Hey Family!
Thanksgiving Day
marked my one month out in the field. That's crazy. It feels like just
yesterday that we were flying into New York with no idea what was going
on. And here I am with still very little idea of what's going on most of
the time. But that's partly due to a giant hurricane I guess.
Anyways, this last week has been pretty interesting. We've mostly
been helping one guy the whole week. We started helping him last Sunday
and we just kept working there all week and we're doing more for him
this week. He really needs the help, so I'm glad we found him. He lives
in Far Rockaway and the hurricane flooded his basement pretty bad.
That's pretty much expected. Every basement was flooded out there. But
the problem with his house is that part of the first floor got mold in
the walls. Then the mold spread to his second floor. And his daughter is
on dialysis because she has cancer. So because of that, he can't have
any mold in the entire house. She can't live there with any remnmants of
mold. So we have to take out every wall in the whole house and every
floor on the first floor. The only thing that can really stay is the
upstairs bathroom and the floors upstairs. Other than that, everything
has to go. It's a lot of work to be done, so we've just been going back
every day to keep helping him out. It's just him out there, so he really
needs the help.
That has kept us busy most of the week. Although we had a few
breaks because of Thanksgiving. Last Tuesday the mission held a
Thanksgiving lunch for the whole mission. We got adjusted by our
chiropractor friend just before heading out there. They had a testimony
meeting and a big lunch for everyone. It was fun to see everyone and to
have a day to relax and recover.
On Thanksgiving Day, there is a mission tradition where we get a
bunch of zones together and have a Turkey Bowl football game. We had to
drive a ways to get there, but it was pretty fun. I think we had like 3
zones there, so it was a good time. I'm pretty terrible at football and
will openly admit that, but it's fun to just run around with everybody.
That and we had a two hour roadtrip. I'm always down for a good
roadtrip.
Since the Far Rockaway Branch isn't exactly in the best of shape
right now, we had no plans for Thanksgiving Dinner. The guys we live
with were considering just a trip to McDonalds. But Sister Calderwood
heard we didn't have anywhere to go, so she invited us to go to their
house. I've been told that this is a dream come true for Spanish
missionaries in the field. Since Thanksgiving isn't really a Hispanic
thing, they don't really get the concept of a turkey dinner and all the
fun stuff usually involved in Thanksgiving. I would have been happy with
anything, but getting to go to the Mission President's home for
Thanksgiving dinner isn't something you pass up.
My district in Far Rockaway has 6 elders, so we all got to come and
then the office elders and the AP's were there too. There were two
other families that are friends with the Calderwoods there too. It was
an awesome dinner. They had tons of food and it was all delicious.
Sister Calderwood told me that I had to play the piano for her since she
made the dinner. I told her that sounded like a fair deal to me. They
didn't have any music or anything, so I just sat down and played
whatever I could remember. It was a lot of fun. I guess President
Calderwood is a big fan of Billy Joel, so he loved hearing the Piano Man
and the Rootbeer Rag. Glad I learned those ones. You never know when it
will come in handy.
Things are slowly calming down out here. Most of the mission only
does service on the weekends. They proselyte during the week, then on
Saturday and Sunday they come down and help out with any other members
that get bussed in. But since we don't really have anywhere to
proselyte, we keep on serving every day. All the work over the last
month is starting to catch up with me, but I don't think we'll be doing
it too much longer. The transfer ends a week from tomorrow and we think
that they're going to move us around to give us a bit of a break. And to
finally get trained. Although I wouldn't complain if I didn't have to
do the lame training program. They just repeat everything you learned in
the MTC. It's not very difficult to understand. But I'll do it if I
have to.
That's about all there is to report at the moment. Service every
day and hanging out at night. I'm getting super good at Monopoly and
Trivial Pursuit. That and we bought a game of movie trivia, so I'm not
too bad at that either. My companion is the master of movie trivia
though. He might even give Luke a run for his money on actor and
director knowledge. I think Luke would win, but it would be a good
competition.
All the service that has been given here by the Mormons is
legendary by now. We were out there today trying to get some food and
blankets for a woman who can't leave her house. We went up to one of the
tents set up by FEMA and Red Cross and they were apprehensive of us at
first because we just looked like a bunch of punk kids. Then we told
them that we were with Mormon Helping Hands and they welcomed us with
open arms, thanking us for everything we've done telling us to get
whatever we need. It was pretty cool to see. Hopefully in a year or so,
when everything is more or less back to normal, we can start proselyting
out here and open up some new doors that might have never opened
otherwise. It will be a long process, but I'm glad to help out now to
bring people to the Gospel in the future. I imagine myself as a tool by
which Heavenly Father shows his love for the people of Far Rock. They
are in a time of need right now, and He sends out the missionaries to
show that He loves these people and wants them to feel comforted. I've
learned a lot about charity and love and just how much Heavenly Father
loves us over the past month that we've worked. I'm sorry that it takes a
hurricane to open up hearts, but I'm glad that Heavenly Father is
making such great use of it during these times.
Love,
Elder Erickson
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