Trying week

Dear friends and family:

This week has been one of the most trying on my mission. Occasionally in missionary life you have a day where nothing works out, and the day comes and goes and you feel like you've done absolutely nothing. This week, for the first time in my mission, the same phenomenon occurred over the course of the whole week. I feel exhausted, almost all of our investigators are dropped... but I'm ready and excited to get up and work harder next week!

Lest you all think that because of that, we didn't have anything good happen or we didn't see any miracles, I'll include a few highlights. The week would be a success even if only one of the following miracles had happened:

1. A less-active member, who shied away from the church about four years ago and started smoking, came to church for the first time in forever. She is determined to quit her addiction and to become active again in the church. It was a miracle that we found her, at exactly the moment that she was again ready to receive the gospel, and it is a miracle that we can

2. We had a wonderful zone training on Wednesday, where we received additional instruction on how to be effective missionaries. The zone training was mostly focused on how to use the missionary pamphlets to teach each of the lessons simply and compactly, in a way that anyone could understand. We are excited to use the pamphlets more in finding and teaching, and we have already seen our lessons improve as we do this!

3. On Sunday, some time in the evening, we were knocking in a place that a member had referred to us as a place to knock, and we found a miracle. We found an educated Haitian man whose biggest problem with religion was that there were so many of them, and that all but a few of them seem to be built with the intention of getting gain or power. We taught the restoration simply, using the pamphlet, and committed him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. He is intrigued with the idea of Jesus Christ having a church, and he is excited to be baptized as he finds out for himself that it is true.

As far as college applications go, my first choice at this point is to go to Neumont University, but I am struggling to get the funding required to attend. I was accepted, but my circumstances will not allow me to afford it unless I receive the presidential scholarship, which they have already denied me. But they are allowing an appeal, which they will review on this Friday. Because of that, I have to type up a quick appeal letter explaining why they should permit me the scholarship regardless of their past decision. I have to send it in today. So I apologize if my letter to all of you is a little rushed, I don't have a lot of time and I need to make sure I get that done in my 1.5 hours today.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

P.S. About my mission and iPads: I am not sure what happened, why our mission never received iPads, even though it has been repeatedly scheduled to receive them over the last two or so years. I don't know when the mission is getting iPads, but I know they are doing another big push in May, and that currently my mission is not on their list of ~20 missions to receive them then.

This means, unfortunately, that unless something changes soon, the earliest my mission could receive iPads is in July, less than two months before the end of my mission. If that were to happen, I almost certainly would opt out and stick with paper material for the last six weeks of my mission to avoid wasting money. So, as far as I am concerned, I will never receive an iPad on my mission.

Lundi Saint

So for some reason there is such thing as Good Monday here and it is in fact a holiday…And when Canadians have holidays they just kind of abandon everything. Luckily we found a place to do emails today and do groceries because pretty much everything else is closed. Do we have a celebration after Easter or is that just the Canadians?

Well this week, on top of the wonderfulness of general conference, Sister Blanc and I went on splits with our Sister Training Leaders. And for the first time in a about seven months I was the one who left the area and went to the area of the other sisters. It was probably one of the most amazing days ever. For one thing we woke up and the sun was actually shining! It was a whopping 14 degrees Celsius!!!! And we had everything planned. Every hour of our day was going to be taken up by a lesson with someone. We barely had time planned to eat! It was a missionaries dream! But As what seems to be the case we found ourselves knocking on soemones door who had forgotten we had an appointment and was not home. But we didn't let that take control of us. We went ahead and started walking to the car. On our way we saw a woman carrying a bunch of grocery bags. Well on instinct we asked her if she would like help. She warned us saying that she was walking a very long way. Not perturbed We lightened her load.

I wasn't able to find the scripture, but in the bible the Saviour teaches that if a man asketh you to walk one mile. Walk with him twain. Well we walked twain. The lady was not lying. It was really really far away. Luckily though a long walk makes for a long talk. We learned about this woman and how she was really struggling, with work, with family, you name it this woman was living it. We talked to her about the gospel and the happiness it has brought to us, we even gave her a Book of Mormon. After a long Long LONG time we finally made it to her house and helped her get everything in, she gave us a drink of water and we were on our way back to our car, talking and contacting people along the way. We do not know what will come of her, but I do know one thing, that God had put us in the way of that woman to help her and to be a comfort to her. Plus on top of it all I am pretty sure I got a bit of a tan on my wrists! The sun was actually shining!

And after having that wonderful day we finished the week with the wonderful moment to hear the prophet and apostles of God speak to us and comfort us. I for one am really grateful for the wonderful testimonies of Elder David A. Bednar, and Elder Wilford W. Anderson. It was so inspiring. I know that they are really set apart and chosen testifiers of Jesus Christ who really receive revelation from him.

I love you all and thank you for the wonderful prayers that you send my way, I pray for you too.

Sister Cummings

Unexpected Event

Dear friends and family:

I finally received the invitation to Britney's wedding a few days ago. It looks nice. I'll only regret not being able to be there.

I thoroughly enjoyed general conference this weekend. We watched all but one of the sessions at the church building. (I still watched the other one, just not at church.) I loved all of the talks. It seems to me that in general, most of the Saturday talks were about marriage and eternal families, and most of the Sunday talks were about staying active and how to love inactive family members (and Easter, of course.) My favorite talk was the "do you dance" talk as well, because it was funny and I most certainly do not dance.

Half-way through the Sunday afternoon session, however, we had a little unexpected event interrupt our gospel revelry. Somehow or other, the fire alarm went off inside of the church, although there was no fire. A fire truck was dispatched, and they came and checked around the building as we continued to watch conference. We lost some of our focus because of that, but it was a funny occurrence. We'll just learn from that talk when we get the ensigns instead.

One of the things that I am most excited about is the newly announced temple in Haiti. I don't know when it is likely to be completed, but I fully intend to be there for the dedication! (And open house, if I can swing it, but if I remember correctly the open house and dedication were separated by two weeks in the Fort Lauderdale temple, and I don't really look forward to spending 2.5 weeks in Haiti... but I'll worry about that in the future.)

For those of you who don't yet know, the church has a great new Easter initiative, similar to the Christmas one that they did last December. It's called "Because He Lives," and this one will continue for most of the rest of the year. New videos will come out in the initiative every few months, each focusing on the miracles and blessings that we receive because of Jesus Christ. You can find out more and watch the first video at HeLives.mormon.org.

This week we struggled a lot to find new investigators, but we are still hopeful for Matt, our investigator from Laos. He came to the priesthood session of General Conference and really enjoyed it. He now has a copy of the book of Mormon in Thai, which is supposedly really close to the language spoken in Laos.

I still don't have any news on Neumont University, although supposedly something is coming soon...

(Note from Mom: Brandon was accepted to Neumont University and was awarded an Achievement Scholarship of $15,000 as well!  This is not the Presidential Scholarship we were hoping for, but I will be researching what we need to do to appeal the decision and maybe still get awarded the Presidential...Yay, Brandon!)

Thanks for all of your help and support,

Elder Slade

Missions are Weird

Dear friends and family:

Missions are such weird things.

We had three investigators in sacrament this last week. They all have completely different backgrounds and desires, but they are all preparing to be baptized in Jesus Christ's church.

One of our investigators who came to church is a man named Matt B. He is from Laos, but he lived in Utah for about 15 years and then moved here, and has been living here for about ten. He speaks English with a definite accent and does not have much of a Christian background, but when the Spanish sisters knocked on his door he accepted a prayer and has since been studying and preparing to be baptized. Because our area changed this transfer, he is in our new English area, and so we have been teaching him. We had a chapel tour with him on Friday, and then he came to church on Sunday. After church we had the opportunity to go over and teach him again, with the help of one of the members in the Fort Lauderdale ward who speaks Thai. We skyped him using Matt's phone and we had a wonderful lesson.

Lillian came to church for the second time this week. She was baptized in some other church a long time ago, and it's hard to meet with her throughout the week, but she has an ex-significant other who is a member and he has been helping her to have a desire to come to church and to recommit herself to Jesus Christ by being baptized again.

Thamous is the daughter of one of our recent converts, named Deliverence. She is only going to be here for about a week, but we're excited to get her to conference and get her pumped to continue learning more with the other missionaries in Cape Coral when she moves back there with her aunt next Monday.

We're extremely pumped up for general conference this weekend. We'll make sure we work really hard, and we'll get tons of people there.

I only have about five more months to serve a mission, and due to the fact that I live so far from the mission office, there's not much chance that I will be transferred to a new area before the end of my mission. Areas that are far away typically stay for longer, for some reason.

As for college, I have definite word that I was accepted into BYU, BYU-Idaho, and the University of Utah. I have not yet been officially accepted to Neumont University. If I am accepted and receive a presidential scholarship, then I will almost certainly go to Neumont and get my degree in the next three years. Otherwise, it's most likely that I'll go to BYU. Scholarships still pending on the others, of course, which might make them more feasable.

Due to odd restrictions on our schedule today, my companion and I don't have even a full hour to email, so sorry this is so short.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Is that a grey hair?

I am turning into an old fogey. This week I hit my halfway mark… It is really funny how mission life is really similar to real life. You have a birth, your teenage years, your mid-life crisis, and… well lets not talk about that last one.

I can tell you that I hit a moment where I looked back on my entire "life" and I found I had grown a testimony. This testimony being that God puts us in the exact situations that we need to grow. He puts in our paths large blocks that seem to be impassable but as we climb them we grow stronger. For example, as my family and close friends can attest to, I very very strongly dislike driving. To the point where every morning to go to seminary my brother would drive. And not only driving in general but driving in snow! Oh the horror! But god has helped me a lot in this aspect. Ironically my first area my lovely Mexican companion had not gotten her drivers license. My second area was originally a car free area but once my lovely Tahitian companion sprained her ankle we were given a car. And now being a senior companion it is I who drives the car. Mind you this is all in CANADA. With all of its ICE and SNOW. It is almost as if God said, "get over yourself Sister Cummings and drive." But hey look at me now! I no longer have a fear of driving on ice and snow, granted the snow tires help.

Speaking of weather, the sun and warmth has melted so much! Now we only have a foot and a half of snow! *fist pump* However it is currently snowing right now so…not sure how long that will last…

I just wanted to give a quick message regarding General Conference and Easter. We are approaching one of the my most treasured weekends. A priority that I did not realize until I came on my mission. I have grown up watching General Conference and occasionally I would hear something that would touch me but generally I would just colour and draw during all of the sessions. However being a missionary, particularly a missionary teaching in a second language, we must teach the simple truths in order for our investigators to understand. And as I taught I started to understand these truths about General Conference. That we are privileged to hear the words of the only presiding Prophet on the Earth who speaks to us about a God who loves us and how to accomplish his plan to return and live with him.

Not only do we get to listen to inspired men and women but it is all during Easter! I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The prophet has seen fit to initiate a program involving the video "Because He Lives." Which can be accessed through the church website at lds.org. It is one of the most beautiful videos I have seen as of yet and I encourage you to watch it if you have not had the chance to and to share it with your friends. In this time of Easter we missionaries see the most miracles as members reach out to their friends to share the message that because God lives death has no sting. That we may all live with our families for forever even after this life. As missionaries we have been going around and doing Easter Caroling, and this is one of the choruses of one of the songs that we sing, Sorry it is in French.

Il vit, et parce qu'il vit

La mort n'aura plus de victoire

Grace a lui

Nous pouvons prendre

un nouveau départ.

The message of this song is exactly as the chorus says. He lives and because he lives the grave has no victory, thanks to him we can have a new beginning.

Help your friends and your families to discover this beginning. This Joy. In the knowledge that God has died and lives for us to be able to live with our families together forever. Invite them to watch the video. To watch General Conference. And even better meet with the missionaries.

I love you all and thank you for the love and prayers you have sent to me and other missionaries.

Soeur Cummings

Fort Myers North

Dear friends and family:

Transfer meeting happened on Wednesday, and I was a little surprised by it. My new area if Fort Myers North (Creole), which is about a 2.5 hour drive from the mission office. It is one of the farthest areas. In fact, the Fort Myers Stake was not a part of our mission until a few months ago, so there are many missionaries still in Fort Myers who are used to doing things the way they did it in Tampa. For example, they were allowed to take videos; they already had iPads, and they did everything on them; and their areas weren't by language, they had several companionships covering the same ward, and they taught whoever they found, rather than teaching according to the language or which part of the ward they live in.

My new companion is Elder Parker, who is one of those Tampa missionaries. He is a really hard worker, but it is still odd to see the things that Tampa missionaries do that weren't really a part of the Fort Lauderdale Mission's culture beforehand.

I've had a wonderful five days in Fort Myers, and I'm excited to keep going. The ward seems to be amazing, especially the Elder's Quorum president and the ward mission leader.

We were able to see a lot of success together. One of our top investigators is named Lilian J.; her husband is a member, but they haven't been together for a while. And she came to church for the first time yesterday. She softened a lot after coming to church this one time, and she accepted a date for the 31st of March. We made a plan and we are going to make this month #MiracleMarch!

We had two other investigators who came to church, but one is a youth and so can't be baptized until the 18th of April, and the other came too late to see the sacrament and so can't be baptized until the 11th. As well, we had one investigator who tried to come but his GPS died and he got lost, so he never made it. But we'll keep working with all of them as long as they keep progressing and putting forth that willing effort. We'll make our #MiracleMarch extend into april as well. :D

Tomorrow we have a specialized training about the church's upcoming "Because He Lives" Easter initiative. We're excited for this conference, and for the opportunity to share what we learn with the world. And we also can't wait for general conference on Easter weekend! Unfortunately, it will be the last general conference that I will spend on my mission. That snuck up fast!

Also, I forgot to mention, in my previous email - last Monday, Elder Allen, Elder Peterson, Elder Miller, and I all went and attended a Catholic mass. It was a very interesting experience. But because it was on a Monday morning, there were not very many people there. After I return, I'll have to go again, in the evening, at a time where there will be more people attending.

I don't have any more updates on colleges or things like that.

Thanks for everything,

Elder Slade

Signs of the Second Cummings

It starts with a boy saying a prayer, followed with the filling in of an application and then the sending of said application off to Utah to receive weeks later a reply with where the mentioned boy will be spending the next two years of his life.

Thats right everyone! Jared Cummings my beloved younger brother, the second of us Cummings clan of New Jersey, received his mission call! He will be leaving July 8th to serve his mission in Fresno, California speaking Hmong!

Sorry for the quite dramatic and doomsday declaring subject title I just had to take the wonderful opportunity to make yet another joke using our family name. I just love doing that so much! I am sorry if that is one of my many short-Cummings. Bu dum chh!

Anyways now that I have gotten my wiggles out I just have take a moment and marvel at the way the lord works. But more exactly how simply the Lord works. He loves us. Which is a truth all principles are based on. And because of this simplicity Sister Blanc and I were able to teach a woman, in Swahili.

Thats right. Swahili. As in Africa.

Here in Lemoyne we teach many immigrants who come from many different countries in Africa who have been driven to Canada from the various wars and turmoils of the region. These immigrants don't always speak French but have a desire to learn of the things we teach of. After saying many prayers as to how we could help these people we found a preach my gospel that had been lying in our apartment gathering dust for more than two years. Through studying it and comparing it to the english one. We were able to teach a woman in her native language.

I know that the Gift of Tongues is given to missionaries as I have seen it almost everyday out here trying to learn French. I know this church is true and that God loves us and answers our prayers. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Mungu Awabaliki, May God bless you

Sister Cummings