August

 

We love attending the Chicago temple

       We are now mostly through August and we are doing great here in Illinois.  We seem to get busier all the time.  Lately we have been doing a lot of service for ward members and the community.  We have helped members move and done a number of little projects around their homes.  Some of the things we have done include yard work, hanging curtains, assembling furniture, installing lights, installing cameras, building a hand rail, taking members to doctor appointments, and building a fence.  We’re glad we brought some tools with us and have bought a few new ones including a battery-powered drill. We do love it here and we feel like we have a great relationship with all those we are working with.  We also are continuing to work at the food bank on Wednesdays and the second Saturday of each month.  On the second Saturday of August we served 200 cars in our monthly outdoor distribution.  This was a record as we have been serving about 150 cars.

 

We have also been doing a lot in the ward.  We both spoke in church during July.  We taught the fifth-Sunday lesson at the end of July.  We taught the youth Sunday school class. And last week we conducted primary and taught the youngest primary class.  We are visiting less active and returning members.  We have about 30 families we try to visit on a regular basis.  We are welcomed into their homes and have formed some strong bonds with them.  A few weeks ago in church we had six people attend whom we had found that were not attending previously.  We do not take any credit for this.  They have felt something and the ward has reached out to welcome them.

 

We also continue to spend time with the young missionaries.  Last Friday we had the opportunity to attend the temple with the missionaries that will be going home this transfer.  We picked up three Elders at the Joliet stake center and drove up to the temple to attend a session.  We had a very nice experience with the young missionaries, several other senior missionary companionships and Sister Chase.  All four of the young Sister missionaries had served in the Joliet Zone so we knew and loved all of them.  Going to the temple is an all-day experience.  We left our apartment about 8:30 in the morning and got back about 4:30 in the afternoon.  Traffic on the expressway going up to the temple is stop and go, especially in the afternoon.

 

It is very interesting to see the progress of the crops out here in the farm country.  All the wheat has been harvested.  The corn is about 8-9 feet high with ears ripening.  The soybeans have formed little pods that are still growing.  We love to see and hear the crop duster planes come over the fields.  As they come down towards the fields it sounds like a WWII movie, absent the machine guns.  As you drive down the country roads you are surrounded by the towering corn.  It will be very interesting to see the harvest season this fall.

 

We were warned that the winters here are brutal and the summers unbearably hot and humid.  We have found this not to be true so far.  We have found the weather to be fairly mild although we did have a few very cold days in the winter and a few very hot and humid days in the summer.  Lately most days have been getting up to about 80 degrees, but the nights are cooling off nicely.  I guess most of the real hot weather stayed in Utah this year.

 

We hope all of you are doing well.  We miss you, but we are very happy to be here.

 

Love, 

Elder and Sister Curtis

Giant hedge trimmer keeping the canal tow path open.

At the local Joliet city museum.  The Blues Brother movie was filmed in this area.

With Sisters Blaser and Simmons at Starved Rock.

Stained glass window at the Joliet museum.

Old Joliet State Prison where the Blues Brothers was filmed.

Sister Curtis behind bars.

Elder Curtis behind bars.

Sister Curtis won a prize of chocolate turtles at the Food Bank volunteer appreciation dinner.

The corn continues to get taller.

We have started a tradition of giving home-made pens to missionaries in our zone.  Here are a few ready to go.

At Sky Dive Chicago, which is located just outside of Ottawa, this is an attempt to link up 200 divers headfirst in the air for a world record.

Divers descending after the attempt.  We don’t know if they were successful, but they will be trying for the record all week.