Well I know you all are wondering, what happened on Saturday
night at 8:45 when we received our transfer calls. I'm sure the suspense is
killing you like it was killing me. In fact I resorted to sleeping with my
frisbee as a little girl would sleep with a teddy bear. (Thats right mother I
managed to smuggle my frisbee onto my mission. No regrets =D) Surprisingly it
helped a lot. Well anyways it was a dark and stormy night...<insert really
long narrative> Okay I'm just kidding. The news is that Sister Avaemai will
be staying in Hochelaga Groupe de Nord and will be receiving her best friend
since childhood, aka the only other Tahitian sister in the mission Sister
Tehaamatai. While yours truly will be traveling a little farther south for the
winter and serving in LeMoyne with a Sister Blanc, who is Haitian. Thats right!
Rizcolle for life!! So this is my third French speaking area.
Another bit of news, I got to take part in my first baptism!
Actually more like first three baptisms. Linda, Lulu and Zach took upon them
the name of Christ this past Saturday afternoon in the beautiful form of
baptism by immersion. After the deed was done Linda, the mother, told me how
she found the church. And I wish to share it. She said
"I worked at a hospital as a nurse and we had fun every
break talking all sorts of nonsense that you don`t want children to be hearing.
After a while one of our coworkers stopped hanging out with us and seemed to prefer
more the quiet corner of the cafeteria. One day I went over to him and was very
direct, "hey why don't you talk with us anymore, are you too cool for
us?" in return he was very direct. "No actually, I've been meeting
with some friends and they gave me this book to read and I cannot put it
down." Sure enough my friend was talking about the missionaries and the
book in his hands was in fact the Book of Mormon. Now I had studied for many
years before with different branches of religion. I had prayed with the
Jehovah's Witnesses, I had taken part of Ramada with the Muslims, you name it I
had done it. But I had never heard of this religion. So I asked him about it.
He answered all my questions as best that he could. Then the break bell rang
and we parted ways. After then I had many restless nights where I could not
stop thinking about what he had told me. Finally I gave into it and googled the
thing. It led me to a page where I could ask for a book of Mormon. The word
FREE really got my attention. A couple of days later two children dressed up as
penguins came to my door and introduced themselves as missionaries. I thought
it strange that they had the same name of Elder. Now in any normal
circumstances I would not have let them in. But I did. They came in, started
talking to me about the gospel. They asked me how I had heard about this, I
told them about my friend. Turns out these two gentlemen were in fact the two
friends of my friend and that he was to be baptized this weekend. So I attended
the baptism of my friend, I met these two Sister Missionaries who started
coming over and teaching my daughter and I more and more. And now my hair is
wet and I have God`s name taken upon me."
Gorden B. Hinkley once said "Every Member a
Missionary." And as a full time missionary I can tell you we would never
have one baptism is we didn`t have the love and support of members. And not
only do these efforts bless us, they bless your own families. I myself have
seen the change. Before I left for college my family took part in the Hill
Camorah Pageant which includes a lot of testifying on the part of the cast.
After I left for college my family continued to practice those missionary
efforts they had learned about that summer. By the time I got back there was
something different in everyone of my family. It felt like I was missing out! I
came to know that my brothers had given out enough book of mormons at school
that they could have made a book club. Missionaries had tracted into multiple
people who recognized who they were because of my siblings. My brother Jared
had accompanied the missionaries on multiple occasions and was given the opportunity
to baptize someone and then go to prom the night after. There was a love and a
unity in my family that I didn`t understand until I got here and I realized
what it was. My family had been blessed as they helped bless others.
Our job as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints is to prepare those around us for the gathering of Isreal. It is our
duty to share with the world the gospel of Jesus Christ and his Atonement.
There are people you walk past everyday who do not know that they have a Father
in Heaven who loves them, nor do they know that there is someone who has taken
the weight of the world on his shoulders so that they don`t have to. You have
the secrets to eternal life. Why would you want to hold that back? I encourage
you to branch out and find those people who are prepared for the gospel. And if
they aren`t prepared, thats not a big deal, prepare them. We have been promised
by multiple apostles and I repeat this promise as a representative of God that
there is someone in your life who is prepared to know these truths. Invite them
to dinner, introduce them to the missionaries, show them the light that you
have and lead them to it. Maybe while reading this or hearing this a name has
come to your mind. Write it down. It is there by inspiration.
I love you all and I thank you so much for your prayers I
have felt them everyday of my life out here, I love you so much.
Avec Amour,
Soeur Cummings
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