- Shae and Jenn, best friends who got baptized in January and February, had officially DROPPED OFF THE PLANET. Which made Sister Chandler and I feel like the worst missionaries in existence. We hadn't seen them in weeks, not once did they answer their door when we dropped by, and neither of their phones were working. It literally had brought us to the point of tears. These are our PEOPLE. Not to mention some of our dearest friends at this point. Heavenly Father trusted us with these souls and we couldn't even keep track of the people who already had made these promises to Him, let alone find new ones who were ready to do so.

-We spent a huge chunk of this week shuffling sisters around because transfer week! We'd had next to no time to work in our own area, and were for sure feeling the weight of that. Nothing in mission is about numbers in the least, but we recognized that Heavenly Father had set certain expectations for us and that we were lacking. Plus we knew that we couldn't ask our sisters to do anything that we ourselves were not consistently doing. 

-We have been praying for weekssssssssss to find Shae and Jenn, as well as to find new people to teach. Thank heavens yesterday was Fast Sunday here. (watch this if you love me, I promise you it will be whatever it is that you need https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w49_1a9X0Q ) I am SO GRATEFUL for fasting because it's literally being like "here God I can't fix this one so I'm putting it entirely in your hands) and all He asks us to do is be prayerful, as always, and go without food and drink for 24 hours. AND I KNOW THAT GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS AND FASTS BECAUSE LISTEN TO THIS.

-Our darling member Demi randomly brought a new friend to church who LOVED it and set up a time for us to come teach her on Tuesday.

-We were walking to our car when we saw only the most beautiful tree I've ever seen and stopped to admire it. Out comes this adorable little German woman (hey Kami) who felt the need to tell us all about her trees and her 200 pet ducks that come every morning and her sweet husband Conrad who planted Magnolia trees all over her lawn when she was fighting cancer. Conrad passed away 16 years ago, and mid sentence she stopped and looked at me and said "Where do we go after we die?" We lit up, taught her right there, and made plans to come back later this week :))) LEOBA IS GETTING BAPTIZED JUST YOU WAIT TEAM. We literally walked back to our car in shock.

-Though we had already stopped by once with no luck, we used the last 20 minutes of our week to flyyyyy to Shae and Jenn's across town and knocked on their door one last time. Holding our breaths. Shae's car was there but nobody answered and our hearts absolutely broke. The last note we'd left was gone too. Thank heavens the Spirit told us to stay put for a moment. So we did, until Shae eventually made her way to the door and pulled us in and we all just stood in that hallway and hugged and you'd better believe Sister Chandler and I were saying a million gratitude prayers in our minds and turns out they are just as solid as ever, just also super, super poor uni students :) They're both working three jobs, never home, can't afford to pay their phone bills, exhausted beyond belief, and SO bummed that they haven't been able to make it to church. I wish I could explain better to you the  relief we felt in that moment. Ah. God is way better to us than we deserve. 

-We walked back to our car and Sis. Chandler turned to me and said, "I've been praying to experience the Atonement in a different way, and now I understand why we experienced all of this." My first reaction was to tell her to never EVER pray for that again because that was the WORST experience. But at the same time I'm so grateful for a brilliant, genuine companion who wants nothing more than to do what God expects of her.

I love you all to pieces,  WATCH THAT VIDEO and watch every minute of conference and trust that ANSWERS COME. Sometimes not until the last 20 minutes before the last curfew of the week. And loads of prayers. But they come.

xoxo Sis. Reags Curtis

FOTOS

1.  P-Day beaching after feeding the sealssss.

2. "If you can catch it, you can keep it."

3. Sis. Chandler's HS reunion, aka YSA conference with all the Vancouver kids.

4. Downtown with Sis. Chandler and Sis. Webster

5. Last fam dinner before Christl left us for Vancouver :((

 

 

In other news we ate really expensive, really worth it fish and chips in the ripping wind on the pier this week, talked to about 9 million Japanese people downtown as well as a few Chinese and a few Canadians, and Dani invited  us to go fishing today so we are pleased with our week. Also Morning, our darling Filipina investigator, accepted an invitation to be BAPTIZED in April and literally told me that SHE WOULD BE HONORED. I about died. I love her. I love all the girls we teach. Sometimes I want to revoke their agency and drag them to church, but I love them regardless.

A returned missionary spoke about the Book of Mormon in church yesterday and blew every single one of us away DO WE EVEN REALIZE WHAT WE ARE HOLDING PEOPLE????????? He taught that the Book of Mormon is Christ saying 1) "I can help you", 2), "I want to help you", and 3) Please, keep my commandments so I can  help you". Gold. Above all else, the Book of Mormon is a direct plea to trust the Saviour. So now I am committing all of you, via email, to YouTube this very instant Elder Holland's talk "Safety for the Soul". Watch it, don't just read it. Then pick up the Book of Mormon. Sometimes we just have to get over ourselves and read it with an open mind and a willing heart. It's good for us. It's necessary. I know God gave it to us for a reason.

Loving you all from Vancouver Island!

Hermana Reagan Curtis

 

 

PICS:

1. When you live in British Columbia with a million wannabe hippies.

 

 

 

2. Post- fish & chips on the pier!

 

 

3. Caught in action about to illegally step on the grass @ the Government House in downtown Vic.

 

 

4. En route to Nanaimo, driving up the Malahat PLEASE LOOK AT THIS BECAUSE IT IS SO HARD TO DRIVE WITH VIEWS LIKE THIS IN MY PERIPHERAL VISION.

 

 

HIghlight of the week was my first lesson with our investigator Kai who stopped us mid- Plan of Salvation lesson, leaned back in her chair, and said, "I'm going to make a bet that you two make it to the Celestial Kingdom. You have the clearest eyes I've ever seen. You can look at somebody's eyes and know how good they really are and I see nothing but light and love in both of yours."

Yeah. The most tender moment in all of ever. 

In other news I hit 8 months today, and passed my half birthday this week also so there were all kinds of celebrations :)))))) Except actually we didn't have time to even BREATHE this week between traveling between zones for conferences, three exchanges (brushed up on both my Russian and my Chinese), three different trainings we had to give, and speaking in sacrament. LOVED IT ALL THOUGH.

Okay here is my last thought before I run out into Victoria to share the good news: last week we had the miracle of all miracles and I entirely forgot to share it because mission brain, but we got a text from a random number. It was a sociology professor at UVIC, the main uni here, who had met sister missionaries on the bus absolute ages ago and remembered them and ASKED US TO COME TEACH HER CLASS all about our religion and why we live the way we do and it was TOO cool. So for all of you in the field, don't you ever doubt that you are moving things along in Heavenly Father's plan. After we taught we had about ten kids come up and grab Book of Mormon's, a visiting professor ask us to come do the same presentation in her class, AND a possible invite to present in front of a class of 200 instead of 25 with the head of the department :)))))) God is way too good to us. And none of that would have come into being if those two sisters hadn't made such an impression on the bus somewhere in Victoria, months ago.

Loving you all, here are a few pics of early morning beach runs in Sidney, totem poles downtown, my cute companion, and exchanges in T'sou-ke. Love that the First Nations named literally everything here, haha.

xxx Sis Curtis

 

 

She also came to both sessions of stake conference this weekend, and told her psychiatrist that she's thinking of becoming a Mormon and he told her it would be good for her. SCORE. And also I feel like if I didn't have the Gospel in my life I would literally be HER which is frightening at times. Also she's a paramedic and 25 and told me a story today about when she helicoptered out to an island and had to spend the night with two dead First Nations men at a logging camp because it was too dark for the helicopter to take off again after they died????? She's an actual legend?????

Other updates include the fact that I found out Sister Chandler microwaves her socks in the morning before putting them on, everyone deserves to try a Nanaimo bar IN Nanaimo, and that Dani is actually AJ Call, just Canadian. And not a missionary. Or Mormon. Yet. 

Our other investigator Nancy came to Stake Conference and looooved it. We adore her too, she has the teeny tiniest voice and both Sister Chandler and I talk at a million miles an hour so we most likely frighten her sometimes, but she meets with us anyways. She's from China and her family is super Buddhist, and SO SORRY if I already told this story but mission brain. Anyways she has started praying and reading the Book of Mormon, and by doing this regularly it is literally curing her Bipolar Disease. She has cut her medication in half, and gives ALL the credit to the BoM. Those. Words. Work. Miracles. Do not doubt that, please.

Ah I NEVER HAVE ENOUGH MINUTES to let you in on all the good coming about on Vancouver Island!!!! Give me til winter and I'll fill you all in.

Sending all my love <3

xx Hermana Curtis