So by Thursday I literally did not have a clue that it was American Thanksgiving, buttttt we did get to have a bit of an impromptu Turkey Bowl on Monday for our Zone PDay :) Also we played Gator Ball, which is as close to a contact sport as you can get on a mission. Like part soccer, party rugby, part basketball. It's a good time. Especially with 43 missionaries who have a lot of pent up competition inside their little missionary souls.
ALSO IMPORTANT THINGS!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMANA HEALY!
AND ALSO HERMANA ARCHIBALD! SO MUCH AMOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Speaking of Hermana Archibald, I got my very last transfer call every and MY DAUGHTER IS GOING TO KILL ME IN VAN YSA! For those of you who are unfamiliar with missionary lingo, Sister Archibald, who I trained a year ago, is going to be my final companion here in Vancouver YSA for my last three weeks of the mission :) ANNNNNND we're in a trio again with Sister Kovalska! From Ukraine!!!! Good thing I'm fluent in Korean now so I can focus on Russian.
I actually got to go to a Korean class that the missionaries started this week and it was the BEST THING that ever happened to me hahah. Literally like 6 Korean-speaking missionaries, me, and a woman from Romania. Still can't write my name in Korean, or even the alphabet, BUT I can say hi, bye, thank you, i love you, and yes. This is all I need.
Okay here's a miracle of all miracles for you all. I met a woman named Masoomeh from Iran last week while crossing the street on my way to catch the Skytrain. We talked for 2 minutes maybe about Jesus Christ and missionary work and she went home that day, showed her entire family (including those in Iran) a picture of me and told them that she'd just met a Christian girl and maybe wanted to change her religion. WHAT MASOOMEH?????? She brought her husband for a church tour that weekend and when we showed them a painting of Christ's baptism her husband asked to take a photo of it and said, "I feel such strong positive energy from this picture. I've never even felt this in my own mosque." This weekend they brought their 18 year old daughter to the Christmas concert and loved every second of it. They feel such a pull to learn about Jesus Christ and it's beautifullllllllll to witness. Beautiful. I've never felt so much like a "vessel". When her husband, Abraham, explained the feelings he recognised while looking at that painting, she said that those were the same things she felt during our brief conversation on the street. It was something entirely foreign to them, but so lovely and so powerful. Oh, how I love this work.
And I love each of you!
See you, like, really soon.
Hermana Curtis
(Also shoutout to Ryanne for submitting her mission papers, I also forgot my camera today sooooooo this is the only picture I have, thanks to her.)
LOVE LOVE LOVE OKAY BYE!
So someone just informed me that it's actually Thanksgiving this week?? Mission brain is so real. I didn't have a clue.
Okay so I slept over with the North Shore sisters last night (which involved some mad sprinting through torrential downpours, skytrains, and the seabus which is my favourite thing in all of ever) and this morning we went on the dreamiest little hike to Lynne Valley suspension bridge. Please look at these pictures. It's like Taiwan. Except in Canada. Guys, Canada is really really cool.
Updates on my life, people continually take it upon themselves to remind me how little time I have left. I got a little teary about it during weekly planning and the Kims, bless their hearts, literally turned to each other and said (like I couldn't hear them), "We need to bother her more so she does not think."
Thanks Kims <3
This weekend though was for real soooooooooo good. We got to watch the YSA Face-to-Face with all the missionaries and my Van YSA Fam which was the happiest thing ever. Literally THE APOSTLES ARE SO I CUTE I LOVE THEM. They talked about everything from how to know God is there to homosexuality to the balance between freedom to make your own choices (agency) and inspiration. It was brilliant. God is brilliant. The Church is so cool. Most of the time I'm like, "Yeah even if I didn't know this Church was true I just, like, really like this Church." So there's that.
Ummmm, what else? Oh yeah. This week Mo walked in, sat down, and said, "This week I made my own toothpaste, and immediately it made my gums bleed." Living a waste-free life is still a work in progress. Go BC.
Okay. I love you guys. I'm more grateful for you than any of you know. And I miss you loads.
Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Curtis
This. week. was. so. good.
Seriously received SOOOOOO much straight revelation. We had a ridiculous amount of meetings between Stake Conferences, Zone Conferences, Mission Leadership Council, and prep for all of the above, but it was SO GOOD.
First of all, President Soares of the Presidency of the 70 came to ZC and MLC and I LOVE HIM. Watching he and President Wong walk in was a spiritual experience in itself. These two men are worldwide leaders, and each of us sensed something remarkable fill the room as they entered. In that moment I so clearly recognized the Spirit reach out to me and say, "These men are who they are, and are in the positions which they are, because of the small choices and sacrifices they have made consistently throughout their lives." Sister Tenney, one of the loads of sisters who stayed with us this week, stayed up far later with me than we should have after that, perched on the foot of my bed talking about the humility we see in our leaders and the straight miracles it brings. It's funny how much talking about the Gospel lights you up once you begin to really SEE it. We had a few more sleepovers this week, and even with anywhere from 5 to 9 sisters piled on the floor conversations that might have started a bit trivial turned to the Atonement and our Father's plan and everything that we hope to be in order to help Him with it. OH I LOVE MISSIONS.
There were spiritual experiences this week that I really can't communicate via email, there was a whole new level of exhaustion, there were conversations that entirely opened my eyes, and there were hilarious moments as well. I'm so grateful for this and every other week of my mission. It goes scary fast. But I also see that I'll never really step out of serving the Lord and building His kindgom. <3
I LOVE YOU ALL LOADS.
for those of you who have asked!!
xxx Hermana Curtis
OH WAIT ONE MORE MIRACLE. Kaila, who got baptized a month ago roughly.. texted us at 6:30 on Saturday morning to tell us that she was taking a bus (for hoursssssss) to the temple in Langley to go do the work for 21 names she had found in her genealogy. LITERALLY WHAT THE HECK SHE IS SO GOOD WHAT TEENAGER DOES THAT!!!!!!!!!!!! If all of you don't make time to go to the temple this week I will be bitterly disappointed.
Okay love you all. Bye.
Hey loves, the subject line is revelation that our cute investigator Mo got this week. Oh how I love British Columbia :) This the day after a really spiritual conversation about how concerns and doubts and even some relationships fade but the best things are all eternal. She then informed us that every toothbrush ever made is still fully intact and what a tragedy that is. I hope everyone will be okay with me setting up a compost system as soon as I hit the USA again.
HALLOWEEEN was such a good time hahahah. We made cookies with Mo and taught her roomie from Singapore named Bri about God. She's lovely. She literally asked us what the "shortlist" is for Christlike attributes and how one gains them... literally no one has asked me that before. We also hit up Van Deusen gardens (gorgeoussss) with another investigator. Please enjoy the photos attached (the other email has a bunch more too). BUT the highlight of Halloween was getting a call from the Assistants that President Wong wanted us to come over for dinner with a couple other elders and sisters ANNNNNNNDDD that he wanted Sister Kim Kim to cook Korean instant noodles for dinner with Galbi (this like wayyy expensive Korean beef). She was so mad hahahah. It apparently takes days to make, but President (and therefore the Assistants') favourite English phrase is "make it happen" so that's what we did. Most intense grocery shopping I have experienced as of yet. BUT dinner so so yum and so happy and it felt like a little family dinner, something I haven't felt in ages as a YSA missionary. President Wong is adorable. Please just picture this insanely spiritual and powerful man shuffling around in his little slippers and answering the door for trick-or-treaters while simultaneously discussing how we can better build the Lord's kingdom in Vancouver. So cute. I love him.
Other fun news!!! Elder Soares, one of the Presidents of the 70 aka a leader for the Church worldwide, is coming to visit our mission this week! He's from Brazil (shout out to you Ellen). <3
Okay that's mostly it from Sister Curtis this week.
Yesterday in Relief Society we talked about the Saviour's peace versus the peace of the world and it was SO GOOD and SO PROFOUND. Here's the thing. The world teaches us that peace is the absence of chaos. When wars cease, when you have an empty schedule, when nobody is bickering in the background... that's their peace. The Saviour's peace is of an entirely different quality. It is not the absence of negative, but the PRESENCE of something divine. The Saviour's peace does not stand alone. It is always accompanied by patience, humility, gratitude, something along those lines. The world's peace can't counterfeit that. And it certainly can't change you and your nature as a child of God.
I love you all to pieces and I hope you remember that <3
Thank you thank you for the thoughts and prayers and notes and support, it means everything to me!
ALSO HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MISS AVA TAYLOR!!! SOON TO BE HERMANA CURTIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xxx Hna Reags Curtis
