Week 65 - "You're weird- you bleed out of your eyes." -Marvin 9/24

That was the quote of the week.  I promise it's not that graphic in context haha.  And that's a story you'll probably only hear if you email me and ask me for the story if you would like to know.

Cake Icing
We might as well start this week off with the icing on the cake: we got a referral from the Jehovah's Witnesses.  Basically that means that they were talking to a man, who had some questions that they couldn't help him with so they game him our number.  It was so strange and yet satisfying.  We still don't know how they got our number.

Translation woes
This week we started our city English class.  We have two English classes normally, the one we teach in the church every Tuesday and Thursday and the new one that we recently acquired.  It is a program being run between the city of Houston and the mission to give service to the community.  We teach a class to mothers in their children's schools and are not allowed to speak any Spanish and have to pretend that we don't speak or understand Spanish to help them learn better.  Easier said than done.  This week at orientation I got asked to translate for the lady in charge of the program and started to freak out because I don't translate, and then I realized that is one of my skills now.  It was really neat to see how the Lord blessed us to be able to do seemingly impossible things if we put in practice and patience.  It was very nice to realize how far I've come since I started.  And also translating gives you a headache as you put stuff in your head, turn it inside out, and then spit it back out.  I give props to anyone who does that for a living.

Flooding
We had a lot of rain in about a one hour period in our area this week and at first it was completely freaking out Hna Andreason, who has never seen such big puddles in her life.  She also missed all the last rounds of flooding so this was a first for her.  She was terrified to drive through the four inches of water on the road.  By the end she was aiming for every puddle and yelling, almost exactly like that part that Rapunzel does in Tangled right after escaping from her tower, "THIS IS SO FUNNNNNN!"  I loved watching her squeal and giggle at the water.

Exchanges with Jersey
We went on exchanges with the Jersey Village Hermanas this week.  Hna Guiterrez came here in Bear Creek and I went to Jersey Village with Hna Durrant.  We did a lot of fun contacting and their members invited me back to ear more food with them with my parents when I come back and visit after the mission.  They were super nice.  Hermana Durrant is super cute, sweet, and determined to succeed and it was nice to go to the almost ghetto for a day.

Yessica's Baptismal Date
Monday night we had a family night with the Alvarez family, and our investigator Yessica and her husband Carlos.  We called the Alvarez family before and asked them what they had been planning on teaching, which was family night, so we were kind of stressed trying to find a way that we could invite her to be baptized on Oct 29th in the midst of a lesson on family night….When we sat down in their living room that night the dad turned on the computer and said, "Today we are going to learn about baptism."  At the end of the lesson we were all crying because of the love we could feel in the room, and when Hna Andreasen invited her to be baptized on the 29th of October she said yes! Hna Andreasen and I were so happy that our feet never touched the floor.

Conference
We had a women's conference this weekend and I loved it.  That last talk was totally for me.  I sat there and was like, "Don't stop knocking Hermana McCurdy, don't stop knocking."

Charla Fogonera
This Sunday we also had a fireside in Katy and I got to drive on the freeway back to good old Westgreen.  It was so nice :)

Meetings…
Alright, so our second meeting on Tuesday was canceled.  And then we had a different meeting.  On Wednesday we had a meeting in Houston, and then Thursday we had two meetings, one of which was in Woodlands.  It was awesome.  I drove there too, also on the other freeway.  Then on Friday we had an 8 hour meeting with Elder Echo Hawk of the 70.  It was very cool to meet him and to feel the spirit super strong.  Then on Saturday we had another meeting, and on Sunday we had the fireside.  I don't know how we got to teach this week but somehow we managed it.

This week I learned something valuable.  Hermana Andreasen asked me a while ago why Jesus Christ cried when Lazarus died if He was the resurrection, the life, and if He knew He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead.  I didn't know the answer.  This week I think I understood it a little bit more.

He cried not because He knew it wouldn't turn out okay, but because Mary and Martha had to suffer for a moment, and although everything would hurt it would still all be okay.  But He cried because they hurt to and nothing He could do could momentarily take that pain away that would benefit us more in the end.  He cried because growth is hard, but they had to grow.

I think that will prepare me a lot for having a family one day, but it was cool to figure out.

I KNOW THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE.
Let me know if there is anything I can do for y'all,
Hermana McCurdy

Link to the last talk: President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Fourth Floor, Last Door

Week 64 - "montanas"

This week was very unique in its own way.

This week we had lots of meetings.  And some how this week we are going to have even more meetings as if that were possible. :)  This week we had one giant meeting where I got to see a lot of my old companions and it was pretty fun.  The food was good.  Afterwards we went and got ice cream!

El Salvador
This week we also had El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala's independence days, which all happen to be the same day.  In celebration we wore their colors (El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua all have the same colors) and ate papusas, which is their special food.  Papusas (I don't know if I'm spelling that right.  Sorry if I'm not and it's actually a bad word in Spanish or something.)  are these really thick tortillas that they stuff things in and then cook them, and they eat it with this red sauce, and put cabbage on the top.  I didn't like them at all about a year ago, so it's kind of cool to see how that has changed.

Mexico
Then we had Mexican Independence day the next day, and so we of course dressed up in their colors too.  All the white people asked us why we were celebrating Christmas early, but the Mexicans got it and wanted to take pictures with us.  Lately if people ask me if I'm from Mexico (apparently there are white mexicans) I tell them that my corazonsito es mexicano, or that my little heart is mexican and they laugh.  But I'm actually serious.  Yes we ate good Mexican food that day too and I quite enjoyed it all thoroughly.

United States
The next day we had the Ward Activity celebrating all the different countries, which means that aka it was an activity celebrating all the latin countries.  Everyone came dressed in their traditional outfits and brought their best food.  It was SUPER COOL.  Hna Andreasen and I were determined to represent America.  The ward didn't even own an American Flag, so we had to buy one at the dollar store.  We made this display and brought apple pie and the guy who was going to bring the cheeseburgers forgot.  :( But, our food was the first gone.  We barely said the opening prayer and I could see a bunch of children running around with Oreos.  Hna Andreason also convinced the DJ that it would be a good idea to play, "I'm proud to be an American" at the party, and he actually did it.  We stood by our table and waved our American flags in the air while everyone took videos of us.  One guy told us later it was the funniest thing he's ever seen.  ("You were in a room full of Hispanics, and being the only white people, you waved those flags loud and proud.") Yes, Hna Andreasen is that funny.  And I love her haha.

So that was basically our week in a nutshell.
Don't be the man on the cruise this week.  Or his worker guy either.

Everyone in Connecticut:
GO TO THE TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE.  Ask my mother for details!

Love you all lots, please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Hermana McCurdy

Week 63 - frijoles y limonada en polve

Shout out to my Aunt Toni for visiting with Madison while she was in Texas!
Madison references this video below here is the link: Your Potential, Your Privileges 

First of all:
My new address is
15903 Yorktown Crossing Prkwy #1223
Houston, TX  77084

Second of all, this week was a weetle crazy but I loved it.

To start it off, I got to talk to my great aunt Toni on the phone last week.  She sounds a lot like my Grandma, so it was a little weird, but I loved it.  I hope to meet her one day.  She also told me that she does family history work for some people she knows in Houston.  Does she sound like my great aunt, or what!?

This week we also had a giant meeting with President Mortensen, in which we learned a lot about discouragement and also about endurance.  I really liked it.  Especially when he said, "It is when we get caught in the fruit and not the discipleship that we get discouraged."  That is so, so, true.

We then later this week had zone meeting, in which we talked a lot about the difference between seeking vs. finding, and all the things that we can do to raise the bar and not be satisfied with complacency.  Afterwards we received an English Class training that took forever.  Apparently, some of the school districts here in Houston want us missionaries to teach English in their schools!  How sweet is that!  However we are not allowed to talk about church and stuff at all, this is purely English.  Next week we are having people from Salt Lake come and observe, and they gave us really specific instructions about how we are supposed to teach it.  For example, we are not allowed to talk in Spanish.  We'll see how that goes because it just slips out (I even sleep talk in Spanish.  It's bad).

We helped a man paint his house this week and it was really fun.  I felt so relaxed to be painting again.

AND THEN YESSICA CAME TO CHURCH.  This week, we had been fasting and praying all week that someone would come and when we saw her sit down in church Hermana Andreasen literally burst into tears we were so happy.  We are looking forward to progressing with her, and also with a man named Bienvenido.

This week, I have thought a lot about one of my favorite videos, which is about a man who for his whole life wants to go on a cruise.  When he finally gets the money to go on the cruise, he brings cans of beans and limonada en polvo (Powdered lemonade? I only know how to say than in Spanish, sorry), because he doesn't want to have to pay for any of the expensive food.  The entire time he stays in his cabin and looks at the Mediterranean cities that he had dreamed of seeing his whole life, and was perfectly content.  Then, on the last day of the cruise, one of the workers asks him which of the parties he will be attending, and he says he is not going to any because they cost money.  But it is then that the worker tells him that everything, the food, going to the cities, and the parties were all included in the price of his ticket.  And then the man drops the can of beans he is holding onto his foot and doesn't even notice because he is in shock.

I've thought a lot about that man, about how he must be feeling, about how mad he must be, and mostly about how disappointed he was.  It hurts more every time I watch it.  But I think even more about the worker.  The worker carried his bags on in the beginning, and walked by him in the hallway, and never said a thing until the last day.

I wonder who feels worse, the man, or the worker at the end of the day.

Oh how I hope that one day we will not be that worker when we get to go up to Heaven.  But instead, I hope we have that many more people in the party.  Again, here is the link: Your potential, your privileges

I love you all a lot.  I know that the gospel is true, and especially that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that the Book of Mormon is another witness of that truth.
Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for you,

Always,
Hermana McCurdy

In case you are wondering why the elder next to me is standing weird, it's because he always shows the left side of his face in pictures. 

Houston West South Zone

Week 62 - All those little things become big things

I totally had great things to tell you and then I lost my notes…

Whoops.

Well, last Monday Hermana Homer and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get everything together and then I said goodbye to all my friends, which was sad, especially when I said goodbye to the family that has a pet pig, the Chavez family.

Monday we said goodbye to Monica and took these fantastic pictures as a last hurrah:

And then we drove down to transfer meeting, but were early, so we sat in the Chick-fil-A parking lot for a couple minutes, and then we drove to transfer meeting.

Hermana Homer made me swear to her that I won't forget her, and how could I honestly, couldn't even dream of it, 

and then I met this lovely lady.

My new companion's name is Hermana Andreasen, and she is from Kaysville, Utah.  She has a super cute head of blonde hair and is the designated get away driver because she drives like the someone who should drive in a movie (very talented, while looking fabulous.  But seriously.  Where do you even find sunglasses like those, and get a haircut that good?)  She is a great missionary.  Every sentence she says is so jam packed with faith it's like: "take this!" *punch* "take that!" *punch* I feel really blessed to see and to be touched by her example.  I have already learned a lot from her. :)

My new area is called "Bear Creek".  An inside joke from God?  I haven't decided yet.  But implications from the name aside, I already love it a lot.  There are a lot of apartments, and it straddles the border of nice and ghetto, with some parts of it being just less dangerous ghetto.  The members here are fantastic and loving and love giving their all.

We walked into a party of people from three of my previous areas this week, and that made me super happy.  It was like all I needed in one room!  Minus you of course. :)

This week, we also had this one man try to get us to buy him alcohol because he thought that we were 21.  That was funny.

Hermana Provost came to visit!  I love her!

….and I don't know what else happened this week.

God really provided for us and helped us achieve our goals when it was really hard and 8 o'clock Sunday night and we still needed 2 new investigators.  We ended up finding two!  Milagros!

I tried my first guava!  It turns out I like the pink ones, and not the yellow ones…..

Half of our ward was gone this week helping the people in Louisiana.  I was wishing that I could go too!

Something that I learned this week is from Hna Andreasen-- she always gives 100% of what she has and also remembers to smile and be happy when she is in pain (she had two migraines this week).  It got me thinking about the Savior and about how throughout all he endured he was also probably very happy.  I bet little things like butterflies and rainbows and puddles made him happy.  But I also know that the thing that makes him the very happiest is you!  Whenever we choose to follow him, or read your scriptures, or pray, go to church with your children running around and even when you want to pull out your hair, he smiles.  All those little things become big things, and then those big things become miracles in ourselves.  Those little things make him smile because one day they are exactly what will bring you back to him.  And after all the pain we surely must have caused him, imagine how good that smile must feel.  How full of love, that smile must be.  I would love to make the Savior smile forever.

I know the gospel is true, and that the Savior lives!  But especially, I KNOW THAT THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE.

Love Always,
Hermana McCurdy