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.

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