Week #14 Nuevo Aurora - Baptism

This week we´re heading to a park of some sort, so I don´t have a lot of time to write you all today (sorry!) Next week, I´ll have more of the full time to do this mail stuff. I´m doing alright, been reading the Book of Mormon, about to finish 2 Nephi. In Spanish I just finished 1 Nefi 9. So, that can give you an idea of where I´m at.

If we start to look backwards, I opened my call more than 7 months ago already, left more than 3 ago. Anyway, I love you and sorry that this isn´t a very long email.

We had a baptism this past Saturday, and a confirmation yesterday. I´ll attach some pictures for you.

Okay, love you all.

- Elder Erekson

Week #13 Nuevo Aurora 2

Now... what I can I write home about? Well, some spiritual experiences off-the-bat:

Reading from the December 2012 Liahona there are a few articles that touched me this week - one is about a mom sewing a handkerchief for her daugther every year, and why. Another was about a little girl giving away a doll in an act of charity, and the relationship of that to the gift of Our Heavenly Father with His Son. There is one about a family who had just lost their baby, but the writer (the daugther) felt comfort from the birth of Christ and the resurrection. Another example of this same principle is an article about a girl who was uneasy and scared because a student she didn´t know, but still young, died and she was worried about that. She was at the Temple Square nativity (I believe) and near the end the prophet´s voice came on and read from 1 Corinthians 12... something "For wherein as all men die in Adam, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" or something like that, and she received comfort. Yeah, stuff about the atonement. I´d suggest reading these articles, maybe as a family tonight?

Sacrament hymns these past to weeks have touched me. We sang "I Stand All Amazed" last week, and "There Is A Green Hill Far Away" this week. Music has a power to touch us, doesn´t it? At least for me.

Speaking of music, today during cleaning we listened to my new album I bought at the MTC, the one of children´s songs, and the song "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" came on, then it was followed by the song "Faith," and third after that was "Children Holding Hands Around the World." Great songs. I´m grateful for the chances I´ve had to feel the Spirit of the Lord, for His mercy in permitting me to feel these things.

Now I´ll share about the letter thing. This is exactly how our Father in Heaven feels about us. He wants us to "keep in contact" with Him as it were. When we get back to Heaven, shouldn´t we desire to have a strong relationship with Him? Reminds me of the hymn "O My Father." I like that hymn. Also reminds me of a video we watched once in seminary. In this video, a soldier father returned home and surprised his son by dropping by his class. When the little kid saw his dad, he ran into his arms and sobbed. When we get back to heaven, that is going to be us. We are going to be so happy to be back home. We can maintain a strong relationship with Our Father by praying, and keeping the commandments too. But, the praying part was like the letters. He already knows what we´re up to, but He still likes to hear from us. When we feel His Spirit, or read the scriptures, it´s like when we get our letter from Him. His "I love you."

¡­­­Bienvenido a México!

México, Gaudalupe, Los Ángeles, Nueva Aurora 1

­ Hopefully things are going well for all of you. Me, I´m doing alright here in México. Right now we´re writing from a "ciber" or whatever, at least that´s the general name for places like this. We pay by the hour for our time here in the computer. Anyway, my schedule for emailing will be for about an hour each preparation day. We´ll probably head over and do it about the same time each week.

­ So, as I said before, I´m doing arlight here in México. It is a bit different, but it´s been good. My companion is named Elder Rafael ... L ... something. So, Elder L. He´s been out for about 18 months already, so he´s pretty experienced as a missionary. So far he´s helped me with some stuff, and we´re pretty much always speaking Spanish if we´re speaking, since he doesn´t know a lot of English. He knows some, but... So, that helps me improve my Spanish abilities. In fact, I am his first American companion. Yeah, after all of this time, he gets an American. So, we don´t have a ton in common, but we get along well enough. We should have plenty of time to form a strong bond as companions. He is a nice Elder, so that´s good.

When I arrived in México I was picked up by President and Sister Walker - they´re nice. They took me out to eat, then to the offices. I spent some time with the Assistants to the President, and we actually went and read from the Book of Mormon with a less active member who is trying to re-activate himself, or something like that. So, that was pretty good. Here, the Assistants to the President do normal proselyting work. They have other responsibilies, obviously, but they do work with investigators, so that´s good. I stayed the night at the offices, and joined up with Elder L the next morning.

So far we´ve taught... at least 4 or 5 lessons? And, we have 11 baptismal dates. One of those is from this week with me being in the mission. I actually extended the invitation, so, yeah. It´s been pretty good. It´s my second real lesson with a baptismal invitation, and my first "yes." So yeah, so far the work has been pretty good, and so has visiting with the members.

Before I continue, I´ll explain some of the things we use for travel. We usually either travel with "taxistas" in green taxis, or we take a "camion" - which is a bus. So, that´s how we get around, and walking of course.

Sunday was good. Of all the hymns we sang, only one of them exists in our English hymnbook. I liked hearing the different songs. During the sacrament hymn I got a bit emotional, so that was good. Testimony meeting was pretty nice too - some of the things that I understood I liked. One sister basically said, "If you can do missionary work, get through that, life is easy." Something along those lines. Afterwards we got to teach a class, because the teacher was not there. We taught about Heavenly Father, so that was good. I got to share some testimony stuff, and it was pretty good. Then we had priesthood. Two of our investigators (a husband and wife) attended church this week. Maybe another? Anyway, it was good. Later that night we went with them to a member couple´s house. They want to be baptized, but have things to overcome. I like them. One thing the husband said was (in response to the statement by Elder L that three families from an area attended church) that "It´s going to be four." He also said, in response to a member, "I know it´s true." So, that was good.

So, our apartment is just for the two of us. I have some pictures for you. We have two bathrooms, with warm water. We have little heaters to warm us up.

So, how is everyone back at home? Are you all doing well? That reminds me, President Walker said it´s best to just mail the Mission Offices, so that´s what we´ll do. That means I will only receive mail every 6 weeks or so, by paper. It´ll depend on my area, but yeah. So, I´m doing alright. If you could pray for me to really enjoy my time here, be happy, and gain a strong testimony, I´d appreciate it. I did receive those letters you sent through the pouch, so thank you for those. What else should I say? Spanish is going alright, I´m not perfect, but I´ve received compliments.

I hope that everyone is doing well, and is happy and safe. I love you all.

Week #11 - No Longer in Colorado...

I've got some GOOD news, and I've got some "bad" news:

I guess you have NOT heard by now my current situation, seeing as I haven't received any emails mentioning it. As you can tell by the subject line (if you noticed it), I am no longer in Greeley, Colorado.

On Wednesday, very shortly after I emailed you, we listened to a voice-mail from President Toombs. To sum it all up, I found out I was leaving Greeley the next day. Elder M. was going to be re-paired-up with Elder N., his trainer for 12 weeks, just prior to being my companion. He had expected to keep us for at least a transfer (until about January 28th), but they called and said they were ready for us. He did not know at the time that if he had put his foot down, as it were, he could have kept us. The thing that matters, is that he did not do that, so here I am, no longer in Colorado.

We drove to the Greeley Stake Center, where I dropped Elder M. off with the Zone Leaders, and drove with two of the Mission Office staff members. That was a bit after 7:30 (about 7:40 or so...). We drove to the Mission Offices about 45 or so minutes away, and were there for a little bit, before driving to the Denver Airport to catch our plane flight for 11:38. Our plane was delayed for a bit, but we go onto it. On the way over I got to sit next to a woman named Maya, and we talked about the Church. I gave her a mormon.org pass-along card. MAYBE she'll look up the missionaries in the future. It was a good opportunity. Actually, I got coffee spilled on me - twice. The stewardess was trying to hand Maya her coffee, when she spilled a bit on me. Then, when Maya grabbed it, she spilled a bit on me too. It was alright though, no like burns or anything like that. So, yeah.

Arriving at the Salt Lake City Airport (this time as a returning missionary, sort of) we got our bags, and joined a group of other "visa waiters." One of these was Elder B., who had come from Las Vegas to receive his visa too. We rounded up the Elders, and then drove to the Mexican Consulate. While there I got my picture taken, signed for my visa, and then we waited. We learned that a few Elders would leave the next morning for Mexico, a few went back to the field (Elder B. included), and some were going back to the MTC. I found myself in that last group. We got food after a while, then waiting for some other missionaries, then we drove back to the MTC. Sometime after 9:00 we arrived at the MTC - again.

I was assigned a temporary companion (Elder J. K. A.), and roommates (Elder O. and Elder S.). The three of them had temporarily served in the Nevada Reno Mission, I believe. The next day (Friday) we learned our traveling arrangements, and Elder A. reported to the Travel Office to leave on Saturday morning at... 4:00 AM. Elder O. and Elder S. reported the same day at 11:30. This left me without roommates, or a temporary companion. I've been with a District in my old Branch (Zone). They had an open bed, and I've stayed with them since - need to go to Scheduling to find out official arrangements sometime today. The Elders in this District are pretty cool, I enjoy this group. Elder L. and Elder Macf. (who went to Timpanogos and is close friends with Elder M.), Elder S. and Elder W., Elder D. and Elder L., and Elder S. and Elder S. and Elder S. (the Zone Leaders). So, those are the Elders I've been going to class with, and spending time with. I've played a "member" in a few of their lessons too, it's been pretty good.

So, here I am with some extra time to prepare for my real mission. Oh, yeah. I leave on Thursday. I will be reporting to the Travel Office by 3:00 AM I believe. Yeah, that early. I will be flying from Utah to Texas, and while I'm in Texas I'll have a few hours (almost three) until my flight to Mexico. So, I'll call sometime between 8:45 and 12:30 or so (Utah time). Something in that window. So, yeah. You will get to hear from me sooner than we thought.

So, the "bad" news is that I'm not in Colorado, and therefore, I did not receive your mail (I got the first joint letter you mentioned). I also did not receive either package. Hopefully they can send it back home to Utah without much fuss. Sorry about that! Sorry you didn't find out earlier, before you sent that package. I was thinking I would leave for Mexico on Thursday and would call home, but I never did call home, and I came here to the MTC. Hopefully it doesn't cause you too much trouble. Thank you for the thought anyway, of sending me my jacket, and whatever else you sent.

I hope that you are all doing well, and enjoying life. Enjoy the end of the year, and be ready to have a great 2013. Next time you receive an email from me, it'll be international. I'm getting off now, but I am sending some pictures too.

Week #10 Merry Christmas!

My First Mission Christmas was as follows:

So, we got to talk to each other on the phone. Our original plan was to have breakfast at a member's home, but they called and canceled on us, so that did not happen. We continued to do studies, and whatever I think until we headed over to grab lunch at the home of some members. When we got there I had rice, tamales, some bread, and some juice and milk. There was a member already over visiting, and then more people came over to visit. After that Elder M and I drove to an area where we were going to drop by some potential investigators, to visit them or whatever. People either did not answer, or were like, "Oh, we're about to leave" or something along those lines. In that same place, there was a family of investigators who we dropped by to visit. We started off singing a Christmas hymn to them, when we were invited in to eat. So, we got to eat another meal.

The mail was pozole, with tamales and some soda. The night just before we had eaten some different pozole(soup with some meat, and large corn [hominy?]), with tamales. I did not have any tamales at that home, and the pozole was a different kind - not as spicy. Oh, and apparently it had some menudo meat in it. It was fine to me, I just ate it with the rest of the food. Didn't even know until later. So, it wasn't like REAL menudo, but I did have some. We visited with them, talked a bit about Christmas and stuff (the wife's brother and his family were there visiting, so we got to eat and visit with them too. After we wrapped up at their house, we left to go to the car.

I think we tried to visit some other people maybe? I'm not sure. Later, we arrived at another member home to have food. The two sister missionaries in our Branch, Sister E and Sister F, were talking with their families when we arrived. We were in that room with them while they talked, and then we had dinner. It was... Pozole, and I think there were (MAYBE?) tamales there too. Also, the same type of soda from the meal before. So, we had some of that, and bread, and it was pretty good. I liked it. That meal I added some avocado to my pozole, and it tasted pretty good. I also ate a big chunk of onion, for fun, for a good story type of deal. So, yeah.

After that we went caroling to a house of a friend of the member who fed us (with some of her family?) and sang a bit. Later, the four of us missionaries went and caroled a bit more - one house that invited us in had tamales on the table, and the same soda. Maybe it's a Mexican, Christmas tradition, these specific foods and drinks. So yeah, it was a pretty good Christmas overall.

Hopefully you had a good Christmas back at home with Grandma, and were all safe and happy.

Also, I'm going to talk a bit about my companion Elder M:
Elder M's family is originally from Peru, but they are converts to the Church. He joined when he was about 10 years old. He actually went to the same High School as me, graduating two years ahead. We actually listened to or at least know some of the same bands from back before our missions. He's a pretty nice Elder. So, yeah.

Alright, I'm going to finish this week's email. Have a great week, enjoy the rest of the year, have a Happy New Year!

Week #9 Welcome to Denver

I'm doing pretty well over here in the Colorado Denver North Mission. So, I'm emailing tonight, since I did not get to yesterday. My P-day is still on Mondays, although next week I will not (probably) get to email, since it's Christmas Eve and the library we are at right now will be closed on that day. However, it should be okay, since I get to call you on the next day.

Before I forget, here is the address of the Mission Offices (that you send stuff to me with) -

Elder Izak Erekson
Colorado Denver North Mission
1250 Main St.
Broomfield, CO 80020

The offices will forward mail to me about a day or so after they get it. As far as packages go, they need to be US mail I think, (maybe First-class?) they're the only ones who let them forward it - otherwise I'll only get them when I'm there. Whichever you want. Thank you for all of your love and care over these past two months family! I was a spoiled Elder at the MTC - so many goodies.

So, my plane flight went pretty well. I ended up meeting those two other Elders who were on my flight, visited with them a bit and this fellow from Australia originally who was traveling on business. He was a pretty nice person. On the actual flight I sat next to this woman from Hungary, who had been spending time in the US to visit her family. She had seen the missionaries, and visited Temple Square, but did not know a lot of things about the Church. We talked about the Church over the hour (not constantly) and I gave her a pass-along "Mormon.org" card which was one of a few which I received from another Elder. It was pretty good, she was pretty kind. One thing that she said, if I understood her right, was that she was supposed to leave the day before but had car issues (both cars which had been working would not start) so she flew yesterday. And sat right beside me. I don't know if it will change anything in the long run for her, but I hope I at least answered some of her questions, cleared some things up, and who knows - maybe she will talk to the Missionaries and feel something? I don't know. We'll have to wait until the end to know what happened. However, maybe something did happen, and will affect her. Her story was unique, placing her in those exact circumstances. The Lord guides us in all that we do in life.

Okay. So, something which I have not yet talked about is my new companion. His name is Elder S.M. He is a "native" Spanish speaker, but it's not exactly what I was thinking. I was kind of thinking he might be from a foreign country, and that it would have some difficulties. However, he has lived in the United States for quite a while now. In fact, he went to the same High School as me, but he didn't graduate the same year. I was grateful we at least had something in common. So far he seems pretty nice. A pretty happy or whatever Elder. President T said that he has "Greeny Fire" or whatever, still wanting to work or whatever. We'll see what I can do to help us out, and push us in the right direction. We haven't worked yet, like, really, but we have eaten with members, and did some service too for a couple of hours or so today. We're going to go get some dinner after this mailing session. Time is approaching its end. We usually eat our own lunch, I guess, and have dinner with members, but today was an exception to that. We might get some teaching done tonight, after English Class. Day Two in Greeley, Colorado (I think that's how it's spelled).

So, I'm going to start wrapping up this email. I'm doing pretty well so far, I should be here for at least a transfer, but we shall see what happens. The Mission is real now, real people. Not "investigators" but people, investigators, members, etc.

Before I left the MTC I got to briefly talk with Elder C, and I saw him shortly after that. Hopefully things go well for everyone on their own missions. I've only got about two minutes left on my mailing time now.

Travel Update

We just heard today that Izak is being temporarily reassigned to the Colorado Denver North Mission, while awaiting his visa to Mexico. (The rest of his district is also being temporarily reassigned--one we know of is going to Ohio Cleveland, another to Nevada Las Vegas somewhere) Izak flies out Monday, December 17th in the morning. We'll be getting him a few warm sweaters, as he was packed for a mission in a very warm climate. Interesting note: Laramie, Wyoming is in that mission. (Izak's dad used to live in Laramie--went to junior high there) We'll find out next week what area he will get to serve in. He will be speaking Spanish.