Elder Chase Herrmann's homecoming will be on July 29th at 9:00am at the church on the corner of 800 East & 1200 North in Orem, Utah.
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First off, I'd like to
express my deepest sympathies to my brother-in-law, Sammy Merrill, and the
entire Merrill family on the tragic loss of 16-year old Cole Merrill. I know that Cole is in a better place and the
plan of salvation is real. I know it with all my heart. We will not only see
but live with Cole again. Love you so much and am praying for you guys.
Well
my time here is about over. Thank you all so much for taking this amazing
journey with me. I would like to reflect on my mission and what I have learned
(or at least a little part of what I learned). But before I do that, we had
some amazing things happen this week! We were have difficulties finding new
people and had the worst day--completely trash, we had 10 appointments all fall
through and we were receiving especially rough rejection. We were walking back to
the church for an activity to end the night. We were exhausted and about 30
seconds from the church ready to sit down and let the stress leave when we
passed by a building with the door open.
Instantly the Spirit told me, "ONE MORE! JUST KNOCK ONE MORE
BUILDING!" without hesitating we went into the building and knocked from the
top floor down. On the last floor and last door a women about 28 years old opened
the door and let us in. Her name is Nidia,
a Portuguese single mom of 2 girls. We taught the plan of salvation and it was
so powerful. We decided in the beginning
to just start out baring testimony about the church of Christ. At the end of the lesson I was inviting her
to be baptized. I said, "You know its true, you can feel it. You know what
you need to do!" She agreed and now is preparing to be baptized. It was such
a sweet moment. I know that we have the power of God to help these people come unto
Christ.
My
mission means everything to me and I have seen the happiness that following
Christ and the gospel brings. I remember perfectly before my mission thinking,
"The reason I am going on a mission is to help others. I have the gospel
and will share it with others." In other words I thought I was blessing
the people of Portugal and doing it with some pride. I realized that I had never fully experienced
the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. About 6 months in the mission, I saw
that the people here were actually helping me to recognize and overcome my
weaknesses. This has allowed me to
really see and experience the beauty of the gospel and the path to
happiness.
I
have seen time and time again that the Lord tests us to help us grow. I think of Ether 12:27 over and over again
where he will show us our weaknesses to ultimately turn them into strengths.
With every comp, area and position there was something to learn. Our path to
salvation is never still, we are always doing things to draw us either closer
or further away from Christ. So when we
look at difficulties as opportunities to draw closer to Christ, we can have success
and happiness in our lives. I have seen in all 16 of my transfers at least one
weakness that the Lord wanted me to learn from.
I hope I can apply what I’ve learned!
I
love the people here so much. Portugal is truly a mixing pot of cultures. I have
taught people from over 10 different countries. I love all the Africans
here. They are so humble and so open to
the gospel of Christ. They are so full of energy and make you laugh on the
spot. They love the Elders and I love them all from Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique,
Guinea Bissau, and Sao Tome. I also love the Brazilians here, they make such
dedicated members and great friends. I love the passion they have and how they
are so open and humble. I love that they are super chill and always down to
hear the word of God. Last but not least the Portuguese people were harder to
love. But like I have said, they are like
eggs--hard on the outside and soft on the inside. I have seen Portuguese people
go far beyond what is imaginable to help me. I have seen them sacrifice for me
and I have seen them accept the gospel and truly turn into leaders of the church.
They weren’t always the easiest to love but I do love them so much and their
culture!
One
of the most important things I have leaned is accepting the will of God. So
many times I wanted to reach a goal or just baptize everyone but I would receive
rejection, and I didn’t understand why I wasn’t having success when I was
working so hard. At first I would fight against it. I would be frustrated and
mad. But with time I realized that the will of our God is always for our
benefit and when things happen it is because he knows best! He knows what’s
better for us than we do and we need to be looking for what we can learn from
our experiences? To really understand and follow the will of God is the way to a
happy life. We can find peace if we look
to Christ.
I
KNOW THIS GOSPEL IS TRUE; IT BRINGS HAPPINESS! I love you all, thanks again for
being with me on this amazing journey! All I can say now is......see you soon!
;)
-Elder
Herrmann
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