Thanks for the Email :)
Answers to your questions –
• The wedding nor the baptism took place. The wedding because S... just got up and left for a few days, and didn't return until the day after the wedding. A... didn't even know where he went. I think they are having problems with their marriage. But yeah, they are still not married. Also, with the baptism that was supposed to take place–we rescheduled it so her family could come. So it was supposed to be this week, but then we called her today, and she said that her mom is not going to let her get baptized because she was already baptized as a Catholic.... UGH! So...we have to work with her. Ugh, ugh, so frustrating. Also, all of our other baptisms are failing, too. They don't come to church, or their spouses don't want them to get baptized. I really thought that this mission would see baptisms left and right, but the people here are SOOOOOO difficult. They only believe in Catholicism. But, we are still working. Remember K...?, the boy who is progressing really fast? Well, he is still progressing, and he knows the church is true- but is super hesitant to do anything about it. He won't even admit that it is true. I think he wants more of a sign than the peaceful feelings he gets from church and when we talk to him. We'll still work with him though. Patience is key with him.
• About the food. I think we can find most everything we need. I have not found bbq sauce though. But most everything else can be found in the supermarket.
• Umm...we get 3870 pesos every 15 days. Which is...I don't know. I don't wanna do the math, but it is enough. Speaking of money–I took out 1000 pesos from my checking account last week, if you noticed.
I only have a few random things to tell you this week.
- I started reading Jesus the Christ yesterday. It is a toughie. We'll see if I ever finish it.
- We always start our lessons with a hymn. They love hearing us sing, so it is good. But the other day, we were teaching to like, 6 guys and one lady, and after we were done, they all started to clap. It was super super awkward. We didn't know what to do. I hope that never happens again!
- They built a pizza place recently, so we decided to go check it out. It is a super small place, and it is actually a bar.. so we had to be careful when we ordered pizza. We ordered it to go and ate it at home. It tasted so good! REAL FOOD! Too bad it is a bar though; otherwise I would go to eat there more often.
- We are learning a little bit of Haitian; that is fun. A lot of people here speak it, and we learn from a few investigators. We teach them a bit of English, they teach us Haitian. :)
- A guy here named F... is in love with HG. We were in a lesson the other day, and he was like, "just look at the beauty of her," and when I told him that she had a boyfriend, he said "I will fight for you. I will wait for you. We will end up together. I am so in love with you." And it was the first time that I kinda exploded at an investigator. It was also the first time that I have spoken fluent Spanish. But I pretty much told him that he couldn't be acting like that and that he needs to knock it off, and that she has a boyfriend and is not interested in him and all sorts of stuff. I was pretty furious, but I tried not to show it. It made it worse that HG didn't say anything. If I didn't know better, I would think that she likes him as well. I think she likes that attention though because usually I get the attention and the men in love with me. So having him is flattering to her or something, but yeah; I don't think we will be teaching him anymore.
-We met a family the other day, and I like them. There is a girl there named A.... She is 14. I told her about Heather, and she wanted her to write to her, and then she wanted to be Facebook friends. So Heather, if a girl named A... adds you, accept her. She is a doll. She thought I was 15; it was flattering. People here give me weird looks when I tell them I am 21. Apparently I look 12.
Well, I think that is all. I don't have other pictures to send–which is a first. Also a first, I got no mail for the first time this last week. It was tough. Maybe that is why the week was so terrible. It was seriously a terrible week. But hey, they can't all be great, right?
Oh yeah, we have zone conference tomorrow. I am looking forward to that. Luckily it is in our chapel. :) Well, I should go. I am going to Email the president and such. I love you all! Thank you for your continual support and for your prayers. I know the church is true. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon. I love that book. I find it so interesting. I love reading it and learning how to improve my life. I know it is a true book and that we can draw closer to God and His will by reading it. I hope you are all reading it personally and still as a family, and having family prayer. I miss those times, so cherish them :)
Love you forever,
Hermana Erickson
Talk to you next week!!!! oxoxox
Rachel and I were co-counselors at EFY this summer and I went to the same mission (although several years ago). We had the same problem then with investigators. Everybody would let us in to teach them and let us come back again and again, but trying to weed out the ones that actually wanted to progress was tough. Success will come though. :) I spent half my mission in the capital and half in the campo and loved both, but I had quite a bit more success in the capital.
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