A baptism and some service!

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for!

This week was a good week! On Saturday we had a baptism for a kid we are teaching named Landon! He is a great kid! It's been amazing to see his testimony increase just in the past 2 or 3 weeks. He has a firm belief in Jesus Christ and God, and it was a wonderful spiritual experience for everyone as he was getting baptized. The spirit filled the room, and it was made witness that what Landon was doing was pleasing to God.

This week we also did some fun service. We did a food thing for Salvation Army one day. During that I lifted a huge bag of potatoes, and it started dripping moldy potato juice everywhere. It was nasty, and I smelled like potatoes for the rest of the day! We also helped work at a covid vaccination clinic. We helped hand out forms and direct them where to go. At the end, they said they had some extra vaccinations, and so we got our first round of vaccinations. Pretty sweet!

Love you all! Looking forward to general conference this weekend. Hope you get a chance to watch it.

Pictures:

1. Landon on his Baptism day!

2. Salvation army service

3. Our apartment after an intense workout (some of us are also wearing the shirts we got at the vaccination clinic)

4. Thought this was the most useless sign I've ever seen.

S5 E2: Spidey and Sewage

 (Elder Cummings)

你們好! 希望大家都好

So we wake up, get beefy, and go help someone move. Then we drive 30 minutes to the middle of the woods to help someone with their plumbing. We've never done any plumbing. Next thing I know I'm army crawling through feces and mud underneath their house in a t shirt and shorts trying to cinch some hot water pipes. I almost lost my breakfast but I did gain their respect.

Later that day we run over to the mall in our area to go see someone we're teaching doing his day job as Spiderman. I'd tell you his name but I don't want y'all to know his secret identity...

I was studying a sermon by President Monson titled, "Your Personal Influence". In it he says, "There is one responsibility that no one can evade, that is the effect of one's personal influence". We are all responsible for the example we set for others. Be aware of your influence, be aware of how you affect other people's lives, for better and for worse. I think of Paul's counsel "be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."(1 Tim 4:12) and then the Savior's commandment, "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt 5:16). Do things in a way that invites others to come unto Christ and you will find that you are closer to Him than you've ever been.

Elder Cummings

Pics!

-some spidey selfie

-pic of me washed up after sewer swimming,we forgot to take a picture before I cleaned up outside

-Louisana boys being Louisiana boys

Baptism!

 (Elder Petersen)

Hello Everyone!

So this week has been great, just this last Saturday we had a baptism! Her name is Khloe, she is an 11 year old girl who loves gravity falls. It was an amazing experience to be able to help teach her and to watch as she learned about Jesus Christ. We were able to teach her and watch as the light of Jesus Christ started to shine not only within her eyes but in the eyes of her mom as well who is a returning member. This last week also hosted the opportunity to be able to watch the lamb of God production that just came out in theaters, that movie was amazing to see. Later that week Utah lowered the eligible age to be able to receive the Covid vaccine to 16 and above. So we were able after we heard the news to schedule an appointment to get the first of two of our Covid shots that Friday. I was fine after I received the shot, but Elder Quiton my companion the next day was practically comatose because of being hit by not only the shot but also because allergy season arrived. Other than those not much else happened this week. Have a great week y'all!

Sincerely,

Elder Petersen

Bible Studies!

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

This week has been amazing!! We had two bible studies with Reba, and Shae, her twin sister, joined.  Rebas kids also joined and we taught them how Jesus loves children. Reba's son, Hunter, although he was a bit shy, seemed very into it. We asked him how it made him feel to know that Jesus loves him, and he said it made him feel happy. Reba and Shae said it made them feel important and cared for. I told them that they can keep having this feeling when they pray and ask God to help them feel this feeling. After the lesson, we got a voice message from Reba, and it was Hunter asking if we could do this more often, saying it was fun! So that's pretty exciting!!

Weve also been doing lots of garden work service and that's been great!

On Friday during the mission devotional they announced that we as missionaries will be able to get the vaccine soon, so that's exciting!

Okay, so one thing weve been struggling with in this area is scheduling lessons with members. Why? Well, most of the members won't text us back, and that's what makes it difficult. I guess I'm saying this because I just want to let all of you who are super on top of it with getting back to the missionaries, that the missionaries seriously appreciate you SO much!!

Alright, love all of you!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

S5 E1: Down here in Alec

 (Elder Cummings)

Good morning y'all!

As I mentioned last week, I got transferred over to Alexandria, Louisiana. Kown by it's native inhabitants as Alec (prounounced "Ellick"). A couple of the districts in my zone are the following: Many (pronouced manny), Opelousas (pronounced Opp-uh-loo-sus), Lecompte (pronounced Lecount) and my personal favorite, Natchitoches (pronounced Nack-uh-dish). What's crazy is this isn't just southern accents getting in the way, it is straight up how these places are pronounced. Gotta love it.

This week was great though. Brother Yost, an old Louisiana native was picking us up to head to a lesson. Per usual, he started rambling on about fishing and good places to catch some bass when BAM all of a sudden we hammered a goose that flew a lot too low over the road. The best part was that after Brother Yost exclaiming "what in the SAM HILL!" the goose just got up amd flew away like nothing happened. We were going 45 and nailed that thing! Unphased, Brother Yost keeps on driving and mentions how he hates it when that happens and went on about how dense geese are and how he'd shoot them 4 or 5 times while hunting and they'd just keep flying away. Next thing I know we're talking about how he mounted a 9 lbs bass he caught 5 years ago that sits on the wall of his living room to this day. Gotta love the south, and I'm not even in Mississipi yet.

We finally get to the lesson and it turns out amazing. Turns out Brother Yost knows the wife of the guy we're teaching named Mark. On top of that both him and Mark used to be in bands when they were younger. Absolutely epic. We taught the Restoration and Brother Yost gave a powerful, sincere testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was seriously like Brother Yost and Mark were the only people in the room. He turned to Mark and looked him straight in the eyes and talked about his journey of gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He said as sure as he was talking to him he was sure what he was saying is true. He testified that Mark's life will never be the same when he opens and starts pondering the message of that book. And then, Brother Yost gave Mark the commitment to give at least 5 minutes of his time a day to the God that gave His Only Begotten Son to us. It was amazing. I hope we will all find time for the Lord who has already given everything to us. If you really want to, you will find time.

Elder Cummings

-some pigs 🐖

My bike is like a retarded donkey

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for!

We had a fairly rough week, but the Lord's hand has still been in it. Our friend Joseph was all prepared to get baptized Saturday, and then the morning of, his dad cancelled it and said he wasn't ready. Then another person we had on date for baptism backed out of her baptism for this coming Saturday. It was really sad, and took us by surprise. Those combined with a few other things made this one of the harder weeks of my mission. However, we still saw great things!

Saturday night, as we were biking down a street, a man waved us down and wanted to talk to us. His name is Justin, and he is tattooed from head to toe. He said he wanted to come closer to God. We set up to visit with him Sunday evening. When we got there, he just broke down balling talking about how hard his life has been, and his regrets. He and his girlfriend asked for blessings. We obliged, and as we gave those blessings that evening, the spirit filled the room, and Justin and Megan found peace. They calmed down, and we taught them a little about God, and read some of the Book of Mormon with them. The Lord made us instruments in His hands to bless them. It was a really cool experience!

I'd like to testify today, that no matter what challenges, struggles, and setbacks we face the Lord is always aware of us. He loves us, and gives us tender mercies as a sign that he is there to help us and support us no matter what we go through.

Pictures:

1-2. We got bikes! Let's go! My legs and butt are very sore, but we are saving so much time. The title comes from Elder Clove talking about his bike, and he's right! The brakes don't work, and the gears are all messed up. But it works.

I almost left the WEM

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!!

So a lot has happened this week! On Monday we went to Ostrums.   A cute little gift shop in our district, and then a farmer's market that was soooo fun!! And we also went to target!!

Tuesday we had exchanges and I went with Hermana Hludinzki and we went into the Spanish area, but unfortunately didn’t teach any Spanish lessons. We taught an English lesson to a guy from Algeria.  He introduced us to his family, and his wife and kids are so cute, and they all have names that I grew up around in Saudi.

Wednesday was district council and we've had a ton of yard work service and it was awesome!! Busy week, super exhausting!!

Yesterday I made mashed potatoes, and pasta, and set the stove on fire within the same hour so that was great.

Also someone gave us a helium balloon so I'll include a video if us putting it to good use.

Covid restrictions have lifted enough so that we can have district pdays now!!

Ok now for the explanation on the subject line of the email. So the Washington Everett Mission is commonly referred to as the WEM. The Seattle Washington mission is absorbing the Bothell stake, where I'm serving.  Usually when this happens the missionaries stay with the stake and go to the other mission. Well,  president begged to keep us, and they granted his wish so we didnt end up leaving the WEM, and we are getting transferred in 2 weeks. So, we almost left the WEM but we didnt.8

Sister Alyssa Putnam

Zone Leader

 (Elder Cummings)

Dear Elder Clayton Matthew Cummings:

Thank you for accepting the assignment to serve as a Zone Leader in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission. This is a position of great trust, responsibility, and influence.

As part of your assignment, you will have a sacred stewardship to:

1. Set an example for each missionary in your zone by planning for and achieving your weekly Key Indicator goals, having effective study of the scriptures and the gospel, being obedient, working hard, always improving your proselyting skills, and in all other aspects of missionary work.

2. Carry a full proselyting load in your area and work with faith and diligence to accomplish your purpose as a missionary (see Preach My Gospel, chapter 1).

3. Participate in the mission leadership council and assist the mission president in training meetings and zone conferences.

4. Lead, train and conduct companionship exchanges with district leaders and other elders in your zone (see Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ, 2.3.1, 7.1). These exchanges are typically 24 hours in your proselyting area or the area of the elders in your zone. Throughout the 24 hours, you should be a diligent example of sacred planning, exercise, personal and companionship study, and effective missionary work.

5. Interview baptismal candidates within your zone, including candidates who have been taught by district leaders (see Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ, 2.3.6, 7.1).

6. Look after the training and well-being of missionaries in your zone, especially the sisters, and ensure that you and all missionaries live in strict compliance with the standards regarding conduct with members of the opposite sex (see Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ).

7. Ensure that all missionaries in your zone abide by the standards regarding their proselyting areas, service projects and other standards set forth in Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ.

8. Appropriately follow up with missionaries on referrals.

9. Work with local Stake/Ward leaders and members to coordinate missionary efforts.

Please report any concerns you have to the assistants to the president. If these concerns are confidential or urgent, please report them directly to me.

The assistants and I will help train you about your duties. However, please recognize that you also have a responsibility to learn your duty and magnify your assignment (see Doctrine and Covenants 107:99-100; 88:80; 58:26). Answers to most of your questions will be found in the scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and the Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ.

You are a standard bearer and a servant to the missionaries of your zone. You represent the Savior and the mission president. This is a great trust.

As you know, assignments in the Church come and go. There will be a time when your assignment will be changed. Please magnify this stewardship while it is in your charge.

I am grateful for your help in loving, serving, and watching over our missionaries. Sister Amos and I love and support you.

With much love

President John D. Amos

S4 E6: Westbank Best Bank #blessedbank

 (Elder Cummings)

Hello y'all! Got some news for you

I will be leaving the Westbank this upcoming transfer... It was sad news but an exciting change. I've lived here the past 6 months and have made relationships with the members and non members alike that I'll forever cherish. I love these people and I'll miss them sorely. Now before you get all excited I'm not headed for Taiwan yet, whenever that will happen, only the Lord knows...I just wish He would tell me sometimes.

I'll be headed to Alexandria, Louisiana! For those of you you who don't know where that is that's ok! The only reason I know where it is is because that's where I evacuated to for a hurricane. Where my 72 hour kit of protein powder, peanut butter, bread, and oatmeal lasted me 144+ hours.  Miracles are real people.

Either way, the work is the same no matter where we go, we testify of Christ and invite all to come to Him. I have learned a ton here in the Westbank, and Alexandira will give me a chance to learn things I never could here. What's awesome is I still got a lot to learn.

I could go on about this week. I grew to have a greater appreciation for the allegory of the Olive tree after I spent a whole day in an orange farm pruning and cleaning a couple of the 100+ trees that were there. However I don't remember Jacob talking about all the fire ants and poison ivy...I should've read up on that more.

One thing I learned is the care and attention it takes to prepare a tree so it can bear forth fruit. 1)God is very aware of us and what He wants us to be, He knows our struggles and challenges and knows what will be best for us. He is careful with us, much like the master is very particular and caring for his olive trees. 2) it takes pruning and cutting to prepare the tree for fruit, and ultimately a more successful blooming. Whenever we feel defeated or deflated we can always remember that God is the Gardener. He knows what He wants us to be. And we can say, when we bear forth fruit, "Thank you Gardener for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me". Trust in the particular attention God has for you, and the high hopes and wishes He has for your life, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Cummings

1. Why did the duck cross the road?

2+3 Before and after of some trees

4.just bragging about President and Sister Palmer, some of the kindest most loving people I have met in my mission so far. They give their all for the Lord even with their crazy busy lives and they're rocking it

W15: Hail is just angry snow

 (Sister Putnam)

Hi everyone!

It's been another week! I think this is week 15? I'm not sure lol. But on Tuesday we got a lot of hail and I am now convinced that hail is just angry snow. Wednesday was zone conference and Sister Madsen and I gave a musical number, we sang I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, and Sister Clark in our district played the accompaniment on the guitar. On Friday (or Saturday?) we did service with this lady named Susan, she’s awesome! We did yard work with her and talked about the differences in what we believe and we had so much in common and that was awesome!

On Sunday I gave a talk on service and that was awesome!

Ok love you all!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

The grumpy cat that followed us

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for!

Things are going well here in Idaho Falls. One big highlight this week was that we met with our friend Laticia, the slightly schizophrenic person we are teaching, and we taught about baptism. She accepted an invitation to be baptized on May 1! She has such a tender heart, and talks about heaven with such reverence as she talks about a place with rest, peace, no worry or stress. She is pretty awesome, and we're excited to be helping her! More exciting news is that our friend Joseph is getting baptized this Saturday! Pray that everything will run smoothly!

As for the title, last night, we knocked on an a lady's house, and she was trying to kick a stray cat out of her house. I said, "We'll take it!" So we took it, and started walking away. It was one of the grumpiest cats I've ever met! It was hissing, and complaining, but was just too lazy to really fight back! We asked a few people if it was their cat, and they said no. We ended up just putting the cat down, hoping it finds it's way home. We started walking home, and it just started following us. It followed us for a good mile and half, as we walked home! We aren't allowed to have pets, so we ended up knocking on a members door asking for help. They came outside distracting the cat while we just booked it home. It was a pretty funny experience!

A tender mercy happened because of it though. There were some people outside next to a fire that night. One of the people there was a man named Wade who we have been trying to work with, but he had expressed little interest before. When they saw us with the cat though, they invited us over to the fire, and started talking and laughing with us. Wade ended up really opening up, and he said we could come by anytime and talk with them. The Lord works in mysterious ways, opening doors that couldn't be opened before. I know the Lord has power to work in the details of our lives.

Love yall!

1-2. Zone conference. We're doing some role plays of teaching. It caught me rigytvas I was adjusting my mask.

3-5. The cat that followed us.

S4 E5: Miracles, Beignets and the Tower of Babel

 (Elder Cummings)

I'll start with the less cool things:

After almost 6 months in NOLA, we finally stopped by Cafe Du Monde and had some Beignets on the Mississippi River. Good times good times. Got to talk with a real Cajun guy, that was awesome.

Second, I am now the language group leader of all the misfit reassigned missionaries, lovingly nicknamed The Tower of Babel. I'll have to think about how I will incorporate Mandarin, Dutch, Icelandic, Malagasy, and Tagalog so we can all practice our languages together effectively...

Last and best, we had two people this week accept the invitation to be baptized!! Let me run them down for ya.

During a lesson purely over the phone, the Spirit was able to testify to Tasha the truthfulness of our message and the peace and joy it will continue to bring her. In tears she accepted the invitation to be baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She said, "I feel absolutely wonderful". The Spirit doesn't need any medium but a humble heart and a contrite spirit.

So, Jacquelyn. Jackie is an elderly lady that Elder Christensen and I taught one lesson to my first week in the field. This is back the first week of October. We were never able to get in contact with her again. After calling multiple times after a few weeks we decided to call her one more time and stop trying if we still couldn't get a hold of her. She finally picked up! But was out of town for another month. After a month we started giving her calls again and never got a hold of her, until the call when we decide we would "drop" her if she didn't pick up. We were like "huh, there must be a reason we need to talk to her". Again, we gave her a call later that week to set up an appt...no answer. For the 3rd time and a month later we were gonna stop trying if she didn't pick up again and she picked up! This time we set an appt. Elder Rands and I head over there almost 5 months to the day I first met her, and she read half the Book of Mormon, knows it's true  and wants to be baptized! What an amazing woman!

God works in mysterious ways, but His ways are perfect.

Elder Cummings

Hello There

 (Sister Putnam)

Hello there!

So there has been a lot going on lately!

We are still talking to Reba, but she's talking about how she doesn't have any friends where she lives.  So we're trying to get in contact with her missionaries there so they can bring her to church, so she can start building friendships.  That's apparently really tough because Reba lives with her mom,  and her mom apparently hates religious people so that's kinda terrible, but we will see. She also might have a problem if the missionaries in her area are Elders, since she would feel better if it was Sisters.  But we'll see what we can work out with Zoom and stuff.

Also, Kristen is still awesome, but some sad news. Apparently she was really just looking for fellowship and she found a church right across the street from her and joined it.  So she's not doing bible studies with us anymore, but we are praying that she keeps reading the Book of Mormon and that she'll eventually run into the missionaries again one day.

Oh, and a few months before the mission, I made a friend named Rachel online. I got to meet her in person this week and we gave her a lesson.  Shes' seriously so awesome!

Okay love you all!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

Overcome with Love

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person can hope for!

The Lord keeps blessing us so abundantly, it's hard to take it all in. We put 2 more people on-date for baptism this week. We put a 15 year old girl named Kaiden on date for March 27. She is so prepared and has such a strong testimony. We also found a new person to teach named Natalie who turns 9 next month. She has it the desire to be baptized as well, so we set a baptismal date of May 22 for her! We also found one other girl to teach named Nikiyah. We are basically teaching an army of kids and youth. It's pretty epic! What keeps me going though is if I can't just teach these kids one principle, that will help them in their life, help them to be a bit happier, then I have succeeded. I hope the things we teach them will change the rest of their lives.

Some other highlights this week, was that a woman we are teaching named Laticia made it to church for the first time this Sunday! Laticia has a minor case of Schizophrenia, but every time we go over to teach her, she says she read the Book of Mormon, and really enjoyed it! She uttered her first prayer this week in a lesson as well! She has had some cool spiritual experiences!

I also just wanted to share some impressions I had this morning as I said my morning prayer. As I prayed, I just felt an overwhelming sense and feeling of love from, and love for God. These past 13 months have definitely not been easy, but I've seen the Lord's hands so many times in these months. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have been constants through out it. They have been me strength and comfort. They have helped me change, to become a better person, and have blessed me and others in an innumerable amount of ways. Truly everything we have is from God, and comes out of his love and mercy for us. I am so happy God has allowed me to have this experience of serving a mission!

Love you all!

Pictures:

1. There's a squirrel in our back yard named "Chonkers". This is a trap we made to try to catch it. We put some of our leftovers underneath it.

2. A giant picture of Christ in our apartment.

Week 13? POTA

 (Sister Putnam)

Hello, everyone!

Oh my word so much has happened since last week! So, I did in fact, get transferred, and Sister Madsen and I got transferred together. Apparently when both companionships in an area get transferred, they rarely stay together.  So of course the unusual happens to me; that's been my life for the last 7 years lol. Part Of The Adventure. Well we're now serving in the Canyon Park ward, and when we went to church on Sunday, I met a few people who had connections to people who live in Saudi, so that's awesome!

Also, we talked to Reba this week, and she wanted to know if there were any resources so that she can teach her kids about the gospel. She also asked if we could teach her twin sister, Shae, so that's awesome! They both came to church yesterday, and we are praying that they stay receptive to the gospel. Kristen also talked to us this week and said she found a church across the street from her that she's been attending. She hasn't talked to us a ton, but we're hoping to have another bible study with her sometime, but please pray for her that she'll want to see more about what the church has to offer💜💜

okay love you all, love hearing from you!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

S4 E4: Mouth of the 'Sippi"

 (Elder Cummings)

Hey y'all!

This week was crazy. Elder Rands ate a whole jalapeño, biked into a telephone poll, and biked through a rain storm. And I was there for all of it.

On another cool note, because February is a shorter month we had extra miles for our monthly mile allotment. We decided to use them by driving down all the way to the Mississippi River to catch and try and contact all those people's addresses we have who live way down in bayou land and we can't visit cause they're too far away. I think that was a run-on sentence but we'll go with it. Anyway, that was super fun and we had a lot of miracles.

Mississippi River Run Miracles:

1)We ran into(by accident but not coincidence) a guy who was baptized back when he was 9 in Mexico. When he came over when he was a teenager he always wondered where our church was and we were able to talk for a long while and give him our info

2) the Spanish Elders were able to give away 2 Book of Mormons and a Bible to people weren't even planning to meet

3) We didn't get lost driving through bayou land

Hope y'all stay safe and stay strong!

Romans 12:21 "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good"

Elder Cummings

Makes World War Two look like a tea party

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for!

I've moved into my new area, and I'm loving it! It's about a 5 minute drive away from where I last lived, haha! To get to our area, we have to walk 30 minutes, so I'm going to be doing lots of walking this transfer! We're going to see if we can get some bikes to speed things up. We've been seeing wonderful things happening though. We put a boy named Joseph on date for baptism for March 20, and are working with a girl named Arial to get baptized on March 13. If you're able, pray for these people. It will be tough, but I think we can get them ready to follow Christ's example by being baptized.

My new companion is Elder Clove, and he is a beast! He's been out 6 months and I'd a great missionary. I've learned a lot from him. He loves history, sports, and the Old Testament! He is hilarious! The title is quoted from something he said in a lesson. I forgot what he was referencing, but I thought it was super funny! We're going to have a great time together! Both Elder Clove and I have the desire to help people come closer to Christ, and because we have that desire we are getting along, and great things are happening. The same thing happens with us and God. When we align our will and desires with God's, miracles will happen in our lives. Our happiness will increase, we won't need to worried about anything, and we'll rest assured that all things God puts in our path are for our benefit.

Love you guys!

Pictures:

1. Elder Clove and I

2-9. Saying goodbyes. :( Pictures are of Elder Maunana, Elder Holmes, Erika and Zach, Mike Angela and Nicole, Robert Carman, Autumn, Shad, Sister Coletti, and Brother McGary

My weekly...ish

 (Elder Petersen)

Hey everyone sorry for the long time between emails this time around! So over the past couple of weeks there has been some pretty interesting changes for me. We had transfers this last Wednesday but nothing changed with me or my companion. Elder Quiton and I are still going strong as companions, we are currently each others record breaking longest companions. Some that did change however is our area that we cover, so last email our area was Richmond Utah but know we cover an additional stake which tripled our area size geographically, and almost doubled the number of wards that we now cover. As of today we cover 22 full wards with a geographical area that covers everything East and west up to the mountains not crossing into Idaho but stretching on the western side of the area down to right next to Logan. I will put a picture of it down below. So that is fun and we also got a car! Other then that I am teaching an eleven year old girl who is preparing herself to be baptized on the 27th of this month. Sorry for the boring email I just don't know what y'all want to hear so let me know what yall want to hear about and then next email I'll write about that!