Oct. 14, 2014

Hello guys!
Boy, life is sure wonderful. I made it to Urbana, Illinois safe and sound and immediately went to work. We have over twenty people we are teaching right now which is so nice! We are also finding more and more. I love it! The ward here seems great as well. There are lot's of families with a vast variety of ages, so there a lot of children, often making it a little rowdy during sacrament meeting, but I love it. It reminds me of my ward back in Utah.
I think in my last email I spelled my new companions name wrong. His name is Elder Lazaro. He is from Spain and he does speak English very well and he is awesome! I love him a ton. In so many ways he reminds me of my Spencer Parkes which is great! We already work extremely well and hard together and at the same time it is a lot of fun.
Yesterday morning we got up at 4:30am to make the long drive to St Louis for a special mission conference. It was so incredible! Every single missionary in our mission was there which has never happened before, and we had a special visit from Elder Joseph Sitati of the first quorum of the seventy. The spirit of revelation was so strong there. It was an experience I will never forget. Elder Sitati and his wife were wonderful and gave us so many fantastic insights and things to ponder on. We also had a wonderful surprise: We got to watch the new movie, Meet the Mormons! It was great! Everyone should definitely see it. I am so pleased with the amount of success it has had all around the country.
So guess what? I drive a mini-van now. Yup, that's right. And many times I pick up other missionaries who don't have a vehicle to take them to church or district meeting or shopping or other various places, so the nick-name "Mama Curtis" is starting to stick to me. Yay.
Mom, I finally got that package. Thank you very much! And thank you to Grandmas as well! I loved it and everything was much appreciated.
I love being a missionary. I am so grateful for this experience and the growth and experiences I have gained. I know there is no more rewarding work than this.
I love all of you so much, I can't even tell you. I love to hear how each of you are doing. I am so blessed to have the best family and friends in the world. I love you guys!


-Elder Curtis