You can never have too much faith.

Hello family and friends!

     Yes, I was on lockdown for about 2 days and it was horrible.  We were only allowed to go to church on Sunday if a member could give us a ride.  And of course we were going to go to church it was Delores L's confirmation!  It was amazing.  One of the things that was said in the blessing was,  "Your search is finally over."  How powerful is that statement?  Wow!  But then after church we went back home and that's where we stayed for the next 36 hours!  We studied our scriptures a lot and we made a lot of phone calls.  We also organized our room so that was nice.  Isn't that crazy -60!  Where am I?  We were lucky though because it was our P-day so we were able to write letters, take a nap, do our laundry and other stuff like that.  But yes we were very excited to get out of the house.  And this week was full of so many miracles!

     This week we got to have another Family Home Evening with my favorite family, the L family. (Too bad I can't say their names ha)  But they are so cute and they are always so excited to have the "michionaries" over!  This week we had a lesson with them about prayer and why it is that we pray.  It was a really funny lesson because every time we have had a lesson with them we were teaching them about Christmas.  So this time it was throwing them off because they couldn't use the same answers that they had been.  But it was so cute we taught them the song.... ahhhh. I don't know what it’s called  (Maybe your nearest primary chorister will Know. :)  We talked about the prayer square and how you can't leave the square open and there are 4 points that you need to do.  Then the song goes, 

“I begin by saying “Dear Heavenly Father”
I thank him for blessings he sends; 
Then humbly I ask him for things that I need, 
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen”

     It was so cute they could almost do the whole thing by themselves! (I hope this makes sense.)  Then after we talked about prayer and the importance of praying, we played a game with them.  It was really funny!  Sister Pead and I came up with it in the car.  It’s just like the game Duck Duck Goose.  So you go around in a circle whispering, "Quiet time, quiet time, quiet time, PRAYER TIME!"  Then they had to hurry and run around the circle then sit down in their spot, fold their arms and say AMEN!  It was so dang cute!  I love them.

Sister Breedlove

     This week I went on an exchange with our Sister Training Leader, Sister Breedlove.  She lives in Cottage Grove so I went and spent a day there with her.  It was an awesome exchange and I was able to learn so much.  One thing that I love about Sister Breedlove is that she has so much faith.  Like I have said before I think that faith is something that we can all be better at.  You can never have too much faith.  While we were in Cottage Grove I was able to see Ruby Mower!  She used to live in my ward back in South Jordan and now she is here in Minnesota.  Sister Breedlove has been in Cottage Grove for 10 months now and when the Mowers found out that I was coming to Minnesota they kept asking her if she knew a Sister Curtis.  Long story short I was finally able to come to Cottage Grove to come see them.  But they were only able to do a lunch so most of the family wasn't there but it was still so much fun to see Ruby and Brittney!  

Ruby Mower, Brittney and Sister Curtis 

     After the exchange both Sister Pead and I had an interview with Sister Breedlove just asking us how we were doing.  While Sister Pead was having her interview I got to hang out with Sister Haung!  She is so funny!  She has only been on her mission for 3 weeks and she is from Taiwan.  She is learning English and she is really good at it.  She was honestly making me laugh so hard.  She kept asking me if I would take a picture with her, of course I would.  I  love pictures! :)

     We were able to see Phillip I a couple of times this week.  But guess what!  We were finally able to get him to church this week.  We had a great lesson with him Saturday night about Obedience and Faith.  It was a great lesson and the spirit was so strong. We talked about how we need to trust in the Lord and everything else will be okay.  Then at the end of the lesson when we asked him if he was still planning on coming to church.

     He said, "I was going to tell you about that.  I have a lot of work that I have to do and I don't know if it would be wise for me to go tomorrow.”  He is a car mechanic and had a lot of cars that he needed to work on.  

     But we looked at him and said, "Well I guess it all comes down to what we talked about today, obedience and faith.  Brother Itoka, we can promise you we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that if you will come to church tomorrow you will be able to get everything done that you need to..." 

     Before we could say anymore he cut us off and said, "Alright I will go!"  And he came! We were so excited.  We were then able to have a lesson with him after church about the Godhead with the bishop and his wife as joint teachers.  Earlier in the week we were able to find the root of the problem and why it is that we won't get baptized.  It is because he believes in the trinity.  He doesn’t believe that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate people.  The thing I love about Phillip is that he is a genuine seeker.  He just wants to know truth.  He has an amazing faith and he just wants to learn.  We had a wonderful lesson and we were able to address his concerns and we watched a talk by Elder Holland called, The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent.  It was perfect, it was very bold and exactly what Phillip needed to hear.  We told him to pray and ask God for himself, if the Godhead is real.  We are excited to talk to him this week and see how his prayer went.

     Our biggest miracle was with Byron L.  Delores L was baptized last week so now we are teaching him.  He is honestly ready to be baptized the only thing that is really holding him back is basically that he is really stubborn.  In the past he has told us and other missionaries that he won't give up coffee.  That he knows that he could give it up but he doesn't want to, he doesn't see the point.  A couple days ago we were able to have them to the Burton’s house for dinner and a lesson.  We wanted to prepare to talk about giving up coffee, but we weren’t going to bring up coffee until next time.  Our lesson was also about obedience and keeping Gods commandments.  We talked about how commandments are God’s loving instruction for us and how they protect us.  We then talked about how God is also able to protect us through the Holy Ghost which lead right into the video that we wanted to show them next, 

Wrong Roads

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-09-016-wrong-roads?lang=eng. 

     This video shows how God doesn’t answer our prayers exactly how we would have Him but he does answer them and there is a reason for everything.  I have seen this many times in my life.  I think the biggest thing that we can do is trust in the Lord with everything that we do.

     Then last night we were able to have a lesson with them again.  And this was THE LESSON!  This was when we were finally going to address the coffee problem.  We were able to bring a recent convert who used to drink 3 pots of coffee a day.  But we wanted to ease into talking about coffee we didn't want Byron to feel bombarded.  We started off talking about prophets and if he has a testimony of them.  He said he did. Then we ask if he believed that prophets are called of God.  He said yes.  Then we talked about how God gives us commandments to bless us.  Then we asked the member who we brought how keeping the commandments and changed his life.  Hehe We knew that he would start talking about coffee.  And what do you know he did.  We were so sneaky!  He bore a powerful testimony about his conversion and how giving up coffee truly did change his life.  The spirit was so strong everyone could feel it.  We didn’t quite know how we were going to address Byron but as the member was testifying I knew that we needed to be lovingly bold.  We then ask Byron if he would give up coffee.  He said no.  We ask him what would be holding him back?  He said that he doesn’t want to, he knows he could but he doesn’t feel like it’s important.  Then we started getting really bold with Byron because we love him so much and he needed to hear the truth.  We explained to him that those 5 cups of coffee truly is what was holding him back.  Long story short, we all bore testimony of how we know this will bless his life, even his wife did.  Then we left him with a commitment.  We asked him to pray to know if the Lord wants him to give up coffee.  He said he would.  Then we asked him what he would do if the answer was yes?  He said,  “well give it up of course!”  Yea!  He told us yes, kind of.  We are so excited for him.  So this week we will ask him what the answer was?  It truly was an amazing miracle!  He is going to get baptized soon we just know it.

     This week I have really been studying obedience and why it is important to be obedient.  We have been teaching this concept to a lot of our investigators lately and I know that this is something I can be better at.  Being exactly obedient in everything!  As I was studying I came up with the definition that being obedient means to submit to the Lords will and act in faith.  Faith is one of the biggest things in being obedient and as I study I realize that I need more faith.  I need to really trust in the Lord and know that there is a reason for everything.  Even when appointments fall through and we are unsure what we are doing.  I need to look around and think, "What does the Lord want me to do right now?  How can I be a tool for him?"  I have made a lot of goals this week, to have more faith and to be more obedient and I know that as I do this blessings will follow. 

I love you all so much thanks for everything! 
Have a great week! 

Love Sister Kendra Curtis