02/22/16

Hello,                                                     Feb.22,2016

So yeah I've received my transfer news! I am going to Kwadwesi. It is one of the townships in P.E 

The great thing about my new area is that it is very small and we live with a lot of missionaries, my old friend Dangerfield being one of them. So P-days are going to be amazingly fun!

My last week in Ilinge has been uneventful with the exception of the fireside last evening. It went very well. My companion and I stood before the youth of the ward and talked for about 35 mins. About 25 people showed up for it. 

We wanted the fireside to be a question and answer format and not just us standing there and talking. We had a young man who is leaving for his mission speak and also a recently returned sister missionary.

The fireside was devoted to covering all aspects of serving a mission. We also had the bishop and his wife speak who are both returned missionaries. It went very well.

Leaving Ilinge is somewhat of a sad experience. It is a very close nit ward and I have gotten very close with any of the members especially the bishop and the youth.

I'll be honest when I say that leaving areas that you love doesn't get any easier with time. I am grateful for the season that I had to serve in this area and hope that the Lord accepts my service.

So how are the people that I associated with at home doing? It has been awhile since I've had an update on the status of my old church friends.

I hope that Elder Bowers has grown from our companionship and that he will remember these days in Ilinge as some of the best of his mission. We only serve for seasons of our lives and the time that we have is extremely short. We have to make the most of the time that is given to us. 

Well so much change has happened over the course of this last week it is almost unreal. First and foremost, I said a final goodbye to Queenstown last Tuesday morning. I am missing my Idaho son already. I then drove down to East London and spent the night. The next morning, I flew to Port Elizabeth to start this next stage of my mission.

I spent most of Wednesday morning near the harbor in P.E. I was able to spend some time with Elders I haven't seen in ages. There are a lot of military ships in the harbor. It seems that Zuma is in town.

So I am now in a tricompanionship with Elder Foster and Elder Dean both from Utah. We have to run two areas. Theirs which is Kwamagxaki ward and mine which is Zwide branch. I only spent one day in my area before my comp left so I know nothing about it and we are basically whitewashing it entirely. We have to share two areas which means a lot of running back in forth. That also means attending a different sacrament every other Sunday. So yeah this is a very difficult challenge. 

But as always, I know that the Lord will provide a way for us to figure this out and do the work that we were set apart to do.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

2/1/2016

Hey,                                               Feb.1,2016

Wow! these last few weeks have been very exciting! So the baptism on the 24th went great. It was Elder bower's first time doing one.  I could tell that Elder Bowers was kind of nervous. He had to do the baptism more than once. I smile because it reminds me of the good ole days in Paarl when I had my first baptism. I remember it vividly. 

Weather here has fluctuated from being extremely hot to cool and rainy. I prefer it when its cooler. The work is really moving forward with investigators now that things have calmed down with holidays being over.

Lot's of the young men and young women are inviting their friends to church. We had a young couple show up to church out of the blue yesterday. They are very curious to learn what we are all about.

This week has been fruitful in the Lord's vineyard. We are going to have a baptism this Sunday. The person being baptized is named Jack. He is a 16 year old young man that was invited to church by a friend. He wants me to perform the ordinance It will be the first time that I have stepped into the font in a while.

We had a fun time today. There is this huge mountain in the Queenstown area that we decided to hike this morning. We had to wake up at 5:00 to get a reach the top by 10:00. It was a very strenuous experience! The top of the mountain is surrounded by sheer rock cliffs so we had to do some free rock climbing. It was scary but fun!

An interesting event took place last Tuesday. We have been teaching this less active lady and her daughter and when we visited last week, the mother was visibly shaken by something. When we asked what was wrong she revealed to us that she discovered on Sunday that one of  her daughters has been repeatedly raped over the last few days. 

We sat and listened as she cried and told us her situation. We then gave her and her daughter a blessing. I promised her in the blessing that if she started to make the gospel part of her life again and prayed with her children every night, this would never happen again. We spoke to the bishop about it and tried to give her aid in any way we could.

Something interesting that I have learned is being a missionary is far more about being being a light in peoples lives than I ever realized. From an outsiders point of view, it seems like all missionaries are for is finding, teaching and baptizing. But it is so much more than that. Whether it's listening to a weeping mother or helping a alcoholic father overcome his addiction.

It can be stressful at times to be burdened down with concern for others but it allows us to have a greater appreciation for the Savior and the infinite atonement that he wrought for all of us.

I am confident that the things I am experiencing now will bless me tremendously in the future.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

1/11/2016

Happy 2016!                                                    Jan.11,2016

It is crazy to think that I will be going home this year. 2015 flew by way fast. 

New years went well. They didn't really want us in our area on New years eve and day. So we just spent our time in Queenstown. On New years eve, most of the zone gathered at our flat and we stayed up all night. When 2016 came a lot of fireworks went off around town and people were yelling and going crazy in the streets.

I celebrated the occasion by drinking some sparkling juice that we had bought that day. It was quite the missionary party!

The work has been somewhat slow but enjoyable all the same. Things are going to really heat up when the holidays are over and people return to Ilinge.

P-days have been nice. There are a lot of tall hills around Queenstown and we have started to climb them often. Sometimes, they are covered with really cool trees and have caves in them.

We've had a good week for missionary work in Ilinge. School holidays are ending and our teaching pool is getting better. We found a cool father-led family and taught them the Restoration. The lesson went well and Elder Bowers really participated well. We got a less active list this last week and met with bishop to narrow down on those he wants us to see. 

We have spent a considerable amount of time trying to visit these people. I think our efforts paid off. A handful of them came to church for the first time in a while.

We are going to have a baptism soon. We have been teaching this one boy named Emitle. He is ten years old and a part-member family. He has been coming to church for months faithfully and never misses a Sunday. Previous missionaries have taught him but have struggled because he doesn't speak or understand English. Our Bishop requested that we reteach him so that he can get baptized. He doesn't stay with his parents.(They might be deceased) He lives with his older cousins who are super active members. 

His date is set for the 24th of this month and hopefully we can have some others soon. 

Life here continues at a fast pace. Days tick by and I try to make a spiritual experience out of each one. I now have a little over 10 months left on mission and  I hope that I will this year strong and come home a changed man.

Love,

Elder Sean Patrick Herrick

12/07/2015

Hey,                                                                                 Dec.7,2015

So this last few weeks have been very busy. Elder Founa left for East London and flew to Cape Town the next morning for his new area in Cape Town. I can tell that he really loved Ilinge. He had tears in his eyes most of Monday night when he was saying goodbye. We will miss him.

So the next couple of days I was in a tricompanionship until Elder Bowers arrived. He arrived Wed night and I bought him is first meal in the African wilderness. Hamburgers. He is 6"5 and weighs roughly 300 pounds. He is from Boise Idaho.

I observed Thanksgiving buy buying some KFC. I miss the nice meals back at the home sooooo much! But this time next year I'll be home anyway so it is all good

The weather has been almost unbearably hot these last few days. It got up to 115 degrees last Tuesday. We have to carry big jugs of water with us when we go to the area. It helps stay hydrated. Summer has set in for South Africa

You will have to forgive me I don't have any new pictures this week. I always forget to bring my camera to the area with me. I have some pictures from when Elder Fonua said goodbye,

This last week has been sort of tough. A lot of people have been dropping appointments. The people that we are teaching are really struggling to keep the commandments. Since it is school holidays many people are visiting other parts of S.A. So most of our teaching pool will be out of Ilinge for December.

However, we have picked up some more investigators through referrals and one of them came to church! So that is nice. We don't do finding in our area. I don't think missionaries have tracted there in over a year.

There is a lot of drinking and immoral things that go on and a lot of the young men and young women in the ward are really struggling with all the bad things going on around them. So we've been teaching a lot of lessons all themed around choosing the right and remembering who you are. So many drunk people stumbling around.

Spiritual highlight this week would be district meeting this last Friday. There is this new elder from Brazil and he spoke about why he served a mission. He said: "Many people feel that serving a mission is a huge sacrifice. In my point of view it is rather a huge privilege serving a mission is the least I could do in giving back with all that I have been blessed with". I wholeheartedly agree with what he said.

I owe every breath I take to my Father in heaven and the minimum I could do is devote two years of my life to him

Love,

Elder Herrick

11/23/2015

Hey,                                                                                                    Nov. 23,2015

So a lot has happened recently. Elder Fonua is being transferred to Fisheok in Cape Town and I am training Elder Bowers from U.S. So yeah I am very excited to start training my new elder.

This week has been okay in terms of the work. We've had a ton of dropped appointments and spent most of the week teaching RCs and LAs. Most of our investigators dropped their appointments. School holidays are approaching soon. Lots of people will be visiting relatives in Ilinge. It will be a great opportunity to get more investigators. 

I am thinking on working with the part member families in our area. We have a lot youth in the ward who are the only members in their families. Many just live with their mothers. Solid, father led families are hard to come by. But I feel that we need to strengthen the families already in the church before we bring more in.

The weather has been very hot. Summer time is really starting to set in here. The area is going through a drought. It is very dry and the local government has to ration water to the people living in the Ilinge area.

Ilinge is such a rural place, There is only one paved road in the whole area. It is a very pretty drive from Queenstown to our area every morning though.

Things are going great overall. I am excited for this wonderful opportunity to train a new missionary and to serve the Lord with all my heart, mind, and strength.