Armor of God

To all loved ones near and far or wherever you are,

Still have my poetry skills. ;)

Kingston is grand! I hope I'm here another cycle, but it's always hard to
predict what will happen in the future.

Last week (you saw the pictures) Sis. Rutalante took Sis. Vathauer and I to
see the world's largest kaleidescope and Woodstock. It was pretty cool, she
said possibly in the future she would take us to see. Opus 40. I'm not sure
if that is how you spell it, but it's sounds really cool. She explained it
to me once, but I'm not sure what it is, something with rock.

But, on to the work. It has slowed down a bit the past few weeks, which
makes things frustrating. It's hard not to think, what am I doing wrong?
What do I need to do better? Why isn't our work giving results? (You are
right Mom, those thoughts do come in often.) The thing is, I often have to
take a step back and think, "Don't you remember your blessings? Don't you
remember your talents? Don't you remember that you are called of God?"
Reality check. God's in charge and though always are things I can improve,
he knows my thoughts, intents, weaknesses, strengths, and desires. So I
block them out, or try to. But I do really enjoy the work here. And I
recieve tender mercies daily to let me know to keep working, moving forward,
and trusting in the Lord.

We found a new lady this week to teach. Her name is Milly. She's a single
mother with 4 kids. She was sitting on her porch when we first walked by
her, but we didn't stop on talk. Well, turns out we went by her house again
(to get back to the car of course) and she was still there. So I thought,
"well, why not?" Before I could even get more out than "Hey, out enjoying
the weather?" she says, "You're missionaries right, the mormons. Can I have
some reading materials, I would really like a bible too." And so we set up a
time to go by and teach her. She's really sweet and looking for change. Our
first lesson was really short with her because of an interruption, but
before we left she said, "Come back, please. I feel something when you are
here. I feel comfortable!" Yes, the Spirit! That's good to know that I have
it with me. :). So we have another appointment with her on Sunday.

After someone is baptized, you reteach the lesson to them, which is what we
have been doing with Sage Lambert. She's 13, and struggling a bit in the
gospel, so even though we finished the lessons, we continue to teach her.
Our goal has been to help the scriptures come alive for her. So... Sis.
Vathauer came up with the idea of fortifying ourself against the attacks of
Satan and we read 3 Nephi chapter 3 with her replacing her name for
Lachoneus and Satan name's for Giddianhi. And then Sis. Vathauer had me put
on some armor. Which consisted of a colander helmet, spatula sword, and a
tuperware lid shield. Then I defended myself against the fiery darts of the
adversary. It made her laugh, which is a step with her. She's kind of
apathetic towards life, just trying to find her way as a teenager.

We went tracting in the rain the other day. At one point my jacket had been
soaked through, so we went to some apartment buildings. Unfortunately you
still had to go outside to get to different buildings. So there was me,
running with my bag atop my head trying to stay as dry as possible. I was
really wet and didn't really feel very official with rain drippping down my
forehead, but what do you do. Nothing really, just laugh. We then had family
home evening with the Cook family. It was strange being in a setting like
that again. We sang popcorn popping as an opening and played guess the
animal game. Whoa, been a long time since I had family home evening like
that. I enjoyed it very much.

We went to the temple today. It was lovely. At some really good chicken and
rice from a street vendor and feeling a little lost in NYC, good thing my
companion knows where she is going. Well, we need to get going. Need to get
some things done, before the day gets away from us. I love you lots. Keep in
touch.

Love,

Erin

Work, work, work!

Hola Familia,

Estoy bien aqui en Kingston. Tuvimos una conferencia misional con Elder
Maines de la setenta. Estaba muy buena.

Just practicing a little Spanish there. Much good is happening here and
things are improving. We have difficulty with the ward and getting it to
grow. They've lost their spark for the work and we are trying to build
relations to improve it. But I believe we have been blessed. One of our
recent struggles has been in finding new investigators to teach, but
yesterday despite our limited time in working (since we had mission
conference in the morning) we found three new people, which we are excited
about.

Elder Maines from the seventy spake at the conferece (I think he is in the
bishopric) and it was really good. Nothing doctrinally deep nor anything
about Kolob. He just talked about good, old-fashioned work. That we need to
work hard to demonstrate our faith and sincerity behind our prayers and the
Lord blesses us with results. We then did this reverse planning on how hard
we should be working. What it came down to is that if we wanted to have 1
baptism a month, we needed to be teaching at least one first lesson (about
Joseph Smith) a day, and contacting at least 10 new people a day. Nothing
overly difficult, but it takes consistency and diligence. So I've repented
:) again, and dedicated myself to teaching more and contacting more, which
isn't my favorite thing to do, but it is growing on me.

I'm glad we have companionships though. They support you when you are
feeling inadequate. For example, the other day Sis. Vathauer and I were out
tracting, not much success at the houses, but we walked by a Hospital and we
saw a security guard. I thought, "I probably shouldn't talk to him, he is on
duty and might get in trouble." So I walked past. The next thing I here is
my companion saying, "I know you are duty, but we have an incredible
message....." My companion's great! And he was interested in learning more.
Then yesterday, as we left a lesson I decided to contact this man before
getting in the car to travel to a dinner appointment. He was going to bible
study and invited me to go with him, well that's when I invited him to learn
more about the restored gospel, testifying that it would bless his family.
And he agreed to learn more....isn't the Spirit amazing, carrying the
message "unto their hearts." Course, it is no guarantee that they will be
baptize, but at least the first step of inviting has been taken.

Course, not all is dandy in missionary work. Like the lady who abruptly hung
the phone up on me (after she had requested the video no less), or the one
who verbally attacked us saying that we had no right to tell her what to
believe and that we were wasting our lives away. Maybe I already told you
about that one. Yes, I'm learning to handle the bad with the good. Absorbing
all the good moments, and learning to have all the hurt absorbed in the joy
of Christ. I'm better than before and am sure the future will help even
more.

I'm sorry to hear about Emily. It can be really rough, but I'm determined to
stick it through, happily. Course (Kirstin can relate to this), sometimes I
have to say to myself, "This is a happy time. We are all going to be
happy.!." and some days are harder than other, but the cure certainly is to
work. Because the days I work the hardest are the nights that I'm the most
content, even if we didn't have any new investigators or baptismal dates.

Our biggest breakthrough is with Sis. Righetti and less-active member. We
have been trying for weeks to get her to stop drinking coffee and tea, but
even though she says what she thinks she wants you to hear, she hasn't
stopped. Whenever we started talking about it, she went into this zoned-out,
I'm-listening-but-not attitude. But then we told her about temple baptisms
and how she could do them for her family and she became really excited about
it. As we taught the plan of salvation to her we told her why temple
baptisms were so important and that she needed to be temple worthy to be
able to do them, which included living the word of wisdom. She started to
cry, (I didn't know what to do) so I asked her what was wrong (that was a
good response right? :)) and she said it was a happy sad. And that she
wanted so badly to baptize her mother who is deceased. Though she committed
to stop drinking, I was a little worried if she would stick with it. But
when we visited her on Tuesday, she had thrown away her made coffee and was
planning on giving away her tea and coffee grinds. And... her coffee pot
broke, so she took it as a sign that what she was doing was right. We didn't
argue with that one.

She also spoke about how much the Savior loves her and started to cry again.
Our goal is to get her to the temple soon. And what made me even more happy
is that I noticed she paid her tithing on Sunday, which she hasn't done in
awhile. And we didn't even talk about tithing!!!! We need to visit her again
to keep her spirits up and on track.

Ok, Ok, I know, I've written another epistle. But I hope it's letting you
know a bit more about what is going on. I pray for you at home and know
everything will turn out for the best. You are an amazing family! Thanks for
your example and support. Love you lots.

Love,

Erin

Missionary to the rescue!

Thanks for your email Mom!

I was thinking about it the other day. I usually write emails at about 10:00
here (today is a little later than usual) so that would make it 7:00 your
time. And then I was thinking, I wake up at 6:30 in the morning which would
be 3:30 am for you. Just one of those random things I think about at times.

I'll be honest, this last week has been rather discouraging. I hit my low on
Sunday. Emotionally I've been building up since then. We were supposed to
have 3 people for sure, show up on Sunday, but not one of them came. And we
haven't had any new investigators, and all our old investigators weren't
there at the appointments or cancelled. Ugh... but I'm sure the Lord is
teaching me. I think he's telling me to 1) be patient 2) work hard and 3)
contact more people on the streets (I struggle with that one). Monday
morning I had to laugh (remember I was still low about Sunday's rejections)
because when I opened the Book of Mormon to continue reading where I left
off, the first words were, "and if ye shall endure to the end, ye shall be
lifted up at the last day." I've had several of those small experiences,
such the scripture in Alma that say, "Be not weary in well-doing for such
shall find rest to their souls." I noticed that it didn't say rest to their
bodies, but rest to their souls. Ok, ok, I can take a hint.

So here's my fun experience for the week. Sis. Wooton is a member of our
ward. Very quiet, very reserved, but very sweet. She invited Sis. Vathauer
and I over for dinner on Monday so that we could meet some friends of hers
that she wanted to introduce to the gospel. Of course we agreed. As we
traveled to her house we called her to let her know that we would be 10
minutes late. A very flustered Sis. Wooton answered the phone. I told her
that we were running a little late and she said, "When will you be here?
They are asking lots of bible questions?" After hanging up the phone I
thought of how ironic the situation was, before my mission I would be the
Sis. Wooton worried about the bible discussion, anxiously awaiting the
missionaries arrival, but now I'm the missionary who is coming to save the
day. Surprisingly I wasn't that worried even though I was anticipating a
bible bashing evening (and I don't know the bible well enough to do bashing,
which is ok because we aren't supposed to bash anyway).

We came in on a discussion of the scripture in Romans 8:8. Something to the
effect of "no man can dwell in the flesh and have the spirit of God." I was
worried at first, but the discussion ended well. By the end of the night the
friend, Tony, said he had learned a lot. We are not sure yet if he is
interested in learning more. We will talk to Sis. Wooton about it.

The weather has warmed up so much. In fact, the bush outside our yard is
these beautiful white flowers on it. I thought of taking a picture of it,
but haven't done it. I've even gone tracting a couple times without a
jacket, which is a big deal. All the snow is gone and though we have colder
rainy days in between, all in all it's getting warmer. And it's getting
lighter earlier in the morning, which I am happy with. I don't really like
having to get up when it's still dark outside. It's even warm enough that
I've gone running a couple times with Sis. Vathauer. I love spring!

I will be sending pictures soon. I will have about three cds to send by the
end of today. They've been building up. It's just that my last preparation
days have been filled with unusual things. For example, last p-day was
filled with our super looking over things at our apartment because we walked
in one night to the smell of gas. Sis. Vathauer was quite worried over it.
She didn't want me to turn on the light because it might cause an explosion.
Don't worry it didn't. But she did convince me to not try the stove top. I
don't think it would have caused an explosion, but I guess I could be dead
right now ;). According to Sis. Vathauer, I've gone down on the "Social
Darwinism" scale.

Don't worry, we have a new stove now that is beautiful and doesn't leak gas.
And a washer machine. But time is short. I love you and hope I answered some
more questions. Feel free to ask because sometimes I experience things so
often that it's just normal for me, but could be of interest to others. Love
you lots and miss you lots. Thanks for the letters and prayers. I will pray
for you.

Love,
Erin

Fw: New from New York

----- Original Message -----
From: "Erin Price" <nyprice@myldsmail.net>
To: <foreverone@cox.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 8:04 AM
Subject: New from New York

Hello Family,

First question. You spoke about tax season which reminded me about my taxes.
Is there something I need to do for taxes? I'm afraid that my statement or
report might have been sent to the Arizona address (which Marisa doesn't
live at anymore). Is that going to be a problem? Sorry if it is. Just think
about next year.... you won't have to worry about any taxes for me :).

The work is going well. Though sometimes I get discouraged. But I'm learning
that faith is demonstrated on how you react to the situations. So Sis.
Vathauer and I are trying to double our efforts and be more diligent.

Part of our frustration was because of Kenny. He has a baptismal date for
March 20 and Last week he was supposed to come to church, but his wife
called Sunday morning saying he had a stroke and was in the hospital. Whyyy?
He was supposed to come to church. But then we visited him in the hospital
on Tuesday and to our amazement, he had brought his Book of Mormon to the
hospital and had read it! As we talked (Kenny's a talker and likes to tell
stories), he was talking about how he used to study with a pastor, I forget
what religion, and had asked him what the difference between all the
different translation of the bible was. They all taught the word of God. The
pastor had said, "well, there's nothing different". This made me and Sis.
Vathauer a little nervous. How do you respond to that, so I responded with
something to the effect of, "Many religions teach of God, and are trying to
help us come back to him, but the difference would be that they lack the
full truth to get there." And that's when he picked up the Book of Mormon
off his lap and said, "And that's why we have this. This book has that
truth." He went on to say, that he feels something (a burning) when we
teach, when he prays, and when he reads the Book of Mormon. (Maybe he can
tell that to Ivan who says he feels nothing when he reads the Book of
Mormon).

Yet, the story with Kenny continues. Since the doctor's couldn't find
anything wrong with him, they said it might be caused by him trying to quit
smoking too quickly. That he probably needs to try a slower way.... Well, I
can't say the doctor is wrong about causing a shock to his body, but would
it cause a stroke? Kenny does have a lot of health issues though. (His
biggest challenge to overcome is his smoking habit.) So he was out of the
hospital by yesterday afternoon and when we talked to him to confirm our
appointment today he said he's leaving up to Albany to do some work
repairing the roof on a friends house. I wanted to say Kenny! you just got
out of the hospital for a stroke and you want to do manual labor. But I knew
he already considered that, so I refrained. He and his wife need the money.
The disappointing thing is that he wasn't sure how long it would take, so he
wasn't sure if he'd be back in time for church. Which means we have to push
back his date. And that makes me nervous because it gives the opposition
more time to come in and dissuade him from it. We are praying for him.

That was the highlight of the week. I really enjoyed conference this week!
Especially the one about motherhood.... not because it was about motherhood,
but because I thought it related well with handling a mission. You have to
live in the moments because that's where the joy comes. Some say a mission
is the greatest marriage prep. And I learned something this week:

What do you want to be distinguished for?

In Alma 27 it speaks about the Anti-Nephi-Lehies were distinguished as the
people of Ammon to the Nephites, but they were distinguished for more than
that. Alma 27: 27,30 "And they were also distinguished for their zeal
towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and
upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto
the end....and thus they were a zealous beloved people, a highly favored
people of the Lord."

Repentance is not a bad word. It's only through repentance that we can
experience joy. That's what Alma the Younger taught us. And that's my recent
studying and learning in a nutshell.

Love you lots. Hope all is well and your spirits are high. Let me know what
is going on. You are great!

Love,
Erin

Another crazy good week in crazy good Kingston

Hello Family,

Guess What! I'm still in Kingston. Sis. Koscinski was transferred down to
the city, which left me and Sis. Vathauer to take over the area. We are
excited, but I must say a little nervous too. This is her first time being
Senior companion, so she is nervous. Still, she wants to work hard and does.
It should go well.

This week we found a new investigator. Her name is Hillary and we are really
excited. We went to go teach her sister who wasn't home, but we invited her
to learn more and she accepted. As we taught her she would ask questions
like. "Do your members smoke? Because I don't believe people should."..."How
do you dress at church? Do you show the respect by dressing in a
skirt."...and of course the classic, "Do you worship Joseph Smith?" She was
happy to know that Jesus Christ was central to our belief. She even said she
was planning to come to church on Sunday.

I had a splits last Saturday where I went down to Connecticut with Sis.
Lakip. It was different being back in the Spanish program. The people are
nice, but I still get really nervous when listening because I don't
understand as well as I would like to. I know, I know, it takes time. Sis.
Lakip even told me that I needed to be more confident in my abilities
(Everybody keeps saying I understand more than I realize, which sounds like
a ridiculous statement to me, but maybe it's true. Wouldn't I know if I was
understanding or not?). It's a thorn in my flesh that I'm working on and
which always reminds me of Ether 12:27. (Sigh) I keep trying.

And for now, I keep working in English.

We had a baptism last Saturday for a Jessica Kellbaugh that turned 8. It was
interesting. We were able to get Kenny and Jaime there for it (Kenny is an
investigator with a baptismal date, which we really hope goes through. When
we taught him the Word of Wisdom he dumped out his coffee and coffee grinds.
It's just that his wife isn't quite as interested and he hesitates to do
things without her). Apparently the daughter has a fear of water. It took
her quite some time and encouragement to get her into the font, and then she
refused to go to the center. Then with everyone watching it became a power
struggle between daughter and father. Eventually she was baptized, but he
had to hold her to keep her from retreating to the steps. Yes, interesting.
Fortunately, Kenny and Jaime enjoyed it still and Jaime even said she felt
comfortable in the church building, which she usually doesn't feel. We had
some complaints from members when they saw them smoking outside. We hadn't
quite gotten to the word of wisdom by that point. My advice is not to be too
judgmental of people. These are people trying to change their life. They
grow and learn too.

Had dinner at the Wootan's which is basically a Utah family living in New
York. They are really nice and missionary minded. I love that! And we were
able to attend the Young Women Broadcast. It was amazing. I love conference!

Happy Birthday Daniel! You are how old now? Officially an adult! Hopefully
you got my card because it's a good one. :)!

Sorry this letter is a little A.D.D. at the end. I need to get home and take
a nap. Wednesday is my only nap day and I'm dead tired this week.

Love you Dad, Mom, and Family. I continue to pray for you. Trust in the Lord
with all thy heart...and he shall direct thy path.

Love,
Erin