Hello my sweet family!
I'm pretty sure I disturbed the entire library as I read the last
email from everyone...I love y'all so much!! I just still can't get over
Blake's message. I wish I knew when he was serious and joking. But I
figured that last part out right quick! There needs to be more emails to
me like that, where everyone says a little something. It was very
special and I needed it this week! I'm so glad to hear that everyone is
doing so well! Camille- your note made me laugh pretty hard too!
"Woohoo...gag...woof..." I just love you. And please make sure Charley
learns my realy name...I refuse to be Auntie Helga... Maryn- you're
looking for a picture? Me. Obviously. A big one. On the cieling. Of your
bedroom. You're welcome. :) Dad- BAD IDEA!! Don't take mom to Tennessee
in the fall. It's supposed to be the most lovely weather in the
south...you don't know what you're doing. You'll be moving in a
heartbeat if she finds a house she likes! Just be carefy. :) I'm glad
you two will be able to go and see Mandie's new babe, I'm jealous beyond
repair. The worst rule of a missionary is that they can't hold
babies...it's killer. Also dad, yes we'll be struggling together with
Spanish. Mine is very slowly getting better. Hna. Greenwood thinks
otherwise but I know better. It's a struggle and a half. But I'll get
over it and as I do my best I know Heavenly Father will help me as I try
to communicate with His children.
That kind of leads me to my experiences this last week. Hna.
Greenwood and I were out for almost 4 days because of the new
missionaries. They brought over this sick bug. She caught it first and
then I followed. I felt so unproductive, it was annoying. But I got over
it right quick. We also had Zone Conference with President this week
and it was AMAZING!!! We are completely changing the way missionary work
is here. I don't know if it's much different at home but this is pretty
wild. We're starting to put together cottage meetings, which we call
Noche de Mormon(pretend an accent is over the last o...that bugs me) and
it involves the member a ton more! The meetings will be held in the
homes of members, so exciting!! It creates more opportunities for the
investigators to create more and better friendships than ever before.
Everything is still a work in progress. We had our first one on Friday
and it was just great. Out of it we got referrals from the
investigators...WOO!!! The work is hastening and it's SO EXCITING!!!!!!
Oh! And mom and dad, have the sisters in the ward over for dinner, feed
them normal food. They like that. I ate cow intestines at the noche de
mormon and let me tell ya. My intestines do not like any other
intestines in them. The flavor of them was good actually! But...it
was chewy. Camille would have barfed. :) I have video of that night, it
was so fun! And I'll attach a picture of the tacos!
Some things I have learned this week is that I am not perfect.
Imagine that. But I realized something that I am pretty sure has changed
my mission. I have always know this but it finally clicked in my mind.
I'm not perfect, but God is. And I am his child. Therefore I have the
potential to become like Him and be perfect. I have many weaknesses but
as a work on them and ask for guidence from Heavenly Father, they will
one day be made into strength. And I need to give myself a little more
credit. Cnsidering my circumstances I am doing a good job. Eric Maynes
sent me an email last week about success. Success is measured in lots of
different ways. As missionaries we sometimes think that since we didn't
reach the number goals we set, we weren't successfull. But what it is,
is the day to day activity and productivity that we acheive. Success
comes from knowing that you did your very best in a situation. Last
night we had a lesson with a man named Fransisco(I thought of Scott a
lot, especially while Iw as making the teaching record. It took a lot of
restraint to not say his name like that to his face.) and in a normal
point of view the lesson was the pits. I mean he was so insane!! And it
didn't help that he talked a million words a minute so I got lost, but I
knew it wasn't good because I could see Hna. Greenwood get a little
heated. I did my very best to participate in the lesson. Bear my
testimony when he wasn't shouting Bible verses. I am not sure anything
got through to him. The lesson itself was not a success. But how Hna.
Greenwood and I reacted to it and what we learned from it was a success.
I know that we did our best, and I feel good about it. Although
circumstances aren't always ideal, we need to make the best of them, and
that is success to me.Eric challenged me to pray for something
specifically that I wanted to be more sucessful at, mine was handling
awkward lessons better, I tend to shut down a little when I don't know
what's going on. But instead I pushed through it and did my best. So
yesterday I feel like a successed at something. I'm not sure if I
explained this in a coherant way. I wrote it down better in my journal.
Thank y'all for who you are. I feel so blessed to have so much love
and support from home and I pray everyone is well and happy and
succeeding in different ways in life. I can't wait to hear from everyone
next week! Also, random thought. It's been raining all day. And it's
quite nice. El fin. :)
All my love,
Hermana Erica
P.s. Charley's hair is getting long...what a little lady! :)
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