Monday, December 2, 2013

66th Epistle from Elder Kaleb Erickson serving in Brookly, New York

Happy Thanksgiving!        Thanksgiving Parties -  written December 2, 2013

I had another fun exchange with Elder Durkin last week. We didn't get to go party out in Belle Harbor, but we certainly had a party in Midwood. We couldn't do too much in the afternoon, but we got to distribute a bunch of English class flyers and we taught English classes together in the evening. It's fun because Elder Durkin started out as a Spanish missionary with us, but after 9 months working all English in Belle Harbor, he has since been switched to an English missionary. So he thinks it's fun to get chance to practice Spanish again. We taught a sweet English class and we had a number of new faces, so it was a good night.

Wednesday we were supposed to meet with the Quispe family, but when we showed up, he told us that he was just on his way out to work. At 7:30 at night? Fair enough Julio, we'll come back next week. Luckily, we were able to head over to a member's house nearby and we hooked it up with a nice dinner there. It's the one white guy in our ward, Brother Barton. He served his mission in Ecuador and he married a woman from Ecuador, so they come to the Spanish ward. He is from Pismo, so his area code is 805 too; it made us instant friends. But anyway, it was the first time I had ever been to there house. It was fun to have dinner and talk in English for a change. They also gave us some tips on this Christmas concert that we're putting together. Always nice to have the point of view of a Hispanic when you're planning a concert in Spanish.

Thursday was the big day. Pretty much the whole mission went out to Flushing, Queens in the morning for the annual Turkey Bowl. Our zone has been prepping for this for weeks now. They were convinced that we were the greatest team ever and that we would be unstoppable. We quickly came to find out that we were, contrary to popular belief, fallible, and lost our first two games. Elder Goates and I got bored after a while and hosted a trip to the local Burger King for any and all not interested in football. It was my favorite part of the adventure. We headed home afterwards and made it home in time to shower and head out to the Castro's house.

They had quite the party ready for Thanksgiving. All sorta of family and friends were there. I shared a scripture and a prayer before we got started. It was a very nice event. They had all the fixings you could ever want at a thanksgiving dinner. I got to chat with one of the Castro sisters who isn't a member. A very nice woman who lives out in Queens, but came to Brooklyn for the party. I asked her what she was thankful for this year and we inevitably got on the topic of God and the Bible. We chatted for a while and she told me that she puts a lot of faith in her dreams. And one time she had a dream that really impacted her about somebody making her a cheese sandwich. I was hooked. She went on to tell me that they made her this cheese sandwich, but they cut the center of the cheese out and only gave her the corners of the cheese. Hmm. Interesting. She said she's still trying to figure out what it means, but she gave me her theory. She thinks that the cheese sandwich is representative of her faith in God. And that the cheese is religion. She told me that all the religions she had looked at felt like they were missing a very important thing. But she can't figure out what it is. And in the dream, she's mad that they won't give her the middle of the cheese, so she won't eat the sandwich. Because of this, she keeps trying to find out what's missing through prayer and the Bible.

I couldn't ask for a better transition. I told her that I had a present for her and I pulled out a Book of Mormon. She told me that she once had promised somebody she would read this book, but lost her copy. I told her that she could have this one if she promised again to read it. She told me she would. I then gave her a quick rundown of the restoration of the Gospel and how I believe that the missing center of the cheese is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. She liked that answer and told me that she would read the book to find out if it was true. She also gave me her address so I could send missionaries to her home and help her learn more about the missing cheese. The food was good that night, but my conversation with Marjorie about the missing cheese was probably my favorite part of the night. It was just too good. The cheese sandwich dream. I really hope she finds the missing cheese she is looking for.

Well anyway, Saturday was our ward Thanksgiving party. That was also a good time. We helped set up for it and I'd say it was a successful event. I'm only sorry we didn't get to stay for the dancing. They decided to have plates of food delivered to people instead of a potluck event. So I got to deliver plates of food and fill up cups for half the night. It was actually really fun to go around and talk to everybody as I delivered food and whatnot. About five minutes before we left, the bishop came to me and asks if the missionaries would sing some hymns of Thanksgiving. Yeah alright. It was so unorganized, it was baller. We just got up and sang the two Thanksgiving hymns in the hymn book. Not much to it. I played the piano and the other five missionaries sang. Then the turned around and pumped the music so everybody could dance. I love Hispanic parties.

And yesterday was my last fast Sunday in Midwood. Next week is stake conference, so I made sure to get up and share one last testimony in the Midwood chapel. After church, this sweet older woman from Guatemala came up to talk to me. She's talked to me before, usually to tell me how she loves the way I play the piano and she hopes that I never leave this area. She was devastated at this news that I was leaving soon. She told me that I have to get married to a Hispanic woman so I can come back to this ward and play the piano. Then she apologized profusely that she didn't have any daughters or granddaughters to offer me. I told her it was okay and that I would do my best to make it back here to play again someday. It was a hilarious interaction. Hispanics are the best.

So there's only one week left in Midwood. I've got a number of things set up for the week that I'm excited about. I'd like to make a few last things happen before I leave. It should be a good week.



Love,
Elder Erickson

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