Week 34 - Happy Late President's Day!

So last week, the myldsmail.net malfunctioned and therefore my email did not get sent, which kind of stinks because I sent y'all an awesome analogy about bad eggs….anywho-

This week not that super exciting stuff happened, but let me give you a run through:

I ate steak for the first time in what feels like forever!  It was so good!!!  We set four baptismal dates!  We played a super intense game of Spanish cards, I had a crazy dream, and we went to the temple. :)
Also, the Perez family got BAPTIZED.  WOOH WOOH!  This is the picture below.

Also, we got to play bingo with elderly people in a nursing home!  It was very interesting, and no I didn't win haha, but I made a friend!  One of the ladies was deaf and so she never got to talk to anyone because no one knows any sign language, but I learned after being with Andrea in Conroe, and we quickly became friends even though I could only say about 15 words.  I think sign language will be my next language!

One thing Hna Childs and I really learned this week was that love is everyone's native language.  We all learned the language of pure and perfect love from God before we came to earth.  Sometimes people are mean, and sometimes you really can't communicate for anything, but everyone, and I mean everyone, understands love.  When we can exude the love of the Savior, there is nothing better that we can do.  So this week, try to show a little bit more love, and I know you'll never regret it.

I hope you guys are all doing wonderful.  Life really is a blessing, sometimes I only think we have to see it that way.

Always,
Hna McCurdy

Zone Conference

The Perez family

Week 32 - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." But really it was just the best of times.

This week was not half as exciting as last week… sorry.  But it was still the best!

This week we were invited to sing with a bunch of other missionaries at an English Stake Conference.  It was fun, but the English meeting was really weird.  I'm thinking about visiting the Spanish Ward a lot when I get home!

How was the Super Bowl?  Who won?  I learned the hard way last night that it's a really bad idea to go knocking on SuperBowl Sunday night.  To put it simply, this lady (probably drunk) thought that we were trying to break into her house and almost called the cops.  But- she didn't.  Entonces todo seta bien. :)

My spanish has improved in leaps and bounds.  Several times this week I had the realization that I was talking or understanding Spanish with no trouble at all.  I have been understanding words I have never heard before.  The gift of tounges is real!

This week, I felt like a real missionary.  We were hid from, had doors slammed in our faces, were sworn at, and had people telling us right and left that they didn't want to hear what we had to say and that they were already saved leave us alone, and yet this has been the happiest, most fulfilling time of my life.  I know that when we follow the commandments, every single one of them, it does not matter the bad things that happen or the mountains we must climb- because we will always have the support of God and will always have a peace of mind, and there is where we find happiness.  We believe in a God of miracles.   I know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and that if we only have the eyes to see and the ears to hear we will not only find miracles on our right and on our left, but there will be so many it will seem like we are walking through a fog of them.  The greatest miracle of all will be the miracle that we see in ourselves.  I know that as we come unto Jesus Christ and are obedient we can be free from all guilt and filled with hope of infinite promises.

So if knocking on doors is really hard, why do we do it?  Because we find people like the Perez family who ARE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!!  And on Valentines day too! How cute, right? :)  So look for pictures of that next week.

I hope more exciting things happen this week because I really have got almost nothing.

I love you guys!  I hope all is well wherever you are, and that you are all warm and safe.  Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for any of you.  :)

Always,
Hna McCurdy

ps. This is us and the other Sister Missionaries in our zone, but they are English.  We all bought the same skirt and then wore it to zone meeting and all the Elders were SUPER confused.  Fun times.

ppss.  This is Elder Galante, fresh out of the Missionary Training Center.  He was really tired.  His spanish is amazing.  And so is his German.  And he went to Provo High School.  Go Bulldogs ;)

Week 31 - Hold on to your hats!

To my favorite people:

This has been a ccrrraaazzzzyyyyy week.   Hold on to your hats!

On Tuesday, Hna Provost and I had to clean out the entire apartment and make sure we hadn't forgotten a single thing.  We were driving down the highway slightly depressed when Hna Provost realized she'd forgotten her coat…..So we went back and then we really were on our way.  As we were heading down to transfer meeting the songs that played on the radio were coincidentally, "God be with you till we meet again," and, "I'll go where you want me to go." (Coincidence? I think not.  But it made the whole thing more emotionally compelling.)

My new companion's name is Hna Childs.  She has been out 6 weeks longer than I have.  She is from Oregon, plays the flute, is a master at giving me advice, and basically is an angel.  Y'all would probably really like her! :) we are serving in Westgreen (the Spanish ward in Katy Texas), which is a lot like where I started my mission.  The congregation is double the size of my last, and they are all recently here from Venezuela which is awesome because I love Venezuelans.  (Shout out to the Nelsons!)  But the best part about this place is the members!  They are so willing to do anything to help us.

Conroe and Westgreen are in the same stake, which means that both congregations are part of one group of 8 congregations closeish to each other, which is called a stake.  The Houston West Spanish Stake is the last completely Spanish Stake in America.  And this week was stake conference!  Everyone has been really excited for a long time leading up to it because President Russell M Nelson from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles was coming to dedicate the new building.  We had to leave super early because a member drove us and wanted to get there in time to get good seats, so we took some bizarre back roads, and hit a possum, but the conference was amazing.  President Nelson has been learning Spanish and gave his entire talk in it.  He did very well.  He has a really strong accent but really it made the experience better because you could see how much he was trying.  All the members loved him.  Especially the old Hispanic ladies who he hugged- they floated out of the chapel.  The coolest part was when he stopped looking at his talk and bore his testimony.  His accent was gone.  Although he didn't sound native, it was not difficult to understand him in the slightest.  God really does qualify us when we try our best.  Also, Paty and Alfredo and their family were there.  For those of you who don't remember who that is, they were a family that got baptized in August and October.  I was so happy I might have also been floating like the old ladies.  They were so happy to see me too, and kept saying, "Hermana! Sabes mucho Espanol!" (In shock.  My Spanish really has improved quite a bit since then haha.) they are doing very well and are looking forward to going to the temple to be sealed in October.

So, did I get to meet President Nelson?  Why yes I did!  We had a surprise tri-mission conference this Saturday, in the Texas Houston South Mission.  There were nearly 700 missionaries there.  I have never been so proud to be serving in this place and with President and Sister Mortensen.  Even though everyone was waiting for President Nelson to start, he walked all the way up the stand to shake the hand of the Elder playing the organ and thank him.  He gave a really great talk about a bunch of different things, but he told us a really cool experience he had about the two little girls that passed away in his last conference talk (email me if you want the whole story), about our purpose, and about the temple.

I know that Russell M. Nelson is a Apostle of the Lord.  I am grateful to have the opportunity to learn from men like the ones I read about in the scriptures.  I will never forget hearing his testimony of the Savior, and I would like to add mine to it.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World.  I know that He died for us, but that He was born and lived for us too.   I know that as we come unto Him there is no pain and sadness that cannot be undone and no happiness that cannot be found.  By becoming His disciples, we become more happy.  It is the great test of life, and I am forever grateful to have His help in it.  I know that He loves each of you and wants to help you too.  Please come unto Him a little each day by praying or by reading the scriptures, and I know it will change your life in greater ways than you could possibly see.  I love you all, and I hope that you have an even more splendid week than I am going to have.

Always,
Hna Madison McCurdy
p.s. my new address is:
2002 S. Mason Rd #1222
Katy, TX  77450

ppss. The man on Elder Wagner's shoulders is Hno Ayala, our ward mission leader.