Week 32: Yanet's Baptism Set for Saturday

Hey everyone!
Sorry I didn't email yesterday! they switched our p-day this week....we are having some big zone p-day and all the zones are coming together and we are going to BBQ and have a Soccer tourney! I'm pretty freaking stoked! but we don't have much time because we have to go all the way to Atascacita for all this so we have to jet soon! I read everyone's email and I'm glad to hear that y'all are having fun at Bear Lake.....This week kinda is tough! I have the Bear Lake calendar hanging next to my desk and every time I look over I see the whole week with all the pictures on every day of fun and I get a little home sick!...usually followed by una grita! I'm sure its quite boring without me there. Actually Bear Lake is never boring! If y'all are still there say hi to everyone! 

quick update on Yanet!
We just taught her tithing last night along with the word of wisdom so she has been taught everything and is living everything so its all systems go for this Saturday at 5th if you care to join us! She is super excited and tells everyone to come so I'm sure she would love any visitors! haha....sadly she decided to send her little girl, Yasmin, back to Honduras. She leaves the 21st of Aug....a few members of the church have offered Yanet a place to live and all, so she should be alright. As of right now I think her goal is to get enough money to go back to Honduras! She said that she has been telling her husband there to start going to church! So hopefully he can become converted and they will stay active there!
Another investigator that we have is named Polo! He is so sweet! He is a huge joker! He has diabetes really bad though and has already lost one leg because of it and now his other foot has a cut that wont heal and it may have to be amputated. Every freaking mexican has diabetes! but I'm pretty sure he knows that he is getting close and so he is trying to make things right with him and God! He is reading a lot and we have a date with him for the 25th of Aug. So hopefully it goes well with him! We will probably have to move it back a week because he didn't come to church this last week! But he really is like our grandpa! He's the coolest man, when we go over to his place he always gives us Tunas, they are a mexican fruit that are super good! Look for them and try them! They kinda look like cactus! 

Another investigator that could make it is Javier. He is a member boyfriend that we are teaching has he has been coming to church with her, he is 23 and way sweet. We haven't set a date with him yet, but we are planing to this week!

Sorry this is so short but real quick a funny story!
There is this lady that we have been teaching for a long time and she never will come to church. She always has a different excuse! So we went and we were dropping her pretty much, just saying - here is our number call us when you have a change of heart and want to come. She kinda was rude and tried to bash us about how church isn't important and how we can't tell her that...well when we left we gave her a card with the number and elder Viitanen said, "the day you come to church is the day I eat my shoe".....haha. She got so excited! She kissed the card and was like..ok I'm coming. What time is church? As we walked out the door she called me back and said "Elder. domingo. pasen por mi." hahahahaha faith in Jesus Christ won't get her to come but Elder Viitanen eating his shoe will....so we'll see what happens!
MUCH LOVE IN BEAR LAKE AND ALL
Con amor y respeto!
Elder Erickson

No one got the trivia so you can all try again!

Week 31: Yanet (Janet)

So Janet! 

She is a lady that we just contacted walking down the street one day and we started teaching her and she was reading and everything was going good. But then she got a job....she is from Honduras and she used to live in New York with her husband and 3 year old girl...who is by far the cutest thing I've ever seen! Every time she sees us she runs outsides and yells "LOS MORMONES!!" it's so freakin cute! but anyways...Janets husband got deported and so she moved here to Houston with her husbands mother in law and some guy who isn't her father in law. But she got a job working all day every day just like the rest of this neighborhood. So we never really saw her again. Sometimes at night we would catch her home but she never had time to talk to us. We actually had dropped her because she wasn't progressing and couldn't ever come to church. Then one day we saw her in the street and we talked to her and she had quit her job. We started teaching her again and she has become super solid! She comes to church and reads all the time! After we set her date with her she called Hno. Guillen, the Gospel Principles teacher to baptize her! We hadn't even told her to think about who or anything. But since she doesn't have a job now shes been trying hard to find one...we thought the main reason she was coming to church at first was to get work...and i think it was...but after she came her whole desires changed and it was so awesome to see the change her heart. She has turned down three jobs already that would require her to work on Sunday. She has no work and hardly any food. I've never seen anyone so faithful. She tells us that she has already made a promise to God and so she can't stop now. It's the most amazing thing. I know she is going to be blessed for her actions and faithfulness to keep the commandments...I just wish it was sooner. Last night we decided to call her and she how church went for her cuz we didn't see her after. When she answered she was crying, turns out that the mother-in-law and other man don't want her living there if she can't help pay for things. They gave her one week to move out. Luckily she has become super good friends with a few of the ward members and so she walked to a close members house and we met her there. We talked to her and she still knows this is something she needs to do but isn't sure how she is going to do it! I Know God has a plan for all of this, I just wish I knew it!  It's kinda stressing me out!  This week has been a huge roller coaster between her and getting Antied and finding other new investigators who should also be getting baptized in Aug.! ....asi es la Obra

I Hope you all enjoy Bear Lake week! I'm sure it won't be quite as fun without me...but I'm sure you'll manage.

Con amor y Respeto!

Elder Erickson

Trivia:

Eli got the answer! good work

Q: Are (is) There any book(s) that don't talk about people being killed in the Book of Mormon? If so, what one(s)?

MTC / Denver Harbor Pictures

Elder Erickson sent us his SD card so we have a lot of fun pictures - here are a few of them from his last part at the MCT to the present  time in Dever Harbor Texas.  

It was fun for Ethan to see friends from home while at the MTC

 Elder Dave Merkley with Elder Erickson

With Elder Jake Nguyen

He also loved making new friends

His Lava Lava that he treasures was a gift from one of his new friends.

This Elder is HUGE!  You would want to have him as your friend!

Elder Erickson with his district before they all go out to their different Missions

This is home for the next two years.

 Ethan first thought this building was a shed - but it is a home that they taught in.

These little green friends are everywhere.

Elder Erickson with his second companion Elder Berneel at the Huston Temple.

Lil Red is a local gang that is taged all over in the Denver Harbor area.

Lil Red Elder Erickson is in Denver Harbor wanting to share the Book of Mormon with everyone.

The local art work....

It is amazing what graffiti artist can do with cans of spray paint!

Elder  Erickson has been in his first area, Denver Harbor for 4 months. Being in the same area for this long has allowed him to see people he has taught progress in the gospel. He has grown to love the friends he has made there!  

Week 30: Ortega's Progress

Well another week passes,
Jeez it seems like just yesterday I was sitting here trying to make the most out of this hour! Time is the craziest thing....always zooming past was too slow. 
Well today I have to start my report off a little sad. Ray is having a pretty hard time with the Drug thing...He flaked a few times and told us he wasn't feeling good and that he was just going to sleep. Then about 5 minutes later we see his drug buddy ride up to his house on a bike and out walks Ray. So went and tried to talk to him and he wasn't really the nicest! He just told us we'll have to do it another day and that he had something to do. We have seen him when he is on the drug, when he is off the drug, and when he needs it. He is three different people! I feel so bad for him! I can't imagine what it is like having such and addiction but wanting to quite it so bad that it turns you into having different personalities! So we are going to keep trying with him but as for right now things aren't really going forward. 
On a little happier note we Set a Date with Janet, or Yaneth, or something close to that, I'm not really sure what she says! She is from Honduras, they have the nappiest Spanish! It's pretty hard to understand her and she uses words me or mister proper Spanish have no idea what they mean! Elder Viitanen hates hearing Spanglish but I think the words are so funny so I try and uses some of both whenever possible! I'm not sure if I have given you the back ground on her yet so let me know if I haven't and I will next week. But she came to church two weeks in a row now! and the change between those to Visits was crazy! We had a lesson with her on The Tree of Life because that was the chapter she read! By the time the lesson was over she told us she knows she is going to get baptized! She didn't know when but she said when she is ready! So we set a date with her for the 11th of Aug. She has been telling everyone since!!!! She even wanted us to make sure it got announced in sacrament meeting so people would know! She doesn't have any family so she wants to make sure the ward will come, she says they are her family!...We haven't taught her anymore than lesson 1 but she seems so excited! It's almost too real!.... I'm pretty pumped and hoping she stays this way all the way to the end! We have dinner with her and the Ortega's tonight too so it will be good to get them introduced! Another awesome experience this week was the The whole Ortega family gave talks in sacrament! Its been so sweet to stay this long in an area to see the whole change! as much as I want to get out of here, seeing them progress makes it worth it! Hno. Ortega has a call now too! He is second consejero in the Sunday school....I'm not sure what he does but at least it's a calling! 
It's wouldn't be a normal week if I didn't have something to make y'all laugh...SO last Thursday we were biking home from the Rivera's house and we always pass this huge dog that chases us...I filmed it so you'll get to see it! but it's pretty quick but usually we get going quick to pass it so it doesn't really have a chance...but this time a little dog a few houses before started barking and gave it some warning so it made it too the street right as we got there....I haven't kicked anything so hard since my last indoor soccer game!!!!!!!!! haha I pretty much fell of my bike in the process...I'll get you the whole story some how...but I ended up making it away OK! but I got the dog three great times in the head! so was pretty happy about it! 
Glad to hear everyone is doing well and still enjoying the summer!!! 
LOVE YOU ALL!
Con amor y respeto!
Elder Erickson

TRIVIA: Hannah got it! good job
Next question....What and where is the biggest mammal in the Book of Mormon?

Week 29: Ray Wants to Change

Hey family!!!
Glad you got the pics and i hope you enjoy them! Just a short one today! hope you will forgive me! 
We have been getting so much rain here! sometimes we are so wet at lunch we come take our clothes off and put them in front of the fan to dry and talking off my pants feels like im taking off a swimming suit! Ive never seen rain some so fast and hard before. In like 5 days they got over 6 inches....and they saw these are just scattered showers! i cant wait for an actual storm! 
Today i want to tell you about a new investigator we have!...His name is Ray. This guy is something else! he is 60 years old and addicted to Heroin for more than 20 of those years, im not sure how long it really is but from what i stand its at least 20. We knocked on his door one day and he just told us to go away. about a month later we were contacting a lady in street near his house and he walked by and as he walked by he said "hey guys you got a minute i want to talk"  So we went and talked with im for a little and this visit he just told us how he wanted to change and knew we could help him. We left him with a restoration pamphlet and set up a next visit. we went back for the next visit and he said we would have to reschedule because his nephew came over, and he also said how he answered all the questions i the back of the pamphlet but need a book of Mormon to answer some of them.... no one ever answers them! but so we went back the third time. He asked for another book of mormon....he said he was sharing it with his nephew and ended up giving it away!...then in the middle of our lesson he stopped because a man he knew was walking by and he ran to the street and invited him to come listen. The man said no but when he came back he said "sorry i just want everyone to hear this message cuz i know everyone needs to be saved!" all really cool experiences but the coolest was when he was telling us about his addiction and how his heavenly father is disappointed in him and he broke down. It was a pretty dang touching moment! i know this message can help him change. Heroin addict who has been the rehab so many times already. Wants to change. Sounds like a perfect investigator to me! 
Im loving the work and loving finding people like that who need this message so much! The work is awesome! Thats so sweet kelly gave a book of mormon away too! tell everyone hello and that i love them! Ill give a bonus point to the first person who gives a book of mormon away to a non member AND commits them to read it!
Trivia wise dad got the answer!!---keep track of your own score cuz i lost count. haha
this week question:
this week in my personal study i read about an animal in the book of mormon that was kinda like my hair, and flying when it shouldnt be. And you would never find them in Hawaii!  
Best of luck! 
Love you all!
con amor y respeto!
Elder Erickson

Week 28: Elder Viitanen

Hey! so my new comp.....His name is Elder Viitanen. I've talked about him a little bit! Nacio en Espana! It's sweet! He loves everything about Spain. I think he was born in Barcelona or somewhere close to that. He has the lisp when he talks and in some words that he uses that are new to me. I'm starting to use it on those words! haha. It kinda sounds gay. I'll stick to my dirty Mexican Spanish with made up words haha. He is a way sweet elder though. He moved to Utah when he was six so his English is better than his Spanish but he is still fluent in both. He said they just use Spanish in the house. His mom and all her family are from there. His dad is from Norway or Belgium - some place like that. His dad learned Spanish to talk with his mom by reading the Book of Mormon. haha crazy stories from his family! but we have been having so much fun together! After two days I felt like we'd been comps for awhile. So comp wise this transfer is starting good. 
Investigator wise its going not too great!...we didn't get any investigators in church yesterday and Elsa canceled on us again!!!!!!!!! I was so upset! She still sounds like she is interested but she has told us two weeks in a row that she has gotten called into work! so I don't know what to think there. We have an appointment with Ana tonight, hopefully that one comes through! sometimes the "golden" people from the first lesson don't make it past the first lesson! Dad's letter and story about his "professional investigator" gave me some good hope! cuz we have a few of those! We are still teaching Jesus, my first lesson, and other people who have been seeing missionaries way before i got here. 


Stories-
So there are a couple good stories this week. First is our problem we ran into with some trains....and the picture. haha. There is a train crossing with about 6 tracks...one day we had a lesson on the other side of the tracks and there were two trains stopped right in the middle of the crossing. The second one was moving a little bit and there is a gap of about 100 feet or so between the two trains. So we decided to go under the first train. It was  a little bit higher so we just turned our bikes on their sides and went under them. It wasn't anything too bad. Kinda fun just to say I did it. But then the second train kept moving a little bit back and forth and never cleared the road. It was about 20 minutes so finally we just decided to go over the train in between the cars. We had a lesson to get to. So we went over! haha right after Elder Viitanen got over it started moving again! it was fun and made for a good picture. 

Second is our BB-Q we had. One night at about 8:30 we didn't have a lesson cuz it fell through so we tried our back up and got nothing. And no one really opens their doors to strangers pounding on the door here after 8:00. So we saw a bunch of guys standing around listening to super loud mariachi music! They had a huge grill out and tons of food. So We rode up to them and were just going to try and talk to them and jokingly we said...you cooking for us? and they guy was just like "yeah I'll tell the senora to make you a plate" so he told his wife and she made us a huge plate with tons of meat and rice and guacamole! it was dang good! i wasn't really hungry but what do you do....haha. It was so funny to just talk with this group of drunk Mexicans. They thought we were so cool! All of them were talking pictures with us and just wanted to share their life story with us! haha 


Con Amor y Respeto
Elder Erickson


Trivia: Where in the book of Mormon Is the Angel really the Devil?

Week 27: Elsa Fonseca

Que tal!?
Well week six is done so that means transfers are here. I'm staying another transfer in Denver Harbor! But the sad thing is that Elder Bruneel is not. He was called to be a Zone Leader. I must be a dang good trainer cuz my last to comps have gone zone leader on me. So once again im still the baby and probably just the District leaders companion again next transfer. But thats ok. That just means I dont have to do much extra junk. Just preach the gospel and avoid the whole system of numbers. I have no idea who my new companion could be. There are so many spanish missionaries getting transferred its really up in the air. Elder Mallard from my MTC room is still in my district though so that will be fun to still be with him. Elder Clayton was his companion, the Oregon baseball kid. So you'll just have to wait until next week to hear what went down. 
I have mixed feelings about staying. I'm excited to stay because we did just find a few really good investigators. One of which is named Elsa Fonseca. She is a lady that we met a few weeks ago just a few houses down from ours. We had just left our house from lunch and were biking to our next appointment and she was quickly walking down the street towards us so we stopped and tried to contact her. She did say much, she just walked right by us and told us that we could go to her house and pointed to it. Then, she turned around and kept walking. As we tried to get a little more information out of her as to when we could come by or at least her name, she only told us that she had to catch the bus. Everyone always is in a hurry to be anywhere but talking to us it seems. But we wrote down the address and decided we would try it again some other day since it was so close to our house. We went by once and talked to her daughter, second time she was there but busy and told us to come by again another time for her son. The third time she was busy again, but we actually set up a time when she would have work off be able to sit down with us. I was feeling ready to give up on her but we still put her as the first appointment at 7 o'clock, which is the hour when we can get the most work done.
When we showed up at her house for the appointment she was busy but stopped what she was doing to sit down for just a few minutes. As we began to have a purpose lesson I began to notice that she was GOLDEN! She asked questions that taught herself the whole first lesson. She told us how she has been the Catholic church but how she feels like there is no AUTHORITY  in the church and that it is just a church from men...and so she went to a baptist church and she still didnt feel like it was right. And she wanted to know how to pray! just all this thing that were awesome! I asked how she felt after she prayed and she was kinda silent for a second and then said, "like I want to cry", she started to tear up and cry. It was a way sweet lesson!  At the end she told us how she had be praying that we would come by as she has seen us ride by often, but was too scared to waste any of our time. I'm not sure why she turned us away so many times, but I'm glad the spirit kept telling us to go back! 
On the other end of the spiritual side...
We had tons of appointments fall through yesterday....So we went to some more church. That's what Sunday is for right??...Pentecostals are crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha
it was so funny. They were really nice and didn't really say anything bad. It was all motivational. But then they did healings and dancing and yelling. hahaha I was doing everything I could not to laugh. We actually went to two different once. The second one was a big church with a band on a balcony above the pastor. At that one the pastor told us to pull out our Bibles and I only have Book of Mormons and one of the "ushers" saw so he brought me one. During the service I was looking through it and I couldnt decided which scripture to mark to help them out. 1 Cor. 14:19, or one about the sacrament which is not in there service, OR Mat 10:1 about authority. But i went with the sacrament. I put my book of mormon card in the page and marked the verse with my pen. haha it was a funny experience and really strengthened my testimony in our church! I Know we are the restored Church of Jesus Christ on the Earth today. I know that we have that authority and you can't feel the same peace anywhere else! 
Love you all!
Con amor y respeto
Elder Erickson

Ps- Trivia
Q. Which prophet in the book of Mormon knows French?