#25 [Azua - 21] May 27th, 2013

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY YESTERDAY!!!!!

It was Mother's Day in the DR. Thought about calling again, and then decided that I probably shouldn’t. So I didn’t. Darn. I imagined it though! and it was great. hahah

But thank you for the update. Congrats to KaLynn for graduating. Too bad it was from SF.. but still, a graduation is a graduation.. kinda, hahah. I hope that Steven is feeling better. I heard that is painful. I don’t know though. I don’t have much of a background in Spinal fluid.. but nonetheless, I hope he is doing better. Send my.. not love, but hellos.

I am glad that you got to meet with Herm. Hurlburt’s parents. 

Oh wow. This week was pretty lame. Nothing really happened. Just work.
..um.. Here goes nothing.

I started reading the New Testament in Spanish. I plan on finishing it.. within the upcoming month. We’ll see though. It’s interesting, and it helped that I read Jesus the Christ in English, because I can tell what the stories are. It’ll be interesting when I get to Acts and all that jazz.... hmm. Good thing I have the spirit with me when I study, right?

Man, the mornings are tough – it’s allergy season I think, and I wake up and sneeze and sneeze. I hope it doesn’t last. I have come to the conclusion that water is the cure-all. I just drink a lot of it, and then I feel better. It’s much cheaper than medication, too. :) not quite free, but it’s gotta be good!

I got a few letters this week. It was a nice change, I haven’t gotten any for a while. They were from Elder Peterson, and Michelle Durrant. I love her!!! Ah, I miss her and I can’t wait to write to her. Tell her thanks if you ever get the chance. I am going to write her back today. As well as Brent.

We had Zone conference on Thursday.

I saw a couple more things that were dead this week, but I could only do Book of Mormon comparisons with one of them. So I will send that picture. It’s of a toad. The other dead thing we saw was an old man. Yes, luckily, he was in a casket. I haven’t seen a dead person in a LOOONG time, and it would’ve been nice to go even longer. But it was interesting to see the casket. It was a normal one, but for the viewing, they had it completely shut. Except for a little window for the face. So I could see this old man’s dead face... it was eerie. I thought about taking a picture. I don’t think it would’ve been disrespectful, because this other guy had out his camera phone and stood over the window thing and took a few pictures for himself. I don’t know why ANYONE would want a picture of a dead guy on their phone. It wouldn’t be a happy background picture...

Speaking of dead people, we have a temple trip that we’ve been planning coming up on the 15th. The day after Jacob Smith is supposed to come home. The trip is only for the recent converts, and so we are stoked about it. The only way that the missionaries can go though, is if we help them find a name to take to the temple; which is SUPER HARD, goodness. They don’t know who their parents are, or anything. We can for sure go though because Carlos had a 9 year old son die 3 years ago, and so we can easily get his work done, I think. But I already asked dad if there are any names that I could take from the family. Just cuz H. Hurlburt has NONE of hers done, and so she’s taking hers. I think it would be cool.

So on.. Friday, we had a member come with us all day long. Her name is Angela. She’s the one that is 14 and just got baptized. She LOVES coming with us, and she is such a good help. It’s weird to think that she is the same age as Heather, but then it shows that anyone can do missionary work. She is just so excited about it. I will send a pic of her. But she’s great, I am glad that she came ALL DAY with us. She wants to come everyday with us. She’s coming tonight as well. Wow, such zeal for the work!

And then, on Saturday, something cool almost happened. K... came back from the capital, and he asked if he could just be baptized that night. So we had to call a bunch of people, and we had it all set up so we could, and then the mission president said NO! Wanna know why? Because they didn’t announce it in church, and that is the main reason. Dumb, huh!? Especially because even when we do announce it, not many people show up...  so he didn’t get baptized spontaneously, sadly. But on the bright side, he is coing back on Saturday, and we announced it on Sunday. So that means that I will have another baptism. :) and he counts as mine because –  1. we found him, 2. he doesn’t live in our area (Azua at all - he’s moving to the capital and just wanted to get baptized here.) and, 3. I have been teaching him the longest. So yeah, K... is FINALLY  getting baptized. It́s great because he is SO ready. He has been since February. He finished the BOM the other day, and started over. Now he is in 2 Nefi. Crazy that boy. I think he’ll serve a mission someday. But man, I am stoked for him to be a member.

I finished my journal yesterday – 2 down, 4 to go! crazy. I have been writing in it daily. And I got Herm H. in the habit, too.

The work is kinda at a stand-still at the moment. I guess it’s progressing, but not fast. We’re still working with T..., he wants to get baptized SO BAD. And he’s talked to the judge about getting married, and his wife is ok with it, and man, he is so ready. I just have a feeling that I won’t be here to see it, which is pretty sad. Unless he gets married in the next 2 weeks. I think I will get transferred. I hope I do. I love it here, but I feel like I have been here too long. I wanna explore. But I will go where I am needed. :)

That is about all of the news that I can come up with. Not much happened, like I said. We don’t have any baptismal dates because they never come to church. The people that we were excited about last week didn’t come, and it is annoying. I love them, and they don’t love the gospel. Tough life here in the DR, but we do what we can.

Another guy told me I was fat.

Well, I guess I will end on that happy note, haha! I am probably getting fat. But, I will “get my rear in gear”- mom.

I love you all and love you more everyday. Thank you for being such good people, and being active in the church. Thanks for the environment you set up at home. Keep doing the small things. They make a BIG difference! Love you to the moon and back!! To infinity and beyond!! :)

ox ox ox
- Hermana Erickson 1

#24 [Azua – 20] May 20th, 2013

Hello!!! MY dearly beloved family!!!

You all sure wrote a lot!! Thank you for that!!

So one thing that is totally bugging me is that my English is going down the drain. It bugs me when I spell things wrong, and I feel like my vocabulary is that of a 4th grader. It's annoying - just thought I would let you know, haha.

Anyways, much to talk about this week, but first - your letter that you emailed to me. :)

God is so aware of everyone - it's so great to have someone looking out for us 24/7.

So it's Shelby getting married?! How happy. I approve of that one. Tell her congrats if you see her, and Madeline too. I still need a picture :) 

Josh, working?!?!?!?!? will he be able to do that?!?! haha, kidding. Good for him. I could see him working there. I hope he gets the job.

I can't believe the school year is over!! The mission really distorts time. I feel like their school year can't be over until my mission is done, it's unreal. ALMOST summer for them. I feel like you should all still have snow at home, since that is how I left it haha. I forget that just because I left, doesn't mean that time stops. It keeps going on – super weird.

I WANNA READ DAD'S JOURNALS!!!!! I remember trying to, and once he caught me and Riss (we also tried to read mom's) and we got in trouble. So... I thought they were off-limits. I am definitely reading them in... 13 months :) that would be fun to see how dad was while you were dating!! :)

Cole will be a good missionary. Speaking of missionaries, how are the Farley missionaries?!

We had an "activity" on Friday, and they announced that Frances died. I almost cried. It makes me sad to think that Pres. Monson will die... but I am trying not to think about it.
 
Ok. Well, I think I will tell you all about my week now. Ready,? if not, spend a few minutes getting pumped up :)

So we've been chillin in the house, us four American sisters, and it's great. I have been getting to know Herm. P. better. She is from Melba..? Idaho!!! and I told her about Riss, and she was like, "oh, THAT'S your sister?! I've heard about her!!" Yes, that's right. Riss left a legacy behind for being the only white person in the Latino group. Well done. You have raised more than one champion (the other being me :) and the other 4 are the other siblings. We all rock. You did really well raising us, if I do say so myself, haha.)

In our area this week, we found a lot of random, kinda gross things. So I took pictures for you to enjoy :) I am sure you can tell what they are. But just in case, I will let you know.
    •    One is a spider. Found by A...'s house. He stepped on it to kill it, which I find disgusting.
    •    One is an eel's tail. It was just sitting by the little stream of water, where we go and teach an investigator... smelled like FIIIIISH - for lunch, ha hah, Mimisiku.
    •    the third one is of a skinned dog...
    •    and then we found this bird thing right at the bottom of our stairs today. What a treat!!

Ok so in reality, nothing really huge happened this week. Except we had companion exchanges, but we went out as a trio because H. H. couldn't talk to her by herself or something... I learned a few things, mainly words.

On a happier note, on Thursday, we found a family!! S... and R... They have 3 kids, and we were just walking to an appointment, and the husband stopped. us. We had seen the wife almost everyday, as we pass the place where she works daily, and we always wave, and she's nice. But I have a testimony of just waving and smiling. I try to tell everyone hello, because I think it could be how they become interested. :) But anyways, they had us stop by, after we talked about the restoration, and rocked it. Or, the spirit rocked it. It went REALLY WELL. :) We went back last night, and it was cool because they live kinda out in the boonies, and so we walked in the mud and got there, and they stopped everything they were doing and sat down, ALL TOGETHER AS A FAMILY. That has NEVER happened to me since I've been here. But they all sat down and paid attention and asked questions, and man, it felt so great. We gave them a BOM and I showed them a pic of the fam (which EVERYONE - even the white people I show it to - says that we look like the perfect family, so that's flattering.) But I told them how we used to do study in the morning, and our family is more close now. But a few minutes before we were going to end, it started down pouring - big time, and they wouldn't let us leave. I think the people here think the rain has like acid in it or something. They freak out when it rains. The streets are desolate!!! But wow, so we stayed, and they let us see how they make spaghetti, and I got the recipe. I'll make it for you all in a few months, :) but they were so nice to us, and they were so excited for us to come back. I still don’t know if they will progress, but I feel good about them :)

Another big thing that happened: A... AND C... GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!

That's right. My first baptism. :) They were so stoked, they arrived at the chapel at 4:15, and it started at 6! Good thing that we were there. We were there because we had to fill up the font. Which still had water in it from 2 weeks ago - the drain doesn’t do its job :/ gross. So we used buckets to extract the water, and it was tough work. Then we used toilet paper to clean it. They better have appreciated it!, because it took a lot of energy. But the baptism was really special. C... almost cried, and A... just has a super deep, intimidating voice, and he almost cried, too. He's so close to the spirit. They were so prepared. I am so grateful that I followed the prompting I got on March 30th to stop and talk to a random guy reading a Bible. :) I feel very blessed.

And that was pretty much the gist of the week. It was SUPER long, probably the longest one I have ever had in the field, but it was worth it – because we got to eat cake. Also, we had a baptism :) which is more important.

But man. What a great blessing to be in the Vineyard of the Lord. I get to take care of this little piece of paradise, and I feel so lucky to be entrusted with it. Thank you for letting me be here. Thank you for raising me to want to serve. I love you all and pray for you daily. I think of you just enough to not get trunky :) I love you and I love Jesus :)

Have a wonderful week full of health!! :)

ox ox ox
-Hermana Erickson 1

#23 [Azua - 19] May 13th, 2013

Wow. I love hearing about the ducks. :) inspiring indeed :) I love your random updates :) so many smiley faces :)

And, congratulations to DAD for WINNING so many things. Proud moment for me :) well done. I approve. hahahah, four iPads and a tablet, but who's counting?! :)

I hope everything goes well with Jacob singing. What a neat experience. Gregg Olsen came to the MTC and talked to us there. Make sure to take pictures and send them to me - I would love to see them family. I love pictures.

HAPPY TWO MONTHS, RISS!

But HELLO!

So this week was pretty good. I honestly don't remember it much... but I do know that a lot of good things happened - I think. I can't really focus because I am surrounded by the herms Skyping, and they are like, yelling into the speaker, but I will do my best.

I have had my paper chain up, and now that Mother's Day has passed, it looks so barren. So sad. But I guess I should make a chain for Christmas, eh? hahahah, no. Seven months is a little too long to make a chain for.

Oh, last week, you talked about going to Kelton's Homecoming. I would love to have you all go and support him. That would be wonderful if you could record it, dad. Is that even legal?! But you can give him gifts, too :) hahaha, but yeah.

OH!, so you know that Riss gave me a message on the phone, it would be cool if you could transcribe that, so I can read it. I really miss Riss. I didn't know I would miss her this much. Or you all. But whatever. So does it feel like we're still at school? Because last night on the phone, I was thinking about when we'd talk to Jeff. And how his time flew by, because he'd gone to school earlier, and was always at work, and whatnot. So it's probably like that, huh?

Ok. So the EGGPLANT – man. There is a story behind it. So we went to A...'s house, and he always gives us a bunch of fruit, like you know. So we go to his house, try to teach him the law of chastity, and it worked out really well. I think the three of them understood. But anyways, we were leaving, and they were like, "you want a coconut?!" and we were like, "we really should go - our next cita started – 15 minutes ago. :)" So we tried leaving, and they get out their machete, and chop it open and I drank out of a coconut, and hated it. It was not... very sweet. Herm. Hurlburt chugged it down, and that was a shocker, but then they cut it open more and made us eat the fruit, and it was gross. It had the texture of a squid-------and it was gross. So we decided to - pawn it off to some poorer people - namely M... And so we give her the coconut, and then she's like, "Hey, my brother wanted you to have these!" and she grabs a bag - which had a cantaloupe and then 3 giant eggplants! AH! HUGE! SO, as we walked home, we gave one of them to a nice lady who randomly wanted us to teach her and her kids, so we will. But yeah, we try to give fruit away, and they replace it with even bigger fruit!! It's great.

I feel like that is all that I have done. I feel like I have told you most everything - I will let you go and write you in a few hours. I love you all, and miss you all super a lot. I hope you are all well. Just so you know, I feel super blessed to be a part of the fam-bam, Erickson clan :)

TTFN-
Love you forever,
Hermana Erickson

#22 [Azua - 18] May 6th, 2013

My dear, eternal family :) hehehehehe – but seriously.

SIX DAYS!! :) I have my paper chain counting down, and it is so short!! I started it like, 30 days ago, so it's been fun to see it get smaller and smaller. I am so excited! :) The plan is that we are going to be using our cell phone that we have. Are you planning to call me back after a few beeps? That would be nice, cuz with our phone, we have to buy minutes, and it is ridiculous. I don’t know how people have cell phones here. I know I wouldn't have one if I had to buy my minutes. RIDICULOUS! (not to be confused with RIDIKULUS - the Harry Potter spell :) haha) But I will most likely be calling around 8:30 my time? so like 6:30 your time. I hope that works with everyone. I don't know when Riss is going to call though; hopefully around then, if no, I can call later so we are all on at the same time :)

Congrats to Cole for going through the temple! How exciting! I can't believe that so many stressful things happened before that! I thought it was stressful when mom forgot her recommend in the car!, but wow, what a crazy day!

I WAS MENTIONED IN A MEETING AT STAKE CONFERENCE?! WOW!!!! I feel so honored. Next up - GENERAL CONFERENCE! that is one of my goals. I wanted to email Brother Richardson and let him know to just mention my name somewhere in his next general conference talk. Do you think he would do that for me? It's on my bucket list, as of today :) But, I do remember our meeting about that. I don't remember that happening, but I will believe him; cool, cool. Let my legacy of greatness go down in history :) haha

I was not aware that you were going to D-Land again! How fun. I wanna go with Riss when we get back. We are going to plan a trip together before we both get married (if that all works out with the other guys :)) <– double chin! wow. But yeah, we were thinking of maybe a study-abroad or something? Who knows, we're not really talking about it since we still have many moons here in paradise.

But as far as transfers go, Elder Reeder is the "ayudante del sur" to the president and he is in our area, so we knew about transfers on Saturday. He guessed that Gamez was leaving, and we were staying and Matteson was training, and he was right. I really was hoping to open an area and train, but that is what Gamez got. She's been here for almost half her mission, so it's good that she's leaving.

And Saturday - the baptisms and the open house... well...here's the story about that. So we spent the whole week last week planning and getting the chapel and church clean for the open house. We scrubbed everything down, and the only thing missing was the Chicago music playing in the background. But we spent hours cleaning, because the members never showed up (they are VERY unreliable, sadly.) So day after day, we spent our lunch and like, two hours cleaning and preparing and decorating. It wasn't anything fancy, but to the Dominican people, it is really impressive when you can curl ribbon with scissors. So they didn't have high expectations. It's so different to see the cultures' differences, but anyways. Also, the elders printed off about 1200 invitations. We expected A LOT of people to come. So finally, on Saturday, we went out to eat - and Kendri calls. He's still in the Capital, and can't make it. Gamez was very sad, since she knew she would be leaving. So he wouldn't be able to get baptized :( Hopefully this Saturday! But, continuing on with the story – we go and clean a bit more around 2, because it started at 4:30. We set all of it up and then people showed up. Adabertino (our investigator who is rock-solid) came first, half an hour early. So, we gave him a Liahona to read. More people start showing up, and they gather into the main part where we were going to start the tour. Then, the members start directing things and taking charge. It would have been more successful if the members would have attended the planning meeting earlier in the week, but NO ONE came.

We ended up having only 140 people come!!!! ONLY 140!!! and only 32 of them were non-members!!!!!! So that was annoying. And then we had the baptism, and the people were all interested, but the baptismal room is super small, and not everyone could fit. And you know what happened?!... most of the investigators didn't get to see it because the members took their spot. So yeah, it was a small success. On the bright side, Denny and Angela got baptized. :) so two more souls are saved :) Mission accomplished :)

We had a tiny miracle this last week. We have these 2 investigators that we always teach together - Robert and Margarita. They are friends. And nothing more. (One is 28 and the other is 52.) We wanted to teach them separately, since they are on different levels with their relationships (Margo's man doesn't want to get married, and Robert doesn't want to be with his wife - he wants a member so they can "get sealed in the temple" haha, what a funny guy.), but didn't know how to bring it up... Then, we had a cita with Robert, and Margo was in her house, and she called us over and told us that she wanted us to come to her house and start teaching her, instead of at the water tank where Robert works. MIRACLE! So we have taught her a bit, and tomorrow night, we are doing a FHE with her and her "husband" and kids :) we're excited.

Another miracle. I was walking by a mango tree, and I was craving a mango. So I said, "Heavenly Father, I really want a mango. If it be thy will, let one fall to the ground so I can eat it, within 5 seconds, please." and we continued walking, and I watched anxiously, and right when 5 seconds hit, nothing happened :( so we continued 2 more steps, and then someone hollers at us, and they are holding a bag full of mangoes, and they just give it to us :) MIRACLES! The temple roll works, thanks dad :) haha

We had Adabertino and Carlos come to church again. They are so great. So prepared. They are the best. I will get a pic of them so you can see them. But the members keep asking them when they are going to be baptized, and they say, "May 18." so they know. That happens to be Mauri's Birthday, yay. But yeah, they are so prepared, and love the gospel, and always give us fruit and tell us how grateful they are. Luckily, they don't have any marital problems, they are both single, so that is a relief. We are going to teach the law of chastity next time, and that should be exciting. Like it usually is... :)

Argelis –  we went to see how he was doing with the no coffee thing, and he said that he gets headaches, but is trying really hard. Then, we asked him why he was doing it, and he said he was doing it because it was a commandment, and he knows he should follow the commandments. So, we are going to continue to work with him :)

Last night, we had a fire on our roof; we made it, and it was great. We roasted hot dogs and made smores with strawberry mallows and chocolate frosting, since there is no chocolate around here, haha. It was really fun. We also told stories and had a good time. I like the little things like that on the mission. It makes everything so much better.

Well, I am out of time. It's crazy that the next time we talk will be in person!!!! I am so excited.  I love you all so much. Thank you for your love and letters and support. They mean the world. Keep studying the scriptures and having family prayer.

I know this is the true church and am so grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I love Him and know that we can find happiness through Him and the gospel. I am grateful that we are an eternal family. :)

Have a lovely week. Talk to you on Sunday :) :)

-Herm Erickson 1 :)

PS – here are some random pictures. The random lady in the picture with us and the elders is Denny. She's changed a lot. Received many miracles from the church. But the one where I am at the table is at the open house. We had tables full of resources (as much as we had) to give to the investigators.

#21 [Azua - 17] April 29th, 2013

Hello family! I am finally on! It took me longer this week because we had a zone activity :) :) I am definitely counting the days, too :) 13. :) :) I can't even wait. So we asked the other day what we could co about calling/skyping, and they said that if we wanted to skype, we would have to do it on Monday. SO, the big question for you guys: DO YOU WANT ME TO CALL ON SUNDAY OR SKYPE ON MONDAY?

Please reply to that ASAP :) like, maybe right when you get this and are reading it :)

But wow!, what a letter. I really feel so loved from you, my family. You always write. I am the only sister here that gets Emails for sure every week, and I really appreciate it, so thank you again. Thank you for updating me on the school activities; Jeff; and on Riss. I can't believe she's training! I know she'll do so great. Ah man, I love her. I miss her a lot.

But about the Email thing. I haven't heard anything about it here. I have heard from other people (as in other missionaries, and Kelton Emailed me. He's not going to extend. His come home date is August 21st, just so you know, :) ah how exciting!!!!), but no word here. The Dominican Republic always seems to be a little behind the times, but such is life. They are so relaxed here that they really don't care! It's kinda great.

Ok, about your questions: Any hope for Argelis?; Adabertino and Carlos? H G and her comp still working with Kendri?; what about his friends?

There is hope for Argelis. We taught him the Word of Wisdom the other day, and he drinks coffee and tea a LOT. So we committed him to not drinking it, or cut back until he stops, and he said ok, so we have been checking up on him, and he's down to one cup a day. Which is better than his 4 or so that he used to drink. So I think he's doing it for himself. I don't know for sure though, but I have faith. We let him know our purpose, and that if he wasn't serious about baptism, then we won't be visiting him. I think that made him really put some thought into it. I just don't see why someone would give up coffee and tea for someone (as in him doing it for Hermana Gamez.) So, we'll see.

Oh my, Adabertino and Carlos; they are saints. Oh my – they still give us fruit up to our noses, but they are great. The other day, they gave us a lot of platanos, and I thought, "Hey, we have some super poor investigators, lets go drop these off." So we did - to Tony and Carmela. They were super thankful. It felt good to not waste fruit, and to help them out. But they have walked to church every Sunday, and they continue to love it to death. They even come to the activities that we have - which are rare, and they brought their friend, too. They are still good for the 18th of May. They could get baptized the 11th, but I don't want to move up their date. :) Ah, they are so great. He's still intimidating to talk to just because he sounds like Black Jesus. But yeah. Cool guys. Oh, so Adabertino told us that a few days before we contacted him, he had a dream about two girls walking towards him with Bibles in their hands, and then a few days later, we showed up. Cool, eh? I thought so.

Kendri is getting baptized this Saturday. We have a HUGE open house, and he and 2 others (who I worked with before - Denny and her daughter, Angela) are getting baptized right after. I am stoked for them. It's cool, because Denny and Angela's family told us not to waste our time with them, and we felt like we needed to keep working with them, so we did, and now they are getting baptized!!! :) Good times. I am looking forward to him getting baptized because that is ALL H Gamez talks about, and it makes me feel really sad because I don't get to teach him anymore. He was like my little brother, and now I don't get to see him and have been replaced by H. Mattenson, and she keeps reminding me of it. It's pretty harsh. If we were companions, I would bring it up in Companionship Inventory, hahaha.

Kendri's friends come to church when he does. I don't know if they have a testimony, but one of them is reading the BOM. WOOHOO!

Ok, so I was talking to an elder from Peru the other day, and he asked me where I have been in Arequipa, and I couldn't remember worth ANYTHING. I could only remember the areas in my mission. So maybe you could help me out. What areas did we go to???

So on Thursday and Friday, it rained – SUPER A LOT. The streets flooded. Luckily, we were already in the house both times when it started. Because it was totally dry in the morning, and then at night, BAM, rain! But what happened was that me and Hurlburt went up on the roof to see why we had no water in our tanks, and when we were up there, we thought, "Let's just use this water to shower." So we did. We showered on the roof in the rain. We are officially Dominican. It felt so great!!! I loved it. I have not felt so clean since I have been here. The shubbs we take just don’t cut it for me. But we loved it so much that we did it again on Friday when it down poured. It was great. I suggested it. :) We of course had our clothes on, but still, it counts :) :)

In other news, I am in Chapter 27 in Jesus the Christ. It's still pretty interesting.

Hmmm – I feel like this week was a toughie. We walked around TONS and felt really unproductive, although we were doing things. We found an old ward list, and looked at all the names. We had lots in our area that we did not know, so we figured they were inactive. And since we are supposed to have 5 inactives a week or so, and we have 2, we decided to go looking for them. So we did that for like, 3 hours a day (because there were a lot.) And we found one - just one, ALL of the others had moved. So... that was rough. And we only got 12 lessons in this week. NO ONE WAS HOME! Most all of our appointments failed, and so it was rough. But then the rain came and we were cheered up. Heavenly Father knows us, I know he does, just because of the rain. I felt so pathetic, and then the rain fell, and we started singing "There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today" and we were cheered up.

I got a letter from Taylor Baker. I guess he's home. Super weird to think about. That probably means that Jeff Adamson is getting close to being home.... weird!!! :/ but cool. Speaking of J A, I found a story in the Liahona the other day about 2 girls who were best friends since 2nd grade named Melanie and Rachel. It made me happy. Except in the story, Rachel was trying to get Melanie to smoke, so I knew the story wasn't about us. I promise, I never tried to get Mel to smoke-haha.

So at church yesterday, we had Margo there! She had yet to come. She is Robert's friend. She had a baptismal date, but didn't come to church, and then she showed up yesterday. We walked the 20 minute walk to her house to pick her up for church, (as we do most Sundays,) and she gave us an excuse – which was that she was sick. The previous day, she was stuck in bed with a high fever, so I knew it was a legit excuse. She told us she would shower and come, without fail, but we didn't get our hopes too high because she tells us that weekly. So we were in church, and it was right after the sacrament, when she walked in with her two daughters. AH. I couldn't stop smiling!!! I heard that she loved it and I hope she returns next week! If she does, we will for sure put a baptismal date. :) I love her. :)

We do take many pictures. The ones I attached are...
    ▸    Me and Gamez in the Finca that we went to,
    ▸    Me and some children that love us. I feel so dark, and then I look at me next to them and remember that I am still very much white. :)
    ▸     Us after showering in the rain. We are standing on the porch.

I really feel like this week was quite uneventful. This upcoming week should be great. Like I previously said, we are doing an open house, and it'll take a lot of time and effort. And the members are in charge of a lot, but they are not reliable, so we are planning a lot and helping out lots. Like on Saturday, we might have one hour to go out and have an appointment, but probably not. And then the 3 days before, we will be cleaning, decorating, and re-cleaning. Apparently our chapel used to be granite; super nice, but they painted it white.... I don't know if they took out the granite, or just painted over it.

But yeah, this week will be crazy. And then on Sunday, we find out if we get transferred. There are 17 new sisters, so we might be training, or moving. We have no idea... :/ I am stoked to find out.

Oh! The Azua branch (? District) is REALLY close to becoming a stake. I think it'll happen in the upcoming months. :) We're excited about that.

Anyways, I should probably write to the Pres. If you hurry and reply, I will reply to this one. Please do, since it talks about mother's day (13 days!!!!! :) I am gonna just bawl my eyes out – let's be real. But I love you more than I know how to express. Thank you for your prayers. I know that God hears them and answers them. I don't feel my testimony growing lots, but I know it is. Thank you for letting me serve. :) I love you all. Tell Jeff to not die with his go-cart. Also, is he dating anyone? Please keep him single for the next 15 months, :) thank you.

Love you! To infinity and beyond.

All my loving,
(yes, I am singing the Beatle’s song :) yay!)

Hermana Erickson 1