HI FAMILY! (Long time, no talk to ,eh? Tee hee!)
It was so so awesome to talk with you yesterday! And it was also great knowing that Grandpa and Grandma Erickson and Grandma Farley were there, too! I love you guys. Thank you for your constant love and support. I don't know what I'd be able to do out here without it.
Like I said in the phone call yesterday, this week was rough to say the least. Good, like always, but rough. I felt like no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't reach any of our goals, and it's frustrating when at the end of the week, your numbers are low, and it looks like you didn't do anything throughout the week, when really, you tried your very hardest. I feel like I'm letting the Lord down sometimes, but I know He's proud of me as long as I do my best. So I'm just gonna keep doing that.
Hermana Brotherson and I have had the worst luck this week with getting member-present lessons. We make the plans, we have the appointments set, and then the member falls through, OR it's the opposite, we have our appointments set up, and then when we show up with the member, the appointment falls through, and our back-up plan fails. That happened to us twice this week, with 6 different appointments. SIX! It was very discouraging, I'm not going to lie. And super annoying. It just goes to show you how important it is to be reliable.
Also, this week, Hermana Brotherson and I focused on less actives and recent converts. I really want to get to know them and know where their testimonies are, and want to be the Lord's mouthpiece and strengthen them in any way I can. Most of the time, they're inactive because they feel like they don't have a friend in the ward. Our ward is small enough as it is, so there is a lot to do when it comes to visiting teaching/home teaching stuff. I believe that if the Savior were here, he'd be visiting them. They're the ones who've felt the fire of the Spirit before, and we just need to remind them of that and increase their faith in Christ.
But we've had some really great lessons this week nonetheless. The Lord is trying our patience, but He's also blessing us by putting people who are ready to receive this Gospel in our way. Two newer investigators, C..., and her son S..., are really awesome. The story behind our finding them is really awesome, too. Our appointment had fallen through, and so did our back-up plan, and it had started to rain. So we were walking around the apartment complex parking lot, and then we saw a young man (S...) So we decided to talk to him. He invited us up to share our message with him and his mom, C.... When his mom came in, she freaked out because she said she'd seen us on the street about ten minutes earlier, and had a thought come to her mind that told her she needed to talk to us, but she ignored it, and then wham! We were in her house! She also kept saying that God was telling her that we "need to be careful walking around here." So whatever that means. I've never felt unsafe, but people always tell us to be careful all the time. Apparently we're in kind of a sketchy area, but I dunno. People are just funny. But anyway, back to C....
C... was originally kinda unsure about hearing our message because she's Catholic. But after our opening prayer, she came back into the room and sat through our lesson of the Restoration. She then opened up and told us all her doubts about the Catholic Church. What I've come to realize is that a lot of the Catholics are disappointed with their "religion" nowadays. But when we started telling her about the Gospel, she began having a million questions, and we felt the Spirit so strongly! It was super awesome! And we visited her again this week, and she'd been reading so much in the Book of Mormon, and she loves it! I am excited to see her progress. The only problem is, she left for the U.S. this week and will be there for about a month, so we don't get to teach her and S... anymore because of the new rule. But that's fine. :) As long as we're bringing souls unto Christ, it doesn't matter which missionaries get to teach them.
We also met C...'s younger sister, too, and she was super receptive to the Gospel as well. So we're going to be teaching her too. I am so excited! I love getting new people to teach! It's like going on an adventure! C... and her sister (L...) remind me of Rachel and myself. They're super close. So it was kinda tender when we got to teach them together.
We also found a less active this week who just so happens to live in our neighborhood, but hasn't attended Church for over 20 years, but she was baptized in the 1970's. Crazy, huh!? She stopped attending Church after her husband died. We're going to re-teach her everything, because she's forgotten a lot. But I'm excited anyway. Her name is G..., and we can't find any records of her in the area book, which is a little strange, but oh well.
None of our investigators are attending Church, but they are reading the Book of Mormon, so they're kind of progressing, but not really. It's just really slow right now. But I feel bad they didn't attend yesterday, cuz our ward had donuts after Church, so their loss (physically, but most importantly, spiritually, obviously). :)
Like I said, I'm reading Jesus the Christ. I started reading from the middle of the book, at the part where Christ suffered the Atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then the arrest, and then the trials, and finally his crucifixion and death and Resurrection. James E. Talmage is brilliant. His writings remind me a lot of Jeffrey R. Holland. But I'm going to start from the beginning, and I'm excited. I figured that since both Rach and Mom are reading it, I'd jump on the bandwagon.
We went out to eat at Fuddrucker's today after doing our grocery shopping. (I found out that it's like a burger/fries/shake joint and apparently it's a big deal, but I'd never heard about it before.) But anyway, that was the first time I'd felt FULL in a very long time. OH! And I bought some souvenirs! I dunno when I'll get the chance to send them to you, but they're sweet. This guy was selling all these handmade bracelets and earrings, and he was super awesome. I need to find some stuff for the boys, but Head, just know I've got something for you. And something for Rach, too. :) But I'm gonna get some more stuff. Hurray! Happy Christmas, Headdy! (Like, Harry, but not... hehe, okay.)
I cut Hermana Tuitavake's hair today, as well as Hermana Brotherson's. It felt good to cut something... Muahaha! No, but seriously. I miss doing hair so bad. I forgot how much I love it. I can't wait to do that again when I get back!
Okay, I'll reply to the parts of your email that we didn't get to talk about yesterday or whatever.
I hope Jake's choir thing went well, I was thinking of him today. Did they sing a bunch of hymns? And did he have to dress up in any special way?
Kama and her family will definitely be going to my Church if they do end up going; our Church is the closest one to the airport. So that'd be super duper awesome to see them! When will they be coming? I'll have to actually try to look good that day. And maybe, if my investigators decide to be cool for once and come to Church, they'll get to meet them! That'd be super tender. Just tell all the extended family I love them!
Well anywho, I loved talking with you yesterday. The "40 minutes" went by too quickly, and I miss you a lot, but I feel like these next 7 months are going to fly by. It's already been TWO! GAH! Time is my worst enemy I think. Speaking of which, I've gotta go. So peace out, fambam! I love you lots and am SO happy to be a part of our forever family! THIS GOSPEL ROCKS because of that! And I just want all our investigators to be with their families forever, too! Gawl, I just can't even stand it!
Well, bye! I LOVE YOU ETERNALLY!
-Hermana Erickson
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