November 26, 2015

Labas Everyone!!

Ahh - I'm so close to going to Lithuania! 10 days from today (Friday)! Sorry because P-day was on Thursday, and that was Thanksgiving, we couldn't write emails. Hence I am writing today (Friday)

Well, to start off I am singing in a choir of 40 missionaries on the fourth of December at a Christmas dinner. It will be with the branch presidencies and also an apostle is coming as well I believe! So that was really cool to be selected for that! 

So this last week, seven and a half weeks into the MTC, we finally learned how to tell time! There is a reason for that! Just like everything in Lithuanian. Time is really, really hard to do. Our teacher still doesn't fully understand how people do it in Lithuania, but he does know most of it! Numbers are one of the hardest things to do in Lithuanian! Weird right? It's because there are Masculine and Feminine numbers, any number in the teens changes to a different case, 51 for some reason is different (there are a lot of things in Lithuanian that just happen for some reason), and they have to be changed into different cases, to match the verb/whatever its describing. Just know that it's really weird! haha! 

On Thanksgiving we did a lot of service as you can imagine! As an MTC we packed about 357,900 meals for a charity program! It was the most the MTC has ever done before! It was awesome knowing that we are going to be blessing so many families! Also, Elder Oaks came and spoke to us and we listened to his family all play their instruments. So it was a good Thanksgiving! Elder Oaks gave a great talk about gratitude and the origin of it!

Something I learned was actually during the closing hymn "Because I have been given much." At one part in the song it talks about how we are so grateful because we have been given much, so we will give back. For some reason I just thought about it and realized that we are given so many gifts. However, a lot of the time the gifts we are given... are given to us so we can "share" that gift with others. It reminded me of a Mormon Message I had seen earlier in the week with a mom and her two kids. The mom's sister was in town and she wanted to get stuff done earlier in the day so she could meet with her sister! However, it seemed like random things she hadn't planned kept "popping up", like having to babysit her neighbors daughter or make dinner for a family who just had a new born baby. In the end she wasn't able to meet with her sister. She was really sad about it at first, but then began to realize how much good she had done. She had babysat a child, while her mom went to the doctor and was having a hard time. She had helped a brand new family have food when money was scarce, etc. ... in the end the message was "you never know how much good you do in this world". You bless peoples lives "all the time" in ways you never imagine. So just keep being you! Remember who are, because "who you are" is a blessing to so many others, you just dont realize it! I saw a really cool quote that  ties in with this... "Don't feel bad if people only remember you when they need you, feel privileged that you are like a candle that comes to their mind when there is darkness." 

Sorry this kind of a long email, but I promise this is my last spiritual thought here. My Branch President said something really cool about the spirit this week. He talked about how when you "feel the spirit" it's like the Heavenly Father giving you a pat on the back saying "atta boy" you are on the right track. So anytime you feel the spirit, think about how awesome it was for you to feel that, and then feel good because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are proud of you!

I love you all!! Next P-day is my last P-day here and then I will be flying to Lithuania!! Ahh, too excited!! Oh, and I'm also very excited it's "officially Christmas time". It's my favorite time of year!

Love, 

Vyresnysis Kurtis

November 19, 2015

Labas Everyone!

Well, to start out something crazy happened! I slept one night and in the morning when I woke up, I was told by one of the Elders that I was sleeping talking in a different language!!! It was Danish.. It would have been great if it was Lithuanian... but still pretty cool, haha!!

Also, two other Lithuanian missionaries and I sang a three part harmony of "Mary Did You Know" and got accepted to sing at a devotional here, so that was really awesome!!

Now time for the cool insights and stories of the week.

Cool story number one! So background. My mom served in the Manchester, England mission and taught a woman there. She married in the temple and had three sons. One of her sons is now going on a mission to the Philippines.  He came into the MTC last Wednesday and so I tried to focus on finding him! I couldn't find him for a day. Then at dinner I said a prayer that I could and when I went to go pick up mail, I walked into the mail room and there he was!!! Elder Walsh! I gave him the biggest hug and then found out where his room was! Turns out he was in the same residence as I was, so at night I went down and we just talked for 30 minutes! It was honestly the coolest thing, to see how my mom, who I love and look up to soo much, had taught this "one" family... and now their son is out teaching other families. (His older brother went to Milan, Italy) It made me think how even if I help "one" person on my mission, it will bless generations to come! Also, Elder Walsh has a "cool accent" and I wish I could have a British accent hahaha! Im so lucky I got to meet him and "literally see" the fruits of my mom's labors!

This week I have been reading a lot in Alma and it occurred to me how much of Alma consists of teachings of "trusting in the Lord"! It seems like every chapter has to do with that! Now tying this into the atonement, because the atonement is the greatest gift we have, when Christ atoned for our us, not only did he atone for our sins, but for every pain, trial, affliction, sickness, that we have been through. So when we are going through tough times in life it's nice to have someone that understands where you are coming from. Well, He knows EXACTLY what we are going through. So if you ever need anything get down on your knees and pray. Pray morning and night. Pray to the Father in the name of his son, Jesus Christ... our mediator... who loves us!

One thing they tell the solo missionaries here (missionaries going to their mission but are the only ones here going there) is to remember that Jesus Christ and the Spirit will always be your companion. So if you ever need anything just remember to pray. Alma states that if you will even exercise a particle of faith, then you can work miracles. I know this to be true! I know the Lord loves each and every one of you! I miss you all and am praying for you all!! 

18 days left and I will be in Lithuania!! Ahhhhhhh im sooo excited to get to the field even though it's going to be really cold there!! I love hearing from you all so don't be shy to write! Hope all is well!

Lo

Vyresnysis Curtis  

November 12, 2015

Labas Everyone!! Kaip Sekasi??

It's crazy to think that in three weeks I will be IN LITHUANIA! If you can't already tell I'm super super excited already! This week has been crazy and has flown by! To start off I was called as district leader a week and a half ago. After a week and a half I was released from that calling and called to zone leader so I have been busier than normal but it's a lot of fun! I just love serving!

Also, this week the prayers of many missionaries were answered. We were walking to dinner a few nights ago and there we see it....it was Chick Fil' A!!!!!! Somehow we had gotten chick fil a for the whole MTC!!! Shout out to Uncle Kevin on that one!! It was the most heavenly meal I have had here at the MTC haha! 

Also, Elder Hugo Montoya came and spoke to us at the devotional. If you can recall he spoke at a recent general conference. It was hilarious because I leaned over to Elder Mecham and Elder Kendall and quoted Inigo Montoya from princess bride. We laughed a lot... and the first thing he said was dropping that joke so it was pretty funny! He gave a really good talk on smiling and showing people that you care, which was absolutely awesome and it reminded me a lot of you mom! Love you!!

Last Sunday Elder Mecham gave a really good talk on faith and I thought I would share it with you!! It was a metaphor about the armour of God. How each piece of armour we wear is our faith. Our shield is our testimony! The strongest piece of armour that we have! The sword is the only piece we really fight with and that is the word of God/the spirit! As in regular armour, not every "chink of armour" is as strong as another piece. So when Satan sends his "fiery arrows" towards us, whether it be temptation, trials, or anything, what we need to do is defend ourselves! Satan tries to aim for those weak chinks in our armour and we know where those are. However, if we use our shield (which is our testimony, the strongest armour we have), we can lower it and deflect his bullets. I think it's cool to realize the shield and the sword are the only movable parts in our armour! So if ever you are feeling doubt in some area look to your testimony!! Use that shield!! Stand upon the rock of Christ and his Atonement! I testify he lives and loves each of us!

Another cool thing I learned this week goes with the story of Meshack, Abidnego, Shadrach. (I'm not even going to attempt to spell those names correctly). It is the story of the three boys who were tossed in the fire for not praying to false ideals. Anyways, a thing that I had never caught! If you look at verse 27 in Daniel chapter 3 I want to say...(I think that's were it is, if not just read the story) it talks about how they didn't smell of fire after they walked out of the burning furnace! Not even their clothes! Nothing!! Now think of a real campfire. Most of the time you come home from camping and have to wash all your clothes because you smell of campfire and smoke. So why would these three come out not smelling like fire? What did that have to do with anything? It is that God knows exactly how long we can be in the fire before we get out. The Lord knows exactly what we are going through trial wise and won't let anything happen to us!! We can be perfected through him! So when life feels like it's burning down all around us look to prayer for help! I promise he will be there and is there for you! He has a plan for you and it is a plan of happiness! I know as we strive to do our best the Lord will bless us!!

Anyways! I love you all and miss you very much and would love to hear from everyone of you!!!

Love,

Vyresnysis Kurtis

(next time I email you it'll be two weeks until I leave!!)

  

November 5, 2015

Labas Rytas!!!

Well, Halloween was this last Saturday and my zone decided we would keep the tradition alive! We all dressed up!! Can you guess what?? Harry Potter characters! We had Malfoy, Harry, Ron, Hermoine, Crabb, Goyle, Hagrid, haha! Basically everything! It was awesome!! Then at night after we all retired to our dorms Elder Kendall, Elder Bradshaw, Elder Karlinsey, and I went "trick or treating!!" We found bags and we went around and knocked on every open door in our four story building! We actually got a lot of candy and stuff, it was pretty funny! Some people here, not from America, didn't understand Halloween though... haha! They thought that we were there to give "them" candy, so that was really funny, when we said "No, in trick or treating you give the people at your door candy!". I actually got a tie out of it, which was really funny!! Haha It will be in the next tie draft we have here! A tie draft is when each elder in your zone puts in a tie and you put your tags in a box and you randomly draw tags and whichever order you draw, then you get to pick ties! Haha it's a lot of fun!!! I don't enter all the time though, because I love all my ties here, but when I get ties for free I put those in! Haha.

Now that Halloween is over we have Christmas lights set up here in the MTC! I know, I know, it's totally awesome!! I love Christmas time!!! The music, the cheer, the joy, and just the love! It's kind of like the gospel? There is a reason why Christmas is so awesome and that is because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement for us. Through it we can be clean! It's really cool to realize that the more and more I learn about the Atonement the cooler and cooler it gets and the more and more grateful I am for it!

So this week was a hard week but sooooo good week! I feel like the harder the week is to start out, the better it is once you get through it, because you see how much you've grown!! I will tell you why it was hard. We learned all the grammar, conjugations, irregular verbs, cases, random rules that you just have to remember that have no reason for being the way they are...the hardest is learning all the cases with the grammar. On Monday I got super overwhelmed (that was the first day it was introduced to us). Our teacher was explaining it and I was soooo lost! My companion Elder Kendell described my facial expression like this. "It looked like you hit someone in the head with a baseball bat so many times that they can't even produce a expression." Ya haha... that was really toiugh. Luckily my companion knows Greek and this stuff is sorta like it so he helps me a lot and the teachers are really, really good and help me and the others a lot, so I actually feel better now! It has brought me closer to the Lord and I know I can do this with Him on my side, because I can do anything with the Lord on my side! A cool inspiration I learned or thought of myself this week was that the Lord can bless us and does bless me with ability to learn the language! However, sometimes as we may only grow a little in the language, He blesses us to grow in another language as well. The language of the spirit! It's awesome! My companion and I went into a lesson yesterday teaching the Word of Wisdom and the whole time we were both just smiling! We explained why we are commanded to follow it and our investigator understood and we came out of our meeting just happy! This gospel is a happy gospel. I love it!!

I'm halfway through my MTC Mission too btw!! So almost there!! I'm excited to go to Lithuania!!

Vyresnysis Kurtis

(I found out that that's what my name tag will look like in Lithuania) 

October 29, 2015

Labas Everyone!!! 

Hopefully this makes it out to everyone!!!  

I'll start out with my favorite thing of the week!  I was doing service in a building here and I walked past an elder sitting on the stairs with tears in his eyes. Our district all walked by him, but then I stopped. I went over to him and gave him a big high five/hand shake and told him "Hey, it gets better I promise." He said "thank you" and then I proceeded to tell him that if he ever needed anything to let me know...  because I was going to be here for a while! Haha! I walked away feeling good that I just had said "hi".  His companion came out of his room and told me thank you for that.  A day or two went by and I was just thinking about him and thought, I want to see him again!! Just to see how he was doing!! I looked for him everywhere and couldn't find him! As I was looking I got scared, because I didn't know when he would be leaving! As I was looking I got the thought to give him a scripture that is very close to me and that helps me a lot! I wasn't going to ask him why he was crying that day. I just wanted to see how he was doing and tell him the scripture! Still to no avail... I couldn't find him. So I decided to pray that I could find him, but not if it be my will, but the Lord's! Well, the next day I was walking by where you drop off your bags and he walked by! I quickly said "Hi, how are you doing" and he said "great" and kept on walking. (He was probably on his way somewhere).   After that I sat down at breakfast and was disappointed with myself. I hadn't given him that scripture! It made me beat myself up all day. So that night I prayed once again. I asked if God would give me one more chance and I promised I would, no matter the circumstances, stop and give him the scripture and just talk to him and be his friend. Well, the next day was Sunday and the chances of seeing someone you know not in your zone are very slim. I got really scared because for all that I knew that elder could have shipped away. But I decided to just have faith. As we were doing our temple walk we were just sitting outside the temple talking and taking pictures as a zone when I saw him. I immediately dropped everything I was doing and ran over to him! No fear was stopping me this time! He seemed to be doing great and was heading out that next week!! I then gave him and his companion the scripture and said if he was ever having a hard time, to turn to it. He thanked me a lot and I walked away. I had the biggest smile on my face because I know the Lord blesses us with miracles everyday!!

Also yesterday (Wednesday) I was a host. A host picks up new missionaries and welcomes them to the MTC. After I dropped off my first missionary a lady directing traffic said "Hey, come stand here their is a car coming". I said of course I would (even though it wasn't in my zone). The car pulled up and two ladies were just staring at me with their jaws to the floor. I had no idea who they were so it was weird. Then out of the car jumped Josh Christensen! (He was our back door neighbor all the way until four months ago when they moved to Georgia!) Then his older brother and mom!! It was crazy!!! Once again. Little miracles happen everyday and I was able to help him and comfort him!!! 

I know the Lord blesses us daily and I challenge you to write down all the "little miracles" you guys see this week!! Love you all! Sorry it's a little short this week!!

Viso Gerro, 

Elder Curtis 

 October 22, 2015

Labas Everyone!!

To start out I will share a really cool experience that happened last week! I learned to trust in the Lord! Before teaching, my companion and I knelt down to pray to have the spirit with us and to be able to say what we wanted to say. The lesson went well and like I said in my last email, my companion is super good at reading and speaking fast, so it's nice to have him in there. My goal in the lesson was to sit there and try to teach without looking at my notes. Especially for my testimony. I did okay. I looked down a few times. Then it was time for my testimony. And I didn't want to look down for it. I was thinking to myself... "No Elder Curtis, testimony is the most important part, don't botch this, read it." Then I just had this feeling to trust in the Lord. So I continued to give probably the most broken testimony that I have every shared in my life. I would say one to two words and then stop to think about how to say it. In my pauses it was like a wave in the ocean, it was like I felt the spirit rush through me and out into the open to our investigator. I proceeded to complete my testimony and then my companion bore his. We then gave her a Book of Mormon to read and she said she would! After we left the room my companion turned to me and said, "that was a really powerful testimony, I didn't even want to say anything after." It was at "that moment" that I realized that it doesn't matter how many words you say, or how big the words are. English or Lithuanian! The "spirit" is the real teacher and if you just testify with all your heart, through that the spirit bears testimony of what you are trying to say! I'm not saying it's bad to use big words or have long testimonies. Trust me it helps if you know words. I'm just counseling to remember who the real teacher is and that we are only tools in this work! This is the Lord's work!

One of the coolest things I realized while reading the PMG (Preach My Gospel) this week is about the Book of Mormon! You have the Bible, which is a testament of Christ and then you have the Book of Mormon which is a testament of Christ! That's TWO witnessess of Jesus Christ! Now hold on before you say... Well, duh, Elder Curtis. What does having two witnesses do for us? Well, look at the mission field!! We are serving out here in two's!! We testify in two, walk in two, do everything in two! And one of the biggest reasons why we do is because you can back each other up! And that's what the Book of Mormon and Bible do! They are companions to each other! Two written witnesses. It just makes sense!! 

So numbers in Lithuanian are really hard. There are just weird rules... like if it's a multiple of 10 or is in the teens or is 51 for some reason it changes endings. So what did my comp and I do? Elder Kendall and I made a song to the soundtrack of Star Wars and Harry Potter to help us remember (Yes the MTC does weird things to you, but they are awesome things) and now we have zero problem with numbers!!! Our teacher was actually really impressed!!! I might have mentioned in last week's email that I want a Russian accent...but having Elder Bradshaw here is awesome because I've actually been working on my British accent and its coming a long really well!!

Highlight of the week! Though there were many! Chad Lewis came to speak at the devotional and I went back stage after to talk to him cause I kind of know him and people in my zone really wanted to meet him and guess what!!! Taysom Hill was there and so I shook his hand, got a picture with him, and just talked with him!! That picture will come next week because I'm waiting for it to be emailed to me! But it waaassss sooooo cooollll!!! Also, after that the president of the MTC wanted to take a picture with our zone for some reason, idk why, but that was cool as well! But Taysom Hill!!! haha!! 

Some quotes I learned before I have to go. One, "The Lord called you, don't be afraid." -President Gilbert (district president) Idk why that hit me but it is cool to think about as I go into another part of the world soon and to "not be afraid"! Second, "Enjoy to the End" -our mission president Glazier! Sometimes we focus so much on enduring that we don't focus on the good that is happening! So enjoy to the end!!! I'll make sure to let Sam know that for those of you who get his emails;) Hope everyone is doing well!! 

Miss you all and Love you!

Elder Curtis

October 15, 2015

Labas Everyone!

The MTC is great!! There are missionaries here going everywhere so it's really fun to find out where people are going! Everyone sees my Lithuanian tag and always ask because they haven't seen it around really hahaah! There are five total people going to Lithuania, four elders and one sister! All the elders going to Lithuania are super super smart so I definitely have to give it my all in class to keep up with them! So I'm sure you all are wondering...My companion is Elder Kendall from Bingham, Utah! He is a genius. Super smart! All my academic accomplishments are child play to him hahahaha! However, I couldn't have asked for a better companion! He really helps me with the language, is a super chill guy, and we have lots of fun together. Whoever said you can't have fun in the MTC is not telling the truth! We laugh all the time and tell stories and everyone here just has an awesome spirit! The food here is well....cafeteria food. Sometimes you get a good meal and it's manna from heaven but most of the time it's okay. It's all you can eat which I think is awesome! (Don't worry mom, I have had a salad a few times here.) You can exercise everyday for 50 minutes and that is probably the best stress reliever of the day! Basketball is fun here along with soccer and beach volleyball! My district consists of all the crazy countries like Lithuania, Armenia, Georgia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Greece (no Greek people though), and Singapore! I love my zone (it only consists of 14 people)! Everyone is super out going and we all get a long really well so it definitely helps having people around you to always talk to! Elder Meacham is in my district! For those of you that don't know, Elder Meacham's older brother served as Spencer's companion for a while and now we are in the same district! Also Elder Bradshaw is in my district and his brother is currently in Denmark on his mission as well! So it's a small world!

So the MTC has zero idea what nationality I am or where I am from. The minute I arrived I was taken into a room to be quizzed on how "good" my English speaking was. That as you can imagine was a really short quiz. A few days later I got called down to the travel agency to give them my passport and drivers license to copy. While I was there they told me I was born in Bountiful, Utah and my nationality was Danish. Which are both true but would'n't it just make sense to put American and American? Well later that day I got called down again and they wanted me to bring my Danish passport as well so mom I'm going to need you to send that to me ha! The following day take a guess what happened...I was called down again! Yay! This time they wanted me to fill out all the places I have been the past 5 years out of the country. So ya I am already excited for the next adventure I have to the travel agency. To be honest however, I actually have been speaking a lot of Danish here! And surprisingly it has actually made me a little homesick of Denamark? Weird I know hahaha! I saw Sister Anderson (from Denmark) and we speak Danish all the time together and then I see the Danish elders and sisters around all the time and speak Danish to them! At first I blew all their minds that I could speak it and I wasn't called there haha! Now we just talk! I'm also teaching my companion some conversation in Danish so he doesn't always just stand there awkwardly and as you can guess he remembers it after the first time I tell him ha. He has a photographic memory or whatever it is! But ya it's actually a lot of fun! There is also an elder from Sweden here and I understand more Swedish than he does Danish which is really weird cause he's from Sweden. The funny thing with talking to the Danish elders and sisters is that whenever I say a word or something outside the of the gospel they look at me and have no idea what I said. I laugh and then explain to them in English what it is. For that reason my companion and I set a goal to learn 15 words a week that are outside the gospel language so when we get to Lithuania we aren't completely slapped in the face.

The language is really hard. I guess you all could've guessed that, but it just has so many rules to change words. You are constantly changing the ending of words at the end so its tough but I testify that the gift of tongues is real! It's not like "ya the gift of tongues is real, I pray and suddenly know everything I need to say." It's more like someone says something to you in Lithuanian and word for word you have no idea what they are saying but you know exactly what they said to you and the meaning of it and you know how to respond! It's really cool actually and I pray for that ability every night! We taught a lesson the second day I was in here...in all Lithuanian...ha ya it was terrifying! Our investigator is super nice and guess what! The second lesson we gave her a Book of Mormon! Super cool story actually so if you would like to hear the whole thing just email me;) But the gist of it is that I learned that the spirit is the real teacher. I know we hear that all the time but it really is. We are only the tools for the Lord in his work! This is the Lord's work! He loves every one of you and wants you to succeed in life! I hope I answered questions in this email so let me know if you have anymore! 

Love,

Elder Curtis

Lithuanian MTC group
October 2015