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

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

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?

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

Pics 10/5/2009

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

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