Happy Birthday Elder Henry

Dear Mom,
No I haven't heard a thing (about my visa/travel plans)...  Which makes me very very sad :(.  It's on the way but taking its time about doing so.  For my birthday I bought Root Beer and Ice Cream, and we will be celebrating as a whole zone.  I can't believe I'm 21 already!  How crazy.     I'll do my best to hop on down to a CVS Pharmacy to get a backup CD and send it home.  P-days are crazy, but it would be nice for both of us, plus I still need to send the extra pair of shoes home.  As soon as I know the day I'm leaving I'll get in contact with the bank.
     I'm super excited to go to Brasil, that visa can't come fast enough!  Let me tell you :P.  Hopefully it will come sooner rather than later.

Not a whole lot happened last week.  Of the 4 new investigator families we only met with 2 of them.
     We saw Jon yesterday and he LOVES to talk.  The problem is its super interesting to me to, because he'll get going on WWII and then I get distracted...  Have to keep the lessons focused.  I've been saying goodbye to everyone in the area for about a week now.  The ward is so ready for me to leave, that I got my haircut on Saturday and people came up to me on Sunday and they thought I was their new elder!
     We had the departing missionary fireside yesterday and President Bubert asked Elder Whetstone and Myself to speak since we will be departing soon.  I also had the opportunity to invite all those I had worked with in my previous areas to come as well.  Unfortunately all of my recent converts were busy (seeing as it was Easter Sunday).  Fortunately some people were able to make it, I was very excited to see the Brother Maiava, the Sangala's, and Eli and Isa there ^^.  Tonight I'll be eating dinner with President Bubert and his Wife, and tomorrow we are going to the temple with President.  I'm really excited!  All that's left is a visa :P.
     We met with Ralph during the week last week and talked about the Book of Mormon.  We had an appointment with him again on Saturday and he wasn't home :/.  What made things worse we had brought a member with us, and they would have gotten along PERFECTLY!  Oh well, sometimes things fall through, its just a shame when it does.
      Steve H. said last week that he's really close to committing to baptism!  I'm really excited to hear that, especially when he hasn't been able to meet with us for the past two weeks.  Spring Break is this week for here, and so meeting with people will be a little bit trickier than normal.
     Steve R. and his family all were at Church yesterday :D!  Tax season is almost over as well, so he should be able to meet with us again soon.
     Nicole came to church yesterday and is also on the progressing train.  I just don't understand what it's going to take to strengthen her faith that she can overcome challenges and temptations in her path.  She's done it before, she can do it again!
     We had a bunch of non-members come to easter services yesterday!  We may even be able to start teaching one of them, a young man that came to church with one of the young women.  He seemed pretty shell-shocked when I came up and started talking with him.  I don't think he had any idea what was going on :P.  We are going to follow-up with the young woman who brought him this week.  Hopefully good things will ensue!
     Thanks for the Easter/Birthday Cards!  I opened them on Saturday instead of today on accident because Kelsey had sent an Easter package and so I thought the other 2 cards that came would be Easter cards (completely spacing my own birthday).  Thank you for signing the birthday card and always remembering me.  Also thank you Grandpa and Grandma Nichols and Granny for the Cards and Presents :).  Of course an extra thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Henry who are providing funds to help support me on my mission, and Kelsey and her parents Bruce and Randy.  I'm very grateful to have a whole family behind me supporting me while I'm on this endeavor.
I love you all so very much!
Love,
Elder Henry

Dear Michael,
     Hopefully you can make a cake--or buy one!  I was sad last night that I was going to not see you for your birthday, but then I remembered you'll be home in only 15 1/2 months or so and it made me happy.  Its just so weird having you and Sherry grown up and gone (although Dad would remind me we have our "perfect family" now--two kids is definitely a lot easier than four haha).
     I haven't heard anything.  Have you heard anything?  Itenerary? Etc etc?  You and/or Dad need to get ahold of the bank and let them know you are finally going to be traveling/living down there.  If you leave a "paper trail" by making small (food haha) purchases in each airport on your way, that will help the bank not freak out and put a hold on your account.  But we need to let them know again too.  I finally had an anxiety attack on Wed after the dots finally all were filled in and the visa was ready for collection.  Woke up in the 2am hour somewhere and could not get back to sleep!  I am really looking forward to talking with you on the phone and hearing your voice, so hopefully someone will let us know when you're leaving!!!
     I love you and have a wonderful birthday!  You're the best son I could wish for--despite all of dad's and my "Guinea pig" mistakes.  Thank you bud!
Love, Mom
PS  I shared your update to the YSA's with my missionary mom lists, because it was so eloquent.  It touched many hearts!  Here is one particularly special response I wanted to share with you.

Lisa,
Thanks so much for sharing your son's letter.  To me it was a  tender-mercy,
but not likely in the way you'd expect. 
     First a little  background - My son returned home from his mission in Alaska in
March.  He immediately went on facebook and had several friend requests
waiting from those in areas where he'd served.  One in particular was a
young woman who attended in one of the Singles Wards where he had served.
Things progressed VERY quickly, and before I knew it, (like the following
weekend) they'd  arranged for her to fly down so they could see one another
in person... I  think he's smitten!  She is a lovely girl in every way.
Which immediately got me wondering about her family, specifically her
parents.  Her mother is a member but her father is not.  I prayed that her
mother would be a valian  example in the gospel - but really never dreamed
that it could be confirmed until we'd met in person.
     Yet it was confirmed, in your son's letter.  He  wrote of "Sister Doing", and
the powerful testimony she bore when teaching  with your son and his
companion.  It's the very Sister Doing whose heart I'd prayed to know! The
tender way in which he described her allowed the spirit to bear witness that
she is, indeed, a valiant woman.
     The "what are  the chances..." are just too numerous to describe.  I can
testify that our Heavenly Father truly works in mysterious ways!  When we
only see one solution, he sees countless answers and will direct them for
our good! Thank  you for sharing your son's letter. It was truly an answer to
my  prayers.
D.A.W.

Dear Dad,
I haven't been able to find an international calling card that works for Brasil yet.  Hopefully I'll be able to find one today when I go to the pharmacy (they usually carry lots of that kind of stuff).
That's way cool that you were able to go do sealings last Thursday with mom.  I can't wait to go to the temple tomorrow with my mission president.  I imagine that will be quite the treat.
Its funny to imagine what kind of weather you must be getting this time of the year.  It's been pretty warm down here recently, in the high 80's low 90's all weekend.  Blue skies everyday, hardly ever a cloud in sight.  We have good enough weather that we can go out and jog for 20 minutes every morning at 6:30am.  It's pretty boring to be quite honest with you, I'd much rather have rainstorms all day every day.
Thank you for the Birthday wishes.  This is like my last milestone so far as age goes.  I still can't believe that I'm 21 today.
Love,
Elder Henry

"Remember, the Lord doesn't always give us what we expected, but He will give us what we hope for."

I have the best son in the world!  =)   Here is his report to the YSA of the Vancouver Washington West Stake.
--Lisa

My Mission wasn't what I expected, but it is exactly what I hoped for. When I received a mission call last March I had the whole family gathered around to find out where I would serve the Lord. To my surprise and excitement I was called to the Brasil Porto Alegre North mission speaking Portuguese. I felt the Holy Spirit at that time confirming that I had people in Brasil I needed to meet, and who needed to meet me.

To my shock though I did not receive a visa to go to Brasil. The months passed, I entered the MTC and spent 9 weeks diligently learning a foreign language. Those weeks were over and I faced a reassignment to Long Beach California. Through prayer I was able to 'come to terms' with this 'temporary' reassignment. As I labored I was determined to find the reason I was being delayed from Brasil.

In my first area I met people who were less-active that I helped come back into the gospel. One young man named Paul had a rough time being open with people and communicating with others. While I was there I saw him receive the Melchezidek priesthood, bear his testimony in sacrament, and share the gospel with one of his friends. I met and made eternal friendships with the people in Huntington Beach. Next I moved to Long Beach in the Samoan wards.

What a Blessing! Before my mission I was able to help a recent convert Samoan family into the ward as the Ward Mission Leader. I fell in love with the Brown family and even wanted to serve in Samoa. The Lord provided me with the ability to serve among the Samoan people through this reassignment, an opportunity I would never have had in Brasil. Furthermore I was able to help 3 people come into the gospel as well as try to help others come back. I made friends with people I would have never have met otherwise.

I was then transferred to Whittier and have had much success and learned much from the people I've met here. I've learned the importance of bringing members to lessons, talking with everyone, and how to find investigators. During my two months here I've seen 2 less actives come back to church on a regular basis.

The moral of my story is, God has always placed you in a position where you can do the most good. He has orchestrated MTC entry dates, visa problems, career choices, job opportunities, and many more factors so we can do the most good for the people around us. If we follow the promptings of the spirit and the counsel of our priesthood leaders, we will always be able to Find, Teach and Baptize. Doesn't matter if you are in Washington, California, Brasil, New Zealand, or any other place on this earth, be where the Lord needs you and never complain. In this lies success and happiness not just for the mission but your whole lives. Remember the Lord doesn't always give us what we expected, but He will give us what we hope for.

Elder Michael Jordan Henry

Elder Henry taught in Portuguese this week!

Dear Mom,

Its true General Conference got me re-fired to go out and teach the gospel! I absolutely loved it, even the parts about raising children. There are always principles of the Gospel that you can pull out of any of the talks. I think my favorite talks right now are Elder Oaks on Sacrifice, Elder Anderson on What does Christ think of you, and President Monson's talk on Duty. Hopefully my investigators/less actives got just as much out of it as I did. My companion and I as well as the two missionaries I live with all have been talking non-stop about conference :P.

Are you kidding me, Spencer HAS to go to Brasil. Its destined to be, and then we can speak Portuguese all the time to one another. Besides where else in the world would you rather be? :P.

What Mormon's -aren't- fox news junkies? Its a fact of life, especially down here in Southern California.

This past week was pretty short (seeing as we had Conference, and the last time I wrote you was tuesday). We have a lot of exciting things happening in our area though.

Last week we started teaching 4 different families, probably the best week of finding I've ever had on my mission. They all have potential, not golden investigators, but lots of potential. The investigators we have we really didn't get to work with last week. That meant we did LOTS of finding. We tracted 3 full days last week of walking from door to door and trying to find people to teach. It all paid off though on Sunday when we finally saw some of the fruits of our labors :).

The first person we found is named Jo. He's Ana P's Dad (one of the recent converts in the ward), and he's a Brazilian. For the first time on my mission I was able to teach in Portuguese, and it was AWESOME! I can't wait to go to Brasil and teach like that all the time. We had dinner with Jo and his Daughter and gave him one of the copies of the Book of Mormon in Portuguese that Kelsey gave me before my mission. Ana and I also wrote our testimonies in the front in Portuguese and he agreed to read it and share it with his wife. We have a return appointment tomorrow, but we will have to turn him over to the Sisters because he lives out of our area.

We also met a guy named Kevin this week. We were in the alleyway trying to find Chris and Frank, but they weren't home and were walking back to our car and asked him if we could give him a pass-along card. We then talked about the restoration and agreed to meet with us on Sunday. When we came back on Sunday we were able to sit down with him and share a lesson about the restoration, and he agreed to read and pray, but was about 50% on coming to church and didn't want to set a date for baptism yet. Still he says he's been studying religions to try and find the truth.

Next up is Jon. Jon is a high school teacher who loves WWII history. I may have mentioned him before because we first talked with him in January and finally got to teach him yesterday. We had a great lesson with him and he was asking lots of good questions. Today he's arranged for us to meet one of the surviving members of the Band of Brothers, so I'm looking forward to meeting Ed Pickering today. He was one of the medics that Parachuted into Normandie, France not long before D-day.

We also received a media referral last week for a family. The Mom and Dad's names are Pati and Alex. We met with them for the first time yesterday and brought one of the members, Sis. Doing, with us. The lesson went luke-warm and we probably wouldn't have gotten a return visit if it weren't for Sis. Doing there. She's a convert of a little over 20 years now and she bore powerful testimony of the good the church has done for her family. She also organized a play date for her grandson and the oldest boy. I'm so glad that she came with us because she is going to be a much more powerful tool than we can be as missionaries. Something I realized in that lesson is that members have been missionaries for many years and have much more experience than we do with introducing people to the gospel. The best thing I can hope for as a missionary is that a member has the courage to come with us to a lesson and help us to teach. They provide instant fellowship, and powerful witness of how the church has helped them with years of experience I don't have.

Nicole was too busy to meet with us, as well as Steve and Steve, but they are progressing slowly but surely. We need to try something new to help each of them overcome their bumps.

I'm glad you had a very happy birthday Mom :)!

I love you all very much, thank you for writing to me faithfully.

Love,

Elder Henry

Anxious for visa 3/27/12

Hey Mom,
Hope I didn't scare you by not writing yesterday. We switched our
P-day to Tuesday so we could go to the temple this morning. It was of
course, fantastic! I absolutely love the temple, even if we had to
sacrifice a couple hours of sleep to do it.
     N ended up postponing her baptism until May 19th. I haven't
given up on her, but she needs some more work on her testimony. I
feel about ready to throw in the towel, but she must still need
something I will say to her, else I would be in Brasil.
     I'll make sure to keep a little cash on me for Brasil, and I'll pick up
a calling card today at the store. We only have 30 minutes to E-mail
today as well so this E-mail will be short. Hopefully though we will

be able to chat for a while when I'm hopping from airport to airport.
     We really haven't had a whole lot of new things going on this week,
but we have set up a lot of appointments for this weekend with
families. 3 new potential investigator families have appointments
with us this Saturday/Sunday, and we also found another potential
investigator that has been to church before and had lots of LDS
friends through the years yesterday. Lots of finding happening right
now, which makes me feel good about leaving the area, the next Elders
will find it ripe and excited to work so it won't die after I go.
     I'm REALLY excited to finally go to Brasil. Although I hope it comes
this week and I leave next week. If I have to stay 2 more weeks I'm
going to die of anxiety :P. Also tell everyone to hold off on
Birthday Packages until after I get to Brasil. I'm not going to have
any room in my suitcase to pack away anything I get here in the
states.
I'm down to 8 minutes and need to E-mail my Mission President. I love you so
much, tell Dad I'm sorry I didn't get to respond this week, but that
I'm really excited to hear about Spencer working so hard as a
missionary back home.
Love,
Elder Henry

Creeping closer to a visa...

That's pretty exciting to hear my visa is finally coming through!  It won't be long now until I ship out to Brasil.  I don't know if I mentioned this in my last e-mail, but President Bubert called us last Monday and told is it would be 3 weeks, so now its 2 weeks.  Should be here for General Conference and then off to Brasil I go!
     Ok, I'll send the shoes home.  I got my friends phone number, I'll try to connect with him once I get down there.
That's super exciting to hear about Sherry getting a job with BYU housing.  I will be the first to tell you how hard it can be to find a job for Spring/Summer, but once you are in, you are in.  Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, although I heard from one of my RA's that they deducted the rent directly from your paycheck, that it was 7.25$ per hour minus your rent, but I may be remembering wrong.  Besides Spring/Summer rent is super cheap ;).
     I can't believe it snowed up north.  I was just happy that we FINALLY got our second day of rain for the year.  Can you believe that Jan-March, only 2 days of rain -.-".  I'll trade weather systems ANYDAY.  I get very bored with blue skies all the time.
     One of the funniest missionaries I have known on my mission has to be Elder Bowles.  I don't even understand what it is that makes you laugh every time you see him, but he's a comedian.
     We've had a really busy week, but not a whole lot of progress right now.  We have 7 different investigators/families that we are teaching but they are all a little stagnant.  Steve R. and Steve H. still come to church every week, but I don't feel like they are any closer to baptism than when I first came into the area.  We found a few investigators this past week, and we are working to get fellowship for them and get them to come to church, but with conference coming up things get pretty messed up schedule wise.  I hope our investigators will survive the 2 weeks of no normal church and that they will attend General Conference.
     Nicole called us up yesterday saying that she wanted to postpone her baptism, because she's having some doubts.  We have a lesson with her tomorrow and its going to be make or break.  I'm not sure if she will still be baptized this Saturday, but I'm hopeful :).  It's still pretty scary as a missionary to see something weigh so heavily on how well we teach on Tuesday.  Its almost like eternity itself weighs on the line... oh wait it does :P.  I keep thinking about how exciting it is rather than stressing out about it but its still kinda scary.
     We've started teaching this guy named Chris and his friend Frank.  He's read a little in the Book of Mormon but has a really hard time understanding what it says.  They grew up Catholic, but really didn't like that at all.  Frank has taken an institute class down at Cal State Long Beach and really enjoyed it.  Chris is married and has 5 kids, hopefully they will come to church this coming Sunday.  We have an appointment with him tonight which should be good.
     We also connected with Oscar again, and he read 6 or 7 chapters out of the Book of Mormon and came up with a lot of good questions.  We had an appointment with him last Saturday, but we weren't able to meet with him because the gate to his apartment was locked and we couldn't get in...  Hopefully we will be able to meet with him again soon.
     We contacted a guy outside his house last Friday as we were just walking around.  His name is Javier and we gave him a pass along card for a free Book of Mormon.  He was pretty interested in it when we starting talking, and I asked him,"What have you heard about the Book of Mormon?"
     To which he responded, "Not very good things.  Do you have a copy of this Book?"
We then gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he seemed genuinely interested in reading it.  We talked a little bit longer and he had done his research on Christianity.  We are meeting with him again on Friday, but we will have to pass him off to the Sisters because he's Young Single Adult age.
     Keep Nicole in your prayers this week.  I love you all, thank you for letting me know about the Maple Extract stuff.  I imagine I need that and corn syrup and sugar.  I wouldn't have even thought about not having maple syrup around :(.

Lots of Love,
Elder Henry

Brazil before his birthday likely!

Dear Mom,
      Elder Bowles is a pretty quiet guy but really funny as well.  He's from Orem, UT but was born out here in Orange, CA.  We are also in a car now ^^.  The best part is we have another Mazda 3!  Definitely the best car in the mission.
     My area is still fantastic.  I'll talk a little more about the success we are seeing in the area after I finish answering questions.
     Also my mission president just called and told me that I'll be leaving for Brasil on the first week of April, which is what I expected.  It could happen any time between 10 days from now and 40 days from now, but most likely the first week of April. 
     I share your hatred of daylight savings time.  But is worth it for us missionaries, now our evenings will be longer and we will be able to get into more houses.  Sounds like everything went well with the Boy coming home which is good.  Sherry can thank me for paving the way on that road :P.
     This week was really exciting!  N had her baptism interview on Saturday and passed!  She finally quit smoking!!!!  WOOOHOOOO.  She's also been coming to church and things are going SUPER AWESOME FOR HER!  She'll be baptized on March 24th.
     SR. came to church this week after missing last week.  I was very relieved to see him there :), but even more exciting than that his wife decided to attend this week out of the blue.  Apparently this Friday she came up to her husband and told her, this week we are going to church together as a family, and they stayed for all three hours :).  She's always been nice to us, but distant and not really interested for herself but supportive of her husband.  I think the change happened because we dropped by on Thursday and though her husband wasn't home and she was having a hard time helping her son with his math homework.  Fortunately I have been blessed with an aptitude for math, so I offered to help.  30 Minutes later we conquered that homework and we had to go.  I think just that small act of service really helped her out and inspired her to come to church :).
     S H. is at the same place as ever.  Snail-pace progress and we just have to help him resolve his concerns.
     We also found two new investigators named Nancy and Chris.  Nancy is going to be transferred over to the singles ward, but Chris is a man we met in the alleyway behind his house.  He recently lost a friend in a car wreck and has been asking Why.  We taught him lesson about the restoration and why it helps us understand these things.  Hopefully we'll be able to teach him, his wife and 5 kids :).  We have an appointment with him this Tuesday.
     That's pretty much my first week with Elder Bowles.  I hope we will continue to find lots of success in this area :)
     Thank you all for your E-mails and letters, I love you and pray for you as well.
Love,
Elder Henry

"I'm going to die in Brasil--it will be AWESOME!!!" Letter Home 3/5/2012

Dear Mom,
Elder Whetstone says that after the last dot gets filled in it usually takes 2 weeks for you to leave.  Its crazy to think I will be leaving in about 4 weeks though.  I had a run in with a Brazilian this week and I can't understand Portuguese at all >.>.  I'm going to die in Brasil with the Heat and the language and the sickness.  It's going to be awesome!
     We will see if I have room in my bag/weight available.  I might just have to do without Peanut butter, but I don't know if I could survive without PB and J!  Ana Pinheiro made me Rice and Beans Brazilian style and I can't wait to be eating that every day.  It's really yummy ^^
     Hey I'm not going to complain if Spencer wants to study economics.  Maybe we can start up our own Financial Firm or something like that.  I think it would be a lot of fun to work with Spencer on research projects and the like.  We'll see if he really likes it or not, although if you love history and math then it usually works out pretty well.  I'll make sure to keep Sherry in my prayers this week for her auditions.  I'm sure everything will be ok this weekend with Preston and Sherry.  I'm still chuckling inside that Sherry is bringing a boy home though :P, and ANOTHER pre-mi at that.  ;)
     I have been following instructions and taking pictures!  I just can't send them home on these computers yet.
     It was really hot yesterday, speaking of the weather.  It was in the high 80's low 90's.  I can't imagine spending Summer here, Winter is hot enough for me :P.
     We got transfer facts last Saturday and Elder Dixon is leaving.  I'm getting a new companion named Elder Bowles and finishing my service in the Long Beach California Mission in the Granada ward.  I'm pretty excited to be here for another transfer, although there is a lot of work ahead of me.  I know who my new companion is because he was in my zone in December, but I don't know much more than he's a decent basketball player. 
     We didn't have a whole lot of progress with our investigators this week.  Lyn was confirmed yesterday at church so that was a great experience.  After the blessing she started crying and then her fellowship Sis Braxton got up and bore her testimony of what an awesome experience it was to help Lyn into the church.
     Steve, Steve, and Nicole are our only other investigators.  Everyone else we dropped, so we are back at square one right now.
     We were able to do a service project last week with some less actives named the Savalas.  We built a little garden in their backyard and that was a lot of fun!  They didn't come to church like we had hoped though :/, we'll keep working hard to help them, but one day they have to do it themselves.
     We did a lot of finding this week and did find three pretty solid investigators, but they are Singles aged so we have to pass them on to the Sister Missionaries in the Singles Ward.  That's kind of hard, but sometimes you benefit from others giving you solid investigators, and sometimes you give them away.  It doesn't really matter who teaches them so long as they find truth and really peace and happiness in their lives. 
     This week we had a run in with quite a few hooligans.  In fact Saturday night we were biking home from an appointment and sitting at a stop light waiting for the light to change.  All of the sudden a black Toyota Tacoma drives by and flicks what looks like a cigarette at us, and it hits my shoe.  At first I was like great, and then what I thought was a cigarette explodes.  It didn't hurt us or anything, turns out it was a firecracker.  Man did that make Elder Dixon and Myself just fume with anger.  Who are they to throw fireworks at two people just trying to do good in the world.  We aren't trying to upset anyone, hurt anyone, or do anything negative to the community.  
     Then as I was biking I reflected on the Savior.  He was absolutely perfect, uplifted, encouraged, healed, and did all manner of good.  Yet he was persecuted profoundly, spit upon, whipped, and ultimately crucified for what he was trying to do for the children of men. I then reflected upon how the savior handled his persecution.  He was not angry with his aggressors, but instead turned and forgave them.
     I now understand just a fraction better what the Savior must have gone through when he performed the Atonement for each of us.  Such anger rose up in me from something as small as a firecracker, and how hard it was for me to forgive someone who would do that to me.  Yet that is what Christ did, and he invites us to follow his example.  Facing persecution is never fun, its hard and hurtful.  I'm glad I have the scriptures and the example of Christ to look towards when I am in these situations.
     I hope I haven't scared you, I'm not in any physical danger, and Whittier is a nice place to live.  Also I'll be in a car next transfer so I should be safer from Saturday night drunks pulling those kinds of things on us.  I only shared that because it drew me closer to the savior, and I'm glad I could experience just a small part of what Christ did in order to draw closer to him.
     Thank you for keeping me so well updated on the home front.  I hope all goes well this week!
I love you always and forever.
Love,
Elder Henry