04/20/2015

Hey,                                                                                                                                           April 20th,2015

Another week has come and gone here in George, South Africa. We had zone training in Port Elizabeth last week. We arrived Tuesday evening after a three hour drive. The next morning we had the training which consisted of a lesson by the zone leaders and then an interview with President Merrill. 

After the interview, President Merrill got up and gave a powerful talk in how we need to press on and do our very best to endure to the end. At the conclusion of the training, we were fed lunch.

The interview went very well. President Merrill is a very spiritual guy and it is easy to see that he cares deeply for every missionary serving in our mission. Overall, the zone training was a an uplifting experience which motivated me to try my best to reach my full potential as a missionary.

After that, we drove back to George. The next evening we had a meal with a super friendly Xhosa family in the branch. Our meal consisted of rice, lamb, pap,( It's kind of like corn meal) and some orange, mushy stuff that I can't name. But, it was all delicious.

Winter is fast approaching here. For the first time in a long time, I woke up feeling cold. It gets down to like 50 degrees Fahrenheit at night now. Though from what I hear, the winters here are nothing like the winters back home.

The branch here had two baptisms last Sunday. It was these two ladies that the senior couple the Kjars, were teaching. A big portion of the branch turned up to watch the baptisms. Which was awesome. 

Our teaching pool right now isn't the best. A lot of people have dropped our appointments which is never fun. So the work is still rather difficult.

Last P-day was fun though. We drove down to Mossel Bay and went to the mall there. After that, we visited the light house and some very old caves that were apparently first inhabited in the Stone Age.

Transfers are coming up soon and I am wondering whether I am going to stay in George or not. There is a only a small chance that I am going to get transferred I think.

Overall, it was a powerful week. I have a sincere desire to change, grow and become the person that I have always aspired to be.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

Pics George South Africa

Zebras spotted during a drive on P-day.

Over looking Indian Ocean

Beautiful scene near George,S.A.

Elder Herrick and Elder Brown with Branch member?

4/13/2015

Hey,                                                                                                                                April 13th, 2015

I just want to open this post by apologizing for not posting anything last week. The only time we have to email is Monday morning and last Monday we got really busy and had next to zero time to email.

So a lot has happened recently. The work here is progressing forward. We have expanded our teaching pool considerably. Elder Brown and I have been working extra hard to strengthen the members of the branch. We have set a goal to visit every person on the branch list. Active or less-active.

I think we have been somewhat successful because attendance at sacrament is getting better and the members are really starting to trust us and rely on us. Hopefully, by the time I leave George, we will have sown enough seeds for future missionaries to harvest. So yeah we are staying busy.

General Conference was awesome and spiritual as always. I really appreciated Elder Jeffery R. Hollands talk as well as the really powerful talk that the church Relief Society general president gave. It is so weird listening to the talks and thinking how far away from home I am at this time.

The weather here is still pretty warm. It got up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit last Friday. The last few P-days here have been awesome. A couple of weeks ago, we went for a long drive in the mountains surrounding the George area. It is a thickly forested area with some spectacular views and scenic wildlife.

Apparently, there is a small leopard population that reside there so we kept looking for them. We actually saw some zebras and springboks for the first time. It was very cool. Going on a random driving adventure has been our primary source of entertainment recently.

There our a ton of cool places to see and take pictures of here. We see a lot of crazy stuff here on a daily basis. Ranging from witchdoctors walking around in the Xhosa township to the insane drivers here.

The members of the branch here really trust us. They keep us busy with all kinds of stuff. It is funny when we plan for the day as a companionship. Because nothing every go according to plan here.

Everyone here operates on African time which means there is no set time for anything and a lot of thing just randomly happen. For example, a random phone call asking for us to come instantly is rather commonplace here.  So there is never a dull moment while serving a mission in South Africa.

Yeah, it can get a bit hectic at times. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love serving the people here in George. I am so thankful for this gospel in my life and for the privledge of serving a mission for the Lord.

Cheers!

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick