Things are hot here in the South, way hot especially since I got transferred to another area. I am now in a place in the Orient or in other words way out in the middle of nowhere! It’s in the zone San Vicente it’s called Ilobasco. Its way hotter here than my last area, it’s like 2.5 hours from the capital sadly. I am now washing my own garments, by hand! Never in my life did I think I would be washing my clothes by hand, how convenient are washing machines? It really makes you grateful for them. It took me an hour and a half today to wash them and my arms are killing me, it’s a good workout. I have a new companion as well and he is from Guatemala. He is really odd and overly obedient, it’s hard to say there is such a thing but there is. He follows every rule and the rules that aren’t even there! So pray for me please. J Other than that not much is going on so I hope you have a good safe week. Know I love you and pray for you every prayer, that’s a lot in a day!

Love always,
Cole

Hey there mom and dad,

I like the best regards at the end of the email! Well I have to say that this past week was not what I wanted or expected. It was a very very hard week on me knowing that my dad was deathly ill and I couldn’t be there to help out or even see him one more time if he happened to pass away. I know that through Jesus Christ we can be happy and know that families are eternal, which is some pretty great knowledge if you ask me. I teach that lesson, The Plan of Salvation, almost every day and I didn’t think that I would have to be learning about it for myself while I was on my mission. It’s not something that I will ever want to have to use but then again it kind of is. I know that we all have missions to do after this life and if we live our lives in accordance to his teachings, then we can be with our families forever. After fasting for two days and praying lots I finally got the comfort that I needed when I got to talk to Mom, President Haymond, and my mission president, President Glazier. They helped me realize that I need to be here and that we do have a Ward Family back at home that does love my family, I am very grateful for this. My parents are the people that would do anything for anyone and I know that a lot of the families in the Hiram Ward will also so I thank them for their support for my Mom, Dad, Family and as well me. I appreciate all of the emails of support from ward members, there are a lot so I won’t be able to reply to them all in one week but ill will gradually.
I just want to say how lucky we are to have a Stake President like President Haymond. He really is a very spiritual man and without him and his help to me, I don’t know if I would be on a mission. He really is called of God and will help anyone who is in need; I have experienced this over the years of knowing him and this past week as well. He made me realize once again that i have two names on my name plaque, the Lord´s and my last name. I am here serving both of them and I need to make them both proud. As hard as it is me being here and not in Ohio where I want to be, I need to be here. I have that faith, or hope, that I need to have to know that things will turn out ok.

in a special blessing that I had before I came on my mission i was told that every life experience i have will help mold me to become a great man one day and I have to say that my life has not been a walk in the park. I like to think of it like a walk in the highway at night. I have to walk in such a way that I don’t get hit by cars and I have to pay attention to the headlights of the cars coming at me so I can see. Life often times is dark and we can’t see the things we need to but we always need to look for the light, it might be small and hard to see but it will always be there. Christ will always be with us if we allow him to be.

Mom if you can email my mission president or call him to tell him what is going on so that I can know what is going on will be great…its needed here. It stinks being in another country not knowing what is going on with my Dad. So, anyway you can get a hold of him would be great.

Thank you all for your support, it is much needed and I can feel your love all the way in El Salvador. I hope everyone has a good week and I know Dad will get through this.
I love you lots Dad! Remember i still want you to be here when i come back.

Love,
Elder Herman

Greetings and Salutations from El Salvador,
How are things going for everyone? It seems like this past couple of weeks have been busy for everyone. These past couples of weeks were kind of boring for us actually. A lot of the members and our investigators were all drunk or left town because of the holidays so we didn’t have much to do but we got through it and are back on our feet. It’s interesting to see how different countries celebrate their holidays, I sure learned a lot about how they do it here, it’s not my preference but whatever pleases them!
That’s cool to hear about the new investigator. A cool story I heard a while ago was about a woman who didn’t understand any English, she couldn’t read and she lived in the States. So as you could tell it would be hard for this lady to learn. It wasn’t going well for the missionaries because they couldn’t talk but once they gave her the BOM she knew it was the true church. That book has so much power we don’t have to read it, well we need to if we can but the Spirit that it invites can tell someone who can’t read or speak English that this really is the true church of God. I love that book!
Things with my comp are great, I love him so much! He is hilarious and is teaching me a lot. There are never dull moments between us so it makes things interesting. As for cambios (transfers) we have them this week and I found out last night I’ll be in the same area another change. So this means that I’ll be in my first area for at least 6.5 months…at least until the next change in 6 weeks. I feel like I have some things to do here so I’m working hard to take care of them…baptisms I mean.
New years I spent the night in my house with my companion talking about things and not being able to fall asleep until like 1 because the beechos outside our door were throwing off fireworks that sounded like bombs all night. Oh oops beechos are kids ha, a Spanish lesson.
What are your goals for this New Year? Our lesson on Sunday was about goals and I have a couple. Mine are just to read the Book of Mormon once every 6 months and to perfect Spanish…as well as some other small goals. I have a lot to work on and a lot that I want to change before I get back.
I am very grateful for this past year and the so many things that I learned and got to do. I am grateful for being here and can’t wait to get back…in 17 months! I hope everyone has a good week.
Love always,
Elder Herman

Dad will you tell everyone who helped contribute to this thank you very much from me and Barrio Paleca or The Paleca Ward. We were able to buy toys for the nursery as well as purchase some gifts for children who would have gotten little to nothing for Christmas. This brought tears to some of the parents’ eyes, it was a really touching moment. We have so much in the United States and it always feels so great to give. The money bought nursery toys and a small gift for 35 kids. Think of how many happy kids that is with a modest amount of! Thank you so much everyone for your donation, it really has meant a lot to me. The ward will be writing a big thank you card as well as some of the little kids! Love, Elder Herman

This week was a good week. We got a lot accomplished and had a baptism and confirmation. this little girl, Diana, was so cute, she is ten years old and during the baptismal interview she was asked about smoking and drinking and she didn’t know what they were, ha i wish we all didn’t know what it was but it was a good experience. i love my new companion, we speak a lot of English and its working for me because he is correcting me on every little mistake that i make with my Spanish.

this week was a good week for me! I have a new companion now, we had Emergency transfers because some other misisonaries were doing some bad things. some were getting into fights, an elder from here left the day of his birthday to be with his family and then came back the next day and people being places where they shouldnt be and getting robbed, this has been a crazy day. president called our house last night at like 11:30 to tell my comp that he was being transferred to help other missionaries out so i now have a gringo companion. he is from California and he is sweet, i dont have pictures yet bc i just met him today but i will next week. he is really cool and he has been here a while so ill learn a lot from him.
just a ps dad i saw on the side of a car it said ..rico suave...i thought of you and laughed out loud. i miss those good memories that we have together and cant wait to make more of them after my misson.

not really much happened this week but we have a baptism planned with a little 11 year old girl and a couple more planned in the future.

for questions yes i got the package and all of it was intact. i love the package. I couldnt have asked for more and i gave the president the gift today and ill know what he says about it later this month. i have already eaten a lot of the fruit snacks and will miss them when they are gone. thank you for the contact solution, its nice not having to wear my glasses all the time! I will start looking for a nativity set but im not sure where ill find one, people here dont really decorate for Christmas here and if they do its the dinky stuff from walmart, the plastic ones but ill keep my eyes open.

I havent dont anything with the home teaching yet because we havent had time and now we had changes and things have been crazy. my ear is better, the dr said it was really red and there is secreation in it but she gave me drops to make the pain go away and now i have other drops to clean it so im doing better, i go back to her office this saturday to see if its all better. God is really testing me physically here in my mission, these problems i cant even help but im staying stong so no need to worry about me.

not much else happened this week but ill add some pictures, i hope everyone has a good week and be safe. i love you all so much!

with love,
Elder Herman

Hey there all! this was a good week for me! we had a baptism and it was a special one for me. we had been working with this man, José for a while and trying to get him to stop smoking and he was having a lot of problems with it. but after he signed his contract we made he didnt have one problem with it. it was really cool bc his son got to perform the baptism before he leaves on his misison. God does things for a purpose and i can for sure see a purpose in his baptism being right now.

thats good you had a good Thanksgiving. mine was ok i guess, we had a burrito haha this man lived in the US for 20 years so he knows how to cook some good food. we are going to baptize him in a couple of weeks and he is the closest person here to me, we speak a lot of english together maybe thats why ha but he also makes me the best pancakes and omlets and cooks like an american. man i miss our food but its ok, im adjusted to my rice, eggs, chicken and beans. maybe ill be like tace when i get home and only eat rice..well ill want beans also. the beans here are to die for, they are so much better than what we have in the United States. what did you guys buy on black Friday?

im glad to hear about the people the Hiram Sisters are teaching. all the person needs to have is a a thirst to learn. there is a scripture in alma 32 i think, im not sure but it says just give way for a little portion of his word in your hear and let it sprout like a seed. if its a good plant keep it and if its a bad plant cast it out. so, teaching about Jesus Christ is good so he will keep it! maybe if they arent baptized when i get home ill talk to them a little bit.

a cool thing is this last sunday i was in coorelation meeting with our bishop and he asked what more he could do for the ward, and i brought up home teaching. he then went on to say that they didnt really have a home teaching program here so do you know whose going to organize one? yep me, im going to do it with him this week i believe. i knew there was a reason you wanted me to wake up early and go to those 7 or 8 oclock leadership meetings with you on sunday dad, so i would be ready for stuff like this! im excited for this opportunity to help out our ward. Getting to see how a ward council operates while preparing for my mission was really helpful!

thats about it for me this week. i dont have my camera with me right now so ill send pictures next week! i cant wait to open the package when i get home. have a safe, fun week.


Love,
Elder Herman

this last week wasnt too eventful! we have a baptisimal date for this weekend and he has a huge problem with smoking so i made him sign a contract and itll be sweet if he keeps with it. ill try to attach a picture of it. its amazing how attached to people we get here. its like we’re really a part of their lives, i am helping them recieve the restored gospel of jesus christ and helping them come unto repentenance, endure to the end and much more. im not sure what else i can say more about that!

today for p-day we went to a stake center and balled, it was awesome i tore it up! we played inside and it was a ncie court. i thought i was getting really bad at basketball but i was making it rain from beyond the three point arch, kinda like MJ!

You’re lucky you get to spend the holidays with family! we have changes every six weeks and its already been six weeks since our last change but i found out ill be in this area another change so that will be 18 weeks in the same area! also, that means ill prolly have christmas dinner and thanksgiving dinner because im close with a lot of the members, the people here usually love the tall, white boys.

sadly, that’s about it for me this week, ill make this next week a better one for a better email! i hope everyone is doing well, i love you all have a safe and fun week.

love always,
Elder Herman


one of the pictures is with one of my really good friends from the MTC, he is a baller also
the other is the contract that he had to sign!

Hey there all! how are you doing? This was a good week for me!

Well ill first start off by saying that we got to go the temple today and boy i sure know that place is heaven on earth. I really felt like i was in heaven and im looking forwad to going back in 6 months. We had a baptism this last week and that was good, we had been working with him for 2 months and he finally accepted and took action. We completed a family, will be completing another family this week and the following as well. I love this because this is really hard to do here, and im sure anywhere. There are a lot of misisonaries that have been out 19 months and haven’t completed one family. I’m so blessed to have the opportunity to help one complete family come unto the Lord and hope that I will have more. the lord is really blessing me and i can feel his hand in everything that i do.

Dad, I’m glad you’re having fun doing leaves, ha, ha. i enjoyed them..well i enjoyed sitting on the mower and listening to music. i wish i could do that right now but people here dont have much grass and when they do they cut it worst than the amish, they use machetes. you would think they would be more technologically advanced but they arent in some ways. haha thats funny to me..the amish who dont use power are ahead of some of the people here. I sure do love these people and i never thought i would but i sure do.

its not a man satchell, its a nice bag! if you were here in this heat walking as much as i do you would understand we would do anything not to get sweaty and have a lot of back sweat from a backpack.

Thank you for passing the letters on, its way cheaper for me to send them like that. tell syd to write me, i havent gotten anything from her since the last time i wrote her.

it sounds like you’re going to be having a nice thanksgiving. ill be here in the heat working and who knows if ill even have a good dinner, i might be having a pb&j. ive been eating those for two meals a day, we dont have a cocinera anymore. i didnt like the same food everyday and my comp and i were sick from her food.

i think thats about it for me but i have a lot of pics that can tell what else i did this week. have a good week, be safe all. i love and miss you. :)

Love,
Elder Herman
1. my comp and i with our mission president and his wife in front of the temple
2. a wedding here, this is usually how they do them here
3. the cake for the wedding, people usually dont even have this
4. Painting our back wall, this took hours
5. all the bags from the trash
6. our zone
7. our baptism of oscar!
8. one side of the wall that we painted
9. the other wall
10. the other wall
11. at the temple, holieness to the lord, the house of the lord