Week 34 - Happy Late President's Day!

So last week, the myldsmail.net malfunctioned and therefore my email did not get sent, which kind of stinks because I sent y'all an awesome analogy about bad eggs….anywho-

This week not that super exciting stuff happened, but let me give you a run through:

I ate steak for the first time in what feels like forever!  It was so good!!!  We set four baptismal dates!  We played a super intense game of Spanish cards, I had a crazy dream, and we went to the temple. :)
Also, the Perez family got BAPTIZED.  WOOH WOOH!  This is the picture below.

Also, we got to play bingo with elderly people in a nursing home!  It was very interesting, and no I didn't win haha, but I made a friend!  One of the ladies was deaf and so she never got to talk to anyone because no one knows any sign language, but I learned after being with Andrea in Conroe, and we quickly became friends even though I could only say about 15 words.  I think sign language will be my next language!

One thing Hna Childs and I really learned this week was that love is everyone's native language.  We all learned the language of pure and perfect love from God before we came to earth.  Sometimes people are mean, and sometimes you really can't communicate for anything, but everyone, and I mean everyone, understands love.  When we can exude the love of the Savior, there is nothing better that we can do.  So this week, try to show a little bit more love, and I know you'll never regret it.

I hope you guys are all doing wonderful.  Life really is a blessing, sometimes I only think we have to see it that way.

Always,
Hna McCurdy

Zone Conference

The Perez family

Week 32 - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." But really it was just the best of times.

This week was not half as exciting as last week… sorry.  But it was still the best!

This week we were invited to sing with a bunch of other missionaries at an English Stake Conference.  It was fun, but the English meeting was really weird.  I'm thinking about visiting the Spanish Ward a lot when I get home!

How was the Super Bowl?  Who won?  I learned the hard way last night that it's a really bad idea to go knocking on SuperBowl Sunday night.  To put it simply, this lady (probably drunk) thought that we were trying to break into her house and almost called the cops.  But- she didn't.  Entonces todo seta bien. :)

My spanish has improved in leaps and bounds.  Several times this week I had the realization that I was talking or understanding Spanish with no trouble at all.  I have been understanding words I have never heard before.  The gift of tounges is real!

This week, I felt like a real missionary.  We were hid from, had doors slammed in our faces, were sworn at, and had people telling us right and left that they didn't want to hear what we had to say and that they were already saved leave us alone, and yet this has been the happiest, most fulfilling time of my life.  I know that when we follow the commandments, every single one of them, it does not matter the bad things that happen or the mountains we must climb- because we will always have the support of God and will always have a peace of mind, and there is where we find happiness.  We believe in a God of miracles.   I know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and that if we only have the eyes to see and the ears to hear we will not only find miracles on our right and on our left, but there will be so many it will seem like we are walking through a fog of them.  The greatest miracle of all will be the miracle that we see in ourselves.  I know that as we come unto Jesus Christ and are obedient we can be free from all guilt and filled with hope of infinite promises.

So if knocking on doors is really hard, why do we do it?  Because we find people like the Perez family who ARE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!!  And on Valentines day too! How cute, right? :)  So look for pictures of that next week.

I hope more exciting things happen this week because I really have got almost nothing.

I love you guys!  I hope all is well wherever you are, and that you are all warm and safe.  Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for any of you.  :)

Always,
Hna McCurdy

ps. This is us and the other Sister Missionaries in our zone, but they are English.  We all bought the same skirt and then wore it to zone meeting and all the Elders were SUPER confused.  Fun times.

ppss.  This is Elder Galante, fresh out of the Missionary Training Center.  He was really tired.  His spanish is amazing.  And so is his German.  And he went to Provo High School.  Go Bulldogs ;)

Week 31 - Hold on to your hats!

To my favorite people:

This has been a ccrrraaazzzzyyyyy week.   Hold on to your hats!

On Tuesday, Hna Provost and I had to clean out the entire apartment and make sure we hadn't forgotten a single thing.  We were driving down the highway slightly depressed when Hna Provost realized she'd forgotten her coat…..So we went back and then we really were on our way.  As we were heading down to transfer meeting the songs that played on the radio were coincidentally, "God be with you till we meet again," and, "I'll go where you want me to go." (Coincidence? I think not.  But it made the whole thing more emotionally compelling.)

My new companion's name is Hna Childs.  She has been out 6 weeks longer than I have.  She is from Oregon, plays the flute, is a master at giving me advice, and basically is an angel.  Y'all would probably really like her! :) we are serving in Westgreen (the Spanish ward in Katy Texas), which is a lot like where I started my mission.  The congregation is double the size of my last, and they are all recently here from Venezuela which is awesome because I love Venezuelans.  (Shout out to the Nelsons!)  But the best part about this place is the members!  They are so willing to do anything to help us.

Conroe and Westgreen are in the same stake, which means that both congregations are part of one group of 8 congregations closeish to each other, which is called a stake.  The Houston West Spanish Stake is the last completely Spanish Stake in America.  And this week was stake conference!  Everyone has been really excited for a long time leading up to it because President Russell M Nelson from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles was coming to dedicate the new building.  We had to leave super early because a member drove us and wanted to get there in time to get good seats, so we took some bizarre back roads, and hit a possum, but the conference was amazing.  President Nelson has been learning Spanish and gave his entire talk in it.  He did very well.  He has a really strong accent but really it made the experience better because you could see how much he was trying.  All the members loved him.  Especially the old Hispanic ladies who he hugged- they floated out of the chapel.  The coolest part was when he stopped looking at his talk and bore his testimony.  His accent was gone.  Although he didn't sound native, it was not difficult to understand him in the slightest.  God really does qualify us when we try our best.  Also, Paty and Alfredo and their family were there.  For those of you who don't remember who that is, they were a family that got baptized in August and October.  I was so happy I might have also been floating like the old ladies.  They were so happy to see me too, and kept saying, "Hermana! Sabes mucho Espanol!" (In shock.  My Spanish really has improved quite a bit since then haha.) they are doing very well and are looking forward to going to the temple to be sealed in October.

So, did I get to meet President Nelson?  Why yes I did!  We had a surprise tri-mission conference this Saturday, in the Texas Houston South Mission.  There were nearly 700 missionaries there.  I have never been so proud to be serving in this place and with President and Sister Mortensen.  Even though everyone was waiting for President Nelson to start, he walked all the way up the stand to shake the hand of the Elder playing the organ and thank him.  He gave a really great talk about a bunch of different things, but he told us a really cool experience he had about the two little girls that passed away in his last conference talk (email me if you want the whole story), about our purpose, and about the temple.

I know that Russell M. Nelson is a Apostle of the Lord.  I am grateful to have the opportunity to learn from men like the ones I read about in the scriptures.  I will never forget hearing his testimony of the Savior, and I would like to add mine to it.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World.  I know that He died for us, but that He was born and lived for us too.   I know that as we come unto Him there is no pain and sadness that cannot be undone and no happiness that cannot be found.  By becoming His disciples, we become more happy.  It is the great test of life, and I am forever grateful to have His help in it.  I know that He loves each of you and wants to help you too.  Please come unto Him a little each day by praying or by reading the scriptures, and I know it will change your life in greater ways than you could possibly see.  I love you all, and I hope that you have an even more splendid week than I am going to have.

Always,
Hna Madison McCurdy
p.s. my new address is:
2002 S. Mason Rd #1222
Katy, TX  77450

ppss. The man on Elder Wagner's shoulders is Hno Ayala, our ward mission leader.

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