Kent--May 26, 2015

Dear family,

I am so excited. This is the start of a new transfer. Elder Walters is leaving Kent, but I'm not sure where. He's been in this ward for 6 months! I get a new companion, Elder Holden. He served in my zone when I was in Puyallup South. I'm excited to get to know him better. He seemed like a good elder when I first met him. This week, I've been focused a lot more on my purpose as a missionary. One of the things that President Eaton emphasizes is that we make all of our visits planned, purposeful, and precise. Each visit, we must teach a lesson, and it should start and end with prayer, include teaching true doctrine, bearing testimony of the truth, and ending with an invitation to act. I'm so grateful to have a mission president that cares so much about helping to reach our greatest potential. He truly understands what it means to be a representative of Jesus Christ. Sarah, I was so touched by your heartfelt testimony. I'm glad you know I'm doing the Lord's work, because I know it too! Jessica, I knew you could deliver your talk even though you were nervous. Way to go! Aaron, I love you so much too. Mom, my ukulele should have arrived, but I won't know until I get to transfers. I let you know next week. Dad, thanks for reminding me of my purpose. Missionaries need that push every once in a while. That's why President Eaton quotes the white handbook and Preach My Gospel frequently.

Something wonderful happened this week. The entire "H" family showed up for church on Sunday. Brother "H" was praying all week long for an opportunity to attend church with his family. Then, he called up a co-worker to see if they could switch shifts, and it worked out! They stayed for 1st and 2nd hour. During sacrament meeting, Sister "H" told me her three year old boy "J" said, "Mom I like this church. Can we come here everyday for the rest of our lives?" She said that she knew instantly that this was the right place for her family. Brother and Sister "H", along with their eleven year old boy "C", are preparing to be baptized on June 20! I know that "C" is the same age as you Sarah. If you could tell "C" anything about the church, what would it be? How has your life been different because you were baptized? I love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Elder Herbert

Kent--May 18, 2015

Dear family,

I'm so happy to hear from you. It was great to see your faces on Mother's Day! I can tell how each of the kids are growing up. In answer to your question Sarah, the way that we can serve God the best is to keep his commandments. That's cool that you had a talk about converts, and being converted to the gospel. There is an elder that I'm serving with, Elder Li, that is a convert to the church. He's from Toronto, Canada. He joined the church on his own and his family doesn't understand his decision to be baptized. In fact, they think that for him to be on a mission is a waste of time. It makes me grateful to be born in this family. I hope his parents understand someday. Jessica, I'm so glad that you continue to persevere. I know you have faith, just keep growing it. I felt the same on my mission. One time I felt like God wasn't happy with me because I wasn't praying well enough and I couldn't even remember what I prayed for. But now I know it was a test of my faith.  I love you all very much and I'm glad that we have the opportunity to correspond with one another. Mom, that's funny the weatherman calls the rain moisture! Anyway, the students get out June 18th. It's a little late, huh?

Sorry my letter is all broken up. I got kicked off the computer because it ran out of time, and I had to get on a different one. I e-mailed Josh today and told him about the weather, the culture, and frequently asked questions. The Pacific Northwest is great. I love it. Jessica, I want to tell you something that helped me. I remember that a general authority (I don't remember who) said "a testimony is found in the bearing of it." In Alma 32 it says if you even only have a desire to believe, let the desire work in you until you can give a place in your heart for God's word. If you keep trying, and persevere, even when you make mistakes, you will have rock solid faith. One of the greatest indicators of true conversion to the gospel is your desire to share it with others. That is still something I'M working on. Don't worry about giving your talk on Sunday. The bishop asked YOU to do it, because he knows the Lord wants you to grow your faith. Keep trying. Even if you don't feel like you're doing all that you're supposed to. When you put your trust in God, he will help you. Repent of your mistakes and move on. That's all that God asks us to do. Christ's grace is sufficient for us. Look up the word "Grace" in the Bible Dictionary, and read some scriptures about it. God doesn't save us on our own merit. Christ payed the whole debt. He asks us to keep his commandments because it is how we grow, and it is what will make us the most happy. It's not so we can earn our way to heaven. Last conference, President Uchtdorf said that believing you'll be saved by your own good works is like buying an airplane ticket and thinking you own the whole airline. The truth is, we can't do anything on our own. You have to look to Christ in every thought. D&C 6:36.

By the way, Peyton (cousin Justin's new baby) looks beautiful! We stopped in on a less active family on Saturday, and they just had their first baby on Thursday! Her name is "G M H". Then we helped give her mom a blessing. It was great! Brother "H" helped give the blessing too. He was a little unsure of giving the blessing because he hadn't done it in a long time. But he did wonderfully. The work is going alright. Its a little slow, because a lot of our investigators are sick and afflicted. I found out that Sister "H" has fibromyalgia! That would be hard to deal with and raise 4 children. She's a trooper! She has been in my prayers lately. Brother "S" wasn't at church on Sunday. He still must be sick. We met with a member returning to activity the other day. Her name is "C D". She has schizophrenia and depression. She is a trooper too. She has just started to read the Book of Mormon again. She said that when she started, it felt like demons were attacking her, but she fought through it and she said they went away after she kept reading. She really wants to go to the temple, but she struggles keeping the word of wisdom. She is also in my prayers a lot. That's how the work goes. I can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love,

Elder Herbert

Kent--May 11, 2015

Dear family,

I am so glad that we were able to Skype yesterday. It was great. Thank you so much for being my family. You are the light of my life. This week, I have decided to take what I learned at zone conference and apply it to finding new investigators. One member in the ward has a non-member husband. He is what you would call a "dry Mormon." That means that he comes to church every Sunday, has been taught all the missionary lessons, has a calling in the church, but hesitates to be baptized. I have been pondering what I could do to help him become a new investigator, and desire to be baptized. His wife, I'm sure does the same thing. She is an example to me. She owns a gym and teaches fitness classes. In the waiting room, she puts church magazines, pamphlets, movies, and copies of the Book of Mormon for people to read. It struck me that I haven't been doing all I can to work with the members of this ward. That's something I need to work on. They are already doing so much. Can you think of what would happen if we guided their efforts? Another thing I will do is earnestly contact people on the street. When Elder Hamula of the Seventy came to our mission several months ago, he talked of the importance of consecration. He said that one of the ways to be truly consecrated is to give all you have and serve the Lord. That includes talking with EVERYONE you meet. He said that contacting is the price we pay for God to trust us with the type of people that are going to be baptized. That has stuck with me ever since. So I will rise to my call, buckle down, and talk to everyone in order for the Lord to trust me. 

I hope you all have a great week. I can't wait to get my ukulele. The first hymn I'll play is called, "Be Thou My Vision." It's a popular Christian hymn. It happens to be my new favorite. 

PS. That's so cool that Josh is going to Portland! That will be a fun mission for him.

I can't wait to hear from you. 

Love,

Elder Herbert

(Pictures of when Elder Herbert and his companion, Elder Walters, went to the temple to witness a family whom Elder Walter taught get sealed.)

Kent--May 4, 2015

Dear family,

We had a couple of great lessons with Brother "S". We taught the Plan of Salvation, and he started telling us about it. We didn't have to talk much! He had investigated the church for seven months in Auburn, WA, and he's been taught every lesson. He says the truth behind why he hasn't been baptized yet is because he's on parole until November. We may have to wait several months for him to get off parole until he's baptized. In our second lesson, we went to the church and had a lesson on the Book of Mormon. He told us the extent of his crimes, and why he went to prison. Over the past few years, he has done a complete 180. He was a bank robber. He says there were people in his life that were placed there by God to get him back on track. He is an incredible man, and an inspiration to me. He reads the Book of Mormon and prays every night, and he comes to church every Sunday. He even gave up working on Sunday to keep it holy. This week, he brought one of his friend's fourteen year old sons to church. His name is "A". I hope that we'll be able to teach "A"'s family. 

This Sunday, we also had a lesson with a part-member family. We taught about the Restoration and invited the non-member girlfriend, "C", to be baptized. She said she would if she were to find out the church was true. One of the challenges would be to get her boyfriend active in the church again, and have them get married. Their four little kids were wonderful. They asked great questions. 

We get free groceries for volunteering at a food bank each week, and we often eat with members. We get all sorts of fruits and vegetables from the food bank.

Jessica, I have not yet been able to baptize anyone yet, but I hope to be able to soon. I'm glad you are going to Pharmacy Tech school! That sounds like a lot of work, but lots of fun too! I also can't wait to see your braces!

Aaron, I love you too. 

Sarah, I'm glad that you're playing basketball. I've gotten lots better at playing basketball on P-day. I hope you have fun at Lego League.

Ps. I will be Skyping at a member's house this upcoming Sunday at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, so it will be 6 pm where you live. It will be a 30 minute Skyping session, and then we'll have dinner afterward. I can't wait to see you all! 

My companion, Elder Walters, broke his ukulele, so I was wondering, could you send my ukulele in a package to me, so we can play hymns on it? He has a hymnbook for ukulele.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Herbert