first things first, right now I am wearing my favorite sweater that I just barely bought and you wanna know why its my favorite? Cuz it has elbow patches! I love elbow patches. I bought 2 with elbow patches! So yes, I got a few winter items. I got some boots and sweaters. As you can see from my picture, my boots are a little worn...
crazy that Alison got her call to nashville tennessee on the account of i have so many friends that live/are from/are on missions there!
Jake says that Jane is not just a blob of boring any more so Im excited about that! dont let her grow up too much though!
I really love the scriptures.
Mom and Dad, thank you for the $$. I will use it wisely. The
exchange right is thumbs down over here. for every $1.65 it is £1 over
here.
Dad-whoa! just read your story right after I typed Kirstens portion and guess what?! your experience is even more like that talk about the man who did not drink the wine at the televised function and he was promoted for it! Wow. You should look that up cuz your experience is very similar to it.
Mom- you should do whatever makes you happy with your hair! if you want to get a wig then get a wig! i would suggest you dont though because you are beautiful the way that you are! You are so pretty. Where do you think that Kirsten, Sarah, and Nicole got there looks from? (no offense to you dad. Zane and Jake got there looks from you so no worries)
Zane-so one time you mentioned something in one of your emails that made me super happy and I jumped a little cuz I was pumped. This thing shall remain unsaid but hopefully you get what I'm sayin. If not, we can talk later.
Mary-thank you for the workouts. Ive tried most of them and am excited to try the rest!
Sarah- I am so happy that you won your race and you had to do the most running. You make me a proud sister.
Gil-I never thought about that before that the word for a female hero is also the name for a highly addictive drug. Though it may sound crued, I support you calling me Heroine 100%. Sister Heroine would be a bit more appropriate though I suppose.
Jacob- you put up a youtube video with over 600,000 views and a radio shoutout!? wha???haha i read your letter and I was laughing cuz it was so funny! But also SOO goood. (here all the missionaries say "soo goood" all the time and i dont know why but i dont like it. sometimes i catch myself saying it but i chastise myself err time that i do. I think they say it cuz no one here in england says "cool" or "awesome").
Also, I totally support your biking phase. I want to get in to biking when I get back for sure.
Kirsten- yay! Heavenly Father does answer prayers! Thank you for sharing that special story with me. I am so happy that you never lower your standards for anyone. It makes me think of the talk of the man who did not drink from the wine and he ended up getting a higher position at work for it.
Also, i know so sad that BYU does not have interior design that would be bomb. We will see what happens. I loved all of your suggestions!
Josh- so great about the investigator! serving in Utah would be so amazing to have members that are so readily wanting to help out.
Nicole- hopefully you have got my letter by now!
Bandit- stay alive!
Jett and Jane- stop growing!
Dad-whoa! just read your story right after I typed Kirstens portion and guess what?! your experience is even more like that talk about the man who did not drink the wine at the televised function and he was promoted for it! Wow. You should look that up cuz your experience is very similar to it.
Mom- you should do whatever makes you happy with your hair! if you want to get a wig then get a wig! i would suggest you dont though because you are beautiful the way that you are! You are so pretty. Where do you think that Kirsten, Sarah, and Nicole got there looks from? (no offense to you dad. Zane and Jake got there looks from you so no worries)
Zane-so one time you mentioned something in one of your emails that made me super happy and I jumped a little cuz I was pumped. This thing shall remain unsaid but hopefully you get what I'm sayin. If not, we can talk later.
Mary-thank you for the workouts. Ive tried most of them and am excited to try the rest!
Sarah- I am so happy that you won your race and you had to do the most running. You make me a proud sister.
Gil-I never thought about that before that the word for a female hero is also the name for a highly addictive drug. Though it may sound crued, I support you calling me Heroine 100%. Sister Heroine would be a bit more appropriate though I suppose.
Jacob- you put up a youtube video with over 600,000 views and a radio shoutout!? wha???haha i read your letter and I was laughing cuz it was so funny! But also SOO goood. (here all the missionaries say "soo goood" all the time and i dont know why but i dont like it. sometimes i catch myself saying it but i chastise myself err time that i do. I think they say it cuz no one here in england says "cool" or "awesome").
Also, I totally support your biking phase. I want to get in to biking when I get back for sure.
Kirsten- yay! Heavenly Father does answer prayers! Thank you for sharing that special story with me. I am so happy that you never lower your standards for anyone. It makes me think of the talk of the man who did not drink from the wine and he ended up getting a higher position at work for it.
Also, i know so sad that BYU does not have interior design that would be bomb. We will see what happens. I loved all of your suggestions!
Josh- so great about the investigator! serving in Utah would be so amazing to have members that are so readily wanting to help out.
Nicole- hopefully you have got my letter by now!
Bandit- stay alive!
Jett and Jane- stop growing!
In case any one is confused on Jacobs, Kirstens, Joshes, or Dads, i
have included clips of their stories to share so that it will make more
sense:
Dads: The Chinese have a custom of toasting. Not just once at a dinner but all throughout the dinner. It starts with one toast by the host and then everyone at the table walks around and offers toasts to the others at the table. The last two nights I was at two of the largest round tables I have ever seen. The first night there were about 50 people sitting around one very large table. For several hours the guest walked around while they eat and toasted each other. It was impossible for me to avoid because even if I stayed in my seat they came to me. It was a table full of dignitaries. Mayors from around the world in including Africa, Australia and Thailand. As I sat down for dinner both times I found a wine glass full of wine at my seat with a picture of wine next to it. I quickly found the waitress and told her to please replace my wine with soda. For some reason both nights this very confusing for them. They ended up taking my wine glass totally away and I was left with only a glass of water in a very different shape than the wine glass. Four hours the toasting went on. I found myself posing for pictures with my silly glass holding it up to their wine glass. Finally I found the host and explained that I did not wish to insult them but rather I was not drinking wine for religious purposes. This was not easy for them to understand because they have so little religion in china. As I was explaining an interpreter joined us who had lived outside china for 10 years. She was very helpful in explaining the religious significance of my situation.
The host smiled and with a little joke in his voice said, “I need to join your church so I don’t have to drink anymore.” It was clear that while he didn’t really understand what it meant to join our church that he didn’t enjoy the drinking and thought it was pretty cool that I didn’t drink. As we were leaving for the night he once again smiled and said, “I found another reason to join your church. If I join I don’t have to smoke anymore.” I learned that my two other partners from Utah who sat at different parts of the table had similar experiences explaining why they were not drinking. It’s a very small thing but in a county where missionaries are not allowed and tourist are forbidden from talking about religion I was able to leave a very positive impression on some of the countries decision makers. This is significant to me because about a year ago I had am impression that I needed to regain my Chinese so I could serve the Church when and if they needed me. I had supposed it was for after retirement but it was fun to see the prompting so soon bear fruit.
Dads: The Chinese have a custom of toasting. Not just once at a dinner but all throughout the dinner. It starts with one toast by the host and then everyone at the table walks around and offers toasts to the others at the table. The last two nights I was at two of the largest round tables I have ever seen. The first night there were about 50 people sitting around one very large table. For several hours the guest walked around while they eat and toasted each other. It was impossible for me to avoid because even if I stayed in my seat they came to me. It was a table full of dignitaries. Mayors from around the world in including Africa, Australia and Thailand. As I sat down for dinner both times I found a wine glass full of wine at my seat with a picture of wine next to it. I quickly found the waitress and told her to please replace my wine with soda. For some reason both nights this very confusing for them. They ended up taking my wine glass totally away and I was left with only a glass of water in a very different shape than the wine glass. Four hours the toasting went on. I found myself posing for pictures with my silly glass holding it up to their wine glass. Finally I found the host and explained that I did not wish to insult them but rather I was not drinking wine for religious purposes. This was not easy for them to understand because they have so little religion in china. As I was explaining an interpreter joined us who had lived outside china for 10 years. She was very helpful in explaining the religious significance of my situation.
The host smiled and with a little joke in his voice said, “I need to join your church so I don’t have to drink anymore.” It was clear that while he didn’t really understand what it meant to join our church that he didn’t enjoy the drinking and thought it was pretty cool that I didn’t drink. As we were leaving for the night he once again smiled and said, “I found another reason to join your church. If I join I don’t have to smoke anymore.” I learned that my two other partners from Utah who sat at different parts of the table had similar experiences explaining why they were not drinking. It’s a very small thing but in a county where missionaries are not allowed and tourist are forbidden from talking about religion I was able to leave a very positive impression on some of the countries decision makers. This is significant to me because about a year ago I had am impression that I needed to regain my Chinese so I could serve the Church when and if they needed me. I had supposed it was for after retirement but it was fun to see the prompting so soon bear fruit.
Jacobs: Throughout the day, it slowly started accumulating views. I
went to a class in the afternoon and it was at 1,000 views, and I was
like, "oh man, that's awesome. I can't believe I put a video up that has
a thousand views!" I thought that would be the end of it, but after
class, it was at 10,000. From there, it just kept growing. By the time I
went to bed it was at 90,000. The next morning, I googled my title and
saw that a bunch of websites were talking about it. A bunch of people
were talking about how we should treat customer service reps better, but
a bunch of people were also talking about how customer service are
terrible and were sympathizing with the customer. They were also trying
to figure out which company it was. Everyone was guessing Comcast. I
didn't tell anyone it was Vivint because I don't want to get in trouble
with them. Anyways, By the end of Thursday night, it was like at 200,000
views. Yesterday morning, Kirsten called me because she was listening
to the radio and a station was playing my call. So, right now, it's at
650,000 views. I think things have kind of plateaued, which is fine.
It's been a fun experience.
Kirstens:We spend the night last night with some of our best
friends up in Park City and it was amazing. I have a semi-cool
experience I"ll share with you. Our friends are amazing and wonderful
people and all very strong in the church but not all of them share the
exact same standards that we have. For example the plan for the evening
was to go out to dinner and then hot tubbing. Keep in mind this was all
on a Sunday. I never want to lower my standards for anyone but these are
my closest friends in the world and I also didnt' want to offend them.
We decided to eat dinner with Josh's mom so we were able to avoid going
out to dinner with them. In turn they all figured out they'd rather eat
with their families as well so no one ended up going out to dinner.
However, there was still the hot tub situation. I was particularly
worried about this one. I prayed in the car ride up to the hotel that it
would all work out. When we got to the hotel our friend told me that
she had forgotten her swim suit and she was so disappointed she wouldn't
be able to go in the hot tub! Because she couldn't go everyone else
decided that we would just stay at the hotel and play games instead.
Although this was a small thing it is a very distinct reminder to me
that Heavenly Father loves me and is aware of my needs and also answers
my prayers.
Josh: Something cool happened at church yesterday. We had a real
live investigator come! He lives in our ward and a member of our ward
just invited him to come to church and take the discussions and he
agreed! I spoke in sacrament and for some reason he really liked what I
said. I introduced myself to him after the meeting and he had me email
him a copy of my talk. He also took notes in all of our classes!
Whaaaa!? The missionaries teach him in the mornings and I want him
taught in our home while I am home and not flying. It is a great and
rare opportunity that doesn't come around a lot in Utah. So wish us
luck. His name is Leslie. I know kind of a girl name but whatever.
Pictures:
1) me heal clicking in England
2)sister Hymas and I
3) my favorite boots that i wear every day that might need a break...what do you think?
1) me heal clicking in England
2)sister Hymas and I
3) my favorite boots that i wear every day that might need a break...what do you think?
Love always,
Sister Curtis
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