Email: September 24, 2012

Dear Family,

This past week was super busy and full of miracles.   It was different to not be working in the YSA branch anymore but it has given us the opportunity to focus on Takena even more.  We sat down at the beginning of the week and tried to come up with some new ideas for finding the neither of us had tried before.  There are a bunch in the front of our planners and in Preach My Gospel in chapter 9.  We looked at those and decided to try a few.   The ones that we have already put into action are we went to the hospital and put our names on a list with the Chaplin for people who are in need of someone to talk to.  Then we tried to find a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen that we could volunteer at, and we found one and asked what we could do to help and they have a thrift store that they run also and said that they needed help there so we did that on Thursday.  It was an awesome finding opportunity.  We got to know a lady named Angel who just moved here and is staying at the shelter til she can find a place to live.  She is an RN who is looking for work.  We have an appointment with her Tuesday.  

We also decided to go through the area book and contact everyone that looked like they had some potential to want to listen to the gospel.  We have a huge list now and we are focusing a lot of our time on contacting those people.  We found 3 new investigators just from that.  It was awesome, an old Black guy named Gus, who is an Vietnam Vet, and a guy named David and a lady named Laurette.  They are all very promising and we both felt like they are going to get baptized at some point.  I am stoked for the next few weeks that we will be able to teach all of these people.  We have Zone Conference tomorrow and it sounds like its going to be a good one.  I am pretty excited about it.  Also some great news, Elder Cooper is my Zone leader now so I get to see that guy all the time!  I love that kid, I am excited for you to meet him someday.  He has been a good example to me of what type of missionary and person I want to be.  

Other than that, Elder Sheen is a cool dude.  He is from Phoenix Arizona.  Has been out for like 9 months.  He is a very spiritual missionary and I am learning a lot from him already.  He has been a good example to me and I hope to be humble enough to learn from him.  I got the package yesterday!  Thank you so much, we have already had a ton of fun with those nerf guns.  Plus I am excited to try that Halloween Crunch!  But I have to buy some milk first, I ran out yesterday morning.  Well I love you all very much.  Hope everyone is doing well.  

Love

Elder Erickson

Email: September 17, 2012

Dear Family,

Well, as I said last week, it is transfers.  I didn't get transferred anywhere but I am getting a new companion today.  I am super bummed about that.  I love Elder Worsencroft and I am going to miss him a ton, we got a long really well.  My new comps name is Elder Sheen.  I have met him a few times and I know his trainer pretty well and I hear a lot of good things about him.  They switched up a bunch of stuff on us this time.  We don't cover the YSA branch anymore and they took our car and we are full bike.... again.  Plus they made us co district leaders which is really weird, I have only heard of that twice so far and I don't know why they do it.  This is the only part of a mission that I don't like.  I don't like being subject to so much change all the time.  It's frustrating but I have felt like this almost every time and I get over it so I will eventually.   

Other than that, it wasn't the most eventful week.  We don't have a lot of work going on in Takena, we were trying to work more with the YSA with school starting.  So its going to be almost starting fresh with the whole ward.  I love the people here though they are awesome.  We are going to spend the week getting organized and doing a lot of finding.  We have been challenging the members to share the gospel so we are going to follow up on a lot of those and try and get some new investigators out of it.  

So one month from tomorrow I will have been out a year this time.  I can't believe how fast it has gone.  I have been looking back on how I did in each of my areas and if I worked my hardest and it has given me a good boost to do better to not have any regrets and find everyone that I am supposed to.  Well like I said, I don't have too much to say this week, I will probably have a ton to talk about next but I love you all very much.  Have a great week!  

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: September 10, 2012

Dear Family,

Well the end of another transfer is already here.  I can't believe, nor do I want, time is going so fast.  We had a really good week this week.  We are trying to get more organized over in the Grand Prairie YSA branch.  It is super hard because there are so many people who are moving in and out all the time.  We have been taking advantage of the fact that school for them doesn't start for a few more weeks and have been getting a bunch of the guys to come out to lessons with us and help us find people.  It is going really well.  We found two new investigators this week while we were going through formers and potentials and visiting them.  We have a jam packed day tomorrow and I am so excited about it.  There is no substitute for good hard work and that's what we have been doing.  We will find out at the end of this week whether we are leaving or staying.  I am not excited for it.  I love our little district and I don't want it to change.  We made a lot of progress with them just this past week.  We have been having some issues with the other set of elders in the district being rude and making sexist comments to the sisters so we sat down with the zone leaders on Friday and had a big talk and I feel like we are all finally on the same page and now there are going to be big changes.  

We set a baptism date with a guy named mason that we have been working with.  He is trying to quit smoking and is struggling but really loves the gospel and Jesus Christ and wants to change.  He accepted to be baptized on October 6th.  We didn't realized at the time that that is general Conference so we are going to try and make it work but if it doesn't we will just do it the next weekend.  Issac got the priesthood on Sunday, it was awesome!  He is so excited to pass the sacrament and he also gave his first talk as a member of the church!  He did amazing and was asked to talk about why he chose to be baptized.  

I was reading through the scriptures during sacrament at the Takena ward on sunday and found an amazing set of versus that go right a long with what I have been studying.  It is Mosiah chapter 2:21-22 it says 

21 I say unto you that if ye should ^aserve him who has created you from the beginning, and is ^bpreserving you from day to day, by lending you^cbreath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own ^dwill, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your ^ewhole souls yet ye would be ^funprofitable servants.

22 And behold, all that he ^arequires of you is to ^bkeep his commandments; and he has ^cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth ^dvary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ^ekeep his^fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

No matter what we do, we will still be unprofitable servants and we can do nothing to earn our way back and that is the Grace of god that everyone talks about, but yet all he asks of us is to keep the commandments.  Such a simple thing yet we have such a hard time doing it.  If we could just swallow our pride and do what he asks, EVERYTHING would be alright.  We would be prepared at the last day to meet our maker.  And how are we supposed to expect him to do things we ask if we aren't willing to do what he asks.  

Well I am glad to hear that everyone had a good week at Lake Powell and that everyone is safe.  It was a trunky week for me thinking about it ha ha but its all good, I'm glad im where im at.  I dont have a ton of time left so I have to make it count.  Which I will!  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email from Sister Johnson in Roseburg (Sept. 4)

Oh my goodness..I have tears in my eyes that I get to be included in the Erickson Family letter!!!   I LOVE ELDER ERICKSON (It is ok, I can love him, I am an old lady).  I can't wait until I can legally hug him.  Not sure who all I am writing to, but hopefully Mom Erickson is included.  I do have her email address and plan to write a personal letter to her about her outstanding son.  We so miss him in Roseburg.  It just isn't the same without him.  Although the other elders are fine young men.  So happy you got to see the Wicks family.  They are the best aren't they???  

Ro (husband Roland) and I just returned from the Middle East.  Our daughter's husband is with the State Department and they have been on an assignment in Amman, Jordan for the summer.  So we took off and bummed around Lebanon (not Oregon) Dubai, Qatar and Muscat, Oman before we ended up in Amman.  The two best parts were going to Petra (gasp....amazing) and to Church at the little LDS Branch in Amman.   A great spirit there.  Loved it.   While we were traveling I initiated my new Kindle Fire with the biography of President Monson....TO THE RESCUE.   Loved it....absolutely loved it.  I hope everyone will read it.   

Elder E. knows that Ro and I are preparing to serve a mission.  Elder E. was a perfect example of what kind of missionary I want to be.   We won't be able to go for a year or so, but I have to say, if he decided to retire earlier I could have my bags packed in about 15 minutes.  I am on fire!  

It is good to be back home in Oregon now, the sun is shining and the sky is blue.  I love hiking and all the great produce this season brings. 

Love to all, especially those who have contributed to helping Elder Erickson be the great example he is to so many.  And especially especially to my Elder Erickson who I miss so much.   

PS can I stay on your email list?  I promise to behave myself!  :-)

Gloria Johnson

Roseburg, Oregon...

Email: September 4, 2012

Dear Family,

This week was jam packed full of service.  The library was closed yesterday and apparently there were some elders who abused the computer privilege at the family history center so we aren't allowed to use it anymore.  Anyway, we had on day last week that was completely devoted to service it was crazy.  We started by helping someone move from around 10 to like 3, then it was off to do some yard work for a potential investigator that we found service tracting.  Then we got a referral that someone needed help moving some pianos so we went and moved 3, one wall piano and 2 grand pianos, It was crazy!  I can't believe how heavy those things are.  It took 8 of us to get them where we wanted them.  I will never buy one of those just for that reason ha ha.  We then went back to that same persons house and finished up moving, thats when brother Mortenson called the moss's and I said hi to them!  We did a bunch of other stuff over the course of the next week and I was very sore by the end of every day.  

Also I am happy to say that Issac Hickel, one of the people we were teaching, made a covenant with his Heavenly Father and was baptized!  It went really well.  His mother was baptized earlier this year and he has been taking the lessons for about a month and a half, so we taught him a few times when I got here and he wasn't sure yet if he wanted to get dunked but he prayed really hard about it and got an answer that now was the time.  He is really excited to get the priesthood and start passing the sacrament.  He is 12 right now by the way.  I am so excited for him and his mom.  She actually gave a talk in stake conference when Bishop Stevenson was there.  She is a very spiritual person.  Funny thing happened at the baptism though, so we were told it takes about 2 and a half hours to fill the font so we went over at like 430 so it would be done around 7 when the baptism was.  There was sign there that said it takes two hours.  We were good with that because we planned to be there around 630 any way so we turned it on.  Apparently neither of those times are correct  When we got there at 630 it was almost overflowing.  So when he dunked him, the water went over and a bunch of it came out onto the carpet ha ha.  We were trying to have a testimony meeting while waiting for them to change and it was very distracting trying to clean up the water while doing that.  But other than that it went smoothly and the spirit was definitely there.  

So meg, its been a while since you updated that blog.  Did you guys get the sd card that I sent home?  Oh so I got a call from the Wicks down in Roseburg and they were coming up this way to do some shopping in Portland so they stopped by Saturday afternoon and took us out to lunch.  It was soo good to see them again.  I love that family.  Also I wrote Maggie a letter and asked if she wants to write Maryn Wicks who is her age, and told Maryn about it and she is really excited to do so.  I have been writing Katie and Zack and it is so good to see their progression still.  Zack just got the Melchizedek Priesthood, and his plans for a mission are going well.  It is so cool to hear how people are still progressing.  Tha'ts the best part about being here.  I love it!  I wrote Eileen and Jeff a letter this past week, I didn't even realize that it was her birthday so will you tell her happy birthday for me!   Also, I am super jealous that you are going to Lake Powell.  That is the only trip so far that has made me feel this way ha ha.  But live it up and take lots of pictures and tell the whole family that I love them and miss them.  Send me some of the pictures would ya!  Well I love you all so much, Have a good Week!  

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: August 27, 2012

Dear Family,

So to answer the first question about Matthew using my tools, he can but he needs to be very careful with them and make sure to put them back in the exactly right spot.  Plus that torque wrench was like 200 dollars so if he drops it or even sets it down to hard it can screw up the calibration on it so he needs to be extremely careful with it.  I don't know if he will need it going into fundamentals but its there if he needs it.  Just be careful please!!

This week was pretty good.  We were challenged by the zone leaders for all of us in the district to get 12 hours tracted this week.  We got it and the sisters got it but the other companionship only got 5 which was pretty frustrating.  We are having trouble with them.  They don't seem very motivated to do anything.  So we are going to go on exchanges soon so that we can see how they do things.  The district leader used to be in their area and it was doing really well.  I am just trying really hard to be positive and motivated them rather than come down on that at all.  It seems to be helping because the week before the only had like 3 lessons and 1 hour tracted.  So its going up!  They found some solid new gators this week.  

We have a baptism coming up this weekend.  His name is Issac.  I think that I told you about him.  He is a little nervous about the whole thing but he is also super excited.  He told us at church yesterday that he wanted to throw up but it was a good feeling ha ha.  I don't know if I told you but we have to go to 7 hours of church on Sundays, its crazy!  We have takena in the morning from 9 to 12 and then we have Grand Prairie from 1 to 4 and then correlation with the branch mission leader and missionaries.  We just got 2 more branch missionaries which is awesome!  It is so nice to finally have some because in my last 2 areas we didn't have any at all.  

We started a stop smoking workshop this week with a guy named mason and he didn't quit.  It was very frustrating.  He has weened back a lot but he just can't seem to kick the habit.  I wish people would just see the harm that it does to you.  I will never understand why anyone would smoke.   It is one of the most harmful things that you can do to yourself and those around you and it has no benefits whatsoever.  So if I ever started smoking I give you permission to cut off my right hand ha ha.  They can't feel the spirit at all when they are so bound down by the chains of that addiction.  

I might have shared this last week but I had a cool study on small and simple things that had a huge impact on me.  I am coming to slightly better understand agency and the gift that it really is.  The only difference between people and their progression levels in the gospel is their agency.  I have been trying to think how my life would have turned out if I had not made a few simple choices that turned into huge things.  I know that I can't change that but it has better helped me to know how not to make those choices again and not go down those "forbidden paths" as Lehi described them.  

Well anyway sorry for rambling.  I did get the postcards dad, thank you and I also got the letters that the youth wrote which was pretty cool.  Thank you for everything that you do for me and the example that you all are.  I love you very much!  

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: August 20, 2012

Dear Family,

This week was so spiritually jam packed its crazy!  I told you last week that Elder Anderson from the 12 was coming.  He brought with him Elder Rasband, the president of the seventy and Elder Stephenson, the new presiding bishop and Elder Hansen of the seventy.  Plus we had Elder Snow come earlier in the week and got to listen to him as well.  It was amazing.  I feel like I am on a spiritual high.  We are ready to go out and hit it hard this week and do some work!  They talked a lot about obedience and the importance of the spirit.  I have been studying and focusing on using the spirit more in my work lately so it was perfect.   Also I have been thinking a lot about how I can be more obedient and how much our choices affect us down the road even if we don't realize it.  My choices today will affect hugely who I am and become and what happens in the future.  He also talked about how we need to have our loyalty to the lord above anyone else.  We will be held accountable for how we used our short stay here on earth, to him and him alone.  If we have made a mistake we should not care about what others think about that as long as we get ourselves right with the lord and try our best to please him and keep his commandments.  That hit me very strongly.  When I came home I was very worried about what others thought about me and it almost kept me from repenting and making things right.  It wasn't until I realized that I shouldn't care what they think because they aren't the ones who paid for that sin already and want me to be the best that I can.  It even says in the White Handbook, our loyalty is first to the Lord.  It made me think about how I use the short time I am given here in the mission field.  All in all it was a very good meeting and I am excited to start applying what I have learned.  

Other than that we didn't have the most time this week to go out and proselyte.  I am going on exchanges with the Zone leaders tonight to tomorrow.  I am excited to see how they run their area and learn some new things.  It was awesome to get to see all of my past companions and missionaries that I have grown so close to.  It is cool to see their growth.  I got to see my favorite other missionary, Elder Cooper!  I love that guy.  He is such a stud ha ha.  He is zone leader up in Salem so I haven't been able to see him for a few months now and I got to see him twice this week.  It was awesome.  I am grateful for the eternal friendships that I am making and I have already seen how they have changed and shaped who I am right now and who I will become in the future.  I feel like a completely different person.  I love it!  

I don't think I will have time to write everyone back today so I will say that Albany is awesome.  I like it a lot already.  there is a lot of work going on here and lots of potential for even more to be happening.  Grant and Issac are the two we have with a date right now and they are for the 31st of the month.  We have one more that we are going to set a date with this week, he has been out of town so we couldn't.  We had a less active guy show up to stake conference yesterday as well.  Oh I forgot to tell you.  Elder Stephenson came to our stake conference as well as president young.  So we were able to listen and talk with him a little more.  It was sweet!  Plus we all got shake hands with them on Saturday which was very cool.  That is the first General Authority that I have ever shaken hands with.  Well I love you all very much.  Be safe on your drive home.  

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: August 13, 2012

Dear Family,

It sounds like it should be a fun week for everyone!  Six flags is always fun.  I hope it all goes well and everyone gets to where they are going safely.  I will be praying for it!  Remind Melinda and the rest to say a pray before they head out and make sure they are being good and the lord will protect them!  

Well onto our week here.  It was super jam packed.  There is a lot of work going on up here in Albany.  I am loving this area and district and zone already.  There are a few of the elders that I have got to know so far up here and that is a lot of fun.  We get together with our district and one other 3 mornings a week to play some sports.  We all just meet at the stake center and we play basketball or dodgeball so its a lot of fun.  I think I told you last time, my companions name is Elder Worsencroft.  He is awesome.  He is actually a convert to the church and was only baptized about 18 months ago.  He has been in the mission field for 6 months.  He is a football player and actually played down at snow college for a while.  He is from South Carolina but moved to Utah when he was 16ish I think.  He has a very cool conversion story that i hope he will be able to share with you guys someday.  I am excited because he is a health nut so he is going to get me into shape and I am going to lose some weight!  Surprisingly I actually gained weight in Roseburg even though we were full bike.  The members fed us so much that it was hard to lose it.  I guess it was a blessing though.  

We have a really small ward here but as I said before we also cover a YSA branch which is pretty cool.  We have a few investigators coming to church and our sports night that we have on Fridays and they also do FHE on Mondays.  I am pretty excited for it, they are pretty good at fellowshipping and coming with us to lessons.  We had a good week for lessons.  We have 2 with a date right now and they are both for this month.  One for the 25th and the other the 31st.  Grant who is awesome, he is in his 60s and has epilepsy.  He just had surgery to make it so that he doesn't have the seizures any more.  It is called a vagas nerve stimulator and they put this magnet in him that is connected to his vagas nerve and when he feels one coming on he has another magnet that he puts on the one in his chest and it supposedly stops it all together.  The other is a 12 year old kid who is the son of a recent convert.  He is doing awesome.  Tuesday night he taught us a lesson that he compared the gospel to the game Zelda.  It went really well.  He had put a lot of thought into it. 

We have a cool activity tonight for FHE, we are going shotgun shooting!  Yeah!  ha ha just playing because obviously I can't shoot a gun, but seriously.  We are going to be the ones throwing the clay pigeons.  We have two investigators coming with us.  Ones name is mason, we had a lesson with him this past week and we are starting the stop smoking workshop tomorrow with him.  There are a lot of people around here who smoke.  It is ridiculous.  We had one investigator drop her date this week because she doesn't feel the desire or need to stop smoking right now.  She says "I'm still young and in good health, why stop now?"  I was dumbfounded.  How can anyone really believe that?  We are thinking now that she might be less accountable, kinda like Mckay....  ha ha.  

Oh crazy news, this week is going to be so sick!  I don't know if I told you before but we have a seventy coming on Wednesday for our zone conference, and then, we also have Elder Neil L. Anderson coming and doing a mission conference on Saturday.  I am so stoked!  It's almost as good as General Conference but not quite, but still its going to be sweet.  We are definitely going to have some spiritual upliftment (don't know if thats a word in real life).  I will let you all know how that goes next week.   But anyway I love you all very much, I sent a little note home with the address up here.  We live in the basement of a members business and the ceilings are so low!  So... Send me some letters!  Mother, yes I did get the package, thank you so much!  I am so grateful to have a mother and father who do so much for me.  I am trying really hard to be frugal and not need anything else.  I'm doing much better at it!  Love you!

Love your favorite missionary,

Elder Erickson

Email: August 6, 2012

Dear Family,

I got the transfer call on saturday morning and I am being transfered to Albany.  It is up by Corvalis.  I have never been farther north than Eugene so it will definitely been an adventure!  I have a lot of mixed emotions today.  There are some awesome elders that I have been able to serve with here who are going home soon and so that is a bummer and then I have to leave all these amazing people that I have come to love so much.  I am excited also at the same time to go and meet new people there and develop those new relationships.  I don't know much about the area so I will write a lot more about it next week.  They do transfers on mondays now, which I don't agree with, and so I don't have a ton of time today.  I leave to go up there at 4:30.  We are picking up Elder Black, who is replacing me, at 12:15.  The Wicks wanted to do one last lunch so they are taking us out to lunch when we pick him up. 

 

We had an awesome week other than that.  We were able to set a date with Tina and Ed that we have been working with for a while now.  Elder Vande Merwe invited them to be baptized at the end of the lesson and they excepted for september 25th.  I am very excited for them both.  We have seen a difference in them since we have started teaching them and they have started to live the gospel.  They came to church yesterday and loved it.  We also had a less active member come with them that we have been trying to get there for a long time!  I tried to use that I was leaving to my advantage the best I could.  It kind of worked ha ha. 

 

I am staying District Leader up there.  My new Comps name is Elder Worsencroft.  He has been in the mission since February so not too long but I have heard really good things about him.  I talked to Elder Cooper who is up in salem and he said he is a cool kid.  I am super excited. We are going to do some work!  Well I love you all very much.  Melinda and Matthew stop being punks, or I will come back and kick you in the shins!  But I still love you. 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: July 30, 2012

Dear Family,

Well it is almost official.  I am going to be transfered in about a week im like 99% sure.  President Young told me at the specialized training this past week that he needs to be ready to take over the area.  I had figured that this was the time that I would leave but I am completely not ready for it.  I have come to love these people and this area more than I ever thought that I could.  There is a part in my Patriarchal blessing that says that I will learn to love families beyond anything that I can comprehend right now, and it is truly being fulfilled right before my eyes.  It is going to be a very emotional week. 

 

We had specialized training in Eugene on tuesday, basically its a zone conference with a different name.  We talked about letting go of extra baggage, spiritually and temporally.  It was awesome.  We practiced teaching members and also teaching short powerful lessons on the door step which was pretty cool.  It is something that we have been focusing on for a few weeks now in district meeting and other meetings. 

 

So I don't think I have told you yet but blackberries grow like a weed here.  People hate them because they just grow everywhere and dont stop.  We have some huge bushes of them right by our house that are finally having some that are ripe that we went a picked the other morning.  We probably picked like 2 or 3 pounds in just a few minutes and then made a smoothie with some of them.  I will attach some pictures so you can see them.  I thought dad might be jealous ha ha. 

 

We set a date with Victor who we have been teaching for a long time.  He finally said that the priesthood is something he wants in his life for his family so he can be a better father to his kids.  It was definitely spirit led when we talked with him about that.  We also did a lot of tracting this past week and found 4 new investigators.  I am excited for them.  They are going to be awesome.  We are going to use this last week to build things up as much as we can for Vande and his new companion. 

 

So usually I read an ensign article or 2 when I eat my breakfast in the morning, because we have lots of the old ones, and I read a really good one this week that had a great quote from President Monson.  He said "Decisions Determine Destiny."  I loved that a lot.  I think it applies to every single one of us.  We can control the outcome because we have the gift of agency that was given to us.  We always have a choice to do good, and we become who we want to be by consistently being who we want to become.  Our choices affect everything.  Remember that!  I love you all very much. 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: July 23, 2012

I exhort you that ye will pay heed to the special message I shall share unto you.....

Just kidding..

Wellllll another week has gone by.  I hate how fast time goes by, I wish I could slow it down.  I am going to invent a machine that does that.  Anyway, it was a pretty good week.  We did a good amount of tracting and met with a lot of less active members that the ward wanted us to visit.  We had 12 lessons with them this week.  We challenged a few of them to get their lives in oreder and to make a goal to go to the temple.  Two of them are really thinking about it and working on it which is awesome! 

 

It wasnt the most eventful week other than that.  Elder Vande Merwe almost got hit by a car twice...  It was pretty scary but both times it was because he wasn't paying attention!  We are working hard to find some new investigators because it seems the ones we have are very flakey and they fizzle away after the first lesson.  I wish that they would just understand that they need this in their lives.  I have been making changes in my life now.  For about a month I would say, I kind of got a little arogant without even realizing it and felt like it was us that was convincing the people.  I have been reflecting and making changes so that I never let that happen again.  It's not us who convinces, the spirit is the one who testifies to their hearts and makes the difference.  I am getting so much better at making sure we are relying on the spirit WAY more. 

 

We had a good challenge from P. Young on tuesday at our district leader training meeting.  He challenged everyone in the mission to have a 30 minute prayer.  Taking the first 15 minutes to pray and the last 15 minutes to listen to the spirit and recieve revelation.  It was a very cool experience.  The question I had going into it was how can I be a better missionary.  The answer I recieved was to follow the examples of those around me and those who came before me.  So I want to tell all of you how grateful for your example to me and I am going to be better at following that example and be humble.  Thank you Dad and Mckay for serving full time missions before me and giving me that example. 

 

I found a really cool scripture that I like a lot the past week. 

2 Nephi 7:7  "For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."

We should never be ashamed of who we are and what we believe.  We have the truth and no one can take that from us.  Well I love you all.  Have a good week! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: July 16, 2012

Dear Family,

This week was a pretty darn good one.  The weather is great, it has been in the 80's and it hasn't been as humid anymore.  We finally got a little air conditioner in our house because it was getting so warm!  It isn't very well insulated and it gets really warm in late afternoon so when we get home the house is just hot!  I was having trouble sleeping because it was so warm and this helps so much! 

 

Things are going well with Elder Vande Merwe.  He is really getting things down and I have been giving him lots of opportunities to be a leader and he has been leading the planning sessions at night and our weekly planning sesh on friday.  It has been very good for him.  I have been letting him have the lead when we teach people and I jump in if he gets lost or wants me to teach a part.  It has helped him make more progress than he has altogether so far.  I feel sometimes like I am not an adequate trainer but I am doing my best and realizing that my example does more than almost anything else. 

 

I have a box of stuff I will probably be sending home soon.  I have collected a lot of stuff.  People here are amazing and just give me things left and right so recently I got a pair of pretty nice cowboy boots and a handcrafted leather belt with a sweet belt buckle, amoungst other things.  So needless to say, I need to downsize things a bit. 

 

We had an awesome lesson with a guy named Scott this week.  We found him tracting about a week and a half ago.  We called him last week and tried to meet but he was busy so we called him on Friday and left a message and we got a call later in the day asking if we could come over right then.  We taught him the Restoration and had a kneeling prayer with him.  He just quit drinking and wants to be better and has been trying to change his life around and wants to come to church and continue to meet with us.  He expressed that he felt that we were an answer to prayer.  I am super excited that we were led to him by the spirit and that we listened to the promptings to go and tract that street.  I love how I have come to trust and rely on the spirit so much.   I feel like I wont be able to do anything in life without him now.  

 

I have become a little better at goal setting now ha ha.  I have realized that you cant just set a major goals without setting smaller ones that help you achieve them.  I have a goal to read the entire book of mormon this transfer and I have to read 6 chapters a day.  I am doing pretty well at it.  I also have a goal to write about everyday in my journal for the rest of my mission.  That one is hard sometimes with the calls I have to make at night to the other companionships but I am doing pretty good at it. 

 

Well fam, hope you all had fun in denver!  I love you all very much!

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: July 9, 2012

Whats up Family!

This past weekend was probably the greatest I will ever have in my entire mission I wont lie.  After all the bumps in the road, Katie Sullivan is now a member of Christ's church.  It was INCREDIBLE!  Zack was able to be the one who did the baptism which was sweet!  He did so well and they only had to do it twice ha ha.  She asked me to be in the font as well just to make sure that she didn't drown.  So I got in a jump suit and went it!  That reminds me, I forgot my whites at home and I keep forgetting to ask if you will send them to me.  They are in my temple bag and I would like the pants and tie and belt.  Please!  I don't like wearing those jump suits, they aren't very comfortable and I look like the michelin man.  Brother Dennis (the guy that owns the house we live in) took a picture of the baptism, which I don't think you're supposed to do, and sent it to my email so if you want to see it, let me know! 

Her friend Natalie, whom I am currently writing, came from Idaho to come to the baptism and then we all went out to dinner at this place that she loves.  It was okay food but I have definitely had better! 

 

Other than that we had a cool lesson with this lady named Shirley on friday and then a chapel tour with her on saturday but she didn't come to church!  I am just lost at what to do to get people to church now.  We invite and take tours and talk about the sacrament and all that good stuff and it seems like they just don't feel the spirit or something because they don't come!  Any Ideas? 

 

We went to Eugene for a speacialized training this week on tuesday which was super cool.  I got a lot out of it and I feel that it was a learning experience for Elder Vande Merwe.  We talked about how obedience and Baptism go hand in hand and what we can do better at being obedient.  It hit me because first I have the responsibility to be a good example for my trainee and also I have to be the one that the distict looks to and if I am not then I am not living up to the lords expectations of me. 

Pday was pretty good.  We had a bbq with the Burnham family in the ward.  They are super cool.  Then we had the opportunity to go and help over at the V.A. (veterans association) with the ward.  They put up flags all over with plaques on the poles that have the names of fallen soldiers.  It was a very cool experience and I am grateful that I got to be a part of it.  I got a flag this week also and put it in the house.  I am being very patriotic lately, I am just grateful to be here right now in this country! 

 

Well I love you all very much.  I pray for you all, all the time! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: July 2, 2012

Dear Family,

I don't have a ton of time today to email so it might be a little shorter than usual.  They switched our Pday this week to make it easier for us to do things on the 4th.  We only have a little bit today to email because they wont be open then and we have to take a survey for a member of the Seventy who is coming to the mission in August.  We kind of did a day of sacrifice today and are doing a whole lot of finding.  We're calling it Miracle Monday.  The zone has already seen several miracles that have happened.  We haven't seen much yet but we still have the whole day ahead of us. 

 

Things went pretty well this past week.  We did a lot of finding on friday and saturday and were able to find 3 solid new investigators that are wanting us to come back.  One of them his name is scott and he knows quite a bit about the church already and he is very willing to let us come teach him the lessons.  I am excited! 

 

Katie is getting baptized this week!!!  I am so excited for her.  The baptismal interview is going to be on tuesday and she is going to pass with flying colors.  She is awesome, I am excited for you to meet her someday.  It has been a bumpy road for her to get here but she has prayed very hard and really knows that this is true.  She has a friend of hers flying in from Idaho to come and be there.  She is giving the talk on the holy ghost and I am giving the talk on baptism.  I am super excited for her. 

 

Other than that we are doing good.  The time is flying like crazy.  Vande is doing awesome, working hard and is really getting better at talking to people.  He doesn't have such a hard time teaching now either because it is becoming a part of who he is.  Well I have to get going but I love you all very much and I hope you have a great 4th and dont get hit by any fireworks! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: June 18, 2012

Hola Family!

 

How are things? I am doing awesome!  We had a pretty good week.  Elder Mildenhall came back for a visit with his family this weekend, it was a lot of fun to see him.  We went out to lunch with him and his fam and the Wicks.  He came to church and there were actually a few people at church for the first time on sunday.  It wasn't anyone that we had invited but they were there for the first time!  We dropped a few people this week that weren't progressing and making any effort to keep the commitments that they said that they would.  We are trying to weed out those people and start fresh with people who want to listen!  We are trying to figure out how to get the ward more involved and get people motivated.  It is very difficult. 

 

Matthew I am sorry that I sent you a birthday card twice ha ha.  I guess I am going crazy.  I didn't write it down so I completely forgot if I did it.  I felt horrible that I hadn't sent one yet so hopefully you don't get another one from me soon! 

 

Zack got the priesthood this week and Katies baptism is getting closer!  She gets baptized on the 7th of July.  I am super excited for her.  She is so ready for the gospel.  She and zack read scriptures together everyday and she has been getting more familiar with the prophets and all the goes with the church.  We gave her a bunch of ensigns to read and she has been soaking those up.  I love seeing the gospel change lives! 

Elder Vande Merwe is doing great.  He is doing his best to learn as fast as he can.  I am trying to get him to open up more and talk about things when he has a problem and solving it rather than just burrying it.  It is going well.  We don't agree on everything but I have learned to talk things out so much more than I ever have.  It solves problems so much faster than running away from things. 

We also had a big break through with Victor this week.  We had an awesome lesson about the Priesthood with him and how much that would bless his life and the life of his family and he told us that it was something that he wanted to work towards getting.  Once he grabs hold he is going to be in it for life.  He is an awesome guy and loves God and doesn't want to make any decision that would upset him.  He reads his bible every night and we sat down and read some from the book of mormon with him and he liked it and said that he wants us to do that with him everytime we go over and see him. 

Well I love you all very much and hope life is goin good, remember that we only get one chance at this life!  And the rest of eternity to live with the consequences. 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: June 12, 2012

Dear Family,

Sorry I did not get an email off yesterday, On our conference call last week with all the leaders in the mission President Young wanted us all to go up and spend the day with him in Eugene.  So I was up there from 930 to 3.  It was a long day and I wasn't able to get any of the P day stuff done so he said that we could use part of our day today to get all of the stuff we need to done.  It was a very good meeting with him though.  The only thing that kind of bothers me is that he is all over the place and presents a new idea every week and says that if we do this one thing that we will lift the mission and then next week like disregards it and goes onto something else.  It's very frustrating.  But I am striving to do the best I can with what he tells us to do! 

 

We started our meeting at the church in Eugene and talked about some new things that will help the mission.  He then talked about standing in Holy Places and we took off our shoes and went into the baptismal font room and actually walked through the font and looked at the prayer.  We then all sat in the room and had a testimony meeting where everyone that was there bore very strong testimony.  It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.  We then all went up to this place called Spencers Butte.  We hiked a little trail that was only like half a mile long and met at the top.   We talked a little more and signed a flag that said "Exact Obedience"  and commited ourselves to be exactly obedient. 

 

Anyway so thats why I didn't get to email and im doing it now!  So with the bike it is totally okay.  Two days after I crashed Betsy we did some service for one of the members and they were cleaning out a storage unit and they were going to give this bike to salvation army and they asked if I wanted it so I took it!  It is a very cool looking bike.  It is a road bike and is very fast!  Elder Vande Merwe has a hard time keeping up with me now ha ha.  It is red and yellow and sticks out like a sore thumb.  But other than that we had kind of a slow week.  We did find a bunch of new people to teach and had a few good lessons which was pretty cool.  We found this one lady named cindy that I feel is going to be golden.  She just moved up here from California to get away from her old life and be better.  She had been looking for a church to start going to because she feels like she needs god in her life.  She has a teenage daughter I think she said and she is living with family right now just looking for a job.  I am very excited for it!  We also have a good lesson planned for tonight with a guy that lives next door to a less active member that we have been working with.  He started talking to us as we were getting on our bikes to leave and we set up an appointment to see him again tonight.  It was awesome! 

 

My little tree is gone?!  I am so upset about that now.  I was pretty excited to see how big that thing was going to be when I got home.  Those trees are not very sturdy.  It seems like almost all of them now are just falling over!  Maybe you should pick a different type of tree to use!  How are Wilson and Pepper?  Do they get along now?  Can someone send me some pictures?  Also I will send this sd card home if you will send the other one back.  I love you all very much, have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: June 4, 2012

Hello Family! 

This past week was a really good one.  We had a ton of referrals from members and other places.  We got two media referrals, one from temple square and the other from mormon.org which was very cool, I have not seen one from mormon.org yet.  One of them wasn't interested and only agreed because the sisters on temple square talked her into it.  The other though, his name is hunter and he requested a copy of the book of mormon and so we went and left one with him and set up a return appointment.  The others that we got from members turned out well also.  We got two new investigators out of one of them and one more out of another.  The one that turned into two was Eric Constantino and his girlfriend Tanya.  Eric is in a wheelchair but is the most ripped person I have ever met.  Its crazy.  He spends like 4 to 5 hours at the gym everyday working out.  It's insane.  But they are both pretty interested and were willing to meet again.  We taught them the first lesson and set up a chapel tour. 

So funny story.  I have the worst luck when it comes to bikes.  I took the bike and got it tuned up and a fixed up a little and then two days later I wrecked going up a curb and bent the back rim in half, I will try and attach a picture of it at the end of the email so everyone can see.  I didn't get hurt but betsy sure did.  I am going to borrow a bike from one of our investigators for a little while which should get me by.  And it means that we have to be in touch with him more often which will be good! 

We didn't end up going on exchanges with the assistants like we thought we were last week, so they are coming down tonight instead and doing it.  I am not very excited for that.  They are both very self righteous and act like they are perfect which is very frustrating.  They are rude if you do anything wrong.  But they both go home soon so its okay.  The mission is kind of going down hill with how many baptisms we are getting per month.  When I came out the first time we were averaging around 100 a month but now we are down to like 55ish.  President is doing everything he can to try and figure out what to do to get it back up but he wont listen to any of us.  Only the assistants and it is very frustrating. 

Our district is doing pretty good though.  We are steadily getting our dates back up.  We are now back to 7 with a date.  We had a good district meeting the other day where I posed the question what can we do to make the work progress faster?  We had a really good discussion with everyone about taking things back to basics and teaching the 5 basic principles of the gospel.  Everyone had good imput and we did some role plays to practice how we would answer questions by keeping it very basic.  It was not what I had planned to teach however.  I was supposed to talk about getting people to sacrament.  The spirit had us go a different way though. 

If you send that other sd card back then I will send the one i have now home with all the pictures on it.  I don't have much room on this one anymore.  Well I love you all very much! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: May 28, 2012

Dear Familia,

How art thou?  Doesn't sound like a whole lot going on this Memorial day for you all.  We don't really have any plans either so it's okay!  This past week has been a pretty good one.  Elder Vande Merwe is working really hard at trying to learn his stuff so he can be up to par.  We do a lot of role plays in the morning during training and we had the opportunity to go and teach a new member lesson to vickie and also go and teach christa again and she wanted to start over and have Elder Vande teach her the lesson's so he can get practice.  It was a really good idea!  He had trouble getting into it at first but after he did he did fine and the spirit was very strong. 

 

Our district is doing alright.  It seems like there is no unity in the entire zone though which is really weird.  No one seems to want to do anything at all together anymore and I think thats why they aren't doing as well as they could.  The week that I got made district leader we had 10 with a date in the district and then we went down to 5.  It was crazy so president was super worried and actually ended up coming down to my first district meeting that I taught.  I was super nervous but he ended up taking most of the time and basically chastizing those who lost people with a date.  They are doing a lot better now though.  We are back up to six and it steadily getting better.  I think they are really worried about the zone leaders here because their area is going really poorly after Elder Bird left.  They went from 4 with a date to none.  So the assistants are coming down tonight and going on exchanges with us and them. 

 

We set a goal for our companionship that we want to have two baptisms on the 30th of June.  I don't know who they will be but we are going to have the faith to get it done.  We are doing all that we can to get out and talk with people and we are really focusing on getting the members more involved.  I heard a statistic the other day that 90% of convert baptisms come from members and only 10% of the members actually do missionary work on a regular basis.  Imagine if we could make it 20%, the baptisms would double!  Thats just crazy.  Those investigators who have friends that are members seem to do so much better at progressing than the rest of them.  So that is one of our new goals also.  To get the ward more involved with missionary work and get them doing their own. 

 

We have been working with Zacks mom katie a lot.  She has a lot of questions and we do our best to answer them.  We kind of have a bump in the road though because we don't have a way to get her in the font.  She is a big woman and she can't go up and down stairs because of the blood disease that she suffered from.  She is going through physical therapy right now but I don't know if she will be ready so please pray for a miracle with her.  We have richard and marcus that have a date also but they are both having trouble finding their answer.  We have been praying hard for both of them so if you would do it also that would help a huge amount.  They need to have a spiritual confirmation that it is true. 

 

Well I love you all very much.  Congratulations Melinda Moo on graduating!  I sent you a letter so it should get there soon! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: May 21, 2012

Dear Family,

Thank you for the Birthday wishes!  I have to say I am very sorry to Matthew, your birthday card is going to be a little late!  I have had a very busy week and didn't get a chance to get it off.  But I will today I promise! 

This week has been a long one but it was awesome.  My new companions name is Elder Vande Merwe.  He is from Smithfield Utah.  It sounds like he is from some different country but he isn't.  He has been doing really well his first week out in the field.  We have to do training every morning from 10 to 11 and we do some role plays and watch some preach my gospel clips and then study from preach my gospel.  It is nice to go through this training program because I never did with Elder Snyder.  And the first time that I came out they didn't use this same one.  So it is all pretty new to me also.  He is a little shy and doesn't know the gospel very well but he is working very hard to get to know it better and learn to teach well.  I am excited that I get to be there and help him along this path.  He is going to be an awesome missionary.  When president was talking with me about the district leader stuff he told me to include him with everything that I will be doing with that, so I know that he trusts him already and wants him to have that for later in his mission. 

We set a date this week with Zack's mom which is awesome!  She has been reading the Book of Mormon with him and then they will go through and talk about what they read, it's very cool.  She is an awesome lady and is trying to understand as much as she can.  She has this friend who used to live here in Roseburg that is a member that she has been talking with and she has been helping her along also.  I am so excited for this family.  They are going to have the gospel in their lives forever now and it is going to be such a blessing!  I am grateful that I was here when he came to church and decided to become a member of the church. 

I have had a few people tell me over the past few weeks that they know that I was supposed to come here because I am the one person that got through to them.  It was very humbling to be told that.  I don't feel very adequate as a teacher and as a missionary but they feel that I am.  Christa, a lady that we have been teaching that is already a member, told me yesterday that every student has their teacher and that I am hers.  It is crazy to think that I really am here in roseburg oregon for a reason and that I really get to be an instrument in the lords hands to bless his children.  It's different than anything I have ever felt before. 

This week we have a bunch of new people that we are going to meet with that I am really excited about.  We are going to go and set a whole mess of baptism dates!  Our zone needs it.  It is really going down hill pretty quick after this new zone leader came in.  We went from 10 dates to 5 in a week, and we have 3 of those!   I am going to do my best this transfer to bring it back up. 

 

We are going over to Sister Littlejohns tonight for dinner so that should be pretty fun, but other than that we aren't doing anything fun.  I am kind of upset about that but it is okay.  We will probably go play some pool at a members house that is always trying to get us to come.  They didn't end up giving me a car so we are still full bike.  I don't mind that.  I really like riding a bike, it makes things more interesting ha ha.  The only frustrating thing about it is that we are at the mercy of those people who do have a car and thats why we aren't doing anything fun today.  The wicks had us over for dinner on friday and they bought me a transformers cake, it was awesome!  I love that family.  They also got me a ducks shirt that is really cool.  I am really excited for you all to meet them some day.  I am really excited that I get to stay here in Roseburg for another 3 months.  I love this area so much!   Well I love you all, thanks again for the Birthday wishes!

Love,

Elder Erickson