Married

Dear Friends and Family:

First of all, Marie E. and Abacu G. were married this Saturday. The next day, Abacu was able to baptize Marie G. (after a little struggle. we didn't go over the process enough beforehand.) We've been working with them for quite a few weeks now to get that going, but we are very excited that they were able to do that. It was the first marriage that I helped organize on my mission so that they could be baptized.

The marriage itself was particularly fun. It was one of the most awkward things I have ever been through in my life, in many ways. It started with the bride and groom getting there 45 minutes late. Well, technically the groom was only 30 minutes late. Then, after the marriage came the reception. The people who were bringing the food for the marriage were even later than the bride and groom, but at least we had plenty of plates and napkins! They came on time!

Once those kinks were worked out, the marriage was really fun. It's the only marriage I have ever attended. I've been to a few marriage receptions before, but only visiting briefly, and they were much larger affairs for the most part. Part way through the reception, Marie's brother stood up and started offering a French toast. I was glad that I understood almost all of it. He concluded his speech by leading everybody in a recited prayer that all of the Haitians knew and everybody else listened to awkwardly. It was a very interesting experience.

This week, we struggled quite a bit to find new investigators. It really started last week, but it came to a climax this week when we dropped most of our investigators because they weren't progressing and realized that we only had one or two people that we were working with. It was a trial of our faith to go through with that, but God blessed us as we continued to work and we had several amazing miracles as the week progressed.

A few things that we have decided to do to continue to improve: we are continuing to study how to teach better during our companionship studies, and we are going to do more roleplays throughout the week. As well, we are going to teach about and give copies of the Book of Mormon during our first lesson. This is something that we haven't been very good about doing recently, but we're repenting and becoming better. :)

Dear family: Thanks for the amazing Halloween package! I especially enjoyed all of the little pieces of confetti. We had fun with that.

On Halloween, we had to stop knocking doors by 5, and we had to be home by 7. That left an extra two hours that we usually don't have at night. It was just enough time to have a Halloween party. We started off by playing don't eat Pete, after which we played various other games, and we finished the night by watching "Our Heavenly Father's Plan" (while we were steaming our mattresses and preparing for bed.)

Thanks,

Elder Slade

P.S. Next week is transfers, but the mission is trying something new, so we will find out who is transferring on Sunday night, P-day will still be on Monday, and then the change will happen and we find out who our new companions are on Tuesday. (In the past, We have found out on Monday night, have P-day on Tuesday, and then have transfer meeting on Wednesday.)

The Island of Life

This is not in reference to a tropical island as much as I wish it to be so...It is really quite chilly... But hey the Island that I am talking about is Montreal! (did you know it was an island? Took me a month of my mission to find that out...) I am LOVING it here! Walking! Buses! Metros! Golly!! This is really quite fun! I get to actually talk to people! And generally they are first language English speakers completely by chance! Or is it? *insert dramatic music here*

The area I am serving in is called Hochelaga Groupe. Which pretty much covers the Northwest side of the Island. This area used to be part of the large Hochelaga ward, but because the church building was so far away the stake decided to develop a group that would meet in the North. This group isn't even big enough to be a branch just yet but we have sent in the application to become a branch and should be finding out around the beginning of next year.

My companion is AMAZING! She is so talented! When she plays the guitar I just want to cry its so beautiful! And I'm not going to even talk about her AMAZING ability to play the Ukelele too! Oh! I'm just dying just thinking about it! Also Sister Avaemai is one of the best cooks on this side of the border. I don't think I have loved pasta more than at the moments she has made it for me!

Each transfer I like to make a theme, and this transfers theme is *insert drum-role* Trusting in God. In life we are put into situations that we really do not know what the outcome will be. Sometimes it feels like we are in one of those corn mazes that I would do as a kid. You can't climb or check where you are and you just run around until you have no idea where even the entrance is. But there is always someone there willing to guide you and who knows exactly what will happen in the end. That is our loving Heavenly Father. God has a plan for us, he has prepared a way for us, it is just our choice to use that path or make our own. He is always there when we need him and through a prayer we can ask him for his help. And he always gives it. In his own time. I love the Savior and everything that he does for me. Although the road gets rough he is always there to guide us. And it is my testimony that he does this through sending his restored gospel to the Earth once more, through the teachings of this the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know these things to be true with all of my heart. And these things I say in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Soeur Kayla Mae Cummings

470 Rue Gilford Ste 300

Montreal, QC H2J 1N3

CANADA

Love you Bunches

Dear family,

I started to write my email last week and then realized that I never actually sent it! Whoops. Is anyone else having a hard time believing that it's November already?

I realized that it's been a while since I've given a good detailed update on some of the main investigators that we've been teaching. We have a few investigators that we have stopped teaching for various reasons, I'm not going to go into detail about all of their stories, because I know that it's not the end until it's the end! And I feel confident that it's not the end. One of them is Zahra. We have lost contact with Zahra over the past few weeks. She has been avoiding us, and we think that she got scared again. I really can't blame her. Zahra has one of the strongest testimonies of anyone I have met, but she also has one of the hardest backround situations of anyone I have ever taught. Baptism for her would mean a lot of hate towards her and her mom from all of their extended family, to the point that converting to Christianity would mean not being able to go see any of them ever again.

I've thought a lot about success on my mission, and how much I have grown to love people like Steve, Jana, Gabriel, Bry, Zahra, Haley, and the list goes on and on. If I were to measure the success of my mission based on how many "almost baptisms" have happened than my understanding of my purpose as a missionary would be very skewed. I succeed when I invite. I succeed when I love unconditionally. I feel at peace with knowing that there comes a point where you know that you have done everything in you power, and when it comes down to it the rest is in the hands of the loved one and our Heavenly father and His perfect timing. It is always hard when someone you love chooses a path that you know isn't what will make them happiest. It's in these moments that my testimony of the Plan of Salvation is strengthened so much. The Plan of Salvation is tipped in our favor in every possible way. There really is not one soul on this Earth who Heavenly father has not devised very specific plans and means to save. He is a God of a million chances. He is perfectly just yet perfectly merciful. He provided a Savior in the case that we would no follow the "ideal" plan He has set for us. (which is the position all of us are in if you think about it.) Words cannot express how grateful I am for my brother Jesus Christ and everything that he has done for you and for me!

Despite the disappointments, there are so many golden moments that far outweigh the rest. People like Everet and Darlene, Bennett and Verna, Sandra, Melissa, Alexandra, Alvaro, Osh, Hayley and Emma! And the list goes on and on! The worth of one soul is so great!!!!!!

Heather and LJ are both progressing wonderfully! Heather is working towards baptism on November 22nd, and the ways she has blossomed have been astounding. LJ, the man who for months claimed to want nothing to do with organized religion, has softened so much and feels the spirit on a regular basis! He has now been to church 3 times- imagine our surprise when yesterday during sacrament meeting he got up to share his testimony! It wasn't a thankimony or a travelogue. LJ bore pure testimony of the Savior, of our Heavenly Fathe's plan for us, and of his hopes that the Book of Mormon will make him a better man. The spirit was so strong!

The other miracle from last week was that Kent came to church! Kent is the son of our old bishop. He's 27 and he stopped going to church when he was in 7th grade. We've seen him a few times, but not at all in the last 2 transfers. Last week we were on our way to tract a street the Eastmont Elders had asked us to tract when I had the feeling that we should stop by. I was a little bit nervous because he has an interesting situation, and we were on exchange that day, but the feeling kept coming so we went. Turns out, Kent has finally reached that low point and the last few weeks he has been thinking about coming to church but always gets cold feet on Saturday. We had a very powerful lesson with him, and he was at church yesterday! It took so much courage for Kent to be there. Sitting next to Kent in the back was one of those moments on my mission where I felt so much inexpressible joy over that one soul, that I felt like I couldn't contain it all!

A quick reminder from President Hinckley: "The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. the best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired."

By the way, November is gratitude month! please read President Uchtdorf's talk from 2 conferences ago, and practice fostering a spirit of gratitude!

Love you all bunches!

Love Sister Slade

Language Skills

Dear Friends and Family:

We were able to do very well this week. God blessed us with nine member present lessons, and we almost achieved standards in member blessings and RCLAs. We'll keep working on them and make our strengths into... bigger strengths.

Marie E., the only nonmember in her family, went to the courthouse on Thursday to get the marriage license for her and Abacu. They are planning on being married on Saturday, and she is planning to be baptized on Sunday the day after. This will be Elder Kwon's and my first time helping investigators be married so that they can be baptized. They are both excited to go to the temple in a year to be sealed; we went down there for a temple tour with them on Tuesday night.

I've decided that the Fort Lauderdale temple is prettier than the Denver temple, or any others that I have ever been in before.

My language skills are coming along really well. At the beginning of my mission, I had wanted to be 100% fluent in every aspect of the language by the end. I've let up on those expectations since then. Here's a fancy chart showing where I feel my language skills are:

Language  Prof.   | Fluent                            | Native

English   --------------------------------------------|

H. Creole ----------|

Spanish   ---|

French    -|

Others    |

As part of our battle to get rid of bed bugs, we've moved all of the beds to one room so we can combine our efforts to eradicate them; and today, while Elder Kwon and I were waiting our turn to use the computers to email, we cleaned out our old bedroom thoroughly. It's now just our study room, and it looks fantastic. It's the cleanest I've ever seen a room in a missionary apartment. Now we'll see how long it stays that way.

To my loving family who just sent me a Halloween package: thank you so much, I can't wait to eat all of the candy that must be waiting inside. On Halloween, we have to stop knocking doors at five, and we have to be at home at seven. So we'll have plenty of time to go through whatever you sent. Thanks again!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Transfers!

Well friends and family this week we received transfer calls, and as you can probably guess I received the news that I will be leaving the beautiful land of Mascouche. I love the people of this land so very very much, and it is hard to think that I have only been here for three months. As sad as it seems there is good news! I will be leaving Mascouche but will be staying in the same stake and serving in Hochelaga East! Which is an area on the Island of Montreal! I'M GONNA BE LIVING IN A BIG CITY!! Ridin' Metros and Buses! My New companion is Sister Avaemai who comes from the tropical lands of Tahiti. That's right world I'm having a Tahitian companion, I will actually have to talk in French for the majority of my time.

As some may know but most don't, on the night of transfer calls all missionaries are required to go home an hour early to make sure they are in a good place to receive calls. As a result of this lovely thing my roommates/companion and I had a halloween party =D Don't worry world we took pictures =D

Hmm now as for this week's miracle? It's hard to pick just one! But I'll go ahead and start with this one. I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting...in French...in front of the congregation...who actually know French... As any good missionary I took the entire week to plan it out, day one- pray, day two- study preach my gospel, day three- pray etc. etc. until day six- write it. And it worked! I had prepared so much just for five minutes at the podium speaking a language that I have only begun to comprehend. This didn't stop me from being nervous to speak though... for those of you in the "know" you know what happened last time I gave a talk... So I did the one thing that I could right before, I prayed. I prayed with a fully sincere heart that I would be able to do this. I got up to the microphone and it felt like I was only as bystander. There were words that I used that at this moment I don't understand the meaning of. I felt at that moment that I was the Lord's mouth​piece as he filled my mouth with the words that others needed to hear. As for the talk I had written I only looked at it a total of six times. This was truly a miracle for me. God knew how much I needed his help and how much I was willing to accept it.

Throughout life we are given trials, we are given heartache and sadness, and many ask why this does happen? A loving father would not do this? But the answer is quite the contrary. Our so​le hope for this life is to learn the things of this world so that we may become li​k​e our father in heaven. He gives us those opportunities to learn. As I child I have many fond memories of my own father helping me as I struggled to learn what fractions were. At many moments I wanted to give up and let him do it, he had all the knowledge so why not let him? But he lovingly coaxed me through. Sitting quietly and making faces as I tried for myself and helping me when I got the answer wrong. Our Father in heaven is the same. He guides us through our hardest times, he will not relieve us though. As much as it felt I was a bystander during my talk I still had to put in the effort to get to that point. I had to write my talk and I had to stand at the microphone, only then did he help me even more fully. It is my testimony that we all have a loving Father in heaven. Who loves us and is waiting for us to only ask him and he will lovingly guide us. I know this to be true with all of my heart. Et je dit ces choses au nom de Jésus-Christ, sa fils, Amen

Meet the Mormons

Dear Friends and Family:

Our area is improving slowly but surely. Last week, we improved or were consistent in all but four key indicators. This week, we will improve or be consistent in all of them. This process will continue until the brightest day, when we again achieve the standards of excellence and stay consistent to them every week until the mission president is forced to increase them.

Speaking of the mission president, I am excited and very grateful for the chance we have this week to have interviews with him. I am doing my best to spiritually create and to think of good questions that will help me and our investigators the most.

At the start of the week, our most solid investigator was Christian. He was planning on being baptized yesterday, and had even already asked me to perform the baptism itself. We drove down to the temple grounds on Tuesday, along with the Spanish Elders and their investigators, Mary and Ghandi, in Brother Beale's car. We had a terrific, spiritual experience together. Unfortunately, we lost contact with Christian throughout the rest of the week, and he didn't come to church. We're not sure what happened to him, but we're praying and hoping for the best.

For this Sunday, our biggest candidate for baptism is Marie, the ex-wife of a recent convert, Abacu. She really wants to be baptized; all she and her ex-husband need to do are to go to the courthouse and take out a marriage license, so that the bishop can marry them legally, because at the moment they are living together without being married.

The bed bugs are mostly gone from our apartment, but we still get bitten consistently. We're doing our best to steam our mattresses every day, and that helps. The mission doesn't want us to use bug bombs or any sort of fumigation, but we'll get it figured out eventually.

Family specifically: thanks for the package that you said you sent! I can't wait!

Britney specifically: sorry you've only got three or four weeks left. I'll try to write you one last letter in the next hour that I have and hope that I can get it off to you this week.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

P.S. Did you all go and see the new movie, Meet the Mormons? If you haven't, then go now! Before it's too late to see it in theaters! Missionaries aren't allowed to go to theaters, so I'll never get the opportunity to do that!

Family History

Did you know it gets cold in Canada? "What?" you say "what do you mean?" No seriously though. The struggle is real. It does not actually look like it is cold through the window and then you open the door and bone chilling air fills the room. This may or may not have to do with the fact that I may or may not be stubbornly avoiding my warm coats and tights, because people should not have to wear ear muffs in October. That is just a fact of life, that someone is not understanding. *cough* Canada *cough* *cough* The lowest temperatures are always at night, yet it is unbelievable how amazingly comfortable it is to sleep in zebra footy pajamas complete with a hood. And yes friends and family I do own them, and I am having no regrets whatsoever.

As I mentioned in last weeks letter I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a beautiful hike for Canadian Thanksgiving and as promised here are the wonderful pictures of just a small part of the beauty of Canada.

I don't have very much time this week but I want to share with you a miracle. For some time now we have been going over to an elderly woman's house to help her with finding her family history. This week we were finally able to find records of who her father was. It seems very insignificant to some I am sure, but we had been searching and searching everywhere for his records. When suddenly I clicked on the wrong name only to find that it was in fact her father. With this new found information we were able to put him into her family tree to find that someone was already doing her work. Her geneology went back to the thirteen hundreds at least! I couldn't imagine what that itty bitty mistake of clicking the wrong name could have lead to.

Before my mission, I will be honest, I did not see the merit in family history. Sure its fun to see where you come from but that only goes so far. However that opinion is in the past. I now have a testimony that continues to grow daily. I know how much Family History blesses people. I have been able to learn from the very few stories I have received about my family history so much. Brothers and Sisters, Family and Friends, you have the time now to research your family. You have the time now to bring others unto Christ and be a missionary by doing your genealogy. So why not do it?

I love you all! Happy Hunting =D

Sister Cummings