Blind Leading the Blind
Hello Everyone!!! How is whatever you are doing? You should email me and tell me about it😁😁😁please.
So Élder Vargas, my little Mendocino, left Monday afternoon so I had to be in 1 trio for like 24 hours with an Élder Kinghorn and his kid (trainee) Élder Hix. I don’t like their area that much but a member did tell us that if we ever want to ditch a meal with members of our branch and go to lunch with them and the other Élders we are more than welcome. I guess other Élders have done that in the past haha.
Élder Dye got here at like 2:30pm on Tuesday and he’s a GOAT. If you wanna know what he is like, he is kinda like my brother-in-law Chad (I swear in all of the good ways haha).
The week was alright and not much happened. We are both kinda figuring out what to do so my comp said the other day to our DL that the blind is leading the blind, which is so true. We are just trying to do what we can in the ways we know. We still got some semi-set baptisms coming up so please pray for Araceli, Celina, and Celste. We got some others that are progressing alright so we will see with them.
We had exchanges like right after Élder Dye got here which was odd but like they weren’t too bad. I was with Élder Durney who goes home this transfer and he’s great. He just crocheted an American flag tie. A bunch of the Élders right now in the mission are getting into crocheting but not me yet. The afternoon I had with Èlder Durney was probably the worst afternoon I’ve had in this area. No one was home and if they were they were busy and couldn’t talk to us so we kinda got cooked but we got Churipan right before going home so that helped. We also got this reference from the other Élders right next to us and he’s pretty cool. He got out of prison like in September and is super duper interested in the church. We don’t know yet why he went to prison but he’s doing great.
Sunday no one came (it rained) except for this lady named Yuli. We just randomly found her and she’s kinda timid but interested in the church. The only issue with her is that either we have to get her married before baptism or we get her pareja (boyfriend but living together for multiple years and have kids together) to move out.
PDay we played golf again and it was super fun! I only lost 2 balls this time and didn’t get super sun burnt so overall a win.
I can’t remember anything else so sorry if this is a kinda boring email. Please email me.
Spiritual Thought:
One thing that came to mind this week was how when first learning the language of Spanish and seeing it in reverse with Élder Vargas trying to learn English. It’s way easier to understand the language spoken by someone with the same accent as you. When I first got to the mission I could understand the majority of what my trainer, Élder Bigelow, said but could not for the life of me up until recent, understand anyone else. Also one time a guy who had been studying a lot to learn English stopped his moped in the street to practice his English with me and Èlder Vargas could understand the other guy wayyy more than me. Why? Because it was a familiar tone and accent. When one learns the language and listens to Natives speak more and more, they become more familiar to the other accent. The same goes with the Spirit and how we receive personal revelation. I love the short parable of the Good Shepherd in John 10:
- “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
- But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
- To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
- And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
- And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”
We must be accustomed to the voice of the Lord (the Spirit). President Nelson said we will not be able to survive spiritually without it and President Oaks in his recent devotional spoke on how we need it to discern between truth and error this day in age. This has been one of if not my greatest effort on the mission to be able to discern the Spirit and search for it in every instance, moment, street, house, lesson that I am. I invite you all to search for the voice of the Good Shepherd in your day to day lives so that you may be let on the correct way, the covenant path that leads to eternal life.
I love and miss you all and keep you all in my prayers always! Any email is greatly appreciated as I have little to no clue what is going on on the other side of the world, wherever you are. mwcurtis@missionary.org
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Con amor,
— Élder Curtis
