First transfers...

Our week has had its fair share of ups and downs. We got dropped by a solid person we were teaching (that's mission lingo for they politely turned down our lessons after happily receiving and keeping commitments for a while) but then we had a miracle and an awesome new person set up lessons twice a week!! Then today we found out all five of us Elders are staying in the same group for the next six weeks (which is pretty uncommon). We all love each other so it'll be fun! Anyway that's my week in a nutshell. Oh one more thing-we were driving down the freeway on our way back to the apartment and we saw a missionary with his tag on driving a non- mission car with a girl in the passenger seat. Obviously we turned it into a car chase to figure out what-the-what was going on. We caught up and through the window found out he was just driving home, he got picked up from the airport and was going to be released. He had just finished his mission. It was a funny incident and it was intense while it lasted!

I'll talk to you all next week! Lots of love!!

Elder Henry

*Photos of Elder Henry in front of a beautifully painted wall, a home-grown cherry of which they were able to pick a bunch of, a park and a street sign.

Elder Henry and his siblings used to watch The Wizards of Waverly Place, so he thought it was fun to find this street sign.*

Cool story I forgot to tell last week

My zone conference was a couple weekends ago and it was on a Saturday, we had a sweet conference and a bunch of awesome lessons and learned a bunch! One thing that was really cool was after we had left we actually were driving to grab some good Ole Books of Mormon. We were on our way to the mission office and saw a car stopped at a light, but everyone was going around it so we naturally pulled over, in the rain, in our suits and pushed him off the side of the road. A young man by the name of Isaac was behind the wheel in tears because his car just stopped running at the intersection.

We were going to wait until Isaac's family came to get him but then his car started working. So we followed him home to make sure it didn't break down again. He got home just fine and the other Elders we live with were able to teach him a quick lesson and share some of our core doctrine. He had some very good questions that he wasn't able to get answered at his current church and the Elders were able to answer those and get his number. It was awesome and just goes to show that so long as you put in effort to find people the Lord will prepare them and put them in your path! Keep up those prayers and the Lord will answer them!!! Love you lots! Talk to you next week!!!

Love Elder Henry!!! 

*Elder Henry and the other Elders do service work for a man named Randy every week. He is retired from the Air Force and has some boxes of decommissioned uniforms that he let the Elders go through. That, coupled with Elder Henry's self-administered haircut, has him looking like he's in boot camp! haha

grey week this week

It has rained and been cold every single day this past week. Despite it being
June it isn't getting very warm which I'm okay with being from Arizona. 
(most recently) Elder Eich and I tried to do a diet this last week and it 
would've gone better- the only problem is that members are too nice! 
So we are giving up said diet due to the fact that these amazing people are 
giving us too much food! 
My experiences with people trying to convince me out of my belief system 
have died down this week, but my faith does continue to grow regardless, 
we even had more conversations with a couple people who think outside the 
box but it was civil. Any who I'll talk to you all next week, love you lots!

         Elder Henry

*attached are some photos of Spokane wildlife (rockchucks are everywhere!), 
rainbows and zone conference

Undeniable signs from our Heavenly Father are everywhere you turn regardless of where you look. The only problem I've found is that I don't look hard enough. Our area presidency reached out to us recently and invited us to find an attribute of Christ that we may be lacking (personally) more than others. I didn't think of one off the top of my head. Using the tools at my disposal I did an activity in Preach My Gospel and found my lowest average trait was faith. Looks like I'm going to be improving my faith until further notice. Not sure that's too much of a problem seeing as I am away from everything I know and love to serve a mission (seems pretty faithful). But boy was I wrong. As I read and study and pray more and more about faith I learn more as well. I have found that Heavenly Father puts things into place. For example, "anti" is a big part of the culture in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. This means a lot of people are ready and able to bash you with every detail of your religion that they think is wrong. Too bad I don't tend to back down when it comes to verbal and logical conversations. Just this week, I ran into 4 separate occasions where someone has tried to shoot down my beliefs through their personal experiences and doubts that the adversary planted in their heads. It has been an eye opening week as far as that goes. After each experience, I walked away feeling more certain and happy to live and share the true gospel. I testify that our Heavenly Father loves us no matter what, and so long as we believe in him, he will answer our prayers and aid in all things. 

You may not see it happening, but somewhere, somehow he is preparing ways for you and helping you grow. 

That's all from Elder Henry this week. Stay tuned for more and also some less exciting weeklies. 

Love you lots!! 

      Elder Henry

Attached are a few pics from the last week, including the adventures of Woody. (Elder Henry and his roommates have been moving a Woody figure around the apartment like Elf on the Shelf)

Our week has been very interesting to say the least. We have been downtown and gave blessings to homeless people who requested them. (Although we are not allowed to go downtown again until further notice because of the protests) We have been to a park where we were asked to teach a whole family that were over burdened with bad influences. We even tore out some old flooring in a summer camp building. But one of the highlights was definitely Sunday's lunch. We made some mac and cheese with sour cream instead of milk and caught the stove on fire. The last time something was made, a little piece of food fell down underneath the burner and caught fire while the water was boiling. (everything is ok!) 

Elder Eich and I have been calling people like crazy. Every once in a while we either catch a break or fight our way into a lesson and give a date for a follow up appointment. The work out here is great and the members are awesome! The field is white and ready to harvest and we, as missionaries, are enjoying the work and co

ntinuing to do so no matter what we face. Love you all, until next week!! 

You may have been wondering what happened to me if you follow my weeklies. Well I had to take a break in order to further my understanding and testimony of the atonement. Which happened to be through personal experience. Now that I am back out I have a handful of new experiences to share and a lot of love to show. I flew back to Washington on Tuesday of last week, instead of straight there from Arizona I had a 3 hour layover in Salt Lake where I caught up on some sleep and picked up elder Crowl. I've been assigned to Spokane west ward which has been great so far. The members here are amazing and super involved as well as bring us food every now and then which is appreciated. Luckily there is adequate workout equipment here, very helpful in the fight against gaining weight! My new second trainer is Elder Eich who couldn't be funnier- we have lost our breath laughing more times than I care to count and it hasn't even been a week yet. I found out that a 10 year old boy named Heath, who I found when I was in Lewiston, was baptized and confirmed a member of the church 6 months ago and is still very active and happy as a member!! Knowing this is a feeling that I cannot describe in words and as far as I know hasn't been comparable to any feeling as of yet. I look forward to keeping everyone up to date on the new goings on! Lots of love, 

    Elder Henry

*attached are some photos of Elder Henry and his companion, Elder Eich and a little bit of Spokane*

Week 6 Aug. 26th, 2019

Everyday has been an adventure in my mission, each with different levels of intensity, but all still fun and exciting. There have been little things, such as meeting a drunk guy in a park who is named "Bob, spelled B-O-B but without the Z." Then we had an intense experience when were teaching a lady who got a full body of goosebumps when we read the first sentence of Nephi chapter 8. She kept interrupting our reading to tell us that she had goosebumps-which allowed us to teach about the Holy Ghost and how you can have it at all times when you're baptized. 
I played some basketball with a college student who has Down Syndrome, we found a giant teddy bear and named it Pablo, and we even got to go to a downtown car show. It was super fun, not only to see all of those cars, but to meet a bunch of people. I have learned so much at each stage of my mission (granted I've only been out a couple weeks) There is always more to learn- not only as a missionary-but as a member of the church. There is more to the gospel than meets the eye. The lessons you learn stay with you and give you new perspectives that you wouldn't otherwise think about.
I find it easier and easier to love those we teach as I go, I get more attached to investigators and also to the members of the church in our ward. There is one family in particular, the Biglers, who have 7 children and have had us over for dinner the past two Sundays. They have a 16 year old son who goes out and teaches with us all the time. It's super awesome that he is preparing so early for missionary work, but also that he has a desire to do so. As a 16 year old, I wasn't really even thinking about being a missionary, but I wish I had been. I have been struggling with feeling underprepared the last couple days but I think I am finally getting over it. I love everyone and am grateful for all of the continued support.

                                                 Lots of Love,

                                                        Elder Henry

Week 5 Aug 19

Very exciting weekend! My week was pretty average, we did find another 17 people on top of our 20 and 19 from the previous weeks. I went on a lot of exchanges this week and had a lot of fun going to different areas and experiencing different companions. Some highlights of the week were the disco light room in a member's house that I stayed at one night for exchanges. Another highlight was getting some free merchandise from the local college for doing service for them. They gave me and my companion apparel which was super awesome! One final highlight was that I met and heard from one of the twelve apostles! Elder Gary E. Stevenson came to my mission and shared some of his knowledge and insight as an apostle which was just super spiritual!!!! It was so cool to meet him and be able to have the spirit so present in the chapel of the stake center in Coeur d' Alene. He talked about things that we as young missionaries might not have experienced, and helped to give better understanding as to how to aid those around us. He was very casual which made him very personable and he was just a super cool guy as well. Hope all is well for everyone reading these! Love you all and I'll send something out next week!

                                       Lots of love,

                                                   Elder Henry

week 4 (Monday Aug. 12)

Our week has been crazy, we found another 19 people that are new. We also had a barbeque with K and J, they both play baseball for the local college. We are teaching them the discussions, and going to have them come to church next week- which we are super excited about. I learn more and more everyday about so many things, especially life. There are so many sad things that I've seen, like 14 year olds with tobacco addictions and suicidal thoughts and actions. But I did a lot of fun things this week like medieval combat training. We almost witnessed a fight, witnessed a drug deal and a person snorting cocaine. We talked with people who believe that dinosaurs still exist and had an encounter with bigfoot- just some crazy crazy stuff. But I live and love every moment of my mission. I also had a role play session with my companion as he slept and an in-depth conversation about learning techniques, none of which he remembers because he was sleep talking- it was pretty sweet. We, as a companionship also are going through and inviting more and more people to church and hopefully going through to find all kinds of cool miracles. Love everyone and I'll see you next week! 

Week One in the Mission field

Greetings from the field!
Lately, it has been weird with all of the awkward p-days. I should have had four but only had three. I really was at the MTC for three weeks but I've also been in the field for only three days so it's just a weird schedule. But holy cow! The trip from the MTC was awesome and it was great to get out of the confinement of the "prison"and get some real food that doesn't destroy your stomach. The flight was awesome, I got upgraded to comfort plus on the flight and we landed smoothly and had a good day. I stayed at a members' house that night after having an amazing home-cooked meal and knocked on some doors that were miracles. We visited one lady who had been thinking earlier that day how she needed to get in contact with her missionaries again even though we weren't assigned to that area. My first companion (and trainer), Elder Samuel Caudillo, and I met and set up return appointments with 20 new people in the last 3 days! (Elder Caudillo is the #3 ranked boxer in the nation at the 123 weight class, it's great to have someone to exercise with.) We fire each other up and we go crazy! We have met all kinds of people and made a whole bunch of memories in three days- Like the millionaire who's having us over for enchiladas in his giant Japanese inspired house. We met a couple islanders from Hawaii and Saipan. We are going to play baseball with them at their college, bless their season and meet the whole team next week. We also get each other fired up to run everywhere and make sure we are efficient in everything we do. I have seen so many miracles and blessings and it has been amazing! I wish I could tell all my stories and explain everything but there is far too much in just three days. It has been a true blessing. Until next week!

                                    Lots of love!

                                              Elder Henry.

Week 2 at the MTC (July 25th, 2019)

 hey there everyone!

     So this experience has been crazy! (Not only with how different the life style is from what I'm used to) The people here and relationships that you make are solely with people who are between the ages of 18 and 25 so I've met like 200 people that are all just similar ages and it's super cool. The food here is good sometimes but you can't expect crazy quality from people who have to feed 2000 people a day. I have 14 best friends that I've made and I see them 12 hours a day and we hangout and have classes together and eat and study as an entire group which is super fun. They are going all over the states and some even to Australia! (Which is where I wanted to go) there is such a vast set of skills and talents as well as languages that spread around here and it's an environment that would be impossible to replicate, the spirit is always present and you can feel it. There are so many people that have different gifts, but some struggle in the same aspects. For me to be able to help those around me that are struggling with things I've been blessed with gives me more confidence and satisfaction to know that I can be of aid to those around me. I love to serve and I can't wait to be leaving into the actual field in a couple days now. 

                                             With lots of love, Elder Henry

Week 1

Kon'nichiwa keiteishimai,

     I am in a Japanese branch here at the MTC, and that means "hello brothers and sisters", so even though I am english speaking I've been learning a handful of Japanese which is fun. We got here last Wednesday and it has been a roller coaster of a week. First of all I was the first person in my district to arrive although most of them live in Utah. I flew in from Arizona and got to the classroom at around 10:30 am and the second person to walk through the door was someone else who flew in on the same flight from Arizona and we were able to bond over that pretty quickly. A district is comprised of multiple companionships which are a set of Elders or Sisters going to the same mission. Our district is one of the biggest at the MTC currently with 15 members, seven companionships of two and one companionship of three which happens to be mine. My initial companion is Elder McGregor who is a complete stud basketball player from Saratoga Springs Utah. Me and Elder McGregor became really close friends really fast, which I suppose happens when you have to stay within eye and earshot of someone 24/7. We are by far the closest companionship in the district though and our district is by far the closest at the MTC, we do everything as a little family. It is an interesting concept because I haven't experienced very much home sickness despite not seeing or talking to any of my family or friends in eight days. The MTC is pretty awesome though, it was tough the first couple days but then as I started to get closer to the people I was with all day everyday it bagan to get easier. I am learning a lot here not only about the doctrine and teachings of the Bible and Book of Mormon but about people skills and how teach more effectively. I can already start to feel my testimony grow and I get more and more excited to be leaving for Spokane every day. I miss everyone a ton and it sucks having to drop everything but two years is going to fly by and then I'll be missing my mission and coming home to lots of love.

                                                                                                       Raishu made! (until next week)

                                                                                                         with love, Elder Henry!

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