Email: June 24, 2013

Dear Family,

I don't even know what to say at this point!  I have loved this experience more than any other I have had and I learned more than I ever thought I could.  I love that I am not perfect and I get to figure out my weaknesses and work on them.  They asked me to get up yesterday and share some things that I have learned as a missionary and my testimony.  I thought I would do really good and not be emotional at all... nope.  I got up there and cried like a little baby.  I will do my best to not do that when I talk at home ha ha.  I just can't believe it has come to an end.   I honestly do not feel like I have been doing this that long.  I am going to miss it so much, I love these missionaries and these people.  The plus to having come to Oregon is that I can keep in touch with everyone for the rest of my life.  

This past week was good, we had a few good lessons with people in the singles branch, one in particular was awesome.  It was with a kid named Spencer.  He is good friends with someone on the branch who has recently become active again, and she shared the Gospel with him and he wanted to learn more.  She gave him a book of Mormon and he read some, so we sat down and taught the restoration to him.  He believes in a higher power as of recently but doesn't know if he believes in Jesus Christ.  Se taught him all about Christ and his role and in the end invited him to read and pray about the whole thing and he was very excited to do so.  I am excited to see his progress and I think he is going to get baptized very soon!  

Well, thank you all for supporting me as a missionary, I definitely couldn't have done this without all of that.  I Love you all very much.

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: June 17, 2013

Dear Family,

 

I am going to ask you to forgive me for not making these last few emails very long.  It is hard sitting here and thinking about not doing this anymore soon.  We did have really good week.  We found a few new investigators because I offered to change their brakes for them!  We had tracted into them a long time ago and then we tried back and they said that they needed their brakes changed, so I said I could do it.  We borrowed some tools and went over and did it!  It took me two days because the car was a little different that I had tried it on before but after I figured it out it went really fast.  The second day that we were there we started talking about the church and family history and it was an amazing conversation and Tamy was very prepared to hear the message that we were sharing with her.  She lives with her husband and sister and daughter, so the whole family is going to get involved!  They told us that they couldn't make it to church this week but that they were for sure going to be there the next week.   I love finding people who are prepared to hear the gospel, it strengthens my testimony a lot.  We heard from a returned missionary yesterday in sacrament meeting who has been home for 3 weeks, it was very emotional for me and I feel like I cried the whole time.  I love this work and being a missionary more than I can even express to any of you.  I love this gospel and I believe that the church was restored with all my heart.  I love you all very much!  

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: June 10, 2013

Dear Familia!

 

Well another week bites the dust.  It was a good one though.  It has been really hot here all week and I totally love it!  We got to go up and do a big service project on Saturday with the Singles branch at this place called Lake of the Woods.  Real original name I know, ha ha.  They have a girls camp up there that is owned by the church I think that needed to be cleaned up before they could use it in the upcoming weeks.  We helped clear up all the old logs and such, and Elder Perrine and I helped mostly with the mess hall.  We got all of the cob webs out of the rafters and then we cleaned the floor and painted it.  It was way fun and very pretty up there!  When we come through Klamath we will have to take a look around! 

 

Also, I was talking to Fawn and Charlotte on Sunday and they are both getting into their family history and so I want to go to the Medford temple with them to do baptisms for the first time when we come back!  They were both very excited to do that and so we are making it a plan.  Just thought that I should let you know.  I am so excited for those families, I love them so much!  We did a lot of finding this week and found 3 new investigators and one of them actually is related to a member in the ward which is awesome!  We met with a lot of less active people also and we had a bunch of them at church in both the branch and the ward.  We had like 7 altogether!  That was very exciting because some of them we have been working with for a long time and haven't seen much progress with until then!  We didn't teach a huge amount of lessons but that's okay, I still feel that it was a successful week.  We have lots of good stuff planned for this week and we have zone conference on Tuesday over in Medford that should be pretty fun!  I get to see a lot of people for the last time which will be super fun!  Well, we actually have a ton of stuff to get done to day so I have to jet, but I love you all very much! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: June 3, 2013

Dear Family,

 

Time is going extremely fast and it scares me to death.  I am sooooooo grateful for the opportunity I have to serve these two years and look for people who need help in their lives, and watch the Gospel bless them incredibly.  Thank you for always being there for me and supporting me, I could not have done this without you all.  I just want to share my testimony of the gospel with you all.  This has been an emotional few weeks for me and I have been trying to figure out why I am so emotional about it.  I love this gospel and my savior with all my heart and I know that without his sacrifice that I would be nothing.  I have come to understand better lately that the gospel is a message of hope.  It is not there to condemn and tell people that they are wrong and that they can't do anything right, it is there to help everyone and anyone to overcome the world and be better than they were before.  We all mess up no matter what.  It may be big and it may be something insignificant, but no matter what we have done or who we are, we always have the hope of our savior Jesus Christ in our lives.  The gospel is a message of HOPE.  I love that I have learned that.  Growing up I always thought that it was just to make me do things different and to tell me what to do, but this knowledge has blessed me a lot.  I have seen people who felt like they couldn't do anything right and asked why would god love me after everything I have done?  I have asked that same question myself, but the truth is, God, our Heavenly Father, LOVES us no matter what.  He is always there for us and wants the best for us. 

 

We have had a really good week, we got cut a ton of miles because they want everyone outside more during the week so we have been riding our bikes and walking a lot and it has really helped!  We were able to find 5 new investigators this week and they were in both the ward and the branch!  The work in the branch has been picking up a lot and we have had a lot more people to teach lately.  My goal now is to have it stacked with people for the next transfer for Elder Perrine and whoever his new companion is,so they can baptize like crazy.  The Gundersens and Charlotte are doing awesome, we are teaching two of Charlotte's kids, I think I told you.  Gary got interviewed to get the Priesthood this past week and is going to get it this upcoming week!  I am super excited for him and the funny thing is that he is very excited to start doing home teaching!  He said "I get to be a missionary like you guys??" ha ha.  I love that family so much, I am grateful that we were led to them.  I love you all very much.  Remember to have HOPE! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: May 27, 2013

Dear Family, 

 

This week was a slower one but we did find two new investigators and started teaching Charlottes daughter Candie a lot more and she is very receptive to it.  We haven't been able to set a baptism date with her because she hasn't felt like she has got an answer that they book of Mormon is true yet but she hasn't been reading very long at all.  We are doing a big memorial day BBQ with the singles branch that they do every year and we're playing softball and its missionaries against the branch.  We are totally going to win ha ha.  I knelt down yesterday and made some goals with heavenly father for things that I want to accomplish while I am here and things that I would do to accomplish them.  I love that I am better at setting goals now and making plans to accomplish them. 

We picked up another former investigator in the singles branch and started teaching him again.  His name is Jared Wilson, he has a lot of stuff that he needs to get over and stop doing before he ever gets baptized but he is awesome and wants to be happy and he says that hes not right now.  Not too much else to tell, more this next week after we start teaching those gators and finding more and seeing a bunch of miracles.  I love you all very much! 

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: May 20, 2013

Dear Family!

 

This has been an amazing week full of miracles that are hard to even explain.  I told you that there was a possibility of the Gundersons getting baptized this week and they did!!!!  It was amazing, we went over on Tuesday night and talked with them and Elder Anderson told them that he was leaving and that he loved them and was excited for them to get baptized sometime.  He wasn't trying to put pressure on them to do it before he left but they decided that that is was they wanted.  They made a decision right then and there that they would never smoke again and we came up with a plan how we could help them quit.  So they gave us their cigarettes and we threw away their ashtray that was outside on their porch and they washed all of their clothes that smelled like smoke.  The first two days we called them every hour to make sure they were doing okay and to give them some encouragement and let them know that we were there for them.  They did it!!! They haven't smoked since then and the baptism went amazing!  We had a really good turn out from the ward and they have been super supportive of this little family.  We also have started teaching two of Charlottes kids and they are taking everything really well!  Raphael her 15 year old son has become really attached to us and she texted last night after we left their house and said that he was super excited for church and loves the fact that we show him that we can have fun while still being a part of the church.  He has come a long way, he wouldn't really talk to us when we would come over there in the past.  Miracle! 

Elder Anderson is getting transferred and going to Redmond to be a zone leader still up there.   They released me as a zone leader because I am going home in six weeks and they want to have some down here that will be here longer than that.  My new companion is Elder Perrine.  He came out when I was in Roseburg last year and was trained there so I know him already.  The assignment that they gave me was to train him to be a district leader and we have two brand new zone leaders that are here now so they asked me to train them as well.  I am super relieved that I don't have to have all of those worries anymore!  I get to be a normal missionary again!  These last two transfers have been amazing and I will never forget these missionaries that have been here, they are amazing!  The assistants told me that I am the Grandfather of Wisdom here in Klamath, so everyone is calling me Grandpa or Abuelo ha ha.  I have to get going, Elder Anderson has to leave in a bit and we've got to get his stuff but I love you very much!  Talk to you all later!

Love,

Elder Erickson

Email: May 13, 2013

Dear Family,

It was super good to talk to you yesterday and I don't have much else to share because of that.  We had a really good week and found 6 new investigators and are starting to teach them this week.  Transfers are next week and Elder Anderson is leaving we just have to find out where he is going.  It will be interesting to see, I hope he goes to Roseburg!  He would love it there.  Charlotte got baptized on Saturday and Confirmed on Sunday and it was very cool.  Her whole family was there at the baptism and we are starting to teach her son and her brother this upcoming week.  It has been several weeks of miracles and we are very excited for them to continue.  I love you all very much, sorry this one is so short.  I will have more to tell next week!  

Love,

Elder Erickson