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

Week 69 - "Nothing is worse than the Mills Building font."

To start this week off right, we got to ride in a limo.  Or rather should I say, sit in a limo and take pictures.  Either way it was nice.  You take what you can get, right?

I also got to relive all my high school memories and go back to early morning seminary.  (A program for high school aged students to study the scriptures before school every morning- and before school meaning 5:45am. Every school day.) . I was so tired- what a small wonder that we did that every morning for 4 years.  However, this time there were a couple differences- 1. The students brought breakfast tacos and 2. We got to teach it.  I appreciated my seminary teachers a lot more.  Thank you, Bishop Hogan, Sister Nelson, Sister Henrichsen, Brother English, and of course you too Mom, for all you did, and for all that I still don't know that you did.

We also got to help the Elders move their apartment.  We loaded all the stuff into a giant trailer, and then to their new apartment, where we carried all the stuff up a flight of stairs.  There was only one catch to this: there is a rule that Elders and Sisters can not be in the apartment at the same time, meaning we would carry the stuff to the door, and then politely wait for them to take the stuff inside, or depending of what it was, throw it into the side room.  While we were helping them move, the Elders were taking a washer up the windy little flight of stairs, and we stood there waiting for them to go up so we could put the stuff next to the door.  A Hermana who will not be named (one of my companions, but i won't tell you which one haha) was holding a soccer ball and figured that while we were waiting for the elders who were struggling with the washer, she would just throw the soccer ball into the open door.  She threw it, it looked like it was going in, it hit the railing, rebounded, and hit Elder Tidwell right in the face.  It was like a YouTube video.  In retrospect, I think he things it's funny too.

Also, we went on exchanges with the Hammerly Hermanas.  Hermana Beaty and I went to Hermana Taylor and it was pretty fun.  We were really lucky they have a third bed in their apartment.  It was very good.  We taught about prophets, visited a lot of taco trucks, and met the Nunez family, who are Chilean/Mexican family with red hair, and 4 sons, two of which passed away when they were kids.  They were pretty awesome and are great examples of how the gospel can bring peace and hope to our lives.

We also met a new investigator named Grace.  Grace is from Puerto Rico but moved to los Estados when she was twelve.  When she switched from Spanish to English my ears started screaming at her accent.  It turns out she learned English first in Boston, and then in Brooklyn, which makes her one of those people who somehow have both accents.  I was like, "Oh-How I miss it!"  She has a hard life and she kept saying, "I need to get baptized so I can save my mom!" :) . she is super cute.

We also had the ward Halloween party.  We gave out pass a long cards and Books of Mormon to the children to give away.  There was a five year old who ran away, weighed down with a Book of Mormon in his candy bag, and yelled, "YAY THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!" :) That kid is awesome.

Also, my whole mission I wanted a testimony about fasting.  I have always known that fasting was a good thing, and that it helps us, and that we should do it, but I never had an EXPERIENCE with it until this week.  Well, this week we experienced quite the roller coaster with Yessica's baptism.  I will spare you the details.  But basically, it all boiled down to how her bosses never change people's schedules, and she had to change her schedule or she wouldn't be able to be baptized.  We were panicking and decided to fast.  We had a miracle and it turns out she will be able to be baptized.  How happy I am that God answers prayers.  Thank you thank you thank you.  I know fasting works for each of us if we let it.  If you would like to know more about fasting, please go to this link.

https://www.lds.org/topics/fasting-and-fast-offerings?lang=eng

Love always,
Hermana McCurdy

ps.  Still need to know about my pumpkin carving.  Houston temple, Washington DC Temple, Hartford Temple or Salt Lake temple?

Us in the limo.

Us and the Hermanas.  Don't know why I'm posing weird.

A bunch of us...

For Hermana Wallace

Week 68 - "It's like when you miss the free throw, but it goes in the trash can. Everyone still goes crazy!" Elder Tidwell

!Buenas tardes mi familia y mis amigos! ?Como están todos? Espero que todos estén bien :)

To start this week off right, a bug flew straight into my eye and then got stuck.  It surprisingly hurt, but the really funny part was when Hna Andreasen was freaking out and couldn't look at it or she was going to throw up.  She is really afraid of bugs we have discovered, especially cuckaraches, BUT NOT drunk men or freaky drivers, or fire.  And yes the bug did eventually get out of my eye.

We got a new student in our English Class named Adil, and he is from Iraq!  He is this cute little white man with an exotic look to him, white hair, super smart eyes, and a smile always plastered on his face.  He inspires me a lot.  He has just arrived here, and he doesn't know any English.  Most of the elderly Hispanic people we meet say things such as, "I can't learn English, I'm too old, I will never learn."  Well, Adil is old too and that is definitely not stopping him!  He walks to class every week, with his little pink notebook.  He struggles through class, smiles when we speak Spanish, tries his hardest, and has a surprisingly good accent.  People like Adil inspire me to try harder and be happier.  He is super cool.

This week, in our stake (a group of congregations is a 'stake') they just created a YSA branch.  They got a letter from Thomas S. Monson and everything.  Everyone is super excited and beaming.  The work is progressing! :)

One of our finest privileges as missionaries, and also something I will probably miss when I am no longer one, is that we get to knock doors.  This week as we were look g at our area, we studied all the streets and decided on ten that sounded good and made a list.  Then we each individually prayed and asked God to help us know where to go, and then we each chose three without communicating it to the others.  Of all the streets we each individually came up with, we each felt impressed to go to the same road.  When we showed up there, we were each slightly confused, as it was a really rich, white neighborhood.  Normally I think we would have found a different street (as we were looking for Hispanic people) but this time we did not.  We knew that God had sent us there, and we wanted to find out why.  So we knocked.  On the last house this white man came out and started talking to us.  His name was Ronald.  It turns out that he is a member and that he has not been able to go for many years because he was trying to save his marriage and his wife was going to divorce him if he did.  He started to cry as we talked with him and as he explained to us his story.  He had been feeling very down and knew he needed something to pick him up when we knocked into him.  We had a very meaningful exchange and then we parted ways.

I know that we ended up on that street for Ronald.  I know that he had been pleading to a Father in Heaven who had heard his prayer, and had sent us there to answer it.  I think that one of my favorite things in the whole world is knowing that God has used me to help someone else unknowingly.  There is a unique sense of happiness to know that we are part of something so much greater than ourselves.  :). I know that there is a loving God out there who has plans for each and everyone of us, and although his plans are difficult, and sometimes painful, that they are perfect.  My challenge to each of you today is to pray to have God help you see someone who needs a little help or a pick me up this week, and then to find that person, and act.

I love each and everyone of you.  I know that the gospel is true.  I know the Savior lives, and I know that the BOOK OF MORMON is true too.  May we each be valiant in the sharing of God's love.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you :)

Always
Hermana McCurdy

ps. Hna Andreasen did my hair, and then decided to put flowers in it so it was like that one scene from Tangled.

Ppss. My two lovely companions and Adil and myself.

For Hna Wallace: la nena, daughter of one of our investigators

And a pumpkin carving of President Mortensen, or mission president.  It looks just like him.

OH AND I NEED YOUR OPINIONS.  Should I carve the Hartford temple, Washington DC temple, Salt Lake temple, or Houston temple into my pumpkin this week?

Week 67 - "I'm not sure why but I have to be behind the body." Elder Tidwell (2)

So this week Hermana Beaty knocked on a door and then screamed as a giant pittbull jumped out from behind the trailer and tried to attack her.  She lived because the leash was too short hahaha.

At approximately 9:30 on Wednesday the Elders called us to tell us, "The cleaning ladies are coming!!!" Think, "The British are coming" part 2.  Hermana Andreasen stood up and screamed, with her finger pointed dramatically into the air, "CLEAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!!!!"  Two of us ran into the kitchen and the other ran into the bathroom.   2 minutes later when they knocked on the door we were sitting on the floor looking as though nothing had happened.  At the end, the lady doing the inspection said, "Are you always this clean?  It's almost like you knew we were coming.  It's amazing!"  We smiled to each other and got a perfect score. Haha :)

We also had MLC on Tuesday.  Because we now have 3 sister training leaders in our zone, we could drive with the elders there, because they have bikes.  MLC was awesome.  The adventure was on the way back when we had to fit the bike in the back of the car as well.  Picture down at the bottom.  We were very lucky we didn't get in an accident haha the elders would have been busted.

We asked Yessica, our investigator getting baptized soon, and said, "Why are we baptized?"  And she said, "para sue peuda star con mi familia para siempre," or "So that I can be with my family forever." We were like....Woah.  That was the most true, deep statement I've ever heard.

We had zone meeting, which was awesome.  We have somehow become a family here in the Houston West South Zone.  We also have 18 baptismal dates, which is FANTASTIC.  WOOH HOO!  We are all pumped and super excited.

After, we threw a funeral for Elder Scholar, who is going home tomorrow.  He is "dying" in mission lingo.  It was very touching.

We had 6 people at church! Yippee!

This week I met this lovely lady named Sister Adelman who is having surgery today.  I got to hug her and she told me how happy it made her because she has a daughter being a missionary somewhere and she hoped that her daughter would be hugged.  I asked her where her daughter was serving and she told me Rhode Island.  As she described to me the mission of her daughter she mentioned that she got to go through the temple open house for the Hartford Temple.  For some reason I started to cry as I imagined this sister missionary going through the walls of this beautiful building and felt so happy for her that she could go.  Oh how I wish I could go too.  Please, every single one of you go through the open house of the temple.  It's a once in a lifetime thing.  We are baptized so that our families can be together forever, and it is ONLY in the temple where that becomes possible.  Please go :)

Love you all!  Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you :)
Hermana McCurdy

Here is the link for anyone who would like to go:
Hartford Temple Open House

Houston West South Zone

Made fruit loop/cheese it necklaces.

After the baptism

Giselle with the giant cat that we found.

Me with the giant cat

Us with the bike.

Week 66 - "Don't make me raise my hand, Satan!" - Hermana Andreasen

To start this week off we had one of the strangest lessons I have ever had in my life.  It ended with us setting two baptismal dates.  We cried.  It was a good lesson because people wanted to be baptized, but a bad one because we walked out of there sad which was weird because I didn't know both could exist: setting baptismal dates and being sad.  We had to run out of there because then....

We had a conference call with President Mortensen who talked to us about a lot of things while we prepare for the end of the year and then just as we hung up and got to talk about that crazy lesson....

We got another call from President Mortensen telling us that one of the Hermanas in the mission was flying home the next morning off of schedule, which meant that there was an odd number of sisters in the mission, and also that the sister who was shortly going to be without a companion, was coming to stay with us for the next little bit until transfers.

Which meant we were trying to find another bed, and had to get up super early to pick up Hermana Beaty from the mission office.  We said goodbye to her companion which was really sad.  I don't think I've ever hugged anyone so hard in my entire life.  I love Hermana VanDyke and I miss her a lot.

And then the next day we set another baptismal date with Rodrigo.
Life is pretty good.  In a way that only trios can be.

So this week has been an adventure, to say the slightest.  But now that we are in a trio it also means that we can give the poor elders, who are on bikes, rides in our car.

We had general conference!  General Conference is when we get the opportunity to listen to the prophet.  That was awesome too!  I learned some super good stuff, and I'll tell you more about it next week when I can quote things and don't have a lot to say.

Also, THE TEMPLE PICTURES.  The pictures of the Connecticut temple camp out this week on the Internet and I was laughing and crying and just so incredibly happy that we are getting a temple in Connecticut.  Before it is dedicated everyone has the opportunity to go look inside, and you can even go in with my mother.  Just ask her for information at birdperch72@yahoo.com.

Jesus Christ LIVES.  THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE.  I hope y'all have a wonderful week.  Sorry these emails are getting weird.  I promise a good one next week.

Always,
Hermana McCurdy