January 13, 2014

Well this week was one of the hardest I have ever had on my mission....Mostly because we were stuck inside for two days and I spent most of the those days throwing up. I really really really really hate being sick.  All around sickness is horrible
Most everyone in our ward had the same thing so it's not a surprise that we got the stomach bug.
It gets really boring to be stuck inside an apartment for 2 days. I read a lot and watched The District a lot...I was so thankful though because we text-ed a sister in our ward and she had
gone on a mission and when we told her we were sick her whole family came over with Ginger Ale, crackers, and jello. How nice is that?! I love being a missionary! The D family brought
us over Skip Bo and Phase 10 to help with the boredom. :) Although it got a little competitive...Ooops. :)

But before we got sick we were having a great week. :) It was transfers this week. I'm staying here. But a crazy thing happened. So Elder E who was here in Trendwood
got transferred to Sioux City. Then Elder H from Sioux City 1st ward (which was my last ward) got transferred here to Trendwood. So Elder H and I are serving in the
same ward again and we were on the same plane coming here to Nebraska. So we have been working together for our whole missions minus 6 weeks. Crazy!
We also had a competition with the Elders before they left for transfers that whoever had 2 new investigators by Wednesday got Chipotles, which is a really yummy place to eat. :)
And we won. :) But they showed up anyway and the Elders made it a farewell dinner. No fear this was all supervised by our ward mission leader. This was all his doing.
Something that I really like about this area is that for missionaries they are really big into them being united and being a family. :)

At church yesterday we had a lesson on the gifts of the Spirit and we were committed to read our patriarchal blessing to figure out what our gifts were. I had been getting promptings
for awhile to pull mine out but I just forgot. So I pulled mine out and it was one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had. I have never felt so special and worthwhile in my life.

The Spirit was testifying to me of how real our Father in heaven really is. He has blessed us with so many gifts and talents. I realize that I waste so much time comparing myself to others
that I forget what I already have. :)

Our investigators and Less Actives that we are working with are doing well and they slowly but surely making the changes in their lives to become closer to Christ. I am thankful for
small and simple steps. Otherwise this whole changing thing would be very overwhelming.

We also had a boundary change for the Lincoln South Stake. So we lost some of our area. :( But other missionaries hopefully will take care of it for us. Thankfully the main people
we work with are still in our area! Yay!! :D So yeah that was my week.

Happy Birthday Blaine!

Love, Sister Curfew

January 6, 2014

Dear Family,

Well it's really cold here...The schools have been shut down today because of the cold temperatures/wind advisory. So that stinks. But I am wearing sweats under skirt so

I'm warm. And comfortable. :) haha

I like you're New Year's Resolutions they sound really awesome. :) Have you ever read the talk "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox? I read that talk this week

and it put more of perspective on grace/improving and stuff. So I really liked that. :)

My New Year's Resolutions this year are to use ALL of my time wisely. This is something I really want to apply into my life when I get home. Hopefully I will be able to do that. :)

Well this week was full of excitement. :) We had exchanges this week and we were able to find 4 new investigators in 2 hours. That was CRAZY! That never happens. We usually find

1 new investigator a week, 2 if we're lucky. So that was crazy. We also set one of our other investigator, K, for baptism. That was a great lesson. :) So we look forward to her progressing.

Yesterday was kind of intense. We teach this LA named B. She has a ROUGH life. But she sat next to me during fast and testimony meeting and she was just squirming. But she got up and

bore her testimony and it was one of the sweetest testimonies I have ever heard. She has finally reached a point in her life that she is finally motivated to change and become better.

Then it gets crazier. Our Investigator L comes to church. And she just pops up there and bears her testimony. I was so scared! I was like oh man what is she going to say!! I  was just praying the whole

time like seriously please don't say anything horrible! But in her own words she said "This is the church for me, and I want to be baptized." Sister S and I looked at each other and were like

um that's news to us. Because last week you wanted nothing to do with baptism. She sits down and was like I wasn't expecting to do that but I just got  my answer!. So we look forward to her getting

baptized on Feb 22. Woo! Hopefully we won't be transferred out of here by then. :) But yeah. This week has been a blast. :) 

So funny story. The Elders were talking to us and they were like Sister's you gotta live a little. You need to enjoy your missions, quit being so uptight. I was seriously Elders I will hurt you don't tell me

what to do! But they did have a point. We were getting a little stressed out and uptight. A lot stressed out. They challenged us to live in the moment this week and it totally made a difference! :) Life is a lot easier when you're just happy and not worrying about every little thing and just letting the Lord take care of it. :) But I received revelation (if you wanna call it that) one night...and we were getting ready for bed and I was like Sister Sommers I need you to come out to the Elders car with me. I had soaked cotton balls in water and it was supposed to be -12 that night and we stuck them all over their car so it would freeze. :) Hehehehe.

I just wanted the Elders to see us "living in the moment." They thought it was hilarious. I thought it was a good idea because they pranks us all the time.  

This week went really well. I'm crazy exhausted and I might be getting sick,  but oh well. :) haha

I hope you guys have a great week. I love ya'll so much. Transfers are this week so I will update you on Monday. :)

 

Love, Sister Curfew

December 30, 2013

Dear Family,

It was so great seeing you this week. :) I hope you travel safely tomorrow on your way home. I will send a different email with my testimony on it. Don't worry I won't forget.

Well to update you since Wednesday. We had other Sisters living with us this week so that was a blast. I love how on missions you just make life long friends. Sister C was one of those for me this week.

We did some service at the Salvation Army and that was fun. We also ran out of miles

so we have been bumming rides off of members and walking around. On Saturday it was 62 degrees. It was SO nice! we didn't even have to wear a coat. We got to our appt all hot and

sweaty. The weather here is a joke.

I also was asked to speak on Sunday. It went really well. Instead of freaking out and getting all nervous about it and writing every word down. I just wrote a couple of my thoughts on my topic

and then expounded when I got up there. It was really cool because I wasn't nervous or anything. My topic was on keeping the commandments and then relating it to New Years Resolutions.

When I was preparing for the talk I got really overwhelmed and frustrated and stressed as I wrote out a list of things I really need to improve on. But Heavenly Father helped me out and reminded me that I have

a life time to work on these things. He gives us weaknesses to be humble. It's like renovating a house. Just take one room at a time. So mom, don't stress to much. Just work on one thing. One week or one month at

a time. There is extra and spirit and power that comes from continually striving to improve yourself. :) One of my favorite quotes form M. Russell Ballard is "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our

life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small potential.  When one learns to master the principles of setting

a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life." So that's my goal this year. To master the technique of goal setting...There will be much prayer involved. :)

To answer your question if we are having any luck with LA and Investigators in Lincoln. We are. We are seeing a lot of success in our less actives. Whether it be quitting smoking or they're reading their scriptures

for 30 min a day. Rosetta, that one I told you about. She called me and was like Sister Curfew read D&C 38. I really liked It. Read it and then come over tomorrow and we'll discuss it. We did and it was so cool

as she was marking her scriptures and was so excited about them! I felt a little bit of the joy that Heavenly Father has for his children as they do what's right. :) Laura recovered very well from surgery and is walking!!!!

We taught her the Plan of Salvation and tried to set her for baptism but she is just scared. We are hoping that as we take more members over with us she won't be as intimidated.

There were also so miracles that happened it our ward. Our Bishop invited us to Ward Council!!!!! This is huge because Bishop hates missionaries...We were pretty pumped. Even though he made us feel like we weren't

doing anything during the week in the meeting. At least we were invited!

So yeah this week was great. I feel more and more the influence of the Holy Ghost in everything we do. I had a really cool experience with the sacrament yesterday. After taking it I felt new. Like brand new. It was

an amazing feeling. So I hope to continue having those experiences.

 

Well I love you and it was great to see you.

Thanks for all of the support and love that you give me. I don't deserve to have the amazing family that I do.

Love, Sister Curfew

December 23, 2013

Dear Family,

Okay I confess I accidentally opened one of my Christmas gifts early...I thought it was one of the 25 days of Christmas things...Ooops. But thanks for the flowers for my hair!! :) How is Blanding? It's weird not to be there with you. This whole being on a mission during Christmas time is so weird. I didn't even dawn on me that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I'm totally in  my own little missionary world here. I can't believe you saw Gimili at the Christmas concert! That would've been awesome! Nice going Dad on making Grandma sick...But it's worth it cause your cheese balls are rockin' :) Also I will keep my game face on for mom when we Skype. So for skyping I will call grandma and grandpa's house to let you know that I'm on and then we can get it all set up. I have no idea what time that will be. Mom it's alright about the stocking stuff. I will look forward to it after Christmas. :)

I'm glad you saw the pictures from our Zone Conference. Sister Weston really likes to take pictures...a lot. But that's good. :) Yes, my companion is from Ogden and she didn't know very much about Morgan. Not very many people do. I have noticed that I learn something from each of my companions. Even on exchanges and stuff I learn from other Sisters. We're all so different but I love how the Lord utilizes each of our gifts and talents and then helps us develop new ones. I'm excited to hear where Ryan's going! Although there are missionaries here who have come out for the wrong reasons and who are lazy but if you get paired up with that kind of companion then the Lord knows that you can help them. I know the President Weston prays very firmly about each companionship. I have questioned his judgment at times, but everything has always worked out.

Well this week was great. I was given a very AMAZING Christmas gift from President Weston. I got to go to the temple!!!!!! Well, our whole zone got to go to the temple. The new video is so cool! I loved it. :) So that was super awesome. Our zone conference was fun and very uplifting and inspirational which is what everyone needed. We had some cool experiences with our Investigator named L. She has bulging disks in her back and has been unable to walk because it has affected her knee. But she is finally getting surgery. We explained to her about the priesthood and blessings. She was like Yeah man I want one! So we had the Elders and our ward mission leader come over with us and they gave her a blessing. Then they left and we taught a lesson. But at the end of the lesson she was like. Girls, my knee isn't swollen anymore. We were like whoa the priesthood must be real. Then we went back the next day to do service and teach her again and she was like Girls, the pain has gone down! I was able to sleep ALL night! I haven't done that in 8 months! She was like the priesthood thingy works. :)  We were like yeah we know. You should get baptized...:) haha she was like I will when I'm ready! So that's great.

We teach a lot of Less-Actives in this area and there is this one Less Active named R. She has had a rough life. She is also going through Chemo because her cancer came back. We promised her that if she came to church this Sunday then the Lord would show her He loved her by helping her Son. (Her Son is in a group home and the state of Nebraska owns him) That was a huge leap of Faith! But the next day she had miracle after miracle after miracle. Her Son is able to come home for Christmas and other stuff happened. I was like dang. She hasn't even gone to church yet...:) But she came on Sunday and things are going uphill for her! She is so funny she calls in the morning with the weather report, tells us to stay warm, and then tells us to stay away from boys. Every morning. :) People here are hilarious.

So since it's Christmas time I have been reading about the birth of Jesus Christ in Jesus The Christ. It is really cool.  I am enjoying celebrating the season when our Savior came to the Earth to complete his purpose, which is the Atonement. I am finally understanding the Atonement. :) It's so amazing. To me the Atonement is the perfect balance between justice and mercy. I love it. :) 

But yeah I'm out of time... I look forward to talking to you on Wednesday. I love you all.

Love, Sister Curfew 

December 16, 2013

Dear Family,

Mom, the CD's we're amazing!!!!!!!!!!! I about died. I've listened to them non stop...including in the shower...:) Oh and I got the 12 days of Christmas package. The Zone leaders picked it up for me in Omaha. :) Also I guessed one of the days of Christmas were more CD's so I opened them already...My companion has hid all of my other presents so I won't open them...;) hehe The little Christmas tree was really cute. Are we still planning on skypeing? Some members in our ward said we could come over and Skype...I will have to somehow remember my username and password. I would rather Skype than call...I hope you have a blast during you're break. That's so cool that Daemian had his baptismal interview. Sorry that you have bronchitis?! I hope both you and Dad are feeling better soon. You're emails are great mom. I love you so much and I loved the letter this week. :)
This week was challenging. It was crazy busy all of the time. We rarely had a moment to even go to the bathroom...But yeah. It was a rough week just cause we were really stressed.

I also had to give a training this week on promised blessings. There were 25 and elders and 4 sisters...AWKWARD!!! No one would answer my questions...and no one would look me in the eye.

So I had to rely on the Spirit hardcore to get through the training. I hope someone got something out it. Because it was somewhat painful for me. Ha. Yeah. This email is going to be really short I apologize.
But I promise that next week I will have something more uplifting to say/talk about.

I love you all. Tell Daemian Happy Birthday

Love, Sister Curfew