Well looks as though Rachel is doing GREAT! Really did we have any doubters!! Here are a few updates that we have gotten from letters to different family members:

• There are 5, including her, going to her same mission. 2 Elders and 3 Sisters.
• Her Companions are Masa Keeling from Texas and Masa Gomez from Oklahoma. They are all very different but they are having fun together.
• She has made it through the first discussion a few times and did a meet and greet in her language which she totally bombed!
• She sat 3 rows back at a devotional where M. Russell Ballard spoke and absolutely loved it!
• She unloaded all her stuff into the wrong room when she first got there!!

So far she has been crazy busy (again any doubters that she wouldn't be?!) and says she sees her room for about 30 min a day. But overall things are going great and she loves it there. The spirit is constantly felt and she's always at peace.

I'm not sure how many addresses she has so please be sure to send her a letter with yours. I have included her email address in the right hand tool bar if that's easier for some people.

Also we are trying to figure out the best way for everyone who wants to, to contribute to her mission fund. Check back for information on that here in the next few weeks.

If you have any other info from her that you want to share please feel free! You can leave it as a comment or email it to me and I will create a post for it.

Have a great day everyone and don't forget to Pray for our missionary!

The MTC...

We had such a wonderful experience dropping Rachel off at the MTC yesterday. And suprisingly with 4 brothers there were still plenty of tears to go around. We hated to say goodbye and not see her for 18 months but we know that it's for a good cause, serving the Lord and
spreading the gospel!
Here are some pictures of the wonderful day:

The Hermann Missionaries...a little backwards but proud of it!

Masa Hermann...Wait I thought Josh served in the south!!

Rach and her Brothers, they were all so proud of her!

Crazy brothers!

This girl was all smiles, until she was all tears!

The luggage train

"The Last Supper"
Cafe Rio

The purpose of this blog....

Well Rachel is off! Finally in the MTC, 4 long months after receiving her call! We had the wonderfully opportunity of being there this last weekend for BOTH of her farewell talks as well as being there yesterday to take her to the MTC with the rest of the Hermann family.

For those of you who couldn't make it to the farewell talks, you missed some great ones! In fact comments were made to the effect that they sounded more like homecoming talks! Proof that our Sister was ready to go and serve the Lord!! Some fun facts that she shared with us in the talks were:

When she originally got her call she first thought she was going to Baltimore! (Baltic States mission)

She had a slew of friends get engaged in the 4 month span

Two of her cousins got engaged and married

A friend told her she was having a baby

Josh and I told her we were having a baby

She had two jobs in the time

Gave two farewell talks...

and many other little life events that popped up in the 4 months she had to prepare! This girl was busy to say the least!

After Rachel spoke in her family ward (Debbie's Ward), Bishop Sharp stood up and proclaimed what a wonderful missionary she was going to be and the love she had for her family. He talked about her strong spirit and the fact that he knew she was ready to serve. He also spoke about how he knew she would be successful because she wanted to serve her family through serving her mission. The love this Bishop had for Rachel and the rest of the Hermann family was felt especially when he complimented Don & Debbie on the wonderful job they did raising such a great family. (I would fully agree!)

Tuesday night we were able to meet with Rachel's Bishop and Stake President to witness her setting apart as a full time missionary. What a wonderful experience that was. The spirit was so strong and the blessings given to Rachel were truly from the Lord. The only thing I will share with you from the blessing is a blessing for us all. The Stake President gave a blessing to ALL of Rachel's family through her. He blessed us all with strength and hope. He blessed us that the burdens that come upon us will be lightened and that we will be able to overcome the things set before us. How lucky we ALL are to have Rachel serving this mission and blessing our family through her service!

(Sorry this is so blurry, the other's were worse!
This is Rachel and the family at her setting apart)

Josh & I wanted to create this blog as a fun place for us to get and give updates on Rachel and her mission! We thought it would be much easier to have everything in a place where family could check it whenever and see how she's doing. If you have any suggestions or comments please let us know! For those of you that don't blog, you can leave comments on each of the posts or just read them whenever. Also if you want to share a letter or email you received or sent to Rachel you can forward it to me and I will add it to the blog as a post. My email address is: ashleyhermann711@yahoo.com

The Address found on the right hand side of the screen will be updated each time Rachel moves. Please make sure you write it out on the envelope just as it reads. Foriegn addresses can be crazy and we want to make sure that she gets ALL her mail!!

I'm not sure if mission rules will allow Rachel to visit the blog, I will let you know as soon as I find out.

Please spread the word about this blog to all of the family, I know I don't have everyone's email addresses!


And don't forget to write our favorite Sister Missionary!!