Every member a Missionary!

Hello Family and Friends! 

This week has been a crazy one for sure!

     Monday was super crazy in the middle of our P-day we had to drive down to Bloomington so Sister Kekauoha could have her exit interview.  They usually do them on Tuesday but because there were so many missionaries going home this transfer they had to do some of them on Monday also.  It really killed our P-day but we were still able to get everything done that we needed to.  Then after our P-day was over we went and stopped by a couple of people so Sister K could say her last goodbyes.  We went and she said goodbye to Eva.  It was such a sweet, tender moment.  It brought tears to my eyes.  As I was sitting back and watching this sad goodbye, I had the strongest feeling of gratitude overcome me.  I am so grateful that I am in Minnesota, somewhere where I will be able to come back and visit.  I mean I can’t imagine getting to the end of my mission and then having to say goodbye to some of the greatest people who have forever changed my life.  But instead of saying goodbye I will get to say "See you soon!"  I will be coming back to Minnesota many times after my mission.  These aren't just people who I have been serving and teaching but these are people who are my life long friends.  My brothers and sisters.  People I will never forget.  Not to mention how blessed we are with the technology that we now have.  I mean the second I get off the plane I will be able to log on to Facebook and stay in contact with everyone I have met here.  With Sister Kekauoha leaving and my year mark coming up next week, I have been looking back and reflecting on my mission.  I can't believe all that I have done, all that I have learned and all that I have become all because of this one year that I have spent in Minnesota.  I will always be eternally grateful. 

Driving Sister K. to the mission
home (last car selfie)

     After I said my goodbyes to Sister K on Tuesday, I was with 2 Spanish sisters who also said goodbye to their companions.  They came with me to my area and we worked there.  Hermana Jones and Ramariz were so much fun!  I wish I was Spanish speaking they are so cool.  We had a ton of fun together I was sad that it was only one day.  

The Spanish Elders and Elder Hurst

So I took the Spanish Sisters to Galaxy (they loved it!)

     We were out together I had planned on going to a very rich neighborhood to go and knock on some mansions.  It has always been on my bucket list and I felt like this was the perfect time to do it but right as we pulled up to park we heard a noise.  When we got out we saw that our tire was going flat.  We couldn't believe it.  We ended up calling our Zone Leaders and they said that they would come over in 20 minutes and help us.  

Hermana Jones and Ramariz

     So instead of just sitting around waiting we decided that we would go knock some doors.  On the 4th door someone invited us in!  We couldn't believe it!  This house was HUGE!  It was beautiful!  It was a younger mom with 3 kids in their teens.  She invited us in and told us that she would get us some water.  As we were all speechless at the beauty of the house she came around the corner and gave us some water bottles.  She then asked a little bit about us and where we were from.  She then told us that she has a couple cousins that live in Utah who have also served missions.  She was very interested in us and why we decided to come on a mission.  We were able to tell her a little bit about that then we started talking about Jesus Christ and the church that he established then how there was a time of confusion where there were many different churches springing up.  But she then told us that she was a Lutheran and that she loves it and that it fits her and her family.  So we left them with a card and we told her that she is always welcome to come and check it out.  She was awesome and a such a nice lady.  Then right as we came walking out of the beautiful house, with water bottles in hand, we saw the Zone Leaders leaning against our car.  I can only imagine their thought process as they saw the neighborhood that we were in.  I bet it was  funny when we came out of one of the houses.  

This is the house of the nice lady that gave us water.

     They then said, "That would only happen to sisters!" They then helped us change our tire and there was a huge chunk on metal in it!  So for my first day with my new companion, Sister Noe, we had to go to a tire shop to get a new tire.  The tire boys, as I like to call them couldn't believe what was in our tire.  As soon as they saw it there were 5 of them around the tire with pliers trying to get it out.  They then came and showed us what it was, it was huge!  And then they let us keep it.  That was a pretty crazy adventure.

     My new companions name is Sister Noe, she is from Arizona and is the oldest of 10 kids!  She has been serving in a small town in Northern Minnesota called Askov.  She was there for 10 months!  So coming here to the cities is a little bit of a culture shock for her. She wasn't by anything and her branch only had about 30 people in it.  This is a big change for her but she likes it.  She is very different from Sister Kekauoha but I am excited to be with her.  Change is always hard but in the end it is for the better.  I am excited for the chance and the opportunity that I have to serve with Sister Noe.  I know that we are together for a reason.  She is going to teach me many different things that are going to help me in my missionary work and my the future.  I am really excited for this transfer.

     We were able to have a lesson with Sophia last week.  Things are going really well with her.  She understands what we teach her and she is able to comprehend it.  I was so impressed, we asked her what she remembered about Joseph Smiths story and she was able to tell us the whole story in really great detail.  She really is ready to be baptized.  But right now our biggest set back is that the mom is less active and she isn't quite ready to come back to church.  This Sunday she was able to drop off and pick up Sophia, so that was great she was able to talk to a couple people at church. 

          On Saturday we helped her paint her garage.  There were many different people moving and other things that were going on that morning so we came up with the best crew that we could at the last minute.  Five primary boys.  Surprisingly they did really good.  Sophia really liked them and they were able to play a little when they took breaks.  I think that was good for her to see Sophia having fun with some kids from the ward.  We really need to find ways to help her want to come back.  This week we are going to go over with the Young Women to help her paint the trimming on her house.  We think this will be a really good experience because she will see all of the good young women helping out and it will be good for Sophia to look up to them as well.  But over all Sophia is doing really good and she loves church.  She is doing great!

Our Painting Crew and Sophia!

     Another thing that Sister Noe and I did that is going pretty good is we are going to everyone in our apartment complex and we are introducing ourselves to them.  It is going really well.  We say that we are missionaries in the area and that we live in the complex.  People have been really nice.  We have met a bunch of great people and we are going back to see some of them.  They are all very interested in why we are here and where we are from.  It is great and we are able to do it now because we are both very new.  Where with Sister K she had been here for 10 months and she already knew a lot of people.  We are really excited to see if anyone in our apartment wants to come to church.  Maybe we will get a ride with them :)

The Browns! They go to Utah State and are here for an internship. 

Sister Noe and I emailing you on P-day!

     I think that is all I have time for today, but I am just so happy to be here.  I really can't believe how fast it is going by.  It’s so weird to think that in 6 months my life is going to be completely different, never again will I be living this life style. (Except for my senior mission with my husband of course!) The one thing that I am so grateful for is my life style will be different but my missionary work will never stop.  David O. McKay said, "Every member a missionary".  

     We all have the chance to continue to serve, to continue to invite others to come unto Christ.  This is our purpose. "Invite others to come unto Christ."  Its not our job to force them, its not our job to convince them, but it is our job to invite them.  Each of you need to look for those different moments in your life where your are given the opportunity to invite.  Don't be scared.  Be brave, because Heavenly Father has placed them in your path for a reason.  He trusts you and he has faith in you.  Don't forget to have faith in yourself. 

     I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!  Remember who you are and what you stand for!

Love, Sister Kendra Curtis

Saying Goodbye to Sister Kekauoha!

Hello family and friends! 

     Well transfers are this week and I have a new companion.  Her name is Sister Noe.  I don't know anything about her.  I have never even seen her before but I am excited.  I am really going to miss Sister Kekauoha!  She was a great companion and we really did have way too much fun together.  She goes home in two days!  Crazy huh!

I am going to miss her!

     This week was a good week though.  We saw a lot of members because Sister Kekauoha was saying goodbye to everyone.  She has been in this ward for 10 months!  That is over half of her mission.  I can't believe that she has stayed in an area that long.  But it was really fun stopping by all the members.  This is a really fun ward.  I am excited that I get to be here one more transfer.  This is officially the longest that I have ever been in an area.

Sister Page

Brother Putney and Sister Bennett

Marilyn

     Anyways, even though we saw a lot of members this week we also were able to have a couple of investigator lessons.  We were able to have a lesson with Marilyn.  She is so great.  She is native american and she has been living with her cousin who is a less active member. She is really funny.  She has come to church the past 3 weeks and she has really loved it.  She loves how peaceful it is there and she loves how friendly the people are.  The only problem with her is that she isn't always able to make her appointments.  Hopefully we will be able to help her progress even more.  But we were really glad that she was able to come to church.

On our way to a fireside with Lamota in the back

Wonderful!  She is hilarious!

Erick she is going to Utah State and
is here for the summer with her husband

So this is Garty, that I am standing next to he is cousins with Wonderful.  He just got here from Michigan.  He lived in the same ward that Elder Elwood was serving in.  What a small world!!

     Then this week we were able to have a lesson with Donald Z.  Things are going pretty well for him.  We were able to have our Bishop come over with us.  We talked about repentance and how we are able to be healed through the atonement of Christ.  He has a lot of spiritual wounds, especially when he was in the Korean War.  But we have promised him that as he is baptized that those wounds will be healed, that is one of the blessings of the Atonement.  And as for now, he is praying about being baptized on September 11, because that was the same day that his wife was baptized.  He truly is ready to be baptized right now.  The only thing that is holding him back is some nit picky things and he doesn't feel like he has got an exact answer.  He does know that he will get baptized eventually.  We are hoping to help him recognize that he has already received his answer.  Hopefully he will be able to figure it out on his own.

Pernu Family

     We were also able to help Sophia get to Activity Days this week.  It sounded like she had a lot of fun. Then we were able to have a family home evening with Sophia and the Pernu family.  It was really good.  We talked about the importance of family prayer.  She is a really smart girl, but like all nine year olds, she has a lot of energy and likes to goof around.  We are able to have good lessons with her when we mix up the activities that we do and we give her something to take home or work on.  In our lesson we split up into two groups and we wrote down a list of things that we can be grateful for and a list of things that we can ask Heavenly Father for.  It went really well.  It was fun to see the different kids lists that they came up with. Then we gave each of the families a little prayer calendar.  Every time they say their prayers as a family then they are able to put a sticker on their calendar.  They seemed pretty excited about it.  We will have to see how many stickers they have on it.  But the biggest miracle of all was that Sophia came to church.  Her mom didn't come but she let Sophia which was huge!  She did really good.  In sacrament meeting we gave her a Book of Mormon stories book with the pictures on it and she loved it.  She read like 20 pages.  We were really surprised at how good she was.  Hopefully she will be able to come back.  We were so happy and excited for her!

Sister McKinne

Gavin Saying goodbye to Sister K.

Kyle

Destiny with her new temple picture

     We then were able to stop by and see Destiny, she is 12 years old and she hasn't been coming to church very much.  We were able to stop by and have a lesson with her about the For Strength of Youth.  We talked about how we all have this great potential and how Heavenly Father knows all that we are able to accomplish.  We were then able to write down some of the different goals and things that she wants to accomplish.  It was really neat.  She is an awesome girl in a really bad environment.  It’s girls like her that make me so sad.  She really does have so much potential and so much that she is capable of doing but she doesn’t have a good support system.  I pray that she will be able to break the cycle.  Get out of her comfort zone and make something of herself.  She is only 12 years old but that is such a crucial time.  Middle school will make or break you.  Hopefully we will be able to keep meeting with her and give her uplifting messages.  She is so sweet.  We were able to give her a picture of the temple. (we have quite a few in our apartment.) And we also gave her a skirt that she can wear to church.  She is excited to come.  I love going to visit her because by the end of our visit there is a whole new light in her eyes that wasn't there before.

The Kecks

Liam riding his bike

     Okay this is the funny story for the week.  We were able to go and see Kim this week.  Eva came with us.  Now let me just describe Kim for you.  She is your typical African American woman.  A sassy black lady.  She is so funny and the things she says are priceless.  First we went over there and we asked her what she thought of church last week.  She loved it.  She said that the people were so nice and that she loved the feeling she had there.  She said that it was different from any other church that she has been to and that she wants to come back.  We looked down at her table and she had both the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principles book open.  She had been studying them.  We were so proud of her.  She also told us that she was talking to her sister who lives in Northern Minnesota and her sister was telling her about how she was really confused with religion.  That she didn't know what church was true and that she didn't know where to go.    

     Then Kim responded with, “Wow!  You sound just like Joseph Smith.  He didn't know which church was true so he prayed!”  hahaha!  She then started bearing her testimony about Joseph Smith and how he has to be a true prophet.  She is so funny.  We have hardly taught her anything but what we did teach her has really stood out to her.  She is coming to church next week! 

     Well that is all I have time for this week.  I hope that you all have fun week!  Happy Summer!  I know that many of you are out doing fun summer things but hey it doesn't top being here in Minnesota!  I love you! 

Choose the Right!

Love Sister Kendra Curtis

P day at Minnehaha Falls with the Sisters

Hermana Jones

Look who found a friend?
(I gave this little guy to Kendra -incase she was gnome sick)

Look at this funny car

How cute is this

Ah!  I miss Logan.

"Don't you have cushions on your benches?"

Hello Family and Friends!

     Oh man this week was a great one.  We were able to have zone interviews with our new mission President Forbes and his wife.  It was interesting meeting both of them.  They are from Colorado, they have 4 sons who have all served missions.  They left to the MTC the day after their youngest son got home from his mission.  She is a convert and he was raised in the church.  I can't imagine all that is going through their mind at this time.  They have so much on their plate.  He seems very different from our last mission president, President Clements.  He is very laid back and President Clements was very strict.  I am excited to get to know him better and to see the ideas that he has for the mission.  He has a very different way of looking at things but I think it is going to be really good.  It is going to stretch our minds and make us think in ways that we weren't thinking before. 

     Funny story we were able to go to the Chick Fil A with our Sister Training Leaders and someone bought us shirts!  Best purchase ever! :)

     One day Sister Kekauoha and I were out tracting. We were going door to door then we saw a younger guy (late 20s) who was working/doing construction on a house.  We introduced our selves to him, his name was Dave, then all of the sudden he started being really rude.  He whipped out his cigarettes, started smoking and was swearing a ton.  He was doing everything he could to make us leave, but we don't give up that easy.  We continued talking to him asking him how things were going and if he had ever talked to missionaries before.  He said no and we were able to find out that he was Lutheran but wasn't very active.  We then started telling him a little bit of what we believe.  He still managed to throw in a couple swear words but we were persistent.  

     Then I asked him, "So do you know what makes our church different from all other churches?"  He answered and said, "Don't you have cushions on your benches?" ....We both paused for a minute and then I said. "Yes.  We do. Anything else?"  He didn't have any other smart remarks so we went on and we were able to teach him about the Joseph Smith's story.  It was truly amazing.  As we were sharing the first vision we were able to literally watch his countenances change.  He was sincerely interested in what we were sharing.  We were able to get his number and he told us that he wants to meet again and wants to learn more.  We were so excited.  That was a really neat moment because there were many times where we felt like he wasn't "the type" and that this wouldn't mean anything to him.  When really the message we share is for everyone.  The fact that we continued to teach him even though he was showing us every reason to leave, he was able to hear something that he has never heard before.  We were able to make his day a little brighter.  The only bad part about it is that he doesn't live in our area so we have to pass him off.  But hopefully we will meet him in heaven and we will be able to talk to him about that moment. 

     We were also able to meet with a 15 year old boy named Walter.  Walter is so funny.  He is a really tall kid with black hair, very nerdy, but so sweet.  He was a referral from a couple of months ago.  We were able to stop by his house to see how he was doing.  When he answered the door he told us that he was way too tired to talk to us because he just got back from a Nerd Convention.  Haha.  He told us to come back the next day so we did.  We stopped by and before we were even able to knock on the door he came running out and said "Let's go I can't be in my house anymore.  My dog is driving me crazy!"  He is so funny.  So instead we went on a walk.  We walked all over his neighborhood and we taught him the restoration.  He is a really smart kid.  He was awesome to talk with.  At this point in his life he is really confused.  He doesn't know why there are so many churches.  He feels like there is probably only one right church but he doesn't know how to find it.  He also doesn't like how there are so many churches that are taking away the real meaning of what it means to be a Christian.  Which simply is to love each other.  Everything he was saying was right in line with what we were about to teach him.  When we taught him the restoration.  It all started to make sense.  He felt like he really could pray to Heavenly Father and that he could get an answer.  It was great.  I am so grateful to meet people like him.  Honest truth seekers who just want to know the right way to follow Christ.  We can't wait to meet with him later this week to share more with him.   He started telling us about how he doesn't understand why God would say that we have to be baptized in order to get to heaven when there was and are so many people who never had the chance to get baptized.  Sister K and I just looked at each other and smiled.   We then told him that we have the answer to that.  Next time we will tell him all about the plan that Heavenly Father has for all of us.  He is sooo cool.

     We were able to see Brother Z again.  We were able to have a really good lesson with him about faith.  Why faith is important and what it is.  Then we were able to talk about baptism and the Holy Ghost.  He asked us the question, Why would being a Mormon make my life better then it already is?  We then were able to talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost and how when we are baptized we are able to receive it, the greatest gift Heavenly Father can give us.  We then asked him what was holding him back from being baptized.  He said that he agrees with everything doctrinally but that he just doesn't feel like he has got a specific answer from Heavenly Father.  We then told him that if he was more specific with his prayers that he would get a more specific answer.  We then told him to pray and ask Heavenly Father if he should be baptized on August 30th.  We are excited to meet with him again and see if he got an answer. 

Saying Goodbye to Albert and Heidi

     We then were able to have a lesson with Albert and Heidi.  So I don't even know if I have been writing about them because their lessons are so frustrating.  We go there and we have a lesson all planed out and we aren't able to cover any of it because he asks to many questions.  He is not teachable at all.  We never get anywhere.  The only reason we keep going back is because we know that he is going to be the best Mormon ever.  But this last lesson we had with him was truly the last straw.  We had planned on talking for the first 15 minutes then letting him ask any questions but we couldn't even do that.  All he wants to do is bash us and tell us about his church.  There came a point where we asked him what he believed in and he said the bible.  He is so caught up in the text of it that he doesn't even realize that he should have faith in Christ.  We told him that we weren't going to come see him anymore because it wasn't going anywhere.  We told him that he needed some space and some time to read the Book of Mormon for himself, then we could talk.  We gave him every pamphlet that we own and we told him that we would contact him in a month or 2.  It was one of the best things that we could do for him because some people just need time. There is nothing we can say to change his mind.  We just need to be patient and let the spirit do that. 

     On Sunday we had a bunch of miracles.  Earlier this week we had some long days.  We worked all day long, but we didn't see any success.  So on Sunday morning we were very specific in our prayers.  We asked Heavenly Father to help us reach the goals that we had made.  We specifically asked for help in teaching 3 restoration lessons.  We had a couple hours before church started at one.  We were diligent and we talked to everyone met.  In that time period we were able to teach 3 people.   I was so grateful.  It was exactly what I needed.  I wasn't having the best week.  It is one of the most disappointing things as a missionary when you work so hard but don't get anything done at the same time.  I felt like we were working so hard but we weren't seeing any of our efforts.  This showed me truly how Heavenly Father is aware of us and he will help us in our time of need.

     I love you all.  I am so grateful for the gospel and for the simplicity of it.  I know that as we have faith in our Savior and we keep His commandments, everything will work out!  Have a great week everyone! :)

Love Sister Kendra Curtis

We tried riding a tandem bike to strengthen our unity. Lets just say... 

it wasn't the best. We both have our fair share of bruises. 

Happy 4th of July!

Yea!  I got your Package!

Hey Family and Friends!

     Happy 4th of July Everyone!  This week was a super great week.  This week we had two P-days because of the 4th of July.  But now we don't have a P-day today, we only get to email.  But that's okay we had a ton of fun on the 4th.

Ohana 

Sister K.  thinks I am so funny!

Hey look!  They had a parade in Edina, we couldn't watch it  because we had
an appointment. (oh well Huntsville's is probabably better!)

     We had a District P-day.  I was not excited because like I said last time boys don't always plan fun things to do.  They typically just want to play sports.  That is exactly what we did.  They said that we were going to meet at the church and play soccer.  I didn't really want to go.  My soccer days ended in 5th grade.  I haven't really played much since so I wasn't too happy.  But we went to a near by park, used some bike helmets as some goals and then we were ready to go.  We played soccer for about 2 hours and guess what.. I loved it!  I had a ton of fun!  I even scored 4 goals!  I was surprised at how much fun we had.  Then afterwards we went back to the church and we played some volleyball.  We wanted to see if we could do Elders vs. Sisters but to make it even we needed one Elder on our team.  Elder Vargas played with us and we killed them, twice!  It was starting to be unfair so we had to switch up the teams.  It was really fun.  I was surprised at how much I liked the sports P-day.

Team Sisters and Elder Vargas

These are the Spanish Sisters!

     The other thing that was fun about this was as I was playing, I was thinking about my family in Huntsville, doing the same thing.  We always play volleyball on the 4th of July.  It was cool to think that even though we were in two different states, we were still celebrating the same holiday and doing the same thing.  It’s weird to think that next 4th of July we will be back together:)

Sparklers on the 4th of July

     Then afterward, we met up with Rachel, Eva and Rachel's sisters, Amy and Louisa.  We went to Lake Harriet and we were able to have a BBQ we had some hot dogs and some cheesy brats, watermelon, chips, and a salad.  It was really fun and it was fun spending it with them.  Then we went and walked along the lake for a little then we ended our night with some sparklers.  They were hard to light because it was so windy but we finally got them lit.  Over all it was a really fun day.  The only bad part about it was that I didn't get to see any fireworks because it was past our curfew.  I could hear them so I ran out on our balcony to see if I could see any but the trees were all too tall.  The only fireworks I could see were the ones across our apartment complex on someones TV screen.  It just wasn't the same.  But hey there is always next year. :)

Sister K., Eva, Rachel, and Sister Curtis

     Besides a really fun 4th of July we also had a ton of other great things go on this week!

     This week we were hoping to help our 9 year old investigator, Sophia, get to Activity Days.  But when we got to the church we found out that Activity Days had been canceled because of the holiday.  Instead, we made a last minute call to the Primary President, she was able to bring her son and we were then able to have a lesson at the church.  It was really last minute but it went really well.  It was really good to get them out of their house and at the church building.  We were able to have a lesson with Sophia about repentance and the importance of coming to church.  Then the Bishop was able to talk to Sophia's mom (who is a member) more about some of the different concerns that she has.  It went really well.  While the mom was meeting with the bishop we took Sophia on a church tour.  We took her into the different rooms and we told her what we do in each room.  Then we went into the chapel, Sister K was able to play a song on the piano and we were able to sit there and feel the spirit.  Then each of us got up and we were able to bear our testimonies.  it was really sweet when the kids bore their testimonies.  I love doing church tours because the spirit is so strong.  It was really neat because Sophia was able to feel and recognize that.  Now what we need to do for her is figure out how to help her mom.  Sophia is ready to be baptized.  She has been taught everything.  She just needs the support of her mom so that she can remain active.

     We also were able to have a lesson with Brother Z, the 84 year old.  It was good.  We were able to bring our ward mission leader.  He did his reading and we talked about that for a little.  Then we finished up the plan of salvation.  He told us that he agrees with everything that we are teaching doctrinally but that his real concerns lie with how our church is run.  Long story short, his wife who is a member was offended in the past by a bishop because he wasn't taking his "job" seriously and he wouldn't help her with the concerns that she had in her calling which was.... wait for it... the librarian.  Oh man.  So the root of the whole problem is that they both have a lot of pride and aren't willing to forgive and forget.  The saddest part of it all is that Sister Z wants nothing more then for her husband to get baptized so that they can then be sealed in the temple.  She doesn't even realize that her pride and stubbornness truly is what is holding him back from getting baptized.  Now we have this whole nothing thing to deal with because like he said, he believes what we are teaching just not the structure.  That’s the problem!

     Eva is doing as great as ever!  She actually started her first class of institute this week.  She loved it.  She is taking two classes.  One about the Book of Mormon and one about the Teachings of the Prophets. Eva is so great.  It is so exciting to be here to watch her progress in the gospel and continue to see her testimony grow.  

     This week we were able to get one of our investigators to church Marilyn.  It truly was a miracle. It is always really hard to get investigators to church. Every Sunday around 1:00 p.m. something comes up.  It can be really frustrating.  We were planning on having a member come and pick up Sister Nation but then when she went to go pick her up she wasn't home.  We tried calling her and she was at the Down Town Library.  We miraculously were able to talk her through getting on the right bus that would drop her off in front of the church.  She was a little late but she loved the church experience.  She loved how friendly everyone was and she is excited to come back next week. 

This is our district!

     This week we had a really good meeting with our ward council.  Our ward is really awesome and very missionary minded.  In ward council we watched a video the church is doing for training.  In it, it was talking about the importance of teaching in the home.  It talked about how conversion happens in the home, not at church.  It is at home where we need to be applying the different things we are learning.  Then some one mentioned something about Lehi's Dream.  He said something along the line of, “It isn't enough to taste of the fruit but you have to actively and consistently be holding on to the iron rod and keep close to the tree because when we let go, we will get lost.  We will wander.  We need to be consistently obedient if we want to receive the blessings the Lord promises each and everyone of us.  It makes me think a lot of the role that I have as a missionary and back home.  I want to make sure that I am doing all I can to help those I love and care about to hold on as tight as they can to the iron rod.  In other words the word of God.

This is a shorter letter but like I said, we don't have much time this week.  Just know that I love you all so much.  Keep doing the little things that Heavenly Father asks us to do.  I know that as we are obedient and we put our trust in Him, He truly will bless us.  I read a scripture this morning.  It was so good it was surprising to me really how simple it is. 

1 Nephi 22:31

"Wherefore, ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones that have testified, and also taught them. Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen."

     If your are obedient, keep the commandments and endure to the end, you will be save!

Love, Sister Kendra Curtis

We got to go to the temple!  It's the best

      Okay..... So this might be semi-illegal. In the white handbook it says that we aren't allowed to hold kids. But the Africans do this really cool thing where they just use an African wrap to tie their kids on their backs so they can still clean and cook and do stuff like that. So Wonderful(Yes that is her name)offered to show us how to tie the wraps. Sister K and I finally came to the conclusion that we technically weren't holding children... Are we  justifying it?.. Yes!  But hey now I know how to do it for when I am a mom. Sorry I am such a naughty daughter.