I LOVE GOD:)

  So Elder Engler Is Gone tomorrow:\ I'm really going to miss him, but he'll be one of my best friends for a long time:) HE'S GOING ZONE LEADER ON ME! He is off to Joliet and I'm staying here. My new companion is Elder Black From Arizona! I Don't know much about him, but in his mission he has been a Zone leader twice, so I'm super excited and I know there is going to be a lot of work to be done in Dekalb!

        We have has a few miracles In Dekalb one being a man named M****, who the sister missionaries in Dekalb contacted. The next day he went to Beans and Bibles and He bore his testimony there and went to Church the next day. He has been reading the Book of Mormon; Which Is awesome, has a testimony of it and Everything. He's committed to Baptism and told us he is sick of not being able to pay his tithing at his old Church and wants to start pay Tithing here. He also wants to be a part of our ward choir and wants to sing a solo some day in sacrament meeting! He is awesome, right now he has job problems that he is trying to work on so he can come to church on Sunday and just trying to find a better job so he can pay his bills and go to Church. We promised him that as he strives to seek God's kingdom the lord will bless him with a job. Just as 3 Nephi 13:31-34 promises.
       Our next miracle is J*** who we received as a referral. In the text, it told us that he will be moving to Dekalb, He is faithfully reading the book of Mormon and is ready to be Baptized. My jaw dropped open and I couldn't believe that the Lord was blessing us with this investigator. Here is where the real Miracle takes place. We called the sister who gave us the referral to ask the history on him. They told us that He Had never been taught by missionaries, had got a Book of Mormon from some LDS friends who where helping him out with his divorce and he contacted the missionaries asking what he had to do now.  They told him that he needed to be baptized he accepted and then he moved to Dekalb. We called him later to talk to him and he told us the night before he fell asleep reading the Book of Mormon and that we want to come to church every Sunday and if in the winters he could get a ride because all he has is a moped. Mind you he is making all of these commitments on his own, most of which he has not even been told to do. He gave us referrals for his family to get missionaries to them and he is defending the church from his Friends who know nothing about us. My goodness if that isn't the Lord and his companion the Holy Ghost doing missionary work I don't know what is. He is amazing and even though I haven't even meet him yet I love him already!

        We have been doing alot of work with the members getting in their homes and sharing quick messages with them about the up coming conference and missionary work. We really have seen an improvement in the ward almost a lifting up and it has been making me a really good bond with us.

        -keep the faith, and hold fast to the anchor of the gospel because it not till after the trial of our faith that the blessings come.
-Elder Herdt

My recovering Dog bites!

Ride the Wave!

 First off, new mission rule, all letters and packages must be sent to the mission office :/ but I really want to be obediant to if you could help me with getting that word out that would be great! 
So Riding the waves of the mission Field is hard work but it can make you Strong because you must keep you rudder steady or keep your mast in the wind. Never let go otherwise you might find your self heading in a wrong direction or if worst comes to worst capsizing.D&C 123:16-17 16 You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves. 17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.  I love everything about my mission and the success in my part of the lords vineyard. we had a very hard week, but Elder Engler and I hard holding Fast and keeping the Boat of missionary work strait on coarse. A scripture that really help Elder Engler and I was 2 Nephi 2:1-2 . It Just taught a little more about our trials and what they mean from God. This weekend Elder Engler and I had a miracle do to the help of the Sycamore sisters. When they were at the library a man came up to them asking if they were nuns because of the tag on there shirt. They told them no but told him about the restored gospel and invited him to a missionary chill cook off, that DeKalb and sycamore was putting on and he dropped his plans that night and came out to the cook off. He came to the cook off and at the end of the cook off we had a book of Mormon presentation it was awesome! at the end of the presentation we had testimonies and this instigator M**** bore his testimony and we hadn't even taught him yet!!! He is super solid and we already know he is going to be baptized! We taught him a Day later and he told us he was looking for a Church that was a family because he had lost all of his. Well we told him he found it and the lesson just went awesome after that, I just love the guy, he is so prepared! He mad this week all worth It!I really do hope when I get home I am fat because of my mission, but not like fat physically like other missionaries but fat as what is described in 2 Nephi 9:51----  51 Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot  satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.or Proverbs 28:25---- 25 He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. I love everything I've have been learning, Just Feasting upon the Words of Christ! Because now I have the hunger like Enos did, I will never fall back from the gospel because I know of the substance the gospel brings!Keep the faith and carry on!-Elder Herdt

"THE CYCLIST"

          The Work is progressing in DeKalb, IT'S HARD THOUGH! Some times I Feel like i'm riding a bike in the top gear, up hill, with head winds. Today I want to share with you my analogy of the Cyclist.

 Albert Einstein touched on it a little with his quote, "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." But, what are the acts of force that might be working against us? When we do the right things, working toward the right direction we may feel like we are we are riding up hill in the wind. Up hill is the right things and the wind is like all of the trials and challenges the Devil puts us through. When we are riding towards our goal, it is going to seem tough because we will always see other cyclists riding the other direction. They are riding fast, with no effort and look like they are having a lot of fun but those Cyclists have forgotten they are going the wrong direction and the direction they are heading is a fast route to no where. But, there are ways for us to make our hard ride easy. Like giving up the things that makes us less aerodynamic, or our favorite little sins because those are what give the devil hand holds to push us back. We can also use the things we have like switching gears or using the scriptures we have the word of God better from past and modern Prophets. We can also travel in Pelotons, riding with others that are heading the same direction as us. Like friends Family and the people at the head of the peloton is Jesus Christ and Prophet and Apostles, they take the full force of what Satin has to Throw at us so that we can ride easier in life. We must Keep riding and Keep pumping to Keep balance and to Keep riding toward the goal of returning to our Father. "SALVATION WAS NEVER EASY" you must work hard and if your not, find out what your doing wrong because you might not be riding the right way. We are ether going one way or another and if we feel like we are static, tough news, you are ether going up hill or down hill. moving closer to Christ or riding farther and farther away.

I KNOW my savior and the things he has done for me, I KNOW that the Prophet Joseph didn't have an easy life because what he did brought the opportunity to for billions to come unto Christ. I KNOW the Book of Mormon to be the word of God because it has changed me and made me a better man and I know President Monson is the Prophet for today's bike ride and will help guide and protect us from the winds of the Devil.

Keep the Faith and Press Forward to the coming of Christ.

-Elder Herdt

KEEP THE FAITH, BUILD THE FAITH AND WATCH AS FAITH POWERS THE WORK!

So just another week with more trials but Elder Engler and I have been pushing on with Faith, exercising the words found in Ether 12:6. This week was tough. As I have been studying I have been drawn toward the Doctrine of Faith. I have found a lot that Faith is the first principle in a lot of things. So I took the initiative to study Faith so that I may build myself on the First step of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are some of my findings. I have found 10 statements concerning Faith. 1. Faith makes men sure & steadfast. 2. after the trial of your Faith comes the witness. 3.faith is evidence of things not seen. 4.faith is related to hope. 5. faith is not perfect knowledge 6. faith is related to belief. 7. faith is the substance of all things hoped for. 8. Faith does not come by signs but signs come by faith 9. faith is power 10. Knowledge is granted by faith. and concerning number 9. Through Faith; all thing are created & can be changed, all things can be known & can be taught, all things can be withstood & can be overcome,  all things can be shown & can be understood, all things can be controlled & can be conquered, all things can be promised & can be brought to pass, all things can be made strong & can be made whole, All things can be preserved & can be protected. Yes you can say that through the Power of Faith otherwise known by the Power of God All miracles are brought to pass and All things are effected by faith itself and when used through righteousness all things can be done according to the will of the Almighty. Faith is The First thing for a lot of principles, for a reason. But I know it meant a lot for me to start there first

KEEP THE FAITH, BUILD THE FAITH AND WATCH AS FAITH POWERS THE WORK!

-Elder Herdt

Dog attack from my companion's point of view:)

This week was a crazy week was a crazy week. I don't wan't to shy away from the Spirit of Love, but this story needs telling. Friday, August 30th I was at Mission Council, or in other words the inner sanctum of missionary leadership. Haha nah, but I was at a meeting all day. Another District Leader and I drove down to the mission home while Elder Herdt and Elder Bezzant stayed in our area and got three new investigators, good kid, makin me proud. Anyway, I get back and we have dinner and while we're eating a freak storm hits and the roads are flooding and its crazy cool( I love that about the mid-west). Our appointments had fallen through, and we were out just doing some stop-bys. We stoped at this investigators house and and went to knock on the door and or course the dogs start barking and there is yelling for them to be quiet( I love dogs because its like a 5min long doorbell :)) So she comes to the door and is about to tell us now is not a good time, and her dog, about knocks her over as he pushes past her and out the door and attacks Elder Herdt!!! AHH! It's chaos and Elder Herdt is trying to push the dog away and the dog is chewing on his hands, and she is trying to yank the dog back by the collar and I'm standing there not really sure what I should be doing and she finally gets the dog away and says you guys had better get out of here, I don't know what has gotten into him. I start walking towards the end of the porch, and Elder Herdt is trying to follow and the dog escapes her grip and comes at him again, and this time he kicks the dog and the dog tries to bite his leg and Elder Herdt falls through the front bushes into the front yard and takes off with the dog on his tail and continues until Elder Herdt is off the property and the finally starts listening to the owner. I hurry back over to Elder Herdt as he is holding his hands and limping and we jump in the car and we pull out the first aid kit and start bandaging him up. I called President Fenn and asked what he felt we should do, and in accordance with our thoughts told us to go to the hospital. So just so you all are aware, Elder Herdt it fine. It looked and sounded way worse that it actually was, but he did end up with lots of scrapes a few deepish cuts and a couple of puncture wounds. She came out while we were talking to President and bandaging and apologized and asked if there was anything she could do, and assured that the dog was up to date on his shots and was really flabbergasted ($10 word) because he had never done that before, ever. We assured her we didn't blame her or the dog and that it was all going to be alright and we'd keep in touch with her. We had an appointment in a few minutes that we were going to miss and Elder Herdt was really upset and was refusing to go to the hospital and miss the appointment. President had insisted already and Elder Herdt was literally shaking and I decided to stop and just cancel the appointment. He ended up not being there and that was the Lords way of telling us to get to the hospital. We went to the ER and they took us in and checked him out and cleaned him up and bandaged him up real quick. No stitches or anything like that, I guess its not good for dogbites because it locks in the saliva. But then it was more about paperwork and reports and the cops had to come because of the dog bite and then they had to go to the investigators house and yeah... kindof a mess. And yes, Elder Herdt is really fine. Doing great actually. We've gotten down to just bandaids and he's still on the antibiotics. So it didn't even phase him. Definitely a lot better than it could've been. The dog was a pitbull, and I almost don't want to mention it because of stereotypical reasons, but if he had truly wanted Elder Herdt he would've had him. So... Whew. Oh the life of a missionary.

 

Until next time,

Elder Engler

Stay Stong, Keep the Faith, Build the Kingdom

The Truth Will Set You Free...as long as the Pit Bull will!

 

 I loved this week it was amazing and I've learned and grown so much from it!!! The only thing is I'm going to write about this week is the day of Aug 30th.

    That day I was left to run the area on my own while my companion left for a leadership meeting. Elder Bessant (my MTC companion)and I took Dekalb by storm, Teaching 3 members, helping one of them move in, teaching and coming in contact with  new and old investigators and finding some new ones on the way. We taught a short and powerful restoration lesson bearing witness of the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph. It set a fire in my belly and I felt invincible! We changed back to our companionships and Elder Engler and I had dinner. As we Had dinner a freak storm rolled in and horizontal rain started pouring down.  We hurried and finished dinner and got to work. We made a couple of stop bys and the last one before we were going to another appointment changed my mission. As we got to the door we heard their dogs barking and as the lady of the home went to open the door to tell us right now isn't a good time her Pit bull broke loose and attacked. He ripped my hands and leg up. I got out of the assault quickly and it could have been a lot worse but as I hobbled-sprinted to the car, bandaged up and started to cry--not because of the pain or anger for the people but because it meant that we were going to miss an appointment with an investigator that I REALLY wanted to teach. I was BEGGING with my companion and mission president to let me go teach this person then go to the hospital but it was a no. Well, we ended up just doing a drop by anyways but sadly He ended up not being there. So I began to ponder why all this happened. As I sat in the emergency room I took some time to ponder about my mission and what I had just gone through and I realized that, I've been changing and for the better.  I cared so much to teach this person that I didn't even know that it was placing my own self out of the picture of care. His spiritual life meant more than my physical life. I realized that missionaries are like  spiritual superheros, going out and trying to save other people's (spiritual) lives. It was a changing point in my mission. I do want to hear of some of the mission/life changing experiences you have had.

      I treasure the time I get to learn from challenges.  Trials are the main way we get to learn in these tabernacles of clay. Never ask why God is doing this and why he is putting you through trials, because all he is trying to do is teach you and make you the strongest person you can be. Satan may try to remind your of your past and make them see them and bad things you've done but you just have to remind him of his future because he can do nothing to us or remind us of nothing that will compare to what he will go through after his last season. 

 

- Elder Herdt