July 21, 2014

Hello there!


I hope everyone is doing well and had a fantastic week.
I am doing really great here in Waterloo! My brand new, greenie companion's name is Elder Johnson. He is from Logan, Utah, or more specifically Nibley Utah. So far, I love him! He's great and very easy to work with. He has a deep desire to do good and to do his job as a missionary right, but especially a desire to help others. The greenie fire is burning all over him. I love it!
We had three appointments scheduled for the day after he arrived and one for the day of, but they all cancelled, so he learned very quickly how things work around here. However, we were able to get him one lesson this week with our awesome investigator, Alyssa. Earlier in the week Elder Bowen and I met with her and ended up setting a date for her baptism! Thursday was our follow-up appointment and we had decided to reteach her the restoration. It all went great and she has been keeping the commitments we left her such as reading the Book of Mormon and praying. She is starting to recognize and understand the feelings of the Spirit. We have hight hopes and good feelings about Alyssa.
Our appointment we made with Pat, who we met on Monday of last week, ended up being one of the three appointments that cancelled. But, through coordinating with his initial fellowshipper we were able to reschedule an appointment with Pat for this coming Thursday. And guess what? Pat asked if he could bring three other friends of his to the lesson as well! We are overjoyed! I can't wait to get in there and teach these guys.
One other thing going on this week: tomorrow we have the opportunity to go to a Cardinals game! Every year the Cardinals baseball team has a "Mormon Night". This year I guess they asked for a missionary presence at the game, so all of the missionaries in the four zones surrounding St Louis will be at the game. I'm pretty excited about it. I've never been to a baseball game, especially a professional one, but being out here where baseball is HUGE, I have definitely caught the Cardinal Fever.
Another cool thing that happened this week: There was an investigator here named Tiffany that has been meeting with the missionaries for alomost four years. When I got here it was primarily the Sister missionaries working with her, but I had the privilage of working with her quite a bit. Over the weekend she was finally baptized and confirmed! It was so awesome to witness her make that first step toward home and to see the tremendous support from the branch that has grown to love her so much over the years. It was truly a glorious and joyous occasion. Angels sang praises the entire time.
Things are continuing to look up here and slowly but surly we are progressing with this area. I absolutely love this church and this gospel. I absolutely love Jesus Christ and I love my Father in Heaven. This is His work!


-Elder Curtis