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
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