Oops! The letter before last! April 7th

thanks for the letters and uplifting thoughts, it was nice. I didn't get the full conference experience i felt, so i was hoping if it doesn't cost too much that maybe you could send me the conference cds when theyre out. In spanish you don't get the same emotion or same words, so i probably just needed a better attitude, but to be honest i felt i shorted myself on conference. i repented though. anyway this week we just have been trying to ge tsomething started and were doing pretty good i think. I miss the bike of course, we both do. but were alright. the car is kind of a downer but at the same time it has it's benefits i guess. Happiness is all in your head, it's all about attitude. you just got to look on the good side, because if you don't, life is just hellish misery. so were good. we have met some members, we met a few crazy less actives, we met a few investigators and basically were just trying to clean up a kind of mess the sisters left us. i think i'm going to try to play some golf sometime, i have't had a round of golf for like 20 months or so, that is pretty crazy. I'll write a letter, but thanks for the email, love you tonz
love curt

Elder Perrin - 15 April 2009

So, I guess I have some crazy news for you all. My mission president just barely moved me out of Rockford and put me back into the city zone. So I have a new address again. Friday morning I recieved the call, and Saturday afternoon I was back in the city in my new area called Albany Park. So just send stuff to the mission home, that would be the best thing. If you sent anything to Rockford recently, I am not going to get it. Sorry. However mom, I did get your Easter box. Thanks a ton. The food ideas I will definitely use and the candy, well who doesn't like candy right. The problem with candy though is that when it's just there in front of me, I just eat it. If its not there I don't even care for it, but when it's there I just eat it, and then I turn into a ball of lard. It's gross! At least that's what I feel like. But thank you a bunch, I love you all

So my new area is right above my last area, but a lot bigger. So if you by chance look at my bank statement and see that a little bit of money has been taken out, that's because of a few reasons. The first reason is because I had to drop a lot of money for supplies for the last apartment in Rockford. When the last missionaries left, they left nothing there. I had to buy cleaning supplies, they had no food at all, so I had to buy tons of food, soap, laundry soap, and just stuff like that, so it took a lot of money. The second reason is because when I came back here, I had a broken bottom bracket on my bike and had to get it fixed, and the apartment had no maintainance supplies to maintain my bike, so I had to buy that stuff because Elders are just stupid. So I dropped money on that, leaving me way below broke. I'm sorry, I just basically got kind of messed over on the whole process, on both sides, I couldn't do anything about it but smile. We all know how good I am at that. Just say sure Pres. No worries. No for real - I'm not bothered but on the money side, I took a hit.

The only really sad part about this is that I had to leave Elder Brown, my super awesome companion. That made me way bummed out and sad because I was having such a bomb diggady of a time serving with him. He is just that awesome. He was turning me into a spiritual person and I was loving it. He just was really that amazing, so that made me sad. But other than that, it's not really a big deal. Hopefully one day I will get to serve with Elder Brown again. I think it is very possible.

My new companion is Elder Melchor. He has been out like 2 months, and is doing good. He is a Mexican, so he likes beans, and he speaks really well the Spanish and stuff. I plan to learn a lot from him. He is the kind that was raised speaking English and Spanish, so he is more white than brown, but his spanish is really good. He is the quieter type, but he opens up and I think I can get him to be a little more energetic. I Already got him to confess some crazy things to me, stuff he said he has never told anybody before! (ha! ha!) Nothing bad though. But we should do a good job and stuff, we get a long and all that. No worries.

Today has been a crazy day and it's going to get even more crazy becaause were going to see a Chicago Cubs baseball game. I'm pretty stoked for that. But man I have just been on one this morning. I have just been going throught the house like a worldwind just cleaning the crap out of this apartment here. I just like went on a cleaning rampage, like ahahhhahaaahah, bleeeeeech ahahah hah hahaha, clorooooox oaafoahaohaohao, moooooooop adnahoahahahoahaoa, vacuuuuuum aaoh aohaoahaohoaaoaoaalahah, windex windex windex windex windex windex windex windex. and then elder Melchor tells me they never cleaned the apartment. WHAT!!! more windex!!!!!!!!!! ha ha ha ha oh man, i just don't understand how people can let it get that bad. its been the same in every apartment, I just have to give the clean spree, it just blows my mind. All the Elders tell me my wife is going to love me though, I just hope so though. I hope it scores me points later on. like be on a first date with like a really pretty girt, be like "hey just so you know, you will never have to clean the house if we by chance get married" whatever i can do right. Alright maybe not.

So what else here, well I didn't write a letter as you can tell, and I probably am not going to get to it, things are just a little bit out of order and frankly I just don't have the time. You see, I don't know if people at home realize this, but if I by chance "make time" for a letter, that means I have aactually broken a commandment. Its as if I broke a regular comandment. So I seriously am trying to write a leter, I will try even harder. hopefully I can get to it. I imagine you guys are on your vacation......again.... so i'm sure you won't miss a letter anyways. However, Charlie's letter was really really cute, I love him. I just want to give him the biggest hug ever. CHARLIE I LOVE YOU!!!!! I cant wait to come home and play with you. I pray for you to do good in school. And to have lots of friends. Well I can't think of anything at the moment. I didn't get a chance to read much of the emails so I will print them and read them. I love you all, I hope you are all safe and happy. But most of all happy.

Love, Curt

Elder Perrin - 1 April 2009

So I am in a new area, Rockford its called. I'm not going to lie, it's a pretty crazy situation. President called me up last morning and told me about the assignment and stuff. Basically he took out both the sisters of the area (the only spanish speaking missionaries in the area) and sent me and Elder Brown in here to get a branch started. Basically all they have is a group that goes to the English ward and they have to listen to a translator and stuff, and they don't really have any priesthood to get a branch started, well supposedly, I don't know. So he told me all about it and so now I'm here, whitewashed in, no longer in the city which is a bummer but oh well I guess. Here's the trippy part. The area is right next door to Woodstock, my last area before the city. So basically almost exactly one year ago I was taking the exact same course into Woodstock, the exact same road, at the excact same time of the year and everything. It was really wierd. It made me kind of nervous actually, all the cornfields are the exact same as when I first saw them and the weather was the same and everthing. So I am on the opposite side of the mission now, away from all my friends and stuff, basically away from everybody. Rockford however is a really large place. It's got a few big buildings and stuff, I think it's like the second biggest city in our mission. So I think I could be here a really long time. I forgot my adress, my apologies, I'll get it to you next week. You're safe to send anyting to this Rockford address if you want. If you were wondering, no I do not live with members again, thank goodness. We have actually a cool apartment on the 7 th floor and looks over a river and stuff, I like it. I can't believe how dirty the sisters left it though. I thought women were clean, I guess I was mistaken. Or maybe I'm just picky, I don't know. Elder Brown, my new companion is really cool. He's really spiritual but really cool and funny. The best part about elder brown (because I have done exchanges with him and I know him well enough to say this) is that he is completely down to do missionary work. That is all I wanted was someone who was totaly down to tract, to contact, to teach, to do it, and not have to feel like I'm dragging him around. So I think were going to get a lot done. Thanks for the pictures and the letter!

I am so sorry I forgot about your birthday Charlie!!!! Forvige me please, I feel so bad. I don't even remember what day it is. The 23rd? I'm so horrible. Just shoot me, but I love you bud. Happy birthday!!!! I love you!!!! So it sounds like things are going good for everybody, Wow I have a headache right now. So I am going to miss my bike, and as for the money about Elder Calls bike, don't worry about it. If he really needed it, he wouldn't have bought one that was twice as expensive as the first one. I'm glad to have Elder Brown as my companion, I really am. Well love you all. Love Curtis

Wow, do you realize that it has been 10 months since I have driven a car??? That is crazy, just crazy. Elder brown and I had to say a prayer berfore leaving because, you never know, I was just scared out of my brains to drive. I was like, what is this stick looking thing right here in the middle, and what dose D mean again??? ha ha! Our apartment is so full of girl crap it's not even funny. For some reason we found a tiny bottle of lotion that said it was used for tightening skin after pregnancy. I was like hmmmm, why would they need this??? Knowing the sister that was in here a while ago, I'm surprised I didn't find any midol lying around because she was crazy, I mean hard core peruvian crazy. Man, this is a trip though, it really is crazy. I like challenges though. Do you realize that I will see the corn grow all over again??? That is crazy. Alright, there is a difference this second time around, because it does feel like a "second time around". The difference is that now I actually want to be here, don't laugh, alright and it also helps that my companion is not depressed, that he does not have a chance at getting depressed. So I will let you now how it goes. If you read this email first, it's not going to make sense, you gotta read the other one first!

Elder Perrin - 18 March 2009

Well last week i had my whole email all typed out, and then the time ran out on the computer and it didn't get sent. I was super ticked, and i'm really sorry i didn't get it sent off. But It was a really good long email basically detailing all of the stupid stuff that's going on here. So i'll give you an update. So about two weeks ago we got pulled out of a church class by the ward mission leader, who then introduces us to Fernando Moscol, husband of a member named Rosa Moscol. He says, fernando is going to be baptized this saturday he had an interview with the steak president. you guys need to go over and visit with him. So we were like ok, thats cool, thanks for telling us. I had never even met teh guy nor seen him in church. supposedly he's bee an investigator for like 20 years or something like that, just forever. So we call the mission president, who calls the steak president. he then calls us back to tell us the situation. The steak president told Fernando to talk to the missionaries to see if the missionaries had anything they needed to teach first, and if it was alright, then he would come and speak at his baptism that upcoming saturday. But only if it was all ok with them, and with the missionaries. that is what the steak president said, basically check with the missionaries and if you get baptized this saturday, he would come to give a talk. ok, so we go over there, and we start taalking and it's a good talk. but we find out he has never read out of the book of mormon and he hasn't been coming to church, and he doesn't have a testimony. so I say ok '" well we'd like to come by a few more times to teach you a little bit more about the church, would it be alright if we move the date of your baptism a few weeks ahead?" He was fine with it, his wife was not. She kept her cool pretty well in the appointment, she didn't yell or anything, but i could tell she was really upset. she started saying that they already made the date, that the steak president was already set to come and speak, and that he had already taken all the lessons from the missionaried a dozen times and that he was ready bla bla bla stuff like that. obviously he was not ready, so i told her we wanted to make even more sure he was ready and just go over all the important docorine of the church. so i said, " would that be alright with you sister moscol?" she yes after trying to calm her down and trying to reason and talk nicely with her. ok so the appointment couldv'e been worse. so we called them later in the week to see if we could come by, and they just told us they would call us. so alright, no big deal. But after chruch this sunday, Elder Powell comes up to me and starts telling me about Hermana Moscol, about how she came up to him in the hall and just started going off on me. I mean just going off saying the most ridiculous things about how I'm just a bad missionary saying her husband cant' be baptized and how my leaders need to talk to me to straiten me out and how i am of the devil the way i talked to them and shouldn't be a missionary and that someone needed to take my place and they don't want us over to teach them that they wanted Elder Powell and Gonzolez to teach them and just all this stuff. So elder powell told me all this, and was just stunned obviously, but i decided to let it go and not worry about it, we were just doing our job. President Stoddard knows about it all, so it didn't really phase me because hey, I delt with this kind of stuff before with some girls crazy parents throwing all kinds of crazy false stuff at me, i'll just let it go, you can't change poeple. so i just let it go, until we went over to members house to eat lunch yesterday, and she brought it up because she wanted to hear our side of the story. All she herd from sister moscol was that we said " Fernando, why do you want to be baptized?" and that its our fault he cant' be baptized and stuff like that. so she was cool, i love this member, she is like my favorite. so we told her the story and got it all cleared up with her and she said she would try to help stop any gossip. so the reason that worried me was because i don't want some stupid lady going and saying all this kind of false crap the rest of the ward, that however, would piss me off a lot and i would not have the patience to just let it go. So we went over to the church last night to try and catch the bishop so see if he could help us smooth over the situation. We get to the chappel and right as we get off our bikes, guess who gets out of thier car and walks in to the chappel? yep the Moscol family. so basically i could tell they were upset at us, and i thought maybe they are the ones with the appointment with the bishop, that could be really bad. so we waited outside of the church for the bishop to get there, and when he got there we explained everything to him. and then what he said was basiclly this " don't worry elders, I know this family, they always want to have it thier way and they like to cause problems in th ward. thats just how they are, but you have nothing to worry about i got you covered, it will be alright i know you guys didn't do anything wrong." so we were pretty relieved that the bishop was really cool about it. this whole thing has been just a pain in the neck, not only that but it's like - i'm here as missionary trying to make this ward grow, and the whole world hates us. and now we have poeple of the same church i'm serving who hate us and are against us and want to bring us down. thats really cool isn't it? it's almost of enough to make you want to just go home to where poeple love you. It has just been like a replay of nightmare i lived with Candaces parents, and it just makes me sick. oh well, i'm not giong to worry about it at all, the members of the ward love me, i'm like thier favorite elder. they would all give me a place to live if i asked them, thats how cool a lot of the members are here. so i have no worries. hey i was wondering, could you by chance send my baseball glove. it's the old catchers style glove that should be in a box. maybe if you have time and find it , i would love to have it. thanks. I got all the pictures, thanks so much it was awesome to see some recent photos. Zach needs to shave though and clean up. tell him he needs to write me. ok love you. curt

Elder Perrin - 25 March 2009

Baptism On the Way

hey how is it all going? things are good here, we had a week full of no success, but hey, that's how it goes. however we are going to have a baptism this saturday, his name is roberto. he is awesome the best way i can describe him is "running wolf' and he is really in tune with the spirits, ha ha. But he's really cool. he has all these weird dreams and stuff and he always talks for like an hour telling us about them. its crazy, his wife is going inactive right now, but he just wants to be baptized. they might get divorced, but maybe she'll come around. anyway i will send some pictures of that when i get a chance.

Is it Rachel?

i read two lines of your email and the pictures of rachel, well, they came from the girl on the far right, who sent them to an elder right next door named elder hadden. elder hadden got the pictures from her, and i was over at thier house one night and saw the pictures and was like "no way i'm pretty sure that's my cousin' and they didn't believe me, but i was like " i'm not 100 %, but like 98 % positive that is my cousin in the photo" so i sent them to you to ask rachel if that was her in the picture. so is it her??? if that is her, that is just funny.

Early Home Date

so as far as the whole thing with school, well you never really gave me your oppinion on my go home date, what is your oppinion/?? i really need to know this, because if people are going to be thinking rude things because of my changed go home date, i need to know, so i can just change it back, and miss my scholorship and a whole semester of school. and if that be the case, i wanted to know if i had a chance at still going to college in the fall, and if by chance i did, would there be a chance for a scholorship in the fall somewhere. so i need to know what you think,

Recipies, Music and Pictures for Easter

so you asked what i would want for like an easter thing, well i did think of somethign just recently. i was thinking i could use some more food recipes, some like simple food recipes that are tastey, that don't take tooo much time. maybe if you had any ideas, you could just send me some good food recipes, for like some good dinners or quick lunches or something like that. maybe there is a book they make for that kind of stuff. i don't know, it was just an idea, i would put something like that to good use. other than that i don't really know what i could use. i always enjoy new spiritual music or piano music or something like that. feel free to just send whatever. pictures are always the best i think. like i think the best way to do letters is to write a short letter, and throw in a few recent pictures every time, like it's just the best. a short letter with a few pics, you can't beat that as a missionary.

Transfer

so this pday were going to the zoo, i don;'t want to go because i have been there, but everybody wants to so , oh well, i guess i have to. next week i might be in a different area. i hope they keep me in the city, but if not i am going to have a hard time for a few weeks. riding in cars for more that a minute or two makes me really sick, i would have a hard time adjusting to that. so i'll let you know if i am in a new area.

Stolen Bike

so this week my companions bike got stolen, that was kind of interesting. it actually got stolen right off the back porch, while we were about 20 feet away too. it was a nice bike too, but then he just went and bought another that was even nicer. i was thinking of paying for half of the one that got stolen, since i might of left the porch door open. even though my bike was locked and his wasnt', i was thinking it would be the right thing to do to pay for half, let me know what you think. it would be about 160 bones for half, so let me know if it seems right to you guys. feel free to ask any questions, i'm just spitting out words as i go and i might not make any sense. i do that a lot sorry.

Member Crisis from Last week

so this whole thing with this member issue is al resolved. we had a lesson with the bishop, and Fernando, and the bishop told his wife to not come. so we all met in the chappel, and everything is just fine when she is not there. he's a really nice guy and said he just wanted to learn everything all over again. that's great we said. you know thats all we said int he beggining, and this whole issue broke loose, but i'm glad its all resolved now. cool beans.

Lots of Love

thanks so much for everything, i miss you all, things are good. i'm alive, safe, sane, i think i'm sane anyway, and happy. mom i feel ya on the mothering thing, it's hard, it feels like i'm doing that right now. babysitting a 20 year old gets kind of lame after a while, so thank you and love you. love curt

March 4, 2009 - Elder Perrin

Well, this week was pretty good. The weather was cold, but it's warming up slowly. Lets see, the latest news I have is this. Yesterday in my interview with president we were talking and this is what he came up with. He said I need to go home to work out some worthiness issues. HA! Just kidding there. Alright, so here's really what happened. So somehow my go home date got brought up. He just brought it up, it was the first thing he mentioned. And then I mentioned the scholarship I had waiting for the winter semester and all that. So then he pulls out some books, and a calender and figures out when he would have to send me home. And then he says December tenth. Yep. Dec 10 of this year. So I'm just like, well, can we maybe just do it in the middle of the transfer or just a week or two early? And he said, "Well, normally I would do that because I don't mind if the mission gets thrown out of wack because I just take visa waiter... bla... bla... bla. But we have a new mission president coming in and I would not want to do that to him so the best thing would be to have you go home a transfer early." So then he asked how important the scholarship was and stuff like that. And I said pretty important, since I will have no money when I get back and so he obviously agreed and said he was going to work it out. Alright, don't get so excited, I know that means that I would only miss one Christmas as a missionary, and only one new years, and it would leave me a decent amount of time to prepare for college. But I am kind of reluctant to do it because of, well, pride I guess. Let me know what you think. He said there is a possibility of talking with the new mission president of rearranging it, but for now my go home date is the tenth of December. I would like to have other options though, maybe different college options though, if there was another scholarship that would be possible to other schools, that would be useful information for me to know. Maybe you could make a few calls and see if I still have a chance at other scholorships to maybe a closer school or something. Just let me know what you think.

Well, this week was pretty good. We found some decent new investigators and are getting rid of a few old ones we have that aren't progressing. asi es. But things are good. Griselda is set to be baptized in a week in a half, so that is good. I'm pretty excited for that. The cold I think is going away for this week, at least I hope so. I think warm weather would give my companion some more motivation, since he's from California where sunshine grows on trees and where it's always a perfect day. Man I want to live in Cali, it's like the only spot for miles where you can ski in the morning and play a round of golf in the evening. That would be awesome. My comp is teaching me a lot about bikes, which is good. I basically don't need a bike shop anymore. I'm learning how to even true up a wheel. It's tight. Well have a good one. I'll read your emails later. I gotta run. Write back and tell me what you think!!! Love you all.
Love curt

Feb. 25, 2009 To Charlie

Well, this week was pretty good I guess. I'm still here in the city, that makes me happy. I love the area, I love my companion, I love Jesus, and I love you guys. I think I missed dad for the first time in my whole mission this morning. It was a little overconsuming, and I had never had that happen before. I really do miss dad. He could make me laugh like no other, especially if he was in a really good mood. I really wanted to talk to him and have a good time with him. So what is this diet he has got going? What happened to the good old fashion diet of eating less and excercising? What does he eat? So you got a new love seat eh and couch? Thats pretty crazy, you should send me a picture of it. In fact, you should send me a picture of the basement too. That would be cool, then I could actually believe it with my own eyes. (ha ha)

Please set an example, a really good one. That means church every week, scriptures, reading, every day, together as a couple, and praying every day, as a couple together. Callings, home teaching, temple at least once a week, and fulfilling all the words and councils of the prophet. That is probably the best thing right now, and to be happy. So I will do my best. Have a good week. I love you much

Charlie, I miss you tons, but I hope you are having fun all the time. I haven't written you a letter in awhile and I'm really sorry. I really loved the last letter you wrote me. It was cool. So how are things in school? Can you read faster than mom yet? Mom can read really fast, super dooper fast, faster than most people can talk. It's crazy! You are really good at drawing! I got your picture awhile ago, and I have to say that you're like a professional artist! Wow! I was amazed. So is it starting to warm up in Utah yet, or is it still freezing cold? Do you help dad 'build' the basement? Did he get you a really cool tool belt so you can help him carry tools and hold stuff for him?

When I was really little, I remember mom and dad came into my room one night while we were all sleeping, and dad woke me and Zach up because he was so excited to give us some tool belts he found for us. I didn't even know what was going on, but he was so excited that he found some really awesome tool belts for us, and ever since then I had a cool tool belt to use when I was building my tree fort outside. Dad would always surprise us like that because he is so awesome. Like, I would remember he would come home and yell CHARLIE! Come Here! I have something for you! Dad is cool. He would always let me help him build stuff, even though I was really little and didn't know what I was doing. I loved building stuff, and he would always help me build stuff, like my tree house. Too bad we don't have trees in Utah or else we could build a tree fort.

Well, I have a story. The other day I got hit by another car! It was crazy! This car hit me, and my bike went flying and then I went rolling on top of the cars hood and then onto the ground. It was really crazy. My companion said it looked really cool too, like a professional stunt man. Ha!Ha! And the lady gets out of her car and starts to panic and she wanted to take me to the hospital, and then she wanted to take me to her house to give me a bike. But I told her not to worry about it, because it wasn't that bad. It only hurt a little bit, not a lot. My bike actually came out just fine, so that's good.

So guess what happened a few days ago? We, met a karate man in the street. His name is Sensai John, I think, and he was really funny. He said he could teach me all kinds of stuff, so that if a gangster wanted to start a fight with me, I would be able to take him out. He reminded me of you, because of how you are doing karate, and he made me laugh too. Did you know there are a lot of mean people in Chicago? Yep. Most people in Utah are really nice, but here in Chicago, most people are a little rude. Even the policemen are rude. The other day, we were riding our bikes, and we pull into the lane to turn left, and a cop behind us honks his horn because he's in a hurry and we weren't fast enough for him. So then he passes us after honking, but then he gets stalled by the car in front who was going slow too, because he maybe was nervous. And then we pass the cop going really fast on our bikes, because they had to go through a bunch of speed bumps. He gets on his microphone and in an angry voice, starts telling me I need to stop at stop signs, and a few other things. Then he catches up to my companion and cuts him off with his car and stops and puts the wheels of his car in a pile of snow, hits the gas spraying snow all over my companion. He zooms off all angry that 2 bikes schooled him, because we passed him again a minute later and I saw his face, he was really mad.

So did you guys get the Bob Marley bracelets? I hope so. I told Zach to give everybody one. Did you know that spring is almost here? That means it's time to go golfing! Maybe I'll go golfing here in Chicago sometime, that would be really cool! Charlie you are my best friend. I miss you a lot. I miss playing with you. Remember when we had so much fun on the trampoline? I do. And remember when we would go swimming? I can't wait to play with you again. It will be so much fun. I love you a lot. Give everybody a hug for me, Ok? And hey! Stay away from pretty girls, they are trouble. Ha! Ha! Ok. Love you. Curtis

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.