Miracles, Miracles and more Miracles!

(Elder Cummings)

It has been an amazing week! For the second week in a row we have had a baptism. I have been promised that I would see many of the house of Israel come to the covenants, that I would receive them with rejoicing, and continue to build the kingdom with vigor and enthusiasm! That matches perfectly how I feel! The baptism last night was for three convert-aged children and one child of record. Words cannot describe how happy I felt to have so many dressed in white!

As soon as we begin to empty our teaching pool into the font the Lord fills it back up again! Saturday night at 8 pm we were in a lesson with what became three new investigators. It was powerful! It was picture perfect "how to begin teaching" setting, and the teaching was to the people's needs. At some point in the last week or two I saw a clip from something David A. Bednar did, a question and answer about his calling as an apostle. He spoke about why he does question and answer style discussions in so many of his interactions with the saints. As part of his response, he said "So it's not a large corporation. And the apostles are not the board of directors. This is an individual work. The Savior knows people by name. He knows their circumstances. And He directs us in our work to bless the lives of individuals, not run a gigantic organization." Teach people, not lessons! Teaching that lesson to Bertha, Jessica, and Armando, I was focusing on the individuals. I had the liberty to do so because I trust that I know the doctrine well enough not to have to worry about what I am saying, and I have the same kind of trust in my companion. The teaching setting was powerful. All three of them accepted a date. Bertha and Jessica came to stake conference. Bertha and Jessica came to our Preach My Gospel baptism. Bertha and Jessica's member fellowship took them on a church tour (without us saying anything to encourage it) while waiting for the baptism to begin. Bertha is already reading the Book of Mormon faithfully and is already inviting those she meets to her baptism. Bishop Castleton has met them. We have a member present set up for our return appointment, and the team-up is on board to schedule the return lesson in their home. This has been the best investigating situation from beginning to now that I have seen. When they are baptized on November 12 they will be the first that I have ever baptized found through missionary efforts. The night before we taught them I had been praying for the opportunity to baptize someone found through missionary efforts. Bertha's family came to us as a referral from the Spanish elders talking with those they see. I prayed the week before for direction in finding. I felt I was doing all I knew how to be led to those who are prepared to receive the message of the restoration. I prayed that the Lord would lead them to me. Last night a sister called us to schedule a time to meet her and her nonmember brother who wants to be baptized. We see them tonight. Over the phone we set a date for November 26. We are also teaching Foua's sons almost daily to help them be prepared for baptism on the 5th with Foua. Our first month together Elder Perkins and I didn't baptize. Our second month together we baptized two. Third month to date we have had four convert baptisms. Next month we are already set up for at least seven. This is exciting and invigorating!

My personal studies have been incredible this week. I have learned things about the atonement I had never supposed. It finally clicked today as to WHY the Holy Ghost brings remission of sins. I found that answer as I studied the Savior's response to temptation in Matthew 4. It connects to Matthew 12:43-45, the JST of said verses, and the sacrament prayers. I have pondered deeply Alma 34 and 42. This week I truly have grown in gratitude for my Savior and in understand of why it had to be Him. I feel deeply blessed with this knowledge. True religion is revealed religion!

The work progresses!  This is true joy!

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

Mac n Cheese

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week has been a good one. Anziano Larsen and I have been keeping nice and busy and I have been helping him to get a taste of Italian cuisine along the way. On a more American note, however, this week we decided to take on the challenge of making Mac n Cheese for lunch despite the lack of cheddar in Italy. So in order to find the appropriate substitute we decided to make a meat and cheese plate for one of our meals. It was amazing, to say the least. Anziano Larsen go the chance to sample for the first time all of the most common meats and cheeses and I got to chow down along side him.

After our very "scientific" inquiry into which cheese would serve as the best substitute for cheddar, we decided to try a combination of cheeses. The result didn't taste at all like traditional Mac n Cheese, but it still tasted amazing; probably better! We're going to continue to try new combinations until we find the best one, so wish us luck!

We also had a zone training this week for all the missionaries in our zone. Among the topics discussed was sincere prayer, which I found to be quite helpful. It helped me to think more on the sincerity of my own prayers. I think often prayer can be overlooked sometimes, but truly when we put our heart into our prayers we begin to see the Lord work even greater miracles in our lives. When we pray, do we have real intent to act on the promptings we receive? Do we strive to do our part after we have prayed or do we just talk the talk? Do we fall into hasty, repetitious patterns or do we speak from the heart?

The difference between a meaningful prayer and one said without meaning is like night and day. Prayer is like a conversation with our Father in Heaven; we express our gratitude to Him and petition for help and guidance and He responds through feelings and promptings of the Holy Ghost. If we were to ask our earthly fathers, for instance, for something (like a car or money to go to the movies) with a half-hearted attempt, then we are not very likely to get what we are looking for. The same is true with our Heavenly Father. When we don't really put our hearts into our prayers and petitions, He   gives with an equally pathetic response. But when our prayers are sincere and meaningful, He gives us an outpouring of blessings. If we want to access the blessings our Father in Heaven offers us, then we must ask as Moroni teaches in in the Book of Mormon, "with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ" then "he will manifest" unto us the blessings we seek (Moroni 10:4). This principle is so true! I've seen the difference that sincere prayer makes in my life and it never ceases to amaze me. God answers the prayers of His sincere children!

Have a great week and strive to make your prayers a little more meaningful while you're at it!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

I didn't get a picture of the Mac n Cheese, but here's a picture of the amazing meat and cheese plate! And yes, there are indeed ten different cheeses on that plate haha.

Another week hard at work

(Elder Cummings)

This has been a busy, busy week. We spent a big part of preparation day switching Atwater 1 and 2's apartments and had our zone meeting on Monday, Exchanges with the assistants were on Tuesday (I got to go proselyte in the mountains again), we trained at trainer/trainee and DLC (district leader council) on Wednesday, our quarterly temple trip was on Thursday, and yesterday we spoke in church and had a baptism. It all blurs together. It has been a memorable week for sure.

The baptism was for Aly Sanchez!  We were not expecting this to happen until next month, but things fell in place and last night we had a beautiful service.  She is the first person to be baptized in the newly organized McKee ward!  At some future day she will be the answer to a trivia question.  Take note of it now.

Next weekend we will be baptizing four, hopefully five, primary children that we have been teaching. Two, hopefully three, of the will be convert baptisms. That will bring the McKee ward to 6, hopefully 7, convert baptisms for the year. Our new bishop, Bishop Castleton is very happy with this and he is fully behind the work of salvation. He is taking handbook 2 to be his guide in that he is striving to "give priority to member missionary work" (5.1.1). We are looking forward to working with him and are happy for the missionaries who will be working with him in the future. It will be a great experience.

Foua is still doing well. She is making plans to be better at budgeting and getting a second job so that she is not financially dependent on her dad and can get baptized without serious financial repercussions. The process is slower moving now, but this is good! She is moving towards self-sufficiency. That is a huge change from where she was when I first met her. The gospel is changing her life! Whenever we see her she brings up times she has felt the Spirit.  She has seen an almost night and day contrast with her children and her home as she has been studying the gospel and bringing her family to church.  At the moment she is not reading in the Book of Mormon daily, favoring the four gospels. The fruits of the Spirit are noticeable in her studies. I trust that she is building real conversion and we are encouraging her to continue studying the life of Christ!

It has been a great week.

With love,

Elder Cummings

Its finally October!

(Sister Ellsworth)

Ola!

How's it going? This week was probably both the longest and shortest weeks so far. It's difficult to describe really... Or maybe I'm just forgetting my English! Haha.

It's starting to feel like October! In other words, it's not wickedly hot and we need a long sleeve shirt. Maybe a jacket at night... It's been beautiful!

I had to buy a new bag this week because my bag from the MISSIONARY MALL like blew up. Turns out a $30 camera bag works 100X better! Advice for future missionaries. Also, don't bring hangers because every missionary apartment has a bajillion hangers everywhere. Also, invest in good watches. I've already gone through three and each has broken or stopped.

We dropped a lot of our investigators this week because they were more interested in talking rather than making changes. It was really hard to let them go but we made sure to keep records of them so missionaries later on can find them. But we have two friends right now! Sanida and Alda! Both are fabulous women who are so humble ad receptive. We love them with all our hearts!

I studied the history of the church this week, from the time that Joseph Smith was instructed to restore Christ's Church until now and those early saints had such courage! They suffered every difficulty and trial with such faith, though i can only imagine how difficult it was. I learned the song Come Come Ye Saints in Portuguese and it is so pretty. It put our perspectives in place and helped us to work harder.

Transfers are next week! I've been here like three months I think... can't really remember honestly. The only bummer thing is that I'm not fluent yet! Still working hard at that. I'm able to translate in church and even take the lead in lessons. While I can have basic conversations and understand at about 90%, I've been focusing on trying to get rid of my accent. It's better to speak a little bit really well than a lot of gibberish!

We were studying Portuguese on the beach overlooking the Rio Tejo and Lisboa.

Sanida! This woman is awesome. We have been so blessed to be able to work with her!

Alda is a missionary's best friend. She is an awesome cook and always sends us home with food and happy hearts! She's tried to marry us off to everyone too, but tells us that she's just sharing the gospel. Uh huh, Alda. We know what you're trying to do!! She doesn't want us to leave, ever.

I love you guys! Miss you tons!

Sister Ellsworth

"That I may receive this great joy"

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week has been a blur! After five long hours on a train, I finally arrived in Milan, on Wednesday evening. The next morning the trainers all met together for a short meeting, then we got to meet our new companions. In all there where 32 new missionaries that came in this transfer, which is a lot, and so there were a lot of missionaries gathered together that morning.

My new companion is named Anziano Larsen from good old Bountiful, Utah. He's a really smart kid and we share a lot of interests it seems, which is fantastic! He studied French pretty seriously for four years and it has clearly helped him as he's started learning Italian. He already speaks and understands much better than I sure did when I was as fresh as him. As a result he has a slight French accent though when he speaks, which is slightly comedic, but with time I'm sure he'll get better about it haha.

I really want Anziano Larsen to have a good experience with his first two transfers, so we have been working really hard here in Ancona and are beginning already to see the blessings of it. It's so rewarding to work hard when our cause is the Lord's cause!

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week, I found a verse that really stuck out to me. It's found in Alma 22, which is when Aaron and his brothers are teaching the king of the Laminates (who were a very wicked and idolatrous people). After Aaron and his brothers finish expounding to this king the true doctrine of Christ and the promise of eternal life to those who live in harmony with Christ's teachings, the king says in verse 15, "What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy."

This once wicked king had experienced a "mighty change of heart" with regards to the teachings of Christ and when he discovered the immeasurable blessings that were promised to those who follow Christ and his teachings, he was ready to give up anything for it. To him the joy that comes from the gift of eternal life was greater than anything he riches or power he could possess on earth. Eternal life is not just immortality, or living forever, but rather living forever with our Father in Heaven. Eternal life means being eternally happy and it is the greatest gift our Heavenly Father can give us.  The blessing of eternal life is not just extended to this great king, however. It's extended to us as well! This blessing is promised to all those who "repent of all [their] sins... and call upon his name in faith, believing that [they] shall receive" (Alma 22:16). We are so blessed to have a Savior who grants us the possibility to repent and improve every day. I'm so grateful for repentance and for what it allows us to become. The Lord doesn't require us to give up kingdoms in order to receive His blessings, He requires a humble heart and faithful persistence. All those who call upon the Lord in faith, seeking to improve, will receive the sublime gift of forgiveness, and all those who make sincere repentance an aspect of their everyday lives are promised the sublime gift of eternal life. What a blessing!

I hope you have a fantastic week and that you remember what amazing blessings have been prepared for us by our loving Heavenly Father!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

More and more miracles

(Elder Cummings)

I want to open up my letter today by again bearing my testimony that the Lord is hastening His work.  The kingdom of God continues to roll forth and one day soon it will fill the earth.

Elder Perkins and I saw one incredible example of this just yesterday.  Diana, the woman baptized two weeks ago, had asked us to fast with her and her husband, Mario, for her step kids Andre and Brianna.  The kids originally were going to be baptized with her, but there was a custody issue with getting permission for the children.  Diana and Mario were pretty broken up about this and with faith they asked us to join them in a special fast.  Diana also felt impressed that on the day of the fast Elder Perkins and I should go by the house of Mario's ex-wife and talk with her about baptism for the kids.  That is exactly what happened, we fasted, and after church we drove up to Atwater to go and meet the mom.

We got out of our car, walked to the doorstep, and knocked.  There was no answer, but we could hear the kids going and telling mom that someone was at the door.  We waited for a bit and knocked again.  At this point step-dad showed up behind us and was not happy.  He was pretty furious that we were there at all.  After about a minute of talking with us on the doorstep his phone rang.

It was his wife who was inside the house.  They talked for a bit, and afterwards the man walked with us to our car and ensured us that there was no reason ever to come back.

Right then, out walk the kids with written permission from mom to be baptized.  Because of the opposition we faced on the doorstep mom became aware of us being there, why we were there, and the man walking us to our car and talking with us some more when there gave enough time for mom to give the permission and for the kids to bring it out.  The fasting and prayers had been answered.

God really wants his children to get baptized.  He prepares a way for those who really want it.

Last night the boundaries in the stake changed as well.  Elder Perkins and I will no be covering the newly created McKee ward as well as continuing to cover the Hmong Branch.  While at this special Sunday night meeting the non-member brother of an active-member sister pulled Elder Perkins aside and told my dear companion that he was ready to be baptized.  With the boundary changes we also have been told about many less-active/part-member families.  This is exciting news!  That field is definitely white and ready to harvest!  Every single person I have taught who has progressed to baptism has been a part-member family with the exception of one, Sou, and now he is inviting his family to start learning.  When members get involved in the work and invite their loved ones to learn more, miracles happen.

I am grateful that I have been able to recognize the hand of God in my life this last week.  He upholds this work.

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings

Ola!

(Sister Ellsworth)

Ola!

This week was a week of some pretty crazy stuff... hold on to your pants.

First off, Natividade was baptized! She's been a long term investigator of the Church for almost a year and we started reteaching her and she was baptized the next week. She's such a sweetheart who loves Christ so much. They don't have much in their home but her family are humble servants of Christ. She taught me that even if you have nothing, you can still be happy and loving towards absolutely everyone!

Next, we have four brothers from Sierra Leone that are investigating as well. We actually met two of the brothers and their father on separate occasions and didn't know until we started teaching them! Crazy! These four brothers range in ages from 15 until 22 and are eager to learn. They have fiery testimonies already and love to talk to all the missionaries about their questions. And the fun part! They speak fluent English! Whoo hoo! We made them cookies for Daniel's birthday and the said: "These things are the best. I'm going to move to America. Do they have these in California?" They are some great guys.

There is also a young man named Rafael who said his first prayer with us the other day. We had been working for a while to try to talk to him and finally we found him outside his house and he couldn't run from us!! Haha just kidding. He has a member friend who has been a great help as well.

The last person we met was this world class body builder named Fabio and holy moly, they guy is huuuuuge... a huge teddy bear! Haha. See what I did there? Anyway, he's got a cute little girl and a cute little boy and we actually met them because the little boy said "Chão, meninas!" on the bus and it was so dang cute we just had to talk to him.

One scripture I was really pondering this week that was mentioned in General Conference was 2 Nephi 25:26 which says: 26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

One thing I noticed about General Conference was the simplicity of the talks. Each one talked about the basics of the gospel and I could have checked off all the points of the restoration, plan of salvation, and the gospel of Christ by the end of conference. Really, it's the little stuff. Go to Church and read the Book of Mormon for goodness sake! I'm so glad for the opportunity to teach the little things and rejoice in Christ, preach of Christ, and help  others come unto Christ.

Love you all!

Sister Ellsworth

Miss Natividade! She gives the best hugs!

Goofy Africans... We had to holler in order to get them to smile XD BTW, the guy next to me chose that hideous shirt to embarrass us in public. But joke's on them! Missionaries have no concept of awkward!!

Natividade and our Elders, Elder Rosenkilde from Norway and Elder Nogueira from Brazil.

The first time we found out our member had a bird was when it landed on my head. It's a nice bird though, don't worry! :)