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?