Friday, April 19, 2013

33rd Epistle from Elder Kaleb Erickson serving in Far Rockaway, NY


Spring?        Written April 15, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad!
 
I'm not entirely sure if it's supposed to be Spring yet or what. It will be 80 degrees one day and the next it's pouring rain and freezing cold. I can't figure out how to dress in the morning anymore. Do I wear a suit, do I go for short sleeves, should I bring a jacket with me? It's April, I shouldn't have to ask myself these questions anymore. Where is California weather when I need it?
 
But anyways, it has been a good week for us out here. Elder Hart and I are doing some good work. Our district has gotten back into doing a lot more service than we have been. So many mornings we'll head out on the peninsula and do service all morning, then return, shower, study, and proselyte. There's no better way to start a day than by serving your fellow being.
 
I don't know if you heard the talk in the priesthood session of General Conference about ministering unto people, but Elder Hart and I were big fans of that talk. We decided that we should set apart one day from the week to minister unto the sick and afflicted here in the Far Rockaway branch. So we picked Tuesday as our day, and we call it our Sick and Afflicted Day, or S and A for short. That was a cool day, just visiting people, sharing a scripture and a prayer with them, helping them feel the spirit and God's love for them. We're going to make it a tradition here. Tuesdays are going to become the best day of the week.
 
Saturday was a cool day. We had a lesson with our investigator, Osiris, on Monday and she agreed to fast with us that Saturday in order to help her get the day off of work to be able to come to church. I remember when I set that up with her, I had no idea that the day after that was Fast Sunday. So that was a little disappointing. Then, on Saturday afternoon, our district leader decided that we should set apart our area and so we should fast on Tuesday in order to do it. My goodness. We're so sick of fasting over here. We're just going to eat all that we can today so that we can be prepared for tomorrow. I think it will be good though, it will be nice to set our area apart for helping bring people unto salvation.
 
So that's about it for the time being. We found a potential who asked us to come back today to share our message with them. I'm really excited about it, hopefully it goes well tonight. The work is picking up here. Short funny story before I sign off, we went yesterday to visit a less active family in the branch. We hadn't seen them in a while, so we decided to just randomly stop by. They were there and the youngest daughter, she's 4 years old, was feeling sick. I guess she had been complaining about her stomach hurting and had been throwing up for three days now. The mother asked if we would give her a blessing. Elder Hart did the anointing and I gave the blessing. Mid-blessing, this poor little girl threw up and it landed right on my shoe. Bummer. I finished the blessing and checked out the damage. It wasn't too bad at all, at least it didn't get on my pants or anything else. They gave me some paper towels and I wiped it off. Then I made a joke about how my shoes are finally polished. That was a blessing I won't forget giving anytime soon. Hopefully it helps her feel better soon.
 
Thank you so much for all the love and support! The church is true and the Atonement is real if we just have faith in Christ! Love you!
 
Elder Erickson

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