Long Walk and an Even Longer Travel
Hey everyone!!! Sorry for not emailing last week. Had a super busy PDay but also not an eventful week last week, so I really didn’t have much to write about.
Last week:
Literally nothing but working. Didn’t have much happen minus a drunk guy stopping us in the street to say some stupid joke that took 20 minutes to finish. Gael’s mom is a bum and won’t let him go to church even though it’s an 8 minute walk away 😭😭😭
PDay:
We did a hike called the Medialuna for Zone PDay. It was about 11 miles in total walking up and back. It takes you to the top of a mountain with a big cross on top. The views are awesome and a took a bunch of pics. We were dead when we got back to where we started and then we started exchanges with the ZL’s again but this time with Élder Tarawa, I think I’ve mentioned him before but he’s from New Zealand and he’s about to finish his mission.
This week:
Exchanges were super fun. I stayed in my area and we just tried finding new people for the most part because we couldn’t find anyone at home. We found this family that lives pretty far away from our apartment. The lady seemed like a crack until she told us her daughter has been baptized in like 5 different churches and that she “accepts everyone but is really Catholic”😔
Also, Duolingo must suck at teaching me chess because I played against Élder Tarawa a few times playing and lost every time😕 Also, after we were teaching Ricardo one day there was a guy selling cotton candy and I went to go by some his friend goes “It costs 2 dollars HAHAHAH” thinking it was the most hilarious thing ever. I told him I have none while looking at a crisp $10 bill I have to remind myself that I don’t have to use Monopoly money forever. I had to wake up at 4:00 to let in Élder Erickson and Whiting who were coming to us to finish exchanges and go back to our respective areas. The rest of the week was anticipating transfer news and trying to work a ton this last week of the transfer, which I’m glad to say we did.
We received transfer news and learned that both me and Élder Erickson are leaving and this ZL, Élder Shumway, is whitewash training the area. I’m going to supposedly the hottest area in the mission, Orán, but my area is called Pizarro. I’m with an Élder Vargas who is from Mendoza, Argentina and doesn’t speak a lick of English. It was said saying goodbye to all of the members and everyone I got to know in JVG and giving my last testimony here. I’m excited though because 1: I get to trial by fire learn Spanish and hopefully come out of my time with Élder Vargas with great Spanish and 2: because my last 2 comps, Élders Young and Baker served there together so I’ll instantly get brownie points with the members hopefully🙏🙏No but seriously they and a few other missionaries told me it’s good area, very big for my mission and horribly hot, but good. As I’m writing this as 3 am my time, I am on a bus heading to my area. I have to travel for 8 hours but it’s not as horrible as Élder Erickson who has to travel for 12.
We had to wait in the bus terminal for 2 hours in JVG because it has been raining for close to 10 hours straight and we were waiting till the moment the streets stopped being flooded and the rain stopped so we could go to the terminal without getting drenched. Upon getting there a guy who is taking buses from Brazil where he’s from to the US where he thinks he can just waltz on in came and talked to us. Portugués really is piglatin Spanish because I could understand most of what he was saying. He basically told us his entire life story and that he should write a book about it, basically that we’re brainwashed because we don’t have Google on our phones (we do our phones are just super regulated and only allows church sites) and then he told us we were wrong because we don’t believe in the Godhead as 3 personages, 1 person and blabbered about that for a while. He would ask a question and then not stop talking to let us answer but we didn’t really care because we didn’t seem the listen and learn type.
Spiritual Thought:
Recently I’ve been studying Enos, which is actually my favorite book in the Book of Mormon. The part I especially live is what Enos does immediately after having this amazing experience where he literally hears the voice of the Lord telling him his sins are forgiven and then telling him how great of faith he has in Christ, who at this point won’t come for about 420 years.
“9 Now, it came to pass that when I had heard these words I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites; wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them.”
On the word desire there is a footnote that takes you to 1 Nephi where Lehi has a vision of the tree of life and tries to share the fruit with his family. The joy of Christ is the joy of Repentance, the joy that we have a loving Savior who knows us personally, individually, and with every part of him.
I hope all is going well at home! Please send me an email: mwcurtis@missionary.org or join my photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/g9K5EHgzbJLtD3wC8
Love you all!
— Élder Curtis
