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!