Wednesday, August 21, 2013

#37 [Independencia - 9] Aug. 19th, 2013

Hello my dear family!!! How are you all doing? I hope you are all doing so well. I am doing very well here. We had a couple of pretty crazy adventures, and I am excited to tell you all about them :)

But dad, thank you for the usual update. I am glad that Jeff shaved his beard, as are all of the sister missionaries that live with me. They all saw pictures and had some pretty bad comments. I tried to tell them that he is usually an attractive man. haha

The camera is alright. I miss my old one. Oh well!!!! When it’s time to change, it’s time to re-arrange! haha... oh Brady Bunch. I had to add that in because dad added it in :) haha

Okay, so for one of the personal progress things, I decided to memorize the Living Christ. It reminds me of mom, when we were trying to memorize the family proclamation. I am doing it in Spanish, and I like it. I have quoted it many times already to investigators. It’s convenient. I am about half way done. Feeling pretty accomplished.

Another thing that I feel very accomplished about is that I ALTERED 2 skirts!!!!!! I felt so happy. We had this girl who needed skirts, and so we looked through the old gross ones that missionaries leave behind. The girl is super skinny, and the missionaries were... not. So, I took a good gander at her body (in a not weird way like it sounds.) and I took my needle at home, and I sewed them up, and they fit PERFECTLY. Let’s just say that grandma would be proud. :) I don’t think I will be altering any of my skirts anytime soon... so that’s unfortunate. Maybe if I have to add material.. ugh. But no, I am not getting too fat. No worries. :)

So the other day, we were in a super crazy lesson. We had these 2 guys who live on a busy street, and we teach outside because they are men. So we’re teaching, and their 2 friends come up and join. They’re about 40. They think we are the coolest people in the world, so it’s cool. Whatever. But anyways, we’re teaching, and all of the sudden amidst the noise and all that, a truck pulls up. It has chickens in it. They are momentarily alive. So, this 18 year old kids grabs one, holds it by the feet, and then whacks its back and then it’s head, and then–it stopped moving. I had witnessed a homicide, so brutal. It was super gross. I will still eat chicken, but that sure was a brutal way! But the story gets better – they put the chicken in boiling water, and pull it out. They start plucking out the feathers and then, THE HEAD FALLS OFF! and the neck insides start pouring out - like the veins and throat.  Yeah, not super appealing, kinda gross. We couldn’t keep up with the excitement, and so we ended with a prayer and left. Oh the things in this country. I sure love it here. As mom would say, "it’s a cultural experience." haha

We also met a nice man the other day. He stopped us and asked our names, because he knew the men were called Elders, and didn’t think the sisters were called that. Anyways, we go to ask if we can stop by his house one day, and this is his line: (I thought it was super funny.) "No thank you. By the grace of God, I am atheist." hahahahah, super ironic. Thought you might think it was funny too. So yeah, the people here... He did though, give us a reference to his wife. She was rude and didn’t answer the door. Too bad, cuz we have a pretty great message. :)

Another thing happened this week–yesterday actually. So we were invited to a house with 3 members. They were men, and they planned on giving a priesthood blessing to a lady who was going to go in for surgery. Her son was one of the members, he just got baptized. Ok, like 8 months ago. But they had us there and had us share a bit about the priesthood, and then they gave a blessing, and MAN! I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD!!!! wow. I am so happy to be in this church. And to be able to live in a family where my dad and brothers hold the priesthood, and that I get to marry a worthy priesthood holder! ah! I just love the priesthood. That’s all. Thanks for being worthy – dad, Jeff, Josh, and anyone else who reads this. Thank you. I love you all.

So one more thing happened this week that was weird. So N.came to church, and she was super excited about her baptism. We had it all planned, and we had gone to her house; the skirts I altered were for her. It was planned for Saturday, and she had her interview and felt super ready and excited! Ah, we were super happy for her. So Saturday, we were running around filling up the font, trying to teach some people in between, and all that fun stuff. We decided to stop by one of her friend’s house, since she asked him to pray or something, but he wasn’t home. His friend was though, and told us that the baptism had been cancelled! This was 45 minutes before the baptism should’ve started... yeah. So we were a little confused, so we went and talked to her. She came out of her room, and we like, "I am in pain." As they say it here, "SHE HAD THE MOON" which is a super funny way of saying she had started her period, and didn’t want to get baptized. Ugh! I want to believe it, but she didn’t even seem sad, or upset, or like she even cared, so we don’t know if she’ll get baptized... I was SUPER disappointed. I mean, GET OVER IT! – but whatever. We had planned for a lot of people coming, and a lot of investigators of the elders were going to come, and yeah. Lots of people were planning on this. SO, we get out our phone, AND IT’S DEAD! Yep, no batteries, so that was pretty unfortunate. So we sprinted in our skirts. I was in a pencil skirt, and it probably looked pretty ridiculous running. We ran for about 10 minutes, feeling all sorts of emotion, and then we just started laughing because we were "living the missionary life" haha. Gotta love it. :) But we get to the church, because the font was still running, and we didn’t want it to overflow... haha. So we ran there, and the other herms were there, and they told us that they had been trying to call us. Apparently, everyone in the mission was also trying to call us...oops. But yeah, we called some people, and some people were upset, but ... she had the moon. Hahahah, clever saying. Totally taking that home. But we stayed at the church, making sure no one else came. I played the piano, and it made me feel pretty happy, but sad, because I am losing my skills...... :( Anyways, that was probably the most exciting thing that happened. We got baptism bailed half an hour before the event. Too bad, but such is life.

Another thing, KELTON COMES HOME IN 2 DAYS! that is all.

But the picture is of us, right after getting bailed. We decided to put our feet in the water and use it to cool off our bodies. The picture isn’t all that good, but you get it. I think we captured how we felt pretty good, haha.

But anyways, I should go. I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. I love you more and more every single say. It’s wonderful. I love this gospel. I love being a missionary. I am so lucky!!! I am having a lot of great experiences, and learning a lot about the gospel and myself and the Savior, ah, it’s great.

With all of the love in the eternities,

Hermana Erickson

Also, congrats to Camille :) ooh!!

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