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

 She is still in San Luis Obispo, CA and loving it.  On one of her p-days (preparation days), she climbed Mt. Bishop, a 3 mile hike with her zone. A zone is collection of missionaries in her area.

She was happy to report one of the people she taught was baptized and she was able to attend that baptism.

 The sister missionaries seem to find quite a few young adults to teach, but always have to pass them on to the Elders (male missionaries) who are assigned to the Singles Ward.

San Luis Obispo District
Top of Mt. Bishop

Having fun on her day off (Mondays)

I know I've left out a lot and I hope you are writing to her and maybe getting your own letter occasionally. Her address has not changed and will not for her entire mission. ( 3301 West Gonzales Road, Oxnard, CA 93036). She has just a few hours on Mondays to write letters, shop, clean, do laundry and sometimes visit the sites in her area. Now here is her most recent email.  

Vicki Cusick, Mom

November 4, 2013

"I love this work, I'm so busy and I'm growing so much!"

Good morning! Things here are great. I love my new companion, Sister Kemp. I think I wrote about her last week. But! She is still awesome! She is from North Ogden. Oh yeah :) Utah.  Whenever people ask where I am from they always get so surprised that I'm not from Utah, it's pretty funny!  Ha Ha.

 This week has been good! We had talked to a lot of people, things in the ward are going great, and we have a couple investigators that are doing pretty well. On Monday we were able to have dinner with the Mendez family! We love them to death. Sister Mendez's children are so adorable and they really love the gospel. They have such a desire to be baptized and to progress; we can’t wait for our next appointment with them.

We were able to have a quick lesson with a woman from church and her caretaker.  Greg really takes good care of Sister Johnson. She asks him to read to her from the Gospel Principles book and from the Book of Mormon all the time so he is really curious about where this all came from.  This week we talked a little about Moroni 10:32. He has a very strong belief in Jesus Christ (he is an ex-minister) and is pretty curious about what we teach.  He was able to come to church this week with Sister Johnson. We are planning to watch the Restoration DVD with them both on Tuesday and talk more about the Restoration. We are really excited!

 Halloween was interesting! We had to come in at 7 pm but people still tried to give us candy when we talked to them, we didn't mind of course, but we were trying to avoid that. J  Today we are going to tour the local "Mission" as a district. It's a historical site for the Catholic Church. I don't know much about it but it should be fun!

Sister Kemp and I are still working hard. We met some really interesting people this week and had some weird experiences Ha Ha. Quite a few, "if I wasn't a missionary I would have never...” 

 I love this work, I am so busy, and I'm growing so much.  J  If you want to draw closer to the Lord, learn time management, develop good workout and study habits, work on your social skills, learn how to manage stress, get to know the scriptures, and learn how to just work hard, then you should serve a mission. I will never ever regret the decision that I made to serve. I wouldn't trade the things that I have learned, the people I have met, the relationships I have built, and the experiences I have had for the world. I am grateful for this gospel and I know it is true.

Sister Erin Cusick