01/06/2014

This week has been pretty good. I got a new companion on Wednesday and his name is Elder Hernandez and he is from Sugarland, Texas. He has only been out 4.5 months so he has been good keeping me going and motivated to go out and find someone to teach.  So that has been nice but it is kinda hard being companions with a "greeny" and having to do most of the work and since he is new to the area I have to figure out where we are going to go which is kind of hard sometimes especially in a slow area like the one that we are currently serving in. So far everything is going well we have pretty much the same persistent personality so that has been interesting and fun. Oh and yes the weather is still pretty cold up here but you get used to it when you walk all day everyday in it. We are currently going through the whole area book doing a little clean up and trying to find more people to teach. We are slowly starting to find some success. The wards are starting to work with us more and more and I know the work is about to progress tremendously in this area. While talking to Elder Hernandez last night I feel like this area is a lot like a train coming from a dead stop and we are slowly but surely starting to move. This is all due to the members in the area. We can do nothing without the help of the members and they have slowly started to realize that and are supporting us more and more.

Same day, a little later…

Sorry I accidentally sent that email before adding a little bit more. Here is the rest:

So basically I feel like this area once we are able to get it moving the work is going to progress and not slow down but this will be impossible to accomplish without the help of the members in our area. The work in this area will be a result of the members without the members we will continue to struggle to teach but as the members continue to help and support us the work will grow and continue to grow. Well I have to go do do some shopping now. I love y'all very much and don't forget to pray for the missionaries in your wards by name ;) 

Woo-Hoo, A Picture!

James and Sister Newman.

12/30/13

Well not a lot has happened since we got to talk on Wednesday. Haha I received the my Christmas package on Thursday, Dec 26th so I got to open those which was awesome and loved the scriptures attached to each present. I loved all of the other presents though!!!  We didn't do too much for christmas other than talk to family and hang out with one of our investigators and have dinner with him. We had some really good prime rib for dinner and got to meet a lot of his family. Unfortunately we also found out that night that Elder Badoni is being transferred but I will be staying in the area. He will be going to Pocatello West 1 area. So hopefully my new companion and I can help this area to progress. More importantly I hope that we can work well together and find some more people to start teaching. I'm sorry for the consistently short emails but I really dont know what to talk about in these emails especially in a slow area like the one I am in now. Maybe with this new companion we will have much more to report. I love y'all very much and miss y'all too!! 

12/16/13

So another week has come and gone but I am doing really well the area is still pretty slow but Elder Badoni and I are doing great. Some days are warmer than others but for the most part we are staying warm enough. No I have not gotten any thermals yet sports authority up here only have $50 under armor ones so I didn't buy any. I will look at the ones at walmart. No we are not going to the mission presidents home for christmas for one he lives too far away and two he is probably spending it with his family. Christmas is an all day pday for us so we will be spending the morning/afternoon skyping and making phone calls and then in the evening we will probably be spending it with members and investigators that have invited us over. I just got done asking Pres. Brinkerhoff in an email so I will find out next what he says and hopefully I will get to call Lindsey. No unfortunately I never found my gloves I know they are not in the old apartment because I searched that place pretty hard for them and could not find them. More than likely they fell out of my bag while teaching a lesson when I pulled out my scriptures so there is probably no way of finding them. Elder Badoni gave me an extra pair that he had and does not use anymore they are little small but I they will get me through the winter. So next week I will most likely not send an email because I was thinking since Chistmas is on wednesday and we can just talk then. So hopefully nobody gets upset with no email next week. Love y'all tons and look forward to hearing from y'all soon :) 

P.S. - Sorry for some of the random parts in this email I was answering some questions that mom had and combined it with the mass email because I did not have much to talk about this week.

My New Address in Idaho Falls

Elder James Curtis

1460 East Benton

Apt #4

Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401

12/02/2013

Well hello all this has been a really really slow week this week because of the holidays and almost everyone being out of town. I missed not being able to go out and do the crazy black friday this year but I still had a really fun thanksgiving. So this email will prob just be about thanksgiving and thanksgiving was an all day pday for us. So all of the zones in Idaho Falls started out thanksgiving with doing service from6:50am till noon helping with a turkey run marathon food donation thingy to help the less fortunate during the holidays. It was really cold but really fun mainly because the radio station was out there and we got to listen to popular songs that are currently on the radio. So we helped set everything up and got to stand near the finish line and cheer everyone on to the finish. We got to meet a lot really cool and crazy people (they were crazy because it was really cold and some people were not wearing thermals to run in) but we had a lot of fun. Then Elder Badoni (my companion and I) then went home and took a nap then showered and then the turkey feasts began. We originally had 5 dinners that wanted to feed us but we our investigators had priority and so we ended up only eating 2 thanksgiving dinners and at these dinners we were able to watch a couple football games on thanksgiving (cowboys vs raiders and ravens vs steelers). Those were fun games too and were being played at our dinners so we accidentally watched them with the families ;) And that was basically the summary of the wonderful thanksgiving that we had here in Idaho Falls. I hope that everyone else great one too in California. I better go do some shopping now so that I can have some food for this week. I love and miss y'all very much!!

11/25/2013

Well my new companion is pretty awesome! His name is Elder Badoni and he is from Albuquerque, New Mexico and he has a cousin that lives in the Klein Stake and she is currently serving a mission in Las Vegas West. Elder Badoni has come to visit his cousin a couple times and one of the times he came there was a stake dance and he believes that he has seen me there before. So that was really cool to find out but back to information about the area. I am currently serving in the Idaho Falls Central Stake covering the 3rd, 11th, and 26th wards and so far right now the area is very slow and has not had a baptism in almost 5 months but I am determined to get at least one this transfer. We do not have the biggest teaching pool currently but that will be changing soon. I have high hopes for this transfer and believe that it is going to be the best one yet! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and I look forward to what the Lord has in store us this next week. I love y'all very much and hope y'all have a great Thanksgiving week!!!