#56 (#55 Christmas day) [La Venta - 16] Dec. 30th, 2013

My dear family!!!

Hello!!!! Man, it was so great to be able to hear your voices and see your faces on Christmas. It was fantastic. I love you all so much! It was very fun. I didn't have much to say, but I am glad we got to talk. I am also happy that I got to talk to Riss. I keep getting teary-eyed when I think about it, I just really love her and miss her. But I enjoyed our time to talk.

ALSO, IT was a surprise to see Kelton... it's been over... 2 years, and that was crazy. I didn't know what to say, and I don't think he did either, but thanks for inviting him. It's only fair, since Isabelle was there, haha. Glad she didn't forget our handshake, haha.

I have yet to get a package, but I might get one this next week. We have a zone meeting coming up soon, so I will probably get one there. So far, there has not been a zone meeting that I haven't gotten one... at least not in this zone, :) so thanks. :)

Sounds like Christmas was really fun. Next year will be even funner (more fun), since I will be there. :) We all know that is true, haha. But I am glad everyone could come and that they enjoyed themselves. And it sounds like Christmas for the fam was great.

Congrats to mom about her calling. You'll do a great job, mom!!!! I still have my calling. I am still serving as a full-time missionary. I have been in this same calling for over a year!!! Time flies, but I love this calling. :) haha

Thank you for telling me all about Christmas. I got a few things for the holiday. I got some pants and candy, and then I also got an apple slicer, cuz I really love apples, and they all know that. They, as in my comp and the house mates. :)

This is what happened this week. :)

Well, I told you what happened up until Wednesday night after google chatting with my favorite people in the world, We had a cita with a lady, L__, and she loves us. We're eating at her house on Tuesday, for new years eve. She calls us her girls, and her daughters in the USA get jealous. She loves us, and I love her. Anyways, she fed us a little, and then we went home.
 
The rest of the week has really just been preparing for this concert in Tierra Llana. It's been crazy. We finally had the event last night, and it sadly wasn't as great as we expected. Out of over 600 people invited, about 50 came. We called them all before the event to remind them, and 250+ confirmed their assistance, bummer. BUT it turned out great! The people who went were great. We have a few families that we are really excited for. I will keep you updated on them. :)

Tierra Llana that we contacted for the last 2 weeks. Over 600 apts. Lots of stairs. It's a 45 minute walk to get there from our house.

Also, we got to sing our quartet last night, and it was great. We also played our duet FINALLY! and it sounded great. People thought it was a recording. :) Proud moment for the both of us. Pres. and Sister Rodriguez came, too! Speaking of them, the new mission pres. is announced. They are Americans, and their names are... the Nuckols or something. Nothing else is known about them, but they come in July. I might not see them. Probably not, oh well.

The baptism on Saturday went well. No problems really. Herm. Peck has been sick with a gripe, which means a cold, and I am surprised that I never caught it. But that did not affect the baptism. A__ ended up dunking his son, and I__ would've been more excited about it if her face wasn't puffed up; it was all puffy.

But yeah, that is about all. I am excited for this week. We were going to have 2 baptisms, but we changed them cuz F__ wasn't at church, so it'll be the 11th. and we're still working with C__. So no baptisms this next week.

Other than that... life is good. We have heard rumors about putting two hermanas in Tierra Llana, so we're excited for transfers, to see what happens. I can't believe it's already 2014. I hope you are all safe and that you have a happy new years. :) I am so blessed that I could serve all of 2013 as a missionary. What a blessing!

Well, here are some pics. I love you all. I am going to get off because I have nothing else to say. But I love you!!! Be good. Happy new years, CHEERS!

With much love,

Hermana Erickson #1

Pigs anyone?

Christmas Eve dinner.

This is our cute little Dominican tree. We decorated it with tears of plastic bags for the bows and butterflies :)

#54 [La Venta - 14] Dec. 16th, 2013

Hello!!!

So, first things first. We finally got permission to Skype on Christmas! We are going to have our P-day on Wednesday, so this week might seem a little bit longer. But whatever. I am ok to Skype at whatever time, as long as it is before 5 here. :) Man, I can't believe it's time to do this! This will be the first time ever for me!! !:) :) CRAZY stuff.

When it comes to email stuff, this week was pretty lame. I finished my 4th journal, and I bought another composition notebook, so that's good. #5. I remember when I started my first. I have been reading them lately to see what I was doing a year ago... weird.

Also, one of my new years resolutions this last year was to be able to do 50 push ups in a row. I had given up for about months, and then the other day, I tried. And I got it! mission accomplished. I don't know how I did it, but that is good news, too. Too bad I am still getting fatter. (You're fatter this year!) darn.

Antonio and Iris' son is getting baptized this weekend. Technically, it's a convert baptism, cuz he is 9 :)

We also have our ward party tomorrow. They asked us to make snowflakes for that because the decorations were so cute for the baptism! and we have made so many! it's insane. I feel like I live in snow now, except I sweat all the times, haha.

Today as a district, we made gingerbread houses, and it was super fun! They ended up being kinda weird, but nonetheless good. They didn't taste like gingerbread, so I liked it. Me and Herm Peck made ours into an Opera House, and the nativity was playing inside. It was pretty legit... :) here's the pic :)

Our investigators are doing well. We are going to go caroling this week to invite people to a concert we have in a huge residential place- where we found E__. It's a virgin area, and no missionaries have contacted it. So we are going to carol and give invitations. That is going to be fun. I guess you could say I am getting pretty good at singing...hahaha not. "Rainbow upon the shelf... ohhh ohhh ooooohh!" hahah, I just sing a lot. :)

I don't have a lot to comment about, either. I am glad to hear that you are all safe and sound at home, and that the library at the school is ok :)

The work is going well. Me and my comp are still loving it here, and we are working really hard to keep our cool and not get too comfortable with each other. We're doing really well. We have a few investigators that are looking good. Tonight, we are going to extend the invitation to a man whose wife is baptized, and we hope it goes well. It should. I mean, God will be with us :)

It's pretty cool to be a missionary. I really like it. Some days are tough. Like yesterday! we had two appts. scheduled, and then like, 3 hours to go and find the other people we had missed. So we went out and tried a few before our first appointment, and those failed. Then, we walked around for the next 4 hours and looked for people. We had 15 set plans to try, and they all failed before 4:30. It was rough. Luckily we ended the night good with a member who gave us cake, but man, it was rough. I don't like days like that, but it can't all be rainbows and butterflies.

And that is about all from this week. My one year mark was SUPER lame. We did intercambios and me nor my comp had any money to celebrate, but whatever. I am not a huge fan of awkward parties and such. I celebrated by... probably going to bed early :) or making snowflakes, haha.

What other nonsense can I tell you? I am doing the 12 days of Christmas for my comp. It makes her and me both happy. :) It's been fun to give her stuff. Ok, well I think that is all. I love you all and can't wait to talk to you all in a week or so!!! Make sure to tell me all about your lives and give me he update on the family! Be good!

Love you super a lot. Enjoy the snow! I only miss it a little bit. Just be glad you aren't on an island! That would be tough to handle for you all – hahahah.

With lots of love,

Hermana Erickson #1 oxoxox