Dear seres queridos: (Dear loved ones)
Aqui estoy hablando Espanol de nuevo y estoy tan feliz y tan animada para estar aqui en mi querido Borinquen!! (Here I am speaking Spanish again and I am so happy and so excited to be here in my beloved Puerto Rico)
So we got to Ponce on Thursday night, our new area! We live here with two other sisters, Sister Burgess (who used to be on Tortola before I went) and Sister Castaneda. Both are going home soon. Sister Castaneda started with Rae, so they'll be on the same return flight home on the 18th. Sister Burgess goes home six weeks after her, and then I follow. Being with them makes me kinda trunky because they talk about going home ALL THE TIME. My poor companion, though, just starting out. It's hard for her to get her mind here knowing that they're going back home so soon. And then with this sudden change in language and climate, it's rough. She'll be the only one left here out of the four of us. It's hard for me to share an area with other sisters, though. I forgot what it's like to live with so many people and our fridge is TINY! But I guess it's good school prep, right?
But anyway, this week has been good, just finding our way around Ponce! This is the HOTTEST place in Puerto Rico, so I'll probably be kinda crispy when I get home. Or even black... You probably won't even recognize me! I'm happy to have Sister Dye with me through this whole experience. There's really no one else I'd rather be with opening an area. She gets homesick when we are doing studies, though, because her mind has time to wander. I think that's normal, though, at the beginning. I still can't believe she's only been out 9 weeks. She's an incredible missionary and I look up to her a lot. I just love training. President said that that's what I'll be doing for the rest of my mission, so I wouldn't be surprised if I got another trainee in the next two weeks. I dunno though, I don't want to think about it.
Although it's hot, we're doing well contacting people. We live in a super nice neighborhood, too. I've never seen such beautiful houses in Puerto Rico. We got a ward directory and the Patriarch in our ward helped us out yesterday and gave us the status of each name on the list. He gave us blessings last night, too, and it felt like another patriarchal blessing! SUPER COOL, especially because it was all in Spanish. This ward has amazing potential, so I'm excited to see what we can do to hasten the work here. We plan on getting the members involved a lot more. We've all got to get a baptism each month, so we're excited to alcanzar (I think that means reach?) that goal.
Sorry there's not much else I have to tell you; I feel like there isn't that much excitement in the first few weeks of opening an area, but we're finding a lot of nice people. They have ward activities every week, so that's exciting. There are 6 missionaries here: 2 Elders and 4 Sisters. It's kinda crowded, but hopefully having so many will help the work along.
I thought about Joshy on Friday night when I was drifting off to sleep. I remember my graduation and can't believe it was already two years ago. Time is flying by. Joshy wrote to me, too! So that was great. I felt so loved. <3 OXOXOX Thanks, Joshy!
I didn't know that kids could catch AND COOK their own pot guts at Clear Creek! I never did that. Hopefully Jake will videotape it. (It's a joke.) He's going to have a blast! Good ol' Clear Creek days. I loved my childhood! Mom, Dad, thanks so much for signing me up for so many fun things! I loved it!
Anyway, since I'm back in Puerto Rico, people should be aware that my address is the same:
Urb. Jardines de Caparra
#500 Calle Marginal Norte
Bayamon, PR 00959
I'm really happy to be back in Puerto Rico and speaking Spanish with the Boricuas (Puerto Ricans). I was feeling like my Boricuan Spanish accent was turning a little bit Dominican on me since there are so many Dominican Republicans on Tortola. And the best part about it all is, the FOOD IS SO CHEAP, HERE! I felt overwhelmed going to the store today. I LOVE BEING IN PUERTO RICO! I miss Tortola, though, especially all the people; we had SO many investigators! But hopefully the Cards will be taking care of them...
Well anywho, that's really all I've got to say. Here's a picture of us before we left Tortola! That's the first time I've curled my hair in about a year.
-Hermana Erickson
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