Remember the Season, and Echo the Reason!

Hello Family and Friends!

Yea!  It's Sticking!

     I'd just like to start out by saying..... Merry Christmas!  I am so happy to finally be able to say that to everyone.  It is truly the best line ever.  It a great way to start small talking with people and I know its going to be the best last words as someone is slamming the door in our faces.  What a wonderful time of year!

     This week was a great week.  Thanksgiving was pretty good but it was nothing like the Stott Thanksgiving I am used to.  I didn't even get a slice of pumpkin pie...but the apple I had could be a close second.  The Holidays here are so strange because they just seem like another day of mission work.  I have really been able to realize how important my family is to me and I can't wait until I get to spend the holidays with them again.

Thanksgiving with Sister Pead!

Thanksgiving with the Schwab Family

    But now back to the mission work.  I love it here!  Stillwater is beautiful.  I wrote a letter home about all the Stillwater details so hopefully my mom can just type that up for everyone.  The people we are teaching here are wonderful.

     First I will start out with Deloris and Byron L.  We were able to see the L family twice this week.  They both went really well.  We have been able to bring a couple different members to the lessons and they all get along great!  The ward really loves the Larsen’s and is doing a wonderful job at fellowshipping them.  Sister L is wonderful.  She is 100% ready to be baptized, the only thing holding her back is coming to church that third time because she has to work on Sundays.  But she has been requesting to get a Sunday off and she has also fasted.  She is completely putting it in the Lord's hands and recognizes that if she doesn't get this Sunday off that God has a different day planned for her baptism.  Brothe L is awesome but very stubborn.  He is at every lesson, does all the readings, asks lots of questions and is very supportive of Sister L but won't agree to baptism for himself. Personally I am starting to think that maybe the Lord is not letting Sister L get baptized yet because he wants both Sister and Brother L to get baptized on the same day!  How wonderful would that be!  He has a couple things that are holding him back but mostly he is just really stubborn.  At this point we are just praying that his heart will be softened at that we will be able to have them baptized together.  We are excited to see them this week and see what the Lord has in store for them.

     We have also been able to meet with Chris W.  He is a 20 years old and is from St. Louis.  He has a crazy past and was involved in a lot of bad things.  But he moved here to Minnesota so that he could get away from all that and turn his life around.  He is planning on getting baptized this month.  He really wants to make these changes but we are having a hard time helping him understand everything.  We just started making our lessons more visual so that he can "see" what it is that he is learning and not just listen to us talk.  We had a lesson with him this week about the 10 commandments and we did the hand signs with them.  I wish I could show you all the signs, but I can't... So when I get home ask me to show you them.  But the lesson went great!  It was one of our better lessons.  He understood all of it and was able to tell us all the commandments and what they meant by the time we were done. This week we are going to do the Word of Wisdom and do that Family Home Evening that we drew in my last area.  We are so excited for him and the progress that he is making.

     Phillip I. is another investigator that I love.  He is African and is from Liberia so whenever we are at his house I feel like I'm back in Shingle Creek. (I Pray that I will get sent back there someday!:))  His family is all members except him.  I think he is on his way as well.  He is so Christlike and would do anything for anyone no matter what time it is.  He has a great understanding and is able to recognize how God has helped him throughout his life.  The main thing that is holding him back is that he is so dang busy!  He works so hard and does everything that he can to provide for his family.  It’s the same problem that I would run into in my last area, everyone works so much and is so tired. We asked him to be baptized and he smiled at us and said "Give me time to think about it."  I am so stoked for him.  I know that the day is near!

Tracting!  I love all of these fun mansions!

     One thing that has been really great in this area is all of the work with the less active that we have been able to do.  We have been able to get in touch with lots of people and they have been very nice to us and some have even invited us in.  We were talking to the Relief Society President and we wanted to know if there was anyone that she wanted us to stop by and see.  One of the ladies was Audrey M.  We went and knocked on her door and she was very nice.  She was surprised to see Sister Missionaries and invited us in.  We talked with her a little and got to know her and her two little girls.  Then we asked if we could share a message with her and her family.  We read Alma 32 with her where it talks about faith and how it is compared to a seed. We even drew a picture to go along with it.  Then when we were done we gave the picture to the little girls and then we asked them if they would continue to do the little things: to pray, read their scriptures and go to church.  Then they kind of looked at us funny.  We didn't know anything about them, just that our Relief Society President wanted us to stop by.  She then told us how she goes to a different church because of her husband, we felt kind of strange about our challenge for them but we stuck to it and closed with a prayer, then we left the house.  We didn't really know what to think of that visit.  Then one of the women in our ward who is her visiting teacher came up to us yesterday at church and told us that Audrey loved having us over and that she thought it was really good for her girls and that she wants us to come back!  We were so excited when we heard that.  Apparently she wouldn't meet with the missionaries in the past but the fact that we are sisters, doesn’t seem as intimidating.  We are excited to go back this week and share another message with her and her girls.

     

     Well I started with Christmas and I am going to end with Christmas!  Like I said before what a wonderful time of the year!  I love the Christmas trees, the  Christmas lights, and the christmas songs, I love it all.  But this world that we live in is a crazy place, Satan is doing everything he can to tear us down.  Don't get caught up in the little details of this busy time of year but focus on the important part.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2874125...
 (watch this!)

Remember the Season, 

and Echo the Reason!

     I love you all so much!  Again thanks for all that you do and the examples that you have been in my life.  I love this work and I can't imagine being anywhere else! :)

Merry Christmas!

Love, Sister Kendra Curtis

Wilkins is Jonathan and Jake's middle name!  ( I love her happy smile)

We had to ride bikes because we ran out of miles. It was dang cold!