Moo-zoo-gnoo

Things are going well here, my companion and i have ran out of ideas of where to prosolite its kinda nerve racking haha, we have no idea where to go and we dont want to go to the DEEP ends of our area it would take 2 hours of walking....not worth the walk to only work for a few hours and have to walk back. if we could drive that would be nice but we cant. i dont have permission form the mission pres to drive and my companion that does have permission to drive lost his license, haha.  Yes, something interesting happend this week we were walking to the church on saturday for a baptism interview.  we had a guy run to us in and said there are some people that want to talk to you in the bus over there. so we went over there and we found a bunch of (Moo-zoo-gnoo) or White people, it was very weird they were from the states and wanted to come to church on sunday.  they also gave us some candy it was good.  we talked to them for a little and then had to go.  they did show up at church on sunday and we talked to them a  little then as well. So Dad ask for things i would like for Christmas here some things that would be nice.

New set of Scriptures

Scripture case that can go over my shoulder and has a few pockets (zippers)

Shirts

Mesh garments (it gets really hot here and mesh ones breath)

ties

USB Drive that has a lot of music on it (EFY Melody is one i really want)  The church has a list of song

Starburst (candy)

Air head

jerky...i think you get the idea.

Food:

Mac and cheese

alfrdo

stuff that wont go bad over a few months.

On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 9:31 AM, Traci Erickson

How are you ? How are things going? Did anything exciting or interesting happen this week?

We went camping in Vernal. It was fun.  We went to the Dinosaur museum there. Ethan was impressed but of course , he loves those kind of things.

The rest of the kids , however, weren't.  The museum is Dinosaur bones still in the rock. Excavated so you can see most of the bones.  There are hundreds of them.  Some almost the whole dino, lots of just pieces.   The hand two dino's set up like the ones at Thanksgiving point but that was it.

We camped in a small log cabin-beds and a table. No bathroom or running water-kind of a pain.  We had to walk down to another camp site for the water and more than half way across the camp ground to get to the bathroom.

We were buy a small lake and decided to go to the beach and for a swim.  Me, oh my.... the lake had receded a lot since spring and we walked through mud to get to it.  We all looked like we had mud shoes on. It was quite a sight.  The ground in the lake was pretty much the same.  We had a good laugh and a good story to tell. We now call the lake MUD lake. Not one we will go back too. 

Ethan starts school tomorrow and is very excited. I hope he comes home feeling the same way.

Keep up the good work.

Love ya, Mom

emails to Dad

To: Loren J Erickson 


Its great hearing from you. So you know that VISA card you sent me its
kinda funny because well...when i get the cable i will show you. I
guess something that would be nice to get for christmas would be USB
drive (With lots of music on it, and talks), food is always nice
(ramen, alfedo, mac and cheese, and candy) stuff like that. i have
been eating a lot of bread, eggs, noodles, and PBJ.  you probably dont
know this but i get 100,000 shillings or $40 a week.  not much.  if i
wanted to i could live off of noodles very easy! i can buy a pack of
them for 50 cents or about 1250 shillings.  but who wants to eat
noodles all the time haha.  i have been offered food from
investigators and members all the time but most of the time we tell
them to keep it. its culture for them to feed visitors. i have tried 2
different kinds of fish and they are alright the sauce is the only
thing that makes it good haha. Tea here is anything hot so we have to
be careful of what we are drinking we have to ask them if it has tea
leafs in it haha. we have 12 new investigators and if all goes well
the last sunday of this transfer they will be baptised! they are
progressing well. i can give you more about them next time.

hope all goes well. sounds like its not going to be a lot of fun.

On 8/7/13, Loren J Erickson wrote:
Hey Elder, I really enjoyed reading your last letter.  It sounds like you are making
quite a name for yourself both in the kitchen and in music.  I really like
the song Be Still My Soul.  I think I may have mentioned that the ward
choir here sang an arrangement of that song and Where Can I Turn for Peace, with the two songs being sung on top of each other by different parts.  It
 sounded pretty cool.  I recorded it on my phone, and I'd send it but I
 don't know if you're allowed to receive attachments like that.  Our ward
 Christmas program is starting to take shape.  If we can pull it off it
 should be a spiritual feast.  I am trying to focus on four main doctrines
 related to the Saviors birth: the prophecies, the birth itself, the
announcement, and the gift.  So far I hope that we will be singing the
following songs: O Come, O Come Emmanuel (mens chorus), When Mary Sang Her
 Lullaby (womens chorus), He Sent His Son (primary children and ward choir),
 and O Come, All Ye Faithful (choir and congregation).  I need one more song
 to cover "the announcement".  I have a couple of ideas, but haven't
 selected one yet.

 I think it's great that you are using your musical talent as part of your
 mission.  I hope that you continue to embrace and enhance that talent over time.

 By "something special" for Christmas, I simply meant that if you'd like something in particular beyond a VISA card, something that we could send so that it would get there in time for you to have a nice Christmas, we'd need to start planning for that now.  I didn't having anything particular in mind.  We are working on sending you the things you have requested so far.
  I know from experience that that first mission Christmas can be both spiritually moving and lonely at the same time.  I hope that when that time comes for you, you remember who it is you are serving right now.  What a great way to give something back to the Savior.

 Now to the subject of my email.  I met with the surgeon today, and they finally agreed that my arm problem is serious enough that it needs surgical attention.  Right now, I am scheduled to go into surgery sometime on August 20th.  Two weeks from today.  The doctor thinks there are several things  going on.  One of the screws in my neck may be broken and may (or may not) be affecting the stability of the fusion. I also have some kind of growth in that area that projects into the spinal column channel, and the gap where the nerve that goes down my right arm comes out of the spinal column is very narrow, which is ultimately what is causing my numbness and tingling.  At a minimum, they are going to widen that nerve passage and widen the spinal column where it is constricted in the area of the fusion.  If the loose screw has affected the stability of the fusion, they will do a second fusion on the back side of my spine.  I may be out of commission for about six weeks or more.

This kind of thing is never without risk, but I want you to know that regardless of what happens I know that you are exactly where you need to be right now.  You and our family will be most blessed by you fulfilling your commitment to serve the Lord.
 I love you and am overjoyed when I hear about your adventures in the mission field.  I know that you are touching the lives of many individuals, probably more than you realize.  Stay true to what the Lord expects of you, follow the inspiration He will send and know that He will send angels to be on your right hand and on your left hand, if necessary, if you are obedient in all things.  Know that we pray for you and your companion daily.  Write about your feelings in your journal every day, even (especially) on the bad days.  You will be surprised at how much of a treasure and comfort your own words will be to you when you are older.

Love always,
Dad

More than normal mission work

Thats good to hear sounds like a lot has happend this week!!! the
emails with pictures shouldnt take to long i have been getting them
from my friends all the time. i will try sending them with out the
drop box if they take to long to get to you i will use the drop box.
when you said dani got engaged for some reason i was thinking of Shay!
it kinda had me thinking but not anymore haha. i have been taking my
pills daily the only days i miss are fast sunday. because i have to
take food with the pills. its good that you found your ipod! so turns
out i could i have brought my ipod touch oh well!! to late for that!
wait what the garage is clean!!!! there is no way! I hope dads
surgery goes well. tell zach he can use the "bad" set of speakers (the
round ones) i want the others to be kept safe for when i get back
they cost a good amount. but tell him he needs to start emailing
me!!!! It is hot here and they say its the cooler season it gets
about 90f here sometimes hotter. cant wait for it to get
hotter......not!!! the investigators are doing really well they have
been learning a lot. I get to teach Mission prep, institute, and
primary. i havent been playing piano yet, i told the missionary
couples that if i could have a hour or 2 each day to practice i could
and they said they would think about it and would have to talk to the
new mission pres.

can you also get my COD sunglass's out of the pontiac? I still have a
little time left so i can tell you about one of the investigators he
was a J-dub when we first contacted him he knew a lot about the bible
and as soon as we taught him about the restoration he left his old church.
his name is christopher and he is learning lots, his family was also
baptised this last week. its really neat they say thats is really rare
to baptize families here. oh this is random but we run into a lot of
peachers of other faiths and they always try to tell us what we are
teaching is false and they start quoting scriptures from the bible and
we start to teach them they are wrong and they try to prove us wrong
but never can haha.
On 8/12/13, Traci Erickson 
 Dear Elder Erickson,Here are attachments for recipes and food ideas. I hope that you find better food to eat. Remember to take your vitamins so you stay healthy. I set you up a drop box account for your pictures, Dad says they will take for ever to send via email. So go to www.dropbox.com enter your name and lds email-your pass word is-really you thought I'd post it here?-no capitals. This way we can have access to them and transfer them on to our hard drive. It is very simple to use. I use it with my new phone.
 Speaking of electronics---Dad found my i pod that has been missing for about a year. He was searching for the t.v. remote and found it in the back of the newer brown rocking chair. I had searched it and so had some of the kids, maybe moving the chair into the family room and kids jumping in it moved it out of hiding, I don't know but Hope doesn't get to play with it.
 I got Dad to borrow Uncle pats trailer and we finally got the old couch and other stuff to the dump. Yeah, we can park in the garage now. I knew if we didn't do it this week it wouldn't get done cause dad's neck surgery is in 1 week and he can't lift stuff for a few weeks after that.
 Your cousin Dani got engaged and instead of having a reception, they had an engagement dinner for the adults. It was nice. Grandparent's Erickson's were able to make it and we also ran into dad's Aunt and Uncle Mike James.
 It was fun to get caught up on family things.
 Hope and I cleaned your room. All of your computer stuff is in the top of your closet. I moved a lot of your things up to the higher shelves in your closet to people won't bother them. Zach started moving his things into your room. He put his lizard cage on top of your dresser, so I treated your dresser with a wood moisturizer so it will stay looking nice. Don't worryit is still the same color, just a little shinier.
 Is it still really hot? How are things going with investigators and your area? Do you get to teach FHE? Dad said you might have to play the piano in church, do you? Aren't you glad you had lesson's?
 Know that I am proud of you and what you are doing. I love you with all of my heart.
 Love ya, Mom
 P.S. Hope says missions are way too long. She always asks me how many
 minutes I will be when I have to go some where. I think she is worried that I may be gone as long as you.

Thanks for the food

Thanks so much for the food. i got the packages and 7 letters. it
just takes a long time for them to reach here about a month or so. You
do know that you can send more that a quart sized bag of candy/food
right??? haha im just kidding. I have been eating a lot of eggs,
ramen, and bread lately because they dont give us very much money to
spend for the month. Speaking of money you know that gift card you
sent me. well funny thing is i dont think you looked close enough to
it i will send you a picture why when i get the usb cable to send the
picture. Im sorry all the fish are dying are you sure you are taking
care of them well enough? Thats awesome that the boys had fun at scout
comp thats really good :) thats true school does start soon i was
thinking about that a few weeks ago and it kinda scared me thinking i
have been gone for that long haha its almost been 3 months!!! time
sure goes by fast! it feels likes its been one big day to be honest
if things keep up at this rate i will be home before i know it! oh
and you know suprisingly enough im not going through computer
withdrawals haha! did you put my laptop's, keyboard, mouse (reciever,
mouse pad, cable) in safe spot? Oh has anyone taken my room yet? The
reason why i didnt get to really email you is because it took almost
the hole 2 hours we have to email to load the email page sorry about
that.

On 8/5/13, Traci Erickson 
 Wow, I must have been at the end of all of your emails cause it was so
 short. Or did you just get to the church late?Transfer? New companion? How
 are things going?
 It was quiet at our house having Ethan and Zach gone to scout camp all week.
 The girls finally out numbers the boys for once.The boys had a great time
 at camp and have been telling us many stories. Ethan's first one was that
 he got lost going to his first class. Luckily, he never made it out of
 camp. He just couldn't remember which building he was supposed to be at. He
 got there late but they were waiting for him. So he didn't miss anything.
 We are down to 1 fish! And 2 pollywogs. The store gave us the pollywogs for
 free because they say they just die at the store. We don't know what kind
 of frogs they are or how big they will get. At least something is still
 alive.
 Ethan gets to go to the temple Saturday to do baptisms for the dead. He is
 real excited. Grandpa and Grandma R had all the girls sleep over and go to
 their ward party. I took Hope for the Saturday fun because she wouldn't
have slept. She had fun playing with all of her cousins.
 We have started back to school shopping, I can't believe it is that time
 already. The kids got their school fees in the mail. Paige's was a lot and
 then she noticed that they were billing her for a boys and a girls choir
 uniform. HAHAHa. She doesn't need either because she already has the one
 she needs from last year. That saves us $200 off of her fees.

Here are a few recipes. Let me know what else you want. Your package has
been mailed. We included everything in it. And pictures of Christ on the
 outside-hope it makes it to you.
 I put them in an attachment but don't know if you can open them so here they are again.