September 29, 2014

Dear Family, 

Blaine. You're an odd duck. Can I just say it's weird that you're like best friends with someone my age? Glad you enjoyed yourself at the comic con. Nerds unite...;) 

I'm excited to go to the Ogden temple again!!! WOOO! I'm glad you got to sing with a whole bunch of people. Sis McCauley's sisters sang as well so you 

probably saw them!  Also we've only had one Christmas where we weren't all together. Yes I agree I will be watching a crazy ton of movies. Get a list of good 

movies for me to watch. :) 

Anyway enough with this worldly business. This week was interviews with President Weston. And that was my last interview with him besides my 

departing interview. Yikes! It was a really good interview. He talked a lot about how the Lord has specifically placed me in the areas I've been because I have a talent. 

The annoying thing is is that he wouldn't tell me what the talent was. He was like you have to figure it out. Yeah I have no idea.  He also talked a lot about my progression 

as a missionary and how cool it is to see me now compared to when I first came out. Which I don't get because I feel like the same person.  Except I've gained a ton of weight. Ooops. The funny part about my interview is he saw me limping into the interview room and he was like "Sister, who ya been kicking." and was like "Satan!"

Then he proceeded to tell me to buy compression socks because that will help with the swelling and I won't have to elevate all the time. I don't even 

know what compression socks are so...oh well. 

Unfortunately our investigator Brandon dropped us. :( If you guys could pray that he will feel the Spirit as he reads the Book of Mormon that would be much 

appreciated. He doesn't want to meet with us anymore but he promised us he would read. He says that the Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible and that he thinks

Nephi and Lehi just ate the wrong mushrooms in the wilderness. I don't really think that they had mushrooms in the desert...Anyway. Although lame stuff like this 

has happened all week. Sis Harris and I were talking and we were like you know we could blame all the crap on us. Or we could just know that opposition exists. 

Satan is going to do all that he can to make sure that no one reads there Book of Mormon. Including members. 

We've been noticing that a lot of the reason why the members are struggling hard core in this is area is because they aren't reading, they aren't praying.

So we're working on teaching lessons where we aren't preaching the basics. They know the basics. We all do. So any ideas or object lessons would be great. 

My ankle is healing well.  We played softball for a YW activity and I ran a couple of laps. That's all I could do though because Robin showed up and started yelling at 

me for running. She's such a mom. :) 

I'm doing well. I'm getting really tired. I'm hoping a second wind will kick in soon...or I might have to drink coke for the next 3 months. Either way. :)

Love you guys and good luck with the house and refinancing and stuff. 

Love, Sister Ash Curfew 

September 22, 2014

Dear Family, 

All is well. How was the temple dedication? A storm is headed our way so hopefully we'll get some of that rain!  

The pizza was awesome!!! We were really excited to come home to pizza we were starving. :) 

Glad you're enjoying your foot zoning class. 

Well this week was different. As you know I started out the week with a trip to the ER. And let it be known the ER people here have 

no sense of humor. I was cracking jokes left and right about how there was a golf ball in my ankle and they just looked at me like

 I was a moron. Rude. I don't know if Robin told you the story...but I fell off a step stool. Let it be known that I fell really gracefully. 

And my companion just laughed at me while I was crying on the floor. I was so mad. Thankfully Robin helped me up the stairs and into

the car. But I can still drive. Anyway I got a blessing and it said that I would be healed in less than 3 days. And it totally happened. Well kind of. 

Like Monday and Tuesday I couldn't put any weight on my ankle or I would just cry. But Wednesday I could hobble/walk with out crutches. Which 

was awesome because my armpits were crazy sore. Then I've just been improving since then I have to have my splint on for another week and half 

and I have to sleep with my foot elevated. (Which stinks) And I'm supposed to be icing it 3 times a day. There is a lot of fluid in my ankle still so the 

swelling is still pretty bad. My bruise is really nasty. I'll have to send pictures.  

But yeah. The branch has just started calling me gimp and they have been super awesome at helping us. 

So obviously we couldn't go out and work that much because I couldn't move so we didn't really have a chance to teach very many people. 

But on Saturday we were able to go and do service and then go and actually for reals work! It was so cool because we worked like 3 hours in 

Minden ( a small town in our area) and we taught 5 lessons. That never happens. we're lucky if we teach 5 lessons in 2 days. I was so thankful

that the Lord was mindful of us. 

So yeah that was my week. Hopefully my ankle will hold up. We have interviews on Wednesday and I'm slightly tempted to get the crutches out

and hobble into the interview and see what President says...but I probably won't end up doing it. He'll probably be like Sister why don't you have enough

faith to be healed already. ha :) 

Well I love you guys and good luck with the house. 

Love, Sister Curfew 

September 15, 2014

Dear Family,

THE PACKAGE WAS AMAZING! I shed a couple of tears. Especially with the homemade bread and the zucchini bread. Mmmm :) Yeah I have the best family ever. :) I'm sure

you guys already knew that though.  Also Adrienne like loves you guys. What did you do to her? Robin loved her package as well. Thanks for remembering her that made her day. :)

I can't believe you met Wesley!!!! :) I'm glad you and Blaine had a great time nerding...And I agree your lack of costume totally means you're already super heroes. 

I decided for Halloween this year I'm just going to wear a super hero shirt and tuck it into one of my skirts. :) ha. 

I've hear the foot zoning thing is huge. I'll admit I'm a bit skeptical...but I've never had it done to me so I guess I really can't say anything. 

That's SO COOL that you're mission president is an Apostle and that you get to see him. Whenever I see him speak in conference I'm always like, yeah that's my Dad's

mission president. Ha no big deal. :) 

Yeah I have received a lot Enduring to the End speeches. I'm honestly not to worried. I was earlier but I prayed a lot and I just decided to not worry about anything

until I get home.  I feel like I still have a while left so I don't know why everyone is like preparing me for home. Granted I don't really want to come home...so maybe I'm 

just in denial? I don't know. 

Anyway this past week was crazy hard! I had an experience very similar to the experience I had in Trendwood...I handled this one much better than the last one though! 

Woo! Go Sister Curfew. ;) Our branch is just struggling hardcore. All they do is gossip and bash and so on and such forth. It makes me so sad. Mostly because if this is how

our branch is going act then I don't want to bring investigators or Less Actives to branch activities.  We've been promised by President Weston that if we can get our branch/ward to read the Book of Mormon then that unit will achieve unity. One can only pray that this branch will open up the Book of Mormon. 

Ever since we've been applying that promise and trying to get anyone and everyone to read The Book of Mormon we have experienced some crazy opposition. I'm thankful

for the opposition though because it has strengthened my testimony of how powerful this book is.  Satan knows full well that if we read this other testament of Jesus Christ 

we will grow closer and closer to Christ and therefore become diligent followers of our Savior.  

We had one of our investigators drop us this week because is heart is SO HARD. We taught him the Restoration and he liked everything except the Book of Mormon. 

We  asked him to read and pray about it and etc...So when we went and followed up on it he was like I don't like this book. It has nothing to do with Christ. I laughed and I was 

like what book did  you read? So we read 3 Nephi 11 with him and explained the chapter and the Spirit was so strong and I was like oh my gosh this book rocks. Then the dear 

investigators says that we're crazy and we have no idea what we're talking about and that we're wrong and we're going hell. You know the usual.  I was so devastated. Not because

of what he said we get that everyday we're used to that. But the fact that he felt the Spirit he knew that it testified of Christ and he willingly chose to go against it.  After that experience I said a prayer of gratitude that I was raised in this church and that I understood what it means to have a living prophet and how grateful I was that I have 

gained a testimony of this gospel. I can't even tell you how thankful I am for the experience. 

So despite the crazy week where everyone was hating on everyone I found great comfort in my Book of Mormon. I know it to be true and know that it changes peoples hearts. 

I hope you guys have a great week. I love you! 

Love, Sister Curfew 

President Skinner

September 2, 2014

Hi Sister Curfew,

Thank you for your missionary service and for how you represent our great Stake of Zion.

I know you have only a few months left on this mission.  Your mission can become "full" but it is not yet "full" (reference D&C 62:2).  You still have the most important part remaining.  The "enduring to the end" is the most important.  For those of you who like sports, this is the 4th Quarter or the 9th Inning of a game.  For those that like music, this is the culminating verse or stanza.  For those that like plays, this is the final act.  At this point in your mission, you have developed into a wonderful and powerful missionary.  I know you're not perfect, but you can be powerful.  Don't hold back nor hide your candle under a bushel.

May I offer a challenge to you?   Make these last few months the best of your mission. Enjoy the work.  Work hard and with a hastened pace.  If your mission has weekly records for work, break those records.  You can't change people's decisions but you can control your own pace.  Keep the rules better than ever before.  And remember to enjoy it.  I know with the Spirit you can accomplish much good.

I love you and pray for you.  I look forward to seeing you in a few months when I will have the honor of releasing you from full-time missionary service.

Thank you,

President Joey L. Skinner

Funny

The members won't feed us because the past sisters were crazy

 picky and wouldn't eat their food. 

Well...we like food. So we're posting this above our meal calender. Ha! :)

September 8, 2014

Dear Family,

Glad you liked Adrienne. The license plate says River Song. I knew Blaine would like that because it's from Doctor Who.  

Robin showed me the pictures!!! I loved them. Aidan is getting so big!  I got an email from President Skinner, I'll forward it to  you. It kind of 

freaked me out. Not sure how I feel about ending my mission. I wish everyone would just stop talking about it. Anyway, Sorry you were sick. 

Everyone in our branch except a couple families was sick this week as well so no one was at church this week. Actually pretty much everyone

in Holdrege was sick because every time we knocked on a door people are like come back we're sick. Yeesh. President Weston told us that we have

 to go get our flu shots... blech. Not a fan. But we're going to try and do that sometime this week. 

We kind of had a rough week this week...but it turned out pretty well towards the end. It was just a crazy discouraging week. Church yesterday helped 

a lot. I love taking inspired to questions to church and having them be answered. 

Ha funny story, we took this sister on a team up with us to go see this LA family. She's in her 50's and she just won't stop talking. Well she decided to

show this LA family how to do the splits. That was incredibly embarrassing for everyone there. Oh my goodness, let it be known when you go on team 

ups with the missionaries...DON'T DO THE SPLITS! Anyway that was interesting.

Even though our member went cray cray on us, the lesson with that family went well. :) 

We also had a womens conference that was all about holding onto the Iron Rod/Nephi's vison. Something that I really enjoyed learning about was the Love of God. 

That phrase "Love of God" really made an impression in my mind so this week I'm going to do a topic study of the Love of God and hopefully gain some insights. 

Something that also was talked about was tender mercies and what they are, and how we can be consistent in being obedient servants. They talked about the word

"striving". As long as we are striving we're doing what the Lord would have us do. That brought me a lot of comfort. :) 

But yeah that was my week. I hope all is well at home. Love you guys. 

Love, Sister Curfew 

September 2, 2014

Dear Family,

Woo new computer! Sounds like a lot has been happening. That's cool that you can start running again. I wish I could run...I just need a companion 

who want to run as well...They're hard to come by. Glad you saw the pictures at zone conference. A lot of pictures happen at zone conference so I'm always

curious which ones go on the internet...

I like living with Carol and Robin a lot. Carol she's my favorite. She tells it like it is. She is divorced so it's all girls in the house. Woo! 

Robin is awesome. Her husband passed away from cancer when her two boys were 6 and 8. Then she got breast cancer after that. So Carol is Robin's mother in 

law. Modern day Ruth story. :) 

I do like Sis Harris. I'll be honest she requires more patience that other companions but for the most part we get a long really well.  She's an incredible teacher which is really all that matters. She's from Carlsbad California, and before the mission

she worked at Lego Land. I think that's my favorite thing about her. Her parents are super old. Her Dad is a stake patriarch and her oldest sibling is 52. I just 

can't wrap my brain around that one...Anyway. 

I think that Dad is going to be the next EQ president. 

Wow, you're really far in the Book of Mormon! I'm being a slow poke! The PMG challenge seems pretty awesome though. It's required to read it here so I'll have to do that 

when I go home. 

Rylan came home?! He just left?! Weird. 

Anyway, this week was awesome! We were very blessed to find investigators! It amazes me how we are always in the right place at the right time. It kind 

of freaks me out every time it happens. At the same time I've been super tired. I don't know what my deal is this week. I think the Lord only blessed us cause

I was not mentally all the way there most of the week. Ha. We do service at this Senior center here in town and they pranked me with a fake rat. Old people are my favorite. 

They're so weird. I love it. Also, I'm a really big fan of the Book of Mormon. I have come to the conclusion that the Spirit of reading it everyday is what solves my problems. 

Because it makes seem like they're aren't a big deal and it reminds me of how great God is. I've been feeling super overwhelmed lately because we have a ton of commitments 

that we've  been asked to do. Like hand out a BOM every day, teach 20 lessons a week ( I know it seems small but, I've only reached that twice my whole mission.), Baptize monthly, every key indicator needs to filled in, and so on and so on and so on.  I just am overwhelmed because we try and hand out a BOM everyday, or we don't baptize monthly, or I forget to study that one chapter. The list will go on.  But when it doesn't happen I'm like great. I'm going to hell. Someone warm up my seat cause I'll be there! Anyway I'm just grateful the Book of Mormon is like Sister Curfew chill out, and I'm like okay that's a great idea. So yeah. That's been my week. I love you guys and 

I'll talk to you later. 

Love, Sister Curfew

pictures

Catfish

Frog in the window well

Sister Checketts

Sister Gomez

August 18, 2014

Dear Family,

What did mom do while she was by herself? Sounds like you had a blast camping and doing guy stuff. I miss that kind of stuff a lot. 

I tried to convince President Weston to let us sleep in a tent in the members yards who live super far away so then we could work in 

that area the next day. He said no. But it was worth a shot. I also tried to convince the Elder over cars to buy us a truck. He also said no. 

Man, lots of rejection. Yeesh I'm just trying further the work. ;) Kind of. A guy in our branch bought me a fishing pole! And we're going fishing 

next prep day. I'm pretty pumped. Sorry about the computer dying. Technology these days...

Well this week went really well. It always has it's ups and downs but you know that just the way things are. I'm loving my comp. She's great. :) 

We're very similar. I don't know what I did to be blessed with two awesome comps in a row...Hopefully we stay companions for the rest of my mission. 

A Recent Convert helped us get a new investigator this week! Mark, the recent convert, told this guy at work about his baptism. He said he was searching 

for a new church and wasn't sure what to think anymore. Um. Can anyone else say prepared?! Mark was like so we have these missionaries  that teach about

our church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. IT WAS AMAZING! I haven't taught the Restoration to someone so open. He had so many question and was 

so confused. He really really liked Joseph Smith's story. He was like see that sounds like God, calling another prophet. And we set him for baptism! We set him 

for Nov 8th! So if you could pray that he will find the answers he needs and be able to make that date that would be great. His name is Brandon. He actually looks 

exactly like Blaine...it's kind of weird.  

Anyway our investigator Patrick was supposed to be baptized this week but unfortunately he was still drinking coffee. :( So we had to reset him. But because of his work 

schedule he won't be able to be baptized until like October or November. So if you could pray that a miracle would happen and that his work schedule will allow

him to be baptized. That would also be great. :) 

Oh! So weird moment. Do y'all remember when we went on the road trip and we drove through Nebraska on I 80? Well we were driving to North Platte for 

zone training, which is 2 hours away, but we drove by a rest stop that I'm pretty sure we stopped at because it looked super familiar. I could be wrong but 

I'm pretty sure that that is one of the rest stops we stopped at. So how weird is that we drove past my area! Whaaat?! :) I just thought that was cool. 

So yeah we had a super great week. :) I like it here and I'm adjusting well. 

Thanks for all of your love and support. :) 

Love you! 

Love, Sister Ashley Curfew

pictures

Ana and Elsa

Bundt Cake

At the Lake Before Transfers

Packing

August 11, 2014

Dear Family,

I'm not upset at all about you guys not coming to pick me up. I will for sure have to send some stuff home though. I'll probably start doing that later though. I'm glad you

had the missionaries over! Dinner appts are our favorite. Glad to hear that they were funny. It's so weird to me think that there are missionaries in our small town. I

love my birthday stuff. I also got the backordered stuff. Ah it's my favorite thank you! :)

Well surprise I did get transferred! I'm in Holdrege Nebraska. It's in the middle of nowhere, and I'm serving in a branch. On a good day 50 people show up to church.

So that's been quite the adjustment being in a super small town and not a ward. But I LOVE IT. I miss Lincoln a ton though. I get a bit homesick now and again

for Holmes Lake. I miss the members there a lot. It was also heartbreaking to say goodbye to Sis McCauley. We were late getting to transfer point and so it was

quick goodbye and we just cried for a second. My new comp is Sis Harris. She's really cool. I don't know much about her yet.  We also live with members! It's been awhile since I've lived with members. We live with these ladies who are basically the story of Ruth. They're hilarious. They make homemade bread everyday! Woo!!! :)  

But this area is rockin! We have an investigator getting baptized next week. We have to give members of our branch a copy of our schedule because they

make appts for us with people they just randomly find at work. Then they call us and are like hey come teach this person at this time. It's insane! Members

also like nag us to go on team ups! What is this place?! They're like when can I come out with you guys, I need my team up. It's kind of amazing. It's also nice

have a branch mission leader who actually cares about us and the work. The mission leader in Holmes Lake was less active...that's awkward. Almost everyone here

is a graduate from Utah State. So I was welcomed really open arms. haha :) I knew going to USU was a good choice.

Oh so cool story. So I got off the transfer van and this Sister comes up to me and is like your Sister Curfew?! I've heard so much about you because I served in Le Mars.

And she told me about all of these investigators who I once taught who are getting ready to be baptized. Some Less Actives I was working with are going to the temple! It was

and incredible experience. She just hugged me and I balled cause I felt like I hadn't made any difference in Le Mars. All we did was  tract and do service.  And I was so excited to hear about people I love so much accepting the gospel! :) It was a huge tender mercy to just hear her share her love of the amazing people in Le Mars. It also helped me put into perspective that conversion takes time. I can't explain to you how amazing that feeling was when she told me all the stuff that was going on there.  I'm sure we looked like dorks cause we're both just crying because she didn't want to leave and we both just miss it so much!

It's crazy that was a year ago. Anyway. I'm doing really well. Every now and again I get a bit teary eyed cause I miss Lincoln. But I know this is where I'm supposed to be

and I look forward to hopefully ending my mission here. The members were like we'll help you sprint to the finish line Sister! Ha they're so cool. :)

Well I love you guys and are grateful y'all are doing well. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Love you all!

Love, Sister Curfew

August 4, 2014

Hey fam,
Sorry this email is going to be super short because we kind of ran out of time. We went to a lake with some members
and we actually got permission to play volleyball with our whole zone including Elders. Which is a huge deal.
But I love you guys still!
I'm doing well. Things are going well. Nervous for transfers but I will let you know how it goes.

Glad to hear no pets died this week. And yeah .

This is what I've been studying.

Love you guys. :)
(https://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/04/the-atonement-and-the-journey-of-mortality?lang=eng)

July 28, 2014

Dear Family,

Well I would recommend telling me when things die in a letter and not an email because I'm crying like a baby in the library...

I'm pretty sure the people around me think I"m a freak. But oh well.  Super bummed to hear about Daisy. Where did you bury her?

That's cool that you guys went to Yellowstone, I hear good things about it all the time so I'll have to go up there some time.

Haha Blaine's jaw bra looks as awesome as it could be.  I hated that thing. It's a wee bit humiliating.

Yes I am old enough to drink beer. We were joking around with the Elders when we were moving stuff and 2 Elders and I are 21 and they were like yeah let's go party, we can leave the children at home. It just made me laugh. I don't feel like I'm 21 but whatever. Thanks so much for the birthday package. I gave it to a member so I wouldn't open it until the 27th. I really enjoyed it. So it was SIs McCauley's birthday on the 25th so it has pretty much been a party weekend. The members fed us so much! We ate like 5 cakes and so on. We were very thankful though. :) Sis McCauley got silly string in her birthday package and proceeded to spray it all over me and my scriptures during personal study. Needless to say that study wasn't as spiritual as it could have been. Not my fault.

Yes it has been incredibly hot. 110 is the high plus humidity. We had interviews on Tuesday and we rode our bikes because we didn't have the car that day and President Weston made us get a ride home and he told us to be inside at 4:00 because that's the peak of  the heat or whatever. We were like you know we could avoid this if you gave us a car full time. But oh well.

Because it was such a hot week it was incredibly hard to proselyte. We had the car once in the past 8 days...so there has been a bit of contention because we can't get to our appts on time and members are on vacation so they couldn't take us. So some drama has been going on. But other than that we were blessed with a good week. We got some new investigators and we set another for baptism. :)

In interviews with President on Tuesday he said I would be leaving...so that sucks. I only have like 4 months left I don't understand why he can't just leave me here and I have no desire to get a new companion at all.  A couple members sent in a request that I stay so we'll see if that changes his mind. I guess ultimately the Lord decides so I'll just have to take it up with him.

Anyway, so our new investigators were a referral from the ward. There is a lot of background to it. But for times sake this guy named Jerry got in really bad motorcycle accident he is in Rehab and his wife died instantly and no one knows any idea what happened. So his parents are staying with him while he is in Madonna Rehab (which is in our area). I have no idea how the ward found out about this. But we just shared uplifting messages about Jesus Christ and did all we could to help them with their grief. We offered a priesthood blessing and some High Priests from our ward come and give a blessing. They had no idea what a blessing was so it was cool to explain it. :)

Honestly though going to visit them is really scary. Half of Jerry's head is missing and he has two young kids at home who don't know that there Mom is dead and that there Dad is in the hospital. So my testimony of the Plan of Salvation was strengthened recently. Oh man.

Life is insane that's for sure.

Anyway, yeah there was much more that happened this week, but alas I have no time. Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

Love you all!
Love, Sis Curfew

July 21, 2014

Dear Family,

That coke bottle is so cool! It even spelled my name right. Sometimes I forget that I have a first name that's not sister.

Daemian's lego's were super awesome! I'm impressed. How did he save up so much money? Aidan your block creation
was super epic. I'm surprised no one knocked it down.

Well I hope yellowstone is fun.

This week was a little on the rougher side. That's just how missionary work works...it comes and goes in waves. One of these
days we'll be able to have consistent weeks. :)

So I'll start off with some funny things that have happened. One, I had an epic bike crash. I thought it
would be a good idea to go down this really big hill...yeah bad idea. I have a testimony of helmets.

Second, I was told to drink a bunch of water because I was dehydrated....

Third, I cuddled with a hedge hog. A member has a hedge hog for a pet. I was nervous to hold it at first but turns out

their super cool. And now I'm kind of attached.

Fourth, I ate lamb. We had some members introduce us to Indian food. As long as it's not spicy it's actually really good.

Lamb is super good I can see why people eat it. :)

Other than that...we did a ton of service. We helped with this kids Eagle Project on Saturday that was pretty fun. We painted

a gym in the Salvation Army here in Lincoln. 

Then we helped this Less Active family move. Last week in ward council we specifically said to the EQ president. Hey this family is moving

at such and such time and day. They were like we'll totally come help out. Yeah NO ONE showed up. So for four hours we moved this family out of their apt and into their new apt. I HATE stairs. We were so sore. I was a bit annoyed that no one showed up because then it showed the LA family that they couldn't depend on the ward for anything. But all is well. It is what it is.

As for our investigators they're doing well. We're preparing them to be baptized one lesson at a time. :)

But yeah.  Hopefully this week will go  a bit better than last week.

Well love you tons! Thanks for the prayers and for the birthday package! I look forward to see what's in it.
Sis McCauley's birthday is on the 25th so it will be a birthday week for us both! Some members in our ward are throwing us a surprise
party...but we're on to them. Well anyway. I love you guys! :)
Love, Sister Curfew