#80 [Sabana Yegua - 16] June 16th, 2014

Hello!!!

Near the end--the final countdown

 

This is super weird. I don't feel like I really need to email you, but hey, I have an hour on the computer, I might as well talk to my beloved family, right? right. :)

HOW COME NEITHER JACOB OR HEATHER WROTE TO ME ABOUT CLEAR CREEK OR EFY?!?!?!? What am I to them?!?! CHOPPED LIVER?! – goodness.

So, I have NO idea when my temple trip is planned. Me and Herm Brockman thought that we were going to leave tomorrow (Tues.) for the capital and go on the transfer bus, but last night at 10:35 (shame shame, calling after bedtime hours) they called us and told us that we were actually leaving today!!! Talk about stressful!!! We stayed up packing until about 1:00 and then I went to bed, but only slept until my bladder said so, which was at 4, and I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I went outside and wrote letters to people here and then soon enough, Hermana Brockman came out, too!! She couldn't sleep either!!! So we cleaned the house so we wouldn't have to do it later in the morning, and we could go do other stuff; :) so that was good.

So long story short, I have no idea when the temple trip is, and I probably won't know until I am actually in the temple; which is a little stressful, oh well!! :)

Anyways, this week was pretty good. We had surprise interviews on Wednesday, and they were great!!! President was just like, "I'll talk to you in a week!" So I kinda got off the hook!!! hahah, it was nice.

I also found out that day that K__ got married. So, no mission for him. :( I am quite sad about it, but at least he married an LDS girl. And they went to the capital to get married, but as far as I know, it wasn't in the temple. Maybe in December!! But this is just gossip from his cousin, so... I guess I will see when I call him from home. ;)

So we have a super great family that are working on their sealing in the temple. They were reactivated right before I came to SY; anyways, they are great. Awhile back, we were teaching T__, the husband's brother. He was very flojo (like, slow) and wouldn't do anything, but his brother was persistent. He’s also the same guy that was on the bed the other week–that my comp had to use her nursing skills on and put in the catheter. Well... he passed away. So we spent a lot of time siting under a canopy, (feeling VERY uncomfortable) and supporting the family. They are some people that you will meet from SY in December. 

And I think that is all. This week has been a decent one. I am very nervous to come home. I have not felt this uncomfortable in a long time. I don't know what it is. I am stoked to come home, but super nervous. I have been very blessed to serve here. I love all of the people. I love all of the experiences I have had. I am a very lucky girl and God loves me so much. I have learned that even more on the mission. I have always had a pretty close relationship with my Heavenly Father, but now it's solid and I am stoked to move on in life with this... feelings. What I want to say doesn't translate into English, haha.

But thank you all for your love and support. I could not have done it without you :) I love you all from the bottom of my heart :)

Peace out. Have a fun time with Jeff and then get ready for an even more fun time with me. :) :) :) :) :)

All my love,

Hermana Erickson–

SIGNING OFF for the last time :(

#79 [Sabana Yegua - 15] June 9th, 2014

Hello!

A palm leaf on the church grounds

Wow, that was a nice, long, but kinda boring email :) I appreciate all that you said though :)

I am excited to see the house and the people inside of it :)

Jakey, glad you had fun at Clear Creek, and I hope Head has fun at EFY and doesn't kiss too many boys!!! :) :) hahahah

Congrats to John and Rachel and also to Krispen and Jess :) Families are great. I sure love mine. :)

So this week was fine. Nothing really happened. Like, we had some lessons, taught some people, we had ward conference this Sunday, and it was the best church I've been to in a long time. :)

I heard that 70% of the island will end up getting the virus. I think I'll be in the 30% that don’t. Perhaps I will get it and then bring it to the states and it will really be a giant mess. huh.

Dad, happy Father's Day on Sunday!!! I have a gift for you, but it'll come on the 18th :) hehe

Well, that is about all. Nothing really exciting. Just missionary work, but I sure do love it. Sometimes it's tough, but it has grown on me quite a lot :)

Thanks for supporting me this entire time. Thanks for your emails. Thanks for your dedication every week. Thanks for raising me well and helping me get out here.

I am super sad that my time is pretty much up. I have thought about my mission my entire life. Ever since I was a wee lass I’ve thought about it, and now it's almost over. What will I look forward to now? marriage? kids? grand kids? I don't even know. I have never prepared for something so much, and then live it, and have it be over in a heartbeat. It's a weird feeling and I don't like it. I feel like it'll be the same type of feeling when I die. But I dunno, I have never experienced it.

Ugh. I wish I could just transport back and forth between life and the mission, cuz it's super sad to have to leave it all behind. Only to visit every once in a while, and not even to preach. :) Like, I am super stoked to come home, not gonna lie, but I am going to miss this WAY too much. Normal life sounds so boring, plus, Riss won't even be there. Oh well, life goes on!!! —which stinks!

I am still working hard, but the members here are on the countdown, which makes it difficult. I am not counting down, or trying to think about it. Therefore, I will probably be super awkward around people cuz I will probably be in shock. It took me about a year to realize that I was a legit missionary and that I was living my dream, so I expect it to take me about a year to get back into the normal life, hahah.

Anyways, I feel really blessed to be a part of God's army. It's been pure bliss. Sure, it's had its hard times, days when I wanted to quit, but overall, it's been great. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to come to this beautiful place. I love the people here. I hope I am super rich one day so I can come back "all the times!!!" :)

Well, I am going to go, since nothing happened this week. Thanks for everything. Get your paper chain countdown up, cuz I won't have one :) Love you all so much!!!

I am nervous for transfers this week. I have a feeling that I am going to leave this place. And I hope I am emotionally prepared–haha, I am so funny :)

Love you all!!! :) Peace out my family!! Talk to you next week :) :) :)

Giant empanadas today for p-day.

#78 [Sabana Yegua - 14] June 2nd, 2014

Why hello there!!! :)

CONGRATS to JOSHY poo for graduating!! :) What a stud. :) Funny that no one wanted to go to his graduation. And Josh, no worries – I didn’t go to Lagoon day, either. Wanna know why? CUZ mom and dad made me go to Jeff's graduation. So... good to hear that for the other kids it was optional to go and sit through that boring ceremony. :) haha

But sounds like the week was good for y'all. My heart is heavy for Alice. I didn't even know she was sick. I am so sad to hear that she has departed from this life. But no worries, she is in a better place; with the Brady father (AIDS, right?) :/ Oh dear, Mom, you should've gotten a cake. There is always a reason to celebrate!!! :) Although death should not be one of them...

Head, CONGRATS for making your soccer team. I played today, but one is only as good as the team, and I was the only one who knew how to play. It was awful and pretty much gave me no hope to ever play again. Kinda depressing, but I am still gonna try. :)

Hmmm...ok; what happened this week to tell you? Let's see...we had a Zone meeting on Thursday, and we met the new mission pres. I really like them. They are filled with the spirit. I am pretty sad that I will not be able to work much with them, but I have a feeling they are going to spoil the missionaries leaving this transfer, so I am excited. :) haha

But anyways, Herm Brockman and I were super nervous because we thought we'd be testifying. I have thought that the last 3 conferences, but on Thursday, we actually did it!!! Along with Peck and the others. It was fun. I am sure people think I am really shy, cuz I talk really soft, but I don't really care. :) Anyways, that was good. :)

So there is a pandemic going on here. It's called the CHICUNGUYA virus. It's very dangerous, and probably more than 80% of the island has been affected, and many missionaries. It's transmitted from the same mosquitoes that carry the dengue virus. It makes you nauseous and throw-up and weak and dehydrated. Sounds like dengue, but it's Japanese. Luckily, no one in the house has gotten it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did. I don't know how to get away from it. A lot of our investigators have it, and being in the same house as them makes us more likely to be bitten by the mosquito that bit them. So...if I don't come home, it probably means I am dead from that virus. Oddly enough it kills more adults than babies; huh. Anyways, thought you would like to know.

Also, WATER came today!!! :) We hadn't had it for a few days, it was getting gross. And when I say that water came, I mean that our hose had water running so we were able to fill up our buckets to use that day. It usually comes once a day, in the mornings, and it came this morning, and we also had light!!! It was a miracle!! :) But yeah, we filled up our buckets and now we can shower "normally" and actually wash our dishes...

This is by far the grossest life I have ever lived.

So another miracle happened this week. Remember how me and my comp contacted for the entire day? Well, we got ZERO new investigators from that, which stinks hard core. All of our work...but the best thing is that God sees our effort and blesses us accordingly. So this week, we were able to find like, 10 new investigators that weren't from contacting. They just called us out or happened to be in the cita with us while we were teaching. It was a miracle. We couldn't see if they are going to progress, cuz they couldn't come to church (due to the virus and the rain), but they seem to be progressing. I love them all. :) It's a miracle.

Also, we have been SUPER obedient. Leaving exactly on time and working hard all the day, and God is sure blessing us with that. All these miracles makes me not want to come home (I thought I would never say it), but yeah. I just wanna stay here and work with these wonderful people. We also have some really great families that are not active in the church. But we are setting goals and such for them to progress. It's just sad to see people that were once so strong in the church fall away and become more hard, just like it says will happen in Alma 24:30 and again in Alma 47: 36. :)

Yay, for quoting scripture!!! I just love the scriptures. :)

Well, that is about all of this week!! I am super stoked to be here working :) I am super sad to be finishing, but then I can't imagine staying here longer. But, I can easily say, I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course, I have kept the faith :) (YAY!!! more scripture. :) haha)

But I hope you are all happy and well. I sure do love you all a lot :) Thanks for helping me through this mission, it's been a dream, and I couldn't have done it without you. :) So thanks, :) you're all the best. :) :) :)

Well, have a great week! Talk to you in a week! :)

Until then,

Hermana Erickson #1 :)

Zone meeting with new mission pres. & wife -- May 28th, 2014

Making 5 lbs. of spaghetti for a zone activity this morning.