Photos from the week

Staying in Fort Lauderdale

Dear Friends and Family:

I wanted to include a lot this week, because I didn't email last week, but there's someone waiting for the computer. Sorry!

The news: I stayed and trained. Elder Kwon left. This means that I will be in Fort Lauderdale east for the next three months, over Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years.

My new companion and trainee - Elder Hunt - is amazing! He already teaches better than I do after a year in my mission, and he has an incredibly strong testimony. He and I have been getting along really well, through our ups and downs in the area. And he's also working diligently to improve his Creole.

This week an unfortunate thing happened with our investigators. All of them decided to drop off of the map or lose their fire to be baptized at the same time. Elder Hunt is taking the low point like a champ, and we are both resolved to find many, many amazing miracles this next week as we work hard and apply the training we will receive in zone conference.

We are in particular working to improve by being more personable together, and by improving our baptismal invite so that those we talk to have the best possible opportunity to feel and accept the spirit in their lives.

Sorry I don't have more time to email, especially after last week.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Crazy Week

Dear family,

We had a crazy week that absolutely flew by. Tuesday we had zone conference, Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council, Friday we had an exchange, and Sunday we had cottage meeting. Lots of sharing testimony and lots of very spiritual experiences. I'm so grateful for my mission! I really don't know where the week went to.

The highlight of my week was that the exchange on Friday was with the Halls Lake sisters. Sister Smith stayed in our area and I was able to go back to my old area with Sister Stringfellow! We saw so many miracles and so many people that I used to work with from those transfers. By the end of the day I felt like Heavenly Father was reassuring me by saying, "You have done enough. Your sacrifice has been acceptable to me, just look what a difference you have made!" It was exactly what I needed.

The sisters have an investigator named Brandon who I met Thursday night at volleyball. Brandon is preparing for baptism in December. When I introduced myself he looked at my name tag and said, "Wait a second, are you the only missionary named Sister Slade?" I told him that I was and he proceeded to tell me that almost a year ago some sisters had knocked at his door and he had wanted to listen, but he knew that his roommates would be rude, so he didn't invite them in. He said, "I have no idea why, but I've always remembered the name Slade. You don't happen to have been here around that time?" I can't count all of the doors that Sister Glancy and I must have knocked when we first whitewashed into Halls Lake a year ago. I don't remember Brandon, but it was so amazing to see where he's at now and to see that somehow he remembered that I knocked at his door. We never know the impact that we may be having even when we obediently do all of the small, seemingly insignificant things!

The other highlight from the exchange was that I got to see Melissa! I lost her email so I haven't had contact with her since her baptism and wedding 8 months ago. I got to talk to her and Randy and it was so rewarding to hear that they are both 100% active, loving everything about the gospel, and preparing to go to the temple in a few months! Not only that, but she just found out that she's pregnant with TWINS! Too much joy to contain!

Still excitedly looking forward to Heathers baptism! She meets with President one more time this week, and if he feels that she is ready he will officially write the First Presidency and everything should be clear for the 22nd. Please keep her in your prayers this week.

Love this quote from Gary E. Stevenson: "I express my utmost confidence in your abilities. You have the Savior of the world on your side. If you seek His help and follow His directions, how can you fail?" I hope you all have a week full of feeling the Saviors love for you and lots and lots of successes!

Love all of you!

Love, Sister Slade

People of Montreal

Its official world. It has snowed here. And I have broken out the winter coat, as well as half of Montréal.

Speaking of which many people have asked me to tell any funny stories, so in keeping with the oncoming winter I'm going to tell this one. My companion and I were waiting in line to receive some medication when a rather large woman (I mean large as in tall and well built not as in «woah that girls has eaten way to many poutines») An elderly oriental gentleman, who was standing behind me in the line, flinched and gasped as she walked by. Of course, me being the onlooker, made eye contact with the gentleman. He told me in French «That woman scared me,» He asked me why I was here (obviously asking for what need I was in the pharmacy) and I took the opportunity to say I'm a missionary. After determining I was from the United States and that I had never felt a winter as hard as those in Montreal the conversation quickly turned to ancient Chinese medical practices. After instructing me to put onions on my feet for a cold he told me he knew how to never get sick in the winter and that he wanted to show us. Well after we had received what we were waiting for the man led us over to a wall and promptly instructed us how to get rid of winter sickness. This took the form of the man slamming his head against the wall seven times while not breathing. If any would like to try this it is seven times for a man and nine for a woman. I had to try so hard not to laugh at the fact that this man was slamming his head on a wall in a Pharmaprix in the middle of Montreal Canada.

Well considering the conversation above was in full French I believe I am growing in the language. I have been mistaken twice as someone from France and told four times that I do not have an American accent. *Fist pump* I seem to have mastered understanding the Quebecois accent and now I need to understand the Haitian accent. The area we are working in has a high Haitian population (say that five times fast) and therefore a high possibility of eating Haitian food every night. And as I am sure my wonderful cousin in the south can attest that Haitian food is heavenly.

Good news! I got all moved in!

This weeks miracle is this. We visit with a woman in the group that is young woman age, but since there is no young woman`s program in our little almost branchist thing we help her with her personal progress. We were doing so one day and we noticed that there was something bothering her. Afterwards we were talking about the lesson, my companion decided to call her up and ask her if she would like a blessing. Something about Sister Avemai is that she has such a testimony in the priesthood that she never stops seeking for the opportunity to share it with others. The sister said yes and we scheduled a time with the Elders so that they could give the blessing. The change in this sixteen year old girl from before and after the blessing was instant. She felt the love from the blessing and you could tell that a huge burden had been lifted off of her shoulders. We do not know what was the thing that burdened her so much but I can honestly say that I have never before been in a lesson that the spirit has been so strong. I know that this church is true and I know it holds the true authority from God to give priesthood blessings such as this. I love this Gospel and I love these people. And I know Montreal will forever have a place in my heart.

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