Us with Hermana Sumsion
A Mexican cookie in the shape of the Mexican flag. VIVE MEXICO
My companion (Hermana Wallace) haha. I love her.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Week 47 - A Connecticut Yankee in Conroe TX
This week I felt extremely patriotic. I think something about being here breathing the humid Houston air looking at all the proudly displayed Texas flags blowing in the wind (and we even saw some Confederate flags out in the woods this week) makes you feel patriotism a lot stronger somehow. I like believing in my country.
So to start of with the patriotism, it turns out that the Texas Flag was supposedly created in Montgomery Texas, which happens to be part of our ward. It is also my good fortune that Hermana Wallace also appreciates a good historical outing, so we went to check it out last Monday. They have preserved a Civil War Era part of town and it was very beautiful.
This week we were in the Family History Center and one of the cute little old ladies asked us where we were from. When she got to me and I told her I was from Connecticut, her whole expression and voice changed and she said turning to the other lady, "She's a yankee. We don't get many yankees around here." I had to try not to laugh or say that 'YES, YES I AM! AND PROUD OF IT'. I tried to make amends but she told me that the only reason we were still friends was because we go to the same church. Hahaha.
Also this week when we were out in the back woods of Conroe without our GPS trying to track down a less active, Hermana Wallace and I said a prayer that we would be able to find their house. We knew that it was somewhere down this one street and that I had been there once before a long time ago. As we started off I started to get random promptings that I needed to turn right or left, and as five minutes later we found their street. It was very special to know that the Lord was helping us to find our way. It's like Proverbs 3:5-6, but literally.
When we were also out in the backwoods contacting and looking for people we prayed that we would be protected from dogs, as there are a lot of wild mean ones over there. It was cool to move on to the next house and walk inside the fence and find a huge pitbull suddenly racing to try and bit us from the other house we had just left. Small miracles are the best!
I wanted to tell you a little bit about one of my heroes. His name is Hermano Sandres. Him and his family moved here from Honduras many years ago, and when I was here before he was a very nice man who could sing a very nice alto to his wife's beautiful soprano. About two months ago he had a stroke which paralyzed the right half of his body and took a lot of his memories. We got to see him for the first time on Sunday when they wheeled him in the room in a wheelchair. When the sacrament got passed to him his wife had to hold the little cup if water to his mouth as he drank it because he could not lift it himself. Something about it was mesmerizing. He cannot walk. He cannot talk as well as he used to. He cannot remember names or dates, but he CAN remember all the words to all the hymns and the primary songs (songs that you learn when you are a little kid about Jesus). But most importantly he remembers how important it is to go to church.
We have been struggling with getting our investigators to church recently which has been a little hard. But it moved me to watch this man who cannot walk and is constantly in a lot of pain come to church even when it was very hard and even humiliating for him. How constantly we find excuses not to go, but like Hermano Sandres, we always have to FIND excuses to go. I want to achieve this level of faith one day in my life. ALWAYS ALWAYS try to go to church. I know now especially that it can bless us more than anything else can. Jesus Christ gave his whole life, I know that we can give one hour every week.
I love each and everyone of you. If there is ever anything that I can do for you, please let me know.
Always,
Hermana Madison McCurdy
Monday, May 16, 2016
Week 46 - "You're not the Average Goat"
Okay, before I forget, the new address is actually:
1900 Westview Blvd #811
Conroe, TX 77304
If you sent me mail in the last week to the other apartment, I can still get it. But not after Wednesday. We can start right there, WE MOVED. YAY. We were expecting the other apartment (number 526), but it turns out we got a brand new beautiful sparkling apartment instead which I was super grateful for because the other one was a little gross. Haha. Sometimes when we walk in at night I feel like we live in a hotel. It is pretty awesome :)
This week TiWi (that little box that tells us when we are driving to fast or turn to fast etc etc) malfunctioned as we were driving. That was a little scary because TiWi is your constant companion (kind of like the Holy Ghost haha) and all of a sudden it was gone. We managed to reset the TiWi and when he finally spoke to us again we were relieved. (This is a first world mission problem.) Everyone was really surprised when we told them we knew how to reset that.
We also got to eat dinner with one of my favorite people in the whole world, Sister George, the lady who ran the Panama Canal and was part of the black panthers and was a german interpreter for the US Army) and I loved watching Hna Wallace as she discovered how amazing this woman is.
We got a call from a random person named Enrique asking us where the church was because his parents wanted to go. When we found his parents at church, we discovered that they are here on vacation from Honduras and that they are the patriarchs of this huge less active clan in our ward. We are now teaching them, but I think the coolest part is that we didn't find them, they found us! When we asked about how they got our number, we learned that in December when Hna Provost and I were knocking here we left a card about the Book of Mormon in their less active son's door, and that he kept it all this time. Miracles!
We went on exchanges this week and Hna Bohn came to be my companion for a day. She is really sweet. She thinks Conroe is crazy haha, which admittedly it is. What was even more awesome was that the last time she came to Conroe nearly a year ago, she knocked on this woman named Francelia's door, and then left the next day. Francelia was baptized in October and now is the First Counselor in the Relief Society, and it all started back with that day.
HNA SUMSION (my first companion in Houston with Hna Jorgensen) was riding across the country on a motorcycle with her dad and they drove through Conroe and we got to see them. I was super feliz. :)
Also, we were teaching the Leon family this week and their friend was over, and although we were trying to teach him he kept trying to Bible Bash with us. We didn't try and fight with him, but simply listened as he rambled and quoted from the Bible. Finally after about an hour of him trying to convince us of his point, we testified simply, "We know that there are twelve apostles and a prophet on the earth today, and we know that this is because the Holy Ghost told us it is true," he couldn't fight with us anymore. The spirit was there and then they started asking us questions. IT WAS THE COOLEST THING. SHORT TESTIMONIES ROCK.
So, yeah, that's really all that I have to say for this week. But I learned that what we do every moment of every day really does count, because every day we are planting seeds. Who knows when a little piece of paper you left in someone's door will lead you to a giant family of 40 people who need the gospel in their lives six months later? Who knows about the time that you knock on a random person's door and she ends up completely changing her life around. Who knows about the time that you smile at someone who is depressed or help do the dishes for your mom after a long day or make your roommate's bed when they are in the shower? It is those little things that make or break the difference. Don't underestimate the power of little things. It is the accumulation of them that create our lives and who we are.
I know no matter how much we fall short, the Savior and His Sacrifice will always make up the difference. No matter how much we have made wrong can be made right in Him. We must only read our scriptures, pray every day, and go to church to utilize his sacrifice for us. He always loves us.
Always,
Hermana Madison McCurdy
1900 Westview Blvd #811
Conroe, TX 77304
If you sent me mail in the last week to the other apartment, I can still get it. But not after Wednesday. We can start right there, WE MOVED. YAY. We were expecting the other apartment (number 526), but it turns out we got a brand new beautiful sparkling apartment instead which I was super grateful for because the other one was a little gross. Haha. Sometimes when we walk in at night I feel like we live in a hotel. It is pretty awesome :)
This week TiWi (that little box that tells us when we are driving to fast or turn to fast etc etc) malfunctioned as we were driving. That was a little scary because TiWi is your constant companion (kind of like the Holy Ghost haha) and all of a sudden it was gone. We managed to reset the TiWi and when he finally spoke to us again we were relieved. (This is a first world mission problem.) Everyone was really surprised when we told them we knew how to reset that.
We also got to eat dinner with one of my favorite people in the whole world, Sister George, the lady who ran the Panama Canal and was part of the black panthers and was a german interpreter for the US Army) and I loved watching Hna Wallace as she discovered how amazing this woman is.
We got a call from a random person named Enrique asking us where the church was because his parents wanted to go. When we found his parents at church, we discovered that they are here on vacation from Honduras and that they are the patriarchs of this huge less active clan in our ward. We are now teaching them, but I think the coolest part is that we didn't find them, they found us! When we asked about how they got our number, we learned that in December when Hna Provost and I were knocking here we left a card about the Book of Mormon in their less active son's door, and that he kept it all this time. Miracles!
We went on exchanges this week and Hna Bohn came to be my companion for a day. She is really sweet. She thinks Conroe is crazy haha, which admittedly it is. What was even more awesome was that the last time she came to Conroe nearly a year ago, she knocked on this woman named Francelia's door, and then left the next day. Francelia was baptized in October and now is the First Counselor in the Relief Society, and it all started back with that day.
HNA SUMSION (my first companion in Houston with Hna Jorgensen) was riding across the country on a motorcycle with her dad and they drove through Conroe and we got to see them. I was super feliz. :)
Also, we were teaching the Leon family this week and their friend was over, and although we were trying to teach him he kept trying to Bible Bash with us. We didn't try and fight with him, but simply listened as he rambled and quoted from the Bible. Finally after about an hour of him trying to convince us of his point, we testified simply, "We know that there are twelve apostles and a prophet on the earth today, and we know that this is because the Holy Ghost told us it is true," he couldn't fight with us anymore. The spirit was there and then they started asking us questions. IT WAS THE COOLEST THING. SHORT TESTIMONIES ROCK.
So, yeah, that's really all that I have to say for this week. But I learned that what we do every moment of every day really does count, because every day we are planting seeds. Who knows when a little piece of paper you left in someone's door will lead you to a giant family of 40 people who need the gospel in their lives six months later? Who knows about the time that you knock on a random person's door and she ends up completely changing her life around. Who knows about the time that you smile at someone who is depressed or help do the dishes for your mom after a long day or make your roommate's bed when they are in the shower? It is those little things that make or break the difference. Don't underestimate the power of little things. It is the accumulation of them that create our lives and who we are.
I know no matter how much we fall short, the Savior and His Sacrifice will always make up the difference. No matter how much we have made wrong can be made right in Him. We must only read our scriptures, pray every day, and go to church to utilize his sacrifice for us. He always loves us.
Always,
Hermana Madison McCurdy
(Technical difficulties with the photo feature. I will try to upload the pictures separately.)
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Week 45 - The sun WILL come out tomorrow!
Hello Everyone! How are you this lovely Monday?
So this week is a little less crazy than last week was. But for starters, if you would like to send me stuff you can send it to 1900 Westview Blvd #526 Conroe, TX 77304. :) Thanks!
For starters, we played soccer last P-Day and I blocked my first goal deliberately! No one else knew that that was the first time I had ever blocked a goal on purpose but I feel like I have come a long way since I was in soccer when I was six. It was nice. Still don't like soccer that much, but I was wearing my Mexican jersey and I had to represent the land of my heart.
We had zone meeting, and I learned a lot about how to more effectively invite people to church and also about how we use our faith as missionaries. Things right now have been a little tough because we have no one to teach (whitewashing) and there is a lot to be down about, but it was great to be able to widen my perspective and find a way to fix my problem, because the problem was not the issue, it was my attitude about the issue that was the problem. Hope is a powerful thing. Also all the pictures at the bottom are pictures of our zone.
Monday night we ran into this kind of creepy guy in a random neighborhood and invited him to English class. We ran into him again at the Laundry Mat (aka Washeteria) on Wednesday and invited him to English Class again. Then we saw him again on Thursday and decided to actually try and have a deep conversation with him and it turns out that he was totally interested. I am glad that God gives us second, and even third chances to do what he wants us to do haha.
Yes, I got to talk to my family, and I loved it a lot. They are good and growing up really fast. I took a nice screen shot of my brother Jarrett being himself haha. I also got to talk to my brother Rhodric, who is also serving his mission in Chile. His Spanish is super good and he already has a little bit of a Chilean accent. It is going to be really fun speaking Spanish together when we get home. :)
Also this week we met with the Fuentes Family and invited them all to be more involved with Missionary Work. We asked the youngest son, Javier, to give a pass along card to one of his friends. We asked Brian, age fourteen, to carry around a Book of Mormon on top of his school books at school and see if he got any questions. He looked at us funny when we said that but he agreed to it. Then, we asked Hna to invite one of her friends, Eva, and another friend to the Mother's Day party this weekend at the church. She told us that Eva doesn't like church and that she only comes for the food usually.
When we saw Brian on Sunday we asked him how his thing went and he told us that his friends asked him questions all day and that they were hard to answer but the were good too. He told us it was hard but he also felt good as he did it and that he was going to do it again on Monday. :) :) :) We knew that would happen sort of. It is fun to share the gospel!
Hna Fuentes invited her friend to the party, and then PLOT TWIST she came to church on Sunday! When we saw her we were very surprised but excited. We looked over at Hna Fuentes and she looked back at us and she was so shocked haha. She had no idea what was happening, but we are so excited for this family because we know how much missionary work blesses families.
So that's really all that I have for this week, but I hope that you all remember that hope is not something so blind as, "I hope that it will rain tomorrow," but something as sure as, "I know that the sun will come out tomorrow." Hope is an abiding trust that God will fulfill his promises if we do our part. If you do exactly what God wants you to do, you will always receive the blessings he promised, even if you can't see how at the moment. My challenge for you is to put in your part by reading your scriptures and praying, and that God will bless your lives in ways you cannot yet see. And even if we mess up the first, and second chance, I know that God always gives third chances too from experience.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Always,
Hna McCurdy
So this week is a little less crazy than last week was. But for starters, if you would like to send me stuff you can send it to 1900 Westview Blvd #526 Conroe, TX 77304. :) Thanks!
For starters, we played soccer last P-Day and I blocked my first goal deliberately! No one else knew that that was the first time I had ever blocked a goal on purpose but I feel like I have come a long way since I was in soccer when I was six. It was nice. Still don't like soccer that much, but I was wearing my Mexican jersey and I had to represent the land of my heart.
We had zone meeting, and I learned a lot about how to more effectively invite people to church and also about how we use our faith as missionaries. Things right now have been a little tough because we have no one to teach (whitewashing) and there is a lot to be down about, but it was great to be able to widen my perspective and find a way to fix my problem, because the problem was not the issue, it was my attitude about the issue that was the problem. Hope is a powerful thing. Also all the pictures at the bottom are pictures of our zone.
Monday night we ran into this kind of creepy guy in a random neighborhood and invited him to English class. We ran into him again at the Laundry Mat (aka Washeteria) on Wednesday and invited him to English Class again. Then we saw him again on Thursday and decided to actually try and have a deep conversation with him and it turns out that he was totally interested. I am glad that God gives us second, and even third chances to do what he wants us to do haha.
Yes, I got to talk to my family, and I loved it a lot. They are good and growing up really fast. I took a nice screen shot of my brother Jarrett being himself haha. I also got to talk to my brother Rhodric, who is also serving his mission in Chile. His Spanish is super good and he already has a little bit of a Chilean accent. It is going to be really fun speaking Spanish together when we get home. :)
Also this week we met with the Fuentes Family and invited them all to be more involved with Missionary Work. We asked the youngest son, Javier, to give a pass along card to one of his friends. We asked Brian, age fourteen, to carry around a Book of Mormon on top of his school books at school and see if he got any questions. He looked at us funny when we said that but he agreed to it. Then, we asked Hna to invite one of her friends, Eva, and another friend to the Mother's Day party this weekend at the church. She told us that Eva doesn't like church and that she only comes for the food usually.
When we saw Brian on Sunday we asked him how his thing went and he told us that his friends asked him questions all day and that they were hard to answer but the were good too. He told us it was hard but he also felt good as he did it and that he was going to do it again on Monday. :) :) :) We knew that would happen sort of. It is fun to share the gospel!
Hna Fuentes invited her friend to the party, and then PLOT TWIST she came to church on Sunday! When we saw her we were very surprised but excited. We looked over at Hna Fuentes and she looked back at us and she was so shocked haha. She had no idea what was happening, but we are so excited for this family because we know how much missionary work blesses families.
So that's really all that I have for this week, but I hope that you all remember that hope is not something so blind as, "I hope that it will rain tomorrow," but something as sure as, "I know that the sun will come out tomorrow." Hope is an abiding trust that God will fulfill his promises if we do our part. If you do exactly what God wants you to do, you will always receive the blessings he promised, even if you can't see how at the moment. My challenge for you is to put in your part by reading your scriptures and praying, and that God will bless your lives in ways you cannot yet see. And even if we mess up the first, and second chance, I know that God always gives third chances too from experience.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Always,
Hna McCurdy
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Week 44 - There's no place like home *knocks heals together three times*
THIS WEEK HAS BEEN SO CRAZY.
Last Monday sorry I was horrific at emailing everyone back, but we were really busy with transfers. I had no idea where I was going and we were sad and had to say a thousand goodbyes, and then at 10:27pm (aka three minutes before bed time) we got a call from the District Leader saying that the next day I needed to go to the mission office in Houston, find my new companion, get the keys to the new car, and drive up to Conroe! I was so shocked I started jumping all over the place, and I was sad to be leaving but happy, might have cried a little bit, and then it was hard to fall asleep that night. It was like Christmas Eve when you can't sleep because you know Santa is down stairs putting your presents under the Christmas tree at possibly that very moment. (If you don't remember, I served in Conroe before for three months and then they took out the Spanish Speaking Sister Missionaries and we were very sad.)
So there it is folks. We are whitewashing Conroe. Whitewashing is what it is called when you start from scratch and you have to find find find all the time because you have no one to teach.
The next morning my new companion, the lovely Hermana Wallace and I drove up to Conroe together and I felt like I was dreaming. I still think I am dreaming kind of. Hna Wallace is from San Diego. She and I were in one of the same classes at BYU. Her Spanish is superb. Also she is really funny.
This week we accidentally ended up in a family reunion and got to teach all of them. I learned that if you are being chased by Chihuahuas it doesn't help anything to yell at them in English but that if you tell at them in Spanish they will listen. We have knocked on so many doors I have little calluses on my knuckles. I am very proud of those.
And let me tell you some of the miracles we have seen. We were running late so we randomly stopped and invited a man to English class and he asked us instead if we taught about Jesus Christ and if we could teach him too. Why yes, yes we do.
We met this one man named Nazario who was awesome and then we couldn't make it to our appointment the next day and we were kind of bummed. But then the next day we randomly happened to run into him at Subway and we got to teach him and it turns out that he found a Book of Mormon several years ago in English but was sad because he could never read it but that he couldn't throw it away. When we asked him why not he said it was because he felt that it was something different, and that somehow it was special even though he couldn't understand it.
I cried a little bit when he said that. Because I know it is true.
We are currently living in a garage. Normally missionaries stay in apartments but they didn't know we were coming and there was no apartment to put us in. We will be living in this family's garage for the next two weeks. But lucky for us it has a large kitchen, two family rooms, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a laundry room. Some people here are very rich. I love our little house/garage hybrid.
This scripture stood out to me a lot this week. It is Jesus Christ talking. "For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you." And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him."
I know that there is no weakness and no sickness that the Savior cannot heal. No matter how big or small the problem we only have to be humble enough to ask. There is nothing that is impossible to him- even if is healing us.
Have a great week everyone. I love you!
Always,
Hna McCurdy
Last Monday sorry I was horrific at emailing everyone back, but we were really busy with transfers. I had no idea where I was going and we were sad and had to say a thousand goodbyes, and then at 10:27pm (aka three minutes before bed time) we got a call from the District Leader saying that the next day I needed to go to the mission office in Houston, find my new companion, get the keys to the new car, and drive up to Conroe! I was so shocked I started jumping all over the place, and I was sad to be leaving but happy, might have cried a little bit, and then it was hard to fall asleep that night. It was like Christmas Eve when you can't sleep because you know Santa is down stairs putting your presents under the Christmas tree at possibly that very moment. (If you don't remember, I served in Conroe before for three months and then they took out the Spanish Speaking Sister Missionaries and we were very sad.)
So there it is folks. We are whitewashing Conroe. Whitewashing is what it is called when you start from scratch and you have to find find find all the time because you have no one to teach.
The next morning my new companion, the lovely Hermana Wallace and I drove up to Conroe together and I felt like I was dreaming. I still think I am dreaming kind of. Hna Wallace is from San Diego. She and I were in one of the same classes at BYU. Her Spanish is superb. Also she is really funny.
This week we accidentally ended up in a family reunion and got to teach all of them. I learned that if you are being chased by Chihuahuas it doesn't help anything to yell at them in English but that if you tell at them in Spanish they will listen. We have knocked on so many doors I have little calluses on my knuckles. I am very proud of those.
And let me tell you some of the miracles we have seen. We were running late so we randomly stopped and invited a man to English class and he asked us instead if we taught about Jesus Christ and if we could teach him too. Why yes, yes we do.
We met this one man named Nazario who was awesome and then we couldn't make it to our appointment the next day and we were kind of bummed. But then the next day we randomly happened to run into him at Subway and we got to teach him and it turns out that he found a Book of Mormon several years ago in English but was sad because he could never read it but that he couldn't throw it away. When we asked him why not he said it was because he felt that it was something different, and that somehow it was special even though he couldn't understand it.
I cried a little bit when he said that. Because I know it is true.
We are currently living in a garage. Normally missionaries stay in apartments but they didn't know we were coming and there was no apartment to put us in. We will be living in this family's garage for the next two weeks. But lucky for us it has a large kitchen, two family rooms, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a laundry room. Some people here are very rich. I love our little house/garage hybrid.
This scripture stood out to me a lot this week. It is Jesus Christ talking. "For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you." And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him."
I know that there is no weakness and no sickness that the Savior cannot heal. No matter how big or small the problem we only have to be humble enough to ask. There is nothing that is impossible to him- even if is healing us.
Have a great week everyone. I love you!
Always,
Hna McCurdy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)