Family!!
Oh my goodness. What a week. Our zone officially all left..so hard saying bye! I still miss them. We had 40 new philippines missionaries come in Wednesday. So crazy..we could only speak Tagalog to them and it was so hard. We got 7 new sisters in our zone.
The other morning I opened my eyes and saw sister Aoina's face right in front of me. haha she didn't say one word just staring at me waiting for me to get up. So funny! She has been fiesty lately and it's amazing. She sticks up for me & has my back. She is teaching me how to be a polynesian. The other day some elder's cut me in line and she goes, "hey excuse me you just cut in front of her we were here first" haha soooo awesome. Just now she said "tell your mom I am proud of her for quitting her job!" So she is proud of you mom..haha btw so am I!
I saw TY FLYNN! Tell the Brevard's! My future bro in law. It was good to see a familiar face, I wanted to hug him though! I told his district they have the best teacher ever and he is my bro in law.
Things here have been soo good. I am getting so sad I only have 3 weeks left is that weird? Everyone is excited but I have LOVED the mtc. It's so fun. I make it fun! I am freaked out of my mind about the Philippines...It's not good. Last night my teacher gave me a little pep talk and a "you can do it sister curtis". I felt a lot better. I got in a scared mood because you know that little island thats included in my mission off the philippines? well sisters were forbidden to go there, but i talked to someone last night that just got home from the philippines in december and he said they changed the rules now and sisters are allowed to go there!! AHHHHH!!! Sis A goes, they must have remembered I was coming, and i said, "did they FORGET I was coming?" OMG. So my teacher made me feel better. I kept asking him "bother Itri WHY am I going to the philippines?" He would just laugh! haha I need to just have faith in the Lord! He will take care of me!
Ty said I look ready. At least I look ready, cause I don't feel it! My tagalog is horrible people!! I am going to be mute for 6 months out there! Next Thursday we get our flight plans, so then I'll know the times and I will let you know mom!
Anyways, teaching has been hard. I feel like I am not progressing with the language. It's hard, then I just look at the newbies and feel A LOT better about my tagalog ;) I helped them yesterday and I felt really awesome. I am not as bad as I think!
I will be sad without Kaitlyn next door to me. We will probably cry. K I am done talking about leaving.
Mom I LOVED THE CLOTHES!!!
anyways, I loved the clothes mom!! YAY!! Everyone was jealous! They are so so cute. I told them my mom is a fashionista so I am so lucky!
Is Dad really coming to the Philippines? Cause that would be amazing if he really was!! please do.
weird things that happened to me today: this tongan elder came up to me yesterday at lunch his name is Elder Tonga haha go figure and he was like, "how do you say I love you in tagalog" haha and i told him mahal kita and he said "can I have your email?" haha and i was like sure..he could barely speak english. Everyone was like staring at us. I was just laughing so hard and then he was like "i am going to say mahal kita at the end of my email to you" okay so random? haha pretty sure that behavior is forbidden in the mtc
then this random elder started talking to us and asked where we were going on our missions and i said philippines and i am learning tagalog and he said "how do you say, you have nice hair in tagalog?" hahah i had no idea so now whenever he sees me he says "you have nice hair" in the fastest weirdest way i have ever heard someone say that. soooo funny!! k am i so weird that i laugh at these weird, most random things? i am such a freakk people!
Well, I am loving my time here so much! I just love love love my companion. She has really helped me. In our first companionship inventory she told me I need to be humbled and stop being so selfish. I am now so grateful she told me that! I feel like that has changed my purpose here and our companionship a ton. Who knew I wasn't humble or self less? Ha ha jk. You learn a lot about your self when you are on a mission. I am way grateful for that! I feel like I am starting to loose myself in this work and find myself at the same time. Tell bryceee man to get excited, I think about him a lot here! I just love him! Tell him to at least email me!!
I love you all!! Write me for the last 2 weeks cause in the PINES i won't get anythang! ha ha everyone read your scripts and say your prayers :)
xoxo
Sis Curtis
Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
A Fast Week for our Sister Shelby!
this week was really fast.
my tagalog is coming..slowly. on sunday we had a girl pass out in relief society..so scary. it was a crazy thing! but she's fine. on tuesday night i got FRONT ROW to the devotional and it was Elder Clarke of the seventy. me and another girl were on splits or whatever (our companions were together at the residence getting something) so we just sat there saving seats and this old cute guy comes up to us and asks us if we wanted the front row. so we took them! all the elders were shaking their heads cause sisters get everything haha. but it was awesome! such a great devotional.
last night at trc me and sis A made a goal "hindi ingles" no english. so we had 2 lessons of 20 minutes and we didn't speak any english! it was so awesome. last week i cried to my teachers about how sucky i am and then last night we were pretty much philippino's.
i saw casey hammond he's the cutest and loving it here so tell his mom he is good!
my valentine's day was really good! i decorated my whole door thanks to you mom it was so cute. everyone was getting so many packages and letters!
i spiked the volleyball yesterday and this guy was blocking me on the other side and i spiked it over him and then everyone was like "oooohhhhhhhhhh" hahahaha so funny. i was so embarrassed. like seriously i can't wait for gym everyday to play. its all tagalog and japanese speaking missionaries so its constantly those two languages talking the whole game so funny. our language is cooler though!
what else? i have no idea..this week came too fast that i don't remember anything really happening.
i thought for sure sunday i would speak and my companion said she wouldn't so she didnt prepare a talk and i did and then she got called..lesson learned!
all the districts are leaving monday and tuesday i am sick about it. i love all these elders! they are the best i will miss them! we get like 40 new elders/sisters coming in though next wednesday so it will be fun to get to know each one..for 3 weeks.
okay crazy..not really ready to go yet! i am so scared..but really excited too! REALLY worried about the flight there..17 hours? what the! but i am SO excited to real real food at the airport! like burger king and mcdonalds..REAL FOOD. haha just kidding gross.
our roommates are leaving monday so they are packing and stuff. they are going to indonesia..no thank you. philippines is way cooler ;)
its not hard to see them leave..i actually want to carry their bags for them and carry them to their shuttle. (well maybe just one of them)
my companion has so many "islander" friends here so we just sit with a bunch of awesome islanders at lunch and stuff and i am the only white girl hah so funny!
i can't really think about anything else that happened sorry..i thought it was wednesday yesterday so i am all mixed up.
family thanks so much for all my wonderful packages/letters for valentine's. i had the best day. and i have the best valentine ever! i felt the love for sure!!
hope you all miss me terribly and cry everyday and your life is SO boring without me ;) just kidding.
ABBY! i can't belive you got an ipad for valentine's day! garron is such a smart man! i am jealous!! with the concert and that sounds like you had such a fun day!
tell bryce to write me and tell me about his life and to be a good kid!
love you guys!!
xoxo
Sister Curtis
my tagalog is coming..slowly. on sunday we had a girl pass out in relief society..so scary. it was a crazy thing! but she's fine. on tuesday night i got FRONT ROW to the devotional and it was Elder Clarke of the seventy. me and another girl were on splits or whatever (our companions were together at the residence getting something) so we just sat there saving seats and this old cute guy comes up to us and asks us if we wanted the front row. so we took them! all the elders were shaking their heads cause sisters get everything haha. but it was awesome! such a great devotional.
last night at trc me and sis A made a goal "hindi ingles" no english. so we had 2 lessons of 20 minutes and we didn't speak any english! it was so awesome. last week i cried to my teachers about how sucky i am and then last night we were pretty much philippino's.
i saw casey hammond he's the cutest and loving it here so tell his mom he is good!
my valentine's day was really good! i decorated my whole door thanks to you mom it was so cute. everyone was getting so many packages and letters!
i spiked the volleyball yesterday and this guy was blocking me on the other side and i spiked it over him and then everyone was like "oooohhhhhhhhhh" hahahaha so funny. i was so embarrassed. like seriously i can't wait for gym everyday to play. its all tagalog and japanese speaking missionaries so its constantly those two languages talking the whole game so funny. our language is cooler though!
what else? i have no idea..this week came too fast that i don't remember anything really happening.
i thought for sure sunday i would speak and my companion said she wouldn't so she didnt prepare a talk and i did and then she got called..lesson learned!
all the districts are leaving monday and tuesday i am sick about it. i love all these elders! they are the best i will miss them! we get like 40 new elders/sisters coming in though next wednesday so it will be fun to get to know each one..for 3 weeks.
okay crazy..not really ready to go yet! i am so scared..but really excited too! REALLY worried about the flight there..17 hours? what the! but i am SO excited to real real food at the airport! like burger king and mcdonalds..REAL FOOD. haha just kidding gross.
our roommates are leaving monday so they are packing and stuff. they are going to indonesia..no thank you. philippines is way cooler ;)
its not hard to see them leave..i actually want to carry their bags for them and carry them to their shuttle. (well maybe just one of them)
my companion has so many "islander" friends here so we just sit with a bunch of awesome islanders at lunch and stuff and i am the only white girl hah so funny!
i can't really think about anything else that happened sorry..i thought it was wednesday yesterday so i am all mixed up.
family thanks so much for all my wonderful packages/letters for valentine's. i had the best day. and i have the best valentine ever! i felt the love for sure!!
hope you all miss me terribly and cry everyday and your life is SO boring without me ;) just kidding.
ABBY! i can't belive you got an ipad for valentine's day! garron is such a smart man! i am jealous!! with the concert and that sounds like you had such a fun day!
tell bryce to write me and tell me about his life and to be a good kid!
love you guys!!
xoxo
Sister Curtis
Friday, February 10, 2012
Another Cute Letter!
Hey!
17 months left. isn't that weird? it makes me sad and nervous ha ha, i know its a long time but like one whole month is gone from my mission! in other words, i lasted ONE MONTH in this place!
Okay, this week was really not that eventful. I feel like yesterday was Monday so i don't really remember what has happened. Sunday was fast Sunday. Here the cafeteria's are closed so you actually have to fast all day 2 meals. ha jk. i always do. so i just prayed and prayed i wouldn't be hungry and that my stomach wouldn't growl. Sunday we had personal study time in the class room, then interviews and meetings. Because I am the coordinating sister i had to attend all of them. In one of the meetings it was me and like 70 men. jk like 8 but i felt so dumb. I was there representing two sisters haha why do I even have to be a coordinating sister (p.s. a coordinating sister is like the head sister of the zone.) We all had to stand up and talk about our districts and i had to talk allllll about the sisters. I stood up and said, "well where do i even start, there are so many sisters i loose track" or something funny like that. haha i said "well me and my companion are great" and sat down. hahah so funny.
After that we had mission conference. its two hours and its like a devotional but the mtc presidency spoke and it was soooo boring. Good thing i had fun elders around me that just kept me entertained the whole time with questions like "sister curtis how much money would it take for you to shave off your eye brows" or "did you know you look a lot like the girl off tangled?" Then we had study time again, then sacrament meeting. it was cool cause it was just testimonies and i didn't share mine and all the zone leaders that stood on the stand kept telling me to get up. but i didn't. maybe next month! My sweet companion did and it was awesome.
Then we had temple walk. But me and my companion couldn't cause her leg so we went back to our room and took a nap. Ha is that bad? Dinner was the best part of the whole Sunday. We had devotional after dinner and then I can't really remember. But there you go mom that was my fast sunday! :)
Proud parent moment for you..on Tuesday night after we have devotional and then district overview of the devotional the branch presidency's wives come to our rooms to see us and talk to us. My companion wasn't in the room but the Branch president's wife, Sister Anderson (whom i just love and we just click) told me her and president anderson were talking and i guess pres anderson told her "that sister curtis is doing great things, she sure is a 10"! isn't that awesome!!! I was so happy. And guess who was in the room and heard that? Sister Canty. Hahahahahaha yes. You know i loved that.
2 out of our 3 districts in our zones got their flight plans. SO DEPRESSING. Except I don't know Tagalog yet, but once i saw those papers I got the worst anxiety. I keep counting down the weeks of the mtc..but then like i actually have to go to the Philippines and be a real missionary and try and teach REAL people and speak the language FOR REALs. Uhhhhh. I am forgetting my mission doesn't end march 13. it starts. hahah
Last night we had TRC again where we teach real people and we have 2 lessons of 20 minutes. All in tagalog. they are all like byu students so it is way fun! Our first lesson went way good. Then our next lesson went horribly for me and i forgot every tagalog word, plus any spiritual things and i just felt HORRIBLE! My companion saved us but I walked out so frustrated. We were walking up to our room and i was like, "I just want to cry" and my companion goes "me too". except she rocked it so i don't know what she was thinking! We sat in our room with our teachers and they asked us what was wrong and I told them we just want to cry cause we are girls and thats what girls do. So then our awesome teachers watched us cry about how frustrated we were with the language and they gave us such great advice and quotes and made us feel so much better. I love my mtc teachers, they push us but its only for our good and then when we are sad they know exactly what to say!
did you guys know there was a 6.9 earthquake in the philippines? i was in the bathroom and this cute little senior missionary asked me where i was going and then she told me! AHHH! I am going to die in the Philippines. Jk. but could you find out where and what happened and email me about it? That would be great. So i can sleep at night. sleeping at night has gotten so much better! Except, my mind is still blown from the day so all i think about is tagalog words, and my investigators, and what i want to email my family about. they have yoga here i think i should do it so i can relax!
My companion is getting better with her leg. We go to physical therapy twice a week and she can't play any more foursquare so she just stretches while i play volleyball. the doctor said her leg still doesn't seem normal and if it still looks like that in 2 weeks then she has to get surgery!! Sad! That means, she may not leave with us in march!! noooooo. Pray for her!
So one of the teachers here went to manilla and she is so cute. she was telling us that $20 american dollars is like 1,000 pesos. She said that she spent like $200 of her own money her whole mission isn't that awesome! things are so cheap. She said she would get pedicures like every p-day they are like 50 pesos or something which is like $1 here! And she said they are nice pedicures! so fun. I told her my parents are taking me and my husband back and she said that it will be so cheap except for the flights! so awesome!
Dad-okay hello credit card. Salamat! Thank you thank you. But i'm scared to use it. what should i even use it for and how much? I eat at the temple every week and its like $6? should i use it? Let me know! I loveeeeddd your letters!! you are the sweetest to ask about my companion and my district!! they all were so happy. I will email you or mom a list of some goodies we would like :) I will write you this week too. oh did you give boots to erica? i haven't gotten them yet?
mom-you are just the best blogger. i am so happy. even though i can't see it im so proud of you! :) I haven't seen alicia yet that is so cute about the ups store! you make friends in the ups store when you have a missionary! i keep looking for her! I see one of my friends from high school every now and then
and she told kaityln that it makes her day seeing me! aww i love that!
how is bryce doing? and brett with my car? kallie and dan seem great!! Abby wrote me and it was the greatest thing ever. remind her to send me pics of her kids!!
Lori sent me cinnamon rolls sooo yummy! i shared them and everyone loved them. I told everyone they were from my mother in law haha
tell ann and karen that i loved the package they sent me! sorry it took me forever. tell them i will write them soon!
will you get my friend ashley's email? mom she sent me a bridal shower invite for carissa's shower so sweet huh!!
i love you all so much!! have a wonderful weekend and week!! write me lots. we love dear elders and its easy so just send me like 5 everyday from each of you ;)
love you!!
xo
sister curtis
17 months left. isn't that weird? it makes me sad and nervous ha ha, i know its a long time but like one whole month is gone from my mission! in other words, i lasted ONE MONTH in this place!
Okay, this week was really not that eventful. I feel like yesterday was Monday so i don't really remember what has happened. Sunday was fast Sunday. Here the cafeteria's are closed so you actually have to fast all day 2 meals. ha jk. i always do. so i just prayed and prayed i wouldn't be hungry and that my stomach wouldn't growl. Sunday we had personal study time in the class room, then interviews and meetings. Because I am the coordinating sister i had to attend all of them. In one of the meetings it was me and like 70 men. jk like 8 but i felt so dumb. I was there representing two sisters haha why do I even have to be a coordinating sister (p.s. a coordinating sister is like the head sister of the zone.) We all had to stand up and talk about our districts and i had to talk allllll about the sisters. I stood up and said, "well where do i even start, there are so many sisters i loose track" or something funny like that. haha i said "well me and my companion are great" and sat down. hahah so funny.
After that we had mission conference. its two hours and its like a devotional but the mtc presidency spoke and it was soooo boring. Good thing i had fun elders around me that just kept me entertained the whole time with questions like "sister curtis how much money would it take for you to shave off your eye brows" or "did you know you look a lot like the girl off tangled?" Then we had study time again, then sacrament meeting. it was cool cause it was just testimonies and i didn't share mine and all the zone leaders that stood on the stand kept telling me to get up. but i didn't. maybe next month! My sweet companion did and it was awesome.
Then we had temple walk. But me and my companion couldn't cause her leg so we went back to our room and took a nap. Ha is that bad? Dinner was the best part of the whole Sunday. We had devotional after dinner and then I can't really remember. But there you go mom that was my fast sunday! :)
Proud parent moment for you..on Tuesday night after we have devotional and then district overview of the devotional the branch presidency's wives come to our rooms to see us and talk to us. My companion wasn't in the room but the Branch president's wife, Sister Anderson (whom i just love and we just click) told me her and president anderson were talking and i guess pres anderson told her "that sister curtis is doing great things, she sure is a 10"! isn't that awesome!!! I was so happy. And guess who was in the room and heard that? Sister Canty. Hahahahahaha yes. You know i loved that.
2 out of our 3 districts in our zones got their flight plans. SO DEPRESSING. Except I don't know Tagalog yet, but once i saw those papers I got the worst anxiety. I keep counting down the weeks of the mtc..but then like i actually have to go to the Philippines and be a real missionary and try and teach REAL people and speak the language FOR REALs. Uhhhhh. I am forgetting my mission doesn't end march 13. it starts. hahah
Last night we had TRC again where we teach real people and we have 2 lessons of 20 minutes. All in tagalog. they are all like byu students so it is way fun! Our first lesson went way good. Then our next lesson went horribly for me and i forgot every tagalog word, plus any spiritual things and i just felt HORRIBLE! My companion saved us but I walked out so frustrated. We were walking up to our room and i was like, "I just want to cry" and my companion goes "me too". except she rocked it so i don't know what she was thinking! We sat in our room with our teachers and they asked us what was wrong and I told them we just want to cry cause we are girls and thats what girls do. So then our awesome teachers watched us cry about how frustrated we were with the language and they gave us such great advice and quotes and made us feel so much better. I love my mtc teachers, they push us but its only for our good and then when we are sad they know exactly what to say!
did you guys know there was a 6.9 earthquake in the philippines? i was in the bathroom and this cute little senior missionary asked me where i was going and then she told me! AHHH! I am going to die in the Philippines. Jk. but could you find out where and what happened and email me about it? That would be great. So i can sleep at night. sleeping at night has gotten so much better! Except, my mind is still blown from the day so all i think about is tagalog words, and my investigators, and what i want to email my family about. they have yoga here i think i should do it so i can relax!
My companion is getting better with her leg. We go to physical therapy twice a week and she can't play any more foursquare so she just stretches while i play volleyball. the doctor said her leg still doesn't seem normal and if it still looks like that in 2 weeks then she has to get surgery!! Sad! That means, she may not leave with us in march!! noooooo. Pray for her!
So one of the teachers here went to manilla and she is so cute. she was telling us that $20 american dollars is like 1,000 pesos. She said that she spent like $200 of her own money her whole mission isn't that awesome! things are so cheap. She said she would get pedicures like every p-day they are like 50 pesos or something which is like $1 here! And she said they are nice pedicures! so fun. I told her my parents are taking me and my husband back and she said that it will be so cheap except for the flights! so awesome!
Dad-okay hello credit card. Salamat! Thank you thank you. But i'm scared to use it. what should i even use it for and how much? I eat at the temple every week and its like $6? should i use it? Let me know! I loveeeeddd your letters!! you are the sweetest to ask about my companion and my district!! they all were so happy. I will email you or mom a list of some goodies we would like :) I will write you this week too. oh did you give boots to erica? i haven't gotten them yet?
mom-you are just the best blogger. i am so happy. even though i can't see it im so proud of you! :) I haven't seen alicia yet that is so cute about the ups store! you make friends in the ups store when you have a missionary! i keep looking for her! I see one of my friends from high school every now and then
and she told kaityln that it makes her day seeing me! aww i love that!
how is bryce doing? and brett with my car? kallie and dan seem great!! Abby wrote me and it was the greatest thing ever. remind her to send me pics of her kids!!
Lori sent me cinnamon rolls sooo yummy! i shared them and everyone loved them. I told everyone they were from my mother in law haha
tell ann and karen that i loved the package they sent me! sorry it took me forever. tell them i will write them soon!
will you get my friend ashley's email? mom she sent me a bridal shower invite for carissa's shower so sweet huh!!
i love you all so much!! have a wonderful weekend and week!! write me lots. we love dear elders and its easy so just send me like 5 everyday from each of you ;)
love you!!
xo
sister curtis
Thursday, February 9, 2012
First Pics of our Cute Sister Curtis in the MTC!
Oh I love that girl!
Where in the world they will be serving! Looks far away huh!?!?
Sister Curtis and Sister Oanai from New Zealand!
Wow, by the looks of this picture, Tagalog doesn't look that difficult!
Part of Sister Curtis's first district at the MTC!
An outing to the temple! Her dad wishes he had been in the bushes hiding that day!
Shelby's first district at the MTC!
We will have videos posted shortly!
(Actually, when I can get them to download! I'm soooo bad at this blogging stuff!)
Friday, February 3, 2012
Our Amazing Sister Shelby Curtis!
kumasta! hello! this is suppper longo.
The whole month of February I wil be in the MTC. Ah. That's crazy. So everything has been really good lately! Week 3 came super fast which suprises me. We do so much during the day here, I feel like the days will never end. Then it's already Friday my p-day. I could have cried last night I was so happy it was p-day.
First things first, Tuesday night at 7 pm I was in the same room as Russell M. Nelson AND ELDER HOLLAND! Ya. Be jealous. Let me tell you how this went. EVERYONE had been saying the Prophet was coming (it was the 50th anniv. of the mtc) so all day everyone was going crazy. People lined up starting at 4 to get in. Because it was the anniversary, they invited over 200 guests so we knew we wouldn't get a seat. They had over flow somewhere else. We lined up at like 5 to stand and wait cause I seriously thought it was the Prophet, and just waited and waited. I met theeeee funnest, coolest people. It was so fun! Then the line starts to move and people start like trampling over eachother (the elder/sister rules those couple of minutes were completely out of the window, I am pretty sure someone was touching my butt the whole time) haha jokelong. So THEN they shut the doors. Umm hello? They missed about 2000 missionarys. This IS the mtc. WE ARE THE MISSIONARYs. Who are they going to speak to? So anyway, then these cute little old men say "internationals come first, you have seats" We were all like dang it!! I'm freaking american! BUT THEN I look at my not so american companion and umm light bulb! She is international and she speaks samoan so we were golden. We rush up to the stands saying move we are internationals (everyone kept saying no you aren't sister curtis you are from utah hahaha) and we got a SEAT! Huzzah! We sit in our seats, not knowing who is going to speak to us. Then it gets really quiet and everyone stands up..hmm elder holland comes in and is followed by russell m nelson. It was dead quiet. I got chills all over my body and the spirit was so thick. It was the most amazing feeling ever. The talks were great but they were all about the history of the mtc and I didn't really care? is that bad? The girl who gave the closing prayer at the end got to shake Elder Holland's hand. Everyone was like "Oh" when she did. Then we all stood up and waited til they left. AFter devotionals we have district meetings where we talk about how it was. i cry in each one when i talk because every devotional is fantastic. the pres and his wife were in ours and i told everyone how great i felt when those two men walked in and if i felt that good, i can't even imagine the feeling of meeting our Heavenly Father. Waiting in line to hear those two talks, was better than any movie, any roller coaster ride. Such a great experience.
anyways, things are good here. dad the subway was great. I am sending pics today but just my card..so please save everything on that card and send it back. or just save all the cards and delete it.
my clothes are getting so boring. ughhh. mom maybe send me some more clothes. i need more options!!
every elder here loves my hair. one day someone said, "ugh sister curtis did you brush your hair today?" you know i thought about that ALL day. boys do not know how to act around older more beautiful women ;) anyway, so now its all a big joke everyone always says, sister curtis we love your hair today. haha its funny.
wednesdays are so busy here cause all the new missionaries. i try and be nice and act like i am cool, wait no i am cool cause i have been here for almost 4 weeks! so i always tell them they can do it and they think i am really cool. ha ha
so one of my kinda teachers told me that when she was coming home from her mission she cried and begged to stay and said 18 months isn't long enough. i seriously laughed out loud. if i have to wait one day longer than 18 months to see parker and my family especially parker, i will cry too. haha weirdo!
jk.
OH ok every thursday night we have TRC its like training resource center or something like that and its where rm's who speak tagalog come and we teach them. they aren't pretending to be investigators or anything they just come ot speak tagalog well guess what! we got an older philippino woman who barely spoke english. i was sweating cause i was so nervous. and guess where she was from? QUEZON CITY! woo hoo! she was bundled up in every piece of winter garments she could find. theeeeeee cutest little lady i have ever seen. i jsut wanted to kiss her little cheeks. but i asked her, "do you miss the philippines?" and she said no not really. uhhh thanks lady?? that makes me happy. haha but she was so nice. it made me want to go to the philippines right then. then i remembered i can't speak/understand tagalog. then i wanted to stay in the mtc forever.
it has taken me 3 weeks to realize how great the spirit is in the mtc. every day i feel it and i get promptings and its amazing. i have never been like this in my life. susan purdy wrote me and said, "you will never live your life like this ever again so enjoy it" its true. i will NEVER wake up at 6:30 am and study church all day til 9:30. haha so i am trying to enjoy this time. next week is my 4th week but the mtc counts it as my 5th week! crazy or what?? anyways
so mom happy birthday!!
so parker happy birthday!! i thought of you two ALL DAY! :)
DAD!! congrats on getting a job haha now you won't be bored..and the town home i can't even believe it! so awesome. your welcome for being obedient so you get blessings. haha joke long.
okay so that is the COOLEST thing about kyrina combs! oh my gosh. that just makes me so happy and ten times happier knowing it as a missionary. so wonderful pleaseeee tell her congrats and the gospel is like theee coolest thing ever!
so my mission has banned...tracting!!! isn't that awesome? our teachers get updates so they told us we will only be doing street contacting and member referrals which is seriously an answer to my prayers. YAY!!
MOM-tell ALL my cute friends who have written me that i will write them soon and i love them!! i just have no time! i will try so hard. but keep writing me friends! :)
things to send me if you want cause people ask me what i want:
i would love more clothes, no bake cookies? maybe more food? we have a microwave here but that's it. so anything microwavable, maybe more nail polish (nothing bright that would take the spirit away of course hahah) i just finished all the popcorn so i'd love more ha ha, gum please! i know its not allowed but my teachers let me. the blue kind please! also, i need a lantern? i have no idea if that's what it is called but its to put my id missionary card on it so i can have it around my neck cause i always loose it. no like thick sports team one just a thin one if you can find one?
bryceee- i pray everyday you won't learn a language haha its the worst!!! i envy english speakers. but get excited bryce cause missions are great!! :)
one last story, it just happened. so on thursday afternoon my teacher brother ward acts like our investigator omar. and omar hates me i think cause i speak english haha and ALL omar says is..ano ano ano ano ano? which means..what? haha so freaking frustrating. so i was mad. and acted mad the whole day like a little girl cause i could. and he pulled me into like a teacher-missionary meeting and asked me how i was doing. i told him i am so frustrated with myself and so we set goals. my goal was to SYL (speak your language) they say if you syl from the beginning you will be semi fluent when you leave here. have i been syl-ing? no. so i told him i would try. weelllll folks, today we met with omar and i pretty much taught the whole lesson. i spoke wayy slow and thought about everything i wanted to say. perpekto. haha and i felt SO good after. he pulled me out of class again and gave me a big high five and told me i did really good. then he asked me to bear my testimony on syl haha so i did..in english. haha i will be syl-ing my little heart out now! :)
i love you all so much. i miss you guys but i love it here. yes i just said i love it here. its sooo up and down but its good!!
mom you are the best. tell our cute fam i miss them!!
have a wonderful night and weekend! yay friday night wooo partay.not.
xoxo
Sister Curtis :)
The whole month of February I wil be in the MTC. Ah. That's crazy. So everything has been really good lately! Week 3 came super fast which suprises me. We do so much during the day here, I feel like the days will never end. Then it's already Friday my p-day. I could have cried last night I was so happy it was p-day.
First things first, Tuesday night at 7 pm I was in the same room as Russell M. Nelson AND ELDER HOLLAND! Ya. Be jealous. Let me tell you how this went. EVERYONE had been saying the Prophet was coming (it was the 50th anniv. of the mtc) so all day everyone was going crazy. People lined up starting at 4 to get in. Because it was the anniversary, they invited over 200 guests so we knew we wouldn't get a seat. They had over flow somewhere else. We lined up at like 5 to stand and wait cause I seriously thought it was the Prophet, and just waited and waited. I met theeeee funnest, coolest people. It was so fun! Then the line starts to move and people start like trampling over eachother (the elder/sister rules those couple of minutes were completely out of the window, I am pretty sure someone was touching my butt the whole time) haha jokelong. So THEN they shut the doors. Umm hello? They missed about 2000 missionarys. This IS the mtc. WE ARE THE MISSIONARYs. Who are they going to speak to? So anyway, then these cute little old men say "internationals come first, you have seats" We were all like dang it!! I'm freaking american! BUT THEN I look at my not so american companion and umm light bulb! She is international and she speaks samoan so we were golden. We rush up to the stands saying move we are internationals (everyone kept saying no you aren't sister curtis you are from utah hahaha) and we got a SEAT! Huzzah! We sit in our seats, not knowing who is going to speak to us. Then it gets really quiet and everyone stands up..hmm elder holland comes in and is followed by russell m nelson. It was dead quiet. I got chills all over my body and the spirit was so thick. It was the most amazing feeling ever. The talks were great but they were all about the history of the mtc and I didn't really care? is that bad? The girl who gave the closing prayer at the end got to shake Elder Holland's hand. Everyone was like "Oh" when she did. Then we all stood up and waited til they left. AFter devotionals we have district meetings where we talk about how it was. i cry in each one when i talk because every devotional is fantastic. the pres and his wife were in ours and i told everyone how great i felt when those two men walked in and if i felt that good, i can't even imagine the feeling of meeting our Heavenly Father. Waiting in line to hear those two talks, was better than any movie, any roller coaster ride. Such a great experience.
anyways, things are good here. dad the subway was great. I am sending pics today but just my card..so please save everything on that card and send it back. or just save all the cards and delete it.
my clothes are getting so boring. ughhh. mom maybe send me some more clothes. i need more options!!
every elder here loves my hair. one day someone said, "ugh sister curtis did you brush your hair today?" you know i thought about that ALL day. boys do not know how to act around older more beautiful women ;) anyway, so now its all a big joke everyone always says, sister curtis we love your hair today. haha its funny.
wednesdays are so busy here cause all the new missionaries. i try and be nice and act like i am cool, wait no i am cool cause i have been here for almost 4 weeks! so i always tell them they can do it and they think i am really cool. ha ha
so one of my kinda teachers told me that when she was coming home from her mission she cried and begged to stay and said 18 months isn't long enough. i seriously laughed out loud. if i have to wait one day longer than 18 months to see parker and my family especially parker, i will cry too. haha weirdo!
jk.
OH ok every thursday night we have TRC its like training resource center or something like that and its where rm's who speak tagalog come and we teach them. they aren't pretending to be investigators or anything they just come ot speak tagalog well guess what! we got an older philippino woman who barely spoke english. i was sweating cause i was so nervous. and guess where she was from? QUEZON CITY! woo hoo! she was bundled up in every piece of winter garments she could find. theeeeeee cutest little lady i have ever seen. i jsut wanted to kiss her little cheeks. but i asked her, "do you miss the philippines?" and she said no not really. uhhh thanks lady?? that makes me happy. haha but she was so nice. it made me want to go to the philippines right then. then i remembered i can't speak/understand tagalog. then i wanted to stay in the mtc forever.
it has taken me 3 weeks to realize how great the spirit is in the mtc. every day i feel it and i get promptings and its amazing. i have never been like this in my life. susan purdy wrote me and said, "you will never live your life like this ever again so enjoy it" its true. i will NEVER wake up at 6:30 am and study church all day til 9:30. haha so i am trying to enjoy this time. next week is my 4th week but the mtc counts it as my 5th week! crazy or what?? anyways
so mom happy birthday!!
so parker happy birthday!! i thought of you two ALL DAY! :)
DAD!! congrats on getting a job haha now you won't be bored..and the town home i can't even believe it! so awesome. your welcome for being obedient so you get blessings. haha joke long.
okay so that is the COOLEST thing about kyrina combs! oh my gosh. that just makes me so happy and ten times happier knowing it as a missionary. so wonderful pleaseeee tell her congrats and the gospel is like theee coolest thing ever!
so my mission has banned...tracting!!! isn't that awesome? our teachers get updates so they told us we will only be doing street contacting and member referrals which is seriously an answer to my prayers. YAY!!
MOM-tell ALL my cute friends who have written me that i will write them soon and i love them!! i just have no time! i will try so hard. but keep writing me friends! :)
things to send me if you want cause people ask me what i want:
i would love more clothes, no bake cookies? maybe more food? we have a microwave here but that's it. so anything microwavable, maybe more nail polish (nothing bright that would take the spirit away of course hahah) i just finished all the popcorn so i'd love more ha ha, gum please! i know its not allowed but my teachers let me. the blue kind please! also, i need a lantern? i have no idea if that's what it is called but its to put my id missionary card on it so i can have it around my neck cause i always loose it. no like thick sports team one just a thin one if you can find one?
bryceee- i pray everyday you won't learn a language haha its the worst!!! i envy english speakers. but get excited bryce cause missions are great!! :)
one last story, it just happened. so on thursday afternoon my teacher brother ward acts like our investigator omar. and omar hates me i think cause i speak english haha and ALL omar says is..ano ano ano ano ano? which means..what? haha so freaking frustrating. so i was mad. and acted mad the whole day like a little girl cause i could. and he pulled me into like a teacher-missionary meeting and asked me how i was doing. i told him i am so frustrated with myself and so we set goals. my goal was to SYL (speak your language) they say if you syl from the beginning you will be semi fluent when you leave here. have i been syl-ing? no. so i told him i would try. weelllll folks, today we met with omar and i pretty much taught the whole lesson. i spoke wayy slow and thought about everything i wanted to say. perpekto. haha and i felt SO good after. he pulled me out of class again and gave me a big high five and told me i did really good. then he asked me to bear my testimony on syl haha so i did..in english. haha i will be syl-ing my little heart out now! :)
i love you all so much. i miss you guys but i love it here. yes i just said i love it here. its sooo up and down but its good!!
mom you are the best. tell our cute fam i miss them!!
have a wonderful night and weekend! yay friday night wooo partay.not.
xoxo
Sister Curtis :)
Week Two of the MTC For Shelby!
Hey everybody!
I am doing my laundry right now, it's soooo confusing. and weird doing it in front of the Elder's. Today is my p-day and we got to go to the temple! It was amazing. We woke up extra early(waking up is hard and going to sleep at 1030 is hard too) to go to the cafe and eat(because I HATE the mtc food and I had NO idea there was a cafe in the temple-so seriously I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited to eat real food) BUT it was closed SO SAD! But then we just went to the session and then after we got an amazing brunch. K the Temple is so great. I was so emotionally through out the whole time. I just sat there realizing that I am going to bring people not only to the Gospel and Heavenly Father, but to this amazing Temple. I sat in the Celestial room just so proud to be a missionary. After, I went to go put on my badge and it was seriously the first time since being here that i was so excited to put my badge on. I felt so good about what I was doing.
Anyways, remember when I said I am not coming home til I am fluent in tagalog? I am NEVER coming home. Taglog is so crazy hard and seriously I think "what the heck I am not smart enough." Haha but its okay. it will come. People are so nice here. Everyone walks by and says hello in the language their learning or thank you or other sayings..of course tagalog is the COOLEST. So I say, "kumasta po kayo" or salaamat! so awesome. Too bad that's all i can say!! So remember the story of our fake/real investigator? he turned out to be our teacher...so awkward! We taught him like 4 more times, but apparently now you teach way more in the mtc so we will be teaching a lot more fake investigators that actually seem real. One of the districts in our zone got their flight plans, i got so depressed. That will never be me i feel like. I am meeting so many cool people here! Everyone is from all over the world and its crazy. I wouldn't meet them in highland for sureeeee. My knowledge in the Gospel is totally transforming. its awesome! I love learning more.
I am the most spoiled here by far. Thank you for all the letters and packages!! K mom, so I have lost about 8 pounds here, my stomach looks tiny. i like it but its cause all i eat is salad. like literally. I HAVE CAFEPHOBIA! Fear of cafeteria food. its a real phobia. PLEASE send me food. One night I cried cause I was so hungry. Dramatic enough?? Yeah I am good on popcorn, SO YUMMY but parker sent me soooooo much so no more popcorn for a while. maybe like real food? umm DAD! Loved your letter. this is what I thought about it "hahahahahahaha" the RHOBH part was THE best thing ever. but no more cause it makes me miss my dramatic reality TV and sitting on the couch making you and mom watch it with me. and congrats on the town home!! woo!
congrats on parker becoming district leader! I actually know what that is. Yay Parker! you rock. EVeryone loves Parker here. The girls call him "beautiful" especially my soamons:) and the elders think he is hot. they drool over him. one of the soamons carries his picture in her scriptures, i told her that she could have his pic til she leaves which is next week. haha the mtc is making everyone crazy! including me. haha Anyways, I loved hearing from ABBY. OH WAIT!
write me woman.
oh mom guess what???? Good news...My anxiety is gone!! Its amazing not having it. I don't have any more homesickness either. the prayers are working. now just pray that the tithing rate goes up to go towards the mtc food. seriously. i have been spoiled with amazing food my whole life so i blame my family for my cafephobia. mom send me food PLEASE. ha i think i have asked that like a million timess
brett-happy birthday sorry i forgot! i was a little busy.
how was targhee??
mom put all my emails on my blog and send them to everyone people keep writing me telling me they want to read them!!
abby will you send me my setting apart blessing??
I have loved my time here so far its been so great! I learn something new everyday. Whenever i speak, i always think about the tagalog word first isnt that cool?? I will speak tagalog one day!!
i love my pamilya so mabuti!! :) i love you all so much and i miss you. send me pics through email and videos. this elder showed me all his home vids his family sent me.
oh really fast..ahh 3 mins left. i have a stalker. his name is elder manwill. he talks to me constantly, high fives me, flirts and its so inappropriate. so my district leader told him to stop, then he wouldn't so now my teacher is going to get involved. ah so sad and scary! oh and EVERYONE asks me why i am on a mission? don't i look like a the typical sister missionary type?? I think i do :) hahahahaha yaaaa right, shelby needs to leave and more sister curtis needs to come in. but its hard. k i am done guys!!
got to get going. sorry for the late email. write me lots guys!
mom remember i am in leopard. love you babycakes.
xo
sister curtis!
I am doing my laundry right now, it's soooo confusing. and weird doing it in front of the Elder's. Today is my p-day and we got to go to the temple! It was amazing. We woke up extra early(waking up is hard and going to sleep at 1030 is hard too) to go to the cafe and eat(because I HATE the mtc food and I had NO idea there was a cafe in the temple-so seriously I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited to eat real food) BUT it was closed SO SAD! But then we just went to the session and then after we got an amazing brunch. K the Temple is so great. I was so emotionally through out the whole time. I just sat there realizing that I am going to bring people not only to the Gospel and Heavenly Father, but to this amazing Temple. I sat in the Celestial room just so proud to be a missionary. After, I went to go put on my badge and it was seriously the first time since being here that i was so excited to put my badge on. I felt so good about what I was doing.
Anyways, remember when I said I am not coming home til I am fluent in tagalog? I am NEVER coming home. Taglog is so crazy hard and seriously I think "what the heck I am not smart enough." Haha but its okay. it will come. People are so nice here. Everyone walks by and says hello in the language their learning or thank you or other sayings..of course tagalog is the COOLEST. So I say, "kumasta po kayo" or salaamat! so awesome. Too bad that's all i can say!! So remember the story of our fake/real investigator? he turned out to be our teacher...so awkward! We taught him like 4 more times, but apparently now you teach way more in the mtc so we will be teaching a lot more fake investigators that actually seem real. One of the districts in our zone got their flight plans, i got so depressed. That will never be me i feel like. I am meeting so many cool people here! Everyone is from all over the world and its crazy. I wouldn't meet them in highland for sureeeee. My knowledge in the Gospel is totally transforming. its awesome! I love learning more.
I am the most spoiled here by far. Thank you for all the letters and packages!! K mom, so I have lost about 8 pounds here, my stomach looks tiny. i like it but its cause all i eat is salad. like literally. I HAVE CAFEPHOBIA! Fear of cafeteria food. its a real phobia. PLEASE send me food. One night I cried cause I was so hungry. Dramatic enough?? Yeah I am good on popcorn, SO YUMMY but parker sent me soooooo much so no more popcorn for a while. maybe like real food? umm DAD! Loved your letter. this is what I thought about it "hahahahahahaha" the RHOBH part was THE best thing ever. but no more cause it makes me miss my dramatic reality TV and sitting on the couch making you and mom watch it with me. and congrats on the town home!! woo!
congrats on parker becoming district leader! I actually know what that is. Yay Parker! you rock. EVeryone loves Parker here. The girls call him "beautiful" especially my soamons:) and the elders think he is hot. they drool over him. one of the soamons carries his picture in her scriptures, i told her that she could have his pic til she leaves which is next week. haha the mtc is making everyone crazy! including me. haha Anyways, I loved hearing from ABBY. OH WAIT!
write me woman.
oh mom guess what???? Good news...My anxiety is gone!! Its amazing not having it. I don't have any more homesickness either. the prayers are working. now just pray that the tithing rate goes up to go towards the mtc food. seriously. i have been spoiled with amazing food my whole life so i blame my family for my cafephobia. mom send me food PLEASE. ha i think i have asked that like a million timess
brett-happy birthday sorry i forgot! i was a little busy.
how was targhee??
mom put all my emails on my blog and send them to everyone people keep writing me telling me they want to read them!!
abby will you send me my setting apart blessing??
I have loved my time here so far its been so great! I learn something new everyday. Whenever i speak, i always think about the tagalog word first isnt that cool?? I will speak tagalog one day!!
i love my pamilya so mabuti!! :) i love you all so much and i miss you. send me pics through email and videos. this elder showed me all his home vids his family sent me.
oh really fast..ahh 3 mins left. i have a stalker. his name is elder manwill. he talks to me constantly, high fives me, flirts and its so inappropriate. so my district leader told him to stop, then he wouldn't so now my teacher is going to get involved. ah so sad and scary! oh and EVERYONE asks me why i am on a mission? don't i look like a the typical sister missionary type?? I think i do :) hahahahaha yaaaa right, shelby needs to leave and more sister curtis needs to come in. but its hard. k i am done guys!!
got to get going. sorry for the late email. write me lots guys!
mom remember i am in leopard. love you babycakes.
xo
sister curtis!
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