Bring light to others!

Hello Family and Friends!

     Oh my goodness today is a crazy day! It isn't a normal P-day because we are going have P-day on Thanksgiving. Since it is a normal work day Sister McCullough and I went and did some service for a lady in our ward. But today is still transfer day. So instead of rushing over to go see who was going where we just asked the Elders to text us and let us know. We got a text from the Elders around 10:15 saying that both Sister McCullough and I were staying together. My first thought was... Hu! I guess that means that we are going to be eternal companions. (Eternal companions means you stay together for more then 3 transfers) I honestly just didn't feel right about it. Not that I don’t want to be with Sister McCullough or that I don’t love Apple Valley because I do. But I had been praying about what was going to be happening this transfer and I specifically prayed that I would feel right about where I would be sent and... I just didn’t feel it. But then I started thinking about it and Sister McCullough and I started talking about it and I was happy. We were going to be spending the holidays together everything would be awesome. So after we finished helping the member, around 1:15, we started heading over to come email. Right as we walked in the library doors, I looked at the phone and we had a missed call.. it was from President Forbes! I hurried and called him back. He answered and then he said, you probably looked at transfers and noticed that you aren't being transferred.. well I am going to change that. Sister Curtis you are going to be going up North, to the Duluth Zone, to a small town named Carlton and you will be opening the area with Sister England. And Sister McCullough, you are going to be training a brand new missionary. 

     WHOA!!! How crazy is that! So I am getting transferred and I am leaving Apple Valley. I am going to be going up North.. BUUURRR! Its really cold up there! But I am super excited because Sister Simpson is going to be my Sister Training Leader! How fun is that! I finally get to serve with her again! I am in shock right now. I did not expect that but I am so excited. I am excited to open another area. This is going to be the 4th area that I will have opened/white washed. But this area is going to be completely different. It is going to be a bunch of small towns and a branch who have been asking for missionaries. I have no idea what is in store but I can't wait to find out!

Our District!

Signs!

Elders doing chicken in the henhouse!

Sister Missionaries!

We got 12 people in
the photo booth!

     As for Apple Valley news, this week was such a great week. We started off with having an awesome Zone P-day. We played lots of games at the church, we even got them to play chicken in the hen house with the whole zone that was super fun. Then of course dodge ball, ultimate frisbee, and even ninja. Then after playing some games at the church we then went and played laser tag which was so much fun. We couldn't do the whole zone though because there were so many people but we split the group in two and we got to play with our whole district which was really fun.

Sister Tingy

Sister McCullough and Me!

Our Zone!

We had so much fun!

     Khalia got baptized this week! It was super exciting we had a bunch of awesome lessons with her this week. She bore her testimony a couple times and just told us how excited she is to be baptized. We then called her the night before her baptism and we had a little mini lesson over the phone. We just told her how happy we were for her and how we knew that she was making such an amazing decision. She was really glad that we called her and told us that we would see us at the baptism. 

Khalia at her baptism!

     The baptism was going to be at 3:00 so Sister McCullough and I went early so we could fill the font. When we got there we realized that there were some cars in the parking lot so we thought to ourselves.. oh no I hope they remembered to reserve the building. Then we went inside and there was a baby shower all of the food and stuff was right in front of where we go to watch the baptism. Oh no! We then went to tell the people in charge and they were like oh ya when it is time we will just scoot some of the stuff over.... Uhh okay. So we were kind of freaking out because that would be super weird and awkward if everyone just marched in during the baby shower and then went back. We were able to have our ward mission leader come help us and his wife went and talked to them and we were able to have them move everything to the other side of the gym. So other then that everything else went great. 

     It was a really good service and the talk that was given was awesome. Then afterwards Khalia was able to bear her testimony and share her feelings and it was also very powerful! Then the next day she received the Holy Ghost and that also was an amazing experience. The brother who gave her the blessing was truly a mouth piece for God. He said things about her that he would have never known but did because he was talking thought the spirit. I am so happy for her and I am so grateful that I was able to be here for her baptism. It is my most favorite thing about being a missionary. To watch the progress others make as they strengthen their relationship with Christ. We were able to give her a testimony journal full of the testimonies of members of the ward and from us congratulating her on her wonderful decision. It turned out really good and she loved it. It will hopefully be something that she will be able to look back on and it will remind her of that special day.

     This week we had a super awesome miracle. We were going to head home a little early so we could put together that book for Khalia but then all the sudden I felt that we needed to go knock somewhere but I had no idea where to go. It was totally one of those "should we go left or right"moments. We were able to stop and at the third door we knocked on they invited us in. It was a young family with 3 kids and they were Catholic. They were super nice and interested in what we had to say. After we taught them the restoration they had more questions it started leading into the plan of salvation. We asked them if we could come back some other time and share more with them about the plan. They said yes we are going to be seeing them Tuesday and they are going to feed us dinner. It was super awesome to see how the Lord knew that they were ready and prepared. If we wouldn’t have listened we wouldn’t have met them. I am grateful we followed the spirit. 

     We also were able to see the lady from last week, the one who had met with missionaries before. She is super nice but has a ton of questions. She has just read so much anti stuff,  but it is really cool because when we talk it isn't contentious and the spirit is there and it is a really good experience. The sisters will probably keep teaching her. One day... :) Great things are happening her in Apple Valley I am excited for Sister McCullough and her new companion.

     Yesterday, transfers were weighing heavy on my mind. I just can't believe that I only have 2 transfers left. I knew that the next place I would be going would probably be the place I would spend the rest of my mission. I was praying and fasting that as I received transfers I would feel right about it. It was funny because everyone was saying goodbye to me at church. They all assumed that I was going to be leaving because the ward still needs Sister McCullough to help sign for Brother Lyles. So there were some rumors going around that I would be leaving but it wasn’t for sure. After church we went to the Relief Society meeting so we could talk with the presidency about who we had been working with and who was on our mind. Then of course transfers got brought up, they started talking about how I would probably leave. A lot of them were sugar coating it saying that maybe the President wouldn’t move anyone because of the holidays, then all the sudden Sister Gretz, a member that I love and respect so much got teary eyed and said, “Most likely Sister Curtis will leave the other areas need good missionaries  also. We can't hog them all, and Sister Curtis, you really are a good missionary.” I started getting teary eyed. I don't know why I have moved around so much but I am so grateful that I have. I have met so many amazing people. People who I will never forget, who have strengthened my testimony and who have made an impact on my life forever. I love this gospel. I love that Heavenly Father has a specific plan for each and everyone of us. I know that as we trust him, we will be able to see what His plan has in store for us. :)

Chuck and Family

     Last night, we went and stopped by a less active family that loves missionaries we usually try to see them once a week but we haven't been able to see them for a while. We knocked on the door and Chuck opened up and said, Oh my goodness! Not even 5 minutes ago I just asked my wife what happened to our girls. And here you are. They are super awesome they are both from Utah and come from active families, they have colorful paths and later found Christ and now go to a different church. They are truly so welcoming. We love coming over and visiting them. They have such a strong faith in Christ and they know that he is real. It just goes to show that their is truth everywhere and their is amazing people. He is so wonderful and he loves us. He always sings us songs or reads us poems that he writes. They are all about Christ and they are so touching. He said one things to us last night that really hit me. Chuck said he has no doubt that he has talked to angels before. Angels come and angels go and they always have a message. It makes me wonder about the two of you. Then as we left their house last night he gave both of us a little angel of our own that we can have to always remember him by. 

     I was so grateful and that was exactly what I needed to hear. We are all angels in someones life. We are only there for short moments but the message we share can be life changing. Look for those moments in your life, especially with the Christmas season right around the corner. We all can make a difference. But the only way to bring light to others, is to glow yourself. 

I love you all so much!

 Happy Thanksgiving and 

almost Merry Christmas! :)

Wish me luck up NORTH!!

Love, Sister Kendra Curtis

Brother Lyles

Mallory

Saying goodbye is so hard!

Karen

Sister Ekanem

Sister Young and her "Brown Bag Fudge"

My best friend Nathan!

I am always going to be a Missionary!

Hello Family and Friends!

It's so cold!

     This week has been a lot better then last week.  I'm not sick anymore so we were able to go out and work. But as some of you may know if you look at the weather it is freezing here!!  Almost all of last week is was 20 degrees.  I am not going to miss Minnesota winters.  It is getting way too cold too fast.  :(  I shouldn’t  be wearing this many layers in November!  But hey, you know what they say about cold winters, it builds your character.  Lucky me!

     Besides the terrible weather lots of great things have been happening here in Apple Valley for Sister McCullough and I.  We were able to start off our week by having dinner with Khalia and her family.  She has been changing so much lately.  It is awesome to see the changes she has been making in the past couple of months.  She has had a change of heart.  The best was on Saturday, she was able to have her baptismal interview.  It went so good.  She came out of the interview glowing.  She can't wait to get baptized and to receive the Holy Ghost.  She understands why she is doing this and why it is important to follow Jesus Christ and to take on his name.  Yesterday she was able to come to the President's Fireside with us.  She loves going to those and she loves the spirit that she feels.  She was telling us about how excited she is to receive the Holy Ghost.  She said that when the missionaries first were coming over to her house she didn't like how they said that she didn't have the Holy Ghost with her, but she said that as she has been watching her mom and her sister she can see the difference.  She can tell that they have it with them all the time and she can't wait to have it as well.  Just like all of the recent converts who bore there testimonies at the fireside. Saturday is going to be such a special day.  We are going to make it a very special day for her.  Something that she will always remember.  We love her so much.  I am so grateful that I was able to be here in Apple Valley to meet her.  I know that the Lord sent sister missionaries to her for a reason.  I know that I met her for a reason.  It just goes to show that Heavenly Father has a plan for everything.  There are no coincidences.  I am so grateful for all the people I have met on my mission.  Not only have I had a chance to share what I know with them to help them grow but they have also helped me.  There is nothing better then watching someones progression.  Seeing them change and gain that happiness.  I am so grateful that missionary work never ends.  I am always going to be a missionary.  A missionary is a follower of Christ who testifies of Him as the Redeemer and proclaims the truths of His gospel.  This work doesn't start and begin with a black badge, but is something that begins as you step into the waters of baptism and take on His name.  It a simple way that we are able to share the happiness we have with others. 

     This week was Stake Conference.  It was so good.  I never really liked it that much before the mission but now I love it so much!  The adult session is the best. We have a really great Stake President in the Lakeville Stake, President Naatjes.  In the adult session, President Naatjes had 8 recent converts come up and they were on a panel up front.  He then asked them a bunch of questions about their conversion and how they joined the church and what difference it made in their lives.  It was awesome and super powerful.  The whole night the theme was missionary work but not just finding people who want to be baptized but also helping and rescuing the lost sheep.  I love meetings so much because I love learning!  It was a really awesome night and afterwards we had a couple people come up to us and they shared with us some of the actions they were going to take.  President Naatjes gave then all a challenge...

     1. Pick a name and make a plan 

     2. Pray about it and take it to the Lord 

     3. Tell someone else about your actions and make sure they hold you   

         accountable. 

     This is a really great stake with a lot of great members.  Miracles are going to happen here in this area as they follow the counsel given.  That is one thing I have gained a testimony of.  The counsel given by Mission Presidents, Stake presidents, Bishops or even District leaders are inspired from Heavenly Father.  As you obey and take action you will always be blessed and see the results.  That was only the adult session!  The rest of it was just as wonderful.

     Last night we had a really awesome experience.  We decided to do some tracting, even though it was really cold.  We bundled up and we started knocking doors. We knocked on one door and a woman answered.  We explained who we were and we told her that we were coming around sharing a message of Jesus Christ.  She then explained that she met with the Elders before. She then went and grabbed a coat and came out to talk to us a little longer.  She had met with missionaries before and she has read a lot of anti-Mormon stuff on the internet so she knows a lot of strange stuff about our religion.  One of her biggest concerns that she had is that when she was meeting with the Elders and she would ask then questions all they would tell her is to pray about it.  They wouldn't give her any real answers and it was frustrating to her.  She then asked us some of the questions and we answered them the best we could.  I then explained to her that is isn't a bad thing to have questions or doubts.  It is all part of learning. We have to question our faith before it can be strengthened.  She then told us that she would love to have us come over and try to answer more of her questions.  We said that we won't have all the answers but that we will do our best and we will try to find them for her.  We then got her number and we are planning on stopping by this week.  Then when we got home we found out that she is a former investigator from about 2 years ago.  We had a really good discussion with her. m It was cool to see how the Lord placed us there.  She really needed missionaries to answer some of her questions.  It was really neat to see her heart soften.  Hopefully it will go well when we see her again.

     That's all for this week.  Now Sister McCullough and I are off to our Zone P-day.  We are going to be playing laser tag!  Sister McCullough and I are going to win!  I will show you all pictures next week!  Thanks so much for all of the love and prayers.  They really do give me so much strength.  Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Kendra Curtis

These are some fun members !

  

This is a coffee shop that has really good smoothies!

Huzzah for Israel!

Hello Everybody!

It's here!!!

     Well guess what its official!  Winter has begun!  We woke up this morning to snow!  Can you believe it!  From here on out I am going to be freezing!  D&C 121:34 "Many are called but few are FROZEN!"  I don't know how I endured last winter!  Lets just say I am grateful that I only have a couple months left of Minnesota winter then I get to come home to warm Utah winters. Yea!  I promise I will never complain about a Utah Winter again.  Not even a Logan winter.  Mark my words!  Also President Forbes already grounded our cars at the first sight of snow.  I'm nervous for what is going to happen for the rest of the time...

This is a Zone lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings!

Selfies with the animals!

     Anyways before it snowed... last I had mentioned that we were planning on going to the zoo with the Elders.  Sister Abrahamson, the member that we live with, volunteers at the zoo and because we live under her roof we get in for free.  Ya whoo!  The Elders got a discount but not as good as us.  Then we went and looked at all the animals.  It was pretty fun.  I'm not really what some might call "a zoo girl" and I don't really like to stare at animals for a long time.  But the Elders wanted to take lots of pictures of ever single animal.  So while they were doing that, and because I am such a peacemaker, I decided that instead of trying to get them to hurry up, that I would just take selfies with every animal.  I got some pretty good ones.  What do you think? :)  It was a good time though.  It is a really big Zoo.  Definitely in the Minnesota must sees.

This is Sister Abrahamson!  She is so sweet!

Me and a Penguin 

Me and a Porcupine  

Me and a wolf!

Me and a bear!

Me and a different bear!

Me standing on a turtle.

Me and Flamingos!

Me and a McCullough

Me and a big Lizard!

     Then the next day it was super windy and then I had really bad allergies.  I was sneezing like crazy and I started getting a runny nose.  It was a rough day, by the end I was totally beat.  When I was finally crawling into bed I looked at Sister McCullough and said, I think tomorrow I am going to be sick.  I was right.  I was sick for the majority of the week.  I slept all of Wednesday, most of Thursday, some of Friday and only a little bit of Saturday.  It was pretty sad and poor Sister McCullough was stuck with me all week.  She got a lot of ASL practice in.  But she is truly the best companion I am so grateful for her.  She helped nurse me back to health.  I love her!  We also ha d a lot of great members who offered a lot of medicine to us. The Elders were willing to give me a blessing.  I am so grateful for all the love and support I have here in Apple Valley.  I am happy to say I am mostly healthy now.  Just a little cough here and there but doing great!

     Although I was sleeping most of the time, we were also able to watch a lot of church movies.  Most of them I had never even seen before.  They were surprisingly pretty good. (Or maybe Sister McCullough and I were starting to become very easily entertained.) I was grateful for the time, even though I couldn't wait to get better.  I had my testimony strengthened in simple ways.  I watched Mountain of the Lord for the first time.  In it, Wilford Woodruff was being interview about the Salt Lake City temple.  There was a part where he was talking about baptisms for the dead. The news reporter thought it was kind of strange to do work vicariously for someone else.  Without hesitation Wilford Woodruff replied, "Not at all."  He then went on to explain that anyone who accepts Jesus Christ and his atonement already believes in doing work vicariously for others.  That really hit me and it is so clear.  Jesus Christ has done for us what we would never be able to do for ourselves.  Just like when we do temple work for others.  It is then up to us to accept or reject the work that has been done.  Everything can always tie back to Jesus Christ and the atonement.  I am really excited to learn and read more about the history of our church.  There are so many great stories and wonderful people who have sacrificed so much for us so that we can have all that we do.  I am so grateful for the early saints.  They were so strong and such good examples to me.

     Aside from all of that, we were able to have some teaching opportunities, which was good.  Sister McCullough really wanted to get out of the house.  We were able to meet with Khalia twice this week.  We went over tithing and baptism and confirmation.  We are talking about what baptism is really all about.  We wanted to make sure that she was ready and that she understood the covenants and promises that she is going to make.  It went really well.  She is looking forward to the 22nd and we are hoping to meet with her at least 3 times up to that point.  She also was able to go to the Mormon Choral Concert last night and she really enjoyed it!

     The good news is that this next week can't possibly be any worse then last week.  Sister McCullough and I are pumped.  We are sick and tried of being sick and tired!  We are going knock every door in this town and find those who are prepared.

Huzzah for Israel!

Have a great week everybody.  

Choose the right.  

Bundle up!  

Read your scriptures.  

Baby its COLD OUTSIDE!

Love, Sister Kendra Curtis

Family History is another way to share the Gospel!

Hello Family and Friends!

     This week was such an awesome week.  We were able to start it off with a Zone Conference.  Elder Carlson from the Seventies came and spoke to us.  He told us so many great things and he gave us a lot of great advice.  He told us that we need to be more specific in our prayers, that we need to make detailed plans, that we need to always seek for the companionship of the Holy Ghost, to never pass up a prompting, to listen and observe more, repent often, and talk to everyone.  The list goes on and on!  The over all theme for conference was becoming a consecrated missionary.  One thing that I realized during this conference is sometimes we get really down on our selves.  We might take a step back and think to ourselves, "Dang.  I haven't been a consecrated missionary for my whole mission.  I failed.  What is the point?"  Everyone one has thoughts similar to this whether they are a missionary or not.  We focus on the negative and realize all the things we didn't do.  But what I took from this is, luckily Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to be perfect 100% of the time.  All he expects of us is that we work a little harder each and everyday to become better then we were when we started.  I am so grateful for repentance, not only in my missionary work but also in life.  Life is a journey. We are able to constantly make changes so we can become the person Heavenly Father knows we can be. Man.  It was so good.  There is no way that I will be able to fit 12 pages of notes in this letter.  Let's just say that I am so grateful for the different things that I was able to learn.  I already have a list of things that I am starting to work on.  At the very end of the conference Elder Carlson left us with four tips of things we should do... 1.Smile  2.Focus  3.Be Obedient 4.Work.

Sister Huang

This is my MTC district at Zone Conference!

Elder Vargas

Sister Rameriz

Elder Berry

     Another things that he introduced that I thought was really neat was he talked about how we need to use Family History Work in our missionary work.  He then told all the missionaries that they need to fill out a My Family Booklet (look it up if you don't know what it is) and that we should put pictures in it and that we need to carry it around with us and that we should show it to people while we are tracting.  As Elder Carlson was talking about this I felt the spirit so strong.  I know that the Holy Ghost is touching individuals no matter what their faith is.  They are interested in and have a desire to learn more about their families.  I feel that as we start using this missionary tool, that we will have an extra focus and power working with us.  We will have angels all around us, working with not only us, but also investigators, to help them to find the truth.  Family History Work is such an amazing thing and I am looking forward to using more of it. 

     After Elder Carlson's challenge of more detailed planning Sister McCullough and I decided that we would try to be better at it.  We went out that next day and we had planned on tracting on 157th Street.  As we were out tracting, no one was answering, there weren't even people to slam the door in our face, no one was home.  But we kept going because we told the Lord that 157th Street was were we were going to be.  Then the very last door we knocked on we were able to meet a woman from Nigeria named Grace.  We were able to teach her the restoration and she invited us to come back.  Then a couple days later we went back and we were able to meet her daughter in law and we were able to teach her as well and we have another appointment with them.  It was a huge miracle.  We recognize that as we followed the council of Elder Carlson that we were able to be at the right place at the right time. We are excited to see more miracles as we continue our detailed planning.

     Things are going great with Khalia.  We switched her baptism date to November 22 because of Stake Conference.  She is doing really well.  She is loving what we are teaching her and she doesn't doubt that it is  from God.  We were also able to see Tiuana again.  She was over at Khalia's house.  She was able to sit in on a lesson and we were able to just remind her of what we used to share with her.  Tiuana stopped meeting with us about a month ago.  After sitting in with us and listening to Khalia's testimony she was able to soften her heart and she invited us to come back and meet with her.  We are hoping to have her and her family come to church soon because they haven't been their yet.  We will see how things go.  Khalia is doing great and the family is excited for her to join them in being members of the church.

Bonfire with Khalia

Khalia

     Then on Halloween we had our District P-day.  We originally got it changed so we could go to a corn maze but then we found out that it closed a week early. :( We were sad.  Instead we just went to the church and we played some games.  It was so much fun!  We played the bag game (its the same game that I did with Sister Pead in Stillwater) and we also played Chicken in the Hen House.  It was so much fun we were laughing practically all day long.  I really like the district that we have now.  They are all really good missionaries and we have a lot of fun together.  

This is our Halloween P-day!

The Elders

The Sisters!

The District!

  

This Elder is super funny and reminds me of Jake!

This is the bag game.  I can't wait to
show it to you when I come home.
The other fun game is Chicken in the Hen House!

     Later that night we went over and did some member stop by’s because it isn't very effective to knock on doors.  This Halloween was a lot of fun though.  Holidays are so interesting on missions.

Sister McCullough and I got geeked up for Halloween!

Halloween night with some ward members!

     Sorry this one is kind of short.  We are going to the Minnesota Zoo today!  Super excited!  Well I sure do love you all.  I hope that you have a wonderful week! 

Don't forget to pray and read your scriptures!

Love Sister Kendra Curtis

This is Alice she wanted me to do her hair like mine.  She is so cute!

Alicia and Alice