Baptismalizing Gods Children

Such an amazing couple of days to see my friend Adrienne get baptized. This journey for Her has been very like a foggy Illinois day. It all started a little over a Month ago with a prayer to Heavenly Father for him to help her get her life pointed in the right direction. He had provided her with enough light to make a couple of steps into the cloudiness, like being invited to church by a random co-worker, meeting another friend/coworker who she graduated college at church and the then was invited to meet the missionaries with her . The light of Christ is Endless and never can be darkened, and that light grows brighter and brighter until that perfect day. As we met with her she put all of her heart into finding this all out for herself. She read the Book of Mormon, with out even being asked and constantly studying church materials. She would even do it at work! She asked us when she should be baptized and we turned it around an invited her to pray when she should be baptized. She texted us. Few days later telling us December 13th at 10am. The coolest thing is when someone receives revelation like that God is telling them that it will happen if they try and she did. She was Baptized that day at that time and I thank God for being able to meet Adrienne and help her in the foggy journeys we call life.

We had our Ward Christmas Party this Saturday as well and Elder Hon and I were the Pie Judges. Missions are REALLY Hard some times! Judging 20 Mormon pies. It's a tough job.

Thanksgiving Fiasco

"Thanks giving Fiasco" we were blessed with a thanks giving lunch with all of the goodies that came from thanks giving, we were also planned to have a thanks giving dinner as well BUT we ran into a problem. We came home after lunch to find that in the foyer in our apartment was flooding but not with water.... SEWAGE WATER.... It look like someone put there thanks giving dinner down the garbage disposable. Not knowing our landlords number re rushed and grabbed a wet-vac from a near by member so we could suck up the sewage. we ended up sucking 15 GALLONS! of sewage. We then got the Land lords number from a neighbor and got a maintenance worker to come out a few hours latter. He put popped the sewage drain to fine a grocery bag amount of solids and the poured down a serious drain cleaner that did little. he called up rotor rooter who did answer "holiday luck". our maintenance worker said to stay here and make sure it doesn't flood more until rotor rooter calls. Rotor rooter didn't come until 9:30 pm and then the next day we got are carpets clean and had 3 carpet blowers and a dehumidifier going for until Monday evening.

that was thanks giving for us.

 This week was a struggle to say the least. If it wasn't for the miracle that happened Sunday we may have not had any lessons for the week with investigators.

 The week Elder Scrogham Left we had 1 investigator baptized, 1 investigator on date transferred to another area, another investigator evicted with out a trace and so on. We were at a TRUE square one. Oh it was a trying week, I did not feel like I knew the area well enough or the members. through this trial though miracles will be brought to past Like this Sunday.

Sunday we had planned to Go see an investigator so said she would be home. 1 of the less actives we had planned to teach was sick and the other had company.  3 hours of are plans fell through in 30ish minutes. We Tried and talked to the neighbor of the investigator who got evicted to see where he was and this kid answered the door and said they hand no clue where he moved. We asked if Cory the neighbor who lived there knew were he was he said he probably wouldn't because he is in Jail for running from the police. We gave him a card and left. Right after we started to walk away I asked Elder Hahn why we didn't ask him if he would be interested in learning more. So we walked back and knocked and asked. He said he heard us teaching last time we were there teaching his neighbor and was interested because he believed in God but never new what to do next. We started to teach him and we got his contact info and were on our way. 

  We thought If we should go tract, which was the backup at that point and we weren't feeling that was right thing to do. We Checked for members that were in the area that we could visit. We found a name of a inactive and decided to go contact her. It was Dark and it was hard to find the apartment addresses but we pulled up to her apartment complex went to her door and knocked. This man came to the door and we asked if the member lived here. He said no we then asked how long had he lived there and he said 3 years. Kind of puzzled we then asked what address this was and it was NOT the address of the Inactive. So we did what any good missionary would do and asked if we could Share a quick holiday message, "HE IS THE GIFT". He let us in and we watched the video and afterward quickly referred to the Restoration. We asked if he would be interested in learning more and he agreed so were planning on going back his week. As we left his apartment building, we looked around the apartment complex and said if were going to be Tracting we might as well do it in doors. So we proceeded to invited people to watch he is the gift. The hours that we were there we ended up getting 4 PNIs and 3 new investigators. It was a true blessing and answer to our prayers. We pray that we may continue to remain worthy of the Blessing that Heavenly father has been giving us being Obediant and Working with all our heart, might, mind and strength.

we're still trying to find new investigators that are solid, we're teaching lessons to people, but not getting past the first lesson. We WILL BE HAVING A BAPTISM! The Gal that I sent you a picture of with me an elder Scrogham for this Saturday. She asked that if I would baptize her. I feel really honored and am trying to increase my spiritual sensitivity for the week to be prepared for it. we have been fed pretty well in this area. the only problem is that all the members who want to feed us live out in Egypt. No one who lives in Morton really feeds us.

Amazing investigators!

 Meet Al Hurt, AKA Brother Claus.  He lives next to a member that we do service for.  Santa gave us both a sword for Christmas.  Now I can really be a True Spiritual Ninja!

Adrienne Larson, She is one amazing investigator. She works with several members at the hospital that I went to. She had a sincere desire to gain a better relationship with God and get her self back on the straight and narrow. She is very smart too. She has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and sometimes does it during work. The Coolest thing is we invited her to know when she needed to be baptized and she said when she prayed about it she had a clear feeling that she needed to be baptized on December 13 at 10 am! How cool I love it when investigators pursue to know find the truth on the own and aren't compelled to find out. 

A Great Way to End a Transfer!

This was a Pretty Good way to end a week to say the least. We started out the week with a Zone conference and I finally was able to get an interview in with my mission president.  It was so great to be able to sit down one on one with my mission president and talk. I was able to talk to him about some miracles that have been happening. 

The first our investigator Adrienne, who prayed to know when she should be baptized, got a pretty specific answer that she need to pray about it and she said that December 13th is the day at 10:00 in the morning. She is so solid. She has taken the gospel and ran with it and nothing is stopping her!  

The second miracle was Miguel being Baptized on Saturday.

It was so cool, there was so many people who came to the baptism, even his dad and grandpa came! I sang because I have been given much, with our ward mission leader's wife and one other sister while her companion played the piano. The funny thing that happened was that we made the font water TOO hot. Miguel got in the water and jump right back out and Elder Scrogham went in and he had sock on and after a few seconds was jumping out too. They had a quick prayer that they would be able to handle it. When they finished our ward mission leader came in and asked why they weren't in yet so he flipped on the cold water for a few minutes and it was still hot so they just went in. Miguel was so dazed when he came out of the water. It was really good experience for Elder Scrogham a very big testimony builder. It was his first baptism and the First person he ever baptized. It made me really happy because when I got into Morton, I made a Goal that I was going to baptize with Elder Scrogham, I didn't know who and I didn't know how long it would take but I know we were going to be able to. It was at the last minute but we did it. I felt so blessed to be able to serve with Elder Scrogham it was so cool to see him grow spiritually and it made me really learn who I was. 

I'm getting Elder Hon for a new companion. He is a cool Red head, so I'm excited!

Craziest Week Ever! Scaredy Squirrel/ Hospital Adventures

Scaredy Squirrel

This was one of the craziest weeks ever.

I would like to share some miracles that have happened in the last week.
We had a ward member last Sunday bring a friend to Church that he worked
with and she ended up knowing people in the ward who work in the hospital
with her and it was great! She loved it and she said she felt the
spirit really strong because she felt like it was all good. She had
been reading the Book of Mormon as well and felt that same Good
feeling. We set an appointment with her and the member that she knew
and that Wednesday day taught her the restoration. It all clicked with
her and she learned that she needed to read the Book of Mormon to get
her answer. She then prayed to know as well. We saw her the next day
at dinner with our other member and had some concern do to CNN and
Joseph Smith having 40 wife's. So our member just point blank told her
the doctrine of polygamy and how it ties into the dispensation of the
fullness of times. She had no concerns after that which was cool, we
then taught her what the standard works were. So we were then able
to give her a scripture reference for doctrine in all the scriptures. So
during the whole time our member who brought her to church was
teaching her more and more stuff and they had to go to the hospital
which wasn't too bad because she worked and lived right next to the
hospital so she got to visit us more than anyone else.
Now the Miracle, we had a baptism for a investigator the sisters were
teaching and Adrienne heard of it and wanted to go. She went and
afterward she said that she wanted to be baptized. So Wednesday we're
going to meet with her, invite her to pray about a day and see how
things go from there.

NEXT MIRACLE

MIGUEL.
Miguel is the son of a part-member family. His mom and sister are
members and his dad, who is not a member, doesn't live with them.
So a year ago Miguel asked. If he could be baptized and his dad took
him into a room, yelled and him and told him he could. when elder
Scrogham got her we told him to pray for the day he wants to be
baptized. Everyone thought we were crazy. He prayed and got a date. we
have been teaching him how to teach us so that when he is ready, he
can me solid and if his dad ask questions he could answer. this last
weekend was Miguel's last week before his baptism to ask. he prepare
for the big talk with his dad by reading the Book of Mormon daily. He
asked his dad and his dad said YES! He followed up and asked if he
would serve a mission and not go to school. He said that he would go
to a year of college then go on a mission. It was so crazy To find
that out. This mean we should be having a baptism this week. Woot
woot!

So Thursday I was having some pretty bad constant stomach pains and 
the pains got slowly worse. Our doctor in the ward said to wait 24 hours
and see what happens. I got a blessing form my comp and a member but that
night was the worst night of my life. I thought was going to die it was so
miserable, no sleep, couldn't move, woke up and the pain was worse. I
could only walk doubled over. Sometimes the pains got so bad I would
have to crawl. We got to the urgent care that morning and they told us
to get to the hospital. So we rushed to the ER.  Stayed in the hospital a 
couple of days but didn't need surgery.  Everything just compacted.
Feeling better now.



 

That's it for now. Good bless and keep up the good work!

Elder Herdt

Crazy busy Week!

This week was a crazy one. We were so blessed to be able to go to the Nauvoo Temple and Carthage. It really Built our testimonies and got us more pumped to do missionary work. We found out later that Carthage was not apart of the approved locations for missionaries soo.......now we know. haha I felt really blessed to see the City of Joseph, Nauvoo the Beautiful. The Whole Place has a spirit to it that cant me compared to. It just took my Breath away. 
We had an outstanding week. One of the best that this area has seen in a long time. It was Great to be able to see some miracles. The biggest one that stands out to me was Saturday. We had an appointment with a new investigator and had planned a recent convert to come out with us and we get there and no one was home, So we asked our recent convert If he would like a Lesson, he was kind of excited because he hasn't a lesson in a while. So we taught him about missions and about struggles that missionaries have on missions and what he should expect and how he should prepare for a mission. He really appreciated it, He is going to be leaving to Philadelphia mission in February and he is so pumped to GO. He asked us what we had next on the schedule and we told him he
had tracting next so we invited him to come tracting with us. He told us he has never been tracting before and really wanted to Go. So we tracted around where are appointment earlier. We actually found some pretty sweet potential investigators! One of them had already been to temple square and she was in Love with the Christus statue! He bore powerful testimony of how much the Gospel and blessed his Life and that It could bless hers too. We got done with Tracting and went back
to the apartments that our first appointment was at and our
investigator was home we were able to come in and talk to him about the Plan of Salvation and he just got it all, it was really cool because we were going to watch this video about the plan of salvation when his up stairs neighbor, who is the girlfriend of another
investigator came in and watch the whole video. It was so Cool the
Spirit was so strong. After that lesson we where on our way home to
Have dinner and Elder Scrogham had an impression that we needed to try
to contact a referral a member gave us that we were never able to
catch. Lo and behold, she was home. Were able to teach here on her
door step and asked here what she wanted to in life. she said 2
things, one how could she get a relationship with God and 2 why did
God take her Husband. It was great that Elder Scrogham and I were able
to teach her, because lately Just knowing God is real is something,
Elder Scrogham and I have been teaching that a lot. She was very
comforted from the things we were able to share with her.
I know Heavenly father works with our life so closely so we can do His
will. I Love doing the Father work his will. I makes me feel so much
better than anything Else I could do.

Nauvoo The Beautiful!

Well I want to apologize to everyone, its been a pretty great couple
of Weeks. No need to worry about me I've been doing Just fine. Better
than Fine, I've been living the dream. I had a pretty good send me off
from Rochelle. We were able to go to sister schuler's home and teach
her sons the restoration and that went really well. We took some
pictures and Barb thanked Elder Earl and I for teaching her, she just
about broke down crying as she thanked us for being here, that if it
wasn't for us she wouldn't be baptized right now. 


That there was a moment that made my mission. Sunday night we had President Fenn come to Rochelle for a Fireside and give a presentation on the Book of Mormon. It went really well. Some families from Dekalb came and we had a lot of recent converts there. Sister schuler our most recent convert bore her testimony and it is one of the sweetest testimonies I have ever heard. I had to follow her up and sing a solo, which I believe is the first solo I have ever sang, high on the mountain top. President then began to speak thanked the people who bore testimony and gave me one of the greatest compliments a missionary and get from him which is, "you didn't bring shame on the mission." 

   I am proud to Announce my Son Elder Earl is Training. Elder Engler is
also Training for his last transfer on his mission. So I now have a brother and also a grandson. As weird as mission families are I sure do Enjoy them.
    Transfer day was a pretty odd one. Elder Scrogham didn't come up to
Naperville to meet me so I was without a companion for 8 hours. It was
weird not having a companion for so long but I got to Morton safely.
Im really excited to serve Here in Morton. The Ward here is Great, all
we really are trying to do is find people to teach. These last couple
of weeks we lost all of our investigators, all except one. Who is a
members son and can't get baptized because his dad wont let him. If you
could do some praying for us. Pray that we can find some new
investigators. We have though had some of the best teaching Lessons
that I have ever had on my mission. 


Elder Scrogham is really good at
teaching people not lessons. He is a really Humble missionary and we
really click. I have super excited to serve with him.
I will have to share a couple of my really spiritual moments in our
week. The first one happened Saturday morning right after MCM we
went to go give service for our Ward mission Leaders Son sam who is a
Less-active. He grew up in the church and reads from the Book of
Mormon often and whats holding him back from activity is he has never
felt like he has had a connection with God. We talk to him more to
find out more about where he was coming from and he told us that every
time he tries to find God or is at the cusp of revelation he said
something always Bad happens. We expressed to him that one of the
reason that could be is because Satan knows who he is and knows who he
can become and that Satan can't afford to let him lose from his chains
that he has on him because if he finds God than he will be a huge
player when it comes for the fight of righteousness. He said he never
thought of that before. We invited him to fast and pray to know if
there is a God. He accepted our challenge and today we have been
fasting and praying to help him on his search.
Today was a very POWERFUL day. 



We were able to Go to the Nauvoo
temple. It was SO powerful walking into that temple. It about took my
breath away. I was able to feel the power of God so strong in that
temple and I was so happy to be able to go there. On our way home we
went threw carthage Jail and that was a really powerful experience. It
was so sacred, and Being a descendent of Hyrum the Patriarch just made
even More special. I really felt close to The Prophet and the
Patriarch while we drove through old Nauvoo we were able to see the
grave of those 2 great men. I got a new increased love and witness for
those men that has just solidified my testimony that I know this work
is the work of The Lord and and be brought to us straight from him and
will continue to progress until it fills the world!


Elder Herdt

The Pumpkin Capitol of the World!

Elder Herdt is being transferred to Morton, IL; the Pumpkin Capitol of the World.

 More to come...

Conference Was Really Powerful!

I've found out that by next week I'll have 8 Months left on my
mission. I felt like the MTC was only months ago but weeks are going
way too fast. Transfers are just a dash and all my days blur into one
memory. It's so crazy what the mission does to your sense of time. But you can't resist it because worrying about time is time wasted on a mission. You have to press forward, kind of like a full court press in basket ball, your continually active in achieving your Goals.

Time is such a precious thing on a mission and I imagine in life in
general even though time is only measured to man. One of the biggest
time wasters for me on my mission was studying unnecessary doctrine,
the things of the kingdom and the mysteries of God. It gets real hard
when you have and iPad and the Gospel library app that even though it
not a lot you can still dive deep into doctrine. Try to avoid studying
those type of things like a plague if you are in this season of life
or preparing for this season of life, that is serving a mission. It's
a selfish endeavor that will not allow you to work and teach with all
diligence. You have the rest of your life to study those things so
Study for your investigators, read preach my gospel and the Book of
Mormon, make it a daily activity. You will find the Greatest treasure
of knowledge by doing this, which is the spirit. Your most important
thing to teach an investigator is how to feel, recognize and obtain
the spirit. You do this best by teaching the restoration and the Book
of Mormon. Implement the doctrine of Christ in all lessons and teach
about the blessings of the temple in as many lessons as possible. The
most important thing to teach by the spirit is to be exactly obedient.
You with find the windows of heaven endow you with the spirit at you
are more obedient and an increased faith will be given.

I loved conference this year. One of the best years I've watched.
Really powerful. Elder Ballard's talk really made a mark on me. It was a
answer to one of my prayers that I had for conference. The other talks
I really like were elders Lynn G Robbins "fear no man", Jorge
klebingate "take responsibility face your weaknesses"' Henry B Eyring
" a love for a prophet or a leader will give you the power necessary
to receive confirming Revelations." Plus his story about him and his mom
reminded me of me and my mom And to not for get President Monson's
"walk the path AS the he walked, the path of obedience,
the path of freedom, not bondage but eternal life." I made picture
notes for conference instead of trying to write out their talks. Check it out:)

A Week of Miracles!

Wearing out shoes in the service of God. 

                                       Good thing I have the skills to fix them!

This week went by so fast I was blown away. I know the rest of my mission is going to be like that, so I wont resist it and I'll get to work and I'll think about that kind of stuff later.

 It has been such a blessing this week being able to work by inspired weekly planning. Elder Earl and I applied what our zone leaders taught us about weekly planning at zone meeting. We had several instances where unplanned opportunities came to us just because we were at the right place at the right time and we acted quickly to promptings of the spirit. The first instance was where we had some tracting planned and as were walking through a parking lot for an apartment. We saw a lady with a lot of Groceries so we asked if we could help, she said "why yes, that would be a blessing." We carried up her groceries and ask if we could share a brief message with her. She thought for a minute and accepted. We then showed her the video, " the church from a glance" which I have found to be a great finding tool. It goes over a lot of the "Fruits" of the church and including the restoration. She Was crying throughout the video. She found it such a blessing that we came at the time we did. She has been depressed for years. Other churches haven't been cutting it for her. She loved how family oriented the church is and wanted to learn more. We asked her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, she said she would. She expressed that we did not meet her by chance, that it had been God sent for us to be here. We have a return appointment this week. 

Leaving from there we were feeling the spirit so strong and as we were not even an apartment down a young women stopped us and said if we're were knocking doors don't knock on her's because she didn't want her baby sister opening it. We asked if we could then come back and share a message with her. She asked if tomorrow evening would work. We check and it was. We went to the appointment with our branch president and he knew the lady's father/ family. Its nice when we can take our branch president out because he is the Locksmith in Town and knows everyone.

Another small miracle we had was that we were driving to one of our investigator's home and decided to call him to make sure it would be okay for us to come by because he is normally in a ton of pain and can't meet. We called him and he was telling us that we couldn't come by but it was a miracle we called when we did because he was in so much pain only minutes before we called him it was so bad he couldn't answer the Phone and that he was a lot better now. We got to talk with him about the gospel and he was so thankful that we called him and lifted his spirit. We invited him to read 2 Nephi 2 because it teaches us two great principles, why do good people go through bad things and why is it necessary for bad things in the world. He was so excited to read it and talk to us and wants to talk to us soon.

With that appointment canceling we travel to our back up plan. We walk down a dusty street in the middle of a trailer park to our back up plan when this man asked us why were we there. We started to introduce ourselves but he had to leave.  But, a women came up behind him saying she would talk to us. We told her who we were and she started to open up to us. She expressed how she had been through hell and back. She had been homeless for a few years and lost her 4 kids and now is being evicted from her home the following day. She was thinking that religion is the thing that is missing from her life. We asked if she needed help moving and she told us they were in desperate need of help. She was talking with her boyfriend, who we only moments talked to earlier that they had no Idea how they were going to get it all done. We told them that not only will he help but that we will get missionaries on the other side to help unpack. They were shocked that we were to willing to Help. We then asked if there was anything else we could help them with. They told us that they were in desperate need of boxes and we told them to not worry about it, we would fine some for them and that we would see them tomorrow morning with the Boxes. We called up our branch president and said he had some boxes at his Locksmith Shop so we hurried and Grabbed them. The move went smoothly we helped them get all packed up in about 45 minutes and got them the contact information for the Arlington 1 Elders which area they were moving into and also gave the Elders a heads up on them. 

We also had a blessing of another back up when we followed on with kid we tracted into a few weeks before. We came in and watched the video again "the Church from a glance" and taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon. We asked him if he were to know if this was true and that this is Christ church would you be baptized. He said he would, which was one of the most sincere and sweetest "yeses" I have ever heard.

The last and maybe the Biggest miracle and maybe it doesn't seem to be a big miracle is our investigator Eric that we have been teaching him 2 times a week for the last 2 weeks finally prayed for the first time out loud in his life. We have been asking him to pray every time we come by and he did it! we also Gave him the Book of Mormon on audio because he can't read and he was pretty excited to listen to it! 

I know without a doubt that the work is progressing and hastening. I see peoples lives change every day and I get so happy every time I get to see someone life get blessed! I have on my spare time been reading up on the Prophets gaining a testimony on each one. I have came to LOVE Heber J. Grant and a quote I found the other day can sum up my letter pretty well.“I know of nothing that brings greater joy to the human heart than laboring at home or abroad for the salvation of the souls of men. I know of nothing which gives us a greater love of all that is good, than teaching this Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Love Elder Herdt

The Book is Blue and it is True!

This may have been the fastest week on my mission that I have ever
experienced. We started off with a p-day and a Family home evening with
our recent convert Salvador, he is the best guy ever. He treats us
like his sons. He takes time to teach us skills and learn new things.

We only had 2 full days of proselyting this week because every other
day we had a meeting or something so our first full day was on Tuesday
and we had the chance to visit Barb our recent convert. Barb wasn't
able to make it to church the Sunday before. Everyone cared about her
so much, which was really nice, but they were worrying too much. We
knew Barb was solid and that somethings must of come up so we didn't
feel the need to pressure her. She has been to church since the Branch
has opened more than some members of the Branch presidency. As we
taught her the plan of salvation she just spilled the beans why she
wasn't at church. She must have felt really bad because she told us
that she was having some family issues and she was back up on a lot of
things. She said she prayed about it and the Holy Spirit told her what
she needed to do.

Wednesday we had a Zone Conference that was Just Amazing. I really do
love meetings. I had a companion once who would say that meeting were
one of the most pointless things ever done in a mission. I would
strongly disagree. I really need meetings and this one was one I
really needed. The meeting  had a reoccurring theme of personal
evaluation. The first thing and most important thing to evaluate is
your thoughts. Spencer W. Kimble said, "How can a person not become
what they're thinking? " President David O. Mckay stated once that
"the hardest battles of life are fought within the chambers of the
soul" (Improvement Era, Feb. 1970, P. 84). Out of all the things I
have learned on my mission one of the most important things I have
learned is Controlling my thoughts. I didn't know controlling your
thoughts was a thing for my mission. Now I realize how critically
important it is. Without mental focus you can not over come the
natural man. 3 other things that I learned in this zone conference is
the importance of these 3 things, attitude, desire and faith. On a
mission you see a lot on missionaries laking one of these 3 major
things sometimes all of them and other times just one. I have even
missed having those sometimes. It is near impossible for anyone to
help someone fully make the covenant of baptism without these things. An
endowment of Faith comes from obedience. Persistence becomes vain and
repetitious without the right kind of Attitude and Desire to share the
gospel comes from personal conversion, best stemmed from a testimony
of the Book of Mormon. I was thinking about that last one about the
Book of Mormon a lot. You can quote me when I say that "the Book of
Mormon is the level for aligning our will with Gods will." With having
iPads on our mission we have the Gospel Library app, which has oodles
on information and doctrine. I thought about what I have gained from
all of the things that I have learned by having that app and this Quote
hit me. They are the words of a man named T. S. Elliott, who asked
"Where is the Wisdom we have lost in Knowledge, where is the Knowledge
that we have lost in Information?" I have realized that on my mission
I have gained a lot of knowledge from information but not a lot wisdom
need to teach the gospel from that knowledge. I then realized that I
needed to Go back to the basics being, Reading the Book of Mormon and
Preach My Gospel. I want to as soon as Im finished with my prayers in
the morning to read a Chapter of the Book of Mormon to start my day
right. I would Invite you do try to do the same and see how it works.
I know that as I do this I will be expressing to God what matters
first to me.

Thursday was pretty uneventful due to weekly planning but Friday we
had to drive an hour and a half to Naperville for MISSION CONFERENCE.
What a great conference. Like I said I love meeting and I love hearing
President Fenn give discourses. I hope President Fenn becomes an
Apostle some day so I can hear him at least twice a year for general
conference, Which is coming up too!!!! woot woot! General conference
is Like Christmas for missionaries. Back to mission conference though.
The conference was based on the "coming forth of the book of mormon".
Sister Fenn taught the importance of the date of September 22 1823,
191 years ago to this day. On this day Joseph smith saw the Angel
Moroni. which this day is also very special to the Jewish Faith
because of the holiday The Feast of Trumpets, which signifies the
-gather Israel
-renewing the covenants given to their fathers
-start the millennium
-and the great harvest.
How profound because the Book of Mormon is fulling those prophecies
RIGHT NOW!!! It is also jewish Traditions that for 3 weeks after
September 22 the veil is at its thinnest.
After the President Fenn arose and Gave us a 2 hour lecture on the
history of the Coming forth of the Book of Mormon, starting with the
First vision and ending at first Printing of the Book. I was blown
away at the account of the Book of Mormon which I have never before
heard.  I bet he has Just about read any and all accounts of the Book
of Mormon. He went on and on teaching every little detail of the Book
of Mormon. On of my strongest testimonies about the Coming Forth of
the Book of Mormon is that Joseph Smith Could not have fabricated it
out of his mind. Emma Smith said once as she was a scribe for Joseph
that. Joseph at the Beginning of the Translation of the book of mormon
couldn't write a letter or dictate to some a well composed letter, let
alone dictate a Book to someone. At the time the beginning of the
Translation Joseph was also very illiterate on the subject of the
Jewish culture. He was say in the middle of the translation statement
like.I didn't know that Jerusalem had walls. Then Emma would have to
confirm to Joseph that there were wall around Jerusalem. Joseph was in
a VACUUM of Knowledge. how could the Prophet Joseph, A Farm boy,
compose a Book 531 one pages in 65 days? It would be impossible with
out the influence of God!
President Fenn then Finished off with the Doctrines of the coming
forth of the Book of Mormon. That as missionaries we are under a
mandate to teach the things that are revealed by Joseph Smith. God has
promised those who serve a mission worthily will Gain a testimony of
the Book of Mormon. Those who Gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon
have a steadfast testimony in Christ and will not fall and those who
have just have a testimony of the Bible may not have such as strong of
a testimony. The Book of Mormon teaches us that the Book of Mormon is
True. You should not try to prove the Book of Mormon by the bible. the
old testament is vague about christ. The Book of Mormon is not. The
doctrines of the only Begotten, The fall, the atonement and the
resurrection , are best taught in the Book of Mormon.The Book of
Mormon is a great sifter for the second coming. The Book of Mormon
holds us under condemnation if we do not use it right. And the MOST
important doctrine of the Book of Mormon is that people need to read
and ask did Joseph smith write the Book of Mormon or has it been
translated by the power and authority of God.
I don't want to bore you with a long email so I will wrap it up with My
Testimony.

As I have been On my mission I have gained the BIGGEST witness to the
Truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon has been the
biggest corse corrector in my Life. Mainly because of the constant
corse correction. My life as been Like an Airplane Flight I took of
real fast and climbed to the skies because of my new found testimony
of the book of Mormon. As I have Looked to the Book of Mormon as a
compass I have been able to make small corse corrections to keep me on
tract to my destination. I have been through, much turbulence of
affliction, even in Clouds that seem innocent and I have broke through
those Clouds to see the Beautiful sun rays of God's Glory to give me
strength time and time again. I will always keep that testimony strong
and lit so that I can help others find the way. I know that this is 

Christ Church because I know the Book of Mormon to be True. I know 
Joseph Smith to be a Prophet of God because I know the Book of Mormon
to be True and I know that Jesus is the Christ and My Savior because
As I have read those pages I have felt his love stronger than any
other time in My life. I pray you may look for a Testimony of The Book
of Mormon so you can know these Truth. I Pray for these things in the
name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

ELDER HERDT

"Preach the Gospel at All Times and if Necessary use Words!"

This week was a pretty sneaky week with productivity. We really didn't
think much about our week until we looked back and realized how many
miracles we were able to see. Monday we taught a man named Samuel and
he was an interesting fellow. His father was a Satanist and his mother
and step father were both Catholics but he clams all of his knowledge
of Christianity and his love for Christ came from his real father
teaching him about Christ. Which was a little interesting and he had a
lot of what we would call the philosophies of man mingled with
scripture. We didn't know why we felt like we needed to stay and talk
with him, we thought it might of been because of his children that
were listening to us but there is more about Samuel later in the week
that made us sure we need to be there.
Tuesday was a great day, we had a chance to meet with our recent
convert Barb and we talk to her for a little bit about how her week
was going. Barb fosters puppies for an organization until they get
better and one of the puppies she was fostering she fell in love with.
She is a single mom of 3 kids, on a fixed income and it wasn't the
smartest thing to do to keep it she thought. She told us she prayed to
know what she should do and she had an over whelming feeling to let it
go and she said it was funny because instead of being all sad about it
she said that she was comforted. The miracle happened next, a few
hours later the foster puppy organization called her up and told her,
That they are going to give her the puppy as a Gift for all the help
that she gives them. She really was so thankful for God and that God
blessed her for putting It in his hands. The spirit was very strong in
that lesson and it was a blessing to see God working in her life. We
told her that the next goal is the temple and she desired to go to the
Nauvoo temple for a goal in a year. Mostly because of how historic it was.
    As we were trying to find some new people to teach we tracted into a fella
named Eric. Eric grew up on the south side of Chicago, moved to Dekalb
and now lives in Rochelle, with a lady he takes care of for trade for a
place to sleep. He believe his life is good, and doesn't quite feel
like he needs anything more. He can't read, so it's hard to help him
gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He has also never prayed in
his life, which is another road block to teaching him, he feels even
uncomfortable with praying by trying to pray by himself. Eric is
willing to meet with us though 2 times a week so were trying to find
out how we can help him... It's going to be a fun one.
   Friday we had exchanges with the Dekalb Elders. I had the opportunity
to exchange with Elder Freitas in Rochelle. Elder Freitas was called
to serve in Ukraine. And because of the wars out there he got
reassigned to here. We had a great lesson with a young couple, who
first thought we were Jehovah witnesses. There very interested in the
Book of Mormon.
We had a referral the Hermanas gave us which was the second half of
Samuel's story. It was for a man named Steve. Steve gave us 2
addresses one for his home and 2 for the home he was a baby sister for
and the second address was Samuel's home. So we found Steve at Samuel's
and we set up an appointment with him at his home for this week and as
we left Samuel's wife came home and we started talking to her and she
also expressed interest in meeting with us. Something else was up with
us needing to be there. A lot of potential and now God has sent us to
help that family.
Sunday was our last little miracle. We had a the opportunity to teach
an excommunicated members daughter and his mothers friend's daughter
moved in with them and is also interested in learning more about the
gospel because she knows a member from the last town and was interested
in getting answers to questions of the soul of hers.
The work is really progressing here in Rochelle, we pray we can see
more and more growth and soon maybe well have a branch building built
here.
And to top off our week an elder we were out disk golfing with ran a
stop sign with us at the back of the car. And 2 cops were sitting
right there. He was lucky and got 125 buck fine

But to end with a spiritual note. Something I was sharing a lot with
people was the question stated in Alma 5:14 "And now behold, I ask of
you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God ?
Have ye received his image in your countenances ? Have ye experienced
this mighty change in your hearts"
Linking it to Luke 6:20-26
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-10-048-render-unto-caesar-and-unto-god?category=bible-videos-the-life-of-jesus-christ&&lang=eng
Referring to how we are, in the image of God and when we give our
selves to him. We receive is countenance more upon us.
And finishing of the thought with a quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.
"Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words."
One of the best ways to share the gospel is to be a good example and
keep the COMMANDMENTS.

-Elder Herdt

My Week YO!

After a baptism he had a pretty hard week of work. Our teaching pool was malnumbered on the account it was a miracle to have Barb as an
investigator to teach in the first place. So to say the least, this week was filled with a lot of hitting the pavement and creative thinking on trying to find some people to teach. The added help of
having a car share allows us to just go out and find people to teach.  I need to get better at talking to everyone. I do though want my companion to step up and make first contact because I'm naturally comfortable talking to anyone. We had a cool experience with tracting this week. We found a young man who grew up in Chicago moved and lived in Dekalb and has now been kicked out of his home and is staying in a home with a lady friend as a helper until she recovers form her surgery/ illness. So we are hopping to get him baptized, he is a real nice guy. 

He can't read though so it's a struggle teaching.  But we got him some church clothes and have high hopes on him progressing.  I feel like I have been doing a lot better focusing my thoughts while I have been on a mission. It's probably been the greatest thing I have learned on my mission. Past companions and President have really help me learn how to do so. I have had great tools on how to handle my thoughts or my personal "Goliath" as president Monson Would call it.  This week I read a rest in the ensign "bridle your passions" and I applied it to mental discipline.  There are 2 ways to control a horse, kill it or bridle it. I imagine God would rather have us learn to control
ourselves rather than eradicate all emotion. We had a great end of a week with fast Sunday. I do love fast Sunday in a branch, mainly because half the people there are recent converts.
Our most recent convert Barb gave a POWERFUL testimony on how she felt like she always had a set of "beliefs" and "morals" since she was a kid but as she search and search for a church she could find non that fit her beliefs. Until she met us and when we taught her of the plan of salvation and how she lived with God and God taught us the Gospel and the Plan it all just made so much sense why she had these ideas In the first place. the truth seemed familiar to her and she felt so
blessed, to be apart of God church and have his love more in her life.  It touch my heart so much and I'm so grateful to have been able to be here to hear her testimony.  The church is true and the work goes on. And nothing will stop it from progressing till it floods the earth.
-Elder Herdt

This is what it's all about!

And this is what it's all about. Family! In an eternal sense, salvation is a family affair. This was such a blessing to me to see her be baptized. She is leading her family in an excellent way by following the most important person to ever walk the earth, Jesus Christ. 

And for after Barbs baptism, Elder Earl And and these 2 other cowboys, set up and took down for the branch social potluck.  Almost half the people there were non members. It was a great success!

Family means: "No one is left behind!"

Prepping for a baptism, haven't done that in a while. It's so sweet to
be able to finish off the transfer baptizing. This has been a really
good month for the district and Zone for baptisms. I believe our zone
will be having 17 baptisms this month which is outstanding for a
zone. It doesn't happen to often. Another reason why I'm happy is because we're finishing off the transfer with a baptism! I set a goal to AT LEAST find, teach and baptize one person, before I leave an area, and this is setting us up for the opportunity to make sure that happens. We found Barb, just as Elder Earl was getting into the area. We had a teaching record with the name "Barb", who lives on, let's say, "street way" and no address, no other contact information, just a street and a name. So we started contacting and with a little bit of help from God went straight to her home! The first house was hers! We started talking to her and she said she had some issues with the doctrine of this other church she was investigating and that after 2 years of investigating their church, this doctrine just came up. She wanted to see what we had to share, in hopes that it might finally bring her closer to God. I can stand as a witness today that her hope of coming closer to God has happened. She is preparing for her baptism this Saturday and is so prepared. This last week we taught her about eternal marriage and and temple and family history and she has just loved it! The doctrine is so pure so hopeful so merciful. That for those who have ears to hear rejoice when they know that they can live with their family Forever! I guess she really needed to hear it because Sunday a person from the stake presidency gave a talk on family history. In relief society they were talking about baptisms for the dead and we had family home evening
with her and our branch president and they talked about eternal
families and temples.
   Something to think about: as we were walking in to have our lesson on the temple and eternal families they had the TV on. They were watching Lilo and Stitch and we happened to walk in on the perfect moment when Lilo says "Family means no one is left
behind". How true of a statement that is! Isn't that the goal, to make
sure no one in the family is left behind? We spend hours and hours on
family history and temple ordinances so that no one in the family is left behind.
My family means so much to me. If I have realized anything on my
mission it is that I love my family and would do anything for them. I
love them and will continue to love them for the rest of my life and
eternity.


Elder Herdt

Up, Downs & Turn arounds

Another week in the mission with its ups, downs, & turn arounds. Just a
blast! You don't know when your going to have a trial thrown at you or
an attack from Satan on you or your investigators, but you also don't know when you'll see the next miracle,and if that miracle is a blessing for you or for another. We had a Good week that got eaten up by meetings,

Monday- prep day 10-6 

Tuesday- new missionary training 8-6 

Wednesday- district meeting 10-1, exchanges + service 1-6 Missionary coordinating meeting 6:30-9, 

today was a baptismal interview and exchanging back 10-2 

weekly planning 2-6  

Friday was our first full day of proselyting which we had some good success.
   We got to teach Barb, the investigator getting baptized on the 30th.
She is so solid! She has been doing a lot of personal study in the
scriptures and church books. She has pretty much taught herself with
the spirit testifying of the truth to her. All she needed was the
right tools. That shows a person who will stay active and help out
the church for the rest of her life. She learned most of the lessons
by her self. Prayed about being baptized and told us she was ready,
already invited friends and family to her baptism and the church
events. She is just the best. This Sunday though, was the first time
she had something she had to sacrifice to join the church and that was
shopping on the sabbath. Haha and after teaching her about it she
was so on board for not shopping on Sundays ever again. I wish it was
this easy for every investigator. While preparing for her lesson I
found this way sweet quote from the guide to the scriptures.
"The Sabbath reminds people of their need for spiritual nourishment
and of their duty to obey God. When a nation grows careless in
observing the Sabbath, all aspects of life are affected and its
religious life becomes decayed (Neh. 13:15–18; Jer. 17:21–27)."
I changed it up a little to make it more applicable to the every
day person.
The Sabbath reminds us of the need for spiritual nourishment
and of our duty to obey God. When a person grows careless in observing
the Sabbath, all aspects of their life are affected and their
religious life becomes decayed.
It so important to keep the sabbath day holy!
When we were in her home it may have been the hardest lesson to stay
focused on, the reason why was not because of company, not kids,
not cars but....... Puppies..... Barb houses puppy's for a couple of
weeks for a animal shelter and this week she got brand new baby
puppy's, you can't stop looking at them or at that point hear anything
because all they did was wimper and puppy howl. It was too cute..
At the end of the lesson we got to hold them and get our puppy fix.
    I think it's funny the way God's timing is sometimes when he places us in people's lives. We met this family who just moved in town. They wanted a church to go to and when they heard about the Book of Mormon loved the concept. They said they would try to make it to church. Well Sunday rolled around and no family. We were bummed but we called them later that day and asked if we could meet with them and they said it wasn't a good time. When we asked why, they said, "did you hear about the person thst got hit on the highway today? That was our daughter-in- law that you met a couple of days ago." We were astonished. We had just met that girl and now she's gone. We expressed our condolences and offered our services as representatives of Christ and ordained ministers and they we're very happy.
    I'm glad I know the plan of salvation and the purpose of life. It
makes times like those much easier to handle. I've also learned the
importance of teaching our children about Christ and true principles. 

To understand what I mean I would invite you to read 2 Nephi 22:23 then
read Enos 1:3-5 and Alma 36:16-20 and see how they link together and
how even when people aren't listening at the time that they need
it most the spirit can recall those teaching to the remembrance of
those people.
I love my family and most importantly my parents and want to thank
them for all that they do and have done for me God be with you till me
meet again.

-Elder Herdt

Sent from The Lord's iPad

What is a "Wonderful Bad Week?

What a wonderful week to have a bad week. To answer the the question
of what is a wonderful bad week? Well bad as in the only lessons we
were able to do were just inspired stop bys. For some reason no one
likes to set appointments in this town. Also we didn't have the best
week ever due to the fact that we had to drive a bajillion miles and that didn't help much ether. But, this week it contrasted the miracles
pretty nicely, just as a diamond is more brilliant in front of a black
velvet backing.
I got the chance to go to Dixon for exchanges with my MTC companion
Elder Bezzant and then from Dixon to to Sterling for zone leader's,
Elder Brown (my former companion) and Elder Scott, (the elder I replaced in my first area in Dekalb, for a baptismal interview with our recent
convert brother Sanchez to translate for us. The zone leaders
had been teaching this miracle family whose mother spoke Spanish.
The reason why they were a miracle family was because the mother of
the family had a dream a week before she meet the missionaries about
these 2 angels trying to find her and she was hiding from them and a
week later had the same dream. While she was dreaming this dream she
awoke from a knock on her door to these 2 missionaries inviting her
to come to the gospel. She said she felt like her dream became a
reality. She knew the elders came from God for her. She and her
daughter were baptized last Saturday and this Saturday her son and
friend will baptized.
The next miracle I want to share is about our investigator Barb. So
like I was saying we had almost no appointments this week. One of the
appointments was with a excommunicated man's daughter, so we went over
to their home and no one was home. We had an investigator who lived
3 blocks down who we hadn't had the chance to see in about 2 weeks
because her father broke his knee cap and she was taking care of him.
So we decided to just drop by and give her a new triple and bible and
when we got up to her door she was so excited to see us and let us in.
She said while she had been taking care of her dad she has been doing
her own studies in the Book of Mormon and the gospel principles book
and other church materials and told us while she had been studying
about the doctrines she had an overwhelming feeling that she needed to
be baptized and she was studying it more and realized she wasn't going
to get the feelings from the spirit that she was going to need without
first baptized. So we didn't hesitate a moment and invited her to be
baptized on the 30th of August and she gladly accepted. She felt like
she was on air. She told us through her studies that she found she
needed to meet with us and take more discussions, also that she need
to be interviewed and so on. She just prepared herself so much by her
studies and by the spirit. The spirit has just worked within her so
much she is truly coming closer to Christ.
It's moments like these that make a mission so worth it. I just can't
help myself and be happy. Through all the pains and misery these
moments of pure joy last longer than any pains do. I love The Lord
and I love this work!
-Elder Herdt

PS: We got a 100% on our Apartment cleaning check!