I GOT MY NEW COMPANION! :) :) :) :)
Her name is Hermana Brotherson, and she's from (Roosevelt) Utah as well, and I knew her from the MTC! Kinda crazy story, too, because when I was companions in the MTC with Hermana Jones, and then when I was moved to the Spanish District, Hermana Jones had Hermana Brotherson for a companion, and now she and I are working together. Kinda crazy how things work out, but I'm glad she's here, and I'm very humbled to be considered a "trainer", even though I really don't feel like she needs to be trained. She's already so good! She doesn't know Spanish, but she's not afraid to try, and she's improving so much every day. I'm very proud of her!Hermana Brotherson and I get along very well; I am thankful to have her as a companion. I am humbled, too. She is such an incredible young woman, and I feel honored to be able to serve with her. Being a "trainer" definitely magnifies your weaknesses, and it's hard, but I have felt the Lord's help SO much this week. I've been teaching full-length lessons all week, for crying out loud. And I KNOW I couldn't do that before, no way Jose! The Lord is definitely here with me, and the Gift of Tongues is REAL. It is amazing!!
Also, Hermana Felix is Hermana Tuitavake's new companion. And I knew H. Felix before the mission. Mom, I think you met her through Skype one time. She's from California. But it's been fun having her and H. Brotherson: people I know and get along with here. :)Our investigators are doing well. We received some new single women to teach from the Elders this week, so we'll be going over to Carolina maybe about twice a week to teach them because they're progressing quickly. There's a new rule out here, and I'm not sure if it's worldwide for missionaries, but Elders aren't allowed to teach single women, and Sisters aren't allowed to teach single men. So we've been swapping a lot of our investigators this week. It's going to be interesting. I have a feeling we're going to be getting to know the San Juan area very well, since we're the only 4 sisters here in the entire San Juan area. And it's huge. So pray that we'll be able to get to wherever we go safely, okay? Cuz we need it.
Rosa, the one who's had a baptismal date for a few weeks now has stopped progressing. It's been really frustrating. Wednesday morning we found out that she's been meeting with Jehovah's Witnesses, so she's making herself confused. She didn't tell us this, we just saw them go into her house. I think she's afraid to tell us. And she hasn't been praying or reading the Book of Mormon. I just want her to accept the Gospel! Is that too much to ask!? I know that if she'd just ask, the Lord would tell her that this Church is true. But she just hasn't. But we had a member tag along last night and it went really, really well, and she said she's going to pray. So we'll see about that.
Our other progressing family, Juan and Emilia, are doing just great. They read the Book of Mormon, but need it in a bigger print because they're older and can't read very well. But they really love the lessons, and Hermano Flores started to cry during the lesson because he felt the Spirit so strongly. It was really so incredible. We had a member present at this lesson, too, and it was so great to have an additional testimony there. Hopefully this next week they'll be able to come to Church.
We found TWO young families this week, and it was by way of miracle, no doubt. Hermana Brotherson and I had planned to visit Rosa on Wednesday night, but that fell through, so we decided to walk through the neighborhood and talk to as many of our neighbors as possible. We found one young man outside working on his car, and we asked if we could "practice our Spanish" with him. He was really nice. And so we started to tell him who we were, why we were here, and about how our message centers in how families can be together forever. It was amazing; he started talking about his new little family. He and his girlfriend are expecting a baby, and they're planning to get married. He also said he wanted us to come back and teach the both of them! So we've got an appointment tonight. We're excited.
Then, after talking to him, we began walking down another street, and we were passing by a house when suddenly, a man walked outside and just started talking to us. He then called his wife outside, and they both started to talk. They then asked US to come back and teach them sometime during the week.
Our appointment with them was AMAZING! They had totally been prepared by the Lord to receive us; the mom (Rudy) said that she hadn't been able to get her husband (Hector) to sit down and listen to anyone teaching about religion. But he said "something is different about you two." It was really cool. And he said the closing prayer, and it was AMAZING. I can't wait to see the progress of these two sweet families.
It has been a hard week, but full of miracles, for sure. We received priesthood blessings at Church yesterday from the Bishop and his first Counselor. That was really comforting. I have such a strong testimony of the Priesthood and am so thankful to be a part of the only true Church upon the face of the earth. We are SO lucky to have this Gospel! I Just want to share it with EVERYBODY and their dog!
Speaking of dogs, our neighbor's dog got ran over last night. Super sad. Even though there are bizzillions of speed bumps here, people still speed around in neighborhoods a ton. It's really dangerous. I'm just glad it wasn't their kid that got hit. But he saw it happen, so he was really shaken up.
Okay! Now I can move on to answer all your questions!
We have a Zone Conference tomorrow all day in Bayamon, so maybe they'll announce the e-mail changes then, but so far, e-mailing conditions are still the same. I'll keep you posted. We do have an hour total for e-mails, so that was good to find out. :) I can relax a little.No, I haven't been using my pedometer. Not yet, anyway. We use our bikes every day to get around, and when we walk, it's at night because that's when we schedule our nearby appointments. I want to start using it, though.
And yes! I was in that Choir picture! Next to Hermana Burgess. She was the only other 19-year old sister with me for the first few weeks before this past week's transfers.
Let Kama and Rusty know that I say congrats on Hegan's blessing! That's GREAT news! :)
Oh, and tell Cole congrats, too about his endowment and entering the MTC soon! He'll be great! SO many exciting changes with the fambam!
How is Nathan doing? Any better?
Isabelle! Great job speaking in Church! That's really exciting! I'll bet you kept everyone entertained during Sacrament Meeting.
Let Grandma and Grandpa Erickson know I love them and am thinking about them. Hopefully Grandma is doing well now.
There's a member here we work with named Lydia, and she reminds me of Grandma Farley SO much! I miss her. How's she doing? Let her know I love her, too.
I bought a pillow today. We did our shopping at Costco because H. Felix has a Costco card. It was really awesome. Reminded me of the good ól Sam's Club days, Momma. I miss you!
Okay, about the bike money. I did withdraw $100 of it last week, but I couldn't take it all out because the ATM we were at ran out of money. So I withdrew the rest today at Wal-Mart. The total I withdrew should be $360, and that should be enough to cover the bike. I'll turn all that cash in tomorrow. It freaks me out walking around here with cash. (So, obviously I don't, but knowing I HAVE it freaks me out.)
The four of us will be singing in Church next Sunday. We're going to sing Hope of Israel. H. Brotherson and H. Felix are going to sing a verse in English, I'm going to sing one in Spanish, and H. Tuitavake is going to sing one in Tongan, and then for the final verse we're going to sing together in Spanish. It'll be really awesome and I'm excited.
Well anyway, I'm going to finish this up now since I want to try to attach some pictures. (Dad, I'll try to take more this week. My companion is really good about always taking pictures, so I'll follow her example. You're right, I know I'll regret not taking any.)
I love you and miss you a lot. Thank you for all you do and for all the support you give me. Thank you for being the best parents and family EVER! I love you! Can't wait to talk to you in a few weeks!
-Hermana Erickson
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