Elder Perrin - 11 February 2009

Well it's been a really good week. Well it's been really warm, super warm. I'm loving it! We of course are on bikes because of the weather. I haven't even needed a sweatshirt, it's just like spring. It's really awesome, but at the same time it feels like March or April, and it's still February, so of course the cold is going to come again, and that's the part I don't like. plus it feels like I have more time out then I really do because it feels like spring. But oh well, things are good. I got the package. I love it!!! Thanks so much. I had forgotten about the conference talks, but then when I saw those I got super excited. I absolutely love them, the talks, they help out a lot actually. They are actually really good for Spanish study too. What I do is I put in a talk, and then grab the Spanish church magazine that has all the conference talks, and then as I listen, I read along in Spanish at the same time, and it actually is good practice with grammar and pronunciation and stuff. Plus, I just especially loved this last conference, the talks were just really good. It could have been just because of a changed attitude, but I think they were just extra better this time. So thank you. The spider man is hilarious. I love it. Thanks so much for thinking about me. I really appreciate it. I'm going to try to do the dentist appointment thing soon. I just get really lax on those kind of things sometimes. Doing stuff like that as a missionary is just even more of a headache I think too. But I'll try. Well were doing really good with our investigators and stuff, we should have a baptism soon, if something bad happens I'll let you know. Satan usually does something so I'll let you know what that is. Like I said, I'm enjoying the weather. People were out in the street again, which was awesome because when people our out, I have people to talk to. We have a busy road that is really good to contact people on, and we are kind of in a slump right now so I came up with the idea of me and my comp splitting up and walking down both sides of the street, so we could talk to double the people. Man I was loving it, getting twice the work done in the same amount of time, not losing a single soul that walked by. It was the best idea I ever had I thought, but I come to find out my companion hated it. I was like AAAHHHH man, why!???? "JUST CUZ!" Alright, so he doesn't like to talk to people, who does, rejection sucks but that is life. By the end of this transfer he's going to love to contact people and talk to everyone. Ha Ha. I'll make sure of it. You know, rejection isn't so bad. It's what makes you look even better right? Missionaries in Mexico and South America have no idea. It makes me laugh to hear rejection stories from Mexico. "One time this guy was actually opposed to us, and said no, I was astonished." Ha! Ha! No I don't know. Missionary life is good, I'm not gonna lie. I have no complaints, except for the fact that I can't talk to Zach right now. It hurts not being able to be there to help him. I wish I could call him. You should call Sister Stoddard and explain the case and maybe she would let me. Ha! Ha! No joke. She might. I hope he's alright, I miss him a lot. Well, I'm out of time. I'll try to write a letter this week, if not, don't hate me. Love curt

Elder Perrin - 4 February 2009

I was just gonna say hi, tell you I'm fine. I am doing really great actually. This week my ward really impressed me with their testimonies. Most members here, well most of the solid ones and the happier ones usually make it to the temple once a week, even though the economy is awful and the temple is like an hour away. But the temple here is closed for awhile, so they rented a bus and they all pitched in to go to the Nauvoo temple. I was really impressed, I mean, the temple near our house if 5 minutes away, and Ihardly ever went. but wow, they go every week, one hour away, and then who know how far Nauvoo is away from here to make sure they go every week. It was cool, a good example to me. This week I went on exchanges with, probably the best missionary in this entire mission. I'm not joking, he really is the best missionary we have. It was good. I learned a lot from him. He's really smart, hard working. A little intense and intimidating at times, but it was good I learned a lot. Um, we had a good week, we should be set on the 21st this month for a baptism. We have 4 people ready, one that is super strong but still has a divorce issue. One who got sick this week so we couldn't give him a date, and the other two are getting ready. The work is good. We love knocking doors in the cold. Love you all. Love curt

Elder Perrin - 14 January 2009

Well here's my take on the scriptures. It's not about the number of times you read them, and it's not about the amount of time put in them. It's very simple. Nephi says the scriptures are for our profit and learning, and our benefit. So, in my opinion it's not about reading the entire book, although that is just fine. And it's not about listening to it in the car on the way to work. It's about what you take from them. So at the end of whatever study session you do, if you can't answer the question, "What did I take from this?" In my opinion, you have just wasted your time. The whole reason it's better to read than to listen is so that you can write your thoughts that come into your mind on something, or mark a scripture you like and look deeper into the subject. Or sometimes it's just reading something and sitting there thinking about it for like 10 minutes. But if your doing a comparison to if it counts as reading the Book of Mormon, or is it the same? Well that depends. In most cases yes it is the same, because most of us sadly just read the Book of Mormon passively as if it were a story, so listening to it in the car is no different. I hate it when I hear that, "How many times have you read the Book of Mormon?" Who cares? That's not the point. That's all my opinion. Check with bishop on that one. See what he says I guess.

Well thanks for the letter. One question. What in the world is a Jewelry Party?? I have never heard of this. Is it where you all get together and just wear jewelry and see who looks the prettiest, and drink some tea and talk for ten hours. Or do you make jewelry or something at someones house, like get all the stuff together and make little bracelets and stuff. What in the world is a jewelry party??? So why is charlie sick all the time??? Is he eating healthy food and exercising??? It seems like he has been sick a lot lately, I don't know, I feel bad for him.

Well things are the same here. We're getting closer to a baptism, but not quite there yet, I'll let you know if anything happens. As far as weather goes, well it's about o degrees, and on the bike, I don't know how cold that it. If it's like this next year when I come home, Utah will be a vacation. A car, heating, in buildings all day, plus it never gets below like 20 degrees there. Vacation, I think golf would be fun.

Things are good. Love you all

Letters to Charlie - 1 February 2009

Charlie, my best buddy. How are you? Thanks so much for your letter. It was so awesome to get a letter from you in the mail. It sounds like you are having a fun time especially in Christmas. Christmas is so awesome. I miss playing in the snow with you, especially making snow forts. I love making snow forts. It's so cool when there is a lot of snow, So you got to tell me what the Crane test is. I have no idea what that is. Were you so nervous when you gave your talk??? I would be nervous giving talks is really scary. HEE! HEE! I'm still staying warm and my apartment does not have a fireplace, but that would be so cool. When the golf ball hit the glass in the apartment, it didn't break all the way, it just had a few cracks. But then when another missionary came in, his name is Elder Wetstone, he decided to try the golf trick, but since he's not very smart or good at golf he hits it and shatters the glass on his first shot. Me and my companion were a little mad at him, but Elder Wetstone is so cute and cheery and giggly that it's impossible to stay mad at him. Elder Wetstone is one of my best friends out here in the mission.

What does purple belt mean? How many belts are there in karate? When I get home will you be able to beat me up? That would be scary.

My mission is going good, I love my area that I'm in right now. I don't want to leave this area ever. Not until the end of my mission. Well, it's pretty cold here, but not so cold that my spit freezes by the time it hits the ground., It doesn't get that cold here. Only about 15 it gets at the coldest, but not all the time. We don't ride bikes anymore, which makes me sad because I love bikes. But my companion doesn't really have adequate gear to do it and doesn't really want to and I don't blame him. He just got here from an area with a warm car, and got put into the worst place possible you could be in the winter. So, we walk and ride bus now. It has slowed down in every respect, which kind of gets to me sometimes and makes me want to just go ride the bike. We stay warm though. I have a really warm coat, and I put sweat pants on underneath my pants to keep my legs warm. I have a lot of room in my pants now because I lost a lot of weight.

But the work is going really good. My new companion is really funny and cool. We have a few really awesome investigators who are going to be baptized soon. Their names are Maria and Griselda. Maria is 19 and has a baby of 2 years old. She has had a lot of problems in her life, especially drugs and parties, and she never cared for her baby, she always let her mom do that. But she has completely turned around, and has changed 100%. She even said that she feels too lucky, and doesn't deserve the happiness she has, and was totally serious about it too and asked me about it and didn't understand why she deserves it. She is awesome.

The other is Griselda, and she lives right under the apartment of the family Acosta. She has been coming to church for a while, but never wanted to be pushed into hearing us. She just barely opened up to us and she loves everything now. She loves the church, has a super solid testimony and is going to be baptized soon. Maria is really good friends with Griselda. Griselda has a few kids that are good friends of Maria as well, and then the family Acosta all go to church together. And they love us too!

We have a few part member families that we are working with right now. I'll let you know how it goes. The other day, we went to teach a part member family a lesson, but he actually ended up singing us a bunch of songs. We found out he used to sing in bars and restaurants, and he volunteered to sing for us, so I couldn't refuse. It was pretty funny. He wasn't a bad singer for a Mexican. Most can't carry a tune worth crap. The ones that think they can sing are even worse usually. But the "work" is good, if that's what ya call it.

Tell Bishop to write me if you can. I really wanted to hear from him and also get his take on everything that has been going on. Thanks dad for the letter. I don't think you realize how much just a letter means, especially without hearing from ya in so long. So, thank you.

Love you Charlie, and I guess I love the rest of you too. Curtis

Elder Perrin - 28 January 2009

We had a good week with our solid investigators. They are still set to get baptized. I love Griselda, she is so so nice and just loves us and man she is awesome. Maria is doing good as well, but is having troubles with her mom accepting. I wouldn't even call it that because her mom has come a long ways, clearly her heart has been way softened and I think it's only going to get better. This week we had a huge drop in numbers, as far as lessons. It just all slows down here especially since were not riding bikes anymore, we have to walk everywhere which isn't my preference, but whatever. What's been happening, well nothing really.

Elder Perrin - 21 January 2009

Hey! I had a question. Would i be able to get a dentist appointment, I just want to make sure my teeth are OK. Ever since I went like 3 years without seeing a dentist it just makes me want to see a dentist every year to do a check up. Does insurance cover that? Well this week was a little warmer, well it warmed up here a little. We're doing well with our investigators. We have about 3 that are getting really close to baptism, so that should be pretty exciting. I'm pretty confident that they will be baptized, and I usually am not confident, so that's a sign. Um... other than that, nothing really new. I'll write you all a letter today I think, and send my memory card home. Tell the family I love them for me. thanks for everything. I'll try to get that letter out as soon as I can.

Love Curt

Elder Perrin - 7 January 2009

This week , well today I got a new companion. His name is Elder Call. He's been out for about nine months. He seems really cool, but I miss Elder Stuart already. I loved that guy, not gonna lie. And nothing really much happened this week. And to be honest, I just am having a hard time thinking right now. I'm really tired so this email is going to be lame. Plus I have some annoying teenage girls right behind me that won't be quiet.



So, let me think, everything is basically the same, except of course the new companion. I'm still in the same area and all that, and so yeah, nothing new. Um... I'm sure there is something I could write but I can't think at all right now. The work is good, we had a few hold ups with investigators, except Antonio. He wants to get baptized but has a wife in Mexico. So right now, we're talking to the Stake President who is a lawyer. Hopefully we can get that worked out. He loves the church and the Book of Mormon, reads and marks it, plus he volunteers for Church service and cleaning activities. He is awesome.



Other than that, I just don't remember. Plus I'm just not feeling 100 percent right now. Have a good week. Tam I'm sorry. I'm still writing your letter. I'll try to get it out. I sent some garments home because I didn't need them plus they have the neck I don't like. I'll let you know if I need garments, that will probably be easier.



Have a good week. Love Elder Perrin

Letters to Charlie - December 19th, 2008

Hey Charlie! Guess what?! Christmas is almost here. Are you so excited? I am. Christmas is awesome. But guess what also, my companion Elder Stuart is teaching me how to rope stuff, and I've been practicing a lot and I'm getting really good. Stuart is training me for the rodeo a few years down the road. We're gonna go all over the place and go to all the rodeos and stuff. And then, I'll be so good that I will be able to rope you when your running away. "Come back here!" And then I rope your foot and drag you back. Ha! Ha!That's how I'm going to do it. I am not going to chase you. I'll just throw the rope. Elder Stuart says I can come help on his ranch after the mission some time, and he said he would teach me all about it. That would be way cool. So, I stand at the back of the apartment, and at the other end is my bike, like 15 feet away. I rope the handle bars and then I rope the seat, and I show the bike who is boss! Yah!

I'm also getting very good at my golf game. Basically, I chip the ball from the back of the apartment, over the coffee table, right over the bike, right underneath 2 glass doors in this little counter top inside the wall and right into my helmet! Bam! Like a pro, eh? When I get home, I'm hopefully going to be good at least my short game.

But I don't go home for a long time. A really long time. So guess what else? It snowed about 8 inches here in Chicago, except here in the city, it has nowhere to go, so they just pile it up wherever they can. It's pretty crazy on the bikes, we are slipping and sliding all over the place, I about crashed like 20 times. I was riding on the busy street next to some cars, and I slipped, but I didn't go down. I stayed on my feet. If I had fallen, the car would have ran all over me. So, I decided to stay on the sidewalk, even though its illegal. Me and Stuart decided to have a competition. Every time someone yells, it's a dollar. So far, I'm losing.

Well, that's it for this week. I hope school is good. I hope work is good. I'm sure you're big enough to beat the crud out of dad. Am I right? Well, talk to you soon buddy (and I am still your best friend)! I know it. Love you tons and miss your tonz.

Love Curt

Letters to Charlie - November 2008

Hey Charlie! What's up buddy!

Charlie, I have not seen you forever! How have you been? How is school? Are you learning a lot and making new friends? What is your teacher's name? What are you learning right now? Are you doing math and reading? Is your class fun? How about the snow? Is there a lot of snow? Have you been to the mountains yet to go skiing or sledding? Has dad taken you to the big ski lifts to go off some crazy jumps!! Or do you just go for rides on the 4-wheelers? What are you going to ask Santa for Christmas? What is the coolest toy you have seen that would be so cool to have?

So mom told me about the magic show you saw. That must have been crazy! I cannot believe you got to go up and do a magic trick with the guy! That must have been so awesome. What did you see when you were doing the magic trick? I can't believe he made you disappear! That must have been so so cool!

So, I have a story for you. I thought you might enjoy some stories from Chicago. One day, me and Stuart were riding our bikes on the road, and the road was really icy. We were trying to be careful because I didn't want to fall, but it didn't work, because all of a sudden my bike slipped from under me and went flying across the road, and I went sliding across the road. It was pretty scary, but it didn't hurt too much because missionaries don't get hurt, because God gives us super powers! Kind of like Spider Man has super powers to do all the cool stuff, yeah, we get super powers too. God makes it so we don't feel pain or get hurt. It's pretty cool. It's pretty wild riding bikes in the snow, because we can't see to well and it gets cold int eh face some times. And the snow on the road turns to slush, and then it's too wet and then we get really wet because water is going everywhere! But it's a cool adventure.

And the other day, me and Stuart were taking out the garbage for a really nice lady, and we saw a pigeon walking on the ground. Pigeons are always walking around here, but Elder Stuart is really good at roping things. This day he brought a little rope with him. I said, "Hey! A pigeon! Too bad you don't have your rope!" And he says, "Actually, I do." So he pulls up to the pigeon really slowly, and gets really close and tosses his rope and hooks it! Then the pigeon just starts going crazy and starts flapping and all that. So then he grabs the pigeon and takes the rope off really slowly and lets it go. It was really funny and I was laughing really hard.

You know the other week we went into the big part of the city and went to the biggest Christmas tree I have ever seen! It was about 5 times as high as our house! It was really tall, and it had lights on it and everything. A lot of stuff happens in the city, there are a lot of people. Maybe, if I ever get home, we can take a trip back here and hang out for a week here in Chicago and all the places I have been. That would be cool.

Tell me about all your school stuff that goes on and about all the fun stuff you're doing. Tell me about karate and all the guys your beating up. Do you like karate and kicking the trash out of other kids? Tell me all about it. How about any cool new movies? Tell me about all the cool stuff you're doing. Thanks for praying for me to be a good missionary. I am pretty sure your prayers are working great! Because I am getting better every day. I can feel it! Thanks bro for your prayers. Sorry I can't be there to play with you and hang out with ya, but when I get home we'll play all the time, and we'll be best buds again. O.k?

Love you dud. Be good and have a good week! Love Curt

November - December

Nov. 5, 2008 Hey, good week this week. Yeah the south side of my area where all the ghetto is... supposedly went crazy last night. (President Obama's electoral speech in Chicago) I don't know the details. This week was really warm, really warm, it's been nice. Everthing is good, thanks for everything. Have a good week.

Nov.12, 2008 Thanks for the winter stuff and for the pictures. I was afraid dad had maybe died in a four wheeler accident or something and no one wanted to tell me, until I saw the photos, so I'm glad that everyone is doing good. Ok.

Nov. 19, 2008 Well, I guess I'll just write a little bit here. This week was great. I do find it a little hard to write stuff sometimes because I just lose motivation for writing people at home that don't write me. Let's just face it, I fell off the face of the planet, why bother writing these emails or letters. You don't want me to know what goes on at home, well I don't have any motive to let people know what goes on here.

Nov. 26, 2008 Well, this week I got nailed by a car, and so my bike is really messed up. I apologize for that, but it's going to cost around 100 bucks to put the wheels back strait and re-aline the brakes. I chose not to straiten the bent frame because that would cost around 150 or 200, so basically what the guy did for me was offset the tires a little bit to make up for the frame. So it cost a bit because he spent a while on it and I didn't know how to do it. So I apologize for that. If anyone would like the awesome stories I have like this one, well, all you got to do is send me some pictures, maybe send me a little letter or something like that, that way I'll have some motivation to let people enjoy these priceless missionary moments. But at the moment I just have no motivation nor desire to do so. As you can see by Zachs email, all it took was a little bit and I just open up. So there you go. Well, I just had to throw all that in just in case anyone wanted the story but was confused as to why they didn't get it. Once again, sorry for being expensive. I promise it wasn't my fault. I just let it go and forgot that maybe it would cost a lot to fix the bike. Oh well, when you keep the commandments it shouldn't matter because the Lord just takes care of ya anyways. Have a good week and a Happy Thanksgiving. P.S. Tam, everyone loves your potatoes. I cook them once a week or so and just eat them all week. They rock! Love Curt

Dec. 3, 2008 Hey,I really don't need a new bike. I thought I mentioned in the email that it wasnt' a big deal, my bike works fine. Sorry if I made it a big deal. Mom, I also was going to tell you, I don't know if you did it on accident, but my address is 2640 Leclaire 2. I don't think you wrote the right number there when I got your letter. Luckily I got it just the other day. Sorry if I wrote it wrong to ya. Also the cd you sent me awhile ago, I keep forgetting to tell you, it doesn't play anything. I don't know if it was for music or what. If it was for music, you probably forgot to put it on the right burn format, so the files you put on didn't work. I don't know. Anyway, this week was good.

Dec. 10. 2008 Hi,thanks for the Christmas tree, it was really nice. Thanks for all the love and support back home. This week was good. We got some more snow and it got a little bit colder. Thanks for the pictures as well, it's good to see everybody and to hear from everyone. What do I do with the huge sheets of pictures??? Am I supposed to cut it up and put it like in a photo album or do I hang it up??? I didn't really want to hang it up because it wasn't really my style, so is cutting out ones I want to keep ok??? If I send you my memory card home, will you promise not to erase the movies??? Ok, I think I'm out of questions. Things are good, and I did have one other point of buisness. On Christmas Day for the whole "phone call" thing, I will be calling before 7 am, or after 7 pm, my time. Most likely at night, but it's not sure yet. Anyway, thanks for everyting and have a good week. Love Curt

Dec. 17, 2008 Well this week we got a lot of snow. It's pretty crazy riding the bike around in it. Well, as for the story if anyone wants to really know, I was riding on the sidewalk, just getting out of an appointment with Stuart right in front. We are about to cross an alley way and right as Stuart crosses, he looks back as if to give a warning of somekind, but I didn't really know that at the time. Anyway, right as I am about to cross the alley, a white car just happens to be there going too fast and forgeting to honk, and hits me on the front of my bike. Natureally, I go flying and my bike got hurt. I got up off the ground really quick and in my frustration looked at the lady driving with a look of "are you stupid?!" and said, "HONK NEXT TIME!" and did some sort of hand motion to make it more intense. Well I felt kind of bad for that, so I pull over to the side and she gets out to come say sorry for hitting me and all that, and I calmed my voice down and put on my fake missionary vioce and said, "That's alright, go ahead. No don't worry about insurance just go ahead. I'm fine. Don't worry. You're fine. Go ahead..." and then she drove off and I got on my bent piece of crap and rode off. I thought it was handled pretty christlike if you ask me. Could have been better, but lifes a progress right? Well, I'm out of time. Have a good week. Love Curt

Dec. 30, 2008 If you wondering why you got this before you wrote an email, well, it's because you procrastinated and I beat you to it. The library is closed this Wednesday, hence the email on Tuesday. Well, no new news, except this week in church I sang a solo for my good friend Elder Naholewa who goes home tomorrow. It was crazy, especially because I had no piano, and I can't sing, and the song is long and goes high at times. Yep, 'God Be With You Till We Meet Again'. My goal was to get him to cry, but he didn't. But he said he was moved, so that was good. The good thing about singing in a spanish ward is that you don't have to be very good to be better than everyone else at singing, and frankly they don't know the difference. So there mom. I did if for you. Too bad you weren't there to see my first performance, which also happens to be my last! Ha Ha. I'm serious. I'm never doing that again. Have a good week.

Elder Perrin - 15 October 2008

Hey! I was wondering if it was possible to make a few cd's of all the conference talks from this session of conference. Does anyone have the capabilities to do that? I was kinda wanting the conference talks. I think it would be good to listen to. I was going to tell you as well, I accidentally let someone in the ward borrow my camera, and he downloaded all the pictures from it to his facebook page. So if you want to see my pictures just look up his facebook page. fvargus4009@comcast.net is the email or something and then his name is Fernando Vargus. Hope that will work to see some pictures. I don't have an extra memory card. I don't want to send this one home. Anyway, we had a good week. The numbers were low and we didn't teach as much, but that's the way it goes. We might have a baptism in a few weeks. This past week was really surprisingly warm, but it should get cold soon. Have a good week.

Curt

Elder Perrin - 1 October 2008

Well I decided I should probably leave all the pointless random stuff out of these emails and just write the stuff thats spiritual and all that. I am starting to think that maybe I just didn't understand that something shouldn't be written home right? Somethings people just don't need to hear, right? So I guess I will share what I have learned.

Well, this week was a good one, we did a lot of finding. I like finding just as much as teaching, they both have thier ups and downs. I did think of a good analogy to missionary work this week, it just came to me, and you can all quote this in your own talks or lessons if you would like. This is what I have learned.

Missionary work is like the game of golf. One day you have an amazing day, everything goes right, couldn't be happier. The next day you go out, expecting the exact same amazing game you had the day before, but it turns out to be the worst day of golf you ever play. The next time you go out, it still sucks pretty bad, and frustration starts to creep in. The next time, not much different, till the point where you just want to throw in the towel. And then you go out again and you have a fantastic day just out of nowhere, and you ask yourself, why couldn't I do that the day before?

Well the truth is this is about the best analogy I have ever thought of. But this week we had a good number of lessons and members are good to help here. We had a good baptism the other day that went well. The spirit was really good there, really strong. The church is true, this work is good, all is well.

Mom, don't send any sweaters, I think I'll be fine. I went to a thrift store and found some for cheap. Mr. Mac will rip you off though, I know that much. I wish I would've gone to Burlington Coat or JC Penny to buy my suits. Zach, don't go to Mr. Mac for suits. Wal- mart seriously does the job just fine. So don't worry about the sweaters. If you want, get ties. Pick out radical colorful ties. Tam does the best I think, if you really want to send stuff, send me cool ties, mine are looking a little grungy. Don't get them extra long either, that was a mistake. Ties. Charlie would love to pick one out. I haven't made an eye visit because I have one more pair of contacts. I'll let you know about that later.