TIS THE SEASON

Oh my goodness I love this time of year :) I hope everyone is getting ready for the holidays and spreading Christmas cheer! Our Lord and Savior is too good to us and we have great reason to rejoice and serve others.

This week we had a lot of miracles/crazy things happen! We have a family that just moved into our ward this last month that has referred 2 of their friends to take the missionary lessons, and soon to refer another! It has been really cool to see their testimonies grow of God's timing because they weren't really completely sure why they came to Florida and it has been a hard lifestyle for them to adjust to. But they have been able to see the influence they have on those people in their lives that they shine to and are bringing these souls unto Christ. One of their friends in particular is named Jude who just moved here. He loves his Savior and will do anything to learn more of Him.

The Christmas season has been the perfect time to try and help less active members see the love the church has for them. We have worked this week with the cutest lady named Sister Dancey who is from India. She hasn't been able to come to church for a long time because of car problems and we have been working to organize transportation for her and her nonmember daughter for the longest time and finally this week it happened :) my heart was so full to hear how much she loves the sacrament.

One funny thing that happened this week, in our ward/congregation, we have me and my companion and elder missionaries that speak creole. Whenever we meet someone that speaks creole and little english, we get their information and give it to the elders. this week, the elders in our ward took the wrong information and showed up to one of our investigator's houses and taught them about the restoration of the gospel. They got through and came out and that's when we drove up for OUR appointment with him! We were laughing pretty good, especially since they said that he was really confused on why the elders were at his house. oops.

I pray that everyone has a safe holiday season! Love you!

Sister Kylie Erickson

Sister Smith, Anderson and I the day of his baptism

Hello friends and family! 

This week I got my new companion, her name is Sister Kerr from Portland, OR. It's been awesome being with her, she is a fireball, a really hard worker, extremely faithfilled, trusting in the Lord and His plan, and a firm believer in creating success. She has been out on her mission for about 3 weeks now and she is doing fantastic as a missionary! We were able to spend thanksgiving with recent converts to the gospel and we had a great time. The hospitality here is so kind and our ward treats us very well. I hope everyone had a fantastic thanksgiving! One thought that we have been sharing with people we meet is found in Alma 5:40. It talks about how good things come from God. As we continue to be grateful for the things that we have, the Lord will continue to bless us. It has taught me that I must continue to be grateful for what I have and to do it even more! You can never be too grateful!

It amazes me how fast time flies here. It's already the holidays! what?! So fast. 

One miracle we saw this week is when we were knocking doors. I asked my companion in a faithfilled manner, "How many people are we going to find today to teach?" and she reassured me that we would find 10. I was a little surprised, but gladly accepted that as a goal! The next door we knocked on was a family of 10! Which is uncommon here. We will go back this week to teach them, we aren't sure how many of them are interested in our message but it will be exciting to see miracles. 

One quote that i've come across this week comes from President Uchtdorf. He says, "Be patient and compassionate with yourselves.  Some sacrifices are better than others. You need not wait for a golden ticket to be happy. Never forget the 'why' of the gospel of Jesus Christ will inspire and uplift you.  Never forget that your Heavenly Father knows, loves, and cherishes you." I hope this uplifts and inspires you. 

Have a great week! Our Savior Jesus Christ lives and is too good to us. Love you all!

Sister Kylie Erickson 

Transfer 4 in WPB

Friends and family!

It has been a little while, I hope you are all doing amazing things and being blessed by God throughout your lives! I know that He is.

Things are going great here :) I will be spending the next transfer in West Palm Beach, I am so blessed. I love it here. Our ward is incredible and it feels like home. It is a blessing to spend the holidays in this awesome ward!

The temp has dropped down and you would think being raised in WY I would be used to colder weather. But going from 100 to 70 degrees is a huge adjustment I have to make! It is so beautiful though. 

So Anderson, the one we were working with was baptized!! And he was given the Aaronic Priesthood last week. He is so incredible. Pictures to come. 

I am low on time this week, but thanks for your love and support! Love you all!

Sister Erickson 

Everyone! I hope everyone is doing so good! God is too good and I hope that He has blessed you immensely :) He has me. 

This week was so special. Anderson from Haiti, is getting baptized this sunday! he is such a strong example of true conversion to me. He has let Christ take all of his sins and pains and let him take them away. I have loved seeing him grow. he is so special. God has blessed him so much, his first language is creole and he has only been speaking english for 5 months. every time we talk with him, his english is better and better. He is such a blessing in my life!

I was blessed to translate yesterday's sacrament meeting into sign language for my friend Angela and her 2 friends that aren't members of the church. I know that God needed them to learn from coming to church and I'm glad that He was able to speak to them through me. 

Miracles are happening every day and i'm so glad that I get to represent Christ for these 18 months. May the Lord bless you and keep you all. Love you! Have the greatest week!

Love, Sister Erickson 

Hey everyone! 

Long time no email. It's been a crazy couple of weeks with my new companion! Sister smith is from Preston, Idaho and almost every person we talk to about that comments on Napoleon Dynamite. it's pretty good. 

Things have been great here :) It's always cooling down a little more all the time. We are down to 85, which is perfect :) 

So I am still currently in the West Palm Beach area. We have been working with 2 people that we knocked on their door. The first is Brooke. We knocked on her door and asked to pray with her, she gave us a really weird look, then said we could come in. When the prayer was through, she had a complete countenance change and was blown away that we had found her. She came to church this week and after we told her about Joseph Smith's desire to learn and the vision he had, she said "Oh, so he was called to be the next prophet?" She has high desires to be baptized so we are continuing to work with her.

The other is Anderson. He is from Haiti, he loves the book of mormon which he reads in Creole, and he has asked about baptism as well. We go over with haitian members and they translate any things that he doesn't understand for him. So cool that we get to work with him, God is blessing us. he is such an example of humility and love to me. 

I love the Lord and my theme and adapted saying from this week is "God knows." there are a lot of things that we don't know but as we come to Him with open hearts and a humble attitude, He will let us know His will. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for everything He has done for me. I know that He has a love for us that we cannot comprehend!! As we base our own journeys and conversions on Him, then God will not be astray. I am so privileged to come to know Him better and to walk a sliver of the road that He has. Thank you for your examples to me! 

Love Sister Erickson 

Last day with Sister Morrow

First day with Sister Smith

Transfers!

hi all :)

this week was transfers and I will be staying here in West Palm Beach :) I'm really excited to continue to work with our awesome ward and to continue to find those that are ready for this truth! God has a lot in store for this area, I pray that I will be able to be worthy to see miracles here. 

One miracle from this week happened with a less active member from our ward. We saw his name on a list we had and realized that we hadn't met with him before. We went to his house to introduce ourselves and he was so welcoming to us! Which is uncommon in our ward because a lot of people in our area were baptized, came to church for about a month, then didn't want any association with the church after that. but Jose talked with us and I could tell that his testimony in God and the principles of the gospel haven't changed for him. We went into his house and met his girlfriend Kaitlyn that isn't a member of the church. after a little discussion, they both showed interest in coming to church this sunday. they wanted to get back into the swing of things and Kaitlyn wants to take the lessons! 

It's starting to cool down here, down to 88! so that's good. it's crazy what you get used to. 

My comp Sister Morrow is transferring out and I will have a new companion tomorrow. We had interviews with our mission president this week as well and he gave me permission to continue to study spanish and to work on gospel terms in sign language! so hopefully that goes well.

I love is here in Florida and most of all, I love missionary work! May the Lord bless all of you. Continue to have high faith in Him and in the events in your life. He has a beautiful plan for all of us. 

Love, 

Sister Erickson

Our cute 15 year old friend Wilna that comes to teach with us :)

Hey everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed their week! And General Conference! for those that don't know what that is, it is where the prophet and apostles gather together and give us counsel from the Lord to help us out with our lives and to help us come closer to Christ. I know that these men are called of God and gave us the messages that we need to here. If you weren't able to check it out, go to lds.org and listen! 

We had some awesome miracles this week that just testified of God's timing. This week's miracles came through our ward! A mother of a recent convert that we had gotten close with was sent to the hospital this week for an emergency. We had plans to go see her and to try our best to uplift her, but our day seemed to change and we had way too many plans, plus we needed to knock for an hour as well. We chose to knock for an hour to be exactly obedient and afterwards, we had people call us and cancel appointments for that evening. Our schedule cleared up so we chose to go see this member. As we pulled into the hospital parking lot, we saw our high priest group leader and the 1st counselor in our bishopric, there to give her a blessing!! God's timing is so perfect and He wanted us all there at the same time to help her. It was a very touching experience!

I know that God is very aware of all of us. We are His children and we are all very special to Him. he loves us with a perfect love that we can't even comprehend! In times of hardship and struggle, confusion or difficulty, Jesus Christ has been there. He suffered for our sins so that He can know best how to help succor us. That is truly a love that we will never be able to understand. But I know that God has given us the keys and tools to be completely happy and that He is very merciful to prepare a perfect way back to be with Him. And that is through Jesus Christ. I love Him so much for His sacrifice. I love you all! thanks for your testimonies to me! 

Love Sister Erickson