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

Like bumpers in bowling!

 THANK YOU OH THANK YOU OH THANK YOU OH THANK YOU!!!! The Yoshida sauce just made my week mom. You don't even know. Seeing that beautiful package made me jump with joy. Plus Elder Engler eats his rice with Yoshida back at home. The simple Joy things bring to missionaries. I've realized how much I am blessed to have amazing parents like you two. I'm so happy mom that I had YOU as a mom. You have guided me maybe more than I liked at the time but I am more happy that you did because of it. You're like the bumpers in bowling. You keep the ball in bounds long enough that you got me to the end goal of knocking over the pins. But now I'm starting to understand how to set my own bumpers in life, better understanding the ways that my bowling ball tends to want to veer right or left.
  I'm still recovering from my last couple of tough weeks but my companion and I have been facing it full head on and are making the best of what we have. I enjoy trials just a little, seems crazy but I do, because they are opportunities to learn and progress as a person and for me as a missionary. We started the week pretty good! We finally got to teach a lesson to a guy my companion found in April. When he found him he was in a really hard place and saw the missionaries and told them he needed help to change his life and if they could do it. The lesson went amazing and he committed to baptism! Then after his lesson his neighbor was carrying in groceries, and we hurried and helped her out and as she put away the groceries we taught her the restoration of the Gospel, it was weird but awesome because she agreed with everything we told her. We didn't have a book of Mormon on us so we went out to the car and got her one, she said she will read it and call us when she's done But I think we might drop by a little sooner than her call :P  After  that we didn't have any other lesson planned  and as we prayed for guidance to where we should go and who to see, someone we tracked into came to mind and we went over to his home. He was so happy to see us because he really wanted us over soon because he was going to move the next day and wanted to hear our message. Our jaws dropped and I got shivers as the spirit reconfirmed that's why we needed to be there. I still get Shivers looking back at it!

           Some other awesome stories from the week; we got to see an investigator who we hadn't seen in a while. When she came over she said she had been listening to the book of Mormon on CD and was in 2 Nephi, she asked tons of questions leading into perfectly what our lesson was on and the spirit was very strong in the room, I love that feeling. Later this week after more dropped appointments we decided to tract and went to a street I felt prompted to visit for a while, we got a lot of new investigators from it. The lord truly provides when we listen to the promptings of the spirit. We had to Move out of another family of investigators this week, they're moving all the way to south Carolina :\ but it was a good thing though and the lord blessed us for it. The reason why is the family wasn't progressing well and as we offered our services to them, its started to really soften there hearts again. They loved what we did for them, mainly because the main source of help (Family and Friends) didn't help them. They told us the first thing they were going to do was look for a Church down where they're going to and ours was first on the list. Lucky us because we sent their info to the elders down there and I felt like it was going to be the best thing for them. As we moving them, one of their  neighbors came out and started talking to us saying that he always saw us doing good things and talking to so many people and we had wanted to know what we were about. We shared our message to him and he open up to us and wants us to come back over to his house and teach him! We were surprised because he lived on the street where we tracked earlier in the week but who would of known if he hadn't seen us helping in this move if we would have ever been able to teach him.

            We also had the wonderful opportunity to help a boy in the ward with his eagle project, he was repairing a cemetery and we found a couple of cool grave stones. One of which being William Marks section 117? the first stake president of the Church and the other just the picture on the head stone I found to be very cool and interesting.

No Luck in the Corn Fields!

  Well it was transfer week and I’m not going to lie, but I was freaking out just a tad because I didn’t want Elder Engler or me to be transferred.  The call came in that we were NOT receiving any new Transfers, so at least 6 more or + weeks in DEKALB! :D

       So to be Honest this was a very tough week, but a humbling one, I had a lot of time to look back in my experiences in my mission to learn from them. Almost all our lessons fell through and a lot of progressing investigators aren't progressing anymore. But, we made the best we could out of the week.

            I was on one huge emotional roller coaster with our Amazing investigator K****. We had him over on Monday to a member’s home to teach a little about family home evening and the Plan of Salvation. It went amazing and even though I'm not sure how much he got out of it, the biggest thing he did get out of it was that families can be together forever and it meant everything to him! He offered to take us out to dinner later in the week and asked if in two weeks he could get baptized. The day he wanted to take us out to dinner happened to be the day that someone was getting baptized, so we planned to go to dinner then the afterward go to the baptism and have a church tour. Satan had other plans for us. The dinner took over an hour because of oddly slow service and we hit every red light possible going to the baptism. We ended up missing the baptism and made it for the last talk. It was great because he met a lot of other LDS people and talked to the person who got baptized. I feel that it even made his feeling of being a part of something grow. But his story ended very sadly this week in a way. We had to move him and his family out of their house and out of our mission! IT KILLED ME!  We made sure that Missionaries were going to be on the other end to move them in and pick him up where we last taught him. Hopefully still get to the waters of baptism. He said he should be back in a couple of months so, I'm very happy for him but sad to see him go, because we are his only friends.

            M******* (Mike Tyson, the heavy weight boxer’s aunt) is progressing well and is working to get baptized in October!! The gospel is changing her and making her life so much better, it makes me so happy to see what the gospel does for people!

     There are a few people out here that just think; “oh I’m too old to change”, even if they know it’s true. The scripture that came to mind when I thought of that, was in 3rd Nephi 11: 33 & 34, it talks about those who are baptized receive the kingdom of heaven and those who don’t are damned. While I was in the MTC I found out the true meaning of being "Damned" and that it’s not like "you are going to hell" but more like a dam that dams a river-- it stops the waters progression. The same with baptism, if you do not get baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost your spiritually damned and cannot progress spiritually without it.

           This week Just happened to be a moving week!  We moved two other people, J** "our recent convert & L**** a less active" both of them stayed in DeKalb but it’s amazing what a little bit of service does for people. L**** wants us to come back and teach him and his family and J**'s Landlord was so impressed with our service that he want to know more. A little bit of service goes a long way!

            Sunday picked up the week for me we had a miracle happen when a former investigator, whom we hadn't seen in 3 weeks, walks in to church and tells us she has been listening to the Book of Mormon, has a lot of questions and wants us to come over. She just about knocked us out of our shoes!!! One of our young men in the ward who went with us to teach her gave a talked and it make a huge impression on her. It was a true blessing from God that week. Plus we went over to another former’s house who as a teenager who went to church for a year and fell away a little. She's having a baby soon and told us she wanted to come back to church and that she wanted to be with her family forever. That was just a tenth of the miracles that happened on Sunday and it really picked us up. We know that this week will be amazing!

    THE RICE COOKER CAME!!!!:D But, it took a week for everything else because they mixed up my order. They gave me some free conditioner for the mix up xP  I got the Graham Crackers and  I explained twirlers to my companion but he didn’t really get. Regardless, it made both of us very very happy. (Graham crackers and milk are called twirlers in our family, because you twirl them around in the milk and then eat them) I LOVE YOU FOR THE RICE COOKER!!! but, it is limited within its calling until it can be married with yoshida sauce.... I cry for it. I am in hot pursuit today to find it though. I am putting all of the stuff you sent to good use!

             FINNALY ALEC GOT HIS WISDOM TEETH OUT?!!?!?!? gosh goodness. I need to write and talk to him. 

 I’m in Ether 11? I’m almost done but I’ve still been reading everyday out of the Book of Mormon and try to use a verse from my studies every day in some lesson.

We were reading in the scriptures that we must preach to all the ends of the earth, so we tried the corn field but no luck xP  haha

Party Pig / Keith "The coolest guy ever!"

      This week was an off and on week. Elder Engler describes it to be "the hardest week on his mission!" But, we made something out of it!!!! We put Mike Tyson's aunt on date though! She is going to have to work hard, but were right there next to her! Its sad to see that even though the lord is hastening his work so is the devil! 
            The guy from Cheyenne,Chris, is doing awesome! he loves having us over, and we have taught him the restoration this last week. He's restoring a Monte Carlo named Marley, haha and has a Pit-bull who is the sweetest dog ever!.... next to Crash!:) 
            Like Chris we tracked into another Investigator family using the ward list, she just moved in and is looking for a church that can help her and her kids get closer to Christ. We have high hopes and they are just doing awesome!
             We had a ward party pig roast this last Saturday. That was just the best missionary opportunity ever! We visited almost 20 less actives and invited them and all our investigators out! The fellowship there was awesome and we almost didn't need to do anything because the members were talking to everyone! The highlight of it was this investigator family, Keith and Lukatia and the little girls Daya and Zoey. He is the coolest guy ever! He has only had a couple of lessons and he wants to be a missionary like us. Just a stud, not even to mention he has a Robo leg! He Doesn't want either of us (Elder Engler and me) to leave because were his old friends. He hasn't had many for years because he has been hospital bound for so long!:/  The Church is going to make such an impact in his life, its going to be awesome!
             Even though all of us have hardships they are necessary times for us to look back to and learn form them other wise we will never learn. The ways of the lord are truly spectacular but all I know is we learn to sacrifice things, our daily life's, our favorite sins, our thoughts that don't improve and so on. The lord will bless us with more than we need to fill a bucket with.

My Rest a Stone
Elder Herdt

WHO EVER CLEANS OR LOOKS THERE?

  1st Baptism!

   

 First and foremost! We just had a wonderful baptism this week! We started teaching her the week I got here and 3 weeks later she was baptized! Truly the Lord prepared her, she had a life like no other I've known, but she knew she had enough hope to know the peace and blessing the Gospel would bring her. She was amazing and gave a  talk at her own  baptism!  

         We had another wonderful lesson with Keith! Its wonderful to see his love for his wife and family and his love for our Savior Jesus Christ. We brought a family with us to the lesson and to here them bear witness of this wonderful gospel brought much joy to my heart and the spirit into the room! Its just hard for them to come to church because the accident He went through. Also, his wife has to work Sunday so they're trying to get their schedules changed so they can come to church as a family! I love them so much!!! Later today they're coming over to a members home to have family home evening. I cant wait!:)

          I had the wonderful opportunity of having new missionary training-- everyone In the mission except for 11 championships were there, because almost everyone is training or being trained, so about 130 missionaries, It was awesome!! They taught us on the Truths about the gospel that Satan doesn't want us to know. Next week I'll put it in my letter! That day wasn't the best day for missionary work, as we got home, we hand NO numbers for the day, until we walked into the apartment, where we found a kid asleep on the stairs. He got locked out of his home because no one was home yet, so we talked to him a little and it went really good, he said he had read a little from the book of Mormon and right as we were going to talk to him more about it, his father got home, it was rough because he wanted to learn more but his father didn't want him to so he had to go inside:\ Satan is real.... 

         This might make my mom happy and everyone else surprised, but i got a 99% on apartment inspection, we got a point taken off because there were crumbs in the rubber gasket in the fridge, WHO EVER CLEANS OR LOOKS THERE!?!?!?!? but they said it was the Nicest apartment they had ever seen, even better than when sister missionaries were living there. So I'm happy:)

         Later we taught a new member named Sandra who lives in a rest home, She is the nicest lady you could ever meet! She wasn't doing well and wanted blessing of comfort. So, funny story about that, when we were giving her the blessing a worker comes in and right at the end put her hands on Sandra's head! When I opened my eyes I didn't know what to say or do..... it was funny though:p

          Saturday, I think, kicked in my awareness of being a missionary. We lengthened our strides and taught with boldness, teaching and testify of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We found a lot of God's elect and placed opportunities in peoples life to know more and maybe soften their hearts. We meet a lot of less active members who were more than willing to let us in and it was great to hear them bear their testimonies. I have high hopes for them. Later Saturday we got to see a potential investigator who went to Cheyenne High school!!! I cant believe he went there! haha small world. we got to know more about him, his car and dogs and this week were going to teach him. It just awesome to preach the gospel and meet new people:)

          Yesterday was the best fast Sunday ever. Throughout the day I didn't feel so hungry. I think my mind was to occupied doing the Lord's work, visiting less actives and Finding new people. It was really touching to see a new member bring a potential investigator to church, he understands member missionary work more than people who have been members their whole life!!!

           I would have to say that going through this week I can see how much the lord loves the family unit and blesses people for being good families, even out side of the church. The lord prepares and teaches people about life and most importantly about families. I love everyone because they're spirit brothers and sisters of mine! and I love my family here on this earth, you have meant so much to me and you're always on my mind!

The Truth with set you free.

Elder Herdt