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!