It's raining, no pouring!

Hello Family!!!!

Oh goodness, it has been raining so much around here. Yesterday was a
surprise attack. When we left the house it was promising a warm, maybe even
hot sunny day. But as Sis. Lakip and I started tracting, these huge, black,
omninous clouds started rolling in. Well, to be optimistic I thought, "No,
it won't rain." Well, maybe it was more of denial because I hadn't brought
an umbrella. But as we continued walking down the street it started to mist,
then sprinkle, then rain, and then practically a downpour. We were soaking
within a few minutes. Luckily Sis. Lakip had brought her umbrella which she
shared. So her left side was drenched and my right side. And our feet were
squishing in our shoes as we walked through small rivers of water coming
down the sidewalk. It was quite fun, especially because it wasn't cold.

We had a great experience this last week. We have been working with a
less-active family who has started to come to church recently. The Torres
family, but more especially with their daughter Jackie Frioli. She is 15 and
not baptized. My first week here we had a great conversation with her and
after meeting a few time committed her to baptism. Which she accepted, but
was a little bit nervous about it. She went to Youth Conference (in
Kirtland, Ohio) and had a great experience their. She was telling us about
how she cried as she watched the restoration video and during testimony
meeting. The youth did a great job helping her and fellowshipping her. It's
a big change for her and many of her current friends don't believe that she
can do it. So I was so happy to hear that during testimony meeting, one of
the youth in our ward bore his testimony about her difficult it is because
others don't understand what they have with the church and how much of a
blessing it really is. But that they keep being an example because they know
how important it is. She's set to be baptized on June 14th. It will be my
first one (not that that's really important, but it makes me happy).

I've really been working this week on teaching in Spanish, but more
especially teaching quick, powerful lessons. I like to explain things a lot,
but then the lessons become longer than needful. The spirit testifies to
short, powerful testimonies. So, the goal of the mission and my goal is to
do a teaching appointment in 20 minutes total. This is a lot harder than I
thought it would be because that gives 5 minutes to start, prayer, song, etc
and then only 10-15 mintues of teaching. It's doable, but not what I am
used to. My companion is really good at it, so she has been helping me out.

I had my first street meeting the other day. It was actually really fun. We
were handing out free VHS videos to whoever wanted one on the street. Then
teaching them right there on the spot. It was really good for me to do
because it helped me realize that you go and talk to everyone. I was really
excited when I talked to these ladies from Peru. They had relatives in Peru
that were members, so I talked to them about the restoration and how it
blesses our families. Then got their information to teach them more. Sharing
the gospel is great!

I have a cold today. No fun, but luckily it is preparation day. I day to do
a bit more relaxing to rest of for the rest of the week. Hopefully it will
be mostly gone by tomorrow.

Love you lots. Hope all is well. Let me know the current news. Love you.

Love,
Erin

Connecticut girl!

Hello Family,

Yes, Connecticut is beautiful, even though I had to travel three hours to
get there. Lots of trees and lots and humidity. It's been raining almost
every day since I've been here, except for a few pockets of sunshine. Today
is actually quite beautiful. I sent home my rain jacket because I hadn't
used it that much, but now I'm thinking I might if this keeps up.... I'll
have to let you know :).

It's been a big switch back to spanish. I just don't have the confidence
there. I've been struggling with that confidence my whole mission, but I
think I've noticed it more since I've been made the senior companion and am
making more of the decisions. I'm definitely going to have to learn how to
deal with stress.

But things have been going well. I had a really good lesson with one of our
less-active members, Lidia Morranchel. She has two kids, but doesn't attend
church much because her husband is not a member. She even served a mission,
but she doesn't want to push the gospel onto her husband. We are trying to
build her faith and courage (I found it ironic because I'm still trying to
build mine). So we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" and asked her to bear
her testimony. We then talked about the example Christ set and how her much
her example is helping her children and husband and how her prayers and
faith will make the difference with her husband. She really wants him to be
baptized because she herself has a strong testimony. I felt the spirit so
strongly. It was a confidence booster for me too. We continue to work with
her and her husband.

Well, I love you lots. Don't worry, I drive safe and I have a great
co-driver who looks out for me to. Together, everything will be fine. I'm
getting used to it again. Glad to hear that all is well. Sounds like
everything is so exciting! I forgot that Daniel was graduating. How fun is
that! You get to see Elder Monson! How cool!

You are all so great and are in my prayers. Love you lots. Keep up your good
work.

Love,
Erin

Another cycle come and gone

Hello family and friends,

So, once again we anxiously awaited transfer calls Monday night. When that
phone finally rang we heard Elder Jones saying, "Pack your bags, both of you
are leaving." What! Both! They are closing the area to sisters and putting
in Elders. So we've been rushing around Kingston the past few days, trying
to get everything situated for the switch. That makes (not including the
mtc), 4 different companions and 3 areas in 4 cycles. I hope this isn't
going to be a habit for the rest of my mission.

I'm now in Greenwich, CT home to the richest and poorest zipcodes in the
United States. Yes, that would be my new area. And my companion is Sis.
Lakip. She came out a cycle after me and was trained by Sis. Milkanin also.
So, I'm senior companion, which I'm not sure how I feel about that. I would
have been fine being Junior companion my whole mission. I don't think it
really makes much of a difference though. We are really close in "age" and
she has had more spanish experience. We are pretty much equal. The only
difference is that I have to drive the car (yes, not get to, but have to.)

So, I am back in a Spanish ward, but we are still working English also. From
what I hear I mostly find and teach in English and mostly member work in
Spanish. Ay, que voy a hacer? Well, I'm going to learn spanish. My stomach
still does this little flippy thing when I have to speak it, but it's better
since being in Kingston because I had to do all calls and lessons by myself
in Spanish. I just will be speaking more here. Pray for the gift of tongues.

My new address is:

69 Clinton Ave # 2G
Stamford, CT 06901

Ha, I'm in the 0's now. :)

Not much new this week. I told most of it to you on Sunday. It was so good
to call you. Don't worry, I know I was crying when I left, but I was fine
once we started tracting. Still, I do really appreciate all of your support
and love. It helps me make it through those tougher days.

I sent a package home today. I still have a lot of things that I hate
carrying around (I'm such a heavy packer). But slowy I'm getting rid of
things that I don't really use. And things I accumulate from member's and
such. Such as my dirt buddy and woodstock bee. Had to give away the former
and send home the latter.

Love you so much. Hope all is well on the homefront. Let me know of any
changes. I have the best family in the world and I'm serving in the best
mission.

Love you lots,

Erin

Some good stories

Hello Family,

So... That is some pretty big news that I heard. Jarom's engaged! How
exciting and Tayler is so sweet. It is indeed crazy how quickly life
changes. And the house is up for sale. Even crazier. Though I do find the
idea of coming home to a new place rather exciting. Even though I will miss
the old one. Lots of memories, yes. Lot's of good memories.

So, I'm sure you want to hear about some of the good stories that have been
going on. Story number #1

Rose. She was a media referral who requested a Book of Mormon. It was
actually a mistake. She thought she had studied it with Mormon's before, but
it turns out that they were Jehovah Witnesses with the Bible. Funny how
people are led. Still we taught about Joseph Smith and the restoration. I
really couldn't tell how she took the idea. She seemed friendly enough, but
not really interested. Though she is very religious.

We had another appointment with her, but she cancelled because of work,
which disappointed us because she was going to give us a call. And to us
that is code for, "I really don't want to talk to you anymore, but I don't
want to tell you that." Yes, I'm finding many forms of rejection, but there
really isn't much I can do about that.

But that just made us all the more excited when she called up and said,
"Hey, can you come over today. I got off work early." So of course, we made
room and visited her. It turns out that her son used to attend Church, but I
don't think he goes much anymore. I've been learning a lot about the Holy
Spirit and the power it brings. Like it said, "If ye have not the spirit, ye
shall not teach." So I was praying (partly because I felt like I wasn't
teaching very clearly), "If nothing else, feel the Spirit, just help her
feel the Spirit." Still, she was liked a closed book. I couldn't really tell
how she felt. Until at the end when we asked will she be baptized when she
knew it was true. Her response, "Probably, it just feels right." Oh how
excited we were. We still have some challenges to pull through since she
works so much. We are waiting to hear from her once her schedule settles
down. If we don't hear within the next couple of days we will give her a
call.

Good story #2: So we had two appointments set up for Sunday. Yet, as we went
to go meet with them. They weren't there. Lame. So we went tracting. The
first door, nothing. The second door, not interested. The third door, not
interested and closed the door behind that had previously been open when we
walked up (Are the trying to prove a point? I don't know) Basically, we had
no success, until the last door. We spoke to her about families and how a
prophet can bless them and she was interested. But she is going on vacation
for the next two weeks, so we have to call her. Still, it wasn't a
I'm-trying-to-avoid-you excuse. I can usually tell those. She was quite
sincere. So we'll be back to visit her.

Good story #3- The NYNYN mission is currently the number one baptizing
mission in the Eastern States and Canada. That's pretty cool. We were behind
Philadelphia for a long time, but not anymore. Still, I know that it isn't a
competition, but we were pretty happy to hear that. Can't let pride get in
the way. Maybe that's why I haven't had a baptism yet. I don't know. Maybe
I'll never know what good I've done till the next life, but I just keep
working and praying for the Lord to guide my success. Sometimes it's hard to
accept his will, but we learn and grow from it.

Just got asked if I had a boyfriend (rolling of eyes). Told him I didn't
because I was on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. Then taught him about how Mormon's are Christians and what the Book
of Mormon is, concluding it with an invitation to church. Bet he wasn't
expecting that. Oh goodness. Some people.

Loving mission, loving life. Hope you are still all well.

Love, Erin

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