Last Mission Photo

(Elder Cummings)

A Testimony

(Elder Cummings)

Caroline was baptized this weekend! She overcame incredible opposition. Last week we were teaching her outside of her home and a man pulled his car over, came up to us, and started to preach against the Restoration of the gospel, against the Book of Mormon, and against the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was nothing that Elder Ellestad and I hadn't heard before. It was yet another fulfillment of the prophecy given to a 17 year old Joseph Smith that his name "should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people" (The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith). That day we had been teaching Caroline about opposition, actually using the account of Joseph's first vision. As soon as the man walked away, Caroline bore her testimony to us of Joseph Smith the prophet, of the Book of Mormon, and of the restored church. She then handed us the materials the man had given her to dispose of. The day of her baptism her immediate family disowned her, so she prayed, and came to church the next morning to receive the Holy Ghost. By a series of miracles, since being disowned she finished paying off her house, and was able to find more gainful employment that will allow her to better provide for her children, all while faithfully observing the Sabbath day.

"As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

I know that God has an infinite capacity to bless all who will believe on his name.

It is my sincere testimony that God lives, "for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end" (Daniel 6:26). Christ is our Savior, who brought to pass "the resurrection of the dead, and the redemption of the people...through [His] power, and sufferings, and death...and his resurrection and ascension into heaven" (Mosiah 18:2). Christ lives.

I leave with this witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Elder A. Jared Cummings

The Field is White/One by One

(Elder Cummings)

As Elder Ellestad and I have been hard at work this week, I have been reflecting on a passage from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 9 verses 35-38:

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

I came across these verses as I was reading the New Testament in Hmong and they have stuck with me. Christ, seeing the needs of those around him, was inspired and motivated to expand the ministry. In the next chapter he instructs and empowers the Twelve Apostles. As I have reflected on that sequence of events, I am touched by the imagery of "the harvest." There is are plenteous multitudes of people who seek the healing and peace that can come only through the grace and mercy of Christ. The laborers go to the people and in the name of Christ teaching, preaching, and healing. Christ could have spoken louder to reach more people. He could have healed masses of people is distant parts of the globe without ever leaving Jerusalem, but "when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them," and so he initiated a system that allowed the real needs of the flock to be met while maintaining the individuality of the sheep. Christ's desire is for his servants to minister to others the way he did "one by one" (3 Nephi 11:15).  Christ doesn't just want to heal us. He wants to heal us "one by one."

Individual identity matters to Him.

Perhaps this is one reason why missionaries are sent out by the tens of thousands, and the numbers brought into the blessings of the gospel by each individual missionary measure far fewer than the tens of thousands brought by the ancient apostles; by the modern day apostles as the restoration was first proclaimed; and by the Nephite missionaries, Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni.  There is always a time in every dispensation that God gathers in bulk by the hands of a few hard-working souls. It is supposed to be that way. Until Christ empowered and sent out others that is the way he himself carried out the ministry.  But seeing the multitudes, and being moved with compassion, the Lord of the harvest has sent forth laborers in numbers to harvest "one by one."

We experienced part of that "one by one" ministry this week.

Her name is Lala Vang. She is actually a former investigator of mine, but she was not the emphasis of teaching when we would visit her family, her mom was. That was way back with Elder Ostler. Mom was under a dark cloud as the calendar approached the year anniversary of her sons suicide. She had dropped us because her less-active daughter wouldn't sustain her church attendance, and she elected to go to a closer church that was more convenient for travel. She, Zoua, had a tender place in my heart. When I got back in the area I attempted to re-establish contact unsuccessfully. She had passed away shortly after dropping us and the family moved. I had no idea until the current residents filled us in. By miracle we contacted two of her daughters last night who gave us the family's current address. Lala let us in and told us more details of her mother's death a year ago April, another suicide. Lala was seeking for answers that only the gospel could bring. We brought the Spirit with a powerful and unified teaching of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. She was moved, committed to baptism, and we have a return appointment Tuesday night. Without having previously met the family, I do not think we could have taught to her needs to precisely. God brought me back to Pioneer Park West for many reasons. Lala is one of them.

I know that God lives. He has a plan for each of us and he will guide us home one-by-one, and "[we] shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day" if we will allow ourselves to be in his hands "by obedience to the laws and ordinances of [his] gospel" (Alma 26:6, Articles of Faith 1:3).

Faith in Christ is a Gift

(Elder Cummings)

This week saw many new investigators coming to know the doctrine of Christ. For several of them, meeting with us is their first formal Christian experience. This has had me pondering on the simple topic of "faith in Jesus Christ."

One thing that never quite made sense to me was the doctrinally accurate statement that "faith is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). It has often been difficult for me to recognize how that has been true in my own life. I have often felt that my faith came to me because I worked for it. I couldn't see a way to fit the teaching that faith is a gift with my own life experience.

Moua is one man who we just began teaching. He helped me connect the dots on faith. He is not Christian, and truly doesn't know anything about Christian theology (didn't know anything, we've met with him a couple of times). I have observed that as we have laid out gospel truths for him to comprehend he has been about to come to believe. Romans 10:17 teaches us that "faith cometh by hearing...the word of God." Moua was a prime example of this. Had he not been taught the word of God it would have been impossible for him to have faith in Christ founded on a true knowledge of the character of Christ and the nature of God.

Earlier in the same chapter of Romans we read "how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" They can't! Then follows the next enlightening question: "how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14).

Again, they cannot. For the gospel to be believed it must first be taught, it must be preached. "And how shall they preach except they be sent?" (Romans 10:15).

Christ was sent by God into this world (Abraham 3:27). He condescended and was born into mortality to preach, so that we could hear, so that we could believe. Without Christ reaching out to the family of God generation to generation to reveal the plan of salvation to them there would be no knowledge of God. There would be no faith in God. We can have faith because Christ preached of his Father, and his Father bore witness of his Only Begotten Son. We never did and never will do anything that makes us worthy of this divine communication. Faith is a gift that we could never earn. In fact, it "is the gift of God [the Father]" in that the only firsthand accounts of his voice in scripture preach the divinity of Christ. God enables us to have faith on the Son by bearing witness of Him.

Moua has no idea that he taught me all this by simply hearing the word of God. I had no idea that I missed all of this as I have heard the word of God for all these years.

Faith in Christ is a gift. I am grateful for that gift. It guides my life, carries me beyond sorrows, and enables to rise above my own mortal limitations. As I have invested time and energy in allowing that gift to flourish these blessings have been mine. I know the same blessings are available to all of you. God has given the gift. What will you do with it?

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Your friend,

Elder Cummings

The Book of Mormon is True!

(Elder Cummings)

It has been a beautiful week. An especially sweet moment came Friday night. Elder Ellestad and I went by to visit Caraoline and her children to read the Book of Mormon with them before their bedtime.

It was a great evening. One of the mission rules is that if we don't enter homes where there is not a man home, so Caraoline pulled out her floor lamp and we sat around her outdoor table. Goshen, the eight year old, pulled out her rainbow-firefly night light to make the perfect atmosphere to read 1 Nephi chapter 1.

We read and the Spirit was strong. We finished the evening with Thomas S. Monson's talk from last conference and a prayer.

Caraoline said the closing prayer. She prayed fervently that she and her children would remain close to the Lord as they daily read the Book of Mormon together.

The Book of Mormon is prophesied to "sweep the world as with a flood" to direct our lives to Christ in preparation for His second coming (Moses 7:62). It brings all people to greater faith in Him and greater conviction of His divinity. It will continue to be the principal tool in the conversion of nations to the fulfillment of the prophecy that in the Millennium "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (2 Nephi 21:9). "Conversion to [the Book of Mormon] is conversion to Christ" (Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, "The Book of Mormon: The Heart of Missionary Proselyting").

I know that if you will daily feast from the pages of the Book of Mormon greater peace and light will come into your life. You will be more prepared to meet the trials of life. If we read the Book of Mormon, it will all work out.

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Jared Cummings

The Work Must Roll On

(Elder Cummings)

This has been another fantastic week. The Book of Mormon changes lives. Jesus Christ lives. This work rolls on unhindered.

In section 14 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verses 9 and 10 tell us why the gospel MUST continue to press on.

Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who created the heavens and the earth, a light which cannot be hid in darkness;

Wherefore, I must bring forth the fullness of my gospel from the Gentiles unto the house of Israel.

After declaring his living reality and giving "credentials" that evidence his almighty power, Christ tells us that the gospel will go from the Gentiles unto Israel. To put it in other words, how do we know that the gospel will spread and keep on spreading? We know because Christ said it would. We can have full confidence in his declaration.

That confidence can only be as firm as our faith in him, and our conviction that he lives.

The more convicted we are that Christ DOES live, that he truly DOES have "a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s" (D&C 130:22) the better we are able to see the hand of God working in the world.

To those with an immovable testimony of Christ, the irremovable nature of the restored gospel is fact. They know and have no doubts that any obstacles to the spread of restored truth WILL be overcome in God's time. They can look forward with peace that comes only by the Holy Spirit, living legacy to the scripture recorded by Joseph Smith that reads:

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." (D&C 123:17).

The "salvation" of God is exactly what the Israelites saw as the Red Sea was parted and crossed (Exodus 14:13). It is seen today by those with faith in Christ and a knowledge of his perfect character.

Jesus Christ lives!

With love,

Elder Cummings

Alma 27-17 - It has been a great week!

(Elder Cummings)

I cannot believe that it has been seven days since I was last in a family history center emailing. We have done so much work this week. Elder Ellestad and I get along on a high performing level. We are putting in the hours to find, teach, and baptize. We both want to give our whole heart to the work. We get up at six, and by 7:30 we are planning. Friday morning we even went for a 6.4 mile run , getting up at six and still planning by 7:30. When we don't have dinners, we work through the evening. We are seeing many mighty miracles. I am so happy to be in this area again.

Andrew and Goshen, the two children who were baptized last night, have been one of those miracles. I met their family for the first time almost 18 months ago. At that time they were staying on the east side of town with their cousins who were baptized in January earlier this year. Their father was abusive. He was the only obstacle between their and their mother's baptism. Since I last saw them almost a year ago their parents have gotten a divorce, and mom took the kids to live with her. They were somewhere in the United States, but we and their cousins didn't know where they were. A few days before the transfer the cousins got in contact with them. Transfers came, and I was back in the area that they were living in, and I was blessed to be a part of the baptisms and confirmations of the kids. Mom is getting baptized in two weeks. This family is one that I love and have thought about and prayed for often since leaving Pioneer Park last May. It is a merciful gift from a merciful God that I have returned for this.

My first convert in Fresno and his wife will be getting sealed in the temple near the end of this transfer. Another blessing!

Last night we were recontacting a potential when her granddaughter came out of the house almost in tears. Her name was Nancy Vang, another investigator who I taught and loved over a year ago who was dropped when she was kicked out of her apartment during a week she didn't have a phone. Since last seeing her she has had a hard time. Abusive relationships, drug abuse, losing the custody of her children, and going through rehab without family support at the time. She has way more tattoos than the last time I saw her. As we talked together we wept together. Without any prompting from us she told us how she needed to be baptized. A week ago she downloaded the gospel library app and began reading the Book of Mormon. I do not know if she will be able to fully repent in the time I still have left, but seeing her again and seeing her humbled and penitent, even more than before, is miraculous to me. I feel so blessed. There is no other place I would rather be a missionary at this moment.

Elder Ellestad and I are going to keep going at this. We are having a great time!

Transfers/Thoughts on Leadership

(Elder Cummings)

It has been another week that has gone by far too fast! As I leave Heritage tomorrow morning I leave it set up to baptize every week in May. I feel that I accomplished what I needed to. I am looking forward to my last and first area now, Pioneer Park West. I was trained there, I trained there, and now I am returning to end my mission there. The woman I wrote about last week, Nou with her three little kids, live in that area's boundaries. I am excited and feel exceedingly blessed to go and teach them again.

This transfer has also come with some other news: I have been released of all formal leadership responsibilities. Over the last year I have learned more than I knew there was to know about leadership in Christ's church. I would like to share one of those things with you all.

After nearly two years of contemplating leadership, and one year of serving in a leadership position, I see callings in a new light, at least a least a new light to me. Church callings are all extensions of our baptismal covenant to stand as a witness of Christ "at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in" (Mosiah 18:9). For almost a year now I have been asked to witness of Christ as a zone leader. It is now my commission to stand as a witness of Christ as a missionary without formal leadership responsibilities. This ties right back into the talk given by Elder Bednar in priesthood session: the call is what is important (I am a witness of Christ), where the assignment sends me is not something to harbor guilt over or to be concerned or anxious about. It makes sense! All callings are the same in the eyes of God because the call, to be a witness of Christ, is universal and given by covenant. The field of labor varies and "mattereth not"(D&C 80:3), which meaning is expanded by Elder Bednar, teaching that "because the work of preaching the gospel is the Lord’s work, He inspires, guides, and directs His authorized servants. As missionaries strive to be ever more worthy and capable instruments in His hands and do their best to fulfill faithfully their duties, then with His help they 'cannot go amiss'—wherever they serve. Perhaps one of the lessons the Savior is teaching us in this revelation is that an assignment to labor in a specific place is essential and important but secondary to a call to the work." ("Called to the Work" David A. Bednar). My understanding has been significantly expanded. I see a night and day contrast between where I am now and where I was a year ago in how I view leadership in Christ's church. I cannot adequately express how grateful I am for this growth. It has not come to me because of any worthiness of myself, but because God is a loving Father.

It is hard to imagine where I would be without Christ. He has done more for us than we are even capable of realizing. One Bible story that I love is the story of the woman with an issue of blood. It was shared often at the last general conference, and since then I have pondered on it regularly. I find it worth noting that even after being completely healed through faith on Christ, the woman, when pressed to confess her act of faith, did so "fearing and trembling" (Mark 5:33). The woman felt as if she had in some way taken advantage of Christ, or taken a gift for which she was unworthy. That fear is unneeded. When we are purified and healed by the Savior, we need not fear or tremble. He loves us. He wants to heal us. He wants to forgive us of our sins and raise us to overcome all about us that is wicked, worldly, or simply falls short of absolute perfection. His desire is to heal us of our plagues.

I know my Savior, and I know that he lives. I knows you. He has carried your sorrows and he will carry you.

I love being a missionary.

-Elder Cummings

God Guides the Work

(Elder Cummings)

"For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out." (Ezekiel 34:11).

That verse is one of my absolute favorites! It is a part of a prophecy about the restoration of Israel to the covenants of the gospel.  Liz is a wonderful example of a very literal fulfillment of this scriptural prophecy. Liz came to church again and cannot wait to be baptized this Saturday.

She is such a miracle find, search and sought out by Christ himself.

I got some more news from two of the Hmong elders this week that warms my heart. Nou Muoa, an investigator who I taught often and wrote about a year ago, has been recontacted and is preparing to be baptized along with her two oldest kids Goshen and Andrew. Nou's situation was tragic. She was in an abusive marriage and was manipulated by fear for her life and for her children's lives to stay. Around October last year the situation became to bad for her to stay and she took it to the courts, got a legal divorce, and won custody of the children. She and they moved out. That was the last I had heard. In January her old neighbors, John and Mai, and two of their children were baptized. Since then they have prayed and searched for Nou and her kids. This week they found her address and gave it as a referral to the Hmong elders.

Nou and her children were recontacted! They came to church on Sunday! They loved it! The kids have a date for the 30th of this month, with their mom's support. She doesn't feel that she is ready to be baptized yet though. Her reason is the best one there can be: she wants more time to repent. I had the privilege to join Elder Ellestad, one of the elders who is teaching them, on an exchange this last week. It was great to see them all again. Nou told me about dreams she had had of the temple. In talking about some of her relatives that have recently become Christians, Nou laughed and said "but they haven't prayed to know which church is true." Nou knows that "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah" (Introduction to the Book of Mormon).

Nou and her children are a miracle find, searched and sought out by Christ himself.

I know that He guides this work. It is His work. He lives!

"For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out." (Ezekiel 34:11).

With love,

Elder Cummings

The Parable of the Telents

(Elder Cummings)

"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

"And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

"Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

"And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

"But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

"After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them."

This is passage comes from Matthew 25:14-19, and is part of the oft-cited parable of the talents.  As we have gone out working this week this specific parable has been on my mind.

Many times when I have found council and direction in this parable I have been taught about leadership or at times about my own talents and how I should be using them.  This week as we have met more people and seen the difficult life situations of many more of my peers another interpretation has come to me.

We are all given different lots in life.  Some are given more trials than others.  Some are given "five," some are given "two," and others are given "one."  Some experience great opposition, and through the crucible of life experience great growth.  Others do not.  In this way of reading the parable I feel most like the man with one talent.  My life hasn't been incredibly hard.  The lack of serious trials cannot ever be an excuse for a lack of committed discipleship.

One less-active in the YSA joined us for the Sunday morning session of conference.  He loved the thoughts shared by President Monson.  The Book of Mormon is the tool prepared by God for the gathering of His children.

Have a great week!

Elder Cummings

The Spirit Teacheth a Man to Pray

(Elder Cummings)

Week one with Elder Sparks has been a blast.  We have had some great lessons and many great miracles.  One example came Tuesday night.  We were invited by a group of young men over to their house for pizza and gospel discussion.  They (politely and with sincere curiosity) drilled us with questions about LDS theology, and we (calmly and kindly) explained eternal truths out of the scriptures.  The Spirit was there in power.  They felt something.  Two interns at a community church, one full time employee of the same church, and one young man graduating this spring with a degree in Bible studies felt the power of restored truth as we taught them out of their own Bibles of things that they had never even considered to be possible, let alone true.

That isn't even the half of it.  It has been a miraculous week.

We have had some investigators who have started to struggle.  They understand the doctrines of the church intellectually, but spiritually they do not have a growing conversion.  Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, diagnosis a crowd he is preaching to with this same symptom in 2 Nephi chapter 32.  In verse 7 Nephi says:

And now I, Nephi, cannot say more [he just finished teaching about the doctrine of Christ, the need for faith unto repentance, unto baptism]; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance [Nephi can't teach anymore!], and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be.

Nephi cannot teach more because the people will not spiritually receive more.  In verse 8 he teaches how we receive spiritually in teaching settings, and invites the people to do as he directs, or really, as the Holy Spirit directs:

And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts [Like he just said, they will not understand great knowledge]; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

What does he say that all people must do to gain spiritual knowledge?  They must pray about it.  Without prayer personal scripture study or group discussion on gospel topics will never yield the fruit of conversion. There are some things that we cannot understand just by thinking deeply on them.  The gospel of Jesus Christ can only be known and understood through personal revelation in response to personal prayer.  We cannot grasp these truths alone.  Pray about them.

I have full confidence that all who pray in confidence to God will receive from God.  He hears our prayers, and He will answer them to the extent that our faith, humility, and real intent allow.  Live the gospel, pray about the gospel, and you will come to know gospel.  That is my prayer.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

Transfers/Teaching Alby

(Elder Cummings)

Goodness, there has been so much that has happened this week!  We had another MLC, transfer calls came in, and we had a mini-missionary for the weekend!

Good news: I don't have to pack my bags.  Bad news: Elder Tongish and Elder Sullivan do.  Good news: that means I get Elder Sullivan's memory foam mattress.  The trio has been fun.  My new companion is Elder Sparks from Rexburg, Idaho.  He was trained in the Fresno North zone when I was here the first time around.  He comes to the area Tuesday morning!

One of the lessons we taught this week was to a girl named Alby.  We actually met up with her twice, once to teach the Restoration and again to teach the Plan of Salvation.  Last week we contacted her at Taco Bell, and immediately she recognized that we were sent to her by God.  Ever since we taught her about "apostasy" she has been using it as an explanation for the lower points of her life and the lives of her friends.  She gets it.

When we were laying the Plan of Salvation out for her there was power behind our words because we were teaching with authority from the scriptures.

There is so much power in God's words!  The more we study them and let them direct our lives, the happier we will be.  I am grateful that God has reached out so many in love to teach the truth.  I am grateful that the truth has been recorded by those prophets.  I know that God is still speaking.  He will speak to all of us in answer to our prayers!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Cummings

The Family of God

(Elder Cummings)

I had an experience this week that has reminded me of God's love for his children.  The morning and afternoon had been semi-successful with contacting.  Walking back to the car I had the thought to go knock on a door in a neighboring apartment complex.  I knew who had given me that thought, the Holy Ghost.

I knocked on the designated door to find a family who had moved from a nearby town to Freso three years ago.  They were members of the church who had been very active where they had been living, but once they moved to Fresno they did not know how to recontact the church.  God knew how to recontact them.  We got them the address and time of the local congregation and passed their information to their bishop so that the ward could begin outreaching to them.

The Spirit taught me powerfully that God new this family and their struggles.  He never lost track of them.  He loves them.  He sent His son to die for them.  They are an essential part of God's family.

The words of a primary song that my little sister used to sing have been on my mind.

Our Father has a family. It’s me!

It’s you, all others too: we are His children.

He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,To live and learn here in fam’lies.

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

I know that our Heavenly Father lives.  He knows His children.  He knows you.  He loves you.

-Elder Cummings

Miracles and Faith

(Elder Cummings)

It has been another good week.  More miracles!

On Tuesday we called Ricky to confirm an appointment at the church building, and he canceled, saying that he had something come up and would get in touch with us when he was free.  We prayed to know what we should do, and acted on the prompting we received.  We texted Ricky saying that we would still be at the church at the set time, and if he changed his mind he could still come by.  He did!  We had a great lesson and he started to keep commitments after that.  Miracle!

Saturday night after a prayer we felt impressed to change our evening plans.  That led us to Leland, a freshman at one of the colleges in town her.  He knew almost nothing about any religion, but felt that he was at a juncture in life and was ready to see what is out there.  We taught him the Restoration and he said his very first prayer.  He was touched by the Spirit and is excited for our return appointment.

This week I have spent some time in personal study learning about the gifts of the Spirit that deal with teaching (Moroni 10:9-10).  I have been impressed by the connection made in the scriptures between the teacher's faith in Christ and the converting power of their teaching.

3 Nephi 7:17-18 makes this connection:

"...And Nephi did minister with power and with great authority.

"And it came to pass that they were angry with him, even because he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that angels did minister unto him daily."

Nephi was marked as a powerful teacher because of his great faith.  Later, in the Book of Ether, chapter 12, this same Nephi gets a shout out.  Verse 14 reads:

"Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost."

Our faith is Christ is a power that invites the converting power of the Spirit into our teaching.  Faith brings miracles into missionary work and into the lives of people all over the world.

With love,

Elder Cummings

Heritage YSA - the first week

(Elder Cummings)

I am writing this from the Fresno North Stake center.  It has been nine months since I was om this zone.  The Hmong elders haven't changed much, but other than that there are all new faces.

Working in a YSA is a little different, but the fundamentals of missionary work are still the same.  We follow the Spirit to teach faith in Christ and repentance through him.  Teaching people who are my same age feels very natural.  That has made me happy.  Being a missionary this long hasn't made me weird.

Our teaching pool is progressing very well.  Elders Tongish, Sullivan, and I teach in unity very well.  All three of us love the scriptures, and we get into great discussions about living the gospel as we drive ALL OVER Fresno.  We drive in circles a little bit, but that is getting better.  We stay busy with appointments, that is for sure.

The Spirit has led us to more miracles.  One door we were impressed to knock was a waitress from Buffalo Wild Wings who Elder Tongish and Sullivan thought would be receptive to the gospel when they met her at the restaurant last week.  God directs His missionaries.  Another instance came after a prayer.  We looked at an apartment, and i felt impressed to tell the other two that there was an unmarried YSA-aged couple who lived there who would be receptive to the gospel.  There was.  We have a return appointment on Thursday when they are off work.

I want to make it clear, if I haven't already, that I know that Jesus Christ lives.  He has a resurrected body of flesh and bones.  He is our Savior and Redeemer.  I love Him, and I know that He loves all of God's children.

With love,

Elder Cummings

Called Another Way

(Elder Cummings)

Last week I wrote about how I had been paired with Elder Sim, one of the new Hmong missionaries, but this week the Lord has "called [me] another way'" (Alma 22:4).  I leave tomorrow morning for the Fresno North stake to serve in the YSA ward there.  I said goodbye to Elder Sim on Friday and stayed with the zone leaders (Elder Gray and Elder Rogers) for the weekend.  It was a good way to leave Merced.  I got to say goodbye to all the members, investigators, and recent converts who I have taught and loved over the last many months.

At church on Sunday, Saint, one of the recent converts, an 11 year old baptized about a month ago, came up to me and told me that he repented this week. His sin? He hadn't been reading the scriptures every day. He prayed for forgiveness, spent two hours reading in the Book of Mormon, and then was excited to come to church to partake of the sacrament. Wow. The Spirit has been his instructor. His brother, Stephen, is equally spiritual. They are great young men. They both want to serve missions!

Last night I felt impressed to go contact a referral. We went and discovered that there was no such address. We opened our mouths. The very first person I talked to started to weep as I taught the doctrine of eternal families. She asked that we teach her and her husband and expressed a desire to have her four children (ages 2-10) sealed to them. It was beautiful. The Spirit had been preparing my mind since sacrament meeting in the McKee ward ten hours earlier to bear that heartfelt testimony.

In my prayer last night I kept having the feeling that my work in Merced had been accepted.  Returning to the McKee ward for one Sunday was another tender mercy. There are great priesthood men in that ward who have taught me volumes by their examples. That congregation has a place in my heart.

I am so happy right now!! I love the Lord. I have been trying to finish my first reading of "Jesus the Christ" over the past few days. This week I read about his passion. It was good.  It was impressed upon me that He did not fully comprehend what his messianic mission would be when he volunteered. Reflecting on that has helped me peacefully move through the last few days of transition.

I could write much, much more. It has been an incredible week, one of the best of my life.  I will miss Elder Sim.  I know that the Lord "called [him] another way" too.

Have a wonderful week!

Elder Cummings

"Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good..." (D&C 90:24).

First Week with Elder Sim

(Elder Cummings)

I am with my NEW companion now, Elder Sim from Utah by way of Korea!  We have been together now for four days and he is yet to hear my say even one sentence to him in English.  It has been a lot of fun to speak only Hmong.  I had no idea I knew so many words!

We are working hard to be led by the Spirit. The Hmong families are so scattered in Merced and Atwater that our approach to finding through our own effects is to pray about a part of town, and once we arrive there to pray about where to go and follow the Spirit. We find Hmong houses every time. One night we followed this approach as we walked through an apartment complex and knocked four doors, all four Hmong. The Spirit guides this work. I hope this will be instructive to Elder Sim. It has certainly been instructive to me. We spiritually discern where we need to go to find our stewardship, and then trust that we will know what to say and do when we are led to them. Elder Sim has great faith. The Spirit has guided us to a Korean family, the only one I have ever met on my mission, just minutes after Elder Sim joked about coming to Merced to find all the Koreans. As soon as the man at the door identified that his first language was Korean, the Spirit rushed in and Elder Sim went off. It was a neat miracle. We see miracles in finding daily.

I am very happy to be here in Merced, California.  We opened up a new Hmong apartment, and it is already starting to feel like home.  It is much smaller than the one I just came from, but that is alright with me.  It is much easier to keep clean.

At fast and testimony meeting yesterday Saint and Stephen got up with me to bear their testimonies!  Both of them were nervous, but as soon as they started to state the simple truths they knew to be true they showed no trace of fear.  It was a neat thing to see.

We will press forward this week!  More miracles are on their way!

Elder Cummings

The Book of Mormon

(Elder Cummings)

Transfers this week!  Elder Gray and I will be splitting up.  He will keep the truck (Carollas get better gas mileage anyways) and the apartment, but I will keep the Hmong branch.  My new assignment is to serve as a district leader and train a new Hmong missionary.  Elder Gray will be going back to the McKee ward to continue as a zone leader.  This is his third time serving in that ward!

I am very excited for this changed!  I know that this is God's will for me at this point of my mission.  On Thursday I will meet my new companion.  I don't know anything about him.  There are three new Hmong missionaries coming in and it is yet to be determined who will come and rule the "wild north" with me.

Yesterday Saint passed the sacrament for the first time.  He is a good kid.  He has had the gift of the Holy Ghost for two weeks now and the Aaronic priesthood for one.  His brother Saint has asked if he could get the priesthood early because deacons quorum looks like fun.  They are great young men.  Saint struggles a little more with reverence than Stephen does, but that makes every lesson with them an adventure.  When we met up with them on Wednesday we taught them about personal revelation by comparing it with the revelation prophets receive.  They both took some time to write a short description of what the Holy Ghost feels like.  Their answers were wonderful.  Saint wrote that the Holy Ghost "feels like I am in the Celestial kingdom with God and Jesus Christ."  His spelling of Celestial was even more wonderful.  He did his best to sound it out.  Both boys have decided that when they get older they are going to serve missions.  We didn't have to say anything.  As they have read the Book of Mormon their desire to share the gospel has increased.

The Book of Mormon is a gift of God for our day.  In the Pearl of Great Price, additional revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith we read that in the last days God promises that "righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth" (Moses 7:62).  The Book of Mormon is a tool for conversion.  It is from God.  It is true.  It's purpose is for "the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ" (Title Page of the Book of Mormon), and I have been thoroughly convinced.

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

We had a visit from President Nelson this week!  It is wonderful to hear from a living prophet.  God still speaks through prophets.

Highlights

(Elder Cummings)

This week we began teaching a Shaman.  That is a little different than just another person who follows the traditional Hmong animism.  It is equivalent to teaching paid clergy.  His income revolves around his spiritual practices.  That aside though, he is letting us teach him and we aren't keeping any secrets about where we see this all going---baptism.  His name is Khai, he has been in the states since the mid-90s, and he is very intrigued by the Book of Mormon and the joint concepts of apostasy and dispensation.  That is a miracle.  I bought a Hmong story book at the New Years that I have been using in language study, and in the initial contact with Khai we talked about some of the folklore, and that is a big part of why he let us start visiting.  It is so neat when you know that God has prepared you to meet someone.

We were tracting the Hmong families out of a neighborhood (a very long process, but an enjoyable one) and within minutes of arriving there a saleswoman from a solar company ran up to us and asked if we were Mormons.  We said yes and she said that she used to go to church as a young girl.  She had never been baptized, and said that she had heard some rumors about the church that she didn't like and wanted to fact-check.  They were very standard questions about some commonly misunderstood aspects of church history.  We answered here to the extent that we were qualified too and began to answer her last question "can I have one of those pamphlets?" by teaching her the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  She loved it, took the pamphlet and a copy of the Book of Mormon, and we are handing her off to the YSA elders in Fresno to do the teaching.  Heavenly Father puts us in the right places at the right time.

God leads us and guides us.  One of my favorite things about missionary work is that it has taught me to be aware of that influence.  God loves us and watches over us.  I know this.

Count your many blessings this week!

Elder Cummings

Always Remember Him

(Elder Cummings)

This has been a wet week.  It has rained, and rained, and rained!  That has been fun for Elder Gray and I, as we both love the combination of small lakes in the road and our pickup.  There was mild flooding in town.  The rain is a blessing for all the parched farmland.

The best part of the wet week was the baptisms!  Saint and Stephen were baptized Friday night, and Saturday afternoon I went down to Fresno for John, Mai, and Harry's baptism.  They are a family I started teaching a year ago when I was still with Elder Knapton in Fresno.  They asked if I would baptize them.   It was an honor.  They said I was "their missionary," the one who really got their conversion going.  This is the first time that I have had a full family that I taught progress to baptism, complete with a father, mother, and children.  It was wonderful.  The gospel blesses families!  Mai is due to have a baby in two weeks.  That child has to be excited!  He is coming into a family that has now fully embraced the same gospel that we all embraced pre-mortally!  Who wouldn't be excited??

I have spent some time this week thinking about the covenant of baptism, specifically the importance of always remembering Christ.  Saint, Stephen, John, Mai, and Harry have now made a promise to do exactly that.

As part of this pondering, I came across D&C 45:3-5.  In these verses read like this:

Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—

Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;

 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.

There is a pattern here.  Christ pleads with our Heavenly Father that he will keep in mind both the sufferings and death of our Savior (the body, or the bread as represented in the sacrament) and the blood of our Savior that was shed (or the water, as represented in the sacrament).  It is after Christ's plea with God the Father to always remember the Atonement that Christ pleads that we, the sinners, can be granted everlasting life.  Our Heavenly Father can permit us, unclean as we are when left to our own merits, because he remembers and honors the Atonement.  In His perspective all of our negative attributes are swallowed up in Christ's perfection because of the covenants we have made at baptism---the witness that we are willing to take Christ's name upon us.

We all make mistakes.  We all have weaknesses and imperfections.  There are also many things that we do well.  In spite of even our best attributes, it is only through the "through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah" that any of us can return to the presence of God ((2 Nephi 2:8).  When we always remember Christ we remember who He is too.  We don't just remember what He did.  Because of our covenants, who He is individually is also who We are, Him and us, together. 

We in mortality tend to identify ourselves based on what we have done.  We are athletic because we were on the cross country team when we were younger.  We are musical because we have spent hours at the piano.  We are consider ourselves intelligent because of the books we have read or the schools we have attended.  We view ourselves as skilled or unskilled, as winners or losers, as righteous or wicked because of our past life experiences.  When we always remember Christ we are begin to identify ourselves with His past experiences.  We no longer are weak as we once were because who He is gives us strength and ultimately changes our character.  In our covenant relationship we are perfect in Christ.  Because of that covenant relationship we can live with God, our Father, again and live with our families in eternal joy and glory.

That is exciting.  That is what I want for everyone.

Remember Him this week!

Love,

Elder Cummings