#32 [Independencia - 4] July 15th, 2013

Oh mom. My eyes sure do get a lot wetter these days, too. :) Crazy times, these missions. They sure change people. :)

But thank you for your letter, it was fun to read. I love reading them so much more than I love writing them. But alas, I do love writing them.

HOLY COW!!!!! Derek and Brent are home?!?!?!? Oh my. So weird. It was also a weird thing to hit my 7 month mark. I come home in less than a year, and that is super sad. Also happy, but sad because – I have been waiting to serve a mission since I was a wee lass, and now I’m living it and it’s almost half done. Odd. These are days never to be squandered, or forgotten. haha.

Mandy is engaged?, that’s good. I like that news. But since it’s not facebook official, I don’t know if I should believe it... even if it was from grandma. haha :)
Ok, so here's the details of my life in the beautiful paradise, THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!!

So apparently there was a cyclone this past week. I know this because the people would not stop talking about it. Also, it rained a lot, so much that on Wednesday, we had to stay inside. We could not go outside to teach or anything. Kinda sad, but I enjoyed it. The thunder was so loud, that it would rattle our bones. I loved it. We decided to go on the roof for 10 seconds, and the wet pictures is of us after about 2. It was pouring. I love the rain. I thought about 

Lovin' the rain during the cyclone in the DR!

showering on the roof, and then decided not to because the lightning was a little too close...

But during that entire day, I decided to just read the Book of Mormon, in English. It's great, since I haven’t read in English for a long time. So long, that my Book of Mormon smells like an old book. So anyways, I sat and read, for like 5 hours. We also talked a lot, and we also ate. I wanted to get a good chunk out of it read, and I ended up getting to Alma - not too shabby. I marked things and HOLY COW: there are so many things that I never realized before. I love that book so much!!!! After reading it in Spanish a few times, my understanding in English has grown exponentially! So great. So yeah, I did that all day. It was hard to not continue reading it. Also, to make things extra cool, I had finished the Book in Spanish that same morning!! Double dose of the BOOK!!!

On Thursday, we got spoiled a lot. The office elders brought us new mattresses. I am not a huge fan, since we are in bunk beds, and I am on the bottom, so with this new mattress, I am about 5 inches from the top. Needless to say, I don’t like it. I feel a bit claustrophobic, not a fan, but whatever - it’s part of the mission life. Also, we got A BLENDER, A MICROWAVE, AND A GRIDDLE!!!!! We are for sure spoiled. It’s cool that we didn’t rely on them before, but now we feel that we just have to use them all the time, so we do. :)

So we have this investigator that the Herms before us found. His name is O. He was going to get baptized the day I arrived, but they found him wasted in the streets a few days prior, sad. And so for the next 3 weeks, I only saw him wasted. Never saw him sober, until recently. We’ve been teaching his mother, and he has come in a few times, totally sober - so we started teaching him. I felt super prompted to promise him that if he would read at least a chapter from the BoM every morning, then he wouldn’t be tempted to drink. So far, he has been reading a lot. He really wants to change, and you can see that it hurts him and his family when he gets drunk, and really wants to change. So we’ll see how that goes. I have a good feeling. So far he has been reading a lot. He also came to church for the first time since I have been here.

We have this investigator that used to play professional soccer for the Peru team. So naturally, I feel very connected with him. He is a computer programmer, so I feel even more connected with him. It’s cool. He also was a left forward... huh. Kinda creepy how similar I am to a 65 year old man. Creepy, but still cool. He retired 26 years ago. I like talking to him about the gospel... :)

Other than that, we had a pretty normal week. I loved it so much. I really love the gospel. I am so glad that I got to read the Book of Mormon all day on Wednesday. The book really has a lot of power, and every time I read it, I want to be a better person. I would love to be able to read it all over again in English. I think I will if we have a cyclone again. You can bet on it!!! (cue-high school musical.) haha.
Also, I agree with Riss about the Little House on the Prairie... Christmas is coming up. Have Josh put it on his list. I think he liked it the most. hahah.

Well, I hope you all are strengthening your testimonies as Riss and I are. I know that I have seen miracles, and that the Lord’s hand is in this work so much. I love knowing that I am a part of the winning team, and that I cannot fail if I do what is right. I love my mission. I am so blessed to be serving these humble people in the DR. My journal is slowly turning into mom's journal, just full of how much I love the gospel. Oh well.
Have a great week!! Do something nice for someone else!!!!

ox ox ox

Herm Erickson 1

Also, Heather, thank you for the update about your life. Sounds like you had a really great time. I love EFY, and I am so glad that you did too!!! yay!!!!
Peace and love.

Also, mom, thank you for that thought from Herm. Richardson. It’s a good one for sure. I love you so much!!! (Mark 5:36 "...Be not afraid, only believe" -- shared at the recent mission presidents training seminar)

Dad, happy ¾ birthday! Eat some ice cream for me!!

#31 [Independencia - 3] July 8th, 2013

The Independencia zone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOWDY!!

I am glad to hear that you got my letter. Also, I mentioned last letter I think – I did get the package. Much thanks for that.

I absolutely love how you do falcon updates. Makes me laugh!! Thank goodness that it didn’t die. That would’ve been very sad.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH LHP!!!!! LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE!!!!! hahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

Cool about the missionaries. You should definitely get on that. Gotta help the work progress!!!

Well dad, thanks for writing me. :) now I will tell you about my week.

Don’t get your hopes up. This week passed by super quick, and I can’t remember what really happened.

For the fourth of July, we didn’t really do much. We for sure all wore red, white and blue, and I felt pretty patriotic. Also, we ate s’mores and ordered Pizza Hut pizza. Yes, we splurged. It was worth it. And that was the extent of our "party."

4th of July in the DR

We had a few sets of missionaries come into the house the other day, and they saw the family picture and mentioned how we all look so great. They didn’t mention dad looking like a movie star, but they mentioned mom looking like a "professional" and then a few "Karen Carpenter" hahah, which made me laugh because mom just loves Karen Carpenter, haha...

We were teaching some men, E. and L., and all of the sudden, L. turns to me and is like, "Wanna hear my favorite song?" so he turned it on... "HOW DO I GET YOU ALONE!!!!!?" Yep, and then he stared to sing it in his little Dominican/American accent, haha-made me laugh, and miss all of the good music. I mean, I love MoTab, but Heart... classic.

Also, we have this investigator named W.. He has been investigating for... 6 years, because his sister is a member. Anyways, we had a baptism date for him on the 7th, and he was all good, and then all of the sudden, he told us that he didn’t believe in profetas. So that was a low blow. I guess he’ll have to wait. We’ve been having a lot of that lately. As in, people progressing and all of the sudden something gets them. Kinda annoying, but such is the work! We are probably going to be dropping a lot of people. I hate dropping people. I take that back, I like it because I have done my part, but they didn’t do theirs. And plus, I love planting seeds. I have realized that I could go the rest of my mission without baptizing anyone. I love planting the seeds for other people to harvest. I just feel very accomplished in the work I am doing, which is a huge blessing.

Um... yeah. I really think that about covers it. This week was good. Life is good. I love the work. I love the mission. I am sorry this weeks email is short and not interesting. But to make it better, I will add pictures.

I really love you all so much. I want Heather to tell me all about her EFY and other camp things she went to. I want Josh to tell me about work. Jeff to tell me about life in general. And Jake to tell me about the summer. I would appreciate that much. Lots and lots of love,

Herm. Erickson 1

#30 [Independencia - 2] July 1st, 2013

Happy days to you all!!! Hello!!! I can’t even believe it is July!! Crazy. Time here flies super fast, and I don’t know how I like it. But yeah, this week was pretty good.

Anyways, before I get to writing about my week, I will reply to yours, as usual. :)

Congratulations to Joshy for getting a Job!! I love that he is working and spending his time wisely. Happy, happy. Jeff has a beard... no wonder he’s not married yet. Maybe suggest him to keep it up until I get home so I can go to the wedding!!! I don’t want him to get married until I get home. Speaking of getting home, my official leave date is TODAY!!!! – next year... weird. But it’s in the middle of the transfer, so I might come home either before that or after. duh.

CONGRATS ON WINNING, DAD!!! You really should get better at your winning voice... just act like Little House on the Prairie came back on KBYU, and maybe that would excite you more :) hahah, kidding. But probably for reals, hahah

This keyboard is driving me bonkers!!! But yeah, man, my brain is not working. I apologize. I can’t focus. I have to go to the bathroom, but I don’t want to!!

I am glad that you had a great week. It makes me happy to hear that you are all alive and happy. :)

So, I will write a few random things, and then go on to answer your questions:

OK! I GOT YOUR PACKAGE ON THURSDAY!!!! Thank you a bazillion times for that!!! It made me so happy. You are all so loving. I feel very fat eating the candy. But I make it up by taking a vitamin. Twice a day. I am just so healthy like that. Thank you for the music and the shirts and the RING!!! It fits perfectly! I have never had a legit ring. I have been wearing a green one for the last 2 months. Thank you for the ring, and also for the candy and the photo albums. I like that Riss did a jumping picture. Is that on her plaque? But if it is... I might kill her because that was my idea. hahah

But really, you are so great. Thank you for sending me stuff. I feel so loved. I have the best family in the world. I love you guys!!! Even the old candy from Jeff, my pal. And the personal progress, and everything that was inside. You spend so much on me to make me happy, and it works; it also makes me fat.

My comp sat on a chair the other day and it broke. It was really funny. Take it as you will, because it was just a small kid chair, but she broke it. It worked nicely because I was able to use it in a future example talking about the apostasy, and how when one part of the chair breaks, the whole chair falls. It made her laugh, haha. Sometimes I think I am just so clever.

On Thursday as well, my comp broke the doorknob of our front door. It was funny. She's destructive I guess, but I love her.

Also on Thursday (which was a super eventful day.), it rained ALL DAY long. We were stuck in a house for 2 hours. We taught a lot! Then we left and didn’t have umbrellas so we got soaked. It was great. The thunder and lightning were so loud!! We are right by the ocean, so we went to look at it, and it was dark and gloomy and you could see the lightning hit and in the same second, hear the thunder boom. It was neat, and it made us really happy, and giddy and a little scared. I had to go to the bathroom the whole time, so the water didn’t help. I don’t drink a whole lot, but I guess it’s enough.

ANYWAYS >>>

On the bright side, I don’t sweat as much as I did in Azua.

Random fact. I am the queen at finding things on the ground. I find money, and lots of it. I even find American money!! But the other day, I found a flag. I noticed it in the trash piles on the side of the street, and I realized it looked like a DR flag, so I grabbed it and didn’t look at it and stuffed it into my bag. I get home, open it up, and it’s a HUGE DR flag. Completely new. Not stained, not ugly, but legit. I felt pretty great. It was funny because I was thinking to myself that same morning about how cool it would be to have a DR flag...haha. God answers prayers!!!
 
Really, that was my week. I have loads of pictures, but it appears that my computer is too out of date to even have a hook-up for it. So... you will have to wait. KIDDING! Found it!!! Me and Beesley with the broken door; Me and my flag; Me and JULY 1, which is today; Um... me and the package; And us being drenched. :) happy.
 

I will now answer your questions.

Best part of the week? I really enjoy church. Probably the best part was when we passed by some investigators and they were waiting for us!! – that never happens. They walked to church. One is a grandma, and the other is her grandson, he’s 10. He’s legit. I like him. He wants to come back. We were teaching the grandma’s son, and he was about to get baptized, and then the other sisters found him wasted drunk. Apparently he is the town drunk. So the gospel really gives his mom hope. We focus on that during lessons. :) but yeah. That was super happy. Probably the best feeling.

Best food you had?/ Worst food? I ate some yucca this week. It was good. I enjoyed it. Kinda blah. I also had frosted flakes. That was probably the best, unless you count the candy that you sent me :) The worst thing was Coke, I hate it. Beesley will not drink it; very stubborn when it comes to pop. So, I had to drink the bitter cup. Gross. Sadly, those were the worst and best things I ate. Pathetic, seeing how I am on a foreign island... :(

Happiest moment? when I got the package. Also, a member brought us brownies to church. That was a happy time.

Testimony building experience? So I am doing this chain for my personal study, and I study different things each day. The other day, I was just studying about the attributes of Christ, and I realized how much I need to change to be like Him. It was great. Also, I was listening to some music from the Cd’s you sent, and every time I hear anything about Joseph Smith, I just get overwhelmed. I have such a testimony of the restoration. It’s wonderful. I had more, I am sure, but I really can’t think of anything. Sorry.

Blast. Sorry for the lame email. I thought I had so much more to tell you. I know the gospel is true. I love it here. I love the people. I love serving. I love everything. I love my family. I love the church. Life is good.

I am just going to send this on because it is kinda annoying me. But, I love you!! Thank you for the package! I love you all. I would love you even if you didn’t send me candy. Just know that :)

Peace and love. Stay out of trouble.

With love forever and ever,

Hermana Erickson 1

#29 [Independencia - 1] June 24th, 2013

Wow! What a week! Also, what a keyboard, this is going to be interesting. Good luck translating. :) but before I get into anything, I am going to reply to your email, like usual.

– No, I have not gotten the package. I think it was because I got transferred; who knows? It could also be that it hasn’t come. Not sure, hopefully this week.
– The broadcast-hmm... apparently we were supposed to go to it, but we had no idea, so we didn’t. We are also supposed to be watching it right now, but it was 2 hours long, and we don’t have time for it right now. :( Next week for sure.
– Congratulations on your home teaching!! That’s great that you have been 100% for two whole months!! woohoo!!
– I did in fact know J. Beck was serving a mission. Can’t remember to where though... but I knew she was going.
– I am not playing the piano sadly. I miss it. We had a man from the WARD play on Sunday, and he wasn’t super good, but he was using his God given talent. So I applaud him for that effort.
– Ok, my area of service is called Independencia. B/ Invi calle peaton 3, house number 4. We live above a house, and it is SUPER small. Like, the size of our kitchen of AZUA, so it is definitely different. I will send pictures. Note – the pictures that you see are the only parts of the house. It is a 2 bedroom/ 2 bathroom house, and it’s crazy small, but we get by. It’s kinda claustrophobic. Good thing I don’t have that problem, huh!?

My companion is named Hermana Brook Beesley. She is from Sandy. Weird thing happened... When I was unpacking, she noticed my Inter shorts, and was like, "Did you play for Inter?" and then she went on to tell me that she played on the team younger than me. So we bonded over that pretty quick. We are VERY similar. It’s nice. We have had some comments that we look exactly alike, but I don’t think so too much. She has green eyes. She’s really sweet. I have already learned a lot from her. I like her a lot. One difference is that she thinks Mexicans are attractive. She wants to marry one, or a Dominican. And for me... well... no, I like redheads, teehee.

The only downside to this companionship is that she doesn’t know Spanish, but knows all of the people and area. So we both rely on each other mutually. It’s nice. I am the translator; kinda tough. Hurlburt understood more, but I think that Beesley speaks better. So yeah, other than that, we get along, and life is good.

We live with two other sisters, Herm. Stewart and Herm. Balanzategui. Yes – one is from New Mexico, and the latter is from Ecuador, but raised in Utah. But yeah. I love them all. We are all 21 except for my comp, she’s 20.

Yeah! that is my living situation. In our area, we can walk 5 minutes and see the OCEAN!!!... It’s been so long... but we took a few pictures of that.

Some random items of business...

Another good thing about my new area is that I have a flushing toilet!!! It is so weird. We have another toilet that you have to bucket flush, and I often use that because I am so used to it, and I pretty much mastered the art of it. I am the bucket flush MASTER!

So you know how I was not going to eat sugar? ha ha ha.... Yep, that sure didn’t last long. I am a failure.

We now have district meetings on Tuesday, so that is going to be weird. Maybe I will get some letters tomorrow. We’ll see.

Speaking of meetings, we had interviews on, Friday I think. We went to a chapel in La Paz, and I thought it was a temple!! Wow, so nice. It had 3 stories, and comfy chairs, and garbage cans, and a lobby! It was a nice chapel. We got weighed right after eating. Before I tell you my weight, just know that I had about 6 cups of juice, some soup, and then a nice big roll before I weighed in... haha.

I have gained 10 pounds!!! That is not ok, but on the bright side, it is less than 20, but still. It shows. I feel like such a lard. But I have a feeling that I might lose some this transfer... wanna know why? Because we don’t really eat much. I went from eating HUGE lunches in Azua to eating a package of Ramen. NO, that’s not gonna fill me up. But oh well, if I starve, I won’t get fat. But wow. Also, our area is a lot larger than the other one. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get to the end of it. We are in Kilometer 10, and our area is from K 10 to K 7. So it’s technically only 3 kilometers I think. If that is how it goes. I don’t really know.

Some people thought I was Dominican the other day. Quite the compliment, except most of the Dominicans are overweight, but whatever. I think they were talking about my accent and my Spanish abilities. I am so glad that I can speak Spanish. I love it. BILINGUAL!

Some of the area here looks like I am in California. It is so nice. Compared to Azua, this is a super rich place. Probably compared to Utah, too. Also, a nice thing is the people can read here. Maybe 1 on 5 people in Azua could read, so that made it super hard. But now that people are a bit more educated we can teach better.

We went into the supermarket on Tuesday, and my eyes got all watery. Seriously. I am not even kidding. I had forgotten about so much of the normal food in a supermarket. I was so used to the same isles of food-beans, rice, coke, olives, pasta, and sardines. But in this market, not only were things surprisingly cheaper, there are much more options!!!! not like we can eat them (because someone is super picky.. so we stick to the basics.) but wow. I sure love food, so much to make me teary to see it, hahah, so lame.

We have an actual ward here, and that is a nice change. The members do their part, and they have been in the ward for long periods of time, unlike ours in Azua where the oldest person has 15 years as a member.. also, there are people here that line up to go out with us, and in Azua, we had to beg people. It’s a nice change. The two areas are SO DIFFERENT! I feel like I am in a completely different mission. It’s insane. And the most crazy part about it is that I love this area. I love Azua, too, but they are so different. I thought I would hate the capital, but no. It’s not too terrible.

I love my mission. I have felt the spirit more this week than I have in the last few combined. It’s so fun to be step-training. I think it really helps to have Beesley here. She’s very good. I love working here. People just stop us to talk to us and they have heard about the gospel before. It’s neat. I love being here. I was thinking about it in church yesterday. Just being away from the family, speaking and understanding a completely foreign language, teaching about the thing that makes me so happy. Wow. It’s so cool that God trusts me so much. I love this. One more year is going to fly by. I have 200 days on Saturday!!!

Ok, so we have one investigator that I really love already. His name is Balentine. He was born on Valentine’s day, which explains his name. But before, apparently he was a delinquent, and I cannot even imagine that. He is such a stud. Like, we have him for a baptismal date on the 13th, and he loves this gospel. He has been such a joy to go and teach. He is 18, and talks about serving a mission. We are really stoked about him. Yesterday in one of our citas, the spirit was super strong. We gave him his own Book of Mormon, and he just seemed thrilled. He kissed it and just carefully flipped thru the pages. Ah, I wish I knew more about him. I know that they met him on the 4th of June, so he is pretty recent. But wow, if all goes this smooth, he’ll be a member before long!

Ok, well I don’t have much more to say. I love this work. I love serving. I have two giant blisters on the bottom of my pinky toes and it’s really painful, but it’s just one step closer to the pain the Christ suffered for all of us, right? Can’t really complain. I am so blessed to be here. I feel like I am growing. I don’t know how, but I think I am :) I love this. It’s so fun to be a part of this great work.

Thank you for your love. If you ever want to just write me dearelders every day, I wouldn’t mind. You can put that online. I wouldn’t mind. Speaking of letters, I sent one with Elder Reeder, and he said he’d send it off when he got to Utah, so it should be getting to you soon. Please let me know if you ever get it. Thank you much.

Well, I am going to leave now. I love you all. I am grateful for this gospel. I am grateful for our family and for being raised with such great parents that have taught me so much good. I am grateful for my Savior and the atonement. I love being able to represent Him.

Have a wonderful week!! ox ox ox

Love you to the moon and back!!

Hermana Erickson 1