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 ♮

another one

Dear Braden,

How are things going? Did you have zone conference yet? Anything new?

Ethan got his braces off-finally.  He reminded us for days that it was coming. He has a permanent retainer on both the top and the bottom.  They go behind his teeth so you can't see them and they are only on 4 teeth.  He also has the clear ones like you have that he has to wear at night. But his teeth are now nice and straight!

Hope has lost 3 teeth already. She seems to going to loose them already.  Since Valentines Day was this week, we talked about it in preschool. So, Hope has been making cards for everyone and giving them to the family and friends all week long. 

Parker didn't get a prize in the science fair but he had fun doing it.  I laugh at his teacher. She emailed me concerned that he wasn't getting a lot of his homework turned in-of course it was finished and just in his back pack.  We got his report card and it was A's and B's.

Paige came home for the long weekend (President's Day). We have enjoyed having her around.  She is loving college life and her classes.

Zach registered for his senior year-what!  Surprisingly, he didn't sign up for choir.  He said he couldn't fit it in with all of the college prep classes he wants to take.  He signed up for SI-FI because you had it and said that just watch a lot of movies. He also signed up for debate, that could be interesting for everyone involved.

The company that I purchased my preschool curriculum through, asked me to blog for them once a week and in return, they will send me FREE curriculum every month. I couldn't pass that up. Free is nice.

Grandpa E is in the hospital. He was having a lot off back pain and couldn't sleep. Then he couldn't urinate and had a lot of pain in his bladder. They finally took him to the ER and have been running tests.  He has an abnormality on his spine in his lower back.  They are going to biopsy it on Monday. They had to wait a few days for the blood thinner he has been taking to work it's way out of his system before they can do it. Guess we'll find out sometime during the week what is really going on there.

Keep up the good work and have fun killing your comp off soon.

Love ya, MOM

Happy Valentines Day or as Zach calls it--Happy single's awareness day

Wow sounds like a lot is happening yeah, the sister missionaires told us many times on valintines day that it was that wonderful time of the year haha. Oh well...

So i had some interesting things happen this week 1 i almost had my camera stolen from me and 2twice. we did have zone conference/exchanges with the zls.  So we were coming back from zone conference and we have to go through town and thats a very busy and crowed area. we were going to a taxi so we could get back to our area and as we were walking, someone behind me started to unzip my bag and grabbed my camera luckily i felt a tug on my bag and saw him and got it back haha people fear missionaries here and also all you have to do is say one word and the hole city will attack him.....i didn't say it but i could see that he though i was.  a few days later the zls came down to work in our area......I HATE THAT!!! they don't help you at all they just like to yell at you most of the time. 

New area?

e 

 

2/01/15 

Dear Braden,

So I guess it is kinda important to push the send button after writing a email.

Sorry you didn't get it last week.

Anyhow, how are things going? I hear your area is covered with lots of hills. I bet that is a good work out.

Any investigator's or baptisms.

You get to kill your comp? :) That's cool. Don't let him get too trunk, keep busy.

Tell us what exciting things have been happening.

We had Stake conference last night and today.  Because I am in the Stake Relief Society, I was able to help make dinner and serve it to the Stake Presidency and their wives along with Elder Eince(from the 70's) and his wife between Saturdays meetings. That was a neat experience.

Elder Eince is from St. George. He spoke on our Stake Theme-Reverence for sacred things builds faith in Jesus Christ. He told some funny experiences about digging a well and how he had 3 different people tell him where he should dig his well. He choose a different place and ended up having to drill 5 hole before hitting water.  He then told us about knowing how much water was in the well when it was full and to never empty it all of the way or you will have to replace the very expensive pump.  He likened this to our spiritual wells.  Are we replacing the water we use so our wells don't dry out.

This is something I am going to work on even more. Scripture reading and reading Sundays lesson before Sunday will help.

Dad bought a 110 year old baby grand piano. Yes, he is crazy. We don't have it yet. It is being cleaned up. Dad wants to put it in the dinning room so he started cleaning it out. Hope it fits.

Now we can have piano wars. You know, who can pound louder then the other person.

Love ya, MOM

Smile, it makes people wonder what you've been up too.

transfer to kajjansi

Hey Elder,

How are things going? Eating anything strange lately? Have you heard about transfers yet?

Any baptisms?

Josh Shipp spoke in our ward today. He has been home for almost a month. He stood up and said it was good to see us because he thought that we had all become inactive. That's because the ward split while he was gone and we aren't in his ward anymore. He gave a talk on the importance of the temple. It was rally good.

Hope had her tonsils and adenoids out on Tuesday.  Apparently, she had extra adenoid tissue so the doctor removed most of it.  The poor girl has been in a lot of pain most of the last few days.  Yesterday, she was up and playing and doing good but today she is having a rough time.  Since I told someone that I would sub in primary for them today, Dad stayed home with her.

Hopefully, she will start doing better in the next couple of days.

We found out from Parker's teacher that he hasn't been doing a lot of his home work and she is concerned. Guess what BIG homework he hasn't been working on...the science fair project.  Dad came up with a good one and they did most of the work on Saturday.  He is experimenting on which potatoes give off the most electricity current. It is the RED one, thought you might want to know. We just have to put his poster together and he is good to go. Now to catch up on all the math homework, silly boy.

Zach gave his 2 week notice at Smash Burger's. I don't blame him, they don't work him very much. He worked 1 day out of 3 weeks last month. Not very good odds. He is looking for a new job.

Paige is loving college life.  We have skipped with her  a few times and talked to her on the phone. And of course see the pictures she's tagged in.

The big Stake Relief Society training went over very well.  Now I can breathe for a while before all the madness of visiting wards and doing ward training begin in 1 week.  We get to feed the visiting Seventy, his wife and the Stake presidency and their wives on January 31 for Stake Conference also. Crazy, busy, calling but I love it.

SPA=Spiritually Prepared Always

Love ya lots, Mom

Fwd: audition success, tonsils, rough we

On 1/19/15, Loren J Erickson
> Hey Elder,
> How are you?  Are you down to a single companion now?  How are the baptisms
> coming?  Seems like you had a few in the works.  I hope you are emotionally
> well and healthy.  Remember to eat and drink enough for your body's needs.
> Walking all those miles is taking a toll, I'll bet.
>
> The house is feeling pretty empty with both you and Paige gone.  I've found
> myself counting heads several times.
>
> Paige is having no trouble adjusting to college life, I think.  I keep
> seeking photos shared on facebook with her in them.  Her roommates are
> apparently pretty cool and there seems to be a party at her apartment quite
> often.  Might be because we let her take the Wii with her.
>
> It's been a pretty busy week.  At least it feels like it.  Work is in
> crunch mode.  I'm under a lot of pressure to get some bugs fixed.  Not sure
> there will be enough time.  May be working some late hours this week.
>
> Hope had her tonsils out on Tuesday.  She had a few more growths than
> usual, so the procedure took longer, and I think her recovery is taking a
> little longer too.  She is not a happy camper.  Can't eat much without
> hurting her throat.  We keep giving her pain medicine but it seems to be
> only barely managing the pain.  Include her in your prayers, please.
>
> Ethan is going ice fishing soon, don't recall exactly when, but I think
> he's excited.  Zach really liked it when he went.  Did you ever do that?
>
> Parker's piano teacher dropped him from her students.  She said he had
> missed too many lessons, even though we told her that he was not going to
> be coming during the holidays.  So we put him in Tae Kwon Do with Ethan.
> He seems to be pretty happy about that.  We'll see when the punches start
> flying.
>
> Zach quit his job at Smashburger a while back.  They were only scheduling
> him for 1 day a week, so his 2 week paychecks were pretty pitiful.  He says
> he is going to try to find another one, but I'm not sure how motivated he
> is.
>
> Mom had a big stake Relief Society training session that she put a lot of
> planning into.  She had to set up most of it herself because the other
> presidency members were going back and forth to home because they kept
> forgetting things.  Anyway, she planned a cute object lesson to help the
> sisters understand that it was not the decorations or color coordination
> that makes the lesson, but a focus on the scriptures and on Christ.  Sounds
> like it was a big success.
>
> I think I told you about auditioning for the Millennial Choirs and
> Orchestra, didn't I?  It's a national group that has chapters in Utah,
> Arizona, California and elsewhere.  They've only been in Utah for just over
> a year, and I had never heard of them before.  They do two concerts a year,
> one for Easter and another for Christmas (actually it sounds like there may
> be more concerts around Christmas time).
>
> The audition went pretty well. I think they mistook me for a bass because
> they had me do the bass scales first and I got down pretty low, maybe a low
> E (one line below the bottom the bass staff).  Then they asked whether I
> sang baritone or bass in the Messiah, and I told them first tenor.  So then
> they ran me through the tenor scales and I got up to an A (one line above
> the top of the treble staff).  Then I had to sing the melody of America the
> Beautiful, and the tenor part of All Glory Laud and Honor, during which the
> two people doing the auditions sang with me (I guess to see if I could
> blend).  Well, I guess I can because they accepted me as a second tenor.  I
> wish you could be home to hear the easter concert, but I know that's not to
> be.  Definitely the Christmas one though.  :)
>
> Long letter, sorry.  Remember the basics: prayers, scriptures, hard work.
> You are doing a marvelous work and a wonder.
>
> Love,
> Dad

Sounds like a lot is going on, We got transfer news and i am already
leaving for a new area supprise huh! i am going to be going to
kajjansi and i will be "Killing" someone  they are about to go come so
fun stuff i guess. we did have a baptism and almost a confermation
but they were late.

Interviews

> Dear Elder Erickson-yeah, Braden,
> How was your week? I hope it was good and you are teaching lots of
> discussions.Anything exciting happen? Any new animals following you around?
> This week went buy pretty fast. Nothing too exciting happened. Just trying
> to get back to our normal routine.Hope is excited because she gets to have
> her adenoids and tonsils out on Tuesday. I don't think she quiet understands
> what it all means. She just knows that she issuing to the hospital to have
> them taken out and after she gets to eat lots of popsicles and ice-cream.I
> have the big Stake Relief Society Training on Thursday. I need to prepare a
> talk on sticking to the lesson and not getting all fluffy with handouts and
> pictures and such. It will be interesting.
> Take care,,love ya lots, 

sounds like a lot has going on huh Hope is always a trouble maker

haha. i think when they time comes for them to be removed she will be
very scared with all the needles and things like that haha.

The only exciting thing that has happend was Interviews with Mission
Pres. it kinda messed with weekly planning though but thats ok we just
had to do it on sunday. but that is about it transfers are coming up
again very soon just next monday i know i will be staying in this
area. my companion has been here for 5 transfers now.

Am I behind or what?

RE: College

Traci Erickson

 

 

1/11/15 

 

 

To:  Braden Erickson

Dear Elder Erickson-yeah, Braden,

How was your week? I hope it was good and you are teaching lots of discussions.

Anything exciting happen? Any new animals following you around?

This week went buy pretty fast. Nothing too exciting happened. Just trying to get back to our normal routine.

Hope is excited because she gets to have her adenoids and tonsils out on Tuesday. I don't think she quiet understands what it all means. She just knows that she issuing to the hospital to have them taken out and after she gets to eat lots of popsicles and ice-cream.

I have the big Stake Relief Society Training on Thursday. I need to prepare a talk on sticking to the lesson and not getting all fluffy with handouts and pictures and such. It will be interesting.

Take care,,love ya lots, Mom

> Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2015 16:03:38 +0300
> Subject: Re: College
> From: braden.erickson@myldsmail.net
> To: tracirerickson@hotmail.com
>
> Not much has been going on here these past few days. the area is sorta
> challenging its hard to find people and also the ward is not very
> active. we also have to get some marriges done for 4 of our baptisms
> to go through but nothing new has happend.
>
> Sounds like house is getting bigger is that right its ok one person
> will be coming back sooner or later. paige will be fine though.
>
> On 1/5/15, Traci Erickson <tracirerickson@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Hey  Elder Erickson,
> > What's up? Anything new happened?
> >
> > We took Paige to BYU-I on Thursday. We all spent the night  in a motel.
> > And then got her to her apartment complex by 9:00 am to do her final check
> > in. She wanted to be first so she could get a good room. She chose her room
> > and we brought all of her stuff in. After all that, she ended up changing
> > rooms anyways.
> > The house  is a lot quieter without her here.
> > Hope had the hardest time saying goodbye. She has already Skyped her to say
> > hi. Hope has also decided that I need to help her prepare for college 
> > too. Who cares about kindergarten, let's go straight to college.
> >
> > Hope you are doing well and keeping busy.
> >
> > Love  you lots, Mom

Pictures and baptisms

On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 

 I thought that these were shrimp-turns out they are fried grasshopper-Yes, Braden ate them-oh my.

Braden,

Wow,wow,wow, Thanks for the pictures. They are fun to get. You look very tan. Love where you were putting your water bottles. Shrimp with their heads-did you eat them?

How are thing going in your new area? Any investigator's or are you doing the dreaded tracting .? How close are you to the lake? Stay away from those hungry alligators or are they crock's?

This week went pretty well. Zach and Parker made it to their choir concerts. An old time friend of mine-Sheryl Maness- came from Mississippi to visit family and took some time to visit me. It was fun to catch up on all that is going on with her.

It finally SNOWED again. The younger ids were so excited. We've had a lot of rain lately. To bad it melted today.

So, I wrote my talk and was excited about giving it, woke up Saturday not feeling the best. By noon was running a fever and feeling crapy. So President Bunnel got to speak for me today. Oh well. Maybe the next time I speak, the topic will be the same and I can still use the talk.

Did you get the BOX?

Love, MOM

Enjoy the heat for me.

Well when i am in the sun all day there is no way not to get tan and also its the hottest parts of the year here so we get even extra sun haha. The area is going well we have had 4 baptisms and we have another 6 lined up for the end of the month, we havnt done any tracting yet we have a huge teaching pool for the first time ever. I am not to close to the lake my last area was not far at all from the lake just a 5 min taxi ride haha the people say that because it has been populated by people now the crocks dont come to that side anymore.

Why is it that when every there is an activity you always get sick i dont understand i think you might be allergic to it or something So that shrimp or what every you called it is not shrimp at all and yes i did eat those grasshoppers haha

 yes grasshoppers that have been fried in oil.

I got the christmas box and have been opening the letters one at a time. Sorry but i opened the wrapped stuff as well the thing is if there is food in packages the humidity gets to it some times so i open to make sure it will be ok to wait for some time haha. the chocolate was very good though! i have been craving sweet things for some reason and it is hard to find things that will get rid of the crave. Thanks!!! 

Never be ♯

Never be ♭

Always be ♮ 

Wow, I'm behind-and another transfer in the works

Re: Another w

On 12/8/14, Traci Erickson <tracirerickson@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Braden,How are things in way off Africa? Any baptisms set up? What is
> the weather like and what have you been eating? Anything interesting?In
> Dad's last email, he told you not to open the box we sent. He is WRONG-OPEN
> it! It has things in it to decorate with and letter from the family. Open
> one letter a day until the are gone. I got you and your comp. some fun ties
> to wear. I'm sure they will be quite a conversation starter.
> The busy time of year has hit. Christmas shopping for the family has begun.
> Christmas concerts for bot Zach and Ethan have already begun. Zach has 4
> performances this week. Hope that he can stay on top of his school work.
> Parker has one tomorrow for the school assembly and then Wednesday night at
> South Towne Mall.
> Another lady has been helping with the bells in Parkers choir. She won't be
> there Monday to help point to the notes and the rhythm, so I am going to try
> and do it. We'll see how it works out tomorrow, guess. I had Dad play the
> piano part so I could get it right--so hopefully it will go smoothly.
> I'm sure Dad told you about the speaking part that Parker has. And yes, the
> get to sing a song in Swahili. I told Parker that he would have to sing it
> to you when you call for Christmas .
> Have you heard anything about transfers yet? Do you think your staying? Or
> do you want to go to a new place?
> So Bro. Holland told me the wrong date for speaking at the Spanish ward. It
> is this coming week. So, the topic now makes a little more since. But now I
> only have 1 week to prepare my talk. I know procrastinating, isn't the best
> thing to do.
> We have had yucky sickness at our house the past week. One person gets
> better and some one else comes down with something totally different. I
> guess it is that time of year.
> I hope that you are staying healthy and Happy.
> Love ya tons, Mom
> Christ is the reason for the season!
>
>

Things are going well here in Africa, not much has really happened
though we do have a few baptisms lined up lets see if they go through.
The weather is very hot!!! in the end of this month and beginning of
next month it will be the hottest time of the year!! its time to drink
lots of water. So lately i have been eating burgers, soup, rice,
chicken, beef, salad, eggs, the sunday terdition and some others as
well haha. some times pizza on friday its expensive haha. The most
exciting thing that has happend was transfer news, i will be leaving
and going to Seeta maybe this will be my last area with the way i stay
in areas haha. i am kinda looking forward to the new area, the stake
pres. stays in that area. Sounds like you are moving around a lot
these days.
>
> On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 6:25 AM, Traci Erickson <tracirerickson@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dear Braden,How was your week? Hope you were able to have a good
> Thanksgiving ! I don't know if Dad put more money i your account or not. But
> I'm planning on adding more soon. You should still have enough for what ever
> you need.This week was actually pretty good and low stress-which was nice.
> We had a small Thanksgiving with just us on Thanksgiving day. I baked the
> turkey, made mashed potatoes and rolls. We warned up some veggies and called
> it good.The next day, Ethan told me that I forgot to make the
> stuffing-ooopppss. That's his favorite part. So, for dinner we ate pizza and
> stuffing. Funny combo but we got it in.
> The weather was actually great on Saturday for the drive to Morgan. There
> were about 55 of us there. Mike and Teri invited the Loveland side of the
> family also. I know a few of them, so it was fun to catch up. We had it at
> the church so there was plenty of room. There was also lots of food because
> every family brought something. We actually left before it got dark. It
> was nice to not have to fight the cold icy roads like we have in past
> years.
> Kaderyn Kitchen gave her home coming talk in church today. She did an
> amazing job. But she still wears strange clothes. Okay, I think they are
> strange. Dad, Zach, Paige and I sang the special musical number today. We
> did an okay job. Next time Dad doesn't get to pick the song-Haha.
> So, tomorrow we get to go back to our normal routine, which will be nice.
> Keep on trucking and touch those around you.
> Love, MOM
> Don't just let your light shine so others may see it.But let others see him
> (Christ) shine through your light.

> so i looked at my card and guess what it is expired haha so putting money in
> wont do anything hehe.Never be ♯Never be ♭
> Always be ♮
>
> On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 3:18 PM, Braden Erickson
> <braden.erickson@myldsmail.net> wrote:
> Things are going well here, this is the last week of the transfer then i am
> left with only 4 more to complete!!!?!?!?! strange time is going way to
> fast!!! oh well. So i have pictures to send up the problem is the interent
> is slow again, i dont know i might go look for a new place to email we will
> see. but you wont believe the pictures if i get them sent day haha.Never be
> ♯Never be ♭
> Always be ♮
>

>

>
> On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 9:08 AM, Traci Erickson <tracirerickson@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Braden, Glad to hear that you are keeping busy. Good for setting some end of
> the year goals.Do you have any special plan for Thanksgiving? Do you think
> you will get to eat Turkey?We are having Thanksgiving on Saturday at Teri's
> with the whole gang. So we are going to do a small turkey meal at home on
> Thursday.The kid are out of school on Wednesday thru Friday. Paige and her
> friends are planning on going to the temple. Paige is trying to convince
> Ethan to go with them, since he just got his recommend renewed today. We'll
> see if he is brave enough to go.I found out today that the topic I get to
> speak on at the Spanish ward-right before Christmas-is the First Vision.
> That will be interesting. I thought for sure it would be on the Birth of
> Christ. Good thing that I haven't started planning my talk yet.Hope you have
> a good and busy week.Happy Thanksgiving, MOM
> What if you woke up in the morning and the only things you had were the
> things you thanked God for the night before?
>

> Sounds like you are about to shove your face full of food haha, i wish i
> could but i will be working and i dont know if i will have the money to do
> such a thing anyways. i might try to cook some chicken or something we will
> see. we dont really celebrate it here.
> sounds like a lot is happening thats good though that paige is planning to
> go to the temple lets see if ethan goes haha.
> will you be speaking in spanish?? haha just kidding i dont know if i would
> be able to do that anymore i am sure i could if it was not to long after
> school ended but now umm i dont think so. That is a strange topic for
> christmas haha.Never be ♯Never be ♭
> Always be ♮
>
> Things are going well, not much has happend we are trying to get atleast 4
> more baptisms for the year in our area, so we need to do a lot of finding!
> besides that not much has happend. they didnt even inspect the houses haha.
> i dont know maybe pres was trying to scare us or something.Never be ♯Never
> be ♭
> Always be ♮

catching back up

FW: Halloween, etc,

On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 8:04 AM, Loren J Erickson

Hey Elder,
Heard about your little "run for your life" episode last week.  I hope that ended well.  I know what it's like to have an over-zealous member (or non-member) take too close an interest in the missionaries.  In one area I was at there was this older lady who kept calling the missionaries (us) early in the morning, like 3am.  Not fun when you have to get up at 6am.  We finally had to get the local branch leadership involved.  Anyway, I hope you don't have a stalker problem.  Be careful, and understand that not everyone has your best interest at heart.  "Be wise.  What can I say more?"  Now who was it that always used to use that scripture in FHE?  Oh, yeah.  :)

Before I write you again Halloween will have come and gone.  Hope is super excited but she's still trying to make up her mind about what she's going to be.  Only Hope and Parker are still young enough to go trick-or-treating, if you can believe that.  Zach is headed to some friend's party dressed as an English gentleman, complete with top hat, sash, cane and monocle.  I have to say he certainly looks the part.  Ethan is also headed to a friend's party but I have no idea if he is dressing up or not.  The kids are getting old, that's for sure. We're carving pumpkins for FHE tomorrow.

I installed a new light switch in my office.  Not one from my company.  It's from a company called Belkin and the product family is called WeMo.  Not sure what that stands for, but it's pretty cool.  I can control the light switch from anywhere in the world with my phone.  I can also set schedules for when it turns on and off, including what it does when we're away.  It's supposed to support motion detection too I think, but that function is not available in the mobile app, so maybe that's something else.

I think my company may be in a little bit of trouble because it's kind of ignoring the home automation mass-market, which is growing like crazy right now.  I think if they don't do anything, they could find themselves in a position where they have a very limited potential market.  That's what they call being a niche player, and that's not a good thing.  Anyway, it's good to keep up with what's going on in this space.  I also applied at a company called Vivint, which is a competitor to Control4, and had a screening interview over the phone that I thought went very well, but I haven't heard anything in over a week, so who knows.

Bishop Gooch asked about you today.  I told him you were working hard and doing well, but that there was a little friction between you and your current companion.  I hope that's getting better.  Maybe that has changed, or is in the process of changing.  How are your suitcases holding up?  They were recommended by missionary moms, so I hope they are serving you well.  What do you want for Christmas?  Any other durable goods that you need?  Stuff you can't find over there?  Gotta get that box off soon.

Send pictures when you can.  One thing to consider about emailing pictures to yourself is that your hotmail account (if that's the one you're using) has a limited storage capacity, and you don't want to lose any pictures because you overflow that.  If you are using that account and the password is still the same (the one about the car?) then would you mind if I logged in and put some of those pictures in a safe place?  It's completely up to you and I won't do it if you don't want me to.  

Not much else has happened since I last wrote.  I'm going to have to take the van in for service, because the transmission is shifting really hard.  That sounds expensive.  I hope it doesn't turn out to be a lemon.  :[

Take good care of yourself physically.  Be mindful of who you come into contact with. Watch your personal hygiene.  Be obedient to the mission rules and listen closely to what your mission president counsels you to do.  You are on the Lord's errand and He will protected you if you give him your whole heart, might, mind and soul.  I love you deeply, and am proud of the example you are setting to your siblings and others. 

Love,
Dad 

Things are going well here in Uganda, the work is going well, we have 4 investigators that are progressing and we also have a mission tour coming up soon with one of the 70 so that will also be fun. we also had transfer news and me and my companion will be staying, but there is a elder in the district that is driving me insane i have just resulted to ignoring him and pretending he is not even there anymore. besides that not much has happend.

Never be ♯

Never be ♭

Always be ♮

Re: Another week

Braden Erickson

 

 

10/27/14 

 

 

To:  Traci Erickson

Sounds like you have a lot going on haha. everything is going well here we had transfer news and my companion and i will be staying together and there is also another elder staying that is driving me insane, i guess we will have to come up with some way of solving this haha. umm so we are also having a 70 come to uganda to talk with us and take us on a tour. that will be fun! besides that we have 4 progressings and so that will be nice! but thats about all. not much has really happend

Never be ♯

Never be ♭

Always be ♮

On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 7:18 AM, Traci Erickson <tracirerickson@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey Elder E,

What's up? Have you see anymore of your stalker? Hope she doesn't get to creepy.

So, I was just thinking that I should be getting a Christmas box put together for you.  Do you need anything special?  I know you want food-but what else?  I can't believe that is already so close to the holidays.

We bought hope a princess costume for halloween and now she wants to be a builder.  We'll see what she really goes trick or treating as.  Parker hasn't decided yet, so he thinks we need to go shopping tomorrow.

Zach was asked to Sadie's-yup, he was. It was by a girl in choir that he doesn't really know.  And of course, I can't remember her name.  Hopefully, Zach will email you and tell you more.

Paige is keeping busy-working 5 days a week. She got a call from the school district to see if she wanted to be a teacher's aid-she did apply for a few positions months ago. But since she is liking smash burger's and only has a short time left, she isn't going to do it.

Ethan tested for his orange belt on Friday. He was the only one his level testing, so he had to do it all by himself.  he did a great job and remembered everything.  They gave him his sparing gear in a huge bag-ya know, like you had- but fancier, since they bought everything for him.  He is pretty excited about it.

Fall is really here. It is getting colder and darker way to early. The sad part is, that day light savings is next week and then it will be darker even earlier. 

Hope that things are going well for you and that you are staying healthy and happy.

Loe ya, MOM

---

Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 17:37:04 +0300

Subject: Re: Another week
From: braden.erickson@myldsmail.net
To: tracirerickson@hotmail.com

Okay, thats good. So something very interesting happend yesterday! we had a crazy girl come to FHE at the church, i already know her because one of my old companions and i tought her anyway. lets say she likes mazungu (white people) and she ended up staying the hole time the scary thing is what happend after FHE, she remained behind as we talked with some of the members to see if there  were any referrals. we realized that she was still there and asked her why she was still there. she said she wanted to see where we stay!!! we told she that visitors are not allowed and she asked why not after sometime of trying to help her realize that she would never know where we stay we told her to go home, wait and ate some fries that the members made for us. after eating she was still there!!! we went up to her and told her GO HOME! very boldly she just looked at us and said okay......you think she would get the point, well she didn't she was determined to find out were we stayed. it was then we realized we had to get her to talk to a member so we could leave without her knowing. as we got her to talk to a member she saw us heading out and ran to the gate and tried to meet us on the road, well i saw that and so i started to run so she would not find us. luckily she didn't find us or we would have had a long time trying to get her to leave us.

So your probably wondering why i am emailing on tuesday...lets just say we got a call from the ZL saying we had to fill out a survey that we have to do and i finished and have to wait for my companion to finish as well. 

Never be ♯

Never be ♭

Always be ♮

On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 6:54 PM, Traci Erickson <tracirerickson@hotmail.com> wrote:

Your jar of quarters are safe in their jar, up high in the kitchen cabinet.

---

Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 14:52:43 +0300

Subject: Re: Another week
From: braden.erickson@myldsmail.net
To: tracirerickson@hotmail.com

Sounds like your having a fun time, with everything going on. So about Ebola it has not come to Uganda yet, but we have had its twin here for a little but now that is gone as well. Mission president has had a very close eye on it, and he is handing out hand sanatizer to everone. he gave it to us first (the zone) because the the twin was in the hospital was in the area. by the way the twin is MALBERG or something like that if you wanted to know it has the same simtrums as Ebola but just kills you slower. but like i said its not here anymore.

My companion and I have been doing better we have been working hard and i think that helps a little.

So, just wondering you know the quarters that i had did you save those or did you just give them to zach or something??? I saw the pictures of the coins and it reminded me about the quarters i had haha.

So about the pictures i wont be able to send them today because i forgot my camera...next week i hope the internet will be ok because today it is really fast. 

Never be ♯

Never be ♭

Always be ♮

On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 8:51 AM, Traci Erickson <tracirerickson@hotmail.com> wrote:

Braden, Sorry that you are having so many problems with slow computers.  Hope that they are working better today.  How are you doing? Have you heard of anything about the ebola virus lately?  So some guy that was infected by it in Africa, got on a plane and went to Texas…he died and now so has a nurse. Scary times in Texas.

On a brighter note, we went to the R's to start our yearly family service project for Christmas.  We are making hats out of yarn.  Dad even figured it out.  So, hopefully, we will have lots made for Christmas.  

I subbed in primary for the chorister. It was fun doing my old calling again.  Hope decided that she had to stay with me both hours.  Dad had a rough night and didn't make it to church.  Oh ya, Ian Miller had his farewell today. He gave a good talk. He joked about if he stutter a lot, it was because his dad has horrible handwriting. Pretty funny. He is going to the Philippines, he leave this week. I don't know which MTC he is going to. Guess I'll have to ask. They'll have two missionaries out for a while.

Grandma E. had a hip replacement this week. She is home now walking with a walker and in lots of pain. But hopefully when she heals she will be out of pain.

We had fall break and the kids don't go back to school until Tuesday. It has been nice to have a few days off-even for me.

Hope you are doing well and teaching lots.  Send pictures when you can.

ove ya lots, Mom

---

Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2014 14:47:09 +0300

Subject: Re: Another week
From: braden.erickson@myldsmail.net
To: tracirerickson@hotmail.com

So we will get to see general conference on the 25 and 26 of this month they have to send the dvd's to us because of time difference its hard. the baptism was push back to next week though. umm me and my companion get into a little fight but now it is all settled down and we are working hard. besides that not much happend

Never be ♯

Never be ♭

Always be ♮