not accustomed to it getting warmer the closer we are to Christmas.

So yeah mission life marches on. We had zone conference recently. Very spiritual moment for me! President Merrill spoke and and said some very profound stuff! He talked about how we serve in areas during seasons of time and the time that we have is very short. So that is why it is so important to make the most of the time that we have. Food for thought!\

So yeah things are going well here for me and I'm continually striving to refine myself to learn something new every day!

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

09/14/2015

Hey!                                                                                                    Sept.14,2015

The weather is getting progressively warmer everyday and the smell of the sea every morning is always pleasant.

We had two wonderful baptisms yesterday! It was a grandmother and her grandson both from the DRC. It felt good to get down into the font again. I haven't done so since the good ole days in Paarl. Very special experience when the Grandmother shared her testimony about how much this gospel has changed her. Our teaching pool is expanding. 

We have been receiving a lot of referrals. We also have another baptism date set for the 27th of this month. It is very likely to hold. We found a father led family through referrals and the father has come to church every single Sunday.

Things are going well with my new companion. I'm trying to help him be a little more outgoing. Sometimes, he can be a bit reserved around people and quite during lessons. He is a good teacher and has a great knowledge about the gospel. Especially for a recent convert of only a year and a half.

This week definitely had its adventures. On Friday, the U.S embassy in Cape Town received a threat from a local terrorist group and so we were warned not to wear anything that would indicate us as Americans. Crazy stuff!

A spiritual highlight for me this week would be a lesson on stewardship that I learned. A lady in a less active family approached me on Sunday very upset that we had not visited them in a while. I knew about them and their issues but I kept procrastinating seeing them due to what I thought were more important people with more important problems to resolve. I was wrong. 

This area is my under my stewardship and if I don't do my very best to work for the well being of everyone than I have let down my Father in Heaven. I guess you could say that this is a small turning point for me, to be a better missionary and to be a wise steward.

Overall, it has been a good week. Full of great lessons learned and experiences that will change me for the better.

9/07/2015

Hello,                                                                                                        Sept.7,2015

Well a lot has happened over the past few weeks. Missionary work in our area is surging. We are actually going to have two baptisms on Sunday. We have been teaching a Congolese part-member family who have really made some good strides forward in terms of conversion.

It consist of the Grandfather who is a member and the Grandmother and grandson who are investigators. So they have been attending church for the last couple of weeks and are progressing very well. Their names are Astrid and Christian.

There is a large amount of foreigners who live in our area and they are far more receptive to our message than the native population. Not one of our investigators are from South Africa. Most of our investigators are Zimbabwean. They seem to be naturally humble and are very excited when we share the gospel with them.

Our area still has many challenges. But we are working to overcome them. A lot of our work recently has been focused on working with the members. The going has been slow but we are making steps. 

A new transfer has begun! We drove up as a district to the mission home in Pinelands and I said farewell to Elder Rasmussen. I then waited for my new companion. He had to fly in from East London. Missionary work in the eastern cape is very different than missionary work here so I am hoping he adapts to the big city soon.

My new companion is Elder Mubaiwa from Zimbabwe. He has been a member of the church for a year and a half. He has a pretty interesting conversion story. He is the only member in his immediate family.

The weather is gradually getting warmer and warmer here. South African spring has arrived. You can practically smell it in the air. Winter is gone. Although it never felt like a proper winter in the first place.

We've had some pretty fun P-days recently. There is a large population of European expats in Cape Town. So we browsed some of the stores that had imported food from Europe. It made the danish missionary kind of trunky. I spent probably more money than I should have on loads of Swiss chocolate.

We've thoroughly explored a mall called Canal Walk which is the 3rd largest in the whole of Africa. It is very close to our area so we frequent it often.

We had a funny experience this week. I found some recently baptized Nigerian members in our records that seem to have gone completely inactive. They supposedly live in the small township on the edge of our area.

The record didn't give a precise address in where they lived. Since township addresses are useless anyway. The only detail that the record gave was that they owned a hair supplies shop in the middle of the township.

So we decided to look for them on foot. We spent a lot time wondering through the township asking various Nigerians if they knew them. It was kind of fun being the sole white guy in crowds of Africans trying to track someone down.

We eventually found out that they had moved to a huge township called Khayelitsha. I'm kind of let down that we didn't find them. But at the same time it was a cool story to tell.

Life continues and soon I will be reaching my year mark on mission. Time always keeps marching onward at a remarkable pace. I hope that my service will always make a difference in others and in myself.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

08/24/2015

Hey!                                                                                                                 Aug.24,2015

The weather has been mildly warm this last week here in Cape Town. Although we had a thunderstorm last night coming off the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Town weather changes very fast and the wind can really blow if it wants to.

We had a very successful week in terms of missionary work. We found some really solid people through member referrals and the member missionary plan is starting to have a very positive affect on the faith of the members and us as well. 

Five investigators showed up to church and we they are all very powerful and we may have some baptisms around the corner.

We taught some very spiritual and inspired lessons this last week and the people we are teaching are making huge strides forward. The "Meet the Mormons" fireside went well a lot of people were crying when it was finished so I would call it a success.

The bishop of our ward died this week after a long battle with liver failure. We found out on Friday it made a good day a little depressing. The bishop lived in our area so we visited his home often to do service for him and his wife. We gave his wife a blessing after church yesterday. It was a very emotional experience.

It seems like I've been involved in a lot of blessings these days. This last week has been full of people getting all emotional around me. 

We had a fun P-day adventure last Monday. We searched all through the city of Capt Town for some Pop Tarts. We heard a rumor that a store sold imported American food. After a long journey and many disappointments we finally found them at a store all the way in Vredehoek.

It almost made me trunky opening up that box and reading the American labels and stuff. The small box cost us over 70 Rand. Yeah it was pricey. But it was soooo worth it!

So yeah awesome adventure!  But on the flip side we've have had some very spiritual experiences with all the people that I come into contact with recently and I can see the changes being made in there lives. 

We grow as individuals during times of trail and hardship. And although we don't realize it during the moment. We can look back and see how far we've come.

So That is all for this week. My most sincere apologies for the short letters. Time can be short on Mondays. The only day of the week I can email.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

08/17/2015

Hey Everyone,                                                                                                 Aug.17,2015

It has been a busy week with all the member lessons that we've been teaching. I was informed yesterday that our companionship is leading our zone in the total number of member lessons taught. 

I hope that over a period of time we will see the fruits of our labors. Successes with investigators in our area have been rare and very difficult to find. It has been somewhat discouraging at times, especially when we invest so much time and emotion in people and then have to drop them because they aren't taking the message seriously. 

That is why we're working our tails off to get member missionary work off the ground for this area. It is the only way. I have the faith that we can over come these problems and build the kingdom here. We just have to continue to exercise faith and patience. If there is anything that I've learned recently it is the principle of patience. 

We had a cool spiritual experience this last week. We have been teaching this less active guy who works in a sort of hair cut place in the township. He is very flaky and likes to lie to us about his past and reasons why he doesn't come to church. When we pulled up in our car to visit him, we had no idea of what to say to him. We discussed it briefly and I felt impressed that we should go in and wait to see what happens. We walked in and sat down and waited. 

We tried to start a lesson with him but soon a couple a guys came into the shop and started asking us questions. They were so shocked to see a couple of umlungu's (white guys) in a black township. As soon as they sat down, a few more guys came in and started asking us questions. Very shortly, a small crowed formed and they were all staring intently at me. I stood up and my companion and I started teaching them the restoration. Very cool experience. It also gave the less-active an opportunity to testify of our message and I'm sure his faith grew as well.

We are having a fireside this Saturday night at the Milnerton chapel. We are going to show "Meet the Mormons" We have been working diligently as a district to make all the necessary preparations and to invite everyone that we come into contact with. So we'll always keep trying, even when the road gets rough.

8/10/2015

Hey                                                                                                            Aug.10,2015

First and foremost, thank you for all the lovely letters and videos. I received quite a lot of them. I'm planning on sending some videos sometime in the near future. I turned 20 this last Friday. It was a nice birthday. My old companion Elder Dangerfield came over to our flat and brought me cake and we then we ordered some pizza.   

Well it has honestly been a crazy last few weeks. Elder Gurney has been having some issues with his eyes and the doctors really weren't sure what the issue was. 

So we received a phone call on Tuesday morning that my comp was flying back home to Utah for treatment for a few weeks and if all goes well he can return to this area before the end of the month. So Tuesday morning was super hectic. Elder Gurney was shell shocked! We had only a five hour notice before his flight was leaving that day to the states. It all happened so fast. So I spent the next couple of days with the assistants to the president until my new companion Elder Rasmussen, arrived from Paarl. So a lot of changes in a very short amount of time. 

P-days have been fun. We had a huge paint balling activity as a zone near Stellenbosch a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun with everyone running around and shooting each other. 

As far as the work in our area is concerned things we have been trying very hard to get the members involved in the work. We have been teaching a part-member family for the past couple of weeks. The husband is a member. The family is from the Congo so they speak French as their first language. We are teaching the wife and their grandson. The lessons have been going well and they are attending church as a family. So a few baptisms might be around the corner soon.

We received some very important training on member missionary work this last week. Our whole mission is implementing a six step pan to boost members confidence ans to help them along the way. I have faith that this will help our area and the church to grow here.

The weather has been pretty fair. We've had quite a few warm days where the sun was shining. Sometimes, we wake up some mornings and the mist from the sea is so thick that it shrouds the road.

Overall, it has been a good week. The work is slowly but surely progressing in this area. I think things are looking up. We just have to be patient.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

7/20/2015

Hey,                                                                                                                      July 20,2015

I am very sorry about there being no blog letter this last week. My companion has been having some issues with his eyes and we had to go to the doctor during our email time.

These last couple of weeks have been very interesting. It has been a real challenge for us to find serious investigators. We've done a lot of teaching people on the streets and then follow up on them where they live later. 

Most of the people that we've contacted are only mildly interested and drop the follow up appointments that we try to set up. So it can be very frustrating at times. We are teaching some really nice people. Its just that they need to take our message a bit more seriously.

P-days have been fun as a district. A couple of Mondays ago we went to Fish Heok and Simon's Town to see the penguins who live in the rocks by the shores of the bay. It was heavily packed with tourists from around the world. We then drove up the peninsula and went towards Hout bay and on to sea point in Cape Town.

We then went to one of the only Subways in the whole of Africa. It was very expensive and definitely not worth the price. The following Monday, we went to a natural history museum in downtown Cape Town. It was fairly decent. It featured a pretty cool African dinosaur exhibit and there was a huge scale model of a blue whale's jaw.

We've had some stormy weather this last week. Our flat is right next to the sea so when the wind blows and the weather gets rough, we can really smell the ocean. 

We've been working with the leadership in the ward in finding less actives and trying to invite them back into church. There is also a number of part member families in our area that we're trying to visit and teach.

The ward has a lot of challenges, but the members are really starting to step up and change things. Mission life is hard at times, especially when success is rare and there are days when I wake up in the morning and have to remind myself why I am out here. Growing up and learning to refine ourselves through tough times is all part of our Heavenly Father's plan.

Life really is a long endurance race. Sometimes, we have steep hills to climb and other times we have long stretches of flat ground. There are times when we get very tired and want to stop running. It is during these moments that we must show our best qualities and keep pushing forward even though it is painful. Yes it is a strenuous race, but the price at the finish line is absolutely worth it.

I am so grateful for this gospel in my life and the strength that it gives me, even when my legs get tired.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

07/06/2015

Hey,                                                                                                         July 6,2015

This last week has been what you would call an average week serving a mission. Full of highs and lows. 

This last P-day we went to down to the water front mall to explore and check things out. The water front mall is vast and sells brands of clothing from just about everywhere in the world. It also includes a harbor with some cool ships that someone can pay to ride.

On Tuesday we spent a healthy portion of the day doing some street contacting. It was a mixed bag of success. Finding in our area can be a challenge at times so we are trying to get the ward behind on us in boosting member missionary work.

We've had some good results and members are starting to give us referrals. We also had exchanges this week. So on Tuesday night I went over to the Milnerton elder's flat and stayed the night. The next day I went out and worked in their area with our district leader. He is from Chile and very proud of the fact that he is Latin American. 

Their area extends into the more urban part of Cape Town so it was kind of refreshing to work in that kind of environment versus the suburbs. 

We taught some very spiritual lessons this week and some less spiritual ones. We taught this one guy you just wanted to argue and debate with us the whole time and he got very angry when I told him that we weren't there for a debate and that he should just try listen.

The fourth of July was on Saturday so we celebrated by having a braai with some of the members of the ward who live in our area. We also went to an American themed diner and I bought some pork ribs. It was so nice.

I have come to learn that the key to be successful missionary and a successful person is consistency. We have to learn to stay consistent in the face of the discouragement, long days, and all kinds of  adversity.

I am always grateful for the small lessons that I learn every day I am trying be always a better man each day.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

06/29/2015

Hey everyone,                                                                                    June 29th, 2015

Sorry for the lack of a blog letter last week. Things got sort of busy and I ran out of time emailing I'm starting to really love my area though. It is a very beautiful place at times.

It is very a different environment than George. Our area is on the edge of the city and is mostly gated suburbs. One thing I like about my new area is that is that English is the majority language and most people here speak it beautifully. 

There is a township on the edge of our area called Dunoon. It is easily the most densely packed township I have ever worked. The streets are tiny and very narrow. Often, people just park in the middle of the street so driving is very scary.

There is a large number of people from Angola living in our area. We have been visiting members and teaching quite a few people who speak Portuguese. We placed three Portuguese Books of Mormons last week. South Africa is just an incredibly diverse country.

There is a less active in area who recently graduated from BYU-Idaho. The school that I'm attending after my mission. He has some really funny dating stories about that place and is a lot of fun to talk to. He just needs to go to church.

We had a really fun last Monday. We went to a lions park near Paarl. Most of our zone also went. We nearly got kicked out of the park because some of the missionaries started messing around and trying to provoke the lions.

The previous P-day we went to the Fort of Good Hope in downtown Cape Town. It is an old Dutch fort built in the 17th century. It was endlessly fascinating to me to read about the history of the old cape colony and the very complex history of South Africa.

We have had some very powerful and inspired lessons with people and I have seen the difference that teaching by the Spirit can make in peoples lives.

I am so grateful for this amazing time to serve the Lord.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

06/15/2015

Hey everyone,                                                                                      June 15,2015

Last Wednesday, I left George by plane and arrived in Cape Town. The AP's picked me up at the airport and drove me to the mission home where I met my new companion. He is Elder Gurney from Utah. We then drove to Tableview.

I am now serving in my new area. It is a part of Cape Town named Tableview. It is named after its view of Table mountain way on the other side of the bay. It is a very beautiful place. Especially closer to the sea.

The area in which we work has a lot of suburbs and flat complexes. Most of them are heavily gated so tracting is very ineffective. That means we have to do a lot of street contacting in order to find investigators.

We are attached to the Milnerton ward in the Bellville stake. It is in the same stake as Paarl. Which was cool because yesterday was ward conference and people serving in the stake from Paarl were there.

There are six missionaries total serving our ward. So we kinda have to share the members with them. The ward is greatly different then the small branch in George. It has a lot of members and is predominantly white.

It looks like Elder Dangerfield followed me into my next zone because he is now my zone leader which is very funny. The weather has been very cool and rainy lately across Cape Town due to the fact that it is winter.

I have a funny story for this week. We were teaching this Zimbabwean family and their child was crying so the mother decided to quite the child through breast feeding. The crazy thing was that she didn't even try to cover herself while feeding the baby.

 So the lesson got very awkward because I couldn't even look at the family. I then made the decision to cut the lesson short because there was no way I could feel the spirit anymore.

I am very excited to serve in Cape Town and for the experiences that I will have here.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

06/08/2015

Hey everyone,                                                                        June 8,2015

My most sincere apologies for failing to write last week. My Mondays have been a bit hectic recently. 

Well I got my transfer news. I am going to serve in Cape Town in the Tableview area. My new companion is Elder Gurney from Utah U.S. Like Elder Brown he is in the same transfer as I am. But, he came from the Provo MTC instead of the Joberg MTC. So I haven't met him yet. I leave for Cape Town by plane on Wednesday. 

It is going to be a big change of pace for me. Cape Town is crawling with missionaries while there are only two who serve in George. Tableview is attached to the Milnerton ward which has a total of six missionaries serving in it.

It looks like my time spent serving in George is over. I have served here for four and a half months. Looking back, when I first got I didn't think I would enjoy my assignment here. George is one of the hardest areas to serve in the whole mission. I didn't think I could handle it.

But now, I can honestly say that it has been probably one of the biggest growing experiences for me in my entire life. The memories of this place will be forever burned into my mind. I love this place and the people who I have grown close to. 

Although statistically speaking I didn't have very much success, I know that I planted seeds and helped strengthen the Lord's church here.

My last few days here have been somewhat emotional. I have always been terrible at goodbyes. 

There is so many people who I am going to miss. I want to return and visit some time in the future. I don't know when that will be though.

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting. I got up and bore my final testimony to the members of the George branch. I hope it was powerful.

Today is my final P-day here and I am planning on making the most of it. The YSA in the branch are going to have a final send off braii for me this evening and Elder Brown and I are planning to eat somewhere cool for my last supper here.

I have now been out on mission for seven and a half months. Time keeps moving forward. It only feels like yesterday when I first stepped off that plane in Johannesburg.

Times like this make me reflect on how far I have come and how farther I want to go to reach that potential that I know that I have. 

I know that this church is true. There hasn't been a time in whole life where I didn't know it was true. I know that if stay true to the covenants that I've made and never stray from them that I will achieve eternal happiness. 

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

05/25/2015

Hey,                                             May, 25th, 2015

Another week has come and gone here in SA. The weather has been quite cool at night but it still gets warm during the day. 

This last week has been wonderful for missionary work. Elder Brown and I made the decision to fast and pray every single Sunday for the branch and for missionary work. The results have been nothing short of inspiring.

We have been teaching this one family for awhile. But up until now they haven't really taken the missionaries seriously. But, this last week every single lesson that we taught was powerful and spiritual. This family came to churchon Sunday and now are on the fast track towards being baptized. 

We have also had similar experiences with in-active members of the church who have decided that now is the time to return to the fold. I have a firm testimony of testing God's promises through fasting and praying. So the work is improving here. 

The members are finally catching the wave and stepping up to help this branch. We have a long way to go still and some big obstacles to overcome. But, I know that things are going to work out. 

The Assistants to the president are coming down this week to go on exchanges with us for about 3 days. Transfers are coming up soon here and the chances of me being transferred are high. So we'll see what happens.

The Kjar's fed us last night with a delicious meal of ostrich steak and gravy plus mashed potatoes. The local cuisine is really starting to grow on me.

The work is still hard but we are making small steps in the right direction. We are planning on doing a ton of finding this week with the Assistants. Hopefully, our teaching pool will be a lot better by the end of this week.

I can't believe how fast time has gone. At this time a year ago, I had just graduated from high school. Now I am serving a mission in a foreign country on the far side of the world. It is truly amazing how much can change over the course of just one year. 

I am so grateful to be out serving a mission and for the change that I have brought about in my life and in the lives of others.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

05/20/2015

Hey,                                                                                                               May 20, 2015

Well this last week has been pretty busy. We have been working very hard to increase our teaching pool. Two weeks ago, a member of the seventy came to our zone conference and he gave a really powerful talk. It has motivated Elder Brown and I a lot. So we made a covenant that to always be diligent and to not get discouraged when times are hard.

We have been praying and fasting as a companionship for the branch here in George. For less actives to return to church and that we can find some people that can help strengthen the church here. 

So we did some finding last week and we've had some success.  We found a really wonderful family that lives in town. We had a super powerful lesson with them.
This last Sunday was branch conference. Our mission president,  President Merrill spoke,  it was truly amazing. He radiated with the spirit when he was talking.  I know that the message that he gave was inspired. 

The weather here continues to be very mild.  A South African winter is approaching soon. Which means the nights are getting a bit chilly. So last Monday was a real blast. We went up to Oudsthoorn to tour this very famous cave system called Cango Caves. It is a very popular tourist destination. We were led by a guide through the cave system. There were some parts of the caves that had stone age drawings on the walls that were made by bushmen long ago.

The tour was pretty awesome and we had a fun time. After we visted the caves, we went to tour an ostrich farm. We got to see and handle ostrich eggs and see how ostrich leather was made. We then walked around the farm and got to handle the ostriches. And finally,  I got to ride on of them. The pictures are priceless. 

So overall it was a good week. We stayed busy and taught some very powerful lessons.  Transfers are coming up soon and there is a big chance that I am going to be transferred somewhere else.  Which is going to be very difficult because I have been here for nearly four months now and I have really grown to love the people here and I have made some good friends in George.  

Serving a mission goes by very fast and right when you really start loving an area you get transferred to another area. However, I am so grateful to be here and for work that I've done. 

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

05/11/2015

                                                                                                                 


Hey,                                                                                                May 11,2015

So It has been a pretty awesome last week.On Thursday we drove down to Port Elizabeth for a zone conference. The next morning we had a meeting with  Elder David Evans of the first quorum of the seventy.

He spoke to us about what we need to do as missionaries to build up the church here in South Africa. He laid out goals for us to meet and then took questions from missionaries about how we could implement these goals.

We were then addressed by President Merrill. He was just as powerful and spiritual as always. Following the meeting, we drove the long road back to George.

I have to admit that the zone conference had a real impact on Elder Brown and I. We have decided that we need to be more diligent and powerful missionaries. Which means we are going to hit the pavement this week and do a lot of finding. 

Our teaching pool as actually gotten better this last week. We have had several people referred to us by people and members so it has really gotten better and hopefully we will be a lot busier.

Sunday was mothers day which meant that we could Skype our families. Which was awesome. It was so wonderful to talk to my family and to see their faces and feel their love. Answering their questions about SA was a real blast. 

After talking with them, it felt like I was jolted back in to reality. 

The weather here continues to be fair and mild. Though it rains a lot more frequently now.

Attendance at sacrament meeting has gotten better steadily over the course of time. We have been trying very hard to work with less actives and help them have the desire to return to the fold.

The members of the branch are really starting to trust us now. It has taken awhile but they are really starting to lean on us and value our advice and council.

We have been working with the branch president often. We meet with him once a week at his house to discuss ways we can help out the members here.

The work is moving forward. Slowly but surely. 

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick