Kingsssbeard. Bestfriend.

I attended a 2 day leadership training this week. It was long. But very edifying! My mission president is a very successful businessman. He was the Senior Vice President for some financial department of Pepsi and Frito Lay. So he is always good for imparting words of business wisdom that he applies to missionary work.

During one of the various 5 minute breaks I saw a woman poke her head into the room full of about 50 Elders and at the time... just me as the only sister. I figured I should go see who she was or what she needed. Turns out she is not a member of the church. She is from Sacramento and was down in LA to take care of her sick father. She was lost, saw the church and felt that she might be able to find help there. After getting her directions I looked at her and I said something to the effect of: "Diana! I don't believe in coincidences! And you may not fully understand the odds of us meeting here today but I know that God put us in each other's paths for a reason." She started to cry. That's when she opened up about her family and all the things they've been going through and how they've been searching for answers and praying for guidance. She just kept saying, "I know, I know!" I gave her a big hug, I bore her my testimony, I told her she always has a family in the church, a support system wherever she is. By the end I had written down all her contact information so we could have missionaries go visit her at home in Sacramento.

God is always behind the scenes, orchestrating our lives. It's nuts. It's like a chess board and He's always carefully moving the pieces around, putting us where we need to be. I'm grateful to have that perspective. The cool thing about that experience is that it's nothing out of the ordinary for a missionary. Things like that happen ALL THE TIME. It's always awesome to see it dawning on someone's face in front of you that they are really on to something good. That their life is about to change. It's wonderful.

CESAR is getting baptized in a couple weeks. He is too good. He's in the quitting drinking coffee and alcohol stage. He made it through Thanksgiving with the fam. So basically, he's solid. He said he told his family he's Mormon and that he doesn't drink anymore. Haha! Awesome. We taught the law of chastity the other night and his only question was: "So how am I going to repent of all the things I've done wrong in my life?" Yeah. Wow. He couldn't be more sincere.

VLADMIR is in love with my companion. He calls us all the time. He called last night and was telling me how he is lonely and he wants to see me and can't sleep because he can't stop thinking about me. I said, "Vladmir, do you know who you are talking to?" "Yes! Its my preciosa bonita chiquita hermanita quemadita! (Hna Blackburn)" "NO! This is Sister Erickson!" I asked him straight up: "Hno, are you in love with my companion?" "Yes." Haha.. oh man. Then I proceeded to tell him that we can no longer teach him we are very sorry but we can't be getting ourselves involved with 63 year old Mexican men who are human traffickers during the week of illegals from LA to Houston.

End of story.

My life is so weird. Kloveyoubye.

I am gonna try not to be such a Grinch this year. Oh the things I do for the people I love!

Also -- the funniest picture of my companion ever taken. I can't look at that intense facial hair without laughing every time.

Thanksgiving. Sorta just felt like every other day... but. Dassokay. Wearing lipstick helps me feel festive.

Yeh right.

This blog post is entitled: A million awkward pictures of me. Or: fashion blog parody part 1.

So, Sister Missionaries - not known for being the most stylish members of the church. And this post is not meant to try to change that. Just thought it could be fun to show what a standard week in the mish looks like for me. Or at least - what I look like on any given day as a missionary. Enjoi.

Monday: P-day. Means no showering and throwing something together last minute to be out of the house by 6 pm. Skirt from DI. Shirt was a mission find (missionaries are always leaving their clothes in apartments and handmedowns are where most of our wardrobe staples come from). Shoes were given to me by a member (male) of the church in Palmdale.

Tuesday: Early appointments means leaving the house with wet hair. I almost never do my hair. Or brush it. There are some dread locks developing under there somewhere. Skirt: mission find. Sweater and shoes: Nordstrom. Neckclace: from Hna Rodriguez de Guatemala.

Wednesday: Scarf: snagged from the lost and found in the mission office. Sweater: another mission find. Shoes: Nordstrom. Skirt: Ross (bought my first transfer in the mission).

Thursday: Its been cold! Tights! Sweater: Banana Republic. Skirt: Goodwill (from H&M). Shoes: my new TOMS.

Friday means District Meeting..which really means: don't look too cute cause there are gonna be Elders there.. Coat: mission find... Skirt: Forever21. Current nails: Pink glitter.

Saturday: Sweater: JCrew. Top: Forever21. Skirt: Mission find.

Sunday: Church and a baptism! That means... heels! Steve Maddens.

This is David Delgadillo. He referred himself online through mormon.org. On October 3rd we gave him a call, to see if we could come meet with him. He said that he wasn't interested in meeting with missionaries. Bummer. On Tuesday I figured why not text him and invite him to come to the church for a tour of the building. He said yes!

We gave him a nice little tour of the church. We sat in the chapel and talked about the restoration of the church and the Book of Mormon. The spirit was SO strong! We all felt it. We encouraged him to keep learning more about the church online and invited him to read the Book of Mormon and taught him that to know if it is true he should pray about it. We set another appointment.

In the next meeting with David (sidenote: every single lesson with him was a member present lesson held either in the church or at a members home. THAT is the way to do missionary work!) we asked David if he had a chance to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. The answer to this question is almost ALWAYS no. He said YES! And he believed it is true. We asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. And... he said yes! Wooh.

Teaching David was wonderful. He would come to us with all these questions before we even taught the lessons...like, "So, can you tell me a little more about tithing and how I pay that?" or "So I've already stopped drinking alcohol but what can I do to give up the coffee??" He was golden. He IS golden.

I am so grateful to see people who the Lord has been preparing their whole lives finally come to learn about the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and make covenants with Him. It is wonderful. It's cool to watch these people come into our lives seemingly just "by chance." But we know that it is the will of God. We we see miracles every day. We have seen that by putting more faith in the Lord (which is done by being obedient) we are seeing more miracles. I love it. I love being a missionary. I love this work. I love my life.

Sometimes I think about my friends or other people I know at home. I think: "Oh what a glamorous life you lead. How boring." Ha.

My life is VERY different from how it was 11 months ago. It is VERY different from any one of my friends on facebook... but I am so grateful to have it the way it is. I don't want to get sucked back into the vortex of worldliness and complete garbage after my mission. I'm no nun ok... but I have learned a lot about happiness so far on my mission. I have learned where true happiness lies. That's something I hope not to forget.

My mormon.org profile..

Songs I'm currently craving

Aye aye aye! I got lit on fire this week by a 9 year old boy during a lesson. We have this activity we do that involves an exercise in faith and lighting a tea bag on fire. Well when I asked the boy if he trusted me and he said "No!" I should have stopped right there. He proceeded to blow a flaming tea bag in my face/hair. It was awful and so hilarious. I almost peed my pants (skirt).

The mission has really eliminated any fears I might have had before. I can do anything! I can talk to anyone! I will probably be afraid of white people after my mission actually.. ha. I never see them. I forget that I am white.

Man, I hate saying "the mission" all the time. I HATED reading missionaries emails before my mission. Mission lingo - it was like a foreign language that I had absolutely no interest in learning. Terms like "zone conference, district meeting, white-washing, killing your mom or being born in the mish." Now I get it! My mind has been opened and I can now relate so much more fully to other missionaries and return missionaries. I used to hate hearing mission stories. Man, I was such a brat. I'm changing my ways.

We have THE COOLEST investigator. His name is Cesar. We met him while leaving the home of of some people we are teaching. Just by chance.. We invited him to church.. and.... he came! And stayed all 3 hours! And felt the Spirit! And then we had 4 lessons with him that week. And yesterday he came to church again and to a baptism later AND to a fireside even later. Wow. I have never had an investigator want to spend so much time at church before. Ha. Every time we meet with him he brings us some sort of offering. First it was the movie "Soul Surfer." Which is kinda funny because I was there when it was being filmed in Hawaii. Then he brought us Vitamin water - like 8 bottles. Then a big bag of tamales. yummm. Then some mexican pastries. What a swell guy.. He has a baptismal date for December 18th.

My friend Elder Rowley and I sang a sort of folky rendition of "Come Thou Fount" at the baptism last night. He played guitar. It was fun. I have really gotten into singing and performing while on my mission. It was something I've neeevvvver done before. But the mission extinguishes all fears, like I said before. I've sung solos in church, at baptisms, and once at a stake musical fireside. I'm not a fantastic singer by any means. But music can bring the Spirit in a very powerful way. So it's always nice to get together with someone talented, a pianist, a flutist, somebody on guitar and come up with something fun to perform. Hopefully it's something I'll retain after the mish. Rowley wants me in his band so... we'll see.

Theres this guy in our ward.. pretty cute. Just graduated from the U and moved back home. Allll the ladies in the ward are in love with him and every one tells me to come back and marry him after my mission. Haha. We'll see. (But really, I'm not into it. Sort of an Apex bro type..)

Welp. I can't think. Brain's fried. I'd sure love a letter or an email or a nice comment if anyone is feeling charitable enough to help this poor soul.

You know you love me.

xoxo gossip girl. .. . .

Fav Christian Spanish artist.. is that weird that I have one?

Happy Birthday Brother Jamalski. Miss yyou mucho.

Sister Baum doing my hair.. and our old room when we used to live in the members apartment.

This is Vladmir. He is an interesting investigator to say the least. He is in LOVE with us. He may have kissed my companion on the neck last week...at least twice. We make sure to always bring members to all our lessons. Vladmir is almost half way done with the Book of Mormon. That's impressive. He is very dramatic and loves to sing us romantic canciones. The last picture is when the candle got so hot that it exploded abruptly.

For Halloween I dressed up as my district leader, Elder Riggs. He dressed up as me.. complete with blonde wig. I looked like a Deacon. It was great. We played a little volleyball, roller-skated around the gym.. the usual. My pants are a little high.. heh.

Its cold! I mean... its like 60 degrees. I keep counting my blessings that I'm not in Provo or Boston.

I saw a car completely on fire the other day. And later that night some cops handcuffing a man to a fence. Oh, Sylmar.. How I love thee. The smog is probably the underlying cause of all my health problems. Sometimes it looks like a cool, foggy day at the Cape or something. But then I remember that's dirt in the air. Sick. We live across the street from Sylmar High School so I am kept very up to date on teen fashion. If you can call it that. Love this town.

Film continues to be an adventure. To quote the hermanita:

i am still learning a lot about my cameras. every roll i get developed is a new lesson. the fish eye has been great but i know i can get more out of it. i forgot my holga in salt lake so i will be happy when we are reunited in hawaii. i am by no means a wanna-be-indie-so-i-use-film photographer. its just fun. film is fun. the anticipation in waiting for it to get developed, being meticulous and careful with each shot, learning to accept imperfection, or in some cases, complete failure. for example, when i tried to develop several blank rolls of film. or when i shot an entire roll with the lens cap on. or when an airport security scan fried one. or when i didnt realize focusing the camera is actually pretty important. its a roller coaster. but roller coasters are fun. film is fun.