Hey everyone, how are all of you? I wasn’t able to write yesterday because the library was closed since it was Presidents day. Things are going well though. It wasn’t as rainy last week, except for Friday it poured cats and dogs. It’s kind of funny because the city isn’t really made for rain so the roads are covered in water and huge streams pour down the sides of the road. Huge puddles form and we even went to a parking lot with half the stalls under a lake so we had to park a little further away.
The last two p-days have been really fun because we’ve gone to the gym and played sports, so it’s been great exercise. Yesterday we played indoor soccer. It was great—lots of people came and not just missionaries. We went “squad knocking” this week with our roommates elders Koerper and Fuchs (pronounced Fooks). We knocked the same area and even switched companionships a few times.
Wednesday we got to go to the temple! It was an awesome experience. It’s the Newport Beach temple and it’s in our mission. It’s really beautiful and is made of pink stone. It’s one of the many small temples in the world. The story of how it came to be is pretty cool too. We sent the white stone we were going to use to China to get it finished or something and found out the city didn’t want them to use white stone. There happened to be a mistake made there that someone got pink stone on accident so we just traded with them. Anyway, it was a good session and then we went to a little meeting in the stake center nearby and President talked to us about goals and lots of other stuff. He had us write down goals for our mission and then said he’d give them back at the end of the mission. It was a good day, even though we had to wake up at 5:15 to get there on time lol. Afterwards, we went to lunch and then drove by the beach real quick. It was sunny and oh so beautiful. The ocean as usual looked so amazing.
Thursday we went knocking again for a while and then when we got back to the car we realized it was pretty flat. Fortunately there was a car place nearby that’s run by a Mormon family so we went there and filled up our spare so we could put it on. We had to wait till the next day to fix it because the SLC office closes at five, which is four our time and we don’t want to pay for anything ourselves if we don’t have to. Turns out we had a nail stuck in it. So I had a nice refresher course on how to change a tire.
Saturday and Sunday were great days for teaching. Our investigator Julia set a baptismal date for March 15th. She isn’t sure whether she will go through with it at the moment but with prayer I’m sure she will get an answer. Sunday was stake conference so all the Spanish wards in the mission pretty much met together and a member of the 70 came and spoke—but he had to have a translator. It was Bro. Nuenswander who also spoke while I was at the MTC. We had a “dinner” appointment at like 2 (Spanish people eat their big meal of the day in the early afternoon) at a member’s home. They also invited some non-member friends who we got to teach so we got 3 great new investigators. I told the Joseph Smith story (in Spanish) for the first time. I really hope these people get answers to their prayers—I have a good feeling about them.
This morning a member took us out to eat at a Thai place for lunch and I was grateful I don’t have to eat that food for two years. I’m too picky of an eater lol. Not that it was bad—just different.
I know I am truly blessed to be here and be a part of this great work. I’m loving it and will be sad when my companion goes home in a couple weeks, but then I’ll get another great companion I’m sure to help me grow and learn even more. I know I’m being blessed to learn Spanish at a quicker rate than I could learn it myself and that I am truly being watched over. Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Love, Elder Curtis
Monday, February 23, 2009
Email 2/9/2009
Hello from sunny California! I mean…rainy California. It’s rained like the past 5 days, which is like how much Elder Swenson has seen his whole mission, but I can deal with it.
Mexicans are funny. They have a super hard time pronouncing English words. Like most words don’t start with “S” so when they say an English word it comes out with an e sound in front. Especial, estart, esmart, etc. They had a super hard time with the “w” in elder Swenson’s name so he finally ordered a name-tag written like this: Suensón and they’re like “Oh, Swenson!” It’s funny. They have a really hard time with Curtis too. “Coortees.” I think they might be like Thai people because when they eat fruit, they like to have every kind of flavor on it. The fruit is sweet, then they put lemon juice on it (sour) then they put salt on it, and then chile powder (spicy and bitter). It’s pretty crazy.
There are tons of little shops on all sides of every main road and you wouldn’t believe how many donut shops there are. Like seriously, every other corner has one. Same thing with Liquor shops and Animal hospitals. I mean I’ve never even seen very many animal hospitals in my life and here they are all over the place—along with donuts at every turn lol. Motorcycles don’t seem to have any rules to follow because they always just do whatever they want—weaving in and out of cars to their pleasure. At stop lights they just go in between everyone right up to the front—it’s ridiculous. Instead of speed bumps there are dips all over. I’m mostly sure they are intentional because they are all over the place.
I finally cleaned the bathroom, and we bought a new shower curtain so I don’t have to breathe mold every day. It’s so much nicer. Tuesday I had my first Zone conference. It lasted most of the day and was pretty inspirational. We got new phones and had a clean car competition. We cleaned our car last Monday, but everyone else did too so we didn’t win anything. The meetings were good though and I played the piano for a musical number accompanying about 8 elders and sisters singing a Tongan hymn so that was cool.
The work is going pretty well though. We don’t have anyone that is super interested, but we still teach plenty. We also had lots of service activities to do this week. On Wednesday we helped someone move so we were hauling lots of stuff. That day we also taught a lady and her husband. She is Julia, but I’m not sure of his name. They told us once they know the Gospel’s true they’ll be baptized so that was cool. They’ve been meeting missionaries off and on for like a year though. On Wednesday and Thursday we got to do some more “service.” I put it in parenthesis because Elder Swenson said it was the best service he’s done his whole mission. We went to this house that this guy bought and wants to redo a lot of it so we went to tear down the old stuff. Demolition is actually pretty fun. Just grab a hammer and start whacking down cupboards and stuff. It was pretty crazy. We knocked down door frames, cupboards, walls, and we even took out a whole kitchen island thing that had like a stove and drawers etc. in it. We tore up carpet, tile, and all kinds of stuff.
We’re also teaching a less active named Hno. Castro who wants to be good—he just has so much in life distracting him from going to church etc.
We got to eat out two or three times this week because members just took us out instead of cooking for us. We went to a burger/chicken place one night and Chile’s another. We also ate at member’s houses two times this week. As usual they made fun of my poor Spanish comprehension. One lady even told a story to make me feel better about a time when she didn’t know what people were saying (in English) but I didn’t even understand the story—it was pretty pathetic, elder Swenson had to translate it for me. I feel like a little kid who doesn’t understand jokes so I just sit there and smile wondering what they’re laughing about, when half the time they’re laughing at me and I don’t know it. Some days are better though and I feel like I’m improving and understanding a lot. Some people are just easier to understand I guess.
Elder Stewart, who was in the threesome living with us, got transferred out to be with an incoming Elder (from another mission) so now out apartment is back down to four. It doesn’t make a huge difference though. They still stay up late, burn whatever they can find WHEREVER they are (and Rachelle thought I was a pyro, HA), play with their little air-soft guns (the word soft should not be applied. Those little plastic bb’s come out at a couple hundred miles per hour and sting if you get hit), and look like they are dead in the morning. My comp is good though—he always gets up on time. They’re good people though so I try not to judge them—they always make things interesting and fun.
Yesterday morning we stopped by a bunch of people’s houses, but they either weren’t there or had an excuse not to come to church. It was sad. I had to play the opening hymn in sacrament meeting again lol. Some missionaries in our district had a Baptism yesterday so we went to that (I played the piano).
We played indoor Frisbee at the church today with a bunch of other elders so that was a blast. The ASL elders were even there and one of them is actually deaf so that was fun.
Anyway, love you all. Hope your week goes well.
Elder Curtis
Mexicans are funny. They have a super hard time pronouncing English words. Like most words don’t start with “S” so when they say an English word it comes out with an e sound in front. Especial, estart, esmart, etc. They had a super hard time with the “w” in elder Swenson’s name so he finally ordered a name-tag written like this: Suensón and they’re like “Oh, Swenson!” It’s funny. They have a really hard time with Curtis too. “Coortees.” I think they might be like Thai people because when they eat fruit, they like to have every kind of flavor on it. The fruit is sweet, then they put lemon juice on it (sour) then they put salt on it, and then chile powder (spicy and bitter). It’s pretty crazy.
There are tons of little shops on all sides of every main road and you wouldn’t believe how many donut shops there are. Like seriously, every other corner has one. Same thing with Liquor shops and Animal hospitals. I mean I’ve never even seen very many animal hospitals in my life and here they are all over the place—along with donuts at every turn lol. Motorcycles don’t seem to have any rules to follow because they always just do whatever they want—weaving in and out of cars to their pleasure. At stop lights they just go in between everyone right up to the front—it’s ridiculous. Instead of speed bumps there are dips all over. I’m mostly sure they are intentional because they are all over the place.
I finally cleaned the bathroom, and we bought a new shower curtain so I don’t have to breathe mold every day. It’s so much nicer. Tuesday I had my first Zone conference. It lasted most of the day and was pretty inspirational. We got new phones and had a clean car competition. We cleaned our car last Monday, but everyone else did too so we didn’t win anything. The meetings were good though and I played the piano for a musical number accompanying about 8 elders and sisters singing a Tongan hymn so that was cool.
The work is going pretty well though. We don’t have anyone that is super interested, but we still teach plenty. We also had lots of service activities to do this week. On Wednesday we helped someone move so we were hauling lots of stuff. That day we also taught a lady and her husband. She is Julia, but I’m not sure of his name. They told us once they know the Gospel’s true they’ll be baptized so that was cool. They’ve been meeting missionaries off and on for like a year though. On Wednesday and Thursday we got to do some more “service.” I put it in parenthesis because Elder Swenson said it was the best service he’s done his whole mission. We went to this house that this guy bought and wants to redo a lot of it so we went to tear down the old stuff. Demolition is actually pretty fun. Just grab a hammer and start whacking down cupboards and stuff. It was pretty crazy. We knocked down door frames, cupboards, walls, and we even took out a whole kitchen island thing that had like a stove and drawers etc. in it. We tore up carpet, tile, and all kinds of stuff.
We’re also teaching a less active named Hno. Castro who wants to be good—he just has so much in life distracting him from going to church etc.
We got to eat out two or three times this week because members just took us out instead of cooking for us. We went to a burger/chicken place one night and Chile’s another. We also ate at member’s houses two times this week. As usual they made fun of my poor Spanish comprehension. One lady even told a story to make me feel better about a time when she didn’t know what people were saying (in English) but I didn’t even understand the story—it was pretty pathetic, elder Swenson had to translate it for me. I feel like a little kid who doesn’t understand jokes so I just sit there and smile wondering what they’re laughing about, when half the time they’re laughing at me and I don’t know it. Some days are better though and I feel like I’m improving and understanding a lot. Some people are just easier to understand I guess.
Elder Stewart, who was in the threesome living with us, got transferred out to be with an incoming Elder (from another mission) so now out apartment is back down to four. It doesn’t make a huge difference though. They still stay up late, burn whatever they can find WHEREVER they are (and Rachelle thought I was a pyro, HA), play with their little air-soft guns (the word soft should not be applied. Those little plastic bb’s come out at a couple hundred miles per hour and sting if you get hit), and look like they are dead in the morning. My comp is good though—he always gets up on time. They’re good people though so I try not to judge them—they always make things interesting and fun.
Yesterday morning we stopped by a bunch of people’s houses, but they either weren’t there or had an excuse not to come to church. It was sad. I had to play the opening hymn in sacrament meeting again lol. Some missionaries in our district had a Baptism yesterday so we went to that (I played the piano).
We played indoor Frisbee at the church today with a bunch of other elders so that was a blast. The ASL elders were even there and one of them is actually deaf so that was fun.
Anyway, love you all. Hope your week goes well.
Elder Curtis
Snail Mail 2/2/2009
Hey everyone! I’m not going to lose my letter this time!
This week was pretty good. On Tuesday I went to the new missionary orientation because a new group of missionaries arrived, and I hadn’t been to those meetings yet. It took almost all day, but now I am oriented. We went to ward choir that night which was pretty funny – only one man was there besides us and one other missionary companionship, but there were a decent number of women. The only problem is that Hispanic people don’t sing very well – the choir director was pretty good though, but he was busy directing.
On Wednesday we went to a member home and did service. We removed a bunch of weeds, plants, fences, etc., and then they fed us pizza. It was really fun. I could have got burned if I hadn’t been wearing sunscreen. I’m glad winter ended early.
It was fun to have lots of dinner appointments the last two weeks. They cook really good food and it’s funny b/c the same people like to sign up to feed us every week.
The work is going pretty good. We don’t have any solid investigators, but we do have some, plus some less actives to visit – so we don’t have to knock doors too often. Mexican people are pretty funny. They are too nice to reject you half the time, even if they aren’t interested, so a lot of our appointments just fall through. We went knocking yesterday, but the first house let us in. They were really nice, and we taught a lesson so hopefully they turn out good.
On Friday we went to a blood drive and gave blood. I thought that was a pretty good thing to do as a missionary. It wasn’t too bad either. It was my third time, and I think I’m getting better. I even got a sweet t-shirt. It says “Warning: prone to sudden acts of heroism, let the hero in you fly – donate blood.” It’s pretty cool.
Yesterday was fast Sunday, and I fasted. In church, the pianist was late, so I had to play prelude and the first hymn.
Okay, I officially hat that library – the internet is so slow! I had my hard drives with me this time so I didn’t lose what I wrote, but I thought after the time ran out, I’d be able to make a new computer reservation, but I was wrong – you can only use it once a day unless it’s like completely empty of people. So I used a little of another missionary’s time and printed my letter out. At least I don’t have to rewrite it this time.
Anyway, today was a pretty good day. I got some cleaning supplies from the store and cleaned our bathroom. The other elders in our apartment have their own bathroom, so just me and Elder Swenson share it. It was so gross though – months of elders never cleaning it – really gross!
It’s interesting to go shopping for groceries, since I never have till my mission. It’s hard to know what to buy – there are so many choices, and only so much money on my card. It’s fun though and I even bought plenty of healthy stuff so don’t worry. It’s kind of dumb though b/c when I arrived it was close to the end of the month so they didn’t give me a lot of money since you get more at the beginning of months, but I had to buy laundry stuff – which was more than I thought it’d be, and stuff to stock up since I was starting from scratch. For example, I bought peanut butter and jam which can last me several weeks before I have to buy more. Anyway the point is that I had to buy last week’s groceries with my own money – from my debit card instead of the monthly money on my new credit card. I also bought a blanket so I don’t freeze at night. Okay, I’ll stop complaining now – it’s not a big deal anyway.
We got a pretty good referral that we visited today. He’d seen a church commercial and called in for a DVD so we took it to him and watched it with him (“The Lamb of God.”) Then talked for a while – it was really good and we set up another appointment with him. His name is Juventino (J is like an H).
We went on splits Saturday for an hour. I went with Elder Funk and we taught this girl, Erica. The spirit was there, and I felt like she definitely might get baptized.
On Sunday Antonio got confirmed in Sacrament meeting. I even got to stand in the circle. Like I said though, I had to play the piano on the spot lol. Good thing I knew how to play the opening hymn! I also got sucked into playing tomorrow at zone conference. Sister Watrous asked me to accompany a musical number, then tonight I got asked to be the pianist for the other hymns as well. It’s kind of crazy, but I guess I better get used to it.
Have a good week everyone!
Love, Elder Curtis
This week was pretty good. On Tuesday I went to the new missionary orientation because a new group of missionaries arrived, and I hadn’t been to those meetings yet. It took almost all day, but now I am oriented. We went to ward choir that night which was pretty funny – only one man was there besides us and one other missionary companionship, but there were a decent number of women. The only problem is that Hispanic people don’t sing very well – the choir director was pretty good though, but he was busy directing.
On Wednesday we went to a member home and did service. We removed a bunch of weeds, plants, fences, etc., and then they fed us pizza. It was really fun. I could have got burned if I hadn’t been wearing sunscreen. I’m glad winter ended early.
It was fun to have lots of dinner appointments the last two weeks. They cook really good food and it’s funny b/c the same people like to sign up to feed us every week.
The work is going pretty good. We don’t have any solid investigators, but we do have some, plus some less actives to visit – so we don’t have to knock doors too often. Mexican people are pretty funny. They are too nice to reject you half the time, even if they aren’t interested, so a lot of our appointments just fall through. We went knocking yesterday, but the first house let us in. They were really nice, and we taught a lesson so hopefully they turn out good.
On Friday we went to a blood drive and gave blood. I thought that was a pretty good thing to do as a missionary. It wasn’t too bad either. It was my third time, and I think I’m getting better. I even got a sweet t-shirt. It says “Warning: prone to sudden acts of heroism, let the hero in you fly – donate blood.” It’s pretty cool.
Yesterday was fast Sunday, and I fasted. In church, the pianist was late, so I had to play prelude and the first hymn.
Okay, I officially hat that library – the internet is so slow! I had my hard drives with me this time so I didn’t lose what I wrote, but I thought after the time ran out, I’d be able to make a new computer reservation, but I was wrong – you can only use it once a day unless it’s like completely empty of people. So I used a little of another missionary’s time and printed my letter out. At least I don’t have to rewrite it this time.
Anyway, today was a pretty good day. I got some cleaning supplies from the store and cleaned our bathroom. The other elders in our apartment have their own bathroom, so just me and Elder Swenson share it. It was so gross though – months of elders never cleaning it – really gross!
It’s interesting to go shopping for groceries, since I never have till my mission. It’s hard to know what to buy – there are so many choices, and only so much money on my card. It’s fun though and I even bought plenty of healthy stuff so don’t worry. It’s kind of dumb though b/c when I arrived it was close to the end of the month so they didn’t give me a lot of money since you get more at the beginning of months, but I had to buy laundry stuff – which was more than I thought it’d be, and stuff to stock up since I was starting from scratch. For example, I bought peanut butter and jam which can last me several weeks before I have to buy more. Anyway the point is that I had to buy last week’s groceries with my own money – from my debit card instead of the monthly money on my new credit card. I also bought a blanket so I don’t freeze at night. Okay, I’ll stop complaining now – it’s not a big deal anyway.
We got a pretty good referral that we visited today. He’d seen a church commercial and called in for a DVD so we took it to him and watched it with him (“The Lamb of God.”) Then talked for a while – it was really good and we set up another appointment with him. His name is Juventino (J is like an H).
We went on splits Saturday for an hour. I went with Elder Funk and we taught this girl, Erica. The spirit was there, and I felt like she definitely might get baptized.
On Sunday Antonio got confirmed in Sacrament meeting. I even got to stand in the circle. Like I said though, I had to play the piano on the spot lol. Good thing I knew how to play the opening hymn! I also got sucked into playing tomorrow at zone conference. Sister Watrous asked me to accompany a musical number, then tonight I got asked to be the pianist for the other hymns as well. It’s kind of crazy, but I guess I better get used to it.
Have a good week everyone!
Love, Elder Curtis
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