#33 [Cidra - 9] Oct. 28th, 2013

Hi family!

I'll start out by replying to your email! Thanks for writing to me and Rach in so much detail! It's like we're there! I love it. Thank you for your support.

I didn't know Joshy was in the ceramics class! How fun! I loved ceramics! Can't wait to see what cool stuff he makes!

Mom, I hope your jury duty case is exciting. I'll be looking forward to hearing all about it next week!

So, it was an ugly week and I'm glad we get to start a new one.

This week my testimony was really strengthened about the Priesthood. I feel like I've been learning so much about it ever since I've been out here and I am so thankful to have grown up in a home where half the people living there are worthy priesthood holders! I can't believe I didn't ask for blessings more often. But I will when I get home! Thank you for being worthy, Dad, Jeff, Joshy, and Jaker (someday soon!). I love you guys so much!

Okay. So where to begin!? On Monday night we had a super great lesson with E__ and his family. We pretty much did a FHE thing, and we taught about service. Then they all drew names and their assignment was to do a random act of service for the person they picked WITHOUT revealing who did it for whom. So we're going back tonight to see how it went. They LOVED it. Tonight we'll be teaching about honesty. We played Trouble though that evening and I DOMINATED! They kept saying, "Erickson is really lucky," and all this stuff. I just smiled because I know who I get my luck from. :) (Hope I make you proud, Dad!)

We had interviews with President Smartt on Wednesday and that was super good. It was my very first one with him and it came at the perfect time for me. We were supposed to have interviews last week, but it didn't work out, I'm glad, looking back. President Smartt is seriously so awesome and I am so thankful to have him as our mission president. I feel like things in the mission are improving a lot. We all respect him and look up to him a lot.

SUNDAY was the best day of the week because we had FIVE investigators come to Church! Count 'em! FIVE!!! C__, W__, (he can't pronounce my name, so he calls me Erica, it's funny and I don't have the heart to correct him every time) E__ and her daughter, and a young man named M__. I can't remember exactly, but I think that's the most I've ever had come to Church at one time! And it was the Primary program, too. I had to teach the Gospel Doctrine class even though I didn't prepare anything. (I dunno why, but all the missionaries in my District always pick me to do everything and I wish they'd step up and be men once in a while and actually do something...) But the class went well anyway. And the Primary program made me so happy! It was very well done and I loved every second of it, even though I had a hard time staying awake. :)

We got a new next-door neighbor on Saturday. He's a 7th-Day Adventist and he doesn't eat pork! He was surprised to meet sister missionaries, he thought the Church only sent out young men. But he's a nice guy, going through a really sad divorce, so he came to O__'s to chill a bit. When we met him outside his house, he was reading the Bible. So special. :)

Well anyway, that's pretty much about as exciting as it gets. Love you all and I hope you have a happy, safe, week! Keep being member missionaries and being examples to everyone! I LOVE YOU!

-Hermana Erickson

#32 [Cidra- 8] Oct. 21st, 2013

Holla!

I'll reply to your email this week because it was just that interesting! :)

Dad, I'm glad you got my birthday card! I was hoping that they wouldn't bend it up, but at least the music works. Hope you (and Spencer hehe) had a good birthday! 50 years old! Woot woot! Eat some donuts to make you feel better.

Mom! How was jury duty!? Secretly I think I want to be called to jury duty. I think it'd be so interesting!

I'll make a special shout-out to President McGinn: Hi, President McGinn!

I'm sad I'll be missing out on the Spanish Immersion Program this year. In the package I sent you guys, did you watch that movie I sent? The program we were in reminded me of the Spanish Immersion one. Buenos tiempos. I'll never forget the flashlight dance!

Jake! Congratulations to you on your egg-drop success! Way to be a winner! WINNER WINNER WINNER!

Hermana S. twitches her nose ALL the time when she doesn't understand something or wants me to repeat myself! I think it's a Latino thing. At first I thought she had some sort of nervous habit or something, but now I get it. Something people do here, though, when they're trying to point you in a certain direction, instead of using their finger to point, they use their lips. They look like they're kissing the air or something. It's interesting. I'll have to show you when I get home, but it's funny. And NO ONE knows how to give directions. For example, if you ask where the library is, they'll say: "Okay, look. You have to go down to the next light. Don't turn there, but keep going straight, until you pass a little bridge. Keep going! Then, you'll see a little yellow sign and turn right there. Go straight straight straight straight, until you see a pharmacy. Turn into the pharmacy and the library is behind the pharmacy." It's not quite as funny in English, but you get the picture. It's complicated. Puerto Ricans are so great!

This was a good week! Hermana S. and I are having a lot of fun together here and a lot of things have happened. We've got two people who agreed to be baptized! The first guy, A__, who's been a member of his Church for over 30 years. His own father was a pastor. He LOVES the Book of Mormon and when we taught about the Plan of Salvation, we only used scriptures from the Book of Mormon and he knows it's true. He says he likes the Book of Mormon and he's reading it on his own because he learns so many things he never knew, and a lot of the things that confused him about the doctrines in the Bible are becoming clear because of the Book. Hermana S. and I both agree that he will be baptized. It's exciting! But it's just hard for him to come to Church because he takes care of his bedridden sister. We went in and met her, and it was like I was on a commercial because she had a hole in her neck! (I thought of you, Dad, and how we all used to make fun of the smoker hole lady commercials.) I don't know if it's a smoker hole, or what, but she had a hole in her body! Poor thing, and when she spoke, it sounded like she was drowning. It was really really weird. I got creeped out a little bit. But it made me thankful for my health. I dunno if she got that hole because she was a smoker, or what, but wow. It didn't seem real.

The other guy, C__, is someone we met contacting. We both got eaten alive by mosquitoes, but it was worth it. He's spoken to the missionaries before, and he already has a Book of Mormon, but when we taught the Restoration, he really wants to come to Church because he is also preparing to be baptized! We're excited about him and A__!

We taught a bunch of lessons this week, but a lot of the people just listened to be nice, none of them are necessarily interested. But we're going to keep contacting and teaching everyone. It'll be difficult because Hermana S. sprained her ankle on Saturday morning while we were out running. That's what we get for being obedient... :) So instead of walking around, she hobbles, but it'll be okay.

So Hermana S. says I sleep talk. She's not the only one that's told me, but I forgot to mention it earlier. This past week, she said I did it twice. I know I did it with Hermana G., too, because she said one time I was praying in English and the only thing she understood was "Heavenly Father." Hahaha. I'm a little embarrassed about it, but at least I don't snore. :) Hehe.

I finished Jesus The Christ this past week and am starting the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I love the Book of Mormon! I know it's true and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father to have allowed us in these latter-days to have the fullness of the Gospel. It's amazing!

Well anyway, that's just about all the time I've got, so I'll finish this up now. Love you lots and miss you! Have a good week, everyone!

-Hermana Erickson

#31 [Cidra - 7] Oct. 15th, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD! I LOVE YOU!

So I'm sure you guys weren't that worried that I didn't write yesterday, but I'll give you the reason why anyway. Yesterday morning, our district helped a few members out in the community by laying concrete! IT WAS SO COOL! I'd never done it before, but I felt like a MAN! (And I still feel like a man because my back hurts today.) BUT it was a really cool experience. We got four references from it, too, so we'll see how that goes.

This week has been a really good one, Hermana Sosa and I felt like we did a lot. We taught the first lesson about the Restoration probably 20 times I feel. But it was good because we're finding a lot of investigators. We did a lot of contacting too, and for the first time, we had DOGS chase us! Seriously, I've never been so scared in my life. And I don't know what impelled them to stop, but there were like 5 of them and they all stopped and turned around at the same time. It was a Christmas miracle. :) And when we went back to the car and drove past the same spot, they were NOWHERE to be found! Hermana Sosa and I felt like God was protecting us for sure.

I learned how to make Puerto Rican rice last Monday at E__s' house. I need to practice, obviously, but when I get home, get ready for some rice and beans! :) But the rice and beans here are super good. I dunno what it is —  well, NOW I do! — but I like it.

Anyway, I'll tell you a little about our investigators right now. On my birthday, we contacted a guy on the street that makes maracas and he gave us some for free! And we gave him a Book of Mormon. We came back a week later and he said his wife was reading and that we were welcome to stop by their house. So we went on Saturday to visit T__ and his wife, D__. We taught the Restoration to the two of them. D__ is a solid Catholic, she's got Virgin Mary statues and pictures all over her house. She even invited me to sit in front of the huge picture of the Virgin and "look into her eyes at her beautiful gaze." I did it to be nice, but didn't feel anything all that special. But when we shared about Joseph Smith's first vision, the Spirit was so powerful and you could tell D__ and T__ were amazed. She said she'd continue reading and praying to know if it's true. I'm excited to go back. They also said they'd stop by the Church. So we'll see!

Thanks for keeping me updated about the fambam and what not. It was fun to see all the pictures of Disneyland!

Dad! Your comments in your Emails are so hilarious! People look at me like I'm so weird when I open my Email because I laugh so much!

Congratulations on your upgrade at the Anaheim hotel! Definitely a tender mercy from the Lord!

Can we go to Oceanside when I get back? I wanna go and eat some popcorn chicken on the dock.

I can't believe you went to D__'s sacrament meeting! How's he doing? I haven't heard from him in a long time!

Well anyway, I don't really have that much to say. I am so happy to be a missionary. It’s amazing to see how much the Lord loves us every single day. I am so thankful to have been born into the gospel and to have had it all my life. I am so happy to know that I get to live with you guys forever. I can't imagine a heaven without you. I love you so much. Dad, I hope you get my birthday card upon your return home. Be safe! LOVE YOU!

-Hermana Erickson #2

#30 [Cidra - 6] Oct. 7th, 2013

Our Zone, Caguas, after Conference on Sunday

This week was really good. General Conference was absolutely incredible and was just what I needed to pump me up spiritually! I love being a member of God's true Church here on the earth. It's such a privilege, as well, to serve Him and be His representative.

Anyway, there's still not much to tell about what's going on here in Cidra; we're doing what our Stake President asked and looking for all the members on the ward list, and that's keeping us pretty busy. The directions here are a joke! No one has a house number, so all we have are the street numbers and kilometer numbers. It's really, really complicated. It just makes me so grateful and more appreciative for the grid system in Utah. And as far as investigators go, we don't really have anyone that interested yet. We're gonna keep praying hard and working as hard as we can, though.

Transfers are this week, but I'm not going anywhere. I am excited for another 6 weeks here in Cidra and with Hermana Sosa. We get along really really great and I have loved working with her. She makes missionary work fun! We had exchanges this past week and it went well. I missed my companion while she was gone! But I got to work with Hermana S__ (from Arizona; she and I came in at the same time) and that was a good experience.

Yesterday, before we left for General Conference in the morning, we were sitting outside reading the scriptures in the hammocks and our neighbor came out to say hello. His name is L__, and we don't ever see him because he's always working and when he is home his door is shut and his lights are turned off; he goes to bed really early because he has to work early, too. So yesterday was really the first time since we've been here that we got to talk to him and get to know him a little better. So after talking for a minute, he went back inside his house and started to clean again. We got ready to go to Conference and then left a few minutes later. When we were about 10 minutes away from home, I got a really strong impression to go back home and invite L__. "That's a stupid thought," I thought to myself, "why would he want to come to a Conference for a Church he's never heard about with people he barely just met? And it's his only day off, why would he want to spend it at Church? No one else comes when we've invited them." But the impression came again. I've NEVER felt the Spirit like that before. So turning to Hermana Sosa, I said, "We've gotta go back and invite Luis." She looked at me like a lunatic, but since she wasn't the one driving, didn't really have the chance to do anything else but comply.

When we got back through the gate, and got out of the car, so many things were racing through my mind, especially this thought; "He's going to say no, and it'll have been a complete waste of time to turn back." But when we called him, he came out and we invited him. To our surprise, he said yes! Hermana Sosa said that the look on my face was priceless. I didn't have words to say, except for, "Okay, chevere!" (That means "Okay, cool!") Within fifteen minutes, he was following us in his car to Caguas to watch General Conference. During Conference, I was super nervous about what he would be thinking and what not, but I think he liked it. We ate lunch after and he stayed and ate with us. He was talking and joking around with the other Elders. (He's about 24, he reminds me of Jeff!). So it was cool. We haven't seen or talked to him since, but we're planning on inviting him to Church on Sunday, too. Hopefully he'll come! If not, at least we planted the seed!

But now I'll get personal. I loved General Conference more than I ever have in my entire life. The Sunday morning session was the most powerful and spiritually uplifting conferences I've ever listened to. I loved it so much and am so thankful I got to watch it in English. And I felt the Spirit so strongly when President Monson was speaking. I've never really had a firm conviction that he is a prophet of God until when he spoke on Sunday. We are so lucky to have a living day prophet! This Church is SO cool!

Anyway, I'll write back to your email now.  
•    Yes, I received your Birthday package, and the cards from Grandma and Grandpa Erickson as well as Grandma Farley. Thank you all so much for thinking of me! It meant a lot! I love you all!

Jeff's self portrait w/ beard

•    JEFF. First of all, when I opened the package on Tuesday, I DIED laughing at your "Touch and Feel!" Beard picture. All the Elders in my District thought it was a genius idea. Everyone else who has seen it thinks you've gotta be a pretty hilarious man. It is true. I'm so glad I'm related to you! Also, as far as this dating thing goes, I don't really know how I feel about it, but as long as you pinky swear not to go off and get married without me, I'm cool with it.
•    Mom! What a cool experience you had about saving the Church carpet! Did Spencer M. get his mission call yet? Or what is he doing nowadays?
•      Joshy! Your school picture is great! You are a babe! Since when did you get to be so attractive!?
•      Head! You're a babe too! (Way to go, Mom and Dad!) Your teeth are looking nice! Can't wait to see you without braces! How's your Spanish class going at the High School?
•      Jake! Love you, dude! 
•      I hope Rachel and Tiffanie had a good birthday on Saturday. I was thinking about them! LOVE YOU!

Anyway, that's about all the time I've got. I love you all so much and hope you all have a great week! Miss you lots, but I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I do love being a missionary and I know I am supposed to be out here. I feel so close to my Savior and I love working alongside Him in this work of salvation. It is real. I love it!

Well, bye!

-Hermana Erickson

#29 [Cidra - 5] Sept. 30th, 2013

District (pre-birthday) celebration

This is going to be a boring email because I'm trying really hard not to be a Negative Nancy right now. Things aren't going very well here in Cidra and it's difficult. White-washing isn't easy, that's all I'm going to say right now.

We had District Meeting on Tuesday and then a member invited us over for a quick lunch. Well turns out, the member and the Elders all surprised me with a Happy Birthday lunch! It was really sweet of them. The member's name is ____ and he used to be a Baptist pastor. He told us his conversion story and it was awesome and then he played us a song he wrote on the guitar about how he's a Mormon. It was awesome. He gave up everything because he knew the Church is true. People like him inspire me. He was baptized 18 years ago and since then has collected a missionary badge from every missionary that's ever stayed in his house. He has over 200. It was amazing to see his collection. I'll probably send him one of mine. :)

On Thursday we had a "Sisters Only" meeting in Arecibo, about 2 hours away from our area. It was a lot of fun. I thought it was going to be a boring old meeting, but it was awesome! President Smartt asked some of the sisters to teach and they all focused on serving with all our hearts, might, minds and strength. (I feel like the way I worded that was completely grammatically incorrect, but it hurts my brain to try to fix it.) I really loved it and learned a lot. I can't believe I only have a little over 11 months left. We were in Arecibo ALL day so we didn't end up doing anything because by the time we got home it was 8 p.m.

Surprise B-day cake -- taking a bite!

 
My Birthday was on Friday... I'm 20 years old now! Haven't found any gray hairs yet but I'm not looking either... :) It was actually a really difficult day on Friday because all our investigators except for ___ and his family told us they didn't want to hear from us anymore. ALL of them! And we contacted all day and didn't find anyone. It was my worst nightmare come true. But when we were leaving to go to dinner our landlord called us up to see him. When we walked in, he had a birthday cake sitting there for me and he sang me Happy Birthday. It was the best part of the day. He's a great man. I hope he gets converted someday. We're working on it. :) But after that we went to dinner at a place called Lucio's.

Birthday dinner at Lucio's

It's apparently one of the yummiest places to eat in Puerto Rico. I got a dish called Churasco. It's like steak, but better. Dad, you'd LOVE it. I also got mofongo. Everything was good. I was happy we went there. But that was my birthday. Pretty lame as far as missionary work goes.
 
We went to the Relief Society broadcast on Saturday night. It started at 8 p.m. and we didn't get home until 10 p.m. because we live about a half hour away. But we got to watch it live AND in English! It made me a little homesick. I am SO excited for General Conference this weekend though. I've been looking forward to it since April. :) We're so lucky to have a living Prophet and Apostles! I LOVE THIS CHURCH!

But guess what? Yesterday, I found out that R___ GOT BAPTIZED! Finally! I was so happy about it! He finally worked things out with the tithing issue, and he got baptized yesterday. :) It made my week.

Now I'll reply to what you all wrote to me about!

Heather looks like Rachel in that dress and she reminds me of the good ol' Volleyball days. How is their team doing? Any better than mine? Heheh I hope so.

Congrats to Krispen and Jess' new bundle of JOY to be!

Is it getting any colder in Utah? It's still really hot here. I thought things would start cooling down here, but not yet. People say though that here in Cidra, it gets REALLY cold at night in November and December. We'll see about that, but I'm excited. It's SO hot.

Congrats to JEFF about his new rafting buddy! :) Can't wait to hear more, Dad! Keep us updated!

I thought about texting you, Mom, at 11:58 a.m. (9:58 a.m. your time) on my birthday, too! We must've had thought syndrome or something and thought the same thing at the exact same time! We must be related! :) BUT, obviously, I'm not going to break the rules. Sorry. I don't think I would've gotten in trouble had you texted me, but I'm glad you didn't push the envelope anyway. It's the thought that counts. :)

I'm in the Cayey, PR ward. Is my ward on the Church website? I don't think we have a ward secretary, so I dunno if we will be.
 
Dad, thanks for working so hard to let us (me and Rae) be out here. You're the best! I love you!

Well anyway, that's really all I have to say. I love you all lots and miss you, but I'm happy to be out here serving the Lord. Tell Tiffanie to write to me! I miss her!

Have a happy week and I can't wait to hear about your spiritual insights from Conference! 

LOVE YOU!

-Hermana Erickson