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

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