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