92nd Epistle from Elder Kaleb Erickson serving in Patchogue, New York

Big Decisions      written June 9, 2014

We had our exchange with the zone leaders to start off the week. Normally, the zone leaders only exchange with the district leaders and the elders who are training new missionaries. But since there are only three other companionships of elders in our zone, they decided to do an exchange with us as well. It was kind of frustrating because we had a bunch of stuff set up for Monday evening and Tuesday morning, but I exchanged over into their area and Mendez stayed here to take care of things. So I was with Elder Morse in an area called Terryville. It's funny because they are an English area and have no Spanish unit in their building. Our area, Patchoge, actually covers all of their area as well. We just don't go up there too often because it's so far away from our chapel. So I never really left my area. We had dinner on Monday night with their ward mission leader and his family. He and his wife are both involved in the nuclear power business, so obviously I asked them all about it. It was fascinating. We had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation with them. But the three year old needed entertaining, so I took care of that while Elder Morse taught the lesson. The classic missionary tag team.

The next day was largely uneventful. We tried to visit some less actives all afternoon, but nobody was home or interested in talking with us. It happens. We exchanged back at about 6 in the evening. We then headed over to visit with our friends Nancy and Augustine again. We had dinner with them and tried to have a lesson on how to feel the spirit. It went alright, but somehow we ended up getting off track a lot. It's difficult to keep a single topic when you have three separate adults involved, all with their own ideas, thoughts, concepts. We left them with some goals and we're going to check up on them this week.

Wednesday we had a training session all day in Rego Park. It was to give us guidelines for how best to use Facebook as a proselyting tool. It was an alright meeting. It took up most of our day and we got home just in time to teach English classes. Those are still going well. We need new people to come, but since the weather is warming up, everybody is working.

On Thursday we had a sweet lesson with Taylor. We couldn't meet with him for very long, but we went over in the morning before he had to leave for work. Things were a little rough for him on last Sunday, but that morning, he was happy as a clam. There are a number of return missionaries who have moved into our branch for the summer while they work as salesmen. They talked with Taylor last Sunday and hooked him up with the same job. And apparently he has just taken off and is working magic. He's no longer worried about covering rent and he told us that he's been thinking a lot about things. And he's decided that he wants to serve a mission after he gets baptized. He know that he has to wait a while, but he feels like this is what he needs to do with his life while he still can. We're really excited for him. This Sunday is the big day. Jesus has since made other decisions, so it will be just Taylor this Sunday. But hopefully we can work with Jesus too.

On Friday, we had another exchange. This time I was with Elder VanMondfranz. He was my first friend in the MTC and now he's here as Elder Coca's companion. It was so fun to work with him all day. Back in the MTC, we had a tradition of getting nachos every Saturday night to celebrate making it through another week. So, of course, we ended the night with nachos at Taco Bell. It was great. We didn't accomplish anything spectacular during the day. Mostly lookups that weren't home or interested. But we had a good time anyways.

Saturday was a classic service day. We helped a guy remove a bunch of dry wall from his house and then helped him empty it all at the dump. It took a while and he bought us McDonald's afterward, so that was totally worth it. Later that day, we had a birthday party for Jesus. Maria invited us all and they had a barbecue and a cake. The whole family was there and the missionaries, it was a really fun time. And Elder Mendez got to barbecue, so he was happy.

And that's about it for the week. It was a good week. The big news is Taylor's new decision to serve a mission. I think he will be a great missionary. The next step is this Sunday. Hope you guys have a great week!

Love,   Elder Erickson