Happy Halloween From the Philippines!

Hello everyone,

we just had a halloween party in our district meeting, super fun.

 

things are going great here. me and my companion are having so much fun, all we do is laugh. we will be friends forever! i told her i will come to her homecoming and her wedding shower and baby shower ;) so yep. friends forever.

 

its super hot here. i hear its snowing there, i cant even believe that. suppper happy i am not in utah and its snowing! i would rather be here in the sun.

 

we met some really cool people they are our "barcada" that means like peeps, homies, or group of friends haha and they are kind of so cool. but living in sin. they are two couples all living together but one is less active and the other are really interested. well, we have been teaching them and last night we went over there to just say hi cause the less active CAME TO CHURCH! we were stunned. he hasnt come to church in yearrrrs people. well we ate dinner over there and laughed for like an hour straight. they just laugh at our tagalog. i am pretty sure if we were fluent in our tagalog we wouldn't be funny. but sad news is they are moving and so that was our last visit with our homies. my comp is hilarious. i wrote all the funny things in my journal. haha

 

yesterday, we went to our less active's house and my companion prepared me because he has cancer and two tumors in his neck so its really sad. i thought i would be fine. well we walk in and he is laying down (obviously they are very poor) and can barely speak, but excited to see us. we asked if we could just sing a hymn and leave a prayer because he isn't feeling well. we sand "the spirit of god" and then i asked who he wanted to give the prayer and he said me, so i started praying and just fell apart. i could not keep my tears in. i thought about my mother who battled breast cancer and how she was so "comfortable". people brought us food, we had enough money to pay for things, and the ward was so amazing to us and this poor man who's kids are acting like they don't care and his wife is yelling at him is in so much pain! i hate to see people in so much pain and i can't do anything. the whole time i was praying i thought about my mother. then i had the impression to share to them. we shared about faith, honestly that is all they have right now, is their faith. i just bawled and bawled through out the lesson. we got out and my thoughts were so mixed! i told my companion, "i know how he feels, well i don't know but my mom would tell us how she felt when she was going through all of that and its so hard" i can do any sickness, but cancer. that hits home.

things are going great here in Asia. i love you all and hope you all have a wonderful halloween!! stay safe.

xoxo

Sister Curtis

Hi Everyone!

 

i got on and had 26 emails. i feel really cool!

guess what everyone?? i got my hair done and it is normal! its dark brown. i felt super weird getting it done, like wasting my time. but oh well it needed it. i looked like a clown. but we just did a session in the temple and it was amazing and then tried to find our way back home through the big city. let's just say, my life is crazy in the philippines. one day you will see all my pictures and just think i am SO cool cause I am.

so my life got like 10X better than last week. every morning i told myself, if i can do this week i can do anything. and look! i did it. so i am good the rest of my mission. my comp is the best we just laugh all day. she is so good in tagalog it drives me crazy!! what the! why is she so good and i sucked so bad when i was that "young". oh well its the gift of the tongues i guess.

i bore my testimony in sacrament meeting because i am the new missionary, and i told everyone that i love their people and they are all so faithful and beautiful. then i got tears in my eyes because honestly its the coolest feeling to be up there looking out and seeing such faithful people. i just love them. i may not come home and stay in the philippines forever. okay?

this area is huge and hard. so i am exhausted every single day. i really don't know what to say!! i feel like nothing cool is happening. last week we had an FHE with this family and it was kind of the cutest thing EVER. i made them the week before get the "program" ready and told them if they got everything ready we would bring treats and coloring book pages (which parker sent me and i just photo copy them and its the GREATEST thing ever-thank you) and it was so cute. then we played games after and its not funny in english but me and my comp were laughing so hard at them. the two olders girls are my FAV they just hug me all the time and hold my hand. then last night this cute little girl had a make up kit so i did her make up for her. i told the family i only want 6 girls haha no boys and they all told me i am crazzzyyyy. haha

maybe next week i will have more to say. oh on sunday we had a dinner appointment and the branch president and his wife are super american and speak really great english but they made us a SALAD! i have not had salad in so long. i think i ate the whole thing. then me and my comp got really trunky cause she showed us her wedding pictures! haha so cute.

just know that i am doing great! i am trying to figure out this area and trying to do my best cause time is going too fast each day. i hope everyone is having spiritual experiences or praying for more of them. i am so grateful for this wonderful experience in my life. i wouldn't trade it for a thing :)

love you,

sister curtis

Life's Always Changing!

hello family!

I am getting transfered. We played a game where people had to act out people who were getting transfered and one of the elders put his hands on his hips and was all sassy and everyone yells, "CURRRTTTSSSS!" And then i cried. Honestly, I AM SHOCKED!!!

So we'll see where the Lord wants me to go.

SOOOO YESS! I heard the news of General Conference. I am shocked now that elders can go when they are 18 and girls at 19. All in All, I am super happy I went at 21. :) But President sent us all a text sunday morning and I can just imagine all the people who are applying. Yay for missionary work, no one can stop this! I am so happy I chose to serve a mission! Honestly, especially right now as it is on fire! ha

ahh i feel like i have so much to say my heart is like beating so fast. ha ha

I am jealous you all got to see general conference. i will watch it this week and really excited :)

so i kind of got the BESTTTT PACKAGE EVER for my half way mark. I can't believe it is here. i am growing up in my mission i cant believe it!! Thank you soo much for all of my "support" back at home! I loved the letters. I cried as i read them. Don't worry, sis. cope filmed it so you can see it soon ;) thank you karen scott for my cd and package! you are the best!! :) my mission is going too fast now. third area and 6th transfer tomorrow. can't believe it. I love it. I love it!! I realized i am in the middle of my mission. ITS THE BEST PLACE TO BE. Co-senior companions, just having fun, no stress ;) i need to enjoy this time. I remember Pres. Uchtdorf's talk in July about how we are all in the middle. No matter how old we are. I love being in the middle of my mission!

i realized i am in the best place for a mission. Why? because nothing is illegal here!! haha we can do anything and there are no laws. So fun!! I wouldn't change coming to the philippines for anything!!

I can't believe i am half way. I love my mission so much. I love this Gospel and these people and the philippines and my Savior and everything else :) I am so grateful for my life. My president wrote me and said, "sister curtis relax and enjoy the ride" so another change, another adventure (right dad) love you all

God Speed,
xoxo
sister curtis

Hello Family,

This week was super fast. We had zone conference on thursday. Got up at 4 am and didn't get back til 6 pm. Then went out and worked from 630-9 pm. You have no time on a mission for anything. My voice has been gone this whole transfer. I think it is telling me I am exhausted but it's okay. I sound like a boy but whatever. At zone conference, president told us we have a million sisters coming in from oct-feb so he looked straight at me and said "get ready to train" uhh. Shoot.

One thing i loved what President said a couple of months ago was, "The Lord knows your time table" so true. I keep telling myself. When the Lord wants me to be fluent in Tagalog, I will be. Anyway, next week is transfers. So crazy. I love this area so I don't want to leave, but whatever happens, happens! I kind of hate how i dont know what is going to happen or if i will ever see these people again! :(

Saturday we had "family day" it was the whole stake and we got to go for 2 hours. from the minute i walked into the stake center i was so overwhelmed. Only in the Philippines you walk into the church and music is blasting and there are so many people, food and craziness. ALLLLLL I wanted to do was dance. Everyone was dancing. (so i did a little with our investigators kids, of course the little girls) Our whole zone was there so i told my zone leaders "i am going to dance because it doesnt say you cant in the white handbook" ha ha.

We have the most amazing investigator Laarnie and we just extended a bap date for her and she said YESSS so fast like she didnt even let us finish our question haha. I love her! her baptism is set for November 3. I hope i am still here.

We had a baptism on Saturday for our investigator Ellen. She is the BESSSTTT! I have taught her from the beginning to the end so it was special. I love her so much! Let's face it, I love all these people!

Funny story, at the baptism while she was getting re-dressed i was the chorister and we just sang songs til she came back in and my mind was completely off of singing and the song was done and oh don't worry i started singing the 3 line again. and everyone just laughed. i pretty much started singing a solo until my mind came back and i realized i was the only one singing. sheesh! haha

That is exciting gma and gpa (lolo & lola) are moving to hawaii, kind of jealous :) but that is so fun! how are my favorite niece and nephew? is anyone pregnant? ;) people can get pregnant now, because i only have 9 months left:) so get to it people!! hope everything else in the family is going great!

We have a solid week of no activities, just work. so i am excited to get back into the work for the last week of the transfer. i have loved this transfer it has been fun! I love this work. I love the beautiful people of the Philippines. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve in such a wonderful country. These people love Jesus Christ and I love being a representative of Him. I love bearing my testimony a million times a day. The spirit is so thick as a missionary I love it. I could go on and on about how much I love my mission, but i don't have enough time :)

I love you all,

xoxo

Sister Curtis

September 24, 2012

i dont know where september went. its crazy right?

this will be short cause nothing really happened this week. 

oh except we ran into our drunk less active this week. i just wanted to cry. i have never really been around drunk people except for my mission. Ha. i am innocent. but her poor kids had to babysit her and ugh. so annoying. alcohol is the worst. people dont understand they can have a great life and have fun with out alcohol. its one of the tools satan uses to destroy people and family. i hate it. 

oh and we were stuck with a married couple who were fighting back and forth and me and my comp just sat there stunned. my comp goes "well i think we should pray" haha then i prayed in english begging Heavenly Father to help these two people. I prayed in english so they couldn't understand me. he he. i will never be a marriage counselor in my whole life.

we had temple tour (where we take out investigators to the temple grounds and give them tours) and it was so great. i am so blessed in my mission because each temple tour you see your old members/investigators/less actives at temple tour!!! so i saw so many people from cogeo. and guess what? I COULD UNDERSTAND THEM! they all were telling me they were so happy for me that i can speak tagalog now! yay! it was the first temple tour where i actually understood all the missionaries and their jokes and stuff. anyone proud of me? i still am no where near fluent but its coming people! unti-unti! 

this week will be fun. i am excited. we are going through the temple with the old man that is a ward missionary. Tatay Anselmo. He is 80 years old and is completely loosing it. but i love him! I have so many funny videos of him on my camera i will show you all one day. you will love him. I dont think he will ever die. people, he works with us all day every day. he has a p-day too. mondays. he is awesome! that's on wednesday, i am so excited!! 

i got the best package earlier from parker. and the best letters from all of you!! i loved opening the letter from my mom and money dropping out. ha ha its been a while since i have seen american money. i hope elder curtis is doing well in the mtc and bryce and abby feel better!! i love you all so much and love my mission. i love this gospel so much. everyday i realize more and more the plan my Heavenly Father has for me. i am grateful for my strong family that i have had my whole life and for their support. i am so happy in my life. even though my birthday is in two months and i will 22 and that is SO OLD!!!!!!! uh.

love you all,

xoxo

Sister Curtis

Pictures From the Mission!

 Shelby loved this cute cupcake girl; oh, by the way, Shelby loves cupcakes too!

 Their milk comes in a box and is not cold!

 A senior couple from America made their district pancakes! Shelby looks pretty happy about it!

 The rice fields of the Philippines!

 Shelby wants to bring them all home with her!

 Shelby LOVES the Philippine children!

 Just a normal Philippine neighborhood.

 Outside the temple; Shelby's favorite place to be!

 Stuck in the rain!

 Shelby inside the temple with a recent convert.

 Whenever there's an air conditioner, Shelby sticks her head in it!

 There's no stopping Sister Curtis! She'll try to convert anyone!

Shelby made everyone cookies!

I Love to See the Temple!

Sorry so late, the ap's came to our district meeting and after games we all went and ate! so fun.

this week was hard. like lately i have just been exhausted so this week i need to re focus myself for the work. its hard when my companion asks me trunky questions all day every day it makes me trunky! haha 

so the highlight of this week was we got to go through the temple with one of my companion's old recent converts. it has been a year so she was able to go through and we got invited! we were so excited to get on a jeepney and have an adventure going to the city. two white girls making our way through the city. good thing i know Tagalog or it would of been impossible. but it was great!! it's amazing, because that is why i am here, to get people to make covenants. first baptism, then going to the temple. i love it! i saw an old family from my old area Cogeo, that was getting SEALED! so amazing! so happy Heavenly Father made those two on the same day so i could see them. I wasn't too close with them, but still excited!! AND GUESS WHAT? i saw my old companion sister Segovia the one i just had at the temple. she was just doing a sessions (i week after she went home ha ha she misses missionary life) and it was so good to see her. i had like tears in my eyes we were so excited to see each other. she didn't have a name tag.i never want that to be me! ill send the pic

THENNNNNNN, on the way home, we got off in a city before my area to eat dinner and got stuck in that city for 3 HOURS!!!! i sat in the rain, hollering down jeepneys (like they do in new york ha) for 3 hours and each time i looked back at my companion she was talking to a different person each time about the Gospel. HA! (if my dad knew i was in the Philippines late at night outside of a bar talking to random people-he would die ;) ) but the thing is, people are so nice here. and we are protected. we were about to call the ap's to come get us when our nice district leader calls and i am like basically crying to him and then the senior couples came and got us! but it was a good night!! 

we have a new investigator La Arnie. Her husband is abroad in China working, so they only see each other two weeks a year!! that is how EVERYONE here is. So Abby, count your blessings. But her husband is a member and active there and she said she wasn't ready for the gospel but now is. she is amazing. we showed her the Joseph smith movie and i think because she is so amazing Satan did not want our visit to go well. we had so many distractions, and then on top of everything my DVD was scratched! but at the end we both just bore short and powerful testimonies of Joseph Smith and the spirit came back in. i love her! she has a little girl and i just play with her each time we visit. 

we have a baptism next week. Ellen, she is 19 and is sooo smart. We had to move her baptism date due to some coffee word of wisdom problems, but in relief society she bore her testimony about how being off coffee has helped grow her testimony and come closer to Jesus. Amazing right? 

i hope everyone is doing great. i got so many emails one day i will write all of you. mom sent me some of her spiritual experiences, i loved that! i love hearing about them. the new temple is so beautiful in Brigham city!! i want to go there! Bryce looked so cute at homecoming.you are too cute bryceeman! your date is gorgeous! is she blind? JOKE! love you all. cool new car dad ;)

xoxo

Sister Curtis