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

I'm in Naples!! :)

Whoo! P-Day already?? Crazy stuff! Well, I'll do my best to include all of the crazy stuff that happened this week, but (as usual) I don't have oodles of time.

    So Sebastian got closed down last week. It was sad, but I LOVE  where I am now! :)

We spent last P-Day packing and emptying out the house (since there is currently nobody living there) and on Wednesday morning we got up at 5 am and set out at 6:30 for Plantation. It took us 3 hours, but we got there in time and just a little bit early! Thank goodness for carpool lanes! :)

    So we got to transfers and it was SO exciting as usual! It is seriously like a mash of Christmas and a family reunion! Sister Montague and I went in and greeted the "baby" missionaries. I knew right off the bat which one Sister Montague was going to be training. I totally called it. :) And Sister Jackson came up to me before the meeting started and declared that I would go to Naples. Fancy that! :)

    The meeting got started, we had the testimonies of new missionaries (and there were a TON of  them. Mostly sisters!), then Elder Burgoyne announced that we would have departing missionary testimonies (typical, since he was dying, too!). Sister McAfee, Elders Pukahi, Christenson, Skidmore, Liddle, Noguerra, and Dinkins were the ones that I knew. OH! And the last Elder to bear his testimony turned his attention to a new elder in the audience (Elder Higginbotham, who is waiting on his Visa to Portugal) and said "I was a visa waiter, too." And then he just grinned. And then the whole audience burst into laughter! It took me a second to realize that he basically said that he waited in the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission for TWO YEARS FOR HIS VISA TO BRAZIL AND IT NEVER CAME!!!!! I was DYING with laughter when I made the connection!

     The assignments were announced, and I got sent to Naples to greenie-break Sister Rammell (Sister Alcazar and Sister Jackson's baby). I'm in the same district as Elder Scutt, and our DL is Elder Amos (he just got out of Key West). And they are in a Haitian Creole area. Elder Amos came into the mission speaking English, then President wanted him to learn Portuguese, then he went to Key West (so naturally he had to learn Spanish. Did I mention he only studied Chinese in high school?) and now he is in a Creole-speaking area AND HE DOESN'T SPEAK A LICK OF IT! Crazy stuff!!! Oh, and Elder Nielsen is the DL for the other district! :)

       We got going, it took us about 2 hours to get to Naples. We did some tracting and taught an English class, so that was fun!

     The next day we had district training, and it turns out I have a son! I'm the "oldest" sister in my district, and Elder Higginbotham is getting trained in our district! I have a kid!

     We accidentally knocked into a blind, English-speaking member named "Clyde Steele". He was SUCH a sweet guy. That was awesome! :)

       We've also found some cool people to teach, and church was great! I'm so grateful to be in a Spanish ward again. :) And our members are wonderful! <3

        I got a ton of loving from the Payero's  dogs last night, all three of 'em! They reminded me of Jet, Hoss and Scout!

       We're also housing with Sister Pankratz and Sister Samuels (Sis Samuels is going to heaven and Sis Pankratz is going down the other way. A funny story for another day; it involves a Hebrew Israelite that they encountered, lol!)

       Also, Sister Rammell and I found something neat in our studies when studying extending commitments. 1 Kings 17:10-16. Notice how commitments that are bold and loving are also ALWAYS specific to the individual. Even the Lord promises specific blessings, for example, look at the 10 commandments! And even in 2 Kings 5, too! It is so amazing how the Lord knows us ALL so deeply and personally, and loves us all the same. He never has us do ANYTHING without having an incredible purpose behind it.

     Well, that was essentially my week. Have a great week, everyone! I love you all so much! :)

      ~Hermana Curnow

21 Julio 2015 Transfers!

Hey, I'm back again!

So before I forget, I need to tell you something cool: My companion's older brother was Lindsey Stirling's DL in the New York Bronx mission! :) Cool stuff. 

Anyway!

    Sister Montague and I are both transferring! And they're shutting down the Sebastian area!!! WHAT?? I couldn't believe it! Crazy stuff changes are happening in our mission. She is also transfer training! :)

     Well, I'm running out of time pretty quick here!

Some other cool things that happened was our lunch with the Crosby's (AWESOME people!), seeing Mamma Rae, getting downpoured on while biking, teaching Donna about temples (getting her excited to go!) and celebrating Sister Montague's birthday. Good stuff!

    Love y'all! Talk to you soon! Please mail me! I LOVE being kept in the loop! :)

~Hermana Curnow

13 Julio 2015

(Please ignore that last post which was posted WAY too early!)

Welcome to my life of exciting things happening daily and having about zero time to type them up once a week! :)

     So last Monday we had the zone activity in a park and had a BBQ. It was actually pretty well organized, the food was great and it was fun! :) We got a group pic on the slides and Sister Montague, Sister Burdett and I owned the swing set, haha!

     We had interviews with President on Tuesday, those were awesome! President Richardson is seriously the best! I got a lot of revelation and good ideas for things to apply to our area and work.

     The next day we had a "Christmas in July" zone training, a white elephant gift exchange and a fire exchange with the STLs. It was Elder Christensen's last ZT. And Elder Skidmore's, Elder Liddle's, and Elder Pukahi's. Basically our whole zone is guaranteed to be at transfer meeting.

      We had lunch with Sister Holton on Thursday and MAN do I love her! She is just the most fun, fiery old lady you'll ever meet, and her testimony is amazing. :) And I ate 3 pieces of her turkey pot pie (it was heavenly). We did some biking in Vero, and met with Sister Lawson for a little bit to discuss missionary work, and that was great! She had some really good insights.

      We had dinner with the Doyles the next day. That was so fun. They're just such a hilarious and exciting family, especially the little ones! And Brother Doyle's accent cracks me up!

       Next day, service with the Escamilla family. Then biking. And we found another gopher tortoise! Those are so common up here! :)

       Sunday came the next day, so we went to church. A lot of visiting members came, so that was fun! :) Sister McEwen taught me a Dominican phrase, "A Po' Ta' Bien" or something similar. I'm still not sure what it means, lol! We were able to go over to the Mouso's house and have dinner and an FHE with them and Mike, which was wonderful! This ward has my heart. :) And the last event of Sunday was visiting Sister Blanchett (the new WML's wife) and seeing the 4-foot alligator that was swimming around in the canal in her backyard! 

        That was basically my week! Oh, look! I'm out of email time! Talk to y'all next week! Love you! Email me! I love knowing what is going on! :)

           Con carino,

       ~Hermana Curnow

13 Julio

Welcome to my life of exciting things happening daily and having about zero time to type them up once a week! :)

So last Monday we had the zone activity in a park and had a BBQ. It was actually pretty well organized, the food was great and it was fun! :) We got a group pic on the slides and Sister Montague, Sister Burdett and I owned the swing set, haha!

6 Julio 2015. 'MURICA.

So I just realized that I don't even need to put the year on these blog posts anymore cuz I have less than a year left- EWWWWW. Seriously, I have NO IDEA how time goes by so fast!

   Tuesday we met some grouchy people while knocking doors but whatever, we are here to do our Father's work! :) Then this SUPERSTORM started! Like, SUPER close lightning and everything! We were about 3 miles from our house and on bikes, so we were BOOKING it! I've never ridden that little lightning rod so fast in my life! And we didn't die, cuz Kelly saw us biking, had just gotten a weather warning on her phone and decided to save us and give us a ride to our house. I love her! <3

    Wednesday we had DT, went to the Toyota dealership to get our window fixed and we gout 5 Guys Burgers and Fries for lunch YUMMY! We went biking and did some good knocking on the island, and got to talk to Chloe. :) She's cool! The Traylor family fed us dinner, lovely folk!

   The next day the Baemans took us out to dinner at Ay Jalisco! Yummy! We had a GREAT MM with the Hauber fam.

    We went knocking all day Friday and saw Elisabeth. She has my dream job- biological scientist! :) Had a media referral for a Bible, so we delivered that, it was great! Somebody asked me if I was Sister Montague's daughter, and another person got confused by the "Hermana" on my badge and said, "I'm just gonna call you 'Hemmie'." LOL!

   The ward had this GREAT 4th of July BBQ on Saturday and we went on a finding blitz with the ZLs and STLs. And we got to know our lovely neighbors that just moved in! We were home by 7:30 

(safety reasons) and I took a LONG shower <3, caught up on some journaling and went to bed early. <3

  Yesterday was CHURCH. I love church so much! And we briefly visited with the Hayes family. :) That was my week! And everybody go study the talk by Elder L. Tom Perry from the April 2009 conference! Every member a missionary! Love you all!

    ~Hermana Curnow

P.S. Rest in peace, Elder Boyd K. Packer. <3