Pictures

(Elder Anziano)

Teaching the Atonement in a McDonald's Parking Lot

(Elder Cummings)

This has been another great week!  I'm pretty sure I say that every time, but it is always true!

This week I gave my first blessing in Hmong and had my first teaching appointment in Hmong that didn't feel much different than an English speaking appointment.  The language is coming as fast as I am willing to study it!  I see the literal blessings of the gift of tongues daily.

This week we witnessed another miracle that has been on my mind.  My companion and I were leaving a teaching appointment at McDonalds (yes, it was for teaching only) intending to rush a few blocks over to make it to a Shoua V.'s house for dinner.  Shoua is an incredible example of faith.  She taught herself to read Hmong by staring at the pages of the Book of Mormon and praying.  I could go on and on about the miracle of a person she is.  This miracle isn't about her though.  This miracle is about a less active man who God loves.

As we were leaving McDonalds Elder Ballard stopped to talk to a man in his late twenties or early thirties, arms covered in tattoos, a longboard at his side, and some serious face scruff.  We were already late, so I was not terribly happy that he was using more of our time.  In the words of the Savior found in Doctrine and Covenants 61:3, I was "moving swiftly upon the waters, whilst the inhabitants on either side [were] perishing in unbelief."  The man sat on the curb unresponsive, making me even more impatient as my companion continued to try to get him to talk.

Eventually we got in the car and, as per missionary rules, I guided my companion to back out of the parking space.  As I was doing this the man walked up and began to apologize.  He told me that he was raised a Mormon, that he knew the Church was true and that God lived.  He told me about the path he followed that led him to where he was now, living on the street stuck on crack and crystal meth.  He felt defeated and I felt humbled.

I did the first thing I felt prompted to do, bear testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the potential for all of God's sons and daughters to be saved by its power.  I told him that he was right, that God did live and that he does love him, one of his sons.  I told him that God intends for him to return to live in the Celestial Kingdom, and I bore testimony that I will one day see him there.  I was taught by the words that came out of my mouth.  In front of me stood a man who minutes ago I was not interesting in talking with and now I was promising him access to salvation and eternal life.  The Holy Ghost was guiding my words and was changing my heart.  I began to love this man and made sure that we did not leave before he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon.  It is miraculous that my companion and I continue to run into less active members everywhere we go.  It is miraculous that God put is in the right place at the right time, a place we were not even intending to be when we planned the night before, and that my companion listened to the Spirit in reaching out to one of God's children that felt he had been lost by the wayside.

The Atonement is a real power.  It is capable of freeing us all from all our guilt and cleansing us of all our sins.  As the prophet Isaiah wrote,  through the Atonement "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).  All of us have access to it through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  This gospel is true, and it does change lives.

Have a wonderful week everybody!  I hope you all find an opportunity to reflect on all the ways the hand of God is active in your life.

With love,

Elder Cummings

It Rained, It Snowed, Somebody needs to check on the Old Man

(Sister Cummings)
It happened. It snowed. Sister Rawlings and I were getting ready to leave to an appointment and were wondering what temperature it was, it was then that we looked out the window... DUH duh DuUuUuhH!!!! There they were little white floaty things dropping from the sky. Resigned to our fate we bundled up. Only to find one hour later as we came out of our lesson to not a cloud in the sky and the sun shining. Which two hours later became a hale storm, Then one hour later a rain storm. Then two hours later bright and sunny and then finally just deciding to be snow one hour afterwards.

It was really quite disorienting. It felt by the end of the day as if we had just kind of witnessed three different days at interspersed moments during the twenty-four hours.

So besides the quite bipolar weather we are experiencing Canada is pretty fantastic. As always we have seen a lot of miracles this week. I would like to take the time to share some absolutely amazing once in a lifetime news.

I AM GOING TO BE A TEMPLE MISSIONARY!

Well you know not actually working in the temple but with the Montreal Temple opening its doors for the open house in two weeks I and all the other sisters in my mission have the opportunity to help with the temple! I will be introducing an introductory video before visitors are led to the temple doors as well as welcoming them afterwards to share their experiences.

I am so excited for this! But mostly I am excited for the miracles and blessings it will bring. For those who may not know an LDS Temple is a beautiful building that we build, wherein we may learn more of the truths of this world as well as receive personal revelation to help us through life. Quite literally it is the House of God where we may receive further ordinances that will eventually allow us to live with our Heavenly Father once more.

However unlike our church buildings not everyone is permitted to attend the temple. Just as in times of old only those who have specifically kept the commandments of God and have been baptized by someone holding the proper authority may enter in. Many members even are not found worthy to enter. However all of this is only after the Temple is to be dedicated.

About 18 months ago the Montreal temple was closed for renovations. Apparently the roof had not been designed to hold the weight of snow here in Canada for too long. Starting November 2nd the doors are going to be opened to the public and for the first time in many peoples lives they will have the opportunity to walk through its holy walls. It will then be dedicated the 22nd of November.

I am so excited for this moment. Never would I have ever thought I would have the chance to be a sister missionary here at this time. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so excited for the blessings that will come!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

This was a training I did on Charity. I was pretty proud about that one =)

This is Sister Rawlings and I throwing out Vanessa's coffee =)

This was us heart attacking like bosses. Due to the chest pains we had had a lot of time on our hands and made about 200 little origami hearts.

...It was October and we found this lady outside our apartment...You would be surprised how often this actually happens

Mai L.

(Elder Cummings)

This week Elder Ballard and I hit a bit of a slump in our teaching.  Over the last four weeks our teaching pool has decreased sixty percent.  Not all bad.  We have been able to focus more specifically on the people who are more sincere in wanting to learn.  Sincerity is an issue you run into a lot in Hmong work apparently.  There is literally no word for "no" in Hmong.

All that aside, we have seen miracles!  This week we went to contact a referral in downtown Fresno, only to find that they lived in a gated community.  Naturally we did the missionary thing and went to the call box and began calling the numbers of each Hmong women's name on the residents list.  It wasn't long before we had success.  An old niam tais (grandmother) excitedly said that she would be over the open the gate the moment she heard that we were LDS missionaries.

Mai L. came to let us in, and she wasn't blind like our referral was supposed to be.  As she was leading us to her apartment we did pass the blind Hmong woman we were looking for.  She ended up not being interested after all, but Mai L. was!

Mai was born in 1948 and has spent most of her life in America.  She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in September of 1987 in San Diego and attended church there for five years until she moved across the country for a job.  This was the last contact she had with the Church.  For longer that I have been alive she has had a testimony of Joseph Smith and has not known where she could go to worship.  When we she excited pulled out her "Selections from the Book of Mormon" in Lao we more than excitedly gave her a full Lao translation.  We taught her about the living prophet, a new one to her, Thomas S. Monson and about the things he and the apostles have taught us recently.  We told her about the Hmong ward in Fresno and she excitedly committed to start attending.

We went back to see her on Saturday to follow up with her and introduce her to the members who volunteered to give her a ride to find that she had a friend who she wanted us to teach who spoke only Laotian.  My companion has picked up a little bit of Lao while he has been in Fresno, but that wasn't enough to teach on.  We taught the message of the Restoration in Hmong to Mai, who then taught it in Lao to her friend, who then replied to us in Lao, which Mai translated into Hmong, which my companion translated into English when I wasn't catching it all.  There was a lot going on, but at the end of the lesson, and under the direction of the Spirit we taught about baptism and Elder Ballard was able to commit our new investigator to be baptized in his native tongue.  He accepted!

God works in mysterious ways.  It is hard to grasp the big picture when we are in the moment, but as the plan unfolds in becomes clear who the author was.  God does not forget His children.  He does not leave them comfortless.

Thank you for all the emails!  It has been great to hear from you all about your adventures wherever you are in the world.  I hope you all have a great week!

With love,

Elder Cummings

Sorry the file size is too big to send two pictures together.  This is what I ate this week!

And here is evidence that it really went down!

It came back up later that night.  There was something wrong with the pork.  You're also not supposed to eat the chicken's eyes...oops.

Flowers in the Window

(Sister Cummings)

First off a scripture.

"And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trustin that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit." D&C 11:12

I wanted to take the time to talk about the Holy Ghost. He is the third member of the godhead, whom unlike Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ does not have a body of flesh and bones. He testifies of the Father and the Son and through him we may receive all personal revelation. Though we may sometimes feel the influence of the spirit leading us to do good, it is only after baptism where we receive the ordinance of the gift of the holy ghost. This is a promise that we make with God that his spirit will always be with us as we are obedient to his laws. The Holy Ghost inspires us, just as this scripture says, to choose the right and do good.

As a missionary I rely very heavily on this spirit. It guides me and other missionaries to those who are ready for our message or just need help.

I would like to share two different stories that happened this week. The first starts in the last half hour of our day, after we had passed the entire afternoon passing by every single, less active, Former, and even member in the area yet NO ONE WAS HOME. Needless to say we were frustrated. So channeling this frustration we starting posing uplifting text messages for the sisters that we visit teach. In doing so Sister Rawlings, my companion, spotted a woman walking on the empty sidewalks. She turned to me and asked if she should get out and talk to the lady. Kind of distracted I told her to go ahead and do it. She started to unbuckle her seat but seeing that the lady was almost past, chickened out and buckled back in. It was then that we both realized that it was in fact a prompting of the spirit that we had not followed. But our disappointment didn't last long for just afterwards there is a tap on Sister Rawling's window and the woman is holding one of the most beautiful flowers in the world. The woman's name was Nazli and she had just happened to have this flower in her pocket. We had a wonderful discussion with her and will be seeing her this week to teach her more of the restored gospel.

The second has to do with our investigator Vanessa, who sadly was not baptized this past Saturday but will most definitely be baptized the 24th. We had invited a member to teach her with us. We hadn't exactly thought of this but it turned out that this member who had three months ago lost her husband in an accident, was helping us teach about eternal marriage. There came a moment where the spirit told me to ask her a question. I immediately dismissed it thinking the question would be too difficult or too hurtful. Then yet again the prompting came. Realizing that this was from the holy ghost I turned to the member and asked what it meant for her to be able to be sealed with the one she loved for eternity. What then followed was the strongest most spirit filled testimony of my entire mission.

I know that this church is true. There is no doubt in my mind that we hold the authority to baptize and thus receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have seen it in action. I have seen the reactions. Every fiber in my body bids me to testify that I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore the beloved gospel of Jesus Christ to the Earth. I know that through him we also received the fullness of God's priesthood. I know this and I wish every person on this Earth the chance to know this. That is why I am here on my mission. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Getting Better

(Anziano Wilkinson)

Well, after all the doctors visits and resting, my companion is starting to get better, yet no one has any idea what is actually wrong with him. However, he is doing better and we have been able to return to almost completely normal work now! Anziano Robinson still can't ride bikes though, so we're on foot or in bus wherever we go for probably the rest of the transfer.

In the midst of all this mess of stuff we happened to miss my culture class, which I guess is part of the process to get my visa, so I will have to make up the points by taking an Italian language course. While this will probably take much longer and be a lot less painless, I can't complain because it means more practice with learning Italian! And who knows, it could also prove to be a great way to find people ready to hear the gospel!

This week I was reading in the Book of Mormon and the footnotes led me to Luke chapter 14 verse 27, which reads, "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." This verse is quite blunt and unmistakable in meaning. Christ, the speaker in this verse, is basically telling all those who profess to be His followers that if they aren't willing to endure with Him through think and thin, then they aren't worthy of His association. That lesson in of itself is a powerful and important one that anyone professing Christianity needs to be well acquainted with. However, the JST on this verse continues, revealing further knowledge: "Wherefore, settle this in your hearts, that ye will do the things which I shall teach, and command you."

The phrase "settle this in your hearts" reminds me of the council that I've heard everywhere since before I can remember, particularly when discussing elements of the Word of Wisdom. The council always boils down to something of the effect of, 'don't wait for temptation to befall you to decide to choose the right, decide now and decide once to deny temptation and then stand by that decision.' According to this verse in Luke, this council applies to much more than just the Word of Wisdom. It applies everywhere. "Settle this in your hearts, that ye will do the things which I shall teach, and command you." Simply put, Christ is commanding us to settle in our hearts, or in other words to 'decide now and decide once', to "do the things which [He has taught] and command[ed]" us.

When temptation comes (be it in the form of laziness, telling a lie, or whatever sin it is that "doth easily beset [us]") we should never have a moment where we allow ourselves to rationalize or compromise, our decision should have already been made that we will choose the right! So I invite you all this week to follow the Savior's council to "settle in your hearts" the decision to follow and keep His commandments. Decide to choose what is right before the need to choose arises! I promise that as you do so you will find greater strength in conquering temptation and you will feel more powerfully the love that our Heavenly Father has for you personally. I have seen these blessings come to me many times as I've kept this council; I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and he is always waiting eagerly to bless us for our righteous choices. Make Him proud this week!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

Our Christmas Gift to Christ

(Anziano Wilkinson)

Well, I've officially completed my first transfer in the field! It's crazy to see how fast time flies. At this rate I feel I will be home before I know it, but at the same time it feels (like it should) like I just started! I think clocks run faster in Italy than in the states...

This week we received an invitation from our mission president to read the Book of Mormon from start to finish by Christmas Day, all the while marking references to Christ's attributes and ministry. He is calling it our Christmas gift to Christ, which I kind of really like. Studying the Book of Mormon with an emphasis on Christ like this has really helped me to feel strongly the spirit that the book truly brings. Each time I read from the Book of Mormon I feel the truth of it testified to me in my heart and in my mind, not because of what is actually being said, but because of the shear truth and divinity of it. I think this is a great way for us to show our love for the Savior more abundantly; what better way than to study of Him and then go out and do our bests to serve Him each and every day?

We also watched General conference this week! In English, thank goodness! I really enjoyed the talks that were given this year. However, most noteworthy to me was the spirit that the three new apostles brought in each of their testimonies. It is clear to me that those three men are indeed called of God and that they truly wield His power as special witnesses of Christ. It's so wonderful to me that we have prophets and apostles on the earth today, leading the church of Jesus Christ. I know that they are each chosen of God. Is truth is a really special one that is surprising ply unique to our Church, so go share it with someone this week! Go tell a friend about how we got to here from a living prophet last weekend or that we got to sustain three new apostles! This doctrine is exciting! I invite you to go share your excitement with those who don't yet know about it!

Have a great week everyone and don't forget to live what we just learned in General Conference!

-Anziano Wilkinson

PS, I found out that there is an aqueduct that runs through Pisa!