"Lasts" Happening Real Fast

September 24, 2016

Heeeelllllloooooooo everyone! First things first, I love y'all! This past week was something else. A lot of ups and downs, that's for sure. I'm usually not the roller coaster type of person, I'm usually just along for a pretty straight shooting fun ride, but the coaster has been rolling around in all sorts of twisties and loopies. 

The beginning of the coaster was probably Wednesday when I had my last Zone Conference in the Texas Lubbock Mission. The conference was pretty good, in fact I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a lot of buds there and for sure felt inspired by it all. Plus, the food was dang good, so that's always a plus! However, along the high riding roller coaster of Zone Conference is the portion for departing testimonies of missionaries going home. You always think about giving your departing testimony as a missionary, and then all of a sudden it happens and it hits ya right across the face. President Heap instructed on some killer stuff right before a short break that was followed by testimonies. So as President Heap was wrapping up his instruction on "Words Mean Something" I knew the time was drawing closer. Then the break happened. So I got up and went wee-wee before returning to the chapel to sit there and wait. Well, we all gathered back together and the Elder conducting announced the departing testimonies, and when he announced my name I had the big twinge in my chest and almost lost it. But I kept it real. There was one sister missionary and then I was the first elder to go. So when the sister stood up and opened her mouth I nearly lost it again. But I kept it real. She said "amen" and sat down and I got myself up and walked up to the front of the chapel. I knew I was toast, I don't stand a chance of holding back tears for things like that. So I said, "For those of you that have been to my district meetings and zone trainings, you know that I cry. So bear with me!" And at that point the tears were coming. Long story short, I cried at the beginning but did surprisingly really well for the last half.

There is always a problem with departing testimonies being long mushy stories but all of us kept ours really short and bore testimony and didn't tell stories or give advice. There was some advice from a couple, but we all kept it short and real. So I stood up, shared my love, bore testimony about the things that matter most and a couple reasons I know them to be true, said "amen", and sat back down. One of the things that I mentioned a number of times as well was that "you" (referring to the missionaries) were one of the reasons that I knew those things to be true. I had 7 companions there (current and former) including my two mission sons, who are both prime examples of the grace of the Lord changing people. So that was a pleasure to have them intently looking into my eyes while I mentioned that I know the Savior lives because of what he's done for them. So anyway, there is my sob story for the day. There may be more, so it may be the first sob story of the day. But Zone Conference as a whole was pretty sweet. I have found that just being around President Heap is such a huge boost to life. Holy cow. I don't know what it is but just being in a meeting with him makes you feel good. He also instructed on his expectations of our missionary work. He apologized to his "young friends" for not having his expectations high enough regarding finding and baptizing. A mission presidents love + expectations drive the work, and he said that his love for us has never wavered, but he said that he has had to repent and raise his expectations and have more faith, which he said that he has developed and is still developing more and more. Dang, that was powerful. I wish I would be here for follow up zone conference on this one to see what he does to raise our own expectations.

Also during zone conference I got word of my first severe accident as the vehicle coordinator. So that's been great. Luckily the sisters are alright, however the car is totaled. And to make it worse, it was the sister missionaries fault. However the sister has been handling it like a champ and she has been super duper good at getting everything in that she needs to. I've gotten calls from church people, insurance people, and even law people that the church has hired to help her. And she has been doing everything and getting everything into all those people that she needs! So good on her! I had to send her a text yesterday thanking her for her good work! I thought she deserved it, plus, she could probably use all the boost she can get right now. Luckily I haven't had to do much for it at all. The insurance and law firm people have been working with her directly so I'm just chillin' as for now, however I have gotten a few calls about it from some people. It was kinda weird how it all worked out on our side as well. Missionaries are to call the vehicle coordinator and President Heap/Sister Heap immediately if they have an accident, however I was sitting in zone conference listening to someone talk when I heard my name from behind and looked back to see Pres Heap summoning me. He asked me if particular sisters had talked to me, and I said "no", and he said that they had gotten in a serious accident the previous night and that the car was totaled and all. Then he departed as he accepted a call from them, and then they called me an hour or two later. So it was a little frightening hearing about it from him like that. Luckily both the sisters weren't injured. The car can be replaced, but lives can't be!

Anyway, back to my roller coaster. Thursday was probably one of the hardest days I've had. We spent a ton of time getting moved into our own apartment, which we finally got after crashing with 4/5 elders for the last 5 weeks. It was sure fun, but we needed our own place! So we basically spent all of our day doing that aside from a little bit of time working in our assignments. But Thursday night I was having it rough. We spent a long time assembling my new desk (which is super legit by the way) and I just had time to think about life and I was losing my mind. I just felt totally lost as a missionary. I realized that I was stressed because I feel like I need to make things happen for myself personally asap before I'm out of time, but I just couldn't seem to find the time to do it. I just felt helpless in a sense. I felt like I hadn't fulfilled my potential because I hadn't had the opportunity to get out and work on it at all, and that I was just wasting away. It was terrible. I was straight about to call President Heap to get a boost. So Friday morning (yesterday) I decided I was going to get things straight during my study time, so I read my chapter out of the Book of Mormon as always, and then I went to Preach My Gospel ch. 1 "My Purpose". There is a section on what a successful missionary is, and there are a list of bullet points in there that help you know if you are successful. So I went through one by one and recorded how I have been successful in those ways, and I realized that I have been successful in many many ways! It helped a ton!

And then yesterday we were busy all day until our evening proselyting time, so I had my mind occupied, and then we were able to go out and make a couple visits before the night was over, and it just helped me get back on track! It felt good to just get back to missionary work! We talked to President about doing our full studies until 10 instead of being in the office at 9 and not having anything to do all day, and then also he recommended before I even asked that we should go out and work when we have slow days. And now that our apartment is settled we should be good to go and it will help me a ton! We have done full personal and companionship studies the last couple days, and now our apartment is for the most part settled (besides my dresser I still have to finish constructing) and so that's out of the way! So this coming week I should be rolling high! Even just after yesterday and then some good studies today I feel like a champ, so all is well. 

Anyway, we had a good dinner and visit with the bishop the other day. That went well. Good guy. And then last night we visited a couple in the temple presidency and that was nice. Pres Curtis taught seminary and institute for like a million years so I asked him some Old Testament questions and shared a scripture that related to our conversation from the Old Testament. Its always fun sharing scriptures with people you know for a fact know the scriptures way way way better than you! I read from Joshua 3 and then he went on the talk about Joshua 4 and on. Good stuff. Our ward mission leader and our bishop want us to spend our little proselyting time trying to visit members in their homes and getting to know them. So sounds like thats what we'll be doing from now on! 

Well team, I'm fixin' to get headed off this thing sometime soon. It has been a pleasure to address you this day! May the good Lord bless you throughout your week! I love y'all and thank you for your support and prayers!

God bless ya!

Love,

Elder Reed Ericson

Crazy Days

September 17, 2016

Hello hello hello to all you wonderful people! Holy cow! Elder Ericson's life is crazy. Not really that crazy, but crazy. And it’s not really ongoing craziness either, basically just a week full of crazy. But hey, I like crazy sometimes.

Holy cow. To start off the week we had a nice big batch of new missionaries make their way to Lubbock! My goodness, I love new missionaries so much! They are the greatest! This batch is particularly stellar, with hardly any deer in the headlight looks like you usually get! I had the privilege to sit down across from all of them and have them sign a couple of things and discuss their driving records, certify them as drivers, and give some further instruction on a couple of things. That was quite the wonderful experience! I got to see one on one the light that all these young people have fresh out in the field! I was pretty proud of myself as well, I cranked through those interviews like nothing. Usually they take forever to get through, but Elder Ericson got them in and out of there like a champ. I think I had completed all 26 missionaries (over the course of Monday and Tuesday) before most of the other interviewers got through 20 or so. Everyone was very impressed because apparently the vehicle ones usually take forever. But we made quick work of it! People have been saying that I need to just stick around and fill my assignment for another year, and I just tell them to find me a wife and we will serve a junior couple's mission together. So far I haven't gotten any leads so it doesn't seem to be working out. However, Elder Heppler did have one person that he said he could get (basically as a joke), and I felt weird so maybe I shouldn't go that route. But, don't worry fam, I won't be pulling a year long extension for a junior couple mission. I just don't think we can work anything out fast enough:) ANYWAY, enough of that garbage.

It was fun eating with the new missionaries as well. We all ate dinner together at the church and I got to be the designated "old missionary" at my table with a bunch of greenies. They were just firing off questions and pumped about everything. It is hard sometimes though because everything has to be positive for them. So they ask questions that I may only have an answer that isn't super positive, but I had to answer honestly and just blow smoke about some things, but also make it positive. It was fun though! They just look up to you a ton as an older missionary and want to learn from you! Also, on Tuesday night we had 6 of the new elders crashing with the four of us. So we had 10 missionaries in our apartment. What a blast! We had a few kids that were a total hoot. My goodness, I remember my first night and we were all quiet and anxious. But dang, these kids were just loving life. We had to keep telling a couple of them it was time for bed because they were just having a good time with life. Good for them! 

Another sweet perk during those couple days was that we got to join them for the traditional lunch at Blue Sky on Wednesday before they departed for their areas! Holy camolie! I didn't even know how good Blue Sky was! I had a double bacon cheeseburger with guacamole, grilled onions, hickory sauce, and something else that I can't remember. Oh man, this stuff is for real. And them suckers ain't small either. I was a very happy man walking out of there along with a nice full belly. This stuff blows your gourmet burger joints (Red Robin, etc) out of the butcher house. 

Unfortunately, with new missionaries coming in, that means that missionaries were also going out. So I had to say goodbye to some good friends! Luckily it wasn't that hard because I know that I'll have a lot more communication than previous in a bit. But that was interesting sending people off that were always part of my same "generation". When it really got me though was Tuesday night writing in my journal. I haven't felt too bad at all regarding the fact that I am getting down to the end, but I got hit Tuesday night with the reality of it. So that was rough. Ever since then it has been more difficult. I realized that I don't want this to be over and that I wish I had more time to learn and grow and apply things. Satan has been working on me a little bit trying to make me think that I haven't grown enough and that I didn't do enough with my time. It has been harder to recognize the growth that has occurred than to look at the growth that is still to be had. Especially since things aren't as easy spiritually and such anymore. I have to work harder to be where I am supposed to be. A member mentioned on Sunday that what you are able to do while in the office is a great indication of what you will be able to do when you go home. That was an interesting perspective that I liked! So I have thought about that and it made me try to find more time to study and stuff. 

Something pretty dang cool that I got to do this past week is that I got to drive a brand spankin' new car off the lot! Oh man, that was something else! We went to go pick up the last of the new car batch that we have received a few months ago, a 2016 Nissan Altima. Long story short, we lost the use of our car the day before because of this and that (don't have time to tell the story) so picking up the new unit was perfect timing! So we have been driving that pup around lately. And it super nice because it doesn't have a tiwi box in it to bark at me when I start going too fast. It’s actually pretty weird. It’s super easy to speed because you don't have tiwi barking at you when you get going too fast. Luckily I haven't gotten trashed by a cop yet. I'm trying to drive within the legal means but I'm just so used to tiwi that it’s hard not having him there! Also, I have driven by myself a number of times now! It was SUPER weird my first time! It’s been nearly two years since I was last driving by myself! But this past week I drove a few times completely solo! It was sketch, but super fun at the same time!

Let’s see here. I am pretty stoked to be a district leader for my last transfer. I had a nice little break and now I have one last shot to put everything I have learned as a leader to play! And it’s super weird because we have two trios of sisters in our district and that’s it. So, Elder Ericson will have sisters in his district for the first time on his mission and there's 6 of them. They even split the district this transfer because of a couple new areas. The last couple transfers Elder Dilling had four companionships of sisters in his district and that was it! He was oftentimes referred to as "The Relief Society President" hahaha!!!! Good stuff. But now we have half of the Relief Society. It has been super good so far though! I have already seen growth in myself as a leader and already seen myself apply some things that I wish I would have done better at in previous assignments. All of our sisters are wonderful missionaries and it is a pleasure to work with them all! 

Also, our compadres that we live with are training a new missionary in a trio. The kids name is Elder Fernandez and he is the biggest champ ever! hahaha he's been cracking us up all day every day! He is from Queens New York and is Peruvian. Holy cow he is so legit! He always refers to his "ghetto slang" which is hilarious stuff, and has been introduced to a whole new world outside of New York! He has so far mowed his first lawn in his life and also is learning to ride a bike! They told stories of his first bike day that night and it was so funny listening to his near death experiences! So, after almost dying the whole day, they went to the church parking lot and practiced riding bikes for a while before the night was over! Hahaha I love that kid! 

Well team, I'm fixin' to close this up. It was a busy week full of work and fun (I actually had something to do all day most days) and I am looking forward to another good week! May the good Lord bless you in your efforts to live righteously in this perilous world! He has set the path and we must follow!

God bless ya!

Love,

Elder Reed Ericson

Picture:   #QuadSquad of Canyon West!  (Elder Reed in light blue tie.)

Mega Van

September 10, 2016

Hola amigos! Its me again. I feel like I have tried to come up with stuff to say at the beginning of these emails for like 22 months now so I will skip that part and cut to the chase.

I really don't have much to say this week. My work in the office was pretty darn slow. I'm just waiting for someone to get in an accident or something to give me something to do. And I totally do not legitimately want that to happen because that means one of our missionaries would be in danger and the church would have to drop some mad dollars to repair the vehicle.... BUT, I do sometimes think about the fact that it would give me something to do. I did do a few things this week, however when you think about the fact that I have 8 hours a day for 5 days to do these things, there is a lot of dead time. Basically the sweetest thing I did this week (which I am actually pretty stoked about) was certifying myself to drive the mega van and then using it for a number of things! Oh heck yes. That thing is sweet! We have a 12 passenger Chevy Express 3500 out in the parking lot that we use for different things, and I started driving that unit this week! I had to use it for a few different things and had to get its oil changed. So that was basically the greatest thing that happened to me. That sucker is high quality. It shoots onto the freeway like nothin'!

Aside from the mega van, my work was just about nothing else. I had a few more hilarious phone calls from sister missionaries about aggressive driving violations from TIWI. That was classic. I thoroughly enjoy taking those phone calls! Make my day every time! Also, it is super fun knowing all the transfer info for people! We have administrative authority for the program the mission/church uses for missions so we can check out the transfer board. People will talk about transfers and I just sit there laughing on the inside because I know exactly what's happening to them. It’s great stuff. Pretty sure it’s driving Elder Schofield and Cook crazy because they know that we know but they know that we can't say anything that we know. It’s quite fun. 

As for our proselyting work, it’s been alright. Elder Cook and I go together every evening and it has been a pleasure to be out with him! We have bonded pretty hard the last week! He opened up to me about some stuff right as our evening started one day and then the rest of the night was just hard core bonding. Oh man, I love that guy! Super thankful for the #QuadSquad! Elder Cook has been a pleasure to work with, Elder Hawes is a champ, and Elder Schofield has been a hoot to have around as well! It’s been a treat! Unfortunately, we may be moving into separate places in the next week or so. Not quite sure on the details. I know that we will be moving, but where to is a question. However, I did hear some talk from the finance office across the room from our office that there is a possibility of us staying united in a in a member’s basement! So we shall see!

Anyway, Elder Cook and I were able to get a couple new investigators this week! Canyon West is a wee bit shy of investigators at the moment. The week before we got here they taught a gajillion lessons, but they were all to basically two people who were preparing for baptism. Now, those people are baptized, and it’s back to square one. But, we did meet up with a young couple named Andrew and Emily this week and they are super sweet! I don't know what it’s been with me lately, but I've been teaching a lot of couples lately, particularly young couples! I basically NEVER taught couples and families until I went to Hobbs and they started to flock like geese to Elder Ericson and his companion, and then here too! It’s been weird, but I LIKE IT! Its way more legit. I used to not like teaching multiple people, but its way legit now that I have control over basically all teaching situations. Also, Elder Hawes and I (Schofield and Cook were gone doing something else out of town) knocked into a long lost member of the church near campus last night. That one keeps on finding me as well! I ran into them all day in Abilene and then I found my first one here! Apparently God likes to use me to run into long lost members of the church! The guy was pretty sweet and was stoked to see missionaries, but he works full time and is in grad school, so we may never see him again. Hopefully so, but there's a good chance we won't. Anyway, ummmmmm............ that’s about it. 

 

Ummmmmmmmm............................................... idk what else to say. It’s pretty chilly today. Don't know where it came from. It’s probably down into the 50's. Last night at 3:00 I was awoken by some gnarly thunder and lightning. I peeked out the window right at the head of my bed and watched the rain dump and the lightning shoot and listened to the wind howl and the thunder roll for like 5 minutes until I decided that it wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last storm I would see in my life. So I plopped back down and zonked for the rest of the night.

 

Well, I'm officially out of things to say. I’m fixin' to start transfer 17 out of 17 on Monday! Crazy. Time is ticking down! I love y'all and hope y'all have a blessed week!

 

God bless ya!

Love,

Elder Reed Ericson

P.S. Just send mail to the mission office now as I will be moving sometime soon. I will get whatever is sent right when it arrives.

6310 114th St

Lubbock, TX 79424

Another Week Down

September 3, 2016

Hello everyone! Well another week has flown by like nothing and the weeks left are getting few. I have been in the single digits for a few weeks now which is weird. But that's the way it is so there's no fighting it. I don't like seeing missionaries who pretend they aren't going home soon when in reality they are. I feel like they're just tricking their minds into something that's not real and then when reality does hit its intense. I just tell myself not to fake myself into thinking I'm not going home and its been going well for me. I like working hard and getting things done, but at the same time I'm not getting freaked out about going home. Its been a nice balance. There has to be a good balance between preparing to go home and not getting trunky!

The past week has been interesting. The first few days were a little crazy with lots of stuff because the Heppler's were getting ready to peace out of here and get back home. So things just seemed a little bit hectic. However, the Heppler's last day was Wednesday and then things have settled down big time after that! I spent a large part of my first solo day getting my work area organized along with the regular daily stuff I have to do. I basically filled a whole trash can with papers and notes that were lying around. But I now have my desk/work area nice and clean and organized which is helping the work tremendously! Things were pretty difficult before because you would have to try to find things that you needed and dig through piles looking for things, but now all the junk is gone and its super easy to keep everything straight! So what seemed like a crazy job has proved to be much more simple the last couple days now that everything is organized!

 

Wanna hear a funny story about what I thought was a "lost car incident"? Well, I'm gonna tell ya. I got an email yesterday morning from the insurance claim adjuster saying that the repairs/maintenance for one of our vehicles were approved and to schedule repairs. Well, I went looking through my neat pile of vehicle folders that were preparing for sale and I couldn't find this vehicle. So I went looking through our program on our computer and I could not find this vehicle in our system! So I called the insurance guy to check to make sure that it wasn't a mistake and that he got the correct mission and the correct VIN number and everything. Sure enough, he sent all the correct information. UGH! SOOOOO, I call our repair people at Paint Doctor and they sure enough didn't have this vehicle there, and the lady was looking through trying to find it on her computer and she couldn't find it!!!!!!!!!!! So here I am, second day on the job, and I have a vehicle that is nowhere to be found.......... however, right at my moment of despair, the lady from the Paint Doctor found records for that vehicle from back in May! I ended up finding the folder for this vehicle and all of the dates were from end of July/August. So do you feel the mess I was in here? Luckily the Paint Doctor lady figured out that they did the repair back in May but they had some problems with the estimates and insurance and they ended up not getting all the insurance and payments taken care of until just yesterday. However, the vehicle hasn't been in the mission since June! So, that was one head scratcher that I had to deal with yesterday. It was quite a stressful 10 minutes.

Something super fun about my assignment is dealing with the sister missionaries! Oh my, its so funny! I had a sister the other day call me about a few "aggressive drivings" she had received that day, and it was the greatest phone call ever! "I promise you Elder Ericson that I'm a good driver! I'm just not used to the traffic in Midland, its super scary!" She then went on to explain how she was basically personally offended that TIWI would give her those violations. Oh man, I had a good laugh with her/at her. And then another time I was on the phone with some sisters about something and they were driving in their car and had it on speakerphone when I heard a "check your speed" warning coming out of TIWI's big mouth. "Ohhhh myyyyy goooosh!!! I heard that!" is how I responded and they had to run in circles trying to explain that one! Hahaha it super fun! I get a kick out of it all!

By mid-week I was super exhausted! We have to be at the office at 9:00 and then we basically were working straight through until like a solid 5:30 with no breaks or nothing. I would chow down some lunch somewhere in there and just keep working. And then we would get home and leave to go to a dinner appointment soon after and then not get home until 9:00. So I was basically getting no breaks all day long. I wasn't super with it in the evenings at all! However, now that I just spent some time organizing things, my days are way more simple. I take myself a nice solid lunch break for 45-60 minutes and just chill and watch videos and read articles on the church websites, and then peace out of there promptly at 5:00, and then actually get a break before we have to leave to go somewhere! So its been super nice the last couple days. Actually pretty enjoyable! Spiritually it has actually been a little rough. I felt like I kind of hit a plateau in Abilene for a while, but then in Hobbs I got myself fired up again! I got my testimony alive and burning, and I was doing the Lord's work for him! I was feeling good, that's for sure! However things got difficult when I came here. I just wasn't as alive and burning spiritually and alive in my missionary work as I was. So I've had to figure things out, and I'm getting there!

 

We've been to the temple twice in the last few days so that's been a boost! We went on Wednesday with a recent convert in the ward to do baptisms and confirmations, and then we went just this morning with a less-active lady who Elder Hawes knew from a past area that was getting endowed! (Side note: this is my second time living just about a mile away from the temple! Score!) So especially this morning was a boost. And then I've just been trying to get more out of my prayers and my short study time, which is sometimes difficult. And then last night we were out doing our work and we were doing a little project when at about 8:25 decided I just needed to knock on some doors. So, we knocked on probably about 8 doors or so before we walked back to the car. We only had two older ladies answer the door and they weren't much of the kind talkative variety. But I felt better after just knocking on a few doors!

Also another note to make, at the start of the transfer, so after another week or so) we will be getting our own area. They are splitting the ward into two areas. So we will take Canyon West South and then the other elders will take Canyon West North. Canyon West South is where all the preachers live so it will be a good time! We don't do very much work in the south part of the area currently, and the missionaries never really do because its just not worth working down there. But hey, it will be perfect for us just working for a couple hours every evening!

Anyway, its been a good time with the #QuadSquad together in Canyon West! We have gotten ourselves together most of the way. We actually shut up at night pretty close to bedtime. Mostly because we are all just tired, but we've figured things out. It is quite the good time though! I will never forget my three weeks I will spend with the #QuadSquad with Elders Hawes, Cook, and Schofield! Let's go!!!!

Oh my goodness, almost forgot to add this in. I totally just signed my name and then it dawned on me. I had a super duper wonderful ribeye steak on Monday night! Oh man, that sucker was a solid 16 oz or so of goodness. We ate over at the Lowder's house who is a famous family in the missionary world! They are one of the main people getting taught on The District 1 that is one of our missionary training videos. In fact, my friends and I watched all of The District episodes together the summer before we left, and when Sis Lowder (who wasn't a member at the time) was being taught Kevin (my cousin) started crying!!! Hahaha I told her that story before we left and she got a kick out of it! They are super awesome! I laughed a ton that night!!! Probably my fave people in Canyon West so far right with the Fehoko's (a sweet Poly family whose son plays at Tech)!

Well friends, that's about all I got for you today. It is gameday here at Texas Tech where I am currently at so I am fixin' to get my Red Raider spirit goin' strong! Go Tech!!!!!! And I hear that my Broncos are putting a whoopin' on right now as well! But the best team of all is the Lord's team! Go Jesus!!!!!!! Let's go get 'em!!!!!!!! I love y'all and hope y'all have a wonderful week! 

God bless ya!

Love,

Elder Reed Ericson

My New Life

August 27, 2016

Well hey there everyone. I bet I surely tricked you by sending an email to your inbox on a Saturday. I'm just trying to keep y'all on your toes, I guess. But yes, I now have p-day on Saturdays. Its going to be super boring, indeed. But hey, we'll survive.

Anyway, life for me for the past 4 days has been quite interesting. The office life is both sweet but yet terrible at the same time. Its getting more sweet now that I am starting to figure out whats going on! As far as the assignment of vehicle coordinator goes, I still feel like I am going to be in a world of hurt when the Heppler's leave next week. However, I feel like by the end of the next few days I will have a good enough grasp on it to get by at least and learn as I go. But its so much to learn! I had absolutely zero idea of all the stuff that you have to do as the vehicle coordinator until now! I have to learn all about the computer systems that the church uses, I have to learn about accidents and all of the reports, insurance claims, bids, repairs, and everything to go along with that. I have to learn about getting a car ready to sell and all the stuff that goes into that. We will be getting a large batch of new cars while I'm running things so I have to learn about that. I have to learn about all of the different seemingly millions of files we have lying around. I have to learn about TIWI (the "big-brother" type box we have). I have to learn about this and that and everything you could think of pertaining to vehicles. I am responsible for over 80 vehicles and everything that goes into them. But hey, at least I'm not an assistant. They have way more junk to worry about than I do! I am probably next on the list of things to do and learn. However it has been a treat to be in the office every day. I have really enjoyed being with the Heppler's (who we are replacing) and also the other office people. Its been a good time. Plus, lots of missionaries come in to get stuff or to ask things so its been fun to say "hey" to people when they come in for a visit! So overall, once I get a hang of things it will be pretty sweet. The hours in the office go by fairly quickly as well, so that's nice.

Our other assignment, Canyon West with Elder Schofield and Cook, has been pretty sweet! Its been good to get out and work with them in the evenings! I have also learned the struggle of having four missionaries in one apartment. And I now know why they don't typically have that arrangement made. TOO. MUCH. FUN. Oh my goodness it has been the greatest thing ever! Today we were able to stay with them for companionship study so we were able to talk about some things that we need to do to get things in order a little better! Oh man, its been just too much fun! We are laughing out butts off the whole time! But we are getting better at staying on track when we need to get things done. And after this morning we have some actual goals and such. So, no need to worry. We are four good missionaries adjusting to a new environment! I will send some pictures with this email to show you what's we're up to.

We went out with the Heppler's with a lady we do a ton of business with to a place called "The Shack BBQ". Dad, put it on the list! Holy cow!!!! Unreal stuff!!!!! I had me some moist brisket and some ribs. The brisket was second to Blackland Smokehouse when Blackland is having a normal aka good day. However this stuff beats Blackland when they are having a little bit of an off day. Oh man, I love being here. The bbq is just unreal in some places. Hopefully I can hit up the Big Texan up in Amarillo after zone conference next transfer!

Well, I am terribly sorry that I don't have more to say. I don't suppose that I will have very long emails for the next good while. Maybe I can figure out some other way to say some more things about my life down here. But for now, y'all will have to miserably suffer with this. 

I love y'all and hope y'all have a wonderful week! 

God bless ya!

Love,

Elder Reed Ericson

Hobbs is in the Rearview Mirror!

August 22, 2016

Hello my wonderful friends and family! Life has surely taken a turn here the last couple of days. You never know what is in store for you! I will begin by quoting a phone call I received on Saturday:

Me: "Hello this is Elder Ericson!"

Pres Heap: "Hello son, this is President Heap! How are you doing?"

Me: "I am doing wonderful President."

Pres Heap: "That's good. Well son, is your life boring?"

Me: "No not really! Its pretty exciting!"

Pres Heap: "Well I'm about to make it a little bit more eventful for you!"

President Heap then went on to mention that one of the senior couples in the office will be leaving here pretty soon and the new senior couple that will fill their positions won't be here for over a month. So, I have been assigned as the Texas Lubbock Mission Vehicle Coordinator! The new couple will be here on October 9th and so I will probably finish my mission in the office as the vehicle coordinator! My oh my. What a rush. This is going to be the worst yet best. Its going to be terrible because I have to sit in an office from 9-5 everyday and won't get to do nearly as much proselyting, but at the same time awesome because I get to be with President Heap all the time and will probably go to zone conferences and stuff next transfer. So it will have its ups and downs. However, I feel like I am just now figuring this whole missionary work thing out, and then I get yanked from it. However, we still get to proselyte from 6-9 every evening with the Lubbock Zone Leaders. So that will be good to still be able to work a bit! We shall see how this goes! My new companion is Elder Hawes. He is from Meridian and went to Rocky Mountain. So we are basically neighbors back at home. It'll be a good time, he is a good guy that will be fun to be with! So that's my life.

 

I am pretty sad to leave Hobbs! As you could tell a few weeks ago, Hobbs was not on the top of my list for desirable places. However, in just 3 weeks I grew a lot of love for that place! Man, we have done some sweet work over the last couple weeks! Like, I don't think I've ever gotten that many new investigators in that amount of time my whole mission! We weren't even focused on finding new people to teach, we were trying to get our service hours in every week and then just making the most of our finding time. And when we did get out finding we were just led right to people! On exchanges on Wednesday my boy Elder Nebeker and I were out knocking for a little bit, and we literally hit a stretch of 3 straight golden doors. First one, got in and taught a lesson. Second door, would have gotten in to teach a lesson but there wasn't another adult male there. Third door in a row, got in a taught a sweet lesson. Oh man, it was so sweet. Plus we have actually taught two young couples multiple times each. Just sweet stuff going on in Hobbs. Plus we have two less-actives that have been picking up steam in the last couple weeks since I got there. And now I'm gone...... so that's my sob story for the day. The ward was pretty darn good too and I really enjoyed my three sundays at church! But I hear that the Canyon West Ward (ward I will work part-time in) is super legit! So I am excited for that!

 

I learned a lot in Hobbs as well! Lots of good things that I was able to learn there. I learned how to be a better companion in a few different ways, and I learned how to be a better finder and teacher, and I learned how to just be a better missionary along with being a better leader although I wasn't in a leadership assignment. But I am sure being around President Heap I will have the opportunity to learn a ton! So I am thoroughly looking forward to that!

 

Well, I am super sorry that I don't have more to say. I usually look through my journal to look for things to talk about, and my weeks are a blur these days so I basically rely on my journal, and my journal is currently in one of my bags at the mission office. So I don't have too much to talk about. I look forward to tell you what sitting in an office for 8 hours a day is like next week!

 

I love y'all! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! I truly feel it! Keep the faith and know that both the Lord and I love you!

 

God bless ya!

Love,

Elder Reed Ericson

My new address:

5402 66th St #722

Lubbock, TX 79414

 Hit me up! I would love to hear from ya!

The Land of Enchantment

August 15, 2016

 

Hello again from Elder Ericson down here in Hobbs, NM. Time keeps on flying by down here in the great American Southwest. Zooming right along, indeed.
 

This past week was pretty sweet if I do say so. I'm just going to go through my week a little bit and go chronologically for the sake of my organization in my head.
 

The first highlight of the week happened on Wednesday evening. The day that I got here the missionaries talked to this young black dude with dreads and all out walking down the street. His name is Devin. We've been trying to meet with Devin but pretty much the only place he can ever meet us is at his church, which that wouldn't be the best situation. So, instead of trying to set up a lesson, I recommended that we just go to a service with him and go from there. So we headed on down to St. Helena's Catholic church on Wednesday evening and hit up Mass! It was quite the deal. Devin had said 5:00 so we showed up at like 4:50, but it turns out that it didn't start until 5:30, and we had a dinner appointment at 6:00 so we were only able to stay for 20 minutes or so of the service. I quite enjoyed the experience. It was much different than what I am used to obviously, however I am thankful we went. Devin is just the sweetest thing in the world! He told us we had his word that he would be at out church. And sure enough, yesterday on our way to church a couple hours early for meetings, we were stopped at a stop light and he was walking right by us, so we rolled down the window and talked to him and he said that he would sure enough be back up to the church in a couple hours! And he sure enough came! Hahaha that guy tore it up after sacrament meeting was over! I'm pretty sure he talked to half the ward by the time he left! He is just so incredibly friendly and just went up and introduced himself to everyone he could pretty much! Hahaha it was so sweet! What a champ. Hopefully we can teach him one of these days.
 

We go and do some service at the animal shelter every week. And this week we had to wonderful opportunity to walk the dogs! That was a blast! Walked some big ones, some medium sized ones, and some tiny ones. Some of them just pulled you through the park and some of them you had to yank out the door. It was good stuff. Made a lot of new friends. Probably the most intense part of that service was as we were trying to get a dog back into his kennel thing. this dog shared a kennel thing with two other dogs. We had taken the other two dogs previous to this particular dog, so they had already been out and walked. Anyway, you have to swing the kennel door in to push the dog back and keep the opening small to both get the dog out and put it back in. However, the other two dogs made life interesting. They were doing all they could to escape. So here I am standing at the opening of this kennel, trying to push one dog in and keep the other two dogs from escaping. I finally got the one dog in, but the dang leash was still around its neck. So my hand is getting yanked and twisted by this crazy dog with me trying to get the leash off, while at the same time I had two dogs trying to escape. At one point I think I had both of the other dogs necks pinned up against the side of the kennel with my leg using all my strength to keep them pinned there so they can't get out, all while struggle to still get the leash off of the other stupid dog. Oh my heavens. I think one of the escaping dogs actually got loose, but luckily Elder Hanson got it pinned to the ground before it got too far, so he was occupied with that dog and couldn't save a second escaped dog. So I really had to keep the other escaping dog in there! Long story short, after what seemed to be an eternity of craziness (I didn't even describe most of the story), all three dogs were locked in the kennel and the outside of my hip was barking at me because it was the contracted muscle that was keeping my leg pinning those retched beasts up against the wall. Good heavens. Quite the afternoon I had.
 

We went up to Lubbock on Thursday evening for Zone Training on Friday. That was quite the trip. We took Elder Despain and Elder Farmer with us because they have no miles to drive to Lubbock and back. Oh man, I love those guys! Such a good time. One thing about our mission is that you will always have sweet road trips to enjoy because of how spread out we are! Anyway, zone training was alright. It was pretty sweet to just show up and participate and not have to worry about anything. That was a nice little change. Other than that I don't have many comments on the meeting. Then on the ride home we were having a good time until everyone fell asleep. So the last half of the drive was rather boring. Oh well. However it was good to go up and be around all the other missionaries. I have gotten so used to seeing other companionships basically every day for the last year+. Being in Hobbs we see the spanish elders once for some service and at church, and then we see the Lovington elders at church. So we spend a lot of days with just us. Which is nice sometimes. Don't have to worry about anyone else. However we will have meeting every week from here on out so we will see every one a little more often. So that was good!
 

We went to eat dinner yesterday with some members on the ward and upon entering their house I saw their book shelves and immediately began to scan for Harry Potter as I usually do. Well, I couldn't see anything UNTIL I saw the two full shelves designated for their Harry Potter stuff! They had it all! All of the books, wands, miniature quidditch set, the cup that was the port-key in the Goblet of Fire, the monster book that they had in the Prisoner of Azkaban, and many other books of all sorts relating to Harry Potter. Oh man, I was happier than could be. I had so much excitement blowing up inside of me. This was unreal, man. Just unreal. And I need to stop myself right there before I go any further with this.
 

As for the work, things are going well and picking up. Upon my arrival we weeded out all of the time wasting people and got our lists down to people we can actually focus on. And as we've done that we have had more people to focus on come into the mix! The last couple days have been very good for us and we are starting to really build up some solid work! However, I know that you wont' remember names and lessons that we taught them so I will wait for a bit to tell you about them. When someone starts getting close to being baptized or is just super sweet and legit, like Devin, then I will tell y'all about them.
 

Well team, I'm gonna close this puppy up! I hope y'all have a wonderful week full of blessings and joy! The Lord is good and will bless us as we allow him to by our actions! May you feel his love in bountiful amounts!

God bless ya!

Love,

Elder Reed Ericson