Blessed Away!

This week has been crazy. A lot has happened. 

First off, Peggie got baptized last Saturday! Sister Kemp sent me the program and pictures. Apparently during her baptism when she came up out of the water she yelled, "I did it! I did it! Hallelujah! Praise God! , which totally fits her. I really love her so much. On Friday I got a call from Elder Wallace (one of our Zone Leaders) who told me that on Thursday Peggie passed away. It was really sudden, she was cooking in her home and something sparked on the stove that scared her so badly that she fell back, hit her head, and died. That was an emotional day.  Andre got baptized too, so that was pretty great! 

                                

 I went on exchanges with Sister Hegstrom!!! AHH!! My MTC companion!! :) Well one of them. She actually got really sick during the day so we stayed in most of the day, but we got to teach some! It was so cool to see the jump that we had both made from the MTC. We were really unified. 

Also, on the way over there though I found out that our other MTC companion was going home the next day due to serious illness. Tears were most definitely shed. By the way, if you are reading this Sister Anderson, you better write me!

It's been a long week.  I really have to make sure to pace myself. I have been taking on way too much, so I am working on relaxing. You can't follow the spirit, if you can't hear the spirit! Heavenly Father is making me learn patience. He really does have control over everything.

 We got a new car this week! It’s a 2014 Ford Fusion with less than 50 miles on it when we got it :) oh yeah. It also rained yesterday! There has been a really bad drought so we have all been praying for rain and it finally did! What a blessing :)

 I love you all and hope you have a safe week! 

Merry Christmas

Erin with her advent calendar we made for her.

December 16, 2013

Thanks so much for the calendar by the way, I really love opening something every day. I love hearing everyone's testimonies of our Savior. It builds my faith and brings me comfort. The chocolate is nice too.

Only one Christmas away from home. This time next year, I will have been home for AT LEAST a week :) I will mail some pictures today with my testimony. I would love to send presents home for Christmas, but this year it will have to just be my testimony and pictures. Please know that I love you all dearly and pray that you have an enjoyable Christmas. I can't wait to talk to you all next week, have a safe week! :)

Merry Christmas

 This week was awesome :) Charlene got baptized yesterday! It was an amazing service. Her son (a recent convert of 1 year) baptized and confirmed her. It was really special. She has such a strong testimony, I am so grateful for her example and the time I have been able to teach her.

Caroling

This week we have had the chance to go caroling quite a bit! Which was amazing, because we went with members who introduced us to less active members and all of their friends, so that was great. We are planning on doing more caroling this week to less active members and to some friends of people that members referred us to.

On Christmas we will be having lunch with really nice lady we met who will be alone for Christmas and then we will have dinner that night with some members from the Church.

This week was also the Christmas Devotional! That was amazing, we had missionaries performing lots of different numbers on various instruments. We really are given our talents to bless others!

This week was exchanges too! Sister Stoker came!! She was my first companion when I arrived in California...AHHH!! I didn't get to go with her, BUT it was awesome to see her again! We got to talk some and we actually made one of the gingerbread houses that you (family) sent me during lunch!  It was fun :) I am so grateful to be serving here. I love this area and I love this work. I am very rooted and committed to this work. Nothing can shake my spirits! :) I'm excited to talk to family this week, I love you all! :)

Phone Call

Erin called on Christmas Day and we had a wonderful conversation with her.  She sounds really happy to be serving and has learned so much in the short 7 months she has been gone.  She says she is challenged by her experiences but is loving the opportunities she is having to learn more about the gospel, about herself and about serving others.  

Email

Erin wanted us to let everyone know that she can receive email from family and friends would love to hear from everyone.  Her email address is erin.cusick@myldsmail.net. 

 

Merry Christmas! Almost..

Hello!!! How is everyone doing? I am awesome. This ward is awesome.

 Goodness, I love being a missionary. I really do. So the Sister we are teaching currently is really progressing and is planning on being baptized next Sunday! She is amazing and she has such a strong testimony :) her son is coming home for the holidays and is going to be able to baptize her! Hooray! So we have been meeting with her like every other day to get all of the lessons in.

 We are really working on finding new investigators here, so, any return missionaries who by some chance read this letter, send me your finding techniques! I know there are lots of different ways of finding people to teach, I'm just not as creative! Ha Ha

 My new companion was pretty sick this week, which wasn't fun, but she is better now! There is something going around this area. I hope I don't get it! California is beautiful, this area is really pretty except I am not exactly sure where I am. I'm in Newbury Park in (or right next to? Maybe?) Thousand Oaks, CA. But I don't really have a map, we can't see the ocean, and we are surrounded by mountains so I don't know exactly where I am just that I am really close to LA. Not that it really matters, missionary work is the same :) But besides all of that, nothing else interesting has been going on! Just keep on keeping on.

I know this gospel is true and that it is only through Jesus Christ that we can experience true happiness in this life and the next. I have grown so much closer to my Savior on my mission and I am eternally grateful for his sacrifice for me. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and loves each and every one of us. He cares about us and our trials and wants us to be happy, and that is why he gave us this plan. I hope everyone has a really great week! :) I'll be praying for you!

Hot Dog!

Parent Note:

Seems I'm always apologizing!  So here I go again. Erin emails weekly and often those emails are short with the primary part of her letter being her report to the Mission President.  As I have said before they include people she is teaching and accounts of her work with them.  Needless to say she is busy and teaching a great many people. She appreciates everyone's support. She was transferred from San Luis Obsipo to Newbury Park.  Her address for mail does not change, it gets forwarded from the mission home.

It's a small world

OH! I ran into Ashley, Holly Romaniec's friend, from California.  We ran into her in Costco during lunch time.  She's going to Cal Poly.  It's amazing how small the world is.  It was good to see her.

 We have zone conference this week!!! YAY!!! Zone conference is when the whole zone (and actually a couple other zones too) all get together and President Castro speaks and we get some sort of training too. It's all day long, and it is a great time to try to receive revelation for our investigators. I am doing well, don't worry. The ward feeds us, and we feed ourselves haha. We have way too much food in our apartment right now. But! it's a blessing :) and I love blessings. So I hope everyone has a good week! I haven't been able to hear much about what happened in the Philippines recently, but if you aren't already make sure to include them in your prayers.

 This week we had exchanges and I was with Sister Kiyotani! She is from Kyoto, Japan and is super super sweet.

Hot Dog

Last Sunday, an older gentleman(91) walked into sacrament meeting and wanted to know more about the church.  He had recently lost his wife and wanted to know what we believe about where she is and life after death.  It was so funny when they introduced him to Sister Kemp and I as the people who would be teaching him he said, "These are my teachers?" Hot Dog!"  He was so funny!

Transfer This Week (Newbury Park, CA)

Holy Moly this week has been CRAZY. In like 17 zillion good ways though! So I am PINKwash(Sisters taking over an area where Elders use to be) training a new Sister! Her name is Sister Hardman and she is so sweet. She has a lot of love for everyone and such a positive attitude, so we are getting along great :)

Baptism 

We have a baptism in two weeks!!!!!  Her son joined the church about a year ago and that prompted her to start coming to church and investigate the church. She has been attending one of the wards here in Newbury Park and she lives in our area! She hasn't been taught any of the lessons officially (but knows and has been living the gospel) so we have A LOT to teach in less than two weeks!! So pray for us!!  We are so excited though. Our first lesson is tonight :)

Apartment and New Area

My new area is really condensed. There are a lot of families here and a lot of less active members.  We are working hard to meet them and work with them. We have already knocked into quite a few members of our ward (oops!) but that's what happens when you are new. I will admit, I do miss San Luis and I was sad to leave Peggie!! :( she bore her testimony at church last week by the way) but there is so much potential here. OH OH OH and our apartment has a DISHWASHER, our very own WASHER AND DRYER, and a FIRE PLACE. We feel spoiled.

Things are going well though, we are slowly but surely finding the Elders investigators (many of whom have been taught for several years) and are working to see where they are at in their conversion. So we have a lot of work to do!

 We have a car too! But is shakes like no other. It really scared us when we first started driving but then we realized that that was just how the car ran. I am happy here and learning a lot. I love being a missionary and I know that this work is real and that we can accomplish great things when we let ourselves be instruments in the hands of the Lord. Love you all, have a great week! :) OH! And Happy six months!! :) To me!!

We all have great potential

Something I really realized this week was the potential that every single person has. Something neat that really set in for me on Wednesday was that I can literally become and do anything that I want. I have the potential to baptize monthly. I have the potential to be the best trainer. I can teach with power and authority. I can know this area and remember the names of all the ward members. The only thing that is holding anyone back is their own uncertainty. I know that this is something everyone knows and hears all the time, but for me I came to the conclusion that I am going to become the best missionary I can possibly be. I will be effective and hardworking. I can and will try my hardest to develop those Christ-like attributes that we study is the scriptures . But I will also make sure not to take on too many goals at once. I am just so grateful for the drive and motivation that I am developing to do this work. I am working hard to let Heavenly Father mold me into the missionary he knows I can become.

It's Been Awhile, I'm Sorry but here it is!

Always cooking something good

I have to apologize, for being lax in posting Erin's emails and pictures.

A quick update: 

Erin has had four companions since June of 2013!  Her first trained her, her second was Sister Anderson, (her MTC companion), her third was Sister Marchant (the Anderson's niece, from Frankfort KY), and her current companion, Sister Kemp.

Sister Marchant and Sister Cusick

Thanks Whales

                                                                                                                        August 12, 2013

                                                      Sister Cusick & Sister Andersen 

                                                       

This week has been...so so so funny.  I can't even explain it.

The Law of Chastity

Wednesday we had a lesson with a less active member. We had this big lesson about the Law of Chastity planned, but when we got to her apartment we found out that she had invited her boyfriend over for the lesson too!!!!   We ended up reviewing the restoration with them (he wasn't a member, but was very interested!). We were panicking for a minute there!  It was kind of really funny!! Ha-ha

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Hurry Hurry

-So something that I didn't imagine myself doing on my mission was all the running in church clothes. When we are running late, we run. I feel like sometimes we look super funny because we are in church clothes and are carrying a Book of Mormon and all kinds of bags. It's just super funny! Ha-ha

Thanks Whales

-So on Saturday is this big ward cook-out called the corn feed! The whole ward goes to the beach and they take a huge pot of salt water and they boil a ton of corn in it and just have a cook out. When we were talking to the Bishop about it he said that there might be a problem getting a fire pit because of the” whale celebration” going on.

Sister Anderson and I were like....what...? Apparently every year there is a big celebration for the whales on the beach. The people go out to the water and yell, "thanks whales!" and then they have a party celebrating whales in all of their glory. I'm not sure why but we thought it was hilarious, and it has been a running joke all week. Ha-ha

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

Just a little about a couple of the 8 or so people we are teaching. 

One of my favorite investigators came to church this week again!!! We were so happy for her :) she was in pain but really wanted to come and was so glad that she did, I seriously love her to pieces.

We also taught another friend about prayer this week.  He has been reading every day from the the Book of Mormon and has seen a significant change in his life. He feels more patient, caring, loving, and just in a better mood.  Brother Pearson was at this lesson with us and gave great contributions to the lesson. At the end of the lesson our big invitation was going to be to invite him to say the closing prayer, because in the past he would never pray in front of us. So we invited him and he said yes! He said a great closing prayer, the spirit was really strong. We invited him to talk to his wife about praying together at least once a day and to continue reading.

  

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!  I love it.  I am so happy here.  It's hard, but I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.  Seeing people accept the gospel, receive answers to their prayers, and have it bless their lives has brought me the most joy that I have ever felt.  I cannot explain it.

Sister Anderson and I are so excited and happy to be serving here in San Luis Obispo, we are both so motivated and are excited to see the work moving! 

I love you all!!! Have a great week :)

-Sister Cusick

Slack Lining and Temple Trip

July 5, 2013


Hello! 

This week has been AMAZING :) !!

Sister Stoker & Sister Cusick

Picture taken after dinner at the Bishop's Home

TEACHING

 Almost all of our investigators are progressing!!!! We went from having none to having them all keep their commitments! It's been so great :) I love the people here! Here are some interesting things that have happenned:

-One family we have been teaching for a while are beginning to read the scriptures :) they have been meeting with missionaries for 3 years and they are finally starting to keep commitments. It's been amazing watching them get answers and learn more from reading on their own!!! Yay!!!

-We met a new family! They live on a 'ranch' out in the country behind acres of groves of lemon and orange trees. They gave us fresh eggs from their farm and were super awesome! The story of how they met and got married is CRAZY. Basically he was on his mission in Australia and they both saw each other one day at church and knew they were going to get married. Crazy!

SLACK LINING

-So we were visiting some potential investigators when we starting talking about slack lining. Slack lining is basically like walking on a tight rope (SCARY) (Sister Stoker had tried it at school) and all of a sudden we see a big group of college students doing it in their yard! So we start to watch and they invite us to come over and watch. We are all watching when they are all like, "Try it! I'll hold your Bible or whatever!" And so after a lot of coaxing and reassurance I agreed to do it!! It was so cool!! They made sure there were people holding my arms but it was awesome! Sister Stoker did it too, we made sure to talk to them about the gospel and missionary work but it was just really cool :) Sister Stoker got a picture of it that I will get to you sometime! We invited them all to come to church :)

-We met a guy who kept calling us the "Church of Saturday's Today's Saints." It was really funny, ha ha, he couldn't get it right.

FOOD

-Has anyone ever had chicken pillows? We had them for dinner at a members house one day and they were AMAZING :) so I suggest looking them up ha ha.

TEMPLE TRIP

-WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE! Its official! We are taking the Temple bus on Wednesday and going to the temple! We will be doing two sessions. Ah!!! :D

-Tomorrow is zone conference!! hooray!!

-I am feeling better, I am still sort of sick but I am slowly getting there!

 Thanks for all the love :)