Hoy, El CCM. Manaña, ¡Las Vegas!

Our Despidida Foto

It is not possible! How has six weeks passed by already? I cannot believe that tomorrow I will be getting on a plane to fly to my mission. I don´t think it will feel real until I see my mission president. I really hope the rest of my mission does not go this fast! I don´t want it to end that soon!! 

My ankle is doing so much better! I have been walking since Friday, and I barely feel any pain anymore. I would have liked to have used the wheelchair a little bit longer, but a few people in my district had too much fun with it, and it got broken! Thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf. The power of prayer is real, and I have felt it especially this week. I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father has given us a way to communicate with Him, and that He wants us to pray to Him daily. It really testifies to me the amount of love that God has for each and every one of us. 

With the only teacher who could hug us!

I had the awesome opportunity to teach a family during TRC this week. There were three little kids and the mom. They were all so sweet, and I could feel the spirit so strong while I was with them. Each of the kids were absolutely amazing--they said their favorite part about church was the Sacrament! It made me miss my siblings so much, but it made me even more excited to go out into the field. Our church is centered on families, because we know they can be eternal. I cannot wait to teach that knowledge and to give that joy I have to others!

Yesterday was our last day with our Elders and our teachers. It was very bittersweet. My teachers have helped me so much. I have become a better teacher, missionary, and person because of their love and help. My testimony has grown leaps and bounds from the time I arrived here. Our Elders have become my brothers, and it was very hard to say goodbye to them. Each of us hermanas had the privilege of receiving a blessing from our Elders. I love priesthood blessings--it is a unique opportunity to receive counsel and guidance from my Heavenly Father . 

Our Zone

Last tidbit of the day. In Relief Society, we listened to a song called "Through Heaven´s Eyes" from the Prince of Egypt. A line really stuck out to me: "How can you measure the worth of man from what he builds or buys....you can never see through the eyes of man, you must look at your life through heaven´s eyes". I never planned to go on a mission, but God knew I needed to. When we look through God´s eyes, we can see our true worth and our potential. I have been able to see that for myself, and for others as a misionera. I know that God loves and knows me personally. He wants the best for me and for every person. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to help others see themselves through heaven´s eyes. 

!Hasta Luego, CCM!

This next week will not be easy or perfect, but it will be worth it. I am finally going out to do the Lord´s work, and nothing could bring me more happiness or excitement!  

--

Love,

Hermana Erickson

¡Ultima Semana!

The Easter Bunny came to the CCM!

That is right--in eight days, I will be in the mission field. I am so excited but so nervous at the same time. Am I ready? I sure hope so! I know that my first few days in Las Vegas are going to hard and trying. I am so glad I have the knowledge of a Heavenly Father, who will support me through anything that I encounter! 

This week went so much better than the last!  I have felt your prayers for me. I would not have survived without them! I was able to listen to General Conference this weekend, which was definitely a highlight for me. I had questions beforehand. and every single one of them was answered in General Conference. There was not one single talk that did not contain something specifically for me. I think it is amazing that an all-powerful being wants me to pray to Him, and that He listens and answers every single one of my prayers. I know He prompted our apostles and prophet to say certain things, specially for me and for other people. My favorite talk was by Jeffery R Holland, of the quorum of the twelve. He spoke about Christ and how we need to use His atonement. Christ has already paid the price, we just have to decide to accept Him. 

My district on Easter

Easter was definitely great but different! My amazing family sent me an Easter basket, and the elders in our district made an Easter egg hunt for us Sunday morning! I didn´t have any ham or bunny cake (I think I actually had a PB and J for Easter dinner haha!), but I was still able to feel of the Spirit of Christ, his sacrifice, and his resurrection. If you haven´t yet, please watch He Lives video that the Church put out a little bit ago.

 I love that it says that the tomb is empty, and that Christ lives for each of us. I love my Salvador con todo mi corazon. Yo se que Jesucristo morió para cada persona, y Cristo nos ama muchísimo.

An interesting development this week......I sprained my ankle yesterday! Yay!

Because the campus is so far spread out, my district gets to push me around in a wheel chair until I feel like I can walk again! I was playing volleyball, and I jumped and came down on my left ankle wrong. I heard a pop, but the doctor said it was just a sprain, and I should be totally fine by the end of this week. I think the Lord is trying to teach me to not be stubborn or prideful--that I need to accept the help of others sometimes. I was able to receive a priesthood blessing (the priesthood is the best!!) and I have no doubt that I will be fine by the weekend. (I now call myself Hermana Gimpy since I can basically do nothing. )

Hermanas de luz

I love you all so much, but I am thoroughly enjoying my time as a missionary. The Lord has already blessed me in so many ways, and it has only been 5 weeks! I cannot wait for what the next 17 months bring me. I know that this is where I need to be now, and I know without a doubt that our Heavenly Father loves and knows me, and He loves and knows every person.  

I love this gospel, I cannot wait to preach it to the people of Las Vegas!! 

Love,

Hermana Erickson

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