It´s Great to be 8 (& 20´s not bad either)

It´s Great to be 8 (& 20´s not bad either)

With officially 8 months in the field as of last week, I'll hit another mission milestone tomorrow which is... MY 1ST (and only) BIRTHDAY IN THE FIELD!!!! WOO HOOO!!!! We went to a ward churrasco for lunch yesterday after church and basically had the irmãs arguing over who´s gonna make my actual birthday cake, and it was resolved that I´m just gonna have to eat like 3 cakes tomorrow, wHaT a sTruGGle!!!  (lol)

Seeing as this week was the first of the transfer and first week of the new STL (Sister Training Leader) gig, I had to wake up before 6 for meetings/training every day this week, and I almost died of exhaustion, but it was all for the best, and I learned a lot and am somewhat better equipped to work with the other sisters in the mission now. I also crossed the border to Interlagos to get my CPF (which is basically like a  Brazilian social security number) and it took 3 hours, 4 trains, and 5 station transfers just to get there, but it all worked out for the best.

When I was waiting for the guy at the federal building to get my stuff printed out, he was asking about what it means to be a missionary and what we do, then all of a sudden he stopped and looked at me and was like, "Have you ever seen one of these before?" and slowly reached under his desk and then whipped out a Livro de Mórmon and I was like, "Ahh yeaahhh I do!" and I ended up teaching him a lesson right there in the office.

It was pretty funny in the moment, but the more I thought about the experience afterwards, the more grateful I got, because all week I had been stressing about how we would meet our goals and be able to work with all the meetings we had, and it was seriously an answer to my prayers. It was like Heavenly Father was saying "Look you do your part, and I'll do my part and provide the way. Just go forth with faith!" And hey guess what, we met our goals this week. And on top of that, we found three new families that are seriously incredible, and I have high expectations for them. Long story short, God did not cease to be a God of miracles. When we do our part, He is not only obligated but delighted to do His.

I love you all lots and thanks for the birthday wishes!

- Sister Curtis