55th Epistle from Elder Kaleb Erickson serving in Brooklyn, New York

I Saw Bill Murray.... Written September 16, 2013


For real, I did. Story to come later.

This week was great. We got it started with another round of English classes. And we had a bunch of new people there. We are finally picking up some steam here. I had an exchange with Elder Adams and we had the most successful day I've had in a while. We got in contact with the Quispe family, who I have been looking for almost a month now. They are super nice people. We got an appointment with them for this week and the wife told me that she has been wanting to come back to church for a while now. So this is great. We also looked up a former investigator. The outside of his apartment looked pretty sketchy but it was way nice when we got in. He hadn't talked with missionaries for a year and a half, but he was happy to see us and told us that we should come back next week. Those two interactions and getting to see the light from the freedom tower on September 11, made that day awesome.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but I was asked to play the piano for a concert in Queens. We had a practice for it on Thursday and I sight-read O Divine Redeemer. That was a party. The sister missionary I was playing for had never sung it with a piano before and I had never played it in this key before, so we had an adventure. It was actually pretty good. We did some practicing afterwards to improve things. 

Elder Kaleb Erickson with the Midwood Brooklyn District 9/16/2013

Left to right: Elder Adams, me, Sister Jorgensen, Sister Franklin, Elder Rodgers, Elder Goates

Friday I did splits with a member for the first time ever. It was a lot of fun. The bishop came with us and another member named Miguel. Elder Rodgers went with the bishop and I went with Miguel and we all hit up lessons in different areas of Brooklyn. It was awesome. Miguel is from El Salvador and is a return missionary, so he was loving the chance to get back in the game for a bit. He's a great guy. We taught some solid lessons that night.

Saturday was the big concert in Jamaica, Queens. It was at a food court near the church out there. It was on the way out that I met Bill Murray. We were on the F train and I noticed this guy standing on the train. And he looked exactly like Bill Murray. I told Elder Goates and Sister Franklin and they agreed but thought that it probably wasn't him. I wasn't willing to accept that. So after some deliberation, I went up and asked him. He told me that he gets it all the time, but that he isn't Bill Murray. I told him that he was still looking good. He got out on the next stop. That's such a Bill Murray thing to do. He wouldn't admit to me that it was him. I'm still convinced that it was Bill Murray, regardless of what Elder Goates and Sister Franklin say.

So we got to the concert. It went pretty well. We all had a fun time. The acoustics in the building were terrible. But it was still fun anyways. After the concert, we had quite the adventure. We were walking back to the train to go home. It was me and Elder Goates and two sisters from our area. And this Muslim guy stopped me and asked if I was Mormon. I told him I was and he asked me to explain what we believe. I was a little concerned that this guy was a basher, because I really didn't want to fight with anybody at that point. But he listened for a bit and asked another question. Then he said hold on, I work at a religious studies school and we have always wondered what Mormons believe. But we don't trust the internet, so we have always wanted to ask you guys. Would you mind stopping by our school and just having a religious discussion about what you guys believe?

This was too good of an opportunity to pass up! We all agreed to go and we followed this guy a couple of blocks to his school. He set up a meeting with the dean and we all sat down and discussed our respective religions. It was fascinating. It cleared up a number of misconceptions I had about Muslims. And it was very interesting to explain things to someone without a Christian background. There was no arguing, just explaining. It was awesome. We gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and they gave us each a copy of the Quran. They were all very nice people. I would say that it was one of the coolest experiences on my mission. To sit in this school with three Muslims and discuss our religions. Their beliefs are similar to ours in so many ways, but so far apart in other ways. It was great. We ended up chatting with them for three hours. We had to take a five minute break for them to do their evening prayers. They are required to pray five times a day at specific hours. I was hoping to see them pray, but we didn't get the chance. It was still super cool though.

And yesterday was fun because we found this big street fair and we decided to wander around and hand out English class flyers. It was a party. Nothing like a party in Brooklyn. So much going on, so much noise and so many good smelling foods. I only wish it hadn't been on a Sunday.

Transfers are tomorrow. Elder Rodgers is leaving and I'll be getting a new companion. It's always nice to have some change in the world. Things are just picking up here, so it is a good time to come to Midwood. Things are finally cooling down here too, thank goodness for Fall. I am loving the cool weather.

Love,
Elder Erickson