Excitement for Sherry & what a mission has done for Elder Henry

Elder Henry and soon-to-be Sister Henry

                    

 

 Dear Mom,

Happy Birthday Aunt Vikki! I hope you have a wonderful year, and can't wait to see you this Summer :).

Man it really is exciting to know that Sherry's going to be heading out on a mission. What's even funnier is that two years ago this time of the year I was finishing up my papers and receiving my call. Now Sherry will be getting her call, and probably headed out before I get home :O. Imagine, almost 4 years without seeing Sherry.

     Also I wouldn't ever want anyone to get called to California. Not that I didn't love my time there or anything, but I simply do not like California. Plus I want my sister to have to walk as much as I do, and if she serves state-side she'll drive all day long. Cabo Verde would be really cool, but my heart is set on Brasil. We'll see though, where she'll end up serving. My guess is Italy.

     I'm not quite sure I feel like I'm on top of things now as a missionary. I think its just because after all this time I have experience and I know what to do and when to do it. I suppose that this is normal on the mission when you are in the last 6 months but I don't have any problems with Português, I know how to get along with difficult companions, I know how to work with the members, I know what a weak investigator looks like and what a golden investigator looks like, and I have enough experience balancing all the different parts of missionary work that I finally feel like I'm not running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Missionary work is normal to me now. I feel like all the techniques I've learned in the mission I'm finally mastering.

     "What are some of the things the mission has done for me?"

How can I explain the answer to this question. I've completely changed on the mission, not so much my physical appearance or what I like or any of the normal things, but my entire perspective in life has changed. Some of the things I've learned are Patience, Planning, Practice, Charity, and of course a new language. I guess what I've learned the most on the mission though is who I am. I am a Priesthood Holder. I am a child of God. I am someone who has faith sufficient to bring about miracles. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a Christian, and live to serve others above myself. These are invaluable lessons that I've learned about myself. Before the mission I didn't truly understand Faith and the Power of the Priesthood. I knew what it was, I could define it for you, but I never understood the power that it contains, and now I understand so clearly how it all works. It's incredible how the mission changes your perspective of a church I've been a member of since 8 years old.

     This last week was pretty good until Sunday. Sunday was the first week in months that none of our Investigators went to church. That was a drag, you work your tail off all week with the expectation of people showing up on Sunday and then nobody shows up. Oh well, this week will be better I'm sure.

I better send this off, we are already late to our lunch appointment. I love you.

Love,

Elder Henry

P.S. I'm SUPER excited to hear about Sherry's Call XDD!!!

PPS Oh also before I forget, I received one more package from the United States, but it get hit by Tariffs and they wanted 75 U.S. Dollars to release it, so I told them to send it back. I don't know who sent it, but let everyone know that if they receive a package returned that that was what happened.

 

Dear Dad,
Personally I'm excited that Sherry is headed off for a mission. You know why? Because that means Elmo (our little red hybrid Honda) WILL BE MINE!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! All these years that she tried to steal him from me, and now she'll be leaving for a mission and I'LL be able to steal HER cell phone and HER car and all the cool stuff that SHE has. REEEEEVENGE!!!
That's way awesome that you'll get to see your old missionary companion. Where in Huntington Beach does he live? It's been a while since I've been there, but I still remember most of the main streets and places.

Got to go Dad. Thanks for the updates. I love you.

Elder Henry

Mike's letter 12/12/11

Hey Mom!

     President says no Skype, just phone calls for Christmas.  I'm excited for some sweets.  My shoes actually have a hole in them, and its raining today for the first time in like a month.  I walked outside and my feet got soaked.  Do you want me to send my holey shoes back home?  I live in a locked apartment complex, so packages are really safe when they get delivered.  So I wouldn't worry about it while I'm in Long Beach.

     I'll make sure to keep Sherry in my prayers, I really want her to succeed at BYU :).  I'm really happy that the two of you are getting along a lot better now.  It sounds like all good news from the homefront, expect Spencer's Grades...

     Also transfer calls came in last Saturday, and both Elder Galke and I are staying.  I wasn't very surprised by that, but we'll see if I can make it a whole transfer :P after last transfer's fiasco!

     This week has been a bit of a mixed bag, but it all turned out good in the end.

     Ma'epu of course was Baptized last week, and yesterday I was able to confirm him a member of the Church.  That was a really awesome experience.  I'm very grateful that Ma'epu chose me to confirm him a member of the Church, and I just know that he's going to be a strong member of the Church from here on out.  I have so many hopes and desires for this young child, and I know that if he continues he will one day serve a mission.  That's probably the best gift of it all, knowing that I brought a future missionary into the church :).

     I didn't get to meet with R last week because I was on exchanges with Elder Stringham in the Spanish area.  It was a ton of fun to be back together with him, but we are changing zones this transfer so it's probably the last time I'll be together with him since he goes home in January.  He wasn't baptized yesterday because his Mom couldn't make that time, so he's going to be baptized this coming Sunday.  We also started teaching his 14 year old brother, and he should be baptized sometime in January as well.

     M on the other hand was all sorts of ups and downs last week.  We got a call from our ward mission leader on Tuesday who said that the members that Maria is staying with were upset that we hadn't taught her in a while.  We had an appointment last Thursday, and Elder Galke never set up a return appointment after M canceled on us.  We had planned on seeing her at Church on Sunday but she didn't show up.  The family was very upset with us, and so we had to repair bridges between us.  M was also hurt because she didn't feel like she was a priority for us, and that we didn't care about her.  It was a very sticky situation, and of course there are miscommunications up the wazzu because of the language barrier between us and the family.

     We ended up working everything out, but M is going to the English ward instead of the Samoan wards because she doesn't learn as well in Samoan.  Its a better situation, but it also means that we aren't teaching her anymore.  The other Elders are of course very happy to have her now, but its a little bit sad to see such a Golden investigator leave.  The good news is, our relationship with the Ward Mission Leader and the Bishop wasn't hurt because of this.  Also hopefully I've learned a good lesson about keeping in contact with your investigators.

     At Church yesterday our Ward Mission Leader, Bro. Va'ili came up to us with two people to teach.  So during the second hour of church we sat down with F and P and began to teach them.  They really want to be baptized, and both have been taught by missionaries before.  They are on date to be baptized on the 18th and 25th, and we are meeting with them again tonight.  I really love our ward, they do so much missionary work its just amazing :).

     We also were teaching a less-active/recent convert family last night and we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration.  The father/boyfriend? was actually interested and watched the movie with us.  We have an appointment now to start teaching him, and hopefully once the father figure is on board, the whole family will begin to be active in the church.  I'm really excited to see the changes in their lives.

     I'm really excited to talk with the whole family soon!  I'll talk with you again next week with some pictures (hopefully ^^;).

Love,

Elder Henry

Letter from Elder Henry 11/7/11

One of our favorite families in the ward the Nichols and the three of us.

One of our investigators, B, and Elder Stringham on Oct. 30th.

My Zone Leader Elder Bateman roasting Marshmallows over a burning magazine (in a safe contained fire pit)

One of the members prepared a really yummy japanese dish, that had an awesome Japanese name that I can't remember.  He did call them Japanese pancakes though, and they were delicious ^^

My zone at the last transfer

My new companion Elder Chadwick is from Kentucky, and he is an amazing missionary.  He is kind, patient, caring, and direct.  He knows how to teach, and does it very well.  Seriously if you were to take a model Preach My Gospel missionary and make it into a human being, you have Elder Chadwick.  He was a zone leader last transfer and he knows how to lead out in the companionship, but also works hard on making sure that Elder Mathews and I are learning too.  He practices with us to help us to improve and has really helped me as a missionary this past week.

He went to BYU before coming out into the field, and will be back this Winter semester.  He's 5'11" so a little bit too short for Sherry ;).  He's studying to go into law school, and is a very driven person.

Elder Mathews on the other hand is very much the opposite kind of person.  He's from Spanish Fork, Utah and is bouncing off the walls energetic.  He has a huge heart.  He's very motivated to improve himself, and loves to play Rugby.  He went to Snow College before his mission and wants to be a Criminal Profiler for the FBI.  As typical with Utahns he's anti-BYU :P.

This past week has been absolutely amazing for missionary work!  I don't even know where to begin XD.  So you are going to get a play by play missionary style! (the parenthesis are the ages of the investigators so you get a better idea of who they are)

B (77) - Last week B came with us to the departing missionary farewell and that went pretty good.  We did service for him and sat down and gave him a bit of a spiritual thought.  At the end we invited him to resume learning more about the Gospel, and he accepted the invitation!  We weren't able to teach him other than the thought last week, but he surprised me by showing up to Church yesterday!!!  I couldn't believe B was sitting down in the pews.  The Ward really reached out to him and made him feel welcome to Church.  In fact we were in a PEC meeting when he got to church, and one of the members noticed that he looked a little lost, so he went up to him introduced himself and got him a seat in the chapel to wait for us.  It was an amazing experience to have him at Church.

L and V (50's) - V is our Romanian investigator, and L is really holding him back.  She's very much set in her ways, otherwise we would see V coming to church for sure.  We met with him last week and read 1 NE 3 with him.  Hopefully he begins to read on his own, but the prospects look slim.  He's a very very nice man, just trying to push through some challenges right now, especially financially.  He offered us some shark meat this past week, and we didn't really have any idea how to cook it, so he said he'll fix it up for us next time we come by.  He has a heart as big as the ocean itself.

G (30) - G we met with two weeks ago and have been having a hard time meeting with him ever since.  He promised to read the whole Book of Mormon by Oct 28th, but still has yet to crack it open.  Hopefully we will be able to meet with him again, and he will begin to read the Book of Mormon.

K (22) - K is a Polynesian we met on the street last week and asked if he would be interested in learning more about the Gospel.  He invited us back and we had an awesome first lesson with him.  He said that he wanted to start going to church and that he hadn't been to any church in 9 years.  We haven't been able to get a hold of him for a couple of days, but I'm sure we'll be able to get a hold of him soon.

J (20) - J is a new investigator we found by showing up to an appointment with a woman named K L who lives in the same house.  K wasn't there and J answered the door.  She invited us to come back on Saturday at 3:15, and we had a first lesson on her porch.  She just texted us this morning and she said she has read the introduction to the Book of Mormon, and part of the Book of Nephi!  She wasn't able to come to Church yesterday because of work, but she accepted the Baptismal invitation for Nov. 26th.  We will be meeting with her this Thursday again so hopefully all will continue to go well with her.  So she in herself was a miracle, but there is a double miracle to this story which I'll talk about a little later.

S (17) - S is a young woman who just turned 17 years old.  She is good friends with a lot of the Young Woman in the ward who have brought her to Church for about 4 weeks in a row.  Last week they introduced us to her and we set up an appointment to teach her on Tuesday of last week.  She accepted the lesson well, and we invited her to be baptized on Nov 19th.  She was very surprised because it was so soon, and her Mom had some reservations about her being baptized before she was 18.  We were pretty excited about this, but this Sunday was a true miracle.

Yesterday, S came to Church after we had arranged a ride for her.  She was sitting in fast and testimony meeting and then turned to Sis. Davidson (the member that she had come to church with) and asked if she could go up.  We were sitting a couple rows back and we saw her walk up to the podium.  We weren't quite sure what to expect because we had only met her once, so we sat a little bit anxiously.  There were 3-4 people in front of her, and eventually it was her turn to go.  Her friend T stood by her for comfort, and she bore her testimony in Church.  In front of everyone.  It was a beautiful testimony about how she had seen when she was involved with church activities her life seem to go better.  She had more patience for the bad, she had more peace in her life, she got along better with her mom, the things she struggled with weren't as much of a struggle.  She also talked about how when she wasn't coming to church life was harder for her, and that she wanted to be a member.  She then talked about her baptismal date of Nov 19th and how excited she was to continue learning and to be baptized.  I couldn't believe my ears, the three of us missionaries got huge grins on our faces that were there for the rest of the meeting.  I have never seen such an amazing event happen ever before in missionary work.  I still can't believe how fortunate I was to witness this.  By the way this was the same meeting B was in, so hopefully he felt the power of her testimony ;).

We also had an amazing experience with one of the recently activated members in the ward.  His name is P, and I think I might have mentioned him before.  He's 20 years old, and a gamer, sound familiar?  He just received the Aaronic Priesthood about a month ago, and has just taken off in terms of progression.  When I first met him, he was embarrassed to share his testimony, or even say a prayer aloud.

We met with him last Friday, and had planned on teaching him Family History.  We figured that with his extensive use of the computer that maybe we could talk him into doing some Family History work to help him be a little bit more productive with his use of time.  Near the end of the lesson, we were inviting him to go to the Family History Center, and I was prompted to bear my testimony of how Missionary Work and Family History work was the same work, and that when he found those names and took them to the Temple it would be the same as if we found people to teach and baptize.  He then walked over to the bathroom, and began drying tears from his eyes.  I had never seen P so emotional before, and he then related an experience of how he was praying last night to his Heavenly Father as to what he should do with his life, where he needed to go.  He knew that he needed to go and do something but was unsure where to find it.  He also told us that he probably wouldn't be able to serve a mission because of some emotional problems.  Then we knocked on his door the next day and there we were, giving him that opportunity to work, and also to be a missionary.  I was so happy to be an answer to one of Heavenly Father's children, I have no doubt in my mind that we were led there to share that answer with him.  When we are listening to the small promptings of the Holy Ghost that's when we see these miracles happen.

Saturday P came out with us to teach J.  I was pretty nervous because P had expressed concern with even sharing a testimony, but he was excited to be with us so I hoped for the best.  Towards the end of the lesson P bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon, and how it had changed his life.  I was so excited that P had been able to overcome his fears.

Sunday P then proceeded to impress me once again by getting up and bearing his testimony in front of the whole ward!  He was amazing, my mind was absolutely blown by his courage to face his fears and to get up in testimony meeting.

Other than that, things have been pretty regular around here.  The weather has been getting pretty chilly, it stays about 60 degrees nowadays and we have been having some pretty (minor) rainstorms.  I am loving the oppertunity I have to serve here in Huntington Beach.

I love you all, thank you for all the letters :)

Love,  Elder Henry

Oct. 24th Letters and Photos from Mike

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Photo from a half mission conference Long Beach Mission, Michael is in the second row, fourth from the right.

Dear Mom,  
     Sunday's are by far the best day of the week.  Since we cover two wards we get to go to 2 sacrament meetings, and 5 hours total of church.  It's so awesome going to church as a Missionary, because it is your responsibility and calling to go and meet all the people you don't know in the ward.  We had an awesome sacrament meeting yesterday in the Pierside Singles Ward, where the bishop got up and asked people to come up and share with us their favorite hymn, and a quick testimony about that hymn.  Then the congregation would sing the first verse of the hymn.  It was amazing!  The spirit was so strong in that meeting, Hymns are just an amazing way to feel closer to our Savior and Heavenly Father.
     We had an interesting thing happen to us yesterday at church though.  There was a non-member who was there and loved all three meetings at church.  We were thinking AWESOME!!!  Golden investigator.  The catch is he's Muslim and from Egypt, and right now we can't teach people from Egypt, because their lives might be in danger if their family heard that they were thinking of switching religions.  Hopefully things will get worked out, because he really loves church.
     I really have no idea what's going on in politics at the moment.  It's crazy to think I'm in the middle of California and yet I have no idea what's going on in the world!
     So MK our favorite investigator went through another rough time last week.  She got fired from her job, and so she moved back to San Jose, California.  We are forwarding her onto the missionaries up there and hopefully she will be baptized up there, but she's out of our hands now.  Its sad to see our best investigator go through so much opposition trying to get to baptism.
     We do have one investigator who is progressing though :).  V had another lesson this past week and is reading the Book of Mormon.  We should be having another lesson this week with him.  Hopefully his wife will come around as well, she's going to be the real struggle, because she's happy where she is at.  Hopefully the Lord will work some magic with her.
     We also have a lot of people with a lot of potential to start teaching so hopefully some more people will be coming our way.  I'll tell you what though, when I get to Brasil, I'm really going to appreciate how many people I'll be able to teach ^^;.
     I had a really cool experience this past week.  We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and they are in the Spanish area.  Well my trainer decided to send me to their area because, "it would be good for your Portuguese".  Man was I terrified!  But I got to the area and a prayed that I would be able to understand and participate in the work there, I didn't want to just sit there and be useless for 24 hours.  During all the lessons we had with the Spanish speakers I was able to understand everything they said.  Portuguese is pretty similar to Spanish, but I don't really speak all that much Portuguese, but the Lord took what little I did know and magnified it so that I was able to understand Spanish.  I'm really thankful for the gifts of the spirit, and I know that without Heavenly Father's help I wouldn't have been able to understand very much at all.
     Well I'm happy everything is going well on the home front.  Good luck with the Job, I'm really grateful for the sacrifice you are making so that I can be out here.  I love you all so much, thanks to everyone who has sent me letters.  I will try and write back as soon as possible, but P-days are SUPER busy, so please understand if you don't get one back quickly.
Love,
Elder Henry
Also this week is transfers, so send all your letters to the mission office instead of my apartment this week.  I'll send you my new address if I get transferred.  The Mission office address is:
 Elder Michael J. Henry
6500 E Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815

Hey Dad,

This week was a little bit rough, but it ended on a good note which always kind of wipes away any bad feelings.  We spent a lot of time last week trying to find new people, and we are getting a lot of people who could have potential.  Hopefully we will find some new people to teach soon.
     We get to go to the Ward Trunk-or-Treat this weekend and I'm SUPER stoked!  I really love to two wards I'm in and I'm hoping I don't get transfered this week because I finally am getting to know the members and making relationships with them.  I feel like we are on the verge of a huge surge of investigators, and hopefully baptisms.  It's super exciting to be here right now.
     I really like the Road to Damascus talk.  Paul is my hero when it comes to being an awesome missionary.  He's such an amazing example of how important it is to talk to everyone and always be moving to find new people to teach and baptize.
     I actually haven't played basketball since I left the MTC.  P-days are really busy for us because we have to drive other missionaries around so they can buy groceries and the like.  Although today we have a sporting activity so maybe we will play some Basketball.
     I don't know if you remember how much it means to have members feed you, but I think it is always one of my top 3 things I look forward to in my day.  I love being able to meet with the members and eat food :D.
     I'm really excited to go to Brasil, and I actually met someone this past week who served a mission in Porto Alegre back in 1978-1980.  It was a ton of fun talking to him about how he had to wait in the MTC for his visa, but how awesome it was down there.  The most important part though is not to waste a single day of my mission, regardless of where I am.  I never want to look back on my mission and think I didn't give it my all.
     I'm glad things are going well, I better e-mail mom before I run out of time.  I love you dad, thanks for all your support,
Love,
Elder Henry

Elder Henry (right) with his MTC District at the Provo Temple.

 There is picture of a can of Bird's nest drink that I tried, which is a drink that they make in Asia from a bird that gathers up all sorts of stuff into the nest.  Then they take the nest and make it into a drink, it was quite... interesting.

 My District at the MTC, with my Professor Irmao Villanova

  MTC District with Professor Irma Gonzales

My companions in our NOW clean (thanks to Elder Henry) apartment You would be so proud of me, I came into the apartment and I have been cleaning it bit by bit until its up to Mom(ish) standards.  It was a pig-sty when I first came in.

Elder Henry Week 3 in Huntington Beach (he isn't starving!)

Dear Mom,
I did get lots from everyone thank you all for your help.  I promise I won't starve ^^;.  I'm really glad to have been able to go to college before my mission and understand how to cook for myself.  Otherwise I don't know how I would survive
This morning at 4:30am we got up to go to the 6:00am session at the temple.  The Newport Beach California Temple is absolutely gorgeous.  Although it is super tiny.  The Temple usually isn't open on Monday's and so we usually have P-day's on Tuesday for when we go to the Temple, buuuut our stake had a special day at the temple.
I've never heard of this before but our Temple President lives in our stake, and apparently for a couple of years, once a year our stake will go on a monday and Staff the entire temple.  Our stake provides all the workers, and the attendees, and it was absolutely packed there.  There wasn't a seat open in the 6:00am session and when we left there was no room in the parking lot.  It was really neat to go and see all familiar faces in the temple.  There is nothing like going to the temple with a bunch of friends, when you recognize the temple workers, realize the stake president is sitting right next to you, and all the rows are taken up by friends, there is a feeling of love and commradery in the temple that I have never before felt.  I highly recommend to go to the Temple with friends.
This past week has been really busy for missionary work.  We taught 30 lessons this last week which is a record for my area, and we picked up a couple new investigators.
The first big news is our Investigator Mckenzie, who dropped us 2 weeks ago text us yesterday and asked if we could meet.  She's been coming to church still and wants to resume taking the lessons.  We haven't committed her to baptism yet, because we don't want to overstress her again, but that is definitely her goal.
Second big news is our other investigator, Bobby, who also dropped us said we can come by and still do service for him.  It's not a baptism, or even teaching the lessons, but as we learn from Ammon in the Book of Mormon, we just need to serve.  When we serve we show our love for people, and their hearts will be turned eventually.  Missionary work here certainly isn't a meet someone, and they are baptised two weeks later.  All 5 of our recent converts took about a year to 18 months to finally commit.  The important part is that we each take the effort to help people along at whatever pace they need, just like heavenly father allows each of us to turn to him on our own time.
Third we picked up a new investigator family.  They were a referral from one of our ward members and they set up a dinner appointment.  They were really friendly and we taught them the First lesson.  Lydia and Vas are the parents names and you couldn't have two friendlier neighbors.  Vas is from Romania, and Lydia is from Canada (Toronto for you Canadians reading this e-mail).  Hopefully they will continue to investigate, but they have awesome fellowship regardless.  There is nothing better to hear from a member, than to show up at their house and have them drag you to their neighbors and say, "Hey what are you doing monday night.  You need to listen to these guys and we'll make dinner out of it."
The best way for missionaries to work is to have the members invite their friends to activities, or to invite friends to meet with the missionaries.  Also, DO NOT WORRY about missionaries offending your friends by being overbearing.  We are very aware that sometimes people have friends who are just coming over for dinner.  Just let us know ahead of time what you expect, (i.e. just a spiritual thought, or teach them the 1st lesson, or they just have a couple questions) and we will tailor the lesson to that individual.
I'm happy to hear that the new job is working out for you, especially financially.  That's so cute that Tori is so excited for Halloween.  I certainly miss Tori's enthusiasm for such events.  It's so much fun to go into the houses of members and meet their kids and their families.  It always makes me think of when we were little kids and how excited Tori would get for Christmas, Birthdays, and all other manner of Hollidays.
Catalina Island is in our mission, but it is a closed area right now.  Its much more of a tourist trap than it is a residential area.  There is a small branch that meets there but president doesn't have missionaries there right now.  Also update on the picture front.  I am allowed to upload pictures onto the computer and e-mail them to you, but we just came from the Temple and I didn't bring my camera with me.  So for sure you will have pictures next week of our adventures.  Although to be honest I only have like 3 pictures in Huntington Beach right now, so I'll make sure to take some this P-day so I have pictures to send home.
If you just put money into my account that works for me, I just don't know how much is in there and if you want me accessing it.  I have survived on less at college, it just isn't very fun ;).  Also I'm finally stockpiling a little food here and there so I at least have something to eat.  Also I never saw Bobby's son. My comment about needing food was to a certain Kelsey Mills who has been promising me a care package for 3 weeks now and I still haven't received one :P.
Anyways I need to E-mail President Bubert.  I love you all, thank you all for your letters and support.  I love to hear from everyone, it's so much fun to get a letter from someone back home.  I try my hardest to reply to everyone who sends me mail, but sometimes P-day gets too busy.
Thank you,
Elder Henry


Dear Dad,

Yesterday was the Primary Program in our family ward here as well.  It was super awesome because one of the members brought a friend he's been working to teach with and the kids did an excellent job of teaching the Gospel.  It was a perfect sunday for a non-member to be there.
That's exciting news about the 100 visa's being aproved for Brazil.  Hopefully I will be able to leave for Brazil soon, but I'm enjoying my time in Huntington Beach as is.  The work here is doing great, and you can't beat the weather down here ;).
Mitch sent me a copy of his travel adventures in the mail, so don't worry too much about losing your copy to forward.
You know I can understand a little bit more how Mom and Sherry work being on a mission.  I know that they love each other and that Mom wants the best for Sherry, and Sherry wants to be a good daughter but there is still friction.  I'm having a bit of the same experience with one of my companions right now, where I realized I really love him and I have to focus on that rather than things that bother me. 
I hope that makes sense.  I know that my companion, as trying as he can be on my paitience, was put with me for a reason and that I know one day I'll meet back up with him and it will be like we are long lost brothers, but relationships are not easy, especially with random people.  I'm just lucky to be born in a day where the standards for missionaries have been raised and I have really hard working companions.

Anyways I better e-mail mom, I love you Dad,
Elder Henry

Week 2 in Huntington Beach CA

OK readers, I have to say that its a tough feeling knowing my little boy is out there working hard and starving!  So if you know any LDS Missionaries, please make sure they have enough food for breakfasts and lunches.  $23 a week to feed my 6'2" 210 pound son two meals a day is just not enough.  Sherry could probably manage on that, but not Mike!  Probably this is just a "warmup" for Brazil though!  Poor guy!  They fed him too well in the MTC!!!

    I've been updating everyone on Mike each week, but not the other kids.  Tori is doing pretty well in school so far this year.  She has to work so much harder than anyone else, but she continues to overperform despite her disabilities.  She enjoys playing with her neighborhood friends still, they played baseball in the cul de sac the other night, and also enjoys Young Women's.  We're so glad to have the Gibert cousins around the corner still, too!  Spencer absolutely adores playing tennis this year.  He's improved a ton and plans to continue working on it this winter and next spring/summer to try to make Varsity possibly.  He's just such a good, kind, fun person.  He needs to kick it up a notch grade-wise though, his lofty goal of going to BYU and becoming a surgeon kind of depends on it!  Sherry is treasuring her independence at BYU.  We don't hear from her nearly enough but she assures us its because she is relishing the rigorous coursework.  She's enjoying the home football games too, and they just had Homecoming last week with all sorts of activities and a parade (we're supposed to talk to her tonight and hear all about it hopefully).  She was going to audition for Disney this week but has two reviews for midterms that day so she can't go.  But it was for the winter college program anyway, and they come back again toward Springtime.  Its been great to see her take her responsible adult nature to the next level.

    Damon and I are busy working and enjoying our smaller, quieter family.  

Make it a beautiful day!

Lisa

 

 

Oh no!  Tori is going to be huge when I get home XD.

 

We don't have walgreens down here, everything is CVS pharmacy which is strange, but if you get me some money I'll try and print off some pictures for you.  I haven't really taken any of California but I have about 100 of the MTC. 

We aren't allowed to go near the beaches, the rule in the mission is "where the sand starts the mission ends" so It's out of the mission to go, but we do drive down Pacific Coast Highway quite a bit because our area is right on the coast.  So I at least get to see the beaches every now and again.

 

We actually had two days of downpour this past week, and it gets pretty chilly at nights, but it always burns off in the afternoon and we hit the high 70's low 80's with blue skies.  We are in like the perfect area though because its nice and warm with a cool seabreaze to keep us from baking in the sun.  So pretty much it's paradise ;).

 

I could really use some food, we only have $23 dollars a week for groceries, laundry, and washing the car so I've been pretty hungry lately.  I don't know what grocery prices are up in Vancouver but here everything is soooo expensive.  I spent my entire weekly grocery money on 1 gallon milk, brick of cheese, 1 loaf bread, and 1 box of cap'n crunch (which was on sale), and a thing of rice.  The members are pretty good at feeding us dinners, but its the other meals that I'm worried about.

 

This past week we have had it pretty rough.  Our investigator who was to be baptized last Sunday, Mckenzie, text us and said, "I need some time", so she isn't baptized and she doesn't want to be taught anymore.  Our other good investigator B, a 77 year old man, got anti'd by his pastor, and now won't meet with us.  All our other investigators have been really hard to get a hold of, so we pretty much were at ground zero.

 

But not all is bad!  We are doing really well with the members and have received just heaps of referrals.  Not only that but this week we have appointments with 2 investigator families and YSA investigator.  Hopefully we will be able to bring the spirit into their homes, and help them to truly be converted to Christ.  I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be serving in this area.

 

We have a bunch of less active people that we are working with as well, and one of them received the aaronic priesthood this past Sunday.  It was a huge success and you could tell the Bishop, and P (the L.A.) were just super happy to have finally made it there.

 

Michael's first week in Huntington Beach!

Greetings from Huntington Beach, California!

My address is:

320 Nashville Ave.

Apt 14

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Where do I begin?  This past week has been crazy!

Last Tuesday I flew into Long Beach Airport and met my Mission President and his wife, AP's and had a quick orientation.  Our mission is apparently the second to smallest proselyting mission in the whole world.  Second only to a mission in South America, (possibly Mexico City or Santiago, Chille I can't remember which at the moment).  Upon arriving at the mission office we were told that 2 of the 3 of us would be serving in Spanish speaking areas.  I lucked out though and got sent English speaking :).  I'm serving in the Huntington Beach 1st ward, and the Pierside YSA ward and I absolutely love them!  These are probably the two best wards in the world to serve in.

After I got to my new area with my two new companions, Elder Matthews (from Spanish Fork, UT) and Elder Stringham (from West Valley, UT) we then went to work that night at 5:00.  Well if you consider eating with members work ;).  We met with the Bishop from 1st ward that night and talked with him about how we could help the ward.  We've been working really closely with the Ward leaders in both Wards.  Our Mission President wants us working almost exclusively through member referrals down here so we have been spending lots of time getting to know the members and earn their trust.  My two companions have done an excellent job before me, and the Pierside Ward especially is on fire with the spirit of Missionary work.  You have no idea how much it means to a missionary to receive a referral from a member.  Missionary work is so much better being able to already have that friend base there when we have lessons with investigators.

One thing that my Mission President told me when we came in is we all need both a Spiritual and a Social Conversion to the Church.  People aren't going to want to come to church where they can receive spiritual revelation if they don't have any friends there.  The Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley also told us of this need.  He said every new Convert needs a Friend, a Calling, and the nourishment of the good word of God.

This week we were supposed to have a baptism.  Her name is MK and both Elders were super excited for her to be baptised, but she didn't show up to our appointment last Friday, and we haven't really talked to her.  Apparently she moved down to Oceanside, CA near San Diego yesterday, but is still going to come up to Huntington Beach for work and school.  We are all really disapointed because she really wants to be baptised.  Hopefully she will make contact with us again and will be able to make that Baptisimal covenant with the Lord.

We've had some really good experiences last week though.  We've been able to contact a couple of less-active members last week and they said that they felt the spirit during our lessons.  Hopefully we will be able to bring them back to church, and they will be able to turn their lives around.

We are working with and excommunicated member of the Church right now come back into full fellowship with the church.  I'm not quite sure the whole story, but we met with him on Sunday and he's a huge WWII buff!  What a perfect match for Elder Henry ;).  The missionaries have been working with him for a while now, and I'm not quite sure how close he is to being reinstated and rebaptized, but we are all very hopeful for him.

We also had the opportunity last week to give priesthood blessings to 3 non-members, which sounds like a lot but they were all inspired by the spirit.  Its a little scary to rely on just the spirit and try and follow those subtle promptings, but my trainer Elder Stringham is an excellent example for me.  Each non-member felt the spirit and power of the blessings we gave and hopefully they will be able to continue and make progress.  We are on the verge of a very exciting time here in Huntington Beach.  There are a couple of families looking to start investigating the church, as well as some Young Adults who are friends of the Pierside ward.  I wouldn't want to be any place then here right now.  I'm soooooo excited to continue working this week.

I love you all, thank you for all your support,

Elder Henry

Hey Dad!

How exciting was conference this time, eh? I was super excited to hear about the new Provo Temple. It should be being completed sometime around the same time I get back home. At least I hear it takes them about 2 years here in the states. I was really bummed out that the Provo Tabernacle burned down while I was in Provo. I don't know if you know this or not, but when we went on our tour to Utah in the Boychoir we sang in the Provo Tabernacle. It was a beautiful building.

     I'm really glad you got the oppertunity to go out and visit Sherry. That's really cool that Sasha got to come with as well. I know how much they enjoy their time together. Every session of conference I would think about how you and the rest of the family was watching, and it made me feel like I was close to you all because we were doing the same activity together. Kind of a strange thought, but I quite enjoyed it.

     I'm not quite sure what is in store for me this P-day but I sure hope it includes basketball. I'm itching to hit the court.

     I'm really blessed with a trainer who is super obedient and just loves the work. Elder Stringham also speaks Spanish so we can converse pretty well. We also had the privilage of being fed by one of the families in the Spanish branch on Sat/Sun Lunch between sessions and I was able to understand about 70% of what they were saying, although they made fun of my Portuguese :P. This Tuesday I'm going on splits with the Zone Leaders, and they cover the Spanish Branch, so I'm going to have fun speaking Portuguese to the Spanish speaking families. I hope I don't die XP.

      Anyways I need to write my Mission President. I love you all, I hope you have a safe trip home,

Love

Elder Henry

Elder Henry is in Huntington Beach CA!

    We heard from Michael from the airport this morning!  He sounds awesome and very well prepared to serve the Lord in Long Beach--except he is having a hard time remembering his English grammar (he couldn't remember how to say "me too" when talking with another missionary in English).  Apparently his Visa was sent by the Missionary Visa office through Los Angeles.  Normally they are sent through San Francisco with Northwest missionaries, and explains why its taking so long.  He could be in Long Beach up to around 4 months but he does expect to eventually get to Brazil. 
     His mission area sounds like it will be really nice, of course he can't enjoy the beach but he might be able to walk along the paths near it and enjoy the views.  The area of the mission includes Catalina Island, wouldn't it be neat if he was able to tract out there on that beautiful island?  
     He's looking forward to getting to work and utilizing his missionary skills he developed as Ward Mission Leader as well as in the MTC.  His younger siblings enjoyed visiting with him (once they woke up a bit) and hearing his voice.  Spencer sounds almost exactly like him now!
    (At 5pm) I just heard from his Mission President's wife.  He will be serving with a pair of Elders who are already in Huntington Beach, they are giving him an hour of language study each day so he can keep up his Portuguese, he will be in a car and well fed every night by the Church members there.  They've had many Brazil visa waiters in the mission, and the longest so far has been 7 weeks.  Lets hope he doesn't set a new record ;o)  but he will have a wonderful first part of his mission in Huntington Beach!
   His Preparation Day is Monday.  The new address to send letters is:
Elder Michael Jordan Henry
c/o 6500 Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
You can also use DearElder.com, and have it sent to the Long Beach CA mission.  I'm not sure how you pay for letters through them I assume they either set you up an account or charge you the postage each time.
Thanks for all your prayers!
Lisa and Damon