All You Need is Love
"It's so cold, how is it possible that it's this cold?" These are currently the first and last words that I say as I climb out of and into bed every day. My area is the coldest of the mission (it got down to the 30´s this week which is just ridiculous) and our house has continued to do that cool thing where it´s actually colder inside than outside. I've just had to get used to using 4 layers of clothes 24 hours a day, but the irmãs here are sooo good to us and give us scarves and coats and sweaters (shoutout to Irmã Neusa for her sweater that I'm using as one of my 4 layers today), and it´s like we're wrapping up in a hug from them every day :)
Speaking of love, I've learned a lot about love this week. We had Elder Fortunato come and speak to us on a mission tour this week, and he talked a lot about focusing 100% on the mission and showing our love for God and His children by working hard for them. It was a great conference and made me think a lot about the people here in my second home, Ribeirão Pires, and also about what Dad always says about what it means to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit. I've just started to truly understand what a sacrifice it can be to love people enough to let them break our hearts.
I don´t know what it´s like to be a mom, much less a Heavenly Father, but it's so hard to be able to see the potential someone has to do and be great that they can´t see and have them fall short of that. I've also felt, on some microscopic scale, the pain and joy of having someone come to you, suffering, and ask for your help to change, and sometimes i just catch a glimpse of what it must be like for Christ to have someone truly penitent come to Him in pain, pleading for help. I can´t offer the relief or succor that He can, but I can cry with them --in joy or sorrow-- and show them the path that leads to the aid and relief they´re seeking. It´s hard to offer your heart up as a sacrifice, but it´s the only way that we can truly fulfill our purposes here. We can´t be so scared of letting people hurt us that we close ourselves off to the opportunity to truly love them.
it´s funny how before the mission I had some reservations about this, but now I don´t just wear my heart on my sleeve but take it and hand it right on over to people as I enter their home to teach or to greet them on the street. I know it can be hard to let ourselves go and really love people with everything we have, but think of Christ who gave more than just His heart, but His whole mind, body, and soul to each and every one of us in the greatest act of love there ever was. I love each and everyone of you all and am so grateful for the love I am constantly receiving. Hope you all have a beautiful week!
LLLooOOOOoOoOOvVVVvveeeEEEe,
Sister Curtis
Monday, June 13, 2016
Monday, June 6, 2016
The Life and Times of Sister Curtis
It was another beautiful week here in Ribeirão Pires with lots of rain and miracles :) First off, Luiz had his baptismal interview and is going to be baptized Saturday, woo hoo!!! Before the entrevista we talked about all the questions and doubts that he had and the more we explained the more he seemed to glow. As we wrapped up he told us how this church was exactly where he wanted to be because it had all the qualities that he always searched for in a church, and that he´s going to help his wife and 2 sons to be baptized aquí logo também. As we were leaving he offered the prayer and said, "Thank you so much Lord for helping me to find the true church of Jesus Christ, and thank you for sending me the Sisters to teach me and help me to change and stop smoking and prepare for my baptism." I left on cloud nine. I was thinking about this experience, and I´m so so so grateful for this precious privilege to be a representative of Jesus Christ, and to not only be able to teach what he taught, but to be able to feel the joy that he must feel when we seek His help and seek to repent and better ourselves and really utilize the gift of the atonement that He gave each of us.
We were also teaching another menina, Yasmin, this week about the 10 commandments and how they were going to help her to prepare for her baptism this weekend as well. As we explained about the Sabbath and how we need to show God how much we love him especially on this day, she raised her hand and asked, "But shouldn't we love God every day?" Her innocent response was so cute but also profound because it´s something that many people forget about . Being a disciple of Christ is more than going to church on Sunday and reading the scriptures; EVERY DAY is an opportunity for us to show our love for Heavenly Father by being obedient, by loving our neighbors, and by working hard to share the gospel with those around us.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Change is a good thing!!
Change is a good thing!!
Not gonna lie, this week was one of the hardest of my mission thus far, but I had the opportunity to witness some huge miracles as well. So I started out this week pretty bummed out because our investigators weren't progressing how i wanted them too and weren't completing compromissos (I don't remember what that word is in English sorry) and I basically had a mini breakdown during personal study on Tuesday, but my dear sweet filhinha Sister Paz helped me feel better and we went to work! We worked so hard this week, visited so many people, and knocked so many doors and WOW!! Every single thing fell through, hahaha. BUT, on Thursday (after another minor nervous break) we went and visited Luiz who has been trying to stop smoking without any luck. SO we marched the 40 minutes to his house with an arsenal of calendars and goals and little candies and scriptures to help him, and we had a good 2 hour sit down with him and his family. We made goals together for him to quit and he thanked us so much afterwards because he really wants to change, and I felt so grateful to be able to help him meet his goals and prepare for baptism this week!
After our power lesson with Luiz, we visited another family of 5 that we've been teaching and wow they are seriously so great and are sincerely looking for guidance and a rock upon which they can build their family. Although we've been teaching them for about a month and they've been praying and receiving really strong answers to their prayers, they hadn't come to church yet. SO yesterday the great and dreadful day that is Sunday (for missionaries at least) came and we showed up and waited and waited and waited and just as sacrament (along with my waterworks) was about to start, Luiz showed up with his family and shortly thereafter Alessandra and her family of 5 arrived as well!!!!
It was such a miracle that I replaced my tears of despair with tears of joy and had a burning desire to jump on the pew and give a hallelujah (but i refrained myself and said a prayer of gratitude instead). It´s been so hard to get people to come to church here and yesterday we had 10 investigators show up and I know that it was the result of much ferverent prayer and fasting. I'm so excited to help these people find the joy and safety and path that they´re searching for through faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that these are the things that make it possible for us to change our lives. Love you all lots and hope you have a great week!!
- SIster Curtis
-ps don't worry mom I´m my normal happy self again :)
Not gonna lie, this week was one of the hardest of my mission thus far, but I had the opportunity to witness some huge miracles as well. So I started out this week pretty bummed out because our investigators weren't progressing how i wanted them too and weren't completing compromissos (I don't remember what that word is in English sorry) and I basically had a mini breakdown during personal study on Tuesday, but my dear sweet filhinha Sister Paz helped me feel better and we went to work! We worked so hard this week, visited so many people, and knocked so many doors and WOW!! Every single thing fell through, hahaha. BUT, on Thursday (after another minor nervous break) we went and visited Luiz who has been trying to stop smoking without any luck. SO we marched the 40 minutes to his house with an arsenal of calendars and goals and little candies and scriptures to help him, and we had a good 2 hour sit down with him and his family. We made goals together for him to quit and he thanked us so much afterwards because he really wants to change, and I felt so grateful to be able to help him meet his goals and prepare for baptism this week!
After our power lesson with Luiz, we visited another family of 5 that we've been teaching and wow they are seriously so great and are sincerely looking for guidance and a rock upon which they can build their family. Although we've been teaching them for about a month and they've been praying and receiving really strong answers to their prayers, they hadn't come to church yet. SO yesterday the great and dreadful day that is Sunday (for missionaries at least) came and we showed up and waited and waited and waited and just as sacrament (along with my waterworks) was about to start, Luiz showed up with his family and shortly thereafter Alessandra and her family of 5 arrived as well!!!!
It was such a miracle that I replaced my tears of despair with tears of joy and had a burning desire to jump on the pew and give a hallelujah (but i refrained myself and said a prayer of gratitude instead). It´s been so hard to get people to come to church here and yesterday we had 10 investigators show up and I know that it was the result of much ferverent prayer and fasting. I'm so excited to help these people find the joy and safety and path that they´re searching for through faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that these are the things that make it possible for us to change our lives. Love you all lots and hope you have a great week!!
- SIster Curtis
-ps don't worry mom I´m my normal happy self again :)
Monday, May 23, 2016
Lucky #7
Lucky #7
This week was officially month Lucky Number 7 (!!!) and what a week it was! So when me and Sister B. ended our last transfer together (tears) we had whittled our teaching pool down to just a handful of people who were actually progressing, so Sister Paz and I basically spent this week knocking doors in the wet and cold :-) While that may not sound that fun (and it generally isn't lol) I really saw the power of having the guidance of the Spirit.
One day we decided to try a neighborhood that we hadn't visited very much, and as we were talking to people there I kept remembering about this random street that we had never successfully found. So I talked Sister Paz into ascending into this foggy jungly road, and we walked and walked and walked some more until we came to one of the biggest hills I've ever seen (and that´s saying something) and Sister Paz stopped and looked up at me pitifully and asked, "Do we really have to climb up that?" I took a pause but really felt that we should continue on, so I just smiled and patted her on the back and said "Of course we do!"
So we started climbing up the cobblestone and were about a third of the way up when this shirtless guy came out and waved us over to the house he was working on. We went over and talked to him, and as it turns out we had talked to him the night before in town. He was so amazed that we had found our way there. So we shared a message with him and he cried a lot and it was good :)
Then when we went to leave, the mist had gotten even thicker than it was before, and you couldn't see 15 feet in front of you, and we got a little lost and it was starting to get dark, so we offered a prayer to help us find our way home. As soon as we said amen, I turned around and was like, "I feel like we need to go this way," and not 10 steps afterwards, the fog lifted and SIster Paz goes, "I know where we are!" And we continued on our merry way and lived happily ever after.
The moral of the story is this: sometimes the influences of the spirit really are just little whisperings, little thoughts or feelings that we have, and the more we try to recognize and act on them, the more guidance we will receive and the more easily we will understand the inspiration we are receiving. I love you all so much and thank you all for the love and support you always give me :)
LooOOOvVEee,
SIster Curtis
This week was officially month Lucky Number 7 (!!!) and what a week it was! So when me and Sister B. ended our last transfer together (tears) we had whittled our teaching pool down to just a handful of people who were actually progressing, so Sister Paz and I basically spent this week knocking doors in the wet and cold :-) While that may not sound that fun (and it generally isn't lol) I really saw the power of having the guidance of the Spirit.
One day we decided to try a neighborhood that we hadn't visited very much, and as we were talking to people there I kept remembering about this random street that we had never successfully found. So I talked Sister Paz into ascending into this foggy jungly road, and we walked and walked and walked some more until we came to one of the biggest hills I've ever seen (and that´s saying something) and Sister Paz stopped and looked up at me pitifully and asked, "Do we really have to climb up that?" I took a pause but really felt that we should continue on, so I just smiled and patted her on the back and said "Of course we do!"
So we started climbing up the cobblestone and were about a third of the way up when this shirtless guy came out and waved us over to the house he was working on. We went over and talked to him, and as it turns out we had talked to him the night before in town. He was so amazed that we had found our way there. So we shared a message with him and he cried a lot and it was good :)
Then when we went to leave, the mist had gotten even thicker than it was before, and you couldn't see 15 feet in front of you, and we got a little lost and it was starting to get dark, so we offered a prayer to help us find our way home. As soon as we said amen, I turned around and was like, "I feel like we need to go this way," and not 10 steps afterwards, the fog lifted and SIster Paz goes, "I know where we are!" And we continued on our merry way and lived happily ever after.
The moral of the story is this: sometimes the influences of the spirit really are just little whisperings, little thoughts or feelings that we have, and the more we try to recognize and act on them, the more guidance we will receive and the more easily we will understand the inspiration we are receiving. I love you all so much and thank you all for the love and support you always give me :)
LooOOOvVEee,
SIster Curtis
Monday, May 16, 2016
Motherhood
Motherhood
This week I officially became a mom to my beautiful filhinha Sister Paz (aka Sister Peace). I've already made a million bad jokes, and I know she´s already sick of them but i just can´t stop myself hahaha. For instance, we were doing contacts and I was like, "Hello irmã, how are you? Would you like a little more peace in your life? Well here she is!" She´s from Santa Catarina in the South of Brazil and while I was super excited to get a Brazilian comp again, she definitely has green eyes and is whiter than me, so it´s not that different than with Sister Bennallack haha.
With just one week of training I've already had a taste of my own medicine and understand what I put Sister Moura through, and then some. Our very first day together in the field was a lil rough because everything fell through, and then when she was already struggling with contacts (they're always super hard in the beginning) this aggressive drunk started yelling at us and wouldn't let us leave. When we finally got away she started crying and was too scared to finish the rest of her contacts, and yeah it was a rough day for her. I tried to cheer her up by telling her "I was exactly the same but look what I can do now!" and then I proceeded to walk up to a huge group of people waiting for their bus and yelled (with love and a smile) at all of them to come to church. She laughed but then cried again shortly thereafter.
BUT, as we continued to work super hard this week and walked a million miles everyday, we had SO many miracles!!! Even though we really only had 4 days to work; our numbers were through the roof, and we had 2 investigators accept to be baptized, woohoo!! We also had a giant stake conference this weekend that President Broadbent and two Area 70´s attended also. I had just given up my seat for a visitor and was standing behind the divider of the chapel when the area authority called my name in the middle of his talk. My head shot up and I was like "uhhh wut", and i peeked my head around the divider and he was like, "Oh there you are Sister Curtis, can you come up to the stand please?"
So I made the dreaded walk to the podium where he was placidly smiling and asked me to share the first vision and then my testimony of Joseph Smith in front of all 700 members of the congregation. Yeah. So after I cried my way through all of that in front of almost a thousand people he was like, "Thank you so much for that SIster Curtis, I would give you a big hug and a kiss right now if I could. but I can´t so I´ll just shake your hand instead" lolol. Then after the conference President Broadbent came up to me and did his best dad chuckle like, "Ha ha ha, hope you´re not mad at me for recommending you like that, ha ha ha."
And of course I wasn't mad because missionaries are made to testify. All this week I kept feeling like I should study the First Vision a little bit more and we taught the Restoration more than usual, and I kept stressing the importance of testifying of what we know to be true to Sister Paz. I´m always amazed at how Heavenly Father has every little detail worked out for us, we just have to follow the promptings we receive and open our mouths and let the words come out. When we act with more faith than fear, there´s literally no way we can fail; God will not permit it.
Love you all and hope you have a splendid week :)
- Sister Curtis
This week I officially became a mom to my beautiful filhinha Sister Paz (aka Sister Peace). I've already made a million bad jokes, and I know she´s already sick of them but i just can´t stop myself hahaha. For instance, we were doing contacts and I was like, "Hello irmã, how are you? Would you like a little more peace in your life? Well here she is!" She´s from Santa Catarina in the South of Brazil and while I was super excited to get a Brazilian comp again, she definitely has green eyes and is whiter than me, so it´s not that different than with Sister Bennallack haha.
With just one week of training I've already had a taste of my own medicine and understand what I put Sister Moura through, and then some. Our very first day together in the field was a lil rough because everything fell through, and then when she was already struggling with contacts (they're always super hard in the beginning) this aggressive drunk started yelling at us and wouldn't let us leave. When we finally got away she started crying and was too scared to finish the rest of her contacts, and yeah it was a rough day for her. I tried to cheer her up by telling her "I was exactly the same but look what I can do now!" and then I proceeded to walk up to a huge group of people waiting for their bus and yelled (with love and a smile) at all of them to come to church. She laughed but then cried again shortly thereafter.
BUT, as we continued to work super hard this week and walked a million miles everyday, we had SO many miracles!!! Even though we really only had 4 days to work; our numbers were through the roof, and we had 2 investigators accept to be baptized, woohoo!! We also had a giant stake conference this weekend that President Broadbent and two Area 70´s attended also. I had just given up my seat for a visitor and was standing behind the divider of the chapel when the area authority called my name in the middle of his talk. My head shot up and I was like "uhhh wut", and i peeked my head around the divider and he was like, "Oh there you are Sister Curtis, can you come up to the stand please?"
So I made the dreaded walk to the podium where he was placidly smiling and asked me to share the first vision and then my testimony of Joseph Smith in front of all 700 members of the congregation. Yeah. So after I cried my way through all of that in front of almost a thousand people he was like, "Thank you so much for that SIster Curtis, I would give you a big hug and a kiss right now if I could. but I can´t so I´ll just shake your hand instead" lolol. Then after the conference President Broadbent came up to me and did his best dad chuckle like, "Ha ha ha, hope you´re not mad at me for recommending you like that, ha ha ha."
And of course I wasn't mad because missionaries are made to testify. All this week I kept feeling like I should study the First Vision a little bit more and we taught the Restoration more than usual, and I kept stressing the importance of testifying of what we know to be true to Sister Paz. I´m always amazed at how Heavenly Father has every little detail worked out for us, we just have to follow the promptings we receive and open our mouths and let the words come out. When we act with more faith than fear, there´s literally no way we can fail; God will not permit it.
Love you all and hope you have a splendid week :)
- Sister Curtis
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Ribeirão Pires Para Sempre
Ribeirão Pires Para Sempre ( Ribeirão Pires Forever)
If you didn't get it by the title, I have successfully survived yet another transfer here in RP and... I´M TRAINING!!! While I am super excited to get my novinha tomorrow, I´m a little bummed that all the other sisters in our apartment will be leaving for other areas ( parabéns for Sister Bennallack who´s going to my birth-zone of Diadema as a Sister Training Leader, WOo HOo!!). It was a beautiful almost 5 months that our little family had together and I´ll miss all of them for sure :´)
It was so great to be able to Skype yesterday and catch up a little bit with the family and laugh and talk and cry together :) The only downside is that now this email is gonna be pretty much the worst, cause I've already told all my stories and news and now I don't have anything else to say haha. I´m so grateful for all of my family and friends and for the constant support and love and strength I receive from y´all. I´m so blessed to have so many people who love me so much and have taught me so well throughout my life. One of my favorite things to teach people about is the importance of our families and how families are not just part of God´s plan; they are the plan. Even though I´m a little ways from home right now, I rejoice every day that I get to be with my family forever!! Love you guys so much and hope you all make time to tell your moms and women in your life that you love them this week!
- Sister Curtis
If you didn't get it by the title, I have successfully survived yet another transfer here in RP and... I´M TRAINING!!! While I am super excited to get my novinha tomorrow, I´m a little bummed that all the other sisters in our apartment will be leaving for other areas ( parabéns for Sister Bennallack who´s going to my birth-zone of Diadema as a Sister Training Leader, WOo HOo!!). It was a beautiful almost 5 months that our little family had together and I´ll miss all of them for sure :´)
It was so great to be able to Skype yesterday and catch up a little bit with the family and laugh and talk and cry together :) The only downside is that now this email is gonna be pretty much the worst, cause I've already told all my stories and news and now I don't have anything else to say haha. I´m so grateful for all of my family and friends and for the constant support and love and strength I receive from y´all. I´m so blessed to have so many people who love me so much and have taught me so well throughout my life. One of my favorite things to teach people about is the importance of our families and how families are not just part of God´s plan; they are the plan. Even though I´m a little ways from home right now, I rejoice every day that I get to be with my family forever!! Love you guys so much and hope you all make time to tell your moms and women in your life that you love them this week!
- Sister Curtis
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
"Walking in a Winter Wonderland"
"Walking in a Winter Wonderland"
Well God heard my prayers and complaints about the ridiculous heat that we've been having and hey guess what, in one day it dropped like 50 degrees and is now freezing cold :-) Formerly, I thought that I really liked cold weather, but as it turns out, it´s actually terrible! How wonderful! Also our house does this really cool thing where it´s exactly the same temperature inside as it is outside! How neat! I think it may have something to do with the fact that the window in our bedroom is missing several large panes of glass, but who can know for sure? :-) But I don't wanna be a pessimist, there are actually tons of good things about the Antarctic conditions we are now facing; I just don´t know what any of them are yet.
The good news is that despite the unfortunate turn of temperature, Mariana was baptized this week!!! Woo hoo!!! She did the polar plunge into the águas de batismo and had a smile on her face the whole time :) It was such a great day for her as well as for us, and we spent about 30 minutes afterwards with all of us saying pretty much nothing but "thank you", "No, thank you!" "NO, Thank YOU!!" and it was the best :)
We also started teaching Douglas and Tiago who we met because we arrived a little early for lunch, and we were waiting in front of the Irmã´s house, and this guy (Douglas) just came up to us and was like "hey are you missionaries? do you wanna come see my house I'm building?" So we went right over after lunch. He introduced us to his neighbors and his friend Tiago who was busy tiling what will one day be a bathroom, and we entered though what will one day be a wall, and sat on a cinderblock bed and taught Douglas as Tiago peeped his head out of the other room and listened attentively. Afterwards Douglas serenaded us with a Gospel Love song about his ex girlfriend who moved to Germany and it was basically my favorite lesson ever. We've already taught them twice and Tiago is getting really interested in the church and we're super excited to see what good things are to come!
I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for you in my life and for all the support and love I've received. Hope you all have a great week and remember to go out and find someone to serve!
Loooooooveee,
SIster Curtis
pics: batismo and pday featuring a Japanese park and normal clothes!
Well God heard my prayers and complaints about the ridiculous heat that we've been having and hey guess what, in one day it dropped like 50 degrees and is now freezing cold :-) Formerly, I thought that I really liked cold weather, but as it turns out, it´s actually terrible! How wonderful! Also our house does this really cool thing where it´s exactly the same temperature inside as it is outside! How neat! I think it may have something to do with the fact that the window in our bedroom is missing several large panes of glass, but who can know for sure? :-) But I don't wanna be a pessimist, there are actually tons of good things about the Antarctic conditions we are now facing; I just don´t know what any of them are yet.
The good news is that despite the unfortunate turn of temperature, Mariana was baptized this week!!! Woo hoo!!! She did the polar plunge into the águas de batismo and had a smile on her face the whole time :) It was such a great day for her as well as for us, and we spent about 30 minutes afterwards with all of us saying pretty much nothing but "thank you", "No, thank you!" "NO, Thank YOU!!" and it was the best :)
We also started teaching Douglas and Tiago who we met because we arrived a little early for lunch, and we were waiting in front of the Irmã´s house, and this guy (Douglas) just came up to us and was like "hey are you missionaries? do you wanna come see my house I'm building?" So we went right over after lunch. He introduced us to his neighbors and his friend Tiago who was busy tiling what will one day be a bathroom, and we entered though what will one day be a wall, and sat on a cinderblock bed and taught Douglas as Tiago peeped his head out of the other room and listened attentively. Afterwards Douglas serenaded us with a Gospel Love song about his ex girlfriend who moved to Germany and it was basically my favorite lesson ever. We've already taught them twice and Tiago is getting really interested in the church and we're super excited to see what good things are to come!
I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for you in my life and for all the support and love I've received. Hope you all have a great week and remember to go out and find someone to serve!
Loooooooveee,
SIster Curtis
pics: batismo and pday featuring a Japanese park and normal clothes!
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