Dear Family, How are you doing? I had a good week here with Elder Keeler, Elder Griffin, and Elder Shaw. Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Griffin working in my area. It was pretty fun specially because it was raining like CRAZY. I didn't want to be out in the rain much so we went around and visited a lot of members--mostly inactive people, or ones I didn't know. After working in this ward for almost six months I pretty much know every single family and their situation.
On Monday we taught the Doane's and Sister Wenzel about missionary work. They were really good lessons. Thursday was a really neat day. We went to Quail Hill (a part of our area) and we saw a big Samoan guy walk into an apartment. Elder Keeler loves Polynesiansso we went and knocked on his door and he let us right in. He was already familiar with our church since practically half of all Samoans are LDS, but he and his sister in law were really nice and let us teach them a lesson. Later that day we taught a less-active family, but the best part of that day was teaching James Nguyen (said like James Win). He is Vietnamese and he is a former investigator. Elder Taka and Elder Keeler knocked on his door when they were on exchanges and he let them right in. I guess he really likes Elder Taka. Anyway, now he's interested again so we went and taught him a lesson and it was picture perfect. He has been brought down to the depths of humility and is searching for something new in his life—especially comfort. He's having marital issues and he seems like he has real intent. So we taught him the Restoration and placed the BOM in his heart (something we do as a mission to people we teach by reading from the introduction with them, reading Moroni's promise, then kneeling and having them pray about the BOM). He was amazed at the introduction and said "the first page of this book answers the questions that I've been searching for!" and said similar comments such as "it's too easy!" It was a super cool lesson and we are really excited about his change of heart. He said he'd definitely read from the BOM and pray about it. We are teaching him again tonight.
Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Shaw in his area, though it is really just part of my old area so I knew the people and we had a good day. We taught Michelle and the lesson seemed to go well, but she didn't make it to church yesterday. We also taught a less active named Angela Young who doesn't attend because she works on Sundays, but she has a strong testimony and even invited her non-member friend to the lesson so that was super cool. Yesterday we visited some members and had some lessons with them to strengthen them, help them do missionary work, and to encourage them to read PMG. One funny side note is that the Howard family in our ward asked us to take care of their cat while they are gone on vacation this week and last week. We just go over there every other day and feed and water it and clean the kitty litter. Bring in the mail, take out the trash etc. The crazy part though is that their house is being invaded by ants. They come in through the dishwasher somehow so last time we just ran a cycle lol.
Elder Keeler and Elder Bean went back and taught Bob Quinn on Saturday. He is the Jew we found tracting last week. They even took a member and said that the lesson went really well. He is interested in learning more and he even decided to read the whole BOM, but he doesn't think that it's true so hopefully as he reads he will feel something. He's very intellectual, but he's very nice to us so I'm glad he has some nice LDS friends.
Today we went and got the H1N1 vaccine so I should be good not to get the swine flu now. It was funny because when we went into the clinic and told them what we wanted they got all excited and said they needed someone to give it to so they could take a picture. I guess they got an award for their vaccine so we got to get our picture taken to be the example. I think it would be cool if we got our picture in a flyer or newspaper or something. Maybe someone would get baptized. Anyway, I'm about out of time. We are at a newly remodeled Library today and it's super close to our house, so that is really nice. Hope you all have a wonderful week. Remember to read the BOM and PMG :) Love you as much as all the miles we've put on our car.
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
They Are Like My Favorite
RAIN!!!! This week is crazy. Lots of rain and lots of clouds.
Yesterday, being milk day, we didn't get to email so we are taking the time to do it today. Yesterday the district came over to our place after shopping and we just chilled in the apartment writing letters and talking. It was super crazy outside. The wind was blowing super hard and the rain was just pouring. Finally it died down a little around three and we decided to go play basketball/Frisbee at the HH Wests' apartment. Unfortunately it was locked so we played Frisbee on a teeny bit of grass in the complex instead. It was super fun actually. A little wet, but that made it exciting. We also had the power out for a couple hours at our place so it was quite an eventful day.
Today it is super rainy and windy again. What happened to last week's paradise weather? Now we have to be out in it since it isn't p-day haha. It was super weird though, because for some reason my allergies went haywire yesterday. It's the first time on my mission. It was just as bad as it used to be in Utah--sneezing every two minutes and stuffy and runny like a river. I guess it's good I had a stash of Claritin--though it didn't help me yesterday very much. I'm nice and clear today though.
I was going to send pictures today so I finally remembered to bring my camera, but unfortunately, I forgot about the cord to hook it in the computer DAAH! Anyway...next week.
Tuesday was interviews with president. While we are each in the room with him, the zone leaders give the rest of us instruction. It was really good this time. Elder Taka and Elder Walsh are great. In fact I even got to go on an exchange with Elder Walsh on Saturday. It was especially cool because his ward is the singles ward so he covers all of the area we cover and all the other elders in the stake too. They just work with all singles from 18 to 30. It was a really fun day and I learned a lot from him. He's a great missionary. We're going on the rest of our exchanges the next couple weeks so tomorrow I'll be with Elder Griffin and Saturday with Elder Shaw. Then probably two the next week.
Wednesday we tracted into a super cool and nice Jew. He let us right in and was pretty interested in what we had to say. He's a super busy guy, but we're excited to teach him so I hope we can find him at good times. His name is Bob.
We also talked to two former investigators this week that are open to more lessons. Elder Taka (who was in this ward for a long time) and Elder Keeler taught James on Saturday and we are going back today.
Sunday was AMAZING! It was stake conference for all 88 stakes in Southern California and it was a broadcast from SLC. Bishop Ridgely, Sister Matsumori, Elder Holland, and Elder Uctdorf spoke. How sweet is that?!?!? It was an amazing two hours. The stakes all had their own opening/closing hymns and prayers, but the broadcast was what consisted of the rest. I love those two apostles--they are like my favorite. They both spoke very powerfully and had lots of great things to say. I'm not sure if their talks will be published, but I would sure like copies!
Anyway, that's about the extent of my week. Time is flying and things are going well. We didn't teach Antoine last week, but hopefully it'll work out this week. Pray for him, and for Michelle, and Bob, and James, and Mary. We need all the prayers and miracles we can get I'll try not to drown down here...or get struck by lightning haha.
Love you as much as all the billions of rain drops in California!
Elder Curtis
Yesterday, being milk day, we didn't get to email so we are taking the time to do it today. Yesterday the district came over to our place after shopping and we just chilled in the apartment writing letters and talking. It was super crazy outside. The wind was blowing super hard and the rain was just pouring. Finally it died down a little around three and we decided to go play basketball/Frisbee at the HH Wests' apartment. Unfortunately it was locked so we played Frisbee on a teeny bit of grass in the complex instead. It was super fun actually. A little wet, but that made it exciting. We also had the power out for a couple hours at our place so it was quite an eventful day.
Today it is super rainy and windy again. What happened to last week's paradise weather? Now we have to be out in it since it isn't p-day haha. It was super weird though, because for some reason my allergies went haywire yesterday. It's the first time on my mission. It was just as bad as it used to be in Utah--sneezing every two minutes and stuffy and runny like a river. I guess it's good I had a stash of Claritin--though it didn't help me yesterday very much. I'm nice and clear today though.
I was going to send pictures today so I finally remembered to bring my camera, but unfortunately, I forgot about the cord to hook it in the computer DAAH! Anyway...next week.
Tuesday was interviews with president. While we are each in the room with him, the zone leaders give the rest of us instruction. It was really good this time. Elder Taka and Elder Walsh are great. In fact I even got to go on an exchange with Elder Walsh on Saturday. It was especially cool because his ward is the singles ward so he covers all of the area we cover and all the other elders in the stake too. They just work with all singles from 18 to 30. It was a really fun day and I learned a lot from him. He's a great missionary. We're going on the rest of our exchanges the next couple weeks so tomorrow I'll be with Elder Griffin and Saturday with Elder Shaw. Then probably two the next week.
Wednesday we tracted into a super cool and nice Jew. He let us right in and was pretty interested in what we had to say. He's a super busy guy, but we're excited to teach him so I hope we can find him at good times. His name is Bob.
We also talked to two former investigators this week that are open to more lessons. Elder Taka (who was in this ward for a long time) and Elder Keeler taught James on Saturday and we are going back today.
Sunday was AMAZING! It was stake conference for all 88 stakes in Southern California and it was a broadcast from SLC. Bishop Ridgely, Sister Matsumori, Elder Holland, and Elder Uctdorf spoke. How sweet is that?!?!? It was an amazing two hours. The stakes all had their own opening/closing hymns and prayers, but the broadcast was what consisted of the rest. I love those two apostles--they are like my favorite. They both spoke very powerfully and had lots of great things to say. I'm not sure if their talks will be published, but I would sure like copies!
Anyway, that's about the extent of my week. Time is flying and things are going well. We didn't teach Antoine last week, but hopefully it'll work out this week. Pray for him, and for Michelle, and Bob, and James, and Mary. We need all the prayers and miracles we can get I'll try not to drown down here...or get struck by lightning haha.
Love you as much as all the billions of rain drops in California!
Elder Curtis
100 Years Old
Hello family! Life is great. How are you? Sounds like you all had a blast in Galveston, but it wasn't as warm as it is here.
Things here are going pretty well. We got an awesome referral from the Corona Del Mar (CDM) missionaries this week named Antione Bacha (said like: Antwan Basha). He is French and he is just golden. He lives in my area, but he's been involved with the CDM ward so he has a couple friends there. This one friend in particular is giving us a hard time. She lives in a Costa Mesa ward, but she attends CDM and wants her friend Antione to go there too. I guess she doesn't have a testimony of ward boundaries yet. She even has a cow that Elder Keeler and I are going to teach him, not the CDM elders and thinks it's crazy that they set a date for the 23rd. We've talked to her and try to explain everything to her, but she doesn't understand missionary work very well and is being a little stubborn. I guess she just wants the best for him, but it's making it tough. We'll figure it out though so just pray for him.
It was a good week though. The CDM elders had a baptism on Saturday of an investigator they've taught a while named Dr. Glenn LeTourneau, who is an OBGYN. It was really good and eight of us missionaries sang hymn 29 as a musical number. I played the piano.
It's interesting working in such a smaller area. It seems like we are in the same places all the time, which is probably because we are lol. Tuesday was Zone Conference. It was all about the Book of Mormon and helping investigators keep commitments. We ate with the Sneary family on Monday for dinner and it was really good as usual (the food and the company). If you don't remember, only the mom is a member. Sorry, I'm kind of going backwards in time. Monday we had an awesome Frisbee game and are going to again today. Hopefully I remember to put on sunscreen this week
A guy in the ward is turning 100 years old this Wednesday so we had a little cake during priesthood opening exercises this Sunday. We didn't have any meetings before church so it was nice to have until 11 before church started. What times do you all go this year?
Something cool they do in this ward (since there are a million little kids) is do something called baby bucks. Whenever you babysit for someone in the ward, they give you a baby buck for every hour. Then you are able to spend the baby bucks you made by having others babysit your kids. People sign up right away because they want to earn more bucks so they can spend them. It's a really smart system and saves everyone a lot of money, because they don't use real cash! Anyway, that's just some random thing I thought was cool to share.
Anyway, that's the jist of my life right now. Hope you all enjoy 2010! Make some new goals and keep them! A fun thing we are doing as a mission is to read 7-10 pages of the BOM everyday and pick a topic to mark it up. I'm marking things that relate to the armor of God and I'm already on page 110! I love you all as much as all the traffic in California. Keep reading your scriptures every day.
Elder Curtis
Things here are going pretty well. We got an awesome referral from the Corona Del Mar (CDM) missionaries this week named Antione Bacha (said like: Antwan Basha). He is French and he is just golden. He lives in my area, but he's been involved with the CDM ward so he has a couple friends there. This one friend in particular is giving us a hard time. She lives in a Costa Mesa ward, but she attends CDM and wants her friend Antione to go there too. I guess she doesn't have a testimony of ward boundaries yet. She even has a cow that Elder Keeler and I are going to teach him, not the CDM elders and thinks it's crazy that they set a date for the 23rd. We've talked to her and try to explain everything to her, but she doesn't understand missionary work very well and is being a little stubborn. I guess she just wants the best for him, but it's making it tough. We'll figure it out though so just pray for him.
It was a good week though. The CDM elders had a baptism on Saturday of an investigator they've taught a while named Dr. Glenn LeTourneau, who is an OBGYN. It was really good and eight of us missionaries sang hymn 29 as a musical number. I played the piano.
It's interesting working in such a smaller area. It seems like we are in the same places all the time, which is probably because we are lol. Tuesday was Zone Conference. It was all about the Book of Mormon and helping investigators keep commitments. We ate with the Sneary family on Monday for dinner and it was really good as usual (the food and the company). If you don't remember, only the mom is a member. Sorry, I'm kind of going backwards in time. Monday we had an awesome Frisbee game and are going to again today. Hopefully I remember to put on sunscreen this week
A guy in the ward is turning 100 years old this Wednesday so we had a little cake during priesthood opening exercises this Sunday. We didn't have any meetings before church so it was nice to have until 11 before church started. What times do you all go this year?
Something cool they do in this ward (since there are a million little kids) is do something called baby bucks. Whenever you babysit for someone in the ward, they give you a baby buck for every hour. Then you are able to spend the baby bucks you made by having others babysit your kids. People sign up right away because they want to earn more bucks so they can spend them. It's a really smart system and saves everyone a lot of money, because they don't use real cash! Anyway, that's just some random thing I thought was cool to share.
Anyway, that's the jist of my life right now. Hope you all enjoy 2010! Make some new goals and keep them! A fun thing we are doing as a mission is to read 7-10 pages of the BOM everyday and pick a topic to mark it up. I'm marking things that relate to the armor of God and I'm already on page 110! I love you all as much as all the traffic in California. Keep reading your scriptures every day.
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
I Already Love Them
Hello :D The church recently updated the email services so now my email address is different. Now it’s shane.curtis@myldsmail.net It’s really cool because the church teamed up with Google to do it, so now my email looks just like gmail, except it says myldsmail, instead of gmail, and it doesn’t have chat etc. I don’t have much time because I was setting up my new account, but I did have a good week.
We now have four missionaries in the Harbor Hills ward. Elder Shaw and Elder Bean now cover the west side of the area. It’ll be interesting to only work in half the ward, but it’ll be really fun to work with the new elders. I already love them. Elder Bean got to California this week so he’s brand new. Elder Shaw has only been out 7 months or something so they are both new and on fire. Our district now consists of us four and the CDM elders. It’s only six and Elder Keeler is the new district leader. I’m going to enjoy this transfer for sure.
We taught Michelle three times this week and she is progressing well. The only problem is that she was sick on Sunday so she didn’t get baptized as planned. She has to come to church another time so we are going to wait another two weeks or a week and a half. I’m glad our church meets at eleven o’clock now--it’s a lot nicer. The crazy part is that she isn’t even our investigator now. She is in the West side’s area. In fact we live in their area too lol.
We found a new family while tracting on New Year’s Eve. They are Indian (from India) and it is a single mother with two kids ages 13 and 10. Her name is Ekta so pray for her and her family because we taught them the first lesson on Saturday and it was picture perfect. We had a member there and the spirit was strong. She told us she’s a lost cause, but they committed to read and pray so hopefully at least the kids will progress.
Anyway, life is crazy as usual, but very good at the same time. I’m really happy BYU won their bowl game and thanks for your cards and letters. Christmas was great, New Years was fun and I can’t believe it’s 2010! Guess I’d better go. Love you guys as much as all the sunbeams here in California (it was almost 80 during our Ultimate Frisbee game this morning, I think I got a little burned).
Love,
Elder Curtis
We now have four missionaries in the Harbor Hills ward. Elder Shaw and Elder Bean now cover the west side of the area. It’ll be interesting to only work in half the ward, but it’ll be really fun to work with the new elders. I already love them. Elder Bean got to California this week so he’s brand new. Elder Shaw has only been out 7 months or something so they are both new and on fire. Our district now consists of us four and the CDM elders. It’s only six and Elder Keeler is the new district leader. I’m going to enjoy this transfer for sure.
We taught Michelle three times this week and she is progressing well. The only problem is that she was sick on Sunday so she didn’t get baptized as planned. She has to come to church another time so we are going to wait another two weeks or a week and a half. I’m glad our church meets at eleven o’clock now--it’s a lot nicer. The crazy part is that she isn’t even our investigator now. She is in the West side’s area. In fact we live in their area too lol.
We found a new family while tracting on New Year’s Eve. They are Indian (from India) and it is a single mother with two kids ages 13 and 10. Her name is Ekta so pray for her and her family because we taught them the first lesson on Saturday and it was picture perfect. We had a member there and the spirit was strong. She told us she’s a lost cause, but they committed to read and pray so hopefully at least the kids will progress.
Anyway, life is crazy as usual, but very good at the same time. I’m really happy BYU won their bowl game and thanks for your cards and letters. Christmas was great, New Years was fun and I can’t believe it’s 2010! Guess I’d better go. Love you guys as much as all the sunbeams here in California (it was almost 80 during our Ultimate Frisbee game this morning, I think I got a little burned).
Love,
Elder Curtis
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
He is the reason for the season
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
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
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
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