Wow,
what a great and incredibly fun week! I am super happy, the mission really has
hit full stride for me and it’s just a great ride now.
So
much happened this week. Being the first week of the transfer and
having a new comp there was a lot of training and a lot of meetings and
planning sessions—and all of it was great!
Elder
Smith is great! He is from Dallas Texas and is a champ. He doesn’t even have a
full year in the mission but is killin’ it! We had our first day of picking
up the new missionaries from the airport and taking them to the mission home.
This group was really small, only 2 elders. Because of that, we got to the
mission home about 2 hours before dinner. So we all joined President
Tavares on a walk to all the beautiful sights near the mission home in Belem
(or in English "Bethlehem"). It was fun translating and being
the tour guide for these beautiful monuments in Portugal. The two missionaries
were walking around with their mouths open in awe. The rest of the night was
good and the dinner was great as always.
The
next day we had training for the new missionaries and it went well. We also had
the missionary council where we discussed what it means to be a leader. We
talked about the two sides of leadership; administering and ministering --
there is a big difference between those two. To be a leader we need to learn to
do both of them while we lead. President
Tavares’ message was really good. He got out this beautiful glass elephant and
put it in the middle of the table. He told us he loves that
elephant....but it’s a problem. He then picked up a hammer a smashed
it! He used the scriptures and this object lesson to teach that at
times we have a problem, but we “like” the problem. We aren’t
willing to kill the problem right then and there. When faced with a temptation
or a prolonged problem that “we like”, we need to stop it fast. It was a
memorable lesson.
Our
mission is doing this amazing thing called “the 40 day mission fast”. Basically
everyday this transfer, one or two areas will be fasting for the whole mission
to have success and for miracles to happen. We got all the areas organized and
everyday are receiving calls reporting miracles. Can I just say that God is a god
of miracles? Our theme for this effort is Mormon 9:15, “And now, O
all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I
would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the
end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of
miracles.” It’s so true.... the miracles have not ceased.
With
that, we have had a miracle happen in our own area. We were knocking on doors
when this woman came to the door. Her name is Maria. She
opened the door and said, "I have been waiting for you guys to knock on my
door! I tried many times to get into your church but it was always locked. So I
have been praying you guys would come." We went in and taught
her about the restoration and in the end, when we invited her to be baptized, she
said, "I believe firmly in Jesus Christ, but for some reason I also have a
lot of trust in you guys, I know that what you say is true and I need to be
baptized." I could not believe it! What a
miracle! She is scheduled for baptism the last day of March!
:)
Man,
I am super happy. I love the mission. It’s so amazing how I have come to love
this place and these people.
I
love you all, until next week.
-Elder Herrmann
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