Week #87: Miguel Alemán 1.2 - XV - Week 1

Well, I`m in my new area, and it`s going pretty well. My new companion is Elder Joshua William Smith, and he`s from Macon, Georgia. So, he`s a Southerner. But, he doesn`t sound like a Southerner. He just finished his training, so he`s got the same ammount of time as Elder Anderson. Who would have thought that I would get another American companion? Elder Anderson was from the West Coast, and now my companion is from the East Coast. Ish.

We`re in the ward Miguel Alemán, in the Libertad Stake. We share the ward with two Sister Missionaries, and we almost always eat together. It`s been good so far here in the ward, trying to get as much work done as possible. We`ve been contacting a ton of people in the street, so that we can find more people to teach. We had 127 contacts this week, with 12 lessons. We`re hoping to reach a lot more soon though, lesson-wise. We`re also trying to work better with the members too, and it`ll be good.

Here are some photos of me and Elder Smith, and of me on Sunday. I totally wore a different tie the whole day, then realized that I needed to have my Dad`s tie on - so I put it on and wore it in the night. Here`s a photo for that. I am very grateful for my father and the love he has for me, all that he has done for me. I am also grateful for my Heavenly Father, and His love for me. He has let me feel His love so many times in my life, and on my mission. I just need to remember it.

Take care everyone, and work hard. Do your best. Never give up!

Sincerely, Elder Izak T. Erekson

P.S. If you could pray for Pablo and Paty, that`d be great. Thank you!

Week #86: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIV - Week 30

Well, this is my last letter from Tamaulipas 1.1 - the Zone Leaders told us about the transfers last week, and I´m on the way out. So is half of our District, so the ward will be really different as of Tuesday. It will be interesting for me, for sure. I´ve been here for almost seven months, and it´s been a pretty good chunk and part of my mission. I´ve enjoyed being here in the area, and working with the members, investigators, and people here. It´s been good to work with Elder Anderson too. He´s a good missionary, and we´re pretty good friends. I´m grateful for his work ethic and his friendship.

As for the week, we worked hard, and we were able to reach out 100 contacts for the week, which was great. We had a day of almost no lessons, pure contacting almost, and it was pretty tough. We were pretty tired by the end of it for sure. It felt good to be tired like that, it meant that we worked.

What else can I talk about? I should be back to visit in the ward in a couple of weeks for a baptism or two, so that will be nice. I´ll enjoy coming back, but I´m also looking forward to something new. We´ll just have to wait and see what the future holds. Next week I´ll let you know. 3 Transfers left. It´s going to disappear really quickly. I´ve been stressing a lot this transfer, and it´s been a purifying experience for me. I´m working on, or have worked on, things that I´ve needed to improve. I just want to finish right, and strong.

Thank you to everyone who prays for me and my investigators. I invite each and every one of you to thank the Lord for your blessings, and to pray for personal missionary experiences and opportunities. Elder M. Russell Ballard told all members to have a copy, and study Preach My Gospel as I remember it. I invite each of you to get a copy of the book, and to study it prayerfully along with your personal scripture study. I promise you that as you do, you will feel the power and importance of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in your life, and the importanc in the lives of others as well.

I bear my testimony that the Lord loves each and every one of us, and is aware of us. I am grateful for the mercy, and the chance to be a missionary at this time in my life.

Week #85: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIV - Week 29

Things were a bit hard this week for us. We failed in the street contacts department, but we´re going to work on it and do better this week. We were able to have some pretty good lessons though, and we´ve got some people who are progressing. The bad news is that some of our investigators who were progressing didn´t this week, and we may have to drop somebody we´ve been working with for a long time! We´ll have to pray and see what happens. We´ll keep on trying. One investigator who is progressing pretty well is a young girl named Paula. She is in a part-member family, and her mom is starting to come back to Church. We´ve got a pretty good baptismal goal with them for her, and she seems to understand stuff pretty well. Good stuff.

We were able to do some service this week, which was nice too. On Wednesday we went to help paint the house of some recent converts, and it was a pretty fun activity. We ended up painting for quite a long while, and then we went back again on Saturday to continue the painting - we basically painted (or were in the process of painting) the entire house, inside and out basically. Lots of painting. It was good though, to be able to lend some service.

On Friday we had our Zone Conference, and that was pretty good. President Bird talked about Elder Bednar´s talk on "Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary" and he had some good stuff to say about it. I liked when he talked about the need to forgive ourselves. I´m often hard on myself when I make a mistake, and I´m working on that. The Conference was good though, so that was nice.

Today we´re going to play some "Minute To Win It" games with most of the Zone, and hopefully that works out well. It´s been pretty hot lately, but it´s nothing compared to what´s coming soon. Lots of heat. I´ll be fine though.

I thank all of you who write me and think of me, and pray for me. I love you all very much! I hope that you have a great week and are happy. Enjoy summer vacation all those who are "free!" Take care!

Week #84: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIV - Week 28

Well, this was a good week overall. We were able to go ice skating on Monday, which was pretty fun. We also had two lessons that day, which was nice. We have an investigator named Juan Manuel, who seems to be progressing well. He has come to Church four times, and we have covered the first three lessons with him, meaning now we just need to cover the Commandments (Lesson 4). We are hopeful with him, and he seems to like a lot what we share. In fact, yesterday we had a lesson with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we talked about the Sacrament he really liked it. He was really impacted. He said, "Wow!" about how the Sacrament renews us each week, renews our baptism. That was a cool lesson for sure.

We worked hard to reach our goal of 100 contacts per week, Elder Anderson and I having 37 contacts yesterday. However, we could focus more on the quality and feeling of our contacts for sure. I talked with President Bird about that today.

I had my interview with President Bird today to renew my Temple Recommend. It was a nice interview. I was able to address some questions and concerns with him, and really just be open. I know that this is best with our Priesthood Leaders, and our friends and family. We need to do our best to be good, and when we need help there are people we can trust, who can help us. I enjoyed the interview - maybe one of if not the best I`ve had with a leader. I appreciate President Bird and how he helps me.

On Saturday we had a baptism. Well, the Sisters had a baptism, but Elder Carbajal and I had taught him while we were together, and he was able to make it to baptism. I felt pretty good having somebody finally make it after so long. Here are some photos of us, and of him and his family.

Well, time is short. I love you all and wish you well! Have a great week! Keep me in your prayers!

Week #83: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIV - Week 27

This past week was pretty good. I felt more focused that the week before, and it was nice to be able to work better, and feel the Spirit work through us more. Elder Anderson and I (and the Zone) learned about making commitment invitations, and verifying these, and we were able to put it in practice. It was good, and we felt good applying it. It helped us be more direct and powerful in our lessons and commitments.

We worked really hard and were able to once again reach 100 contacts in the street. It was a "slow and steady" effort more this week, and we´re going to keep it up. We were able to have more success this week as well. It was nice.

Overall, life is pretty good, and I felt pretty good. This weekend should be Narciso´s baptism, so that should be great too. Finally some more success after so many months. I am grateful to the Lord now for each day that I have to serve Him as a missionary, and continually pray to be able to do what is right and finish well, and make the best of the time I have.

Well, I´m off. Sorry that the email was short this week. Next week I hope to have a longer email home. I love you all and wish you well. I appreciate your love and prayers! Have a great week!

Week #82: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIV - Week 26

Today marks six months in this area for me - that´s a pretty good, long time if I do say so myself. I´m still enjoying it here, in spite of the difficulties and stresses that come along with that. There hasn´t been a lot of visible success so far, but there is time to keep working and make some progress here in this part of the ward. I sure have learned a lot here in Tamaulipas, and I will always remember what I learn and experience here (and there´s more to come).

This was a tough week in the area, with lots of days without a whole lot of lessons - we had the lowest lesson count in many weeks - months I think - but we were able to contact over 100 people again this week, so that was at least something to be happy about. However, we had no investigators in Church this week. We should have tried a bit harder to get them to come, but that´s for next week.

Sunday was really nice, because I was able to chat vocally with my family one last time as a missionary. It was really nice to be able to just visit and chat. We spoke from a member´s home, on his cell phone, and it was a good chat that we had. We talked about life at home, life here in the field, I told some of the Spanish jokes / puns I´ve learned (Dad got a kick out of those), and most special of all: we got to say a prayer as a family. Before ending our call, they asked me to say a prayer in Spanish, and it was a great moment for me. I loved being able to pray for my loved ones, with them present. It was the first time in almost 19 months that we have prayed together, all six of us, and it was really cool. I appreciate that they thought of this idea, and I hope to remember it and put it in practice in future missionary moments in my life. I love my family very much.

Once again, I wish a happy Mother´s Day to all of the great moms in the world, especially to my Grandmas who I wasn´t able to talk with on Sunday.

I love you all very much and wish you all a great week!

Sincerely, Elder Izak T. Erekson

Oh yeah! I forgot. I got bit by a dog this week. That was a first in my mission. Don´t worry, it wasn´t anything serious. We were walking to our house and this little dog jumped out and bit me. It didn´t make me bleed, but I could see the bite mark and it seemed bruised in that area. It did tear my pants though. Here´s a photo of my "battle wound."

Also, I finally bought milk that expires after I do. I finished it off today. But, I should be home before the milk was supposed to go bad.

The last photo is of me skyping home. If you can zoom in you can see all of us. I love you!

Week #81: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIV - Week 25

This has been a pretty good week, and a bit stressful too. There was going to be a baptism this weekend, but it didn´t work out. Hopefully it will happen soon. I´ll keep you informed as to the progress of this investigator. Besides that, the week was pretty good and chill overall.

Our District did change - Elder Bautista headed out to Tres Caminos as a District Leader, and we got Elder Harper as a new member of our District. I already know him from before, and he´s a really cool Elder. I´m glad to have him in the District, and I look forward to getting to know him better as his District Leader on intercambios and other things like that.

This coming week is Mother´s Day! I´m looking forward to calling home. We´re going to Skype from a member´s house here in our area. It should be really good to talk to my family and see them and hear them. This will be my last missionary phone call home - the next time I see them and hear them I´ll be home. That just means that I´ve got to enjoy this call, and work my hardest for the rest of my mission, so that I can feel good about it when I go home.

Last week´s water balloon fight was really fun actually. The Sisters bought normal, blow-up balloons, so the balloons were really tough. Some of them could be thrown, hit the ground (asphalt) and still not pop. It was a really fun activity, and I liked it a lot. It was a good way to end the transfer as a Zone, even if not everybody was there. It was fun though.

Here´s a paragraph from my email to President Bird:

"This week Elder Anderson and I worked really hard to meet the mission goal of 100 contacts, and we were able to reach 101! After talking with you about the goal of reaching 100 contacts, and how you mentioned that we are sometimes too complacent about our goals, we tried harder the last few days of the week and we were able to make it to the goal. It felt good to do that, and we were able to teach 21 lessons in this week too. It felt good to reach the goal. However, the rest of the District was a bit lower than the 100, so it´s something that we´re all going to keep working on. Elder Anderson and I are going to try and make it to the goal in a more steady pace, not having to repent and do so many contacts towards the end of the week."

I am very grateful for my Mom and her love for me. She is always such a good support to me in all of the things that I need to do. Every week she writes me and sends me support, testimony, and love. I am very grateful for her, and that she is my mom. I am also very grateful for my Grandmas, who also love me. I appreciate when they write me and send me their love. I am grateful for the wonderful moms in my life and wish you all and all moms a Happy Mother´s Day!

Everyone keep on working and progressing towards where you need to be! Trust in the Lord, and do what is right, even when it´s hard. I love you all and wish you a great week!