Lights, camera, action!

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!

So this week we went to Young Women's to get to know the young women, and it was a lot of fun! We did a painting activity and it was awesome!!

Oh also, about 2 months ago, Sister Hatton & I were getting stuff into the car before leaving to go somewhere, and the girl who parks next to our car came out at the same time and started talking to us and we connected really well.  We gave her our number, and she texted us! Well we ran into her again a couple weeks later and I was like "Hey we should go get ice cream sometime!!".  Last week we set up a time to get ice cream and on Tuesday we met her at the mall and got ice cream and got to know her.  She asked a lot of questions about our church and beliefs. She said religions are really beautiful to her and she is interested in attending Christmas services, so that would be awesome!! Sister Rice connected pretty well with her, (Her name is Sara, lol forgot to point that out) and so that will hopefully be good when I most likely transfer in a week!

Last week we were enlisted to film a video to get the youth excited about serving a mission, featuring the missionaries in the stake and their talents, so we spent a lot of time filming those.  Hopefully I can get those to you guys once they're done! It took up the majority of our week though haha, so that's the explanation for my email subject line!

Also, remember the lady from last week who needed a bed? Well, her name is Dina, and we had another Bible study with her and Sister Israelsen & Sister Durham and we learned a lot about her life, what she's been through, and she is just an incredibly strong and humble woman! We hope to teach her more soon, and to find some fellowship!

Amy has still been sick, so pray for Amy so that Sister Rice can meet her before I leave, and so that we can schedule a baptismal date for her!

Also, on Friday my Uncle Mark & Aunt Rebecca came and visited us and took us to MOD Pizza, and it was wonderful to see them, they are incredible!!

Love you all!!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

S10 E2: Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham

 (Elder Cummings)

So we're walking through this neighborhood that we felt we needed to be at. The sun is going down, the people are going inside, and we're running out of time. We look at the time and are like, "ok, let's walk down this street and back around to our bikes and call it good". So we start walking and see a man working on some garage lights or something. We offer some help, he rejects it. We offer some messages about Jesus, he accepts it. His name is Eric, he is so awesome. We were able to teach him about his true identity and potential as a cherished child of a Loving Father. He looks at our tags and asks, "so y'all are Elders. Will y'all bless my home?"

We are able to explain more about the priesthood and power of God and we dedicate this stranger-now-friend's home. The Spirit was strong and you could tell that Eric was touched. In a way that we couldn't tell him, the Lord told him that we were His servants.

Later in the week us 4 Elders are driving up with our Relief Society President to Folsom, literally the boonies.(Sister Ziegler, the RSP, straight up met her husband on a greyhound bus on the way to Venezuela and taught him the first 3 discussions, later he was baptized and they were sealed. So awesome). So anyway, there's a family up in Folsom that we've been trying to visit but communication is just hard cause they live so far away. Turns out the sister that we are trying to visit hasn't been able to get the medication she needs since the hurricane hit and she is having a rough time. But then turns out that Sister Ziegler works at a pharmacy that holds the medication that she needs. Miracle.

On top of that, this amazing sister was complaining of disturbing nightmares and experiences in their home and we again had a chance to dedicate and sanctify their home. There we were, 4 guys in white shirts and ties from all over the country kneeling and surrounded by dogs, a baby chicken and a bunch of random kids who didn't even live there, using the authority and power of God to bless a small trailer in the middle of Louisiana country. Crazy how God works. You could feel the difference as we talked with them afterwards. Everyone seemed more at ease, more hopeful and more friendly. Such an amazing experience.

Have a blessed week y'all!

Elder Cummings

Nevaeh's Baptism

 (Elder Slade)

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

What a great week! Navaeh got baptized Saturday! It was a awesome experience! She is one of the most energetic girls I've met, and she has such attitude, but her desire to get baptized was amazing! She's been coming to church every week, and she loves it!

I have just been so excited for the work recently! This is such a fun and joyous work! Taking people who are struggling, and raising them up through the gospel of Jesus Christ! There's nothing better than this! There definitely have been some hard days, days that are challenging and stressful, but none of that compares with the ultimate joy that comes from missionary work! I love this work so much!

Love you all!

1. Elder Plank and I on exchanges! It was the first time in a while I had ridden a bike, and my butt was so sore after that day, but it was just a blast!

2. Elder Quigley and I in Rexburg! He's such a stud!

3. Elder Powell and I in Rigby. He's such a stud as well.

4. Took a picture with a man named Ian who is a recent convert. I heard a lot about this guys from my friend Elder Holmes (who's in Africa right now) who helped teach him. He is such a beast!

S10 E1: A Rabid Buc-cees in Chugginton

 (Elder Cummings)

Howdy y'all!

So this week has been pretty straight forward and has flown by. I'm out here in Covington(not Chuggington unfortunately) with my man Elder Weatherston. He's straight from the MTC, from Nampa, Idaho and will die believing that Idaho is the best state in the US and that Idaho potatoes are the best. Unfortunately only the latter is true.

I wish i got a picture but I saw a sticker on somebody's car that looked like Buc-cee's. I asked him about it and he smiles and says "it's a rabid Buc-cees, look he mean". Only in Louisiana folks.

On top of that before I left Denham Springs a family fed us some Gator stew. It was loaded with Sausage, Chicken and Gator and man it was so good. They say here "don't ask what's in it, it's just gonna be good".

Alright, this is a flashback in a flashback but it is also the highlight of this week. It was during a message we shared with a family. They had their youngest son who was starting the MTC the next week and so we all went around and shared one of our favorite experiences from our missions. I was really trying to think about one, nothing was coming to mind. As it was my turn a very specific memory came to me. It was back in Alexandria, with Elder Richards. We are sitting there teaching Josh and Samantha, a younger couple who had family that were members. Oh wait a little bit of context:

Context:

I try really hard to stay true to my testimony that I share in the sense that I will say "I know" if I know something is true and I will say "I believe" if I only believe or trust something is true.

So here we are. We want this couple to understand the importance of the temple and God's plan for them. We wanted them to understand that they could be sealed as a family for eternity. At this point in time I trusted and believed that this could happen. I know that Jesus is my Savior, and I know Joseph Smith restored His Church on the earth today, and so I trusted with my heart that my family could be together forever. As we are sitting here with this couple, we play the Rome Italy temple tour video. I'm watching the video and their reactions to see how they're feeling about it and the Spirit just hits me and I get an overwhelming sense of peace as Elder and Sister Bednar testify of the sealing power of families. I just feel "Clayton, you know it's true". It seemed out of nowhere. Here I was sitting with a young family while we watched a temple video and the Spirit witnessed to me that what I was watching and learning was of God. I can now confidently say that I know that families can be together forever. I will forever be grateful for that knowledge, and that is why I'm out here.

Have a blessed one

Elder Cummings

 

*cue Prince of Egypt Song*

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone! This week was incredibly busy but a lot of miracles happened!!

A child misread my name tag and called me Sister Platform. The most common mispronounciation is Putman, but on my mission (not even in Saudi, the foreign country where I grew up) is where my last name has been mispronounced the most. I've had people say Putman, Pootnam, Platinum, and now Platform. The list will likely continue.

Also, last week I hit 11 month as a missionary!

A lot of our friends have stopped responding to us and our area was kinda dying, so we were feeling kinda down.  But this week, a guy referred himself to us and his first language is Spanish and he wants to practice his Englis.  He's wanting to meet with us and the Hermanas and see what we believe and see if he really wants to attend church with us so that's fun! We had a phone call lesson with him and the Hermanas and they taught him the Restoration in Spanish!!

Also, the sisters up in Eastmont found someone near us who is interested in Bible studies! She also was in need of a bed and so we were looking for a bed everywhere. We  found one in 2 days on a local free stuff group on Facebook. It was just a huge miracle!

This week was full of so many miracles and it was just awesome! Love you all, I love hearing from you!!

Love you all!!!

Pictures!!

1: us getting panda

2: Sith Putnam

Sister Alyssa Putnam

First snow!

 (Elder Slade)

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

It snowed last Monday! We walked out of a lesson that evening, and it looked like a blizzard! It was crazy! ❄ Today it's sunny and warm! That's Idaho for you! I'm looking forward to this winter because I heard it's supposed to Snow a lot. Last Monday, we also had a bake off with another companionship where we baked cookies. They undoubtedly won, but it was fun!

We went on a 3 exchanges this week, and I learned so much from each Elder. God truly loves each of us individualy and has given us each talents and gifts important to our divine identity as children of God. He loves all of His children.

Love you all!

Pictures:

1. Elder Andersen and I

2. Trying to fit an Elk through a door while moving some people in.

3. Our bake off presentation

4. Elder Carillo and I

Some of the coolest miracles of my mission (and racoons)

 (Elder Slade)

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

I had some of the coolest miracles of my mission so far this week! We randomly got a call out to the blue Tuesday night from a woman named Sandy. We didn't know about her at all, but she just went off for about 30 minutes talking about how she loved General Conference! She had watched it for the past 6 and a half years, but this one touched her alot! She said she was 80% LDS, just not baptized! 😂 We set up a lesson for the next day, and had such a spiritual lesson! It was amazing to hear her experience of the Lord preparing her to get to this point. We asked her if she would be willing to be baptized, and she said she wanted to go to church for a few weeks, and then we can work on that! It was an amazing miracle!

We had another miracle at the airport this week! We were picking up a missionary that got sent out, and a random guy stopped us as we were heading back to the car. He jumped out of his car and said, "Hey! I just picked up my girlfriend from the airport and she's a nonmember of the church. I'd like to get married in the temple sometime, and I need someone to help teach her! Could we exchange numbers and you could come teach her?" It was amazing! God has just been placing people in our path to teach! The miracles have been insane!!!

I know all of these blessing are coming from the Lord! This work is His, and I hope to just be an instrument in His hands. As we make His will our will, he can use us to accomplish His great purposes. There's nothing more than I want, than to be His tool here to bless the lives of others. He is in charge, and I consider it an honor to be a part of it.

Love you all!

Pictures:

1. Went on amazing exchange with Elder Skousen. What a beast!

2-5. I was walking out of my closet, turned the corner, and I stopped as I saw something staring at me outside the window well. It just happened to be a Racoon! We called our mission president, and he had a huge fishing net. We ran and grabbed that and a dog kennel, and went on a raccoon hunt. He was not happy, but we caught it, and drove it out to a canal in the country and released it! It was a pretty crazy experience! 🦝

S9 E5: Season Finale with Bruce

 (Elder Cummings)

Afternoon y'all!

We're sitting at the church with Bruce and asking him how praying and pondering about baptism went. He's like "Brothers...um...I'm not sure". We start talking for a long while about where he is at spiritually. He knew that Jesus died for him, knows that he can be clean only after baptism, and it was something he wanted to do. So we're like "Bruce, let's make a goal. Will you plan to be baptized on November 20th?". He sits there for a minute looking down at the table, smiles and says "yes brother, let's try".

Bruce is a beast! This man did not know who Jesus was 6 months ago and now is planning to make a covenant to follow Him for the rest of his life. There are still a lot of things to go through and help him with to get there. So please keep him in your prayers. I'm grateful for everyone who prayed for him this week!

Now for the rough news. I'm getting transferred this week to Covington and won't be able to be there for his baptism. I don't know what God has planned for me or Bruce but I know it's for our best.

I'll be training a new missionary again! Which means that besides Elder Richards, I will have had a new companion every transfer my entire mission so far.

Anyway, hope y'all have a blessed week!

Elder Cummings

General Conference!

 (Elder Slade)

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

Another week of miracles! This week God helped us put two people on date for baptism! Lisa is getting baptized on Oct 16. She is an awesome woman who has had a rough life. Neveah is getting baptized the 26th, and she is one of the easiest girls you'll meet. We are excited for both of them! There have been several awesome miracles that have led them to where they are, allowing them to enter the covenant of baptism, and take that next step towards Christ!

General Conference was also this week! It was SO good! I loved all of the speakers! Onf of my favorite was by Marcus B. Nash about sharing the gospel. He listed a few of the blessings of the gospel:

-Sharing the gospel brings joy and hope in both the giver and the reciever!

-Sharing the gospel brings power into our lives!

-Sharing the gospel brings protection from temptation!

-Sharing the gospel brings healing!

I have felt the truthfulness of these blessings as I have served for the past 20 months! Sharing the gospel has brought me so much joy, and above all else, it has brought me closer to my Savior Jesus Christ! I love this work! I love my mission! I wouldn't want to trade it for anything!

Love yall!

Pictures:

1. A picture we sent to Lisa hyping her up for her baptism!

2. I went on an exchange with Elder Johnson, who was my first District Leader in the mission. Pretty exciting!

3-4. Went on a hike early this morning, and it was beautiful!

5. We went to Kneaders for breakfast Saturday morning before general conference and got the unlimited French toast! To die for! Elder Rollins has also been with us for  a few days. His flight to his original mission, Brazil, got cancelled, so he stayed with us for a few days until they flew him out. He is an amazing missionary!

S9 E4: "Yes, I believe in Jesus"

 (Elder Cummings)

What's up y'all!!

         So we have a friend named Bruce. He's from mainland China right. The missionaries have been teaching him English and the Gospel of Jesus Christ for about 6 months now. This man is awesome. We meet with him 4x a week to help him and he is always coming with more and different "Bruce-snacks"(Chinese snacks ranging from a sponge cake that could outlast a Twinkie by at least a century to vacuum packaged spicy tofu). Then on his off days on Tuesday he always invites us over to cook us an authentic Chinese meal. He's so awesome.

          It's been so cool working with him though. Just last week he was talking about how being a Christian is hard back in China. He said, "if someone ask me 'Bruce, are you Christian?' it is difficult to tell them but deep down, my first thought is "Yes. I believe in Jesus. Yes, I believe in Jesus".

           This week we asked him. "Bruce, is baptism your goal?" And he said "yes brothers, it is very hard for me, but yes I want it". Please please please pray for Bruce. If there is anything you get from this email it's PRAY FOR BRUCE. This is a man who 6 months ago couldn't tell you anything about Jesus Christ besides that he was a leader and now he has faith in Him unto repentance and believes that it is through Him that he can be truly happy, and ultimately be saved. For reasons we can't fully understand because of the language and culture barrier, this is a very hard decision for him. Please pray for him. He needs strength and faith beyond his own.

We're fixing to have a great week y'all. Looking forward to tell y'all about it!

Elder Cummings

Rain and Rescheduling and conference

 (Sister Putnam)

Hello, everyone!!

Well, the rain has officially started back up in Washington, and it's super cold now!

General conference was wonderful this weekend! We watched the Saturday evening session with our friend Anna. She said loved it and enjoyed Sister Eubanks talk about the church's humanitarian aid. She also really loves that we believe in living prophets and it's so cool to see her testimony grow!

Amy was still sick this week but we hope to give her a baptismal date on Wednesday so pray for Amy!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam