"Bikes in Bloom"

I think we are finally free from the grasp of winter! Those
vial cold hands of winter have loosened their grasp for good until next winter. We should be having a warm spell and a thunders storm soon.

Another wonderful week in the small town of Rochelle.
We had a great week being able to serve a lot of people,
serving at food banks and finding small things to do here and there.









We helped this lady edge her lawn which she hadn't been able to do
for years.  We also fixed up her bike and helped her get it outside for a thing she calls "bike in bloom". People get these old bikes and put flowers all over and around them and it looks pretty sweet to me on the account of how much I love bikes.
  Speaking about bikes, on Wednesday morning before district
meeting our investigator invited us to go on a morning bike ride. I was
so stoked to go out riding because 1. This investigator is a bike
fanatic and 2. he designed, funded, and oversaw the town getting a 5
mile bike path put in. So to say the least I was pretty stoked. I
didnt know, on the other hand, that my companion hadn't rode a bike in 10 years. We woke up extra early to a nice foggy morning and made our way to our investigator's home. He geared us up with bikes and he let me use his first mountain bike that he ever got. It was like the Trek in the garage back home but much more maintained and tuned up. On our ride Elder Wilson was doing pretty good for not riding in years but as soon as I stopped worrying, the next thing I hear is a yip and a yep like
something you would hear from Jorge Velazquez, and as I looked back and at the very beginning of the path were 3 metal pillars, 1 on each side and one in the middle and I see Elder Wilson hit the middle pillar
straight on. He couldn't have been more accurate aiming for it.
He flipped right over his handle bars and landed right on his tush.
He got up dusted himself off and we were riding moments later. There
must have been karma floating around in the air because not even 500
feet later going around a curve my tires slipped right out from
underneath me. I was so shocked because of how nice the bike path was
and how foggy it was the tires couldn't hold enough grip to keep me
up. Now I felt so bad because I have rode bikes my whole life and
something like that had never happened to me. The investigator was
really cool about it though and like a true cyclist would say,
"if your bike doesn't have a scratch or 2 on it. You don't ride
enough."
  The same is with us and life. Some people might ask, why do
bad things happen to good people. Well I may just say to them if bad
things don't happen in your life your either doing something wrong or
your not living. Trials, struggles and pains are influential in life to
help you get stronger, wiser, and smarter. It is through these experiences where we learn the most. Sometimes the only way for us to learn some lessons is through extreme trials. I know this is a true principle because I have experienced it in my own life. This is also taught in the Book of Mormon, Jacob 2:1-2 which Lehi the father of Jacob said, "Jacob because of the rudeness of your brothers you have gone
through a lot. But you know God's greatness and he has blessed your
trials for you to gain from them and to learn and grow." GOD BLESSES
YOUR TRIALS! So start seeing them for what they are. If your want
your trials to end, learn what God is trying to teach you and they might
just stop. Sometimes it stinks having to learn lesson the hard way but
it also the only way sometimes. You give a person a book on how to
ride a bike and they had never rode a bike in their life and the first
time they try to ride they decide their going to ride a 50 miler. You
mike as expect them to fail. We have to start out slow learn from our
mistakes and press forward so that one day we can ride that 50 miler
with out even thinking.
I know God loves us and seeks to bless our life, and this is why I'm
out here to teach people how to ride their "bike".

Keep on press forward strong
-Elder Herdt

100 degrees vs 3" of Snow

100 degrees in Vegas eh? I can beat that. We had 3 inches of snow one morning
this week.So much snow almost every street had a broken branch because of the weight of the snow. 

    Something else really cool happened! We had a baptism! Woot woot! The first baptism this area has had since it was opened.  


It was the coolest thing because we combined it with their wedding and they

just loved it so much. The relief society put on a beautiful wedding reception/baptism.  We got to Skype in past missionaries and their

family from Honduras. I gave a talk at the baptism comparing life to a bike ride up a mountain. It was way cool and the son of the person who was baptized told us he wants to take the lessons. 

   Another cool miracle was as we got out of a lesson at these apartments, we crossed paths with this big Mexican guy with a ton
of tattoos and we told him who we were and he said, "Well how about you
come in and we will talk some more." We then taught him the restoration and right before we got to Joseph Smith, his wife walked in and just sat down and joined in on the conversation. We showed them the video " Book of Mormon Story". After the video she said she wanted to read the Book of Mormon because something is drawing her to it. Ahhh! it was such a cool lesson. The spirit was so strong and that kept me going through the week.
- Elder Herdt

Life is Going Great!

   

   Yeah, I loved calling and talking to you on Sunday, but it's funny how not home sick I am. I don't know if it's that I love being where I am or that I see you on Facebook and I get tons of emails from the fam. Who knows, but I love being a missionary and I love Rochelle. Life is going great here I have a couple of cool stories I want to share.

   We have been teaching this man name Salvador for a long time, he is
so prepared, he is in reality a dry Mormon. He would have been baptized
already but they hadn't recieved his fiancé's divorce papers yet and they were just sitting on a desk just waiting to be sent and no one had sent them.  After many phone calls and $50 later they came in. So now they will be married this Saturday and baptized right after the marriage! Woot woot!
  The next is our next door neighbor who has been talking casually with
the missionaries on again and off again. But, not until last Saturday
did he actually sit down with us and let us share a message with
him. We watched the movie the testaments and he was a huge movie/Indian
buff and he loved it. He said, "native Americans and Jesus are like
bread and butter, it Just makes sense." He then came to church on
Sunday to see me give a talk for Mother's Day. I hope soon he will
take the discussions and become a member. Plus he gives us food all
the time so he is awesome!

We have one of the best places to live in the whole mission.  It's a townhouse that we rent from a member.  We keep it clean so the spirit can dwell there.

-Elder Herdt

Love Small Towns!

 I would just like to start off with... Love small towns! People are way
kinder and less paranoid. Just an example, we were out tracting at
7:30 and this older lady opens the door (passed experience would make
me think I was about to be yelled at) and starts talking to us and
invites us in, brings out food for us, and brings her husband out to meet us. Some way we brought up that we needed a large map of the town and said she would get us one. This is a lady we just met and it just blew my mind that people are so nice. I think I'm going to like Rochelle.

  My new companion's name is Elder Wilson.
  It was nice to move in. We have a townhouse and a washer and dryer
that we don't have to pay to use, HALLELUJAH!!!! The mission office
said it's one of the nicest places in the mission because we are renting from a member.
   We have some sweet investigators.  One could be baptized today if his
fiancé's divorce papers would come in. They havee been waiting months
and they said it has been signed bought they haven't sent them yet.
An another has smoking issues but can stop. Send me some tips if you
know good ways to quit smoking.
   It's really weird to be serving so close to Dekalb,(my first area) last week and now this week we will be driving through it every day. But it's good though because I haven't been feeling distracted. It's not my area anymore and I have been called to serve in Rochelle. It was good to
see some old ward members though. It felt like when I went to church I
was just coming home off my mission and seeing people I hadn't seen in
a while.
   Another really cool thing was our mission president went to NIU to do
a presentation on questions of the soul and a Q&A. Not a lot of
people came but he got to have some one on one time afterwards with an
investigator and it really helped her progress a lot because our mission president could answer any question that she could throw at him.
   I'm so blessed to be serving a mission, in such a great mission under
such a great mission president, meeting with amazing people everyday.
God prepares us everyday to meet people that he wants us to touch but
do we talk to those people?
If not, we need to do so... It's great :)

Elder Herdt

Last Week in Bloomingdale!

I have ten minutes to write this so I'll try to make it count.
This last week was a real great one to be my last one in Bloomingdale. 

I've been here just about 6 months, a quarter of my mission and I
don't regret a second of it. We finally have seen success with biking
now that there is more people out and about. We just give some wiggle
room between each appointment and talk to EVERYONE that we see. I have
learned that God truly places people in our paths if we ask him to,
and when you can show that you'll talk to those he puts in your path he
will then entrust you with his elect.
  We had a miracle referral, it was for a man in a nursing home and we
put him in as our 3rd back up plan and 2 of our most solid
appointments fell through so we went to go visit him. When we walked in
we saw a set of scriptures in a case on a table where he was at and he
said " Sit down elders it's good to see you." As we talked we found out
he was a member and hadn't been to church in a half a year,not by
choice but he was moved to this nursing home and no one knew where he
was. It was a true miracle because the person who referred him
didn't know he was a member. He cried as he expressed that he thought he would never see a missionary again and he wanted to go to church more than anything in the world. We called a member up right away and they got him to church the following Sunday.
  Keith also came out with us. It was so cool because he is such a great

missionary and miracles happen when he is with us. Well I'm out of time.

I have been transferred to Rochelle to be a district leader of all sisters again and
I'll follow up training a new missionary. I haven't left the same latitude my whole mission.

God is good, God is great, God please make us warmer in this state.

God is good, God is great, God please make us warmer in this state.

I feel weird not having warm weather and leaves for Easter.....

But I hope now that it's 70° It's will stay that way. The good thing
though out here it doesn't just stay 70° for a week, it stays that way for a good while.

Well this Easter week was a long one..... One of, if not the longest
week I have ever felt. Chicago wind + missionaries + bikes = dog
tired. But I've always looked forward to biking on a mission ever since I was a wee lad going to appointments on my little bmx bike with the
missionaries.

    We had an awesome week I guess the real highlight of the week was our
investigator tom, who likes to call him self "Brother Carr". He is a
great investigator and a great guy. This Good Friday he took us out to
all you can eat fried fish, and felt it to be appropriate for the
occasion. Half of his family worked there so we got through a 30
minute line in five and just enjoyed ourselves. The second thing that
was a highlight with him was we came by for Easter and he was telling
us about his family outing and said that someone asked about "his new
religion" and asked if that was the church who didn't believe in
Jesus. He said he stood up for "his religion" and taught them about
the restoration and how Jesus Christ restored His church through a
living prophet like old. Man our investigator must have really been
listening to conference this year about standing up for your faith. He
is a great guy and he is about as close as a inch away form getting
baptized but he is struggling from quitting smoking. So, what we are
doing as a ward this Sunday is having a fast and prayer for him to give
him the desire and the power to quit smoking. Also if anyone has had an experience of how to quit smoking, shoot me an email. Please.

   This week I really felt close to my Savior. I felt I was walking every
step of the way with him, through this last week as I studied his life. The story
came to life to me and it was so personal I can't even explain. I love
Easter and I praise my Lord and God every day because of the things
that happened that week long ago. Most of all though, what happened Easter morning. I know that Jesus didn't just die for us but he lives for us so that we can be free of the slave master of death. If it wasn't for my faith in Jesus Christ there would be no reason to keep his
commandments, to have good morals and to do good things. If it wasn't
for what he did we all might as well eat drink and be merry for
tomorrow we die. But with Christ if we eat of his flesh, drink of
his blood and remember Him, we shall surely live.

-Keep the faith build His Kingdom.

Elder Herdt

I Want to be a 4th Missionary!

This week wasn't too bad, elder palmer's back rim went out of whack, so
we had to borrow a bike from our investigator which wasn't any much
better because it was a 1960 road bike and the seat on in wrecked my
butt so we're getting a new bike today and hopefully we'll get that up and
going with this week. We had a great time this week and saw miracles
with our mini missionary. We were really able help him understand what
missionary work really should be and how to be a 4th missionary. (4th Missionary is in reference to a talked called the 4th Missionary.)  

A fourth missionary's attributes are:

* Obedient and worthy

* Total surrender

*Consecrates himself

*Charity

*Disciple of Chirst

*Measure of success from within 

* His predominant desire is to do what the Lord wants him to do. 

We were able to talk to a lot of people and it was sad though to see
people's idea of what good is, being this thing of nothingness and
that we are God's puppets and our lives are just a game to him. I love
the gospel so much because I have yet heard of a church that teaches
the kind of hope of a better life than we do. We were able to meet
this sweet lady who didn't know much about religion, proclaimed to be
Catholic but had no doctrinal reason behind her faith. Which worked out
great for us because as we taught her the restoration and a light bulb
clicked in her head and as she just loved the concept of The Book of
Mormon.
I've been recently studying the New Testament, it will be my
first time ever really reading the new testament which is good because
I feel guilty saying I know the bible, even though I most likely do
know more than most Christians. The gospel library has been such a huge
help with the understanding the New Testament. God blesses
missionaries having these iPads. In my studies of the New Testament I found reasons why we study the gospel and why it's so important.
"15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)
P.S. All those who read this please pray for Tom Carr and Brain
Parrish both are wanting to be baptized and can't because of medical
problems and both want to and can't quit smoking but are struggling. They just need that extra boost to get to the waters of baptism.

Love Elder Herdt!