Curtis, Alex

^^ Mildly edited actual text message from someone who just sat down and started reading the Book of Mormon. We love it when people actually do that because surprisingly few people are really willing but everyone who does learns a lot. This week was NUTS. Like I talked about last week, we learned a really cool trick to involve members in missionary work: don't run away to another island like two days after they notice you're at church. We stayed this whole week in Lanzarote and saw miracles. Where do I even start? Amparo, who tried several months ago to get baptized but backed off, is BACK. We had a few great lessons, talked to her son in Miami, and watched her connect with her friends in the ward again. She's taking her time but has baptism as her goal. José passed his baptismal interview! He's all set to get baptized in March. His wife Lely also just got back from the temple for the first time so they're ridiculously happy. We also had time to organize a Family Hom...

Title translation- do the thingy. The most effective way for companions to motivate each other. Forget Valentines' Day, we talking about Carnaval! Basically, Easter (Pascua) is important here because of the country's Catholic background, so important that they preceed it with a period of "fasting" (not from food, but just giving up a small luxury) that's called Lent. (Cuaresma) That's important, so logically they prepare for that by throwing massive constume parties and binging everything during Carnaval. We saw a lot of cross-dressers, carnivals, and concerts around Arrecife this week which was cool. At the beginning of the week in Fuerteventura we ran into Luca on the street again, and he had great questions about the Book of Mormon and the history it describes. He says it's sometimes tough to understand but he's working on 1 Nephi so we're hopeful. That same night we went and played basketball with my dad's old friend José who kept calling m...

2-island life be like: Had a cool exchange on Tuesday with the zone leaders, and Elder Nelson found like ten really cool people on the streets, and had Isa's friend Dolores visit one of her lessons and decide she wants in too. Legendary. So naturally that all happened like one day before we had to switch islands again. WhatsApp makes it a little easier to stay in touch, and the mission fasted for the missionaries waiting on visas last week so that situations like this can get resolved, but it's still complicated. It's okay though, because Fuerteventura needed us too. We had a good lesson with Carmen and tried to invite her grandkids to participate, read the Book of Mormon, and pray about it. I'm hopeful, they're cool kids. We also ran into Luca, an Italian guy we met through José, fake immigration police and real P-day specialist. We were just street contacting and started talking. We decided to bring him along with us while we talked to people, but explained so man...

Pretty good week! Started in Fuerteventura, met with a Facebook referral and had a pretty cool Restoration lesson, then got blocked on WhatsApp. When we called him he told us he was leaving for Barcelona, which was news for us. It's easy to wish people would just be upfront, but that's just how it goes. People are complicated. We island swapped again and I got to show Elder Nelson the island of Lanzarote and check up on our on-dates. José, whose wife and son are baptized, is on date and learning a ton. Teaching this guy started with him refusing to accept the Book of Mormon, but in our last lesson I was explaining the history of priesthood authority, taking my time and talking about the original twelve Apostles, and he couldn't wait to jump in and talk about Joseph Smith. His wife Lely is going to the temple at the end of this month and he had a lot of questions. They're definitely getting sealed next  year, but we're just focusing on his baptism. One thing at a tim...