Week 94: Always Prepare So You Have Options

Dear family!

Right now I'm sitting in President Crawford's office on a laptop having a nice Q and A about life while I type this.....so this will probably be short. I enjoy talking with President so much and take advantage of it when I can. He is a wise man. I have learned so much from him in the time spent around him.

This week we had our first training in the Kingwood zone. There were two sessions of 3 hours each. We taught the 2 hours of that. We had to plan those two hours the night before because of other things that kept us busy! We were up later than we should have been so by the time we got everything squared away we were pretty tired but we made it through it and it went well!

We were able to meet with Karine this week and teach her. She has such a great understanding of the doctrine and had read 11 chapters in between visits and understood them very well! She also came to church, which has been her big hold back for the past bit because of her 5 month old baby. We are excited for her and are going to teach her this Friday with President.

We haven't met with Chip or Will Howse but we did have a great Church tour with Jermaine who was one of the 5 new investigators we found last week! He told us he would be at church and had such a spiritual experience from the tour but didn't show. We will be seeing him this week.

Last hour of power we went with the member who we had the prayer with and they came with us to the house of one of their neighbors to introduce us to them (these are the same members who invited the Yanez family to church) so we went and knocked on their door and had a great conversation with the wife. We talked with her and set up a dinner for Sunday (last night) we went to the dinner and had a great conversation and they were very friendly. After when we got in to the teaching it felt a little awkward and they had some strange answers to questions. By the time we got to Joseph Smith they came at us with all the anti. I hate that so much!!! We have lost so many investigators of that stuff. It was really sad and I felt so bad for the member because they are so great at inviting people and the lesson just ended super awkward. But the members here are great! 

This week at church we were able to go into Relief Society and role play some ways to invite friends and people they meet with, to visit with the missionaries.  It was a bit like walking into the lions den at first but we were able to make it pretty funny and joking about being an "Eagle Springs mom" with 5 kids all under the age of 8, which is quite common in this ward. Some of the wives are only a few years older than us and already have kids.! but it was super funny and it built some good relationship with the ward!

From the little chat we had, the President Crawford quote for all is:

 Always prepare so you have options. 

We were talking of schooling and jobs and professions and this was his profound statement that stood out to me!

Love you all!

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

Week 93: Conference Was So Great!!!

Dear family!!!

Conference was so great!!! We were able to watch all the session and I loved every second of it! There was so much good stuff given to us! I felt like there was more things spoken to me than I was able to keep up with! I was able to write down some questions and once again God proved His love to me by answering every one of them. Even the tough ones! Some Favorites were Elder Uchtdorfs Sunday morning and also Elder Chirstoffersons! and I will also agree with Dad that Elder Bednar's talk is going to be one of those classics. The brethren were pretty straight up with us this go around. I liked that.

We went Saturday Afternoon to remind and invite Chip to come...he doesn't like when we show up, especially on weekends! haha He opened the door and grabbed my traps super hard then grabbed Elder Hepworth's and held two fingers up and said "You know what I can do with these?" Elder Hep said "probably Kill me" he replied "that's right, just like that" haha He then went on to try and introduce us to non-lethal weapons and offered us some mace and a tazer gun, that we respectfully declined and set up a return appointment later in the week! I sure do love this guy! ;)

We did have a few miracles that I will try to explain briefly. First is with our "ward exchanges" 1 or 2 times a week members come out with us and they are supposed to set things up with friends and plan the night. Usually they don't or we try the same less-actives over and over. We went out with one member and after things had fallen through we decided to go and try some potentials and one was a kid we contacted in McDonalds. It was almost 8:30 but when we knocked he was super happy to see us and didn't think we were really going to come when we contacted him and told him that we would stop by. It is a family of 7! We had a great quick lesson with them! their grandparents were there and they mostly spoke Spanish so I got to us my Spanish a little bit which was nice :)

we also have an investigator named Karine Delangle from France and she was invited by a member to watch conference. During it he ended up setting a date with her!!!! It was a great phone call to receive from him. She has be on and off about her baptism for about a year. But for some reason she feels now is the time! She had a problem with tithing before so many Elder Bednar's talk helped her out!   We went by Sunday afternoon and had a lesson with her and she knows everything super well! We "confirmed" the date of the 26th of this month! The only real factor is going to be church attendance. She has a new born and makes it hard for him to come! Please Pray for her :) it was a super miracle week. We worked about 6 total hours in our own area and had Only 2 member present lessons, but 5 new investigators and set a date within the month. We feel super super blessed!

Funny story for the week!!! 

We had new missionaries come in, there was 17 of them this transfer, we us a trailer to carry all of their luggage  (which I am getting really good at driving since my first time driving I had to drive it on the 59 and through an International airport. But I'm learning quickly along with many other new skills). Tuesday morning we loaded everyone up after a breakfast at the mission home to take them to the transfer meeting and Elder Walser was still with us and he is a bit "gun Hoe" and once the passenger van was all full he ran and jumped in and took off super fast. Bad news was that the trailer which had all the luggage and was attached to the van and the door wasn't latched shut! So as he took off bags started flying everywhere and with every corner more and more flew. I was in the truck with some of the new elders so we took off honking at him trying to get him to stop. He couldn't hear us nor did he see us so he just kept going and we were dodging bags like it was a video game! haha finally he came to a stop sign so I pulled up behind him and laid on the horn and thought he heard me so I got out of the truck. Then he went and crossed a super busy street. So I just sprinted after him and played frogger in my suit! and then we got him stopped!! IT was a great memory and to top it off someone passing by picked up on of the bags in the road and took off.....eventually they called but we thought they had stolen it! It was a great time! Elder Hepworth then had to go teach a training meeting while sweating and adrenaline pumping! I Love this job :)

Time is up! Love you all!

Thanks so much for all you do! The Church is true and this weekend confirmed my testimony that we have 15 men called of God to lead and guide us! Listen to them, Study their words, then put them into practice!

con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

Week 92: We Find Joy in What We Do!

Hey family! transfers are here!!! Life is crazy!  

We have spent a lot of time planning and moving people (to) apartments, having to find new apartments and helping get them furnished! so life has been a little less estilo "proselyting" than we would like but we find joy in what we do! I'm super excited to work with Elder Hepworth! He is the kinda kid that can make watching grass grow fun. I'm sure together we won't have a dull moment! 

This week we were able to meet with Chip! This man is insane! I love him even though he always threatens to kill us! haha My favorite quote was "I'm about to pick this up (grabbing a huge glass coffee table) and Smash it over your head".  We've never really felt threatened so when he says that it's all I can do not to laugh just cuz we always joke about him...this time I kinda bursted out. He is a character! I love teaching him. He is pretty intelligent too which makes teaching him nice. He understands the keystone concept of the Book of Mormon. Now we just need to get him to read more consistently. 

Other people we are working with are the Stillman family,  a part member family. The father had some back experiences growing up and now doesn't come to church and his wife is pretty Methodist! We had a great lesson with them yesterday and they could start to make some progress! He is gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon again. Which could create some marriage problems, so it will be interesting! 

Also a young man named Will Howse came on a church tour! He has a lot of deep doctrine questions and reads the Book of Mormon a lot...but its a long side with anti books. He wants to see "Both Sides".  He has a lot of questions about the Origin of God and our view of Exaltation. He is really cool guy though and fits into the ward great! So we are going to fellowship the anti right out of him! 

Today we went to the airport and were waiting for missionaries to come in and President paid for us to get our shoes shined. We were able to contact the workers and we left one of them a pamphlet of the restoration and after he kept calling us of to ask questions and told us he could "relate a lot to the Smith guy" so we're doing missionary work whenever we can! Y'all better be too! 

The Work is a God Lead work. When God leads there is nothing that is going to stop it! As missionaries we are successful as soon as we invite people to come unto Christ! I know I'm doing what God wants from me by inviting the people of T.H.E. Mission to come unto Him! 

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson 

Week 91: The Spirit is Working Within Chip

Hello my beloved brethren and sistern and parenten!

Had a great week! Transfers are just around the corner so that means emails get short ;)

last night we went and picked up my new companion! Elder Hepworth! He is from Kaysville. I'm super Stoked to work with him. We would have been bros for sure if we knew each other before. He is a big snowboarder and what not that went to Davis high. Its going to be rough taking everything over after just 1 transfer but should be alright. We'll figure it out one way or another!

This week we were able to meet with Chip again! He bought us Gifts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha the big 300 lb. man who tells us all the ways he can kill us before we get a prayer in, bought us "Amour of God" paper weights so we would remember him! He said things such as "I don't know why but I like being around you"..."You make me feel good, BUT NOT IN A GAY WAY" and he also said "we are wearing him down" which normally would be a bad thing...but he is trying to resist the spirit so much it's a good thing that's wearing him down!

This week was crazy on the AP side. 12 missionaries got landed in Houston on their way to Tampico Mexico from the Hurricane. We had to go pick them up, assign them areas, get the situated, then pick them back up and get them on a plane to Mexico all in the same week! It was fun! I loved it! We also had an Elder come and spend a few days with us because he was having a rough time so we had the chance to work with him! It was fun! I think we all learned a lot.

We also had a really good lesson with the Lasyone family! we had a testimony meeting with the Western family in the ward!...it was super spiritual. We brought two other visas waiters who arrived mid transfer to our area to join us for the lesson. They are going to Angola but need to wait on visa so they got sent here! Its been a crazy week! Testimony meeting was bomb! Brother Lasyone basically said in short "at church I felt everything was being said to me. I felt the Spirit and know its true. Now we just have to wait on my wife" they are such a sweet family!"

Last thing....this week we helped with a Neighborhood Triathlon!! It was sweet! we set up all the road cones and signs to block of the road for the kids. We had to wake up at 5 in the morning to start. IT was POURING RAIN, LIKE POURING A BUCKET! But we still wore pros so everyone in the community could recognize us! There were so many cones...like every 10 feet for 2 miles...and not just baby cones. But then we got to help direct the kids as they went from swimming to biking my job was to stand at the spot right were they rode out and told them to turn! down the road and that's were all the parents were so I was directing the traffic with my Book of Mormon! It was classic!

We were able to talk with a lot of people!

Man I'm late :)

Love you all!

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

Week 90: The Spirit Brings Trust

Hello family mia!!

Break down of this past week.

Tuesday we had a pretty normal day! We got to work in our area and study in the morning so that was great! We left that evening and stayed the night in Liberty Texas so we could be up early to set up for a leadership meeting. We had that meeting with all the leaders of the mission and introduced the "Texas Houston East 2nd ward" I'm not sure if I told you about the 1st ward? but its where we count reactivations and baptisms and set goals to make an entire ward. Our goal is 427 people by the end of the year! Its pretty cool to watch grow! 

As soon as that meeting was over we went out to Vidor Texas to work with the zone leaders out there! I wish I would have know that Preston's family lives out there. Elder Walser served almost his whole mission in the Vidor wards and says he knows it here really well. It was a new experience for me to work out in the country! Vidor is the home of the KKK in Texas so that makes things interesting and it fits just about all the stereotypes you can think of for East Texas! haha. It was really fun! 

After we got back to Kingwood we unpacked...then elder Walser repacked and we drove to Pasadena and exchanged with the Zone leaders there and we had a good exchange! It is really fun to work with so many different elders! It was my first time in the area for a full day leading so it was a little rough because I haven't been in the area too much to know who to try and visit and what not but it went well! We found some very nice people!

This week in between exchanges we were able to do the Hour of Power in our area! We found a very nice man! and the first to be so willing to take us up on our offer of service!.....we said what can we do to help and he had us pressure washing his fence and then we built a whole rack of shelves in his garage! We are going to see him right after this! He was nice but had read a lot on the church from PBS and had some true things all out of context! but he is open to our message!

This Sunday the Lasyone family came to church! They are such a great family! just slow progressing! they have been 4 times now. The last time was about 5 or 6 months ago. The dad really likes the church and would probably be baptized if he had a wife with equal interest! 

We also had a dinner with the Yanez family, this is the family that came to church last week from the church tour, with the members who invited them. They are super nice and have a great social conversion to the church already now we are trying to establish the teaching pattern with them and help them to see the spiritual side! They are super busy but we have an appointment with them this Friday!

While we were driving around Houston we were also able to help one of the office staff find housing. We were driving in the area closest to downtown where we are going to add another set of elders and found this awesome apartment! It isn't a big complex but a nice homey place. We were looking at it and ended up helping a guy move out and made really good friends with him so quick. He was a soccer players and traveled through Europe playing. He ended up showing us his place then we helped him move out. I had a crazy realization while I was standing in there house waiting for Elder Walser to use the bathroom. We had only met him for 20 minutes and he was already letting us into his home and trusting us with not only his home and wife but also personal beliefs that he was sharing with us. The spirit is a great thing! I know there is no other way we can do this missionary work than by the spirit! everything we do is all to have the spirit with us more and invite it into every activity so others can feel the peace and comfort that it brings! and from my new realization Trust! The spirit brings trust. Whatever trial in life we are going through praying and feeling the spirit gives us trust in our Heavenly Father and that gives us what we need to go one more step!

Thanks for everything family! I Love you! :)

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

Week 89: Exhausting

Hey family!!!

Questions:

We drive a Toyota Tacoma and sometimes a Silverado! It's nice to drive a truck! and they are fairly new! haha...but we are switching this week to a new Nissan Frontier. 

I did get the box! Thank you so so so so much!!! y'all are awesome! I love the pictures! I'm running out of good pictures for my planners so if you have some you want to send (of) family for me to put on there...we can make it a competition.... best pictures get to be carried around in my pockets for 6 weeks at a time for all to see ;)

This week was C RA AZ Y. We did three exchanges and had Mission Leadership Council. I slept in other beds more than I slept in my assigned bed. It was fun. I work in Kingwood then we went to Summerwood / Channelview that same night and worked with them. (that was my old english area) so it was fun! We had dinner with the Webb's! They are doing great! and we saw some other people I was close with! Then on Friday night we went down to BWAY! I got to work with Elder Viitanen again in Magnolia! It was great fun! I loved working with him again! but it was an exhausting week! I saw tons of people I've really grown to love in the past years!! Teresa and Wendy and Deimida! 

The Lord also blessed us with a miracle, While we were working in the office one day Elder Walser had a great idea, definitely inspired, to call members and challenge them to invite a friend on a church tour. We then set a date with this couple 2 weeks out and committed them to be there. We told them that we would like to have the tour no matter the response of their friends so long as they were inviting (people). When the date came they showed up with a couple who lives next door to them, Natalie and Abel. We had an amazing experience and then they also came to church the next day and loved it! It's amazing how the Lord is still blessing us greatly for the small amount of time we are spending in our area! Our ward is awesome!   

Today we are going our to Baytown for an activity and interaction with them! Love you so much! take care! 

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

Week 88: 5 New Investigators!

Hello family!

Another crazy week has come and gone!!!! Since we have keys to the office we still get to email on Labor Day! So lucky for you! Any fun Labor Day plans??? I'm going to assume Dallin thought I would be emailing tomorrow, that's why he didn't say anything...and if not...well them I'm publicly calling you out ;) brotherly love! 

Well to start the week we had Sisters Conference, it was weird being the only Elders there but we had a good meeting. We did one in Kingwood then another in Beaumont!...the Healy's have family in Beaumont right? I forgot their names. will you ask them for me? We go to Beaumont quite often. I want to try and meet them. 

Then after that exchange we had planned to go to Vidor Texas for exchanges but Elder Walser got a call from recent converts and found out they were going through the temple Friday night. So Friday we drove from Beaumont to Port Arthur, back to Beaumont, to Kountze, Texas to pick up other Elders, then to Kingwood, to the temple, then back to Kingwood! I hate the inside of our truck! And the sad part was we were too late (to make the temple session) . We were able to do initiatories instead and we all learned so much! Then went into the Celestial room and were able to greet the family!

This week we were super blessed in our area we had 5 new investigators! and Elder Walser said they haven't had any for the past 6 weeks! One guy we taught is named Chip Wheeler...He is huge!!!!!!!!!!! massive...probably 6'4" And weighs 300 easy and its all muscle! We walk into his home and he has a gun on the table and I made some joke about the gun. He put it on the shelf then looked at us and says..."I wouldn't need a gun for either one of you" haha! 

The entire lesson he was trying to intimidate us and mess with us! I just had to laugh and try not to laugh about how crazy he was! When we would go to teach something he would stop us and make us write down what we wanted to say or answers/interpretations to scriptures so that he could test us and she if we were teaching the "same thing"  We were super bold right back with him and he said he was "impressed" so he invited us back! I think he is super interested but doesn't want to show it! We found out his brother-in-law is a member of out ward! It was one of the funniest/crazies lesson on my mission! I'm so excited to teach him again! Even if he called me out on all my mistakes! 

Love you all tons!...make sure you are missionaries every day! I know its harder in Utah cuz everyone is already a member but do what you can to have non-members into the home! Being a missionaries is the greatest thing in my life! I'm sure that those who have served would say the same thing...so be a missionary and see the same miracles now! I  know God blesses his missionaries and helps them with this work so that includes you! 

Cuidense! 

Con amor y respeto

Elder Erickson

PS

I almost forgot to give Papa an update on Van Hunt. 565 Country Road 727. Buna, Texas 77612!

The sister missionaries finally visited him! They said things went well, He was very nice and told stories about Papa and the navy. They said they taught a restoration lesson and they had tons of questions. One of the sisters said "he knows its true" but his wife doesn't really want them to come over. They are Methodist but still said they could come over any time. They (the Sisters) are going to go by once a week and just try and invite the spirit into their home and plant seeds! I'm going to do every thing I can to get out there and meet him!  

The day I had to say goodbye to Teresa! It was sad because it was so rushed!

Elder Erickson, Teresa Rodriguez, Elder Viitanen

This is a picture of the outside of our apartment!..every Catholic has a sign that says something along these lines...so we model shot it! It's pretty funny if you ask me! 

Especially when the JW's would knock! 

The whole Galena Park crew...4 people went through the Temple together!

Ortega Family and Elder Erickson 

The day they were sealed in the temple as an eternal family.

Elder Cope, Walser and Erickson
Minutes before Elder Cope left in the airport! 

Exchanges with Beaumont Zone leaders! 

Elder Erickson, Elder, Elder, Elder Walser