November 23, 2015
Well hello my good friends! It has been a fun week of new
stuff for me down here in the great Texas Lubbock Mission! Its always an
adventure getting used to a new area and all the fun that comes with that!
I will first begin with before I left Odessa. I hit money
this time around getting to see all the people I wanted to see! Unlike Lubbock
where I struck out! But Monday night was
fantastic! We went and had dinner with the Noyes and after which I shared a sweet
scripture with them that led to an intense discussion between Bro Noyes,
Spencer (their nephew), myself, and then Tayton trying to follow along! We went
off on the topics of creation, time, elements, eternity, the last days, etc.
Haha nobody was able to follow it besides us so there was a side conversation
that started between the rest of them. But, that was one of the sickest
conversations I have had in a long time! It was a dang good time! I'm going to
miss the Noyes family! They were so good to me. I think they are now second on
my list of houses that I have spent the most time at behind the one and only
Weldy's from Sweetwater! But that's because I had an extra 6 weeks with the
Weldy's. We had some powerful lessons in their home teaching Mark and shared
some wonderful dinner table moments with them! Good peeps. It was a rough
goodbye saying goodbye to Odessa! Even harder than that was saying goodbye to
Elder Despain! Nothing is like leaving your son in the hands of another person
to take care of them and groom them! He will do good though! He has the
potential to be a total rockstar! I am expecting great things from him! Pulling
out of the apartment complex though was pretty terrible. I almost broke down
but I kept it together like a man! I had some dang good times in Odessa!
San Angelo is pretty nice though! There are a lot more trees
and hills than I've seen in a long time! Sweetwater was about as hilly as this
place but the trees are more bountiful here! I actually saw my first river in
over a year this past week! The Concho River runs right through our area!
YEAH!!! Its getting low though so it may not be around for too much
longer:( But I have actually gotten a bit of a leg workout biking around
this place with all the hills! And by hills I mean West Texas hills. They still
ain't that big. Oh yeah, I am in a bike area again. Typically only one
companionship in a ward has a car if the ward is all city and no major outlying
towns. We share the ward with the zone leaders who obviously have a vehicle so
we whip around on the bikes! I enjoy it though! However, it is starting to get
cold and it is much more difficult to go out and get to all the places you need
to be and be productive when its cold. Finding people becomes much more
difficult. So we are thinking of ways that we can combat that as a zone. We
shall conquer. The ward here is HUGE! After serving in two smaller wards
this one is a drastic difference! There are SO many people! Its a typical
Idaho/Utah ward! And a lot of the people in the ward are young Air Force
couples that are stationed here for a short time. But then again there are a
lot of older people and others too. There is just a lot of them so you get a
little bit of everything! It is a fun ward though! Elder Cooper who was in
Odessa 2nd Ward with me is in the San Angelo 1st Ward with me now and it seems
like he still like Odessa 2nd Ward more but talks this ward up a lot too! And I
have met some really cool people and had a pleasant time at church yesterday so
I am excited to be here!
My companion, Elder Shroeder is pretty beast. This is
only his third transfer but he seems like he's a seasoned vet. Super mature but
super funny and goofy too! We've been having a dang good time! Its been fun
though because he still has a lot to learn and he already seems to be learning
a lot from me and how I do different things! It will be fun to watch him grow!
He is from Sandy, Utah which is no surprise. You just can't run away from them
missionaries from Utah! He is also very closely related to someone extremely
famous and awesome but I will keep that on the down low for now.... so you'll
have to wait to figure that one out. Hehe. I don't think he likes tons of
people knowing, so maybe I'll tell you when I get home in 11 months!
We have some sweet people we are working with down here. We
have a man named Mac who is 80 years old and married to a member. He has been
meeting with missionaries for YEARS but accepted a baptismal date for the first
time a couple weeks ago! Apparently he is sincerely looking for answers for the
first time now as well. We had a good lesson with him my second day here and it
was pretty dang good! I don't think he had heard some of the stuff we threw at
him and it seemed to really help him understand what he's looking for. So hopefully
he continues to make progress! I also taught my first lesson to this couple
named Chase and Melody. They came to church on
Sunday for like their fifth time, however we just taught them their
second official lesson. So I don't really know how that all lines up. But
whatevs. We taught a killer Plan of Salvation. I hadn't taught that for months
so it was fun to teach a real powerful Plan of Salvation to them! They are
pretty solid. They will be out of town both Saturdays that we were shooting for
their baptism but they accepted the invitation to prepare for the 26th of December! So we'll keep making progress
with them! I also have gotten into some sweet doctrinal discussions with some
peeps out there in the streets of San Angelo. It's kinda annoying actually. You
just can't get through to some people. I have been thinking about how I can
have good conversations but keep it from getting into a doctrinal discussion
that doesn't go anywhere. Its funny though, there is always a moment or two
where something that we say hits them and you can tell they feel something, but
they just don't know how to react to it. Its frustrating when people don't
understand the spirit. But whatevs.
Also, Elder Preisler from Melba is in my district! He's a
good kid and loves just going out and talking to people on the streets! He was
on my basketball team our first morning here (he is fresh out of the
MTC) and we tore it up! Not gonna lie, I have been tearing it up. Last
Monday was sick and then we played only one time this week and I continued my
fire. I have been dropping bombs on people. Like, pulling up right in their
face and dropping deep 3's on them and then I have been improving getting to
the rim and finishing with the defense right there... something that I
was never able to do in high school! Dang, I've been consistently making sick
shots. I've been shooting probably well over 50% on my 3's and they ain't the
wide open type! Dang, I'm so good. Jk. I'm not that good. But then again, I am.
Not nearly as good as Elder Despain though. That kid can ball up like crazy.
Like, he's whacko good. He can hit a shot from anywhere within 10 feet of the 3
point line like its nothing. That kid..... I'm tellin' ya. Dang good.
Anyway, its a pleasure to be in San Angelo! I am expecting
the work to be pretty good here! Still probably much much slower than a lot of
places around the world but faster than Lubbock, Texas and Odessa, Texas!
So it should be a good time! We shall see how it all unfolds! But I am happy to
be here!
I love y'all and hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I
am excited for double Thanksgiving meals! Holler. Enjoy the company of family
and friends and may the Lord's presence always be with you as you share those
wonderful moments with each other!
Lots of Love,
Elder Reed Ericson
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