Guys, I love ferries.

In other news this week started out with our girl Ellie hooking us up with free poutine because Canada, leading my first exchanges with the Victoria 3rd English and then Chinese sisters (help me Micah), and a bunch of miracles, as per usual.

MORNING: Cutest new investigator from the Philippines. Walked into the chapel for our first lesson, read my Spanish nametag and realized that she had gone to our church a million times with her nanny in the Philippines (the Tagalog looks almost the same as Spanish) and fallen in love with how simple everything was. We pretty much want to be best friends with her because she's a brilliant chef/culinary school grad, the kindest human ever, and has a million great questions about the church and also is pure miracle if I didn't already mention that.

FATIMA: Other cutest investigator, a refugee from Syria! She showed up at the chapel for English class the other night BEAMING because she had learned to ride a bike for the first time. Fatima is 20 something. When she first started talking about it I had absolutely no idea what a moment that was for her, until she explained to me that in Damascus women are not allowed to ride bicycles. And that she had to cross a few oceans to be allowed that right. That privilege. Something I have literally taken for granted my entire 20 years. Ah, my heart.

MLC: THE BEST EVER!!!!!!!!! Spent all of Friday surrounded by some of my missionary idols and best friends. Just, like, drowning in the Spirit. My favorite comment was an Elder who told us that Satan works in this order: with our thoughts, then our hearts, then our hands and our actions. God, however, works in the opposite directions. If we want to KNOW something, if we want the way our minds work and see the world to change, we must start by moving. Then He touches our hearts and allows us to believe, and finally we come to know the truth in our minds. Brilliant. There were some real high expectations set, but oh how grateful I am for that. I walked out of that meeting with one thing ringing in my ears, "Raise up leaders to take your place."

I gotta go, we're off to Nanaimo (2 hours away) to work with some sisters there which means MINI ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!! Also I for sure messed up the address last time. Both the Washington and Richmond addresses will get to me, but my apartment is currently 

571 Warren Place

Victoria, BC

v8z 6e1

I love you all dearly, couldn't do this without you. Also our discussion in Gospel Principles yesterday got me thinking about this, but I'm really feeling the need to thank some of you for every Sunday evening Facetime call. We talked about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy and how important PEOPLE are which is my theory as well and someone brought up facetiming family every Sunday and instantly I was thinking about my cute family and AJ and McCall and Madeline and the Pals and Tyler and Coon and all the rest of you reaching out again and again and again whether we were an hour away or an ocean away and I JUST AM SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YOU and all the minutes and thoughts and prayers you've sent my way.

xxx

Hermana Reags

 

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She has the greatest story ever. She's from Smithers, a little teeny tiny town way up Northern BC, where she worked for a member family and met the missionaries. She became really good friends with Elder Watts there, almost 2 years ago. Eventually he got transferred and she moved to Victoria on a whim, without him knowing. Lo and behold he eventually got transferred here and she ran into him in a Walmart on PDay! We started teaching her and she just is in love with the Gospel and had the greatest baptism everrrrr and just came out of the water in tears because she was so happy :)  THE BEST EVER! Also she found Mormon Memes on Pinterest and thinks they are literally the funniest thing to ever happen to her. This is conversion everyone.

Yesterday at church was pure madness, because after Shae's confirmation DANI (AJ you would seriously adore her) who I want to be when I grow up showed up unannounced at church. She's been thinking about getting baptized but slightly MIA the last week so we were zero percent expecting her, but she walks in before 3rd hour and we found her chatting up a bunch of members right when ANOTHER members comes bursting in, saying that she just found Jenn (another recent convert) passed out and unresponsive in the car..... so then FULL PANIC MODE we all rush out there and Dani, WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE A PARAMEDIC, takes over and literally saves Jenn who was seizing and then an ambulance showed up and then a bunch of other little things happened and then Dani watched Jenn get a priesthood blessing and then wanted one of her own to help her with her practicum today so basically it was undoubtedly one of the most memorable church days of my life. Ah. I did not at all do a good job of explaining that. So sorry.

 

Really all you need to take away from that is the fact that God is really really good at His job and puts us where we need to be, whether we notice it or not. Thank heavens. 

 

 

Love you all SO MUCH OKAY???????? SO MUCH!!!!!

xxx Sister Reags Curtis

 

 

PS The meme I attached is from Shae too. Everyone here is, like, alarmed when I tell them I've been living in Surrey for the past 5 months. But I made it out. We're good everyone. Please appreciate.

Sis Chandler and I cover both the Victoria and Nanaimo zones, so some of our sisters are a two hour drive from us which is a bit of a struggle. But we did get to drive down there to minister to them which was two hours of loveliness driving down the coast. Totally felt like I was driving up the canyon back home, except then you get a little break in the pines and realize that actually you are on a cliff over looking the Pacific Ocean??? And you just are thrilled???? Ah, too bad my pictures do nothing justice.

Our week included loads of running around and working with sisters, which meant I got to start working on my Chinese and also Russian. Prepping the cutest ever SHAE for her BAPTISM this weekend. She has had about a million little encounters with the Church over the past few years and pretty  much I'm the luckiest missionary ever because I showed up in her life for the grand climax :) She and Jen (another recent convert, they're besties) took us to this little dive diner called Floyd's in Victoria this weekend for lunch to celebrate her passing her baptismal interview. Too many good things came of this, namely me finding a family from Ecuador to practice my espanish with and also they were playing "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2 and my heart was the happiest. Shoutout to Dad. And good music in general. Not EFY music, sorry not sorry.

Hey. Happy Valentine's Day guys. There are loads of people I love here but the vast majority of you are nowhere near this island so just know that I am sending all kinds of love from the Great North and super, super grateful for every one of you. AND I SUPER HOPE YOU CAN ALL FEEL IT.

Okay byyyeeee talk to you so soon!!

Seester Reagan Curtis

Pics In No Particular Order:

 

 

1. me + sister chandler in england (actually Victoria)

 

 

 

 

2. me in hawaii (also actually Victoria)

 

 

 

3. me in china with sister tsang (still Victoria)

 

 

 

4. me in austin, texas with jen and shae and still sister chandler (also still in Victoria)

 

PS Hey Mady Grant. Trying to quite literally fill your shoes here is, like, impossible, because ALL OF CANADA LOVES YOU. <3

New Address:

Hermana Curtis

big news, my time in surrey spanish has come to a close :( which is bringing all sorts of mixed emotions, because i love these people more than i ever believed i could, but hermana archibald is going to continue working wonders here. we have three baptismal dates  set up right now (carolyn, gema, and abriana) and I JUST AM SO EXCITED FOR THEM.

but yes!! saturday night we got a call from president, which was super dramatic because usually the assistants do transfer calls unless i'ts big news, and also our ringtone for cute President Burt is carol of the bells. so yeah. hna archibald picks up and president proceeds to inform us that i have had my last spanish study and will be catching the ferry on tuesday to VICTORIA ISLAND where i will be serving in the YSA branch with sister emma chandler (aka homie from my jcrew days, what are the odds) as sister training leaders over the victoria and nanaimo zones!! MADNESS. i had to recover after that call on the floor for a couple minutes. hermana archibald was alarmed. but all is well now. i'm so, so very excited for every piece of this next transfer, but i also felt like i was leaving on my mission all over again, saying goodbye to surrey spanish yesterday :(( lots of feels, a couple tears, literally no idea what is coming my way but for now i'll just pack and roll with it. send prayers <3 

AH I AM GOING TO MISS SURREY SO VERY MUCH. all the turbans, streets that smell like curry, my cute obispo and every single member here, and living with the surrey STL's and having sister seiter especially as my link to home with me as a roomie, falling asleep to sirens (lol), sweet little indian women trying to speak punjabi to elder garcia on the street because he apparently looks hindi/sikh, absorbing all the cute senior couple's wisdom on pdays in the computer lab, hearing gunshots occasionally while tracting, scouting out latino restuarants for potentials, and trail runs in the green timbers urban forest (looks like a fairland). ah. mixed emotions. but good things are coming, i'm sure of it.

okay before i go i have something super tender to share. elder melus, a missionary in my zone, bore his final testimony before going home this week at zone meeting. he's from pilau (?????) and i know literally nothing about that other than that it's a little island somewhere and he had never seen a refrigerator before his mission. so an entirely different world. i have literally never felt more humbled, than hearing him get up and bear his testimony about how real God is, because his only contact with his family for the past two full years has been his 4 phone calls on mother's day and christmas. not even skype. not a single email, because they don't have access to that. so every pday he goes to a quiet room, kneels down, and says "Heavenly Father, how is my family?". 

oh, my heart. 

i honestly can't imagine doing this without all the support i feel from home. and get to hear and read and communicate with every week. what a privilege. however hard i thought my mission had been, i have been so, so very blessed. and i am so grateful for these 18 months to serve my God. and so grateful to be surrounded by 18, 19, 20, 21 year olds doing the same, leaving literally everything they ever were or ever knew behind. how remarkable.

love you all millionsssssss pray that i find my way to the island alright <3 and also don't forget all my spanish.

xxx hermana reagan curtis