Choices

Dear friends and family:

We have been having a great time this week working. Elder Peterson is as diligent as ever, and together we managed to apply zone conference and get more new investigators than we have any other week we have had together. We had five NI by Wednesday, and seven by Sunday. We're still working on refining our approach and getting members out with us more so that our investigators progress and come to church, but we have been having a lot more success finding the investigators to teach in the first place.

We have two investigators from last week who we consider to be progressing. One is Marie. The only thing that stopped her from coming to church was her son getting sick the night before. The other is Justice, who was all prepared to come to church and then her parents left instead and had her babysit her siblings instead. It was really frustrating, but we know that if we can get members over there to visit them and Justice's parents we can get both of them (and their families!) to come to church next week. We are also going to keep our focus on finding people to be baptized, and we'll repeat what happened last week... only better.

We went on exchanges with Elder Allen and Elder Miller on Sunday after church, so that Elder Allen could come into our area and so that Elder Miller could learn from taking over the area again. It was a good exchange. We got a lot done but did not find anyone for our own area, but Elder Peterson and Elder Miller had a miracle find who they're going back to see tonight.

Update on college: I was accepted to BYU-Provo! This is great, because I still have the option to go there, but it's also frustrating because now I have a much bigger choice to make. The four biggest colleges I am still looking at are BYU-I, BYU, UofU, and Neumont.

I was thinking about the next few months, and I realized that general conference is only a month away. That's right, my fourth general conference on my mission. (You only get four. Then you die.) Tomorrow is my 6-months to home mark.

What ended up happening with Kayla and everything else we were fasting for as a family?

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Staying in LaMoyne

It seems like every week there is another person that I need to write and just having this hour to do so takes a lot of pulling on those 98 words per minute I had in 7th grade. Ya I am still pretty proud of that and have literally no idea how I managed to do so. Maybe it was because I didn't really have to think about the things I would actually write. Oh before I forget, we received transfer calls and with it the news that I and Soeur Blanc will be staying in Lemoyne for the next 6 weeks at least. *and there was much rejoicing*

Well anyways this weeks addition to the Canadian menu. Maple Leaf cookies. They are at the level of Oreos. Aka a delicious hard cookie sandwich with maple frosting in the middle. I can already feel myself loving maple syrup and am currently debating if I should let my growing instinct to say  "eh!" to finally come out. After all Preach My Gospel advises us to embrace the culture.

This week was amazing! We were able to organize a mini mission with a wonderful sister in the ward by the name of Sister Alvarenga. It was her who introduced us to the magical cookies afore mentioned. We became quick friends. She is just about to finish her missionary papers which is wonderful!  But she pointed something out at the end of the three day mini mission that she understood how the best missionaries are members. And its true. Our temporary companion helped us so much. Her testimony of how the gospel had blessed her opened up so many of our investigators into understanding more of what the gospel can do.

Its a simple truth that missionaries need members. It has also been a subject I have written so much about but it is a truth nonetheless and therefore should be shared. Please talk with the missionaries. Ask if there is anything you can help with. Or even better invite friends to meet with them. Ask them to help you practice to invite your friends. Ask them to help serve a friend who needs a driveway shoveled. you won't regret it in the long run. Just ask the missionaries.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Zone Conference

Dear Friends and Family:

Elder Peterson and I have been putting forth a lot of effort into finding new investigators this week. Even so, unfortunately we didn't see any real results until Friday, when we had an exchange with Elder Allen and Elder Miller. That day was the day we started seeing a lot of results and miracles. We found several amazing people who we followed up with the next day. A few of them put in a strong effort to come to church yesterday, but were not able to due to their siblings/friends bailing at the last moment and so they had no ride to come to church. But they are excited to come next week, and we are excited to keep working with them.

Yesterday, after church, we had another amazing miracle happen. There was a child of record baptism at 5, so after church we had a little time to contact all of our investigators and try to get them to come and see the baptism, even though they didn't come to church. We had no success, due to the lateness of the invitation, until we stopped by to invite Christopher to come to the baptism. We didn't have much hope, because it was 4:40 at this time, and he had to depend on other people to give him rides. But we stopped by, and we met his roommate for the first time, Freddy. Freddy hadn't been there the last few times we had stopped by due to a new job at IHOP he had just received, but this time he was there and excited to see us. He knew a lot about missionaries but had not been to church since he was a little child. When we invited him to come and see the baptism, he stopped for a second, and then agreed.

He followed us to the church, and we watched the baptism together. Afterward, he had several questions about the service. He didn't know what baptism was, for instance, and he didn't know what the Holy Ghost was. We have a return appointment with him tomorrow. We can't wait to help him prepare to be baptized himself!

Tomorrow we have Zone Conference, which is a large conference with the mission president and about a third of the mission. (Probably about 70-80 missionaries.) The presidents' assistants serve in our ward as well, but they have been very good at keeping secrets from us and not letting out what will happen there. We're very excited to go and to learn tomorrow!

I still have no idea what I'm going to do for college. I haven't received a confirmation or rejection from BYU-Provo, but from what I understand the last date that they can tell me if I am accepted or not is this Saturday, so that will help me determine what I will be doing.

I'm sorry to hear that KaraLynne is in the hospital. I'll be praying for her. Is there any news on Sister Kayla Cummings yet?

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Icy Windshields

First off thank you for all of the wonderful Birthday wishes! Thats right world. I am officially two decades old. By statistics I am a fourth of my way through life. I am an old fogey… Just kidding! By some sort of miracle I was able to receive my birthday package from my family just before my birthday even though we don't receive mail so often out here on the south shore. Here is a picture of me modelling off one of my all-time favourite parts of the present. My family knows me WAY too well. Also this Saturday is Transfer calls…again!… So I will keep you updated =D

Now I don't have much time today but I just wanted to share something that I learned this week.

There was a point this past week which, as is very common with missionaries, my companion and I hit a slump. Everything seemed to be going wrong. We had woken up, planned amazing lessons, and even had time to practice role plays with these lessons. We were so excited. And then the unforgettable happened. One by one our lessons cancelled, until we were left with only one lesson that we hadn't had the time nor the thought to really prepare for. So we spent our time making phone calls, passing by formers and potentials, you know, missionary life. We ran into one of the members of our church, a wonderful girl my age named Kelly. She invited us out to lunch when she realized Sister Blanc had yet to partake of the beauty named Tim Hortons. Well we were able to talk to her. She is planning on going on a mission and has almost finished her papers. It was really sweet to hear about her testimony of how she chose to go on a mission. Well we offered her to do a mini mission with us! Which means she would be a missionary for three days, joining us in our apartment and everything. She excitedly said yes and we organized it for this weekend! Later on the member we had called to join us for this one lesson that had managed to stand had called and said that she wasn't able to come… It was frustrating. But we were able to all another member at last minute who was more than willing to come and accompany us. Through the spirit and the questions that this wonderful sister brought we were able to find out the true problem of why this man, who was a member, was not attending church. It was really inspiring.

With our day finished we headed to car. Scraped off the best we could the sometimes crazy amount of ice and snow on our car and jumped in to head home. There were obviously some parts that we were not able to scrape off which made it difficult to see. Except while driving I noticed something. If I focused on where I was going I could see perfectly. But if I were to focus on that ice I wouldn't be able to see a thing. This brought to mind the seemingly no good very bad day that Sister Blanc and I were having. I recognized that it was only that way because I was focusing on the ice. On the bad parts of the day. But if I looked at what we had accomplished I was able to see the beauty of the day and all that we were able to accomplish in the future.

Sometimes we focus on the obstructions. On the trials and heartache that we see in life. However there is always at least one clear spot that makes it possible to see through the heartache into the beauty that we call life. It is my testimony that we are all capable of everything that we need to accomplish and face in our lives here on Earth. A loving God would not give us more than we can't handle. I ask you to look past the ice on the windshield and pray that you may have the strength to do so.

I love you all and thank you so much for the prayers that you send my way

Sister Cummings

Rough Week

Dear friends and family:

Our week was a little rough. Our main focus this week was finding many new people to teach, because we baptized our teaching pool last week. We were able to get quite a few investigators and potential investigators, but unfortunately because of this focus we were lax on getting members out to teach with us, and as a result none of the new investigators we found came to church and many of them have lost the fire that they had when we first found them. We'll definitely be repenting this week, and making sure that we have members out with us at every possible opportunity.

Elder Peterson and I are still getting along great, and we're working together really well. One thing about him is that he almost always has a very high desire and motivation to work. He doesn't get distracted easily, and it's obvious that he is extremely converted to the gospel and to his purpose. And he's been really helpful to me with the goals that I have been working on to try to be a better missionary as well.

We've been able to have a lot of great spiritual experiences this week. We have had many miracles as we talk to people and leave prayers with them. Many of them have shared their testimony afterwards that they know that God sent us to them, and God knew that they needed a prayer because they've been going through a hard time in life. Even if they didn't come to church and they ultimately grew cold, it feels good to know that God was able to use me and my companion to help others feel how much he loves them.

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble that Sister Cummins is going through. I'll be praying for her.

I'm low on time to email today. Sorry!

Thanks for everything,

Elder Slade

Wonder of Wonders, Miracles of Miracles

I apologize in advance. I had written a beautiful email and then the internet shut down and it didn't save so this is a summary of what I had written.

This title is both referring to the wonderful baptism we had this week as well as the moment I had to partake of a magical liquid called Spruce Beer. As far as the latter goes. Spruce Beer. Heaven. Canada squished a spruce tree into a drinking bottle. It smells like Christmas. It tastes like Christmas. It is Christmas. And it is amazingly beautiful. Attached is my tribute to Spruce beer.*

*The described is in accordance with the word of wisdom being a drink in the form of a soft drink

Well besides that we saw a wonderful miracle this week. Our friend Martin got baptized! There was a happiness that filled the room! So large that I finally realized the truth in the statement a good friend of mine once shared, I couldn't help but write my feelings. They came out in the form of a small poem. Now I am no poet but I thought I would give it try because it seemed there was no other way to explain the happiness I was feeling. It goes like this

He enters in, regains his seat

Hair still dripping from his choice

The beloved baptism here been made

each drip doth hold a voice

Silently it fills the air

saying what heaven once released

In the heated plains of ancient time

this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

What a wonderful world to be living in, where we have the restored gospel and with it the ability to baptize with the authority of God. That happiness that I felt in that baptismal room I know was the spirit whispering that God had accepted this wonderful choice that Martin had made. While conducting the closing hymn I could see I was not the only one who was crying. The spirit was so strong. It told me once again of the love that God has for his children. I know that this church is true and that it is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I am out here on my mission to share this wonderful truth with all the world.

Thank you so much for all the prayers that you send my way. I feel the peace and love almost daily. Thank you so much. I love you all.

Sister Cummings

Chopsticks in Heaven

This title does not have to do with my…call it obsession… with using chopsticks. Although while I am on my high stool I might as well just say, they are one of the most amazing inventions known to mankind. Anyways what this title is actually referring to is a story that a Taiwanese member in our relief society shared. It goes like this

A man had a dream where he saw heaven and hell. In Hell, everyone was seated around a table full to the brim of the most delicious looking food. The only way they had to eat were these very long chopsticks and they were not able to bring the food to their mouths for they were so long. Thus the all the inhabitants thereof were starving and thin. The man said that in heaven it was the same with a giant table and giant chopsticks. However there the people would take food in their long chopsticks and give it to those sitting around them. They were all fat and happy.

I loved this story because it focused on one difference between salvation and suffering. That being team work. This life is not meant to be something that we deal with alone. We have been sent here in families and we make friends for a reason. The game of life is a team sport. When this truth is acknowledged one understands one of the many reasons why we attend church to hear and to teach others through our testimonies and life experiences. We can also understand why it is that there are missionaries, such as I, going out and teaching the gospel. We want others to have the same happiness that we have received. We want to invite them to the team so they can also help us achieve the prize. That being eternal life. But not only are there full time missionaries like me the church stresses the importance of missionary actions to the members. I am not sure if I am getting that point across right so here let me paint a picture.

This Saturday we are baptizing a wonderful investigator named Martin. Like many we teach he found the church by having a member friend who was willing to answer his questions. In fact his friend answered so many of his questions that we have been able to teach the Plan of Salvation lesson and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in one lesson as well as the entirety of the commandments. He is really amazing and had already read all of the manual that we receive as missionaries and the majority of the Book of Mormon. Please keep him in your prayers so that he will continue to have this amazing strength for his baptism this Valentines Day.

Martin has said on multiple occasions that if his friend had been scared to share that he was LDS and hadn't answered his questions he would not be making these sort of life choices. We full-time missionaries rely heavily on the members we are around. I challenge you this week to find someone in your group of friends who is ready to start being prepared to receive this gospel. Someone is ready. We have been promised by so many apostles and prophets by the power of God that there really is no way that there isn't. Then give this name to the missionaries. They can help you so much.

I love you so much and I thank you for the prayers you send my way