Happy Easter!

(Anziano Wilkinson)
This past week was pretty crazy for us, but full of really cool experiences! Most amazing of all, we got the chance to have an apostle of the Lord, Elder D Todd Christofferson come and talk to us and teach us many wonderful things about the gospel and about life. He basically gave us the unique opportunity to have our own AMA event (ask me anything) one on one with him. Many wonderful questions were asked and many even more wonderful answers were given and I'm sure many prayers were answered in the process. It was very cool to see Elder Christofferson and the other present general authorities and their spouses respond to these questions live. One could tell from the inspired answers that these men and women were giving that they were speaking the answers that were coming to their hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost.

The whole event left me very uplifted and encouraged to press forward and serve the Lord with more with more diligence in the work that we are called to do here in Italy. But the overarching impression that I received as I listened to these questions and answers is that answers to our spiritual questions are not exclusive to these leaders, whose spiritual strength is arguably very high. We too (and that means all of us) have the right to receive our own personalized answers to our important spiritual questions! The Holy Ghost is the means by which we "may know the truth of all things" and is not exclusive to anyone! Whether our questions are big, like knowing where we come from or where we are going after this life, or small, like knowing how to best help someone in need of a little bit of encouragement, we have access to the Holy Ghost to help us find our answers.

I invite everyone to ponder an important question that you have and then bring it to our Heavenly Father in prayer. I know that if you "ask in faith, nothing wavering" you will find your answer. Our Heavenly Father is dying to give you an answer! All you have to do is ask in sincerity and he will show you your answer through the Holy Ghost. Our father in heaven answers prayers; he loves us. So don't let your questions go to waste! Ask them!

Have a great week and remember that the answers to your questions are only as far away as your next prayer. Happy Easter!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

P.S. go check out this website at FollowHim.mormon.org! It's a beautifully made website to help us remember the savior this Easter season. Also, there are some beautifully made videos there that you all should watch!

Yeej zoo siab tshaj moo zoo!

(Elder Cummings)

Elder Ostler and I have been working very hard this week finding, teaching, and rolling egg rolls.  This week was the ward's annual egg roll fundraiser for the young men and young women and we made sure to go to support them.  Hmong egg rolls are the best.

This last Sunday was the best Sunday yet for having members at sacrament meeting.  We've been teaching several families lately and that has been blessing our work tremendously.  We have seen miracles this week.

We started teaching an older woman, Houa Vang, this week who lost her husband in mid-February.  She has no Christian background, and is living in Kingsburg for a few more weeks before she goes back home to Seattle.  When we sat down with her Elder Ostler and I both experienced an outpouring of the gift of tongues as we taught together the most powerful lesson in Hmong on my mission to date.  We taught and testified of the nature of God and of Houa's own divine nature and taught her how to pray.  She started out unwilling to pray, but as we followed the impressions we were receiving we were able to help her to understand how the gospel and a relationship with God will bless her life.  Before we left she said one of the most humble prayers in Hmong I have heard, a prayer full of faith.  Elder Ostler and I are both so happy to be helping her come to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ better in the few more weeks she will be in town.

Debbie is doing great too.  She admitted to having tried to avoid us lately, but that she couldn't deny that our random visits continued to answer her prayers.  We stopped by Sunday before church to re-invite her to come, and all of her children were begging to go.  So she did and loved the Spirit that was there.

The ward has been putting a big focus on less actives this year, so Elder Ostler and I have made visiting less active members a bigger priority.  We tried by Robert, someone who I worked with a few months ago when I was on west side, and he said that he was ready to come back.  A huge change!  A miracle in his life and in ours!  It made me so happy when I saw him in the back of the gospel principles class.

I love being a missionary!

With love,

Elder Cummings

Green Transfers

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This past week we had transfers. Elder Skinner went off to Como (apparently that is where George Clooney lives) and my new companion Elder Green came to Verona to be with me from Pesaro. Elder green and I get along very well and have been finding a great deal of success together. Everyone we talk to seems to be interested to learn more about the restoration of the gospel! Elder Green is from New  York and is a pretty nerdy guy like myself, so naturally our conversations tend to center around nerdy things haha. I'm really looking forward to this transfer with him and I am excited to see what we can accomplish together!

This P-day we stumbled across an American carnival, and a pretty cool one too. Let's just say that we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit with the bumper cars. No worries though mom, the doctors said the whiplash should go away in a few days ;). It was kind of interesting to see a carnival in Italy; it's not a very common sight. For me though it was almost like I was back in America again! Sometimes it's nice to have a taste of home, whether in the form of peanut butter or a carnival haha.

This week I was reading in Ephesians chapter 6, which talks about putting on the armor of God. It's a classic scripture but really one that brings a lot of thought. Are we preparing ourselves each day as much as we could? Do we take the time to dress ourselves with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and the spirit, among many other important things? I think we can all do better about this. The promise is clear and well worth the effort. Paul explains that when we out on the full armor of God, we are "able to withstand... the evil" that we encounter everyday. I invite everyone to tie the time to put on the full armor of God each day, starting today!

It starts with the he simple things, like prayer and scripture study. But it also requires us to take a proactive role, helping and serving where we can. If we do this we will find ourselves far more prepared to face the trials that are thrown at us each day and that we will have the capacity to withstand evil. Have great week everyone and remember to put on the armor of God!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

The Gospel Blesses Families

(Elder Cummings) 

I love missionary work!  I love the joy that comes from it!  There has been nothing in my life so far that brings me the same kind of joy as sharing the gospel.  It is a universal message.  No matter what your walk of life may be, no matter what age you are, no matter the color of your skin, the size of your shoes, the bounce in your step or level of interest the gospel of Jesus Christ will resonate in your very soul when presented by the Spirit of God.

I have seen that miracle this week.  This week more than any other I have been being bold in sharing what I know with everyone I see.  While I haven't been perfect I know I am being blessed for my efforts.

The spiritual highlight of my week was when we contacted a man named Daniel in the parking lot of his apartment complex.  A father of three daughters living in humble circumstances, but most importantly a son of the true and living God living through this time of probation.  We talked with him of the joy of families, of God's plan for families, and of the Prophet Joseph Smith through whom we know such a marvelous truth!  After telling him that God intends for him and his children to be together as a family for eternity he turned to his daughter Sariah and asked "you don't really want to be with a mean old dad like me forever, do you?"  She looked up, looked him right in the eyes, and said with the voice of a four year old and the wisdom of a lifetime that "Yes, Dad.  I want to."  Daniel was visibly moved and agreed to allow missionaries to come by another day to share with him more of the truths that God has revealed through living prophets.

We have an amazing opportunity in this life to repent and to "prepare to meet God" (Alma 34:32).  We have an amazing opportunity to live with our families "for time and for all eternity" (132:18).  God does not intend for the greatest source of human happiness to end at a graveside.  His vision for His children is far more grand and glorious than we can presently comprehend.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the foundation of God's plan for us "to be successful in this life and to return to live in His presence" "(Preach My Gospel chapter 3, "God is Our Loving Heavenly Father").  I bear to you all my witness of His miraculous birth, His sinless life, and His eternal glory.  "There is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, the mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah" (2 Nephi 2:8).  Of this I testify in His sacred name, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

With love,

Elder A. Jared Cummings

P.S. I hope you all spend time reflecting on what the Savior has done for you this Easter season.  There is a wonderful video put out by the Church to help us remember His sacrifice.  I invite you all to check it out and to share it. FollowHim.mormon.org

The Book of Mormon Changes Lives

(Elder Cummings)

The Pioneer Park East area is taking off again!  We had a great week for finding, for teaching, for people coming to church, and the Spirit is with us!  Elder Ostler and I are doing great work together.

Yesterday I finished reading all the way through the Book of Mormon.  That brought me back to the first time I read it several years ago.  From then I have learned and progressed in my understanding of the gospel, but everything I have learned and can learn is built upon that foundation I gained in my youth.  I am so grateful for parents who taught me to love the scriptures early.

I love seeing the Book of Mormon change the lives of the people we teach.  It is so wonderful to watch as they gain hope and faith as days of diligent reading build upon each other, preparing the individual for baptism.  One of the people we saw this week, Debbie, is a wonderful example of this.  A single mother with a desire to know the truth.  As she has read the introductory pages she has felt the Holy Ghost bear testimony to her heart, and she has listened.

Mai Yang is another wonderful mother who's life has been impacted by the Book of Mormon.  She speaks fluent Hmong, but can only read Thai.  We were able to get her a copy that she could read and she has learned from her study the truth of the divine pattern of prophetic dispensations: that God works through living prophets, through all the generations of man (Amos 3:7).

Several of the other people we teach cannot read, so we read for them, and as they listen they feel the power of the words.  They too come closer to Christ.

I know for myself the truth of the message we missionaries teach.  I know it helps all men and women draw closer to Christ.  I have seen it in my own life, in the lives of my parents and sibling, and in the lives of the Hmong people of Fresno California.  The same blessings are available to all of us!

-Elder Jared Cummings

Another Wonderful Week

(Elder Cummings)

This week was a fun one. I have only ever led out an area three times before this week and I loved it! It was hard but that made my prayers better and my resolve to follow the Spirit even greater. I love the confidence I have gained in doing so. There was one less active member we were trying to contact who wasn't home. The children were and told us when the parents would be available. We got back in the car, figured out how to get where we were going next, and then under the direction of the Spirit got back out of the car, knocked on the door again and taught these young children who had never seen missionaries before the message of the restoration through their screen door. It was neat. The numbers for this week are low, but we have been working hard to be exactly obedient and to go where the Spirit sends us. I love it.

Elder Ostler is great. He is incredibly humble and willing to learn. We are spending most of the day speaking Hmong to each other and his language is progressing VERY quickly. His teaching skills are improving rapidly too. I've been spending some time praying about the direction God wants me to take with training him and the theme has been consistent: teach him to follow the Spirit. That is what I've been trying to do, laying down the fact that our teaching styles contrast pretty strongly and just focusing on the one teaching skill that matters most. I am excited for him.  He is a powerful missionary!

Teaching has been slower this week, but it all ended on a high note.  Sunday night we met eight people, two different families that are well prepared to be baptized and are progressing towards it.  An entire week of difficult days to work through and at the end of it we were blessed so tremendously.

I have been thinking this week about the amazing blessing it is to have a living prophet on the earth today.  We have a literal connection with God, the same connection He has always sought to establish among His children.  It is in keeping with a divine pattern that we see all through the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  It is also part of God's pattern to give evidence of such a prophetic calling, specifically marking those that began new dispensations, periods of time where God's people on the earth were guided by a prophet.  We read in Exodus 4:1-8 of such signs being given to Moses, and later in Exodus about even more signs being giving to the Egyptians.  Prophets such as Noah, Lehi, and Samuel the Lamanite knew of the wickedness of the people, and prophesied against it, in such a way that their divine call was manifest.  Jesus Christ himself was full of such signs.  He spent His life performing miracles and at the end of it He preformed the greatest miracle of all, His Atonement.  Joseph Smith followed this pattern as well with the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon.  A miracle!  As with all miracles it is enough to strengthen faith, but is not the source of faith itself.  Faith is manifest in seeking to know, and the confirmation from the Holy Ghost that follows builds on that. 

I love missionary work.  It is so great to do so much good in the world.  I love seeing people's lives changed by this gospel.  It is a miracle.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Jared Cummings

Snow!

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week we got to venture up into the mountains of Trento with a friend of ours here in Verona and enjoy the fresh mountain air, snow, and most of all, the sheer silence! You never know how much you're missing something like a little bit of quiet when you're surrounded by loud and cramped Italian cities. It was so amazing to just listen to the birds sing and take a second to reflect among the trees and fresh air. It was a great reminder of the sheer beauty of this earth and the many amazing things that inhabit it! Venturing out into nature and taking a second to soak it all in is a great way to bring everything in this life better into perspective.

As I mentioned, we got to see snow! I had figured that I wasn't going to get to see any this year, which made me sad because I love the snow, but to my surprise, as we drove up higher and higher into the mountains, we began to see little deposits here and there that hadn't quite gotten around to melting yet. Then, as we climbed higher, it kept getting more and more prevalent. At places there was easily three feet of snow built up from a snow fall that apparently had happened a few days ago. We were very excited about this and absolutely had to take the occasion to have a snowball fight and built a snowman! Have a snowball fight on top of a mountain in Italy: Check!

This week as I was reading in 2 Corinthians chapter six, I was struck by verses 14 through 18. They say, "what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?... And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God... Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." I really like the logic of this verse, for if we profess ourselves to be followers of God and seekers of "anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy", then we can't harbor a "communion... with darkness". We must be on one side or the other; darkness and light cannot exist together, for one casts out the other. We should be separate from the worldly things of this life, after all, the reward is more than worth it: "touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters." I invite each of you to look for ways in your lives where you can replace a little darkness with a little more light! Stay away from "the unclean thing[s]" and seek for those things that naturally make us happy, like family time and service, and shed some light in the lives of those around you while you're at it!

Have a great week and remember to shed some more light while you're at it!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson