Sunday, June 9, 2013

40th Epistle From Elder Kaleb Erickson serving in Brooklyn, NY


Humility is not my friend!          written June 3, 2013

Well this has been a fun, blazing hot week in Brooklyn. The temperature really hasn't even been that high, but the humidity makes you feel like you're dying. And we decided to do a bunch of street sweeps and outside activities this week, so I have had my fair share of fun times in the sun.
As for investigators, we currently don't really have any. This week is dedicated to finding someone new, and we have a couple of potentials to look into. Last Tuesday we were going to go to a park nearby and play games in the park to meet new families. But it was pouring rain, so we decided to move it and play games in the train station. That was a fun time. We brought chess and dominoes, set up a table in the train station and just started inviting people to play with us as they wait for the train. The idea is to then talk with them while you're playing and the question of why you're wearing a shirt and tie inevitably comes up, so you can then introduce the fact that you're a missionary and that you share the Gospel of Christ. We had four missionaries playing the games and me and another missionary would walk up and down the station talking to people and inviting them to come play or to come to church. That was a fun activity.
We had a couple appointments this week and we brought the ward correlator along with us. His name is Hermano Venedicto, he is freaking awesome. He speaks just enough English to get by, but he mostly speaks Spanish. And he knows a ton of people. The appointment we had with him fell through, but we decided to walk with him for a bit. We passed by a laundromat and there was a Hispanic guy out in front. Venedicto apparently knew the guy so he said hello. Then he started to talk about how we're missionaries and stuff, but for some reason he couldn't figure out how to word it all. So I told the guy about what we do and invited him to meet with us. He said he had talked with missionaries before and he was willing to meet and learn more. We chatted for a bit and I got his info so we could meet with him another time. As we walked away, I asked Venedicto how he knew that guy. He told me that they go to the same restaurant all the time, so they have seen each other before. I thought that was hilarious.
Missionary work is a lot more difficult in the city mostly because of transportation. Since we have to walk everywhere, it takes us a while to get places and it's often difficult to find members who are nearby where we are teaching. And the members that are nearby are usually not available for whatever reason. It's not impossible, but it definitely makes things more difficult.
I'm absolutely loving it here though. The members are great, the people you meet in the street are awesome, Spanish is such a fun language to speak. If only I could get used to this humidity, then I would really be living the dream.

Love you guys!
Elder Erickson

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