Elsa! (Guest Blogger:Todd Erickson)

My dad wrote an awesome blog so I wanted to share it with you guys. Hope you enjoy it!

On one of our many trips to Santiago Zamora, a small village just 15 minutes from our home, Katey took a quick shot of our new friend Elsa. Elsa lives in a home that Servants 4 Him built last summer and it now includes a water filter and a clean fuel efficient stove. Elsa and her sisters love to spend time with Katey and especially brush and braid her hair. They have become friends.

Soon after that visit, a local magazine advertised for the opportunity to have photos published in their January photo issue. Katey submitted her pic of Elsa and it (along with one from Clay) was highlighted on page 86. Elsa was a bona fide model.

Two weeks ago, Katey had the opportunity to share the January Revue magazine with Elsa. She got to see her very own photo published and the smile that spread across her face was, as the commercial claims, priceless.

Is anyone among you happy, Let them sing songs of praise. James 5:13

(Todd)

Hope you enjoyed it. Here is the picture that I got in the magazine of Elsa...

And here is the awesome picture Clay got in the magazine...

-Katey :)

School Supply Distribution.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

-Proverbs 1:7

This weekend we got the opportunity to give away some of the donated school supplies to kids in the villages. They need to have all their school supplies to be able to attend school. They also need clean clothes and shoes, so we gave out some of the donated clothes and shoes too. We also got to pray for them and their school year. I got to pray for one girl and I prayed for her school year and for her knowledge in the Lord. It was a great day of being able to provide some needs and pray for the kids!

-Katey :)

A Quick Review of the Past 2 Weeks...

I am sorry that I haven't blogged in a little while...I have been busy. And I want to tell you all about it so here is a bunch of pictures and explanations of how I spent my last two weeks :)

On the 22nd of December we went with some friends to Oakland Mall in the city to see the new Narnia movie. It was tons of fun! It was really nice to go see a movie in the theaters and it was such a great movie...so spiritual! And we even got our pictures with Santa :) It was a great day with friends!

And then on Christmas Eve we had dinner at the Forrest and Carols house and then went to the candle light Christmas Eve service put on by our church. It was a good Christmas Eve!

But thats not all, at midnight the sky lit up with fireworks from EVERY direction to celebrate Christmas Day! It was like nothing I had ever seen, heard, or smelt! And its definitely a tradition that I will enjoy (:

Then Christmas morning we had a normal Christmas morning. But then once we opened gifts and ate breakfast, we went to the airport to pick up the Oesterblads!

And with them came more gifts! It was like a second Christmas morning. Thank you so much to everyone who sent stuff down with the Oesterblads! And thank you to everyone who signed my shirt! You guys are AWESOME!!!

(in the picture above I am reading all the signatures on a shirt that a lot of my friends from school and church signed!!)

Then we spent the week with the Oesterblads! It was a great week. We...

Sifted (first picture) and cleaned (second picture) sand for a water filter!

Went to a village where we played with kids and the guys built a new stove for a family.

The second picture is me with two little girls who braided my hair (:

The last picture is the Oesterblad guys with the family that got the new stove!

Went to some ruins in Antigua!

Hiked the volcano Pacaya. And while we were there I talked to our guide from the last time we hiked Pacaya and I gave him a picture of himself that I had taken last time. He loved it and he said that he didnt have a picture of himself. It was so cool!

And we celebrated New Years Eve with food, movies, and of course...Fireworks!! We set off some of our own and then watched them light up the sky at midnight just like Christmas Eve! It's so cool to watch!

So thats how I spent the last two weeks!! It has been a really fun last two weeks. Thanks for reading...sorry for the excessive amount of pictures :)

-Katey!!

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve)

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,

Not a creature was stirring ¡Caramba! ¿Qué pasa?

Los niños were tucked away in their camas,

Some in long underwear, some in pijamas,

While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado,

In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado,

To bring all children, both buenos and malos,

A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.

Outside in the yard there arose un gran grito,

and I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.

I ran to the window and looked out afuera,

And who in the world do you think that it era?

Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero,

Came dashing along like a loco bombero.

And pulling his sleigh instead of venados,

Were eight little burros approaching volando.

I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre,

Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:

"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, at Beto,

Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Maruco, y Nieto!"

Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho,

He flew to the top of our very own techo,

With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,

He struggled to squeeze down our old chimenea.

Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,

With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,

He filled all the stockings with lively regalos,

None for the niños that had been malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,

He turned like a flash and was gone como el viento,

And I heard him exclaim, y ¡esto es verdad!

Merry Christmas to all, ¡y Feliz Navidad!

I do not know the author of this Spanglish version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas but I enjoy it and I hope you do too. FELIZ NAVIDAD!

-Katey :)

Guest Writer: Rachel Austin

Rachel Austin wrote an awesome article about my family and I. I loved it and wanted to share it with you. Hope you enjoy it and pass it on to your friends and family.

Local Teen’s New Life in Guatemala
By Rachel Austin
LEESBURG- Not many people know too much about Guatemala, so here are a few facts to keep you up to speed. Guatemala- population: 14.36 million, mostly a rural environment, located in Central America, 70.6% literacy rate, mostly populated with descendants of the Mayan people, and now the new home of Katey Erickson.

In August the Erickson family from Leesburg moved down to Antigua, a city in Guatemala, to work with an organization known as Servants 4 Him. Although she knew the change would be hard, Katey was actually thrilled when she learned she was moving to Guatemala saying, “I was really excited [to move to Guatemala] because I had taken a mission trip to Guatemala last summer and loved it! And I knew God was calling me to go so I was excited.” The entire Erickson family shares Katey’s same genuine passion for sharing their faith with the Guatemalan people which is why they joined the Servants 4 Him group.

Servants 4 Him is a non-profit mission organization that was started by another couple from Leesburg, Forrest and Carol Kendall. The missionaries teach the Guatemalan people about Jesus while improving the people’s standard of living with bio-sand water filters, improved wood burning stoves, dry composting latrines, and sanitation education. The Ericksons have only been living in Guatemala for about four months but they have already been able to do some mission work with the Servants 4 Him team. “Well right now our main focus is learning the language so that we can communicate with the people in the villages but I have had the opportunity to visit villages and meet and help people, do VBS [vacation bible school] type things with kids, help Carol (one of the missionaries in our organization) with anything she needs help with, and much more. And in the future when we have teams come down I will help them in the village with either building a house, building and delivering water filters or stoves, doing VBS things with the kids, or whatever else is needed in the villages. We always have something to do to help the people down here,” answered Katey when asked what mission work she has been involved in so far.

Learning Spanish has been quite a challenge for all of the Ericksons so far. When asked about learning the language Katey remarked, “My parents have been going to language school everyday for 4 hours. And my siblings and I have tutors that come to our house 3 days a week for 3 hours each day. It’s hard but I am learning a lot and I really like being able to communicate with people”. Although learning the language has been difficult for all of the Erickson family, Spanish is coming fairly naturally for Clay, Katey’s 14 year old brother, saying, “Yeah it’s [Spanish] pretty hard for my family but it’s coming pretty easy for me”. Even though the Erickson’s language skills aren’t quite top notch yet they don’t let the language barrier overcome their passion for the mission work they are doing in Guatemala. After going to a visit a church in TodoNicapan, Emily, Katey’s nine year old sister, said “We got there [TodoNicapan] early to visit a family and the mom was sick and we got to pray for her. It was really cool how even though she didn't understand what we were praying in English she still knew what we meant while we were praying. During the church service I didn't know what they were saying but I knew what they were saying. This might not make sense but if you had my brain you would understand”.

While learning Spanish is consuming a lot of the Erickson’s time they still find time to experience their new home and adapt to the culture. When asked what her favorite experience has been so far Katey replied, “I have had so many amazing experiences that its hard to pick just one. I have gotten the opportunities to hike an active volcano, go to a kite festival, go to a Macedamia nut farm, see ruins, help in poor villages, and much more. But I think my favorite experience so far was going to and helping with a kids camp in complete Spanish. It was an amazing experience. I got to meet some amazing people, practice my Spanish, and just all in all have an amazing time!”

The Erickson family is embracing their new life in Guatemala even with all the cultural differences between Leesburg and Antigua. Clay recalls his strangest experience so far as being an incident with a taxi-cab, “The taxis here are like 3 wheeled motorcycles with a roof that can fit 4 people including the driver. I was riding in one up a hill when we ran out of gas and started rolling backwards and the driver called the other guy I was with and asked him to hold brake while he filled up the gas tank because he didn't have emergency brakes”. Katey has had some strange experiences too, especially in the Mayan villiages. “I think the strangest thing that has happened to me is being asked if I am married in some of the villages. Because in some villages some girls get married as young as 13 so when I tell them that I am 17 then they assume that I am married because to them at that age its just normal to be married. They are kind of surprised when I say I am not” Katey said.

Katey is greatly enjoying her new life in Guatemala and is looking forward to the impact she will make in the lives of the local Guatemalans. Even though Katey misses all her family and friends still living in Leesburg she loves living in Guatemala even more and keeps all of Leesburg updated on her adventures in Guatemala through her pictures that she posts on facebook and her blog-http://theteenmissionary.blogspot.com/.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you Rachel for the awesome article!

-Katey :)

Monterrico.

This weekend the whole Servants4Him team went on a retreat to Monterrico! It was an amazing trip :) We hung out, swam in the pool and the ocean, ate, relaxed in hammocks, and most importantly worshiped and had devotions together!! Here are some pictures from the trip...

This is the view of the pool and from the pool you had a view of the beach, it was so amazingly beautiful! It was my first time to ever see a black sand beach and it was so pretty :) We also got to see the sunset over the ocean, it was my first time to see that too...Gods creation is SO BEAUTIFUL!

We got some amazing silhouette pictures :)

We also got to rescue baby turtles! We got to release them into the ocean. And the cool thing was that we had to set them down about 8 feet in front of the ocean so that they could see where they were released so that when they grow up (if they survive) then they come back to the same place to lay their eggs. Isn't that so cool!

It was an amazing trip!! I am so grateful that God brought me and my whole family down to Guatemala to join the awesome Servants4Him team, and I am so grateful for the Servants4Him team, everyone on the team is amazing!

Hope you have had an amazing weekend too! And what are you grateful for?

-Katey :)

Todonicapan.

On Sunday I got to go to Todonicapan. We were invited to visit a friends church for the day because they were having their annual celebration for their church with the community. It was a great day, here are some pictures...

These are the two daughters of our friend. Their names are Jesus Estella and Petrona.

This is the ladies making fried chicken for lunch, it was delicious!

We got to eat lunch with some of the elders in the community.

We met and played with a lot of kids!

Then we went to the special church service and even though it was in a mix of Spanish and their indigenous language and I didn't understand a lot I still knew that they were praising God. It was really cool to see. And there were so many people there. The church was overflowing during the service, they even had to have people sit outside on benches.

And then on the way home we stopped and looked down on Quetzaltenango while Esturado told us the legend of the Quetzal. The view was beautiful!

It was a great trip!!

-Katey :)