Turning up the heat!

(Elder Cummings)

The work in Merced continues to build and the temperature continues to rise!  The hottest it got this week was 112.  Our apartment, despite our best efforts, stays in the 90s all night, so sleeping and showering have become uncomfortably relate-able experiences.  Nonetheless, we are having fun and working hard.

Our finding has been on point!  They were such a blessing!  Elder Balgey and I had fasted that we could find families to teach and we have been blessed.  We were able to meet a half dozen individuals who would be interested in learning more with their spouse and children present.  What a miracle!

This week has also brought with it my first interactions with the Hmong gangs!  They are much bigger down in Fresno and up north in Sacramento, Wisconsin, and Michigan, but we managed to run into them in Merced.  Only good things came from it, and we began visiting one of them who was baptized a member of the Church, but has since gone astray.  They have a strong desire to come back to church, but they want to take it slow.  Many changes will have to be made, and through Jesus Christ they can be made.

A lesson we had with this new friend was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.  As we talked I had a distinct memory of a few obscure verses in the Book of Revelations that talk about the war in heaven that occurred before this life that were first brought to my attention five years ago at an EFY (Especially For Youth) summer program but on by BYU.  I have seldom, if ever, thought about these verse since, with the exception of reading over them.  Because of an experience I had had five years previous, I knew those specific scriptures well enough to use them in a teaching situation that helped this less-active member feel the Spirit strongly and to reopen their heart to the message of the Restoration.  Despite what may seem like a wild introduction, the visit went smoothly into teaching about prophets and the Atonement.  They have began rereading the Book of Mormon and praying daily.  It was an incredible lesson for all who were present.  Our new friend even mentioned that Elder Bagley and I were the first missionaries that had been able to make learning the gospel fun!  It was an amazing experience.

God truly does prepare us for all we are called upon to do.  He guides our life to give us the experiences we need to accept his gospel.  I know that He lives.

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings