Wake Me Up When September Ends!

hello family i love you guys so much.

i had a really good week. me and my companion are doing good. she is a goofball but fun. we just laugh every day. we are kind of Dora the explorer each day too cause this area is big and hard but its all good.

 i got my first migraine on Wednesday. i didn't feel too good when i woke up but kept going and we got into a lesson and came out side and the light killed my head but i was fine. then within like twenty minutes my comp was like "you don't feel good do you" so she did the lesson and then on the tricycle ride home i just cried cause that's what us Curtis girls do when we are sick. we cry. ha then i slept from 3 to 8. and getting little headaches now, but its okay!! ibuprofen is my best friend. ha 

happy birthday to the cutest little 3 year old Olivea! i miss you so much Livy and cant believe you are 3!!!! i remember the day you were born. the longest day of my life. who cares about Abby like basically dying for ever and giving birth, that day took forever. butttttt now we have the cutest little girl!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! can't wait for your new little sister who is coming soon! congrats abb! just kidding. i wish. 

i feel like my mind is blank. what else happened?

really excited for general conference. i think every missionary just loves gen. conference on their mission. we are getting our investigators and less actives ready for it and it makes me excited. being in the presence of an apostle a couple of weeks ago i really have a testimony that we have the right authority on the earth today, and we have the truth, and the true church. i love being able to tell that to people and share my testimony. i love becoming closer to my Heavenly Father and developing a strong relationship with the spirit. this has been such a blessing in my life. i love the Philippine's and these people! i hope every one can have missionary experiences in their lives. love you all.

send some of the fall breeze here! we need it! like i cant imagine how you guys don't sweat all day..that blows my mind. honestly. 

xoxo

Sister Curtis 

p.s. i love the quote elder Brevard shared about faith. elder Bednar talked about faith and how we must be agents not objects. we must act on our faith and become agents of faith. he talked about how Joseph smith acted on his faith when he went to the grove to pray. Joseph smith not only asked "what church is true" but "what is to be done"  i love that.

Elder Bednar, 2 American's & Krispy Kremes

Sorry i am a day late. We had temple p-day today. guess what time i woke up? 3:15 AM! that is not a joke. i fell asleep in the temple and the sister next to me had to wake me up, then she fell asleep and i had to wake her up. horrible. my whole zone made fun of me that i fell asleep..DUHHHH if they didn't make me get up so stinking early i wouldn't have! haha

 

i may fall asleep when as i write this. oh wait i can't cause 1,000 philippino 12 year olds are blasting music in this tiny computer shop playing computer games. sweet. 

so guess what? Elder Bednar came to our mission. I was second row. He was amazing. It was like a workshop. He looks old though, but definitely my favorite apostle. One day when i come home i will tell you all about it. But one thing he said was (as we had an open question and answer session with him) "the most important thing i did to prepare to become one of Jesus Christ's Apostles was getting married and creating a happy marriage" he said you have to create a happy marriage and it doesn't just come with getting married. Then he said, "now no one get trunky" ha so awesome. He is AWESOME! 

I have a new companion. Her name is Sister Cope. From MARYLAND. She is American. I knew I was getting an American. So, i have a lot of responsibility leading this area, getting my Tagalog and dealing with an American. She is great and a hard worker. But I WANT A PHILIPPINA! I don't like American's. Ha. It is a hard adjustment. Oh well. sister Curtis change your attitude.

We just got back from MEGAL MALL. I kind of have the biggest head ache ever. it is the most hugest mall i have ever been in. And i think i might have spent all my money. ha! BUTTTT I got krispy kremes! yummmmmy! my companion got a crepe. Good thing she likes food as much as me! 

TRANSFER DAY! So every transfer day we have the exiting missionaries (the missionaries who go home in six weeks) bear their testimonies of their mission. Remember my old companion sister Dela Calsda? She is going home Oct 11 and so she bore her testimony. Well, she got up and spoke a lot about all the great things she learned on her mission..then she got all teary eyed and went silent and talked about ME! WHAT THE!!!!!! She was like, "last transfer i was with sister Curtis and she taught me so much and i am so grateful for her" stuff like that. She was crying. EVERYONE LOOKED AT ME! It was so embarrassing. in front of the whole mission. Ha but how sweet?? SO happy she doesn't hate me! I was like grabbing sister Weller's hand squeezing it because i was hoping she wouldn't say "i hated her blah blah blah" ha! so cute right? I went up to her after and gave her a big hug! so cute. 

people listen! 5 people in my zone got transferred to MINDORO!!!! the island in our mission where they don't even have running water i guess. Sister Weller went to Mindoro! her face when they called her was so shocked!! then a couple others. Everyone who is in this zone Morong, has either gone to Mindoro or went there last week. I DON'T WANT TO GO THERE!! i tell president Delamare every time i see him, "president i will die in Mindoro please don't send me there" and he tells me its up to God. I will DIEEEEEEEEE. pray i don't get called their! pray hard!

sorry these are so long. my life is just really exciting and cool right now ya know? i love missionary work so much. i can say it now...I LOVE MY MISSION. it only took 7 months for me to say that. Bryce read that. it took 7 months to love it. but its possible! we are working a lot with the "upper and middle classes" and not so much the really really poor people in the Philippine's so we can get some good leadership in the Philippines and help establish the church. does that make sense? but its hard cause rich people don't let you in. people with dirt floors and no money will let you in! SO WE ARE TRACTING!! guys. i hate tracting. so scary. Parker how do you do that everyday? its so hard, but its great! keep the faith.

i love you all and can't wait to see you soon. cause its Christmas. well at least in the Philippines. Christmas starts in September. we sing Christmas hymns already. duh. who cares i love it! love you all more though.

xoxo

sister Curtis

She's Been Out 7 Months!!!

 

Zone Interviews

 

 

 

 

our church got CARPET!!!!!! i havent felt carpet in so long so we all sat on the floor for our district meeting with no shoes of course!!

 

 

 

 

Im sorry parker. I have to wear these ugly things to protect my legs!!!!! so ooooo ugly. sister weller made fun of me!

 

 

 

My dinner: Fresh Banana Shake on the right!

 

Our zone

 

 

 I got my first pedicure and during our district meeting I got up and showed everyone my new pedicure. Thats my district leader! haha he took a pic of it and sent it to his mom and said "this sister got up in the middle of my workshop to show us her pedicure" haha yessss love it.

 

Mother's Note: I love the pedicure picture. It's great to know that Shelby is STILL Shelby!



 



Transfer Announceme​nts

Today in our district meeting was transfer announcements.Oh but i am staying, of course. i get my new comp tomorrow. Each companion in our zone is leaving!!! SO SAD. I have loved our zone and now its going to be completely different. Two elders are training american's it will be so fun cause they will be so STUNNED like i was! ha

I made no bake cookies for our whole zone they loved them and were gone in like 3 seconds. Sis. wells & suarez made fruit cocktail too. We partied. That is why you have sister missionaries in missions, or else no one would eat!

My companion left us last night. I slept alone!!!!! SO WEIRD!!! I was scared and prayed alone and woke up alone and I hated it. The first night i get home mom you are sleeping with me! haha but she was fine. One of the senior couples assigned in our zone made us TACO SOUP!!! So we all ate the last supper, it was so fun. Sister Jensen the senior couple reminds me sooooo much of Lori Brevard. Like i just want to hug her all the time cause they are the same person.

one day we were walking to our investigator's house and asked a tric driver if he was there (everyone knows everyone and where they are so awesome) so i was just like not paying attention as my companion asked and then she looks at me and says, "he dead" haha just like that. I WAS SHOCKED. Our investigator died!!! Then we hopped on and he took us to their house where they were partying cause that is just the culture here. Come to find out he died in his sleep (they said a dream but philippino's have SO many weird supersicious beliefs it drives me crazy) but he died of a heartattack. He was 26 had 7 girlfriends, as in 7 girlfriends and one kid. He is better up there repenting i think. But hey, he listened to our message once so he will be okay i think ;) so sad.

we have this old member in our ward who is a recent convert. he is 80 years old but thinks he is 20. he is a ward mission leader and works with us EVERY day ALL day. he has a CRAZY backround and i just love the guy!! you call every old guy here Tatay so that is his name. i will send you pics of his outfits! ha he looks 12. he just recently died his hair because his gay friend told him too. i just looked at him and said, WHY? never again tay!!! but he is the best. he has no teeth and i cant understand one thing he says but whatev.

my favorite family in this branch made us american food the other day.. BLT's on bagels. so good!! i havent had a bagel since the mtc when i ate like 4 every breakfast. ha but then we had a MILLION dinner and lunch appointments cause my comp left. So i am getting FAT!

two members different times told me i am "glowing". sweet right? but i think i am. everyone tells me i look happy. i am so happy! i love my mission and this time i have. i have an amazing family, support system, friends, i am so lucky! why wouldn't i be glowing?

i am excited to hear the wonderful words of Elder Bednar on Friday! I will write all about it next week. I will email monday! love you all soooo much!!

xoxox
Sister Curtis

I COOKED!!!

Yes. I cooked. without an oven, crock pot or microwave. SUCCESS!! I cooked eggplant. who knew eggplant was a vegatable not just Kallie's wedding color. HA. it was so good. THEN I cooked a rice topping that was yummy and creamy. and i learned how to like cut vegies and stuff. WHAT THE! Thank you mission. its honestly saving my life. haha me and sis wells made no bake cookies and i kind of wanted to cry because they tasted so good!!

this week was so good. so fast. sheesh. next week is transfer day. What the. in church i just laid my head on my comp telling her don't leave me. its so sad. she is going home. but i think she is in denial. she always tells me "its far sister curtis" umm no its not sister segovs! its days away. but it doesn't make me want to come home at all. I am loving it here. the floods are still crazy i guess. who knows i am isolated in this area and have no idea whats going on. the senior couples in our branch update us on normal life. but i can't remember anything. yes mom about the new borne movie! don't worry thats what EVERYONE talks about here. its in the city of marikina. PART OF MY MISSION! they filmed it there because its suuupppeeerrr busy there. but yeah thats what my mission looks like i guess. haven't seen the movie but every philippino is so proud! ha maybe i will be assigned there. hope not. i'd rather be in province forever.

about living here. now do you realize how hard it was for me the first week? but now it just seems normal. its hard to live here but i love it so its fine. seriously, every weird thing just seems normal.

example: one day we were sitting on a jeepney going to a really far part of our area and there was so much construction. i literally saw (this is not a joke) a guy who was like 25 or so "wasting" on the sidewalk. as in going to the bathroom, but not standing up peeing. yes it was normal. people walked by and didn't even care. and its just normal. i told my zone and they all just shrugged it off. like that. that happens in the states right? hahahaha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWEN!!!!!!!!!  i miss and love you! i can't believe you are 2 years old!!!

this week we have zone interviews. i am excited, the pres and ap's come to our church with our zone and we all bring rice toppings and pres interviews us and then usually sister delamare works with a sister couple. i think she may work with us since my comp is going home. its fine! what else. i can't remember.

OHHHH. okay so we did a service project for this investigator. she lives in a tree. like her house is connected to a tree with wood and like nothing else. so sad. she has dirt floors and she lives in dirt. so we told her we would help her wash her clothes. by hand of course. these philippina women do all the laundry of the family. the kids don't help. thats just not the culture. if they get in trouble which is never cause their is no discipline here then that's what they do but we only did this women's children's clothing and only washed them and it took us 3 hours and their were TWO of us. my hands started hurting really bad, but i kept doing it. i just felt so good the whole time. my comp was telling me aobut her mom and how her hands would bleed but she would keep going. 5 minutes later my hands started bleeding. the tops of my fingers were red and stinging really bad. when we were done, and went home i realized how bad they were. AH! i laid in my bed that night crying cause they hurt so bad. i wore band aids on each finger for four days!! now they are a little better but i couldn't do anything sheesh with out hands. i was the chorister in relief society and everyone gasped when they saw my hands! i will show you in pictures next week! be grateful you don't have to do that!!

well i think that's it for now! i love you all. i am having such an incredible time here on my mission. i love it. just so everyone knows some missionaries in our zone just played "spoons" the card game but we played it with our name tags, and i won. thank you.
the church is true. love you all!

xo,
Sister Curtis 

Flooding All Day and All Night

sorry so late, we just got back from the temple and mall! its 6:15 pm here! uhhhhh i haven't had an all day p-day this whole transfer. thats why i am so exhausted i think through out the week. we had a zone fast yesterday lunch to today lunch. it was good to fast and be in the temple. but i got dehydrated i think so i got sick towards the end and like all shaky but its okay. then i ate and drank lots of water and i was fine. we pigged (is that a word?) out at pizza hut after. about P5,000 worth. one kid bought all our pizza? what the? no one knows why but we did not complain. i think thats like $100 plus in dollars. anyway i sent pics.

So our whole mission had floods. but don't worry not my area! most of the mission had to evacuate and did service all week. but not us! YAY! we had to pack a bag for 2 days just in case. but i didn't. ha i was like..i am not leaving! haha our zone leaders maybe texted us every minute seeing if we were okay. i bought these REALLY nice "ugliest things of my whole life boots that i cant believe i am even telling you about" for the flooding. but everyone is safe and good now. it mostly happened in the city. thank good ness i am in the boon docks and no floods!!

we had a cool experience. we were in the mountain area of our area and my comp felt like we needed to buy food for our less active who literally lives in no house. he is so unhealthy skinny and has a son and they never have food. so we bought them like P100 worth of food which is like $2 i think, anyway and went to go give it to them. his son was asleep when we got there (his house doesn't even have walls) and the dad wasn't there. so we just put the food on the little bench table thing and when we started to leave we saw the dad and he was coming back from fishing (with a wood stick-thats it) and his cage was EMPTY. we asked him if he got any and he said no. my heart sank..him and his son were not going to eat that night. AH! so then we had huge smilies on our faces and just said bye to him and hid in the bushes til he saw the food. it was like christmas day to see him go over to the bag and see all their food. i just love these people and hate how God's children live like this. everyday honestly is a day of humility & gratefulness can't think of the word in english.


i am loving my companion still. she goes home in 3 weeks. ya what its been 3 weeks of this transfer. ya what school starts soon. ya what its almost september. doesn't seem real. i feel completely out of the world. who knew olympics was going on and stuff? mom send me some worldly news, all the missionaries in my zone always go crazy when we hear home stuff it makes us still feel like normal people.


did i mention elder bednar is coming to my mission august 31? did i? well if i didn't, ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING TO SPEAK TO MY MISSION. ya so cool. i am SO excited. he has asked us to be prepared about questions and read some talks about faith i will send them to you they are kind of amazing!


thats it, have a good week everyone! bryce good job on the missionary experience at work. didn't know those existed in utah! love it. keep going.
xoxo
Sister Shelby Curtis

august? whaaaaat

hello po!

how is it going? my week was good. full of 4 scared sisters in one scary house. so lots of priesthood blessings from our zone leaders, prayers, and lots of laughs about what happened to us. i wrote every detail down in my journal and i told sister weller the cute american companion i am going to tell everyone about it at cheesecake factory one day when i get home! hahaha. it was fast sunday when i told her that. ha

i am doing really good! just got back from playing philippino games in the pouring rain with some of our zone so fun! philippino games are so fun-then you put in some american intense elders and it gets crazy cause philippino's are not competitive. ha anyway, so fun. then we all went to jollybee. so gross! oh well so fun. so i am soaking right now cold in this computer shop.

we got these senior couples in our area now and they are super young cause they want to do 5 missions so they decided to start now. so they are as young as my parents..ya i just said young. anyway, theyyy areeeee crrraaazzzzy. SO awesome!!! they work with us sometimes so one day after they worked with us they took us out to eat (free FOOD) and we saw some foreigners) they looked like action heros. they had muscles and were like over 5 feet tall and i told the senior couple, why are they so big? and then said, sister curtis you have been in the philippines looking at tiny men for too long. they are normal looking! good news for you dad..you will look so muscly when i get home ;)

mom i love the cards you send me. i open them up like grandpa opens his cards up to see if there is ever cash in it. and then i get really disappointed! haha but i still love them ;) i have gotten every letter and package i am pretty sure. yay for safe mail.

i fasted saturday lunch-sunday lunch. 24 hours. first time in my life i have ever fasted for that long i know that is bad but it was such a spiritual experience. i prayed really hard i would have strength to climb mountains literally, ha with no food or water and it totally worked. fasting was super effective for our work and we had so many less active families come to church yesterday!! we were soo happy. fasting seriously is so great. i love the constant testimonies i am getting through out my mission.


our work is going really great! i am loving this area. we have this investigator who is literally chosen by God. ha honestly. we gave her the commitment to read the plan of salvation pamphlet so we could talk about it next visit. so we asked her if she read it and what she learned or understood and she explained the whole plan for us. honestly i couldnt understand her but she just kept talking and talking and then my comp goes..Exacto and then i knew..whoa. she's right! haha but yeah she's amazing.

what else. this is super long sorry i think i will start doing mass emails every week..do people care about what i have to say anymore? i remember geting mass emails from people and i just deleted them! haha anyway! love you all soooo much. have a wonderful last couple of weeks of summer. what the! where did your summer go? fastest summer of my life. love you all!!

xoxo
grandma and grandpa write me! & bryce.

Shelby