poco a poco (little by little)

Hello familia! What´s up? I don’t even know where to start and there is so much I could tell you.  But, first I want you all to know how much I love you and how much I love it here at the CCM. Here in the Spain CCM there are a total of 30 missionaries here and it is SO awesome. We have Russian, French, and Spanish. they leave next Monday or Tuesday, so when they leave it will only be us Spain missionaries, so there will only be 13 of us! our MTC president, Presidente Packer is amazing. From the moment we stepped in the MTC, he shook our hand, he already knew our names and things about us. I love being in such small environment because you know everyone and you are friends with everyone. My companion is Hermana Campbell and I absolutely LOVE her. She is from Texas and we work really well together. We live in a room with 2 French sisters, Sister Liard, and Sister Crispi and they know very very little English. The first few days were a little hard with communication and we got really good at charades, but now we can communicate a lot better and they are so awesome. It will be really sad when they leave next week and I’m really going to miss them.

So as at the CCM, we all prepare talks for sacrament based on a theme that is decided for the week. While I was writing my talk Sunday morning before the meeting, I had a feeling I would be speaking.... during the sacrament I prayed so hard to feel peace, comfort and just that I could do it. Minutes later, presidente got up and of course my name was said, so last Sunday I gave my first sacrament talk in Spanish!!!

This may sound silly, but one of my biggest accomplishments from this week and something that I’m really proud of, I can say GRACIAS the correct way in Spain Spanish. It was so hard for me to get to r and th all in one... ha weird, but it´s a miracle.

My district is AMAZING and I love them all so so much. We spend a lot of time in the classroom together, learning, preparing, teaching, and I feel like I have known them for forever. It’s only week 2 and we´re already all so close! I think one of my favorite things about being here is not only representing my Savior and wearing his name, the spirit, but I love how everyone is so focused and here in the moment. We don´t have phones to distract us, we don´t have worldly things here getting in the way of the work. I love that from the moment I wake up at 6:13 to the moment I go to bed at 10:30, all I have to worry about is studying, learning, and focusing on the Lord´s work and what I can do better. Yes, obviously it is SO hard and some moments I don´t think I can take any more, but I love it and I have already learned so much about myself, this gospel, and my Savior, Jesus Christ. This week I have really learned to pray in any moment and at any time.

This week in one of our morning classes we talked about the fundamentals of missionary work. One of our teachers showed us a video and it started out with a cute little girl up on stage playing tucka tucka stop stop. The whole video, screechy tucka tucka, was playing in the background while it showed other kids trying/learning how to do things like ice skating, sports, swimming, and many other things. After, it showed a giant orchestra, Olympics, pro sport players, and so on. The lesson that we learned was showing that things take time, patience, hard work, and things don´t just come overnight or by a snap of the finger. Learning a language is hard. I’ve picked a lot back up from what I knew before and its coming along, but it’s going to take time and patience, and a lot of hard work and studying. One thing I love about being here is being fully immersed in the Spain Spanish language. The teachers talk to us in Spanish most of the time and they are so nice and helpful to correct and help translate when needed.

The gospel is also this way. As they tell us here, poco a poco. Little by little, if we trust in the Lord and His timing and His will for us, we can do it. TRUST IN THE LORD AND WORK HARD.

Like I said before, there is so much I could tell you, but I just want you to know how much I love and miss you all, but I seriously love it here. There is no place I would rather be. Last night I was in the classroom studying I looked out the window and saw the moon. It was red and so so pretty. Mom and paps, you always make fun of me for putting my finger up to the moon, but even though I am so far away, last night I felt so close to home because as you guys say, no matter where you are in the world, we´re both under the same moon.

This gospel is true, our savior loves us, and GOD is good and he is real. I still have so much to learn, but I’m excited and I love it. Sorry if this is scattered, and doesn’t make sense. I’m going to try and send some pictures.

I love you all and hope all is well!!!

much love from a little missionary in the best CCM,

Hermana Curtis