A Great Birthday

Re: Elder Curran

Hey

Okay so I must admit that I was too afraid that I might ruin his favorite dishes, so I ended up making one of my favorites -- chicken tacos. But I wrapped up a large bottle of Tabasco sauce for him and he was too funny to watch "how did you know that I LOVE this stuff." hee hee I told him that a little birdie told me. He kept telling me that this was the best birthday ever. I'm sure he was being polite as I'm sure he's had MUCH better birthdays before. but one thing that I know -- he will always remember how he felt on his birthday.

When the elders arrived today, they told us how they had mowed someone's lawn earlier in the day - randomly -- they knocked on the door and mowed the lawn as an act of service.

The after dinner we had our discussion and it was amazing. The Spirit was so strong and I know that she felt it as well. We ended it with a "low fat cheesecake" with fruit. I know that is an oxymoron, but I do make it with non-fat cream cheese, non-fat milk, and reduced fat nilla wafers. -- so it's pretty low. Your son told us how much he loved eating healthy and had a couple of pieces of what we call "cheese pie."

Anyways, all in all, he a good birthday. My friend even gave him a card with some cash, so guess he can treat himself to some sushi with that.

We thoroughly enjoy having the Elders here though - you did a great job raising him, mom!

Your friend in the gospel,

More on Elder Curran from a Member

I am so glad that you responded!!! Thank you for an "insight" on his favs - we will see what we can do:) We're not huge into sushi - but that doesn't mean we can't treat him to the things he loves.

Spicy, we can do! We too love things spicy so that is great to know for sure! Maybe I'll grab a tabasco sauce bottle and wrap it up for him as a joke gift.

My dear friend, is a single woman whom I met thru my business - I've known her for about three years now and have had a few gospel discussions with her. BUT for over a year now I've been wanting to share the gospel with her. You son suggested that she meet them casually and said that when the time was right he would suggest that she take the discussions. So - since she is an avid scrapbooker (as am I) we decided that I would invite her to come over after I returned form our National Convention to show her all the "new fun goodies" I'd bring home with me - and the Elders would then drop by randomly (not) with photos in hand asking for some help for a small scrapbooking project that they would be working on during my next class (that she was attending). Well - it worked like a charm - easy first meet up - very relaxed and no big gospel discussion - just a quick introduction and a little explanation on who these two young men were.

Then I asked her to help me with the mini "albums" the boys would be working on as it would be during a class I was teaching. So she came prepared to work with them on their pages that night - it again was easy - just meeting up and very relaxed. Your son was BLOWN away with the possibilities of the mini album he is working on - I think I've created a scrapbooker! lol Anyways, when it was time for them to leave we set up another night they could come work on it again - and my friend chimes in and said "I could come back and help if you want?!" Which brought a smile to my face as that was exactly what we'd hoped for. I had another sister in that class from my ward who chimed in that she'd also like to come over that night - so we set it up for the following week.

When they came back we had a more serious conversation about the gospel - and near the close of our time your son asked her if she would like to take the discussions and said we could do it here in my home (which of course we'd planned) - well - you should have seen his face when she said "yes I'd love that" - He was thrilled - as was I!

Her husband was killed about seven years ago - hit by a vehicle. She never had any children of her own. She is estranged from her family - and so truly - this WOULD BLESS her life and change it forever. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ heals all wounds and brings great JOY and it would be such a blessing for her.

If the Elders in our ward had not been so strong I would have been hesitant to have them meet her - but from the get go - I could feel of their spirits and knew they taught with the Spirit.

Just fyi - their companionship is hilarious - total opposites - but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the common denominator for them. Elder Morris loves ballroom dance, computer or video games - not much into sports, etc. I teased your son when we first met that "he and Elder Morris had so much common ground" and he was "oh - no actually we have NOTHING in common!" - I just laughed as I knew it would be an interesting companionship if they didn't work it out -- but they did - and they are just tearing it up here.

Last discussion we had here your son saw that we were packing up a box for a missionary out in the field (my daughters old boyfriend is serving in Uruguay). He was so funny - we knew his birthday was coming up - and had planned actually to do something as a surprise - but he was all "I know a certain missionary who is having a birthday next week" I just chuckled and said back "so maybe you could find out for us what this certain missionary would like say if we were to try and feed him on his birthday, like what sort of treat would he enjoy do you think? Cake or ice cream or maybe a cheesecake? and he said "well, I know he is trying to watch his figure" so I said "how about a low fat cheesecake then with say possibly some fruit" and he was "I'm pretty sure he'd LOVE that" - it was a long conversation as we all danced around the fact that it was HIM having the birthday - but fun!

Anyways, sorry to write you a book. Just know that he is doing extremely well. This set is working really hard and have a three-page teaching pool!!! Their calendar is getting majorly booked up (which is GREAT). I hope we get to keep him in our ward for a while. It will be a sad day when he is transferred.

Thank you again for teaching him to LOVE his Savior, for preparing him to be a wonderful missionary, and for lending him to the Lord so that we could meet this fine young man. Good job mom!! Truly!!

Warmly,

The Type of E-mail a Mother Always Loves to Receive

Hello,

I'm not sure how often you get messages on here or even check this, but your son is serving in our ward right now and I thought I would drop you a line and tell you what an amazing young man he is! We absolutely LOVE him and he is working extremely hard. Right now, he and his companion (Elder Morris) are teaching one of my friends here in my home, so we see the Elders often. when he teaches, he truly teaches with the Spirit and I just wanted to drop him a line to thank you for lending him to us. :)

So - his birthday is coming up next week and we wanted to do something special for him. He is planning on coming to dinner that night and then staying after to teach the 4th discussion to my friend (who is already committed to baptism! woohoo) I was wondering what insight you could give me -- like favorite foods, treats, etc. so I could make something special for his birthday. We want it to be fun for him.

I hoe this gets to you - let me know what would be fun and I will treat him like my own on his special day! Thanks again.

Work is Progressing!

I have 16 new investigators and eight baptisms scheduled!