Meet the Mormon's

Hello family and friends!

Driving to Serve!

     Guess what today is transfers and I am safe!  Sister McCullough and I are going to be staying in Apple Valley for one more transfer!  We are both really happy.  I don't want to leave the area yet.  There is still so much for us to do here.  So many miracles that have been happening!  We can't go yet.

     One thing that our ward is doing that is really neat is Missionary Week.  Actually the whole stake is doing it.  The youth are preparing for Missionary week which will be happening next week.  For missionary week people in the ward ask their friends and neighbors of other faiths to come and help out the youth of our church to prepare to be missionaries.  The youth then will teach the neighbors and friends something.  In the past it has been a missionary lesson.  But this year the Young Men and Young Women's presidency asked us what we thought would be the best thing for the youth to teach.  In the past the youth have had a hard time teaching the missionary lessons because they haven't had the best understanding of the lessons.  We were able to come up with a lesson plan that should work good for everybody.  We want it to be a good experience for everybody and we want everyone to see how much fun missionary work can be.  So for their lesson they are going to be introducing the “For the Strength of Youth booklet”.  They are going to explain what it is and how it has helped them in their lives. Then they are going to tie in the Book of Mormon and leave a copy with them.  

Missionary month with the Youth!

     We are really excited.  It is going to be really easy for the youth because instead of having to know a bunch of information most of what they are going to be sharing is their testimony, what they know to be true and how they came to know that.  Last week we were able to go to the youth activity and we were able to help the youth prepare to teach.  We were able to type up some papers to help them with some teaching tips and social skills.  We were with the younger group and it went great.  Everyone is so great.   I am very impressed with the youth here in Minnesota. They are a lot better and more prepared then I was when I was in Middle School!  After we went over the paper we had given them.  We were able to do some role playing.  We had all of them pair up with somebody (boy+girl) and we had them practice starting a lesson.  It was amazing.  As Sister McCullough and I walked around listening to what they were teaching the spirit was so strong.  I just looked around and imagined all of them becoming little missionaries.  How exciting!  

     I am so excited for missionary week!  The cool thing about it is it is a whole week that they are going to be  doing missionary work.  On Sunday they will be kicking it off by going to a fireside, Monday they will practice their teaching for family home evening, Tuesday they are going to wear a "Mormon" t-shirt (something that says something about our church: BYU, a camp shirt, etc.), Wednesday they will wear their Sunday best to school, Thursday they will invite someone to something church related, Friday the will post something online, Saturday their will be a stake dance, then on Sunday they will have a testimony meeting in Young Men and Young Women's to share the missionary experiences that they have had.  Isn't the youth awesome!  We are so excited to see how everything goes.  I challenge all of you to try doing the same things that our stake will be doing for missionary week.  It is going to take place October 19-26.  You can do it!  And if you do it,  write me letters and tell me how it went!  I know great things will happen!

Our District!

We traded for this clock with some Elders.

     This week we were also able to meet with a girl named Sharay.  We were just tracting in a less active members apartment building and we were able to find her.  She is 20 years old and is a single mom with a 15 month old baby named Gemel.  They are both so cute. She is on her own at this point and doesn't have any family or friends close by.  In her prayer at the end of one of our lessons she expressed how we were sent to her at a time when she really needed it.  We have been able to meet with her twice now and she loves it.  She was also able to come to church on Sunday she really liked it.  One thing I think she really enjoyed was how friendly everyone was at church.  Everyone was really helpful with her baby and she was able to learn a lot and feel of the spirit.  We are excited to meet with her tonight! :)

     We have continued to meet with Mallory.  She is doing really good.  She is completely different from the time we met her 6 weeks ago.  She has been coming out joint teaching with us and she has been really strengthening her testimony.  There are a couple people who I have met on my mission where I just know that I am here for a reason and Mallory is one of them.  I feel like there is a reason we have been sent to Apple Valley and she is one of them.  She really needed sisters and she has come so far!  Good things are going to happen for her!

At the movies!

     The other huge things that happened this week was that we were able to go to Meet the Mormons!  I know!  Sister McCullough and I went to the Movies!  Isn't that crazy!  Our Mission President said that if we took an investigator that we could go.  We were not sure if we were going to make it happen but the Lord provided a way.  We were able to go with Khalia and her family, 2 members who really needed to go and one of the members brought her 2 inactive sisters.  

     I am not going to lie it was really weird to sit in a movie theater again, it was even weirder to be eating popcorn and watching a preview.  I was so grateful that we were able to go.  The movie was so good and it was so good for each of the people who came with us.  Every story was so unique and so inspiring!  If you haven't seen it yet you really should. 

     My favorite person that they showed was the very last lady.  I loved it for so many reasons.  I loved the part where it showed the Salt Lake Valley, that right there almost brought me to tears.  Then I loved the story and her experience.  It was the very thing that Khalia was supposed to see.  It related to her in so many different ways.  It talked about how she was a single mom and how she was able to turn her life around.  It then had a part in it where the sister missionaries who taught her came to see her son open his mission call.  At that moment I leaned over to Sister McCullough and said, "That is going to be us coming to see Noodles."

Noodles and Me!

     After that part, was the part that really touched my heart and even brought me to tears.  It was the part where he was getting ready to leave on his mission and had to say his goodbyes.  At that very moment all of the flashbacks of me having to say goodbye to my family came to my mind.  Those last moments, the last words, the last hugs.  All of those moments that I have held so dear all came to the very front of my memory.  I am so grateful for my family I love them so much.  In that moment I realized just how much I love this gospel.  There is no way that I could leave all of that behind if this wasn't true.  If I didn't know that the very things that I am going to be sharing with each and every person that I meet would completely change their lives around.  I was able to give up the ones I love and care about so much so that others can experience that same happiness and joy that I hold so dear.  I am forever grateful for my family.  I know that I am who I am today because of them, because of the sacrifices that were made and the love that was shown!  I love you all!  Thanks so much!  If you haven't seen Meet the Mormons, go see it invite a friend and see others with many different background who have each come to know for themselves that this is the Church of Jesus Christ, in these later days! :)

Love Sister Kendra Curtis

Raking Leaves!