12-1-14

hello family,

this week went pretty well. yes.. found out that my wrist is broken.. the bottom bone in my wrist is broken. thats all i know though. the doctor gave me a splint. so its half a cast that i wrap to my arm and it is really annoying because it moves a lot. i dont know how much good it is doing. it does make riding my bike harder, but i am getting better at riding with no hands.

for having the most lessons, the sr missionaries (the millers) gave us a big candy bar. it was cool. the millers are awesome. they live in the same apartment complex as us so we go visit them sometimes. they said that they want to come to our homecomings. they live in utah, so its not much of a trip.

thanks for sending the birthday package! im sure sending it with the raverts was better than mailing it. the nerf guns are a huge hit with all of the missionaries that come over to our apartment. the bike computer is super cool. i was thinking about getting one but this one is better than the one i wouldve gotten. E. ruff has one on his bike and we always see how fast we can go. so far our record is 33.2 mph (downhill). so now ill get to set my own maybe. 

Im glad you guys had a good thanksgiving! how was padens first one home? is he kinda weird? my district leader is going home this transfer and he says hes excited to find out how weird hes become. his name is e. natane. and hes from west valley. so i told him next time hes at west fest to look dad up. 

you guys should have taken some pictures at thanksgiving. see some pictures of tayum haha. td.. 

way to go on the 5K! thats way cool! how did audrees knees do while she was running it? what were your times? ill bet you were able to go pretty quick.

so i got an email from tanner saying that hes put his mission papers in. how awesome is that!? you guys have to send me a video of him opening his call ok? good.

This week wasnt as successful as last week. with it being the holiday there were a lot of people who were out of town so we didnt really get many lessons in. but we got the only new investigator in the zone! boom! down but not out. and i think E ruff is starting to get sick. so weve kinda been taking it a little easy.

i am feeling good. lately ive been really tired but i think we just need to go to bed earlier. my wrist was broken when i crashed on my bike. but im sure that playing basketball everyday and riding a bike wasnt good for it. the dr said that it has been prevented from healing so i guess i get to start the healing process now. my teeth are doing fine. they hurt every once in awhile but its not bad. just a little annoying.

Things with elder ruff are pretty good. we get along really well so thats definitely a bonus. i havent really played th guitar much. and since my wrist got hurt i dont think ive touched it. but he doesnt really want to learn to lax. which is sad. i could teach him the true sport while were teaching the true gospel.

thanksgiving was pretty good. we went to some members who invited a whole bunch of non members over also. it was a little odd. they were watching a football game the whole time. kinda distracting. shes an amazing cook though. and she signed up to feed us on christmas as well. so were excited for that. 

i cant really think of anything i need for christmas, but tsomething that would be awesome is the sound track to the last of the mohicans, the patriot, and the hobbit. we can listen to soundtracks because its usually classical music. and also... i accidentaly sent my white pants home witht he raverts.. so if you could send those back. thatd be awesome. i might need them at some point. hopefully.

transfers are on the 17 of december. i think one of us will get transfered. most likely itll be E ruff. hes been here since september. so it might be his time to go. we are having way to much fun though. 

by the way, dads story about the great white hunter made me laugh and i had to share it with some other elders, they also thought it was funny.

i would send some pictures.. but i forgot my camera. so i will have to send them next week.. sorry about that.

but anyways. much love and i miss you all a ton.

Love Elder Nick Erekson

birthday 11-2014

11-24-14

dear family, 

This week has been great. e. ruff and i have worked really hard and we got 32 lessons! its the highest in the zone. of the baptisms we had scheduled, 2 have canceled. its really sad to see these people who ive fallen in love with just give up. they think that they cant do something but they dont even try! it is really sad. 

im sad to hear that mickelle has been sick. but i think shell get a part in the musical. 

im missing sam too. no one here really wants to play catch with me. can you send him in a package? 

im glad you were able to visit with the raverts! arent they awesome people?? we know Jim as the man with the coldesack on his head. because of his hair. thanks for sending the sticks down! that was awesome! ill make good use of them! 

weve been getting up every morning with our district at 530 to play basketball. its been kinda fun.

i have been doing really well. my legs are getting strong from riding my bike around 15 miles almost every day.

we did have 4 investigators with baptism dates. some of them fell through. because of various reasons. but i think that all of them will be baptized. maybe not by me. but by someone.

we did get an invitation to thanksgiving. We are going to the yearsleys house. and they told us to bring investigators. so we have 1 coming and also a less active member.

you know.. theres not much i really need for christmas. theres this used clothing place by our house and we go there and buy all their skinny ties. its awesome.

i havent heard any news on the ipads. i honestly dont know if well get them. morgan did though. he got one in the mtc!

not much else has gone on this week. no awesome stories.. but its been great being here. a lot of the time i regret that i waited so long to make the decision to come out. but the lord was preparing me in ways that i dont think i will ever know.

way to go on the talks! ill bet there was someone there who needed to hear something you had to say. it always seems that way. way to go mom for teaching all those lessons as well! bet that made for a busy saturday night! ;)

its weird to think that ill be 20 tomorrow.. i still feel like im 13 (still older than dad). but maybe itll always be that way.

i miss you guys a ton. and youre in my thoughts and prayers. happy thanksgiving!!

Love, 

Elder Erekson

11-17-14

Dear family,

im glad everything there is going well. things here are good also. thats cool that paden got to give his talk. theres a missionary from my zone that finished his mission last transfer and he siad being home sucks. so im sure its going to be hard for paden to adjust back into normal life. 

thats cool that you took sam out. what movie did you see? whats it about? 

this last week has been great. we were really busy and were able to get the amount of lessons we planned for as a district. and E. Ruff and i have 3 of the 4 baptism dates in out district. 

this morning we hiked up to Coronado cave as a zone. it was only like a 15 minute hike. but the cave was really cool. when we got in, there was a big cavern that had a cool echo so we all sang hymns, some primary songs and also a few disney songs. it was really cool. i wish there were more things like that we could do. 

sunday was the temple dedication for the Phoenix AZ temple. it was really cool. the people that sang in it did a really good job. there was a lady whose mouth was open so wide while she was singing, that a cantelope couldve fit in there. not really.. but it was kinda funny. There were some really good talks given. Elder Uchtdorf gave a talk about doing genology work and then dedicated the temple. so now ive been to two temple dedications while on my mission. 

no news on the ipads. we were supposed to get them in august ive heard. but they keep pushing the dates for that back. but if we dont get them by christmas we wont be able to skype home for christmas.which would not be fun. but who knows. 

we havent been invited to any thanksgivings yet. but i bet we will. the people here are super in love with missionaries in general. its really cool.

Im glad Grandma is getting out for thanksgiving. she seems to spend a lot of time at home. that wopuld not be fun.

theres a member here that we see a lot of named Jim and Karen Ravert. they are going to utah this week and wanted to stop and see our families. so dont be surprised when some really smiley people show up to the house.

i am feeling good still. no problems here. 

you know.. i cant really think of anything that i need for my birthday. 

i did get the pumpkin seeds. they were awesome! elder ruff thought it was weird that i would eat them, but nobody is perfect. 

we have two new investigators. Nick and Brittany. they have a lilttle girl whos like 1 and a half. Brittany wants to get baptised... but theyre not married. so that complicates things. other than that its the same people. 

Elder Ruff has been on his mission about 8 months. this is his third in sierra vista. so hes only been here one transfer longer than me. 

speaking in church.. yes i have spoken in church. my first week they asked me to speak. and the next week we taught gospel principles.

i love you guys and miss you a ton. 

Love Elder Erekson

11-12-14

hey there family!

i am feeling great. healthy as a horse. could ride my bike to canada.

i guess you already know that elder Ruff and i are staying together for another transfer. Sister Bouchard said that mom and her are BFFs now. she actually has a daughter that left for montana a few weeks ago. im glad i get to stay here for a while. the members here are super awesome!

so this week has been crazy. we had transfers this week (which is crazy anyways) so instead of P day we had "mystical monday" basically our zone gets together and says goodbye to everyone who is leaving. then on tuesday we have P day. but since tuesday was veterans day, and this is a military town, pretty much the whole city was shut down. so now were out emailing on wednesday. 

im glad paden made it home safely. im not surprised dye wouldnt let go. two years is a long time. how many other missionaries were there coming home on that flight? i feel like its been forever since ive seen paden. its kinda weird.

i think that im gonna try to get hold of a lacrosse stick somewhere. i havent seen any gear around here and no one knows what it is so i might have to ask you guys to send me some stuff..

im glad grandpa got his truck back. and im not surprised that hes changing the oil in mine. while i was working with him i decided that if theres something that needs to be done, you need to do it before he did it. because... well. hes pretty young.

its cool that you were able to try to give that elder my old shoes. if someone had offered that to me i wouldve been very grateful. but my shoes and everything are holding up nicely. im not sure if theyre machine washable though. i washed a pair of my pants at the mtc and they look weird now.

so we ate dinner with this family who has a missionary out. and they told us that he had asked them to pray for his investigators. so do you think i could do the same thing? our investigators are Ed Howden, Rosamber Rosas, Rabecca Lucero, Nick and Brittany Lahr, Thomas Jones, and Ian (dont know his last name). so maybe in family prayers you could mention them.

We actually dont do a lot of tracting. we visit a lot of less active members and part member families. a lot of our investigators are referaly from members of the ward. it makes things a lot easier.

you guys have a wonderful week. and know that i love and miss all of you. a lot.

Love

Elder Nick Erekson

thanks for the email addresses. can i get audrees also? and if mickelle has one i want hers too.

11-3-15

hey ya'll,

mom is saying that its been quiet around the house? is audree not home very much or something? im glad you guys liked the picture the lady sent you! Elder Ruff and I were given lights to decorate our bikes and candy to give out at the trunk or treat for the stake were in. I actually cant think of the ladys name that took our picture. theres a lot of names I cant remember. we loved the ties that die sent us. the other missionaries were jealous. wow.. paden gets home on Friday. it seems like he didn't leave long ago. I still remember his farewell. you should make signs for him. but I don't think hell have a hard time picking all of you guys out. itll be a big group.

how does sam like being 9? its too bad he didn't go trick or treating. now he doesn't have candy to eat! bummer! that's way cool that they opened a popeyes there. ill bet its super good. when is fried food not? how was the carrot cake? you cant go wrong with that either.

the pumpkins that you carved look awesome! that big one is really big. did it have lots of seeds? the one you did for me looks pretty good. who carved it?

its good that sam got another nerf gun. maybe he can shoot the missionaries with it if they come over again for dinner.

I am feeling good. nothing wrong here.

we actually didn't teach many lessons this week. people kept canceling on us. it was really disappointing. but it worked out. we were able to go do a lot of service. theres a less active member who we have been helping clean his yard up. he called and asked us to  help with some dead trees in his back yard. but he didn't really have ny tools, so elder ruff and I literally tore a tree apart with our bare hands. the tree was actually pretty big. it was so much fun. and then we got to help some other members replace their roof. these guys' roof has been leaking for years and it was super soggy. believe it or not... I fell through. it was super funny. but roofing is not something I would like doing for a job. my back was killing me.

for Halloween, we were supposed to not go out on the streets. for "reasons". but a lot of our ward members wanted us to go to the trick or treat. so we wrapped our bikes in lights and threw them in our ward mission leaders truck (the church is like 8 miles from where we live, uphill the whole way). and a lot of people gave us candy to give out. it was a blast. little kids love the missionaries.

the old guy who set a baptism date is still getting baptized. he is super excited for it. his kids are as well. when we go teach him, we just answer his questions for sometimes an hour. he is really funny. I think grandpa and him would get along great. same kind of humor. He is set to be baptized on January 17. that's the only time all of his kids can come to town.

transfers are this week actually. I don't think Elder Ruff or I will get transferred out or split. but out zone leader is going home and a lot of the other missionaries think that Ruff and I will be the new zone leaders or replace the district leader. either way, that's a huge responsibility. but I don't think that will happen. were both still pretty new.

Love you guys so much. I miss you all a lot.

Love, Elder Erekson

10-27-14

to whomever reads this email,

i am feeling good. ive been healthy so far. but the fillings that i HAD to get before i came out hurt all the time. thats it though. other than that, all smiles.

i am still teaching that man who is 93. we have taught him 3 lessons and he has decided to be baptized. it was really cool. he wrote it on one of the gospel books we gave him and he showed us and i swear he was glowing. something really cool though. he was telling us some of the things hes had to give up in order to be baptized. which is really only 2 things. 1, he drinks coffee. but its so watered down that he says it basically just warm water. and the other thing.. he was a 32nd degree mason. he was a freaking free mason! thats so cool! but he has to resign to be baptized so.. oh well. hes really excited to be baptized. and apparently elder ruff and i are really good teachers because he was telling us that we should go sell freezers to eskimos. interesting.

things with elder ruff are going really well. we get along great. theres a lot about being a missionary that i need to learn though. the other day we got back to our house early and we hadnt been able to study in the morning because it was zone conference. so we decided to study at night. but.. we got home, found a pass along card, and then proceeded to throw them at eachother for 3 hours. if theres a better way to learn the gospel, someone has to tell me. because we found it.

i got the package from you guys. and i got one from the mays. but i havent been able to open them. theres no where for them to leave packages so they take them to the post office. and the post office is a ways from our area. so we usually go get them on p days. so theyre in the truck now.

the truck i sent a picture of belongs to a friend of brother bouchard. when we went and cleared that property he came to help. and that is his truck. he made it himself. the cab and the bed are from different trucks and he doesnt remember which ones. but i thought it was really cool so i took a picture, and thought id share it.

way to go on the bike ride! 62 miles is a lot.. we ride about 10 every day. so were a ways off. im glad you were able to stop in arizona! isnt it great? everything here is trying to kill you! i love it! i am going to catch a rattle snake though.

way to go on the lacrosse seasons everybody. happy birthday sam (hopefully you get my letter in time). i wish some of the people we eat with would have nerf gun wars with us. they always have to be super fancy. pfft.

anyways, i love you guys. i miss you a ton. 

Love, Elder Nicholas Erekson