Monday, April 20, 2015

Las Vegas or Bust!



Leaving Mexico City

I arrived in Las Vegas around 4 pm on Tuesday. My mission president and his wife were in Texas that day for a conference, so we were met by his counselors, APs, and the Sister Trainer Leaders. We went to the Mission Home (which was beautiful!), and were interviewed. They asked me to say the prayer, and it was so hard in English. I was tripping over the words, and it felt so foreign to not be saying it in Spanish! One of the counselors asked me what my goal was for my mission. I realized that my goal is to do whatever Heavenly Father needs of my for the next 16 months. He said that if I do that, I will find so much joy and that all my experiences will be for my good.
My new companion and trainer
Afterwards we met our companions! My new companion is from Wyoming. She has been out 7 months, and she is amazing!  She is exactly what I needed. She is ready to work and is so excited for our time together. She is an absolute sweetheart, and I love her already! That same day, we had a dinner appt and lesson to teach. The dinner appt was nothing like I had ever experienced. It was so quiet....! I did not know what to say because I was so nervous, and they probably assumed that I did not know any Spanish (which at that moment I felt like I didn't). Ha ha! They were very sweet, so I am excited to become more acquainted with our ward.
We taught a man who has a date for baptism, but has a lot of questions that make it hard for us to teach a full lesson. He is very nice, and he attended Church with us on Sunday. We have 4 investigators at the moment. All are Spanish-speaking, and we are not allowed to have English investigators. At the end of the day sometimes, my head hurts from trying to constantly translate in my head.
The Las Vegas Strip (from a distance)

For most of this week, we have been contacting. No one was answering their doors. When they did, they either weren't the right person, or weren't interested. We did a lot of street contacting (I had some people basically run away from me. Yay!), but most weren't interested. I thought I would be really depressed about it, but it just made me and my trainer work harder. Because of our hard work and faith, God blessed us with an amazing miracle! We recieved a referral from a recent convert who wanted her mom to be taught. We almost did not have time to go to the lady's house, but we decided to stop by really quick. When we knocked on the door, she answered and said "I've been waiting for you! Come in please!!!". My companion and I could not believe it. She is an inactive member of 21 years, but wants to reactivate. Her goal is to go through the temple with her daughter. She was so happy, she started to cry, asked us for a Book of Mormon, and took a picture with us. A true miracle!

Bikes!
If that is how my mission is going to go, hard times but a miracle, then I cannot wait to get to work. This gospel is absolutely amazing, and it brings me so much joy in my life. That is all I want to do--share the joy that I have each and every day. Thank you for all of your support and love. I feel it each and every day.

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Love,

Hermana Erickson

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