such happy things came to us this week. la familia sanchez didn't make it to church, but that's okay because cute veva and perla both did (less-actives), but mostly just because we told them that we were singing with the primary for their presentation and guilted them into coming. which, by the way, was precious. all the missionaries and returned missionaries and kiddos sang "the army of helaman" about bringing the truth to the world and i was just so very grateful to be a missionary because even after these 18 months are over i will always and forever be able to say that i gave my all and served my mission <3

sister paxton tried hummus and she threw up in my trash can :(

latinos hate the smell of curry, which is a bummer because you can just breathe in curry when walking the streets at night here.

all the clouds get trapped on the trees because they're so very tall and it's so very lovely. british columbia is beautiful guys. beautiful. even though i have yet to see any snow... which is probably a good thing because as soon as the snow comes i will be wanting nothing more than to SKI hahaha.

rosa is still solid, we're teaching a couple other cute people now like nubia and jose and mario from honduras and carolyn from the philippines who comes to the spanish ward with her peruvian bf <3

ALSO before i forget, send me your addresses if you'd like a christmas card because LESS THAN A MONTH!!!! THE HAPPIEST TIME OF THE ENTIRE YEAR!! ah. and i'm just SO excited to have christmas on the mission because it just makes everything that matters so much more REAL. in every moment we are representing Jesus Christ. and i love it. plus christmas miracles are coming, i'm sure of it.

with all my love

hermana curtis

ps reese i hear you're starting drivers ed this week??? this concerns me greatly?????

WAIT HOW COULD I FORGET?! we had la noche internacional on saturday which was the greatest ward activity in all of ever because every single member brought non member friends and they were all trash talking between the different hispano countries and singing and dancing and putting on performances and SO MUCH FOOD and it was crazy and I JUST LOVE LATINOS and i almost got up and sang the star spangled banner to represent but then withheld myself :)) if i wasn't sprinting around the whole time getting numbers and such i would have taken photos. my bad, sorry team.

love you guys for real. be good and check out the light the world christmas initiative on mormon.org because it is the absolute greatest! xoxo

 

 

other miracles include the fact that jeremy gomez, who we found out in the rain last week for those of you who actually read these, came to church. i was dangerously close to hugging him when i saw him. such a miracle. as a result of other miracles. ah. yes. so grateful.

plus la familia sanchez? our cute colombian friends? had the most beautiful lesson out of my entire 4 months como misionera with them last night. we taught about the restoration, again, which was not at all our plan. but we showed them the 20 minutes resto movie that the church has put out, and nidia (the mom), looks at the dvd cover and goes "wait. i've seen that before." turns out she BOUGHT THE RESTO DVD in a thrift store six years ago in quebec????? because she loved the picture on the front of joseph smith and the light falling around him in the first vision (sorry bear with me, those of you who have no idea what i'm talking about. i'll explain when i have more than 7 minutes left to email, my bad). anyways, yes she bought it. watched it. didn't understand it. and then this time it brought her to tears. 

guys.

 

i just am so grateful the every little piece of the church that Jesus Christ established when He was on the earth is back. for us. every piece of it. we have such a powerful message. God never forgot us. He loves us just the same as every person in the BIble, as every soul who lived during those times. of course He wouldn't leave us without that priesthood, that exact authority to act in His name. otherwise I wouldn't be seeing so many miracles. 

 

 

okay, i'm off. happy thanksgiving to the land of the free, home of the brave. forgot that was a thing, cause canada :) i love you all dearly and i am grateful in every moment for the prayers and loves and thoughts i feel coming from each of you.

 

xoxo

hermana reagan curtis

 

ps speaking of gratitude i was looking at the mountains and such out the window the other day and literally started crying because God just keeps putting me in the loveliest of places, from american fork canyon to paris to british colombia and i just don't know what the mission has done to my emotions hahah but there's that.

 

 

 

 

-the Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland's first words as he looks out at the 200ish missionaries of the Canada Vancouver mission. such truth ahhaha. there we were, literally from all over the globe, having just shaken hands with one of the 12 living apostles of Jesus Christ.

If I could somehow get my fingers to go fast enough to type all of my notes from that meeting I would, for all of you, because they are absolutely precious to me. 

Saturday morning we had mission conference for the first time in British Colombia history. With Jeffrey R. Holland. Live and in person. THIS IS HUGE GUYS. My mission is beyond massive, missionaries had to fly in, take ferries in, take 6 hour bus rides just to get to the mission home. But it was worth it to sit in that room.

 

My mind is actually spinning as I try to decide what to share with you, so please bare with me as I try to pull my thoughts together. First are foremost he told us to take possession of ourselves. To "inch forward and put your little life on the altar". It was all over the place, oh I wish you could feel the ELECTRICITY that we felt in that room.

 

I have never been so proud to be a part of this mission than when he told us we were leading the pack in obedience. I have never felt so anxious as when he gripped the pulpit, leaned over and literally yelled at us that these missions MUST MATTER TO US. They must be everything. That if we do not bring everything we have to these 18-24 months, never will we ever be able to bring everything to anything else we are asked to do in this life.

 

He told us  that "the most important thing in the universe is the saving of a human soul." He told us to "make this the majestic experience that it is". He told us that whatever, whoever we were before our missions DOES NOT EXIST ANYMORE. We made the choice to go on a mission. We are here. And every split second here will define who we are both as missionaries and as children of God. He pleaded with us to never step away, never fade in our faith. That he has no patience whatsoever for returned missionaries who go inactive because not one of us has the right to taint the legendary tradition of a returned missionary. None of us. 

He told us that this is supposed to be hard. I cannot explain my feelings to you, as I sat there on the second row in that chapel, and heard him say, "Salvation is not a cheap experience... Maybe you don't want to do this, well, you have to." We have a responsibility to share what we know. To share who we are, where we came from, why we're here, to tell the world that they are literally children of a god. Our Heavenly Father. And He wants us back. That nothing ends with the grave, that nothing about us and our existence is finite. That we literally carry within ourselves fragments of another world, of a far more divine existence. That we are here to remember. Everything that we are, everything that we can be. 

Yesterday, I finished month 4 of my mission. Honestly, the hardest 4 months of my 20 years. But not for one second have I considered walking away from this work. I am so, so grateful to be entirely in my Father's hands for a short year and a half. Never will I be able to repay Him. 

I love you all dearly, I woke up today to letters from Taiwan and New York and home and I JUST LOVE YOU PEOPLE SO MUCH. Ah. THANK YOU. I'm about out of time but this mission means the world to me and I'll tell you about our miracles next week :) For now just know that Hermana Kartchner and I are starting transfer 3 together in Surrey!

xoxo

Hermana Reagan Curtis

pics: failed soccer team reminiscent pic with the seesters of the surrey zone and also super awkward zone photo celebrating elder holland coming, please enjoy.