Luke 2:10

(Aldste Cummings)

Merry Christmas (almost)!

This week was pretty busy as usual. We traveled to Göteborg on Monday to go to zone conference on Tuesday. We got to stay with the elders in Västra Frölunda which meant that Elder Wolff and I got to have our own little Morristown Ward reunion which is always a pleasure. Then, on Wednesday, we stayed in Göteborg with the Zone leaders to do splits in Utby which was super fun and we got back to Skövde on Wednesday night. So we had a ton of stuff to do this week and we weren't even in our own area until Thursday basically so that just made it a little busier trying to fit everything in.

We have an investigator named Camilla and she is amazing. I've never met someone who is so prepared to receive the Gospel. She's a Swedish woman in her thirties who lives alone in northern Skövde. We met her for the first time when we knocked on her door three weeks ago and she is already well on her way to making the covenant of baptism. Her enthusiasm is so inspiring, she told us that she was going to get baptized even if it meant she had to stay up all night reading the Book of Mormon every day. I'm so grateful that the Lord led us to her so we can lead her to Him!

I probably won't send another email between now and Christmas so I thought it appropriate to share a little message about Christmas. I am so thankful for Jesus Christ and everything He has done for us. Everything He ever did was done out of complete selflessness and love. News of Him truly is "glad tidings of great joy." Because of Him and His sacrifice, we can come back to our Heavenly Father and be redeemed from our sins. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and we owe Him everything. Enjoy the Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

p.s. Here's a picture we took at zone conference. It was combined with the Malmö zone so I got to see a ton of people in my group in the MTC that I haven't seen since I actually got to Sweden. Super fun!

Boca do Inferno, Chuva, e Não vou sair (ponte final)

(Sister Ellsworth)\

Então hoje vou ensinar vocês como  é para ser mesmo português. Vocês vão aprender quâo incrível é para ser parte deste pais.

Estou a brincar... Vou falar o inglês...

So this week was so much fun I can't even begin to describe all the crazy things we did. We climbed mountains in the rain and found these two adorable Angolan girls. The Elders had a crazy hectic baptism and we had the biggest ward activity in Portugal! Today one of our members took us on a long car ride all over Sintra and Cascais. We got rained on all week but 5 umbrellas later I'm beginning to dry out!

On Tuesday we got a phone call from a member I had never heard or seen in church but he called with two references of two young women that had come from Angola that day that wanted to talk to the Sisters. We were like YEAH! And we ran over there and met them and we found two best friends. The older is Lavinha and she's 14 and her younger sister is Sira and she's 9. Basically their mother died a few months ago and they got shipped to live with their uncle (the member). They walk with us in the road constantly asking questions and joking around, happy to have two new big sisters.

We also had an awesome miracle this week! One of our friends Jorge straight up stopped smoking! After smoking 40-50 cigarettes every day for 40 years, he read the Book of Mormon and gave us his cigarettes saying that he was done not having control in his life. #WINFORJESUS

This is the dedication site when President Thomas S Monson dedicated Portugal for Missionary work back in the 70's. It's on top of this huge mountain and then in the middle of a little forest but from this rock you can oversee Lisbon and the ocean. It's beautiful! These are Sira and Lavinha!

BOCA DO INFERNO!!! This is probably the coolest thing I've seen  yet in Portugal. Its this rock bowl that has a tiny opening to the ocean and when the waves come water just explodes through this hole. Today it was stormy and the water was even more agitated.

We hiked up to a little lighthouse.

2 Nephi 33:10

(Aldste Cummings)

Hej hej!

Another exciting week in Skövde! We were incredibly busy this week. We had a couple of English and religion classes that we taught at a local gymnasium (basically high school) and it was super fun but it also took a good bit out of our schedule and we had to work things in an around the classes. There was one day where we left the apartment in the morning and didn't come back for over 12 hours! Very tiring, but totally worth it.

On Friday, we had a dinner appointment with a member who lives about half an hour away. Because we don't have a car, we have to rely on the bus system to get there and back. The appointment went a little longer than expected and we missed our bus back but we just assumed a bus was going to come an hour later around 8 and we could just knock some doors until then. WRONG. Turns out the bus didn't come until 9:30 and we aren't allowed to knock on people's doors after 8 so we had to spend an hour and a half walking around Timmersdala in the dead of night while our phone was about to die waiting for the bus. We didn't get home until 10:25. That was crazy. Gotta be careful with those buses.

I thought of this scripture this week when we were meeting with a new investigator, Camilla, and we were talking about the Book of Mormon. She had been reading a little bit in it and expressed the sentiment that she knows its true and good because the doctrines it teaches are very clearly the doctrines of Christ and not of man. She said that she felt the same way reading it as she does reading the Bible. Just as Nephi teaches in 2 Nephi 33:10, a true believer and disciple of Christ will know specifically that the Book of Mormon is true because they will recognize that it is the word of Christ. They will recognize the doctrine as the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.

I know the Book of Mormon is true and I know that by studying it, we can come closer to God and strengthen our relationship with our Savior.

Love,

Äldste Cummings

On one of our busier days, we just drank chocolate milk for dinner. Kinda bummy, but it tasted good.

A picture of Skövde from the top of a nearby hill (sorry for the tree in the way, there was a wedding going on in the ideal picture taking spot).

Mosiah 4:19

(Elder Cummings)

Hej på er!

This week has been really great! We've been working so hard and not wasting any time. And this next week won't be any less busy. We are going to be teaching a couple classes at a local high school on top of all the people we need to visit and talk to. These weeks are just flying by. I can't believe it's already time to write this email again.

We keep forgetting to take pictures so I'm sending two that I took last week when we had our humble Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm running a little short on time so I won't be able to write a whole lot. The verse that I've been thinking about this week came to mind when we were teaching a lesson to a nice Swedish lady. She expressed a lot of concern that the world is becoming increasingly materialistic, classist, and selfish. It made me think of King Benjamin's sermon in Mosiah 4 where he teaches us that we are all beggars before God. We rely on Him for everything. How can we expect Him to forgive us of our own trespasses when we refuse to forgive others theirs? How can we expect Him to bless us with His goodness when we refuse to give of our own to others? When we truly realize that we all are indebted to the Lord for everything we have enjoyed in this life, then we will try our best to give of ourselves and bless the lives of others around us. True understanding of our relationship to God will lead to true understanding of our duty to our neighbor.

As we approach Christmas, I hope that you all find a way to serve someone in need and show love to everyone regardless of who they are just like the Lord loves us.

Love,

Äldste Cummings

Mem Martins!! Whoo!

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was fantastic! Despite the really cold rain I am absolutely loving this new area. It's a very busy area with a ton of people! We have appointments and new lessons coming out our ears! I love my new companion too, Sister Haws. She's so cute and fun! We hit the ground running and had a blast getting lost and meeting a ton of new people together. She's been on her mission for about 8 months and it's been fun to teach her new teaching tricks and funny Portuguese words. We went to Sintra for Pday and wandered around talking to people there. We bought some Christmas presents and met up with some other missionaries.

I think one of my favorite moments this week was when we passed by an old contact named Catia. She let us in and explained that she was learning about 4 or 5 different religions right now, searching for which one was true. She asked us how we know which church is true and we were like "WELL LET US TELL YA!" We began to teach her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we invited her to pray to receive a confirmation she looked at us and said, "I never thought to ask God which church was right.... How do you do that?" and  we got all excited and basically blurted out "PRAYYYYY!!!!" So then we committed her to pray and read and go to church and to be baptized and it was awesome.

Here are some pictures of our adventures in Sintra!

 [pics to come]

​Have a great week!

Sister Ellsworth

Alma 32: 17-19

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjabba grabbar!

This week has been so fun! I said goodbye to Elder Martineau and said hello to Elder Cluff which was bittersweet. It was sad to see Elder Martineau go, but I'm super excited to get to work with Elder Cluff!

Funny story, while we were helping Elder Martineau with his bags onto the train and the door closed behind us. So Elder Cluff and I were stuck on a train that we didn't have tickets for while Elder Cluff's bags were left sitting on the platform. We had to get off at the next stop and wait for a train that would take us back. So we got back about an hour later and thankfully Elder Cluff's bags were still on the platform! Gotta love Skövde.

We also had a nice little Thanksgiving on Thursday. Turkey steaks, hashbrowns, and glögg (a Swedish Christmas drink). It was tasty, but it's nothing like a classic Thanksgiving dinner back home that's for sure.

Things have been super fun though! We went to an apartment complex yesterday and met a ton of people and their families who want us to come back. This is going to be a pretty busy couple of weeks!

The scripture I chose this week addresses a concern we get from people often here in Skövde. Plenty of people refuse to believe in a god because of a lack of evidence. If God exists, why doesn't He just tell us all so we all know and can follow Him?

As illustrated in the aforementioned verses, the Lord's requirement to live by faith is a blessing rather than a curse. He knows that because we are human, we are going to make mistakes regardless of what we know to be right and true. How often have you done something you knew was wrong but you did it anyway? If we were to have a perfect knowledge of God and His plan, our inevitable mistakes would have been far more severe. We are given sufficient evidence to act in faith so we don't have to bear the heavy mantle of responsibility that comes with perfect knowledge. When thinking about these questions, it's always important to remember that our Heavenly Father loves us more than we can know. He created this earth and sent us here so we all could come back to Him, not to condemn the unfaithful and He has given us the best opportunity to do just that. His plan, like Him, is perfect.

Have a good week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

2 Emergency Transfers and a Baptism later... We Survived

(Sister Ellsworth)

So this week was an ADVENTURE!!! On Monday we received a call that Sister Herrera would join our companionship and we made it a whole week together and it was awesome! We arranged Antonio's baptism! While we were waiting for the baptism to start Sister dos Santos taught me and Sister Herrera how to tie ties. We tied them all by ourselves!! Heehee

Look at Antonio... He's so happy!! Haha. I've never seen someone make such a huge change in such a short amount of time. After a lifetime of smoking and being involved with other less-good things. Antonio grabbed his last box of cigarettes and chucked them out the window, stopping stone cold. He grabbed the beer in his fridge and poured it down the toilet, laughing and smiling. When he was  baptized he sat there a moment, smiled and said "It's good."

This week we are also having another transfer! Heavenly Father thought I should spend my last 20 days on my mission in another area so I'll be transferred to Mem Martins tomorrow.

I'm just so grateful to be here. I don't pay attention to the days... (honestly I'm hoping that if i stop looking then the time will start going backwards). I love being a missionary. I love being a representative of Christ. It's the best thing you could ever do. Every sacrifice is worth it. Every tear, sore muscle,  sigh of disappointment, everything is worth coming to know my Savior.

And I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Sister Ellsworth

Sweet Hour of Prayer

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was fun.

We were looking for one of our investigators in these shacks and we came across a woman who was clearing this lean-to that had fallen down. We offered to help, tied our hair back and started hauling broken wood and metal to the dumpster. The little neighborhood heard all the racket we were making and started smiling at the two girls in skirts ankle deep in mud and garbage that they started coming out and talking to us. With mud smeared faces and snagged skirt hems we started teaching this family of 20 or so people. IT WAS AWESOME!! We marked one for baptism and are coming back this week to teach more.

Then we went to pass by a reference that we had received, we knocked the door and the Guy named Antonio opened. Antonio looked like a drug dealer with a leather jacket, a Rottweiler, and a scowl from a life of who knows what. We smiled and offered to teach him about how he can have a better future. He accepted and listened to use with the Rottweiler at his feet. In the middle of the lesson he started to get a little worked up, yelling about how some guy was trying to kill him and that he had to hide. We tried to calm him down but there was something there besides his memories. Sister Dos Santos started to sing Sweet Hour of Prayer and I quickly joined in. after one or two lines Antonion stopped yelling and slowly sat down, looking at us, puzzled. We continued to sing until the end of the song (in Portuguese). The Holy Ghost came into the room so strongly and tears began to well up in Antonio´s eyes (and we don't even sing that well.) He just continued to listen.

1. Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!

That calls me from a world of care

And bids me at my Father's throne

Make all my wants and wishes known.

In seasons of distress and grief,

My soul has often found relief

And oft escaped the tempter's snare

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

And oft escaped the tempter's snare

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

2. Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!

Thy wings shall my petition bear

To him whose truth and faithfulness

Engage the waiting soul to bless.

And since he bids me seek his face,

Believe his word, and trust his grace,

I'll cast on him my ev'ry care

And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

I'll cast on him my ev'ry care

And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

We were able to finish the lesson and mark him for baptism. That lesson was a lesson that changed my whole mission. We saw how the Holy Ghost can calm an afflicted soul. His soul was hurt, had been betrayed many times, and was tarnished with sins and wrongdoings. But in that moment, he felt the love of God touch his heart. That touch changed him, humbled him, and know he knows that he's a son of God, an eternal being on a mortal journey, and that God has a plan for him. Hearing Antonio pray for the first time was the happiest moment in my life.

#beachbums

Until next week!

Sister Ellsworth

Mosiah 3:19

(Aldste Cummings)

Hej på er!

This week went by so quickly. We had so much to do with teaching lessons and going on splits and the like. Our area includes the whole county of Skaraborg so we often have to travel a lot to meet people. It's super fun though, and it's teaching me how to use public transportation which is a great thing to learn for the future.

Transfer calls came yesterday! I will be staying in Skövde which I'm extremely excited about. I love this area and I'm glad I get to stay and help along the people I've met here come closer to Christ. Sadly, Elder Martineau is leaving. He was a great trainer, I learned a ton from him. However, he's going to Gubbängen to be a zone leader in the Stockholm zone. He's going to do a great job!

This week, I've been thinking a lot about learning and progression in this life. As missionaries, we teach people about the gospel and invite them to make the necessary changes in their life to accept it and receive it's blessings. It's a big commitment and a big change and it often takes a little time.

Something Elder Martineau says when teaching people about God's plan for us is: "Evangeliet är till inte så att vi kan ha ett bättre liv efter döden, utan att vi kan bli en bättre person imorgon." Translation: "The gospel isn't so that we can have a better life after death but rather that we can be a better person tomorrow." And that daily self-improvement continues forever throughout eternity.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that we can change by making those little steps, we can "put off the natural man and become a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord"(Mosiah 3:19). Change is always a process and everyone always has things they can do to improve themselves. That's why we have the gospel. To teach us that through Jesus Christ and his atonement, we can make little changes in our life to be a better person tomorrow than we are today.

Love,

Äldste Cummings

Devotionals, Talks and Other Stuff

(Sister Ellsworth)

Alô ao todo mundo!!

Another week has come and gone. We had a blast with miracles! First off on Monday I brought my poor companion to the Mission Home and she died. Hehe. The next day I went with some other sisters to go get our new companions. I'm serving with Sister dos Santos now and she's awesome. She's from Porto so I'll finally be learning how to speak Portuguese!! Haha. She loves to laugh and have fun and has a super strong testimony.

On Wednesday we went to a Devotional with Elder Owen and Elder Durrant. It was awesome! We learned a lot and we were excited to try new contacting and teaching technics. During the week we starting contacting people using the new phrase they suggested which is: "Would you be willing to hear a brief message about ....." There was one day when we were walking towards the chapel and I looked to the side and I saw a woman sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car. She was older, about 50, and it looked like she was sleeping. I had the thought to go talk to her but thought, no she's sleeping. Then I was like.. What the heck am I doing?! Don't ignore spiritual promptings!! So I stopped in my tracks and ran back to tap on the glass. I told her that we were doing a project to help people have more hope. She gave a smile smile and declined. I could tell that something was up so I asked her what was going on and she gave me a surprised look. Then told us that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. I gave her card of Christ and she offered to let us come by and talk to her for a bit. #MIRACLES

On Sunday my companion and I were emergency speakers lol. It happens more often than you think... But we talked about prayer and scriptures. I realized that I while I was speaking you could see exactly who was reading and praying. You could see it in their faces... It made me think a little bit about our personal preparation for the Second Coming. Recently and ever since Adam the prophets and apostles have asked us over and over to have daily scripture study and to always have a prayer in the heart.

Have a good week!

Sister Ellsworth

D&C 18:10

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjena!

This week has been pretty busy and things are only going to get busier. We had zone conference on Thursday and it was so great. President Youngberg is most definitely inspired. The big takeaways that Elder Martineau and I have started to apply in our own work is experimenting with new contacting approaches on the street and working with local church members individually on personal mission plans so they can start getting more involved. Elder Martineau and I have a vision for Skövde. The only sad thing is that one of us is probably transferring to another area next week.

Yesterday, we witnessed a miracle. About 10 weeks ago, Elder Martineau randomly visited a less active member we found on the phone. His name is Amir, he's about 25, from Iran, has been living in Sweden for 7 years, and was baptized about 3 years ago. He doesn't actually have "uppehölls tillstånd" which is actual permission from the state of Sweden to stay in the country so his boss sort of takes advantage of him by forcing him to work nearly 100 hour weeks in his pizza parlor. He can't quit because without a job (which is very difficult for an immigrant without tillstånd to get), he won't get any money, and will most certainly be denied tillstånd and sent back to Iran.

Well, he found the time to come to church two weeks ago and absolutely loved it. He told us that he had decided to start coming back to church regularly. Within that week, he received tillstånd from the government! Now he can quit his job, go to school and get a degree and start a real profession. Yesterday at church, he was ordained to the priesthood and I could not have been happier. It was so amazing to see how much God loves His children. Seeing Amir there, seeing how happy he was, how much faith he had, and his desire to come closer to God made me feel just a tiny bit of what I imagine God feels when He watches us take steps to come back to Him.

It was such a beautiful experience. God really loves each and every one of us regardless of who we are or what we have done. His greatest joy is seeing His children returning to His arms and becoming purified in Christ.

Love,

Äldste Cummings

John 7:17

(Aldste Cummings)

Hey all!

This week was pretty interesting. We did a lot of work meeting folks and finding some more on the streets of Skövde. A few highlights that I can think of include:

1. I was on splits with Elder Helm from Borås. He accidentally called someone in our contacts who told us she wasn't interested a few weeks ago. She didn't pick up the phone but she did send a text saying that if we ever contacted her again she would call the police. That was kinda funny.

2. Elder Martineau and I made a deal that if he ate a teaspoon of wasabi then I would eat the rest of our jar of low-quality bread and butter pickles by the end of the day (there was about a pound of pickles left). So he ate the wasabi and had a terrible experience with it. So then I had to eat the rest of the pickles which was a different kind of pain. The wasabi was a quick intense pain. The pickles were a long, mentally and emotionally draining process. I was literally dreading putting more pickles in my mouth by the end of it. A lose-lose really.

3. It was Elder Martineau's birthday on Saturday! He turned 20. So we made banana bread and lit some candles and then got sushi later in the day.

The scripture I chose this week is something that we've been emphasizing lately with our investigators and something that I have seen in my own life. The Savior teaches us a very logical concept: We learn truth by first acting in faith and experiencing how it effects us in our lives. Or to put it more crudely: You can't knock it 'till you've tried it.

I've had countless conversations with people who try to convince me that the Book of Mormon isn't true. I listen to what they have to say and then ask them if they've read it. And the answer always is that they haven't. The truly sad part, however, is when they refuse to read it. How can you possibly know if something is true or false if you haven't taken the time to learn about it or apply it in your life?

The gospel may seem a little backwards to people who expect to know if something is true before they act on it. But like Alma teaches in Alma 32, that requires no faith. The Lord requires us to have faith in Him and take the first few steps, then we can know by our own experience that the doctrine is true.

Love,

Äldste Cummings

Transfers, Baptism, and Holy moly its cold!

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was good! We got a call from Miguel and he passed his baptismal interview and was baptized Sunday after church! He's a great guy. The way we found him was a miracle! We were having a few weeks where a lot of our investigators weren't progressing and a lot of appointments were falling through. Our faithful District Leader promised us that we found find someone that was prepared for baptism. The next day we lost even more appointments but then we got a call from a random number saying he was at the airport on the way home from Angola and wanted to talk to us. He got to Costa da Caparica and sat down with his suitcases to talk to us. We marked him for baptism and he was baptized two weeks later! It was an awesome experience.

​Miguel and a random member lol

Tanya!!! She's a recent convert and we're training her to be the next sister missionary! haha!

​Rodrigo!! He's one of our super good friends. He's from Brasil!

As for my last transfer I'm going to stay here in Costa da Caparica! I'll be serving with Sister dos Santos. It's gonna be good!!

As I was listening to the testimonies during Sacrament meeting this week one of the members talked about how this week she felt frustrated about not receiving answers to her prayers and that she felt sick of always having faith. Then she shared an experience about how the Holy Ghost comforted her and reminded her that these experiences are what will help her grow. I smiled and remembered all the times I felt too tired. I think in my journal I wrote that I was exhausted more times than I can count but it's so worth it. I look back on the last 17 months and it's the best thing I've ever done. I learned so much, met so many awesome people, and really come to know who I am and who I can become. I love being a missionary!! Haha

Love,

Sister Ellsworth

D & C 122:8

Hej hej!

This week was pretty great. We did lots of finding work and were able to talk to tons of people. Our most positive investigators where out of town so we didn't really get to meet them. But that enabled us to spend a little bit more time with some investigators that we haven't really been able to devote a lot of time to because of other things going on. We had a couple of break through lessons with some people. It was just a really good week.

We made pumpkin bread! The don't sell pumpkin puree in Sweden so we had to buy a pumpkin and roast and puree it ourselves. The bread turned out great. A little reminder of home.

This weeks scripture is a pretty special one for me. It's one that has helped me through a lot of things in my life. We all go through trials and sometimes we wonder why it is that God has allowed us to suffer so. We feel that the pain or grief is undeserved or unwarranted. Yet this simple verse can change our perspective completely if we are willing to let it.

For context, the verse follows a string of verses containing  very serious trials that could potentially afflict Joseph Smith but then continues to end with:

"The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?"

We must always remember that the Lord Jesus Christ was the most perfect person to ever live. The most undeserving of pain and suffering. But he suffered more than we ever could. For us to assume that our lives are unfair is to consider ourselves greater than Christ Himself. In the face of affliction, we must humble ourselves and look to Christ Jesus for our example and our strength.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

Puzzles, Sacred Cigarettes, CTMM

(Sister Ellsworth)

Hey!

This week was fun! Sister Selman and I went on another adventure. So here in Portugal they have Chinese stores that sell super cheap junk... Kinda like the dollar store and it's literally a missionary's favorite place. We went hunting to find something to help one of our investigators understand how the Restoration works and that being part of any church doesn't save you. So we found this little puzzle book with lots of little puzzle pieces. It worked out that we took one piece from each page to create a new puzzle that didn't make any sense at all. Kinda like this:

So on our way to our lesson we found two of our friends and one asked why I was carrying around a kid's puzzle book. I explained that the puzzle was broken and asked them to fix it. The Jose and Zé, two grown men started to try to put the puzzle together without 90 percent of the puzzle. It was so funny to watch them argue about where the pieces go. Then we explained how we created the new puzzle using parts of the old puzzle, in the same way how people created churches using parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we gave them the rest of the puzzles and explained how God restored all the pieces of the Gospel.

We also met with one of our investigators that has problems to stop smoking and we came up with the classic idea to make some celestial cigarettes. We took an empty box of cigarettes and decorated it with pictures of Christ and inspirational quotes. We passed Rodrigo by and told him that we had a surprise for him and we wanted him to guess what it was. He laughed and said... "Hm... What is the most rediculous thing I can think of..... Something you guys would never do... I know! Sacred cigarettes!" We looked at each other and started laughing and showed him the box. He looked at us and was like.. Seriously? and then busted up laughing!

Other than that it was a week of lots of work!

Love you guys,

Sister Ellsworth

​

BATISMOOOO!!!

(Sister Ellsworth)

WHOOOOO!!!!!

We had a miracle baptism this week!

One of our friends Elton who was marked for baptism next week called on Tuesday and said he was going to move to Germany on Friday. We were like..... what..... So we asked him if he wanted to be baptized before he left and he said that he wanted to receive an answer from God first. So we fasted like never before and on Wednesday we met with him and asked if he had received an answer and he looked at us completely distraught and said that he hadn't and that he wouldn't be baptized. I thought a little bit and asked him what he did to look for an answer and he responded that he prayed and then went to bed. I was like... did you read the scriptures..? Or listen for the Holy Ghost? And he said no. We smiled and explained how if we want to talk to God then we pray but if we want God to talk to us then we read the scriptures! Elton didn't even wait for us to finish. He dropped to his knees and said a long silent prayer. After he was finished he sat back in the chair, grabbed his Book of Mormon and let it fall open.

It opened to 2 Nephi 31. He started reading in verse 13 which says:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

Elton start to laugh! He look at us and said "Well, I guess God wants me to be baptized in Portugal!!" So we ran to get everything organized, called our District leader for an interview and called President for permission to confirm him and on Thursday night Elton was baptized!!!

WhOOOooOOHOoOOOO!!

My comp and I are also writing a song because both of us are going to stay here forever. It goes to the tune of Let it Go.

The lights glow bright on the airplane tonight, no companion to be seen.

14 hours in isolation, and for the first time, I'm in jeans.

You feel like crying when your mission bids goodbye.

They didn't let me extend, heaven knows I tried.

Don't let me go, don't make me leave,

I still haven't made it to AP!

Just 6 more weeks and then I'll see...

Family!

I won't go.

I won't go.

You can't make me pack anymore!

I won't go! I won't go!

I'm gonna stay here in Portugal!

And I don't care what President will say

Let this song be sung!

We were never gonna train anyway.

It's funny how the mission makes you gain 15 pounds

and the fear that now controls me is when the plane hits the ground!

Still some time to see what I can do

To teach some lessons to the foobs (foob = fubeca =lazy investigators in Portuguese slang).

No job no school no boys for me! I'm free!

I won't go! I won't go!

You can't make me pack anymore!

I won't go! I won't go!

I'm gonna stay here in Portugal!

And I don't care what my family will say

Let the mission roll on!

My faith is growing from my head until my feet!

My soul is reaching out to every person in the street!

The thought of going home is like a death sentence.

I'm never going back.. The mission is my life!

I won't go! I won't go!

You can't make me pack anymore!

I won't go! I won't go!

I'm gonna stay here in Portugal!

And I don't care what my boyfriend will say

Let the mission roll on!

We were never getting married anyway.

​Haha we walk in the street singing this song and duet it with the other sisters in our district.

I love my mission... so very much... I'd love to say that it's the best two years but they're only going to let me stay for 18 months... I've learned so much about who I can be and who others can be and why we're here and why everything is so important. I'm so grateful for every day and I'm grateful for a companion who loves running. (I have never ran to so many appointments or buses in my whole mission... The people here in Costa know us as the Maratonas, the Mormon marathoners.)

Love you all!!

Have a great week.

Sister Ellsworth

Isaiah 28:10

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjena!

This week was really fun. All of the lessons we had scheduled this week all had to cancel and reschedule so we spent basically the whole week talking to people on the street or proselyting door to door. We found a lot of people who would like to meet with us so that's great!

Last Monday we were just walking back to the church building to do something when someone called for us to stop. We turned around to see a girl we had contacted about 8 weeks ago chasing us down. When we first talked to her, she said she wasn't interested, but then she kept seeing us around town and saw us meeting with someone at the library and her desire to meet with us and learn about our message continued to grow until she was willing to literally chase us down to stop and talk to us. We're meeting her today. No effort is ever wasted when you're doing the Lord's work.

Another fun thing that happened this week, we switched companions for the day and I was paired up with Elder Fronk, a missionary who's been our for just over a week now. It was super fun. We just spent the day walking around the streets of Jönköping talking with people. Because he's so new, I had to do all the talking. My Swedish improved by leaps and bounds just because of those couple of hours. Super good time.

The scripture I chose this week is a pretty simple one with profound meaning. No one receives everything all at once. This life is intended to be a learning experience for us. We learn by doing and by making mistakes. The things we learn from our actions and experiences enable us to have more experience that add knowledge on top of what we have. Whether it be our faith, our understanding of the gospel, or even learning a new skill, we have to be patient and willing to work for it. You can't put a roof on top of house if the house isn't built yet. Everything has to be built little by little from the foundation up.

Love,

Äldste Cummings

Week of Miracles

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was a blast! The October chill of 75 degrees left and it was back in the 85-90s! Whoop! I have seriously forgotten what cold is like. On Monday Sister Selman and I went to Belém with Sister Carr and her greenie, Sister Bleyl, and Sister Brockbrank all of which are from my MTC group. We joked around about the good old times in the MTC and when we thought we knew what we were doing. Granted, a year and  a few months later I still have no idea what I'm doing but that´s okay! There's still two more months to learn! In Belém we went to this awesome restaurante called Pão Pão Queijo Queijo (bread bread cheese cheese... weird I know) And had some awesome food. Then Sister Selman and I rode the riverboat up and down the River Tejo.

We found two families this week!! One is a family from Brasil and they have a little two year old boy that is literally the cutest thing ever. He loves to steal my planner and draw in it while we´re teaching lol.

On Tuesday the Elders bought our District Pizza before a Workshop that we had with the AP´s and  ZL's. (Deus vos-abençoe) Then we had a day where we had 10 appointments marked with a few of them being double booked and every single one fell through. It was sad but the next day we set out to find new people. While we were following up with  old contacts and ex investigators this drunk guy comes staggering up to me and introduces himself as Charlie. Surprised, I asked him where he was from because Charlie is not a Portuguese name and he said he was from outer space and that he was stuck here on earth for 3 years. Trying not to burst out laughing, we pretended to be very concerned and asked him what space was like and how he got stuck here. He said that his parents were Priests and Nuns from the Catholic church. Oh man. I love drunk people. We gave him a card and told him to pass by the church someday and we could help him figure out how to return home. hehe. #planofsalvation

The next day Sister Selman and I decided to go break in a rather untouched area called Charneca. After about an hour of contacting and visiting some old contacts and less actives, we were walking past an old abandoned lot that had this cat sitting in the middle of a dirt path just staring at us. Sister Selman looked at me with a grin and said "Do you want to go on an adventure?" I was like heck yeah! So we start following the cat. We walked and explored until we found this huuuuuge white mansion. Like you know the old English estates on Pride and Prejudice? Like that. I looked at Sister Selman and I said "I dare you to knock it." She looked and me, scoffed, and said "Is that a challenge?" She marched up to the door and knocked and an old Portuguese man opened the door. We smiled at him and started talking. I asked him about the history of this old house that apparently the Portuguese Salazar had built it as like a vacation home. Then he gave us a tour!! It was awesome! #makingfriends

Later that day we were back in our main area and we got a phone call from this guy that went something like this:

Dude: "Hey I'm here!"

Sisters: "Oh.. hi... uh... great! Who are you?"

Dude: "I'm miguel, You're the missionaries right?"

Sisters: "Yes...."

Dude. "I met your friends in  Angola. They gave me this number. I'd like to meet with you to talk about your church."

                                 *exchange of surprised and excited looks between the sisters*

Sisters: "Great when can we meet with you?"

Dude: "Well I'm getting off the airplane from Angola right now. I'll be in Costa da Caparica in an hour. Does that work for you?"

Sisters: "Sure!"

Then an hour later this guy gets off the bus with his suitcases, sits down with us on the closest bench and says, "Teach me everything you know. I want to be baptized." We were like... YES SIR. Now he's marked for baptism and eating up everything we teach him. WOW!!

The thought that I can count how many weeks I have left on two hands.... I've entered into the phase of denial. So I might not come home. The only way I'll go down is kicking and screaming.... Sorry fam. But that's life. It's not fair ;)

Giant ice cream cone

Sister Selman is a babe! This is her last transfer and we are killing it. Everything. MUHAHAHA!

​Including me. I died in the park. Actually I was just chilling while we were waiting for the Sisters on Pday and Sister Selman stole my camera.

Love you guys!

Sister Ellsworth  <-- forever

Psalms 46:10

(Aldste Cummings)

Tja!

This week was great. We've been super busy teaching and visiting members and all. We've been running around all week trying to fit everything in. It was tough, but having too much to do is better than having nothing to do!

A miracle happened this week! The woman who was just baptized a couple weeks ago has been getting seriously painful migraines almost daily for nearly 10 years. They haven't been able to figure out what's causing it. When she was confirmed, she received a blessing that her physical situation would improve and the doctors would be able to find a way to help her. Just this week when she went to the doctor, they ran some tests and found that she has a benign cyst in her brain, applying undue pressure on her central nervous system. Now that they have found her issue, they can operate and improve her condition! It's incredible how much the Lord cares for each and every one of his children.

Sometimes it's important for us to take a little moment and remember what the Lord has done for us and how much he loves us. When we allow ourselves to get distracted with everything going on and everything we have to do, we deprive ourselves of the calm security that lies in recognition of the Lord's tender mercies and his everlasting love for us. I would encourage all of you to take a couple minutes this week to relax and ponder on God's mercy and love and seek for ways you can increase your faith and trust in Him.

Have a great week!

Äldste Cummings

Hot air balloon contrasted with a beautiful Swedish sunset.

Elder Martineau and I.

Our authentic American dinner: Barbecue chicken and corn on the cob. Swedish corn has absolutely nothing on classic Illinois sweet corn, by the way.

A beautiful old building here in Skövde.

Hebrews 12:9

(Aldste Cummings)

Hello all!

We had a super busy week, this week. We were running around all over the place, it was crazy. No real super big news. We just had some really good lessons and are really excited for how our investigators are progressing!

The scripture I thought to share this week is pretty significant. It teaches us a number of things. First, It teaches us that God is the father of our spirits. Hence why He is often referred to as "Heavenly Father." This means that He has more of a vested interest than we might initially assume. He is our father and loves us accordingly.

Secondly, it teaches us that life comes through obedience and submission to God's will. We see this theme throughout the bible. Christ often says that anyone who believes on His name will not die, but shall live. Clearly, he didn't literally mean that belief in Him will save you from mortal death because even his apostles were killed. Rather, his meaning is figurative and two-fold.

1) Through Jesus Christ, we can receive eternal life after death. Through Him, we have the opportunity to live forever in a perfect and immortal state.

and 2) life on this earth is most enjoyably lived when founded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Belief in Him, submission to the Father's will, and active service in their name is what makes our life bearable and even joyous. We find happiness through Christ.

I would encourage each and one of you to take time this week to assess your relationship with our Father in Heaven and make goals to make the necessary changes in your life to come closer to Him.

Love,

Äldste Jesse Cummings

Hey Yall

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was pretty great! We had interviews with my Mission President. He cracked a couple of jokes about going home. I got my trunk call this week too.... But I survived because I got a package with the best present ever. Two jars of Peanut butter! I think my companion and I ate a whole jar the night I got my trunky call lol. Sister Selman and I made a pact to die kicking and screaming!

The next day we woke up without water in our house. Turns out the main water line to the city exploded during the night and there was a giant sink hole the size of a car. We had to use some bottle water to cook and do sponge baths for a while lol. Thanks dad for the camping trips!

We also taught this cooky girl from England. Apparently she is investigating the church in England and we talked to her about the Plan of Salvation. Sister Selman and I learned that our english is horrible.

Other than that it was a week of a lot of work. We're ready for another!! WHOOHOOO!

Sister Ellsworth

Alma 32: 1-2

(Aldste Cummings)

Hej!

This week was crazy. We had a zone conference in Gothenburg. We had to leave our apartment by 6:30 in order to make it to the train, so that was fun. And then my companion and I accidentally left a suitcase on the train so on the return trip another pair of elders drove us into the city, but the traffic was too bad to drive all the way to the train station on time so Elder Martineau and I got out and ran to the lost and found in the train station only to figure out that it was the wrong one and then we had to run literally across the city to a different one to get the suitcase. We had to pay 100 crowns in order to get it but we only had 50 between us and they would only take cash but the lady let us get by with only paying the 50 and then we had to run back to the train station (this time with the suitcase) and meet the other elders in a parking lot to get the rest of our stuff and then run to the train with all of our stuff. We made it on to the train with about a minute to spare. It was wild.

Anyway, the thought that I wanted to share this week was that work is always necessary for success. The verses I chose illustrate this very well. Alma and his brethren only began to have success after "much labor." The context of this passage is specifically related to missionary work, but I would say that it can be applied in all things as well. Anything worth doing is going to require work. It makes the success that much sweeter. Some days it may feel like we are working more than we're succeeding, but we always must keep in mind that the two are inextricably intertwined.

I hope that you all have a great week. I'll keep you all in my prayers!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

GenConf in Costa da Caparica!

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was NuTs!! Sister Selman and I hit the ground running... literally. We had to run to put my suitcases in the house so we could get to our first appointment. Since then its been go go go go and then you pass out at 10 pm and do it all again.

Costa da Caparica is one of the prettiest areas I've served in! It reminds me a lot of Portimão. We live right on the beach.... Like you leave the house, walk over a little sand dune and it's the beach. I still haven't seen any whales but maybe later... ;) Just kidding. They don't have whales here but they do have a TON of brasilians! One of the first guys I talked to was this brasilian with a brand new blacked out arm tattoo smoking weed next to a panda mural. We're like BFF's now. One day he sent us a message that said (in English) "I'm high as kite. Tired. Wedding today.... booooooring. Can we talk about Jesus?" We responded yeah sure, but it would best if you were sober. We're gonna teach him this week! #makingfriends #everywhere

One day our plans had fallen through and we decided to knock doors of the neighbors. We knocked the first door and this guy opened it. He had this huge BBQ going on with a ton of people inside. He invited us in enthusiastically and we started meeting all the people there. We got 8 people marked for appointments and taught all of them about the Book of Mormon. It was fantastic!

Another day I was touring our church for the first time and all of a sudden this little bird dive bombs us from inside the building. We spent a good 30 minutes trying to catch the little sucker with cups and bowls. Eventually he hid in the supplies closet and we had to take everything out very carefully so we didn't squish him. Then we let him go outside and he flew away. It reminded me of the general conference talk that was given this weekend about how sometimes we freak out about accepting help.

General Conference is always the best on your mission... I was taking notes furiously and I noticed that in every single talk (that I've seen until now) the speakers talked about service and coming to know Christ. It reminded me of a scripture in John 17:3 which says

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

In Portuguese the word "know" can mean  two different things. They two words to express "know". They are "saber" and "conhecer". Saber means to know something factually such as to know math, to know how to do something. Basically it's information in your head or like computer coding. Conhecer is more personal. It means to be familiar with something and means "to get to know" like with people to to be familiar with a route.  In the scripture I shared above, the word "know" is translated to conhecer. To know God and Jesus Christ is more that to just have a bunch on information and facts in your head. It means to be familiar with them; to understand them.

I think that the prophets are asking us to become more familiar with Christ so that our testimonies aren't repetitions of what we've heard other people say. Instead, our testimonies should be rooted deeply, personally, and uniquely in us. My mission has been teaching me this principle. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve and to come to know my Savior.

Love ya'll

Sister Ellsworth

John 8:58

(Aldste Cummings)

Hej hej!

This week was a mixture of very rewarding and pretty frustrating. A lot of our appointments fell through and had to be rescheduled for next week, but it's all good.

We taught a man from Ethiopia who had gone through so much in his life and had the strongest, most passionate faith in Jesus Christ. It was incredible. He was imprisoned and harassed for his religion in Libya, and had seen his closest friends executed for refusing to deny their beliefs and he never gave up the faith. Truly an inspiring story. He was so excited to meet us and even began to cry when we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon in his native language.

Therese was baptized on Saturday! Literally our entire congregation from church was there to support her and we had a big party afterwards. She said the following day in church that it was the best day of her life and she is so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week I want to talk a little about what I think is one of the most powerful and even poetic verses in the King James Bible. On the surface it's very simple. If you just read over it, you'll probably just notice that the grammar at the end seems a little funny and move on. But it's so much more than that.

In John 8, Jesus begins a pretty relentless and unapologetic criticism of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They continually fail to grasp the full import of his words and insist that they are blessed and holy because they are the children of Abraham and heirs to the Abrahamic covenant. Finally, Christ says these words: "Before Abraham was, I am."

The use of "I am" here in the original Greek is the same as the usage in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament in Exodus 3:14. Thus, in one single sentence, Jesus confounds their argument, and not only associates himself with--which alone would be considered blasphemy--but even identifies himself as their Lord, even Jehovah. The Creator of the World, the Voice in the Burning Bush, the Architect of the Exodus, the very Hand that wrote the Law they profess to keep, and now, the Savior of Mankind. The rabbis fully understood the significance of what he said, and immediately began to pick up rocks to stone him to death.

So powerful a statement, in so beautiful and simple a phrase. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and our Savior. I know that through Him and his sacrifice, we can find forgiveness, peace, strength, and, ultimately, be perfected. I love Him, and I know He loves us all.

Love,

Äldste Cummings