New Haircut

Dear friends and family,

This week has been a crazy week, full of many experiences that I wasn't expecting to have, but they have all been for the best. My new companion is Sister Smith, from Ogden Utah. She happens to be a hairstylist, so the very first night we were together she informed me that she was going to cut my hair. I didn't realize she meant she was going to cut m hair right then until she started to pull a chair into the kitchen :)

I got special permission to go back to Oak Harbor this morning to attend a funeral for Tiffany Dobelman, one of the investigators that I found and taught in the first six months of my mission. Tiffany died in her sleep his last week, with no apparent reason why. When we first started teaching Tiffany she was Wiccan, and although she was never baptized while I was in the area, she would come to church and I have some amazing memories of teaching Tiffany and her husband Michael as well whenever he agreed to join us. A few months ago I heard from some other sisters that Tiffany had finally decided that she was ready to be baptized! One of Tiffany's main questions that really bothered her when we first started teaching her was "What happens after death?" It was something that really scared her, but something that she overcame as she learned about the Plan of Salvation, so I was a good experience for me to be at her funeral. Her husband Michael said that he has been overwhelmed by the love that he has felt from everyone in the Oak Harbor 1st ward and how much everyone has helped him in the last week. He is still going to take the two little girls to church, because he knows that it's something that made Tiffany happy and he knows it's what she would have wanted. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of me and who has a perfect plan for me, both in this life and in the next!

It was great to see many other people from the Oak Harbor 1st ward at the funeral too. I got giant hugs from Verna and Sandra, and I even snuck a quick hug from Bennett too :) Bennett and Verna got their patriarchal Blessings recently, and are still excited to go to the temple when the time comes. This was the first time I've seen Sandra since she was baptized, and when I hugged her I whispered to her how I always knew that she was going to be baptized, and she just started to cry. The people truly are what make the mission so great.

Hayley's baptism and confirmation was this past weekend! She was so happy. The coolest part for me was in her confirmation, when she was told that she will be a light for her friends and family, and they will notice her example, as not all of Hayley's family has been supportive and understanding of her decision up to this point. Hayley is so strong! Some of her extended family that aren't members came to her baptism, and 3 of our investigators were able to attend as well, so that was really cool!

I'm out of time, but next week I will write about the miracle story of the new investigator Haley that we found this week!

Love you all!

Sister Slade

Sister Slade

Dear family,

We just got transfer information, and just like we predicted, I am staying here in Silverlake and Sister Bartsch will be getting transferred. We find out our new companions tomorrow afternoon.

We have had the hardest time meeting with investigators and finding members who are available to fellowship our investigators this week. We did have a few highlights though. We taught the twins, Carl and Casey again. They both have so many questions about the priesthood and the need for a restoration, but they keep commitments and Carl especially loves to learn truth. he reminds me of Bennett. I wish I could somehow have Bennett be at all of their lessons!

We found a new investigator named Zahra, who is actually a former. Zahra is from Gambia, and she is also muslim. When Zahra was last taking the discussions she was very close to baptism and she got permission and everything (because she is muslim she has to get special permission). She asked her mom if it was ok for her to become Christian and her mom said that was alright, but other family members weren't as happy about it and in the end Zahra became scared and backed out. This time when we went to go meet Zahra, her aunt who converted to Christianity happened to be there braiding her hair, and it was absolutely perfect! The aunt shared her experience of finding faith in Christ and pursuing that faith even with all of the persecution, and it was so good for Zahra to hear. She agreed to begin meeting with missionaries again so we're seeing her on wednesday!

Hayley finished the Book of Mormon this week, just in time for her baptism this weekend! And she invited all of her friends at work to her baptism even though they have been giving her a hard time for it. And she bore her testimony to her friend who is less-active, which helped her friend to have the courage to go talk to the Bishop, something she has been struggling with doing for a long time. Hayley is amazing. I feel so blessed to meet so many amazing prepared people!

More next week,

Sister Slade

Elder Slade

Dear Friends and Family:

We've improved on many key indicators this week. We are very excited because of that, but we still have a long way to go. We had three investigators come to church as well - China, and two of her sons, Gregory and Walkie. They are all three preparing to be baptized this Sunday. This is amazing, not only because we are baptizing China (the person, not the country. Her name is pronounced sheen-uh, not tchay-nuh) but also because we finally are baptizing in the Miami Beach 2nd Branch, which is really amazing. Yesterday we think we met or exceeded our previous record of people coming to the branch. We had about 95 to 100 people there.

Another exciting development: Marie's daughter, Sherdie, came home yesterday! That means that Marie can finally be baptized! We're going to shoot for this Thursday, and then for Sherdie we'll shoot for this Sunday. It will be awesome. They are in the ward, so this week we have five potential baptisms. Two in the ward, and three in the branch.

Speaking of our two church services... we split our efforts between the north and south parts of our area. It is very difficult at times to balance the two, and it's harder to avoid wasting miles. Elder Felkins and I both believe that our area would be better if it was split, so we had Miami Shores (Creole) and Miami Beach (Creole). Then both the branch and the ward would finally get the attention they deserve.

Just yesterday, we found two really cool people, Keith and Keionea Thornhill. We went in and prayed with them, and they accepted baptism immediately, despite the fact that they had already been baptized. We were really excited for them, because most for most Haitians that is a sticking point. Unfortunately, we had to pass them to the YSA elders, because they were just barely YSA age. Oh well. I was glad we could participate in finding them, anyway.

Also, we received confirmation: this mission is getting iPads by the end of the year! There's a rumor that our mission in particular will get them at the end of September, but we know for sure that all North-American missions will be getting them by January.

My shoes and pants and everything else are holding up fine for now. Everything is showing signs of wear, but not tear.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

P.S. There's a new member in the branch, who moved there from the Philippines. We had lunch with him. He made Chinese food. (Go figure.) He thought it was funny that I knew Mabaho ang kili-kili mo. (I have no idea if I spelled that right.) He taught me how to say Mahal kita. (Again, with the spelling.)

P.P.S. No, we never found out why the camera crew was there. We also never started making a Krispy Kreme wall again. It's probably a good thing, because we have less motivation to go and buy fatty doughnuts.

P.P.P.S. I've gained about 7-10 pounds on my mission so far. It's not so much that I'm eating a ton, but it's that as missionaries, we make it our job to binge-eat. I'm still decently skinny anyway.

Haitian Creole Song

Bonjour tout le monde!

Golly this has been a wonderful week! I don't even know why exactly it is! Although certain things have helped. I have received numerous letters and I'll try to write back to you as soon as possible! Something I have just found out is that mail from the US to Canada is really rather ridiculous. It can take up to two months to receive mail, however the mail from Canada to the US is really rather quick. So by next week send me emails and I will probably respond via letters.

I received the wonderful care package last week!! Thank you Putnam family! The box was filled with every kind of diabetes that I love! Even some that I didn't know I loved!! I'll be sure to share with my lovely companions! Sorry I don't have many pictures of them, the MTC computers are not a friend to my camera. Good thing this is my last time using them!!!

I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!!!! Phew glad I got that out. I've been holding in that excitement for two whole paragraphs! I'll be waking up in time to run to the MTC travel office at 3:30, be on my way to the Salt Lake City Airport by 4 hopefully. Then catching a DELTA flight that takes off at 7:45 flying to Detroit, So if anyone wants to let me borrow their phone so that I could call my family at 5:30 in the morning Utah time that would be pretty fantastic. If not I'll just get a call card from the MTC Bookstore here. Anyways I fly Salt Lake to Detroit then am met with a 30 minute "lay over" which will be more accurately described as "quick sprint to the finish." Then from Detroit to MONTREAL!!!!!!! By next Wednesday I will be assigned an area and a trainer where I will either be speaking French or English, depending on the area. It looks like it is going to be a long flight, but the more I think of it I'm pretty sure it is the last time I get to nap all day for an entire seventeen more months. In other words I'm pretty excited...if you can't tell.

Something we were just informed is... 1. Our mission is only a vehicle mission and holds the most revenue in vehicles out of any other mission. This is because not only is it absolutely freezing and snowy for ten to eleven months out of a year but it is also one of the largest missions. My mission literally has the north pole in its boundaries. Granted I'll be mainly in the South as only Elders serve with the Eskimos. Which is a bummer because I was really banking on converting a polar bear. But hey I'll still get up to eight feet of snow at times, no matter where I go. 2. My mission will be one of the many missions switching to digital. In other words I'M GETTING AN IPAD! That I will get to keep after my 18 months of service! Go Canada!!

I have gotten to see SOOO MANYY people here at the MTC this week! I run into one of my best friends from the Hill Camorah Pageant, Elder Steiner, every meal time! I get to see Sister Tori Boucher pretty much daily! And Elder Justin Iund is going to Vanuatu, French Speaking! It was quite a suprise to go and grab a drink of water on the floor all French speakers are on and see a familiar face! We are not in the same zone, but hey! A friend from home is always fun to see!

I'm going to keep this email short this week but not because I don't not love you guys. I thank you so much for the support I have had these past six weeks. It may be a while till I email again because my P-day (day I get to write emails and letters) will switch to Mondays once I am in the field. I love you all! A la Prochain!

Soeur Cummings

Le Fête dans le français

This week has been full of wonderful stories! I'm still doing the same actions day in and day out, but I have been noticing things more frequently. I know that this is evidence that I am growing closer to God and closer to my purpose. I have also started to notice things that I would not have had the chance to find out about myself if I had not served a mission. One thing that is very clear is that I absolutely love being a sister training leader. Want to know what my assignment is? I'll tell you anyway. The evening they introduced the assignments to my district, the elders being the zone leaders and the sisters being the sister training leaders, they started listing all the responsibilities for the Zone leaders. The list was a full ten minutes long! No joke! After the branch president finished with the now wide eyed elders he turns to us and says, "Sisters, be sympathetic and be an example."...Okay! I can do that!! We still notice if certain things are happening such as not getting to bed on time or not staying as a companionship, we just inform the Elders and they enforce it. Then we hug them. Parce que nous sommes sympathetic. (Got to love the random things that happen when you are learning a language, I didn't mean to write in French it just happened) Having this assignment has made me realize just how wonderful sharing love with others is. In other words I love sharing Charity. I want to become more charitable because I know I really can be. While in the temple I said a small prayer. Asking that I may receive guidance as to how I can grow in charity, how can an imperfect human possibly share God's perfect love? Hours after saying that prayer I taught a wonderful investigator named George. The MTC has volunteers called gold-taggers, they wear a gold tag and new missionaries can come up and practice having a real investigator. these gold taggers are generally newly baptized members who are reverting back to who they were before the gospel. Although some are non-members. George is an elderly man who loves volunteering at local elementary schools teaching children art. Not too long ago he lost his leg up to the knee, due to illness. He is an answer to my prayer. This man has such a beautiful way of sharing the Love of God, he now calls it "doing backflips" due to a story Sister Jeter told. Where ever he goes he touches peoples lives, because not only has his leg been gone for a couple years, but he is walking. And boy does he walk. He shared with us how painful it was to walk with a prosthetic and the very next minute was talking about how so many others have it worse than he. What an amazing example of charity.

We got two sisters from New Caledonia who really only speak French come into our zone. As sister training leaders we got to escort them around the rest of the day, which surprised my companions and I at how much French we actually knew. These sisters are the epitome of a party. They walk up to every other Polynesian person on this campus, being sure to ask where they are from, where they are going etc. Sister Bluker can speak a lot of English actually, but her companion has not been blessed in that way yet. Which makes the moments when she bares her testimony, which happens very often, much more meaningful, she uses the words that she knows to say what she knows is true. When we say "your awesome Sister Selui!" she responds with "we are all awesome! Because we are all children of God. And he loves us."

One last thing before I close, a sister serving in Tahiti has a wonderful phrase that she says very frequently this phrase is "the church is true!" She uses it when she gets really happy "Ah! We are having ice cream tonight! The church is true!" or when she is even feeling sad "I don't have any letters today. The church is true." What a wonderful optimistic expression. A good day becomes better because not only is it good but you have a perfect knowledge that the church is true. A bad day becomes better because sure things may not be going very well but at least the church is true.

So in closing, strive to see the truth in your lives, I'm loving the experience I get to have while on a mission. Just to think I have seventeen more months of this makes me giddy beyond compare. I love you all! Don't forget to write me =D

Je vous aime

Soeur Cummings

Elder Felkins

Dear Friends and Family:

Elder Felkins and I are doing great, here in Miami Shores Creole. We get along great, and we work really well together too. We are currently attending two sessions of church - one ward and one branch - each week. It can be exhausting, but it is really fun as well. I was here seven months ago, when the ward split, and it's amazing to see the changes that have come in that time. At the time that the split happened, there were about 30 people attending church each week. Now, there are about 70-80 people each week. One week there was 96 people. The progression is great to watch.

This week we saw many miracles. We have had many great experiences with harvesting and finding new people to teach. On one day, we found three separate families who all accepted coming to church and getting baptized. Unfortunately, they were English, so we had to pass them to the sisters... but they will still be awesome and amazing for the sisters to teach and to baptize. Our goals this week are to be the two most diligent and obedient missionaries to exist in the history of the world. (No, I don't have hubris.) Then, we will qualify for the same blessings, but for our own area, so we will have many awesome people for us to teach!

I finished the Book of Mormon again this week, and I've started over from the beginning. The last few chapters are probably some of the best in the book, I really love them. This time through, I am going to make a focus on the spirit. Each time the spirit is mentioned, or someone is guided or directed or comforted, I will pay close attention to that and apply it in my life.

For some reason, this week in the branch, there were professional photographers there, who were taking pictures from all sorts of different angles of the congregation. I don't know why they were there, but it was really distracting for me. I wonder if the Miami Beach 2nd Branch is going to show up in some sort of LDS.org video... :D

Attached is a picture of my companion, a Haitian member, and myself. She wanted a picture of all of us together, so here it is.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

New Investigators

Dear family,

This week we not only met standards, but found......5 new investigators! 2 of them we're especially excited about. They're Carl and Casey, 29-year-old twins that we street contacted on the 4th of July. We had dinner and a first lesson at a members home, and it went really well. Hooray for a bigger teaching pool!

Osh is a married woman! The wedding was beautiful. Demarkeyes is getting baptized next week. A temple marriage is definitely in the works for this one. I think the best part of the wedding though was watching them take selfies together afterwards. Good old 21st century. Gotta love it.

Hayley is amazing. We're not sure where she came from, she's almost too prepared to be true! She was out of town in Oregon this week, so she attended church there, and while there she sent us a message saying that she had gone to the temple in Portland and walked around the grounds and absolutely loved it! A few days ago we taught her about the living prophet and committed her to reading the talk from priesthood session last conference by President Monson, and pray to know if He is a prophet of God. She followed up on herself this week by sending us a message saying "I wanted to let you know I finished President Monson's talk! I loved it!!! Yes, He's absolutely 100% a true prophet of God. After listening to it several times and sharing it with others, I was filled with a renewed sense of strength and to stand up, think and do in the right way. I got the same warm amazing feeling whenever I pray to Heavenly Father." She's so great!

Emma is a girl that Elder Haupu and Elder Martin were teaching. Her mom is not happy about her decision to be baptized at all, and she still lives at home, so that has caused some problems. The Elders thought sisters might have a better chance of softening the moms heart, so we have started teaching Emma. She just turned 18, and last lesson she told us that although she would love her moms approval, she feels she needs to take a leap of faith and prepare herself to be baptized in August, whether her mom approves or not, because she knows without a doubt that this is the right decision for her.

This week I have been studying the first article of faith. I've decided to study an Article of Faith every week. It was amazing to study really in depth the nature of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. What I loved most about it was realizing how much more we know about our own natures just by knowing the nature and characteristics of our Father. Lorenzo Snow once said, "We were born in the image of God our Father; He begat us like unto Himself. There is the nature of deity in the composition of our spiritual organization. In our spiritual birth, our Father transmitted to us the capabilities, powers, and faculties which He possessed, as much so as the child on its mothers bosom possesses, although in an undeveloped state, the faculties, powers, and susceptibilities of its parent." If you get the chance, study the nature of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, then apply what you learn by creating a vision of your own identity and destiny. Increased vision of who we are and what we may become becomes increased motivation. Motivation leads to action, and the gospel would be meaningless without the actions we take to use it in our daily lives.

Love you all!

Sister Slade

Tracting fun!

 Plane attacking.

 Austen's Volkswagon

 Osharrhea and Demarkeyes are officially family ward material!