Our First Week in Mexico

We just finished our first of three weeks at FMC's mission in General Cepeda, Mexico. We left after dinner last Friday evening and drove through the night, arriving at the Mexican border around 8:00 Saturday morning. We ended up getting stuck there for five hours because there was some kind of issue the people at the immigration office were having with the vans we had rented.

As four of the guys sat in line after line and tried to work things out, the rest of us prayed and interceded for them and the people that didn't want to let us through. For some of the time, a large group of us sang praise & worship in the parking lot. Rebekah, one of the girls riding in our van, brought out her ukulele and sang praise with the kids and the others in the van with us at the time. I was edified by her prayers of praise and thanksgiving to God for giving us the opportunity to offer up the circumstance we found ourselves in amid our tiredness from the night of driving and our restlessness to get to our destination.

Just the week prior, we had been given a talk on praise, thanksgiving and rejoicing, and how central they are to the Christian life, and essential to being a missionary. Scripture is full of verses about praising and thanking God (particularly in the Psalms) and rejoicing in all circumstances. St. Paul exhorts us in Philippians to “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again: rejoice! ...Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:4, 6-7) The Catechism tells us that “every joy and suffering, every event and need can become the matter for thanksgiving which, sharing in that of Christ, should fill one's whole life” (CCC 2648). It references 1 Thes. 5:18 which says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” This talk was a potentially life-changing one for both Robert and I – if we can truly live it out! And getting stuck at the border was the perfect opportunity to practice praising, rejoicing, and thanking God when we wouldn't normally feel like it.

As we approached General Cepeda, we were struck by the beauty of the area with all the mountains (which the locals apparently call hills as they are technically foothills, but to a Minnesota girl, they're mountains). We were told that the altitude here is one mile high. The town, which has a population of roughly 11,000 people, is what I would think of as a stereotypical Mexican town: colorful buildings, mariachi music playing outside store fronts, and warm, welcoming people. We are staying at the mission house in the downtown area, which was originally built in the 1700s as servants quarters. The night we got here, John Paul said, “I could get used to this!” and as I was tucking Annabelle in for bed, she said she wanted to live here forever.

Throughout this past week we have continued some of the same things we did at Big Woods in Louisiana: community prayer and meals, assigned chores, our Acts of the Apostles and Mission of the Redeemer studies, and a weekly “desert day.” But the biggest difference is that most evenings (and some days) we go out to the “ranchos” (small, rural communities) in the vicinity to hold Communion or prayer services at the local chapel. This has been an awesome experience and opportunity for us to meet the people here and learn a little bit about their particular needs.

Community meals

A General Cepeda neighborhood

Most of the time, when we get to the rancho, we go door-to-door inviting people to come to the chapel for the communion/prayer service. Unlike in America, it isn't considered rude to bang on a person's door and yell, “Buenos dias!” to get them to answer the door. The people we've talked to have been so kind despite us not knowing Spanish and having t

o read our invitation to them (completely botching some of the words).

A rancho chapel

Lots of kids have been coming to the chapel at most of the ranchos we've visited. At one, they

Lauren playing Duck, Duck, Goose with kids

gathered outside and played loudly while the adults were inside for the prayer service. I went outside with our kids not long after the service started because they were getting antsy and it seemed to draw even more kids over. It's amazing how the language barrier doesn't seem to matter with kids. They interact and play just as well as if they spoke the same language. I had many girls coming up to me asking questions about baby Aaron (What's his name? How old is he? Can I hold him?). Lauren, one of girls going through intake with us, organized a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose” for the little kids while Robert, John Paul, and some other missionary kids played another made-up game with the bigger kids. That prayer service lasted particularly long because most of the people there asked to be prayed over, so the kids were able to play for quite awhile.

Someone shared that at a rancho they visited, an older woman was out of breath as she came to the chapel after they rang the bells indicating that there was going to be a communion service. She said she had been out in the field working with her 99-year-old father when she heard the bells ringing and came running. She shared that she has been feeling forgotten by the Church because the priest rarely visits that rancho and there's a lack of presence at the chapel there. At the mission house, there's a map of all the ranchos in the vicinity and there's simply too many for the amount of missionaries here to effectively minister to

them all. Just another reminder that the Church is in desperate need of more missionaries!!

Playing outside with kids after a Bible Study at a rancho chapel

Gathering outside a rancho chapel to talk with people

Singing fun songs just before a prayer service starts

Inside a rancho chapel

This coming week, we will likely be finding out which country our family will be getting sent to for our first mission post. We'll try to write another post next week to make the announcement! The

following week, we will serve alongside people coming here for a week-long mission trip. We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving during this trip by inviting the poor to come to the mission house for a feast!

Throughout this coming week, I encourage you to practice praising and thanking God in every circumstance and in all things, and rejoicing even – no, especially! - in your trials and hardships. It's hard to do when you feel like complaining, but not only will it glorify God but it will change your perspective. It's harder to feel upset or worried about something when you're praising and thanking God for His Providential care for you and for all the good things in your life, even simple things that we take for granted like a warm house, indoor plumbing, and clean drinking water.

An outhouse at someone's house on a rancho

Be grateful for all that you have.

A Glimpse into Intake

We just finished our sixth week of Intake, the 3-month training that we're going through with Family Missions Company. We arrived here on Sept. 8^th, which happened to be our 12^th wedding anniversary. If you had told me even 3 years ago that we would be celebrating our 12^th anniversary driving to a small town in Louisiana to start training to become foreign missionaries, I wouldn't have believed it!

There are 5 other families and 15 singles going through Intake with us this year (60 people total). Next year's Intake will be even larger. In fact, it they won't be able to house everyone here at Big Woods (what they call the home base where we're at); it will have to be split between Big Woods and another location nearby.

These past few weeks have flown by! Most days, we have meals and prayer in common with the other Intakers at the “big house.” There are two morning sessions (a study on Act of the Apostles, a study on John Paul II”s encyclical “Mission of the Redeemer,” a teaching workshop or a teaching class). The afternoon is spent on work projects, assigned chores, prayer, and study. Thursdays are a service day where we go into town for different works of service. Saturday morning is designated for work/cleaning projects and the afternoon is a “desert day” for extended prayer time. We celebrate a Lord's Day meal that evening, and Sundays are our day off.

Some of the things our teaching class has gone over is the Great Commission (Mt 28:16-20 & Mk 16:14-20), evangelization, to love and serve the poor, living the charisms of Family Missions Company, preparing for missions, what to expect at our arrival in country, working with the local people, and forming disciples. Our teaching workshop gives us the opportunity to develop 5-10 minute talks on a certain themes that we give to our teaching small group. These themes have been: our personal testimonies, giving the kerygma, the “5-point catechism” (prayer, God's Word, sacraments, community, and service), Bible teaching, and explaining Catholic teaching.

The kids have loved developing new friendships with the other kids going through Intake. There are 25 other kids besides ours, along with about 20 more kids belonging to the missionaries on staff at Big Woods.

One particular blessing of our time so far has been meeting some of the missionaries that have come back temporarily in between mission posts. It's been great to hear about their experiences in the countries they've been in (both the hardships and joys) and to be able to ask questions and solicit words of wisdom to us newbies. We've been able to meet the Carmody family, the Herrmann family, and the Wilde family (who are currently living just a few houses down from us!).  I've linked their blogs to their names so you can read about where they've been or are now. 

This coming week, we will be preparing for our 3-week trip to the mission in General Cepeda, Mexico. During our time there, we will continue with our formation in the morning but in the afternoon/evening we'll be able to enter into the ministries that the full-time missionaries are doing there. Our last week in Mexico will be serving in conjunction with a number of people who are coming for a short-term mission trip. Before coming back to the States, we will also be finding out which country we'll be getting sent to for our first mission post! It probably goes without saying that we're really excited for this part of Intake!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers and let us know how we can be praying for you!

The new chapel

Sunset at the "big house"

Robert playing guitar with Jason Wilde.

Many of the girls playing dolls & dress-up together.

Walking to the "Big House"

The Big House

What community prayer time looks like (this is a portion of the group)

Intake pals

Goofing around with the Carmody boys.

Lord's Day at the Big House.

The Burden of Stuff and the Rich Young Man

Going through all the junk in our bedroom

The stress of getting rid of all of our stuff apparently took its toll on me. Soon after we came to Florida, I had dreams about us going back to our house and finding piles and piles of stuff that had been forgotten about and left there, and I'm frantic trying to figure out how to get rid of it all. In one of my dreams, I opened a door to discover shelves and shelves of towels and bedding set up like a Home Goods store. I thought about taking a picture of it to post on Facebook and on this blog to say, “Look at all this stuff we still have to get rid of!!! It's practically a store!!” Later in the dream I was relieved when I realized it actually was a store, and I decided to put all of our stuff in boxes outside of it for people to take.

Getting "organized" for the garage sale.  Stuff was everywhere!!

Since we've been here, we've gone through the boxes of clothes, books, toys, electronics, sentimentals, and other things that we brought down here to organize it better, and we still had more to purge. We had five big bins just of shoes!

I didn't realize just how overwhelming it was going to be to go through all of our belongings and get rid of it all. Through this process, the very thought of all of the stuff we've accumulated over the years has been a mental burden. What do we need to keep? How are we going to get through all of this stuff? What are we going do to with the stuff that doesn't sell?

We spent countless hours going through every thing we owned, had the garage sale, brought stuff to consignment stores, donated truck-full after truck-full of stuff, and gave a bunch of it away to family and friends. Even then, in the last days before our move, we still had so much stuff left that we resorted to filling up huge garbage bags to just throw it all away, including a hefty pile of big items for the garbage man to pick up and haul away for us. It killed me that we had to pay someone to get rid of our stuff!

I've been thinking again about the burden of our stuff with the gospel readings from the beginning of this week about the rich young man in Matthew 19. Jesus invited him to “sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (v. 21) but the young man walked away sad because he had many possessions. Jesus then tells His disciples that “it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven,” (v. 23) which is difficult for them to understand. 

This was one of the readings that spoke powerfully to me while I was praying about whether God was calling us to do foreign mission work. While we have never been rich by American standards, we truly are considering how most of the people live in the rest of the world. We've never gone hungry for lack of food, never gone thirsty for lack of clean water, never been cold for lack of clothes. Not only have we had all of our human needs met at every moment, but an overabundance of stuff that filled our house.

Check out the Pew Research Center statistics on the world population by income.  Most Americans are part of the 7% of the richest people in the world, living on more than $50 a day. Meanwhile, 71% of the global population lives on less than $10 a day (15% on $2 or less). A person considered “low income” (not even “poor”) would have had to work 15-75 days to earn the amount of money we paid

someone to haul our leftover junk to the garbage dump.  While we think nothing of spending an extra $20 at the store on frivolous stuff we don't really need, people all over the world go without the basic necessities of life. Is this “just the way it is?” Is this excusable in the eyes of God?

Although God doesn't call everyone to sell all of their stuff in the way that we did, all are called to be detached of material things and give generously to those in need. Consider these verses in Scripture:

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15

“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” 1 John 3:17

South Sudan

“For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.” 1 Timothy 6:7-10

“Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19

These are some quotes taken from the catechism that challenge the American idea that God has blessed us with material wealth for our own use without taking into consideration on how we're supposed to use our wealth:

House in the Philippines

Living the American Dream

“In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world's goods; the practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and render him what is his due; and the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the golden rule and in keeping with the generosity of the Lord...” Paragraph 2407

“St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: 'Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs. The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity.” Paragraph 2446

“How can we not recognize Lazarus, the hungry beggar in the parable (Luke 17:19-31), in the multitude of human beings without bread, a roof or a place to stay? How can we fail to hear Jesus: 'As you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.'” (Mt 25:45)? Paragraph 2463.

India

I think it's safe to say almost every American falls into the consumerist mentality of our society, where we find happiness and pleasure in buying things, even when our houses get filled up with more than we actually need, even when we buy beyond our means. The focus on ourselves and our own wants blinds us to the needs of the poor around us, whether they be in our own city or in a far away country. All people everywhere are our neighbors, as Jesus teaches in the parable of the Good Samaritan. I challenge you today to open up your Bible and read the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-30. Ask the Holy Spirit, “What do you want to say to me through this reading?” Is your heart stirred by a certain sentence? Stay there and reflect on it. What do you sense the Lord saying to you, personally?

How to Donate to Our Mission

We have been getting questions from people about how to donate to our mission. As you may know, we are committing to serving the poor and proclaiming the Gospel with Family Missions Company (FMC) for two years. In order to do this, we have to raise 100% of the funds, which includes airfare to and from the country we will be working in, living expenses for our family, and money to serve the needs of the poor whom we'll be living alongside. For our family of nine, Family Missions Company suggests we raise at least $3,000 a month.

We consider those who support our mission as Mission Partners as it is only through their prayers and donations that make the mission possible. Therefore, they - along with us - respond to Jesus' Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19-20). John Paul II reminded us in his encyclical “Mission of the Redeemer” that this missionary mandate is the supreme duty of the Church and is incumbent upon all Christians. Since not every Christian is called to physically go out to the nations as Jesus commands, supporting missionary activity is the way every Christian can respond, and it's an integral part!  We, in turn, will be lifting up our Mission Partners and their particular needs and intentions in prayer through our Morning Offerings each day and at Mass.

Donations can be made online through our bio page on Family Missions Company's website: www.erismanfamily.familymissionscompany.com. There are options for making a one-time or monthly donation. One-time donations will help with individual expenses such as Intake fees, language school (if needed), and airfare. Monthly donations are our greatest need, however, as these make our mission sustainable.

Donations can also be made by mailing in a check. They should be made out to “Family Missions Company” with “Erisman Family” written on the memo line. If you would like to make it a monthly donation, please indicate that on a separate note along with the check. Mail it to:

Family Missions Company

12624 Everglade Road

Abbeville, LA 70510

If you have additional questions that aren't answered here, please contact us at 

erismanfamily9[at sign]gmail.com.

Moving to Florida

We moved on July 24^th, leaving our Minnesota home and lots of friends and family, to come down to Florida to stay with Robert's parents until we start Intake with Family Missions Company in September. Because of the distance, we don't get to see his parents very often so when we found out we were accepted to serve with FMC this year, we had decided then that we would come down here to spend these few weeks with them. Shortly after, we found out we were expecting another baby and would be due during the time we would be in Florida. But, we kept our plans anyways as it still made the most sense in several ways and trusted that all would work out fine.

Now, after our first week here, I'm even more thankful for this decision. The past few months have been incredibly chaotic and stressful as we went through all of our stuff - purging, selling, and giving it away. I can't even imagine what it would have been like if we had been trying to go through all of that work right up to and immediately after the baby's birth. It was a relief to be able to set off for Florida and be done with that part of our preparation. Truly, it was the mercy of God.

We took our time on the drive down here, making several stops along the way to get out and play, which made the trip more enjoyable for everyone. Once we got here, we were able to spend a few days with Robert's brother and his family too, who were also visiting. It has been like a mini vacation to come here and get a few days to just relax and breathe while spending time with family. 

As we settle in, we now have to go through and organize the things we brought down here with us. There's still more to purge! We also have a significant to-do list with other preparations regarding our upcoming mission (particularly continued fundraising), and to get ready for baby, who's due August 22^nd (which I've learned is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary! Which is fitting because I've felt her support throughout this pregnancy and that she's got us covered under her mantle). 

We'll still find time to fit in plenty of visits to the beach, though... 

As always, please keep us in your prayers and let us know how we can pray for you!

Garage Sale Fellowship

It's been 2 weeks since our garage sale and people keep asking us how it went so this update is overdue. In short, it went great; better than I expected! We got rid of most of our stuff, even items that I thought no one would want. What we have left to get rid of feels manageable. With that being said, if you'd like to stop by and see what we've got left please feel free and take whatever you want!!

I went all-out with the signs, hoping to draw in a larger crowd, and I think it worked! I set up 17 signs saying “Selling Everything” within a 2 ½ mile radius and spray painted them bright pink. In heavier traffic areas, I put two signs next to each other, with one saying that we're becoming missionaries so that it would gain more attention and explain why we were selling everything. We got a bunch of comments from people about the signs and it even piqued the interest of a local newspaper reporter, who later interviewed us for a story.

The best part about the signs, though, is that we had many people asking us about our upcoming mission and sharing with us their experiences of going on foreign mission trips. A handful of people said they (or a family member) have done full-time foreign missions for a time, and some people even came JUST to talk about missions and couldn't have cared less about the garage sale itself. We had a lot of great conversations with people that we would have normally never met or spoken with about mission work. It made each day, exhausting as they were, so blessed.

Prior to the sale, we made fliers and went around the subdivision to let our neighbors know that we would be having a huge garage sale that weekend in order to sell all of our stuff to go on mission. We invited them to hold their own garage sale the same weekend to take advantage of the traffic coming in. Our two oldest boys helped us knock on doors and hand out the fliers, which they had fun doing. Most people were happy to talk to them (more so than me and Robert) and it made me chuckle thinking about how it may very well end up being the same way on mission!

At any rate, the night we handed out the fliers, we received an e-mail from a neighbor who talked to our 8-year-old and said he touched her heart. She asked how she could help and shared prayer intentions with us. I ended up meeting with her at the neighborhood park the next week, and it was joy to get to know her a little bit and share stories.

Another neighbor decided to hold her own garage sale on one of the days we had ours. She came over later that day to donate the money she made from it for our mission! We couldn't believe it! We weren't home when she stopped over so we all went over to her house to meet her and her husband and to thank them in-person. It was so nice to talk with them and hear about their experiences leading mission trips to Mexico with the youth from their church over the years. Before we left, we prayed with and for each other out on the front step.

In each of these encounters with people, it hit me how much I've been missing out by not going outside my comfort zone to talk to people I come across in day-to-day activities. I'm naturally quiet and pretty shy so it's difficult for me to strike up conversations with people I don't know. But I regret waiting until we're leaving to meet some of our neighbors, now having met two whom we'd have loved to have developed closer relationships with. Robert and I kept talking about this each night after the garage sale – that we met people we totally would have liked to get together with again if we weren't leaving.

On the bright side, though, we DID have the opportunity to meet these people whom we never would have had we not had this garage sale and advertised our upcoming mission. My hope is that we'll be able to stay in touch with some of them and get together with them on our visits home.

This past weekend, we had a table set up after the Masses at the parish we belong to to tell people more about what we're doing and to promote more vocations to foreign missions. One of the ladies we talked to hit the nail on the head when we she said we can take comfort in always staying connected to friends and family, even if we're far apart physically, through Christ as we intercede for each other in prayer.  Aside from that, our time apart is a blink of the eye compared to the eternity we'll be together in heaven. I wish I had written it down because she said it much more eloquently than that, but hopefully you get the idea anyways...

And with that, as we prepare to leave Minnesota in just a few days and say good-bye to family and friends, know that we are praying for many of you!  If you have specific intentions you'd like us to lift up, please let us know! We ask for your prayers for us in return as we move on to this next chapter in our preparation: a few weeks in Florida with Robert's parents and the birth of our 7^th baby before we start Intake in September!

Selling Everything!

We're T-12 days until “Operation: Sell Everything” (a.k.a. having our garage sale). I have a love/hate relationship with garage sales. I love making money on crap that I don't want or need anymore, but I hate the hours upon hours of work they involve. Especially because the work requires lots of organization, which is not one of my strong points. I'm also a procrastinator. So although I could have been leisurely going through each room of the house within the past 6 months since we found out we'd be leaving, I decided to wait until the last 3 weeks to start really going through the house instead. Because who doesn't love to be overwhelmed and completely stressed out when working against the clock?!

Looking at and going through the massive amount of stuff we've accumulated over the past few years makes me all the more anxious to get rid of it all and live a more simple life with few belongings. As I was going through the bins of kids' clothes that we've saved, I couldn't believe how many clothes I had in some sizes. The sheer number of 0-3 month girl clothes we have is ridiculous. As I stacked them up, the pile went higher than the bin they're supposed to fit in. The outfits and dresses are all adorable, but our girls wore some of those outfits maaaaaybe once. I only dressed them up in cute outfits when they were being seen by people. If we were home, most days they would stay in a sleeper!

As I'm going through things, I'm very thankful that I'm not a sentimental person. It has made it so much easier to go through the baby clothes and other things that I could get choked up over if I were a different personality. I'm just thankful for the memories they bring and have very little trouble saying good-bye to them, hoping they'll bless someone else. I guess to me, things don't replace the moment or event so they don't mean as much to me. I'm so pragmatic about things, though, that Robert wonders if I have a sentimental bone in my body. He was appalled when I wanted to throw away dried flowers from our wedding. I guess that does seem cold. What can I say? I'm Scandinavian.

Please keep us in your prayers these next couple of weeks as we continue to get ready for this sale. Having so much still to do, I've been identifying with Peter lately as he walked on the water toward Jesus; I've been looking at the piles of stuff all around me that still need to be gone through instead of keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus. I'm not walking on water, but I sure feel like I'm sinking sometimes. Please pray that we can rely on Christ's strength in this and not on our own.

Let us know how we can pray for you!