10th Epistle from Elder Kaleb Erickson    serving in New York New York South Mission

November 5, 2012       Hello from Far Rockaway, New York.

I am still serving in Far Rockaway but my companion and I are still staying in East Brooklyn. There is no power in Far Rock and there probably won't be for a while, so we opted to stay with the other elders in East New York. We like the refrigerator and the warm showers. Elder Wolfe and I did some shopping last week, so we have lots of food in the house. Don't worry, I'm being as healthy as I know how to be. Which I don't think is too bad. I got some fruits and vegetables and have been drinking lots of water.

We went back to our apartment last week and everything is fine there. No power, so all our food has gone bad, but everything is dry. We picked up some extra things we needed to stay at the other place. I didn't have too many work clothes, so we went to get some last week. I bought some extra shirts and socks so I can have enough to work every day. It's funny, I have all the white shirts and sunday pants and socks I could ever need, but nothing to go tear up dry-wall with. So that was a good investment. I also bought a heavier jacket for pretty cheap because it's starting to get cold. A member gave us all some work gloves, so I have been grateful to have those.

As for transportation, that is a fascinating topic. My companion and I have a car and the church pays for gas, so usually we don't have any concerns there. But New York City is crazy for gas right now. Lines go down the street for blocks, it's insane. We don't have much gas left, so we stopped driving around. We had to go to the mission office and pick up metro cards so we can still get around. The trip out to Far Rock takes about an hour and a half by a train and two busses. But it still gets us out there, so we can't complain. It's about an hour drive anyways, so it's not that much worse. And you get to see crazy looking people on the train, so that's always a fun adventure.

We had church yesterday in Richmond Hill, but it was only sacrament meeting with one speaker, then they brought out school busses to take all the members out to Far Rockaway to help. That was awesome! We had easily 200 members out there helping. People have finally warmed up to us and they love the Mormons now. The missionaries helped break down the concerns during the rest of the week in order for yesterday to work though. By Thursday people knew who we were as we walked around Far Rock. As we walked back to our car at the end of the day people would wave to us and thank us for our help, it was way cool. Yesterday we had people telling us that if we ever knocked on their door, they would happily let us in. I don't exactly know what they mean by that, but it's cool to see that people are recognizing the church as an organization that gives aid and relief. One guy was complaining how the Red Cross has done nothing but drive by his house twice, but we actually stopped to help him, so he was really grateful to us. We're doing lots of really good work out there and in other areas on Long Island too.

I'm not sure how much longer we will be doing service, but since we don't really have an area to proselyte in, I bet we will be doing service for a while. I'm doing fine here. I've got plenty of food and water and warmth. Oh, you asked about laundry too. There's a laundromat just down the street from the house we're living in. Elder Wolfe and I just walked down and did our laundry last Friday. That's probably what we'll stick with as long as we live in Richmond Hill.

As for letters you might send me, address them to the mission office.

New York New York South Mission.

8569 60^th Drive  

Elmhurst, NY  11373-5547

They aren't delivering to Far Rockaway and the office doesn't know to forward it to where we're currently staying. We can take the train out to the office though and get anything that is sent there.

So yeah, things are just grand out here. It's very tiring to work every day, but it feels good to be able to see the service you are rendering to these people. Dad is right, I've pretty much got plenty of material for a homecoming talk already. But I'll have lots more at the end of these two years. It will be a fun adventure.

Love,

Elder Erickson