Well I am back here on my islands of the Azores right now for p-day and I love it! We will be doing the zone conference here tomorrow so we decided to come out early and see the island again! Man I have missed these islands so much; it’s great to be back for a couple of days. Today we were on the island of Terceira! One of the members named Frank who is a farmer took us around and it was a blast
This week was another good one! I love the mission and the experiences that I am gaining here. Every day I see the hand of the Lord more and more in my life. I also see the true happiness that this gospel brings.
The work in our area is going well. Tiago is doing well and progressing but still hasn’t been to church. We taught Soraia this week and started teaching her brother Junior. They are good but need to get over some trials. I was on a split with some other elders and we were knocking on doors when we met Elena and Sandro and their son. It turns out Sandro was a missionary for our church 20 years ago and is less active and his wife and son never were baptized so we are working with them now!
Paula and Nilton will be baptized and married this week. I am so happy for them. I know that that they have had many trails but they have been patient these last 4 months and now will enjoy the fullness of the gospel. They really are such a special family. They are such great examples to me and I am so excited for them!!
This week we did almost all of our zone conferences throughout the mission. They went really well and I have been doing my training sessions on weekly planning and I feel like it is going great! By the end of every conference we are dead tired with a headache. Haha! But it’s always a blast seeing all the missionaries with their excitement. I saw Sister Madsen this week which is always fun.
My favorite part of every conference is the message from President Tavares. He took a story out of Judges 6 and 7 where Gideon is trying to free his people. In the beginning he had 32000 warriors at his command but the Lord wanted to show them that it was him (God) who will deliver them. So he told Gideon to tell the warriors it’ll be a hard battle but he doesn’t want anyone that isn’t 100% in, and if you aren’t you need to leave. Right there 22,000 or 2/3 of their armies left saying basically "nah I’m good, I don’t want to die, I want to chill." So then there were 10,000 courageous and obedient and righteous warriors. But the Lord still wanted to test the ones who are the most ready and willing and obedient. So he told Gideon to let his army of 10,000 to drink from the river. 9,700 drank the water like dogs putting both knees on the ground and putting their heads in the river. While 300 were still looking for the possible attack from the enemy, drinking the water more with caution. Because of the small difference Gideon sent home the 9,700 warriors and went on with only 300 of them against and army innumerable. But they were obedient and Gideon said “do what I do.” They went to the walls during the night and they all yelled the same thing at the same time and broke a vase... the sound was so loud and terrible the huge enemy army got scared and started running away and the 300 warriors killed them and took back Israel from huge army!
I love this story because it’s like the 300 Spartans but a cooler version (because they won.) But also I like it because of the symbolism. God will help us get through our trials when we are obedient to our leaders and have courage. Afterward I was talking a little bit with President Tavares. We talked about how this story represents the 3 kingdoms of glory in the plan of salvation. 22,000 (or most) are not willing to sacrifice or be courageous and will go home (telestial). 9,700 are good and courageous but they are still lacking the little things and are not “all in” (terrestrial). Then there are the 300 who are the obedient and righteous who give their all, not doubting (celestial). These 3 groups, I believe, symbolize our church members. If we want exaltation, we need to give it our all to be in the 300 group.
I am gaining such a deep love for the scriptures-- they are SO USEFUL! (If only I would’ve known that before my mission ;)) They really do change people and influence our decisions and lives. I hope we all will really commit to "STUDYING" (yes studying, not reading) the scriptures every day. I know we will be blessed for doing so.
Yesterday I had my usual luck of getting patted down at the airport for the 3rd time on my mission. Somehow, we missionaries must look really dangerous. Haha!
I am having the time of my life. I have never felt this way before. I know it’s all true.... and I owe it all to God and the Savior!
Love you all!
Elder Herrmann
