Auburn--November 30, 2015

Dear Family,

Thank you for your love and support. This week was a really rough week. We taught no lessons this week. I can see the Lord's hand though because we found 16 new potential investigators. So that's a bonus. It's really disappointing when your investigators are really busy and don't make time to meet. I feel like some of them are just falling through the cracks. “L” is slipping away from us. She really doubts her decision to learn about the church. She is hanging out with the wrong crowd. We met one of her friends and he was just really disrespectful, rude, and obnoxious. His name was “T”. She tells us that she has temptations with drugs, sex, and bad language. She's only 15 years old. That's Aaron's age. My heart breaks for her.

Sometimes it's really hard to watch those that you care for make all the wrong decisions. I took a step back and realized that at one point, I was Lexi. I wasn't making the right decisions. I teetered back and forth between wanting to change and being afraid to change. It took lots of love and support from good friends, leaders, and parents. I keep praying for her. That's all we can do for right now.

I'm glad you had a good Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Church. It was sponsored by the VanQuill's for anyone in the ward that had no family in town for the Holidays. Bishop and his wife were there. There were a few other members there as well. Sister Mitchell came. It was really good too! It was a great experience.

Thanks for sending a sweater! I look forward to it.

Thank you so much Grandma for the money. I love you so very much. I also had a question about music. What is the difference between time signatures like 2/4 and 4/8? Are they conducted differently? Do they differ in tempo or expression? In 4/8 do you conduct 2 or 4 beats to a measure? I hope you are doing well. I keep meaning to write letters home, but it's really hard to find time on P-day. I will be writing handwritten letters today though. 

Jessica and Aaron, Mockingjay 2 sounds awesome! I hope you two are doing well. Jessica, send me a picture of you with your braces off! I want to see your beautiful face!!! I'll be sending some pics from Elder Samuels' camera. Also Jessica, I was wondering if you would send a copy of your patriarchal blessing. I was excited to have you read my blessing. I wouldn't show it to anyone else.  

Sarah, I love the Saul to Paul conversion story. I've read it a few times before. Some of my favorite scriptures are in the epistles, after Jesus leaves and the apostles are leading the church. I love how devoted they were to missionary work and how patient they were in trials. There is so much that you can learn from their examples. I wish that I could go to the temple every day, but we only get to go once a year. Cherish those moments when you get to do baptisms for the dead. Then you'll be prepared for the day when you get your endowment. It is a really cool experience. 

I love you all so much. I know that we'll be together FOREVER! 

Love,

Elder Herbert

Auburn--November 23, 2015

Dear Family,

Elder Herbert and Elder Samuels

Thank you so much for the pictures! I'm glad that Sister “A” was able to send you a picture of me. This week was good. We had snow on Elder Samuels' birthday but it hasn't snowed since. It's actually been pretty sunny lately. It gets really frosty in the morning. We bought a bear claw window scraper at Fred Meyer's last P-Day. It works great! Thank you for the extra money. I was able to buy socks, but I also got gloves, ate out a couple of times, and bought stuff to paint with. I'd actually like to know how much you put on my card. I would really like some snacks and treats. I'd also like a gift card to Wendy's and Taco Bell. I'm out of money this month. Elder Samuels is too. We thought we'd buy everything at the beginning of the month so it would last for the transfer, but it didn't work. We don't even have money for milk. That's pretty much it. If you could, could I get more money on my card? I'll need it to purchase a new sweater and boots. I have my shoes from a couple months ago but they aren't warm enough for my feet. 

Elder Herbert

This week, we met with Sister “M” again and out of the blue she told us that a coworker has been reading the Book of Mormon with her. We challenged her to invite her coworker over to her house for a lesson! We are so excited! This week, I have been focusing a lot on reading the scriptures and praying with real intent. Elder Samuels says it's really cool how I'm able to pray and immediately recognize the answer. It's because I've actually been asking questions as I pray. The more specific your questions, the more specific answers you'll receive. That is what we learned about in Zone conference this week. It was a neat experience. This week, I am going to be focused on receiving answers to prayer in the scriptures. 

Thank you so much for everything you do.     

P.S.  Elder Samuels is bummed that you haven't e-mailed him anymore. He'd like to hear from you again. 

I love you all so much.

Elder Herbert

Auburn--November 9, 2015

Elder Herbert in the woods

Dear forever family,

I'm so happy to hear that you are ponderizing the scriptures. As a mission, we have a ponderizing scripture once a week. This week ours is 2 Nephi 9:23. It goes along with our goal of baptizing 40 people this month. This week, we found a new investigator. Her name is “C”. She is 10 years old and she's really shy. She is “L P”'s sister. We've been teaching “L P” for a couple weeks now. She is 15 years old and she's been to church a few times. She is a really smart girl. She has lots of friends from school that are in our ward. She agreed to be baptized. Her date was November 21st but we'll have to push it back because we haven't taught the Word of Wisdom yet. We committed “C”n for baptism on December 19. It was funny. “L” said, "If I have to get dunked, you're going down with me." 

I love you all so much. Dad, thank you for sharing what you learned in Priesthood. I'd actually love to hear some mission stories from you and mom so I can learn what sort of things you experienced as well. I haven't been as diligent at keeping a journal, but I've been spending some of my free time writing poems and drawing. I bought blank sheet music so I can write songs on the piano. Elder Samuels and I love to play music together. He's phenomenal at the guitar. Thank you mom for putting money on my card.

Elder Herbert and Elder Samuels

Mom, it's exciting that you're getting your endorsement to teach ESL. It's funny because that's actually one of the suggestions in our daily planner for finding people to teach. It's one of those things that's hard to advertise and organize. I don't even know where I'd begin.

Jessica, I'm so excited for you and your externship at the Pharmacy. How did you decide that's what you wanted to do? 

I can't wait to hear from you next week.

Love,

Elder Herbert

Auburn-November 2, 2015

Dear Family,

Jessica, do you know when “J H” is getting here? I'd love to meet him! I'm glad that your week went well. Sadly, “C G” moved to another town. We're trying to get in contact with him by phone, but he's not responding :( Oh well. That's how missionary work goes. I hope you enjoy reading about the experiences that I have. It leads me to think about what my siblings think about serving missions. I hope every one of you desires to serve a mission. That's one thing I wanted to ask Jessica. Do you have plans to serve a mission? I know that it would bless your life tremendously. I hope my letters have made you consider it. And even if you don't I hope they inspire you to grow spiritually.

I was also wondering if you wouldn't mind sending me a copy of your patriarchal blessing. I was so excited to hear that you made the decision to get one! Even though it gets rough and tough from time to time, serving a mission is the greatest experience I've ever had. I feel closer to God than at any time in my life. It can be daunting to see where people are now and what they need to do to get eternal life, but I've met so many people that have unlocked the powers of the atonement to truly turn their lives around. One of those people is Brother “S”. It is a testimony to me that no matter what you do, be it drugs, immorality, alcohol, or theft, you can change. You can also bring the spirit with you wherever you go. In almost every area I've served there have been places that are less than appealing. But you can truly bring the light of the gospel wherever you go. These people have broken families, parents that use drugs, and family members involved with gangs. But when you bring the gospel, they see what you have, and they want a taste of it. I know that the atonement has the power to lift people out of the world, no matter their background because God loves each of His children, no matter what.

I went with a recently returned missionary to the baptism, and Elder Samuels stayed with a member for the ward Halloween party. The RM is “C M”, and he served a mission in Santa Rosa California. He and I went to my favorite Filipino restaurant in Kent and we had great food! Then we went to the baptism. I actually gave the talk on baptism. The spirit was so strong. If I could describe it, it was like someone took a bucket of hot water and dumped it on me. It was electrifying. Baptisms are one of the best places to feel the spirit. When they are conducted properly, it's like attending the temple. 

I can't wait to hear from you again next week!

Love,

Elder Herbert

Auburn--October 26, 2015

Dear Family,

We had a wonderful week. We invited two investigators to be baptized this week. One is named Calvin Griffin. He's an African American man. We also invited a man named Dre Kilby. He's also African American. Brother Griffin agreed to be baptized on November 21st. Brother Kilby said he'd have to give it more thought. I am so excited to help these good people enter the waters of baptism. This Saturday, on Halloween night, I'm attending Brother Sledge's baptism!! I am extremely excited for that. He asked me if I could give the talk on baptism. The members are really cool. We've met so many that are already sharing the gospel with their friends and neighbors. We went to the Hartwig's for dinner last night. They told us that they're trying to invite as many people as they can for dinner with the missionaries, but they keep getting turned down. It's so cool to me that they continually invite even when they face rejection.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have members that afraid to go home teaching to less active and part-member families. Some even told the High Priests group leader to only assign active families. But that's one minor hurdle that we can overcome. Keep your love and prayers coming.

In answer to Jessica's question: Elder Samuels is from Salem, UT. He also wants to know if it's ok for him to write you guys. And when is Jessica's boyfriend coming to my mission? I forgot his name. 

I was wondering if you sent my Claude Debussy piano book in the mail. 

I was wondering if you could also send some more socks. Mine are getting holes in them. 

Love you so much,

Elder Herbert

Auburn--October 21, 2015

Elder Herbert and Elder Samuels

Dear family,

I had an incredible week. First of all, a miracle occurred. A girl named “L” started attending church with her friends in Young Women's. She is good friends with a lot of the Young Women in our ward, and she went a couple of times to Mutual with them. She happens to be the daughter of an inactive member in our ward. Her grandmother however, is fully active in another ward in Auburn. She told her friends that she wanted to take the missionary lessons! She said that she has memories of going to Primary when she was little, but she was never baptized. We got in contact with the missionaries from her grandmother's ward. They are going to teach the first lesson at her grandmother's house. I am amazed at what the Lord can do. I know that our God is a God of miracles. 

Yesterday, we had our visit with Elder Lawrence of the seventy. It was an amazing experience. I absolutely loved his talk this last conference, "What Lack I Yet?" He came and told us that we NEED to baptize more people as a mission. He said we can do it. Together, with the mission leaders, he set a goal for 40 baptisms throughout the mission this November. He said that in order to do it, we would need greater faith, greater obedience, and greater sacrifice. It's doable, because we already have over 80 people committed to baptism as a mission. Now, we need to focus our efforts on finding more people to teach and commit to baptism. Please pray for our mission's goal. I know that if you do, our collective faith will work wonders. I am thinking about it constantly. Elder Lawrence used his experience in the medical field to give an analogy. He said that investigators committed to baptism are like ICU patients in a hospital. They need the most critical care. He said we need to contact them EVERY day. Our greatest efforts should be directed toward them, because Satan will be working hard at them.

His wife, Sister Lawrence, gave an amazing talk about the election of the House of Israel. She taught us, using the scriptures, how the people of Israel were elected to be the Lord's covenant people in the pre-mortal existence, based upon their faith and obedience. All of us, because we were born in the covenant, qualified to be Israelites by blood. We were chosen by God. She talked about how Israel was scattered among the Gentiles so they could be a light to the Gentiles. If it were not for the scattering of Israel, the world would be more wicked than Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord has revealed the Book of Mormon to be the tool for gathering the lost tribes. We are literally fulfilling prophecy. The Book of Mormon is the greatest missionary tool. These Israelites are lost "among the heathen." They are the elect of God. When we are praying to be led to the "elect," we are praying to find people with Israelite blood. Sister Lawrence explained that gentiles, without any Israelite blood are not likely to accept the fullness of the gospel, even though they too have a fair chance. She said they are usually the ones that slam the door in our face. It's interesting. Even though they are not likely to obtain the fullness of salvation, because they ultimately chose to follow God's plan and receive a physical body, they will at least inherit a place in the terrestrial or telestial kingdom. When you receive your patriarchal blessing, you are told from what tribe you originate. When gentiles do happen to receive the gospel, their blessing states that they are "heirs of the blessings of Abraham," even though they are not Israelites by blood and do not originate from one of the twelve tribes. So they have a chance for the fullness of salvation. Even though we are the elect of god, we can fall from His grace if we break our covenants and forget the commandments. It doesn't guarantee a place in the celestial kingdom. In order to obtain it, we must perform the necessary ordinances of salvation and keep the associated covenants. When we are sealed in the temple, we receive the greatest blessings promised to us through the Abrahamic covenant.

I am so excited to baptize more people. I know that we can do it if we get the ward excited about missionary work. The future of missionary work in this ward rests with the youth. They are strong and valiant. We have so many youth that want to prepare to serve missions. I am really concerned because one young woman has a less active father. “M D” wants to serve a mission, but the only real support she gets is from her mother and younger sisters. She is a sophomore in high school. Her older brother and father aren't active in the church. Their home teacher Brother “L” says they went less active because they admitted that they don't have a real testimony of the restoration. I will be praying really hard to help the “D” family. 

I love you and can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love,

Elder Herbert

Auburn--October 12, 2015

Dear Forever Family,

This week was wonderful. I just love working with Elder Samuels. He is a great Elder and he has a lot of enthusiasm. This week was a rough week. We have been struggling to have lessons. All of our set appointments fell through. We set up a lot too! The only lesson we taught was to a less active sister who is leaving to Eastern Washington at the end of the month. The Zone Leaders called last night and invited us to pray with greater faith. I felt that it was an answer to my prayers on what we could do to increase our ability to teach. I'm going to try it! It will be a great experience. Although we didn't teach much this week, we found seven different potential investigators! One was a Muslim man named “J”. He is from Afghanistan. We found him as we were knocking on the door of a less-active member who moved. He told us that although he has different beliefs, he loves to learn about other religions, and he will never refuse anyone who knocks on his door. 

I'm so glad to hear that Jessica received her patriarchal blessing. I'm so excited to hear about it. I also can't wait to receive your package. 

This week, I'm going to do a continual study on baptism and the temple. As I do, I hope to increase my understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that without the ordinances of the priesthood and the atonement of Jesus Christ, we could not return to live with Heavenly Father. I feel so blessed to understand this, and to be sealed to all of you for time and eternity. I feel so blessed that I want to share it with everyone I meet. 

P.S. I was telling Elder Samuels about how much I love to play classical music. He and I have been composing piano pieces on P-Day. Could you send another package with my Debussy piano book in it? I would love to play those pieces of music on P-Day. 

Thanks so much for everything!

Love,

Elder Herbert