Mud and Miracles
Hey everyone! You should send me an email and I will reply as soon as I can 😜😊
It rained so so much this week and the streets here are crap so it was 90% walking around just slick mud. Thank goodness (thank mother) that I have boots because I would be so screwed without them.
On Sunday the Stake President called us like 2 minutes after sacrament started saying he was in our town and wanted the address of the church building🥶🥶🥶 He got there and them right after the sacrament he just drops the bomb that the Branch President got released (he was in for only a few months) and called a new one so that was very unexpected. Then both Élder Quispe and I gave talks which was a great opportunity. He spoke on callings and I spoke on ministering (the first 2 talks of General Conference).
Had a ton of great spiritual lessons or moments this week. I just wanna share one with you all. The mom of a convert came to the Stake Conference last week and we got in contact with her to be able to have a lesson with her. On Friday, I think, we were able to have a lesson with her but it was more of us just talking about the church and her past experiences with missionaries. Before her daughters got baptized she had about 2 experiences with missionaries. First one, about 30 years ago the Élders here lived right next to her house and she would see them all the time. She never got taught but she remembers the name of one of them: Élder Curtis!!! I’ve heard about this allusive Élder Curtis from members but this was the first time I heard from a person we’re teaching about him. No idea who he is or how closely related but yeah! She also told us how (when she was about 20) right after her mother died, she ran into 2 missionaries who talked to her in the street day of but nothing ever came of it. She then told us how recently she’s felt some sort of pull to the church and loved the Stake Conference. She’s always been a Catholic but has never liked the whole saints stuff and wants to know about our church. It was an awesome lesson and she came to church yesterday!
Also, we got this dude Carlos, his wife, Soledad, and his daughter Yadira. They have another daughter who is I think 5 or 6 but can’t remember her name. She’s wicked smart, plays soccer on an all boys team, and loves the scriptures and praying. Carlos was not the greatest dude when Élder Quispe and his last comp found him, but has changed a ton in the last few weeks. Soledad just passed being 9 months pregnant so she could go into labor at any moment. Yadira is their daughter and she goes to the Catholic church (we’re trying to change that and it’s already working) Carlos couldn’t come to church yesterday for work but Soledad at 9 months pregnant and Yadira did!! Carlos wants to get married to Soledad but we haven’t talked to Soledad about it yet but have a ton of faith that she’ll want to. They all love reading the scriptures and praying as a family so we are so hyped for them right now.
We also had a bunch of cool spiritual moments with some inactive members that we ran into. It’s sometimes rough hearing why they are inactive but also it sometimes sucks because they go inactive for something that happened like 5+ years ago and it’s still their reasoning for not coming back. Most of the time they see spiritual matters as to big to handle with their wordly issues when if they could just put spiritual matters first, they would have help handling their worldy issues ☹️ We are making progress though! An almost whole family who hasn’t been in my comp’s time here came and we are chipping away at others.
I’m going to get this apartment clean. Today I deep cleaned the fridge and all of the dishes. Now I need to tackle the rest of the “kitchen” if that’s what you wanna call it and then the bathroom. I also need to just fumigation bomb the apartment to kill the bugs.
Spiritual Thought:
I would love to tie in something the Stake President said in sacrament meeting with mine and my companion’s talks’. At the end of the meeting and after our talks, he stood up and asked the question. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “obra” (work)? He then said how for some or many, the first thing could be a construction site, an area with a bunch of bricks, wood, and concrete, basically envisioning an unfinished house. Presidente Romero then went on to say how “the house is already built, we are just finishing the details”. He could have been relating it to the Restoration or the Stake, I’m not sure but it works with either one. The Restoration happened and the Stake has been made. From the outside, it seems finished, but there is a ton of detail work to do. It is an ongoing Restoration and just because the Stake has been made, that doesn’t mean we are done. We are to help all of God’s children come unto Christ and receive the temporal, and more importantly, eternal blessings of His Atonement. We need all to fulfill their calling and minister to one another. If you don’t have a specific calling or ministering assignment, it doesn’t matter. Elder Anderson said this:
“No calling is required. From the moment we emerge from the waters of baptism, we are commissioned to this work. We reach out in love to others because it is what our Savior commanded us to do. Alma emphasized: “For what shepherd … having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? … Doth he not drive him out?” Whenever our neighbors are in distress temporally or spiritually, we run to their aid. We bear one another’s burdens that they may be light. We mourn with those who mourn. We comfort those who stand in need of comfort. The Lord lovingly expects this of us. And the day will come when we will be held accountable for the care we take in ministering to His flock.”
All are invited to come unto Christ and what a privilege we have to be instruments in the work.
Love and pray for you all! Let me know what’s going on at home!
Email: mwcurtis@missionary.org
Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/g9K5EHgzbJLtD3wC8
With love,
— Élder Curtis
