Far and Wide His Love Proclaim: Elder Erichsen's Emails

What the heck happened guys??? Last week was super chill, but then all of a sudden BAM I feel like we're in an apocalypse or something. IN JUST ONE WEEK! WHAT THE HECK?      So I'd first like to state that the majority of people here in Paraguay hear about the news about something and that's the ONLY thing they talk about. So if something happens, pretty much EVERYONE tells us about it. Members, non members, everyone. So we'd been aware of the Corona Virus for quite some time. But really I didn't think it was a big deal haha. Then on tuesday night we get this message from our president saying, "Due to the Corona Virus, there will be no church meetings of any kind for 2 weeks. No sacrament meeting. No district councils. NADA." WHATTTT yYOU GOTTA BE KIDDING MEE?? HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE A MISSIONARY WITHOUT A CHURCH??? This week was crazy!      So if any of you are wondering how the people are doing here in Paraguay, everyone is pretty calm

Hey hey hey evverryyonee. What's up? Oh me? I'm doing great. I hope you all know that we finished those 14 liters of soda yesterday. And yes, every liter was worth it.      We totally had a zone conference with a General Authority named Elder Villar on Thursday and that was pretty amazing. He talked a lot about how missionary work is really just loving and ministering one another.  https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=7IRSt0xa4D4  That video is pretty awesome, you should watch it. Like, I definitely realized that the MEMBERS can be even BETTER missionaries than us! Just show the example, invite people to activities, be cool, idk. The church is awesome! Was a great conference. I also got to see the majority of my companions which was kinda cool.      It was hot EVERY single day this week. Ya know, I really thought the cold was coming, but I guess not :(. So I put on sunscreen every day, and I know that I'm not getting burnt because I know how sunburns feel, yet my face and

Wow we're already on week 80, that's pretty crazy. That means there's only like 20 weeks left....But idk who's counting.      HEEEEEEYY GGGUUUUUYYYYSSSSS. This week was just pretty fantasterific here in the Floresta. It was also suuuuuupeerrrrr hooootttttt. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna look like my companion and this end of this change.      We had a special conference with a general authority on Wednesday and that was super awesome. I think his name was Elder Mckay, but I'm pretty bad at names. But it was a great conference. He talked a lot about how we need to teach by the Spirit, and if we don't teach by the spirit, we're not teaching in the way of God. Like, there's no reason to teach unless you're teaching by the spirit. He also talked about how we need to use the Book of Mormon when we teach to ACTUALLY convert people. Nobody can be converted in the Gospel until they have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Good stuff.      If you

Heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyy everrryybbooddyyy!!!! Voces falam portugues? Está bem! Eu tambem nao. Mas vou seguir aprendendo kkkkkkkkkkk.      So we had transfers and I'm back here with my boy Elder Rodrigues and we're just having a grand ol' time here in the Floresta. I remember my first week here I had to adjust quite a bit. In Villarrica the people are super nice, but here they're a little more frío. So Elder Rodrigues kinda had to go through that same adjustment. But I think he's doing pretty good now.      I'm pretty glad that Elder Rodrigues is here with me. Last transfer my companion didn't drink any soda and only ate out once a week, but now we're back to eating out every day except Sunday and drinking soda for personal study in the morning, so life is good. I honestly have NO idea how I have not gained weight since I've been here. I checked my weight actually a few weeks ago, and I'm still sitting at the same 160 pounds of skin and bone tha

Itttttt'sssssssss hhhhooooootttttttttttt guuuyyyyysssssssssssssssssssss ssssssss oohhhh mmyyy goooddnnesssssss.      This week was SUPERRRR BUUEENNAAAAAAAA. It was Elder Cook's birthday and we had a party with a member with cake (3rd foto). He's now 19! Wow! So old! Might as well be an abuelo now.       Transfers tomorrow! Woooo. So my new companion was with me in Villarrica for like 5 weeks in a trio and his name is Elder Rodrigues. He's awesome. We're already really good friends and I'm super excited. He's from Brasil and I'm ACTUALLY gonna try and learn a little portuguese this transfer. Wish me luck. But this transfer will definitely be a good one.      So story time: Elder Cook and I were looking for this member and we went into this kinda sketchy apartment building and starting knocking on doors (Yes, we were actually KNOCKING on doors. It was weird). We knocked at this one on the 3rd floor but nobody came out. Then this Mom and son started

Wwwhhhhhhhaaaattttt isss upppp ya''''llllllllllll. How was everyone's week? Swell? Fantastic? Amazing? Oh, sorry...I was just talking about how GREAT our week was because EVERY week is great here in PARAGUAY.      Ok that may have been kind of an exaggeration. It was a pretty normal week  . Nobody went to church, but hey, Sarah still has a baptismal date for the 29th, so we're all gucci. Taught some people. Ate some food. Good stuff.      We did have Zone Conference on Thursday and that was pretty cool. They did make a change to how we count "New Investigators." So we used to count them if we taught a 5 minute lesson with a return date to come back. But NOW we have to teach a FULL lesson for it to count. So our average new investigators is probably going from 15 to a fat 3. I also got to see a lot of Elders and old companions and that's always fun. It was also the LAST zone conference of the hermanas from my MTC district, which is super weird.