Well I’m not sure where to start with this email! it sounds like a lot has been going on in Ohio!
I’m doing great this fine week, my stomach is amazing, better than ever. actually it’s so good I’m adjusted to the food here and American food kills me! I had pizza hut the other day and i had a real sour stomach. haha ya gross but I don’t wanna see what happens when I come home! that won’t be a good thing.

We had a baptism this last week. it was another great one, i did it too! If you look in the picture that im sending you’ll see how innocent this man is. he is almost as innocent as a new born baby, he is such an amazingly loving person! we should be having more baptisms this month, hopefully a lot!

They don’t celebrate Halloween here, it’s funny bc Walmart is an American store and they have Halloween things in there and I don’t know why bc they don’t celebrate it here. I thought that was kind of funny and makes no sense at all.

another sad thing is that i had to buy locks the other day for my luggage. we do intercambios which is when i go to another area or my comp does and another missionary comes here. it turns out when I got back some of my things were gone so I had to go buy locks to lock up my valuables. it’s sad this happens when were all missionaries too and all on the same team..at least i thought!

You’re lucky you get a weather change, ours went from hot to hotter with no rain. i could go for some cold and snow right now! oh as for jims letter, I send it in the same envelope as moms letter. could you check the address on that before you send it, I didn’t really understand the address.

Wow I miss seafood so much! We’re not allowed to have fish here so i could go for the all you can eat shrimp. i remember one time we went there and the lady said she had never had to bring out so much shrimp as she did for us, i say we go again as a family sometime and pound it like no other! I miss silly family times like those!

I can’t think of anything else that happened this week so ill attach some pictures! I love you all, i miss you all, thank you for the prayers and support. have a safe, fun week.

The photos are:
Picture 1- My comp and I and Jose, he is going on his mission to Guate
Picture 2- Baptism of Alfredo, I could go for some chicken alfredo right now!
Picture 3- A really good family here!


love always,
Elder Cole J. Herman

What’s happenin this week? Things are a lot better for me and it’s actually a funny story!

The rain finally stopped last week after 7 days straight. I’m not sure if i told you this last week but a guy in our area, Paleca, died because a tree fell on him. I’m not sure how he couldn’t move fast enough or what the situation was but it’s sad. there were a lot of flooded houses, landslides and we weren’t allowed to leave the house for two days because it was dangerous.
As for our missionary work. Its going really well. We have one person with a baptismal date for this coming weekend and then we have 10 possibles for this next month. we are working hard and doing everything that we can to actually get them to baptism. I’m really realizing what bishops and stake presidents have to deal with there in the US and what they have to deal with here. Things are way different. How often have you had to deal with someone who has killed someone? That’s like almost everyone here. we have an investigator that wants to be baptized but has killed someone and its causing a big problem but were trying to work through it.

For my stomach. this is the funny thing. so I talked with president the other day and he gave me a suggestion of medicine that costs $2! I went to the store and bought 3, 2 liter bottles of coca cola. I had to drink one a day, well one for breakfast with no food for three days. I did that, had to pee a lot, and it wiped me clean. I feel amazing right now, like I could conquer the world! I wish they would have told me this earlier. this medicine only works with people who don’t drink it a lot and aren’t immune to the nasty stuff that’s in it. it really does burn when you drink it, or chug it trying not to taste it. Well even with the bad taste I drank it and am better now. Our prayers were answered.

It sounds like you guys are having fun in Ohio! how cold is it? it’s not that hot here but it is pretty warm. this is windy month then next month is a little windy with more heat and then the next month is just heat, good ole blazin heat! I’m not too excited for that but ill deal with that when I get there.

my comp only speaks Spanish! this is tough but it makes me patient and really think about what I want to say before I say it. so when I get home I’ll only have things to say that are worth saying ;) No but this is good for me, I feel like I’m learning faster by only speaking Spanish. it’s a great thing for me.

it’s crazy I have been on my mission for about 4 months now and only have 20 left. time is flying by and I am realizing that now. it seems like just yesterday I was being dropped off in the MTC! I’m trying to find out where I’m at right now. it’s crazy to me that i am actually living in another county right now! these past two months alone here in El Salvador have gone by fast. It also feels like yesterday that I got here. does it seem like it’s going by fast for you guys at home?
well that’s pretty much it for this week! I love you all and miss you lots. thank you for your support, prayers and love! Be safe and know that Jesucristo te ama! :)

Love,
Elder Cole Jensen Herman

Photos:
1. Elder Herman and his new companion
2. Elder Herman drinking his “medicine” (I wonder about the placebo effect…)
3. Elder Herman looking chill & suave (his words)
4. With the sister Missionaries..one is from guate the other is from utah..the one from guate is legit..

Hello to all! How are you all doing? I have had a very rough but good week! First off I want to say go Horns and hahahaha BYU, I always knew that Texas was way better and always will be, once a Horn always a Horn! I'm sorry to hear about Sister Burnett, but they fact that we have the plan of salvation in our lives is amazing. I love teaching about that in lessons because we always have the spirit with us when we teach that. It’s amazing to know that n we can be with family forever, we have all the tools and knowledge that we need to for this and if anyone doesn’t know about this or would like to hear from the missionaries talk to bishop Joseph N. Herman of the Hiram ward or go to www.mormon.org :) wow I am such a missionary. I’m in an area in San Salvador in Soyapongo and my area is called Paleca. There are quite a few other missionaries here! The boundaries for my mission are huge! Some of my friends are 4 hours away.

So ill start off with the good because it seems there is a lot of bad. So we have one baptism for this week and her name is Keiry Marthinez and her first name sounds like Katie...ha I thought that was interesting. But she wants me to do it! I am so excited for my first baptism but not for the fact that I have to memorize the prayer in Spanish and her name. Spanish people have a thing for long names so she has like 5 or 6 names that I’ll have to memorize. Another good thing is another Hermana we taught came to church on Sunday with her grandson and he loved it!

Well here’s the bad. I have had diarrhea for the past week and have been very sick! I have been having the worst stomach pains I have ever had, I thought it was food poisoning but it wasn’t it is way worse than that. I don’t have a worm but I have a parasite. So I am taking pills and have been very uncomfortable for the past week relying on those to help. The other bad thing is that I got bit pretty badly by a dog here. it didn’t do too much but were watching it because the dogs here are nasty and well think about a third world country with thousands of dogs running around that eat out of the sewers and no one takes care of them.

Some interesting things I have seen here...well there are a lot. Not many people have cars here so they take the bus. The people here try to pimp their buses out and they don’t do a very good job but they do have some subs in them and it’s really funny to be walking on the road and hear this huge bus bumpin! It’s really funny for me to hear that because I like subs also. Another is that the women here hawk some of the biggest loogies I have ever seen. We will be teaching a lesson and they will just spit it out on their floor. Oh how America is so different haha I also have see cockroaches the size my palm. There are a lot of churches here and we I saw a church called nuestra iglesia es verdadero which means our church is true.

I would agree with you and say we are spoiled with a cook and someone to do our laundry but the main reason we do that is for them. They make money off of it and they sure do need that here. A couple extra bucks a month goes a long ways here, things are really cheap here. So this is more for them than us.

I'm glad we got my shoes and socks at missionary mall. I feel I’ll wear through them pretty fast and need to get them replaced, good thing they have a two year warranty. The terrain here is pretty rough. The roads aren’t very good and if you’re not on a road you’re in rocks or poop from dogs!

Also will you tell people I can receive dear elders here so if they want to write me through there they can also! I haven’t gotten any letters from anyone yet but I’m hoping to get them tomorrow or Thursday.

I don’t feel that effective always here. This is my first area and imp not sure what to be doing but I know I could be working harder. My comp isn’t as great as I thought he would be. I'm having a tough time with this because I know I could be doing a lot more in a day but he isn’t as affective as he could be. I need to say something but don’t want to because I have to be with him for 10 more weeks but I’m on the Lord’s time not his or mine so I need to! Wish me luck. Not much else has gone on here, like I said it’s pretty slow here. Oh as of today I got my Visa and am no longer illegal..Yay for being legal ha Thanks for all of your support. I love and miss you all!!

Love,
Elder Herman

Well hello to all!

Aww that baby is so cute (his niece), one of the cutest ive seen in forever! I cant wait to see her when she is two and a half, bummer, at least ill have another baby to see thats in the family. You’re lucky the weather is so nice there. rainy season only has a little bit of time left then its going to be hot hot hot. we are the hottest area in the soyapongo zone but in the orient its always in the hundreds, i dont want to go there! i already miss snow even though you dont have any yet, want to send some to me?
I’m sorry to hear about john but that means that God has something big for him waiting at home or someone that is prepairing for him. its crazy how god puts people in specific places at specific times for us to teach. ive had many experiences with that, i have already learned so many things on my mission and i only have 3 months! well a little over three months.

so for my stomach. i wasnt going to tell all the truth but just a little because i dont want you to worry but my stomach is really bad. it was better at the beginnning of the week, i felt the best i have felt here but now it hurts worse than it had and i have a fever now and im not sure how much ill be working the next couple of days, but dont worry about me. i have an amazing comp looking after me and especially i have God so no need to worry, prayers are always good as i know your doing so thank you!

we didnt have time to go to walmart so im not sure about the contact solution. when we go I’ll let you know but this walmart doesnt have a pharmacy, things are very different here. for instance you dont have to have a perscription from the dr, you just go in and say what you want, pay and walk out.

other than the stomach problems this week was a good week. We’ve been working really hard with less actives and we had 6 less actives come to church this week, thats a lot for here. we had a baptism this last week, should have one this week and possibly two more this month...if they decide its a good idea to come to church like they said they would. saying things is easy but putting them to action is hard for a lot of people, even me sometimes.

wow dad you are doing a lot, like i know you always do. are you ready to be released from being the bishop soon? ha just kidding i think you might be in there for a while yet. i am so greatful for your example for me throughout my life and and also very greatful for the example of my brothers in going on missions and staying strong in the church. many people here serve missions and forget about church when they get back, its really sad.

thats awesome about jimmy, im not sure ill have time to write an email so will you get his address for me so i can send him a letter? and I’ll send amber’s tomorrow, we didnt have time today. thank you so much for keeping up with that stuff for me.

nothing really great happened this week except something really funny. yesterday we saw a drunk guy walking, there are many many drunks here but he was walking and walked into a parked car and fell over in the middle of the road. yes people park in the middle of the road here. but he was laying there for about 20 minutes until three guy picked him up and moved him to a sidewalk. after about 10 minutes of laying on the sidewlk he got up and started dancing in the middle of the street for like 15 minutes and cars were dodging him. it was was like a movie because i had a full plate of food and my soda and was watching him it was halarious.

i still havent gotten a letter from mom but this wednesday is changes so they bring all the mail for us and hopefully i get them there. its sad to not have any letters from her but i know its not her fault! i love this country but boy i sure would change a lot of things about it.

thats pretty much it for me, I’ll attach some photos of our messy house, my stuff is kind of clean, not as clean as it usually is. its been a long day for me so I’ll send them! i hope all is well with everyone and thank you for the support, thoughts and prayers.

love always,
elder herman

well it turns out this place the usb reciever doesnt work so ill send some pictures next week, im sorry!!

as for my health, I’m not sure what to say about that. I have been taking the pills and I’m not sure if they have been helping or not. some days I feel great, like I was never sick. other days my stomach hurts really bad but I’m constipated. other days my stomach is killing me and I am constantly in the bathroom. I might be going back to the doctor this week so ill keep you updated more. I know I’m in your prayers but please pray for my health!
things here other than my health are good! we have a baptismal date for a man names Oscar this week, the 8th. I hope he keeps going the way he is going and we can actually get him baptized and confirmed. I hate seeing people that are progressing very rapidly then they just stop, it breaks my heart. I wish I could knock some sense into them and tell them what they are missing!
holy cow conference was amazing this time, as it is every time but man I really got a lot out of it. this was my first time actually paying 100% attention to it and taking notes and it was worth it. I got to watch it in English in the clerk’s office, with air condition. and believe me when I say I might have broken that ac bc I had it all the way up! haha it was really cold in there for the other Americans but it’s ok it was the chapel in my ward!! I loved elder Holland’s talk, that was another powerful one by him. he gets so worked up when he needs to be blunt about something and I love that about him. he always makes many great points.
the spirit is amazing in its promptings. we have made it more of a goal of ours to listen to the spirit more often bc we can learn a lot from it and also so can the people we are teaching.
nothing really big happened this week, which kind of stinks but were working hard! one cool thing was that the beecha, its girl in Spanish, that I baptized brought a friend to her baptism and that was her first time in the church and after she told us she wanted to be baptized...we were like ok we need to teach you first and she said ok with a smile on her face but we haven’t talked to her again bc she has been sick so I’m hoping soon we can.
a couple areas in our zone are being shut down because they are getting too dangerous. people keep getting mugged, sorry missionaries keep getting mugged among other things that I won’t mention. it’s sad how people are so desperate they will stick a guns to someone’s head for $5.
one thing that I know has already changed about me is my thirst to learn. I’ve never read so much in my life and enjoyed it. right now I’m reading the search for happiness, the book of Mormon and true to the faith. I’m almost done with all of them but true to the faith, that’s a very long book. I never thought I would say this but I really miss school and the learning aspect of it. I have a lot of learning to do in the gospel principles but I miss the other kind of learning. I love to read, those are 4 words that I never thought I would say haha
Spanish is coming along. people still tell me I’m doing really well but I don’t feel like it. I don’t think I’ll ever feel adequate enough with my Spanish but I can get my point across slowly now, which is how were supposed to teach it to people.
that’s about it for me this week. oh a funny thing...the people here that don’t know like any English know a couple words and say things like “ohh freak”. they love the word freak here for some reason, I know my mom would love to hear that all day!
I hope all is well with everyone and I can’t wait to hear how things are next week. ill attach some pictures too!
love,
Elder Herman