Joyeux Noel

This is Sister Cummings from the frozen tundras of the North saying "Joyeux Noël!" This is a wonderful time of year full of gift giving and singing, I can`t think of any better way to spend it than in Santa Claus`s mission doing the work of the Lord. I`m not joking though, did you know the Canada Montreal Mission includes the north pole in its borders? Well it does and after I realized that I sort of felt the irony. In our society we have grown to see that Christmas is all about gumdrops, rain deer, Santa, gifts, shopping etc etc etc you name it and you can see that our Christmas is very much a commercial dream. And it is important that as we live in this that we keep in mind what is the real meaning of Christmas.

As a missionary we contact many people using cards, and this season the church has instructed us to use a special card referring people to the "He is the Gift" video that the church has directed to remind people what the real meaning of Christmas is, I highly highly recommend watching it if you haven`t done so already. Anyways there was one day while my companion and I were on the metro heading home after a long day that something happened. I was so tired and we had already contacted what seemed to be a million people that I was ready to just quit. But I remember having a feeling to look up at the corner of the metro and I saw a woman there with a broken arm who looked just so sad. Something inside told me to give this woman a card, I shook it off but every metro stop that the woman didn`t get off the thought came back, give this woman a card. I said a little prayer and said if she were to get off at the Jean-talon stop then I would give her a card. Lo and behold she did. And lo and behold I again pushed the feeling to give a card, making the excuse that my companion was already far ahead and that I needed to be with my companion. Again the thought came, I said another prayer, God if I am suppose to give this woman a card, my companion is going to turn around right now. And at that exact moment that I thought the word "now" my companion turned around. Without thinking I turned around and went to the lady. I believe I said something along the lines of Merry Christmas as much as my awkward mumbled French could take and gave her the card. She smiled took the card and said thank you, when I looked into her eyes they started to tear up. And that was it. All of that struggle for that simple moment of giving a woman a piece of paper.

Except it wasn`t just a piece of paper. On it was a picture of Christ and in large words "he is the gift." I know that I was guided by the spirit to give that simple message to this woman, and not only was I guided but in my stubbornness God knew how important it was for her to receive that simple card that he allowed me multiple attempts. This Christmas think about others. Think about a simple baby who thousands of years ago was born under the humblest of circumstances. It is my testimony that I know Jesus Christ lived  and died and lives again. Merry Christmas to all.

Love,
Kayla

Dear Friends and Family:

Thank you all for the letters and packages! For those of you who are not part of my family, one of the traditions we do each year is we find a nativity set and we deliver a piece each day for 12 days before Christmas, ending with Jesus Christ on Christmas Eve. This year, one of the things that my parents sent me was a pre-prepared set for the 12 days of Christmas. Elder Hunt and I decided to do it for a new convert in our ward named Tony, who otherwise is doing nothing this Christmas. If any of you are in a position to contact him, please refrain from letting him know who is leaving the Christmas gifts each night. Today is day 4, he hasn't caught us yet!

We had a pretty good week. We did not have any baptisms, but Elder Hunt and I were very excited to be consistent with the number of investigators we had in sacrament meeting. We had two investigators come early enough to see the sacrament being blessed, and both are preparing to be baptized this weekend as well. Both of them are struggling with one thing - one with the Word of Wisdom, and the other with finding somewhere else to live or getting married so that she can live the Law of Chastity, but both of them are solid potentials and both of them are very happy to be preparing to be baptized.

We found Anteniqua about three weeks ago, but she couldn't come to church because at the time she was on house arrest. But last Monday she went to court and had everything cleared up, so she was able to come to church and had a wonderful time. I don't think I've told the story of how we found her, so I'll tell it now. We were going through the ward directory, trying to make contact with as many people who we didn't know as possible. We tried to visit an inactive member who lived in Anteniqua's house, only to find that he had moved out long ago. But we said a prayer with Anteniqua, and she accepted baptism, church, and everything. We found out later that she had been praying earlier that day for God to send someone to come and knock on her door. We then, unwittingly, showed up and answered her prayer. :)

We found Johnesha around the same time as we found Anteniqua, three weeks ago, but each week something else came up that prevented her from coming to church. We were very close to dropping her, but we decided to go back one last time and ask if she had read the scriptures that day. We did so, found out that she had, and we kept seeing her. Two days ago she came to church with her three daughters for the first time, and loved it. She is doing so well. We're so excited to watch her progression!

Two other investigators came to church about 30 minutes late. They left an hour early as well, and they caused a little contention in the Haitian Creole Sunday school class, but they are still interested in hearing the message and preparing for baptism, so we are going to keep going back and try to work around the rough edges. It should be fun.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

PS. We are not allowed to go to the temple. I've only been to the temple once since leaving the MTC, and that was a special occasion when the entire mission went to the temple together about a month after the Fort Lauderdale temple was dedicated. It was an amazing experience, but it seems like I will have to wait until the day I fly home to go to the temple again.

PPS. Our call to our family will be no more than 30 minutes, we don't know when it will happen, and it will only be over skype if we can find a member who is willing to let us come over and use their devices for a while. It's still up in the air, but we will call for 2 minutes on Thursday morning just to tell you all what time we are getting on.

Flash Mob

Thats right everyone Sister Cummings was part of a flash mob! It actually happened last week but I had forgotten to include it in the weekly email. As an effort to contest the arrival of the Book of Mormon the Musical that has come to Montreal, the Montreal stake launched a large publicity plan and part of it was a flash mob. We all went to one of the biggest malls on the island (obviously arriving at different times) and began walking around and talking to people and contacting. And then suddenly you hear the beautiful voice of Miss Lambert (I forgot her first name but she is a very popular LDS Opera star here on the Island) singing "Angels we have heard on high" however in French so it was even more gorgeous. Everyone is looking around trying to find her and then you see her coming down an escalator. A couple of others on mikes started singing the other parts and then everyone slowly joins in singing the First Noel and Far Far away in Judea's Land. I have never felt so strongly the Christmas spirit. While we were singing it made me think of How the Grinch stole Christmas particularly the scene where in the darkness there is one light and one voice that grows and grows until the whole place was light. What a marvelous feeling of Joy and Happiness!

Okay enough about last week, onto the recent things. I have survived my first blizzard as a missionary, with about a foot and a half of snow which results to hip high piles of snow on the side of the road. But hey! Good News! Canada spends the majority of its budget in providing means to clear roads and sidewalks so those hip high hills disappeared within two days and were brought from one place by truck to pretty much a dump for snow on the outskirts of the city.

 Have you ever had those moments that you feel you are in the right place at the right time? As missionaries we feel that more often than most. I would say more often than I get a craving for Mcdonalds (aka way too often.) We are taught at the beginning that we need to follow the spirit to know where and when we need to be to talk about what God needs that we talk about. For example my companion and I had just finished our lesson with a recent convert and found ourselves free after an unexpected cancellation. So we called a member and asked if we could drop by and give a lesson. With this member we generally would meet at the McDonalds just down the street from her house as she didn't feel comfortable taking the lessons in her house. However this time we were inspired to ask that we meet at her house. Which she graciously agreed to. Neither of us really knew why until we were walking to her house and saw a girl crying two houses down. We went up and asked her what had happened. She explained through tears what had happened and how she had found herself outside of her house with her things in a bag. She was at that moment waiting for help in the freezing cold with only a coat to protect her. We offered to stay with her until help arrived and mentioned that there was a warm house not too far away that she would be welcomed to come to. She surrendered and came with us to the lesson. The Spirit was so strong and the young woman that came with us felt the peace and the love. Not too long afterwards help arrived and our new friend had to leave. We gave her our number and hugs and said goodbye. We do not know what has happened with her but the spirit has told both Sister Avaemai and I that we had worked directly as tools as God comforted his daughter in heaven.

Not only missionaries can receive these promptings, they come to everyone in different ways and it isn't until later that we realize what had happened. Imagine what could have happened if my companion and I had not chosen to meet with this sister and give the effort to walk all the way to her house. I know that God loves his children and protects them from danger. I am so grateful to be a missionary here at this time. Thank you to all who keep me and my companion in your prayers. I love you all! And Merry Christmas!  

6 Months Out

Yes in fact she did! But it was only an itty bitty blond stripe that is really the exact color of my hair in the summer =D My wonderful and beautiful companion Sister Avaemai was really really wanting to color her hair but did not want to do it alone. After much pleading I finally gave in to the little childish dream I have had for years and years. Why is my rebellious stripe coming out on my mission? Just ask my companion =D

So besides looking just a little bit like Anna from Frozen, life is pretty wonderful here in le groupe de Hochelaga. We just received the news last Saturday that Sister Avaemai and I will be staying together in the area! I couldn't help but smile. The assignment was a direct answer to a prayer.

Its crazy to think that in just eighteen days it will be my six month mark. There is no way that I am almost a third done with my mission. It is impossible! Yesterday was just the fourth of July at the MTC! And now we just celebrated American Thanksgiving last week in the not so balmy weather of Montréal!

What wonderful miracles we have seen this week! Particularly what I have seen in myself! I am not who I was when I left June 25th 2014. Nor will I be the same right now as I will be on December 22nd 2015. A mission is very much a time where I am being changed. And right now all of these changes are for the best.

In life it sometimes seems that we are in the refiners fire. That no matter what we do something always goes wrong. We are in an uncomfortable place where we feel there is no hope. But here is a little something. There is ALWAYS hope. We are ALWAYS loved. And we will ALWAYS make it through. In those moments that we feel in the refiners fire we should pause and just be grateful to be in the light rather than the darkness. We should rejoice to be in the warmth rather than the cold. And we should sing at the opportunity to be in the masters hand.

I am so grateful to be on a mission. I get to talk to people everyday and tell them that they have a chance at eternal life no matter what they have done. I encourage everyone who is debating on going on a mission to earnestly pray. I can tell you that it has helped me so much and I look forever to the future. I love this world. I love Québec and I love the Lord. I say these things in his holy name, Jesus Christ, Amen

Lots of Lessons

Dear Friends and Family:

How great a pleasure it is to come before all of you this week. My name is Elder Slade, I will be conducting this email. I will also be presiding.

Elder Hunt and I had a terrific week. We were able to work much more closely with the members, and this week we had 9 member present lessons! As well, two of our investigators came to sacrament meeting yesterday. Both of them have dates to be baptized this week. (One on Saturday, the other on Sunday.)

We had several miracles this week that I am really excited about. One time, while Elder Hunt was on exchanges in Fort Lauderdale South's area, Elder Chartrand and I were harvesting and we found two old ladies, a mother and a daughter. We prayed with them, and invited both to be baptized. Both rejected because they had already been baptized, but we testified that God really had sent us to them to invite them to be baptized again in Jesus Christ's church. We invited them to pray and ask God, to receive a confirmation for themselves that this was true. Gertrude, the daughter, (herself about 60 years old), started praying. Halfway through the prayer, she received her answer, stopped praying, and told us she wanted to be baptized. It was incredible!

Elder Hunt and I are very excited this week to go to the Christmas conference. The mission only gets together one time every year, unless a special occasion comes up (such as a visiting general authority). That one time is the Christmas conference, at the beginning of December. As part of the festivities, there is a talent show, a while elephant gift exchange, a meal, and we also receive training from President Richardson on how to be better missionaries. It'll be fun :D

As well, we have zone training tomorrow. We have big plans already on how we can make this week even better, and apply what we learn tomorrow and on Wednesday.

Thanks for all of the updates on what's going on at home. It's really nice to hear from all of you, and to be a part of your lives. I'm happy to hear that Britney got home safely (no longer Sister Slade) and I can't wait to see her and Becky and Jeremy and Thomas and Claire for Christmas!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

A Miracle a Day

It feels like it was only yesterday that I was watching the fireworks at the fourth of July at the MTC. I am feeling ancient. I have looked forward to a mission for what? How long? At least ten years. At Least. And now here I am almost an entire third of the way through! I don't want this to end! This Saturday we receive our transfer calls to see if either Sister Avaemai or I will be transferred. Honestly I am hoping and praying that neither of us go. But I guess wherever I am asked to go I will go willingly.

Now I don't have much time today but I would like to share with you a miracle. Wow kind of hard to think of just one! Sister Avaemai and I have gotten into the habit of writing down one miracle per day. Which has brought so many blessings for us. But here is a really amazing thing that I saw this week. There was one day this week that was so overly freezing and my companion had forgotten her warm winter coat at home that we were just praying for a miracle that we would not have to walk all the way over to a lesson we had that night. Our prayers were answered and a member calls us out of the blue asking if he could come to a lesson with us. He ended up being free that night and he and his wife gave us a ride in their nice warm car! Golly that was amazing!

We also found a new investigator who called us Sunday morning asking us how to get to the church building! Wow! It had ended up that this past Sunday was the Primary Program and all the little children got up and talked about how the gospel has blessed their families. Our investigator was so impressed at the feeling of unity in the building that he told us he would come back every Sunday. Through the mouth of babes he felt the spirit so strongly. Which made me think. God gives his light and his spirit to everyone, no matter the age. Everyone has the potential to give Gods love. So why not everyone receive Gods love. We are getting into the Christmas time and as your friend, sister, daughter, niece, etc. etc. on her mission I ask you to just look around you and give your love to those who may not even know that they need it. I love you all! A la Prochain!

PS- tune in next week to see if Sister Cummings has dyed her hair or not ;D

Finding a Miracle

Dear Family and Friends:

I'm so excited that Britney is going home! Unfortunately, I still have to wait a while before I can see her. Britney: make sure you let me know your new email address when you get home.

In other news, the church is doing something very big for Christmas this year. To learn more, and to watch a fantastic video about Jesus Christ, go to christmas.mormon.org. Watch it as a family, or with everyone else you live with. Then share it with everyone you know!

This week has been a great one for us. At the start of the week, we decided to pray that we would find a miracle - someone to be baptized that Sunday, although we had no obvious potentials and we couldn't think of any way to do it, short of other missionaries teaching an investigator who then conveniently moved into our area, all ready to be baptized. Every time we prayed to start a study, or before we went out to harvest, we included this in the prayer. By the end of the week, the prayers had paid off.

Throughout the week, we found no one; but on Sunday, half-way through church, someone just walked into church. He had been walking past the church building to go to church somewhere else, and he just felt like he should go there instead. We believe that our faith and our prayers were what led him to feel the spirit and to walk in. We'll be meeting with him tonight at 8.

Our goal for the month of December is 6 baptisms. After we prayed to know what our goal should be, I felt that that was the number we should shoot for, but I was hesitant to voice it because I didn't want Elder Hunt to feel like I was making the choice. So I waited for him to speak, and he felt that we should shoot for six as well. It was a testimony builder for me to know that it really is God's work, and he will guide us when we sincerely ask for it. And as well: we can and will have six baptisms in this month, through the grace of God.

Someone asked about iPads. We don't have too many details, they've been pushing them back for a while now, but there's a rumor going around that we're supposed to get them in January. We'll find out, I guess :) I've also heard a lot of conflicting information about how much it will be and other details, but I think the most common consensus is that it will be $300, that we will be getting iPad minis instead of regular iPads, and that we will keep them after our missions. (Like our bikes - paid for with our own funds, and then we have them afterwards.)

Thanks,

Elder Slade