Week 74 - "Si les ven con una sonrisa es porque lean el Libro de Mormon." Hna Coronado

CHANGES!
So this last week I mentioned that there were transfers, but then I also neglected to mention what was happening at transfers...sorry.  Hermana Beaty successfully finished her mission and went home to Arizona.  We miss her.  Hermana Andreasen got sent to Conroe and I admit I am a weeeee bit jealous, but there is nothing you can do about that, and I am still thrilled to be here. (We decorated the apartment for Christmas this morning- so cute.)

MY NEW COMPANION's name is Hermana Black.  She is a Nephite, as she grew up in Nephi, Utah.  She really likes movies, and has seen a great many movies.  She even can quote wold war two movies back to me, it is quite exciting. :) She kind of looks like Taylor Swift, has really cute accessories, and has this weird mixture of an easy-going-really-chill/really-cool-person/unexpected-nerd vibe going on that I really enjoy.  She has been a lot of fun, and I am glad I get to enjoy her for five more weeks. :)

Speaking of Hermana Black, she was equally as thrilled at the prospect of being able to contact using Christmas Carols.  It is one of our goals to memorize all our Christmas Hymns in Spanish, and we've been walking around all week saying, "Noche de luz, noche de paz-" It reminds me of how much Hermana Lowry always loved that song ;)

Some other changes that happened- Elder Guzman is now our District Leader and Elder Blackford is training a brand new missionary named Elder Smith.  Every time someone new meets him they ask him if he is related to Joseph Smith.  Elder Guzman has been freaking out about being district leader and how he doesn't know what he is doing, and oh I wish you could have seen his face when President Mortensen walked into his first district meeting this week.  His mouth fell flat open in HORROR.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone's mouth fall open before.  But really he did a great job and shouldn't have freaked out.

We also did a lot of TRACKING PEOPLE DOWN this week.  A lot.
-First, we went to go find a Venezuelan referral who lives in some fancy apartments that have four floors, right on our side of the border with the south mission.  We went to the top floor balcony and took a picture with the Texas Houston South Mission.  It was fun.
-Then Grace and Karina went to their Aunt's house for thanksgiving and told us we could come too, but didn't give us the address.....But we knew the general vacinity, and we managed to find them.  It was really funny.  They were like, "Really we never gave you the address?"
-Our recent convert Dannie was home, and they let us in, and we had a lesson.  IT WAS A MIRACLE.  I was so happy I kind of teared up.  We haven't seen Dannie in many months and I was worried about her.

The day before Thanksgiving we had a lesson with our investigator Heidi, who has had a really hard life.  We have been teaching her for a couple weeks now, and considering where she has started she has progressed SO MUCH!  She told us this week about the changes she has seen in herself and how much happier she is because of the things she is learning.  She also said that she asked her family if she could say the prayer for their Thanksgiving Dinner and her whole family responded to the likes of: "You? What?"  We are so proud of her. :)

Thanksgiving we went tot he Perla's and the Coronado's.  It was lovely.  I made the Byrnes traditional Cranberry Salad.  (I can't take Thanksgiving seriously without it anymore.  That's a tradition I am definitely carrying on.) It was a really great day and everyone was home and I just walked around with a smile almost the entire time.  I might have smiled while I was asleep too, I was just so grateful for everything.  (This is the end of the first email.  Haha)

Whoops.  I didn't finish and accidentally clicked send. :(

Then, we were struggling to find new investigators this week but did literally everything we could do and it still wasn't working out.  When we started Sunday morning we had zero, but the goal was 4.  We prayed a lot, and at the end of the day we had 4 really solid people.  IT WAS SO AWESOME!

And then- definitely the best part of the week- KARINA GOT BAPTIZED!!!  It was so beautiful and she was so prepared too.  All the adults were really shocked about how much she knew it was super cute.  When she was baptized I wanted to shout for joy, I was so happy :) Her mom and her dad came and it was really special. :) She is a super special girl and we love her a lot.

Than, just to follow up for last week about the ten things that I am grateful for:
(and thank you to everyone that emailed me theirs-)

1.  Ice cream
I love that when you eat ice cream somehow the world becomes more positive.

2.  Light
Light is so pretty.  I love to work with it, to change the colors and the angles, and to see all the different effects and wonderful things it does.  Spot lights.  Christmas lights.  Fire flies.  How beautiful light really is.  I am grateful for the light that always illuminates my life.

3.  Jesus Christ and the atonement.
I don't have enough space to write why I am grateful for Jesus Christ, but I am infinitely grateful for Him.  I am grateful that all things are possible through Him, and that I can become and overcome everything with His help.

4.  My testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Of all the things God has given to me, perhaps the greatest is my testimony of the Book of Mormon.  It has changed everything.

5.  My family.
I am grateful for my smart dad, my smiling mother, smouldering Rhodric, pencilneck Jarrett, Henrietta Pixie Peanut Chocolate Mgurdy McCurdy (aka Kami), Jimbo, my grandparents, my great grandparents, and all that came before them.  I am so glad God put me in a family!

6.  My mission.

7.  Happy thoughts

8.  Our capacity to learn.

9.  Our capacity to love.

10.  the ability to be grateful.

I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that Jesus Christ lives!  I am so grateful for my knowledge of God's plans, and for the hope that they always offer me.  I am grateful for you too, whoever you are. :)

Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you!
Always,
Hermana McCurdy

Week 73 - Transfers!

Hello everyone!  First I need to apologize to everyone who sent me emails and I have not had th opportunity to respond to.  I've just been really busy these last couple weeks and I feel really bad about it :(
Second, this keyboard has problems and I apologize right now for all the spelling mistakes.

This week we once again took a lot of photos.

To start it off right, last P-Day we went and played lazer tag.  I didn't place very well but I beat all the other sister missionaries, so that counts for something, right?  Also, it was a nice challenge to figure out how to play lazer tag while still being in sight and sound of each other. :)

I also had a dream that my companions (Hna Andreasen, and Hna Beaty) and I were on the Titanic, that we knew it was going to sink, and that we were doing nothing to try and stop it from sinking.   For example, I remember this one moment when we were debating whether or not we should contact now and eat dinner later or vice versa, and Hna Beaty said, "Well, when the boat hits the iceberg and everyone goes crazy they're not going to want to listen to us, so we should probably do it now."  And Hna Andreasen and I were like, "Yeah, you're right."

We also went on exchanges with the Hammerly Hermanas.  That night I slept really well.  We also had a blitz, which is where several companionships come together in one area and all knock doors for a bit to help the companionship find more investigators.  But BEFORE we went on the blitz, Hermana Rivas locked the keys in the car by accident.  Before we could freak out we said a little prayer and then realized that we were 3 stores away from a car shop.  We went and asked for help, they pulled out their special tools for that, and in five minutes we had the keys again.  It was pretty neat actually.  Haha.

Also, this week we had zone conference.  At zone conference we learned a lot about why we have commandments, and where we were before this life.  We then had texmex (basically americanized mexican food.  The tortillas were good though.  And there were jalapenos, so that was a plus.) which was really yummy.  Then we role played, and to end the day off all the departing missionaries got to bear their testimonies.  Hna Beaty bore her testimony, which was really tender.  She talked a lot about being an instrument in the hands of the Lord, which I really liked.  Then, apparently because there are no zone conferences between now and Jan 4th, I got to bear my testimony too.  It was a little strange, but it was good.  I think.

This week as Thanksgiving draws close, I was thinking a lot about how IMPORTANT it is to be grateful.  I love the saying that "gratitude" is a gateway attribute, that many of the things that we want to become, humble, faithful, virtuous, etc. etc. all starts with gratitude.  I know that even in the hardest of times if we can maintain an attitude of gratitude we will always be happy.

My challenge to each of you is to make a list of ten things that you are grateful for this week and then post it somewhere that others can see it (ie- facebook, instagram, your front lawn, or whatever is cool these days) and then to email it to me too.  I promise I will make the same list and share it next week.

Thank you for all your love, and for all your help as well.
I LOVE YOU.  Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help any of you.

Always,
Hermana McCurdy

ps.  I am grateful that I know the Savior lives, and also that God has witnessed to me that the Book of Mormon is true.  It has changed my life, and I know it can change yours too.

Zone Conference

Week - 72 "You can wash your 'ball-out' socks when you die."

So this week we were knocking doors on one side of the street and on the other side of the street there was a little Mexican party going on.  As we got closer to them they started staring at us and talking about us- I even heard one lady saying, "miren esas gringas tocando puertas! Cuando nos pregunten de su iglesia vamos a decir que no hablamos ingles jajajajajajaja."

They all laughed.

In my head I was like: if only you knew lady.

So then we contacted them.  And it was funny.

But anyway, back to the other stuff that happened this week.

We had interviews with President.  Most of my interviews up until this point with President have been relatively nice, pleasant, and end with him laughing at me about worrying over something like dogs, or my wisdom teeth, etc. etc.  This one was different.  I developed so much love for my mission president this week, and I totally thought I loved him last week.  How grateful I am that we have leaders who are called of God and that know us and our needs.  I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me and who never hesitates to remind me when I need it.

And then we went to the temple.  It was amazing.  And then we took amazing pictures of it.  Those will be included in the next email.

We also had spur of the moment Spanish Leadership Council.  It was also pretty awesome.  I learned a lot.

I also got to be a missionary in Jersey Village for a day.  It was epic.  Let me tell you a little bit of what happened.  Primero, I was with Hna Wallace and Hna Durrant.  You remember Hermana Wallace if you've been following these for the last little bit, she being the companion who suffered accompanying me to Episode VI: Return to Conroe, and also the one who got to experience all the lovely flash flooding.  Hna Durrant is her lovely companion, who I enjoy spending time with.  There is no challenge too big for Hna Durrant.  She does everything with such enthusiasm and gusto, I wish I was a lot like her. But anyways back to what happened on our exchange:
1.  We were in a meeting with the Elders and the Ward Mission leader in his apartment.  HIS WIFE TAUGHT ME HOW TO MAKE TORTILLAS.  (This is the first time I ever tried.  The first one was the shape of Antartica.  The rest turned out okay with practice.  But you could still tell which ones I made and which ones she made).  It was really cute.
2.  During said meeting I noticed there was a cockroach on the ceiling.  I watched it walk across the room and then suddenly it dropped.  Right onto Elder Norton.  And no one saw but me.  I tried so hard not to laugh.  Later I told them what happened and they all kept staring at the ceiling as Hermano said, "It's raining cockroaches."
3.  We also met this one man and tried to share with him the Book of Mormon.  He was like, "I dunno if this book could answer all of my questions, I have a lot of questions."  And Hna Durrant said, "Bring it on." And then he had questions about killing and about war and about a bunch of weird things, and the best part is- the Book of Mormon really did answer all of it.  He was like, "Can you come back tomorrow and tell me how this book can answer all my other question?"  It was pretty awesome.

And then we had the fireside.  It was super good.  I kind of cried.  I felt surrounded by my family and all these people that I have come to love.  Mostly it made me think about how the thing I think I have learned most in the world is love.  I realized how close to Heavenly Father I felt in that moment.  He must feel like that all the time.  Surrounded in a lot of love.

I know the gospel is true!  And that Jesus Christ lives!  And that the Book of Mormon is true too! :)

Always,
Hermana McCurdy

ps.  Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Week 71 - "Apparently you are never too busy to be a soccer coach"

Some rather exciting things happened this week.  Let's start with Halloween.

Halloween night we had to be in the house by 6:00pm.  So we carved pumpkins, made pumpkin cookies, Hna Beaty made pumpkin pie, and then I wrote some letters.  It was fun.  I had a fun time laughing at myself carving a pumpkin.  See if you can guess which one is mine haha.

Then we had MLC this week and that was fun too.  Especially the part where I spilled lasagna on myself.  But, it had to happen once.  It wasn't even that bad so I'm secretly grateful.

Remember that cute little lady I told you about from English class?  Well this week she and I became best friends.  Or rather, I lover her a lot and she was just there to learn English haha.  During English class we had our own little English class just me and her and we used plates to practice asking basic questions in English.  Thank you to all who prayed for her this week, because it made a big difference.  She's improved a lot, she is happier, and she BELIEVES in her self.  I don't know if there is a more important quality.

On a humorous note, I had a dream this week that all the missionaries in my zone got turned into animals and the only way to save them was to invite them to learn more about Jesus Christ and the Restoration.  (Funny, yes. Symbolically super true? Also yes.  Not the part about them being animals haha the part about being saved.)

We also have started teaching the nine year old daughter of our investigator Grace, and her daughters name is Carina.  She is super cute, likes frozen tissues, and loves her mom a lot.  If you all could please pray for her and her mom, that would be amazing.

We also started Family History with Yessica, who just got baptized last week.  Our first time sitting down to do it, we found nine generations of her ancestors.  My eyes were practically popping out of my head I was so excited.  She might have been more excited.  Maybe.  For the one thousandth time, I love family history and I know that it is important to the work of the Lord.  If anyone wants to start theirs, I'd love to do it with you in a couple months!  Just ask :)

Then we had a zone meeting!  We made a new title of liberty and very dramatically brought it out just at the right moment.  We all got to sign it and it was pretty cool.  If y'all could also please pray for the Houston West South Zone to be able to reach its baptismal commitment by the end of the year, I would be super grateful. ;)

Something I was thinking a lot this week was Sam in the Book of Mormon.  The first part of the Book of Mormon is about a family who leaves Jerusalem, and the rest of the Book of Mormon is about their descendants.  This family has four sons, Nephi, Laman, Lemuel and Sam.   Over the course of the book their descendants fight each other, follow God, don't follow God, do bad things, repent, and eventually are destroyed.  All of their descendants are named after them and that's how we get names like Nephites, Lamanites, Jaredites, Ishmaelites, Zoramites, Amalicites, Lemuelites, etc. etc. but something I realized is there are NO SAMITES.

Something I love about Sam, is that he's like Nephi's Hyrum, if you know what I mean.  Over the course of the story as Nephi is the good guy and the hero and the narrator and does all these crazy things, Sam is only mentioned a couple times.  But when he is mentioned, it is mentioned that he is a support to his brother, Nephi.  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized without Sam, Nephi probably would have gone crazy and maybe never even would have made it out of the desert.

But back to the topic of Samites.  The more I thought about it, the more I loved it.  There are no Samites.  There are only Nephites.  Sam must have been so humble, so helpful, that when it came down to it all his posterity followed and were Nephites too.  It reminded me of why I am here on a mission.  Often times I think I came out here to change people's lives and to leave a mark and to do something good, but the more I thought about the Samites, the more I realized that:

I came out here to open my mouth so that the SAVIOR even JESUS CHRIST can touch people's lives.  So that HE can leave a mark, and that HE can do something good, because HE IS the ONLY THING that will EVER MAKE A DIFFERENCE and HE is the only thing that can TRULY CHANGE LIVES and CHANGE THE WORLD.  I realized that I can't be a Nephites.  I need to be a Samites.  Because if they see me I am blocking their view of the Savior, and that is why I cam here, so that they could find Him.

That's my challenge to you.  This week don't just be a Nephite, be a Samite.

I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that it's purpose is to testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World.  May we always be examples of His divine love.

Please let me know if I can do anything for you :)
Hermana McCurdy