a know it all companion

Wow, so close…I was putting Hope to bed when I realized that I hadn't emailed you yet.

This week was filled with lots of good things for us.

Zach passed his driving test ( he took it in his drivers ed class-not the dmv) and I took him to get his learners permit. Dad took him to the church parking lot and practiced with him. He has driven to Jacobs house and back a few times. He also drove the car to church today. He is kind of scary but I'm sure he will improve.

Paige asked another guy to the dance only to be told he had been asked earlier that day. So, she asks Mathew Todd in our ward and he said yes. She will need to send you pictures of how she asked and how she was answered. It was really funny.

Paige also received an Honors Scholarship to Weber State University. It is for two semesters- it probably won't cover everything but it is better than nothing. She is waiting to see if she gets some others. The funny thing is-she didn't even apply for a scholarship to Weber.  If she ends up going there, we are going to see if she can stay with Uncle Mike and Aunt Teri cause they live a lot closer then we do.

Ethan is loving tae kwon do.  They don't do the forms that you had to learn. They teach them the moves and then the teacher practices with each student how to use it. At the end of each class they get to spar.  The part I like, is the teacher is very big on grades and reading. Ethan has to read 3 books before he can get his next belt and write reports on them and turn them in.  He also has a chore chart for every month with daily chores on it he has to do. Easy ones-like make his bed and clean his room. Also, there is a part about showing respect to parents and others that I have to fill out.  They are very focused on their student being well educated and respectful which is great.

Parker is doing well in school except he forgets to turn in his homework-sound like someone you know? His teacher also says she has to re focus him quit often because he day dreams often. But he is at the top of the class in every subject.

Hope is having fun being a big tease lately-ecpecially with Zach. It is really funny to watch. She even teases Jacob now when he come over. Watch out, she will have it down to a science by the time you get home.

I sent the package 1 week ago Wednesday. You should get it sometime the end of this week. 

Hope things are going well with you. If you have time tell us about some of your investigators and what you are up too.

Love, Mom

Well, i am glad i am not on that side of the world right now, zach would probably run all of us over. haha im just kidding, i thought he would pass the permit test in class its 4 times easier is what i hear. now i wound how he will do when he is doing range and road. atleast i know that he will only be driving alone for 4 months when i get home if he gets his licence in a year.

I will have to ask paige, i havent had a reply from her for a long time.

Thats good that ethan is being told to do those things by someone else. its also good new not sitting in front of the tv all day anymore.

I dont know what to think about Parker, he is the biggest air head i know!!! hey in 8th grade i didnt forget to turn in my homework, The teacher hated me!!! I did some of the same homework 4 times i know thats why i stopped turning it in. but i did get into a bad habit because of that.

Hope is just a tease, but its really cool. I dont know if she will be as good as i am, i tease all the elders and sisters here all the time. I guess we will see who is a better tease when i get back.

Things are going Alright, my companion dosnt think i know the area.....oh boy this is going to be interesting last week if he keeps this up. This morning he told me that all i am going to do now is study the area book, and map for study.... dont know if thats gonig to happen.

I think i ate something that upset my stomach and so i have been having to take the work easier, but we will see how long it lasts, yesterday it felt fine but today its hurting a little again, i wonder if its some of the food i have in the fridge.

We have a really nice progressing her name is Agnes, she is about 26 years old and owns a hunny company and own a really nice place. she has been taking the lessons slow but has been coming to church every sunday, and befor he didnt go to church for 5 years. every time we visit her she is blown away.

emails from Loren

Hey Elder,

How are you?  You sounded more upbeat in your last message. I was glad to see that.  A mission is one of the hardest things you'll do in life, but it's also one of the most rewarding.  The only things that really compares for me was my marriage day, and holding each of you kids in the hospital after you were born.  I'm so proud of you and rejoice in the service you are offering to the people of Africa.

I got a call from a member of the stake high council (never a good sign right before stake conference).  They want me to setup and run the audio and video for the broadcast from the stake center to one of the other buildings.  We had a dry run tonight and it seemed to be working okay.  Now if we can just keep the members off the WiFi....

After much deliberation I decided to stop taking my blood thinners, and told the doctors as much.  I have been off the meds for about a week now, and feel fine.  I'll probably have to watch for symptoms of clotting pretty closely for a while though.

Zach has his learners permit (finally).  He's been out driving a couple of times with me and once with mom.  It hasn't been too bad.  He hasn't wrapped the car around a telephone pole yet.  :)  He has driven around the church parking lot (remember that?) and to Anna's house and back a couple of times.  

Hope was asking (again) about when you were coming home and we had to reminder that she has to turn five before that happens.  I think she is under the impression that once she turns five that POP! you'll magically appear.  We're going to have to start managing her expectations that it's still going to be a while.  

I had an impromptu choir sing Families Can be Together Forever today in church.  I had the bishopric make a point of inviting any primary children who wanted to sing.  We probably had 50 people in the choir.  It sounded pretty good ("really" good, according to the bishopric).  We're starting ward choir practice again.  First practice was last Saturday. Had two people show up besides me and the accompanist.  Hopefully we'll get more participation soon.  

I've arranged another hymn.  This time strictly instrumental, with flutes, violins and the piano.  It's In Humility Our Savior.  I've attached an MP3, so let me know what you think when you get a chance to listen to it.  

Love,

Dad

I am doing alright, my companion doesnt think that i know the area......... hes been yelling at me for the past few days its a good think that transfers are happening next tuesday!! I dont know what to think about that kid anymore. Need less to say if he keeps it up he has a lot to learn hahaha. its a good thing that the ap's are just next door if he gets to out of line. i can tell what you mean when you say you will go though some of the hardest things on mission.

A Zach finally got his licence huh thats good and bad, At least i know he will only be driving alone for 4 months before i get home. maybe my car will be in one peace still when i get home. Yeah, i remember driving in the church parking lot execept i was in Manuel car not automatic haha and i also remember trying to get it started in 3rd gear. that went well.  that was like the only trouble i had with getting the car moving for the most part. i had it harder than he did.

so you get to go and work the technical stuff at church for stake conference huh that sounds like fun. you should tell me how that goes.

Hope must really miss me that poor girl. there is only a little more than a year left. so its not to far away.

I did end up getting a stomach ache on saturday it has been coming and going as it pleases so i went to the mission doctor and he gave me some medication to take for a little to see if it helps. it still does the same thing so far so i am going to go see him again later tonight after work ad see what he says this time. hopefully he goes away soon.

So after trying to get into my email a few tries last week i was finally able to get into it. so i will be able to send picture again i only had to reset my password 5 times......that was fun i almost ran out of ideas.

Finding

Hey Braden,

How are things going? Was was your big meeting with Elder Bednar? 

So I'm sending your package tomorrow, I know I said I'd send it last week but never got to it.  Also, I keep forgetting to get your sunglasses out of your car. and when I think of it, the car is at dad's work. 

Things that happened last week. Ethan went to the ortho and had to have part of his gum cut off so his tooth will come in. His mouth was sore for a few days. But his teeth are looking so much better. He is loving Karate and of course school. The new semester started and he comes home and tells us what happened in each of his classes. At least he isn't bored.

Zach took the driving test on Thursday in school and finds out tomorrow if he passed. If he did-off to the DMV for his drivers permit. I'm a little (a lot)scared! And it just hit me that he will be old enough to date in a few months-wow-now i'm scared and nervous.

Paige asked a boy to the sweet hearts dance- I'm sure she'll tell you all about it. If not ask her too. She is still looking for a job.  She applied to BYU and BYU Idaho. We'll see if she gets accepted.

Parker got roller skates for Christmas and uses them all of the time-to go to school, to friends, even friends just across the street. uses we need to go to Classic skating again so he can show off.

Hope is full of ideas and planning camp outs and vacations. Her new favorite game is murder in the dark. Even though she says it scares her a little. She gets all of us playing sand it is so hard not to laugh cause she says the funniest things when she is the murderer and we know exactly where she is. She told the boys after she killed me, "boys, run for your lives"! She is getting better at playing though.

I am actually feeling a lot better. Still not recovered fully though. I started taking the allergy drops instead of the shots-trying to get over all of these sinus infections.  They didn't tell me until I got to my first appointment that for now on, I get to carry EPI pens with me at all times incase I have a severe reaction at home.  I even got a trainer pen to practice with. I made all of the kids (minus Hope) learn how to give them to me just incase. What joys! NOT!!

Anyways, I have rambled for a while, so I better let you go---

Oh, but first I have to tell you. President Spencer got a new baby girl this week.  The birth mother decided just three weeks ago that she wanted them to be the adoptive parents. They are real excited and tired because of no sleep. Hope now thinks that she needs a baby. Not gonna happen.

Take care and pray often.

Love you so so much, MOM

Sounds like a lot of stuff is happening! I dont understand Ethan and i dont think i ever will WHO LIKES SCHOOL SERIOUSLY!!!! sure its fun for the first few days but after you realize that you really dont like it at all. Sounds like he went through a lot of pain, The dentist of the mission came and cleaned a lots of our teeth. lucky for me i didnt have to :) :)  Wait Zach took the test again!! OH NO!! RUN!!! Lucky for me im on the other side of the world! i dont he can get me now HAHAHA! He will never be old enough to Date are you kidding me haha jk! that is scary though. Paige never emailed me shame on that girl i will have to yell at her. at least parker is putting use into his christmas gift. Hope is so funny haha. she makes me laugh that one does. So i found out that Star Wars 7, 8, and 9 are coming out CANT WAIT!!! i wonder how they are going to continue the story though. (it comes out 2015, the year i get home) Sounds like you get to carry needles around not fun!! i think i had enough of those just to come here to africa....im not kidding.  how many kids do the spencers have now? 3?  Elder Bednar was a BLAST!! he made the meeting into a conversation which was awesome unfortunately we didnt get to meet him up close. besides that it was awesome! Thngs are going slow here and we have a lot of finding to do.

How was your week?  How was the meeting with Elder Bednar? Any interesting stories?

The week went by pretty fast. I had to go to my allergy specialist to see if he could do anything for my sinus infection. Now I get to do a sinus rinse 3 times a day with guess what in it---baby shampoo. Sounds strange but hopefully it works. Oh and also a steroid.  My allergist is by grandparent R's house and so Granda watched Hope while I went and then we visited for a while. Now Hope wants to go back. She also wants to go to Grandparent E's. The kids have Monday off of school for Martin Luther King day and so Hope got the idea that we should go to Arizona on Monday. She was sad when we told her that we needed more than 1 day to visit  Hope also has the idea that we need to go to a hotel with the big letter H on it. Remember we stayed at the Holiday inn on the way back from Arizona? I don't know how she remembers but she does. We told her that we might stay at a hotel for spring break. Now she is counting the months and already packing a suit case.

The other kids are doing well. Busy with school work and friends.

My talk went well today. I had to kind of expand my talk because the youth speaker didn't show up. Of course I was nervous, I always am, but to make things worse, President Spencer showed up for the meeting at the last minute. Glad that it is over.

Paige had an appointment with President Bunnel today. He asked her to speak at the youth fireside that they have for Stake Conference. So now she is the next one to speak in the family. When she got home she was saying "really? out of all of the Young Women the choose Me?. She'll do a great job though. She always does.

Hope things are going well for you.

Love ya lots, MOM

When you don't feel like praying, pray until you do.

MOM,

so now your breaking the word of wisdom SHAME ON YOU!! Just Kidding!!!  Hope is a funny one indeed!!! and has a very good memory when it comes to that kind of stuff. paige will do well with her talk

Transfer to Ntinda

 Hey, what is your new area called? It is neat that you get to be with
someone you knew at the MTC. I never did. Do you have to walk as much in
 your new area?I am looking for a good priced quad to send to you. I bought
 you some new socks since you sent the picture of what yours look like. Hope went to her first dance lesson this week and enjoyed it. She wants to go more than once a week :( guess she'll just have to practice at home. Ethan started Ti kwon do this week also. He loves it and picks up on things pretty fast. They speak Korean when they do it, so he has to learn a little of it. In order to get his next belt he has to do chores at home, get good grades or improve them and do 3 book reports besides the things he has to learn in class. I don't think it will be very hard for him. He loves to read and is getting good grades. Parker is still taking piano lesson's but doesn't practice very much. Somehow he passes of the songs each week and gets new ones. Paige is applying for BYU but is kind of thinking of going to UVU until her mission. She and a friend went out and applied for a few different jobs on Saturday. I guess she is running out of spending money. Zach is having a rough time in school right now, or maybe he just needs to work harder so he can get better grades. Dad has made a deal with him that if he gets good grades that he will buy him a better computer-since we aren't buying him a car for his 16th birthday.(cause he can drive which ever one is available) Dad is still driving yours most of the time.We got some more snow and Parker and Hope tried to build a snowman, well Parker would roll them and Hope would smash them-so no snowman.I had Stake Relief Society training for all of the wards in the stake. It went pretty well, I think. And thankfully we only have to do one a year.Hope all is we'll with you? Prayers and Hugs!!Love Mom

I got Transferred to Ntinda Its more a city that where i was. in fact
if you wanted to compare the 2 places i have been you could say my
first area was a Jungle and the place i am now is a HUGE CITY!! How
are things going? I get to see Elder Bednar that is cool I cant
wait!!!


---My email didn't go through last night, however, it all turned out good. I got on to check Braden's reply and he was still on. So we chatted back and forth and I resent the email and he got it that time.  He is excited because President Bednar is coming this week.  The have a few investigators but are working on mostly the inactive this week.  

this is what he said when I told him I loved him and to take care.
"You getting off? i still have 1 hour"
Uhm, I need to go-I'm supposed to be teaching preschool right now. (Kids in other room playing) Wish I could have stayed on longer. Hope I catch him next time.

Another transfer

On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 6:55 PM, Traci Erickson

Braden,

How are things going? Did you get transferred?  

The pictures you sent were great-except for the big yucky spider. Although, some of the kids thought it was cool.  I can't believe your shoes actually look like that. They were supposed to last along time. Oh well, guess they weren't as good as the man told us.  

I found a new pair of pants that you left behind, so I will send them in the next package. Not sure when that will be. Let me know if you think of anything else you want besides your sunglasses and food and a quad.

Not much has happened this week. Just hanging out, relaxing and having fun. 

School starts again tomorrow. I kind of wish we had a few more days. It has been nice to wake up late and just take it easy.  Ethan and Hope are excited about going back.  Break messed up Hope's schedule and she is getting grumpier every day. So, it will be good for her to get back in the normal routine.  Ethan had home work over break and he did it all yesterday.  I still don't understand why teacher's do that.

Send us a picture of the giant lizard. The kids want to see it. 

Shirt sizes are….dad xx large, mom women's medium, Paige women's x small or small, Zach mens small, Ethan and Parker boys size 10-yes they are almost the same size now.  And Hope a kids  8.

 This week I get to help teach the Stake Relief Society training  class.  I think it should go pretty smooth.  I found out at a Stake meeting that I am schedule to speak in Sacrament meeting 3 times in different wards this year. To bad the themes are different every month so I just can't give the same talk 3 times. Oh well, maybe I get use to speaking again.

Love ya, MOM

Convert yourself and then convert others.

Things are going good, i did get transfer new and i will be leaving Gulu! My new companion is my Brother from the MTC which is awesome!!! I cant wait. so I have another Picture of a spider for you that you may or may not like unfortunately i am unable to send the picture from the place i am emailing today. Yeah its sad the shoes didn't last very long. So i have bad news about sending The Uganda Shirts to you, i went to the post office to see how much it would cost to send the package and they want $200 USD  worth of money maybe i will  see if i can get a better price at the new area i am going to but  if not then you might just have to wait till i get home :(  

Christmas phone call

Braden told us that he would call us about 8 a.m. our time.  Everyone waited around anxiously.  Paige started carrying the phone around with her.
The phone rang about 8:20 and everyone gathered around. Everyone got to talk to Braden for a few minutes-except Loren- and the phone started beeping.  We waited for Braden too call back. Thank goodness for caller ID-we called him back.  Somehow, Braden paid for 40 minutes of talk time but only really got about 8.
We put the phone on speaker and talked to him and asked him questions about his mission.

He loves Africa and meeting new people.  His companion right now is a native and not very talkative, so it makes for long days of tracking.  They got to stay in Christmas day and they watched movies.
He has worn out all 3 pairs of shoes we sent with him.  Even his expensive ones from ZCMI that were supposed to last a long time.  So he found some nice ones there and bought them.
He has seen many giraffes and thousands of lizards.  He said that he got a picture a 5 foot lizard. But he didn't send it to us yet.  He has seen a few HUGE spiders.
He built him a rock man for Christmas, since there isn't any snow.  He told us that there is a tribe there that speaks almost the same language as on the Lion King! Ya know-acoona ma tatta.

He told us that he gets up at 6:30 every morning. And they go out about 10:00 and have to be in by 9:00 p.m.. the first house in their area is about 3 miles away. And the walk at least 12 miles a day.

Here are some pic's

Bad hair day...

Sorry i dont have a picture of how tan i am it doesnt show well on the camera.

I had to send the pictures using my own email.

See This is what happens to my shoes.

What happens to my socks

The New Shoes.

Yeah

On 12/30/13, Traci Erickson 
  Braden, It was so great getting to talk to you on Christmas Day! It was
 good to hear your happy voice and know that you still tease people. It is
 amazing that you have worn out that many pairs of shoes already. But I guess
 you do, do a lot of walking. I hope that now Christmas is over it will be
 easier to find more people to teach. For some reason the holiday seems to
 make it harder.Are you doing anything fun for the New Year? Do you have to
 stay in? Paige is jealous that you get to watch movies. It would have been
 nice on my mission to help pass the time on the days we had to stay inside.
 Paige is also jealous of her friends that got to Skype with their
 missionaries. I told her to just be grateful that we got to talk to you. Her
 response,"I know, I know". When we hang up after talking to you, booth Paige
 and Zach hugged each other and jumped up and down. It was quite a sight-wish
 I had my camera handy. When Zach realized Christmas eve,that you got to
 call for Christmas, he was very excited. It is great to see how much the
 kids want to be involved with your work and what you are doing.I have been
fighting a sinus infection and have been missed out on all kinds of things
 this Christmas. I didn't make to to the Christmas eve party at the R's. The
 rest of the family went. In stead of dressing up for the Story of
 Christ-Grandma made shadow puppets that the kids got to hold up in front of
 a light for the big shadow. I'm sure it was easier than dressing everyone
 up. She even sent a set home so we can do it here. I haven't made all of
 the goodies that we usually do. Dad got ambitious and made chex mix. It
turned out good. The younger kids have spent a lot of time playing with
friends. Okay, I guess the older ones to but we better call it hanging
out.Zach gets to talk in church on the 12th. And I get to talk in the 2nd
 ward with the dry council. How fun for me. (Maybe, we'll see how it goes.)I
 ran into Bro. Cop at church today and he asked how you were doing. And told
me to tell you HI.Love ya lots, MOM Remember to have JOY in the Journey!



 its "Red Tell" or something like that.

Teasing people is fun haha :) Yeah i have done a lot of walking i
would send you some pictures but i dont know if i can the computer is
slow today :( We dont really do anything fun for new years we are just
told to return to our house a few hours early so that we dont get
mixed in with all the stuff that will be happening. why was paige
jealous? haha. I would have been able to Skype for a little but by the
time we got back to the house the couple missionaries were a sleep and
so we didnt get to use the computer. but maybe on mothers day?! but if
you want to do that youre going to have to send me your skype
information and im going to have to remember mine....haha jk i think i
remember mine. Really i wish you got a video of that it would have
been very funny to see zach and paige doing that.

You need to get better soon!! Sounds like you will have fun giving
talks though in church.

If you havent already sent that package yet it would be really great
if i could get a 2nd set of scriptures a quad if possible, (the new
one) and a case to put it in. the case i have is starting to fall
apart and some of the pages in the scriptures i have are starting to
get loose. and maybe a tie or 2, WITH FOOD :) :) Thanks :)

calling for Christmas

I will be calling you probably around 8 am if i can 8 am for you not me it will be 6 pm for me. but dont hold me to that i have to use one of the other elders sim cards because i couldnt get mine in time. The mission pres. only wants us to talk for no more than 40 mins so i will buy enought time for 40 minutes max. I have you numbers in my planner so i dont forget. Sounds like Hope is having a hard time with me being alway poor girl. I want to send a christmas package but i need to finish pulling things together. and then i am going to be fearing the shipping price oh well....it will be worth it. Sounds like you had a lot of fun with the missionaries there. and some with hope. I hope everyone gets feeling better befor christmas. Burning no but hot yes!!! maybe i will try to send some of the heat to you :) haha. No we havent found anymore people to teach but we are still working hard. and No again my companion is still silent he talks very little.

On Sun, Dec 22, 2013 at 4:44 AM, Traci Erickson

How are things going? A few questions while I'm thinking of them…

Are you calling us on Christmas or do we call you? If we call you, we need your number.  If you call us here are numbers…801-847-5845 house phone. 801-400-7598 my cell. 801-922-0260 dad's cell.

What time to call works best for you. We will make sure to be awake!!

The Zone conference, was actually a mission conference-the Provo Utah mission.  Elder Arnold from the general authorities was there. He even came in the kitchen and talk to us for a while. Funny guy.  We had tons and tons of food. And sent the left overs home with the ZL's to hand out to all the missionaries.

Cute little Hope, thought that you were going to be there. Poor girl almost cried when I reminded her that you were far away in Africa.  Some cute Sister missionaries took Hope under their wings and helped her get her lunch and had her sit by them to eat.  Hope told everyone that would listen that her brother was a missionary in Africa. 

The lunch was a success but next time we do it, we are going to get a committee to help. Especially with clean up. It was a lot of work but worth every minute of it.

So, the yucky stomach flu made it through the whole family. Even Paige and Zach got it.  I took Hope and myself to the doctors on Tuesday because I could tell I still had a sinus infection. Hope has had a cough and stuffy nose for about 2 weeks. They put both Hope and myself on antibiotics. Lucky me, got a shot in the butt of antibiotics. The doctor said I needed a dole dose because I have been sick for way to long.  Guess what? Hope is feeling better, me, not so much. But hopefully I'll get over this stuff soon.

The temperature finally made it above freezing and today we got more snow. I will get a picture for you.  The roads are very slick because it rained and then froze.  Cars have a hard time getting up our street. I even got stuck once and had to back, back down the road and go around the block the other way to get home. Crazy weather.

So, are you burning up from all the nice warm sun?  Right now, I would love some.  Have you found anymore people to teach? And have you got your companion talking yet?

I'm sure I will think of more later.

Keep up the hard work-We all love you and pray for you daily!

Love, mom