Hello Family and Friends!
I had a lot of fun in Duluth with Sister Simpson as you may have guessed. On Monday for P-day we were able to play more games with the elders which is always so much fun! We played Blow Pong, Scum, and Egyptian Rat Screw. I love playing games so much.
Duluth Skyline! |
another bridge Isn't lake superior pretty |
Then afterwards we went over to a less active members house. He was actually the Branch President of the Carlton Brand at one point. He likes inviting the missionaries over and he loves to hear the messages but he says that there isn’t anything we could ever do to make him change. We showed him the video The Hope of God's Light. He really enjoyed it but it didn’t really "do anything for him." As I was sitting there listening to him it made me so sad. It made me sad to think that at one point he was active and now it doesn’t mean anything to him. In those moments of teaching him I knew and made a promise to myself that I will NEVER leave this church. I know too much and I have seen too many good things come because of it to ever deny it. So everyone who is reading this I want you to hold me accountable and never let me fall away!
Before I went back to Carlton we were able to see some of the Duluth members and investigators one last time before I left. But I was so sad because we had another appointment with Libby but she was sick so she had to cancel the appointment that we had planned. I hope that I will be able to see her again sometime. She is so great. It really was sad to say goodbye to everyone. You really can grow to love people so fast in just a week. I am just grateful that I am really good at goodbyes now. One of the blessings that comes from going to so many different areas.
Then we were able to go to district meeting. I really like our new district leader his name is Elder Damron. He gave an awesome training and he invited all of us to re-pray about the challenge given in Moroni 10. This is a challenge that we give to almost every person that we meet. It’s good to try it again for ourselves so that we can more powerfully testify of what is to come because of our faith. I really liked that, just because we know something doesn't mean we shouldn’t try again. I am excited to re-pray and get the answer for myself again. Everyone can gain a witness that they Book of Mormon is true, but not on their own. At some point we have to take it to God. We have to get on our knees and we have to ask. Then once we do that. Then we are able to have a testimony and share it with others. :)
Sister England and I are back together! |
I am really happy to be back in Carlton. As much as I loved being in Duluth and as much as I love Sister Simpson. I really just wanted to come back to Carlton. Here I am. It was good to see and to talk to Sister England again. The exchange went well. We were hoping that Sister Shumway would makes things better and that maybe the new environment would help Sister England but that wasn’t the case. It helped her gain the confidence that she would be able to take over the area when I leave. But as for her anxiety no matter what the circumstance, it is still there whether she is with me or another companion. It is really hard for her and she is really frustrated with the whole thing. But she is going through something right now that is going to help someone else down the road. I just really hope that she can start feeling better soon. Mission work isn’t fun when you are feeling like that. Our week has been very different because we are trying to adjust and help Sister England the best we can. But even though we haven’t been able to work as hard as we would like the Lord continues to bless us with opportunities to teach and to serve.
This week we were able to see David twice. It is awesome to see how much he is progressing. We are going over all of the lessons with him again and he is really understanding a lot. All of our lessons are beginning to turn into deep doctrine discussions and he loves it. We had a pretty deep lesson about the plan of salvation and then the next lesson that he requested was to talk about patriarchal blessings. And then this week he passed the sacrament for the first time. He is doing great things!
Trevor is also doing really well. We are continuing to meet with his 3 times a week and he is doing great. He has been reading at least a chapter from the Book of Mormon everyday and he keeps watching mormon messages online. He even watched the hour long restoration video and loved it. He has still been getting a lot of family opposition and a lot of people that have been trying to show him anti stuff but he feels like this is true. He is always willing to come and ask us questions if he ever hears something strange. He told us that he loves all the good that it has been doing in his life that he really hopes it is true. He was also able to come to our Meet the Mormons night. He really loved the movies. Afterwards he was telling us some of his favorite parts and I loved the comparison he made. He said he liked the part in the movie were the dad in Costa Rica watches the kids while the mom went running he said it then made him think of the part in the Joseph Smith movie where the guy from Ireland comes up to Joseph and asks him why he doesn’t just have his wife do all the housework. He said I really liked what Joseph said and it goes right along with what you have taught me where he said, the relationships we have here in this life are supposed to last far beyond this life. If you don’t treat them good in this life why would they want to be with you any longer in the next one. Isn’t that the cutest thing ever! I just love how his thought process works. He is so thoughtful and he really does think about everything we say and show him.
Trevor at Meet the Mormons |
Then yesterday he was texting us and apologizing that he couldn’t come to church because he got called into work. We asked him if he had been praying about a specific date to to baptized. He then responded by saying that something in his mind was telling him that he should be baptized on Super Bowl Sunday! I was laughing so hard! How sweet is that. Especially since he is a pretty big football fan. We told him that we would talk about it the next time we see him so hopefully tomorrow. We are just really excited for him. He is making a lot of big changes in his life and he has a lot to look forward to.
Dani |
Oh this week we had an awesome miracle. So in our ward there is a granddaughter who is 13, Dani, who lives in Duluth but came to a lot of our activities. This week we were with the young women and we were helping them out then all the sudden, Dani said, When can I get baptized? We had no idea that she wasn’t even a member. We said you just need to meet with the missionaries. She said I already am they came over to my house today. I said they did?? Did you tell them you want to get baptized? She then said no I just barely decided! So we called up the Elders that live in her area and we told them. We couldn’t believe it. So we are really excited for her and we are probably going to both start teaching because she is in both areas a lot. Dani is so sweet! We are super excited for her.
Sister England and I also had a really awesome wood chopping experience. Don’t worry we didn’t use an ax we just help brother Burch with this tractor machine thing that he has. It was a ton of fun. It made me think a lot of my dad. Not that we have ever chopped wood together but just hard work. I have always loved doing things like that and it is always fun to mix up our day as a missionary. Hopefully we didn’t do to bad of a job and he will call us again next time.
Chopping wood with Brother Burch |
Rosie at Meet the Mormons! |
Then of course we had our Meet The Mormons movie night that went pretty well for a branch activity. We forgot to count but I would say that we had about 30-40 people there. 5 non members and 1 less active. It was a pretty good turn out and everybody loved it! Everyone kept talking about it. We were really glad that we were able to make it all possible. There were a bunch of people that weren’t able to make it so we are hoping to have them come to the Duluth showing on January 30th. We were really glad about how it all turned out.
Brother Stockham was so nice to be in charge of the popcorn! |
Taylor |
Well I think that’s all I have time to update you on for this week. It really is great to be back in Carlton. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for the people in this area. I love you all and I am so grateful for your prayers and support!
Have a wonderful week! :)
Love Sister Kendra Curtis
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