Need a new suit and shoes

Gotta chat back and forth with him today... Dear Braden, How was your week? What one thing stood out to you this week? Any new investigator's? We here are ready to start building the ark. We have had so much rain for the last few weeks. At first everyone was excited because we really need it because we had a light winter. And not enough snow in the mountains. The city of Lehi has already put us on water restrictions for watering our lawn. Funny thing. We turned pour sprinklers off because of all the rain. The 10 day forecast calls for rain everyday. So, we may just float away. I was supposed to have preschool graduation at a park on Friday but it rained all day and was only 50 degrees outside. I cancelled graduation and just took all of the kids their gift and a balloon from me and gave their parents the certificate. Oh well, life happens. We paid for Lehi to bring a big dumpster and put it in front of our house. We cleaned a lot of junk out of the shed and garage. Dad and Zach also cut down a nut tree that decided to grow in the front yard. They also cut back the flowering nut tree that we planted and is taking over. We knew that we wouldn't fill it all, so we told neighbors that they could put their garbage in it also, for a small fee. We had a lot of them take us up on the offer and it is filled to the brim. Maybe we should do it every year for neighborhood clean up. We'll see. Ethan had a choir concert on Friday and they did a good job. I don't know if he really like singing but he did it and didn't complain about it. I had another ward conference today. The Bishop talked on being willing to serve. And to serve with the spirit. He told a story about a women with M.S. that couldn't get herself in and out of bed. Her married sons would come and help her every day and night. Finally they asked her Bishop for help. The Bishop called a meeting and of course everyone was concerned about how long they were going to have to do it for and what a burden it would be on their own families. Finally, one man told them that he would do it and he would do it every day by himself if he needed to. So of course, more men volunteered. It has now been 7 years and 50 men help her. One man said that it isn't a hardship, it is a blessing to help her. That everyone has something to give...even the lady with M.S.. I guess, the story is a movie on LDS.com this month. I think we might have to watch it for Family home evening tomorrow. Hope all is going well with you. Hang in there and keep smiling. Love ya lots Mom P.S. Hope thinks she is so big now that she graduated from preschool. She can't wait to go to real school. P.S.S. And you need to tease Paige...she got a speeding ticket. She blames it on dad. She says she inherited his led foot. --------------------------- Wow sounds like a lot is happening and that the earth might flood again haha...im sure that zach was not very happy about shifting rooms again haha. So i hear that i wont be released until sunday hmm sounds fun....not really oh well. i guess theres not much we can do about it. I think Ethan just needs to have fun with the songs he is singing and he would be hooked. Not much is happening I am still waiting for the final interview with Mission pres. they havnt told me when to go to the office so i dont know when that is its kind of annoying because we cant really plan out a day because we have no idea when they will call us and we are probably going to end up bouncing a appointment Hmm that funny i thought that was the investigators job not ours haha. So dad asked if there was anything i was looking forward to seeing or getting or something like that i dont remember how he worded it but do you have any idea of what he means?? OH also i see that you sent another package or it might have just came very late i dont know but i should be picking it up on wednesday hopefully. Never be ♯ Never be ♭ Always be ♮ On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 6:20 PM, Traci Erickson wrote: The package 📦 is full of dresses. I final mailed them. I put a note 📝 on it telling them to give it to some service missionaries. But I guess they can give it to you. Also, you said, you bought a quad? I sent one. Maybe it was in the box that had been opened. Dad wanted to know if there was something special you wanted to eat. -------------------------------- Oh so its cloths ok. i will just return it to the office then. Oh i also will need a new suit bad when i get home the one i have now is finished it wont handle much more. ------------------------------------ Me: Lol, I bet you will need lots of mew stuff. At least it made it through-right. --------------------------------------------------- Yeah, i was kind of surprised because it went through a lot more at the beginning of my the first year or so.

Mother's Day call

We loved getting a phone call for Mother's Day. Braden says he is doing well. His area is slow but they do have investigator's and some even made it to church. He has a British accent that is fun to hear. He told us that he hasn't made any plans as for what he is going to do when he gets home. He is just focused on the work and working hard. He did tell us that he wants to eat food with FLAVOR when he gets home. He is worried that he is going to freeze when he gets here. The coldest it gets at night is the high 70's usually and that is cold for him. He still has investigator's that live in the bush-jungle, so he often sees monkeys and giraffes. He doesn't think he has grown any. His clothes still fit him but are pretty worn. He needs new shoes but is just gonna hold out until he gets home. I can't wait for him to get home and hear all of the stories that he hasn't told us because he isn't much of a writer and see all of the cool pictures. Having slow internet has made it very hard for him to send pictures. I guess we are luck that we have gotten the few that we have.

Beach volleyball

On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 6:23 AM, Traci Erickson wrote: Dear Braden, Wow another week already. How are things going? How many investigator's do you have and do you think you'll be transferred? Scary that someone decided to break into your place and take things. It is true that missionaries don't have much to take. But it still wasn't nice. They must have thought that you would have lots of stuff since some of you are Americans. Glad that none got hurt. Did they do it while everyone was gone during the day? Spring Break was fun but I'm glad that school starts again tomorrow. To many kids being ornery . Paige had finals and then came home for her Spring break before next quarter starts. She came by herself this time so she had to drive the whole way. She didn't know four hours could be so long. She thought she was coming home for a break-haha. Hope was so excited to have her home that she had lots for them to do together...color, jump on the tramp, swing and a few other things. It was fun to see Paige just go along with it. So, we haven't gotten any information on your return home yet. Stake Pres. says he hasn't either. Have you? I'm thinking that I may need to call your mission office and see what's up. Paige is dying to know so she can be here when you get home. She'll have to miss a few days of school but she doesn't care. Take care...love ya lots, Mom Braden Erickson 4/13/15 Keep this message at the top of your inbox To: Traci Erickson So we dont have to many inv. but its around the 7 # there. we did get transfer news and i am staying in the same place with the same companion. So they asked me where i wanted to fly to but that was it i think i will find out the info in the next 2 weeks. we also got to go to the beach and play beach volleyball that was cool yeah so not much has really happend we are just waiting to watch conference but thats it. Never be ♯ Never be ♭ Always be ♮

Break in

Sounds like you are having fun camping. > Dear Elder Erickson, > How are things going? > Any new investigators? > What did your mission president have to say at your interview? > > Zakk Coombs is engaged Couple with heart. That was really quick. > > Conference was great. I'm sure you can't wait to watch it. > > We decided to make a quick trip to Lava Hot Springs Hot springs for spring break. Hope > we can all get along in a little cabin. > > Love Heavy black heart ya lots, Mom ----------------------------------- Things are going well, we did have only one small thing that is somehow interesting, we had a small little thief, brake into our house and steal some of our stuff but there is not much to steal in a missionaries house. He did get some small stuff from the DL. but thats about it we dont have any new inv. get but we are working on it. Sounds like you are having fun camping.

Busy week

Re: ####

Dear Braden,

How are thing going? Did you have water this week? I hope so. If not, go buy some to drink! You don't want to get sick from germ water.

So the other email I sent you is your pin number....the numbers are in order.  And that reminds me, you bought shirts for everyone when you got out, You need to buy new ones before you come home because everyone has grown.  Ethan and Parker now wear children's large or size 12-14, Hope wears a child's 10 or medium. Yes, she is big for her age.

This week was pretty exciting-or at least the weekend was.  Dad and I made a fast trip to BYUi to listen to Paige sing.  Knowing her, she told you all about it already. She and Zach had a conspiracy going, to make sure that we came to hear her sing and to make dad cry...  So, she sang a song called "I know, because my father knew" it was a beautiful piece, and yes, dad cried! Okay, I did a little.

Zach stayed home and got Parker off to scout camp and Ethan to his karate test on Friday.  And then he took Ethan to a card tournament on Saturday. He has really gotten into MAGIC the card game.  It is kinda funny, he and a few of his friends love it and go to games on Friday nights when they can.  They are the youngest ones there and don't win much. But they like it anyways.  Ethan has even started staying after school to play it with other kids.

Tina volunteered to have Hope sleep over and stay at her house, so Dad and I could go alone. It was the quietest drive ever.  It was nice not to have to listen to a movie and hear kids complain the whole way.

Paige introduced us to another friend she has made. Apparently he has cancer and is on med's for it. I would never have guessed. He is a pretty up beat guy and happy. It's great to know that Paige has made some great friends that will keep her on the straight and narrow and look out for her.

Today was another ward conference and I guess that the topic will be the same for every ward again this year.  However, the Stake Pres. has an open discussion and asked questions during the combined meeting and it is interesting how different they go. 

"By the ordinance [of baptism], we become part of the covenant people of the lord and heirs of the Celestial kingdom of God".-D. Todd Christofferson

Love ya, Mom

Things are going well here, we have water and we will never run out of water again because they installed a extra pump in our compound so the water will always have enough pressure to go to the tank. Sounds like you have had a lot of stuff going on. Im sure paige did a good job with the song. Not much has really happend we did get a few invesitgators again in our teaching pool but still have a lot of work to do. We also have interviews with pres. again on wednesday

Never be ♯

Never be ♭

Always be ♮ 

Fill in the blank

Re: Fill in the blank

 Dear Braden,
How are you doing?_______________________ Who is your new
 companion?______________________Where is he from?_____________________
What is something different you ate this week?____________________________
 The number of investigators you are teaching___________________.

Anything else you would like to tell us
 about>_______________________________________________________________________________



 I visited another wards Relief Society today and the Sister missionaries
 were there. I was going to ask them if they had some where to eat dinner
 tonight or tomorrow but they left 10 minutes early so I didn't get the
 chance. We have had Sister missionaries in our area for over 1 year now.
 They do a tour through the Stake Center every Tuesday evening for anyone
 that is interested. They love it when members show up to help out. This
 means that we have to clean the building every Monday. Okay, not just our
 ward but 2 others. We take turns. This month is us, so I will be taking kids
 with me tomorrow to help out. They have the day off of school.
 Zach was asked to give a talk today on D&C 8, however he got ill Saturday
 and was still running a fever this morning with a sore throat. So he stayed
 home. I forgot all about it until the Bishop mouthed to me from the
 stand,"is Zach here"? me"No, he is home sick". Then it hit me that he was
 supposed to speak. So, I pointed to myself and then to the stand to let him
 know that I would do it if needed. The Bishop just smiled. Thankfully, they
 had scheduled 3 youth speakers and 2 adult speakers and I didn't have to get
 up and speak.
 Talking about speaking in church...I finally got a copy of the schedule for
 the Stake and when and where everyone talks for the year. Guess what, I'm
not on it, yet. But you are on there for June and July. The haven't filled
 in the last 3 months yet-so I may end up talking but it won't be 2 or 3
 times like usual.
 President Spencer wants all of our talks and activities to be on the basics
 and doctrine of the church. He says to many people are afraid to teach the
 doctrine because they don't know it. Also, that we need to have more then
 just a testimony---we need to be converted. The world is getting harder on
 religion and we will have to stick up for it and our believes.
 General Womens Conference is coming up at the end of the month again. I'm
 excited to see what all of the messages will be on and who will speak. The
 Stake RS presidency was in charge of advertising this time---so less stress
 for me. I made poster and hung them in every building and then made
 handouts for the RS president to handout at church. I'm sure we will still
 be there to help set up and then stay and help clean up-just comes with the
 calling.

 I hope that you are doing well and sharing your love of the gospel. 

Love ya lots, Mom

-----------------------------------------------

Things are going well here, not much has happend we have been tracting
a lot to increase our teaching pool. we only have about 4
investigators at the moment. My new companion is Elder Hardman and he
is from UT. Something i ate that is new is Nutella SHH dont tell zach
or paige...haha they tried to get me to eat it befor i left on mission
and they failed.

So the only Not exciting thing that happend this week was we didnt
have water for 6 days we were using a big tank that fills with water
from the rain so we had to boil water all the time. it was not any fun
we also had to take splash baths. Turns out one of the elders was
playing with the water nobs and turned the water off to the house we
finally figured it all out when it was sunday evening i decided to
look at the nobs out side and i found the problem. but thats about it
for the week.

I knew i would be on that list in june....its a missionary thing you
know how it goes.

New companion

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 7:29 AM, Traci Erickson Dear Elder Erickson, How is mission life treating you lately? Any new, exciting stories to tell us? Aunt Tasha's daughter Elizabetha was baptized on Saturday. Grandpa Rindlisbacher did the ordinances. Hope and I were the only ones from our family that attended (The boys and Dad were at Pow wow at BYU). Of course Hope had all kinds of questions and now want to be baptized NOW-not when she is 8. It was fun getting together afterwards at Mike and Tasha's house for lunch and being able to visit with everyone. It seems that even though we all live with in a few hours of each other that we don't see each other very often. Paige's room mate pulled a prank on a friend Matt & Paige. Matt left his phone at their apartment and the room mate posted on Face Book that Matt and Paige were engaged and tagged Paige in it so it showed up on her face book Page. She called us to make sure we knew it wasn't true. But we had a lot of people at church today congratulating us on our exciting news. We then had to tell them it wasn't true. If only her roommate knew all of the excitement she caused. Oh well, life is fun. We had a pretty normal week this week without a lot of excitement. It has decided to be winter again after a long teasing taste of spring. We need the snow though, so we have enough water for the summer and to grow a garden. Hope everything is well with you. Love ya lots---hugs,Mom Re: It's March Braden Erickson 3/02/15 Keep this message at the top of your inbox To: Traci Erickson So not much has really happend mission life is treating me alright the only fun that has happend was transfer news thats it i am now going to be companioins with elder hardman hes a funny guy. so it should be interesting haha Sounds like the family is having fun though thats good. Never be ♯ Never be ♭ Always be ♮