Welcome Home Elder Erickson

 

Dallin was sick with extreme dizziness so he didn't get to come to the airport

But the welcome home home, at home,  was BIG and full of emotion.

Kari Harris glad to have her red headed son home. 

Dave, Ethan, Braxton

Last Week in the Mission

Monday-Went to the mall and did a little souvenir shopping...tough don't know what to buy. After I drove the transfer van out to Vidor by myself and got there at 8. Pres. drove his car out and then we went to Pizza Hut and had dinner with Mike Bartiels who is an amazing musical and he helps us out with the Christmas conference. 

Tuesday was mostly prep for transfers and the conference. 

Wednesday we had a few elders come from Louisiana and spend the night with us before the conference. We got there early and made sure everything was good to go. I Conducted for the last time. I was sick and had a scratchy throat but by the prayer of Elder Hepworth I was able to make it through the whole thing just fine...during the talent show I was running around like crazy because some people "thought" or wanted to do something...but we had already scheduled things out...and some were super upset and so I was trying to be nice and fit them all in but it wasn't working so I was running around like a chicken with his head cut off! but we finally made it work! It was a great conference. we watched Ephraim's Rescue as well. It was weird watching a movie but I was able to pull some great things out of it. 

Thursday we had transfer talk! We went through the whole board and got it done! It was a long talk but we made it! Then president took us to Fudruckers after!

Friday we drove to downtown area then all the way to Crowley Louisiana!! It was such a long drive! and all for mattress drop off a long the way. We had smoonkanackies with pres. and then comp study with them in the morning then left from there to make the drive...we made it home at after 8pm. We only had a bag of carrots and grapes for the whole trip! haha

Saturday we went and hung up some light for Lequida Thompson! it was a lot of fun! she said "I know y'all are going to want to come back, you have my number, and my address" it was so funny! The elders have a return appointment with her. after new years they are going to put up a post to help people take their lights down! Great ways to meet people! That evening we had the ward Christmas party! Brandon came in a nice sweater and seemed to enjoy it even though it was centered around the kids! 

Sunday Brandon showed up to church in a classy suit!!! It was a great sight! He brought his grandma, mom and sister to the baptism! IT was so great to see brother Keo baptize him!!!!! It was an awesome service! BRANDON IS A PIONEER IN THE EAGLE SPRINGS WARD!

Elder Wright, Elder Hepworth, Brandon, Bro Keo, Elder Erickson

Elder Erickson, Brandon, Bishop and Sister Tate

Week: 103 "I trust I shall shortly see thee"

3 John 1:13-14

Con amor y Respeto

Elder Erickson

Elder Erickson must be busy preparing for coming home. This is all he wrote -
3 John 1:13-14 reads: 

" 13 I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen awrite unto thee:

 14 But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name."

We are anxiously awaiting to see him in two days and speak to him face to face!

Week 102: Brandon is Truly Elect!

Dear Family and Friends and Eli Erickson,

I've learned so much on mission! one thing I haven't quite figured out is how to make things slow down! This week went super fast and I'm not really a fan of it! We had a fairly busy week with some great adventures.

Monday- We went to the Broadway chapel for my last p-day, today is booked so this will be short ;), they had a gingerbread house making competition. So all you have to say is competition and I'll be there! It was just an added bonus that is was at the Broadway chapel were I spent the majority of my Mondays! Elder Hepworth and I made an awesome house...and won of course! haha It was a good time.

Tuesday- we had our MLC meeting with all the zone leader and Sister trainer leaders. A few came in the night before and spent the night with us. After the meeting we had a crunch time on our video getting it completed! I'm super grateful I took that movie making class! It looks super good! haha.  Tuesday night we had an experience that was very interesting! I'll send a picture and let y'all ponder and guess then tell you later what happened! :)

Wednesday- we Taught Brandon with Bishop Tate! It was a great Lesson, We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and explained the steps in our life, he just soaked it all in! He is such a great guy! I Love teaching him. He has such humble spirit about him. After the lesson we had a scramble to get back and finish the movie. We had exchanges to be on at 8:45pm...we were still in the office at 9:15 figuring it out! but we did it, with a little help! Even though were not always knocking doors we still get the Lord's help, and depend on it :)

Thursday I was with the Fall Creek Elders! It was a nice cold day, some said it was supposed to snow and a lot were freaking out! We only had bikes in that area! I Loved it! It was good to bike and freeze and be a little miserable! We had such a fun time working together, with these missionaries we just got to work hard and didn't have to focus a ton on leadership since they are not zone leaders! I was a good break for me! We found some really great people!

Friday- We worked out transfers with President. It is one of my favorite meetings we have. Its so neat to watch all the inspiration come to him and see how things work out. For example he really felt that 6 elders needed to train and had them set up to do so, but we only had 5 coming in. We talked and worked it down to 5 trainers but couldn't quite get other things to fit into place. later we had to leave to go meet Brandon and when we came back there was a new name on the board. An Elder's paper work had gotten lost and was really coming to our mission, so there was 6! We left to go to a nativity at the kingwood stake center, similar to the one done back home, with Brandon and bro. Keo! It was really nice and the spirit of Christmas was strong. After Bro. Keo took us all out to a BBQ place. Brandon loved it!

Saturday Brandon went and played Football with some of the church members in the community then we were able to teach him at 4! It was a commandments lesson with Bro. Hatch. Its another powerful one! We also got to teach Chip! haha crazy man...I asked him if we could take a picture so could send it to my family and he said "only if it's with my foot kicking you in the head...so I said ok. Now I have 2  black eyes..but you should see the picture....haha. Just kidding! I did say ok but he didn't really kick he just stood there so y'all can see that soon as well!

Sunday was stake conference. Bro. Webb spoke at the adult session! They invited all the missionaries since the theme was hastening the work so we were able to hear it! Since Elder Hepworth and I both taught him we were so stoked to hear him speak! We filmed it, not sure if that is allowed but its one of those spirit of the laws things and it was a good idea! IT WAS TRUE JOY!  Brandon went to a new member meeting before then stayed for the 2 hours after...then he came to a baptism at 5 and the the Christmas Devotional at 7 and bishops house!....He is truly Elect! there is no other like him!

We picked up my replacement on Sunday as well...His name is Elder Wright...Elder Hepworth actually Trained him. Crazy situation. but they will do great together!

We have to drive to Vidor now...well president and I while Elder Hepworth and Wright work on other stuff...Its all hands on deck for the Conference this Wednesday!

Love y'all tons!

Con amor y respeto
Elder Erickson

Elder Erickson and Elder Hepworth

First Place Winner

 

Guess what happened!? 

Best office staff ever! I love these people...and Elder Wright

front row Elder Erickson, Hepworth, and Wright

Elder Erickson, The Webbs, Elder Hepwort

Week 101: Exchanges, Thanksgiving, and Brandon!

Again, as always it was another great week in the work of the Lord!

It started off with a zone conference in Vidor to finish all the zone conferences. We left Monday evening to get out there so we would be able to wake up early and set up. When we left it was raining so had to fit everything in the cab of the truck. We were also going on exchanges until Wednesday night so we had to pack our blow up mattresses and clothes and what not for half the week, so all of that garbage as well as the zone conference supplies. It was stuffed to the brim! (Ill try to remember to send a picture of it.) It was a good zone conference! We had gumbo for lunch! It was only my second time having it....and by Elder Hepworth's mouth...it was my first real gumbo....It was pretty good, then after I went with the Zone leaders in Vidor and Elder Hepworth went with the Zone leaders in Beaumont. We had gumbo for a second time Wednesday night for dinner! haha 2 times in 2 days isn't bad for missing it my whole mission! We had a good time in Vidor, it has some sort of magnetic force that draws in white trash so we were able to do some good missionary work! haha. We came back Wednesday night and woke up for Thanksgiving. We had dinner with the Silvers and Armendarez family from the ward! It was a pretty classic meal, Elder Hepworth and I got to make the potatoes. We pulled out the beater and I felt like it was Sunday dinner back home. In the evening we went to the mission home, the Crawford's invited all of the close missionaries over for pie. It was a good time and nice to spend some of it will the Crawfords and other missionaries. 

Friday we had a lesson scheduled with Brandon...we went over and his grandpa told us he wasn't there. We were pretty bummed. The next day we called and he told us that he was upstairs and thought he heard his name but by the time he came down we were already gone. So good news was that he didn't drop the appointment! Saturday we went on exchanges again! I was able to go back to Broadway and use my Spanish! I actually felt OK about it! Teresa's mother passes away, this poor women has had the hardest life! It was nice to be back in Magnolia! I Love the Poor and Ghetto! Yesterday Brandon came to church again! It was fast and testimony meeting and he said he really felt the spirit during the testimonies! In gospel Principles he had already read the lesson during the week to prepare for the class (probably the only one in the whole class that had done so). He is so awesome! After church he came over to Bro. Keo's house and we taught the Word of Wisdom...We thought he might have a problem...He smokes and drinks coffee but he mentioned how as soon as we started coming by he has been doing less and less of it! It is such a miracle to see how the Lord is preparing him! I Love it and how humble he is, so much! I've learned a lot from him. He said he can quit because it is all in his head really! We are still on for the 15th! 

Love you all! Keep the Christmas Spirit! as a mission we are reading the gospels as well as 3 nephi of Christ's ministry. y'all should do the same :)

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson 

 Elder Erickson and Hepworth stuffed to the brim

 for zone conference and exchanges.

 Exchanges with the Beaumont Zone leaders

This is a funny story...just make up what you want.

With the Summer Zone and Broadway Elders
Elder Erickson and Elder Thomas (my son) on the far right

Exchanges with Orange and Beaumont Elders

Elder Erickson, President Crawford, Elder Hepworth

Week 100: "Master Teacher"

Buenos Dias!!!!!!!

Sounds like all is well with the family! Glad to hear everything is working out! This week here in Texas was cold! and I'm just getting soft to the colder weather, but it was a great week either way! 

We had zone conferences Tuesday and Thursday this week and saw over half the mission! They were really fun, we taught a part on "master teachers." We were trying to be creative so we taught a funny presentation on "Healthy Smoothies" (Sister Crawford is always trying to get missionaries to be healthier, it's kind of a joke around the mission) so we each taught a different smoothie and told them we were a "plug-in" for Sister Crawford.  Elder Hepworth taught it really well and it most the points a "master teacher" this was a sheet given to us by Elder Callister that lays out these points. When I taught it I tried to teach as poorly as I could! It was so funny. One of my favorite things was when we would give them a taste and I "ran out of cups" so I gave them one cup and let them pass it around. haha. I got some really weird looks. But it made a great point after we told them that it was the same smoothie just presented different so the other was more appealing. Our point was that each missionary is teaching the same gospel but we present it different, we need to make sure we are doing the best that we can. Its really fun! This week we will be doing the same thing in Vidor Texas. 

My favorite part of the week was right after the first zone conference President Crawford got a phone call from Salt Lake telling him that 5 missionaries on the way to the West Indies mission are going to have a 30 something hour lay over in Houston so we needed to go pick them up. We dropped everything and left to go and play Hide and Go-seek in the airport. It was fun. We got to ride the train that runs under the airport from terminal to terminal! It was so funny! We were laughing pretty hard! The miracle of it all is the best part. We had a dinner appointment set with a Recent Convert in the area name Bro. Lyons. When he cooks, he cooks to feed an army. We stopped by his house on the was to ask if we could invite 5 missionaries, he so happily invited them over. He said he had a prompting to cook 2 turkeys instead of 1. and that's not to mention the ham, brisket, 3 serving trays of stuffing, mashed potatoes, 3 cakes, rolls, and jello he made! He had invited another family of 5 form the ward but had to cancel last minute because of a fire at work. So it work out perfectly, it was so awesome to see how the Lord watches over his missionaries and provides for them. 

As for Brandon Early! we were able to teach him Thursday night! He had read and prayed and was so solid! He had a question about the Holy Ghost, He said that at other churches he felt that everyone gets the Holy ghost "too much" and wanted to make sure that wasn't going to happen here. We set a date with him for the 15 of Dec.!!! He also came to church yesterday and he had taken his corn rows out of his hair and wore a white shirt and tie! He looked so legit! He had read the first 3 chapters of the book of Mormon. I Love him so much!

Saturday we were on exchanges, I was able to go to Pasadena and speak Spanish again! It was fun! I'm a little rusty though!  but other than that it was a pretty quiet week ;)

Elder Hepworth

packing up for departing missionaries...."we'll Make it fit"

Elder Erickson and Hepworth
At the airport having a good time! 

Week 99: A Miracle for Brandon

Hey family!!

Sounds like there are some great things going on back home! Snow!! legit!!! I miss Snow! 

Sending this last group of missionaries off was quite the experience. 1. because it is the last group to go home before I do. I had 4 companions go home in that group. Elder Walser, Viitanen, Jaynes and Erickson.  2. We were late getting to the temple...meaning we were late getting out of the temple, therefore late getting to the airport. We had to James Bond it to get them to the check-in with time to get their bags on the plane. We had 9 peoples luggage in the back of the Silverado. All of which needed to be unloaded and checked in about 5 minutes. Elder Hepworth and I drove in the the drop of section and pretty much parked across every lane with the truck and van. haha. We were just throwing bags out of the truck. We got all the bags out of the car in about 60 seconds then back in the car and drove out of the way. haha! I can only imagine what everyone else thought, seeing about group of men in suits throwing luggage around and then speeding off. We had a good laugh. We didn't get to say goodbye, President didn't even get to. But I'm sure they were all good. 

I told you about the Facebook thing right? well....It was a set up type thing! Very unproductive but I love it :)...There was two guys both pastors, One of them also works at a school and he got a sub just to come and talk with us. They have studied Church History far more than I have. They have the whole series of History of the Church. I'll put my testimony and The Book of Mormon against anyone and some anti any day! I Loved it! They were nice and cool guys...but just hard headed! so nothing really came of it but a good laugh and watching them try and explain the trinity and we just shot them down one after another ;)

Also this week we had a miracle!! Last Hour of Power we met Brandon, He is a 27 year old black guy. 6'5 probably 250 pounds. He looks like a super thug. Has lil' trill tatted on his hand and a huge star on his Adams apple with a bunch of others, but he had a stuttering problem and his hard for him to talk. He is so humble and Kind. We had a great 1st lesson with him on Friday and he prayed for the first time in almost 2 years. He told us he would like to come to church! so we set up a ride with for him. Sunday morning as we were leaving our apartment Elder Hepworth said a prayer and asked that Brandon would feel comfortable being the only African-American in the ward, which is true. Hard to believe for Texas...but our ward is pretty much Utah. So anyways guess How the Lord answered that prayer.....of course he Sent an African American couple to the church to join him so neither of them felt left out! A couple had gotten on-line and found the church on the Internet and just showed up!!! Carlos and Leshawnda! It was such a miracle. Also two families in the ward Brought Friends! it was such a great day at church! Ive really missed stressing over investigators in church like I got to when I was in West Lake. 

Other than that life is good!

This week we have zone conferences with half the mission then finish them the next week! It will be fun! we have come up with a pretty creative way to teach our part! 

We also go assigned to make the Christmas Slide show! that's going to be a big deal....so if you could send lots of music that would be great! We need some happy upbeat funny music to go along with funny pictures of missionaries, then also a style that gets you pumped up and want to go knock doors and third is music that really brings the spirit to go with baptism pics. It doesn't have to be Christmas music either! thanks!

also If you could send a new family pics or two....I need to put one on my new planner!

thanks! 

Love you !

y'all are awesome

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson