SIMONE'S BAPTISM + Canadian Thanksgiving

Two years in a row now this has caught me off guard, but that's okay it was still a lovely day yesterday! We spent Thanksgiving running around to meet with different leaders in neighbouring cities, met a miracle named Roshni on our way out of the chapel so we gave her a quick tour and she loved it, and ended the day with dinner at Josh's house with Simone WHO GOT BAPTIZED, Kaila WHO GOT CONFIRMED, and Elder Nowatzke and Elder Chatelain (the YSA English elders we serve with). Honestly, I couldn't have been happier. Not only did I get the first home made meal I've had in absolute ages (yay YSA branches!!!!!) from Josh the Real Life Chef, but I got to spend it with the people nearest to family for me here in Vancouver. 

Simone's day though was by far the highlight. We had been holding our breaths and praying hard constantly since we first met her until October 7th and ALL OUR DREAMS CAME TRUE. She stood up to share her conversion story at the end of the baptism and some of the elders were just shaking their heads at me as she spoke because she really and truly sounded like she could have been speaking in General Conference. (Remember to send me tickets when you're up there in front of the whole world, okay Simone????) It seems terribly empty to try and describe her story via email. All I know is Heavenly Father is as near as we will allow Him to be and making a conscious effort to step closer to Him and our Saviour changes everything. I will never understand it, but it does. There has been a visible difference in Simone since she came out of the water, and I feel like the luckiest to have been a tiny piece of it. 

To end this email I feel the need to share this President Wong quote with all of you, do with it what you will:

Pres. Wong: "Do you know what is a bananana?"

Missionaries in unison: "A banana?"

Pres. Wong: "Yes, a bananana."

Elder Garbett: "..it's a fruit."

Pres. Wong: "Okay...."

Elder Kim (yes, he's Korean too): "It's an Asian. Yellow on the outside, white on the inside. It's a westernized Asian."

Pres. Wong: "YES."

I promised this applied to missionary work somehow but at the moment I cannot for the life of me remember what that was. But this was a very important moment of Zone Conference.

OH! Also we had MLC which was brilliant beyond brilliant as per usual. President Wong made me draw mini pictures for every conference talk on a chalkboard so that was interesting. ALSO AND MOST IMPORTANTLY after using the persuasive speech skills we've developed on the street as missionaries he said yes to us going to the temple with our zone today!!!! THE HAPPIEST. It's been over a year. AH.

More good news: over heard the Kims telling the Chinese YSA sisters that I'm actually really good at chopsticks. I made it everyone.

So much love from Canada,

Sister Curtis!

PICS AND SUCH:

Please note that there are THREE Sister Kims AND an Elder Kim in this photo. Go team.