Curtis, William

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to this week's edition of south american bingo. Here in this grand cuidad de Edmonton, we've almost knocked out all the countries down south. This week was Perú! We met our new friend Jahir from Lima who's been living here for 2 months. He loves archeology and the Book of Mormon. In our first meeting he talked our ear off about how much he wanted to read the book. I say go for it Jahir, you're killing it buddy.  The work here in Edmonton is interesting. It is difficult to find consistently, but when we do, it's some of the most elect people I've ever met! Almost all the people we've found have been immigrants in the most humble circumstances I've ever seen. Like poorer than poor. And we are so blessed to be the ones to bring the gospel to them, the thing that can bring them the most joy in the whole world. Watching the gospel change people's lives is my favorite thing. Wouldn't trade it for anything. Just miracl...

If those aren't the craziest three words you've ever seen together, then odds are you had a more normal week than me. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Love this mission! So apparently there's a conflict over in the Middle east... see the city of Edmonton is a city of immigrants. Almost everyone here is from a different place (and probably going back there soon, that's what most people tell us). A high percentage of the immigrants are Muslims as well. And they are..... passionate about the conflict. We've had a couple nights where we're driving and we see groups of 30-40 people on the side of the road waving flags and chanting. Kinda surreal. Praying for everyone over there! This last week I had the great pleasure of trying an absolutely delicious Salvadorian dish known as pupusas at an inactive (not for long) members house! The Girones are awesome. Man is she passionate about her food. I asked her how she made them, and she proceeded to give me the in depth ...

What's crack a lackin my fine elders, brothers, and sisters! I miss you all, but the Lord's mission is so awesome up here in the frozen tundra. The big news of the week is Elder Seely is leavin' to Costa Rica. He sets out on Thursday. Gonna miss him. Learned a lot about missionary work. Gonna kill it down there Elder! We had a lot of outlying appointments this week, which means a lot of driving. And I don't know if I put this in here already, but I am the designated driver in Lago Lindo. Which is kind of unheard of, they usually wait till at least a year before they let us drive but here we go! We had a bunch of Road trips out in the prairies of Alberta, which was so rad. I love driving! On this week's edition of south american bingo, we visited an inactive member from argentina! They are super rare here. He's from the south of argentina and, who is, in his own words, "becoming catholic." Well I know you think that hermano leber, but not if we have any...

Hola Hermanos y hermanas, como estan? I'm loving life and loving the work, I hope you guys all are too. Alright let's dive into the week. Gonna start off with a funny story... so apparently there is such thing as a Spanish Canadian redneck. Introducing...... the Cuevas family! I had dinner with them this week, and they live super far outside of the city limits, like a 45 minute drive. Their house is out in the countryside, and they have a bunch of land where they do their  country stuff. We get to their house, and they serve us this soup. Now, if any of you know Elder Curtis, if you put food in front of him, he eats it. Period. Full stop. So I ate The Mystery Soup. Then we gave a lesson, and as I'm driving home, hermana Cuevas texts us and says hey you liked the soup? We said of course. She said good cause that was my children's Pet Rabbit and they're crying right now cause they figured it out. Never in my life had I been put on such an emocional rollercoaster. The ...

Wow. What a week. Absolute roller coaster. Strap in Brothers and Sisters. We had general Conference this week which was absolutel fire. I have so many favorite talks but if I had to choose..... I'd go with one of the greats, the one the only David A Bednar. Started the conference off with a bang, talking about those of the last wagon and how those who don't receive recognition are just as recognized in the sight of God. That talk was absolutely an answer to prayer, sometimes as a young missionary you just feel along for the ride, and wonder about your contribution to the work. Well I definitely got my answer! The Lord likes effort, but he loves maximum effort. When you give it your all, he will give you peace.  So the trio lifestyle is very very different. Different bad? Different good? We shall see. So far I like it, but sometimes it feels like there's too many cooks in the kitchen. Time will tell. I like learning new things from Elder Seely though, I love love getting new...

Hello everyone! I hope everyone has been well. Here in Canada, things are just swell. Well first transfer is in the books. It's been a whirlwind. We've been able to have some success, been able to baptize, but I know we can do better. This next transfer is going to be awesome! In other news, PLOT TWIST: We have a new companion! His name is Elder Seely. He's from southern Alberta (which apparently, is Very, Very different than northern Alberta, unbeknownst to me) and he's waiting to get his plane ticket to Costa Rica, his original assignment. This elder is also now my running buddy! So awesome, gotta get those miles in. He seems motivated, so me, him, and Elder Garibaldi are gonna go to work here in Lago Lindo. I had exchanges this week with Elder Tsai! He came to the Spanish area and we were able to teach a lesson, find someone, and go to dinner. Elder Tsai is a Stellar missionary; he's a convert who is twenty fire and got baptized two years ago. He wanted to bear h...

If you couldn't tell from the title of the email, DIANA GOT BAPTIZED WHOOOOOOOOO! It was actually so awesome. I don't know if I ever shared how we met her, so here goes. Flashback to 4-5 weeks ago, me and Elder Girabaldi were walking the dangerous calles de Edmonton, when he hopped on preach my gospel (basically the missionary app) and he said "hey we're close to someone who's met the missionaries before, let's go say howdy" or something of that nature. So we knock on Diana's house and she lets us in. Turns out she's super interested in the message. Like so much so we're talking about baptism in 10 minutes, and we set a date for septiembre 16. I got to teach her every lesson for the first time for me and her in Spanish.  The actual baptism was awesome, because the branch is so small, it's literally a family so we had half the branch there. Fun fact: yours truly was able to perform the ordinance. Which was terrifying and lit all at the same ...