Revelation Through Temple Attendance

(Elder Cummings)

This week was, again, one full of miracles and learning experiences.  We have felt our Savior's love working through us and we have been able to do the things He would have us do.  One of the highlights was definitely the opportunity to go attend the Fresno Temple.

The temple is a wonderful place.  All of them are.  Across the globe, wherever there is a temple the Saints gather together to worship and to learn. 

That is one thing I especially appreciate about the temple--the learning.  In the temple our understanding of the gospel can be expanded and we can receive specific direction for the specific challenges of our lives.

As Elder Ostler and I were in the temple we both felt impressed that we should cut contact with a family we had been teaching.  We had previously decided that we were going to see them one more time, give one last "hurrah," and drop them.  Our more recent visits hadn't gone well and they were not keeping their commitments.  So, trusting in the inspiration we had received, we canceled an appointment and did not call to set up another.

And then the family of nine came to church and stayed for the entire three hour service, loving every minute of it.  Entirely unexpected.  To say more of the blessings that their church attendance has brought, they, and we, were surprised to realize that many of their friends and family members were active members of our congregation.  Entire unexpected.  Because Elder Ostler and I had followed the promptings of the Spirit which we had received in the holy temple the entire family is once again progressing towards baptism, with a stronger fire and new energy from the ward to support them.

God absolutely knew how He could best help His children.  He knew how He could best help us do the same.  Our Heavenly Father is a very real father.  He listens to our prayers.  We can and should speak to Him "as a man would address a present friend" (Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith p. 127). 

Heavenly Father is blessing Elder Ostler and I in Pioneer Park East so that we can bless others.  It is exciting.  It is exhilarating!  We are finding, teaching, and baptizing, in His holy name.

Yesterday we were blessed to be able to witness Julie Her's baptism.  We have been working with her for the last two months.  Most of her siblings were baptized last month, and it was truly wonderful to see her follow them in following Christ.  The service was humble and spiritual.  I am grateful to play a part in her continuing conversion.

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Jared Cummings

Answering Prayers

(Elder Cummings)
There is nothing more exciting than missionary work.  I love it.

Yesterday was Mother's Day, so many of my recent stories have already been told.  This email will probably be a shorter one.  Elder Ostler and I did have one incredible experience that occurred after we both ended our brief skype calls home that can definitely be classified as a miracle.  This one will be news for my family to hear about as well.

It starts about a month ago.  Elder Ostler and I were having a rougher afternoon in terms of how many people we had been able to see.  We tried by one more home before we were going to eat some dinner and, as much of the afternoon had gone, the person peaked through the blinds where we "couldn't see" and didn't answer the door.  The father of this family was a less active, so they had had previous contact with missionaries.  We joked rather casually about putting a copy of the Book of Mormon in their mail slot, so we did.

Fast forward to last night, we were told by some of their relatives who are active members that the particular family we had visited had been praying for direction and guidance in a particular trial the very week we unknowingly answered their prayers with a copy of the Book of Mormon that fell into their foyer.  They have since opened the door for us.

That is a miracle to me!  God truly does hear and answer our prayers.  The answer can come in many ways, but answers do come.  We have been helping several people this week say some of their first prayers, and the light that comes into their lives as they make this a habit is astounding.

I am very grateful to be a missionary.  I love it.  There is nothing I would rather be doing!

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

Opening our mouths to people with open ears

(Elder Cummings)
We have done so much this week!  I don't even know where to start!  From a teaching standpoint, this week has been the busiest of my mission.  Elder Ostler and I shattered both of our personal "bests."  It has been an amazing adventure.  I have loved every second of it.

Our beloved farmers, sadly, have quite literally moved on to greener pastures this week.  In traditional Hmong fashion they up and moved without telling anyone.  They all work from sun up to sun down trying to support themselves and children, spouses, and sometimes extended family in Laos.  They went the way of the work--north to Sacramento.  I pray that they will soon come into contact, again, with missionaries.

Blessings have come from this as well!  We were able to open our mouths and share the gospel with some others in the neighborhood, and meet several others who were more than happy to meet the missionaries!

One of the highlights of the week was another miracle from opening our mouths!  Elder Ostler and I were walking through the biggest apartment complex I have ever seen, searching for a less active's home.  We have been trying to get in contact with this family for a few weeks now, and they finally got back to us and told us to come by.  That is exactly what we hoped to do, but as we kept walking deeper and deeper we started to doubt if the address was real.  We took a moment and talked about what we should do and we felt that we should go and share the gospel with the eight or nine African-American children playing by the volleyball court.  That is exactly what we did!

From that we received three referrals to hand off to whatever English missionaries cover the area.  Miracle number one!  It gets better though!  One of the boys, Isaiah, really wanted us to tell his mom about Joseph Smith as soon as possible, so he took us for a walk that led right past the address we had been looking for!  Had we not opened our mouths and shared the gospel with whoever the Lord put in our paths we would not have been able to reach out to the members who had temporarily lost their way.

Another day I was on an exchange and felt prompted to talk to a woman who had just passed by us.  Realizing that there wasn't any subtle way to approach the situation, I turned around and very loudly asked her back if she believed in Jesus.  This was met with a laugh, a polite no, a short conversation about families, and an accepted invitation to come and teach her and her boyfriend sometime.  Two days later the same woman was referred to us by an investigator.  God puts prepared people in the paths of the missionaries all the time.

He puts them in your paths as well, I am sure of it.  As Preach My Gospel puts it "You are surrounded by people.  You pass them on the street, visit them in their homes, and travel among them.  All of them are children of God, your brothers and sisters.  God loves them just as He loves you."

I am so grateful to be here in Fresno among such a wonderful people.  There is nothing that compares!

With love,

Elder A. Jared Cummings

A Baptism and the Flood

(Elder Cummings)

We have had a hard working week.  I love it!  We had a beautiful baptismal service for Johnny, Jay, and Lisa Her.  We have been working with them for a few months now.  The whole family moved down to Fresno and immediately sought out the Church.  The mother was less active for many years and is happy to have returned to activity in the Church, and is even more happy that her children are coming to the covenants!

Waiting for the font to fill Saturday afternoon, listening to Elder Ostler plunk out hymns on the piano, I spent some time reflecting on the story of the flood.  I had heard it said once that it symbolically relates to baptism, and I was pleased to find that to be true.

Noah was distinguished from the people of his time by his zeal in keeping the commandments of God. "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9).  In describing his obedience, the scripture states that "according to all that God commanded him, so did he" (Genesis 6:22).  Noah is a type of the spiritual man that we all of the potential to be.

When the rain comes it is Noah who is carried by the waters to higher ground.  He ends up on the top of the mountains of Ararat, a place much higher in elevation than where he likely built the ark (Genesis 8:4).  His experience brought him closer to the Lord.  Through the flood "all flesh died" (Genesis 7:21), leaving the world "clean" and symbolic of the death of the sinful life and the beginning of one of discipleship that occurs at baptism.

To go even further, through modern revelation we understand that following the "baptism" of the flood Noah received many covenants from God, which God himself describes as those he "made unto your [Noah's] father Enoch, concerning your seed after you" (JST Genesis 9:15).  In the same way baptism is not the end of our commitment to God, in fact God has many blessings for us that follow baptism, conditional on obedience, and with the same far reaching effects as the covenant God made with Noah.  In these latter days these covenants are available in the Holy Temples.

Unfortunately my camera died and I couldn't find the charger until the day after the baptism, so no pictures from this one.

Yesterday we rode the bus to church with our beloved farmers.  A nine hour total round trip.  This instilled in me a much greater love for these Hmong people and for the sacrifices they are willing to make for God, truly inspiring.  God truly does love all of His children.  You are all included in that!

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

"I was with you in weakness."

I have chosen for the title of my email a small section of 1 Corinthians 2:3.  In this chapter the apostle Paul is teaching the people of Corinth that the gospel must be preached by the Spirit, that no there is no mortal power that can bring about conversion.

That is exactly how Elder Ostler and I felt last night.  In our last teaching visit of the week we went to visit a few friends of ours, Tong Kou Thao, Maihoua Her, Kou Her, Vang Lor, Choua Lor, and Mai Vang, and share with them the Plan of Salvation.  All six of them are farmers living in relative poverty with no personal form of transportation and the faith of men and women who have endured many things.  The six of them are refugees from Thailand and Laos, and all of them fled as a result of their beliefs, Christian and Shaman.  We had been unable to find them a ride to church this week, and promised that we would visit them that day so that they still would have an opportunity to worship God with us on the Sabbath. 

The teaching situation was one of the most humbling I have ever been in.  We were welcomed very warmly and once the announcement that their "sons" were here was made, the six of them excitedly came out to join us in our discussion.  They told us to sit on the only cushioned seat and they sat on the floor in an arch in front of us.  We began with a prayer and began to teach.

 And we taught, "declaring unto [them] the testimony of God" (1 Corinthians 2:1).  It was beautiful.

It has become more apparent to me recently how much Hmong I actually know--not a lot.  I can communicate fairly effectively, but there is still a lot of improvement.  In almost every teaching situation there is some kind of communication breakdown that keeps the lesson from flowing as smoothly as it could.  Last night was different.  Completely different.  In flowery Hmong, with couplets and all, I taught them, using words I knew in ways I had never thought to use them.  I have never spoken so clearly nor so dignified.  I came in my weakness, and the Spirit was magnifying me.

We taught these six farmers "the truths of eternity reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for sons and daughters of God in the life to come," and most importantly, the essential role of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (The Living Christ).  At several points in the lesson those we were teaching shared beautiful testimonies about how they had seen the hand of God in their lives.  They all individually professed that they felt we were sent to them from God, and Elder Ostler and I professed to them that we felt we were led to them by God.  As we continued teaching both the Restoration and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them according to their concerns, all six of them agreed to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  What more, all six of them agreed to ride to bus to church with us so that they could become self-sufficient in transportation.  We will be seeing them later this week.  They said they would invite all of their believing friends to listen to us teach.  God magnified Elder Ostler and I.  Through us He was able to bless His children even more.

I love sharing the gospel with these people, the Hmong.  I would say with confidence that they have specially been prepared for the message of the restoration. In 1 Nephi 1:6 we read the prophecy of the prophet Lehi that "there shall none come into this land save they be brought by the hand of the Lord."  The Hmong one example of a direct fulfillment of that prophecy.  I love them.  I love serving them.

I hope you all can find joy in righteous living!  No matter where you are, who you are, or what you are doing, the Lord desires to bless you if you are obedient.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten of the Father.  I know that he is my Savior and Redeemer.  He lives!

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

Week of Miracles

(Elder Cummings)

Elder Ostler and I have had one of our busiest weeks yet!  He has now been out in the field for a whole transfer, almost as long as he was in the MTC.  Time has flown by so fast!  One of the lessons we had was with a recent-convert name Song Vang (Xyooj Vaj).  We taught him about steps of repentance, and we had an almost a 50-50 split in the material conveyed.  Needless to say, his Hmong has improved A LOT.  He has been diligent in studying and the blessings are coming through.

Our "finding" is still on point!  We had a neat experience the other day when we were walking to our car after a lesson and felt inspired to shout over to the Hmong woman across the street and ask her if she would like to read scriptures with us.  She said yes and she and her husband loved the visit.  They have been in America for two years and have been "kept from the truth because they know not where to find it" (123:12).  Literally, they said that they have not been baptized into a church because no one had come to teach them about God.  They've wanted to learn about Christianity for some time, but have not, until now, had the opportunity.

In a somewhat ironic chain of events, we helped a Jehovah's Witness man get in touch with his local Hmong speaking congregation.  We were talking with him, learned that he had recently moved from Wisconsin, learned what his belief was, and immediately and unmistakably to prompting came to get him the information for the Jehovah's Witness worship services.  We were without doubt "led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [we] should do."(1 Nephi 4:6).  We knew where the building was, got the address for him, and on the way back saw the person we had an appointment to visit sitting at a bus stop.  We pulled over, talked to him, learned that he wasn't going to be free at the previously decided time, rescheduled for later, and took off to go see our Jehovah's Witness friend.  As a result of all of this, we were able to use the time now empty because of the moved appointment to go see another investigator who was in need of a visit.  She had been praying and felt like she needed a church that taught "oneness" -- all of the truth in one place.  We taught her the message of the restoration again, more clearly than we had before, and as a result of all of this she did not drop us and committed to prepare herself to be baptized.

There was another woman, Nancy V., who we met after our entire Saturday fell through in an hour. We returned to the apartment after a VERY difficult afternoon, ate, prayed, pondered, and went to go contact some less-active members who we were impressed to go visit. Nancy's husband, Watou, is a less-active member. As we were talking to Watou, who almost volunteered to take the missionary lessons again, Nancy spoke up and asked what she needed to do to become a member of the church. The Spirit rushed into the room. We would not have met Nancy for who knows how long had our day not gone to the pot. Truly a miracle. I was moved that God would sacrifice our entire day, set appointments and backups all together, to lead us to one specific soul who was prepared. We were able to teach one lesson that day. Meeting Nancy was worth it.

In other news, Elder Bagley on Hmong West is getting transferred to Merced and Elder Gray will be coming down to Fresno.  Elder Ostler and I in Hmong East are unaffected.  We will miss Elder Bagley, but will be seeing him soon.

I love you all!  Have a fantastic week!

Elder Jared Cummings

Another Wonderful Week

(Elder Cummings)

This week was a fun one. I have only ever led out an area three times before this week and I loved it! It was hard but that made my prayers better and my resolve to follow the Spirit even greater. I love the confidence I have gained in doing so. There was one less active member we were trying to contact who wasn't home. The children were and told us when the parents would be available. We got back in the car, figured out how to get where we were going next, and then under the direction of the Spirit got back out of the car, knocked on the door again and taught these young children who had never seen missionaries before the message of the restoration through their screen door. It was neat. The numbers for this week are low, but we have been working hard to be exactly obedient and to go where the Spirit sends us. I love it.

Elder Ostler is great. He is incredibly humble and willing to learn. We are spending most of the day speaking Hmong to each other and his language is progressing VERY quickly. His teaching skills are improving rapidly too. I've been spending some time praying about the direction God wants me to take with training him and the theme has been consistent: teach him to follow the Spirit. That is what I've been trying to do, laying down the fact that our teaching styles contrast pretty strongly and just focusing on the one teaching skill that matters most. I am excited for him.  He is a powerful missionary!

Teaching has been slower this week, but it all ended on a high note.  Sunday night we met eight people, two different families that are well prepared to be baptized and are progressing towards it.  An entire week of difficult days to work through and at the end of it we were blessed so tremendously.

I have been thinking this week about the amazing blessing it is to have a living prophet on the earth today.  We have a literal connection with God, the same connection He has always sought to establish among His children.  It is in keeping with a divine pattern that we see all through the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  It is also part of God's pattern to give evidence of such a prophetic calling, specifically marking those that began new dispensations, periods of time where God's people on the earth were guided by a prophet.  We read in Exodus 4:1-8 of such signs being given to Moses, and later in Exodus about even more signs being giving to the Egyptians.  Prophets such as Noah, Lehi, and Samuel the Lamanite knew of the wickedness of the people, and prophesied against it, in such a way that their divine call was manifest.  Jesus Christ himself was full of such signs.  He spent His life performing miracles and at the end of it He preformed the greatest miracle of all, His Atonement.  Joseph Smith followed this pattern as well with the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon.  A miracle!  As with all miracles it is enough to strengthen faith, but is not the source of faith itself.  Faith is manifest in seeking to know, and the confirmation from the Holy Ghost that follows builds on that. 

I love missionary work.  It is so great to do so much good in the world.  I love seeing people's lives changed by this gospel.  It is a miracle.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Jared Cummings

Transfers, Training and Discipleship

Another AMAZING week of finding with Elder Knapton.  As a companionship we have really excelled at that.  We found out that we are getting split up this transfer.  No tears were shed, he isn't really going far.  He is moving across the parking lot to Hmong West, the area where he spent the first six transfers of his mission.  He has been a missionary in the Pioneer Park Ward for almost a year and a half consecutive.

I will be staying in Hmong East and training.  This time I am not part of a trio.  It will be on me to lead the training.  This is going to be a change.  I am not worried.  God directs this work through personal revelation.  I don't need to do much, I just need to listen and obey.

This week I have been studying the words of the hymn "Come, Come, Ye Saints."  I have always loved the words of the hymns.  They are scripture.  You can draw so much inspiration from them.

"Come, Come, Ye Saints" is an invitation, an invitation to take up our cross daily and become perfected in Christ (Luke 9:23, Moroni 10:32).  There is nothing to fear in the path we are asked to walk.  We can press forward with joy, "relying wholly on the merits of him who is mighty to save" (2 Nephi 31:19).  Christ will give us the support to do His work day by day, hour by hour, according to our needs.  It is better this way.  By walking the path of discipleship we perfect ourselves, ridding ourselves of useless cares and worldly concerns.  There is no greater joy than this.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ enables all men to be obedient to the command the Master gave to the Nephites.  "I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect" (3 Nephi 12:48).  It is a commonly understood principle in Christendom that faith is essential to our salvation.  It is also taught in the scriptures that "we are saved by hope" (Romans 8:24), and that of faith, hope, and charity, charity is the greatest (1 Corinthians 13:13).  Charity must then be essential for our salvation.  The Book of Mormon prophet Moroni taught this truth as well, (Moroni 7:47-48).  We find all through the scriptures the need to develop Christlike attributes so that we can be exalted and become like our Father in Heaven.  It is a wonderful blessing that there is a way provided for us to live up to our potential as children of God.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to preach the gospel here in Fresno.  I would not trade this experience for anything.  Discipleship is so worth it.  Find that path and stay on it.  There will be no regrets as we become purified through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

With my love,

Elder A. Jared Cummings