Week 39: ya me voy de nuevo ( I'm Going to Back )

Hello to all!,

First off I'll start by talking about the past week. We did a lot of finding and tried working some more stable areas this time. So sadly we didn't meet too many crazies! We did run into a couple of people who were a little more educated and knew who we were and had some things to say. One lady who had ancestors at Mountain Meadow. That was interesting, especially because neither of my two companions knew what it was. But other than that we talked to a lot of white people which was weird!!  I haven't seen white people who weren't homeless in a very long time! 

We did find one lady during hour of power that was pretty sweet! She seemed interested and really wanted us to come to help her learn about Jesus because she doesn't really know anything and has never gone to church or read the Bible! So that will be nice because we won't have to re- correct her on all the things that the stinking Spaniards forced them to believe ha ha, sorry Dallin but its true your country is the problem for all these die hard Catholics who never go to church and don't know why they are so die hard. ha ha. So we were pretty excited about finding her. Sadly Pedro and Maria didn't come to church again...and we weren't able to meet with them at all either! So the investigator pool is a little low still. But as of today it doesn't really apply to me because I'm leaving again! 

We got the call on Saturday, Me and Elder Jaynes are both leaving! I'm a little upset about it.

 1) Because I really like this ward! The members are way sweet and really willing to help with things. 2) Because all the areas that are opened are car areas! I really don't want to go to a car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the bike and meeting all the crazy people! But it's all going to change I'm afraid but 3) that overrules everything... is that God makes the choice so I'll go where he wants me to go dear Lord!! ha ha

The areas that are open are Humble with elder Leiva! He is from Chile so that would be way sweet to be with a native! Humble is a huge area and not very Spanish. There is also an area right next to Humble called West Lake Houston that is kinda the same deal except the elder there is Elder Clayton. He is the one who played Baseball for Oregon. He is really cool so I wouldn't mind going with him. There is Port Arthur that is a ways away. Its more of a country feel, from what I've heard. The Elder there just finished being trained. And then there is Channel View, which is in the same building as Denver Harbor.  I would be able to see people from that ward again which would be fun! I've heard that area is really black though!....so we'll see! either way I'm not going to a very Spanish area! ha ha 

I was going to try and send a box home with a bunch of Mexican candy and Houston stuff but no one is going shopping today because Elder Erickson will be training next transfer so were not going to a store so I can't buy anything to send home! sorry! y'all just have to wait until I get back into Spanish land before I send anything! ha ha. But good news is that in a car I can finally make the recordings of the pictures and send them home! 

Elder Jaynes with the Mountain of Pancakes

Elder Erickson showing the pancake pile

These pictures show what we walked into the other night when we went to go teach some less actives! ha ha. We got there and they had a mountain of pancakes for us and they also gave us a ton of eggs too! ha ha I could only put down three pancakes and it didn't even look like we made a dent when we were stuffed!

Elder Erickson, Jaynes, and Erickson

The other picture is of us all wearing the "trio-tie" Elder Erickson's mom send them to us!

This past week we got to go to the temple again! It was really nice! I Love the temple! I Learn something new every time! especially since I'm studying so much! I have learned way more already about the gospel than I ever thought I would! I really look forward to my studies! I didn't realize how much amazing stuff there was in there! I just want to mark it all! I have to really focus to only marking the super super good stuff or my Book of Mormon would be a coloring book! ha ha But anyways the last picture is a district picture at the temple!

Love you all so much! 

Con amor y respeto!

Elder Erickson

Elder Erickson with his District at the Houston Texas Temple

Week 38: Crazies and More Crazies

Hey! 

Ok so I'm glad I got some shorter emails this week cuz I have so much to try and regurgitate onto this screen I don't think I'm going to get it all done! HAHA  but here goes

First off with Pedro and Maria

We had an appointment set up with them to meet on Wednesday. The way their work schedules work out Maria is only off Wed. and Sun. and Pedro's work is just hit and miss. He works for a construction company and they just call him when they need him because work has been really slow right now. So he told us that he might not be there. So we tried to get a member to come out with us just in case he worked we could still go into the house. But we never found anyone. And sure enough when we went over there on Wed. he had gone into work. So we couldn't go in. We talked to her for a bit on the porch and she said she had read a little bit and that they were coming to church. So we left them and tried other days throughout the week to meet with Pedro but he was never there when we knocked. So Sunday rolled around and they didn't show up to church either!! I was pretty bummed!...so were planning on going to visit them last night when they are usually all home but something came up with I, will explain later on. So anyways, we haven't met with them at all in this last week! only talked to Maria a bit on the porch! but she said they were reading and wanted to come to church so just got to keep the faith that something happened and they'll come next week. We did text Pedro and he texted back and said he doesn't know when he'll be able to meet but he does want to meet again so at least were still in contact with them!

The Trio is going ok...its still really crowded, its hard to keep things clean. One of them doesn't really clean up after himself and I don't want to do it cuz then I feel like he'll start just relying on that so that's one thing I'll be excited for next week! Things will be cleaner! We have gotten good at teaching and figured it out a little better between transitions. Me and Elder Erickson like to talk a lot and Elder Jaynes doesn't really. So door contacts and usually just me or him and then lessons its usually pretty evenly spaced out. Elder Erickson and I are a lot a like in some ways and for that I think it makes us a little competitive ha ha.  We went running a few mornings and we were only running maybe a half mile at the most but it always ends up being a sprint between us ha ha. Don't worry I won but I feel like throwing up after! ha ha, we don't run anymore. But we get a long but subconsciously I think things become a competition, but other than that we get a long great. He is a really funny Elder and always keeps us laughing.

So the first crazy guy we met is named Empris.(we were pretty much English elders this week) he is this black guy who was in the church when we went for district meeting! He used to be a preacher and knows a ton about the church and church history! We started talking to us and then preaching to us! turns out he almost got baptized a year ago and then backed out but still has been studying. Its a weird situation and all, but he knows things like 1000 years is 1 day to God and just doctrine stuff like that. But he started preaching to us and so we just invited him into district meeting. He ended up preaching through the whole thing! and it was actually really good stuff! ha ha. I'm not going to go into a ton of detail of what he said because I recorded the whole thing! hahaha We listen it all the time! It's so funny! but at the end we tried to get his address and he wouldn't give it to us. Finally we got his number so we told him we'd call him. He was thinking he should get baptized right away. And if we didn't want to baptized him he was just going to leave it alone. Really strange. But anyways we tried calling him later and the number wasn't working, but he had called us from his phone so we knew it was really his number. He did end up coming to the English ward and later that Sunday we got a call from him and met him at subway. We talked with him about church and he just kept saying how he had already has been interviewed and accepted the teachings of Joseph Smith so he should be baptized. So we were at a loss for what to do. Luckily there was a baptism that night and President was going to be there so we brought Empris (this is why we never got to go and try and meet with Pedro and Maria) but we had him talk with President. We left once the had talked for a second because we had a lesson with a man named Cooley. (who I will explain more also) but as we left president said he doesn't know much. Which was weird because he knew more than most life time members. But I think he missed the whole reason for baptism and what not. Because he knew the whole authority thing. You'll see in the recording. But we'll see what happens with him. 

Preacher on the balcony- When were in the same apartments as Coolie, the guy in the next  paragraph. We had a return appointment with him and as we were leaving some guy started yelling at us about "knowing Jesus" I love black people. This whole thing is recorded as well so I'm just going to let you listen to it! hahaha I love this recorder! Now you can see how many crazy people we meet a day! but he just yelled and preached from his second story balcony thing to his apartment about useless knowledge of Jesus and God is love and 2 or 3 in his name is Church...all good stuff but wasn't really making a point. I hope is sends through! ha ha We tried giving him Book of Mormon and I had him read 2 Nephi 33 about believing in the words or the Book of Mormon and believing in Christ so all the people who had gathered would hear it too! It was quite ridiculous. I hate getting preached to. and I had my fair share this week! ha ha 

Coolie. Another black man who gave us another strange story. We were looking for an investigator in these super ghetto apartments and this guy with black yellow orange and red  dreads came up to us, knew who the missionaries were, and started asking us if marijuana was a sin. He was actually real so we decided to meet with him, It made me think of Jon and his mission in the West Indies. ha ha We went into his house and he had rasta stuff everywhere! along with a bunch of other stuff.....ha ha. But he were talking with him and he was so hard to understand. so for a trivia this week I'm going to give you one of his questions he asked him and see who can figure out what he was trying to say. 

Sorry if none of this makes sense I'm just trying to get it out fast! ha ha...once you get the recordings it will all make more sense!!

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

Trivia: Ur Hrs Urnge lie Mn. ( He is from New Orleans) I'm learning two languages now! ha ha 

Elder Erickson and Empris

Here are a some answers to questions we had : 

 We get fed pretty good by members though! usually they just take us out to eat and drop stuff off! i kinda like eating at home though! then I can control what I eat! haha. I just usually cook chicken and veggies! 

i havent gotten the box yet but ill keep my eyes out for it! :)

For English Class we usually only have 1 recent convert there! but last week we had 5 people and 3 were non members! So we just teach from the book they gave us in the MTC cuz it has  both spanish and english so we have taught the alphabet and things like how to say you, us, them, me and i. Its super hard but I enjoy it! 

Our last hour of power was ok! we knocked a lot of doors and got one contact because the guy and a bunch of Real Madrid stuff up do I was able to talk to him about that! but other than than it must have been someone else's turn to find someone good! :)

Week 37: Penalosa Family at Church

Que Tal todos!

How is everyone doing this week? i hope all is well and that you had a good day today! This week was a pretty good one for me! First off we ran into Pam again! I don't have time to load up the recording, maybe next time. But it was pretty dang funny! Second we had a ward party called Dias Patrias. Everyone set up a table from there country and brought food in, there was so much food from all over the place! Ward parties here are pretty well known for being crazy anyways! it started at 6 and we just ate food from all over the place! I had  some crazy stuff like Pan de menudo! and seviche ( I think its how you spell it) its the fish cooked in lemon. well not cooked but soaked so they say its "cooked" There was food from Honduras and Chile and Guatemala, Pietro Rico, of course Mexico, Columbia, and other countries too! it was really sweet! And then they also had dances from all the countries that the ward members did! The gym was super packed. they only had room for chairs and they table with the food. Everyone eating just had to hold their food! I was pretty surprised at it. We had to leave early to make it home but I recorded a few of the dances and will send them home. They next day at church I asked our Ward Mission Leader how the rest of it went and he told me it was good, but he left at 11 so it wasn't over....? I guess at 11 o'clock it was still packed and people were still dancing! ha ha gotta love the culture!

The volleyball court you set up looks pretty sweet! I'm excited to get home and play with y'all! I can see those matches getting pretty intense! I want to play against Hannah so I can block her and slam it down her throat! ;) ha ha But really though that's a good idea! they come out right? so i can still shoot on the goal and all? and i noticed the net isn't even up yet! its September? Has soccer already gone out of style with everything else that was cool when i left? ha ha 

The Best part of the week was that we had a family in Church yesterday! Pedro and Maria Penalosa! It was really quite a miracle that they came! We missed placed our phone earlier this week and it has really put a crutch on the work. We had told Pedro on Tuesday that we would call him and see if he would be able to make it to church on Sunday. It was the first visit we really sat down with him and talk. His wife works everyday and he is looking for work so we hadn't even met her. He told us they would be together on Sunday so we set up a real teaching appointment for then because he wanted it to be when they were all there. As the week end rolled around we tried stopping by his house to tell him we didn't have our phone and remind him then about church but were never able to catch him home. Sunday right before sacrament I was shaking hands with all the members as they were walking into the chapel and along with the crowd in walked Pedro, Maria and their three girls! I was so surprised! they came all on their own. No reminder, no pushing, I was really surprised and impressed! We also had an appointment with them later that evening that went really well! They would be awesome family that could benefit so much from this message. so I'm pretty pumped about them!!!

Jantz sounds like he did a good job! I'm so stoked for that kid and know he is going to be a bomb missionary!

I did get the salsa and it made it just fine! it still tastes really good! but not the least, tiny bit, spicy. We will have to fix that when i am home to help make salsa! Ive learned how to make it from a few members and its really easy cuz they just make it everyday instead of bottling it.

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

Week 36: MIRACLE!

Hey family! 

How was the Labor day for everyone? I didn't realize it was even a holiday until we went to go do our shopping and I saw how many people there were there! It helped me understand why we passed a guy grilling at 8:30 when we went to put our laundry in! 

The work in this area has been pretty much the same this week. Still in the finding stage! while in the process of finding we met some pretty crazy people though! that's one thing that never gets old about missionary work. We met on guy names Ralf. He is a homeless guy who is a member of the While Knights of a America and the KKK. He really changed my point of view on homeless people and White supremacists, not that I think it's right in any means, but it did change my thought about them. Just he was just super funny about how he talk about being homeless. He would talk about eating out of the trashcans as a normal thing. But the best quote of the whole conversation was "a few years ago we saw our first half black president...Well you are looking at the first half Mexican Grand Dragon of the KKK" hahahaha I was laughing so hard! 

Another pretty funny story is that while we were doing weekly planning E. Erickson went to the bathroom and while he was in there he decided to clean the bathtub, multi-tasking I guess. But he just started throwing the cleaners that were under the sink into the tub to clean it. I'm not really sure what he was thinking. But he mixed Bleach and "The works" cleaners.....he made the worst smelling gas I have ever smelt! It burnt my lungs so bad! He ran out of the bathroom so quick and never quite finished his task either! But long story short we had to call poison control be cause he was short on breathe and ended up finishing weekly planning outside for the next two hours! haha 

As for investigators the only person we are working with is maria de Los angels. She was baptized like 40 years ago in Mexico and i we might have to baptize her again because they cant find her records. She hadn't been to church in the last 40 years either so that didn't help, but she has been coming the last few weeks in a row! Don't really know if that counts as a baptism... haha.

Sorry its short this week! ill try and have better material next week! haha 

ah I just remembered a good story!...so we were walking one day to see if we could talk to more people that way, didn't really work, but after a whole day of walking we were hurrying to get back home because we had to bike to the church for an English class that we teach and we were running late. I looked at my watch and said we better hurry or were not going to make it. Right then, maybe 2 seconds after I said that a guy in the parking lot we were walking by rolled down his window and asked us if we wanted a ride! MIRACLE! it was crazy how quick it came. the guy was a non-member. He was from Costa Rica and his name was Eli! haha its been awhile since I had heard that name and it was nice to hear it! But he was such a nice guy! he had made friends with a missionary in Costa Rica and so that's why he knew who we were. He was about 30 or so and he lived it Costa Rica like 15 years ago. It's crazy how a missionary 15 years ago got us that ride! We are trying to teach him but haven't been able to meet up wit him since, But he was helping God with his work out that one day and I'm sure he will be blessed for it! 

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

Trivia: What did the fir-tree say to the cedars? i thought Eli would enjoy this one.