Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The District

The district as I knew it (left to right): Elder Earl, Hunsaker, Nielsen, Chang, Bateman (arrived yesterday), Choi, Lew, Nuttel, me

Rachelle's Birthday (June 14th Email)

Today is transfers. Elder C is dying and Elder Os is replacing him. He's from Florida and he grew up speaking Spanish. I don't know much about him yet, but he's been out for about 14 months. Elder C is with us until tonight when we drop him off at the mission home. It's sad to see him go, I feel like he's a good friend now. It's always hard getting used to someone new, but it'll be good.

L A is doing well and plans to get baptized on Rachelle's birthday. O is doing well, but we don't have a date with him yet. Hopefully soon. The exciting thing of this week is that S M, who recently moved in, has a non-member mom who is interested in the gospel. He was baptized a year and a half ago and now his mom is becoming interested and even came to church the last two weeks. We taught her last night for the first time and we are eating dinner with them tonight. It's exciting and she seems pretty golden. Bro. M is Persian and as of yet isn't terribly interested. S is super cool though and he's not much older than me. Another lady that might be a really good potential is D A. She has a good member friend up in Northwood and I hear she's really interested, but not ready to talk to missionaries yet. So other than them, please pray that we can teach G M and sister E's friend and that F's parent's hearts may be softened to let her get baptized. Also that O recognizes an answer and has the courage/faith to be baptized.

It's been interesting to have Elder C finishing up. He had his departing interview on Friday, then went with the departing missionaries to the temple. He said goodbye to a lot of people yesterday, especially since they announced it in sacrament meeting and had him give a short talk. We couldn't see half the people he wanted to see. Maybe today we will see some of them after shopping.

Last night we ate with the one Spanish family in the ward. They are from Mexico and just got sealed in the temple on Saturday. It's so fun to have them and I'm so happy that they got sealed. Something really awesome I heard today at transfers is that a family from Harbor Hills is going to be baptized. The mom is already a member and was baptized not too long ago, but the husband and son, who were previously not too interested are getting baptized. They really wanted to go to one church as a family and were going to decide on a different one, but after Bishop N talked to them and gave them blessings they decided to keep going to the LDS church so it was really good news. They are the S family.

So I'll write again next week and tell you more. Things are going really well. I really like the area I'm in and don't mind staying :). Love you as much as all the missionaries that got transferred today (almost the whole mission!).

Elder Curtis

Friday, June 11, 2010

Alex / Face Decorations

Pad Kra-Prow (June 7)

Wow, so I guess Elder C only has seven days left. That's so intense. I can only imagine what my emotions will be like my last week. We had a really good week. We weren't necessarily super successful, but it was good anyway.

We taught a guy named S M again this week, who's been a member a year and a half thanks to his girlfriend who's been a member two years. Anyway, this week he brought his mom to church who is not a member and she really liked it and wants to learn more so we're excited to teach her.

Sister C fed us three times last week since no one else signed up for those days. Monday she fed us at home. Tuesday she and her son took us out to eat at Spicey Thai and it was yummy. I got Pad Kra-Prow, if you know what that is Ross. Wednesday we taught F about tithing and fasting. We also did some service for a recent convert in the ward who is going through some hard times (Sister S).

We started teaching another member in the ward named Sister E this week and she said she has a friend who is interested in learning more so hopefully we'll teach them together this week. I hope that goes well. We also are going to teach Sister M this week after such a long time so I pray she will accept a baptismal date as well. Friday we taught two soon-to-be-actives, Sister H and Bro. M (separately), about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were back to back lessons, but they both went really well.

We also tried to teach F and A, but they were a little too wild to learn much. I guess kids will be kids. Saturday we taught Az about baptisms for the dead, so hopefully her, the R's, and the U will start attending the temple soon, even if only for baptisms. We had another good talk with Bro. G this week, but he still didn't come to sacrament meeting--though he did bake a huge cake for break the fast. He has a testimony so it's tough not to see him coming.

I guess you know you're a missionary when you have a good friend who's older than your dad (it surprised me to learn he was that old--not that that's old or anything...:-) anyway, things are progressing and everything is good. Thanks for your continued support and letters. Ya'll're the best...if that's a word. Have a good week. Love you more than the lack of investigators we had at church.

Elder Curtis

Elder Lew and Elder Nuttel

She Believes The Church is True (June 1)

Hello, yesterday was memorial day so I get to write to you today. I don't have much time, but at least I get to write.

On Monday we had a lesson with L A and we watched Joseph Smith prophet of the restoration with her. It was really good and I think it helped, but she is still getting used to things. She did say however that she believes the church is true. I hope her talk with her father went well this week and that she can go ahead with being baptized.

Tuesday we taught the Bs about the word of wisdom and tithing/fasting. Friday we watched the Testaments with F and she got a little bored by the end of it, but I think she secretly liked it. Thursday I went on exchanges again in Northwood and worked with Elder H this time. It was a good day, but most of the appointments fell through.

Saturday we had a fun lesson with the R family at Bro. B's home and had their home teachers there as well. On Sunday we got to teach the youth during the third hour for the combined lesson. We talked about missionary work and had them do some role play of teaching a Preach My Gospel principle. It was pretty fun. That night we got to teach the U family again who are starting to come back to church. They are super nice and it's fun answering their questions and helping them prepare to go to the temple.

Yesterday was a really good p-day. Despite my laundry card not working, we had a good day playing ultimate Frisbee as a district, then having lunch together. I finally got the apartment cleaned too so that felt really good. We ate with the C family who are the ones to make sure we always get fed by coordinating our dinner calendar. It was a good day.

Hope all of you are doing just as well. Keep sending letters so I have to keep sorting my huge piles of mail laying around :). Thanks for all you do. I love you as much as all the bumps from my rash the grass gave me and a few other elders yesterday during ultimate. Elder Curtis

Hello

Even if it means (May 24)

Long long ago, in a land far far away...CAM! (California Anaheim Mission) Duh dadada dadadun da da da da da da da da da da da. Ok I'll stop. I had a pretty good week. Monday evening the ward had an "FHE in the park" where everyone came and brought food and played games and stuff. It was really fun and is a good opportunity to invite people. I think they have them every month or so during the summer. We had a lesson with O that night and he's doing well, he just hasn't received and/or recognized an answer yet.

Tuesday we had a lesson with L A. She is so close to baptism. She decided on a date for June 12th, but yesterday said she didn't want to do it that day because of other activities scheduled. I tried explaining that we pick the date by inspiration and that she should shoot for a day and not let anything else get in the way, but I think she wants to pick her own day now. Hopefully things work out. We are teaching her again tonight and sharing more about JS so I hope it will help her to feel the spirit strongly. I guess her main problem is still her family. Her father is visiting her this week and she's going to talk to him about it. I hope he can support her, but most of all I hope she is able to stay with her decision no matter how her family feels. After all, Christ wants us to give devotion to him first, even if it means being separated from family.

We taught F some more this week, but I think her parents want her to be older to take the step of baptism. I think Bishop P and our WML Bro. B are going to talk to the parents this week so I guess that's our last hope for now. The other neighbor P (11) is the same situation. He wants to be baptized, but his family is Muslim so I think he might have to wait until he's 18. I just hope he can keep his desire that long. Others have fallen away waiting so long.

Thursday I was on exchanges with Elder N in Northwood. It was a pretty good day and Elder C had fun with Elder H here in Woodbridge. We had a good lesson again with Sister H on Friday. She has a wonderful fellowshipper from the Lake Ward, but the priesthood holders we've brought have been kind of random. I hope to get her home teacher there this week. Saturday I had an interesting experience because a Korean family invited us over for dinner and there were only a few English words spoken the whole time we were there. I kind of just played with the kids and the dog while they were talking. It was interesting to have Korean food though. I ate everything and it wasn't all that bad :-) I even had some Kimchi which is what always smells terrible in Korean households. It tasted like ginger root that Mom always puts in her Fajitas for Dad so I didn't have a problem eating it.

So yeah, things are going well and I love you all bunches. This morning I read the papers that you put on my wall when I was home telling me why you loved me and I was really touched. Thanks so much! Love you as much as all the food we got from Brother G last night. Elder Curtis

BBQ

They Both Need a Miracle (May 17)

Buenas Tardes! Tuve una semana buenisima! Y Uds.? Ensenamos a Hermano M y la familia Burnette en Martes y fue bien. On Wednesday we had three lessons. We taught O at two, F at four and L A at six thirty. With O we talked about the plan of salvation and he told us he has a desire to get an answer, but he hasn't received one yet. He says he reads and prays, but he hasn't had that clarifying feeling yet. I guess we'll just have to keep praying for him.

F's lesson was fun. We taught it at the park in their neighborhood and after we taught about the plan of salvation we kind of acted it out. I put each little lamination from the plan of salvation in different places on the playground and we went through it. The monkey bars were the veil of forgetfulness. We have to do something to keep those kids entertained. :) F seems to enjoy the lessons and is progressing right along, but the only problem is her family isn't too sure about her being baptized. She's only 10 so we really need the support of her parents. I hope they will let her go ahead with it. I think the bishop is going to meet with them.

L A is a lady from the Lake Ward we are working with. She's been coming to church for a long time, but has struggled in the past to decide to be baptized. I think a lot of it is that her family/other friends aren't supportive at all so it's really hard for her to abandon them and join us. She loves the church though and says she feels the spirit. We are hoping to get her baptized next month some time. F and O are scheduled for this weekend, but they both need a miracle to go through with it. Jueves ensenamos a Azita y salio bien como siempre.

On Friday we taught F the gospel and made a little story out of it with a little batman toy and his journey back home (heaven). Jesus Christ had to build two bridges to overcome his two obstacles which were pools of water (physical death and sin). The bridge over sin was a toll road that he had to pay four dollars to cross. The four dollars were faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The road was endure to the end. It's fun to see all the many different creative ways missionaries have come up with to teach the lessons. That night we taught L H who is a less-active in the Lake Ward. We had a wonderful lesson and I'm excited for her to start coming to church more often.

Yesterday we got to teach the lesson in Gospel principals for the Lake Ward. We kind of forgot to prepare, but being missionaries and experienced, we pulled it off like we'd been studying for a week. Sometimes people don't need to know the truth hahaha. That night we finally got in to the U home. Elder G and I tried the whole time he was here, but they never were able to meet and I think half the time they didn't hear us knocking on the door. Yesterday we finally got to teach them and they are sooo nice. He's from Hawaii and she has Cuban and Spain backgrounds. It was good because we also had one of their home teachers there.

We had a fun BBQ for our activity today. Things are going great and life is good. I love you as much as the steak I had today...almost haha

Elder Curtis

Elder Choi / Pulling Weeds

It was a Good Answer I Thought :D (May 10)

Good afternoon. It was good to hear from everyone yesterday, even if it was only a voicemail for R&A. I guess the next time to talk voice to voice will be when my mission is over. We had a pretty productive week so I was happy about that. On Tuesday we were able to set two baptismal dates. The first one was O. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with him and he really felt the spirit. We asked him how he felt and he said good. So I asked him why he thought he felt that way and he said because he felt the Holy Ghost so I asked him what he thought it was trying to tell him and he said "to get baptized!" It was a good answer I thought :D We agreed and set a date for the 22nd. The only problem is that he has difficulty coming to our ward at 11 because of work, so he tries to go at 9am. We don't know why he didn't come this week though. The other date we set was with a new investigator named F. She's friends with a family in the ward and has been to church and activities many times now without us knowing. She's only ten years old, but her parents are supportive of whatever she wants to do.

Wednesday we had dinner with a former investigator and his family. It was enjoyable and they were really nice, but when we talked to him after dinner he had lots of arguments and reasons why he thought we were wrong. Then we went to teach A and he was the same. We are trying to get them to focus on reading and praying about the Book of Mormon, but it is difficult. Thursday we had two lessons to people that are being reactivated, Az and S M. They both turned out well so that is good. We taught F again on Friday and watched the Restoration DVD with her. On Saturday after doing a stake service project pulling weeds (Mormon helping hands) we went to a buffet called Souplantation and had lunch with an investigator in the lake ward named L A as well as Brother Ja and Sister Je who are ward missionaries for the lake ward (well, technically bro. J is the ward mission leader). It went really well and she expressed that she wants to be baptized, but it's hard for her because her family and some of her friends are not supportive of that decision. We told her it's between God and her so she should pray about it.

On Sunday we had the confirmations of the R family and it was pretty good. They had a class for the women afterwards and gave them all little meals. The Lake Ward gave all the women a chocolate bar--though most of them there aren't mothers :) Hope everyone has a good week. Good luck with all the tests and the end of year projects and such. I don't envy you :) We played tennis this morning for our p-day activity so I love you as much as all the tennis balls I hit today.

Elder Curtis

Elder Gilman / The Rae's Baptism

Finish Their Baptism (May 3)

That's right. Elder G got transferred. He went to North Hills, an English ward in La Habra. He was a good companion so it's kind of sad to see him go, but it's okay. My new companion is Elder C. He's from S. Korea so he's my second Korean companion. It's his last transfer so he'll leave at the end of these six weeks. That means I'll probably be here next transfer as well. I'm also the driver now.

We had a baptism yesterday! The R's got baptized and it was a wonderful service! I baptized Sister R and B and Elder G baptized S. It's so fun for them to take this step--I'm really excited for them. They finish their baptism this next Sunday when they get confirmed.

We had a really good week though. We went on exchanges on Thursday and Elder Co was with me in my area. It was pretty fun. We taught O and Az that evening and both lessons went relatively well. We will probably meet with O again tonight.

We didn't get to meet with Sister M or L and her family this week, but we did get a referral for a girl who wants to be baptized. She is 10 and is named F. She's actually been coming to church for two months already, but we never knew about it. I'm pretty excited to teach her because she seems super ready for making the commitment of baptism. Saturday for our dinner appointment we had a "picnic" in the park on a blanket. That's a first for me on my mission so it was pretty fun. It was super fun on Friday because we did some service for a young family who were moving just a block or two away so we helped them load and unload their truck three times and it was really fun. It was Bro. B and his family and they are super cool. His brother looks almost identical and was also there to help so they were joking and poking fun the whole time--it was pretty entertaining.

As I said, Sunday was really good and rewarding. We had some good meetings and then a break the fast with the lake ward and then the baptism. It was funny because in the Lake ward for Elders quorum they had a sister come in and give a class on how to make yourself attractive and desirable for marriage. It's funny to be around 30+ singles. I hope I'm never in a situation like that. I think it would be really tough. Anyway, I better go. We have to shop and unpack etc. I love you as much as all the changes this transfer brings.

Love Elder Curtis

Green Juice (Apr 20)

Good afternoon. How is everyone doing? Things have been going just great since Wednesday. We had a great session in the temple and that evening we taught Sister Rae and her sons about the plan of Salvation. They are reading the BOM like crazy and seem to be progressing very well. Their fellowshipper family, the Wares, challenged them to read half the BOM by their baptism on May 2nd and Bro. Ware promised to take them out to eat. On Wednesday Brendan (11) had already finished first Nephi. That's better reading than most of our adult investigators lol.

On Thursday we did some service with the Westpark Elders weeding a lady's flower bed. Then we went and helped a member in our ward move some storage. It was good to get some service in. That night we had our regular Lake ward correlation and lesson with Azita. We taught her the first lesson (wow, I almost wrote discussion) and it went well.

We were going to meet with Sister Grace Mendoza on Friday, but it didn't work out. It is hard to schedule with her because she is so busy--mainly on account of her two autistic children--which is frustrating because she is so ready! Anyway, an interesting thing is that she wasn't able to meet because her four year old son was having a sleep study done and it turns out he has sleep apnea. She said it was on account of his tonsils and his adenoids--whatever those are. She said his tonsils were a 4+ on a sizing scale of tonsils (scale of 1-4). Then she said she has been able to reduce his tonsils and cure a lot of issues by giving him a vegetable drink every other day that she called green juice. She gave me the recipe and I am going to try it. I wonder how big my tonsils and adenoids are.

Saturday was really cool. We had a temple tour at 2:30 and Sister Rae and her sons came to it and seemed to like it. Afterwards we had a lesson on "the big ones" namely Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, and Law of Tithing. They accepted to live them so I guess it went well :-). On Sunday they came to church (all three), but Shane (13) had an experience that caused him to get offended. I guess in Sunday school the teacher was overly pushy that he needed to be baptized and hence he never wants to come to church again. We will try to work it out in our appointment today, but we'll see. He's a great kid; he's just very scientifically minded and independent. Anyway, we aren't too worried--they're a great family and we think at least two of them will be baptized the last day of the transfer (May 2nd).

Yesterday's mission conference was super amazing, but I’ll have to talk more about it later. It was President L. Whitney Clayton speaking and it was so cool to have the whole mission there at once. Anyway, I love you as much as our brand new red '10 Corolla.

Elder Curtis