The Profile Of A Prophet

"I read a good talk by Hugh B. Brown called the Profile of a Prophet in the June Ensign this morning. He pretty much proves that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but all you really have to do to know is pray. Thats all there is to it."

Hugh B. Brown was assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this devotional address was given at Brigham Young University on 4 October 1955.

The Profile Of A Prophet

My New Companion - Elder Jones

"This is Elder Jones from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has 14 months on the mission and is my fellow zone leading, Notre Dame football hating, crime fighting companion down here in Vila Mariana, capital of the Ipiranga Zone. He went to BYU before the mission and was buffer than The Governator in his action film years. He has served in some areas similar to mine, and was actually my zone leader in this area when I was secretary in Belem. We are having quite a lot of fun together because we are united in purpose and in prayer, and when that's the scoop, the success is gonna flow like the ocean's tide."

Elder & Sister Uchtdorf

"So on Monday we had the chance to see Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It was so awesome to hear him speak. He spoke to all four Sao Paulo missions about several things, including the importance of repentance, scripture study, enduring to the end, Preach My Gospel, how the missionaries found his wife Harriet, and many other things, leaving us with the one thing that only he could do at the chapel that day - an Apostolic Blessing. I loved it. It just confirms that the Church is true. I love the reconfirmations I get over and over on my mission. Elder Uchtdorf's wife is pretty cool as well, really energetic and she read some great quotes from past apostles and prophets. The fireside was excellent. Its hard to express in an email."

Elder Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 2 October 2004. He has served as a General Authority since April 1994, when he was called as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. In April 1996 he was called as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and he served as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy from August 2002 until he received his current calling.

Elder Uchtdorf married Harriet Reich on 14 December 1962, and they were sealed in the Bern Switzerland Temple. They are the parents of two children and have five grandchildren.

Mission Videos

This is the link to the videos that Curtis has taken with his digital camera. There is also a permanent link on the right side of the page. They are optimized for a broadband internet connection -- if you don't want to wait for them to load, right-click on them and save them to your hard drive.

Take a look at them. Some are quite funny!

Curtis' Mission Videos

Where Is Curtis Now?

Curtis in his sixth (and maybe final?) area now. It is called Vila Mariana and is downtown in the heart of Sao Paulo.









Vila Mariana is a wealthy area and includes Ibirapuera Park, the Obelisk and the Mausoleum of the heroes from the Revolution and the "Monumento às Bandeiras".



(click image for a larger view)

"Well, on Monday night I called the zone leaders to make sure that Elder Carvalho and I didn't have to go to transfers on Tuesday. Well, after only 2 1/2 months in Jd. Camargo Novo I was yanked out and sent to the transfer meeting. At the transfer meeting I found out my new area and companion. I am in Vila Mariana as a zone leader for the Ipiranga Zone. Thats a pretty big responsibility since this zone is massive with numerous districts and areas, but I feel pretty confident. This is my second time in the zone, I was first in Belem a little over two months ago and now I am here, downtown, about to rock and roll. This area was the first ward in Sao Paulo, called the Vila Mariana Ward. My trainer was a zone leader down here and now "like father, like son" or something to that effect. We live in an apartment building on the 16th floor with a great view of the south side of Sao Paulo, "the rich side". We have the metro stations of Liberdade, Sao Joaquim, Vergueiro, Vila Mariana, Ana Rosa, Paraiso, Chacara Klabin and Estudantes in our area for our transporte needs."

Abraham's Covenant

"Zone Conference in Belenzinho was awesome yesterday. The mission president did a training, making us talk about Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, his 12 sons and the importance of Lehi being a member of the House of Israel and how important the Book of Mormon is to all of the missionary work we do. I am pretty much going to study the heck out of the Abrahamic Covenant this week. I never realized how big the responsibility we have is, at least from the "Abraham Angle"."

November 1, 2006

"I have been studying a lot of the Abrahamic Covenant personally and with Elder Jones. I never knew how much went into it. It was always hard to understand for me but I decided it was something important that affected me as a Priesthood holder so I decided, with the help of my handy-dandy Pearl of Great Price Study Manual, to tackle it. Basically, to recieve all the blessings, and it's a huge amount of the Lord's most choice and greatest blessings, the Lord promised to the Father of the Faithful, in this lifetime, we need to recieve the Priesthood or be blessed by it, recieve the Holy Ghost, get married in the Temple and sealed to our families, and be faithful throughout our lives. Then we inherit land, posterity and salvation and exaltation and all the blessings that come with that."

Abraham's Covenant

Abraham first received the gospel by baptism (which is the covenant of salvation). Then he had conferred upon him the higher priesthood, and he entered into celestial marriage (which is the covenant of exaltation), gaining assurance thereby that he would have eternal increase. Finally he received a promise that all of these blessings would be offered to all of his mortal posterity (D&C 132: 29-50; Abr. 2: 6-11). Included in the divine promises to Abraham were the assurances that (1) Christ would come through his lineage, and that (2) Abraham’s posterity would receive certain lands as an eternal inheritance (Gen. 17; Gen. 22: 15-18; Gal. 3; Abr. 2). These promises taken together are called the Abrahamic covenant. It was renewed with Isaac (Gen. 26: 1-4, 24) and again with Jacob (Gen. 28; Gen. 35: 9-13; Gen. 48: 3-4).

The portions of the covenant that pertain to personal salvation and eternal increase are renewed with each individual who receives the ordinance of celestial marriage (see D&C 132: 29-33). Those of non-Israelite lineage, commonly known as gentiles, are adopted into the house of Israel, and become heirs of the covenant and the seed of Abraham, through the ordinances of the gospel (Gal. 3: 26-29).

Being an heir to the Abrahamic covenant does not make one a “chosen person” per se, but does signify that such are chosen to responsibly carry the gospel to all the peoples of the earth. Abraham’s seed have carried out the missionary activity in all the nations since Abraham’s day. (Matt. 3: 9; Abr. 2: 9-11).

To fulfill the covenant God made with Abraham - having particular reference to the fact that the literal seed of his body would be entitled to all of the blessings of the gospel (Abr. 2: 10-11) - a number of specific and particular things must take place in the last days. The gospel must be restored, the priesthood must be conferred again upon man, the keys of the sealing power must be given again to mortals, Israel must be gathered, and the Holy Ghost must be poured out upon the gentiles. All this has already taken place or is in process of fulfillment.

Thanks for the Covenant by Russell M. Nelson

Hotchee Doggie

"Do you know you reminded me of when you talked about $7 hot dogs. $10 corn dogs from Disneyland! But those things are so good. Did you know that corn dogs don't exist down here. Pretty sad, huh? I am gonna buy some chicken wings today, luckily those exist."

Brazilian Hotdogs

Called the "hot dog completo" (pronounced hotchee doggie), it is typically eaten in buns with ketchup and mustard, but further covered in many regions with assorted fixings such as marinara sauce, cheese (including parmesean, requeijão, caitupiry, cheddar, etc.), corn niblets, canned peas, mashed potatoes, shoestring potatoes, quail eggs, among others. The bun is sometimes pressed in a panini machine to give a crunchy exterior with melted cheeses.

Missionary Work And The Atonement

"I sure am having fun down here. We are working hard. We have Cicero marked for baptism on Saturday so we will see what happens. We are really doing our part I feel. It seems like sometimes these baptisms just come down to luck, even though I shouldn't really say that. I just wish the person could see how important and true and awesome our message is without all the little complications. But missionary work isn't easy because salvation isn't easy. That's my view. And Jeffrey R. Holland's as well from a talk I have called Missionary Work and the Atonement. I sent it to my good buddy Elder Junk cause he will for sure benefit from it."

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is rightfully seen as the central fact, the crucial foundation, and the chief doctrine of the plan of salvation, which we are called to teach.

Missionary Work and the Atonement

"One Link On A 100 Foot Chain"

"We have been teaching Paulo Eduardo like mad lately. We have been talking about the Plan of Salvation a lot with him and how this life is but a small moment as compared to the never ending eternity that is yet to come. I told him we need to do what is right because we only have "one link on a 100 ft. chain" to do so. He agreed and we marked his baptism for the 23rd of September. After he is baptized he will start polishing and shining the link of his life, if you know what I mean."

The Plan of Salvation

You lived with your Heavenly Father as one of His spirit children before you began your life on Earth. You were happy there, but God knew that you could not continue to progress unless you left Him for a time.

So He presented His plan—the plan of salvation. It allowed you to come to Earth, where you would gain a physical body and would have experiences that would help you to learn and grow. The purpose of the plan is to help you become more like Him.

Heavenly Father knew that while you were on Earth you would make mistakes—everyone does. So, as part of His plan, He provided a Savior, Jesus Christ, who would make it possible for sins to be forgiven, and for all people who accept His sacrifice to return to live with Heavenly Father.

The fact that you are living on Earth means that you accepted Heavenly Father’s plan and came here wanting to do all you could to receive all He has to offer.

The marvelous thing about Heavenly Father’s plan is that by following it, not only can you return to Him after you die—you can also find peace and happiness in this life.

Dancing The Quadrilha

"We had a Festa Julina, like the Festa Junina I had in Cruzeiro last year, this time in Jardim Camargo Novo. It was pretty dumb, except for the rice pudding and when the kids danced the Quadrilha. I want to learn how to dance the Quadrilha. I will show everyone what the Festa Junina is all about next summer. We will paint fake beards on and wear straw hats and dance the Quadrilha and eat Paçoca. Delicious!"

Quadrilha is a Brazilian dance of European origin. It's first records, which mentioned old rural dances from Normandie and England, got lost in time. The group of aristocractic dances that spread across Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries arrived in Brazil along with the Portuguese colonizers.

The dance nowadays known as "quadrilha" harbored in Brazil better known as "Pas de Dance", a kind of French ballroom pair dance. The word "Quadrilha" derives from French "Quadrille" and from Italian "Squadro", which means a group of soldiers standing on a square.

According to researcher Câmara Cascudo, during the time when Brazil was a Portuguese colony, there was a strong identity with everything coming from Europe. Thus, it was very easy to adapt the term "quadrille" into "quadrilha".

A Restoration Of All Things

"Zone Conference was yesterday. The title of conference was A Restoration of All Things. We just focused on some things that are becoming really weak in our mission, like the purpose and outcome of contacts and of the nightly planning sessions we are supposed to always have. So that is what I am supposed to do my trainings on for the next 6 weeks in district meeting. I am gonna enjoy it, although as of right now I have no idea what to do. I'll ponder and search the scriptures and pray for that one."

The concept of a restoration of all things is biblical and is frequently spoken of in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Peter spoke of the anticipated "times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21). Latter-day Saints understand this as a prophetic anticipation of a full and final restoration of the gospel in the development and fulfillment of the purposes of God in the last days. The current era is therefore called the dispensation of the fulness of times in which all things will be gathered together in Christ (Eph. 1:10; D&C 27:13). The Church teaches that every gospel truth and blessing, and all priesthood authority, keys, ordinances, and covenants necessary for mankind's eternal salvation have been, or will be, restored in this dispensation. In this manner, the blessings of dispensations past will "flow into the most glorious and greatest of dispensations, like clear streams flowing into a mighty river" (DS 1:168).

A Restoration Of All Things