Pictures from Sister Larson

Elder Erickson wearing the tags of his entire district

The whole crazy district.

The district in glasses

From Sister Larson

Good Morning,

May I take a minute to say “Thank You.”    I work in the Texas Houston East Mission office but also have a daughter, Holly Larson, in the MTC preparing to go to Mesa Arizona Visitor’s Center speaking Spanish.  Your son is in her district at the MTC.   She was very grateful for the blessing her gave her last week as she worked through some of the challenges of MTC life.  Thank you for raising a son that is worthy and able to bless the lives of others.  Holly does not ask things of others easily – he truly must be a great young man for her to have felt comfortable to ask for a blessing.    I am very excited to meet him, as well as Elder Mallard and Kener.  We have a great complement of missionaries right now here in the Texas Houston East Mission  and are excited to have these three young men join us.

I have some fun pictures Holly sent us with her MTC district.  You can see them at her blog (I post her letters – edited versions – each week.)    sisterlarson.blogspot.com

You will have to scroll down a bit to see the pictures.  Your son is not only a great strength to their district but I sense a great sources of entertainment as well.

Sincerely,

Sister Larson

Week 5: Just a Note

Ok so sorry i Dont have much time left. my time was needed else where. but anyways real quick! it was an awesome week! I got made district leader. which is kinda cool but i have a lot of meetings i go to. Also i got asked to be the Zone Tutor???? kinda confused about that cuz there was still two districts older than me but I guess its cool. I just barley got asked about it so i havent really "tutored" anyone yet. But it will be cool. i like helping others! also sorry about the memory card thing....i kept forgetting to send it and i just sent it tuesday or yesterday i cant remember. but it is sent now. so you should be getting it soon. So they tricked us witht he fireside. it wasnt the first pres. it was actually Elder Nelson and Elder Holland! it was so cool when they walked in how everyone shot up while we were singing. They had "several Hundered" visitors from the history of the MTC so they told the missionaries that there were be few seats and most would have to sit in the overflow in another building. So i joined the Choir. Yeah the Choir. cuz they have reserved seats. so i was in the choir for a day and we actually sang a way cool song. Im sure i was terrible but i got a good seat so i was game for it. I also got to give Hermana Larson a blessing last night! it was so crazy! it was my first time giving the actual blessing part and it was crazy! my legs were shaking for some reason! but she was having trouble with her testimony and feeling the spirit i guess but i dont remember what i said but others said it was good so i hoped it helped! i was stoked i got the chance to give one though! Im over on my time so i got to get off! sorry! Love you all!! life sounds good! thanks for the packages and letters! keep sending them please!

Elder Erickson.

Week 4: Pranked

Ah! so i got a great story for this here email. Last week thursday night after i had just told you nothing funny happened i had the funnest and funniest night yet!....so ill try and make it short cuz it took a whole night to develop! but anyways Elder huges got a note on his door saying "Please come to this room we have been getting complaints about your pranks and goofing off - President Martinelli" so he thought his two roommates wrote it because they just got here like a week and a half ago and he had been pranking them all week. So he comes back to the dorms at like 9:45 and was talking to his roommates and seemed all shocked and was like "yo (thats just how he talks) i just went to his room ya'll told me to in this note and i ran into Pres. Brown (who is the MTC PRES.) and so i asked him if he knew a pres. Martinelli and he was all let me see that note! and he read it and now he wants you in his office in 5 minutes." everyone was laughing and all you're just joking! and then he all serious was like sorry i ratted you out. If you didnt write it dont go but i gave him your names and he wants you there in 5 in yours suits. So after some convincing the kids get all dressed back up in there suits and by now its 10 and start heading towords 1M which is like main building where is office is. and as they go out one door me and huges book it out the other door and run around the other side and hide in some bushes as they walk by us and then we go to run into 1M we forgot our key cards ( now you have to have cards you swipe at every door to get into the building) but the laudryroom doesnt have one so we ran into there and it connects with 1M and in there you are supposed to always be dressed up but we were just in out basketball shorts so we had to ninja past everyone who was cleaning and all and we made it all the was to Pres. Browns office and put a note on there that said "haha jokes on you!" hahah it was so funny so we werent and hid down the hall and watched the kids walk up with there heads all down and they get to the door and look up and get so mad! aw it was great!!! so then we booked it back to the building and still didnt have our keys so we had to have a branch pres. let us in and he was looking at us all werid cuz we couldnt stop laughing!! haha it was great! but then the kids came back and said on their way up the asked a man where his office was and they told him but said "he's not here this late unless he is dealing with missionaries who are in a lot of trouble!" hahaha they were so scared! but were all chill now and just laugh about it! but it was so fun ninjaing through the whole MTC. Probably not what we should have been doing of course but you got to have a little fun!

so now for a little spiritual stuff! Me and Elder Maxwell, Who is in my district and is from orem, taught a lesson durring our language study while our comps were working with teachers. But he is pretty good at spanish as well. But we just taught some other missionaries and it was so BOMB! it was different teaching with someone else who could speak as well! i felt like i could say everyone thing i wanted to! and we didnt even prepare or nothing! I probably mess up a few tenses and congagations but im feeling pretty good about it all for the time ive been here! its crazy how much the spirit can teach you! i love the spirit! its the best! But im working hard and trying to be the best teacher i can be!!!! I Love serving the Lord and i know everying about his is true!!!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL

 Con Amor!

Elder Erickson!!!

Week 3: Birthday Week

Well its been 3 full weeks now. Feels like ive been here longer. but it also feels like i just got droppe off...so i cant quite figure out what it is. Sadly i dont really have a funny story this week except for Elder Jarman told this joke that made me laugh pretty hard I can't remember exactly what it was at the moment, but he is a stud, he is the only man that can school me at 4 square. But i do have a new thing that i do here. Me and another elder, Elder Huges i told mom a little about him but we made some friends with some kids a few floors down from us. we are on the top floor which is the 4th floor. In 6M for anyone who cares to know. But on the second floor there is a room of 4 Elders who are from Mexica and Peru. They came here not knowing any English and its crazy how much english they have learned since they are surrounded by it. It makes me jealous of the people who get to go to the MTC's in other countries. But at night we get back to our rooms around 9:30 and we hurry down there and we talk with them are they help us with spanish and we help them with english. Its been really cool cuz the last few nights we have been practicing teaching lessons to eachother. the first time we did it we taught them in englisht then they taught us in english then the next night they taught us in spanish and then we taught them in spanish. Its so cool. its my favorite part of the day and sometimes the time i feel the spirit the most. Last night we tried a new way of teaching eachother...we will say our things in spanish and they will reply in english that way we both get practice. its so cool I love doing it so much. and they kids are so funny! they say the funniest stuff and i ask about phrases that make zero sense. One night though we got carried away teaching and didnt even realize the time and we were there unitl like 10:35 and were supposed to be in our room at 10:15...i didnt think it was a big deal because the spirit was still there and all so i didnt feel bad about being late. But we just got new zone leaders and one of them is super power hungry and has a stick up his butt "thats one of the phrases we taught the spanish kids" but he was like waiting in front of our rooms and now its become a big deal between some of the elders. But its all good ive avoided most of the heat of things and just make sure to watch the time better! But i think it will really help me by acutally listening to a navtive speaker talk a lot. But other than that nothing else has really happened this week. Just more spanish and more teaching. We had TRC again this week and it went better, i dont know if i told you about the last week when we got ripped apart of not. But we did but this time was a lot better and the reviews were a lot nicer. Im feeling a lot better about my spanish, I feel bad for my compainion though. he is learning at a different pace than everyone else and still has a hard time pronouncing everthing. He usually has to read everything off in our lessons so it makes it really hard to teach a lesson and we have been going to an empty room to try and get phrases down so he his progressing just slowly. But at least he's working right! I dont know if i even told you anything about him so if i did here it is again. He is from pocetello Idaho and his name is Elder Satchwell. Love the kid but he is kinda a nerd and always talks about Spider man and compares the MTC to Harry potter's Hoggwarts its pretty funny but kinda nerdy! haha..,,,he is a diabetic and loves sugar. haha my other room mates are Elder Kener who is way cool and we get along pretty well. He is from Arizona but just recently moved to Holiday Utah like 3 months ago. my other room mate is Elder Mallard how also has diabeties and is from Idaho falls. But i dont know what else to tell you! if you have questions feel free to make a list and ill print it off so i can hit every point. Because every week in here is the same so most my emails are going to be the same for the next few weeks anyways! haha OH i almost forgot it was my brithday this week huh! im 19! i totally forgot! well it pretty much sucked most of the day. because i was super frustrated with things haha. But the letters and boxes i got helped me a lot! thanks for the bouncy balls mom! ill be sure not to get in too much trouble!  and ill be sure to let you know what we do with the beach ball! haha Thanks you everyone who sent me a card or letter or something! i Love all of you!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Con Amor

Elder Erickson

Week 2: The AIDS of Adam

Ok so we'll start today off with the funny story of the week.  We were teaching a lesson to one of the people about the plan of salvation and I was trying to say that the fall of Adam and Eve was part of the plan...the word for fall is Caida....and I said it cida or sida or something like that. so what I really said was that the AIDS of Adam and Eve are part of the plan....the guy looked and me so weird and confused and I didn't know the mistake I had made.  It was so funny though when I found out what I really said.  it was funny cuz we had just had a lesson on when c and g are silent and so for some reason that was in my head and i totally screwed it up!!!

Some other cool stuff that happened this week was we had two people ask for blessings! I got to be a part of both of them...I did the oil part on one of the hermanas and was in the circle for one of the Elders. it was such a cool experience! I was so happy to be apart of both of them. The first blessing that elder keener gave was way powerful and we could all fill it and he was on a spiritual high all night!

Also another cool thing that happened was Elder Nelson came this week for our devotional! he gave a crazy talk! he talked about the Abrahamic convent and how we as missionaries and making that come true! it was super deep and a lot of it went over everyone's heads but it was still way cool! and probably the coolest thing is that announced that the whole first pres. will be coming on the 31st!!!!!!!!!! its going to be awesome! They are going to be coming because i guess its some special day for the MTC! but it will be way cool.

We also had our first experience teaching in TRC which is when people volunteer and come in to be taught! They usually are people from BYU or something. and its all in Spanish! its getting tough because my comp is still struggling and has to read it word for word so its hard to word as a companionship and one of the guys we taught tore us apart on it and was quoting "if you're not one then you are not mine" I was pretty upset and was trying to be a good missionary but i really wanted to say some smart alec comment to him but I guess its just something we will have to work on. 

I LOVE you all though!

Con Amor

Elder Erickson

Week 1: First P-Day

Ok so this week went by really fast. But when i think about all that i have done it feels like ive been in here forever. When i first got here people would say "your weeks will be days and your days will be weeks" when i first heard that i was like you guys are half retarded. thats the stupidest saying. well im now eating crow because it really does feel like that.

The funny story for this week though is new Years eve. Everyone got so much stuff. The poppers and anything that made noise. And there were more bottles of that sparkling cider than ive ever seen in a store. It was so funny. One kid even got a pinata. So we had a countdown to 10 o'clock. Our whole floor went into one room and everyone had there noise makers and it was so lound and everyone had streamers and those little shooters, one kid also had tons of glow sticks that were getting thrown around. Then some kids brought in flash lights and were shaking them around. so it really kinda seemed like a party and one kid even yelled out. "hey! this is just like studio! NO GIRLS!" it was way funny but anyways at 10 everyone shot there stuff off and beat the crap out of the pinata and when we truned the lights on you could even see the floor! it was such a mess. it was way funny though!

We wake up at 6 usually and then do a little work our and then make it to the shower before 6:30 cuz we are on the top floor and lose all the pressure and heat way quick. Then we got to breakfast at 7. the food here is pretty good but my stomach hasnt been liking it. I've tried not to eat crap but even some of the better looking meals still make it hurt. But after that we have personal study for an hour. but they want all studying to be done in the class room so it creates a better unity among our district. I think its dumb. but then we usually have class right after that for 4 hours and then either lunch or study. then we go back to class for another 4 hours.  Somtimes we'll have a workshop. Then its dinner usually at 4:30. Its super early. But we have gym after for an hour. Ill usually go run and then lift. The machines they have here arent all that great, there is only a few of them but i guess it works since you only have an hour. But we get gym 5 days a week,  not on P-day or Sunday. then after gym we have a language study and then a computer lab time that helps us with spanish as well. after that we have to go back to the class room for planning and they dont want us to leave until 9:30. so we hardly ever take our materials back to our room to read or study. But thats the basic schedule. the things kinda move around from day to day but same stuff just different order.

Today for Pday though we woke up and went to the 7 oclock session in the temple. it was so nice to go and just clear my head of everything. i loved it. and it was way cool to see what the ogden temple would have looked like since they have the same layout.  Ive gotten lots of letters and i love it. Our district gets tons of mail. two days ago between our district we had 46 letters in one day. It was crazy. we have two hermanas that got 10 each!

I finally found braxton this sunday...it was way good to see him and talk with him. it makes me feel like im back at home. at one point in the lunch room it was me dave braxton cory hart and jordan grill all together talking. it was way cool to see everyone.  Daves's language is a joke (Tagalog). it sounds like the sounds a baby would make. 

que vaya Dios

Elder Erickson