First Baptism - October 17, 2016

Hola todos!

I hope all of you had a good week! Again time just flew by! But we will get right to all the good stuff. First thing is I had my first baptism this week! Her name is Joseline, and her husband Enoc was baptized in August. It was so awesome to see someone I helped teach get to baptism. Everything is great and I think that she will continue to be strong in the gospel! I also had the opportunity to baptize her which was super cool and a huge honor!

Life is still wild here. Thursday apparently we had an earthquake in the night, nothing too big, I slept through it, but in the morning apparently it did something to our house. because one spot on the floor next to my desk the tile broke and caved upward and stuff.  Oh well. Just living life. It’s what you get when you wake up every morning and look out to see an active volcano smoking. I decided I needed more than one meal a day so I have started cooking breakfast. it has been exciting to try to cook with one electric burner and a microwave. But it is good and the other missionaries in the house like it.

Like normal lots of contacting and teaching this week. Life is good here. I love it here, and especially the opportunities to study! The scriptures are so awesome and bring the spirit so strongly. Look for answers in the scriptures and you will find them! I know that the Savior lives! I know that His gospel and His church are on the earth! Thank you all for everything! Until next Monday!

Love, 

Elder Erickson

Normal Life in Nicaragua - October 10, 2016

Hola todos!

I hope you all are doing great! Life is just rolling on here! The work is good and I just can’t get enough. I love walking around and people calling me chele ( mismo de gringo ) ! This week was cambios (transfers) and I am staying here in Masaya. I really love it here! Life is just crazy awesome. 

This Saturday I will have my first baptism! I am super excited for our investigator, because her husband got baptized in August and now they will be able to progress together! This week nothing much different happened just more teaching and contacting. Spanish is really coming along. Before the mission and even in the MTC a little I was worried about learning Spanish! But that was before the gift of tongues! In just this short amount of time, I can understand almost everything, and I can express my thoughts well enough! I still have so much to learn! But I am so grateful for divine help! I actually am having trouble speaking English occasionally. A member family asked me to pray in English and during the prayer I kept switching to Spanish accidently. It was super hard to stay in English. I am so grateful for divine help, because there is no way I could do any of this! 

I love it out here, and I am learning so much! I know that the Savior lives and that His gospel in on the Earth today! I hope you all are doing great, thank you for everything! 

Love, 

Elder Erickson

Dogs, McDonalds, and More Rain! Oh My! - October 3, 2016

Hola everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! Life is good down here in Nicaragua! It is funny because I feel like I have been doing this all my life. I have officially been here longer than I was in the MTC. That seems super weird. I am loving it here, in its Nicaraguan glory. 

This week we met up again with all the new missionaries and that was fun to see all of the other new people again! 

After the conference we went to McDonalds. That was exciting. I have never thought McDonalds could taste way good. I also thought it was super expensive. It really wasn’t in American dollars it was only about 5 bucks. 

So I got bit by a dog for the first time this week. We were contacting and I was talking to the person (by the way Spanish is going really well. I can understand most of everything and I can communicate! I still need a lot of work but God has helped me get this far in just two months, imagine what he can do by Christmas) and I was outside their gate with my hand on the bars and this big Rottweiler came out from the house and grabbed my hand! it actually wasn’t that bad, thanks to lots of divine protection, but it did need a bandage and cleaning. So we went to a member’s house and they fixed me up! All is well. 

This week it rained like crazy. like all the other weeks. We were contacting and I was soaked in two seconds. the streets turned into rivers, but like the postal service we don’t stop for rain! It is awesome here! 

Weight update. So I finally found a scale, and it turns out I have lost about 30 lbs. already! So if you want a good diet, eat only lunch and walk around all day! What a life! I love it here! 

Cool story for the week!  One day I was not feeling well, and I just wanted to go sit down somewhere and rest. my whole body hurt and I was so tired. We had correlation with the ward mission leader at 5:00 and it was 4:20 and all of the appointments we had fell through. I Just wanted to go back to the church and wait until 5:00. But I thought about my call letter and how it said I am expected to serve with everything I have. I also thought about the Savior and His atonement. I decided to keep going. We contacted one more house and the girl we contacted was prepared. She has gone to church before and she loved it. She wanted to change her life and become better and come closer to Christ. She accepted a baptismal date, and is excited to learn more. 

Afterwards I felt so good and happy. I was so grateful for the opportunity we had to teach her. There are so many miracles here, big and small. I hope you all are doing great! Thank you for everything!

Love 

Elder Erickson