Letter #3 - Week Three in the MTC

Hola!

First off this week has been the best so far.  It has been awesome! Like so great! I did not start that way though... last Saturday I was pretty sick. I had a bad fever and I was so congested. But with some prayers I got to the point where I could function again. Sunday was great and the spirit was super strong. 

Side note: my Spanish has improved so much! When Elder Turner and I taught our first few lessons we had to write everything down first and read from our notes for the lesson, but now we don't even have any notes! It is such a miracle! I know that the gift of tongues is real! Now don't get me wrong it isn't good Spanish by far and we sound like 5 year olds, but it is still so cool! The Lord has helped us so much! 

Life is so awesome here. Before I could feel the spirit a little throughout the day, but now I can feel it basically all day every day!!! It is so powerful and so awesome! I just can’t express how great a mission is already! Anyway back to the awesome week! The Sunday and Tuesday devotionals were great and the spirit was so strong then too. I was still feeling under the weather but it was okay! 

Bloody nose in the MTC

Wednesday my district got the opportunity to host new missionaries and that was so awesome! I loved doing that! We also get to do it this week when we are expecting 800 new missionaries... and I thought it was crowded now... but it will still be awesome. Thursday was the peak of the week! It started out pretty rough. My sickness was flaring up again and it was getting bad, but I felt prompted to get a blessing from the elders in my district to help me feel better. So I asked and they gave me one. It was such a great experience. I immediately began to feel better. The blessing was also a really great thing for my district. It brought us together and helped us all feel the spirit! 

Then later that day during study time this lady walked into our class room and began talking with us in Spanish. It turns out that she was an investigator here for a lesson. The funny thing was that we weren't scheduled to teach real investigators until next week! So the district and I began teaching her about the first lesson! We answered all her questions and bore all our testimonies! It was so powerful and the spirit was so strong! When she left we all went crazy! We were so excited to have that awesome opportunity. We were jumping up and down and we were just so happy! We all wanted so badly for her to accept the gospel it was so cool! And did I mention this was all in Spanish!!! Not good Spanish, but it was Spanish! I didn't speak an ounce of Spanish two and a half weeks ago! 

The Lord truly is helping us so much I am so grateful for this awesome experience! I love it here and I cannot wait to go to Nicaragua! I already feel a love for those people and I haven't even met them! The Lord is truly doing miracles among us! I love him and our Father in Heaven! I am so grateful for their love and help! I know that this gospel is true, without a shadow of a doubt. I am so grateful for it in my life! I am so thankful for every one of you, and I am so grateful for your prayers and support! I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Erickson  

Letter #2 - Second Week at the MTC

Hola mi familia y mi amigos!

Life is crazy here. It’s just one thing after another, but it is great. I have only about an hour on email, so I’ll get started right away (in order to save time I will not be paying attention to grammar/capitalization. and I'm lazy.) :) Okay so this week was a little more normal and I'm starting to fall into a routine. Basically every day we wake up at 6:30, at 7:00 we go to class. And then the rest of the day we go to class and eat occasionally with some time for exercises. I'm still getting used to it, but it is awesome here! I really do love it, and it really does have a strong spirit here. 

So today is my p-day and we get to go to the temple, it is awesome! 

Then we have Sunday which is also a nice rest from the chaos of the week. Last Sunday was awesome! We get a devotional every Sunday and Tuesday, and last Sunday was so cool! For the devotional the mission presidency here decided that we should watch an old devotional by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ". (If you can somehow find it I would strongly recommend studying it.) It was a really great talk and it was very inspiring. Then at the end... all of a sudden Elder Bednar walks in unannounced and does a question answer session with all the missionaries and gave a short lesson. I was so cool and the spirit was so strong. Being a District Leader is hard but it is working out with a lot of help and guidance from the Lord. We continued to teach our investigator. Every time Elder Turner and I are doing better and better with our Spanish. the funny thing is that I really only know how to say stuff that pertains to the Gospel and stuff like that, so I have pretty much no idea on how to say everyday things. But I'm sure I’ll learn. I'm still getting along great with Elder Turner, and things are going well. The district is improving and we are all moving forward in our purpose to invite others to come closer to Christ. 

So back to our investigator… it turns out that he is our other teacher! We found out when we came to class yesterday after our first lesson and he was there. He is a nice guy and he got off his mission to Chile three months ago! Not much else happened this week. It is all pretty normal now for me, so if you have any specific questions, shoot me an email and I will try to answer either next week in the big email! I love you all and I really appreciate all that you do for me. I can feel your prayers and thought and they buoy me up! I know that this Gospel is true! I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior! I am trying to come closer to him every day! I love him and I love you all! Have a great week!

Love Elder Erickson

Wearing the Moroni Tie passed down from his four uncles who wore it on their missions.

Elder Batman! - Now that Josh knows it's a real last name he might be changing his last name.

Letter #1 - First week in the MTC

Hola!

Wow. Time seems to be slowing down and at the same time it seems to be going so fast. Life is crazy! We have 16 hour days here, and they are long but they are filled to the brim! Even with 16 hours it doesn't seem like I have enough time to get everything done, but some how it all works out! :) The first day was all over the place like I said. We all just moved from one thing straight to another. I got all my language stuff and they weren't lying when they said it was 10 lbs. 

Right away they started teaching us Spanish by only talking in Spanish. At that point I did not really understand every word but I got the general gist of what she was saying. My teacher's name is Hermana Imbler and she served a mission in Peru a few years ago. She is really nice, and is an awesome teacher! The first day we did lots of orientation stuff and started learning right away! My companion's name is Elder Turner! He is from a small town right by Bear Lake in Idaho. He is a lot like me. He is pretty quiet and he also is striving for exact obedience. So that is awesome! We work well together and are becoming good friends. Funny, he is also gluten free (Mom and Aunt Bethany)! 

I really like my district, and I hope we will become even closer. I almost forgot... there are two other missionaries in my district including Elder Turner that are going to my mission, and then we met our zone and we met even more people who are going! 8 of us total! MTC life is great and I have really felt an increase of the Holy Ghost! 

We have a ton of study time, 6 hours a day, but we fill it up! Spanish is already becoming easier and I can speak okay with what I know. I can pray and bear my testimony so that is muy bueno! The gift of tongues is truly real! 

We taught our first investigator yesterday and I was crazy nervous! I had everything written down, but when we got in there it was amazing! It's not like random words came to mind, but I just remembered things, and I was able to talk with the investigator and understand him.  It was so awesome! I felt the spirit very strongly! My Spanish is improving everyday, and I love it and I am so grateful for the divine help I am receiving. I also have been assigned to be our District Leader. I am very humbled by this and am certainly going to need the Savior's help! We got to meet our branch president and he is awesome! He has already helped so much and I am so thankful for his guidance! I love it here and I can't wait to learn much more! Thank you for all your prayers and support. I know that I am supposed to be here and I am so grateful and humbled by this marvelous opportunity! I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and I am so grateful for His love and atonement. I am so grateful for this gospel, and the difference it has made in my life. I have to go now! I love you all!

Love Elder Erickson​