17 Agosto 2015

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've become a little less-efficient with email time. :P

Before I get right into everything, I have some fun facts to share:

    August 3rd was my birthday.

   August 4th was my six-month mark in Florida.

   Today (August 17th) marks 8 months since I entered the Provo MTC. Isn't that INSANE?! I seriously have no idea where time is going!!

   So these last two weeks, we have an awesome Zone Training by Elder Allen and Elder Jensen, so much good stuff! We also learned that poor Sister Samuels has bronchitis, so she has been mostly confined to our apartment for a few weeks, poor thing. :( So we've been taking turns doing exchanges with Sister Pankratz so that we can get work done in both of our areas. It's been good, we're hoping that she recovers soon.

    Lupita made me horchata when we had a late-birthday-dinner with her. SO GOOD. I'm hooked!

We've been dealing with a ton of lightning and thunderstorms lately, with CLOSE lightning! It's cool to watch when you are safe and indoors. :)

    And I've come to gain a testimony of knocking in INSPIRED areas! Seriously, praying beforehand and going where the Lord wants you to go is so important, and miracles come from it! Also, faith is ESSENTIAL while finding!

     We're currently working with some awesome Cubans (shocker) and some Haitians that speak Spanish! That's all that I remember at the moment! I promise I'm journaling the cool details!

     Love you all! See you next week! I'm alive!

~Hermana Curnow

P-Day and Birthday :)

      Not the most original of titles, I know. But hey, it sums it up! :) Today is my birthday, and it is also a P-Day. Not a bad combo, in my mind. And it has been going super well, so far! :) Sister Rammell and I have been joking around, saying that it is both of our birthdays (since we've been having such a good day so far, it is just on giant birthday for all of us). And Sister Pankratz is a doll and even made me a little birthday banner decoration! <3 The STLs gave me a card, and so did Sister Samuels! And the zone sang "Happy Birthday" on our P-Day conference call. I feel loved! <3

      OH! And send some birthday love to Elder Mitchell, serving in the Costa Rica San Jose West mission! We happened to be born on the same day, just hours apart. So send him some mail or something! :)

           Elder Benjamin Mitchell

        Mision Costa Rica San Jose Oeste

            Apartado 859-1000

                 San Jose, Costa Rica

So, yeah. That is the exciting news of the day! Oh, we've also discovered that our apartment complex has a vacuum center that we didn't know about, and that whole grain toast with nutella and Mexican crumbling cheese tastes AMAZING!!!!

    But anyway, on Tuesday we had an awesome DT; Sister Rammell and I did the section on extending commitments (what I noted in last week's post regarding First and Second Kings in the Old Testament), and that went really well! We applied it to our proselyting and we've noticed it helps SO much! It helps us find those that are truly ready for the gospel in their lives.

   After that, the Vanderbilt sisters and us did a SHADOW EXCHANGE with our wonderful STLs, Sister Burdett and Sister McGrath! :) Basically what happened is the STLs split up, and we were working in trios for that day. It was a BLAST and I learned a ton!!

    We switched back on Wednesday, Thursday was mostly Weekly Planning and knocking. Then on Friday, more knocking and we helped the De Acosta family move and learned a little bit about their conversion story. It ALL started with an 11 year old member inviting her friend to come to church. And an entire family was baptized because of it. NEVER underestimate the power of member missionary work!

   We had some good member moments on Saturday (I learned that Chocolate Trinity Publix ice cream with lime jello is actually amazing! Thank you, Hermana and Hermano Aquino for showing me the light!). We had dinner with the CUTEST family ever, the Dirienzo family! The had 2 ADORABLE little girls, a snuggly Great Dane and empanadas. :) Afterwards we visited the Fernandez family. They were talking about how their 9 year old daughter doesn't really even look Hispanic, because of her blue eyes and light brown hair. Both of the parents have brown eyes and the mom told us, "Everyone always asks, 'Who does she get the eyes from??'." And then her husband whispered "El lechero", which translated means "the milkman". I DIED LAUGHING. It was soooooo funny!!

      Actually, just this whole week has been full of laughter. Sister Rammell and I are becoming close and we are constantly chatting, getting to know each other, and making jokes. :) Tons of fun! In fact, after we visited one of her recent converts yesterday, we were knocking doors. I decided to ask her about her favorite scary movie. We were in dimly lit apartment buildings, and she decided to make that freaky sound that that chick from "the grudge(?)" makes, and so that freaked me out. Then we round the corner to knock some more doors, and there is this CREEPY flower pot doll thing sitting outside someone's door (why ANYONE would use that as a decoration, I have no clue!) and it literally made me gasp and jump backwards! Then we rounded the corner again, and this lady was sitting on the staircase smoking and had her face lit up with her phone (she was staring right at me and her face was a little sunken) and that startled me again! Basically I was terrified for my life during that whole knocking session, but afterwards it was hilarious! :)

        Church was also really good (that took place hours before the creepy knocking). In Relief Society we had a wonderful class about temples. I miss the temple SO much! </3 And we watched an amazing video, following a girl going to the temple. It is on LDS.org and it is called "Standing in Holy Places". GO WATCH IT!

          Also, I found something super neat in studies today. It's one of those really neat, must-ponder messages in the Book of Mormon. Go read Alma 5:19, then Jacob 4:1-3 and ponder the significance of the word "ENGRAVEN". Neat stuff, huh? :) I love the scriptures!

         And Happy Birthday to my favorite little brother, Gus, whose birthday is the 9th of August! :) Wish I was there to celebrate it with you, but happy birthday nonetheless, bud!

         That is about all for today. Love you all! The church is true!

           Lots of love,

         ~Hermana Curnow