The Sabbath of Our Lives

(Elder Cummings)

Before I get into what all has happened this week I just want to say that it dawned on me this week that I am already over a tenth done with my missionary service.  That went by fast.  Time does not wait for us to catch up.  Before I know it I will be heading home.  I have mixed feelings about that coming so soon.

That aside, it has been a fantastic week!  We have seen so many miracles this week as we have gone about doing the Lord's work.  They all have come from both obedience and listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  The other night we were filling up the car (an adventure we don't have in New Jersey) when I had the unmistakable prompting to go and give the man working the cash register a copy of the Book of Mormon.  My companion and I marched right in, handed him the book, bore a brief testimony of why we were giving it to him, and left to make it home by curfew.  Before we had even left the gas station he was already bent over, book open, reading.  I cannot say how his story will end, but I can say that God loves him and knows his needs.  On top of that, we have been able to invite four more people this week to be baptized.  That is four more of God's children who are coming to know their Savior better!  That is four more on the path to happiness and eternal life!

Sadly we did not have anyone come to church yesterday.  We had a half dozen people who had told us they would come, but none of them showed.  They missed out on a great primary program, by not-so-great translating abilities, but most importantly they missed out on the sacrament.  They missed the opportunity to remember the sacrifice of Christ in the Lord's appointed way.

God gave us the Sabbath for a reason.  He gave it with the command that we forget ourselves and do His will (Isaiah 58:13-14).  That opportunity is unique and allows us to come to know our God better.  True Sabbath observance will always bring peace of mind and a greater outpouring of the Holy Ghost.  The opportunity to be fully committed is rare.  It does not come unless we seek it.  It is requisite for our salvation (Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, 17:33, John 12:25).

It occurred to me last night as I read the Isaiah reference cited above that I have a real opportunity here as a missionary.  The full verses read:

"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

"Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."

As missionaries we have the chance to "turn away...from doing [our] pleasure" on this holy day of our lives.  The blessings are real.  The more we give ourselves up, the more we do the Lord's will, the more we love the work.  You can have a great time without fully consecrating yourself to this work, but the same blessings aren't realized.  When we commit ourselves fully to this work the Lord causes us to "ride upon the high places of the earth," and we are blessed in each of our own missions, in every area we serve, in our own promised lands.  The blessings of the covenants missionaries make are realized. 

This opportunity is unique and may never come again.  This is a time when I can turn my life fully over to God.  This is the Sabbath of my life, and I am loving it!

-Elder Jared Cummings

Commozione Cerebrale

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week has really been an interesting one. You know what they say,

it's all fun a and games until someone gets hurt! We believe my

companion has a minor concussion (hence the title of this blog post)

from playing a little too much soccer a few days ago. As a result, we

are confined to very few options for the next few days while he

recovers, Sorella Dibb's orders. I'm perfectly fine though, so don't

worry about me!

We met some really cool people this week on the streets, on the

trains, and just about anywhere else you can think. It's kinda fun to

just go and talk to people that you've never met before, especially

for me now that I can mostly understand them with a bit of effort!

However, I still say some pretty goofy things like when I mispronounce

the word for "suffered" and say something to the effect of "Christ was

deep-fried for our sins". Fun stuff!

We tend to have the best conversations with people at the oddest

moments, like when we go to snag some pizza (it's super cheap and

super tasty here, it's amazing) before heading back to the apartment

at night! In that specific instance we ran into a Sri Lankan couple

who was vacationing in Italy for their 48th anniversary and they were

very interested in our message about Christ. They spoke English too!

It's always neat to run into people who are prepared to receive our

message, even if they are tourists!

I've learned a lot about talking to strangers about the gospel just in

the past few days, in particular I realized that you can look all day

and you will never find a perfect moment to talk to someone. Something

will always make every situation sub-optimal, like a car horn going

off or a dog barking. When it comes to perfect moments, they are

nowhere to be found, perfect moments can only be made. And the only

way to make perfect moments is to just jump in and trust in Heavenly

Father! And that's the case for talking with anyone about the gospel!

If you take the leap of faith, the moment will be made perfect for

you, because Heavenly Father really, really wants that person that

you're talking to to hear the gospel and get the chance to receive it!

He loves them and he will make due with whatever nonsensical sentences

come out of your mouth. Trust me, I am well acquainted with

nonsensical sentences!

So I challenge you all to go and talk to someone about the gospel! The

best part is you don't even need to worry about what to say; the words

will be given to you through the Holy Ghost as you take the leap of

faith! So go try it, because there is great joy in doing so, in being

an instrument in the hands of the Lord!

Have a great week everyone!

-Anziano Wilkinson

Welcome to Fresno!

(Elder Cummings)

I am here!  I made it!  Nine short weeks at the MTC and now it has happened.  I have been pleasantly surprised with how much Hmong I actually know and understand.  I was all ready to translate in Sacrament Meeting this week, but with the forest fires in the area raining ash down on us I've developed a cough that wasn't going to make the job easy.  Speaking of rain, it is raining today!  My trainer, Elder Ballard, said this is the eighth time in almost two years that he can remember.  That hopefully will help these fires calm down a bit.

The same day the new missionaries arrive they go out and begin teaching.  Such was the case with me and the seventeen other missionaries who arrived with me.  We went out with our temporary companions (we got our actual companions the next day) and began teaching.  My companion for the day took me to an area where we were sure to meet Hmong people, and we did!  We talked to many Hmong that day.  There was even a lesson we taught where I understood everything that was going on and was able to participate.  Then there was another lesson we taught in Hmong where I didn't catch a word.  The accent of the speaker matters a lot.

The entire experience reminds me of a verse, 1 Corinthians 2:1, in which Paul, the evangelist known well for his bold approach to missionary work, describes himself teaching.  He writes, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God."  I definitely connect with that.  I feel pretty good about my language skills, especially for only having been studying for ten weeks, but my Hmong definitely is not "excellency of speech."  My sentence, although they are spoken in Hmong, are still most definitely of English structure and style.  I can be understood, but just barely.  I do not understand Hmong proverbs.  I definitely have not come to Fresno with much "wisdom" as it pertains to the Hmong culture.  In spite of all of this I have come declaring unto the Hmong people the testimony of God, and I am "determined not to know any thing among [them], save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). 

It is amazing to me what faith can do.  Faith in Jesus Christ motivates upwards of 80,000 young men and women all over the world to give up two years or eighteen months of their lives to serve their fellowmen preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That is incredible to me.  That sacrifice brings with it an undeniable power.

Faith is a real power.  Sacrifice brings real blessings.  There is so much more I could say on the topic, but my email time for the week is running short so I need to wrap it up.  I know that my Redeemer lives.  I believe that Jesus is the Christ and that He did give his life to atone for the sins of all mankind.  "He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities...and with his stripes we are healed" (Mosiah 14:5).  I truly do believe that with all my heart.  There is a way for peace in this life and in the life to come.  That way is Christ's way.

I hope you all have a great week!  If any of you want to send me a letter via the US Postal system, my address has now changed to 1814 N. Echo Ave. Fresno, California, USA 93704.  Thank you to all of you who sent me mail while I was at the MTC and thank you all for the emails you send me!  Both are highlights of my week, every week.

With love,

Elder A. Jared Cummings

White Castles #Nottheburgerplace

(Sister Cummings)

Hello everyone!! Yet again we are doing our emails on a Tuesday due to our having a zone conference yesterday. As the conference was in Montreal we had chosen to take the metro into the city to save up on kilometres. It was quite a moment when I realized about exactly a year ago this was the only mode of transport that I had had. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have a car now but sometimes in our cars we forget how big the world is. Particularly Montreal. We felt the spirit so strongly as we talked about the Sabbath.

It was an important moment in the training where we discussed the importance of a vision, and how having a vision helps us to fix goals. Such as when we understand the importance of the sacrament we come to realize the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

I would love to explain more of I learned but I sadly do not have time to give all the details, but I would love to share the application of this concept.

This week one of our investigators attended church for the first time. Vanessa is what most missionaries call golden, but what we in Laval like to call Soifers. Soif in French means thirsty and when studying how there are those thirsting after righteousness and truth this frangle phone word was formed. She has been studying religions for seven years with all branches of religion. Branching from Muslim even to Jehovahs Witness. Our lessons with her have been really edifying and miraculous and when she was finally able to attend church we were so excited. As was she.

After an amazing sacrament meeting and gospel principles class we took a few minutes before the third hour of church to prepare her for the combined meeting discussing the soon to be rededicated Montreal Temple. We gave her a crash course on temples and showed a picture of a couple. When she saw them she immediately described everyone of them as a white castle where princes and princesses lived. When we told her that marriages were taken place there her eyes lit up. The meeting gave an even better lesson on what a temple was and focused on many aspects of the open house.

After church we met with Vanessa. And one of her first things she asked was when could she be baptized because she wanted to be able to enter the temple and receive the blessings from there. Once she realized that the vision we were helping her have was focused on receiving the covenants of the temple she immediately wanted to be baptized. We set a baptismal date and on the way back to our car did a happy dance. This NEVER happens. Well it never happens by our own works, only by God was this moment able to take place.

I am so happy to be a missionary here and to be able to teach people of the gospel. Which teaching helps me to learn more of how much God loves us. My testimony has grown so much and I cannot imagine a life without my mission. Particularly the principles I am learning from partaking in this labor of love.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I ask that you may keep Vanessa in your prayers that she may be able to be baptized October 10th.

I love you!

Sister Cummings

Thinking of Him

(Anziano Wilkinson)

We had a very successful week this week, which was really cool! Also

the language is coming along well for me; I have gotten to the point

where I can read out of the Book of Mormon in Italian and not have to

translate in my mind what is being said! I don't have all the vocab

and I'm slow, but to me it's a big step nonetheless! Also, my brother

came home yesterday from his mission and even though I don't get to be

there with him, I still got to live a little bit of the excitement

vicariously through videos and pictures (yes, for all you single

ladies out there, he's still handsome).

Other than being very busy this week there wasn't much that went on

besides getting to go to Lucca this week. That city is very close to

Pisa by train and is super popular for tourism (I'm really not sure

why though, it's just like all the others, with the possible exception

of it having a whole museum devoted to ancient torture techniques,

which is... Interesting... But anyway, I digress).

We ride trains a bunch in my area, so we get lots of time to talk to

people on those trains. Often times it's tourists that we talk to

though, seeing as this is Pisa after all. But regardless, we talk with

them (in English when we can, thank goodness) and somehow always end

up giving directions in the end; here in Pisa everyone is a part-time

director of clueless tourists, including us haha. On the bright side

though, tourist season is dying down and with it the summer heat!

I've been reading out of Jesus the Christ whenever I can find time and

it really has strengthened my testimony of the Savior and

understanding of the gravity of His sacrifice for us. The book is

great and the doctrines contained in it are magnificent! Most

noteworthy though, to me, is that it has helped me to keep my thoughts

more fully centered on Him and His work amid countless things that try

to distract me every day, namely, learning the language as quickly as

I can. I've noticed that as I remember to make Christ the center of

every aspect of my day, every aspect of missionary work is enhanced.

Including learning the language! So on that note, I invite everyone

back home to turn your thoughts to the Savior more often each day.

It's a simple thing to do and yet I promise it will enhance your

lives! The more we remember the Savior and desire to keep Him in our

hearts, the more we will feel his support and strengthens power!

Have a great week every one and don't forget to think of Christ!

-Anziano Wilkinson

I Am a Child of God

(Elder Cummings)

This is my last email from the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.  These nine weeks have gone by so fast.  It really blows my mind at how fast it has come and gone.  Elder LaRose, my companion, leaves tomorrow morning at 3:30, so I now have less than fifteen hours with him!  We have become great friends.  The MTC has been full of memories.  In 48 hours I will be in Fresno, California.  This is when the fun begins!

I have learned more about the California Fresno Mission this week.  For Hmong speakers there are two areas currently.  There is a chance that a third one could be opened if another Hmong Elder comes along in addition to me.  All the Hmong missionaries attend the same congregation for the entire duration of their mission, although they do switch apartments every so often.  Not a typical LDS missionary experience, but I am looking forward to it!

This week we had the opportunity to hear from another member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Dallin H. Oaks.  His address to us missionaries focused on the Plan of Salvation and its central purpose in the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Living Christ, a document produced by the church in 2000, bears testimony of Christ's life, stating "He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of the premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for sons and daughters of God in the life to come."  Everything we do in this life is intended to prepare us to RETURN to live with God.  All saving ordinances, all commandments, and all gospel principles are made with that purpose in mind.  As Elder Oaks said, "this life is the second act of a three act play."  Understanding our relationship with God is essential to our progression in the gospel.

And we are literal spirit children of an omnipotent God.

There is a children's hymn entitled "I am a Child of God" that teaches this truth.  Beginning in the first verse it states:

"I am a child of God,

And he has sent me here,

Has given me an earthly home

With parents kind and dear."

We are children of God.  He did send us here with the intent that we can learn and progress.  When we lived with God before we did not have bodies of flesh and blood like our Father.  We existed as merely spirits.  God loved us enough to give us the opportunity to have physical bodies.  Under the direction of the Father, Jesus Christ, the literal Firstborn of the Father, was the creator of the earth.  "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3).  God sent us to this earthly home through physical families, families modeled after the one we came from and the one we hope to return to.  The family is essential to God's plan for our mortality and our eternity.  The bodies we posses in mortality are imperfect, capable of sickness and death, but through the Atonement of the Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, we can be raised in perfect bodies like our Father and now our Savior have, for "he (Christ) breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory" (Alma 22:14).

The song goes on:

"I am a child of God,

And so my needs are great;

Help me to understand his words

Before it grows too late."

We are children of God.  Our potential is limitless.  As C.S. Lewis once stated, "you have never met a mere mortal."  We have needs, spiritual needs, that need to be met if we are to live up to our divine potential.  These needs are met through the gospel of Jesus Christ, through "first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; thirs, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Articles of Faith 1:4) And that is not the end!  As the prophet Nephi wrote "and now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold I, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.  Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life" (2 Nephi 31:19-20).  To have salvation we must do more than get on the path, more than standing behind the Savior.  We must continue on the path and follow His example.  Christ invites all to follow Him.  The invitation is extended to all who hear.  "Come and follow me" (Matthew 19:21).

In verse three we sing:

"I am a child of God.

Rich blessings are in store;

If I but learn to do his will

I'll live with him once more."

Rich blessings are in store!  God desires so much for us and all that He asks is that we "learn to do his will."  God "knoweth all things" (2 Nephi 2:24) and He "loveth his children" (1 Nephi 11:17).  We are His children!  He wants only the best for us.  His will is His will because that is the only path for us to have the full measure of happiness, the happiness that comes from living with Him once more.  God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance (Alma 45:16).  Why?  Because if He allowed sin He would be denying us the full measure of happiness that is available to us.  He loves us too much to allow that.  The gospel is a message that brings happiness.  It is a message that brings us again into the presence of our Father.  It is the path whereby we return.  It is the way for our families to be together forever.

Then there is the chorus:

"Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,

Help me find the way.

Teach me all that I must do

To live with him someday."

The Savior does lead us, He does guide us, He does walk beside us, and when the times get hard He does carry us.  He is always there to help us.  He has taught us all that we must do through the example of His matchless life and He continues to instruct us through prayers and the personal revelation that accompanies the Holy Ghost.  I bear solemn testimony that through the power of Jesus Christ's Atonement we will live again with Him.  We will again live with our Father.  We will again live with our Brother and Savior.  Our mortality has a purpose.  It is the second act in a three act play.

With love,

Elder A. Jared Cummings

Miracles as Usual

(Sister Cummings)

So due to Canada actually using their Holidays as a day off for everyone, thus stores were closed yesterday for Labor day. (What is up with that? It is legitimately something that still surprises me every time. You mean people actually DO want to rest and not make as much money as is possible? This really is not the United States) Our mission president changed our P-Day to today. Which was great because yesterday we were able to see so many people! However we did run out of food and had to make do with Macaroni and Cheese, or as they call it here KD (Kraft Dinner.) Apparently Mac and Cheese refers to something else =)

This week has been great and full of miracles! However it started off on a rough note. I woke up on Tuesday morning with a pain in my stomach so bad that it hurt to even walk to the bathroom. It ended up last for three days. The last of which we attempted to see a doctor but were unable to be able to get in that day. Either way it was not fun and Thursday night we were trying to find members who would be able to do member splits with us as we are thankfully in a trio. But no one was answering, and those who did were not able to join us due to prescheduled events. We were looking at another day stuck in the apartment or another one spent at the doctors office. Not fun. We decided to say a pray, in which it was asked that God show us what must be done. Right after the prayer two members called back both saying that they were not able to join us but that they were going to pray very hard for me. We hung up still worried of what to do, and then it clicked. I decided that I was going to be healed. After all there were people praying for me, and in my own prayer that night I told God that I knew I was going to be healed by morning and that he help me to have the energy. It may sound a little brash demanding God for health but the spirit had already revealed to me that it was already a part of the Lords plan.

So then I went to sleep. In the early morning I woke up. The pain was still there but there was something different. It was as if someone was pulling off a heavy weight from my stomach and then suddenly all the pain was gone. I fell back asleep quickly and in the morning woke up completely healed and bouncing with energy. In fact I was the first one out of bed at 6:30.

I know that the Lord responded to my prayers. Just as we read in the scriptures I asked and I received. I knocked and it was opened unto me. I know and I testify of the power that the Lord has and his willingness to listen to our prayers. I know that he blesses me everyday with the opportunity to see his hand in all things just as he blesses everyone. God loves us and with that love miracles are made.

I love you all and I wish you one of the best weeks every. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love

Sister Cummings