Sunday, May 29, 2011

1st Letter from the field

Henriquez Family,
Okay here is my real letter! It's my 2nd day out on the field and it's crazy! I'm way more busy then usual. Well I stayed up all night the day I left because I had to be at the travel office at 3:30am to pick up all the materials because I was the travel leader. I left to Salt Lake around 4am and got there around 5:30am. The line was soooo long for security that it took us an hour to get through. So by then it's around 6:40am and we were suppose to board at 6:30am and the plane left to Atlanta at 7:05am so we were rushing there. We got there in time but I didn't get the opportunity to call. Landed in Atlanta 3 hours later and that Airport is huge!!! There's a train station that actually takes you to your terminals, I didn't know that at the time so we wasted most of our time walking to our gate. Sooo dumb! That's why I only had 20 minutes to call people and I only talked to Mom, Dad, and Jacob. Than I landed in Knoxville and there were no pay phones to call. I was the only one able to call my family because there was only one pay phone that worked.

The President was already waiting for us since our flight took forever to land. President & Sister Griffin are awesome people. They fed us great food. So far the whole place reminds me of Twilight. A little town surrounded by Forest, its so crazy.

My companion is Elder Robison! Way chill guy! He's from Idaho and loves to wakeborading and snowboarding so that's what we mostly talk about. He's been in the field for 3 months so he just finished training and now he's my trainer. Crazy but he's so humble and nice, I think we're going to get along fine but.... he's a slob just like Jacob, this might be issue.

Oh I'm serving in Dalton, Georgia! I'll be here for 3 months till next transfer. So we can't start tracking till I have a bike so I hope Jonathan sent it already. But luckily we are full of appointment till Sunday. S hopefully it gets here by than. My apartment has a washer and dryer, way chill! So I just had Cinnamon toast crunch with sour milk! It's 2 days expired! I ate it so I wouldn't waste my cereal but I regret doing that now.
Stay strong and faithful. Oh and President Griffin said the coolest thing to me when I arrived! He said, "City boy teaching to the County folks." So I'm going to put that on every letter till my mission is over.

Elder Henriquez

P.S. can someone ask Jonathan if he sent the bike with helmet and bike lock please? need one pronto!

Photos from the mission president


Thursday, May 26, 2011

05/23/2011

Okay so I'm in the field and I think I sent a letter I'm not sure. I forget because I'm so busy all the time. Well

I'm in Dalton, Georgia. The Dirty SOUTH!! It's awesome here. The food is way bomb and the members

here are awesome. It's really the bible belt here and it get's crazy sometimes. We already got in a bash my

second day here. It was dumb cause we proved him wrong every single time but he was too stubborn to

listen to our message. But there are humble people that do listen to our message and those are the people we

are looking for. My companion and I have faith that we can do it. So have that in your prayers so the Lord

can guide us to find those people.

Sway Henriquez

Monday, May 16, 2011

May 6th letter to Candi

Dear Candi!!,

......A sister in our district left today and it was so painfull to watch. Last night we watched a talk from Elder Holland called the "miracle mission". It hit everyone so hard and how he said how important a mission is. You should watch and you'll understand how I feel. Being here just for two weeks has changed my life so much. I'm a completely different person now! It's incredible how the Lord's work can change somebody. I love my mission! It's one of the greatest experiences I'm going through and I feel so awesome doing it. Serving a mission has and will continue to change my life. When the Hermana told us she was leaving the 6th of May, it killed my hear and soul. Watching someone who has suffered as much as me or Christ just throw it away because she feels she's not strong enough tears my soul in half it hurts me so bad to hear those words slip through her lips.  I use to think when missionaries came home that the mission wasn't meant for them but now I KNOW that the mission is meant for every 19 year old man and any sister who even has the slightest interest in going.

.....TRC is a place where members and even non-members allow missionaries to teach them. It's a time where we get to practice. This was mine and my companion first time doing so they assigned us to room 41. Before we even knocked on that door I prayed with my companion asking for guidance and to be inspired by the spirit! We knocked, got in , and did the typical routine to find out information of the investigator. It was a 21 year old man, he was a member and he was acting to be an investigator. Usually I do most of the talking because my companion is a shy, timid, guy! My style of teaching is to ask a lot of questions to find out what they really need. I asked this man "what do you fear in this world?" "He was going to say something than he hesitated an said do you want me to be real like how I really feel or act and just be the investigator?" My companion was  about to say to act as an investigator but before he could I rushed and said be YOU! Be the real you and tell me how you really feel! He looked at me and saw how serious I was. When he asked me that question I wasn't me anymore, i was one in one with the spirit! He said he's having trouble doing the Lords will and he doesn't understand why the Lord doesn't give him certain blessing. I quickly gave him doctrine over obedience and how the Lord blesses us for being obedient! After that I gave him the scripture Ether 12:27 where it talks about how it makes our weaknesses to strengths. Everything was quiet and I took a deep breath and gave him my testimony over this subject. I honestly don't remember what I said in my testimony but what I said brought him to tears. this experience was so amazing and I'm so grateful for it. The Lord used me a his messenger and the feeling was so amazing I'm so anxious to get out in the field!

......Candi- Tell everyone how I've changed and how I'm going to continue to grow to be a better man. Tell the family I LOVE them and miss them. These two years are going to be the greatest two years of my life. Well like it says in D&C 93:2 Christ is the light to mankind! Christ is leading me with his light to be a stronger and more awesome man! I love him for that, I will walk till my legs can no longer bare me! I will crawl till my arms collapse  I will shout and praise the Gospel till my voice is no longer heard, for I know that everything I suffer and go through is not even a fraction what Christ went for ME and everyone!

Goodnight! Love Elder Josue Henriquez

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Phone call and new address

Josue will be leaving the MTC on Tuesday, May 17th. He will be calling from the airport between 5-6am UT time to the Henriquez Home. All is welcome and he would love to hear from all of you!

With his move, please direct all letters to his mission home. 

Elder Josue Henrriquez
Tennessee Knoxville Mission
11320 Station West Dr Ste 101 
Farragut, TN 37934

Photos to HOME

These are photos of Josue and his district, 48D! 





Starting from the left:
Elder Arianollo, Elder Henriquez, Elder Rodriguez, Hermana Lopez, Hermana Robles, Hermana Olivares, Elder Guerra, Elder Tamayo, Elder Canales 
All wearing purple for the photos. 




Tuesday, May 3, 2011

First Letter Home From Elder Henriquez

Dear Henriquez family;

First day of the MTC has been crazy, cool, awesome, weird, and fun. There's no other way to explain it. Everyone here is so welcoming and nice. My companion, Elder Canales, is a really cool guy. He's from Fullerton, California and not even converted to this gospel a year. It's amazing to see how the Spirit, Christ, and this gospel has impacted his life. I'm tremendously grateful that he's my companion and has such a strong testimony. It's amazing to me that he's more organized and cleaner than me! So we do get along well in our room in the residence hall. All of our teachers are amazing and genius of the gospel. They will for sure guide us to be better missionaries.

My zone is AWESOME! We all get along and laugh a bunch. There's one sister that reminds me of Candi and another a mixture of Emma and Ceci. It's really funny! The one that resembles Candi is from Miami, of course ha, and the other from North Carolina, and it's really funny that their parents are from Guatemala. There are 3 Salvadorenas other than me in our zone which is 9, and it's hilarious that everyone loves pupusas, even the Mexicans.
Okay so I'm not going to get fat because there is a weightlifting room and every day we have gym for one hour. Ha, so, so, so happy. Oh and the rumors of the juice making you fart is true! Jacob wouldn't last because he already has problems. Remember Jacob on your mission don't drink the juice here at the MTC.

I've had many spiritual moments here on my first day! The Spirit is so strong sometimes that my body becomes numb, my eyes begin to tear up, and my soul enflames with joy. I'm very grateful that I'm here and I know I am here for a reason. I love you all and I hope you guys are doing great.

Love, Elder Henriquez

PS I need soap for my face from the dermatologist and I need my medication from walgreens. You guys can get it May 3rd. Also if you can send me my Portugal jersey cause everyone represents ha ha ha oh and stamps, paper, and envelopes please. Oh and a picture of my family.

Henriquez Men

The Henriquez Men