Only two weeks left? ¡¿Qué?!

I officially will have two weeks left at the CCM tomorrow. At some points I feel so ready to leave and then at others I feel like the newbies. But, I am SO excited to leave for Las Vegas! 

¡Almuerzo!

This week has definitely been the hardest, but the most rewarding. First off, my compa and I had been really struggling with our teacher/investigator. I know my teacher is trying to push us to become better teachers, and he knows that we are both good at Spanish. Pero, we just felt like we were getting absolutely no where with his investigator. Our lesson on Wednesday went awful. We did not have enough time to plan, so it was just all over the place. We were feeling really discouraged and upset that our lesson had gone so badly when we both had studied really hard to teach him. Our other teacher told us that we have to be prepared first for the Spirit to be able to guide us in our lessons. We decided to take that to heart, and we planned our guts out for our next lesson with our other investigator. We had asked him the lesson before to be baptized, but he would not give us an answer. We focused our whole lesson on baptism, and tried to answer his questions as best as we could. At the end, we again asked him if he would be baptized. He said YES!!!! My compa and I just looked at each other in complete shock. We had no idea what to do with ourselves. After we finished our lesson and walked away, I started to cry. I cannot explain the immense amount of joy I felt. The crazy thing is that he isn´t even a real investigator! How great will be the joy I feel when I finally am able to bring one of God´s children back to him. 

¡Molé!

We were so proud of ourselves and our lesson, that we decided to teach the same lesson to our first investigator. And guess what....we committed him to baptism too! Those two experiences have been really big missionary confidence boosters for me. I know that I can teach in Spanish and now with the Spirit. I also know that this is exactly where God wants me to be right now. 

Mi compañera

My teachers this week have decided to have me start teaching with them during our language time. I am so excited for the challenge! Also General Conference is this weekend! I cannot wait to here what the Lord wants to teach me through his prophets and apostles.  I am so excited to have to opportunity to serve mi Padre Celestial y mi salvador, Jesucristo. 

Until proxima semana,

Hermana Erickson

Halfway Done with the CCM!?!

I cannot believe that tomorrow will mark the completion of week three. I feel like I have done and learned so much, but at the same time it scares me that I will be leaving the shelter of the CCM in three weeks. AAAAHHHH! This week has been as full as the others. Our district is really trying to become more focused instead of becoming más flojo like some other districts. Personally, I want to cherish every moment that I have here, because I will never have an experience like this again! 

We have begun teaching both of our teachers, who both have different problems and concerns with the gospel. We switch of daily, which can make it really hard to remember who and what you taught last. One of our teachers is a hard investigator....when we ask him to read a scripture, he will read it in his head unless you ask him to read out loud. Every single time! The other is not too hard, but he likes to challenge me with deep doctrine questions, especially about the need of the Book of Mormon. It has given me the chance to really study and ponder the BOM, so that I can teach the significance and need of it. 

This week I have also had the oppurtunity to become an investigator for another Elder in my district, and for our teacher. I took on the personality of different friends, and it has really helped developed a better understanding of an investigator´s point of view. I have to try to think of how my friends would respond to the missionaries and their teachings, and whether or not they would agree with what they were hearing. This gospel is one based on personal conversion. If we do not have a testimony of our own, there is no way we can last. God teaches us personally, so we must be converted personally and teach others personally. 

My teachers have both now realized how easy the language classes are for me. One teacher has me only respond to him in Spanish, and has me teach little parts of the lesson. The other teacher only talks to me in Spanish, and has me frequently explain to others what he is saying. They want to push and challenge me, y Estoy lista por los desafios de mis maestros! I love this language and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be learning more about it, and to be teaching the gospel in it. 

My zone presidency challenged me this week by giving a talk in Spanish on Sunday! After I sat down I realized how smoothly my pronunciation had went. I knew it was the Spirit helping me testify of the truthfulness of my topic! On Sunday we also got to listen to a old devotional from Richard G Scott and watch Meet the Mormons! Sundays are now my favorite day (besides Pday ) because I just feel so spiritually full and prepared for the next week! It has really made me rethink how I should be spending my Sundays at home. 

I think the most challenging thing for me this week was...TRC. Basically, people from Mexico City come and volunteer to be taught by missionaries in the CCM. Sometimes they are investigators, other times members, or new converts. Our teachers don´t even know who we will be teaching. For me it was super nerve-wracking because I felt like I was so inadequate to be teaching someone besides my teachers! But, my compa and I were lucky enough to teach our teacher´s wife. Ha ha! She was very patient with our Spanish and our nervousness. We taught her according to her wants for the lesson. It was a big leap of faith, but the Spirit guided us on what to teach. We now have TRC each week, and I am excited for the next lesson! 

I love all of you so much. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be one of Jesus Christ´s representatives. I feel inadequate a lot, but I know He and Heavenly Father trust me to teach their people. I am excited and ready for what the next week brings!

Love,

Hermana Erickson

Semana Dos in CCM

Have I really only been here for two weeks? They keep us so busy that I already feel like I have been here for a good month! But, I am trying to enjoy every moment possible because I only have one month left (EEK!)

We had three more lessons with our investigator last week. Our one on Monday went really good, but the Tuesday lesson just went plain awful. As soon as I stepped into the room, I felt the Spirit leave. It was the weirdest thing. I knew we had planned well, and that we were prepared but I could not feel the Spirit. Needless to say, my comp and I were pretty bummed. Our teacher had some great advice for us though. Alma, one of the greatest missionaries in the BOM, had bad days too. Sometimes, the people are the ones not prepared, and the Spirit can´t teach. He told us not to worry about, and that he knew we were amazing missionaries. With that, I felt like we taught an amazing lesson on Wednesday. My heart felt so full with the Spirit after we left, I knew that we had taught him what the Spirit wanted him to know. 

A negative for the week has been language classes. I am so bored out of my mind, and my teachers are beginning to tell. My teacher told me that he is going to start pushing me, which is what I want so badly. I´ve been trying to use my Spanish as much as I can, but its hard because my comp and district can´t understand me all that well! They are amazing though! I could not imagine coming to the CCM without any knowledge of Spanish! 

But during our TALL time (Rosetta Stone basically), I get really bored  too. A teacher noticed and asked why I didn't like it. I told him my history with Spanish, and he couldn't believe it! I told him that I really wanted to have better conversation skills, so he now has a 30 min- 1 hour conversation with me each day! I look forward to it every night! 

We had the opportunity to visit the temple today. I love the spirit that I feel there, I cannot wait to have an eternal family of my own someday. That knowledge that I am eternally sealed to my family has helped me so much with homesickness. I know that even though we may not be together right now, we have the opportunity to be together. 

 
We had a great devotional this week from Bishop Cates. He is in charge of HR here at the CCM, and lives on campus with his family. He told us that we must Stay on Target in order to receive the gift of tongues, and to become the best missionaries we can be. He also said that faith is action based on the past, focused on the future. If we want to be successful in anything, we have to focus ourselves on the future, and we will be blessed. 

I am enjoying the CCM so much, and I still cannot wait to teach actual people looking for the truth. I love you all and I am so grateful for each and everyone´s influence in my life!