THE GNOME HATH RETURNED!!!!!
Hey everyone! I don’t have much to say this week but I leave on Tuesday so next PDay I’ll have a ton of stuff to talk about.
First off, hope everyone is doing okay in the U.S with what is going on. I bet it’s just pandemonium online over there.
We took the EI test on Wednesday which is this pointless language test everyone has to take by the end of their MTC experience. It genuinely doesn’t mean anything except for how cooked you are once you get to the field. Half of it is where they have an AI say a phrase in Spanish and you have to repeat it to the best of your ability. There’s about 20 phrases and each of them gets longer and with more words so I didn’t know most of what it was saying by the first half. And then there is a response portion where you get 3 questions and have to respond to them for a minute. I got a 4.5 with a passing score of 4.2. I think I shoulda done better but I’m not mad at my score.
We went to the Mexico City temple for the last time this week and it was so much fun. We got to do baptisms and then some service. Afterwards we went to the visitor’s center and got some pics together which I’ll put w this email. I’m definitely gonna miss going to this temple because of how beautiful it is and the people watching what we do on the way to and from the temple each week. Mexico cannot be a real place.
That’s really all I got. We had our final day of classes today and got to take some more pics as a District and with our teachers. I’ve loved every minute of the CCM and I’ve been so blessed to have the companion and district that I have. I’m gonna miss them all and hopefully I’ll get to maybe serve w some of these 3 guys going to Salta w me. The CCM has been an amazing experience and I’ve felt the Spirit so often and so strongly and my testimony has grown a ton and although I feel pretty confident in my Spanish, we’ll see how I feel once I get to the field next week.
For my spiritual thought, I wanted to share about this talk I heard from Elder Holland. It was from a long way back and the only way to find it is like on Youtube but a missionary here by the name of Elder Housekeeper, the GOAT, had it and shared it with me. It’s titled “Don’t You Dare Go Home” and no, I’ve not an inkling of thought about going home, I just figured it would be a good talk, which it was. In the talk he said that “A mission will be and should be hard.” He later goes on to say, “Salvation is not meant to be a cheap experience, has never been, and will never be easy.” It reminded me of Alma 26: 11-12:
“11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.”
This was the whole point of the Atonement. We couldn’t be saved on our own, not even in the slightest, nor can we make it through a portion of the day it seems with our own strength. Having that knowledge and faith in Christ, that He will succor us and strengthen us in our weakness; however, this should fill us with joy. I know my mission is going to be difficult. I’m not anxious about it, but I know it’s gonna be extremely difficult. Here I am, less than half a week from “boasting” (preaching) of God and His Son, and I know I’m not going to be able to do this mission on my own, nor the rest of my life on my own. That’s why I love this scripture, because although we are aware of the difficulties of life and the seemingly impossible price of Salvation at times, we can rejoice in the fact that Christ died so that we would not have to pay that ultimate price and that through the strength of God, we can endure all things.
I say and will continue to say I love and miss you all! I pray that you all are doing good at home, especially with all the crazy stuff going on. God bless America.
– Élder Curtis
