I made It!!! (Week 7)

Mon, Nov 25, 7:28 PM (16 hours ago)

Hey everyone! 

After being on my mission for a month and a half, I finally made it to California! I left the MTC early Wednesday morning (early enough that I didn't go to sleep the night before...not my best idea). The travel day was pretty uneventful. The most exciting things that happened were they printed the wrong tags and tickets for me since there 

was another Erickson on my flight, so I was a little worried my bags would go to the wrong place, but they fixed it. And Elder Anderson managed to give away a Book of Mormon in the airport which was pretty cool!

At the airport I met my mission president and his wife and they are amazing! They're so so nice! They even let my grandma and aunt meet me at the airport, which was an awesome surprise! The rest of that day was pretty much a bunch of meetings that I did my best to stay awake for. I was mostly successful...

I got my first area and met my trainer on Thursday! For those of you who know California, my first area is Yucca Valley. It's definitely a desert but the weather is really nice here! And the members seem really nice too! We have dinner appointments pretty much every night which is amazing. They give us a ton of food though. It's actually kind of crazy how much they think we can eat...And my trainer is Sister Dean and she is so sweet! This is also her third transfer, so she just finished her training. It's all good though. The days are definitely long, and they probably will stay that way for a while. We do a lot of door knocking in my area, which is the one form of contacting I really did not want to do. But it's not as bad as I thought it would be. My Spanish is alright, I can usually follow the conversation (depending on who's talking) but I don't really say much. It's a little bit hard to practice talking since a lot of the people we meet are english speakers. But I'm happy I'm finally here! And the language will come with time!

Anyways, let me know how you guys are doing! I love hearing from you! 

Love ya! 

Hna. Erickson

Kallie Arrives in California

 20 November 2024,

Your missionary has arrived! We welcomed seventeen missionaries to the California San Bernardino Mission today. They are safely in our hands, and we love them already. Tonight, they will stay at the mission home or a place nearby. We will visit the Redlands Temple grounds, eat great food, provide some training, and give them time to contact you. Thursday morning, we will go to a beautiful park that overlooks the San Bernardino Valley.  Bishop McNairy, a local bishop, will tell some history about the area, including how early saints came to settle here. They will eat a good breakfast and then the missionaries will meet their new companions for the first time. This is always one of the exciting times on this great missionary journey (plenty of pictures to be viewed on the FB page). Then it’s off to their new areas to share their testimonies with the world!

We are grateful for your help in raising and preparing these wonderful missionaries. Please talk to them on their P-days and ask them about their work and the friends they are meeting and teaching.  It is a powerful combination when prayers from home are added to their specific goals and work here in the missionary field. We would also encourage you to have a prayer with them at the end of your calls. This will help them be less homesick and really help you and them have that focus to work hard and have fun.  Again, we love these missionaries and will do our best to help them gain a stronger testimony of their Savior and His work.

Gratefully,

President & Sister Pinnock

California San Bernardino Mission

Kallie Meets her District

 

My Last Week

 Hey everyone!!

I hope you're all doing well! This week went by so fast. Nothing really notable happened this week. On Tuesday we had teacher exchanges, so another teacher taught our morning class. It was strange to have a different teacher, but he did a good job.

I leave for California next Wednesday! The time here flew by so so fast, it's crazy! Hopefully I'll have more to write about next week. Also, I love receiving emails from you guys, so if you have a second send me an email!

Love ya,

Hna. Erickson

I'm Alive!

 I'm actually doing really good, I just didn't know what to put for the subject.

This week was pretty good, busy as always. A couple of significant things that happened this week:

We had our last Preach My Gospel class (where we learn how to teach others), now we have two Spanish classes a day, and it's a lot. I feel like my Spanish has really improved though! I mean, I still have a long way to go, but it's pretty good.

On Friday, the bag I use to carry around all my books broke. The shoulder strap snapped off and I couldn't fix it, so I had to carry my bag around without the strap until Monday because the tienda is closed on the weekends. It was pretty miserable, but I have a new bag now. 

The brother of one of our MTC teachers got baptized last Sunday, so we recorded a video of our district singing "When I am Baptized" in spanish and they played it at his baptism! 

We had a power outage during dinner on Wednesday, and it was actually pretty cool! We were just sitting in the cafeteria and all of a sudden the lights went off. There was no warning or anything! They were out for about 20 minutes, and it was kind of fun!

Other than that, it was just business as usual. Lots of classes. Lots of spiritual thoughts.

My spiritual thought for this week:

During my spring semester at BYU, I worked as a custodian on the bathroom crew for the music building. Every morning, we would clean the building from top to bottom. And yet, the next morning we would have to do it all again. This is like repentence. Every day you can start with a clean slate, no mistakes. But it never stays that way. Just like we had to clean the same things everyday, we need to repent every day. It is a continuous effort to improve and grow closer to God. 

Also, if you know of anyone who is not getting my emails but would like to, let me know! 

Love ya!

Hna Erickson

Link to my Google photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/v8Y8x1KEzUKNLEZC6

Photos from this week:

1. Our video at Hna. Lunars Brothers baptism (can't share it)

2. Me and Hna. Buyack

3. A pretty sunset (before the storm that took out the power)

4. Our room

5. The city at night

6. Me and Hna. Buyack

7. My district during the power outage

Week 2

 Hey everyone!!

My second week at the MTC was good!! Every day is pretty much the same though, nothing really exciting happened this week. My companion and I are getting along really well and we both like our district! The elders can be so funny, and they're all really nice! Also, today one of my roommates from BYU arrived!! It was so fun to see her! I'll try to get a picture for next week

One scripture I really liked this week is John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I know that it is important to have peace in life, and one of the best and easiest ways to have peace is through Jesus Christ!

If there's anything you want me to talk about in my next email, let me know! I don't really have a ton to write about at the moment...

Love ya,

Hna. Erickson

Some pictures from this week:

Me and Hna. Smith

Our family call 

Some random girls who took a fun picture with us

  

Me and Hna. Hyer (a friend from BYU)

Hna. Buyack and I in class