My 3rd companion!

this is the letter i wanted to send last pday:

my teacher, sister willis, is an incredible teacher. she is 23 but i swear could convert anyone with the help of the holy ghost. she taught us last week that we need to truely love our people, our investigarots, and our companions. that is one of the first steps to effective teaching. a quote i like to look to is, "there are 2 types of people in your life, those you love and those you have not met yet." we should all try to live by this princople. i have always believed that we know that we love someone when we see a tiny glimpse of who Heavenly Father sees when he looks at the person. I want to challenge all of you to strive to see that perspective in everyone.

 

I have also gained a very strong testimony and appreciation of the Holy Ghost. i know i told you that I was in a companionship of 2, sister larson and I, but i lied! its a trio! me, sister larson, and the Holy Ghost. its not me, or sister larson, or even the book of mormon that converts, its the Holy Ghost! and that is why missionaries need to do all that they can to keep it with them. I love the quote, "if man can talk a man in to baptism, then man can talk a man out. But if the Holy Ghost can talk a man in to baptism, then no man can talk him out". Its so true!

 

As i was studying my scriptures the other day i came across a verse that i love. d and c 1:23 "that the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers" what an incredible scripture for missionaries! i am the weak and simple! and the Lord wants ME to teach HIS gospel to the world! before kings and rulers! I might just take that literally and go teach the queen!

 

And last thing, sorry for the spiritual overload, but i had an incredible experience last week. when missionaries teach the investigators, we challenge them to read the Book of Mormonm pray about it, and find that it is true through feelings from the Holy Ghost. I started to feel a little werid when i would ask this of them when i in fact have never had that experience. do i know that the Book of Mormon is true? Absolutely. I know it through logic and feeling. But i have never had that pivital moment in my life. i have just always known that it is true. I was praying to Heavenly Father one night to have that experience. i prayed to know through the Spirit overcoming me that it is true. And I ended my prayer and just kneeled there for a while and listened. Nothing happened. i finally got up and realized that i needed to read my patriarchal blessing. so with a few mins left before it was time for lights out, i got out my blessing and read it. it told me: "you have been blessed to have been born when the gospel has been restored in its fullness and to have a testimony of its truthfulness." i then had a feeling that i needed to talk to either my MTC or mission pres about it whenever i got the chance. I thought it wouldnt be for a while but that was not the case! the very next morning all of the missionaries had seperate times set up for private interviews with the MTC president. And mine happened to be very first of all of the missionaries! i got in to the interview and everything was going well. he was just asking me some simple questions. then we were close to finishing and he asked if there was anything he could do for me or any other questions. I built up the courage and just layed it out! it surprised me but i started to cry. he told me that just like me, he has never had one of those "aha" moments either! but that he KNOWS, just like me, through reason and feeling that it is true. Immediately i felt peace. It was my favorite experience at the MTC.

 

We all dressed up for 4th of july and one day all the sisters wore a black skirt, white shirt, and scarf to mimic the elders outfits and typical boys, they never even noticed. We had to point it out.

Love,

Sister Curtis

 

oh, Play. Station. That sister who i flew with that i told you about, the pesimist, we were sitting with her at lunch one day and it made me laugh cuz she bluntly told us "i hate people". she went on and on about she hates people! you cant just hate people! and she said that at her farewell people kept coming up to talk to her and she just wanted to go home and for everyone to stop talking to her.

 

Now here is my letter for today that will cover since i have been out in the field:

 So i have been out in the field now for 4 and a half days! my trainer is sister Hymas from Riverton, UT. Jacob she blocked her FB before she left so sorry you cant stalk her. Her first name is Rachel though just in case. She is cool. She has been out 3 months now. Something way cool about our companionship: Off the bat she found out about my healthy eating and exercise obsession or whatever you want to call it. She said she was all game. In fact, she later told me that her last transfer she had been praying to Heavenly Father to send her a companion who would help her be healthier because I guess she has gained 20 lbs since she has been out. I think he did his job... So we eat soo healthy and exercise everyday! Her last companion was a rough one. She cooked a lot so they ate a ton and unhealthy and her last comp would sleep in an hour errday so they never got to exercise. NO BUENO. haha also i had our Relief society president make an announcement to the women that the sisters are trying to eat healthy so no desserts and lots of salads! They all thought it was a great idea! so hopefully they remember cuz we have dinner appts all the gosh dang time. And dont tell sister hymas but i hate dinner appts. To me they seam a little bit of a waste of time. We walk an hour to a members home, have to make conversation with an hour for them which feels fake and lots of silences, share a five minute message, ask for referalls which they have not had so far, and walk an hour home. But hopefully i will start to like them cuz we have a lot!

 

We are in an area called Milton Keynes and a sister came up to me and asked me if i knew a luke clayton and i guess he is in my zone! not my area but zone so pretty close! Oh and i guess there are only a few areas that are actually in london so fyi i aint in london. Milton Keynes is where its at. Look it up! It is gheeeettttooooo. hahaha. Sister Hymas and i are white washing!! so that is actually really hard and we are having a hard time. There has not been sisters in this area for 5 years i guess!! want to know why?? the last sisters had to be transferred because of gang violence, prostitution, yadi yadi goin on!! haha. oh also, i does not feel like england at all. I feel more like im in cali. Thats ok though! im supposed to be here so it doesnt bother me. There are 2 other missoinaries in this area but they are elders. both from utah. One is Elder Jensen from orem and the other is Elder Anderson from riverton who was actually my good friend in the MTC so thats exciting that we are out here together!!

 

Oh hey fam i have a favor to ask, if you wouldnt mind could you please get out of my dreams!! i think every night you have been in them so ya thats probably not best for me and stuff. You too friends, lyd lauren etc.

 

And second favor, PLEASE send me lots of pics from Sarahs wedding. We can make a deal. I will send you pics from England if you send me pics from wedding. Cool? Cool.

 

So we walk EVERYWHERE. No joke. We walk to dinner appt that are an hour away and walk back. Its great for the exercise aspect but it drains me and I feel like our time could be better spent. Also, weather has been SUNNY since we got here so props to mother nature. everyone says it wont last though. We will see...

 

there is an elder curtis in my disrtict! from alabama.

 

the mission is really really hard. everyday i think "what did i get myself in to" and i look forward to bed but every night when bed comes i keep thinking about how i am so excited for the next day. And I still would not trade a mission for anything. the thing that helps is when i think about what i would be doing if i were at home and really, nothing would help me to grow nearly as much a a mission.

 

last saturday night we had a really long day and i was super tired. I was praying for a half hour and had the prompting that sister H and i needed to fast the next day (sunday) so i got up from my prayer and said "guess what were doing tomorrow!? fasting!!!!" so we fasted for our potential investigators. Its really hard cuz we are not having any success with them. we dont even have one solid investigator yet but i know that Heavenly Father is just testing us and we need to keep working hard.

 

i have so much more i want to say but noo time. BUT i really really really like getting emails from you guys and i always have time to read them just not a lot of time to respond so PLEASE keep sending them.

 

ALSO, sarah, they had us watch a health thing at the MTC and i swear this guy doing a pullup is Nathaniel. Its weird. I will attach a pic. Please agree with me and say im not crazy.

Random things to know about England:

the light switches are backwards

people park on sidewalks

people at home who try to fake the accent, you are totally off so stop trying

they have small cars (smaller familes i suppose)

you bag your own groceries!

they dont use dryers for clothes