Hello ;] I am on a library laptop this week. The rule is you have to be next to your companion when you are on the computer, so when there aren’t two open computers next to each other, sometimes we have to check out laptops. It’s kind of fun, but a little slower.
Today was a really fun day—so far at least. We had our activity first this time. We went and played Ultimate Frisbee with the district and James Hawkins (the 19 year old we are trying to get on a mission) and two of his friends came to play with us as well. It was like the best day of Ultimate ever :-) Afterwards we went back to the apartment to relax a little, shower, and I cut the hair of Elder Olsen and Elder Cromarty. Now there are only two people out of eight in the district that don’t have a haircut from me. I owe my skills and knowledge of the art of mowing hair to mom, even though dad taught me to mow grass, it’s a little different with hair because you do the edging last instead of first.
Anyway, now we are at the library and we will finish up and go do our grocery shopping last. There are only two cars in the district, so we get to drag another companionship around with us. I really like the people in my district—they are all really cool.
Tuesday we helped the Weigs put some stuff in their trailer and then later that day we taught them one last lesson. Hans’ mom has really warmed up to us and I think she is a very good potential investigator. Friday for Christmas we are going to go caroling in the evening and we’re thinking of going by her house for sure. We took James Hawkins to our lesson Wednesday night to teach Lori Wenzel who got baptized in July. We also had him come to a lesson Saturday with Michelle.
We taught Michelle Thursday as well and had Bro. Biesinger come with us. He is an amazing teacher and the perfect ward missionary. Michelle is doing really well and finally came to church yesterday. I think she enjoyed it and she even came to a baptism yesterday evening. It was especially meaningful for her because the man being baptized could barely walk—in fact he couldn’t walk at all until the missionaries started teaching him. I think he’s blind too.
Friday we had a really cool lesson with a Hungarian family. They were referred to us by sister Emrich and they are super nice. It’s fun to get a taste of the people Elder Nichols teaches. Too bad he’s not here to help with them haha. They are the Varga family and have two young kids. Saturday we ate dinner with the Hawkins and taught them about missionary work. They invited us to come over on Christmas so I might be calling from their house.
Yesterday night we had a fun time at the Emrich’s. We had a good lesson about scripture study and challenged them to read the Book of Mormon before their son Danny gets home from his mission next November. It’s not very fast, but they haven’t really done it before to it’ll be good for them. Bro. Emrich wants to do it twice before he gets home. He’s working to get back to the temple and he’s overcome so much. Having his son on a mission has really blessed their family.
It was really cool to have 5 people at church yesterday. Hailey sang a solo in the choir so her grandparents came. We also had Michelle and Oscar there, plus John Geyer so it was a good day—especially since sacrament meeting was all music, and a few remarks by bishop at the end.
I hope this holiday season finds all of you warm and cozy in the love of Jesus Christ. He is truly the reason for the season and we would do good to remember that. I love you all as much as all the pine needles on the Christmas trees and I will talk to you in a few days.
Love, Elder Curtis
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
E-ron
Wow, it seems weird that Christmas is approaching. With all the work we are doing (and the absence of snow) it doesn’t seem like it is Christmas time for real—though we have enjoyed some Christmas music lately. It’s back up in the 60’s and 70’s today. It gets down to the 40’s and 50’s at night though and we are always freezing in the morning :)
This week was a little slow and difficult, but it’s going to be all right. Michelle Christian was able to come to two of the ward Christmas parties, but not to church. It’s a little disappointing, because now she can’t be baptized on the 20th. We hope she can come the next two weeks so that maybe she can do it on the 27th. It’s been really tough—she’s really struggling financially, physically, and emotionally. The ward is helping out a lot, but they are trying not to make her dependant or needy so they don’t solve all of her problems.
We had that Persian man named Oscar at church yesterday so that was cool. He’s going to come till Christmas time and then he’s going back to Iran (don’t pronounce it like it’s written—they get mad haha. It’s E-ron) for four months. If he wants to get the lessons he has to get an interview before hand so we aren’t going to worry about it since he’s leaving soon anyway.
There was also this random guy from Australia at church yesterday who is originally from Afghanistan. I like it when people just show up to church—it’s so easy that way lol.
The Weigs are moving this week up north about five hours so that’s sad, but I’ll definitely stay in touch with them—they are such great people.
We got a media referral this week and went to teach the guy…and his name is Guy lol. Anyway, we had a first discussion with him, but he had lots of interesting ideas and didn’t agree with everything we said so we probably won’t teach him again unless he calls us.
Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Olsen. They just recently got a car in their area because of a mid-transfer transfer, but he wanted to save miles so we still walked a ton that day—in the rain. Good thing I have such a good jacket :).
We are teaching a family in the ward (a wife and a husband) and they are both RM’s, but the husband doesn’t have a very strong testimony right now. It’s kind of sad, and you can feel it when you are around him, but he’s nice and the lessons go pretty well. They are the Wiegand family.
Thanks again for all your letters and prayers. I’ll talk to you next week. I love you all as much as all the rain drops in California!
Love, Elder Curtis
This week was a little slow and difficult, but it’s going to be all right. Michelle Christian was able to come to two of the ward Christmas parties, but not to church. It’s a little disappointing, because now she can’t be baptized on the 20th. We hope she can come the next two weeks so that maybe she can do it on the 27th. It’s been really tough—she’s really struggling financially, physically, and emotionally. The ward is helping out a lot, but they are trying not to make her dependant or needy so they don’t solve all of her problems.
We had that Persian man named Oscar at church yesterday so that was cool. He’s going to come till Christmas time and then he’s going back to Iran (don’t pronounce it like it’s written—they get mad haha. It’s E-ron) for four months. If he wants to get the lessons he has to get an interview before hand so we aren’t going to worry about it since he’s leaving soon anyway.
There was also this random guy from Australia at church yesterday who is originally from Afghanistan. I like it when people just show up to church—it’s so easy that way lol.
The Weigs are moving this week up north about five hours so that’s sad, but I’ll definitely stay in touch with them—they are such great people.
We got a media referral this week and went to teach the guy…and his name is Guy lol. Anyway, we had a first discussion with him, but he had lots of interesting ideas and didn’t agree with everything we said so we probably won’t teach him again unless he calls us.
Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Olsen. They just recently got a car in their area because of a mid-transfer transfer, but he wanted to save miles so we still walked a ton that day—in the rain. Good thing I have such a good jacket :).
We are teaching a family in the ward (a wife and a husband) and they are both RM’s, but the husband doesn’t have a very strong testimony right now. It’s kind of sad, and you can feel it when you are around him, but he’s nice and the lessons go pretty well. They are the Wiegand family.
Thanks again for all your letters and prayers. I’ll talk to you next week. I love you all as much as all the rain drops in California!
Love, Elder Curtis
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
Hello again. I think last Monday it got up to like 89 degrees, but today it’s all rainy and cloudy. It finally started to get a bit cooler at night in November and now we are consistently running the little heaters in our apartment. I had a pretty good week I guess.
We are now teaching Michelle three times a week so it’s been good progress. The only problem is that she wasn’t able to come to church again yesterday. I guess she was in a lot of pain and she couldn’t really walk. She felt super bad about it though because she really wanted to come. I guess it will take a lot of prayers and faith to get her there this Sunday.
We taught a couple new people this week. We found them tracting. Two of them are Muslim families and one is an agnostic. I don’t know if they will work out, but one of the Muslim families is really interested. The father is named Oscar and he said he would come to church, but he didn’t make it. We are going to have to get him interviewed by a member of the mission presidency in order to teach him.
On Friday we ate dinner with the Jimenez family and taught the lesson and talked all in Spanish. It was pretty fun. After district meeting on Thursday we fed our district tacos for helping out with Michelle’s move. Elder Keeler really likes to cook—especially Mexican food, so he cooked up some great tacos for us.
We are really trying to get two baptisms this transfer so we can have a “white Christmas” as a mission. We will need lots of prayers and miracles to find the ones that are ready. The goal is for the mission to get 500 baptisms this year.
We also had a great lesson with Sister Weig on Saturday. Brother Weig is working full time about half a day’s drive north of here, so things are going tough for them right now. We took Brother Clark with us to the lesson. It was really good and she came to church yesterday so hopefully her resolve to stay strong is improved.
We also had some great lessons yesterday with the Emrichs (about temples and family) and the Doanes (about the Gospel of Jesus Christ).
I hope everyone has a good holiday season. Keep up the good work. Put your trust in God and do your part, then let him take over the rest and take you the last stretch. He sure does love each one of you. And I do too. I wouldn’t be here without all your love and support—before and during my mission. Keep praying for me a bunch, because I need it over here, and I’ll keep praying for all of you.
Guess I’ll talk to you all next week and on Christmas too. I knew it would come up fast, but no one believed me. Pretty soon it will be 2010! I love you as much as all the people in California,
Elder Curtis
We are now teaching Michelle three times a week so it’s been good progress. The only problem is that she wasn’t able to come to church again yesterday. I guess she was in a lot of pain and she couldn’t really walk. She felt super bad about it though because she really wanted to come. I guess it will take a lot of prayers and faith to get her there this Sunday.
We taught a couple new people this week. We found them tracting. Two of them are Muslim families and one is an agnostic. I don’t know if they will work out, but one of the Muslim families is really interested. The father is named Oscar and he said he would come to church, but he didn’t make it. We are going to have to get him interviewed by a member of the mission presidency in order to teach him.
On Friday we ate dinner with the Jimenez family and taught the lesson and talked all in Spanish. It was pretty fun. After district meeting on Thursday we fed our district tacos for helping out with Michelle’s move. Elder Keeler really likes to cook—especially Mexican food, so he cooked up some great tacos for us.
We are really trying to get two baptisms this transfer so we can have a “white Christmas” as a mission. We will need lots of prayers and miracles to find the ones that are ready. The goal is for the mission to get 500 baptisms this year.
We also had a great lesson with Sister Weig on Saturday. Brother Weig is working full time about half a day’s drive north of here, so things are going tough for them right now. We took Brother Clark with us to the lesson. It was really good and she came to church yesterday so hopefully her resolve to stay strong is improved.
We also had some great lessons yesterday with the Emrichs (about temples and family) and the Doanes (about the Gospel of Jesus Christ).
I hope everyone has a good holiday season. Keep up the good work. Put your trust in God and do your part, then let him take over the rest and take you the last stretch. He sure does love each one of you. And I do too. I wouldn’t be here without all your love and support—before and during my mission. Keep praying for me a bunch, because I need it over here, and I’ll keep praying for all of you.
Guess I’ll talk to you all next week and on Christmas too. I knew it would come up fast, but no one believed me. Pretty soon it will be 2010! I love you as much as all the people in California,
Elder Curtis
Monday, November 30, 2009
I Like Food
Things are going pretty well here in California. We’ve had pretty good success these first two weeks. We taught nine lessons the first week and eleven lessons this past week. The mission standard of excellence is twenty lessons a week, but it’s a lot harder to get those kind of numbers down here in Newport Beach than it is in places like Santa Ana that are pretty much Mexico. In fact most of the district only gets about five or less lessons a week. That’s kind of what we did the last two transfers as well. Elder Keeler is pretty good about getting lessons though so we’ve been doing lots better. I really like how he works. He’s not obsessed with tracting like Elder Grange was so we only do it when we have to. It’s not very effective in this area so that’s a big relief for me. I was getting pretty tired of tracting every day and never finding anyone.
Michelle is doing better. We’ve been meeting with her a bit more often and have been able to help her a lot not only spiritually, but temporally too. She moved out of her old apartment on Saturday the 21st to the complex where we live. It’s only across the street, but she can afford it better. We had lots of members come and assist with the move so it was a really big help. Now she knows some of them and has a better connection with the ward. One family that has helped a lot in particular is the McArthur family. Sister McArthur has MS as well so she can relate and help out. They have come to a couple lessons with us now and are helping in other ways. We still haven’t gotten her to church yet because she has such a hard time getting her three year old son ready to go and in the car, much less herself. She has absolutely no physical ability to force him to do anything, so unless he wants to get changed and wants to get in the car, there’s nothing she can do about it. Next week we are going to have a member help her get ready so she can go. We are going to set a baptism date for the 20th of December so hopefully everything works out.
On Tuesday I worked with Elder Cromarty for exchanges, while Elder Keeler went to NB 2nd with Elder Olsen. It was a pretty good day and we taught two lessons. On Wednesday, when we were teaching a recent convert (as of July) named Lori Wenzel, we told her and her husband that Michelle had no one to eat thanksgiving with so they offered to invite her over. It was really nice of them and was a good service opportunity. So we went and ate some turkey and taught a lesson to the three of them on Thursday evening. We actually had three thanksgiving dinners on Thursday. We had one at 2:00 with the Jacobsens, one at 3:30 with the Emrichs, and then one with the Wenzels that night. I like food.
Friday we helped the Hawkin family unload all their stuff, which they had had in storage, from a huge truck and take it in their house. Then on Saturday we ate dinner with them and taught a lesson about the tree of life and the importance of reading the scriptures etc. They even had a non-member friend over that joined us. Last night we had a lesson with some former investigators whom Elder Grange and his trainee Elder Taka (now my zone leader) had taught. They are really nice and we challenged them to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it (like we always do with people). It has been a long time since I taught someone a first lesson so it was refreshing for me. Their names are Nathan and Carrie Simon so we hope they progress towards baptism.
I was very glad to hear that BYU beat Utah. I’m excited for the read up on it. Thanks for sending all of those. It sounds like they did pretty good this year. Did they win the conference, or did TCU beat us out? I don’t like that team very much. The weather is still pretty nice over here. It was 85 on Thanksgiving lol. It’s pretty weird. It doesn’t feel like Christmas could possibly be approaching already with the weather like this.
Dad, we were at a member’s house the other day and they were looking up where the name Keeler comes from and they happened to end up on Ancestry.com and I was like, Hey, that’s my dad’s company! It was pretty cool—I was proud of you. I’m glad you are enjoying work these days still and that it is successful in these hard times.
Elder Keeler is from New Mexico about 20 minutes from the border of Mexico. He’s a funny guy and has a good personality. He’s been in Spanish most of his mission so we’ve been talking to a lot of Spanish people—though most of them are members. It’s been good and I am still learning, though it’s at a much slower rate.
I love you all as much as all the dogs in the world. Have a wonderful week
Elder Curtis
Michelle is doing better. We’ve been meeting with her a bit more often and have been able to help her a lot not only spiritually, but temporally too. She moved out of her old apartment on Saturday the 21st to the complex where we live. It’s only across the street, but she can afford it better. We had lots of members come and assist with the move so it was a really big help. Now she knows some of them and has a better connection with the ward. One family that has helped a lot in particular is the McArthur family. Sister McArthur has MS as well so she can relate and help out. They have come to a couple lessons with us now and are helping in other ways. We still haven’t gotten her to church yet because she has such a hard time getting her three year old son ready to go and in the car, much less herself. She has absolutely no physical ability to force him to do anything, so unless he wants to get changed and wants to get in the car, there’s nothing she can do about it. Next week we are going to have a member help her get ready so she can go. We are going to set a baptism date for the 20th of December so hopefully everything works out.
On Tuesday I worked with Elder Cromarty for exchanges, while Elder Keeler went to NB 2nd with Elder Olsen. It was a pretty good day and we taught two lessons. On Wednesday, when we were teaching a recent convert (as of July) named Lori Wenzel, we told her and her husband that Michelle had no one to eat thanksgiving with so they offered to invite her over. It was really nice of them and was a good service opportunity. So we went and ate some turkey and taught a lesson to the three of them on Thursday evening. We actually had three thanksgiving dinners on Thursday. We had one at 2:00 with the Jacobsens, one at 3:30 with the Emrichs, and then one with the Wenzels that night. I like food.
Friday we helped the Hawkin family unload all their stuff, which they had had in storage, from a huge truck and take it in their house. Then on Saturday we ate dinner with them and taught a lesson about the tree of life and the importance of reading the scriptures etc. They even had a non-member friend over that joined us. Last night we had a lesson with some former investigators whom Elder Grange and his trainee Elder Taka (now my zone leader) had taught. They are really nice and we challenged them to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it (like we always do with people). It has been a long time since I taught someone a first lesson so it was refreshing for me. Their names are Nathan and Carrie Simon so we hope they progress towards baptism.
I was very glad to hear that BYU beat Utah. I’m excited for the read up on it. Thanks for sending all of those. It sounds like they did pretty good this year. Did they win the conference, or did TCU beat us out? I don’t like that team very much. The weather is still pretty nice over here. It was 85 on Thanksgiving lol. It’s pretty weird. It doesn’t feel like Christmas could possibly be approaching already with the weather like this.
Dad, we were at a member’s house the other day and they were looking up where the name Keeler comes from and they happened to end up on Ancestry.com and I was like, Hey, that’s my dad’s company! It was pretty cool—I was proud of you. I’m glad you are enjoying work these days still and that it is successful in these hard times.
Elder Keeler is from New Mexico about 20 minutes from the border of Mexico. He’s a funny guy and has a good personality. He’s been in Spanish most of his mission so we’ve been talking to a lot of Spanish people—though most of them are members. It’s been good and I am still learning, though it’s at a much slower rate.
I love you all as much as all the dogs in the world. Have a wonderful week
Elder Curtis
Monday, November 23, 2009
A Servant of Jesus Christ
It’s another one of those hot days. You jump in the car and have to turn up the AC just a little bit more. The humidity is perfect and the sun is up, leaving the world at 70 degrees. You wonder what it’s like to be cold, and sometimes you wonder what it’s like to be hot and to sweat. You wear short sleeves all day and think that it is tiring just to walk from one house to another. Usually the car does all the work for you.
Many people are already Christian and are just missing one little piece of the puzzle. Others are wondering if there even is a puzzle. Some are Jews and some don’t understand English. Many go to Mariners church just down the road from the “Mormon church with the gold statue on top.” After all, why go to an LDS service when you can go to church to socialize, eat doughnuts, listen to the rock band, and maybe even do some skating at the indoor skate park at Mariners?
Or isn’t money a good enough God? After all, I have all I need in life to be happy…so they say. Doesn’t a huge house by the beach, a beamer in the driveway, and a little partying every now and then when you’re not working equal happiness? But we respect what you do, they say, and good luck, though they offer none to you.
So you get back in the car and drive to the next house…but they are too busy at work to be at home to greet you. So you knock more doors, though there aren’t many who are interested or kind enough to honestly say they aren’t.
Then you finally go to an appointment and your companion speaks with such power that the spirit flows through you and energizes you. You speak and you realize the words you say were not what you at first intended. It seems almost as if the spirit is using your mouth to speak its own words, and you don’t resist. After all—if ye have not the spirit, ye shall not teach. D&C 42
You then go to a dinner appointment and marvel at the strength and conviction of the members as well as their unfailing generosity and kindness. They come with you to lessons and teach things only experience can bring.
You teach another lesson, or strengthen more members—always leaving a commitment and a feeling in their heart that only could come from some loving Father above. The truths touch your own heart as you recount how they have influenced and guided your life.
They realize what you have is precious. And they commit themselves to change. You see their hearts and lives take different form and meaning. And finally, they take the first step of covenant and happiness—and you realize you had nothing to do with the change. For you are only an object to bring the truth. An instrument that only the spirit can play with that master touch. One who only has success by miracles and being guided by someone more powerful. For he shows you what to do and where to go and especially what to say.
And you realize you are happy. For what can bring happiness except service and a loving family back at home? For giving is not giving. Giving is receiving. And the more you give, the more you receive and you know your debt can not be paid.
But Christ died for us all and did so out of Charity. He has bought us with a price and we are His. For He has engraved us on His hands and feet. We are not our own so our lives must be in His service. We know the precious pearls we have and we want to share them with all the world. For Charity seeketh not her own, but rejoiceth in the truth. Moroni 7:45-48 Without Charity, I am nothing.
For God seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Therefore, I will waste and wear out my life in the service of others, for when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.
Yea, I know that I am nothing. As to my strength I am weak. Therefore, I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do all things. Yes it’s true, I am a servant of Jesus Christ.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Many people are already Christian and are just missing one little piece of the puzzle. Others are wondering if there even is a puzzle. Some are Jews and some don’t understand English. Many go to Mariners church just down the road from the “Mormon church with the gold statue on top.” After all, why go to an LDS service when you can go to church to socialize, eat doughnuts, listen to the rock band, and maybe even do some skating at the indoor skate park at Mariners?
Or isn’t money a good enough God? After all, I have all I need in life to be happy…so they say. Doesn’t a huge house by the beach, a beamer in the driveway, and a little partying every now and then when you’re not working equal happiness? But we respect what you do, they say, and good luck, though they offer none to you.
So you get back in the car and drive to the next house…but they are too busy at work to be at home to greet you. So you knock more doors, though there aren’t many who are interested or kind enough to honestly say they aren’t.
Then you finally go to an appointment and your companion speaks with such power that the spirit flows through you and energizes you. You speak and you realize the words you say were not what you at first intended. It seems almost as if the spirit is using your mouth to speak its own words, and you don’t resist. After all—if ye have not the spirit, ye shall not teach. D&C 42
You then go to a dinner appointment and marvel at the strength and conviction of the members as well as their unfailing generosity and kindness. They come with you to lessons and teach things only experience can bring.
You teach another lesson, or strengthen more members—always leaving a commitment and a feeling in their heart that only could come from some loving Father above. The truths touch your own heart as you recount how they have influenced and guided your life.
They realize what you have is precious. And they commit themselves to change. You see their hearts and lives take different form and meaning. And finally, they take the first step of covenant and happiness—and you realize you had nothing to do with the change. For you are only an object to bring the truth. An instrument that only the spirit can play with that master touch. One who only has success by miracles and being guided by someone more powerful. For he shows you what to do and where to go and especially what to say.
And you realize you are happy. For what can bring happiness except service and a loving family back at home? For giving is not giving. Giving is receiving. And the more you give, the more you receive and you know your debt can not be paid.
But Christ died for us all and did so out of Charity. He has bought us with a price and we are His. For He has engraved us on His hands and feet. We are not our own so our lives must be in His service. We know the precious pearls we have and we want to share them with all the world. For Charity seeketh not her own, but rejoiceth in the truth. Moroni 7:45-48 Without Charity, I am nothing.
For God seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Therefore, I will waste and wear out my life in the service of others, for when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.
Yea, I know that I am nothing. As to my strength I am weak. Therefore, I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do all things. Yes it’s true, I am a servant of Jesus Christ.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Friday, November 20, 2009
One more dear year of Preachin and Teachin
As my companion would say, “Howdy ya’ll from down here in California.” Nope, it’s not Elder Grange anymore. Elder Grange was transferred to Placentia to work with Elder Vaha (also previously in my district) so now I’m here in Harbor Hills working with Elder Keeler. He is from New Mexico and he was my second district leader on the mission, so I already know him pretty well. He’s been in Spanish most of his mission so we are really going to work on speaking, learning, and up-keeping our Spanish. It’s going to really be a great experience. He’s an awesome missionary and loves the work. He grew up on a farm growing peppers I think. He’s a short, ball of fun so I’m pretty excited. I learned a lot from E. Grange and it was fun to work with him, but now he moves on. It’s about time too because he’d been here for ten and a half months. That’s a super long time. My new district leader is Elder Olsen.
This week was good. I went on exchanges with Elder Cash on Tuesday. He is a really nice guy and our personalities go pretty well together. His family isn’t members/active members so they didn’t really want him to serve, but he is anyway and is being a great example for his younger brother—half brother. He has three nieces and nephews like me so we related pretty well to each other. It was fun to be in the Corona Del Mar ward. It is one of the richest in the world I believe. Houses go for millions of dollars. They are right by the ocean and even cover a small island called Balboa Island. Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Vaha in the Newport first ward. We went to a wedding reception and a ward party so it was a pretty laid back day.
Not too much else this week I guess. Friday we taught the Hawkins family. Elder Grange and Elder Queen took their son James out tracting on Saturday. He’s 19 and not sure about a mission, but they said he enjoyed it. We had dinner with John Geyer and talked about the Book of Mormon Friday night. He’s not a member, but his wife is. He’s progressed a lot and comes to church all the time, but he said he’s kind of going at his own pace right now and is happy where he’s at. He’s a super smart guy and enjoys everything about the church so far; he just is being really careful about his decision and is taking it really slow. I really hope he comes around some day.
Oh yeah, we went to the temple on Wednesday! I love the temple. Having it in my area has really been a blessing. I wish I could go more often, but I guess there’s a time and season for everything. It’s such a pretty temple—I can’t wait to take you guys there. I guess President Hinckley was kind of skeptical about putting it in, thinking it wouldn’t be used much , but I think it is one of the most active small temples in the world now. It’s a very peaceful and pretty place.
Oh wow, my week is finally coming back to me. Thursday we had mission conference. It was half the mission on Thursday and the other half on Friday. It was really neat. Elder and sister Foster of the 70 came and spoke to us. I enjoyed it and heard some great stuff.
Sunday we taught Hailey Tweter and finished up the recent convert discussions with her finally. We visited a couple people so Elder Grange could say goodbye and then we went home so he could pack. We had dinner with an interesting family. The father is on a quest to find the brass plates. He’s one of the smartest men I’ve ever talked to and thinks he knows where they are. He says they are somewhere in a 15 mile radius down in Panama and he is going to go look for them. I’ll explain more about it next week, but it was really interesting to talk to him.
That’s it for this week I guess. My year mark is this Friday. It is the strangest thing in the world. I guess I’ll just have to keep enjoying everything and not worry about it. Have a fantastic week everyone. I love you as much as all the sands on the beaches.
Elder Curtis
This week was good. I went on exchanges with Elder Cash on Tuesday. He is a really nice guy and our personalities go pretty well together. His family isn’t members/active members so they didn’t really want him to serve, but he is anyway and is being a great example for his younger brother—half brother. He has three nieces and nephews like me so we related pretty well to each other. It was fun to be in the Corona Del Mar ward. It is one of the richest in the world I believe. Houses go for millions of dollars. They are right by the ocean and even cover a small island called Balboa Island. Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Vaha in the Newport first ward. We went to a wedding reception and a ward party so it was a pretty laid back day.
Not too much else this week I guess. Friday we taught the Hawkins family. Elder Grange and Elder Queen took their son James out tracting on Saturday. He’s 19 and not sure about a mission, but they said he enjoyed it. We had dinner with John Geyer and talked about the Book of Mormon Friday night. He’s not a member, but his wife is. He’s progressed a lot and comes to church all the time, but he said he’s kind of going at his own pace right now and is happy where he’s at. He’s a super smart guy and enjoys everything about the church so far; he just is being really careful about his decision and is taking it really slow. I really hope he comes around some day.
Oh yeah, we went to the temple on Wednesday! I love the temple. Having it in my area has really been a blessing. I wish I could go more often, but I guess there’s a time and season for everything. It’s such a pretty temple—I can’t wait to take you guys there. I guess President Hinckley was kind of skeptical about putting it in, thinking it wouldn’t be used much , but I think it is one of the most active small temples in the world now. It’s a very peaceful and pretty place.
Oh wow, my week is finally coming back to me. Thursday we had mission conference. It was half the mission on Thursday and the other half on Friday. It was really neat. Elder and sister Foster of the 70 came and spoke to us. I enjoyed it and heard some great stuff.
Sunday we taught Hailey Tweter and finished up the recent convert discussions with her finally. We visited a couple people so Elder Grange could say goodbye and then we went home so he could pack. We had dinner with an interesting family. The father is on a quest to find the brass plates. He’s one of the smartest men I’ve ever talked to and thinks he knows where they are. He says they are somewhere in a 15 mile radius down in Panama and he is going to go look for them. I’ll explain more about it next week, but it was really interesting to talk to him.
That’s it for this week I guess. My year mark is this Friday. It is the strangest thing in the world. I guess I’ll just have to keep enjoying everything and not worry about it. Have a fantastic week everyone. I love you as much as all the sands on the beaches.
Elder Curtis
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
But Who's Complaining?
Week six is here again oh week six is here again oh send all letters to the office, week six is here again oh week six is here again, oh who knows what’s going to happen. Actually, today isn’t even my P-day. We are going to the temple on Wednesday, so that will be my day of preparation. I have to write today because Wednesday is Veterans Day so the library will be closed. Actually, I had to do laundry and shopping today as well so I don’t run out of food and clothes—so who knows why they even change P-day at all. But who’s complaining?
This past week was crazy. We went on three exchanges! Two of them were in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday so I didn’t get Elder Grange too much this week. Tuesday I worked in the Newport Beach first ward with Elder Queen, and Wednesday Elder Tagg came to work in Harbor Hills with me. Saturday Elder Olsen came and worked with me as well. It was pretty fun. Wednesday we taught the Weigs. They have two lessons left until they are finished. Thursday we had a lesson with a member named Hayley Hanssler. She recently started coming to church again and it is a good opportunity for her to learn more and strengthen her testimony.
Saturday we taught Bro. Emrich’s mother again, who wants to be baptized in a year when her grandson gets home. It was a good lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Yesterday we taught the Doane family the first half of it up to death. We had another great lesson with Hailey Tweter about some of the commandments and had an awesome couple there to help us—the Reeves. Church was fun with the primary program and everything, but I really enjoyed the stake Priesthood meeting last night. It was all about the Book of Mormon. They had Elder Grange and Elder Ofa (who was in my district last transfer) speak about how it changes lives. Then there was a return missionary who had the same topic. Then President Clayton spoke about the same thing, then Elder Holland spoke about the same thing (i.e. we watched his talk from conference). It was super powerful and I immensely enjoyed finally hearing that talk again. I can’t wait to put it on an electronic device when I get home so I can listen to it lots and lots.
We weren’t able to teach Michelle this week. She’s still having a really tough time and she wasn’t able to make it to church either. I sure hope she can at least be baptized next transfer. Speaking of next transfer, we think there are going to be some changes in this district. E. Grange has been here 10 ½ months of his mission (including when he was here before) so we are thinking he might be leaving. However, if there are so many new missionaries that the ward gets a new set of missionaries, we might both be staying (not together though) to train the new ones in the area. We’ll see what happens, but it should be interesting. Other Elders in the district have a high possibility of moving as well.
I guess the only other news is that the Roostapisheh family moved back to Germany on Wednesday so we don’t get to teach them anymore. Hope everything goes well for them over there and that they stay strong in the church. This week should go by pretty quick because we have to do two more exchanges. Elder Grange kind of saved them all for the last couple weeks, but that’s okay. Things are more exciting that way. We also have a mission conference this week. That only happens when someone important visits the mission and this week Elder Foster of the 70 is coming. Anyway, hope you all have a wonderful week.
I love you as much as all the fish in the sea, Elder Curtis
This past week was crazy. We went on three exchanges! Two of them were in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday so I didn’t get Elder Grange too much this week. Tuesday I worked in the Newport Beach first ward with Elder Queen, and Wednesday Elder Tagg came to work in Harbor Hills with me. Saturday Elder Olsen came and worked with me as well. It was pretty fun. Wednesday we taught the Weigs. They have two lessons left until they are finished. Thursday we had a lesson with a member named Hayley Hanssler. She recently started coming to church again and it is a good opportunity for her to learn more and strengthen her testimony.
Saturday we taught Bro. Emrich’s mother again, who wants to be baptized in a year when her grandson gets home. It was a good lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Yesterday we taught the Doane family the first half of it up to death. We had another great lesson with Hailey Tweter about some of the commandments and had an awesome couple there to help us—the Reeves. Church was fun with the primary program and everything, but I really enjoyed the stake Priesthood meeting last night. It was all about the Book of Mormon. They had Elder Grange and Elder Ofa (who was in my district last transfer) speak about how it changes lives. Then there was a return missionary who had the same topic. Then President Clayton spoke about the same thing, then Elder Holland spoke about the same thing (i.e. we watched his talk from conference). It was super powerful and I immensely enjoyed finally hearing that talk again. I can’t wait to put it on an electronic device when I get home so I can listen to it lots and lots.
We weren’t able to teach Michelle this week. She’s still having a really tough time and she wasn’t able to make it to church either. I sure hope she can at least be baptized next transfer. Speaking of next transfer, we think there are going to be some changes in this district. E. Grange has been here 10 ½ months of his mission (including when he was here before) so we are thinking he might be leaving. However, if there are so many new missionaries that the ward gets a new set of missionaries, we might both be staying (not together though) to train the new ones in the area. We’ll see what happens, but it should be interesting. Other Elders in the district have a high possibility of moving as well.
I guess the only other news is that the Roostapisheh family moved back to Germany on Wednesday so we don’t get to teach them anymore. Hope everything goes well for them over there and that they stay strong in the church. This week should go by pretty quick because we have to do two more exchanges. Elder Grange kind of saved them all for the last couple weeks, but that’s okay. Things are more exciting that way. We also have a mission conference this week. That only happens when someone important visits the mission and this week Elder Foster of the 70 is coming. Anyway, hope you all have a wonderful week.
I love you as much as all the fish in the sea, Elder Curtis
80 Degrees
Hi! How is the weather treating everyone? It’s about 80 degrees right now…J Thanks for the fun Halloween card! How did you manage to get it to me Halloween night? Must be skill :D We had a pretty fun week. Friday we had a ward party/trunk-or-treat. It was great because they first had a chili cook off and asked Elder Grange and I to be the judges. There were probably 20 pots of chili that we both got to taste test. Some of them hadn’t cooled down sufficiently so my tongue got a little scorched. They were really good though. There was also lots of cornbread, but we didn’t have a competition for that. After dinner, a pie eating contest, and some games, everyone went out to trunk-or-treat. For Halloween on Saturday we had dinner with the Sneary family and they fed us chili J It might have been left over from Friday lol.
Tuesday we taught the Roostapisheh family and they said they might get sent back to Germany so we hope they are able to stay. We also met with a less-active named Bro. Johansen and he was really nice. We ate with the Loveridge family for dinner and it was Bro. Loveridge’s birthday. I also got to play the Ukelele while we were there and I thought it was pretty cool. Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Lambert. We had a good time and even taught a couple lessons to members chosen by the ward mission process. I can’t believe that was this week. It seems like forever ago.
Thursday we taught Michelle Christian the Gospel and asked the McArthers to come with us. Sister McArther has MS so she can relate to Michelle really well. In the end, only Bro. McArther came, but it was really good for them to meet and we had a good lesson. If she comes to church the next two weeks she can be baptized on the 15th of November so pray that she can come and that she can get an answer before then! She’s really nice though and it’s been great teaching her. She didn’t make it to church two weeks ago because she hit her head on her toilet (she has a hard time controlling her muscles) and had to get 7 staples. We don’t know why she wasn’t there yesterday though.
Yesterday we had dinner with the Lewis family (our ward mission leader). I just love that family. They are the nicest of the nice and are so excited about missionary work. Bro. Lewis is perfect for the calling, even though he is new to the ward and doesn’t really know anyone. They live in a really nice place with a pool and a hot tub in the back. We had BBQ chicken and it was superb. They are pregnant with their second son right now.
We have our primary program this coming Sunday so that will be pretty cool. Too bad we don’t have a nursery program. We have 5 nurseries! I guess they aren’t as good at singing…There are tons of little babies and kids though and lots on the way. I guess that’s what happens when you have a college in the ward. I can’t believe Lauren and Devin are getting married!!!!! That’s amazing. Didn’t he just get off his mission? They must have really gotten to know each other at college. I think they both went to BYU-Idaho. That’s so funny—they will be such a fun couple. That’s great news about Susan Purdy. I got to know her in the singles ward. She is one of the coolest people ever. Everyone in the ward loved her. She was even one of the Sunday school teachers.
I got to see Erasmo last Saturday at the temple tour so that was fun. He said he is leaving—possibly to Mexico. Hopefully we can stay in touch. Guess that’s about it. Love you guys.
Elder Curtis
Monday, October 26, 2009
She Wants to be Baptized
Good afternoon! I sure hope everyone is still doing great. I love hearing from everyone on occasion and at least hear what’s going on in their life by reading the family news letter. Thanks for sending that—it’s really nice. This week was kind of sad because the Moaddeli family and the Sneary family “dropped” us. Sister Moaddeli after three weeks of not seeing her talked to us on the phone and said that it is causing too much strife in the home to continue with the lessons or a baptism so she said she’ll call us when she feels her family is ready. It is so sad for me because she was on fire and just so ready. Bro. Sneary called and canceled the appointment we had with him on Sunday and said he wants to take a break for a while. Fortunately we are going to eat with them on Halloween night, but it is sad he already doesn’t want to continue after only two lessons.
Thursday we ate dinner with the Cox family. Bro. Cox is going through cancer of the throat and kimo etc. and is not a member. They are super nice though and we had a great talk with them. They have four kids who are all moved out of the house, but they still have two dogs so those are their kids and entertainment now. Their house is amazing. Anyway, we had a really good spiritual thought with them and talked about the Book of Mormon and how it answers questions of the soul. Bro. Cox was then able to ask us a question of the soul that related to him about how he could find comfort/faith for his upcoming surgery and we answered it with the Book of Mormon. It was pretty neat.
We taught a couple Preach My Gospel lessons to members in the ward who were selected by the ward mission process this week. They were chosen through prayer and inspiration so it was neat to teach them, even though they aren’t less active—just in need of encouragement and the good word of God.
Saturday we had a temple tour. The mom of Bro. Emrich (a member we’ve been working with) was able to come and she really liked it. She is from outside the mission, but it was cool because she wants to be baptized. She is waiting for Elder Emrich to get off of his mission (he’s been out about the same amount of time as me) to baptize her.
Yesterday Edward went to church finally, though we had him go to the singles ward and we passed him off to the singles ward elders. We had dinner with a part-member family, the Lowengrubs. The wife is somewhat active and the husband and five kids (12 and under) are non-members. They are nice but have some pretty wild girls. It was a fun evening. Their kids are all swimmers and Sis. Lowengrub said they swim 1-3 miles a day. That seems pretty far for a 10 or 5 year old. They are all really fit kids. I played their piano for them and they enjoyed that. They also asked me to take a look at a new viola they are renting for the son. They wondered if it was broken or if it worked, but all it needed was rosin on the bow. It’s pretty funny to get a new bow and move it across the strings because it doesn’t make a single sound until you put rosin on the bow to give it friction.
It was a pretty low week on numbers, but we know if we keep working hard and keep the faith, it will work out and we’ll have experiences that will make it worth-while. As it says in the scriptures, especially while talking about Adam and Eve, you have to know the bad to know and appreciate the good. Have a wonder full week. Love,
Elder Curtis
Thursday we ate dinner with the Cox family. Bro. Cox is going through cancer of the throat and kimo etc. and is not a member. They are super nice though and we had a great talk with them. They have four kids who are all moved out of the house, but they still have two dogs so those are their kids and entertainment now. Their house is amazing. Anyway, we had a really good spiritual thought with them and talked about the Book of Mormon and how it answers questions of the soul. Bro. Cox was then able to ask us a question of the soul that related to him about how he could find comfort/faith for his upcoming surgery and we answered it with the Book of Mormon. It was pretty neat.
We taught a couple Preach My Gospel lessons to members in the ward who were selected by the ward mission process this week. They were chosen through prayer and inspiration so it was neat to teach them, even though they aren’t less active—just in need of encouragement and the good word of God.
Saturday we had a temple tour. The mom of Bro. Emrich (a member we’ve been working with) was able to come and she really liked it. She is from outside the mission, but it was cool because she wants to be baptized. She is waiting for Elder Emrich to get off of his mission (he’s been out about the same amount of time as me) to baptize her.
Yesterday Edward went to church finally, though we had him go to the singles ward and we passed him off to the singles ward elders. We had dinner with a part-member family, the Lowengrubs. The wife is somewhat active and the husband and five kids (12 and under) are non-members. They are nice but have some pretty wild girls. It was a fun evening. Their kids are all swimmers and Sis. Lowengrub said they swim 1-3 miles a day. That seems pretty far for a 10 or 5 year old. They are all really fit kids. I played their piano for them and they enjoyed that. They also asked me to take a look at a new viola they are renting for the son. They wondered if it was broken or if it worked, but all it needed was rosin on the bow. It’s pretty funny to get a new bow and move it across the strings because it doesn’t make a single sound until you put rosin on the bow to give it friction.
It was a pretty low week on numbers, but we know if we keep working hard and keep the faith, it will work out and we’ll have experiences that will make it worth-while. As it says in the scriptures, especially while talking about Adam and Eve, you have to know the bad to know and appreciate the good. Have a wonder full week. Love,
Elder Curtis
Monday, October 19, 2009
This week I gained a granddaughter!!! I love being an aunt.
I never know how to start my letters, but I guess I just need to start typing and what to say will come. This was a pretty good week, though it was a little bit slower than other weeks (lesson/success wise).
Last Monday we played ultimate Frisbee for our activity and we are planning on it again this week. It’s been nice to do email and shopping before the activity so we have less to do afterwards. We can just go home and relax/get ready for going back to work at 6:00. We usually have a dinner appointment at 6 and then we teach the Emerich family. They are active, but we are teaching the father because he was less-active for 18 years until just recently when his son went on a mission.
On Thursday we had zone conference and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The main focus was on the Book of Mormon and how we need to really emphasize it. We need to “place the Book of Mormon in their hearts.” As it says in PMG, the BOM is the most powerful tool in conversion besides the spirit. I think part of that is because it brings the spirit so well and teaches the gospel clearly. We think the BOM will be the key in the progress of some of our investigators, such as John Geyer.
Zone Conference starts at 8:30 and goes until about two or three in the afternoon, including a lunch that the local ward members usually provide. Wow, looking at my planner, we really didn’t do much besides tracting and visiting less actives on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We did teach the Weig family the Restoration on Friday night and that’s always a treat. They’re doing really well. Sister Weig got called to be part of the RS meeting committee (or whatever it’s called these days) and Bro. Weig got called as the sacrament meeting prayer coordinator. Hailey is already a Laurel councilor.
Saturday was a pretty interesting day because I went on exchanges with Elder Cromarty in the Newport Beach second ward. In previous transfers I think the most exchanges I ever went on was two in a transfer, but now that Elder Grange is district leader we get to go on seven exchanges in six weeks! It’s going to be interesting.
Anyway, it was the first time I slept in a house on my mission—they live with an elderly lady (not even a member). It was also my first time being officially on bike so that was also pretty crazy. I was pretty tired by the end of the day so it’s good exchanges only last one day lol. They didn’t really have any appointments so we pretty much tracted all day and visited a couple people. It makes me grateful for being in a car. Of course, I wouldn’t mind the adventure if I was called to a bike area though.
Ross, I did meet this member who said his son was a missionary in Thailand around the time you were there so if you knew anyone by the name of Elder Tarayoa I think that would be cool.
It was neat last Sunday when we kneeled as a ward council and asked for inspiration on who we could invite to receive the PMG lessons. They came up with a good list of names and we invited one of the families, the Hawkins, to receive the lessons this week. We knew their 19 year old son wasn’t sure if he wanted to serve a mission, but when we talked to sister Hawkins, we found out we really were inspired because Bro. Hawkins has been somewhat less active as well so Sis. Hawkins was emotional and full of gratitude for the invite. They also have a 17 year old boy and two or three younger daughters so they’re a great family. A family that Bishop Nelson invited accepted to receive the lessons as well.
Yesterday was a pretty busy day. We had church at 9, then meetings afterwards till our appointment at 1:30 with the Hawkins. Then we taught the part member Sneary family part of the second lesson as well as about the BOM and baptism. At 4:30 we had a dinner appointment and then at 6 we taught Hailey the Plan of Salvation. It was a good day.
Well, have a good week everyone! It’s always fun to hear from you all.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Ps. Can you guess who said the funny quotes from the subject of this and the last letter?
Last Monday we played ultimate Frisbee for our activity and we are planning on it again this week. It’s been nice to do email and shopping before the activity so we have less to do afterwards. We can just go home and relax/get ready for going back to work at 6:00. We usually have a dinner appointment at 6 and then we teach the Emerich family. They are active, but we are teaching the father because he was less-active for 18 years until just recently when his son went on a mission.
On Thursday we had zone conference and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The main focus was on the Book of Mormon and how we need to really emphasize it. We need to “place the Book of Mormon in their hearts.” As it says in PMG, the BOM is the most powerful tool in conversion besides the spirit. I think part of that is because it brings the spirit so well and teaches the gospel clearly. We think the BOM will be the key in the progress of some of our investigators, such as John Geyer.
Zone Conference starts at 8:30 and goes until about two or three in the afternoon, including a lunch that the local ward members usually provide. Wow, looking at my planner, we really didn’t do much besides tracting and visiting less actives on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We did teach the Weig family the Restoration on Friday night and that’s always a treat. They’re doing really well. Sister Weig got called to be part of the RS meeting committee (or whatever it’s called these days) and Bro. Weig got called as the sacrament meeting prayer coordinator. Hailey is already a Laurel councilor.
Saturday was a pretty interesting day because I went on exchanges with Elder Cromarty in the Newport Beach second ward. In previous transfers I think the most exchanges I ever went on was two in a transfer, but now that Elder Grange is district leader we get to go on seven exchanges in six weeks! It’s going to be interesting.
Anyway, it was the first time I slept in a house on my mission—they live with an elderly lady (not even a member). It was also my first time being officially on bike so that was also pretty crazy. I was pretty tired by the end of the day so it’s good exchanges only last one day lol. They didn’t really have any appointments so we pretty much tracted all day and visited a couple people. It makes me grateful for being in a car. Of course, I wouldn’t mind the adventure if I was called to a bike area though.
Ross, I did meet this member who said his son was a missionary in Thailand around the time you were there so if you knew anyone by the name of Elder Tarayoa I think that would be cool.
It was neat last Sunday when we kneeled as a ward council and asked for inspiration on who we could invite to receive the PMG lessons. They came up with a good list of names and we invited one of the families, the Hawkins, to receive the lessons this week. We knew their 19 year old son wasn’t sure if he wanted to serve a mission, but when we talked to sister Hawkins, we found out we really were inspired because Bro. Hawkins has been somewhat less active as well so Sis. Hawkins was emotional and full of gratitude for the invite. They also have a 17 year old boy and two or three younger daughters so they’re a great family. A family that Bishop Nelson invited accepted to receive the lessons as well.
Yesterday was a pretty busy day. We had church at 9, then meetings afterwards till our appointment at 1:30 with the Hawkins. Then we taught the part member Sneary family part of the second lesson as well as about the BOM and baptism. At 4:30 we had a dinner appointment and then at 6 we taught Hailey the Plan of Salvation. It was a good day.
Well, have a good week everyone! It’s always fun to hear from you all.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Ps. Can you guess who said the funny quotes from the subject of this and the last letter?
Monday, October 12, 2009
Y for BYU Cougars!
Hello family! Some guy just asked me if we believe in evolution. Thanks to some of Ross’ comments in a previous newsletter I told him we believe God created everything, we just don’t know how.
I had a pretty good week. It wasn’t packed full of interesting things, but it was good. One cool thing we did was do a little presentation for the young women. For mutual we went and talked to them about missionary work and how they can share their testimonies with their friends. Then they wrote their testimonies in Books of Mormon and gave them to us. Some even kept them to hand out. They combine all the YW classes for their activities and there were still less than 10 girls there. Most of the members are going to college and only have young kids, or they are older and their kids are out of YW. We do have five nurseries though :P
Wednesday we went to the mission home for the district leader meeting since E. Grange is the new district leader. He gave a nice lesson for district meeting on Thursday. I think he’ll do a great job. Thursday night we went to a little emergency preparation meeting one of the members was doing for her apartment complex. It wasn’t anything fancy and only a few people came, but it was still fun and a good missionary opportunity.
Friday we taught Hailey the Restoration again and even though it was all review, the spirit was strong and we were all uplifted and edified. We had two return missionaries helping with the lesson—one of each gender. Elder Grange even learned that he has a heavenly mother. Funny kid. I guess he knows the important stuff and that’s good enough.
Saturday we spent all day helping a lady move from an apartment to one down the road. She thought it would only take two hours lol. It’s someone the Newport Beach 1st Elders are teaching so they invited us to come help. It took about six hours, but we got everything in the new place so it was good. She fed us pizza and even gave us each a gift card to Burger King before we left so that was neat.
Yesterday was a great day of fasting and spiritual feasting. Bro. Wieg got the Aaronic Priesthood in Elders’ quorum and we had a great ward council meeting after church. Bishop Nelson is really getting the ward mission plan going so it was neat to be there. Speaking of which, we got a new ward mission leader yesterday. It’s now Bro. Lewis and he is almost as good as Bro. Loveridge. He’s super excited about the work and has great enthusiasm and ideas about what we can do. We’re excited to work with him.
We had a little FHE with the Wiegs after dinner and taught them the basics of how to do it. That was lots of fun, especially with all four kids awake and running around. Our lesson on Wednesday with them was a lot calmer :D
We also taught a part member family the first lesson after church. Sister Sneary was baptized last year and now we are teaching her husband and son (named Chance).
So yeah, it was a good week. The members here are great. The Bishop is stellar and our new ward mission leader very supportive. No, I never saw any of the BYU Chorus concerts, but I hope to be in them when I get back. Have a good week everyone.
Love ya,
Elder Curtis
I had a pretty good week. It wasn’t packed full of interesting things, but it was good. One cool thing we did was do a little presentation for the young women. For mutual we went and talked to them about missionary work and how they can share their testimonies with their friends. Then they wrote their testimonies in Books of Mormon and gave them to us. Some even kept them to hand out. They combine all the YW classes for their activities and there were still less than 10 girls there. Most of the members are going to college and only have young kids, or they are older and their kids are out of YW. We do have five nurseries though :P
Wednesday we went to the mission home for the district leader meeting since E. Grange is the new district leader. He gave a nice lesson for district meeting on Thursday. I think he’ll do a great job. Thursday night we went to a little emergency preparation meeting one of the members was doing for her apartment complex. It wasn’t anything fancy and only a few people came, but it was still fun and a good missionary opportunity.
Friday we taught Hailey the Restoration again and even though it was all review, the spirit was strong and we were all uplifted and edified. We had two return missionaries helping with the lesson—one of each gender. Elder Grange even learned that he has a heavenly mother. Funny kid. I guess he knows the important stuff and that’s good enough.
Saturday we spent all day helping a lady move from an apartment to one down the road. She thought it would only take two hours lol. It’s someone the Newport Beach 1st Elders are teaching so they invited us to come help. It took about six hours, but we got everything in the new place so it was good. She fed us pizza and even gave us each a gift card to Burger King before we left so that was neat.
Yesterday was a great day of fasting and spiritual feasting. Bro. Wieg got the Aaronic Priesthood in Elders’ quorum and we had a great ward council meeting after church. Bishop Nelson is really getting the ward mission plan going so it was neat to be there. Speaking of which, we got a new ward mission leader yesterday. It’s now Bro. Lewis and he is almost as good as Bro. Loveridge. He’s super excited about the work and has great enthusiasm and ideas about what we can do. We’re excited to work with him.
We had a little FHE with the Wiegs after dinner and taught them the basics of how to do it. That was lots of fun, especially with all four kids awake and running around. Our lesson on Wednesday with them was a lot calmer :D
We also taught a part member family the first lesson after church. Sister Sneary was baptized last year and now we are teaching her husband and son (named Chance).
So yeah, it was a good week. The members here are great. The Bishop is stellar and our new ward mission leader very supportive. No, I never saw any of the BYU Chorus concerts, but I hope to be in them when I get back. Have a good week everyone.
Love ya,
Elder Curtis
Monday, October 5, 2009
Wasn't it awesome?
Wow, what a week! I guess the news from me is that I’m staying in Harbor Hills for another transfer with Elder Grange. He is going to be the new district leader since Elder Cunningham is done with his mission. I’m happy to be here another six weeks. The news I’m excited about is my new niece though. I haven’t heard much, but I’m happy she decided to join us in this world. We need all the good Mormon kids we can get :)
On Monday we did some serious cleaning of the apartment. Tuesday was my first experience as senior companion. Elder Cunningham came on exchanges with me in our area and I got to be in charge. It was a great day and things went really well. On Wednesday Sister Emerich in the ward invited us over for a “photo shoot.” She’s a maniac picture taker and has taken pictures at our baptisms and stuff so she invited us to come over and she took over 200 pictures of Elder Grange and I and then printed a bunch out (and even gave us the pictures on CDs). I might send a few with this email. It’s funny because Elder Grange and I have ridden our bikes a couple nights a week lately just for fun when we had close appointments and we wanted to save miles. So when sister Emerich saw us on the bikes she insisted to do all the pictures with us on bike and in helmets :-)
Thursday we did this really cool thing at the high school. The world religion teacher over there invited us to come by for the class period and share Mormonism. It was really neat. We talked to a class of juniors and seniors for over an hour about who we are, what we do, and of course the Restoration of the Gospel and the basics of what we believe. It was really cool to be guided by the spirit in answering misconceptions and bearing testimony of the truth. They had some great questions and seemed to enjoy it.
Friday was a pretty good day because we got to teach three lessons in one day, which doesn’t happen a lot in this area. We taught Bob, Jane, and Hailey (new member discussion). Jane is a new investigator and a referral from temple square. She is Chinese and Christian and really wants to know the difference of our religion and hers because she is new to Christianity. Hailey’s grandparents were really nice and let us teach at their home for the first time. Then they took us out to eat at a nice Chinese place. Then we had dinner at the Emerichs lol
Oh yeah, conference! Wasn’t it awesome? I noticed a big emphasis on Love and all aspects of it. Everyone write me back and tell me your insights. Even Nicole and email is fine. I just never get to hear from most of you and this is a good chance! Wasn’t Elder Holland’s talk powerful? He is amazing and one of my favorite apostles ever.
Yesterday was Elder Grange’s birthday. He got three packages, two cakes from a past companion, and our dinner put a bunch of candles on the brownies for him to blow out. It was lots of fun. Conference on your birthday sounds pretty fun to me :) I guess mine is pretty close.
Have a super week everyone!
Love,
Elder Curtis
On Monday we did some serious cleaning of the apartment. Tuesday was my first experience as senior companion. Elder Cunningham came on exchanges with me in our area and I got to be in charge. It was a great day and things went really well. On Wednesday Sister Emerich in the ward invited us over for a “photo shoot.” She’s a maniac picture taker and has taken pictures at our baptisms and stuff so she invited us to come over and she took over 200 pictures of Elder Grange and I and then printed a bunch out (and even gave us the pictures on CDs). I might send a few with this email. It’s funny because Elder Grange and I have ridden our bikes a couple nights a week lately just for fun when we had close appointments and we wanted to save miles. So when sister Emerich saw us on the bikes she insisted to do all the pictures with us on bike and in helmets :-)
Thursday we did this really cool thing at the high school. The world religion teacher over there invited us to come by for the class period and share Mormonism. It was really neat. We talked to a class of juniors and seniors for over an hour about who we are, what we do, and of course the Restoration of the Gospel and the basics of what we believe. It was really cool to be guided by the spirit in answering misconceptions and bearing testimony of the truth. They had some great questions and seemed to enjoy it.
Friday was a pretty good day because we got to teach three lessons in one day, which doesn’t happen a lot in this area. We taught Bob, Jane, and Hailey (new member discussion). Jane is a new investigator and a referral from temple square. She is Chinese and Christian and really wants to know the difference of our religion and hers because she is new to Christianity. Hailey’s grandparents were really nice and let us teach at their home for the first time. Then they took us out to eat at a nice Chinese place. Then we had dinner at the Emerichs lol
Oh yeah, conference! Wasn’t it awesome? I noticed a big emphasis on Love and all aspects of it. Everyone write me back and tell me your insights. Even Nicole and email is fine. I just never get to hear from most of you and this is a good chance! Wasn’t Elder Holland’s talk powerful? He is amazing and one of my favorite apostles ever.
Yesterday was Elder Grange’s birthday. He got three packages, two cakes from a past companion, and our dinner put a bunch of candles on the brownies for him to blow out. It was lots of fun. Conference on your birthday sounds pretty fun to me :) I guess mine is pretty close.
Have a super week everyone!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
As I Do
Well, guess what? It’s week six again so send all letters to 2500 N Bristol St Santa Ana, CA 92706. This has been a great transfer and it’s amazing it’s almost over. I have no idea what is going to happen this weekend so we’ll see if I stay and if E. Grange stays. I don’t have any guesses because anything could happen.
I can’t wait for Conference this weekend! I’ve been reading the talks from the last two conferences lately and they are so good that they make me super excited to hear more! Remember to pray for the general authorities this Thursday as they meet at the temple and prepare spiritually for this weekend. I’m so excited for my recent converts and investigators to hear the words of the prophets. I want them to have the love and appreciation for their teachings and who they are as I do.
This week we started to have trouble with the Moaddeli family. The father thinks his wife is the reason for the children’s desire to be baptized and that they are being pushed too much. The truth is they are the ones who’ve been asking their mom to be baptized and how they can do it. It’s been tough and I guess it’s causing contention in the home. I guess one of the concerns Bro. Moaddeli has about our faith is all the opposition and persecution. Hopefully we will be able to resolve that soon. It’s also tough because of his radically different background. Pray for them this week! As of now we are at least pretty sure Sister Moaddeli will be baptized this Friday and even if the kids don’t, I think it’ll happen eventually, but three more baptisms would be really nice!
Wednesday we had our oil changed so that took a while in the morning. We also taught a man named Bob who’s had the discussions for a while but is pretty simple minded and still isn’t sure if there is a God, but he has a desire to know. The hard part is getting him to pray and read. He has lots of silly questions that a teen or child would ask, but it’s fun to try and help him. We also taught a less-active member and her non-member daughter. They are Spanish so it was another great opportunity to practice teaching and talking in Spanish. Luckily we also had a member from our ward that grew up in Uruguay come so he filled in the holes of our lesson. They are the De La Cruz family.
We taught the Weig family on Friday and it was so fun to talk to them now that they are members (half members on Friday) and just on fire. They also had their confirmation on Sunday so that was really neat. They are really cool people. They are still looking for a job.
Saturday we ate with the only member family that lives in the same complex as us so that was fun. The wife cooked all the food (yummy bbq meatballs) then went to the broadcast so us men had a great meal and talked about life and a spiritual message about trials and the ensign article “lessons learned from liberty jail” (a must read).
Yesterday we also found out that our investigator Michelle Christian was in the hospital most of the week. She’s the one with the medical problems such as MS. We finally talked to her though and she is still really interested in learning more. We’ll also hopefully be able to do some service for her since her helper just quit without notice this week. Keep her in your prayers as well.
Anyway, guess that’s about it. Have a super duper week everyone!
Love,
Elder Curtis
I can’t wait for Conference this weekend! I’ve been reading the talks from the last two conferences lately and they are so good that they make me super excited to hear more! Remember to pray for the general authorities this Thursday as they meet at the temple and prepare spiritually for this weekend. I’m so excited for my recent converts and investigators to hear the words of the prophets. I want them to have the love and appreciation for their teachings and who they are as I do.
This week we started to have trouble with the Moaddeli family. The father thinks his wife is the reason for the children’s desire to be baptized and that they are being pushed too much. The truth is they are the ones who’ve been asking their mom to be baptized and how they can do it. It’s been tough and I guess it’s causing contention in the home. I guess one of the concerns Bro. Moaddeli has about our faith is all the opposition and persecution. Hopefully we will be able to resolve that soon. It’s also tough because of his radically different background. Pray for them this week! As of now we are at least pretty sure Sister Moaddeli will be baptized this Friday and even if the kids don’t, I think it’ll happen eventually, but three more baptisms would be really nice!
Wednesday we had our oil changed so that took a while in the morning. We also taught a man named Bob who’s had the discussions for a while but is pretty simple minded and still isn’t sure if there is a God, but he has a desire to know. The hard part is getting him to pray and read. He has lots of silly questions that a teen or child would ask, but it’s fun to try and help him. We also taught a less-active member and her non-member daughter. They are Spanish so it was another great opportunity to practice teaching and talking in Spanish. Luckily we also had a member from our ward that grew up in Uruguay come so he filled in the holes of our lesson. They are the De La Cruz family.
We taught the Weig family on Friday and it was so fun to talk to them now that they are members (half members on Friday) and just on fire. They also had their confirmation on Sunday so that was really neat. They are really cool people. They are still looking for a job.
Saturday we ate with the only member family that lives in the same complex as us so that was fun. The wife cooked all the food (yummy bbq meatballs) then went to the broadcast so us men had a great meal and talked about life and a spiritual message about trials and the ensign article “lessons learned from liberty jail” (a must read).
Yesterday we also found out that our investigator Michelle Christian was in the hospital most of the week. She’s the one with the medical problems such as MS. We finally talked to her though and she is still really interested in learning more. We’ll also hopefully be able to do some service for her since her helper just quit without notice this week. Keep her in your prayers as well.
Anyway, guess that’s about it. Have a super duper week everyone!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Monday, September 21, 2009
The Miracles Never Cease
Wow! This weekend was one of the happiest of my life. First, on Friday, we had the baptism of Hans and Rozlynn Weig. Elder Grange baptized Bro. Weig and I baptized Sis. Weig. It was a great service. We had a musical number, two talks, and some welcome to the ward talks. We had a couple non-members there and I think it turned out great.
The baptism of Hailey Tweter was even more amazing. We scrunched over 120 people in the RS room, which has a cute sign that says 57 maximum capacity. Hailey invited lots of friends, lots came from the ward, and a good number from the Garden Grove stake came too because Hailey’s friend Rachel lives there. Rachel’s family is the one who took her on a three week vacation to Utah over the summer. She also went to a summer camp at BYU, though that may have been before the car trip. Oh, and she went to girls camp with Rachel as well. The baptism was incredible. Rachel’s family took up most of the program. Her dad, Bishop Stoughten baptized her, Rachel’s brother confirmed her, Rachel sang, and sister Stoughten gave a talk (the younger brothers said the prayers). Me and Elder Grange were the witnesses and also helped in the confirmation. They usually don’t do it right after the baptism, but she wanted the Stoughtens to be there. Anyway, the spirit was really strong and penetrating. There were a decent number of non-members there including Hailey’s grandparents (her legal guardians). Her grandma said she knew the spirit was there and some of Hailey’s friends wanted to know more. Oh, the miracles never cease.
Sister Moaddeli and her two kids are getting baptized on Oct. 2nd. She is super solid and ready, just like the last three. We also got a new investigator Michelle Christian who we taught and set a date with for Oct. 11th. A member from Irvine saw her struggling in the grocery store (she has MS) and went up and talked to her. She said she’s looking for a church so she was happy to listen to us. We have a good number of potentials as well so things are just rolling and I’m just grateful to be a part of it all.
We also had stake conference yesterday and it was incredible. We got to sit on the very front row (there were probably over a 1,000 people there) front and center since we had Hans and Hailey with us. It was super powerful to have everyone singing in there—the spirit was quite strong. The speakers were great and the spirit was overwhelming. How blessed we are to have this gospel!
We had dinner with a newlywed couple in the ward Thursday. The wife just got reactivated and her new husband John Guyer is one of our investigators. He comes to church all the time with his wife. He is a cyclist and often has races on Sunday, but the racing season just ended so hopefully we will be able to teach him more and seal the deal. He’s already had great experiences and Elder Grange was teaching him before he left this area. John was able to quit coffee and he knows it’s because of divine intervention.
We are also working with another man who was recently reactivated. He wants to be a better father, and the fact that his son is on a mission has really motivated him to change. The only thing his is working on is stopping the coffee, but he is also very limited in his knowledge of the gospel so we gave him a PMG and are discussing all the lessons with him. His wife, sister Emerich reminds me a lot of Aunt Mel. She is just full of energy and enthusiasm and has a soft sweet voice (plus she’s tall and skinny :).
We taught an interesting boy named Edward twice this week. He comes from Asian background and his parents are anti-Christ. He’s interested in learning more, but does not want to join the church right now. He is very smart and has some very interesting ideas so it’s a new challenge to teach him.
Anyway, wow what a week. Hope you all have a good one. The Gospel’s true.
Love,
Elder Curtis
The baptism of Hailey Tweter was even more amazing. We scrunched over 120 people in the RS room, which has a cute sign that says 57 maximum capacity. Hailey invited lots of friends, lots came from the ward, and a good number from the Garden Grove stake came too because Hailey’s friend Rachel lives there. Rachel’s family is the one who took her on a three week vacation to Utah over the summer. She also went to a summer camp at BYU, though that may have been before the car trip. Oh, and she went to girls camp with Rachel as well. The baptism was incredible. Rachel’s family took up most of the program. Her dad, Bishop Stoughten baptized her, Rachel’s brother confirmed her, Rachel sang, and sister Stoughten gave a talk (the younger brothers said the prayers). Me and Elder Grange were the witnesses and also helped in the confirmation. They usually don’t do it right after the baptism, but she wanted the Stoughtens to be there. Anyway, the spirit was really strong and penetrating. There were a decent number of non-members there including Hailey’s grandparents (her legal guardians). Her grandma said she knew the spirit was there and some of Hailey’s friends wanted to know more. Oh, the miracles never cease.
Sister Moaddeli and her two kids are getting baptized on Oct. 2nd. She is super solid and ready, just like the last three. We also got a new investigator Michelle Christian who we taught and set a date with for Oct. 11th. A member from Irvine saw her struggling in the grocery store (she has MS) and went up and talked to her. She said she’s looking for a church so she was happy to listen to us. We have a good number of potentials as well so things are just rolling and I’m just grateful to be a part of it all.
We also had stake conference yesterday and it was incredible. We got to sit on the very front row (there were probably over a 1,000 people there) front and center since we had Hans and Hailey with us. It was super powerful to have everyone singing in there—the spirit was quite strong. The speakers were great and the spirit was overwhelming. How blessed we are to have this gospel!
We had dinner with a newlywed couple in the ward Thursday. The wife just got reactivated and her new husband John Guyer is one of our investigators. He comes to church all the time with his wife. He is a cyclist and often has races on Sunday, but the racing season just ended so hopefully we will be able to teach him more and seal the deal. He’s already had great experiences and Elder Grange was teaching him before he left this area. John was able to quit coffee and he knows it’s because of divine intervention.
We are also working with another man who was recently reactivated. He wants to be a better father, and the fact that his son is on a mission has really motivated him to change. The only thing his is working on is stopping the coffee, but he is also very limited in his knowledge of the gospel so we gave him a PMG and are discussing all the lessons with him. His wife, sister Emerich reminds me a lot of Aunt Mel. She is just full of energy and enthusiasm and has a soft sweet voice (plus she’s tall and skinny :).
We taught an interesting boy named Edward twice this week. He comes from Asian background and his parents are anti-Christ. He’s interested in learning more, but does not want to join the church right now. He is very smart and has some very interesting ideas so it’s a new challenge to teach him.
Anyway, wow what a week. Hope you all have a good one. The Gospel’s true.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Monday, September 14, 2009
A Letter from Hot Rod Country
A Letter from Hot Rod Country
Dear Family, We are so excited for this upcoming weekend. The Weigs are getting baptized on Friday and Hailey on Sunday. Things are turning out really well. I’m excited as well because the Weigs asked us to baptize them so Elder Grange is Baptizing Hans and I’m baptizing Rozlynn. They have four kids, but they are all under the age of 6.
As I said, we went on exchanges on Tuesday so I missed the lesson with the Moaddeli family, but they are doing well. I don’t think the father is too interested still, but she and both their children can’t wait to be baptized. We will probably do it on October second or third. We will start teaching the children (who are 8 and 10) this week.
The day after 9/9/09 we tried a new tracting method that President did on his mission. It is a method of following the spirit. Instead of knocking on every house on a street, you just knock on the ones you feel inspired to. It’s pretty cool and President Watrous said that one time on his mission when he used that method they taught a lesson at every single house they knocked on for three days straight. Of course that was in Argentina…but still it’s a cool story and we’ve enjoyed trying it out.
Lately we’ve been visiting members and getting to know the new ones or less-actives. We usually see one or two families after dinner.
Sunday was really neat because the ward had an “open house.” All the meetings were geared towards non-members and less-actives. The new bishopric is super excited to get involved in missionary work and they’ve been great. In sacrament meeting they explained all that was going on and were really simple. There were like 4 or five talks on Christ and even a musical number by the choir and primary. After church there was a “linger longer” with lots of food and a chance to meet the bishop.
The Weigs had their interview after church and then we went back to the church and taught Hailey the last lesson about all the commandments. It’s been great to have members at all the lessons and even members of the young women. I think there are going to be tons of people there on Sunday.
This morning we went on a super cool hike right by the beach. Not on the beach (“where the sand begins, the mission ends”), but super close and I got some really cool pictures. I even got to see the little place called Treasure Cove which is what they did a painting of in the creation room of the NB temple.
I heard someone got murdered in the university last night and made national headlines. It’s also strange because Irvine is supposed to be one of the safest cities in the world. Someone asked if I’d want to live here someday. It’s not bad, but there are probably lots of places I would pick before this one and yes I think I will settle in one place someday and not move a lot.
Anyway, guess that’s about it for this time. Have a good one, everyone.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Dear Family, We are so excited for this upcoming weekend. The Weigs are getting baptized on Friday and Hailey on Sunday. Things are turning out really well. I’m excited as well because the Weigs asked us to baptize them so Elder Grange is Baptizing Hans and I’m baptizing Rozlynn. They have four kids, but they are all under the age of 6.
As I said, we went on exchanges on Tuesday so I missed the lesson with the Moaddeli family, but they are doing well. I don’t think the father is too interested still, but she and both their children can’t wait to be baptized. We will probably do it on October second or third. We will start teaching the children (who are 8 and 10) this week.
The day after 9/9/09 we tried a new tracting method that President did on his mission. It is a method of following the spirit. Instead of knocking on every house on a street, you just knock on the ones you feel inspired to. It’s pretty cool and President Watrous said that one time on his mission when he used that method they taught a lesson at every single house they knocked on for three days straight. Of course that was in Argentina…but still it’s a cool story and we’ve enjoyed trying it out.
Lately we’ve been visiting members and getting to know the new ones or less-actives. We usually see one or two families after dinner.
Sunday was really neat because the ward had an “open house.” All the meetings were geared towards non-members and less-actives. The new bishopric is super excited to get involved in missionary work and they’ve been great. In sacrament meeting they explained all that was going on and were really simple. There were like 4 or five talks on Christ and even a musical number by the choir and primary. After church there was a “linger longer” with lots of food and a chance to meet the bishop.
The Weigs had their interview after church and then we went back to the church and taught Hailey the last lesson about all the commandments. It’s been great to have members at all the lessons and even members of the young women. I think there are going to be tons of people there on Sunday.
This morning we went on a super cool hike right by the beach. Not on the beach (“where the sand begins, the mission ends”), but super close and I got some really cool pictures. I even got to see the little place called Treasure Cove which is what they did a painting of in the creation room of the NB temple.
I heard someone got murdered in the university last night and made national headlines. It’s also strange because Irvine is supposed to be one of the safest cities in the world. Someone asked if I’d want to live here someday. It’s not bad, but there are probably lots of places I would pick before this one and yes I think I will settle in one place someday and not move a lot.
Anyway, guess that’s about it for this time. Have a good one, everyone.
Love,
Elder Curtis
How cool is that?
Hello from Newport Beach! As yesterday was Labor Day, all the libraries were closed so we get to write today. :)
This week we taught the Weig family on Monday and Tuesday. They are all set for their baptism on the 18th. Hailey is doing super well. We taught her the Gospel on Saturday and the Plan of Salvation on Sunday after church. She already knew like half the stuff we taught. She went on a trip to Utah a while ago and saw temple square and even went through a temple open house—I’m guessing the Draper temple. She is super smart and is super ready for her baptism. We were thinking of having it on the 13th, but her grandparents (who are her legal guardians) said no. We’ll probably do it the 19th or the 26th. Saturday she came to the temple tour we had and seemed to enjoy it. She is so excited about everything. She even bore her testimony in sacrament meeting. How cool is that? She is super solid.
Tuesday we taught Bro. and Sis. Moaddeli the Plan of Salvation. Both of their kids along with sister Moaddeli came to church this weekend, but Bro. Moaddeli still hasn’t.
Today I’m on exchanges with Elder Vaha in his area. I get to drive and they have a Mazda 3 as their car so it’s been pretty sweet. All I’ve ever driven are old Toyotas. It’s pretty funny because we both bought (at different times) the same green tie at the 99 cent store so today we are matching :)
Thursday we had zone conference and it was inspiring and enjoyable. We got to do the musical number as a district. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out since most of the guys didn’t know how to sing, but we arranged the song to sound pretty good. I really came to realize how natural singing comes for me. I was working with Elder Cunningham, the district leader, and he couldn’t even match his voice to a note, much less carry a melody. He has very limited range and I came to realize how much a blessing my ability to sing is. We all have our strengths and weaknesses I guess :)
Friday we had interviews with President Watrous and we tried to contact and teach some referrals we got. One of them has MS and avoided us when we went for the lesson. Hopefully we can teach her in the future. Maybe she really wasn’t feeling well, as her friend said.
Last P-day we just played basketball at the church, but yesterday we went to a park and played soccer AND basketball lol it was fun. It’s been really great having Elder Grange as my companion. He is really good for me to learn from and be with.
I was super excited to hear about BYU’s game from the BYU fans down here. That is so exciting. Don’t forget to send me the articles and info for the games like you did last year :D
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
This week we taught the Weig family on Monday and Tuesday. They are all set for their baptism on the 18th. Hailey is doing super well. We taught her the Gospel on Saturday and the Plan of Salvation on Sunday after church. She already knew like half the stuff we taught. She went on a trip to Utah a while ago and saw temple square and even went through a temple open house—I’m guessing the Draper temple. She is super smart and is super ready for her baptism. We were thinking of having it on the 13th, but her grandparents (who are her legal guardians) said no. We’ll probably do it the 19th or the 26th. Saturday she came to the temple tour we had and seemed to enjoy it. She is so excited about everything. She even bore her testimony in sacrament meeting. How cool is that? She is super solid.
Tuesday we taught Bro. and Sis. Moaddeli the Plan of Salvation. Both of their kids along with sister Moaddeli came to church this weekend, but Bro. Moaddeli still hasn’t.
Today I’m on exchanges with Elder Vaha in his area. I get to drive and they have a Mazda 3 as their car so it’s been pretty sweet. All I’ve ever driven are old Toyotas. It’s pretty funny because we both bought (at different times) the same green tie at the 99 cent store so today we are matching :)
Thursday we had zone conference and it was inspiring and enjoyable. We got to do the musical number as a district. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out since most of the guys didn’t know how to sing, but we arranged the song to sound pretty good. I really came to realize how natural singing comes for me. I was working with Elder Cunningham, the district leader, and he couldn’t even match his voice to a note, much less carry a melody. He has very limited range and I came to realize how much a blessing my ability to sing is. We all have our strengths and weaknesses I guess :)
Friday we had interviews with President Watrous and we tried to contact and teach some referrals we got. One of them has MS and avoided us when we went for the lesson. Hopefully we can teach her in the future. Maybe she really wasn’t feeling well, as her friend said.
Last P-day we just played basketball at the church, but yesterday we went to a park and played soccer AND basketball lol it was fun. It’s been really great having Elder Grange as my companion. He is really good for me to learn from and be with.
I was super excited to hear about BYU’s game from the BYU fans down here. That is so exciting. Don’t forget to send me the articles and info for the games like you did last year :D
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Troy Bolton
What a week! I have sure seen a lot of blessings this week. My companion is “stellar”! He has a super optimistic and ultra friendly personality. He’s super excited about the work and is really easy to get along with. He is close to the spirit and really great at being obedient. He’s also a super athlete. He played soccer, tennis, and cross country in high school. He was also into drama and was in several plays including high school musical (he was the main character Troy Bolton). He has a super voice and we love to sing together. I sing the melody and he sings tenor, then he sings melody and I sing bass. We love to do it at lessons and even tracting. Most mornings we go running. He’s been running six days a week for the last year so he’s in pretty good shape. When I’m too worn out I just ride bike and he keeps right up with me on foot.
We’re working on following the spirit more in our lessons so we don’t have it set who will say what—we just follow what we feel. It’s been incredible to recognize the spirit working in me. I just start talking and end up saying things I never meant to say and/or never thought of.
The apartment is nice here, though the laundry is a lot more expensive lol. It’s crazy how many rabbits are down here in So. Cal! We see them all the time. Our downstairs neighbors have a little garden so there are always little birds in there. At the top of the fences are planes of glass so whenever we leave the birds try to fly away and one usually smacks into the glass :D.
This area is amazing! We have super solid investigators! The Weig family is super close to baptism. We taught them 3 times last week! They should be ready by the 12th or the 19th. Their names are Hans and Rozlynn and they have four kids under 5.
Hailey Tweeter is 17 and we taught her yesterday. She is already friends with the young women and young women leaders and she even went to girl’s camp up in Garden Grove. He best friend lives up there and is a member so that’s been a big help for her. She has a date for the 19th and is on the way there.
We also taught the Moaddeli family. They live right under the brand new bishop. He invited her to church on the day he got sustained (last Sunday) and she accepted to have the lessons. She also had them in Japan so she is also preparing for the 19th. We had her husband sit in on the lesson so we weren’t alone with her and at the end he said he was interested and wanted to be baptized. It’s a huge thing for him though because he’s from the Middle East and was previously a Muslim. He’s not ready to set a date yet but we are okay with that for now.
Other people you can pray for we are working with but who are not as close are John Geyer and Jocelyn. We had 7 investigators at church on Sunday. That’s the most I’ve had my whole mission!
The new bishop is great. He’s only 34 and is tall and skinny. He’s super nice and really mission work oriented. The ward is great and it’s pretty big. UCI is in our area so there are a lot of people in the ward who go to college. I think there are like 5 nurseries! Sacrament is pretty loud because of all the kids but it was still good. Saturday we went to a high priest BBQ. It was held at a part-member family’s home. They have a lot of money :) As do many others in the ward. I’m definitely not in a third world country! Hopefully I can still learn and grow from the experience haha.
Last evening we went to a baptism of a different ward. Elder Grange knew the kid (15) getting baptized so he spoke. They asked me to play the piano. We even got Hailey to come and she really enjoyed it. She said it was “really inspiring,” and indeed the spirit was really strong. Anyway, I’m super excited for this transfer. Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Love,
Elder Curtis
We’re working on following the spirit more in our lessons so we don’t have it set who will say what—we just follow what we feel. It’s been incredible to recognize the spirit working in me. I just start talking and end up saying things I never meant to say and/or never thought of.
The apartment is nice here, though the laundry is a lot more expensive lol. It’s crazy how many rabbits are down here in So. Cal! We see them all the time. Our downstairs neighbors have a little garden so there are always little birds in there. At the top of the fences are planes of glass so whenever we leave the birds try to fly away and one usually smacks into the glass :D.
This area is amazing! We have super solid investigators! The Weig family is super close to baptism. We taught them 3 times last week! They should be ready by the 12th or the 19th. Their names are Hans and Rozlynn and they have four kids under 5.
Hailey Tweeter is 17 and we taught her yesterday. She is already friends with the young women and young women leaders and she even went to girl’s camp up in Garden Grove. He best friend lives up there and is a member so that’s been a big help for her. She has a date for the 19th and is on the way there.
We also taught the Moaddeli family. They live right under the brand new bishop. He invited her to church on the day he got sustained (last Sunday) and she accepted to have the lessons. She also had them in Japan so she is also preparing for the 19th. We had her husband sit in on the lesson so we weren’t alone with her and at the end he said he was interested and wanted to be baptized. It’s a huge thing for him though because he’s from the Middle East and was previously a Muslim. He’s not ready to set a date yet but we are okay with that for now.
Other people you can pray for we are working with but who are not as close are John Geyer and Jocelyn. We had 7 investigators at church on Sunday. That’s the most I’ve had my whole mission!
The new bishop is great. He’s only 34 and is tall and skinny. He’s super nice and really mission work oriented. The ward is great and it’s pretty big. UCI is in our area so there are a lot of people in the ward who go to college. I think there are like 5 nurseries! Sacrament is pretty loud because of all the kids but it was still good. Saturday we went to a high priest BBQ. It was held at a part-member family’s home. They have a lot of money :) As do many others in the ward. I’m definitely not in a third world country! Hopefully I can still learn and grow from the experience haha.
Last evening we went to a baptism of a different ward. Elder Grange knew the kid (15) getting baptized so he spoke. They asked me to play the piano. We even got Hailey to come and she really enjoyed it. She said it was “really inspiring,” and indeed the spirit was really strong. Anyway, I’m super excited for this transfer. Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Monday, August 24, 2009
Whitewashing
Hello! Guess what? I got transferred again! In fact, both me AND Elder Chadburn got transferred. Elder Chadburn went up to Brea and will be on bike. I also heard that Elder Fraga got moved to an English ward :) It’s really crazy but I’m excited—my new area is great. Now I’m in the Harbor Hills ward. It’s not the city of Harbor Hills, but I hear it’s really good.
My companion is Elder Grange. He is from Anchorage Alaska, though his family moved to Idaho right before he went on his mission. He’s been out 14 months and just got released as a zone leader. He’s super cool and I’m way excited to work here with him. He actually used to cover this ward so he’ll be able to get us up to speed quick since we are whitewashing the area (meaning we are both entering the area at the same time). It doesn’t really count since he’s been here before though. However, when he was here he covered two wards and it’s been split since then.
We are getting a ton of new elders every transfer since our “capacity” or whatever you would call it has been raised to 190 missionaries. We had like 120 last I heard, but it’s going up, hence all the areas splitting.
It’s a little weird that this happened, but I like change so I’m not too worried. I didn’t have a ton of time to get super attached to the people in Costa Mesa, but I will look back with fond memories. There are some super good people there for sure. Harbor Hills is in the same stake as CM1 (Newport Beach Stake) but now I am in the cities of Corona Del Mar (which means crown of the sea in Spanish) and Irvine.
My new address is 17614 Rosa Drew Lane Apt. 5d Irvine, CA 92612. It’s a pretty nice place. It’s just as new as my last place so it’ll be nice. I’m a lot closer to the ocean now so I’ll see it a lot more often. To live this close to the ocean you have to have a lot of money so there are lots of rich people here. :) Plus the houses and neighborhoods are nicer etc.
This past week has been pretty good. We taught Ralph twice with two different members—Bro. Kolb and Bro. Ormond. It was good and he’s doing well, he just needs to go to church, quit smoking, and get an answer. I know someday he will, but it’ll probably take a while.
Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Reidhead, who was Elder Large’s trainee companion. It was super fun, he’s a really nice guy and I enjoyed the day. I was in their area again and Elder Large went with Elder Chadburn. It was a pretty good week—we found some people for the new elders to see and work with. I hope that area really starts to pick up and do well.
Overall, I’m grateful for the opportunity I had in Costa Mesa with Elder Chadburn. It wasn’t easy work, it wasn’t an easy companionship, but as we did our best and relied on the Lord, things went well and I really am glad to be E. Chadburn’s friend and ex-comp.
The future is bright. “My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.” I am glad to be a missionary and be here in So. California in Orange County. I hope God continues to pour down his blessings on each of you. He loves you and is in every part of your lives. Nothing is without reason. Albert Einstein said “coincidence is just God’s way of staying anonymous.” As we press forward with faith and rely on Him, He will pull through in the end. He always does, he always has. I know the church is true and can bring strength to our lives. Hard times are there just to help us grow and learn and in the end, we will have rest from our labors, sorrows, and trials here on earth. I love you all and hope you have a great week. May the spirit be with you.
Love, Elder Curtis
My companion is Elder Grange. He is from Anchorage Alaska, though his family moved to Idaho right before he went on his mission. He’s been out 14 months and just got released as a zone leader. He’s super cool and I’m way excited to work here with him. He actually used to cover this ward so he’ll be able to get us up to speed quick since we are whitewashing the area (meaning we are both entering the area at the same time). It doesn’t really count since he’s been here before though. However, when he was here he covered two wards and it’s been split since then.
We are getting a ton of new elders every transfer since our “capacity” or whatever you would call it has been raised to 190 missionaries. We had like 120 last I heard, but it’s going up, hence all the areas splitting.
It’s a little weird that this happened, but I like change so I’m not too worried. I didn’t have a ton of time to get super attached to the people in Costa Mesa, but I will look back with fond memories. There are some super good people there for sure. Harbor Hills is in the same stake as CM1 (Newport Beach Stake) but now I am in the cities of Corona Del Mar (which means crown of the sea in Spanish) and Irvine.
My new address is 17614 Rosa Drew Lane Apt. 5d Irvine, CA 92612. It’s a pretty nice place. It’s just as new as my last place so it’ll be nice. I’m a lot closer to the ocean now so I’ll see it a lot more often. To live this close to the ocean you have to have a lot of money so there are lots of rich people here. :) Plus the houses and neighborhoods are nicer etc.
This past week has been pretty good. We taught Ralph twice with two different members—Bro. Kolb and Bro. Ormond. It was good and he’s doing well, he just needs to go to church, quit smoking, and get an answer. I know someday he will, but it’ll probably take a while.
Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Reidhead, who was Elder Large’s trainee companion. It was super fun, he’s a really nice guy and I enjoyed the day. I was in their area again and Elder Large went with Elder Chadburn. It was a pretty good week—we found some people for the new elders to see and work with. I hope that area really starts to pick up and do well.
Overall, I’m grateful for the opportunity I had in Costa Mesa with Elder Chadburn. It wasn’t easy work, it wasn’t an easy companionship, but as we did our best and relied on the Lord, things went well and I really am glad to be E. Chadburn’s friend and ex-comp.
The future is bright. “My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.” I am glad to be a missionary and be here in So. California in Orange County. I hope God continues to pour down his blessings on each of you. He loves you and is in every part of your lives. Nothing is without reason. Albert Einstein said “coincidence is just God’s way of staying anonymous.” As we press forward with faith and rely on Him, He will pull through in the end. He always does, he always has. I know the church is true and can bring strength to our lives. Hard times are there just to help us grow and learn and in the end, we will have rest from our labors, sorrows, and trials here on earth. I love you all and hope you have a great week. May the spirit be with you.
Love, Elder Curtis
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
How to Jog Him
Hello :-) Transfers are this weekend so send letters to the mission office. Things are still going pretty well. Jonathan dropped us this week and Ralph still doesn’t feel worthy to come to church but life is still good.
Does anything remind me of those missionary movies? Tons of things actually. That’s what I’m doing out here—preaching, teaching, having hard times, having good times, punching my companion…just kidding. I don’t slam doors into my investigators either :)
We still are visiting lots of less-actives and trying to get more investigators. We do some knocking, but that isn’t always effective. It’s a great way to find mean people though haha. I thought it was a joke that people slam doors on you, but it isn’t! Remember that BOM cartoon movie where Alma is knocking doors? That happens to me sometimes. They open the door, and then close it before I can even say anything. It’s okay though, they probably think we’re really weird and even annoying. One guy said, “Come on guys!” Elder Chadburn: “Come on what?” “It’s Saturday night!” slam. We were like, uh…so? We should have said, come on in? ok. Lol It’s fun to be a missionary. There are lots of nice people too.
We had a lesson with Marla, a recent convert/less-active, on Tuesday and watched the Testaments. Hopefully she felt the spirit. I don’t think her husband did though. He’s not a member and he even slept through a bunch of it.
The ward is really trying to invite lots of people to the Luau we’re having next month. Not very many have reserved a spot yet so one of the members is getting really nervous and wants to start inviting people from the second ward. We hand out a lot of flyers to people and lots want to come, but since it isn’t till September 12th people put off reserving a spot till it gets closer and Bro. Lew (who is organizing everything) is getting frustrated. I hope lots of people call in as it gets closer. It should be really cool. We are having free food (Hawaiian) and Polynesian professional dancers coming so it’ll be authentic. It’s all about missionary work so members can’t come unless they bring a less-active or other friend. I hope we can find some people to teach from it.
On Friday we ate dinner with the people who live under us. They are both into religion for their careers so they were excited to talk to us. It was an interesting night and my companion tried really hard to convince then through just doctrine/proof. It didn’t really work well, but I got to share the restoration and invite them to pray so it ended well at least. I guess it’s something really tempting to try and do when you know the gospel is true. You start studying and come to see how everything supports what you know, but when you try to explain that to others it just doesn’t work as you think it would. I really believe in just teaching simply what we believe and then asking them to study it themselves and pray about it, because unless they feel the spirit they aren’t going to change. It’s hard sometimes to teach that to my companions, but I think they already know it, just have to learn to implement it.
We continue having really good lessons with Ralph, but he’s just scared to make that one step to start on the path to change and I’m not sure why. He reads and prays a little, but he needs to clean up his house, start trying to quite smoking, and come to church. I’m not sure how to jog him into action, but I guess that’s why I need to use the spirit.
A guy in our ward is the producer/director of a show on Nickalodeon called Yo Gaba Gaba for pre-school age kids so if you ever see it, remember I know the guy that makes it. I really like the members here; they are really cool and diverse.
Guess that’s about it so hope you all have a good week. Thanks for the continued letters, support, and prayers.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Does anything remind me of those missionary movies? Tons of things actually. That’s what I’m doing out here—preaching, teaching, having hard times, having good times, punching my companion…just kidding. I don’t slam doors into my investigators either :)
We still are visiting lots of less-actives and trying to get more investigators. We do some knocking, but that isn’t always effective. It’s a great way to find mean people though haha. I thought it was a joke that people slam doors on you, but it isn’t! Remember that BOM cartoon movie where Alma is knocking doors? That happens to me sometimes. They open the door, and then close it before I can even say anything. It’s okay though, they probably think we’re really weird and even annoying. One guy said, “Come on guys!” Elder Chadburn: “Come on what?” “It’s Saturday night!” slam. We were like, uh…so? We should have said, come on in? ok. Lol It’s fun to be a missionary. There are lots of nice people too.
We had a lesson with Marla, a recent convert/less-active, on Tuesday and watched the Testaments. Hopefully she felt the spirit. I don’t think her husband did though. He’s not a member and he even slept through a bunch of it.
The ward is really trying to invite lots of people to the Luau we’re having next month. Not very many have reserved a spot yet so one of the members is getting really nervous and wants to start inviting people from the second ward. We hand out a lot of flyers to people and lots want to come, but since it isn’t till September 12th people put off reserving a spot till it gets closer and Bro. Lew (who is organizing everything) is getting frustrated. I hope lots of people call in as it gets closer. It should be really cool. We are having free food (Hawaiian) and Polynesian professional dancers coming so it’ll be authentic. It’s all about missionary work so members can’t come unless they bring a less-active or other friend. I hope we can find some people to teach from it.
On Friday we ate dinner with the people who live under us. They are both into religion for their careers so they were excited to talk to us. It was an interesting night and my companion tried really hard to convince then through just doctrine/proof. It didn’t really work well, but I got to share the restoration and invite them to pray so it ended well at least. I guess it’s something really tempting to try and do when you know the gospel is true. You start studying and come to see how everything supports what you know, but when you try to explain that to others it just doesn’t work as you think it would. I really believe in just teaching simply what we believe and then asking them to study it themselves and pray about it, because unless they feel the spirit they aren’t going to change. It’s hard sometimes to teach that to my companions, but I think they already know it, just have to learn to implement it.
We continue having really good lessons with Ralph, but he’s just scared to make that one step to start on the path to change and I’m not sure why. He reads and prays a little, but he needs to clean up his house, start trying to quite smoking, and come to church. I’m not sure how to jog him into action, but I guess that’s why I need to use the spirit.
A guy in our ward is the producer/director of a show on Nickalodeon called Yo Gaba Gaba for pre-school age kids so if you ever see it, remember I know the guy that makes it. I really like the members here; they are really cool and diverse.
Guess that’s about it so hope you all have a good week. Thanks for the continued letters, support, and prayers.
Love,
Elder Curtis
What in the World?
Hello from Costa Mesa! Things are going pretty swell here. On Tuesday I went on exchanges with my district leader Elder Large. We had a good day and taught some lessons to some great people. It was fun to be with someone else for a day and a night.
This week our “investigator” Dorothy dropped us. She tried to give back the BOM so we asked her if she had read any of it. Nope. We took a member to visit a different person and still got a lesson in so it wasn’t a complete failure. His name is Scott and I think he has somewhat of a mental handicap, but he’s nice.
On Thursday we had to take our car in for an oil change. It took forever. They said it would take 1 hour or 2 at the max and we didn’t get it back for four or five hours. We spent some time at the other elder apartment and then they took us to our dinner. Bro. Pittman took us from there to the church and we went out with Bro. Lew to see some less-actives for the remainder of our day (and finally getting our car back). Friday we taught Ralph the Ten Commandments. He seems to be improving. He knows his main problem is smoking. He wants his new girl friend to come to church with him so he’ll feel more comfortable when he goes. He didn’t go this week but he might come to the big ward luau coming up in September that is being put on specifically for investigators and less-actives.
We had a good lesson with a man named Juan this week. He speaks both Spanish and English and is a new father. He seems pretty good, we just hope he will keep his commitments by reading and praying.
We had dinner with the Furman family on Friday. They are from Russia and Bro. Furman has had some really hard challenges in his life, but he is one of the most spiritual people I’ve met and teaches us a lot every time we go there. I don’t know if I’ve said this already, but he said I’m really lucky because I almost had Down syndrome. He also gave both me and my companion a watch because he really likes watches so he has a lot of them.
Friday was a ward activity that was similar to “Guess who’s coming for Dinner.” There were a number of families who hosted and they were assigned people to feed. We ate with an English lady (Sister McCraken) who happened to have signed up for us the following day. So the next day we ate with her again, but with her family instead of other ward members. They are a really cool family and I really enjoyed their company.
Thanks for all the fun pictures from Spain. Sounds like you guys had a good time. Now you know how it is to have interesting food served to you :) I had shrimp with the head and legs attached once too. It wasn’t my favorite lol. I was like, what in the world? I thought they were whole lobsters or something haha
Anyway, have a good week everyone.
Love,
Elder Curtis
This week our “investigator” Dorothy dropped us. She tried to give back the BOM so we asked her if she had read any of it. Nope. We took a member to visit a different person and still got a lesson in so it wasn’t a complete failure. His name is Scott and I think he has somewhat of a mental handicap, but he’s nice.
On Thursday we had to take our car in for an oil change. It took forever. They said it would take 1 hour or 2 at the max and we didn’t get it back for four or five hours. We spent some time at the other elder apartment and then they took us to our dinner. Bro. Pittman took us from there to the church and we went out with Bro. Lew to see some less-actives for the remainder of our day (and finally getting our car back). Friday we taught Ralph the Ten Commandments. He seems to be improving. He knows his main problem is smoking. He wants his new girl friend to come to church with him so he’ll feel more comfortable when he goes. He didn’t go this week but he might come to the big ward luau coming up in September that is being put on specifically for investigators and less-actives.
We had a good lesson with a man named Juan this week. He speaks both Spanish and English and is a new father. He seems pretty good, we just hope he will keep his commitments by reading and praying.
We had dinner with the Furman family on Friday. They are from Russia and Bro. Furman has had some really hard challenges in his life, but he is one of the most spiritual people I’ve met and teaches us a lot every time we go there. I don’t know if I’ve said this already, but he said I’m really lucky because I almost had Down syndrome. He also gave both me and my companion a watch because he really likes watches so he has a lot of them.
Friday was a ward activity that was similar to “Guess who’s coming for Dinner.” There were a number of families who hosted and they were assigned people to feed. We ate with an English lady (Sister McCraken) who happened to have signed up for us the following day. So the next day we ate with her again, but with her family instead of other ward members. They are a really cool family and I really enjoyed their company.
Thanks for all the fun pictures from Spain. Sounds like you guys had a good time. Now you know how it is to have interesting food served to you :) I had shrimp with the head and legs attached once too. It wasn’t my favorite lol. I was like, what in the world? I thought they were whole lobsters or something haha
Anyway, have a good week everyone.
Love,
Elder Curtis
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Cool Membrane Thing
Hello once again. It hasn’t been too long since I wrote, but that’s okay with me. We set two baptism dates since Wednesday so that’s exciting. Ralph and our new investigator Dorothy are working towards the 22nd but we’ll see how they progress till then. We had a good experience teaching Ralph about 3N11 and about how important it is to keep commitments such as prayer and scripture reading. He’s been going to the bar lately, but he says it won’t be hard to quit drinking. We’re going to try hard this week to get him to come to church and hopefully stop smoking.
Friday we had dinner with a lady who runs a little care facility for old people. It’s just a large (for California) one story house where she takes care of older people. She’s struggling to get more patients because she only has four right now and she can have 6 at one time. One of them died a couple weeks ago. She asked us to come give a blessing and right after we finished she passed away. Anyway, she lives there too so she invited us over to dinner.
From her, and the dinner appointments the next two days we got 23 referrals so that’s been cool. Lots of them we’ll just call to other missionaries, but it still is great to get those. Members really are important in the finding process. The people are always better from them plus then we have someone to fellowship them and help in the teaching process. In fact we taught Relief Society on Sunday about that—how members are so important. We talked about the program from elder Perry where the members tell their leaders of people they know and then the leaders assemble five names each—from RS, elders quorum, and high priests. These 15 names are people we can visit during the week when we don’t have appointments from regular contacts set up.
We have a pretty cool ward here. The bishop was recently put in and he has some good councilors. The ward mission leader is really cool too. He’s a younger guy that’s probably in his late 20’s. He has three kids so that’s what I assume anyway. He does a good job though. He’s out of town for a couple weeks so that makes things a little difficult, but we’re doing okay. Brother Ormond is probably one of my favorite in the ward though. He’s in the bishopric and has three kids. He’s probably in his late 20’s as well.
Anyway…he’s a chiropractor and practices kinesiology. He’s super cool. But yeah, he helps me out with any pain that I may have. My toe has been hurting for a while and he can tell that some of the ligaments are out of place or whatever and he can fix it right up. He can tell my ankles are off, even though I haven’t sprained them for a while. He even said he can sense an allergy in my respiratory system that may be helping to cause my sleep apnea. He uses this cool membrane thing that he rubs and when he touches a place on the body that has tension or problems it causes friction as he rubs. It is so cool how he figures all this stuff out and he does a really good job fixing you up. It’s really nice to get free adjustments :-)
Saturday we were able to get more furniture. It was great how this guy just happened to be handing out furniture for free. He’s moving so we went there and were able to get a nice couch and a desk. One of the members helped us out by moving everything in his 15 passenger van. Oh, and we got a conventional oven and a lamp too. Guess that’s about it for now. One thing is for sure though, being a missionary is always an adventure!
Love Elder Curtis
Friday we had dinner with a lady who runs a little care facility for old people. It’s just a large (for California) one story house where she takes care of older people. She’s struggling to get more patients because she only has four right now and she can have 6 at one time. One of them died a couple weeks ago. She asked us to come give a blessing and right after we finished she passed away. Anyway, she lives there too so she invited us over to dinner.
From her, and the dinner appointments the next two days we got 23 referrals so that’s been cool. Lots of them we’ll just call to other missionaries, but it still is great to get those. Members really are important in the finding process. The people are always better from them plus then we have someone to fellowship them and help in the teaching process. In fact we taught Relief Society on Sunday about that—how members are so important. We talked about the program from elder Perry where the members tell their leaders of people they know and then the leaders assemble five names each—from RS, elders quorum, and high priests. These 15 names are people we can visit during the week when we don’t have appointments from regular contacts set up.
We have a pretty cool ward here. The bishop was recently put in and he has some good councilors. The ward mission leader is really cool too. He’s a younger guy that’s probably in his late 20’s. He has three kids so that’s what I assume anyway. He does a good job though. He’s out of town for a couple weeks so that makes things a little difficult, but we’re doing okay. Brother Ormond is probably one of my favorite in the ward though. He’s in the bishopric and has three kids. He’s probably in his late 20’s as well.
Anyway…he’s a chiropractor and practices kinesiology. He’s super cool. But yeah, he helps me out with any pain that I may have. My toe has been hurting for a while and he can tell that some of the ligaments are out of place or whatever and he can fix it right up. He can tell my ankles are off, even though I haven’t sprained them for a while. He even said he can sense an allergy in my respiratory system that may be helping to cause my sleep apnea. He uses this cool membrane thing that he rubs and when he touches a place on the body that has tension or problems it causes friction as he rubs. It is so cool how he figures all this stuff out and he does a really good job fixing you up. It’s really nice to get free adjustments :-)
Saturday we were able to get more furniture. It was great how this guy just happened to be handing out furniture for free. He’s moving so we went there and were able to get a nice couch and a desk. One of the members helped us out by moving everything in his 15 passenger van. Oh, and we got a conventional oven and a lamp too. Guess that’s about it for now. One thing is for sure though, being a missionary is always an adventure!
Love Elder Curtis
Chilaxing
Hello! Sorry to get this out later than you expected. This week we got to go to the temple so p-day was moved to Wednesday. They like to have our p-day on the day we attend the temple so it’s not extra time out of our daily preaching. It was really good today to go there and to feel that special spirit. I really like that temple—even if it is smaller than others that I’ve been to.
Things have been pretty busy I guess—sounds like it isn’t much different for everyone else. It’s weird to think that Mom and Dad are in Spain. You guys sure traveled a lot this summer! I’m just chillin’ (or as president would say, chilaxing) here in California, oblivious to much besides the little area I stay in.
It’s interesting to have smaller ward boundaries and to cover the whole ward. It’s actually kind of nice in a way. There were hardly any members in La Habra so we got fed by the same people a lot since most of the members were in Fullerton. We did go there once in a while, but here there are a lot more members close by so our eating schedule is a lot more varied. It’s pretty nice to meet lots of new people.
Mom, I thought it was pretty funny when you wrote that Rachelle had “Enchelatas” for her birthday dinner. Lata means can in Spanish. It’s hard to spell foreign words so don’t worry about it, but the real spelling is “Enchiladas.” (en-chee-la-thus) I think it comes from the Spanish verb “enchilar” which means “to add chilies” or something like that. I think I told you before how different real enchiladas are, but I still like mom’s the best.
When you send a letter to the mission office, they resend it to us through the mail. I didn’t know you could do that without a new stamp, but they just sharpie out the address and name and slap a printed label on there with our apartment address. It takes an extra two or three days to go through the office.
This transfer is already flying by. I can’t believe it’s already half over. Last Tuesday we had zone conference and had a super good speaker Bro. Cordova, who I believe is the area seventy. It was really good and inspiring and he was pretty funny too.
We’ve been working with mostly less-actives lately. One in particular is the Borkton/Geider family. They are really nice, but just don’t come to church for some reason, though the mother and two girls know it’s true. The son and Father must be part of what’s holding them back. We have been able to teach Ralph a couple lessons lately so that’s been good. He also came to the temple tour we had on Saturday. He was the only investigator in our group so we just walked around with him and were able to answer all of his questions—though he was disappointed not to have a tour of the inside. :-) The main thing he deals with is smoking and the loss of his wife. He just leaves the apartment how it was when she died so it’s kind of gross. He also hasn’t cut his hair since she died. He’s about 65.
We got another lesson on Monday to a new investigator so that was really good. Her name is Dorothy and she’s an older lady. I hope she can progress. I also hope we can get more people to teach around here. I’m sure someone’s ready, but finding them is always the hard part.
It was really great to get a good workout this morning playing basketball. I really like this district so it’s fun to exercise with them. My companion has been out a year now. He’s had hard times on his mission and his life, but he’s doing really great now and we get along pretty well. He really loves the people and wants them to accept the gospel so he’s good to learn from. Hopefully I can teach him some Spanish before we get switched. Guess I’m about done so have another great week—I mean five days!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Things have been pretty busy I guess—sounds like it isn’t much different for everyone else. It’s weird to think that Mom and Dad are in Spain. You guys sure traveled a lot this summer! I’m just chillin’ (or as president would say, chilaxing) here in California, oblivious to much besides the little area I stay in.
It’s interesting to have smaller ward boundaries and to cover the whole ward. It’s actually kind of nice in a way. There were hardly any members in La Habra so we got fed by the same people a lot since most of the members were in Fullerton. We did go there once in a while, but here there are a lot more members close by so our eating schedule is a lot more varied. It’s pretty nice to meet lots of new people.
Mom, I thought it was pretty funny when you wrote that Rachelle had “Enchelatas” for her birthday dinner. Lata means can in Spanish. It’s hard to spell foreign words so don’t worry about it, but the real spelling is “Enchiladas.” (en-chee-la-thus) I think it comes from the Spanish verb “enchilar” which means “to add chilies” or something like that. I think I told you before how different real enchiladas are, but I still like mom’s the best.
When you send a letter to the mission office, they resend it to us through the mail. I didn’t know you could do that without a new stamp, but they just sharpie out the address and name and slap a printed label on there with our apartment address. It takes an extra two or three days to go through the office.
This transfer is already flying by. I can’t believe it’s already half over. Last Tuesday we had zone conference and had a super good speaker Bro. Cordova, who I believe is the area seventy. It was really good and inspiring and he was pretty funny too.
We’ve been working with mostly less-actives lately. One in particular is the Borkton/Geider family. They are really nice, but just don’t come to church for some reason, though the mother and two girls know it’s true. The son and Father must be part of what’s holding them back. We have been able to teach Ralph a couple lessons lately so that’s been good. He also came to the temple tour we had on Saturday. He was the only investigator in our group so we just walked around with him and were able to answer all of his questions—though he was disappointed not to have a tour of the inside. :-) The main thing he deals with is smoking and the loss of his wife. He just leaves the apartment how it was when she died so it’s kind of gross. He also hasn’t cut his hair since she died. He’s about 65.
We got another lesson on Monday to a new investigator so that was really good. Her name is Dorothy and she’s an older lady. I hope she can progress. I also hope we can get more people to teach around here. I’m sure someone’s ready, but finding them is always the hard part.
It was really great to get a good workout this morning playing basketball. I really like this district so it’s fun to exercise with them. My companion has been out a year now. He’s had hard times on his mission and his life, but he’s doing really great now and we get along pretty well. He really loves the people and wants them to accept the gospel so he’s good to learn from. Hopefully I can teach him some Spanish before we get switched. Guess I’m about done so have another great week—I mean five days!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Short on Time
I guess I only have 15 minutes to write so I’ll try and make this quick. Things have been going pretty well.
We had a baptism on Saturday of a kid who has autism. I don’t know if he really needed to be baptized for salvation, but he’s been going to church his whole life so he wanted to get baptized.
This ward is pretty interesting. 70% of the whole ward is less active. Isn’t that insane? So usually there aren’t more than 100 people at church, but there are about 350 members I guess. Lots of them we’ve visited haven’t been to church for 10+ years. It’s pretty crazy and we have lots of work to do.
We are still working with investigators luckily enough. The last missionaries in this ward covered two wards so now that we are for this ward only we have a grand total of 1 investigator. Luckily we’ve been receiving some referrals so things will get better. As we work we’ll find more people to teach as well.
Thanks for sending the program so I could see all the missionaries. One quick correction would be that I won’t get home till November so you could probably have them change that. It could be December, but we’ll see.
It was pretty crazy the last two days because our car had serious problems starting up the first time in the morning. We were finally able to take it in today and get the battery fixed so it doesn’t do that anymore. Maybe they replaced it—I’m not sure, but we were without a car today so the zone leaders took us to the activity (we played basketball—it was really fun) and then back to our apartment. We finally got it back though so hopefully it’ll be good now.
I got to give the youth talk on Sunday since whoever it was wasn’t prepared, so I just introduced myself, told a short story about Joseph Smith, then bore my testimony. I gave a short missionary invite at the baptism too so I’ve been trying my best to not slip out any Spanish words lately—except in my talk when I finished my testimony in Spanish.
It was cool because we visited a less active this week who spoke Spanish so I got to use it again. A visitor at church was Hispanic as well so it’s been nice to be able to speak Spanish to them. Elder Chadburn hasn’t served in Spanish yet so he doesn’t know much. He’s a great guy though so I enjoy being his companion.
It gets pretty hot in our apartment because we don’t have AC but if that’s the worst thing about it, I’m not complaining—except we don’t have much in it since it’s new.
Our one investigator is Ralph so you can pray for him. Better go, love you all!
Elder Curtis
We had a baptism on Saturday of a kid who has autism. I don’t know if he really needed to be baptized for salvation, but he’s been going to church his whole life so he wanted to get baptized.
This ward is pretty interesting. 70% of the whole ward is less active. Isn’t that insane? So usually there aren’t more than 100 people at church, but there are about 350 members I guess. Lots of them we’ve visited haven’t been to church for 10+ years. It’s pretty crazy and we have lots of work to do.
We are still working with investigators luckily enough. The last missionaries in this ward covered two wards so now that we are for this ward only we have a grand total of 1 investigator. Luckily we’ve been receiving some referrals so things will get better. As we work we’ll find more people to teach as well.
Thanks for sending the program so I could see all the missionaries. One quick correction would be that I won’t get home till November so you could probably have them change that. It could be December, but we’ll see.
It was pretty crazy the last two days because our car had serious problems starting up the first time in the morning. We were finally able to take it in today and get the battery fixed so it doesn’t do that anymore. Maybe they replaced it—I’m not sure, but we were without a car today so the zone leaders took us to the activity (we played basketball—it was really fun) and then back to our apartment. We finally got it back though so hopefully it’ll be good now.
I got to give the youth talk on Sunday since whoever it was wasn’t prepared, so I just introduced myself, told a short story about Joseph Smith, then bore my testimony. I gave a short missionary invite at the baptism too so I’ve been trying my best to not slip out any Spanish words lately—except in my talk when I finished my testimony in Spanish.
It was cool because we visited a less active this week who spoke Spanish so I got to use it again. A visitor at church was Hispanic as well so it’s been nice to be able to speak Spanish to them. Elder Chadburn hasn’t served in Spanish yet so he doesn’t know much. He’s a great guy though so I enjoy being his companion.
It gets pretty hot in our apartment because we don’t have AC but if that’s the worst thing about it, I’m not complaining—except we don’t have much in it since it’s new.
Our one investigator is Ralph so you can pray for him. Better go, love you all!
Elder Curtis
Friday, July 17, 2009
No Doubt About That
Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer vacation. Things are going just fine for me. I did end up getting transferred so now I’m down in Costa Mesa. I’ll send you my new address as soon as I can. We are in a brand new apartment and it’s really nice (smells like new carpet), we just don’t have much stuff yet. We need to buy toilet paper and a shower curtain :) Elder Fraga and Elder Zelnick stayed in La Habra and a new elder is going up there, but I got sent down here in an English ward. It’s going to be super different from my last area and ward—no doubt about that. It’ll be a little weird since this is my first time being transferred, but I think I’ll be fine.
My new companion is Elder Chadburns. He’s from Morgan, Utah I believe. He seems pretty cool so far. He’s a little different from what I’m used to but there’s nothing wrong with that. A couple other elders told me I’ll need lots of patience with him so we’ll see what happens, but I know I’m here for a reason so I’ll make the best of what I have.
I guess this is a pretty small ward of less than 100 which is not a common thing for an English ward. I think everything will work out fine, I just need to get used to speaking/teaching English all the time.
This last week was super good. We had another great FHE with Silvia’s family, Erasmo, the Pantojas, and Sonia/Michelle/Rigo. We found some good people tracting this week and taught them some good lessons. One of them even came up to us and asked for a “Bible study” for her son. They weren’t able to do it this week so I guess the elders will go back next Sunday.
We ate dinner with the Ricos in Brea twice this week. Some people are so nice :) Tuesday night we taught English again and I even got to teach a piano lesson so Ashley who is 10 and is the daughter of Nancy Pantoja. Monse who is a daughter of Silvia and is 8 came too. It was fun teaching them the notes and a little about the piano. I left Ashley with some flashcards so hopefully she continues to learn.
Silvia is doing really well and will hopefully be baptized this coming Sunday. She’s a really good investigator and understands and agrees with all we teach/taught. Thursday night we had another FHE with the Brea Ricos after eating with them. We watched Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration. It was kind of crazy because the disc kept freezing, but we eventually got through it and it turned out well.
Friday we taught Thomas, our English less active who’s son is about to be baptized. He said he’d try to go to church more often. I think he’ll be self employed soon because he’s starting his own business so hopefully he’ll be more open on Sundays when that happens. That night we taught one of the guys we found tracting named Juan and committed him to baptism. It was a pretty cool lesson so hopefully everything will work out with him. The first time we taught him he was a little drunk so he didn’t remember anything the second time, but at least he remembered us.
Yesterday everyone was really nice and a little sad I was leaving. Nancy bought me a tie, and cake, and even a nice little card. We taught one last lesson to Erasmo then went to a baptism of Elder Gillespie and Elder Diaz. It took me a while to get everything packed and organized but thankfully I finally got it all ready on time this morning. Sorry I don’t know much about my new area yet. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to tell you a lot more information.
Anyway, hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for the continued letters and support. Have another great week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
My new companion is Elder Chadburns. He’s from Morgan, Utah I believe. He seems pretty cool so far. He’s a little different from what I’m used to but there’s nothing wrong with that. A couple other elders told me I’ll need lots of patience with him so we’ll see what happens, but I know I’m here for a reason so I’ll make the best of what I have.
I guess this is a pretty small ward of less than 100 which is not a common thing for an English ward. I think everything will work out fine, I just need to get used to speaking/teaching English all the time.
This last week was super good. We had another great FHE with Silvia’s family, Erasmo, the Pantojas, and Sonia/Michelle/Rigo. We found some good people tracting this week and taught them some good lessons. One of them even came up to us and asked for a “Bible study” for her son. They weren’t able to do it this week so I guess the elders will go back next Sunday.
We ate dinner with the Ricos in Brea twice this week. Some people are so nice :) Tuesday night we taught English again and I even got to teach a piano lesson so Ashley who is 10 and is the daughter of Nancy Pantoja. Monse who is a daughter of Silvia and is 8 came too. It was fun teaching them the notes and a little about the piano. I left Ashley with some flashcards so hopefully she continues to learn.
Silvia is doing really well and will hopefully be baptized this coming Sunday. She’s a really good investigator and understands and agrees with all we teach/taught. Thursday night we had another FHE with the Brea Ricos after eating with them. We watched Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration. It was kind of crazy because the disc kept freezing, but we eventually got through it and it turned out well.
Friday we taught Thomas, our English less active who’s son is about to be baptized. He said he’d try to go to church more often. I think he’ll be self employed soon because he’s starting his own business so hopefully he’ll be more open on Sundays when that happens. That night we taught one of the guys we found tracting named Juan and committed him to baptism. It was a pretty cool lesson so hopefully everything will work out with him. The first time we taught him he was a little drunk so he didn’t remember anything the second time, but at least he remembered us.
Yesterday everyone was really nice and a little sad I was leaving. Nancy bought me a tie, and cake, and even a nice little card. We taught one last lesson to Erasmo then went to a baptism of Elder Gillespie and Elder Diaz. It took me a while to get everything packed and organized but thankfully I finally got it all ready on time this morning. Sorry I don’t know much about my new area yet. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to tell you a lot more information.
Anyway, hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for the continued letters and support. Have another great week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
We were under attack
Buenas Tardes a todos!
Hello! How is everyone? We’re already on the last week of transfers again so remember to send letters to the mission office. I think there’s about a 60% chance of being moved this next transfer. President said we’ll usually stay in an area 6-8 months so I could definitely still stay, but we’ll see. Elder Zelnick is going home two weeks after transfers so if I stay I’ll probably be in a threesome at least two weeks.
Monday we had a great FHE @ the Pantojas and lots of investigators were there so it was really good. We had a short lesson and played a game. We had an investigator we are hoping to baptize at the end of this week named Silvia. Her daughter Monserrat is also preparing. That would be a really great end to this transfer, but we’ll see.
We knocked a lot more this week and even had some really good success with it so that makes the effort worth it for me.
Thursday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Gillespie and Elder Diaz. I slept at their place Wednesday night and spent all of Thursday with them and their investigators. It was a fun day and I enjoyed the new company for a day.
The fourth of July was a bit weird because we just did normal stuff. We have a new ward mission leader Hermano Muñoz who was the guy who got baptized my first week here in January. He’s a good man and takes his calling seriously so I think the Lord will help him do a good job. Anyway, we started meeting with him Saturday mornings for correlation. Then we stayed after and taught him a new member lesson lol.
We started our fast Saturday night for Rigoberto who has court today. Michelle and Rigo both fasted with us and came to church as well. I hope all goes well today. Guess we’ll find out what happened some time. We went to a member’s house in a different ward for dinner with the Pantojas and it was good. That night it felt like we were under attack with fireworks going off at the high school and all the streets around us.
Sunday I really enjoyed sacrament meeting. I looked at the people there and thought about how many people have changed their lives and are coming to church/striving to keep the commandments/change etc. It was really great. Stacy and Kimberly’s mom even bore a really nice testimony. Elder Fraga and I bore ours too since there was a little extra time left. We also had the confirmation of Hermano Erasmo.
Today we played soccer again and I really enjoyed getting some exercise and being with the whole district. I guess that’s about it. Everything’s going well. We should have a good week. Thanks for the letter Rachelle. Just got a call from Hermana Sonia, Michelle’s mom, and it sounds like everything went well at court. Thanks so much for all of your prayers!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Hello! How is everyone? We’re already on the last week of transfers again so remember to send letters to the mission office. I think there’s about a 60% chance of being moved this next transfer. President said we’ll usually stay in an area 6-8 months so I could definitely still stay, but we’ll see. Elder Zelnick is going home two weeks after transfers so if I stay I’ll probably be in a threesome at least two weeks.
Monday we had a great FHE @ the Pantojas and lots of investigators were there so it was really good. We had a short lesson and played a game. We had an investigator we are hoping to baptize at the end of this week named Silvia. Her daughter Monserrat is also preparing. That would be a really great end to this transfer, but we’ll see.
We knocked a lot more this week and even had some really good success with it so that makes the effort worth it for me.
Thursday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Gillespie and Elder Diaz. I slept at their place Wednesday night and spent all of Thursday with them and their investigators. It was a fun day and I enjoyed the new company for a day.
The fourth of July was a bit weird because we just did normal stuff. We have a new ward mission leader Hermano Muñoz who was the guy who got baptized my first week here in January. He’s a good man and takes his calling seriously so I think the Lord will help him do a good job. Anyway, we started meeting with him Saturday mornings for correlation. Then we stayed after and taught him a new member lesson lol.
We started our fast Saturday night for Rigoberto who has court today. Michelle and Rigo both fasted with us and came to church as well. I hope all goes well today. Guess we’ll find out what happened some time. We went to a member’s house in a different ward for dinner with the Pantojas and it was good. That night it felt like we were under attack with fireworks going off at the high school and all the streets around us.
Sunday I really enjoyed sacrament meeting. I looked at the people there and thought about how many people have changed their lives and are coming to church/striving to keep the commandments/change etc. It was really great. Stacy and Kimberly’s mom even bore a really nice testimony. Elder Fraga and I bore ours too since there was a little extra time left. We also had the confirmation of Hermano Erasmo.
Today we played soccer again and I really enjoyed getting some exercise and being with the whole district. I guess that’s about it. Everything’s going well. We should have a good week. Thanks for the letter Rachelle. Just got a call from Hermana Sonia, Michelle’s mom, and it sounds like everything went well at court. Thanks so much for all of your prayers!
Love,
Elder Curtis
Monday, July 6, 2009
I’ll be the first to attest to that
Erasmo got baptized! He decided to move his date to this weekend so we were finally able to do it. We’ve been waiting for so long for him to feel ready so we were super excited when he finally set a date with us, then when he moved it closer we were even more happy. After five months of teaching him he finally took that step and is now going to be an amazing member of the church. Thank you guys SO much for praying for him and having faith that he could eventually accept.
The gospel changes lives, I’ll be the first to attest to that. It helps people realize the truth and how much their heavenly father has in store for them. Thank you for your continued support of me in this important work. I know someday I will have “great joy with them in the kingdom of my Father.” I can not take credit for his change—you guys helped so much as did God.
He asked Elder Zelnick to do the baptism since he’s the tallest of us three. Then we filled up the font really high to make sure it would be as easy as possible. Erasmo had been to lots of baptisms and had seen how many times some of them had to be baptized so he didn’t want that to happen to him. :)
We’re still struggling to get Michelle and Rigo to make and keep their commitments. They struggle getting to church and reading/praying which are some of the most important things for them to do. We also had a big lesson (again) on the law of Chastity and tried to get them to stop living together. In the end it’s their decision, but we are doing all we can to help.
Our investigator Silvia is also doing really well. She lives right next to the Pantojas in the ward so it’s easy to teach member lessons—especially since we are there a lot to talk to Erasmo. She and her three little kids came to church yesterday and even came to the temple tour we had yesterday. We all went down to Newport again and had a nice walk around the temple explaining what temples are for etc. We also watched a 10 minute video about temples and finished with lemonade and cookies. That’s the program every time. We usually have them about once a transfer.
Anyway, there was a cool experience we had while we were there. Silvia told about a dream she had when we were first teaching her. Her children got taken away and she was trying to pray to the saints and ask forgiveness, but they refused and she couldn’t wake up from her dream…until we knocked on her door. We didn’t know that had happened and we taught her a lesson that day. It was neat to hear about that.
This morning we were going to go on a hike with the Martinez family who we eat with on Mondays. They are less actives, but really nice. So we started following them in the car to get there…until we realized they were going to drive way out of the mission. So we had to call them and say we had changed our minds lol (of course we also told them why). We went and washed our car instead. It looks a lot better. I like p-days—getting everything done you have to put off during the week.
Thanks for sending the blessing of Miyah. That was a nice surprise. Also thanks for the pictures. I can tell that Reesah is a really cute girl—especially from all the funny stories. Thanks for sharing fun things like that.
No, my allergies actually haven’t been bothering me. I can only think of one time when we visited someone with cats two transfers ago that my allergies bothered me. Thanks for reminding me of that great blessing.
Good job helping the work over there in Pitt, ART. Sounds like you sure do have lots of less-actives. We have a lot, but I’m glad we don’t have that many. Sometimes less-actives frustrate me because I know they know what to do to be happy…but they don’t do it.
Did Reesah and Dad get their packages/letters? Just wanted to make sure b/c I haven’t heard anything yet. Anyway, thanks again for all the prayers and support for me. I know it is helping! I’d better go so have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
P.S. Did people really used to call me Shane? What a weird name…
The gospel changes lives, I’ll be the first to attest to that. It helps people realize the truth and how much their heavenly father has in store for them. Thank you for your continued support of me in this important work. I know someday I will have “great joy with them in the kingdom of my Father.” I can not take credit for his change—you guys helped so much as did God.
He asked Elder Zelnick to do the baptism since he’s the tallest of us three. Then we filled up the font really high to make sure it would be as easy as possible. Erasmo had been to lots of baptisms and had seen how many times some of them had to be baptized so he didn’t want that to happen to him. :)
We’re still struggling to get Michelle and Rigo to make and keep their commitments. They struggle getting to church and reading/praying which are some of the most important things for them to do. We also had a big lesson (again) on the law of Chastity and tried to get them to stop living together. In the end it’s their decision, but we are doing all we can to help.
Our investigator Silvia is also doing really well. She lives right next to the Pantojas in the ward so it’s easy to teach member lessons—especially since we are there a lot to talk to Erasmo. She and her three little kids came to church yesterday and even came to the temple tour we had yesterday. We all went down to Newport again and had a nice walk around the temple explaining what temples are for etc. We also watched a 10 minute video about temples and finished with lemonade and cookies. That’s the program every time. We usually have them about once a transfer.
Anyway, there was a cool experience we had while we were there. Silvia told about a dream she had when we were first teaching her. Her children got taken away and she was trying to pray to the saints and ask forgiveness, but they refused and she couldn’t wake up from her dream…until we knocked on her door. We didn’t know that had happened and we taught her a lesson that day. It was neat to hear about that.
This morning we were going to go on a hike with the Martinez family who we eat with on Mondays. They are less actives, but really nice. So we started following them in the car to get there…until we realized they were going to drive way out of the mission. So we had to call them and say we had changed our minds lol (of course we also told them why). We went and washed our car instead. It looks a lot better. I like p-days—getting everything done you have to put off during the week.
Thanks for sending the blessing of Miyah. That was a nice surprise. Also thanks for the pictures. I can tell that Reesah is a really cute girl—especially from all the funny stories. Thanks for sharing fun things like that.
No, my allergies actually haven’t been bothering me. I can only think of one time when we visited someone with cats two transfers ago that my allergies bothered me. Thanks for reminding me of that great blessing.
Good job helping the work over there in Pitt, ART. Sounds like you sure do have lots of less-actives. We have a lot, but I’m glad we don’t have that many. Sometimes less-actives frustrate me because I know they know what to do to be happy…but they don’t do it.
Did Reesah and Dad get their packages/letters? Just wanted to make sure b/c I haven’t heard anything yet. Anyway, thanks again for all the prayers and support for me. I know it is helping! I’d better go so have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
P.S. Did people really used to call me Shane? What a weird name…
Let's attack Jerusalem!
Good morning! We are getting a head start today and writing a little earlier. We were going to go on a hike today, but Elder Zelnick didn’t feel well so we have extra time. Speaking of which, I’m in a threesome again. Elder Zelnick is from Ohio and is almost done with his mission. He’s a great teacher and works hard so he’s a good addition to the companionship.
This week we’ve been working with one of our new investigators Augustine. He understands the lessons really well, but he hasn’t come to church yet. He lives in the house with his sister Maria who we are also teaching. One time this week we went over and he arrived to the house drunk. Of course I had NO idea until after we left, but the other elders were like, “umm, can we come back a different day?” Maybe by the end of my mission I’ll know when people are drunk. He asked some weird questions, but other than that, he seemed normal to me.
We taught English on Tuesday and were happy that two people showed up to teach. Hopefully we’ll have more luck this week.
We did a lot more tracting this week when we didn’t have anyone to visit. We didn’t have much success, but found a couple people to go back and follow up on. We at least gave out a couple pass along cards.
We are working with this less active couple (Regina and Juan) who want to prepare for the temple, but for some reason like going to the English ward better than the Spanish ward. They have to wear little headset translators during sacrament meeting and then they go home. It’s closer to their house and they know a couple people there, but I think it’s ridiculous. We are trying to get them to the Spanish ward so they can stay for all three meetings and understand them. They could go to the temple prep class too.
We gave a blessing to a less-active lady in the hospital on Friday. She was about to have surgery. She seemed to be doing all right though. It’s funny that they have to have a lot of nurses in that hospital that know how to speak Spanish.
Yesterday we had the perfect experience to end the week. After dinner and a baptism that the other elders in our ward had, we went to the Pantoja’s house and watched “Joseph Smith, prophet of the Restoration” with them and Erasmo in Spanish. It’s not out on DVD yet, but somehow Elder Zelnick got a copy (a Spanish copy even). It was really good. The spirit was really strong and like 2/3 of the way through Silvia, their neighbor who we’ve taught once, was like, “what channel is that?” Erasmo went out and said “Estamos mirando la pelicula de la profeta Jose Smith. Venganse!” or in other words, “we’re watching the movie about the prophet Joseph Smith. Come join us!” It was so funny. So she and her kids joined us and totally felt the spirit. It was great. Silvia even shed a few tears.
Happy Fathers day Dad! Hope you liked it. I know I did. The ward had an activity on Saturday and served some really good food! Too bad we can’t call home three times a year lol. Guess you’ll have to wait till Christmas. How is the running going mom? Getting or feeling any better? Keep it up. How was the Trombone Ensemble you went to on a date? That sounds like it would be really good. How are you doing in softball Nicole? Any hits lately? Have you been practicing some more with Mom and Dad? If not shame on them. :) I thought that was so funny that you got a Rubik’s cube. I’ll help you solve it when I get home :D There sure are a lot of people getting married over there. The only one that really surprised me was Afton though. I guess that’s because she’s my age and the others aren’t.
The economy is sure crazy right now. Tons of people we work with are struggling financially. I heard that Obama spent more money in his first 100 days than all the previous presidents combined. I’m not sure he’s helping us out much. Hopefully he will eventually or somehow we’ll get out of this mess. Or we can just have the second coming. That would work too. One of the guys we found tracting said, “Let’s attack Jerusalem, then the Savior would come because he promised!” It was funny.
Guess that’s about it. Good job to Anna and Jeri for all the good missionary work you are doing! We can’t do this work without the members! Keep it up and everyone remember to pray for more missionary experiences and opportunities. I’m proud of all of you. And I know there aren’t many people in Highland to work with, but we can always strengthen and teach members too. Just your examples will help a lot of people I’m sure.
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
This week we’ve been working with one of our new investigators Augustine. He understands the lessons really well, but he hasn’t come to church yet. He lives in the house with his sister Maria who we are also teaching. One time this week we went over and he arrived to the house drunk. Of course I had NO idea until after we left, but the other elders were like, “umm, can we come back a different day?” Maybe by the end of my mission I’ll know when people are drunk. He asked some weird questions, but other than that, he seemed normal to me.
We taught English on Tuesday and were happy that two people showed up to teach. Hopefully we’ll have more luck this week.
We did a lot more tracting this week when we didn’t have anyone to visit. We didn’t have much success, but found a couple people to go back and follow up on. We at least gave out a couple pass along cards.
We are working with this less active couple (Regina and Juan) who want to prepare for the temple, but for some reason like going to the English ward better than the Spanish ward. They have to wear little headset translators during sacrament meeting and then they go home. It’s closer to their house and they know a couple people there, but I think it’s ridiculous. We are trying to get them to the Spanish ward so they can stay for all three meetings and understand them. They could go to the temple prep class too.
We gave a blessing to a less-active lady in the hospital on Friday. She was about to have surgery. She seemed to be doing all right though. It’s funny that they have to have a lot of nurses in that hospital that know how to speak Spanish.
Yesterday we had the perfect experience to end the week. After dinner and a baptism that the other elders in our ward had, we went to the Pantoja’s house and watched “Joseph Smith, prophet of the Restoration” with them and Erasmo in Spanish. It’s not out on DVD yet, but somehow Elder Zelnick got a copy (a Spanish copy even). It was really good. The spirit was really strong and like 2/3 of the way through Silvia, their neighbor who we’ve taught once, was like, “what channel is that?” Erasmo went out and said “Estamos mirando la pelicula de la profeta Jose Smith. Venganse!” or in other words, “we’re watching the movie about the prophet Joseph Smith. Come join us!” It was so funny. So she and her kids joined us and totally felt the spirit. It was great. Silvia even shed a few tears.
Happy Fathers day Dad! Hope you liked it. I know I did. The ward had an activity on Saturday and served some really good food! Too bad we can’t call home three times a year lol. Guess you’ll have to wait till Christmas. How is the running going mom? Getting or feeling any better? Keep it up. How was the Trombone Ensemble you went to on a date? That sounds like it would be really good. How are you doing in softball Nicole? Any hits lately? Have you been practicing some more with Mom and Dad? If not shame on them. :) I thought that was so funny that you got a Rubik’s cube. I’ll help you solve it when I get home :D There sure are a lot of people getting married over there. The only one that really surprised me was Afton though. I guess that’s because she’s my age and the others aren’t.
The economy is sure crazy right now. Tons of people we work with are struggling financially. I heard that Obama spent more money in his first 100 days than all the previous presidents combined. I’m not sure he’s helping us out much. Hopefully he will eventually or somehow we’ll get out of this mess. Or we can just have the second coming. That would work too. One of the guys we found tracting said, “Let’s attack Jerusalem, then the Savior would come because he promised!” It was funny.
Guess that’s about it. Good job to Anna and Jeri for all the good missionary work you are doing! We can’t do this work without the members! Keep it up and everyone remember to pray for more missionary experiences and opportunities. I’m proud of all of you. And I know there aren’t many people in Highland to work with, but we can always strengthen and teach members too. Just your examples will help a lot of people I’m sure.
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Curtis
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