4/23/18 - Meetings!

This week was great! It was the first week of the new transfer which means new missionaries, lots of meetings, lots of stress. Man, I always love the first week of the transfer. When we pick up the new missionaries I always love seeing the excitement on their faces when they see Portugal for the first time.

We also had our missionary council meeting for the leadership, it went really really well. My companion, President Tavares and I did a training on how we communicate through the line of authority in our mission--from President to us, to the Zone leaders, to leaders of the district, to the missionaries. We talked about how that information is essential to our success.

We also had some incidents with some missionaries and because of that we didn't have a lot of time to work in our own area unfortunately.  It is a little frustrating at times because we want to help the people in our area so much and we want to be out there but other responsibilities take us away and we don't have time to find new people. But it's alright because we see a lot of miracles. We also got to see a lot of the missionaries and really there's nothing to complain about and we are excited when the Lord wants us to go to another area to help other missionaries.

So that was our week, a lot of meetings, a lot of time with missionaries in other areas, and a lot of time in the car for sure. I love this work so much, I love helping build the kingdom of God here in Portugal. On Sunday night we drove down to the Algarve where this next week we're going to be doing a lot of workshops. For p-day we had a game day and ate at a member's house.  We just played a bunch of board games and it was awesome and super fun and chill. I love the members here in Faro!

That’s all for now! I love the mission!! Read your scriptures, say your prayers, and be thankful! Love you all!

- Elder Herrmann

4/16/18 - Sick as a dog -- then a miracle!

Well this week was....different. On Tuesday morning all four of us missionaries here in Mem Martins woke up super sick with every problem you could imagine!   But with our responsibilities we still had 100 projects to do so we left the house and continued to work! We drove missionaries to the hospital, had a meeting with President, prepared for the transfers, had divisions with zone leaders etc.  For the first two days we were thinking, "Yeah we feel bad but the Lord will provide a way for us because we are working for Him." Well, after those two days, on the third day we woke up and couldn't even move. I have never been so sick in my entire life! Then I thought, " Why won't the Lord bless us for trying to do His work?"  Then I realized it was because we were stupid! We should've taken better care of ourselves and not left the house those two days going 100 miles per hour. The Lord will bless those who are, on the firsthand, smart! The rest of the week we did not step foot outside the house, or at times, our own beds, with the exception of 3 lessons and church.

But even with the sickness we had a MIRACLE with an  investigator named Helder! (I know, it sounds like Elder from Hell..Helder.. haha!)   He is 22 years old and is an amazing person with a really strong testimony. He has been investigating the church for a month now. So even though it was super hard being sick, we left the house three times this week to teach him or follow up with him.  Every time we left the house it was such a fight just to get to the car, let alone teach with enthusiasm and with the Spirit. But the Lord really did bless us. Helder said he would be baptized that Saturday. We got everything all ready to go and we were preparing all the things for the baptism. About one hour beforehand, he called me with a really sad tone saying that he needed to speak with me that very moment.  We met him at the church where he explained to us that his dad, out of nowhere, started yelling at him an hour before the baptism (law of opposition like always). His dad was saying he can't be baptized, he doesn't know what he wants, and if he gets baptized he will get kicked out of the house. So, Helder was really really sad because he had the greatest desire to be baptized, but he said that it was too big an obstacle. We talked with him there for a full  hour. I showed him 3 Nephi 7 and some bible scriptures to help him. I told him that this was the work of Satan and this is his time to show his true faith in God, putting everything in his hands. He was still hesitant. Then the Spirit hit me like a wave saying, "Pray for an answer RIGHT NOW ON YOUR KNEES!" I told him that we are going to pray that very moment on our knees. I said the prayer and in the prayer I felt as though I wasn't saying anything of myself-- that I was being guided in what to say. I promised him as a representative of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that his father’s heart would be softened and that he would not kick him out of the house if he gets baptized. We ended the prayer and just sat there in the sacrament room for a good 5 minutes in silence.   The Spirit was SO strong! He was looking at the ground the whole time. Then he stopped, and looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, “I will be baptized TODAY." I cannot tell you how happy I was to hear that! I I almost jumped for joy! This is what the mission is all about! Helping people come unto to Christ and overcome their trials! Helder was baptized 30 minutes later! I can’t describe the joy I felt when he came up out of the water. The next day at church we asked him what his father said. He told us that his father wasn't home but that he knows his father will not kick him out! It was truly a blessing!

I love this work so much. I love the opportunity to share the gospel and help other people -- which is also helping me. I will always treasure these experiences I am having on my mission! I love you all, have a great week!

-Elder Herrmann

PS. Birthday shout-out to my nephew Cole who is turning 7.  Also to my brother and best friend, Spencer, for hitting the big 25! You are getting old bro!

4/10/18 - Conversion

Well another week has come and gone. We started off the week going to the Azores Islands.  We arrived there and had lunch with President and Sister Tavares and then we did splits for the remainder of that day with the zone leaders. It is always so special to return to an area that I served in for a zone conference. My love for these islands is so great. I visited some members there to see how they were doing and also my recent convert. I showed the zone leaders where my old investigators lived.  Those people were super happy to see me. Now the missionaries are teaching three of my former investigators again!! The next day we had zone conference and it went well, then we headed to the airport. Knowing the weather of the islands, our plane got delayed for a long time so it was great to just talk to President and Sister Tavares. It was amazing because instead of the "president side" of them, we got to know them as just regular people. I love them so much and will forever be grateful for what they are doing here and what they have done for me. 

The plane finally arrived late and we got home around 11 pm.  We about died because the next morning bright and early we had our last zone conference in Lisbon. It went well and I am so happy that all the conferences are over! The president’s message at the end was so good. He said "pick a time in Christ’s ministry where you could be at his side"... of course I choose when Christ drove the money changers out of the temple. I’m always drawn to the bold Christ.  He then said, "okay now imagine that you were with Christ for the three years of his ministry.... would you be converted?? Of course, I thought "yes" but then we looked up a scripture in Luke 22:32 where Christ told Peter, his right-hand man, his best friend and the one closest to him that he wasn’t converted! President then said if Peter wasn’t converted then are we? Wow, that question killed me! Then we talked about what is conversion.  Conversion is not a testimony; testimony is a component of conversion. Conversion is a lot deeper than just a testimony. He showed a lot of scriptures of what conversion means and the steps of conversion in Helaman 15:7-8. “7 And behold, ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth, and to know of the wicked and abominable traditions of their fathers, and are led to believe the holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, which are written, which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them—   8 Therefore, as many as have come to this, ye know of yourselves are firm and steadfast in the faith, and in the thing wherewith they have been made free.”

So the steps are:

1. Believe in the scriptures

2. Faith in Christ unto repentance

3. Repentance

4. Spirit changes our our hearts

Another indicator is in Mosiah 5:2: “2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” 

Basically we won't have desire to sin. He then showed us that true conversion is when we have the desire to share the gospel and strengthen our brothers and sisters. He then showed us where Peter finally was converted and what did he do? He baptized 8000 people in 2 days!!! Holy cow man! I want that! I love so much learning about the gospel and improving.  

This week a funny thing was when I did my dad’s old door approach trick with a really tall elder that was with me on splits.  I had him lean against the door with his hand above the door frame holding a Book of Mormon, but the person opening the door couldn't see it. I knocked on the door and this lady opened it and I said, "We are here to talk about a book that comes from heaven” ... then I held out my hands and whack!...the book fell and landed in my hands.  Then both of us looked around like "WHAT?". Haha! From the lady's point of view it really looked like it just dropped from heaven. The lady thought it was super funny and let us in! Little did we know that she was already a baptized member and was inactive, but was ready to come back to church! The Lord works in mysterious ways!  

In our own area we didn't see a lot of success because we didn't have a lot of time to work there, but it's going well. This week we have the whole week to work in our area. We will be teaching Maria and hopefully she will overcome her problems and be baptised this week. Lets see what happens!

Man the mission is a blast, the gospel is good, and a disciple’s life is sweet! Love you all! 

-Elder Herrmann

4/2/18 - The Missionary Superbowl

This week was crazy! It was so busy it was like a rollercoaster. We held 5 of 7 Zone Conferences this week. So yes, we basically lived in our car. :)   We always feel a little brain-dead by the end. The conferences have gone smoothly so far and I've seen the Lord touch the hearts of the missionaries. We will be flying to the Azores Islands tomorrow then finish our last conference on Thursday in Lisbon.

General Conference was really good. As a missionary, General Conference is like watching the Super Bowl! Some of my favorite talks were by Elder Uchtdorf, President Nelson and Elder Holland! I approached it a little different this time. Instead of writing favorite quotes and summarizing what I learned from each talk, this time II developed some questions and pondered them for a few weeks forehand. The whole conference I was searching for answers to those questions. Those questions were answered and the spirit taught me many things that I need to do -- especially relating to when I get back from my mission.

We were at the house of a new member a couple hours before conference and I shared a short testimony of how grateful I am to have prophets in our modern day. It really is such a blessing that every six months we can gather together and receive instruction from God on what we need to do. Also, it was such a cool experience to take part in sustaining Russell Marion Nelson as the new president and prophet. I have zero doubts, he is the prophet to the world and leads this church receiving revelation from God. We talked a little bit with President and Sister Tavares about our connection to past prophets and he said that he felt President Nelson was going to stand out.  It felt amazing when President Nelson in the priesthood session had us all arise and told us we are here to prepare the way for the Lord’s second coming. We cannot get tired, we cannot lose our focus, we need to prepare at all times and in all things. He is at the door, he is ready to come, we just need to prepare the way now, and we can do that by listening to our leaders.

We had a really cool experience with Maria (our investigator) this last week. With all the traveling for zone conferences we only had one appointment with her and that was to invite her to come to general conference. When we arrived at her home she was super sick, to the point where she could not even stand up. She expressed her concern that she would not be able to come to church in the next two days in that condition. We offered to give her a blessing and after the blessing she looked at us and stood up and said, "I feel better now." The next day she felt even better and did everything she needed to. She arrived at church saying it was the spiritual confirmation she needed to get baptized.  We are working with her so that she can be baptized this weekend. The priesthood power is real! It made me think about the talk President Monson gave about the priesthood when he said, "The gift of the priesthood is priceless. It carries with it the authority to act as God’s servants. There is nothing else to compare with it in this world." I testify that the priesthood power is one of the most precious and priceless things I have in my life. I am so happy that our Heavenly Father trusts us so much to use his power and authority to bless his children. My goal is to always look for times when I can bless the lives of others using the holy priesthood which I hold. 

I love this gospel and am learning new things everyday on my mission. I want time to slow down...I am really enjoying my time here.

Love you all!

-Elder Herrmann