Baptism

For Real

This week:

Not gonna lie, this week was rough because literally nobody was in their houses or wanted to talk to us. But it’s all good because as always we are seeing miracles here in our sector.

First of all, finally Luis got baptized! His family is all members and he’s talked to the missionaries for years but just recently he was finally able to get married and make some great changes to get baptized this weekend. Literally, every day when we went to his house, he had another problem or obstacle to deal with but its been super cool to see him change his attitude and always say that now he’s putting God first in everything. With that, he was able to make this great step and enter into a covenant with our Heavenly Father. It’s incredible. The gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives, for real.

We had interviews with Presidente Larson this week, which are always fun.

After a whole week of not finding people to teach, we were blessed to find some super cool people on Saturday who are really great and interested in learning more.

This week I read a talk by President Eyring called “My Peace I Leave with You” and loved a part that says:

At times, you may long for peace as you face uncertainty and what seem to you to be looming challenges. The sons of Mosiah learned the lesson that the Lord taught to Moroni. It is a guide for us all: “If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all [who] humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

Moroni said that when he “heard these words,” he “was comforted” (Ether 12:29). They can be a comfort to all of us. Those who do not see their weaknesses do not progress. Your awareness of your weakness is a blessing as it helps you remain humble and keeps turning you to the Savior. The Spirit not only comforts you, but He is also the agent by which the Atonement works a change in your very nature. Then, weak things become strong.

It’s great to be able to help people feel this spirit and experience the Atonement in their lives and change as a result, myself included.

Tomorrow I hit my 6-month mark in the mission. It’s been the craziest past 6 months but also the best. I am so happy to be a missionary because I get to testify about our savior, Jesus Christ every day to everyone.

August 7, 2017

Pescados y Pecados

I’m thinking about changing my mission call from “Lima, Peru” to “Cayetano Heredia, Palao” because transfers were this week and I’m sticking around here in the same area. Despite the fact that we can walk across our entire sector in 10 minutes – including time to wait to cross the street – I love it and I’m super happy to still be here. Hermana Valencia kills me every day, she’s so funny, and I’m pumped to still be here with her.

This week everyone had “Sindrome de Fiestas Patrias” (according to Hermana Valencia), meaning everyone went on vacation for the holidays and nobody was home to talk to us and we knocked a lot of doors that nobody answered. It’s all good though.

This week Nicole got baptized! Yay! Her friend, Eileen, was baptized like 6 months ago and invited Nicole to church and has been answering her questions about the church. So Nicole accepted and we are so happy because we got to teach her these past couple weeks and see how much her faith is growing as she reads the Book of Mormon and participates in Young Women’s. It’s the best.

We have for sure seen miracles in our sector these past couple weeks, and honestly every day of the mission. I’m so happy to be a missionary and teach the gospel and learn so much every day. Today I read Helaman 3:27-28 and I love these verses. It’s so true, the Lord is so willing to help us, we’ve just got to trust in Him and work as hard as we can in everything and he makes up the rest.

Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.

Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.

– Helaman 3:27-28 –

Oh yeah I forgot this funny story

We were in church yesterday and reading about how Jesus paid the price for our sins (pecados) but someone read it as PESCADOS which means fish. So we were cracking up and it makes me feel better about my Spanish that even Peruvians make mistakes sometimes as well. :)

Hermana Valencia, Nicole, y Hermana Erickson

Lomo Saltado a lo Pobre (with Fried Egg and Platano)

July 31, 2017

We’ll Still Be Rockin’

This week:

Hermana Valencia and I almost died from the flu. I was only sick for like a day and a half but Hermana Valencia is still recovering. The funniest part was when we got a blessing from our district leader and they were like, “Sorry, Hermanas. We have to find out your names…” *** Super grateful for the power of the priesthood though and we’ve been able to keep working every day.

One of our investigators got married! Yay! It’s a big deal here. Lots of people live together but aren’t married and can’t be baptized until they do so. So he’s working towards baptism and we are super excited.

Transfer calls are tonight so we’ll see what happens. Honestly, we don’t have any clue how it will be, but if I stay here in Cayetano we’ll still be rockin! :)

That’s all for now folks. Peace and blessings.

-Hermana Erickson

*** Explanation why this is funny: A person in need of a blessing for any reason can recieve one via the laying on of hands. See also James 5:14-15. The one giving the blessing will call the one recieving the blessing by their full name. Since it is not uncommon for missionaries as they refer to each other by title – Elder or Sister (Hermana) – and last name, to not know each other’s given names, this becomes a little joke.

July 24, 2017

My Heart is so Happy

My heart is so happy this week. On Saturday, the family we’ve been teaching was baptized and they were confirmed yesterday! We found their address in the area book and decided to stop by one day. We talked with Humberto and he basically said , I guess yall can share a message but it’s a waste of time. But we visited him again and he was curious about the Book of Mormon and decided to read it and from that day there were miracles in their family! From the start he was able to see that as he read the Book of Mormon he was able to have so much more faith in God and Jesus Christ and be more patient and loving with his family. Also, he was having problems at work but when he read the Book of Mormon and prayed every day he was able to find solutions super easily. As a result of these changes, Melissa was more willing to listen to us and although she too was skeptical of something different she also put the Book of Mormon to the test and started to read. Again, more miracles in her work and her university studies. So we also talked to their 8 year old daughter who also wanted to be baptized and they all decided to take this step together as a family! This week I love the scripture Mosiah 26:18:

Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my name; for in my name shall they be called; and they are mine.

Baptism is such a special experience becasue people get to start a completely new life as disciples of Jesus Christ!

They have such strong testimonies of prayer and the power of the Book of Mormon and I’m so excited for them. It’s been such a blessing to teach them and come to love their cute family. The next goal is that they can go to the temple in one year and be sealed as a family! (Both Hermana Valencia and I will be here in one year so we are psyched to be able to go with them!

Other than that, this week has been good. We’ve been able to find people to teach although all the students we are teaching are about to leave for vacation for the next month so that’s a bummer. (There’s a university in our sector, so there’s loads of students who live here. The semester just ended so it’s difficult…) But yeah, there’s one more week in this transfer so we’ll see if I end up staying here for another cambio or not.

The Elders and Maria + us and Humberto, Melissa, and Amelie

Here’s our goal to find a family in July. Check!

July 17, 2017

This Week Rocked!

This week rocked. Literally. hahahahahhahaha because I experienced my first earthquake! (Sorry for the awful joke). But for real we were leaving our house the other night after studying and felt the earth shake for a couple seconds and heard some noise. The funniest part was that both our recent convert and our District Leader texted us to see if we were okay and Hermana Valencia was almost offended because she’s from Chile and apparently it was nothing compared to the earthquakes they have there.

We had a conference in Magdalena with 2 other zones and I got to see Hermana Machuruti and Hermana Shupe! We talked a lot about vision, goals, and plans and it’s been great to study Elder Ballard’s talk from this general conference and see how I can improve and how we can improve our area by setting specific goals and plans.

We have seen some miracles this week. Last month we set a goal to find and teach a family in July and have been praying for and working for it since the start of June. And this week Humberto and possibly his wife, Melissa are going to be baptized and I’m so excited for them. If yall could pray for them and their baptism this Saturday, it’d be bacon. ¡Gracias!

Also, we had p-day de zona and went to the zoo. It was super fun and the jokers here in Palao are great.

Celebrating July 4th with Doritos, Soda, and French Fries.

July 10, 2017

Four Months and a New Beginning

This week was wild! First off I officially have 4 months in the mission!

Secondly, on Wednesday we got to go to the temple! It was so good. What a blessing. I love how peaceful it is. And when we went, Presidente y Hermana Moore (president of the CCM) were just walking out and we got to talk to them! It was super fun.

Thirdly, I am so happy because Lesly got baptized this weekend! Yay! Her husband Manuel has been a member for a long time and always comes to church with their 2 little kids who are the cutest ever. So we decided to visit Lesly a couple weeks ago and she was finally ready to accept the gospel. So on Saturday, she was baptized along with her 8-year-old son Santiago! Their family was so happy. I thought Hermano Manuel was going to cry :) It’s such a great experience to see people’s journeys into the church and how they change and grow as they learn more and more about the gospel. I hope in one year they’ll go to the temple to be sealed and be an eternal family!

Finally, the APs (Assistants to the President) called us on Thursday when we were eating lunch and if that’s not scary enough, they asked for me. Turns out I’m going to be training [a new missionary] this next cambio (transfer). Holy smokes. I feel very inadequate and have no clue whats going on half the time so it’ll be a heck of an experience. I’m going to miss Hermana Machuruti so much and the only reason I’ll have any clue what to do is because she’s been the best these past 12 weeks. So yeah, I need a lot of prayers this week so that my new comp and I don’t die! Other than that, happy fathers day to all the dads, and especially mine. Dad, you’re the best. Have a great week!

Letter from Hermana Erickson’s Mission President:

June 15, 2017

Dear Family of Sister Erickson,

I am delighted to inform you that your daughter, Sister Rachel Erickson, has been assigned to serve as a Trainer in the Peru Lima Central Mission. She will be the first companion of a new missionary in our mission. There is no more important assignment a missionary receives in the mission field. It is the most respected assignment one can receive in our mission. She will be responsible to teach her companion how to become the most successful missionary she can become. This significant responsibility has come to your daughter because she has exemplified the qualities of outstanding missionary service.

Warmest regards,

Stephen J. Larson
Presidente
Misión Perú Lima Central