29 Junio 2015

Hey, y'all!

    So things in my area are currently biking and knocking doors 24/7. That's kinda what happens when you don't have people to teach. :P

   A little bit of a hiccup in terms of the mailing system: We actually aren't going to be sending mail through the mission office anymore! So the Fort Lauderdale address isn't going to work. If you wish to send me a letter (which I hope you do ;) ), please ask my parents for my current address!

    I suppose this means an end to the legend of Mamma Orton. She had a daughter that served her mission here, and she writes so many of the sister missionaries in the FFLM! She did it through the mission office address. I wonder how that'll work out?

    But, yeah. Not a whole ton happening this week. We're working with some mega-awesome less-actives that I just love to death! :)

     We went and knocked doors in this cool town called "Felsmere". TONS of Mexicans over there! I loved getting to practice my Spanish! :) And we had a full-day exchange on Friday. Sister Burdett came over to Sebastian and we tracted all day! It was AWESOME! :) And she is so wonderful, working with her was amazing!

      Yeah, that was basically my week. And I only really took one picture this week, so I'll post that! A little treat for you guys! I needed shaving cream, I saw this, and I HAD to have it! It reminds me of the first Jurassic Park movie! ;) Long live the original!

​It's not a very good selfie and it is sideways, but you'll just have to deal with it. ;) #nomakeup #thatshowwedopdays

Love you all!!! The church is true!

            ~Hermana Curnow

22 Junio 2015

So before we get started, I'm going to apologize in advance for my English and any errors that I might make. I've noticed that I'm having difficulty speaking English properly! I'm making all sorts of spoonerisms and switching the order of words! Sister Montague and I just laugh and say, "Spanish missionary problems". ;)

   Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you! 

 June 17th, this last Wednesday, marked six months since I left my dad's truck and walked into the Missionary Training Center in Provo. And tomorrow, I will have one year left of my mission. SCARY!!!! Seriously, I'm terrified of leaving the mission and going home! Time goes by so fast! One year left... SICK.

   We had Zone Training this last week, and the Stuart zone is full of awesome people! :) We are few, but we are quality! ;) And President Richardson decided to stop by and share some wisdom with us, so that was fun!

    On Tuesday night, the Relief Society hosted a Diabetes Awareness activity, with a guest speaker. ...We've recently invested in quinoa and lentils.

    We bike everyday here and I love it! We've (as a companionship), have gotten a total of 3 flat tires so far. Not so fun. We're working to avoid those in the future, haha! In fact, we biked 46 miles on Saturday!! Including a ton of biking on Wabasso island! So fun!

   And John is progressing so much and came to church yesterday! LIFE IS GOOD! Sorry for the short entry, but I gotta go! Time is up! Love you all! Talk to you next week!

   ~Hermana Curnow

15 Junio 2015 New Area.

    Remember how I was getting transferred last week, and I was sure that I would go south?

Yeah, I got sent north. About as far north as I can go, actually.

I sat down at transfer meeting expecting to stay seated for a while (until they started listing off the people going to Southern zones). And then less than a minute later, I learned that I was going north and into an ENGLISH area. My jaw DROPPED. English??? I'm a Spanish missionary! I knew that Spanish missionaries often have to serve in at least one English area throughout the duration of their mission, but north??? That's where all the white people are! This is for sure something new for me! I didn't encounter very many white people in Miami, to be honest, haha! But I do love this new area. The members especially are super hard-working and charitable. :) It's a great ward. 

    I'm up here with Sister Montague. She is just super!!! :) We get along really well and work super hard to invite everyone to come unto Christ. We also bike literally everyday and I LOVE it!! Biking is the BEST!!

    We're working with a guy named John right now. He's super cool and reads diligently. :) We're also working with Ingrid, and she is just so funny and warm-hearted. :)

  We just moved into a new place in our area, and we just got a set of washing and drying machines. Yay for clean clothes! :)

   Oh, and there is SO much wildlife up here! Apparently people see manatees and dolphins in the canals by the generators! And I even found a softshell turtle in one of the streams and a gopher tortoise crossing the street! The reptiles that you see while biking! :)

   I'm out of time, but I love you all!

Talk to you next week!

Con amor, Hermana Curnow

9 Junio 2015 I'm transferring.

  So the Hialeah vs Miami Beach soccer match was a BLAST!! Miami Beach had a ton of Hispanic (and a Haitian) elders that had been playing soccer basically since birth, so they won LOL. :)

  At District Training we had a "Funeral" for Elder Hymas. All of us sisters dressed in black and gave him fake flowers. Then we took funeral pictures. It was fun. :)

  We went and visited Lina. She gave us dresses. She's so sweet, haha! And we're having dinner with her tonight! I've also been in Florida for just over 5 months now. Time doesn't make any sense while you're serving a mission.

  We're still teaching Harold and Saul, and they're AWESOME! Harold especially has great questions and wants to learn. They were actually at the Noche de Hogar/ Tomy's birthday party that Hermana Trini had last night! They loved it. :)

   This amazing woman named Maida has my heart. I'm running out of email time but it suffices me to say that she is a miracle and part of the reason that I needed to be in Miami Lakes.

   I've spent 3 AMAZING transfers, 5 spectacular months in Miami Lakes. And my worst fears have come to life. I'm transferring. I really hoped and prayed that I would stay in Miami Lakes with Sister Bradley for one more. I love my companion, ward, and area so much that I seriously can't put it into words. It's really hard, emotionally. But I'll come back and visit someday. And the Lord needs me somewhere else right now.

    And this transfer meeting is going to be INSANE!!! SO many areas are white-washing! I have mixed feelings about the idea that I might white-wash, but it could also be a huge adventure. :)

   Oh, and remember Gladis? The elders' recent convert? Yeah, she has dreams about transfers. Last transfer, right before transfer calls, she had a dream. And she only saw Elder Coburn, not Elder Ortiz. And then Elder Ortiz transferred. Then THIS transfer, she had a dream and only saw Elder Wilber, not Elder Coburn or Elder Dinkins. And Elder Wilber is the only one not transferring. She has a gift, I'm sure of it, haha!!

     But anyway, that's all for now! Love you all and miss you!

   The church is true! :)

~Hermana Curnow 

  

June 1st, 2015 (continued oops!)

Also, Rest in Peace Elder L. Tom Perry. <3 Thank you for everything.

I also realized this last week that this is one of the only missions in the world where you learn "Cuban" haha.

OH. There is a returned missionary here. She served in the FFLM and her family lives in the FFLM and so she lives here, too. She is actually in my ward! GO CHECK OUT HER Mormon.org profile! She is amazing!!   >>>>   Mormon.org/me/DSID/ElizabethAndarcioCalvo

   And I was briefly chased by a Doberman while on bike last week. Fun stuff. Nobody was hurt. :)

Have a great week!

AMAZING WEEK! Happy June! :)

June is here! The beginning of the month means many things: Baptismal records, new monthly miles for our cars (yay!), our MSF money is refilled (more yay!), etc.

   After email last week we went and played Volleyball and this fun little dodgeball-like game called "Smash Face" as a district. Then on Wednesday we had District Training, we saw Nerida (<3) and then something AMAZING happened!! We were talking before a dinner appointment about how we didn't have many people to teach, and we just said "We're working our hardest, we are striving to improve and we are focused on helping the people and doing the Lord's will. That is what matters." And then we walk into Hermana Trini's house for dinner and BOOM! She is housing two Colombians, Saul and Harold (father and son). And they want to learn more and get baptized!! And they came to church! Miracles are SO real! I've never seen such huge miracles or so many as when I have been in Florida serving! :)

    On Thursday we got our oil changed at Pep Boy's. Had a cheap lunch at Chili's (we were running low on money. Well, at least I was haha!). We taught some people, went finding, Sister Jenny O. feed us an AMAZING dinner and made homemade watermelon juice for us! Mmm! And we had avocado for dessert! Then we went to teach someone else, and our car battery died. Awkward. We were actually close to Trini's, so we had Tommy, Harold and Saul give us a jump. Even more awkward. Then back to Pep Boys for the rest of the night!

   On Friday we found Frances! She is super cool! :) And We prayed with some other really awesome families! We had dinner at Munchy's Pizza. I adore that little restaurant! And we met a super awesome LA named Martha.

    On Saturday, we weren't able to see Frances. but we had lunch with Alexandra (YUMMY!!!) and the stake hosted a Family History Discovery Conference! :) And our sweet Maida fed us a lovely dinner!

   On Sunday; MAIDA, FRANCES, HAROLD and SAUL all came to church!!!! I was so ridiculously happy that they made that decision to come and they all loved it! :) BLESSINGS!! We did some more finding later that day and visited the Cabo family (they're so awesome!!) 

     And today I am emailing, writing letters (btw, y'all should write me! ;) hint hint), going to Walmart and then we have a special event in Hialeah! President Richardson gave us permission to have a Hialeah zone vs. Miami Beach zone soccer game!!! I'm so excited!! Talk to you guys next week! Love you tons, and the church is true!

 ~Hermana Curnow

And Rest in Peace, Elder Perry. <3

#M.A.Y 26 Mayo 2015

Alrighty, so this last week we were fed by Hna Chavez, Hna Yolanda Ortiz, Hna Maldonado, Hna Franchi and Hna Trini Arce. Food <3 I love these amazing women, too. Now for the rest of the less-important stuff~

  President Richardson (MAN he is just so awesome!) is having us focus more deeply on the Standard Works during our Personal Study time. And Personal Study is just so great. The revelation flows like CRAZY and I'm getting more out of the scriptures than I ever have before in my life! We always start off with a half hour in the Book of Mormon and then we move on to Preach My Gospel, Conference talks, etc. I tend to focus on Doctrine & Covenants and the New Testament. A do some dipping into the Old Testament occasionally. I've been searching more carefully for evidences in the Bible about "Divine Potential of humans" and that humans have been able to see the face of God. Tons of people down here don't believe those things, but they believe every literal word in the Bible, oddly enough. It's seriously written all over the place.

   I've been working with maps a TON more lately. We've made a map of all of the less-active members that we've never met, so we can LA search and find simultaneously! I've also printed out Google Earth maps and started marking the roads that we've knocked. It makes things easier.

   We got our miles cut about two weeks ago. Something tells me we'll be using our bikes a lot more! :)

    So we haven't been getting a ton of mail lately. But last week a magazine for Babies R Us or something showed up in our mailbox. What are the odds? A magazine FULL of babies shows up at a house of sister missionaries! Is the world TRYING to make us trunky?? Haha

   I looked it up on a GPS. I'm 2,700 miles from home. I'll start using that in my finding, saying "I came 2,700 miles to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with you." 

   So we went to Publix last week (I love that store! It is like the Florida version of Safeway) to buy cookie dough to make cookies for our amazing RS President that does everything. And Sister Bradley grabbed a DEADLY flavor of ice cream. She says that it is an FFLM tradition to try Publix's "Chocolate Trinity" ice cream at least once. It was heaven. And we can never buy it again after looking at the nutrition info LOL.

   We had ZONE CONFERENCE! I LOVE those so much!!! <3 Afterwards we had "Hurricane Preparedness Training" by Elder/Doctor C.P. Bean. He is a medical advisor for 9 missions in the Southeast of the U.S., a convert, ex-military, an orthopedic surgeon and he is HILARIOUS! Funniest natural disaster training ever! Plus his voice sounds just a little bit like the pig from Toy Story, so it was all the more better!

    He told us about what we need to know/do/ everything. Mom, Dad, I can't call you if there is a hurricane. Sorry. He told us that there is a high chance of a hurricane this year, but we're going to pray that that training was wasted time. He told us that the floods brought in by hurricanes tend to bring water 17 feet above sea level. He called out "How many of you Elders are in the keys?" They raised their hands and he just chuckled and said "You guys are so dead!" (The Keys are 2 feet above sea level LOL). Then I went over to Miami Beach with Sister Furner for a full-day exchange! It was great and we got to teach Brittany and re-teach Kenneth! :)

    Running out of time, I'll try to be quick!

   We got Harold, Palm Springs North's RC. He came to Spanish ward because he is bilingual but his fiancee doesn't know English. I love them both so much and I'm SO excited to teach them!!

   We met a guy that begs on Red Road. He came up to us while we were on bikes and we had a nice chat.

    We biked half the day yesterday and it was 91 degrees. I got burnt, but it was the best! And we found a new investigator! :) We also met a SUPER Patriotic Cuban lady! Like we're talking 'Murica bumper stickers all over her car and inside her house!

    And we also learned that Red Road and 57th is super dangerous when the traffic lights are out. Yay lol :)

       Anyways, I love you all! Have an amazing week!

~Hermana Curnow

    #M.A.Y (Miracles Are Your's)