"WAIT, WHAT PRESIDENT??"

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