TIS THE SEASONNNNN

Things are going so great here in Miramar. The holiday season is wonderful and we are seeing Christmas miracles.

One of which comes from setting visions and creating things spiritually before they happen temporally. On our first day of the transfer, Sister Root and I, right before we got out to knock in the neighborhood, we prayed for a vision of who the Lord wanted us to find, teach, and help prepare to be baptized during these holidays. We prayed and asked the Lord and after the prayer, I saw a single dad that was African American/ Haitian and he had 2-3 daughters. I opened my eyes, looked at Sister Root and described what I saw. Her jaw dropped and she said.... she saw the exact same family! It was incredible. Fast forward to a few days later and we get a call from a man named Riclair that wanted to meet with us and learn about what we believe. He started asking "If I were to become Mormon would I...." type of questions. We met him the next day and.... we met his 2 daughters. And he's Haitian. God has lead our vision to us!! It was incredible to see the Spirit working through us and to see that we were doing God's will. SO COOL.

We also saw a huge miracle where we were able to help our 9 year old friend agree to be baptized on the 1st of January! What a cool new year's gift, right?! His family has been waiting for him to be baptized for a while and it is all happening through God's grace and His timing. I'm so glad i get to be a part of it.

This week I was studying about Charity. In Moroni 7:48 it talks about how if we pray with all energy of heart that we will acquire this love. But i began to wonder how that happens. How is this love gifted to us? I then read Moroni 8:26. It says, "And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the *Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and *perfect love*, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God." The Holy Ghost is what makes us more charitable. it is the agent that softens our hearts and fills us with perfect love. Because we are longing to do God's will and to be humble towards Him and what He has to offer us. We maintain this love by prayer and praying with diligence. it isn't something we can just get then it is there forever. I feel the Savior's love and I know that it is what unites people during the holiday season.

Love you all! 

Sister Erickson

My cute friend Sister Haws and I

Sister Root! We made an accidental surprise trip to the temple! 

Hey all! This week was transfers... I'll be staying in Miramar and my comp will be Sister Root from Utah. I served with her earlier and she is amazing!! I'm stoked for Christmas miracles to happen here with her. 

This week was so great. Our friend Celeste was able to come to church! We were really happy about that. Her younger sister Jaylah was planning on coming but bailed last minute. She is really excited to come next week though.They also came to our Christmas party and was impressed with the fellowship and how united the church was! 

Our huge miracle came from an unbaptized 9 year old named Martin. His dad is less active and has hard feelings with the church so for a while it wasn't really an option for him to be baptized even though he's been coming to church his whole life. The mom was really worried to ask but i know the Christmas spirit has been softening all their hearts! Martin's mom came up to us on Sunday and said that she wants us to teach him everything so that he can be ready to be baptized whenever they all get the ok. I know that God provides miracles and His timing is so perfect!! We're so excited for him!!

I've been studying about charity this week. It's been perfect for this holiday season. I'm personally working on transforming my love for people into action and SHOWING them i love them. It's been great!! In True to the Faith it says, "As you continue to receive the Savior's perfect love and as you demonstrate Christlike love for others, you will find that your love increases." I love that. it takes receiving it from Christ to be able to give it back to those around us. It's a continuous cycle that just continues to increase. I'm grateful for my Savior's love for me.

I LOVE the Miramar ward. It truly is so amazing. The members are so great. I'm excited for these next 5 weeks to be with them! Thanks for all your support and love. Remember that He is the reason for the season! God bless. 

Sister Erickson

Our zone is sending 4 missionaries home this transfer so this is our farewell to them!

Miami Lakes District

Our Polar Express Christmas party

Cutest little kids!

Hey everyone! Happy holidays.  We were able to find a couple of families that want to learn more and that we were able to teach the Restoration to! One huge miracle we saw was through knocking. The 2nd door we had knocked in this community, a guy named Derek (in his 50's) opened the door and told us he had just gotten out of the hospital for breaking his arm. We told him we wanted to pray for him then and out of no where he yelled "You are MORMONS huh?!" We said yes and he said that his friend, a member of the North Miami Beach ward has been telling him he needed to take the lessons from the missionaries and then we showed up! He also said that he had been praying while in the hospital for help to get his life back in order and to feel Him close. We talked with him more about the church then he introduced us to his friend Alex who is from Russia who had just had some life changing events happen to him that have really weighed on his soul. Both of them said that they could tell we cared about them and that we were so nice. And we're going back tomorrow to teach them "those lessons"! They are really excited and we are too!

I've been studying about the Savior's ministry in the Book of Mormon. There definitely is a special spirit about chapters 11-20 and I felt so much peace while reading it. I know He lives and I'm grateful for my mission that has deepened my testimony of the Book Of Mormon. In General Conference in October, a speaker talked about how we should have the goal to KNOW without any uncertainty that it is the word of God and i've been working on deepening that testimony and i've felt it. We can always know more, but i know with no uncertainty that it is true. 

Have a great week! Love you all.

Sister Erickson

Selfies with my fav Sister Staffieri

Christmas outfits! 

Hey everybody!

Wow What a wonderful week. I am so grateful to the Lord for His miracles and His hand. And that I get to be apart of it all! This week Maria was baptized and it was so beautiful. She was glowing and was just so filled with peace and serenity. Something that I learned from Maria is how we need to just smile and believe. She constantly has a positive glow and just lives in happiness! No matter what she is going through. I'm grateful to be on this journey with her. 

A sister that I live with named Sister Leslie shared a beautiful thought with me this week that I want to share with you. she said "As long as you have love in your heart and a desire to share the gospel, that's all you need. And God's grace will fill the rest." So true! If we act according to our desires, than that effort will be consecrated and miracles will still happen because it's the Lord's work. It is so important to note that miracles can happen through us and our capacities too. Our glory just needs to go to Him. 

Hope you have a great week! Love you all.

Sister Erickson

Maria with her member friend Arianna her dad

Maria and her mom Kenelva

Got to see my old comps at a conference! Sister Rianda and Sister Larson

 

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all doing great :) Things here are good, it was a tough week but so much growth happened in Sister Haws and I. I felt the Spirit share with me that our development is like a game of basketball. It does a player no good if they are the fastest one down the court but they can't dribble a basketball. if you don't know the play, you won't know the purpose of all the other players. If you don't practice shooting, then you're going to suck as point guard. We can be as diligent as possible but it will do us no good if we don't have faith. We can believe that we'll find and baptize but if we don't have patience, then we won't see the greater plan and we will lose all faith we have. We have to be all around players in this game! We have to practice all Christlike attributes found in Preach My Gospel and use them like Christ would. But the biggest thing that i learned about was about hope. Hope is the underlying factor that plays a role in every attribute. So yeah! That's this week in a life lesson, we're going to apply it this whole week and be patient and believing in Christ and what He can do for us. 

Our miracle came from having people at church this week! We were really nervous about who would come this week but due to checking in and following through with those that said they could come, we saw some miracles and got some potential investigators progressing by getting them to church.

One huge miracle that happened this week was most definitely a tender mercy prepared by the hand of God just for me. I was able to see Anderson, a recent convert of mine and someone i helped to be baptized.My heart was so full. He means the world to me and it was great to see him going to church in the congregation that meets at the other time in our building. I haven't seen him since last year. Just from this small instance, it strengthened my testimony that the Lord knows us personally and answers our prayer. Earlier that morning I had prayed that we would see a miracle happen with someone coming to church. And the Lord definitely came through. 

Love you all, have a great rest of your week!

Sister Erickson

We had an interesting week. So many things have been happening. And yet so many beautiful things. We taught Brandon about the Atonement this week and it was incredible. He began the lesson by looking at a picture of Christ and saying "I wish I could know Him." As we were teaching him, the Spirit in the room distinctly changed and as it did, he had a smile come to his face. He could know Him! And this knowledge brought peace to his soul. It was such a gift from the Lord for me to be there. As he opened his heart and accepted the Atonement and the fact that Christ knows Him perfectly, the feeling in the room switched like someone flipped a switch. I made me think that that's now our Father feels when He sees each of His children accept the eternal sacrifice of His Son. Later on in the week, we taught him about the rest of the Plan of Salvation and he had so many questions about the Spirit world. His dad had been in the hospital and his family was told that he wouldn't make it much longer. Brandon was genuinely concerned about the welfare of his dad's soul if he were to pass. We answered all his questions about the spirit world and gave him relief to know that anyone that passes through this life without an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ would have the opportunity to know it. A couple days later we get a text from him saying that thursday night following our lesson on the spirit world, his dad passed away. It has been a hard week for him. But he has told us that he has the faith that his dad will choose the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Brandon has taught me what a strong person looks like. Sister Haws and I have been grieving along side him, being sad to see him suffer and to know that their family is different, especially since the rest of them don't understand where their dad is. But us and Brandon have felt the peace that death can have no sting. We are trying our best to help Brandon to feel comfort. No 16 year old kid should have to go through that. But God has a greater plan and knows and loves us.

Conference was sooooo awesome! My favorite talks were Elder Bednar, telling us how to have faith in Christ, but to believe Him and what He can do for us. We were able to share this talk with a less active last night who was sealed in the temple but due to a failed marriage, has felt the need to stray from the church. Her knowledge of the church is strong, but we are helping her see that she needs to believe that Christ can help her. I also loved Elder Rasband's about where we can turn when faith is faltering. One question i asked coming into conference is how me being a missionary can help my less active family and friends back home and the impression was clear, turn back to the night when you received your witness. To think of the moments when the Spirit was strong. I know that this is true and that looking back at those times can help spark the Spirit in us again. God wants to lead and direct us and He has the best tools to do so. Especially His Son Jesus Christ. 

Love you all! Have a good one. 

Sister Erickson

Something I read back on in my journal this week, people used to ask me why I'm out on a mission. And for a while i used to say "Because I love God." But over time that answer has kinda pierced me, it made me seem like i was only here to please him. and i won't lie, there were definitely days that i was only here to please Him! But over time my answer has changed. When people ask me why i served a mission, I want to say "Because God loves me." for some reason, God saw me worthy enough to be His servant and same with you! He has prepared us our whole lives to be where we are now. It may seem like it was our decision to serve, which it was, but God put us in the situations to prepare us to say yes because He needs us in this work. Us specifically. Remember that we can only control 2 things: our attitude and our effort! And when both are great, then we find true joy! 

Sister Erickson

Hey everyone!

Everything is going great! I love Royal Palm Beach. Many mighty miracles are going on here. 

Right now we are teaching 2 16 yr olds named Anthony and Brandon. These boys are so prepared for the gospel. The thing that had a huge impact on me this week was our lesson last night with Brandon. We met with him and were going to go over the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and talk about the commandments. We got to the first page and talked about agency and he just told us how he wants to only choose right. That he is done with all sin and he is committed to God and his commandments. He taught me how important it is to be obedient. He went on to say that he saw no need to do drugs anymore because he knew it would hurt him and his soul. We testified that God had prepared him for this time so that he could be baptized. (he's 16 by the way.) The Spirit was so strong and so much hope filled his eyes. His dad was recently admitted into the hospital because of organ failure due to drugs and alcohol so he's had a rough week hearing that he will be passing soon. But his hope and faith in Christ is incredible. I am so blessed and so grateful to be here with them and for God's mercy and blessing. I am so grateful.

We are teaching this man from Haiti named Stevens who is a media referral and he was a doctor in Cuba and Thailand. he learned english this whole last year so that he can take his board tests in the US so he can work here. I guess the last time the sisters taught him before i got here he said he wanted to wait to get baptized till after the stress of his tests. But Sister Haws testified that if he were to be baptized and put God first, that God would put him first and that with the Holy Ghost, he would be able to study better. The next time we met with him, he said that when he was praying, he decided he wanted to be baptized on October 7th and we were so shocked!!! So shocked. But we said ok! We are also helping 2 miracle 16 year olds that are getting baptized on the 22nd! 

this morning i was reading Alma 5 and it's the big chapter that has all the soul questions. I decided to answer each of them individually in my journal which in 40 min i got through v. 10! it will take a while. but the whole first 8 questions Alma asks are about our families. And it really made me realize how grateful i should be for having amazing parents and ancestors that are filled with so much faith. I know that my family has a strong testimony in the Priesthood and in miracles. I'm grateful for their example to me. 

I hope you all have a great week full of gratitude, obedience, and miracles that all come through Christ. Love you all.

Sister Erickson

Hey all!

So got the transfer news and I'll be heading to Royal Palm Beach with my awesome mission friend Sister Haws! Really excited for this change, really bittersweet though. I love the people here and have seen so many miracles and so many hearts soften to receive the gospel of Christ. But hey, we live, learn, and move along!

This week was great! We saw a huge miracle happen, the Rio sisters found a YSA named Anthony that came to stake conference. Even though he couldn't fully understand the "why" of temples or family history work, he definitely felt the spirit. During the song "I Love to See the Temple" he circled the words "I'm a child of God, I've learned this truth." There were a lot of other basic principles that stood out to him that he loved. We did a chapel tour with him yesterday and he accepted being baptized on the 8th of October. He loved the members of the branch and the dignity that they held. He told us he's ready to come close to Christ and he has complete trust that we can help him to do that! We're so excited for him! It has been amazing to see an answer to a prayer. We have been praying recently to find someone that was humble, meek, and lowly of heart. And God put Anthony in our path. He hears and He answers. 

I have loved being in this branch. I have loved being in YSA for this time and for chance to help people of a critical age change their lives and come close to Christ. There are so many open and willing hearts and I"m glad I was granted the privilege to work with them to help them receive the restored gospel. Ready to giddy up in Royal Palm Beach!

I've been studying about charity and loving others recently. I've worked hard to look at everyone through God's eyes and see them for their story through their shoes. Abinadi had enough love for them that he tried to help them even up until his last breath. I want to be that kind of instrument for my Father in Heaven.

Love you all!

Sister Erickson

Hey y'all!

How you all doing? This was a great week with a lot of powerful miracles that came simply from heaven. No other explanation. 

Our miracle from this week came as we gave a chapel tour to a guy named Fred that we are teaching. He is pretty funny, he acts like a "Joe Shmo" type of guy but as soon as we pray or start talking about the gospel, he switches moods and just starts acting so tender and touched by the Spirit. The Spirit really has a calming nature with it, it's great. We met with a less active who had been antied by the internet and her friends and we taught her the Restoration and wow. It was incredible. It was probably the most clear and precise lesson i have ever been a part of on my mission. We explained God's pattern for prophets, the pattern of apostasy, and talked a lot about the apostasy which really set the stage for her understanding the Restoration. She admitted to us that she had never had it explained that well to her and she really didn't see the importance of JS because she didn't really understand that the priesthood was completely taken! We read JSH with her where he read in the bible, he saw God, the Father and Jesus Christ, and where it says that other churches profess the the doctrine of man, sprinkled with godliness but they deny the power thereof. She read that verse and the Spirit FLOODED the room. She spoke very loudly saying "This is why I joined this church in the first place. This is the only church that doesn't do that." She then came to church and was so happy the whole time. My heart is so full and I feel the spirit typing it now! We absolutely CANNOT give up on our brothers and sisters. We can't afford it and they can't either.

Elder Cook of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles gave a worldwide devotional last night that was AMAZING. Some things he talked about:

*YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS

*"Enthusiasm is common, Perseverance, is rare."

*We must have goals. It doesn't matter if you change them, but we must always be working diligently towards them. This is an eternal principle of progression that we must develop in our lives. 

Have a great week!

Sister Erickson

My super cute friend Sister Haws

Can't smile in fotos anymore #carselfie

This week was great! Sister Larson and I have been going hard in the paint and giving it all that we've got. We've been constantly introproving (combination of introflect + improving) in every situation we are in and we've seen so many blessings come from our constant desire to do better. She is great, very hard working, exactly obedient, and very charitable. I'm learning a lot from her. 
Things are good! This week i've been studying ion the Book of Mormon about Nephi and his faith. Man, he had tons of it, that's for sure. I was reading in chpt 15 about when they find the Liahona and when Lehi and his other sons read it, they were "fearful" and "trembling" because of the things the Lord was telling them on the Liahona. But when Nephi looked at it, it was uplifting and inspiring to help him find food. We are all on different spiritual journeys and receive divine knowledge at different rates, but we can be like Nephi and be faithfilled and be the example of going out and helping those around us in unbelief. He was led to his meat because of his faithfulness and we can be too :)
This week we met with a member who had been antied a little bit and can i just say that the Spirit was so strong. She didn't come to church this week, but our meeting with her was FILLED with the Spirit and she recognized it too. She was willing and accepting of hearing the missionary discussions again and using us as tools to come back to church. It is never too late. Some members of the ward had given up on her, but I never will. I know that those that are lost can come back. If you feel like you are lost, feeling down or discouraged, or have any doubts, God will reward and help those that have a desire to grow. Elder Holland in the April '16 General Conference talks about how we will get credit for trying. God will help those that have good intentions and the desire. It might take time, but like the Prodigal Son, anything is possible. 
Our miracle that happened this week came from our gator Skylar, she's had a busy week but we were able to teach her about prophets and introduce her to a member. She is going through a lot with her parents not supporting her, but we boldly testified to her that if she were to set a date, that we would show our faith and the Lord would soften their hearts and provide a way for her. She agreed and took that step of faith! Sept. 17th.

I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Christ in my life and for His endless love. If we could just get a tiny glimpse of what it was like when we lived with Him before we were here, we would do everything in our power to get back to Him. He loves us SO much. 

Love you all.

Sister Erickson

this week has been great! We've seen SO many miracles. It has been a couple of really impactful days that have molded and shaped how this transfer will be! One day before we went to a meal appt, we decided to knock just one door at a college complex before we left- we wanted to make the most of our time. The one door we knocked on we found a girl that received us and asked for us to come back! it was really cool to see how we were able to exercise our agency and see the Spirit bring us to the one that needed us there at that time. 

As a finding tool, we have gone through some notes of our of former investigators. Along with that, we have been calling people from the potential list and trying to invite to church and set up appts to see them. Often times with YSA, we will meet someone then we lose contact with them because they have "one" busy week then we'll just move on. That was the case with Zach, one of a couple that accepted a RA when we called! He told us that a year ago when he met the missionaries, he had so many things going on he just couldn't keep up. But then we went and taught the restoration and the next day he came to church and LOVED it. Was so excited to come back!! We are so grateful to be able to work with him, he told us he has been looking for a sign from God for truth. 

Along with that, the Lehigh elders passed us a YSA they had been working with for a while and she has a baptismal date for next weekend! Talk about miracle. We're excited to work with Skyler and get her eased into the YSA programs. 

I went on an exchange with Sister Jones in Cape Coral and she had sprained her ankle pretty good playing soccer. She had to be on crutches and was searching long and hard for a boot. Miraculously a woman that we had gone to do service with found us a boot at a thrift shop for $5! Our dinner that night, we got some tamales from a cute Mexican guy on the side of the road and when he saw that we were missionaries, he gave us tons for free! Bendiciones. 

I have been working really hard to develop more faith and to make boldness be one of the tools to do so. I finished reading BOM this week and I had gone through and highlighted every circumstance that talked about the Atonement. I know that it is real and that Christ knows each of us personally. I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon to help us learn more about what the Atonement is and how we can access it. What a powerful book.

Love you all!

Sister Erickson

Sister Jones, me, Sister Almeida, and Sister Larson

TAMALESSS

This week was a great week! I am with Sister Larson, she is from Riverton, UT. She's been out for about 11 months. I'm so blessed to be here with Sister Larson. I have already learned so much from her. We have set such strong expectations to do all we can all the time. 

To start off our fire, yesterday we got out of a meal appt and pulled into a mall parking lot to figure out where we were going. We were towards the back of the parking lot where there weren't many cars but we saw one car with the driver door open and a Haitian man sitting there on the phone. We got really excited and just decided to go talk to him, even though he didn't look YSA. We invited to share a prayer, he said no, then we asked if he knew of college students that needed a prayer and he said yes! he gave us a number of a family member to call. At that time, he was more receptive to us so he accepted the prayer and said his fam of 5 would come to church! We left and called the number to talk to Myerline. She had been really sick that week and we told her that we would drive to where she was to say a prayer for her. We show up at her house.... and she's 50. but had just gotten a college degree. We prayed but she wasn't interested in learning more.... BUT. We knew that God had sent us here for a reason. So we began to knock. And asking all the neighbors where the YSA were in the neighborhood. We were pointed in the direction of Giberto! he is 20 and paying the bills for his family. We told him of the joy the gospel brings and he accepted the invite to church and to learn more! It was amazing to see what God can do with our will and desire to serve Him- truly through Him we saw the greater miracle. 

James Russell Lowell once said, "Fate loves the fearless." I really really admire this saying and am letting it lead out this new transfer. I know that as we do all we can, as we put all our faith in the Lord and choose to fear Him over anything else, that or fate, or our destiny, will be nothing short of miraculous. He knows so much more than we do. 

Love you all, have a great week!

Sister Erickson

Sister Larson

Sis Tarullo's last day! and Elder Kertamus

Sis Smith's last day! We were comps about a year ago. Weird.

This week in fotos

1: YSA family home evenings= us getting a new investigator haha. #electtrex

2. Sister Tarullo's funeral 

3. Eating leftover cuban food. Tons of rice

4. Our last day with Hunter and his family. His mom made us a cute meal to celebrate Sister Tarullo going home!

This week was a great week. A little bit slow on the finding, but good nonetheless. We know that there are YSA out there to teach for us at this time, but we are secretly excited for the school year to start up again so that all the student housing and neighborhood homes get filled again! This week the motto I adapted was "Let go and let God." Things are out of our control sometimes but we just have to give it to Him and He will provide us with new investigators as long as we do all we can. 

This week was a big learning week. I had been pondering how I could be more in tune with the Spirit. One day I was prompted to read "Always Retain a Remission of their Sins" By David A Bednar and it was EXACTLY what i needed. I was reminded that the Spirit will ALWAYS be with us if we ALWAYS remember Him, take His name upon us, and keep His commandments. So this week I am going to improve my own repentance and think of Him more often. I know that thinking more of the "why" for the work will help me think of Christ more and I will be directed more clearly. 

Our rescue Hunter has been having a bumpy road. He had started smoking cigarettes again and he was just in tears saying that he just wanted to stop. We tried to let the Spirit flow through us to say what he needed, but nothing seemed to be working. I had been praying the whole time to only say what God would have me say. Out of no where I shared my testimony of the BOM and of Captain Moroni and his battle plans to fortify their bases. At that instant we helped him create a battle plan for himself for when he comes across temptation. We included in it tangible goals for his CPR (church, prayer, reading). He felt so accomplished and he hasn't smoked a cigarette this whole week! It really strengthened my testimony of our personal study. I had read that a couple days before and the Spirit was able to draw from my remembrance for him. It was pretty cool. 

Hope you all are doing great! keep up the good work and remember who's in charge! :)

Love Sister Erickson

Went to the beach and stood on a giant fishing dock!

Hey there! How is everyone doing? Things are great here, just living the dream. Here is what happened this week:

Devin was baptized! Satan tried hard to beat him down for sure. He told his parents this week that he was getting baptized and they did not support him at all. But he told us "Satan will do whatever he can and he's working because all of this is true." it was amazing to hear that come from him and to see him stay strong. His parents ended up coming to the baptism which really meant a lot to him. He had a huge countenance change when he received the Holy Ghost. I am so happy for him.

We had an AMAZING MIRACLE happen this week. So we were going on an exchange with some sisters and while me and the sister were coming back, we saw an Eminem lookalike gangster talking to Sister Tarullo. come to find out, he was trying to sell them perfume from his backpack. Sketchy. She said no, but asked him how old he was when he said 27. So she gave him a chapel card and our information. He texted us 10 min later saying he wanted to learn more about our message. We met with him the next day in McDonald's but we had our guard up a bit because we weren't really sure how it was going to go. We began to talk about his desires and Steven explained to us that he has been on and off heroin and meth and in and out of engineering job because of his addiction. He told us he had had enough and he was ready for more of Christ in his life. We told him our purpose and began to teach the restoration. We began by asking him what he saw on the front page. He began to cry and I began to feel a deep warmth in my chest. He explained to us the feelings of the Spirit and we told him to pay attention to those feelings throughout the lesson. By the end he said he would believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he gave the closing prayer in which he asked if this was all true and for the Lord to give him a sign and help him recognize the truth. After the prayer, he sat there with his eyes closed for 4 minutes. We began to get a little nervous and were hoping he was breathing!! But we sat and waited. When he opened his eyes, he grabbed his face and said, "What was that?! I have never felt that before. What am I feeling? This is better than any drug I have ever had." He cried again and told us he knew this was true, that he could change, and that he would come to church. What a phenomenal experience!

We got to talk about the Spirit with recent convert Domanique and the many different ways it speaks to us. I invite you all to watch the Light series by David A Bednar on lds.org. it talks about all the ways we can feel heaven close. She told us she was bringing a surprise and showed up with chips and queso haha. she said "Queso's always good for the soul!"

Thanks for the light you all bring to my life. I'm truly grateful for you all. 

Love Sister Erickson

Giant Missionary Meeting

Devin's Baptism!

Sister Exchanges

Hurricane training ;) 

I hope everyone is having a great week :) This week was a week of words. I heard so many impactful things from many people and I just wanted to share them all with you! I hope that they touch your heart. Love you all.

"Don't let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do. Believe in yourself and then live so as to reach your possibilities." - President Monson

"You cannot out-give the Lord. No matter what you give to Him, He always give you more." -Sister Fattic, institute teacher

"Esaw gave away his birthright because he was hungry. Are we giving away our inheritance from God just to satisfy physical and temporal pleasures and demands?" -Brother Rodriguez, temple prep teacher

"Go find the lost sheep- even if it's in yourself." Amanda, Relief Society teacher

"Each of us must go through certain experiences to become more like our Savior. In the school of mortality, the tutor is often pain and tribulation, but the lessons are meant to refine and bless us and strengthen us, not destroy us." Robert D Hales

"He knew that the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness—yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God—" Alma 19:6

Domanique and her cute mom

her and Hunter--> our reactivated buddy. he was SO excited for her

us her and her boyfriend Jason

Her and our branch president and his wife, the Newsomes

hello!

What a week. We have seen so many huge miracles this week. Our friend Domanique was baptized on Saturday and it was an amazing service. The second she stepped into the door, the room was filled with the Spirit and she began to cry.  Her mom raised her to never open the door to the Mormon missionaries but her mom was so excited for her to be baptized and wanted to be that support to her that she came. and felt the Spirit strongly. She came to church the next day and we gave her a book of Mormon. But It was incredible to see the countenance change with Domanique. She will be such a powerful convert and she is already planning on when she can go on a mission. She asked to give a talk after she was given the Holy Ghost and it was amazing to hear how the Lord had prepared her to find the church through amazing people. 

I will be staying here with Sister Tarullo and "killing" her! (This is her last transfer before she goes home.) I really love the area and we have some awesome plans for this next transfer so it's going to be great! 

Hope everyone is doing well. I've learned a lot this week about charity. in Moroni 7:48 it talks about how if we pray with all our heart to the Lord for this gift, that it will be given to us. God will give us opportunities to express love to others. He can enlarge our cup and give us so much more room in our heart to love. Charity is the pure love of Christ. And Christ suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and He is not puffed up, seeketh not His own, is not easily provoked, He thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, He beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and He endureth all things. We can too. 

Have a great week!

sister Erickson

Our zone going on a nature walk! There is a giant loop in the middle of the Everglades you can go on and seeee.... Alligators! This one guy was a couple of feet away from us. pretty sweet. It is vibrant green. kinda felt like the mountains. with palm trees haha. 

Sister Smith (my previous companion!) and i on exchanges! it was raining TONS

Hey y'all!

What a week. Lots of action happening in Estero YSA.

 One of our rescues from this week named Hunter felt the Spirit so strong as we shared the Restoration with him to begin his reactivation lessons. He felt touched during the first vision and the Spirit brought to his mind a friend of his that has agreed to take the discussions!! Miracles are everywhere. 

This week we expressed the need for urgency for our investigator Domanique. She has LOVED everything that she has been learning but been a little fearful about baptism. But no worries, she has a date for the 25th! And we are going to go to the temple with her on Wednesday. She is so excited to be baptized so that she can finally pay her tithing that she has been saving up for the last month. 

I've learned a lot about faith this week from the zone training, from Domanique, from my studies, and from exchanges. I know that when we expect miracles, God manifests His hand. When you're being afraid, you're not giving God the opportunity to be powerful.

Yesterday, we went to see a kid named RJ who's mom is a member of the church but his dad is not. He hasn't been very active lately so we went to share a message with him and we ended up sharing it with him and a bunch of his siblings! We watched The Hope of God's Light (AMAZING video. All of you should watch it. https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/the-hope-of-gods-light ) RJ's cousin who is 14 watched and i couldn't help but watch him the whole time. I could tell from his expression that the message provided light and hope to whatever he was going through. Afterwards he was so happy and grateful we had come over. I learned that you never know what others are going through and it is critical to follow promptings we receive because we never know who they could help. 

Our investigator shared a quote with us this week that had a big impact on me. "If you could see the size of the blessing coming, you would understand the magnitude of the of the battle you are fighting." Isn't that great?! There are good things to come. Especially when we choose Christ. 

Other eventful things that happened this week, a truck full of frat boys drove past us as we were walking on the sidewalk. Someone yelled "Love you!" and before we knew it, there was sauce on our legs and a half eaten piece of pizza on the ground. What a waste of pizza.

Love you all. Remember to always keep your head up and don't let the flying pizza get to ya.

Sister Erickson

Exchanges! 

L to R: Sister Smith (one of my former companions!)

Me

Sister Soto- my comp for the day

Sister Tilby

Woah this week has been slam packed full of miracles. Hope you all have had a good week too! Happy Memorial Day! 

Miracle #1: We were knocking doors on this street, trying to look for traces of college kids. A bull dog had come out of no where and started to follow us. We got a little freaked because a sister in our mission had just gotten attacked by a bull dog so we started walking through people's lawns. This caused us to start knocking on every door instead of just college doors. This was all devinely inspired because... We found Alex!! Alex isn't a college student, but he had told us he went to church many times in Guatemala with his family. He had never become a member though because he moved to the US and couldn't find contact with the church!! We passed him to the Spanish sisters and he is coming to church Sunday! Everything happens for a reason.

Miracle #2: Sister Tarullo was on an exchange with a sister and they were standing outside of a fast food joint. She was waiting for her companion and as she stood there, she began to pray to help someone and to be able to reach someone there. Soon after, a 19 year old boy named Jecoa walked up to the restaurant and she stopped him to talk to him! She told him about the message we have to share and asked if he would be interested in learning and he immediately said yes. When we met him, we taught him the Restoration and his eyes were wide the whole time as we taught him about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith. He told us that his very Christian dad had given him a picture that looked almost identical to the first vision before he passed away. The only problem was HE DIDN'T KNOW WHO THE OTHER MAN WAS!!! He found it as an answer to his prayers that we told him his name was Joseph Smith. I know that Jecoa has been prepared for the gospel ever since he was a child when his loving father taught him by example of what a follower of Christ were to look like.

Miracle #3: We met with a guy named Hunter who had been in the hospital due to an accident where he fell off a roof and broke his wrist and pelvis in 5 places. He had admitted to us that he had not been living the commandments and he began to see that the accident was an opportunity for him to be humble and to come to Christ again. We met with him and taught him principles of repentance and talked about how important church attendance, scriptures, and prayer are in order to establish a testimony on Christ. The Spirit was so strong as he told us what he wanted to do to come back to Him. I know that repentance and change are real. They are a part of our divine destiny! We are meant to change. True repentance comes by recognizing the remorse we feel from sin. It is then that the Lord takes our humble heart and makes us what He wants us to be. 

This week I was studying about confidence and humility. Humility is recognizing that we are not enough without Christ. That He is the one that knows all and can perform miracles, far more than what our own acts alone can do. One thing I learned came from a talk from a member of the Seventy. He said, "Ironically, both pride and a lack of self-confidence cause us to focus excessively on ourselves and to deny the power of God in our lives." This spoke to me a lot! Another reason I loved this is because I found this in an attempt to help another sister out and provide support for her. It's amazing how we get to learn a lot more when we are helping others. 

I know our Savior lives and that because He lives, we can too. He has saved us from our sins and sorrows. He has walked the unmarked trail before us so that we have guidance. He is the Mediator, the connection to our Father in Heaven. I'm grateful I get to share this with others. Love you all! Have a great week.

Sister Erickson

P.S. My address now is

19120 Miami Blvd

Ft. Myers, FL 33967

eating alligator by the ocean

Hey all!

So I've been transferred to Estero YSA in Naples! And it's amazing. I am with Sister Tarullo who is from Boulder, Colorado so we talk lots about the mountains and how there is none in FL haha.  I love the feel out here and the spirit of missionary work in the area. There are so many miracles and so many faithfilled people here. 

We've started working with Domanique who is dating a kid in the congregation. She has a huge desire to come closer to God, to feel His spirit more thoroughly in her life, and to apply the scriptures to what she is going through! She's taught me a lot about applying the scriptures and letting the Spirit teach us the things that we need to know. And to have an open heart to accept those things! 

I have been learning a lot from Sister Tarullo about following the Spirit. In order to feel the Holy Ghost in our lives, we have to be listening. We have to take time to pause and that is when thoughts of the Spirit will come into our mind. But... We have to follow them! We had an instance this week where Sister Tarullo felt the need to knock on a particular door and looking at the surroundings of the house wouldn't necessarily make you think that young college students would live there. But, we talked with a boy that was 16 that really appreciated us praying with him. I know that that instance will always remain in his heart and it will prepare him to accept the gospel in his life. 

I've finished the Book of Mormon and this last time as I read, i was focusing on the theme of repentance. The thing I have learned the most about repentance is that it is to change us to come closer to Christ. Depending on how willing we are to accept God's hand to change us, we can receive more joyful blessings . Change is around is and it is for everyone! 

Have a great week! Love you all. 

Sister Erickson

Boynton Beach to Naples

Hey everybody! 

Things have been awesome here, just got transfer calls and I will be moving to the west coast over to Naples! I will be working with the Estero YSA with Sister Tarullo. Lots of changes! But I'm pretty excited. It will be really hard to leave the Gateway YSA. I have loved every minute and the many friendships I have made here. 

We saw SO many miracles this week! This last week we started teaching someone by the name of Lukas. He was found by the Portuguese sisters and they gave us his number to call. We had called him and he had told us that he had done some research on the church (read some anti material) and he decided that is wasn't for him, especially because of his atheist past that he had lived a lot of his life. About a week later, we got a phone call from the sisters again about him. We met with him and he told us how he was feeling so much stress and pressure and he was so lost and the only thing that came to mind for him to do was to pray. In the middle of the prayer, he stood up because he felt prompted to call the sisters. We talked to him and he had a COMPLETE change of heart and he felt the Spirit testify to him that The Book of Mormon was true, that the sisters were sent to him for a reason, and he needed to try this out for himself. He came to church and was glowing the whole time. He felt the spirit so strongly and he told us after that he loved it and wants to be as involved as he can. We are so excited for him and his progression! He was definitely prepared by the Lord to accept the truth in his life and to feel the fruits of the spirit.  I have learned a lot from him about faith and hope. Hope is to believe in a better world, to know that there is always something better through God. His plan is perfect and He is the only one with the perfect eyes to see it. I hope that you all can look at your life through God's eyes, through thick and thin. 

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Sister Erickson