Transferring out of Miami Shores

Transfer calls happened last night. As it turns out, I am leaving Miami Shores again. I've been there for two transfers now, which makes four total because I was there for two when I started my mission. I still don't know where I'm going and I still don't know who my new companion will be.

I am sad but resolved as I prepare to leave Miami Shores, Creole for the second time. I had wanted to stay, but I had expected to leave. Now I am busy packing, but my companion and I are also resolved have the area in a very good condition when my replacement comes in to work with Elder Fisher. We'll make sure the Area Book is completely up to date, and we'll keep working hard tonight to find more solid investigators and keep our current ones solid.

In Miami, our two most solid investigators are still Pauline M. and her fiancée. They are working towards being married and then baptized. They have already met with Brother Acevedo to take his marriage counseling class, now the thing that is holding them back is that they don't feel ready to be married. They feel like they have to prepare and plan a lot before they can be married. Elder Fisher and his new companion will keep working with them to build more urgency and to get them focused less on the preparations for their marriage and more on the temple.

I enjoyed specialized training a lot this past week as well. We had to drive 50 miles up to Boynton Beach for the training and then back, which puts us in a bad spot for miles today (on the last day of the month), but I really loved President Richardson's training on repentance and baptism. I feel like I understand more what investigators need to do before they can be prepared and ready to make the step of baptism. In addition, it helped me to understand more fully what promises I made at my baptism and I learned several things that I can be doing to improve and to more fully keep those promises.

Unfortunately we did not receive iPads at this specialized training. It looks like there are technical difficulties in other places in the world which are preventing new missions from receiving iPads. As far as we know, our mission won't be getting them until January or February of next year. They pushed back their plans while they resolve those problems. Sad face.

For those of this email's recipients who are not in my immediate family: it looks like my family will get to adopt my new sister, Liv. If only I had ever once even seen her...!

For those who are in my immediate family: I might have to mention that Liv is a much better name than Olivia. Liv means book in Haitian Creole, but Olivia makes me think of olives, especially the dried out kind that you can sometimes find sitting out on our table because I forgot to put it in the fridge the night before after I finished eating. Heh heh. Liv is clearly the better name.

For those of you who are serving in the FFLM, or who at one point have: you may be interested to know that the Miami Shores (Creole) elders now are in a two-man apartment. Our roommates moved out just yesterday to a new apartment, to live with the Miami Beach (Creole) elders. So last night, we slept alone in our apartment. It was a relatively quiet night. And now I'm moving out anyway, so I only have the two days to spend in a two-man apartment.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Sister Milkbone

Dear family,

Where to begin?

It was quite the eventful week, with a trip to the emergency walk-in clinic that put me out of commission for the first few days! You know that stereotypical missionary story where the elders get chased by a dog but they barely get away? Well I guess I've now lived that story, but unfortunately this time the missionary didn't get away! Sister Smith and I went to drop off some things for a member on Tuesday morning, and right when she opened the door her dog started going crazy. She tried to restrain him but he got loose and bit Sister Smith! Luckily, he didn't break skin, but then he came at me and... 7 stitches later, I now have a great mission story to tell! When the doctor asked me what happened I told him, "I got bit by a dog," and he looked at my leg and laughed and said, "You didn't get bit by a dog, you got chewed on by a dog!" The doctor said that I had to stay off my leg for a few days, and it was pretty painful at first, but we've taken it easy the last few days and even though it's still sore and very bruised, I'm healing great! Bishop Bushman now calls me "Sister Milkbone," and according to Sister Smith I seem quite a bit more "holy" than she has ever seen me!

The positive side to the whole experience is that I got to have an awesome missionary experience as a result of getting bit by a dog! When Dr. Tu was stitching me up I started asking him about his family. He told me that his dad died a few years ago, and that he had a brother who passed away on Father's day this year. I asked him if he believed in life after death, and he told me that he didn't. He grew up in China, and he has no real belief in a higher power, but that he simply believes that when we die there is nothing more. He asked me what I believed and I was able to share with him how I gain a lot of comfort in my life in knowing that there is life after death. I explained how I believe that we aren't just made up of physical bodies, but that we have a spirit as well, and that even when our physical bodies cease to live, I do know that our spirits live on. Afterwards he took a mormon.org card, and told me that his sons (who both happen to be YSA!) had a nanny for almost 15 years who was Mormon and who the family grew very close to! So maybe Heavenly Father knew that I had to get bit by a dog so that I could meet Dr. Tu. :)

Despite having so much less proselyting time than we normally do, it was so cool to see how Heavenly Father consecrated the time that we did have and provided us with miracles! The absolute highlight of my week was yesterday! Sister Smith turned to me in the middle of sacrament meeting and said "You'll never guess who is sitting by Heather... LJ is here!!!" I can't count how many times we've invited Heather's boyfriend LJ to come to church, and he's always told us that even though he has a very strong faith in Christ, he considers himself to be "spiritual" and that he only believes in following the "red road." (LJ is Native American and very connected to his culture.) We have always invited LJ to sit in on lessons with Heather, but he has never shown interest in actually learning more for himself, until the last few weeks when we have really been seeing him heart be softened as Heather continues to change and prepare for baptism. LJ's situation is similar to Heather's. Because of things that have happened in his past, if he was baptized he would have to be in the singles ward for life, even though he is in his 50's right now. I have developed such a huge love for LJ as I have gotten to know him better over the past months! We went to have a lesson with Heather last night, and it was very powerful! We talked about repentance, and the spirit. LJ was quite emotional, though he tried to hide it. It's crazy that I don't even remember most of what Sister Smith and I said, but somehow we came out of that lesson (which happened to be a chastity lesson haha) with LJ having agreed to take the discussions and telling us that he really wanted to go into this with an open heart and open mind, to find out for himself what it was all about. In that moment I wished I could have the feeling in that room and the joyful look on Heather's face forever ingrained in my memory. SUCH a MIRACLE! I see Heather and LJ in the temple.

There truly is no sin and no sorrow that cannot be overcome with the help of the atonement of Jesus Christ. When we accept Him into our lives the power is real. I know it is. I have seen it over and over again, not only in my own life but in the lives of so many people that I have been able to meet since coming on my mission. There is not one individual on this earth who Heavenly Father has not very lovingly and carefully devised means and plans to save. He knows us individually. He loves us individually.

Lots and lots and lots of love,

Sister Slade

Tuna fish & inspiration

That probably sounds like a strange title but hey that's been my week this week. To begin with, we had an opportunity to have a potluck with both the wards that meet in this building as we were getting ready to watch the Woman's Conference broadcast. (Definition moment. Potluck- meeting where everyone brings food and there are heaps and heaps of deliciousness. Woman's Conference- A meeting held by the LDS church where the presidencies of the Relief Society, Young Woman's and Primary speak to us as well as the First Presidency, or in other words the Prophet Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors.) The meeting was WONDERFUL! But I'll get more on that later for right now I want to talk about food. At this amazing potluck there was a giant pile of the most delicious nouritture on this side of the veil in my thoughts that is. Seriously though. These were the BEST Tuna Fish sandwiches I have ever had, (might have been because I was hungry...) Anyways that's why it says Tuna Fish in the title.

As for this inspiration part. An area authority came to visit the Canada Montreal Mission this week. His name is Elder Bruce A. Carlson and he is a member of the second quorum of the Seventy, and as missionaries we got to have pretty much an entire nine hours of instruction and eating. (whoops I'm talking about food again...I haven't had lunch yet, can you tell?) Most people would think that sitting and hearing someone teach about the gospel would be perhaps a little bit boring. On the contrary. Every word that came out of his mouth was AMAZING! My note book is full of little bits of his inspired message in every bit that I could find to write it.

Before I get into what he said I have a little story.  So President Patrick, our mission president, asked everyone of the missionaries to write a five minute talk and he was to pick two out of the crowd to give their talks in the meeting. Well I had prepared my talk and had written about three fourths of it. I didn't really think I would be called on because I was in fact giving a musical number. Well I woke up the morning of the Zone Conference and had a feeling that I needed to finish my talk. So as any good missionary I did. We headed to the conference, the meeting started and President Patrick goes up and says "today we will be hearing from Sister Cummings and Elder Ritz." (Or something like that...my mind kind of went on alarm mode when I heard my name.) So I gave a talk in my first zone conference. I was so thankful that I had had the prompting that morning to finish my talk. After supper I then had the opportunity to sing "If the Savior Stood beside me," accompanied by my amazing companion. She did amazingly! And my voice didn't crack so I think it was a good performance.

Well I don't have much time to telling you about all the inspiration I have gotten to hear this week but I can tell you one thing that Elder Carlson told us. For those of you who don't know General Conference is this weekend. This is a meeting where everyone has the opportunity to hear and watch as the prophet and other auxiliaries of the church speak and give divine guidance. I highly, highly recommend that you watch this. Whether you are Mormon or not you should really experience this. Its on Saturday and Sunday (if my loving Aunt could put all the information up that would be wonderful) I am so excited to see this conference, I have a feeling that every word that is spoken will fill my heart with knowledge and warmth. Any who attend here's a message, Elder Carlson wisely said "Approach Conference with a problem and a question." He then promised us what I am going to promise you now. I Know that the Savior loves us and he speaks to us through this Prophet, and I promise you that when you watch conference, the question or problem will be answered and addressed. I give this promise in the name of Jesus Christ our Loving Savior, Amen.

 I love you all and I love hearing from you!

Sister Cummings

Picture Updates

Dear family,

I never really know what to say in my weekly emails because I feel like there are always way too many feelings and experiences to cram into one email! I'm about out of time so this will be short. Again. sorry!

Zahra is on date to be baptized the 25th of October! We think that she has finally made the decision to make the jump, even though it frightens her! We're not sure what has finally made the difference. The spirit has been working on her for a long time. She prayed all week long, and she talked to her mom and called her grandma this last week and told them that she officially wants to be baptized. The miracle was that her grandma took it a lot better than expected. Now she's praying all this week so that she can call and tell her grandpa, which will be a lot harder.

Heather is doing better than ever! Her boyfriend LJ joined us for WHE last Monday and almost came to church with her, which is a HUGE deal! Long story. Stay tuned for more explanation... after the mission :)

Haley and Emma are both doing splendidly.

I'm doing better than ever! Always learning and growing! I've had many experiences this week through lessons with investigators, street contacts, and other moments where I have had the chance to reflect on the tender mercies of the Lord in my life. I don't understand why I was so blessed to be born having the gospel in my life, with a "goodly" family to love me, and so many other blessings. Sometimes the Lord blesses me with moments when He fills me to the brim, then fills me even more until I'm overflowing. I love Him for so many reasons.

Keep reading, praying, and taking the sacrament like you mean it. Remember that when you're not allowing the spirit to work on you, there's someone else who I can guarantee will be!

Love, Sister Slade

Service for Amelia! She's not painting her ceiling until a month from now, but she gave me permission to do some free advertising for the church until then :)

 Zahra thought we needed some bling. I swear these earrings she gave me weigh 20 pounds.

Exchange with Sister Glancy this week!  It was just like old times!

 I'm in denial but Sister Smith says I hit my 9 month mark a little while back.... whoops, did I mean to send this picture? :)

Us with the lovely Zahra!

 It rains in Washington. Can you tell I'm making up for my super short email but just sending pictures this week?

Staying in Mascouche

This is a forewarning. Often when I am writing an email I write the most serious moment of my letter first and then start from the beginning. And here is the warning, the ending of this letter is a little intense. But to begin I'll explain this lovely picture that I have attached, feast your eyes on this photographic beauty I title "Terrebonne Sisters cleaning the car." This literally just happened minutes ago and am still laughing =D Transfers were this week and as I believe I mentioned, I'm staying in Mascouche. However the ever so lovely Sister Leano became a Mama! Any non-missionary probably wouldn't get that reference, when a missionary trains a greenie its there child. So my mother is Sister Munive, My grandmother is Sister Godfrey, and my great grandmother and great great grandmother have died (which is to say that they went home.) So Sister Leano became the proud Mama of Sister Willis who is from Hawaii and never ceases to make us crack up. I am LOVING living in an apartment with another companionship. I've learned to make tortillas this week and also how to make a Book of Mormon into a steering wheel using paper and cardboard (sadly I just realized I never got a picture of it...) eh C'est la Vie, it made some wonderful girl really happy.

This week Sister Munive and I learned about the importance of planning. Every morning as a missionary we have a companionship study time, well almost every morning, sometimes we have someone scheduled at that time. Either way for some reason we had not had our full time to plan for the lessons of our dear dear investigator Luna but we showed up with a rough idea that we wanted to teach repentance. We parked the car and go and knocked on her door, no answer, then called her phone, with no avail... knowingly we turned to each other. Sister Munive said the exact words that I was thinking "We need to plan." So we head back to the car said a prayer and then started searching for the scriptures that would be best to share in order for Luna to understand the principle of repentance. Sister Munive had just found the perfect scripture and was halfway through reading it when Lona called. Hmm coincidence, I think not! We went in ready to teach the amazing lesson we had just planned only to realize that we needed to teach a different lesson, one of prayers and answers. Afterwards we came out of the lesson feeling happy how the lesson went and also in a way a little chastised. Sister Munive put it perfectly "Sister we have been praying that Luna may be protected as she continues towards baptism. God was protecting her from our unpreparedness." The moment we had the lesson planned then he opened the door for us to see her. At the same time we learned that no matter the circumstances we need to plan and if we plan for one lesson he may guide us into teaching a lesson that the investigator needs. So this week I have learned my lesson and I'm sure Sister Munive has as well.

Thank you all that have prayed for Luna. She is progressing very very well! We have had the opportunity to see her five times this past week! Which is crazy to even have the time to focus on just her as a missionary, or more accurately its a miracle we have been able to see her so often. She has even given us a referral to her friend living in New York City, who gladly thanked us via phone in one of our first visits "thank you for teaching my future wife about Jesus Christ." So Sister Munive and I may or may not be "shipping" them, and may or may not be making plans to get them married in the temple, but thats a minor detail. Luna is feeling the Love of Christ and is continuing onward to her baptismal date.

And this is where things get a little more intense.

As always miracles have happened this week. As a missionary it seems to be a lot easier to see these miracles, no matter how small. Everything from finding a new investigator or finding a lost sock seems to happen at least every week, if not daily. I am truly loving it here. I am truly loving being a missionary. Until this moment I didn't really seem to know why I am serving a mission. I just knew that I needed to and had no other reason beside that. Now I know. I was reading my notes from a beautiful talk given at the MTC on the 4th of July, I've began to just write what my thoughts are in my notes and when reading them something stood out that I had written. And when I read it I had no recollection of writing it, but this is what it said,

"One day I will be someone's hero, I will help lift them up out of the dark mist of sorrows and through the grace of the Almighty God, bring them to the Everlasting Gospel."

When I read that everything clicked. I am realizing how much of a blessing it is to work, no matter how oxymoronic that phrase may be, everyday I have the authority to spread the gospel abroad and to brighten peoples days. I have the power to share the gospel and to promise as a representative of Christ numerous blessings. This is my Testimony. My true and honest testimony. That no matter the trial, no matter the sin, and no matter the action, there is always a Father in heaven willing and waiting to help, all you must do is pray. Pray with a sincere heart, and I promise that God will respond. This I do in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sincerely,

Sister Cummings

Trying Week

Dear friends and family:

This week was a trying week for me and my companion. Because of accomplishing standards last week, we were all geared up to work with all of the awesome people we had in church last Sunday. But, as the week went on, all of them had things come up that caused them to not want to go to church again or even to see us again, in some cases. It was a struggle to keep our spirits high as all of these things were happening. On Saturday morning, it was looking bleak. We didn't have anyone committed to come to church.

But then we had a miracle! We were finally able to meet with Pauline, one of the investigators who came to church last week. She wasn't interested in being baptized until after she and her fiancee were married next year. But we visited them together, taught the restoration, and then testified about baptism. They wanted to be baptized, but still not until after they were married. (They were not living together, so it shouldn't have been a problem.) So we changed strategy and helped them to realize that they could be legally married this week, and then baptized, and they could have a big celebration for both afterward. Next year, for all we care. They both thought this was a great idea, and so they met with Brother Acevedo for the marriage counseling class after church. They are still very excited to be married, and then to be baptized. If the bishop is available this week, they will be married and baptized this week. If not, then it will be next week.

This will be the first couple that I help to be married on my mission so that they can be baptized. Elder Fisher and I were very careful to emphasize the importance of being sealed in the temple a year after their baptism, and they are both looking forward to that too.

We, unfortunately, fell short of the standards of excellence this week. But we'll repent, and we'll get them this week instead! And then the week afterward! And on and on indefinitely!

Again, we can't wait for specialized conference this Wednesday. We're a little bit bummed that it's all the way in Boynton Beach, even though it would be much less of a drive to get to Miami Lakes the next day. We're going to have to be very careful with our miles these next ten days...

So, Grandma had amnesia temporarily? That doesn't sound like fun. How much of the day did she remember after prodding her memory?

And Gabe is going to NYC. I've always wanted to go to New York, all of you are so lucky!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Good News!

Dear family,

So much good news to report this week! Darlene and Everett moved to Arizona a few months ago, and this week they went to the snowflake temple to get their endowments and to be sealed! Such a happy event for them and for me! I wish I could be there somehow, but I am so happy just to hear that they're doing so well! We also went to the cottage meeting at the mission home last night, and I got to see Jesse, the guy that I contacted at Edmonds Community College a few months back. I'm pretty sure I wrote about him in a few emails before we found out he lived in Silverlake YSA area so we had to pass him off. Right before I got transferred to Silverlake YSA Jesse moved to Marysville so he was then passed off to the Armar YSA sisters. Well, Jesse got baptized yesterday and he was absolutely beaming! I see such an amazing change in him! I asked Jesse if he remembered that first time I met him and him telling me that he doesn't agree with organized religion, and there's no way he would ever join the church, but he was willing to listen just to hear what we believe. Jesse laughed and told me that he did remember that.

Heather has officially been free from smoking for 8 days as of today! She successfully finished the 7-day stop smoking program and we are so proud of her! The first few days were extremely hard for her, but on day 6 she told us that she went out to take her dog Duders for a walk and she smelled someone smoking (not a big surprise when you're in north Everett) and she said that it absolutely disgusted her. The last few days have been easy! I have taught a lot of investigators on my mission that I have gotten very close to, and Heather is one of those that I will always have a very special love for.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we are teaching a girl named Zahra who is muslim. This week President Bonham came to one of her lessons with us and we had a very powerful experience. We were reteaching the restoration, and we turned to the picture of the first vision in the pamphlet. Before we said anything Zahra looked up from the picture and said, "Does it make you want to cry?" and out of nowhere she completely broke down sobbing. The spirit was so strong. We let Zahra cry for a few minutes, then she expressed to us how she felt good and how she knows that this is the path that she wants to take, but she is terrified of what her family back in Gambia will think. They are muslim and she doesn't want to become a disgrace for the family if she gets baptized. This is something that she has been working through for a very long time, and I felt so much love and compassion for her as she shared her feelings. I told her that my heart went out to her for this hard decision that she has to make, but the reason we keep coming to teach her is because we love her and know that this gospel really is that important. We promised her that if she will do everything in her power to pray and read and come to church so that she can build her testimony, she will be given the strength that she needs to make the decision that is right for her. 2 days later she told us that she is going to read the Book of Mormon by one month from now, and 2 days after that she came to church and showed us that she had already read through 1 Nephi. :)

There is so much more I wanted to say about my studies and being a Sister Training Leader and other investigators but there never seems to be the time! Just know for now that I love you all! I am so grateful for the support and prayers that I feel from all of you!

Love, Sister Slade

Seeing Jesse Gilpatrick again at cottage meeting!

Tips and Tricks

This week is going to be a little short, I'm trying to switch off to writing more personal emails.

So here are a couple tips and tricks that I'm starting to understand.

1. How to keep a dry towel from molding.

     - You don't. Anybody have a better answer than that? If you do be sure to email me

2. How to tell someone about the weather

     - In the United States we generally talk about weather in reference to clothing "oh its shorts weather" or "oh its sweatshirt weather." Here I'm realizing is more accurate with food. "oh if you left food in your car be prepared for fried eggs", "You can leave that in there it’s like a refrigerator out there." Or "Beware of Popsicle." There isn't really any middle ground here...It's hot or its cold...And right now its cold, getting down to FOUR DEGREES! (don't worry that's just Celsius, I have no clue what it is in Fahrenheit but its pretty cold) I'm including a picture of Sister Munive and I.

3. How to know what language someone speaks

     - Begin with (Allo!) which is pretty universal. For English speakers it just sounds like someone speaking English with an accent. For French speakers it sounds like English speakers trying to speak French, and for Spanish...honestly I have no clue...

4. Tim Hortons

    - Still haven't eaten there, but it is a huge part of Canada. You see them more often then Mickey D's here

5. Bike rides

    - You really get to appreciate them here. We live right next to a river so we got some pretty epic pictures, such as this lovely one.

A little spiritual summary of the week

LUNA IS GETTING BAPTISED! We committed her to a baptismal date! Whoo sorry had to get that out there, my greeniness is tingling inside (greenie: a new missionary, which I am.) She will be baptized in the upcoming weeks and I will probably be singing at her baptism. The members of the ward have discovered that I'm fairly good at singing. On many occasions my vocal training has blessed me immensely. Even more so, God has blessed me immensely. Just yesterday we were sitting in the chapel waiting for Sacrament meeting to start when the Mission Ward Leader comes up and asks me to sing "I like to look for Rainbows" in three hours at his grandchild’s baptism... I found myself smiling and nodding. Surprisingly I was not nervous until about three seconds after he left I realized that I wouldn't be singing "I like to look for Rainbows" I would be singing "Le Jour de mon Bapteme" because it is in French...As a solo... I quickly memorized as much as I could before the baptism and then performed it. I'm not sure how good it was technique-wise but I feel like I was able to touch people’s hearts, which is all that counts as a missionary.

Well that’s all the time for today! Je t'aime beaucoup!

Soeur Cummings

Only one year left!

Dear Friends and Family:

This week, we achieved standards in all key indicators! Yay! This is the first time in my mission that I have done it. I've come close one other week when I was with Elder Bailey, but I fell short on a few of them.

On Sunday, we needed three more member present lessons and a member blessing, and it seemed like we weren't going to be able to get them. None of the members we called were able to come out with us, and we were getting close to the time that we had to go out to a lesson. Then, the last person we called finally said he could come out teaching with us! So we went and picked him up, and we started going to visit all of our investigators. But we literally visited ten or so homes, finding out that none of them were there, before we actually had a lesson! We just barely achieved standards for MPLs, but God blessed us for working hard to get the member out with us and we had three excellent lessons with him!

Elder Fisher and I are getting along well. Much better than we did at the start of the transfer, and we are getting a lot of amazing work done. We had 8 people in sacrament meeting yesterday, from a family of five, and two individuals from part-member families, and one other individual. We are excited to have six baptisms next week!

Our ward just got a new Ward Mission Leader, Brother Giullian, so we are excited to work with him and to have closer unity with the ward.

In one of my studies this week or last, I started making a list of my recent converts and trying to see patterns. One thing I noticed is that almost all of my recent converts have neither 1. come teaching with us, or 2. gone to the temple. So that is one thing I really need to repent of and be better at. I'm going to place more of a focus on missionary work and on the temple in our lessons, and especially after these people are baptized, I'm not going to just let them go inactive without ever visiting the temple.

If any of you have sent me letters that have been returned home to you from the mission office, be rest assured, it's happening to everyone. For some reason, none of the packages or letters that are arriving in the mission office are being forwarded to the right places. They are all being returned to the sender. This is mission-wide, and the senior missionaries are doing their best to find out why this is happening and to fix the problem so that we junior missionaries can receive all of your letters and love-in-a-box. Thanks for your patience!

Unfortunately, as some of you have already remarked, this past week I hit my half-way mark on my mission. The week before I hit my year-to-home mark, and this upcoming week I'll hit my year mark. I know, it's sad, but really, I still have a year left! If you don't count the MTC, I've still got a few weeks until I even hit my half-way mark. So you probably don't have to bring it up for another 11 months or so...

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Fasting

Funny things have happened this week. When I say funny I don't mean laughing out loud funny, I mean slightly out of ordinary funny that ends up going very well. I believe I have gained a complete testimony of Fasting.

But first some stories. I bet you didn't know that there are a few words in English that when said with a French accent are really Really REALLY bad curse words in Quebec, Canada. Note to self the word for sacrament is in fact "saint-cene" and not "sacrement"...

Another thing about Canada is that they have these amazing signs in all the neighborhoods. I'm not sure what the literal translation is but I attached a photo of it. The gist of it is "be wary of children for they could be yours" with a lovely drawing of a dead child. Golly I'm loving Canada!

This has also been a week of giving gifts. It was my companion's year mark as well as Sister Leano who is another sister we live with. She kept "subtly" hinting that she wanted a balloon for her year mark. So as a suprise we gave her one. She squealed and continued to bounce around for about two hours and then slept with it on her wrist. I have a video but it is too large to send. You are just going to have to trust me that it was hilarious. I did attach a picture of her the morning afterwards still very very content with her balloon named "Lo Lo Bo Bo." We also may or may not have filled their car with a bunch of balloons with inspirational messages written on them...

Remember that wonderful amazing sister we are teaching to ride a bike? Well she is taking the lessons! And not only that she came to church! Oh my goodness what a story! Okay. Story time with Sister Cummings. Its time to get serious.

<lights dim>

*note read the following in Thomas S. Monson's Voice

It was fast Sunday, and I had decided to fast for our investigators that they might find answers to their prayers and know the truthfulness of this gospel. My companion and I arrived at church three hours before the meeting started, and we waited for our investigator to arrive. But she did not come. In our saddened state we shuffled to the chapel and the meeting began. We were still quite sad when the Sacrament had been passed and nobody showed up. And then suddenly the door opened. And I swear I could hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Handle's Hallelujah Chorus, for there stood our wonderful and loved Luna. Much happier now Sister Munive and I became fully engaged in what was happening around us. It was a Fast Sunday so as per tradition we had a testimony meeting. And oh how beautiful were those testimonies. I have no idea what was being said but the feelings that were whispered by the spirit were so beautiful. As we came to the close of the meeting and the congretation was waiting for just one more speaker to finish it off nicely, our own Luna stood up. Sister Munive turned to each other in confusion, believing that she was leaving the chapel for some reason unknown to us. However we soon realized what was happening as Luna walked to the microphone. The smiles on our faces were so large my cheeks felt sore for hours afterwards. She talked about her family and how she had been searching for the good word and searching but she could not find it. She had said a prayer that she might find the right church. This was when she met the missionaries. She then stood at the pulpit on her very first moment of being in church and after only know of the gospel for a week and proudly declared "Je sais que ce c'est le bon parole." Which translates to "I know that this is the good word." She closes her testimony and I look around. Many members are crying including myself and Sister Munive. I know that this was an answer to my fast and what a beautiful answer it is.

We are receiving transfer calls this weekend, although it is very very unlikely that I will be transferred because I have not had the opportunity to finish my training. It still is a possibility that I may leave Mascouche. I'll keep you posted!

Je vous aime!!

Soeur Cummings

Heather

Dear family,

Today I wanted to share about one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. Heather has been investigating the church for about 5 years, and very seriously for the last 2 years. She has wanted to be baptized for a very long time, but because of some things that happened in her past, Heather has to have special permission from the first presidency to be baptized. We've been teaching Heather since I came here (and many missionaries companionships before me) and her lessons have been some of the most sacred experiences of my mission. I haven't shared about them partly because of how sacred they are to me, and partly because of how sensitive her situation is. Heather has been through the ringer, and in the last few years she has overcome every type of sin and every sorrow you can think of. Because of this, Heather is the atonement in action. Very few times in my life have I felt the love of Jesus Christ as strongly as I have when I have talked with Heather, because for Heather the atonement is as real as it gets. Last week Heather finished meeting with her counselor and he called President Bonham and told him that although Heather will have to stay in the singles ward for life, he sees no reason why she shouldn't be able to get baptized. What we didn't realize is that this was finally the last step in the process, and all that's left is for President Bonham to contact Salt Lake and get the approval for baptism. We talked to President Bonham at zone conference and he told us that he feels confident enough that the first presidency will approve Heather being baptized, that he gave us permission to set a date for baptism, as long as it's far enough away that he can be confident she is 100% prepared. When we invited Heather to be baptized on November 22nd she was completely in shock. It was an emotional experience for all of us. The whole process of teaching Heather has been an emotional experience for me. I love Heather so much. The last thing Heather has to overcome is smoking, and she started the program last night. Please please keep her in your prayers this week!!!

We got transfer calls and I'm super happy to report that both Sister Smith and I are going to be staying in Silverlake YSA!!! We have also been asked to serve as Sister Training Leaders for the nearby zones in this area, which we are excited but a little overwhelmed about as well. It's going to be another transfer filled with miracles!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Slade

We told Heather to show us her baptism "victory pose"

 Us and our grossness after completely cleaning and sanitizing Heather's apartment to prepare for her to start the stop smoking program

 She starts the stop smoking program today. We spend a million years cleaning her apartment so that it's completely smoke free! Oh. And we made her promise that she would wear this sign whenever she leaves the apartment this week. Keep her in your prayers!!!

Christ-like Attributes

Dear Friends and Family:

This week, in Miami Shores Creole: Woodjemi N. was baptized! ...and confirmed! She is a 9-year-old who was not baptized when she was eight, although her parents are members. So our bishop asked us to work with her and her parents to get them baptized. Last Sunday, Gerald N. received the Priesthood, so that this Sunday, he could baptize her. It was a really good service. One of the concerns that the parents had was that the ward didn't care enough to show up at the baptism after church. But, the baptism was announced in all classes, and we and the other people in the ward council personally invited many people to attend, and we had a great showing for the baptism right after church.

Apart from that, we also had a terrific week. Our investigator, Witelane, came to church with her four-year-old son. She loved it, but she doesn't feel ready to be baptized quite yet. She wants to wait until December for some reason. But she says if God helps her to know it is His will, then she will be baptized sooner. So we'll keep working with her and we'll help her recognize the spirit.

One of our focuses this week will be having a better ratio between knocking on doors and blessing people's homes and getting follow-up appointments and new investigators. This last week, we were able to get an enormous amount of harvest blessings, but they didn't turn into quite as many new investigators as we would have liked. Also, we are planning on role playing trading off turns speaking in companionship study this week, so that we can better teach with unity.

This week in my personal study, I have been trying to work on some of the Christ-like attributes. I decided to start with humility, because it's something that I really don't have much of. I made a list of things that I can do be more humble and to rely more on the lord, and less on myself. In addition, our district leader committed both of us to do an act of service for each other each day, so I will also be doing that.

I really enjoy seeing the pictures that you all send, and reading your emails to know what you are all up to. I'm excited to finally see the new bedroom, and to know about the new roof that will be going up "without money and without price". It's almost as good as the gospel!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Terrific Week!

Dear Friends and Family:

We had a terrific week! We improved or were consistent in all of our key indicators, except for recent convert and less active lessons. Those went down drastically, but we will improve on those this week. We're already off to a good start, we had one yesterday and we have two planned for tonight.

We have several investigators this week that we are excited about! One in particular.

Her name is Jislaine P. She is an old Haitian lady, and pretty much from the moment we talked with her, she felt the spirit and she followed its promptings. She already knows that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and she enjoyed church immensely. She has several good member friends already. Part of the Haitian gospel principles class was spent with all of them having a discussion about all of the lies that pastors and other people have told them about Mormons, about polygamy, whether or not we are Christian, and a bunch of other anti subjects. She put in several good comments! She has a strong commitment to come to church every Sunday. We can't wait for her baptism this weekend!

Elder Fisher and I have been blessed so much over the last week and a half. We have found so many miracles. One thing that I feel like I relearned was that the harder we work, the harder God works for us. We've really been focusing on always working hard, and continuing to spend all of our time during each day. We've been able to find many awesome people from just going out and working more, even when we feel fatigued and lazy.

We will be having a specialized mission training on the 24th of September. We can't wait for it! My guess is that it has something to do with iPads... but we'll all have to wait and find out.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

P.S. Quick miracle that just happened while I was emailing: someone called us. Someone had harvest blessed her husband recently, and she heard about it and wanted to learn more about the church. She called us, and asked what principles we follow in the church. I briefly touched on following Jesus Christ, the Law of Chastity, the Word of Wisdom, and the Book of Mormon. She asked how someone can become a member of the church. I told her. She wants accepted a date for the 14th, and we're going by tonight to see her. Yay!

As Easy As Learning to Ride a Bike

Psych. It is not all that easy to learn how to ride a bike. I don't speak about myself, don't worry Dad I have not forgotten how to ride a bike in the past two months, I do still speak from experience. Something that I absolutely love about Sister Munive is that she is so creative in ways that we can teach people the gospel. As a missionary you see that many people are not so excited to stop and talk about the gospel, but they love talking about their families or things like that. Sister Munive has this talent that she is able to see a way that we can help people while still managing to share the gospel. Among these beautiful roundabouts are teaching piano lessons (in French), Learning how to draw (in French), and other services. I myself have had the opportunity to teach how to direct music in church, and I have been able to continue my study of voice through teaching beginner voice lessons. I am so grateful that my family and my lovely voice teacher Rebecca have been able to prepare me for these moments that I may share the love of God through my works and services. (Speaking of Family...HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY CLAYTON!!!!!!!!!!!) But one of the main services we are right now doing, which is the influence of the title, you guessed it. We are teaching a wonderful twenty-four year old investigator named Luna, how to ride a bike! I applaud you Dad and/or Mom who helped me learn how to ride my bike (my memory is a bit fuzzy on who actually taught me...might have been from the frequent falls) because by golly is it hard!! You don't want to let go of the bike but you know you have to if you want them to learn. I have come to realize more of Gods love by teaching someone how to use a bike. God wants us to be like him because that is what we want. It is just as painful for him to watch us fail or struggle as for a father watching his little girl falling and failing on a bicycle. He doesn't want to let go of our bikes as we learn how to live but if we are to progress and learn fully He has to let go. And so he does. But he is always there to catch us when we fall. He may not be holding the bike anymore but he never leaves us alone.

Wow..that got deep quick...I guess that just means that I am becoming even more a missionary. Another way we as missionaries have taught is through the teachings of English classes or French. Me personally its only English, sorry everyone I'm not that good at the language yet but I'm working on it. Anyways we are teaching a less active sister who is from Brazil and only speaks Portuguese, how to speak English. She has a wonderful dream to live in Utah where the church is so strong, which is amazing! But here's the difficult part...neither of us speak Portuguese. However Sister Munive has been able to explain things through Spanish and I am able to teach grammar and pronunciation principles by insane hand gestures that I like to think is an interpretive dance. Seriously though, the gift of tongues, or the power given through God to speak other languages, is so true. As part of a previous lesson I had given this sister the English Book of Mormon that I had brought from home. Inside of it was a written testimony who I am assuming was written by either Jesse or Clayton my brothers. I had completely forgotten about that when I gave her the book and then the next time we came over to teach her she said "I want to read this in my language, will you help me translate it." She was so touched by the spirit she felt when she read the testimony that she started crying. The next Sunday she was at church! Thank you to whoever wrote that testimony, it has been translated into French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Not to mention it has helped bring someone back to church.

This week as a district we fasted, or in other words refrained from food and drink for twenty-four hours. This is a way that we can feel closer to our God by our sacrifice and in return he gives us even greater blessings, whether it be through answers to specific questions or help and comfort when we need it. We had begun to feel a little discouraged. Our appointments kept getting cancelled and no one we talked to seemed to be interested in our church. We decided to fast together for the missionary work of our area to become what God wants it to be. We definitely felt the effects this week. Sister Munive and I received two new investigators, and others in the district received similar blessings. I am going to take the time  to tell you about one of our investigators. Her name is Sarina. And this is the story of how we met her. Sister Munive and I were feeling down after both of our meal appointments canceled, the sisters serving in Terrebonne invited us to their wards corn boil (and yes that is a thing here, imagine sacks and sacks of corn. Why did this never happen in Illinois??) We were talking to the members when one member comes up and talks to us. He said he was walking by the road cleaning up the church grounds when a woman walks by. She stopped and looked at the church sign and so he went up and talked to her. He invited her to the corn boil that was happening in the parking lot. This brother introduced us to Sarina, we gave her a tour of the church building and when she saw the chapel she called up her friend to come and see it. She said that it was the most beautiful chapel she has seen. In my eyes I have always thought the church buildings of our church to be more functional than beautiful, so out of curiosity I asked her why she felt that way? She replied with how beautiful the feeling of the building was. I honestly don't think I'll look at our chapels in any other way than beautiful just from hearing that simple little phrase.

I am loving the work here. And I am loving the opportunity to have these amazing things happen. In my mind I see miracles everyday and it isn't until I look back at those moments through writing these emails/blog posts that I realize just how miraculous the things I have seen are. I love Mascouche and I love the people. And I am loving being a missionary for my church, and spreading the happiness and love that I have found through these gospels.

Je vous aime

Soeur Cummings  

Miracle story

Dear family,

So here's the crazy miracle story from the week! Both Sister Smith and I were completely caught off guard last Monday when our miracle investigator Haley that I have been writing about texted us telling us that she felt the church wasn't for her and that she was going to explore different churches so that she could "find herself." Haley has had the spirit testify of truth to her over and over again and she has seen so many miracles happen while investigating, so we decided to stop by so that we could talk to her in person. When we did Haley expressed some surface-level concerns to us, but it seems that the real concern is a matter of not wanting to live one of the commandments we taught her. Sister Smith and I were very bold with her. We basically told her that we loved her too much to allow her to say no to something that we knew would bless her so much. This was one lesson that the spirit was definitely the one testifying rather than Sister Slade. Then I asked Haley if I could share some scriptures with her and we read some of the verses in Alma 32. Afterwards I started to share my testimony with Haley of how I knew just taking action and planting a small seed, then nourishing it patiently and diligently, would allow her testimony to grow into something great. Haley stopped me mid-sentence completely in shock. She told us that she had had a dream the night before where she saw herself planting a seed, with a voice in the background saying word for word what I had just been saying. It wasn't until I said it that she realized that it had been my voice she heard in the dream. The spirit was so strong. Although her baptism will need to be pushed back, we are still going to be teaching Haley because she knows that Heavenly Father has given her so many signs that this is the path she needs to be on. Such a miracle! Please keep her in your prayers.

Emma's baptism was amazing! The miracle there was that her mom agreed to come to the baptism, when up to this point she has been completely antagonistic about Emma's decision to be baptized. Her mom cried and cried throughout the whole thing, and would hardly talk to anyone there because she was so mad about "losing her daughter." You would think the world was ending. It was cool to see how Emma handled the whole thing. Even though she comforted her mom and tried to make it the best possible experience for her, she was very firm in her decision. The strength of many of these investigators who choose to follow the Savior amazes me! They inspire me to be more devoted and more resolute in choosing what's right, especially in the face of opposition.

I'll close with a quick quote from an amazing talk by President Hinckley called "Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep." (read it! It's amazing!): "Let there be cultivated an awareness in every member’s heart of his own potential for bringing others to a knowledge of the truth. Let him work at it. Let him pray with great earnestness about it...My heart reaches out to you missionaries. You simply cannot do it alone and do it well. You must have the help of others. That power to help lies within each of us. But you must do all you can. You must be anxiously engaged. When you are not working on referrals of members, you must be developing those referrals yourselves through tracting and related means...Now, my brethren and sisters, we can let the missionaries try to do it alone, or we can help them. If they do it alone, they will knock on doors day after day and the harvest will be meager. Or as members we can assist them in finding and teaching investigators." Thank you so much for everything that each of you has done for me and continues to do for me. The missionaries need YOU!!! Your brothers and sisters need YOU. Heavenly Father needs YOU. I would love to hear about the amazing missionary experiences you are all having! (Remember, success is not when they say yes, you succeed every time you invite!)

Love you all!

Love, Sister Slade

Wallace and Korena took us to tour the USS NIMITZ for P-Day today!

 Sister Glancy and Sister Bartsch were able to come to Emma’s baptism!