Happy Thanksgiving! (Week 59)

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your week flew by and was fantastic! I think something has happened every single day this week and it's been kinda crazy, but mostly really fun! 

Monday:

It was a pretty normal day until it came time to leave the house. As soon as we got put of the house it started raining  BUT there was a miracle! We went to knock doors in a trainer park and as it turns out, a member lives there. She saw us and decided to shelter us from the rain and give us hot chocolate  She saved the day!

Tuesday:

We had exchanges and I was with Hermana Owens for the day! Everything was going fine...and then her tire went flat  The other hnas picked us up and some elders came to the church and showed us how to slime a tire, which apparently helps them not going flat as easily  Then, right after they left the other tire went flat so I used my newfound sliming skills and fixed it  Finally, we got out to do missionary work and the chain was being weird. We ended up walking to Cardenas and talking to people there because we couldn't ride the bikes. The elders came back and fixed it for us though! AND we got a referral from my MTC comp (shoutout hna. Buyack love you and miss you )

Wednesday:

Sister's conference! It was so fun. We had a conference with all of the sisters in the mission. We talked about staying healthy (physically, emotionally, spiritually), had a lunch, and did a clothes swap! I also got to say hi to so many people I love and it was great 

Thursday:

I spent the morning in the mission home since Hermana Pier had her departing interview  It was a good time though and Sister O made us waffles  Then, the rains came down. And down. And down. And eventually the streets started to flood. And we started to bike  We were SOAKED by the time we made it to the church (the other hnas had to bring us a change of clothes) but it was really fun biking in the rain! 

Friday: 

We went to the temple again! This time just to walk around outside, but Fausto and Juan came and so did one of the friends of the other Hermanas. Our member did a great job explaining the difference between a chapel and a temple and afterwards we drank hot chocolate! We also showed the Latinos how to play the game where you launch whipped cream off your hand and try to catch it in your mouth  It was a hit! It ended with them trying to launch whipped cream to other people and it was so fun! 

Saturday: 

We did service for 2 hours in the morning! We helped direct traffic for an activity the college was having (aka we stood around and didn't really do anything) but it was good! The bike drama strikes again. Hermana Piers chain just straight up broke while we were biking. So we ended up being walking missionaries for a little bit and spent most of our time at El Super talking to people. While we were there we got a voice message from Fausto telling us that he doesn't want to come to church anymore  We're still really confused about why. We're going to meet with him on Wednesday so please pray that it goes well  

Sunday:

The only normal day of the week! Church was lovely and it brought a lot of peace 

I hope you all have the best week ever! Please try to have a moment of gratitude each day. Being thankful is so powerful - it will change everything if you find just 5 minutes each day (or even each week) to feel grateful. For big things or small things, it doesn't matter. Take time this week to enjoy the simple things and to find peace in the moments of chaos! Love you all  

*Facebook Post* Sisters Conference 11/20/25

 *President Oligschlaeger - Sisters Conference! So thankful for the strength, unity, and discipleship of our incredible sisters!

It Rained (Week 58)

 Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a GREAT week  This week was good! I had my first week on bike and I LOVED it (I'm so tired though) 

We had noche de hogar this week and we played charades with our ward and it was so funny! They did not understand what we meant we asked them to write down words - some people started writing notes and other random things  so we ended up writing a bunch to keep it going 

I don't know where its like anywhere else, but here in hot, sunshiny, California it rained! And then in rained some more. And then some more  Which made it not so fun to be a bike missionary, but it was still good. 

And now for the highlight of the week 

Fausto got baptized!! We've been teaching him for a while, in fact, we've taught him everything. We were about to stop teaching him when he told us that he felt ready to be baptized! He was so happy 

In other news...Jesus went to the temple for the first time and he absolutely LOVED it. Despite the fact that everything was a little rushed because he accidentally went to the wrong place first, he still had a good time! 

I also love the temple. It was kind of stressful trying to figure everything out  but there was still so much peace there. I know that whatever is going on in our lives, God is there to guide us and give us peace and comfort! 

I love you all  

Hna. Erickson

My Face is a weather Predictor (Week 57)

 Gooood afternoon! I hope everything is going well and that you all are enjoying the fall weather  It's still pretty hot here (one day was in the 90s) but it as starting to cool down!

My week in bullet points: 

 Last Monday 2 missionaries got mildly injured (they're fine) but they happened to both be bike missionaries which means there are no bike missionaries in our zone

 On Tuesday we had zone conference and all the missionaries in the IE got together and it was so fun! And it was also Hna. Piers birthday so we ate cake! 

 Also on Tuesday we had a lesson with our friend Eva who is ️AMAZING️ We taught her about the restoration and she was sooo interested. I'm excited to keep teaching her! 

 Wednesday and Thursday we ate at 8pm because our sweet member was working until 7:30, but still really wanted to feed us  The whole dinner both times was spent talking about her kids, it was so precious 

 Thursday we had Book of Mormon class  it was good

 Also Thursday, we got a text from the Assistants to the President asking if we like to bike 

It was followed by a call from them in which they explained that they need people on bike and how they want it to be us...

 On Friday we had interviews with president and we tracted a lot and found 3 really cool people! One of them came to church with his wife this Sunday which was epic!

 Saturday was absolutely PACKED with lessons! They also dropped off our bikes 

 Sunday was our last day with a car and the primary program! It was sooo cute - could I understand what they were saying? No, no I could not - but it was cute!

Also on Sunday we visited a member family and I asked their son who was wearing turkey slippers "te gusta polvo?" instead of "te gusta pavo?" One means, do you like turkey the other unfortunately means "do you like dust?" So I asked a 7 year old if he likes dust and we all got a good laugh out of it! It just goes to show that everything is a learning process! It's scary to try new things, especially when you don't really know what you're getting into, but the best way to learn is by making mistakes. I can confidently say I now know the word for turkey in Spanish, and if I didn't make the mistake, I wouldn't! So take a chance, make mistakes, and rely on God to get you through it all! 

Love you 

- hna. Erickson 

More pictures to come, I just have to get them from my comp!

Also, I'm not going to respond to any other emails today, so I'll respond next week! 

*Mom Note! Kallie also has pink eye - see the picture she sent! Doesn't she still look so happy!?!**