Week 30 - Conroe: (Like No Place Else)

What a week!

For starters, this was Hna Provost and I's last week together as she flies out tomorrow.  Yes she is really sad.  But we are pushing through it and I know she'll do great.

Last week we went on a hiking thing as a district and I managed to avoid the poison ivy and the ticks.  But it smelled like Connecticut in there.  It was so nice!  And then we played basketball and ate frozen pizza.  It was awesome.

We found the elephants and the giraffes that live here in Cut 'n Shoot.  Sorry I don't have any pictures.  But just in case you were wondering it is legal to own elephants and giraffes in Texas.  When we went to Chile's this week with the Bishop, I found a sign that said, "Conroe: (Like No Place Else)" and it is so true.  There literally is no place like it.  I will miss it a lot.

This week at District meeting we were playing a game to learn Spanish and we were trying our utmost to win if you were scoring by golf, which is, to loose.  When we came down to the final jeopardy and had to bet points, we bet only 1 of our points, because you were not allowed to make a bet of 0.  But when the other team answered incorrectly and bet just the perfect amount of their points (800 points) we ended up winning by exactly one point.  It was really funny.  Then, because so many people from our district are going home, we wrote eulogies and dressed in all black and pretended it was a funeral.  We even made that pudding stuff with the oreos that looks like dirt and make little tombstones to go inside it with their names on it.  It was yummy pudding haha.

We also watched a less active man in our ward give his dogs a bath.  The dogs gave so much resistance it was really hard to watch!  If the dogs could only understand that they were so smelly and gross and grimy and disgusting, they would want a bath.  But, that's the thing about dogs I guess, that they can't see.  Sometimes I feel like we are the dog and that God is giving us a bath.  We scream and yelp and think that it's the end of the world, but if only we could see the way that God does, and realize that we smell, we would want it.  I am glad to have a God that is willing to give me metaphorical baths to help me be better when I sometimes cannot see that I need the improvement.

Yesterday I heard the news that I am getting transferred, meaning that I am being assigned to a new area.  I will miss Conroe a lot, but it will always have a special place in my heart.  If you are wanting to send me mail in the next week, please send it to "16623 Hafer Rd, Houston, TX  77090."  That would be awesome! :) I love you guys and I hope that you all have a wonderful week!  And when God gives you a bath, try to enjoy the warm water and the nice shampoo, and then be grateful when you are clean.

Always,
Hna Madison McCurdy

Week 29 - Week thirty? Don't really know…..

We did some calculating this week, and our area has no less than the following towns inside of it:  Richards, Dobbin (doesn't that sound like a place where hobbits would live?), Bobville (my personal favorite), Montgomery, Conroe, Panorama Village, Willis, Ada, Cut 'n Shoot, Security, New Caney, Porter Heights, and Grangerland.  Glorious, isn't it?

Other than that this is what happened this week:
-I accidentally hit Hna Provost in the face with a stapler.  But no damage was done and all is well and she is very forgiving haha.  Thank heavens she is a good companion.
-I helped Hna Provost find and print her very first name in Family History that she can take to the temple.  She was really excited.  And I was excited.  Families are forever man.
-I got to be Hermana Jorgensen's companion for a day again and it was so wonderful.  I miss that woman so much, she is so awesome.
-I met some Chinese people at a baptism and it was really cool.  Hna Provost taught a guy from Taiwan who got baptized this week.  It was a very neat experience.
-We crashed a wedding.  And by crashed I mean oohed and awed over the decorations and pictures and didn't actually "crash" it haha.
-We taught little boys about Jesus for the first time because they had no idea who he was, and then we made Maria a cake for her birthday.

Sorry I don't have much time today, and I am sorry for those people I can't get back to this week.  I love you and will try to get back to you next week.  Love you guys!  I know that this work is very true and that no matter what we do God still loves us.  I hope you make a little bit more time for him this week, and that when you do you will find more joy and more light than you can imagine.

Always,
Hna McCurdy

ps. Maria and her birthday cake

ppss. Paulina with a magnifying glass

The wedding crasher! (A lovely person sent me this picture!)

Week 28 - "Hna Provost without feelings is like Cote D'Ivoire without Coco Beans"

Good morning from sunny and slightly cold Texas!  I don't have very much time, so let me get right to the chase!

Last Monday, our district, or the group of 6 missionaries, went to downtown Houston to go see a really cool butterfly exhibit.  There were butterflies EVERYWHERE, and in case anyone was wondering minus the Koi fish it is better than the Bronx Butterfly exhibit.  It was really fun to be in down town and we got pizza and everything.  My companion took it upon herself to keep up with my J-Walking and she actually did very amazing.  She said it was training for when she comes to visit my family in NYC. :)  And Elder Perez even dared me to J-Walk across the street in front of a cop, but of course I didn't haha.

I got to paint this week!  The Elders needed help painting a flag for our zone, which really I think meant that they wanted us to do it.  We did.  And it was awesome.  Picture below.

The first counselor in the Mission Presidency's wife died two fridays ago, and this week all of the Spanish Missionaries in the whole mission got to sing at her funeral.  There were so many of us, and we were all here in Conroe because that is where the funeral was.  Some missionaries had to drive 100 miles to get there, and for the first time in Conroe history we only had to drive 4.1.  When Hna Lowry volunteered me to conduct all the missionaries I volunteered Hna Provost to do it, and it was probably the best decision that I made all day.  She did amazing!  Afterwards as the entire funeral procession was getting ready to leave, Presidente Vasquez got out of the limo and ran towards the missionaries and thanked each of us personally for singing at his wife's funeral and then hugged us.  That man is one of my heroes.

WE HAD TWO BAPTISMS.  Can you hear the Hallelujah choruses?  I still can!  :)  Paulina's was really awesome.  She invited a lot of her friends and that was really special.   She asked me to talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  She asked Hno Ayala to do the baptism and not only did he leave his phone in his pocket when got into the font, but he slapped her down into the water so hard there was a splash zone created, and Elder Phister who was being one of the witnesses, was hit.  She is so brave.  I love that girl so much for her desire to change her life around.  Mean mugger picture included.

At Milton's baptism, there was more people there than come to church sometimes.  It was awesome.  His wife, Gaby, who is a member, cried.  And she said that in one year they are going to be sealed in the temple and I could probably not be more excited.

This week, on the 6th, was Three Kings Day, which is a tradition that they have in lots of Spanish Speaking Countries.  One of the traditions they do is that they eat this cake thingy with a little baby Jesus inside of it that means that you need to bring the food to a party a couple of weeks later.  We were at one of our recent convert's house and she offered me cake, and I chose this itty bitty little piece on the end because I didn't really want any but couldn't say no and somehow that was where the little baby Jesus was!  I like the saying, "Wise men still seek him,"  which talks about the three kings trying to find the baby Jesus because it easily relates the search for the Savior to us.  What are we searching for this new year, and what are we going to do to be a wise man? (Or women!)  I know that as we make the conscious effort to always seek him that He will illuminate our paths and we will find a joy that we never thought we could have.

I love you all a lot, and I hope that you have a wonderful week!
Always,
Hermana Madison McCurdy
ps. Everyone tell my little sister Happy Birthday.  HAPPY FOURTEENTH BIRTHDAY KAMI!!!!! <3

I'm guessing this is the mean mugger picture (?) :)

Week 27 - Come and Get it!

Ok you know what? Not going to fight with the technology tonight, pictures first!

Ps. This is Hna Sumsion, Hna Jorgensen, and I before Hna Sumsion went
home this last week. We miss her terribly.

ppss.  This is Elder Wager with 9 marshmallows in his mouth during a Spanish game we were playing. Sorry I don't have any pictures than that this week!

AHA- But I do….. Thanks to the Barrera Family!!  

Howdy y'all! Today I don't have very much time and a lot to say so
hold on tight-
    This week was a whole new level of crazy. Let me try to describe
it to you- I had to chase after a man riding a horse down the street
to contact him. We also got chased by a bunch of dogs and lost on a
really sketchy road called 'castlewood' out in the country. Our
investigators thought that Hna Provost was my mom! They thought I was
15 and that she was 32 and neither of us is really sure how to take
that. I got to speak in French, and even utilize my 2 word Chinese
vocabulary, but regardless the Chinese people loved it and were really
happy. We painted Paulina's house, went to bed at 10:30 on New Years,
knocked on tons of doors, and jumped the Elders' car. But more about
that later.
    Paulina and Milton are going to be baptized this weekend if all
goes according to plan. It was really crazy this week trying to make
sure that everything is okay for that, and this week is going to be
even crazier. If you guys could please keep them in your prayers, and
also keep the Hernandez Family in your prayers, that would be very
much appreciated.
    We set some crazy goals this week, and somehow we managed to
accomplish every single one. What started out as a super hard week
turned into one of the best ones of my whole mission. I know that goal
setting really works, and that when we learn to set goals we can make
miracles, and prepare ourselves for other miracles too!
    So about the Elders' car... Last night as they had pulled over to
use the wifi by the other English Elders' apartment, their battery
died! So this morning we couldn't find jumper cables and had to use
the English Elders'. And this is how they got the jumper cables,
because no missionary has them- One day they were apparently out doing
work when their car died and they were stranded. One Hispanic man
pulled over and asked what was wrong and they told him that the
battery had died in their car. Then he pulled out a pair of jumper
cables and gave them to them. The man said that he had a dream the
night before that he needed to put his jumper cables in the car, and
that this was why. And then he helped them jump their car and left.
How cool, right!? So that was our adventure this morning. Hna Provost
was doing her car-thing with some fighting words because the English
Elders were telling her she was a girl and she shouldn't do it- and
then the miracle about the jumper cables.
    I also learned about this flag that flies out in Cut and Shoot
(the nearby town), which has a star, a cannon, and the words "Come and
Get It!" During the Mexican-American war (or that's what I heard. I
can't fact check- it was probably more the first war in the 1840s-50s
if I had to guess) the Mexicans were fighting out in about Cut in
Shoot and the Texans only had one cannon. When the battle looked bleak
they all rallied around it and their slogan was, "Come and get it!"
And then "against all odds" (Texas dramatics, you know) they won the
battle! I like this story because not only does it perfectly represent
the Texas mindset, but because also because it has some cool
applications in life. I am starting to learn that as human beings we
compromise because of fear far more often than we like to think we do.
But when we are tempted to do things that are not pleasing to our
Father in Heaven, feel alone, or outnumbered, we should rally around
the 'cannon' (scriptures, standards, temple, etc) and yell, "Come and
Get It!!!" In this new year, let us make the goal to always defend our
standards with grit, hope, and a lot of Texan-like courage. I know
that when we are brave in choosing the right, God will always help us
win the battle.
    I love you guys!! Have a WONDERFUL new year!
Always,
Hermana Madison McCurdy

Week 26 - "When people ask me if I know how to swim, I say to them, 'Duh that's how I got here!'"

Quote props to Hno Barrera this week, speaking on his journey to America.  Now if only I can remember what happened the rest of this week…..

MIRIAM GOT BAPTIZED.  For those of you who don't remember or if I never told you about what happened there, we were teaching Miriam and about 5 days before her baptism she called it off for less than happy reasons.  But two months later she got baptized!  God has a plan for all of us!  Families are forever!

We had a Christmas Conference this week with all the missionaries in the entire mission.  We watched "The Nativity Movie" and it completely redefined the way that I think about Mary and Joseph.  What a blessed eye opening experience!  My favorite part of it was when after Joseph and Mary had been traveling to Bethlehem Joseph was napping because he was so tired.  Mary washed his feet for him because it was the only thing that she could do.  I liked this part a lot because I was thinking about how maybe Jesus got the idea of washing his disciples' feet from watching the example of his mother.  And the rest of the conference was good too.  :)  Hna Lowry and I took a special picture with our driving mascots.  Picture below.

We had a lesson with one of our investigators who is getting baptized and he explained to us his favorite part in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi chapters 8-12).  He said, "My whole life I have been on the path of God, but I was wandering in the mists of darkness.  Now I have found the iron rod."  My favorite part was when he then continued to say, " and one day I WILL partake of the fruit!"  He gets it!!!! I invite all of you to read it too. :)

This week we also had Christmas in 87 degree Houston weather, and I got to talk to my family!  On my birthday, I classic to character, had a bowl of spaghetti Os with a candle, which I then blew out.  (That was for you Kam!)  I also got a plate of cake shoved in my face.  But it was really good cake, so there was no downside really.

Also, I wanted to share with you guys the coolest things that happened on Christmas Eve!  We had been planning things all day to do, when Hna Provost knew that we needed to go visit the Ochoa family.  The Ochoa's live 50 miles away and we only had 200 miles for the rest of the month, but somehow we knew we needed to go out there.  So we went, and the drive was beautiful, and when we pulled up the mom answered the door with tears in her eyes and told us that she had just then been praying that we would come.  God really does answer prayers.  Then we were leaving and I lost the phone in the car.  We looked through the whole car, 5 times!  Finally we asked Hna Ochoa to call the phone and we found it in a pocket that my companion had watched me look through multiple times.  As we were finally on our way again, my companion optimistically said, "Well, maybe we would have gotten into a car accident and God was really protecting us."  That was when we drove past this really cool old looking church.  We pulled over, got out, took a quick picture, and just as we were leaving a really nice lady named Pamela pulled over and asked us if we needed help taking a picture.  She then proceeded to tell us about how her great-grandma had started the church in 1875 and about the history (I was really into it haha).  We then shared a little bit of our message and as we parted ways she told us that she was going to share it with all her children and her family.  As we drove away we realized that if we hadn't been there at that exact moment we never would have met her.

One of my mother's favorite scriptures is found in Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."  I know that this is true with all of my heart.  When we let the Lord direct us, he will always guide us to the places that we need to be and exactly when we need to be there.  Not only then do our paths become perfected, but then we are truly following HIS paths, and I know that we can find no greater happiness, joy, and peace of mind.  Follow His paths, and they will always lead us back home to His presence.  And like my mother also always says, "There is no place like home."

Always,
Hna Madison McCurdy

These first three come from Sister Barrera.  Madison and her companion share the same birthday!  What are the chances of that????

This picture comes from Diana.  Thank you sweet ladies!!  She is now part of Diana's family.

Her Spagheti O's (for Kamrynn)

Hermana Lowry and Madison with their driving mascots :)

ps. This picture is yo y la familia Hernandez.  I love them a lot.  Pray for them too please. :)

Week 25 - "Happy Titanic Day, Hermana McCurdy"

My new companion's name is Hermana Rebecca Provost, and she is from West Haven, Utah!  She plays the piano very well (which means I am off the hook for the Christmas season).  She and I have the same birthday even though she is two years older than me but you can bet that we are going to have a party :) pictures to follow next week….. She started her mission here in Conroe a long time ago, and at the end of this transfer, or approximately 36 days from now she will be finishing her mission.  She is the bomb.  And I also got her addicted to family history this week and I don't feel even a millimeter bad about it. Haha!

Another great thing about Hermana Provost is that she can hold a tune really well, so our caroling/finding people to teach has totally been stepped up this week as we throw in some alto parts and some improvised material in there.  God has definitely blessed me more than just our singing this week.

We set a baptism date with that guy from Connecticut (his name is Milton) for January 9th!  We doubled our member presents, and almost all of our numbers.  Miracles!  We worked and worked and we think the best part is that we found areas where we can work even harder.  The work is growing! :)

We had the ward family Christmas Party.  It was a lot of fun.  That is where we took the picture with Oscar Gonzalez, the 1st Counselor in the Bishopric, disguised as Santa.

We got lost on a really sketchy narrow dark road out in the country with purple trees on either side of us and I think that is really how Hermana Provost and I bonded.  It was an adventure about how we got out of there to say the least.

Also remember that lady who went back to Germany and ate seven pieces of Cake?  Well, this week we got to know her daughter, and her life is CRAZY.  She was a war baby in Germany and had to move to the US on the Boat the USS Rosa when she was ten.  She got to sail past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  She was interpreter for the US military.  She was part of the black panthers and she once ran the panama canal, with the "Atlantic Ocean on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other."  Hermana George has become one of my favorite people.  After church she was confiding to me about her life, and she told me about how for 24 years she had lost the song in her heart, and how somehow she has found it again.  I know that God gives us so many different gifts, and that through him is the only way that we can be happy.  I hope that each of you will find the song in your heart, and that you will never stop it from playing.
Merrily,
Hermana Madison McCurdy

p.s. Merry Christmas!!! :)

ppss. My old district at the temple.

Hna McCurdy and Hna Provost at the ward Christmas Party!

(Photo compliments of the Barerra Family- Keep them coming!)

Doesn't the glow of the Santa hat make her look like an angel? :)

Week 24 - I love to see the temple!

We got to go the temple this week as a district, and I bought a Mormon Tabernacle Choir/David Archuletta Christmas CD.  We have realized that there comes a time in every missionaries' life when he or she, becomes grateful that someone found David Archuletta.   Maybe it is because we can't listen to anything else, but we are living off of "Silent Night" by David Archuletta and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  We also had temple tours with Paulina, and then goth to go on Friday night to do baptisms with Francelia for her family.  They have put a little nativity scene outside the temple, it was really pretty.

We have also been Caroling like crazy.  We have developed a tactic of caroling every time we knock on someone's door and know they are home but won't answer the door…. and then they open the door.  We got to carol in an Old Person home this week as a District and it was very special.  One old man came as we were leaving and didn't get to hear us sing, so we asked him for his favorite song and then we sang all three verses of Silent Night and I resisted singing the David Archuletta version on the last verse with all that I had haha.  Our elderly friends sang along and it made my whole day, even though they put me in charge of the singing.

We also had a Stake Christmas Party this week, and we found out that President Nelson from the Twelve Apostles is coming to dedicate our new stake center next month.  Our ward primary sang the Little Drummer Boy (in Spanish) and it was the best song of the entire night haha.  All the missionaries in the Stake were the closing act.  Then on the way home they shut down the freeway and it was torture.

Also, the Hernandez Family is not getting a divorce!  We're 100% sure that it was because they read the Book of Mormon together.  They might not be so sure, but we are.

I love going to the temple.  It was so special every single time that we went this week.  I know that the temple changes lives and hearts.  Paulina is so excited to go in one day, and I was privileged to watch Francelia enter and help her family become a little bit more eternal.  How lucky we are to have the House of God on the earth today.  I wish that I could be with all of you one day in the temple. :)

Have a merry week before Christmas, and please let me know if there is anything that I can do for any of you.  Please pray for the people in Conroe, that they will be ready to receive the miracles of God in this Christmas Season.

All my love,
Hermana Madison McCurdy

ps.  These are pictures of the temple, us with Francelia at the temple and I don't remember.