Blessings

The Blessings of Serving a Mission

One of the reasons we wanted to serve a mission was to bless our family in ways that they otherwise might not be blessed.  After six years of marriage our son, Jared, and his wife, Jessica, were told that they had a very slim chance of having children naturally.  After we received our mission call and just before we left, Jared and Jess told us they were expecting their first child.

Elijah Jared Erickson was born on Dec. 7, 2018 in Moab, Utah.

We consider him to be one of the blessings given to our family by Heavenly Father because of our mission.

The proud and happy parents

Congratulations, Jared and Jess.  We will gladly serve two more years if that is what it takes to get another grandchild.

The New Roof

Last week we had pictures of the Mindelo 3rd Ward doing a service project to replace the roof of one of the needy members.  Some of you wanted to see the completed project.  So we returned during the week and took a couple of pictures.

These type of houses are called 'latãos' meaning large cans.

Another trip to Santo Antão

Last week we returned to Santo Antão to assist with the distribution of more of the dental kits.

How five kids sit on three chairs.  Two classes were combined to received the kits and examinations.

Rice and beans for school lunch.

This is the scene from the school window.  The plant in the foreground is sugar cane.

As we walked up a mountain trail to make a visit, we met this man planting mandioca (manioc in English).

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This scale is used by the store next to the school.

We were pleased to see some of the long term results of prior projects.

This is a bathroom that was installed at the school by LDS Charities earlier this year.  This was part of a project developed and implemented by the Gerritsen's.

We visited the health department in Paúl and to our surprise we found a wheelchair donated by the church over 6 years ago.

A Primary Presentation

Today we had the privilege of attending the Mindelo 1st ward and enjoyed the primary program.

The Couple of the Week

Elder and Sister Olson

We met the Olson's at the humanitarian aid conference for the Europe Area.  They are serving as humanitarian aid missionaries in Macedonia and Kosovo and will be returning home next month.

On our trip to Santo Antão we had lunch with the missionaries.

Elder Lake from Utah and Elder Ramirez from California are serving in the town of Ribeira Grande.

Elder Coulibaly from Portugal and Elder Alealua from Australia are serving in the town of Paúl.

Sunday dinner with Elder Flake from Arizona and Elder Adriano from Angola.

After dinner we went with Sister Christopherson from Utah and Sister Ribeiro from Spain to make a visit to a family interested in knowing more about the Gospel.

What a blessing to be part of this great work!