"One down, one to go..."

Curtis has been on his mission for one year. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. He has been so positive and upbeat throughout his entire mission. He has sent an email every week telling me of his experiences in Brazil. I'm glad that he has shared his time spent on his mission with me. I asked him for some thoughts and comments now that he has reached the halfway point. This is what he wrote to me:

"Well, I think the highlights of last year were going through the temple right before the mission, my farewell with billions of people in attendance, the few nights before the mission, when I went to Classic Skating with Christian "the coolest man ever" Junk, Jordy La Forgy, Eraq, Z Man, Spence Wheeldizzle, Swifty and Daniel "The Maniel" Howard, doing the train and winning a stuffed Jets helmet at the Crane Game, that final pre-mission date with Taunie to Tepanyaki and bowling and Meet the Fockers, then I think we watched some old school movie, like Twister or something, then on Sunday we all watched Ray at our house, because remember, I found the DVD on sale two days before it was scheduled to come out at Smith's (a "tender mercy" according to Elder Bednar's Spring 2005 conference talk) and then going to the dermatologist the next day, hanging out with you the whole day at doctors appointments and around the house, then getting set apart, listening to Train In Vain by the Clash for my "last song" and that night hanging with friends, saying goodbyes and the next day eating a big waffle, saying bye to the Junks then going to the airport and saying goodbye to all the family in SLC International, then boarding an airplane to pure freedom...and the rest is history/contained in all my past emails."

"The mission has been fun. Getting hit by a car, the CTM and Elder Pieper are some of the cooler experiences. Also, making contacts and Wilson's baptism and things of that nature. It's been fun so far and I'm excited for the next year. Now that I think about it, that paragraph up there has nothing to do with the mission, but it's some of the pre-mission memories. Elder Hirschi and Pieper and Walker and Costa and Dias have all been pretty cool, it's weird being with the same person every second of the day all the time, but I adjusted to it. Weird waking up at 0630 and retiring at 1030, but I adjusted to it. The mission is really just one big learning experience/adjustment, but its been pretty pretty sweet thus far."