Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Mosquitos and Other Things to be Grateful For - November 26, 2016

Hola todos, 

Well this week was an adventure. This Thanksgiving week was definitely one to remember. We will start off with the hurricane. Hurricane Otto was pretty much a few drops of rain. But this is how it started, we heard about the hurricane coming, and were told by our leaders to buy food for 48 hours and get water ready. My food storage consists of Oreos, Ramen, bread, chips cheese and ham. We filled every container in the house with water, and then waited and . . .  nothing happened. Literally. We were watching the radar and it was right on top of us and it wasn’t even raining. Go figure. But now I have lots of cookies and garbage cans full of water. And that was a cool miracle that we were all okay here in Granada. Other places got hit hard but we are all good here. And then the day of the hurricane there was an earthquake in the north mission, my companion said he felt it but I didn’t. So overall it was an eventful day. 

Then the next day I decided that the weather radar had mistaken the hurricane for a massive cloud of mosquitos, because all day we were walking through clouds of mosquitos. It was crazy, I have never seen that many bugs even. It was like a plague from the bible. We clapped our hands and killed like 10 every time. Another miracle is that I didn’t even get bit! 

This week I also realized that I have been eating cow liver for a while. They give it to us for lunch a lot. I always thought it was steak. wow, how I have changed. I like cow liver. what a life! Oh, and all the water here is unsafe so to purify it we put bleach in it. So, my water tastes like bleach. And the best part is, among all this weirdness, and wild living, I love it! I love it here! I love this country! I am so happy to be here and to be serving the Lord and the people here! 

We have got some investigators and we are finding new ones too! The work is hard, but it pays off way more than I give. I see miracles every day, learn more about the gospel every day, and learn to love the Savior more every day. This really is His work and His Gospel. I know with all my heart that it is true! I know that He lives! Remember this month His birth, and why He came into the world. Don’t give up! He is there! Thank you all for everything! Have a good week!

Elder Erickson 

Iguanas, Lakes Y Puda Vida - November 21, 2016

Hola Todos!

Wow, first transfer.  I am now in Granada, area La Estacion 2! It is south of Masaya right next to the giant lake with sharks in it. 

A few words about Granada: I love it here! The members in the branch are my heroes and I really do just love this new area. However, it is hot. like way hot. And I thought Masaya was hot. Mostly it is a lot more humidity; but it is great! My area is a lot bigger than my old area, so that is nice too. 

My new companion is Elder Arevalo, he is from El Salvador, and he has 23 months in the mission. He is a really great guy and missionary and I already like him a lot. There are a lot of cool old churches here in Granada, so more pictures to come. 

My area has a nice touristy and rich part in it as well as some of the biggest poverty I have seen here. Overall I am really excited to work here, and already this area is super great. 

Fun experience for the week. I have eaten iguana. It really does taste like chicken. It doesn’t feel like chicken though. We were at the house we eat at for lunch and dinner (I get dinner now! I am grateful for dinner!) and they showed us like 4 giant iguanas in a bucket, and I was like cool pets, and they were like no, this is lunch tomorrow. It was actually pretty good. Let us just say that it looked like an iguana when I ate it. From what I have heard, my food experiences are going to get a lot more exciting. 

Overall I am glad to be here serving the Lord! I love this work! I am so happy to be here! Thank you all for everything! Hasta lunes! oh, and have a good thanksgiving!

Elder Erickson

A few more pics:

Sharing the gospel with his monkey friend. 

A good shoe shine can really make a difference. 

Done With Training! - November 14, 2016

Hola Todos!

I hope all of you had a good week! My week was super long, but at the same time it feels like it went by super fast. But here we go! This week we had a conference in Managua for the missionaries. We got to hear President Brown, and a member of the 70, Elder Alonzo, speak. They were super awesome. Our meetings are really awesome. They answered all the questions I had, and helped us teach better. And as a result we have seen immediate success in our area as we applied what they taught us! Mission Presidents are just the coolest. 

Wednesday was a super good day and we just had a ton of success. We got 5 people to commit to baptism, and our other investigators are doing super well too! 

Thursday was a good day too. It was Elder Martinez’s birthday, so at night some members had a little party for him. that was fun too because they got a piñata that looks like him. 

That was a good day. and that day I also gave the monkey a banana. 

Friday Elder Martinez had to go to another conference in Managua for the Zone leaders so I was in Monibo with Elder Chavez. We also had some good success that day too. 

Saturday was harder because basically all of our investigators bailed on our appointments, and we couldn’t get anyone to commit to come to church. Sunday was normal. and now today. Time flies. 

Today is probably my last pday here in Masaya, so I went around today and got some stuff to remember this place. Life here is awesome! Being a missionary is great! Hope you all have a good week, and thanks for everything!

Elder Erickson