Hey everyone!
Thanks for the letters and your continued support. This week has been pretty average I guess.
We are growing closer as a district and learning how to love and let others be themselves. Our two hermano teachers went out of town for thanksgiving, but Hermana Alletto didn't so we only had a sub half the time.
I can't remember if I told you this, but last Monday I had a 20-25 minute conversation with a guy who called for a DVD. It was really cool. He said he was looking for answers in life, but he didn't want to talk to the missionaries. He decided to ask me some questions instead. He asked what the difference between Mormons and Christians are and I explained that there isn't a difference, we are Christians. Then he asked me about a passage in Hebrews I think. He was just nervous about the atonement and whether it ever stops working. He wondered if God loves us and so I bore my testimony to him and explained everything the best I could. I left him with our website so hopefully he goes there and gets some answers.
Before devotionals and firesides we always have prelude. Instead of just listening to the organ, we sing a couple songs before the meeting starts (and then we have an opening song). It's really cool when everyone is singing and it helps bring the spirit.
Like I said in my letter Thursday (which I hope you got), we got to put 10,000 first aid packages together on Thanksgiving. It was my job to put 200 elastic bandages in the zip lock bags. Our table made 200 kits and there were lots of other tables so it was pretty amazing. While we worked we sang hymns and primary songs which made it lots of fun.
That night we had another fireside by the mission president and his wife. For those of you who don't live at home, On Thursday we had 3 firesides, some free time, and that service project. One of the firesides was on humanitarian aid that the church does around the world.
Since it was thanksgiving weekend we didn't have TRC, but we sure have been practicing teaching a lot anyways.
On Sunday I got to play the cello they have here at the MTC. I'm thinking about playing in Sacrament meeting before I go. It was fun. They had someone donate a cello and a violin so you can go check them out and use them in musical numbers etc. On Sunday we watched the Restoration and the Legacy of Kirtland.
There is a funny joke I heard, but only those who know Spanish will probably get it. There was a Mexican that went to a store and he only knew Spanish and the store person only knew English so he walked around pointing at stuff asking "is this what you want?" and the Mexican would shake his head until finally he pointed to socks and the Mexican said "Eso si que es!" Pronounces (s-o-c-k-s) and the store clerk was like why didn't you spell it in the first place?
Love,
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Snail Mail Letter 11/27/08
Hello!
Surprise Letter! Hope you guys enjoyed your thanksgivings. Too bad I couldn’t celebrate it w/ you.
So today we didn’t have any classes. We got up, had breakfast, studied a bit, then went to a morning fireside from a member of the 70. Then after it was over we had 2 hours to eat our Thanksgiving meal. Since everyone else went right away, we waited an hour so we didn’t have massive lines to wait in. It was a pretty good meal, but nothing like Thanksgiving at home.
Then we had some free time till 3:30. At that time we went to a fireside about humanitarian work of the Church. It’s really amazing how much the Church does. At 4:45 half the MTC went to do the humanitarian project while we stayed in the gym and watched a recorded BYU choir concert. They had funny hair so I’m guessing it was in the 80’s.
Right now everyone is eating the sack dinner we picked up after lunch. We also have permission to write letters. J
At 7:00 it’s our turn to go to the cafeteria and assemble first aid boxes. Each half of the MTC is doing 5,000 kits so it’s pretty incredible. I will be at a station putting the same item into each kit that our table does. There are like 30 stations per table and multiple tables. They have it organized quite well.
You should see the MTC. They started putting up Christmas lights beginning of November, so it’s going to look like temple square by the time I leave. J
Oh, you’ll never guess what son we sang today at the fireside, lol. It was also the last song of the BYU concert. J
I’m listening to the London Brass Christmas CD right now – such an amazing CD. Hope your Christmas season is joyful and full of the spirit. Make lots of happy memories. I’m sure I will.
Oh, on Tuesday the speaker was Elder Allan Packer of the 70. It was a pretty good talk.
Have a great school-free weekend. Love you all so much!
Elder Shane Curtis
Surprise Letter! Hope you guys enjoyed your thanksgivings. Too bad I couldn’t celebrate it w/ you.
So today we didn’t have any classes. We got up, had breakfast, studied a bit, then went to a morning fireside from a member of the 70. Then after it was over we had 2 hours to eat our Thanksgiving meal. Since everyone else went right away, we waited an hour so we didn’t have massive lines to wait in. It was a pretty good meal, but nothing like Thanksgiving at home.
Then we had some free time till 3:30. At that time we went to a fireside about humanitarian work of the Church. It’s really amazing how much the Church does. At 4:45 half the MTC went to do the humanitarian project while we stayed in the gym and watched a recorded BYU choir concert. They had funny hair so I’m guessing it was in the 80’s.
Right now everyone is eating the sack dinner we picked up after lunch. We also have permission to write letters. J
At 7:00 it’s our turn to go to the cafeteria and assemble first aid boxes. Each half of the MTC is doing 5,000 kits so it’s pretty incredible. I will be at a station putting the same item into each kit that our table does. There are like 30 stations per table and multiple tables. They have it organized quite well.
You should see the MTC. They started putting up Christmas lights beginning of November, so it’s going to look like temple square by the time I leave. J
Oh, you’ll never guess what son we sang today at the fireside, lol. It was also the last song of the BYU concert. J
I’m listening to the London Brass Christmas CD right now – such an amazing CD. Hope your Christmas season is joyful and full of the spirit. Make lots of happy memories. I’m sure I will.
Oh, on Tuesday the speaker was Elder Allan Packer of the 70. It was a pretty good talk.
Have a great school-free weekend. Love you all so much!
Elder Shane Curtis
Snail Mail Letter 11/25/08
Hello Everyone!
They have a picture developing program at the bookstore and it’s really cheap so I decided to send you some pictures.
They have a picture developing program at the bookstore and it’s really cheap so I decided to send you some pictures.
This one is my district in front of the temple before Elders Ortiz and Winters left to Guatemala. From right to left – me, Elder Peterson, Elder Freeman, Elder Ortiz, Hermana Demers (she’s 27!), Elder Land, Elder Winters, Elder Hadfield, Elder Johns (DL), and Elder Skiles (sky-uls).
Left to right – Elder Kinser, Elder Peterson, Elder Lam, me – Elder Curtis.
A sweet card they gave me when I got here to carry with me on my mission. It’s not as big as it looks in the picture.
Every week we have a TRC appointment – Training Resource Center. I already told you about last week’s, but I wanted to explain it in general more. Every week we have a situation. We know ahead of time info about the “investigator” we’re going to teach so we prepare during the week. We have a beginning part where we have to use Spanish and talk to the person in different settings. The first week we contacted someone in “the park”; a different week we took someone to church on a “bus ride” and had to ask certain things during the ride. One week we “helped someone move” and had to know furniture words, etc., plus share a short message; last week we had to learn food vocab b/c we “ate at a café” an investigator owned and this coming Friday we are buying clothing at a store. These activities are mostly just to get us to learn certain things in Spanish and half the time we can’t do them b/c we don’t have time or there aren’t volunteers, but we prepare and learn the material so that’s what matters. After the 15-20 minute activity I just described we then teach a lesson. Before last week we did them in English, but now we teach in Spanish. Sometimes our teachers have us practice teaching people from other districts so we get lots of practice teaching.
Have I told you guys about my district’s obsession with the song “Come Thou Fount (of every blessing)”? There is a computer in our classroom and every day they get on to this certain general conference where MoTab sang it and they play it often, usually more than once a day. My companion is constantly singing/humming it and we are singing it for the second time in choir tonight. It has been talked about in at least 2 firesides. It was one of two special musical numbers in firesides (one was w/ piano, a cello, and voice), a district sang “O My Father” to its tune in Sacrament Meeting, and yesterday Jeri wrote and said she sang it in choir too! I was like AHH, this song is haunting me! Oh, and it was the closing song to a fireside (at least one). It’s really powerful, and I like it a lot, but too much of a good thing can get old pretty quick, and I swear I’m being haunted by the Ghost of Come Thou Fount. J
It was really cool in the fireside Sunday, because they talked about this documentary film they show all new missionaries called “The District.” The guy who was in charge of it talked to us about how it came to be. It’s like a reality-TV sort of thing. They had 4 missionaries trained in PMG for 5 weeks and then sent them to do missionary work for a couple weeks as they followed them around with cameras 24/7. It’s a really neat thing to watch because both companionships end up baptizing people at the end. It’s pretty cool they could teach and investigators could listen and respond pretty normally all in front of cameras. They had one of the sisters who was in it come talk to us as well. The mission they did was San Antonio TX.
As I said in my email, Elder Holland talked to us last Tuesday and it was so powerful! He speaks with so much passion he can’t hardly get all the words out he wants to say. He said VERY strongly “Don’t Go Home!” He talked about how WE are the most important ones to have a testimony. If we come home after the mission and fall away, PMG has failed because that’s one of its main purposes. He also talked about how important it is to teach w/ the Holy Ghost. We can have a member of the Godhead with us as we teach! The Father and the Son can’t come, but the Spirit can and it must. He also said very strongly “My mission means everything to me!” and said that quote about how he things of his mission every day. He’s an amazing teacher. He said he was exhausted but decided to come talk to us anyway – and boy did he talk! J
I got a haircut today so I’m not shaggy anymore. It sure is nice.
Hope you all have a good week. Love you so much,
Elder Curtis
P.S. I forgot to tell you who Elders Kinser and Lam are. They are some elders that left 1 or 2 weeks ago and they were awesome missionaries that really inspired me. They bore their testimonies to Elder Peterson and I and talked to us in Spanish for about 1 half an hour or more one time. They talked about how bad they were (at Spanish) when they first arrived, but through Christ have gotten much better. They are going stateside and are just awesome people.
Have I told you guys about my district’s obsession with the song “Come Thou Fount (of every blessing)”? There is a computer in our classroom and every day they get on to this certain general conference where MoTab sang it and they play it often, usually more than once a day. My companion is constantly singing/humming it and we are singing it for the second time in choir tonight. It has been talked about in at least 2 firesides. It was one of two special musical numbers in firesides (one was w/ piano, a cello, and voice), a district sang “O My Father” to its tune in Sacrament Meeting, and yesterday Jeri wrote and said she sang it in choir too! I was like AHH, this song is haunting me! Oh, and it was the closing song to a fireside (at least one). It’s really powerful, and I like it a lot, but too much of a good thing can get old pretty quick, and I swear I’m being haunted by the Ghost of Come Thou Fount. J
It was really cool in the fireside Sunday, because they talked about this documentary film they show all new missionaries called “The District.” The guy who was in charge of it talked to us about how it came to be. It’s like a reality-TV sort of thing. They had 4 missionaries trained in PMG for 5 weeks and then sent them to do missionary work for a couple weeks as they followed them around with cameras 24/7. It’s a really neat thing to watch because both companionships end up baptizing people at the end. It’s pretty cool they could teach and investigators could listen and respond pretty normally all in front of cameras. They had one of the sisters who was in it come talk to us as well. The mission they did was San Antonio TX.
As I said in my email, Elder Holland talked to us last Tuesday and it was so powerful! He speaks with so much passion he can’t hardly get all the words out he wants to say. He said VERY strongly “Don’t Go Home!” He talked about how WE are the most important ones to have a testimony. If we come home after the mission and fall away, PMG has failed because that’s one of its main purposes. He also talked about how important it is to teach w/ the Holy Ghost. We can have a member of the Godhead with us as we teach! The Father and the Son can’t come, but the Spirit can and it must. He also said very strongly “My mission means everything to me!” and said that quote about how he things of his mission every day. He’s an amazing teacher. He said he was exhausted but decided to come talk to us anyway – and boy did he talk! J
I got a haircut today so I’m not shaggy anymore. It sure is nice.
Hope you all have a good week. Love you so much,
Elder Curtis
P.S. I forgot to tell you who Elders Kinser and Lam are. They are some elders that left 1 or 2 weeks ago and they were awesome missionaries that really inspired me. They bore their testimonies to Elder Peterson and I and talked to us in Spanish for about 1 half an hour or more one time. They talked about how bad they were (at Spanish) when they first arrived, but through Christ have gotten much better. They are going stateside and are just awesome people.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Email 11/25/2008
Hey everyone! Thanks for all the letters.
I'm writing a tad later because we went to the temple a little early to do initiatory, but the wait was already 45 minutes so we did sealings instead. Elder Peterson hasn't done either so it was a great experience. Then afterwards we sat in the Celestial room for a while.
This last week we got some new roommates. They already know Spanish so they'll leave before us. They are from the US and are going to Mexico on their missions. They are great elders.
I know I'm improving my Spanish cause when I think back to how bad I used to be I can tell I’ve improved, but during each week and day it's hard to notice the progress, but I know I'll eventually get it down so I'm not worried. Ross wrote some Spanish in his letter and I was surprised by how much he remembered especially after learning Thai :)
On Sunday we have Sacrament meeting at 8 and priesthood at 11. Each week they randomly pick an elder and a sister to give a short 2-5 minute talk (in Spanish). We have to be ready every week in case we get picked. I haven't talked yet, but I have lots of good lessons already :) Then after the two talks, one of the presidency, or a visitor, or a wife talks for the rest of the time. In priesthood one of the presidency usually teaches the lesson.
I can never remember what I have told you and what I haven't so bear with me if I ever repeat myself. We live on the third floor of our building so we are constantly climbing stairs :) I don't mind too much though – I need all the extra exercise I can get since I sit around the rest of the day.
I've been able to play the piano at least once a week which has been nice.
Elder Peterson plays trumpet but he wanted me to teach him bass clef. He is so funny though, because for some reason he just plain can't relax his muscles. Tense up all the muscles in your hand and that's what it looks like when he tries to play. That's also why he can't roll his r's because he can't relax his tongue! He also has a hard time with his back and he can't get adjusted very easily because he can't relax! It is so weird. I'm grateful I can relax my body :)
On Friday we went to the doctor because Elder Peterson's back was bothering him and he found out he has a nasal infection. The doctor also "tried" to adjust his back a little. Normally they ship medications to the MTC, but we couldn't go back that day so we got to leave the MTC and walk to the BYU health clinic to get some meds for him.
I heard from one of my teachers that gas prices are below $2 and I was SHOCKED! That's absolutely crazy.
I heard about the BYU game. Kind of disappointing.
Oh, guess who came to devotional last Tuesday? Jeffrey R. Holland! It was so powerful of a talk!!! We've seen a talk he gave a couple years ago here and he repeated some things, but also said lots of new things. He is so passionate about missions!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it. I also watched the "Gift of Teaching" talk he did for a teaching broadcast. It was from earlier in the year I think and I enjoyed seeing it again. I saw it on Sunday. He is such an amazing apostle.
For TRC this week we prepared everything for it, but we didn't get to do it since they never have people here on Fridays to teach. Plus we had to go teach Alessandro again. We are actually making some progress on him so that's encouraging. We talked about prayer. I don't have any more time but have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
I'm writing a tad later because we went to the temple a little early to do initiatory, but the wait was already 45 minutes so we did sealings instead. Elder Peterson hasn't done either so it was a great experience. Then afterwards we sat in the Celestial room for a while.
This last week we got some new roommates. They already know Spanish so they'll leave before us. They are from the US and are going to Mexico on their missions. They are great elders.
I know I'm improving my Spanish cause when I think back to how bad I used to be I can tell I’ve improved, but during each week and day it's hard to notice the progress, but I know I'll eventually get it down so I'm not worried. Ross wrote some Spanish in his letter and I was surprised by how much he remembered especially after learning Thai :)
On Sunday we have Sacrament meeting at 8 and priesthood at 11. Each week they randomly pick an elder and a sister to give a short 2-5 minute talk (in Spanish). We have to be ready every week in case we get picked. I haven't talked yet, but I have lots of good lessons already :) Then after the two talks, one of the presidency, or a visitor, or a wife talks for the rest of the time. In priesthood one of the presidency usually teaches the lesson.
I can never remember what I have told you and what I haven't so bear with me if I ever repeat myself. We live on the third floor of our building so we are constantly climbing stairs :) I don't mind too much though – I need all the extra exercise I can get since I sit around the rest of the day.
I've been able to play the piano at least once a week which has been nice.
Elder Peterson plays trumpet but he wanted me to teach him bass clef. He is so funny though, because for some reason he just plain can't relax his muscles. Tense up all the muscles in your hand and that's what it looks like when he tries to play. That's also why he can't roll his r's because he can't relax his tongue! He also has a hard time with his back and he can't get adjusted very easily because he can't relax! It is so weird. I'm grateful I can relax my body :)
On Friday we went to the doctor because Elder Peterson's back was bothering him and he found out he has a nasal infection. The doctor also "tried" to adjust his back a little. Normally they ship medications to the MTC, but we couldn't go back that day so we got to leave the MTC and walk to the BYU health clinic to get some meds for him.
I heard from one of my teachers that gas prices are below $2 and I was SHOCKED! That's absolutely crazy.
I heard about the BYU game. Kind of disappointing.
Oh, guess who came to devotional last Tuesday? Jeffrey R. Holland! It was so powerful of a talk!!! We've seen a talk he gave a couple years ago here and he repeated some things, but also said lots of new things. He is so passionate about missions!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it. I also watched the "Gift of Teaching" talk he did for a teaching broadcast. It was from earlier in the year I think and I enjoyed seeing it again. I saw it on Sunday. He is such an amazing apostle.
For TRC this week we prepared everything for it, but we didn't get to do it since they never have people here on Fridays to teach. Plus we had to go teach Alessandro again. We are actually making some progress on him so that's encouraging. We talked about prayer. I don't have any more time but have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Email 11/18/2008
Hi everyone. Once again, thanks for all the letters and prayers. I know they helped me this week. It was kind of a crazy week.
On Wednesday my teacher Bro. Lindahl made us sign up for this "investigator" thing where we go and teach this guy – but not just once. We keep teaching him and progressing with him until he is either "baptized" or stops the discussions. The worst part is we have to do it in Spanish. :) He is from Europe so he has that pride and he is probably harder than any real investigator I’ll ever have for real. He has all these objections and questions that are hard to deal with – esp. in Spanish. It's going ok though we have a few things up our sleeve, but we've already taught him twice and haven't gotten through the first lesson yet ha-ha.
Then we had another surprise in the RC this week. They made us do some Spanish calls so we had to talk in Spanish. The one person I did get a hold of was like "just speak English" then went on to tell me to take him off the list. It hurt. Not only did he not want to talk to me in Spanish (because he could tell I wasn't great at it) but he also didn't want us to contact him anymore. I guess it's good practice for when I get rejected in California. :) So yeah, I've been doing a lot more in Spanish.
This week was week five so everything had to be in Spanish from now on. The only thing that was supposed to be in English was our TRC lesson, but Bro. Lindahl set me and Elder Peterson up with a lady that didn't know English so once again it was Spanish and I was left wishing I could express myself like I can in English. Thankfully my comp got a 34 on the ACT so he knows Spanish better than me since he can learn so fast.
We always sing our hymns in class in Spanish. I bought a small Spanish hymn book when I first got here. There aren't as many as in the English one and the numbers are all different, but it's fun. Since they have to follow the music, they don't directly translate the hymns so lots of the same hymns have slightly different meanings or words. It's interesting.
It's really hard not to gain weight here. I have to run during gym or I gain weight. I'm already like 155. I'm trying to get back down to 150 so I can fit comfortably into my black suit again lol. Other people have gained like 15 or more, but one guy lost 35 so I guess it depends how well you take care of yourself. Usually I like to play a little four square and then run about 2 or 3 miles on the track above the gym.
On Sunday we got to watch "Joseph Smith, prophet of the Restoration." I really like that movie.
I gave my comp a blessing the other day. He hurt his leg playing soccer and he also wanted me to bless his back and help him get over his sickness. A couple weeks ago the whole district pretty much had a cough, but he's the only one who hasn't gotten completely over it yet. He said he was already feeling better the day after the blessing though so I'm sure he'll be fine.
It's so fun to hear about Stormie's baby. I'm glad everything is working out well. To answer her question, getting up at six thirty isn't too hard, but I always get really tired between 10 and 12am. I'm doing fine with the schedule though.
Anyway, things are still going well here. Going by fast, but I'm trying to enjoy my MTC experience. All the sunshine sure has been nice. I'm not excited for snow and ice but it will be a short winter. :D
The laundry room is huge, there are like a million washers and dryers and it is still hard to fine empty ones lol. It's nice to get clean clothes though. We always get 100% on our room check every week. We have like the cleanest room on the floor. Of course it helps to only have two of us, but anyway, we are both very clean :)
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
On Wednesday my teacher Bro. Lindahl made us sign up for this "investigator" thing where we go and teach this guy – but not just once. We keep teaching him and progressing with him until he is either "baptized" or stops the discussions. The worst part is we have to do it in Spanish. :) He is from Europe so he has that pride and he is probably harder than any real investigator I’ll ever have for real. He has all these objections and questions that are hard to deal with – esp. in Spanish. It's going ok though we have a few things up our sleeve, but we've already taught him twice and haven't gotten through the first lesson yet ha-ha.
Then we had another surprise in the RC this week. They made us do some Spanish calls so we had to talk in Spanish. The one person I did get a hold of was like "just speak English" then went on to tell me to take him off the list. It hurt. Not only did he not want to talk to me in Spanish (because he could tell I wasn't great at it) but he also didn't want us to contact him anymore. I guess it's good practice for when I get rejected in California. :) So yeah, I've been doing a lot more in Spanish.
This week was week five so everything had to be in Spanish from now on. The only thing that was supposed to be in English was our TRC lesson, but Bro. Lindahl set me and Elder Peterson up with a lady that didn't know English so once again it was Spanish and I was left wishing I could express myself like I can in English. Thankfully my comp got a 34 on the ACT so he knows Spanish better than me since he can learn so fast.
We always sing our hymns in class in Spanish. I bought a small Spanish hymn book when I first got here. There aren't as many as in the English one and the numbers are all different, but it's fun. Since they have to follow the music, they don't directly translate the hymns so lots of the same hymns have slightly different meanings or words. It's interesting.
It's really hard not to gain weight here. I have to run during gym or I gain weight. I'm already like 155. I'm trying to get back down to 150 so I can fit comfortably into my black suit again lol. Other people have gained like 15 or more, but one guy lost 35 so I guess it depends how well you take care of yourself. Usually I like to play a little four square and then run about 2 or 3 miles on the track above the gym.
On Sunday we got to watch "Joseph Smith, prophet of the Restoration." I really like that movie.
I gave my comp a blessing the other day. He hurt his leg playing soccer and he also wanted me to bless his back and help him get over his sickness. A couple weeks ago the whole district pretty much had a cough, but he's the only one who hasn't gotten completely over it yet. He said he was already feeling better the day after the blessing though so I'm sure he'll be fine.
It's so fun to hear about Stormie's baby. I'm glad everything is working out well. To answer her question, getting up at six thirty isn't too hard, but I always get really tired between 10 and 12am. I'm doing fine with the schedule though.
Anyway, things are still going well here. Going by fast, but I'm trying to enjoy my MTC experience. All the sunshine sure has been nice. I'm not excited for snow and ice but it will be a short winter. :D
The laundry room is huge, there are like a million washers and dryers and it is still hard to fine empty ones lol. It's nice to get clean clothes though. We always get 100% on our room check every week. We have like the cleanest room on the floor. Of course it helps to only have two of us, but anyway, we are both very clean :)
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Email 11/11/2008
I'm glad I got to hear from Stormie what she is having before mom told me. Another niece!!! I am so excited. Now I'll have two Sobrinas :)
Yes, I did hear about the election. It's kind of sad. People had no idea what Obama really stands for. His wife is like even more liberal than he is and I hear he is quite liberal. Like 96 percent of African Americans voted for him and like 70 percent of the new voting population. I'm sure most of them weren't too educated about the different candidates. Isn't he a high school drop out? They did a survey and asked people if they were voting for Obama because he is lowering taxes or because he wants to keep medicine how it is and people were like "both those reasons" when in reality Obama is doing opposite those things. I guess we should have hope that he can do it, but I don't know, he's not the one I would like picked.
Have you heard about Proposition 8 in California? It was like a HUGE thing over there. One of my teachers Hermano Lindahl is from California and went to help with the election. Thankfully it passed (with lots of help from the church) and so now gay marriage is still illegal over there. It's probably one of the issues I’ll have to deal with a lot on my mission. The church actually came out and took a side and told members to vote yes for it. Anyway, enough about politics.
Sunday was a great day. I got to watch the Testaments of one fold and one shepherd. The fireside was also good and I felt the spirit really strong that night.
I mostly liked last Tuesday's devotional though. It was Sister Julie Beck, the general Relief Society president. I guess she is related to the Bangerters because all of a sudden she started talking about my stake president!! It was SO cool. She told the story pres. Bangerter had told me before I left about how he got to be companions with his brother the last three days of his mission. It was so touching; I loved hearing it again – especially from the younger brother's point of view. She said he learned three things from his brother during those three days. I won't tell the stories, but the lessons he learned were: love your companion, love the people, and love your stake president. It was a really cool talk.
I had a cool experience in the RC Wednesday. I got to accept some inbound calls and I got one of them to accept the missionaries to her house so that made me happy. The other one was like "Me and my husband like to watch Christian videos at night instead of TV so I called for the free DVD" and I was thinking "RIGHT ON!!" There are good people in the world :)
The TRC was good on Friday. We taught an amazing Hispanic man who was supposed to act like an investigator (and he did) but it seemed like he was teaching us a lot more than we taught him – he just kept talking. It was great; he had lots of cool insights. We only taught like half our lesson though lol.
There are surprisingly quite a few people here at the MTC I know from High school, college etc. It's fun to see so many people I know and talk to them. Most of them will be gone pretty soon though, but then Bradley will come! That will be way fun. Anyway, now I get to go to the temple. Hope everyone has a good week!
I love you all. Good luck in all you do. I'm excited for all your letters this week.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Yes, I did hear about the election. It's kind of sad. People had no idea what Obama really stands for. His wife is like even more liberal than he is and I hear he is quite liberal. Like 96 percent of African Americans voted for him and like 70 percent of the new voting population. I'm sure most of them weren't too educated about the different candidates. Isn't he a high school drop out? They did a survey and asked people if they were voting for Obama because he is lowering taxes or because he wants to keep medicine how it is and people were like "both those reasons" when in reality Obama is doing opposite those things. I guess we should have hope that he can do it, but I don't know, he's not the one I would like picked.
Have you heard about Proposition 8 in California? It was like a HUGE thing over there. One of my teachers Hermano Lindahl is from California and went to help with the election. Thankfully it passed (with lots of help from the church) and so now gay marriage is still illegal over there. It's probably one of the issues I’ll have to deal with a lot on my mission. The church actually came out and took a side and told members to vote yes for it. Anyway, enough about politics.
Sunday was a great day. I got to watch the Testaments of one fold and one shepherd. The fireside was also good and I felt the spirit really strong that night.
I mostly liked last Tuesday's devotional though. It was Sister Julie Beck, the general Relief Society president. I guess she is related to the Bangerters because all of a sudden she started talking about my stake president!! It was SO cool. She told the story pres. Bangerter had told me before I left about how he got to be companions with his brother the last three days of his mission. It was so touching; I loved hearing it again – especially from the younger brother's point of view. She said he learned three things from his brother during those three days. I won't tell the stories, but the lessons he learned were: love your companion, love the people, and love your stake president. It was a really cool talk.
I had a cool experience in the RC Wednesday. I got to accept some inbound calls and I got one of them to accept the missionaries to her house so that made me happy. The other one was like "Me and my husband like to watch Christian videos at night instead of TV so I called for the free DVD" and I was thinking "RIGHT ON!!" There are good people in the world :)
The TRC was good on Friday. We taught an amazing Hispanic man who was supposed to act like an investigator (and he did) but it seemed like he was teaching us a lot more than we taught him – he just kept talking. It was great; he had lots of cool insights. We only taught like half our lesson though lol.
There are surprisingly quite a few people here at the MTC I know from High school, college etc. It's fun to see so many people I know and talk to them. Most of them will be gone pretty soon though, but then Bradley will come! That will be way fun. Anyway, now I get to go to the temple. Hope everyone has a good week!
I love you all. Good luck in all you do. I'm excited for all your letters this week.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Email 11/04/2008
Once again I had a great week. At our teaching appointment Friday there weren't many volunteers since it was Friday and Halloween so we taught the Hermana in our district and I thought it was the best we've taught so far. In the RC we learned how to take incoming calls. None came during the short time I was there, but I can continue doing outbound calls--though it seems like 80-90% of numbers just go to answering machines.
Oh, another reason today is a sad day is because the two elders from our district who are going to Guatemala left today! They are going to the MTC down there so they left this morning. It is so sad. Almost like part of the family just up and moved. It will be lonely without them, but soon we'll all be gone. There is an MTC in Chile, but I guess gringos don't go there, just natives.
Sunday was another really nice day, though we didn't eat two meals. Instead of priesthood we had a mission conference with all the MTC. They do that every fast Sunday. I got to use my rain jacket for the first time since it was raining so much that day. We still went to the temple and took pictures in the rain. We wanted a district picture before the two elders left. It was a good day--the fireside was pretty good too. After, we watched "Mountain of the Lord" I've never even heard of that movie, but apparently it's been around for a while. It was so good! It's the story of the saints building the Salt Lake temple and the story is told through Wilford Woodruff. If any of you haven't seen it, I suggest you do.
My Halloween wasn't that exciting. I didn't do anything different except eat some candy from my friends and switch nametags with another elder so I could be "Elder Land" for Halloween. :)
Anyway, life at the MTC goes on. People come, people go. I hardly get to know people and then they're gone! Oh, guess what? I played the piano in sacrament meeting Sunday. I might play at least one song this Sunday too. I'm glad to be able to play the piano every once in a while. There are some really good people in my branch. It's great to learn from them and hear their testimonies. Anyway, guess I better go. Have a wonderful week. Once again, thank you so much for all your support, letters, and love.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Oh, another reason today is a sad day is because the two elders from our district who are going to Guatemala left today! They are going to the MTC down there so they left this morning. It is so sad. Almost like part of the family just up and moved. It will be lonely without them, but soon we'll all be gone. There is an MTC in Chile, but I guess gringos don't go there, just natives.
Sunday was another really nice day, though we didn't eat two meals. Instead of priesthood we had a mission conference with all the MTC. They do that every fast Sunday. I got to use my rain jacket for the first time since it was raining so much that day. We still went to the temple and took pictures in the rain. We wanted a district picture before the two elders left. It was a good day--the fireside was pretty good too. After, we watched "Mountain of the Lord" I've never even heard of that movie, but apparently it's been around for a while. It was so good! It's the story of the saints building the Salt Lake temple and the story is told through Wilford Woodruff. If any of you haven't seen it, I suggest you do.
My Halloween wasn't that exciting. I didn't do anything different except eat some candy from my friends and switch nametags with another elder so I could be "Elder Land" for Halloween. :)
Anyway, life at the MTC goes on. People come, people go. I hardly get to know people and then they're gone! Oh, guess what? I played the piano in sacrament meeting Sunday. I might play at least one song this Sunday too. I'm glad to be able to play the piano every once in a while. There are some really good people in my branch. It's great to learn from them and hear their testimonies. Anyway, guess I better go. Have a wonderful week. Once again, thank you so much for all your support, letters, and love.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Snail Mail 10/28/2008
Excerpts from two letters sent 10/28:
Half an hour is so short to write everything about my life (in an email).
Every Sunday (except for fast Sunday) I get to sing in a choir. It's just practice and then on Tuesday we have one more practice and then sing in the devotional that night. Then we do it again the next week. :) My companion isn't the best singer, but he wants to be better.
We just got to listen to L. Tom Perry speak in our devotional. It was really cool. I love all the amazing talks we get to listen to. Oh, and by the way, there are 500 people that sing in the choir, but when everyone is singing in all the bleachers and gym it is so cool!
So I think I misspelled the mission my comp is going to. It's actually the Chile, Rancagua mission -- not that you care, just in case. I've heard that Anaheim has one of the highest retention rates. One of the members of my branch presidency said his son went there and came back knowing Spanish better than his other missionary children since there are people from like all the Spanish-speaking countries there! He could tell where everyone was from just by how they spoke! He wouldn't say how many baptisms he got, I think he just said it could be a whole ward. :) I've also heard tons of people say they knew some awesome people who are there/were there. It's pretty exciting.
The people in my district are: Elder Freeman, Ortiz, Winters, Peterson, Land, Hadfield, Johns, Skyles, and Sister Demers. Oh, and the frosted flakes here are real. The guys in my district eat so much! Mostly Elder Land and Elder Peterson. I eat more now that I only eat 3x a day, but their diets are ridiculous and Elder Peterson has a smaller waist size than me! He's pretty athletic and very good at soccer. He likes to lift weights, break dance, play soccer, do the stock market, etc. When we first moved in he found out his spray deodorant had sprayed all over the plastic sack it was in. Our room smelled like it for like 3 days. Then his parents sent him his favorite salsa through air-mail in a cubby in a lunch box with an ice thing. The air pressure change made the vinegar in it go out and soak everything else in the package. That smelled even worse. Actually the cologne didn't smell bad at all, but when he dried the vinegar on the papers on our vent, our room smelled bad. :)
Did I tell you about the elders who moved into our room? They came up from the beginning class, but then one went back and the other moved next door, so it's just us again. Maybe some more will come and move in tomorrow since new arrivals come every Wednesday.
Guess what? We found some secret compartments in our room with hidden stuff inside. We found a little Styrofoam airplane and a flag and a paper frog. Isn't that cool?
We get to watch a movie every Sunday, and the movies change that you can watch (4 options every Sunday). So that will be cool. There are 2 classes every day (except Sunday and P-day) and one session where we study with our companion, by ourselves, and study the language. Then we have a zone meeting every Friday and after the meeting we go teach people lessons who aren't missionaries but come and pretend to be investigators. We so far only did part of it in Spanish. On Wednesdays we go to the Referral Center (RC) which is a place that you call real people on the phone to see if they want to talk to the missionaries. It's kind of scary. Most of them already got a pass-along card and got something for free from the church so we just see if they got it and see if they're interested. On Sunday we get to go take pictures at the temple and walk around the outside. On Tuesdays we can go inside.
I get to sleep on a bunk bed. I have to sleep on the bottom so I can use my machine. I never knew it was so hard to make a bunk bed and I bet it's just as hard to make the top bunk. I lost one of my black socks today while doing laundry so I'm kind of sad. :( Every Thursday morning I get to clean. They have missionaries clean so they don't have to pay people -- plus then missionaries keep it more clean. They only have to hire a few people and the rest is cleaned when we do our service time.
Make sure that Dad puts on my blog that I don't have hardly any addresses so people have to write me so I can write them!
It is so weird to not call people by their first names. When I hear what their first name is I think it sounds so weird. I guess I have to give up the name Shane for a while. :)
Love,
Elder Curtis
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Email 10/28/2008
Hey everyone! Another week gone by. Man the MTC is going to go so fast.
PE is really fun. I don't remember everything I've told you in past letters, but I either play soccer (usually only on Saturday since the other PE times are in the early morning or at night), four square (man that game is intense) or I do the weight lifting machines/ running.
It's great to be here. I really like my teachers a lot. They are so knowledgeable about the gospel and also great at Spanish. We haven't done a ton of SYL (speak your language), but I think that is changing – especially since after four weeks, everything we do will be in Spanish. Spanish is coming just fine. It is frustrating and hard of course, but I know I'm making progress.
Anyway thanks everyone for all your love and support! Life is crazy, but THE GOSPEL IS TRUE so all is well. We watched Legacy on Sunday. I forget what I've told you and what I've told my journal. It gets confusing. Okay, well have a good week.
PE is really fun. I don't remember everything I've told you in past letters, but I either play soccer (usually only on Saturday since the other PE times are in the early morning or at night), four square (man that game is intense) or I do the weight lifting machines/ running.
It's great to be here. I really like my teachers a lot. They are so knowledgeable about the gospel and also great at Spanish. We haven't done a ton of SYL (speak your language), but I think that is changing – especially since after four weeks, everything we do will be in Spanish. Spanish is coming just fine. It is frustrating and hard of course, but I know I'm making progress.
Anyway thanks everyone for all your love and support! Life is crazy, but THE GOSPEL IS TRUE so all is well. We watched Legacy on Sunday. I forget what I've told you and what I've told my journal. It gets confusing. Okay, well have a good week.
10/21/2008 Letter
We received a letter in the mail on Friday. Here are some excerpts:
Today is my first preparation day, hurray! Ah, life is good. The Church is true!! I'm starting to get used to the schedule of being a missionary. My companion is awesome. I'm so glad I have an obedient companero. We finally got two more elders in the room with us and they don't follow all the rules as closely as my companion and I. We are like early to all our meetings, working hard together, and praying together so I'm happy. Sometimes it's hard to love him, but when I do it's awesome so I'm trying to focus on his strengths. He has like 8 siblings (2 older) and lives near Chicago. ... He loves to play soccer and work out. ... Anyway, he has a strong testimony and is learning fast -- so it's a challenge to keep up. Elder Peterson is going to Vancaqua, Chile.
The elders that moved in our room are now in our district (they moved up from beginning Spanish) and one sister from our district moved up to advanced but we also had one move in from beginning so anyways we have 11 in our disctrict now -- we're pretty much family. The guys are cool -- and there are like 8 different missions -- 3 in Chile, 1 in Nicaragua, 2 in Honduras, Anaheim, and Guatemala. I still haven't met anyone going to Anaheim, but I heard a prayer in one of our big meetings by someone going there.
Spanish is coming along slowly but surely. So far we've learned to pray in Spanish, bear our testimony, say some greetings, etc. We've also been working on Lesson 1 in PMG. We made an outline and then taught it for the first time yesterday.
My 3 teachers are great. Hermana Alleto comes every day, and Hermano Lindahl and Tuttle come every other day (no class on Tuesdays). They have great personalities, Spanish skills, and testimonies. We had a ton of meetings (extra) this last week since we're new but now are in a good schedule and things are looking awesome for the next couple weeks.
Sheri Dew was the fireside speaker Sunday night (awesome talk) and we have devotional tonight. Don't know the speaker yet. Choir is great -- we sing on Sundays and Tuesdays. Gym five days a week has been a blast. We went to the actual gym one time and have played soccer on the field the other 2 times (five a week starts this week). The food is actually better than the CANC so I really like it.
I loved going to the temple today. It was so pretty! I guess there's not much more to report so have a wonderful day!
Today is my first preparation day, hurray! Ah, life is good. The Church is true!! I'm starting to get used to the schedule of being a missionary. My companion is awesome. I'm so glad I have an obedient companero. We finally got two more elders in the room with us and they don't follow all the rules as closely as my companion and I. We are like early to all our meetings, working hard together, and praying together so I'm happy. Sometimes it's hard to love him, but when I do it's awesome so I'm trying to focus on his strengths. He has like 8 siblings (2 older) and lives near Chicago. ... He loves to play soccer and work out. ... Anyway, he has a strong testimony and is learning fast -- so it's a challenge to keep up. Elder Peterson is going to Vancaqua, Chile.
The elders that moved in our room are now in our district (they moved up from beginning Spanish) and one sister from our district moved up to advanced but we also had one move in from beginning so anyways we have 11 in our disctrict now -- we're pretty much family. The guys are cool -- and there are like 8 different missions -- 3 in Chile, 1 in Nicaragua, 2 in Honduras, Anaheim, and Guatemala. I still haven't met anyone going to Anaheim, but I heard a prayer in one of our big meetings by someone going there.
Spanish is coming along slowly but surely. So far we've learned to pray in Spanish, bear our testimony, say some greetings, etc. We've also been working on Lesson 1 in PMG. We made an outline and then taught it for the first time yesterday.
My 3 teachers are great. Hermana Alleto comes every day, and Hermano Lindahl and Tuttle come every other day (no class on Tuesdays). They have great personalities, Spanish skills, and testimonies. We had a ton of meetings (extra) this last week since we're new but now are in a good schedule and things are looking awesome for the next couple weeks.
Sheri Dew was the fireside speaker Sunday night (awesome talk) and we have devotional tonight. Don't know the speaker yet. Choir is great -- we sing on Sundays and Tuesdays. Gym five days a week has been a blast. We went to the actual gym one time and have played soccer on the field the other 2 times (five a week starts this week). The food is actually better than the CANC so I really like it.
I loved going to the temple today. It was so pretty! I guess there's not much more to report so have a wonderful day!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Email dated 10/22/2008
Shane is now allowed to spend 30 minutes on P-Days typing an email. We're not going to send him emails because we want him to spend his email time writing, not reading. Here are some excerpts from his first one:
I love being here. The spirit is great, my companion is awesome and I love the other companionships in my district. My branch on Sunday was really good. Sundays are great. There is choir, and a fireside to end the day. Oh, and after the fireside there are four movies you can watch Sunday night. Mountain of the Lord, Joseph Smith prophet of the restoration, The Restoration, and another one about teaching or something. We didn't get to watch one this week since it's our first week, but next week for sure :)
I am aware that Heather [Richardson] is on a mission. Hopefully I'll get to say Hi before she leaves. I do indeed get to attend the temple on preparation days and I love it.
Oh, and if you could write on my blog that I have practically no addresses so if anyone wants a letter they need to send me one? That'd be great. I can't get to any website besides this one [his missionary email account] so yeah, just tell them I said that. Hopefully you keep my blog updated so all my friends can read about me. Thanks for everything!!! Lots of love from the MTC,
Elder Curtis
I love being here. The spirit is great, my companion is awesome and I love the other companionships in my district. My branch on Sunday was really good. Sundays are great. There is choir, and a fireside to end the day. Oh, and after the fireside there are four movies you can watch Sunday night. Mountain of the Lord, Joseph Smith prophet of the restoration, The Restoration, and another one about teaching or something. We didn't get to watch one this week since it's our first week, but next week for sure :)
I am aware that Heather [Richardson] is on a mission. Hopefully I'll get to say Hi before she leaves. I do indeed get to attend the temple on preparation days and I love it.
Oh, and if you could write on my blog that I have practically no addresses so if anyone wants a letter they need to send me one? That'd be great. I can't get to any website besides this one [his missionary email account] so yeah, just tell them I said that. Hopefully you keep my blog updated so all my friends can read about me. Thanks for everything!!! Lots of love from the MTC,
Elder Curtis
Sunday, October 19, 2008
First letter
Saturday we received our first letter from Shane. He says "My mind is going crazy with too much input, but I'm happy to be here. There is a great spirit here. It really is happening and I already feel inadequate but that's part of it all I guess."
His companion is Elder Peterson, who, like most people in Shane's district, is going to Chili on his mission. Shane hasn't met anyone going to Anaheim yet, but that may be because they are in the beginning Spanish class (Shane is in the intermediate class). Shane says Elder Peterson is a great guy and companion.
Shane says his leaders and teachers are great. It's awesome to see the spirit shining through him in his letters.
Shane's preparation day is Tuesday, so we look forward to another letter soon after.
His companion is Elder Peterson, who, like most people in Shane's district, is going to Chili on his mission. Shane hasn't met anyone going to Anaheim yet, but that may be because they are in the beginning Spanish class (Shane is in the intermediate class). Shane says Elder Peterson is a great guy and companion.
Shane says his leaders and teachers are great. It's awesome to see the spirit shining through him in his letters.
Shane's preparation day is Tuesday, so we look forward to another letter soon after.
His missionary badge
Penny had the honor of placing his missionary badge on his suit for the first time. It looks good on him!
Entering the MTC
Wednesday the 15th was a day we'll never forget! We were glad to be there to share it with Shane.
Set Apart
Shane was set apart by President Bangerter on Monday, October 13th. Shane was given an amazing blessing. He'll be a great missionary!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
First Day
After a hectic morning of last-minute organizing, gathering, and packing, we took Shane to the MTC yesterday morning. We were supposed to arrive at 11:30 but were a half hour late. I understand that it doesn't matter too much what time you get there -- they just give a specific time to try to keep everyone from arriving at once.
We took pictures and went inside where Shane got his missionary badge (in Spanish). Then we sat through a dozen or two Mormon ads (Family -- isn't it about time?) and then enjoyed the meeting welcoming the missionaries and assuring the families. Then after several tearful moments and hugs, Shane was off on the adventure of a lifetime.
Photos soon to come ...
We took pictures and went inside where Shane got his missionary badge (in Spanish). Then we sat through a dozen or two Mormon ads (Family -- isn't it about time?) and then enjoyed the meeting welcoming the missionaries and assuring the families. Then after several tearful moments and hugs, Shane was off on the adventure of a lifetime.
Photos soon to come ...
Monday, October 6, 2008
Almost There!
Shane enters the Provo MTC on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 -- only 9 days from now! Shane's last day working at Boondocks is this Friday, the 10th. Good luck getting everything ready Shane!
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