Kent--June 15, 2015

Dear family,

This week was incredible. We had a potential investigator come to church with us. We also got back in contact with the “H” family and we have a lesson set up for Wednesday night after scouts! What a miracle. The potential investigator that came to church is named “S B”. When we met her, she had no idea that Mormons were Christian. We opened up the Book of Mormon and taught her right there in the parking lot of the apartment complex. I shared my testimony that the Book of Mormon can help anyone get closer to God, and help them through the difficulties of life. She told us she needs that because she feels empty inside and she feels lonely. A lot of her friends aren't Christian, and she wants more friends that believe in God. This happened last week. I went back on Thursday night with a ward missionary named brother “L” on splits, and we taught a lesson on the Book of Mormon. We only had 15 minutes, but the spirit was strong. We committed her to read a few chapters of the Book of Mormon, read the restoration pamphlet, and come to church. And she did! I was able to sit up front with her while Elder Holden sat with Brother “S” in the back. The topic in Sacrament meeting was on eternal families. The speakers briefly addressed the importance of family history and temple work. Sister “B” asked if she could participate in family history work. I said, "Of course!" She was really excited about that. She also committed to come for the full three hours next week! Wow. 

I know that the Lord is preparing people. We also received a member referral from Sister “P”. Their names are “S” and “M”. They have four kids, and they just live around the corner from the “P”'s. It was interesting how they met. The two youngest kids, who are five and seven, ran inside Sister “P”'s house. She had no idea who they were, so she said, "Let’s go meet your parents." They brought her to their home, and Sister Pyle initiated a great conversation with “M”. She told us what a spiritual powerhouse she is. She learned that “M” was preparing to be a pastor in her church and she had several incredibly spiritual experiences over the course of her life. Sister “P” said she was blown away and thought, "Where did you come from you amazing woman?" Sister “P” asked if she would like some literature on our church. She said yes. So she gave a copy of the Book of Mormon, Our Search for Happiness by M. Russell Ballard, a book about angels, and a copy of Meet the Mormons. The next morning, while we were working out in her gym, she walked over and saw “S” getting the kids ready to go to school. She asked if she could get his address so the missionaries could stop by and he said yes! Sister “P” told us she will set an appointment where we could meet and she's inviting us and them over for dinner next week. 

The work moves forward. And members are such an integral part of helping to find and teach investigators. Even in Sister “B”' case, when we were the ones to find her. Members still have the responsibility to friendship them. I have a testimony that God is placing certain people in our path so that we have an opportunity to administer to their needs. Sister “P” said, "There are no such things as coincidences, only God-instances." We each have a responsibility to care for the people in our lives. I'm so glad to be a part of this great work. There is nothing more joyful and spiritual than helping others come closer to Christ.

That is super cool that “M” was able to give a talk in sacrament meeting. I hope that one day she'll be able to get baptized. And keep having the missionaries over for dinner! I love hearing what's going on in your lives. Aaron, the ordeal sounded like fun. I hope you didn't get too wet! It's weird but it hasn't rained here for a few weeks. I'm pretty sure that's considered "drought" status in western Washington! There are a couple of places here and there that are in the rain shadow of the Cascade mountain range and it doesn't rain as often as in the coastal areas.

Could you send sour patch watermelons, pretzel M&M's, Hershey's bars, Milky ways, and Snicker's? I would also like a gift card for Wendy's. That's everything. Thanks for being so awesome!  

Love,

Elder Herbert

Kent--June 8, 2015

Dear family,

I'm glad that my experiences are helping others. This is a really trying time in my mission. Sometimes I wish that the ward members would do more and investigators would progress, but at least I'm doing the best I can. I know that success as a missionary is determined by how committed you are to find, teach, and baptize people. The “H” family is sadly not returning any of our calls. I think we might have offended them. They are no longer meeting with us. It's disappointing, but sometimes, you just need to move on to more prepared people. So currently we have no progressing investigators, but we found a couple of potential investigators this week. My street contacting is getting a lot better. (For those of you who don't know, street contacting is when you go up to random people on the street and talk about the gospel and invite them to meet with missionaries). In Preach My Gospel, it says we need to talk with everyone to find people to teach. Elder Hamula, of the Seventy, said that contacting earnestly and prayerfully everywhere you go is the price you pay to be trusted with the kind of people who will be baptized. And it might not even be the people you talk to on the street. God could reward your faith by sending a member referral. 

This week, I'm going to focus on teaching and testifying about the importance of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that it's super important because of the experience I shared with you last week. I want others to have the same blessings. If we receive and remain worthy of this gift, it can guide, protect, and comfort us. I'm going to study scriptures about conversion and being "born again." The Savior said in John 3, verse 3 that unless we are born again, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Later, in verse 5, He clarifies that to be born again we must be born of water and of the spirit. That is the ONLY way we can receive a change of heart. I'm going to share scriptures with people about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes as missionaries, we are tempted to water things down and tell people about how "nice" our church is. That's not what this is about. This is about salvation. The sooner you understand it, the better you'll be able to help others understand it as well. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church with Christ at the head. It is His church and we must be baptized into His church to receive salvation.

Have you ever heard of the new church website, beta.mormon.org? It's a new site that the church is using to update the old mormon.org. It's pretty cool. We have been introducing it to members as a way for them to share the gospel. It has 12 beliefs of the Mormon Church and short videos, with questions and answers at the bottom of the page. You should check it out and share it on Facebook! Anyways, I hope everything is going well. I'm glad that you are preparing for the vacation to Maryland. That sounds exciting! I hope you have a great time while you're there. 

Love,

Elder Herbert

Kent--June 1, 2015

Dearest family,I love you so much. I want to tell you that things are going well. The work is slowing down a bit, but we hope to be able to pick it back up. It's frustrating when (I'm not joking), about 1 out of 4 people we meet on the street are Indian and don't speak any English. It can be discouraging at times, but I'm learning to put away my frustrations. This was especially true for the "H" family this week. On Saturday I was elated. I read the following text from Sister "H": "I'm reading and teaching my mother [from the Book of Mormon]. Also she will probably join me at church Sunday with a friend also. :) mom is so interested in this happy to share with her." The next day I got this text: "Brother "H" can't get the day off [work]. We will make it [to church] next weekend. I was heartbroken. I kept thinking "why? Why is God making this so difficult?" As I sat in sacrament meeting, the words of my patriarchal blessing came crystal clear in my mind: "The Lord will bestow upon you the gift of patience." I pulled it out of my scriptures and read the rest of the paragraph. It talked about how I will be patient as I exercise faith in the Lord. It tells me I will be patient and longsuffering in times of difficulty and challenge and I will overcome them and come out victorious. I was filled with gratitude for the prompting I received. Later, as a sister in the ward spoke in sacrament meeting, she related the following words from the Savior in John 14, verses 26 & 27: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I realized that the Holy Ghost had brought the words of my patriarchal blessing to my remembrance. The reason he did that was to give me comfort. He really is the Comforter. I learned many things from this experience. I learned that God helps us to find hope in the heartache. I learned that the Holy Ghost brings the words of the Savior to our remembrance. It was affirmed to me that without the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we would not have his companionship. I was reminded of how blessed we are to have this precious gift. Now, I will act more fervently and diligently so that others can have this priceless gift as well. The Holy Ghost can guide us, protect us, and lead us safely home to our Father in Heaven.

In answer to your questions,

Jessica: The weather has been hot and sunny this whole week until today. It started raining and it's cloudy. It is a much needed break from the sweltering heat. I didn't think it could get hot in Washington, but it does. It really is cool to see all the different cultures, but it makes me feel foreign. I wish I could speak Arabic, Punjabi, and Spanish. Those are the most common languages spoken here besides English.

Mom: I did receive my ukulele. And when we do community service, we usually have set days and times, but sometimes we set it up ourselves. I'm so glad to hear you are listening to the Book of Mormon on audio. That is what we encourage a lot of our investigators to do. It really does help!

Dad: My new companion, Elder Holden is great. We get along pretty well. We usually talk about how we can help our investigators. Elder Holden likes Marvel comics. We usually talk about stressful situations that occur and make light of the situation to relieve stress.


I love you all very much and can't wait to hear back from you. I'll be sharing more experiences later.

Love,


Elder Herbert

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