Week 78 - "It looks like a freaking elf threw up on it"

OK- so lots of exciting things happened this week:

To start off, we have been instructed to ask our apartment office guys every week if there are any packages, and unfortunately there are never any packages for us, they are usually for the Elders who live in our same apartment complex.  This las week as we were going to check the mail again, the apartment manager came running outside, and yelled, "YOU HAVE A PACKAGE!"  We stopped dead, and said, "What?"  "It's apartment #___, right?" And we said, "Yes!" And it turns out we did have a package!  We jumped up and down in the air we were so excited.  Thank you everyone for sending us mail.  We loved it. :)

Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Canyon lakes Hermanas and I got to be companions with Hermana Wallace again for a day.  I love Hermana Wallace a lot.  I miss her a lot too.  We ran into some crazy black people and a less active lady we have been trying to find in Bear Creek for like three months, but it was special for me to be her companion again for a little bit and also it worked out, because Hermana Wallace and I ended up singing at the Christmas Conference, which was the next day.

The Christmas Conference:
It started with a beautiful message from President Mortensen about how we ended up with hitting or not hitting our yearly goals.  Then after that we watched the Nativity Movie, which is not a church movie, but President approved it, so we all watched it together.  Then we all took a giant picture of everyone in the mission, and then we had a surprise visitor, aka Santa.  Then we had a crazy dice game and then we got to sing our song with Elder Guzman, Elder Self, and Elder Smith.  It was nice.  We think it went good?

Then later that day I accidentally slapped myself in the face with a tortilla.  Long story. Haha.

This last Friday we went to the temple with Giselle.  It was a really special experience.  The Monroys drove us there and then afterwards we went to go get ice cream.  She was so happy.  So so happy.  It was super cute.

Then on Saturday we got to go to Hermana Black's previous area to see one of her investigators get baptized.  And get this!  It was one of my past investigator's daughters!  We got to go to H6 and see all of the members and it was super nice.  They all said, "Hermana! Your spanish has gotten a lot better!"  And in my head, I said, "Oh I sure hope so."  The moral of the story is- GOD CAN WORK MIRACLES IN YOUR BRAIN.

Then on Sunday we got to sing in the choir.  No one told us the memo about how we were all supposed to wear red and black....Hermana Black was wearing green and I was wearing white and blue.  We stuck out kind of.

Then I got to face time my family, and my brothers very kindly showed me my Christmas presents that are still under that tree.  Haha good times.

Something I've learned over the mission is that Jesus Christ truly came to earth.  I learned he didn't need to do it, but that he did it.  How truly humble he must have been to willingly learn to walk, eat, experience acne, and mosquito bites and death to be able to save us.  I know he did EVERYTHING for us.  Literally everything.  We must only do the little things God has commanded us to do, and we need to do them right now.  There is no delaying, because he did not delay.

I love each and every one of you.  Happy Holidays!
For my birthday tomorrow, post something on the internet that you are grateful for please.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Always,
Hermana McCurdy

Week 77 - "It depends- who is the Batman?" Hermana de Almeida

I always was one to really love the holiday season.  Looking at our apartment, you sure can tell.  I think we might get a notice from the mission office about having too many Christmas lights or something.  But we're really pleased with how it looks, let's just say that. :)

ANYWAYS- this week I GOT MAIL.  Thank you very very much :) you know who you are.

Also, Hermana Black and I assisted in putting up wall paper this week.  It was pretty awesome.  I was also pretty sore the next day.  We were helping Hna Alcantara, whose house was badly destroyed during the flood, and we were helping her redo her kitchen.  We also learned that the plaquito, or my little black name tag, is excellent for applying the paper to the wall.

We had a stake meeting in which President kind of threw it down...but it was also super awesome.   It was cool to be there in the giant meeting with Bishops and the stake leaders.  We are looking forward to see more unity between the mission and the stake pronto. :)

Speaking of President, we also had our interviews with him again this week.  It was super nice.  When we have interviews it is to check up with us and make sure that we are good, everything is good, and to see if we have any questions or something.  My interviews with President usually go something like this:
President:  "Is anything bothering you Hermana McCurdy?"
Hermana McCurdy:  "what do I do if I think my wisdom teeth are coming in?"
President: *laughs*
OR
President: "Is there anything that is keeping you from reaching your potential Hermana McCurdy?"
Hermana McCurdy:  "I'm afraid of dogs"
President:  *laughs*
Hermana McCurdy:  "It's just that when we go to knock on the door and the crazy dog comes out and barks and acts like he's going to bite me, I just can't knock on the door President.  And I don't know what to do about it."
President: *laughs harder"

But yeah.  Interviews were good. :) neither of those things happened this week, but they have happened in the past.

WE HAD 12 PEOPLE AT ENGLISH CLASS.  OUR ENGLISH CLASS IS GROWING!

Also, I attended my own funeral.  Because I will soon be "moving on to the side" the missionaries in my district threw me a funeral this week.  It was sentimental.  I have a great district. :)

AND THEN yesterday it was 9:24 and we were driving home disappointed because we only had 10 contacts, and we needed five more, and we had to go home.  We would have gotten people who were outside, but no one was outside, because it was freezing. (Or, freezing Texas style I should say) and that was when we saw them.  God provided us with 5 contacts right there in the middle of the road, preventing us from driving forward.  GOD IS GOOD.

Other than that, you all know how much I love lights.  Christmas lights, candles, weird light analogies, northern lights, night lights, spot lights, over head strip lights, LED lights, special lights, side strip lights, front lights, etc. etc.
I know that Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and that in Him we can do all things.  I know that He came to earth to give light to this earth, because without Him we would be in an endless and hopeless darkness forever.  To find ways that you can spread HIS light with the world, especially this holiday season PLEASE go to Mormon.org and watch the cute Christmas video.

Here is the link:  #Light the world

Love you all!  And always will
Hermana McCurdy

Week 76 - "It's because they're Mexican. It's different."

OKAY- SOME PRETTY AMAZING THINGS HAPPENED THIS WEEK.  If you read any of my emails, read this one because it was legit.  I like to call it, "The week of the party crashers."

This week we had our last English Class with the school district.  We had a little party.  We taught them Jingle Bells and they laughed as we were singing.  It was really cute.  It was also very fascinating to me to watch how their accents have progressed as they have been learning with us.  They couldn't say certain sounds without really really trying before and they were starting to say them even without thinking.  It made me wonder if my Spanish was like that too or if it's still just as bad as I think it is. :) . Our brains are marvelous.

Also. Giselle. Again.  SHE FOUND HER FIRST NAME TO TAKE TO THE TEMPLE.  It is the name of her great-great grandma, and her name is Apolonia Romero.  We found her by accident and it was amazing.  I've never seen Giselle so happy.  She is also SO excited to go to the temple on the 23rd of December.  We're pretty happy about it too.  After we went to go celebrate with ice cream.

Then, we crashed our first church Christmas party this last Friday.  Then on Saturday we crashed the English Congregation's party and all their members were really excited because they thought they got sisters in their ward..... It was heartbreaking to tell them no but the food was super good.

Speaking of food, we also got fed some mean Mexican food this week.  We had this one soup that was super hot, and then you put a lot of salsa in it.  One of the members was sweating up a storm and we actually really liked the food.  Something I've learned is that it is really only the Mexicans who like spicy things.  For example, people from Honduras hate spicy things because, "If there is a fire in my mouth, I can only taste the fire, and then I don't get any of the beautiful flavors." etc etc.  That soup was so good though.  Mmmm.

Random- this week we killed a lot of cockroaches.  I don't know why, but we did.

Also, we went to set a baptismal date this week with Grace for January sometime, and we let her pick her date because she works best that way.  She looked at the calendar and was like, "Oh that's way too far away" and then picked one that was closer.  She was so cute.  We'll see how it turns out but she has come really far this weekend. :)

AND THEN- Heidi got robbed this weekend!  She said that the man was about to break into her room but that something she couldn't see stopped him from walking in the open door and hurting her and Alexis.  She said it was because she had been reading, praying, and going to church.  Hermana Black and I nearly smiled ear to ear and told her that yes it was.  There are seriously no blessings the Lord will not give us if we only do those simple things.  That was something that really stuck out to me this week.  The Lord can protect us and our families from anything (literally anything) if we will just pray, read the scriptures, and go to church.  I know that is why He gives us the gospel- to BLESS OUR FAMILIES.

I love you all LOTS!  Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you!
Always,
Hermana McCurdy

ps.  The Book of Mormon is true.

Week 75 - "This chair could hold an elephant. If it was a small elephant."

Okay so I left my sticky notes about what I was going to write about at home.....awkward.  Anyways, this is what happened this week.

Hermana Black is a great missionary.  She has some amazing habits that I have no idea how she developed them (maybe she was born with them?) but they make her a really good missionary, and then she is also a very good friend.  She is the type of person that can make anyone feel good about them self.  She also goes a long with all of my craziness, which is another plus to having her as a companion.  When I'm saying things like, "I want to decorate the apartment" she says, "when do we start?"  When I say, "I want to hang up lots of Christmas lights and make a bijillion snow flakes and make our own Christmas tree,"  she says, "I was hoping you would say that."  And when I say things like, "A chocolate milkshake sounds nice" she also has the courage to say, "Hermana it is freezing outside and we had ice cream at lunch" just kidding.  And of course she always has the courage to shoot my bad ideas down too.

Hermana Black found out that King David is her 122nd great grandpa.  That was cute.

Speaking of it being cold, I don't know if I'm just accustomed to the humid hotness all the time, because this week I have been so cold!  And it's only been about 50 degrees, if that.

This week we had more meetings.  They were fun.  We got fed Chinese food.  I learned a lot about how to use my faith in everyday mission life, and how to help myself and others develop more motivation.  It was pretty nice.  Then later in the week we had zone meeting. We took some cute Christmas pictures.  We also had pan dulce and chocolate abuelita for snacks en la reunion de zona.  It was bomb.  I like our zone a lot!  I have always loved it but somehow I felt the energy change this week.  In a good way.

Also this week we faced a lot for rejection than normal.  We got doors slammed in our face, yelled at, told we were deceived, sworn at etc. etc. and I couldn't have been more happy about it.  There's been this little fire brewing in me that kind of likes it.  How strange to still be joyful in such a thing.  Not that we do it on purpose of course, that would be crazy.  But I can't help but think about how Jesus Christ was rejected even before He was born, (with the innkeeper) and how grateful I am that He let me experience a little tiny part of it.

Giselle Roque.  I don't know if I've mentioned Giselle.  Giselle is this recent convert of about a year and a half who has already read the Book of Mormon twice.  She is 19 and she can't make up her mind about whether or not she wants to serve a mission.  She started coming out with us all day.  Then she decided she wanted to serve a mission again.  So she filled out her papers, and she is waiting to hear back about some things about a mini mission.  But it is funny because other than sleeping in our apartment, she basically is already on one.  She even weekly planned with us this last week, has her own planner, counts key indicators, puts lessons in the area book, and calls us to ask if she can go out with us.  Best. Member. Ever.

She also got to help us set a baptismal date with Heidi, our hilarious English Investigator this week.  She loved it.  It was so cute too.  Heidi was so excited and in her prayer she also told God that she loves Him.  That's a big thing for Heidi.  It was super cute.  She also is on fire in the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon can do anything.  I know it.

In total, sorry for the scattered email, as I forgot my notes, but I think this is what stood out to me the most this week:

Jesus Christ should have been the saddest person in the entire world.  He was completely innocent of alll wrongs and He had horrible things happen to Him.  He was crucified and denied by the very people that He came to save.  He was betrayed by all.  He took the weight of all the wrongs, sins, sadnesses, sicknesses, bad days, bad hair days, EVERYTHING upon His shoulders, and even still there are many that will never accept Him.  When I try to think of how horrible that must have been my brain cannot comprehend it.  This week as He let me taste a little bit of that weight of the world He also shared with me some of His joy as I watched God's precious souls come closer to Him, and that happiness was stronger than any pain or rejection.  It was happiness that came straight from Heaven to my heart.  I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ feel that way every time we choose to take a step closer to them, no matter how small the step.  And I also think, that although Jesus Christ has every reason to be the saddest person that ever lived, He is the happiest too.

Love you all to the sun and back! :)
Hermana McCurdy

Houston West South Squad

Our $5 dollar tree.  You should see it when the lights aren't on!

Adrian brought snacks to the Christmas devotional.  I took one for Jimbo. (Jim is afraid of pickles.)

Houston West South Sister Squad

MLC Conference

The silly zone picture!

Us with Giselle.  (Aka the best member ever)

Week 74 - "Si les ven con una sonrisa es porque lean el Libro de Mormon." Hna Coronado

CHANGES!
So this last week I mentioned that there were transfers, but then I also neglected to mention what was happening at transfers...sorry.  Hermana Beaty successfully finished her mission and went home to Arizona.  We miss her.  Hermana Andreasen got sent to Conroe and I admit I am a weeeee bit jealous, but there is nothing you can do about that, and I am still thrilled to be here. (We decorated the apartment for Christmas this morning- so cute.)

MY NEW COMPANION's name is Hermana Black.  She is a Nephite, as she grew up in Nephi, Utah.  She really likes movies, and has seen a great many movies.  She even can quote wold war two movies back to me, it is quite exciting. :) She kind of looks like Taylor Swift, has really cute accessories, and has this weird mixture of an easy-going-really-chill/really-cool-person/unexpected-nerd vibe going on that I really enjoy.  She has been a lot of fun, and I am glad I get to enjoy her for five more weeks. :)

Speaking of Hermana Black, she was equally as thrilled at the prospect of being able to contact using Christmas Carols.  It is one of our goals to memorize all our Christmas Hymns in Spanish, and we've been walking around all week saying, "Noche de luz, noche de paz-" It reminds me of how much Hermana Lowry always loved that song ;)

Some other changes that happened- Elder Guzman is now our District Leader and Elder Blackford is training a brand new missionary named Elder Smith.  Every time someone new meets him they ask him if he is related to Joseph Smith.  Elder Guzman has been freaking out about being district leader and how he doesn't know what he is doing, and oh I wish you could have seen his face when President Mortensen walked into his first district meeting this week.  His mouth fell flat open in HORROR.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone's mouth fall open before.  But really he did a great job and shouldn't have freaked out.

We also did a lot of TRACKING PEOPLE DOWN this week.  A lot.
-First, we went to go find a Venezuelan referral who lives in some fancy apartments that have four floors, right on our side of the border with the south mission.  We went to the top floor balcony and took a picture with the Texas Houston South Mission.  It was fun.
-Then Grace and Karina went to their Aunt's house for thanksgiving and told us we could come too, but didn't give us the address.....But we knew the general vacinity, and we managed to find them.  It was really funny.  They were like, "Really we never gave you the address?"
-Our recent convert Dannie was home, and they let us in, and we had a lesson.  IT WAS A MIRACLE.  I was so happy I kind of teared up.  We haven't seen Dannie in many months and I was worried about her.

The day before Thanksgiving we had a lesson with our investigator Heidi, who has had a really hard life.  We have been teaching her for a couple weeks now, and considering where she has started she has progressed SO MUCH!  She told us this week about the changes she has seen in herself and how much happier she is because of the things she is learning.  She also said that she asked her family if she could say the prayer for their Thanksgiving Dinner and her whole family responded to the likes of: "You? What?"  We are so proud of her. :)

Thanksgiving we went tot he Perla's and the Coronado's.  It was lovely.  I made the Byrnes traditional Cranberry Salad.  (I can't take Thanksgiving seriously without it anymore.  That's a tradition I am definitely carrying on.) It was a really great day and everyone was home and I just walked around with a smile almost the entire time.  I might have smiled while I was asleep too, I was just so grateful for everything.  (This is the end of the first email.  Haha)

Whoops.  I didn't finish and accidentally clicked send. :(

Then, we were struggling to find new investigators this week but did literally everything we could do and it still wasn't working out.  When we started Sunday morning we had zero, but the goal was 4.  We prayed a lot, and at the end of the day we had 4 really solid people.  IT WAS SO AWESOME!

And then- definitely the best part of the week- KARINA GOT BAPTIZED!!!  It was so beautiful and she was so prepared too.  All the adults were really shocked about how much she knew it was super cute.  When she was baptized I wanted to shout for joy, I was so happy :) Her mom and her dad came and it was really special. :) She is a super special girl and we love her a lot.

Than, just to follow up for last week about the ten things that I am grateful for:
(and thank you to everyone that emailed me theirs-)

1.  Ice cream
I love that when you eat ice cream somehow the world becomes more positive.

2.  Light
Light is so pretty.  I love to work with it, to change the colors and the angles, and to see all the different effects and wonderful things it does.  Spot lights.  Christmas lights.  Fire flies.  How beautiful light really is.  I am grateful for the light that always illuminates my life.

3.  Jesus Christ and the atonement.
I don't have enough space to write why I am grateful for Jesus Christ, but I am infinitely grateful for Him.  I am grateful that all things are possible through Him, and that I can become and overcome everything with His help.

4.  My testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Of all the things God has given to me, perhaps the greatest is my testimony of the Book of Mormon.  It has changed everything.

5.  My family.
I am grateful for my smart dad, my smiling mother, smouldering Rhodric, pencilneck Jarrett, Henrietta Pixie Peanut Chocolate Mgurdy McCurdy (aka Kami), Jimbo, my grandparents, my great grandparents, and all that came before them.  I am so glad God put me in a family!

6.  My mission.

7.  Happy thoughts

8.  Our capacity to learn.

9.  Our capacity to love.

10.  the ability to be grateful.

I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that Jesus Christ lives!  I am so grateful for my knowledge of God's plans, and for the hope that they always offer me.  I am grateful for you too, whoever you are. :)

Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you!
Always,
Hermana McCurdy

Week 73 - Transfers!

Hello everyone!  First I need to apologize to everyone who sent me emails and I have not had th opportunity to respond to.  I've just been really busy these last couple weeks and I feel really bad about it :(
Second, this keyboard has problems and I apologize right now for all the spelling mistakes.

This week we once again took a lot of photos.

To start it off right, last P-Day we went and played lazer tag.  I didn't place very well but I beat all the other sister missionaries, so that counts for something, right?  Also, it was a nice challenge to figure out how to play lazer tag while still being in sight and sound of each other. :)

I also had a dream that my companions (Hna Andreasen, and Hna Beaty) and I were on the Titanic, that we knew it was going to sink, and that we were doing nothing to try and stop it from sinking.   For example, I remember this one moment when we were debating whether or not we should contact now and eat dinner later or vice versa, and Hna Beaty said, "Well, when the boat hits the iceberg and everyone goes crazy they're not going to want to listen to us, so we should probably do it now."  And Hna Andreasen and I were like, "Yeah, you're right."

We also went on exchanges with the Hammerly Hermanas.  That night I slept really well.  We also had a blitz, which is where several companionships come together in one area and all knock doors for a bit to help the companionship find more investigators.  But BEFORE we went on the blitz, Hermana Rivas locked the keys in the car by accident.  Before we could freak out we said a little prayer and then realized that we were 3 stores away from a car shop.  We went and asked for help, they pulled out their special tools for that, and in five minutes we had the keys again.  It was pretty neat actually.  Haha.

Also, this week we had zone conference.  At zone conference we learned a lot about why we have commandments, and where we were before this life.  We then had texmex (basically americanized mexican food.  The tortillas were good though.  And there were jalapenos, so that was a plus.) which was really yummy.  Then we role played, and to end the day off all the departing missionaries got to bear their testimonies.  Hna Beaty bore her testimony, which was really tender.  She talked a lot about being an instrument in the hands of the Lord, which I really liked.  Then, apparently because there are no zone conferences between now and Jan 4th, I got to bear my testimony too.  It was a little strange, but it was good.  I think.

This week as Thanksgiving draws close, I was thinking a lot about how IMPORTANT it is to be grateful.  I love the saying that "gratitude" is a gateway attribute, that many of the things that we want to become, humble, faithful, virtuous, etc. etc. all starts with gratitude.  I know that even in the hardest of times if we can maintain an attitude of gratitude we will always be happy.

My challenge to each of you is to make a list of ten things that you are grateful for this week and then post it somewhere that others can see it (ie- facebook, instagram, your front lawn, or whatever is cool these days) and then to email it to me too.  I promise I will make the same list and share it next week.

Thank you for all your love, and for all your help as well.
I LOVE YOU.  Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help any of you.

Always,
Hermana McCurdy

ps.  I am grateful that I know the Savior lives, and also that God has witnessed to me that the Book of Mormon is true.  It has changed my life, and I know it can change yours too.

Zone Conference

Week - 72 "You can wash your 'ball-out' socks when you die."

So this week we were knocking doors on one side of the street and on the other side of the street there was a little Mexican party going on.  As we got closer to them they started staring at us and talking about us- I even heard one lady saying, "miren esas gringas tocando puertas! Cuando nos pregunten de su iglesia vamos a decir que no hablamos ingles jajajajajajaja."

They all laughed.

In my head I was like: if only you knew lady.

So then we contacted them.  And it was funny.

But anyway, back to the other stuff that happened this week.

We had interviews with President.  Most of my interviews up until this point with President have been relatively nice, pleasant, and end with him laughing at me about worrying over something like dogs, or my wisdom teeth, etc. etc.  This one was different.  I developed so much love for my mission president this week, and I totally thought I loved him last week.  How grateful I am that we have leaders who are called of God and that know us and our needs.  I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me and who never hesitates to remind me when I need it.

And then we went to the temple.  It was amazing.  And then we took amazing pictures of it.  Those will be included in the next email.

We also had spur of the moment Spanish Leadership Council.  It was also pretty awesome.  I learned a lot.

I also got to be a missionary in Jersey Village for a day.  It was epic.  Let me tell you a little bit of what happened.  Primero, I was with Hna Wallace and Hna Durrant.  You remember Hermana Wallace if you've been following these for the last little bit, she being the companion who suffered accompanying me to Episode VI: Return to Conroe, and also the one who got to experience all the lovely flash flooding.  Hna Durrant is her lovely companion, who I enjoy spending time with.  There is no challenge too big for Hna Durrant.  She does everything with such enthusiasm and gusto, I wish I was a lot like her. But anyways back to what happened on our exchange:
1.  We were in a meeting with the Elders and the Ward Mission leader in his apartment.  HIS WIFE TAUGHT ME HOW TO MAKE TORTILLAS.  (This is the first time I ever tried.  The first one was the shape of Antartica.  The rest turned out okay with practice.  But you could still tell which ones I made and which ones she made).  It was really cute.
2.  During said meeting I noticed there was a cockroach on the ceiling.  I watched it walk across the room and then suddenly it dropped.  Right onto Elder Norton.  And no one saw but me.  I tried so hard not to laugh.  Later I told them what happened and they all kept staring at the ceiling as Hermano said, "It's raining cockroaches."
3.  We also met this one man and tried to share with him the Book of Mormon.  He was like, "I dunno if this book could answer all of my questions, I have a lot of questions."  And Hna Durrant said, "Bring it on." And then he had questions about killing and about war and about a bunch of weird things, and the best part is- the Book of Mormon really did answer all of it.  He was like, "Can you come back tomorrow and tell me how this book can answer all my other question?"  It was pretty awesome.

And then we had the fireside.  It was super good.  I kind of cried.  I felt surrounded by my family and all these people that I have come to love.  Mostly it made me think about how the thing I think I have learned most in the world is love.  I realized how close to Heavenly Father I felt in that moment.  He must feel like that all the time.  Surrounded in a lot of love.

I know the gospel is true!  And that Jesus Christ lives!  And that the Book of Mormon is true too! :)

Always,
Hermana McCurdy

ps.  Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Week 71 - "Apparently you are never too busy to be a soccer coach"

Some rather exciting things happened this week.  Let's start with Halloween.

Halloween night we had to be in the house by 6:00pm.  So we carved pumpkins, made pumpkin cookies, Hna Beaty made pumpkin pie, and then I wrote some letters.  It was fun.  I had a fun time laughing at myself carving a pumpkin.  See if you can guess which one is mine haha.

Then we had MLC this week and that was fun too.  Especially the part where I spilled lasagna on myself.  But, it had to happen once.  It wasn't even that bad so I'm secretly grateful.

Remember that cute little lady I told you about from English class?  Well this week she and I became best friends.  Or rather, I lover her a lot and she was just there to learn English haha.  During English class we had our own little English class just me and her and we used plates to practice asking basic questions in English.  Thank you to all who prayed for her this week, because it made a big difference.  She's improved a lot, she is happier, and she BELIEVES in her self.  I don't know if there is a more important quality.

On a humorous note, I had a dream this week that all the missionaries in my zone got turned into animals and the only way to save them was to invite them to learn more about Jesus Christ and the Restoration.  (Funny, yes. Symbolically super true? Also yes.  Not the part about them being animals haha the part about being saved.)

We also have started teaching the nine year old daughter of our investigator Grace, and her daughters name is Carina.  She is super cute, likes frozen tissues, and loves her mom a lot.  If you all could please pray for her and her mom, that would be amazing.

We also started Family History with Yessica, who just got baptized last week.  Our first time sitting down to do it, we found nine generations of her ancestors.  My eyes were practically popping out of my head I was so excited.  She might have been more excited.  Maybe.  For the one thousandth time, I love family history and I know that it is important to the work of the Lord.  If anyone wants to start theirs, I'd love to do it with you in a couple months!  Just ask :)

Then we had a zone meeting!  We made a new title of liberty and very dramatically brought it out just at the right moment.  We all got to sign it and it was pretty cool.  If y'all could also please pray for the Houston West South Zone to be able to reach its baptismal commitment by the end of the year, I would be super grateful. ;)

Something I was thinking a lot this week was Sam in the Book of Mormon.  The first part of the Book of Mormon is about a family who leaves Jerusalem, and the rest of the Book of Mormon is about their descendants.  This family has four sons, Nephi, Laman, Lemuel and Sam.   Over the course of the book their descendants fight each other, follow God, don't follow God, do bad things, repent, and eventually are destroyed.  All of their descendants are named after them and that's how we get names like Nephites, Lamanites, Jaredites, Ishmaelites, Zoramites, Amalicites, Lemuelites, etc. etc. but something I realized is there are NO SAMITES.

Something I love about Sam, is that he's like Nephi's Hyrum, if you know what I mean.  Over the course of the story as Nephi is the good guy and the hero and the narrator and does all these crazy things, Sam is only mentioned a couple times.  But when he is mentioned, it is mentioned that he is a support to his brother, Nephi.  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized without Sam, Nephi probably would have gone crazy and maybe never even would have made it out of the desert.

But back to the topic of Samites.  The more I thought about it, the more I loved it.  There are no Samites.  There are only Nephites.  Sam must have been so humble, so helpful, that when it came down to it all his posterity followed and were Nephites too.  It reminded me of why I am here on a mission.  Often times I think I came out here to change people's lives and to leave a mark and to do something good, but the more I thought about the Samites, the more I realized that:

I came out here to open my mouth so that the SAVIOR even JESUS CHRIST can touch people's lives.  So that HE can leave a mark, and that HE can do something good, because HE IS the ONLY THING that will EVER MAKE A DIFFERENCE and HE is the only thing that can TRULY CHANGE LIVES and CHANGE THE WORLD.  I realized that I can't be a Nephites.  I need to be a Samites.  Because if they see me I am blocking their view of the Savior, and that is why I cam here, so that they could find Him.

That's my challenge to you.  This week don't just be a Nephite, be a Samite.

I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that it's purpose is to testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World.  May we always be examples of His divine love.

Please let me know if I can do anything for you :)
Hermana McCurdy

Week 70 - "For the 1st day of Christmas my Heavenly Father gave to me-" "A large Venezuelan family in a pear tree"

This week has been a crazy small whirlwind of ups and downs.  I don't even know where to start.

Ok wait, yes I do.

This week I ate the BIGGEST SANDWhICH I have ever seen in my entire life.  The member said, "I know you won't be able to eat all that.  Don't worry about it though, I won't be offended."  Except then I did eat the entire thing.  I should've taken a picture.

Also, remember that time that someone said that the mission is a giant phone call?  Me neither.  But this week we seemed to have a billion and one for some reason.

Then, we also went to visit the Medinas this week and Hermano asked me how I was doing and then started commenting on the fact that I used to be in Conroe... which I thought was somewhat creepy because he remembered me and I had no idea who he was.  Turns out that he is the brother in law of one of my favorite people and that made a whole lot more sense.  It was slightly awkward and it made me miss Jessica Vazquez a lot but it was also kind of cool.  It's a small mormon world after all.  Even a small hispanic mormon world too.

We have a super cute investigator named Grace.  This week we set a baptismal date with her for the 19th of November.  Her only problem is smoking.  This week she gave us her cigarette pack and asked us to decorate it with scriptures and also with pictures of Jesus so that she wouldn't feel tempted to smoke when she saw it.  It was such a huge leap of faith for her.  I lover her so much.  If ya'll have any tips about how to help people break a smoking addiction and if you could please pray for her, that would be more than appreciated.

We had district meeting with the Assistants of the Mission President on Friday.  Picture below.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, YESSICA GOT BAPTIZED.  It was so beautiful.  And before I even jump into all of that, please let me tell you- filling up a baptismal font is an art-form and it is one that I still have not mastered.

Okay, it was a miracle that we even got to her baptismal date in the first place.  BUT WE MADE IT.  They arrived on time, the English ward cooperated, we vacuumed, everyone helped out, we found a jumpsuit that fit her, and the hot water was working.  Hna Andreasen and I got to fish baby cockroaches out of the font so that Yessica would feel more comfortable when she got in the water.  Everything was going swimmingly except for when the water was TOO hot, and the man doing that baptism wasn't even really horribly late.  We got super lucky.

Yessica is super happy.  We are super happy.  Her family is not complete in the gospel, and we are so stocked for them to get sealed in the temple a year from now.

Last but not least:
Has anyone ever noticed how there are 30 days in November, and there are exactly 30 chapters in 3 Nephi (the most important part of the Book of Mormon)?  What a coincidence.  Well, as Hermana McCurdy's early Christmas Present, she would like to challenge each and every single one of you and all your family members and friends to please read with her one chapter of 3 Nephi everyday for the month of November.  What's cool about it is that 3 Nephi is the chapters in the Book of Mormon right before the Savior comes to the world.  November is the month before December, when we celebrate that Jesus Christ was born on the earth.  I know that as we read the Book 3rd Nephi together that we will be more prepared and ready to give this coming Christmas season.  I know that a chapter a day for the next month of the Book of Mormon can change your life for the better if you would please let it.  Please let me know if you are planning on reading with me.

Love you always,
Hermana McCurdy

THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE.
Also, sorry that this keyboard is broken and that my typing skills are slightly rusty.  And that my Spanish brain is starting to swallow my English one.

Fishing for baby cockroaches

Yessica and family!

It was Gizelle's first time vacuuming!

Us with face cockroaches on our hats...

The district