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