Run,Run, Rudolph!

Hello Family and Friends!

     Just because I know everyone is probably wondering, YES! This Christmas was way better then last year's! There was no dog or dog vomit! What more could you ask for! Merry Christmas Everyone! It’s crazy to think that this is my last Christmas away from home. My time here is truly flashing before my eyes, but I'm not going to be talking about that. This week was so wonderful. I'm sad the season is over. But I am looking forward to the New Year. It’s a time to set goals and make plans to have things turn out better then they did in the past year. I don't know how I could possibly top this past year, but hey, I'm up for the challenge. Sister England and I have been sharing a new video with the members now that Christmas is over. The video is called, New Year's: Look Not Behind Thee. It is really great and it’s a good way to kick off the new year and to think about what we need to leave behind this year. 

     But back to Christmas, I was starting to jump ahead! This week was so much fun! We were able to do lots of fun things this week. We were able to go with a less active family down to Duluth to go see Bentleyville which is a huge light display! But on the way we decided to stop by another place which was on "Park Point", some lady did all of these pretty lights in her yard and then it went out to the beach and I didn't even realize this but the lake has these huge waves like the ocean! It was the coolest thing to see and the lights just made it even prettier. It was a really great way to know the family better. Then we went to hurry and go see Bentleyville before it was time for us to go home and right as we got there the lady looked at us and said, "You know the lights are turning off in 5 minutes." Oh no! We came all this way and didn't even get to see it. Then the mom was like well if you want you can try to run through it, Sister England and I looked at each other and said okay! So we hurried and we booked it through the whole thing. It was so magical! It totally felt like I was in Home Alone, "Run Run Rudolph!" haha! We got about 3/4 of the way through then the lights flipped off. But we didn't know any different, so we loved it and we still managed to get some pictures! Now we just have an excuse to come back.

Lights at Park Point in Duluth!

Park Point with a less active family we are working with :)

Bentleyville in Duluth!

Cute little Lindsay!

     Then we were also able to go on a Sleigh Ride with our Branch President and his family. It was a lot of fun and we were able to get to meet some of the non members of the family, well the in-laws but it was also a good experience because they haven't been very open to the church in the past so it was good to talk to them. We had a ton of fun! There was a sleigh pulled by some horses! And a little sled on the back and even a zip line. We were able to do all of it because our mission president gave us permission. It was kind of weird to do it as a missionary but it was a lot of fun. Roise is always the star of the show she is so funny. There was this big discussion between the mom and the dad about whether or not she could go on the zip line she ended up going because everyone practically voted and it was hilarious. She had no expression at all. Kids are the best! It was so much fun! What a neat family tradition.

Sleigh Ride with the Branch President and his family!

Rosie!

Me on the zip line, don't worry we got permission :)

Rosie on the zip line

Caleb was being nosiy during a
Christmas program so I
was helping him say quite the
camera was a huge success.

     Christmas Eve was fun and a little strange. We went to a couple different members houses and then one of the members asked us if we would like to come with them to a Methodist service because their family members were in the program. We went and it was really beautiful but I am grateful that instead of all gathering at the church that we are able to gather as a family. I feel the spirit is way stronger in the home. But then again it is neat to see the things that we have in common and how we truly are all celebrating the same thing. The gift of Jesus Christ. 

     Christmas morning was fun! It was super relaxing this year which was nice and much needed! We had a fun time together and a fun time at members homes. We truly are so blessed to be here in the Carlton Branch. 

Our Christmas Jamies!

Look who got Footie Jammies too!! :):) Happy New years to us!

     Then I got to talk to my sweet family! I love them so much! That always feels like the quickest 40 minutes of my life. But it was so great to see everyone and hear how they are doing. It’s crazy to think that in less than 2 months I will be able to give them all a hug! SO WEIRD! I am so blessed with the best family! I love all of them so very much!

Skyping my Family! YAY!

"our cute little Christmas stockings"

We found Pugmire on Christmas day! Santa must have left him!

     Then on top of all the magic that comes with the holidays, we were able to meet 3 times with both Trevor and David. Trevor is doing wonderful he truly is like a sponge, he is just soaking in everything we tell him. Right now, he has a baptismal date set for the 24th of January. Things are looking good so far. He really enjoyed the plan of salvation. It meant a lot to him to know that there is a reason why we are here and that we have a place that we are trying to go. I love to see the light that has come into his life. When we met him he had very little hope and now there truly is a whole new light.

     David is doing great as well, he passed his baptismal interview and he is going to be getting baptized this Saturday. We are really excited for him. He is taking some big steps. He has totally quit smoking and he has been reading from the Book of Mormon everyday. He is in Mosiah right now and he really likes it. It should be a really great experience. Hopefully he will be able to have some friends and family attend. 

Christmas Lunch with the Martindale's and
some other members of our branch!

     Then one last thing before I have to go. Sister England and I came up with a branch activity. Our mission president has a copy of Meet the Mormons so we are going to have a showing up here! No one in our branch has seen it before because it didn't show in the theaters up here. We are turning it into a huge missionary opportunity. We made these flyers and we are going to start handing them out to less actives and investigators and the Branch is going to put it up on local bulletins and also in the local paper. Hopefully we have a good turn out. The showing is going to be on January 16th. Everyone is looking forward to it! We hope to get some new investigators from it too!

     Well I don't know if I have said it before but this is truly such an awesome area. We are totally here for a reason. Sister England and I were talking about it and it truly doesn't make sense to put us here, because they already shut down the area, there is going to be a huge drop in missionaries especially when I go home so it’s really strange to be opening areas at this time and we are the only sisters serving in a branch. But aside from all of that, the Lord had a bigger plan. He knew the people we would see and the people we would touch. And I am so glad to be here! I love the gospel and I love teaching it to others! My time is up, I better go. I love you all so much and I hope you have a Happy New Year! Make it a good one! Peace and Blessings! :)

Love Sister Kendra Curtis

My gift from SAWYER! I love that boy!

Cedrick found his way back to Minnesota!

Small Town Service

Hello Family and Friends!

This is my Silver Tuna!
I will tell you more on
Christmas! (I'm sneaky!)

     Merry Christmas! Oh my goodness I can't believe how fast this Christmas season has been. I'm not ready for it to be over. This week has been pretty good. There really is just something about this area. Carlton is the best! There is always work to do and people to teach. I am so glad to be here.

     So I have one funny story. Some of you may not know this, but we are supposed to be getting iPads soon... we don't have them yet. So we had to improvise, missionary style. We have really been focusing on sharing, He is the Gift with the people that we meet. So this week we put the video on a DVD and then we carried around our portable DVD player so when we were at peoples doorsteps we could share the video with them. It’s kind of crazy and people are a little irritated because there is no excuse to not watch it but we are been able to share it with a bunch of people. Its been a great finding tool. I truly am so jealous of all the missionaries who have iPads! Missionary work would be so wonderful! And EASY! ha

This is a smart mom trick!

     This week we were able to see Trevor 3 times. He is the greatest. He is 19 years old, a quick little background on him. We were walking around one day in a small town called Esko, as we were walking we saw Trevor, We asked if we could walk with him and we shared the restoration with him. Ever since that day he has been meeting with us at least twice a week and he loves everything we teach him. He has been very sad for most of his life he has had a lot of hard things happen to him. He loves the gospel because it makes him feel good inside. The day we met him he told us that he was asking God for help and guidance and then he met us. I know that the Lord placed us in his path for a reason. He came to the Christmas party last week and loved it and every member we have introduced him to he has really liked. He said he loves how nice everyone is to him and how he can tell that they are sincere. That was another thing that he told us, he said that he can tell that we are doing this because we want to not because we have to and that we are sincere in trying to help him that we don't have a quota that we need to reach. He opened up a lot this week and he even came to church for the first time. We had one of our other investigators, David, pick him up and they came to church together. This week we even set a date with him for January 24th. He is preparing for that date and is excited. We are just a little worried because we don't think that his family is going to be very supportive. Keep him in your prayers. As for right now things are looking good. :)

     David is also doing really well. We also saw him 3 times this week. As of right now we hasn't smoked for almost a week and he is really excited to get baptized as well. He is going to be baptized on January 3rd. He is in his 30’s and is going to college right now to get his PHD in project management or something. The timing of all of this is just working out perfectly because the college he goes to is in the city so he has to travel a lot so he can typically only meet with us about once a week but now because of Christmas break he is able to meet more. He has been to church every week that we have been here and he really likes it also.

Luke

Rosie (she is so cute!)

Haylee and Kayla our young women

     It’s awesome to see all the miracles that are happening here in Carlton. This week we were able to work with quite a few less actives. The branch has given us a list of less active members to go and stop by and we have quite a bit of success with it. The branch president is really happy with all of the people that we have been able to get in contact with.

     We had an awesome service activity this week. We went to a members home and we helped him sort out wood for his creepy wood burning furnace. I have never seen one of these in real life before. I think the only time I have seen one before is on Beauty and the Beast. It was a lot of fun Sister England and I had a great time! I hope we get to do some more "small town" service like this.

     I've run out of time this week... I am super excited for Christmas! Three more days! :) I hope you all remember to make it special! I love this time of year. I wish it was this magical all the time. I love you all!

Love, Sister Kendra Curtis

This is what we get when we walk up to doors!

This is what we give when they open the doors!

Make this Christmas Different!

Hello Family and Friends!

I got my Christmas Count Down!
Only 10 more days til Christmas!

     Merry Christmas! This week was awesome! Guess what! It is like 40 degrees! It’s super weird and the snow is melting, this is just a crazy time for the weather. I hear that Utah has no snow either.

     We were able to meet with Trevor twice this week. We met with him once in a Wendy's that was the only place he could meet. There we shared with him He Is The Gift. We then talked to him more about the restoration and how the gospel has been restored on the earth. It is really neat how natural it is to tie in the restoration after talking about Christ. Trevor is very interested and ready to learn more about the church. We then were able to meet with him again with a member. We went over the For the Strength of Youth booklet. We explained to him what it was and we asked him to pick out a topic that stood out to him. He chose Physical and Emotional Health. As we were reading it, he kept saying that it made a lot of sense. We were able to find the deeper concern as we were talking to him. He said that he hasn’t truly felt happy in over 2 years. That he constantly feels bad for the things he is doing and feels a lot of shame. He felt that that is what repentance meant, to be really hard on yourself. We taught him the importance of change and how Heavenly Father knew that we couldn't do it on our own. We would need a Savior, someone to help us. He seems completely different as we have been teaching him. He seems happier and has a different light in his eyes. That is my favorite part of missionary work, watching the change in their eyes. We are excited for him to come to church so he can feel it even more. He did come to the Christmas party. Hopefully next week he will come to church.

     We were also able to have a lesson with David. He is doing good. We had a lesson with him going over the baptismal interview questions. He is truly ready to be baptized the only hold back is that he is still smoking. He told us that by this week he is going to stop. We are going to try everything we can to help and uplift him. We set a baptismal date for January 3. If he is able to stop smoking he will be able to make it. He was able to come to church and to the Christmas party. He has been able to be pretty involved with the branch which is good.  

     One miracle that we had was we were going to go try and visit a less active member of our branch. She is really busy she is going to school, working, recently got divorced and has 4 kids. She is really hard to catch and we just found our where she lived. We were ready to go track her down. On our drive there, I saw a sign at a gas station that said free hot chocolate. I was so excited. I felt the urge to go get some. We got some hot chocolate then carried on to got visit this sister. When we got there the lights were completely out. "Darn. Well let's pray and see if anyone is home." We then started to pray and right as we said Amen, they pulled up in their car. I couldn't believe it. We were able to help them carry in some groceries and we then were able to meet the family and share a message with them. As silly as it sounds I am so glad that we stopped to get that hot chocolate. If we didn't we would have missed them. The spirit talks to us in many different ways and he really does warm our hearts. Even with hot chocolate. We are going to start seeing them at least once a week and we are going to start teaching the 10 year old daughter who isn't baptized yet. 

     This week we were able to go up to Duluth to have our Christmas Conference. It was a really good meeting we talked a lot about the “He is the Gift” initiative and how we need to take advantage of the time to use it. It was really awesome. Then it was super weird because we got to watch a video. Last year we watched Miracle. It was super awesome and we were so pumped. So this time we watched "Its a Wonderful Life." It was super weird I don't suggest it for other missionaries. Maybe for after but not during. There is a lot of kissing... 

Getting ready to watch Its A Wonderful Life...
strange to watch as a missionary

     Every year for Christmas the zone comes up with a Christmas present to give to the mission President and his wife. We were talking to the zone leaders and they had no idea what to do. I came up with the perfect idea! We decided that for their gift we would give them ugly sweaters. Then after the whole zone would take a picture wearing ugly sweaters. THEN we are going to take that picture to Walmart and we are going to put it on a blanket and give it to them for Christmas! It is going to be the funniest gift ever! The Forbes thought it was really funny and they looked really good in their matching sweaters!

Imagine how great these pictures will look on a blanket!

Best Christmas Sweaters ever!

     Then after the Christmas Conference I went on an exchange with Sister Simpson. It was awesome exactly how I pictured it. We had such a great time. It was like the MTC all over again except this time we knew what we were doing! We were able to teach a couple of their investigators and it was pretty neat. Sister Simpson is serving in the Duluth ward. It was weird to be in a ward again. I really like my branch better. Great things come in small packages, like the Carlton Branch, and ME! :) Kidding. Anyways we were able to see quite a few people and we were able to, of course, #ShareTheGift. I truly love the Christmas season. Everyone's hearts are so tender and full of love. We were talking to a member of the Duluth ward and she was really sad. She was telling us how she doesn't feel like she has the Christmas spirit because she is so far away from her family. I felt so bad. We then watched the Mormon message, What Shall We Give?  In that video it shows some people who have places to be and things that they need to do but at the same time they don't miss the opportunity to serve. We challenged this sister to take advantage of this time, her spare time to look for and to be aware of opportunities that she can serve and love others around this time of year. The spirit was so strong. It made me think a lot about what more I can do to help others. I am going to try really hard to observe, then serve! :)

Look someone gave us the cutest Christmas gift!  The nose is Eos Chapstick!

     After our exchange we meet back up with the sisters at the Carlton building for our Branch Christmas Party. It was really great and we had a good turn out. We had a dinner and then afterwards we had a program with a bunch of musical performances. We were even in it, the "Carlton Carolers" We sangs 3 Christmas songs and we even wore our ugly sweaters. It was a really beautiful night. Then at the very end we showed everyone He Is The Gift. After the video Sister England and I got up and we shared our testimonies and invited everyone to take the He Is The Gift card by their plate and to share it with someone. To share with them the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas. It was a great night and the spirit of Christmas was touching a lot of hearts. 

Brother Faerber who knows Grandpa Curtis

These are the two young women in our branch!

     Again I want to challenge everyone to do something different this Christmas, make a difference in other peoples lives, whether it is someone you love or a stranger on the street. Everyone needs a sense of hope in their life. Christ is that to me. And that is what I hope to do and share with others. The spirit of Christmas which truly does bring light to others. There is so much joy in bringing joy to others! Don't forget to make this Christmas different. I love you all!

Sister Kendra Curtis

A member gave us this drink! It's from the 90's!

I really like Sister England!

Finally made some chicken noodle soup!