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