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.