I'm all Hmong Again

(Elder Cummings)

This week saw the resurrection of the missionary work in the Merced 5th branch.  Initially it was stressful, but with faith and diligence it has all worked out.  In the Hmong branch we taught three times more lessons this week than we have for the last several months.  It is a booming area now!

We visited MANY less active and part member families this week.  My favorite miracle was with a mom and her two sons.  We had a really neat visit based on Elder Holland's talk "Behold Thy Mother."  As we talked the mom, Aiya, was clearly touched by all the nice things her boys were saying about her and about the Savior.  At the conclusion of the visit we asked "We want everyone to feel the love the Savior has for them this Christmas season, who do you know that we could visit?"  She told us about her sister, Ai, and her two sons.  We went off to find them.

We did find them!  And they were well prepared to hear the gospel!  Ai's sons are half African American and half Hmong, not a common combination.  They set the goal for baptism and started working towards it.  Ai's oldest son (not one of the two previously mentioned) told us not to come back.  He is older, and Ai is financially dependent on him.  Opposition always comes up.  We've prayed about it, and pondered on it, and we feel that it is God's will that we do as he requested.  The path that leads people to the gospel has potholes sometimes.

I love being a missionary during this Christmas season!  It is something I love!  I am actually sad that this will be my last Christmas serving God full time.  It is going to be a good one!

Merry Christmas to all of you!!

-Elder Jared Cummings

Fasting and Christmas Miracles

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week we had a conference up in Modena because we were being visited by a member of the area presidency, Elder Paul V. Johnson, and his wife who's name I don't remember. They talked to us about serving with your whole heart and the difference that it makes in missionary work. Our mission president also talked to us about Christ and the magnitude of His role in our Heavenly Father's plan for us. It was a really uplifting conference and a perfect way to prepare ourselves for the Christmas season!

The Ancona branch also threw a Christmas party last Saturday and it was actually a really big success. Our senior missionary couple, the Kochs, put together a Christmas program that really helped to invite the Spirit into the event. My companion, Anziano Larsen, who hasn't even been learning Italian for more than four months yet, sang a solo in Italian that turned out to be really great! It was the first verse of "Venite Fedeli", which is the Italian version of "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful". I can't believe that we've already been together for 11 weeks by now. He's almost done being trained! He's grown up so fast! Haha

After the Christmas program we ate, and there was a LOT of food, even for the 40 or so people that were there. As I said last week, Anziano Larson and I brought some American desserts, which turned out great. Our apple pie was surprisingly good for our first attempt ever, our banana cream pie was amazing as always, and the chocolate chip cookies were phenomenal. Anziano Larsen couldn't stop eating them until they were completely gone haha. All in all, it was a really good experience and a lot of fun for everyone who went!

This last Sunday, our zone fasted together in order that we might be able to advance the missionary work in our respective areas. On Monday morning we finished our fast and spent some time before lunch doing some finding. We decided to ring doorbells since we hadn't done it in a while and to our surprise we were let in four times in only  two hours. Those kind of odds are very good, in my experience. We shared with each of them the Light The World video and found, in total, five new people who asked us to come back!

The next day, Tuesday, we didn't have any appointments planned because we weren't able to set anything up (everyone is on vacation it seems, unsurprisingly haha). However, as the day went on, things just seemed to fall into place to allow us to set up last-minute appointments with the few people I hadn't called the day before. One of those people, a new contact named Evans, told us quite sincerely that he really wants to develop a stronger relationship with God. Perfect! That's our job! It just goes to show that there is a lot of power in fasting and that when we commit ourselves so serving the Lord He provides a way for us to succeed.

I hope this Christmas is a very special one and that you can always remember the blessing that it is to have a Savior. Make someone's Christmas bright this year by spreading a little joy and positivity wherever you go!

Merry Christmas!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

Exact Obedience Brings Miracles

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week our President of our mission challenged us to sacrifice something for the Lord for Christmas, which is Natal here, and my companion and I chose our own will. We left the house an exactly the right time, came come at exactly the right time, and tried to use our time most effectively at every opportunity. We saw an incredible increase of miracles that could only have been designed by Heavenly Father.

Right now we are working with three men who are progressing towards baptism soon. The first is Rafael who is developing a testimony so quickly I can hardly believe it. He's definately an elect of the Lord's people here. We're also working with Amaral who is from Angola and before we met him he said he was sitting in his house thinking that he needed to better his life, especially with religion and his knowledge of God. Then we knocked his door looking for a contact who had moved away two years ago. He listened intently to our message about the Restoration of the Gospel of Christ and preisthood authority and his first question was "Am I allowed to come to church with you?" and his second question was "What do I need to do to be baptized?" Yeah. I know. Where in the world did he come from? haha. We're also working  with a guy named Ezequeil who we found the same way as Amaral. He's very friendly and wants to have a religion. He has two adorable dogs as well!

My message for this week is John 3:16

 16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is a scripture that you guys have probably heard a hundred and seven times but I was thinking about sacrifice this week and how so many of us and the people here in portugal say"Oh, Christ suffered for my sins, I love Christ. etc" but once we ask if they know why Christ chose to give his life for a bunch of sinners each person has to think a little bit. This week I studied about this and the answer I found is that he loves us. If he had to die and suffer just for you, just to help you alone return to the presence of God, he would bleed at every pore and be crucified all over again just because he loves YOU that much. He suffered so that he could stand by our side on the day of Judgement and say, "Father, I know that they have sinned and deserve to be punished but I'm willing to suffer for them. Please accept my sacrifice so that they can have eternal life." And then, because the laws of justice are statisfied, Heavenly Father will smile and say, "I am well pleased." Christ has already suffered and felt every pain and hardship that each one of us has felt and the price he has asked of us in exchange for relief and rest is that we believe in Him. That we believe Him.

This Christmas, try to have More Christ. Sacrifice something for the man who sacrifice everything for you. There are some ideas on lds.org or mormon.org with a video that is called Light the World, or in portuguese, Seja A Luz Ao Mundo.

Awkward moment when your investigator's door has been bricked over. "Gosh dang it, foiled again..."

This is probably the most demented looking statue ever. it looks like someone sat on his face....

Have a great week!

Sister Ellsworth

​

PS

Also one of the Elders in my district have me a riddle that i need help to answer... There are 3 men who stay at a hotel that costs $30 for one night. They pay in dollar coins, 30 coins. Each man pays $10. The owner of the hotel liked the three men so much that he gave 5 coins to a worker to give to the three men. The worker thought that he couldnt split 5 between 3 men so he pocketed two coins and gave each man $1. So each man paid$9. And the worker has $2. BUUUUUT $9 from each man is $27 and the worker has $2 which makes $29!!!! Where is the missing coin??

What I learned this week

(Elder Cummings)

This week taught me a lot.

 I was with Elder Jones for a few hours working Chowchilla Tuesday morning.  He is a fairly new missionary.  Yesterday was his last day of training. I felt magnified in front of my stewardship. I could feel that I was going beyond my own power and mind and the Lord was instructing Elder Jones through me. One specific example is that we conducted a member lesson using the points outlined in chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel. That alone was instructive to him, but what stuck the most was that after the lesson, after we started driving away I was compelled to go back to their door with the thought "Elder Jones didn't share his testimony." We knocked again, and Elder Jones bore a sweet testimony that invited a very strong Spirit. He felt it. He committed himself after we were back in the truck to ALWAYS bare his testimony!  God teaches us through the examples of our leaders.  Being on the other side of that has confirmed this truth to me.

Tuesday night we were on exchanges with the assistants.  I was with Elder Perkins for the evening.  I love and miss him.  The mission office has been good to him.  He stays well fed down there.  Mom, you might want to skip this next part.  As part of the exchange we were trying to get in touch with a potential investigator who Elder Perkins and Elder Olsen had invited to church in a street contact and they came, but left before they could talk to her.  As we were walking down the street talking to some of the people outside at 8 at night (it is already completely dark by then in Fresno) a police officer pulled Elder Perkins aside.  He told him that there had, just minutes before, been two shootings on that street and it was anticipated that there would be more.  The officer asked how we could be walking around in a neighborhood like this wearing slacks and neckties.  Elder Perkins gave a very instructive reply, "to be honest officer, I feel very protected with what I do."  I feel the exact same way.  I have never not felt safe as a missionary.  No matter where I have been or when I have been there I have never been afraid of the people or the environment.  That peace comes through the Holy Spirit, and the protection comes as a result of our calling.  We continued about our business as planned.  God protects His missionaries.

The next morning after a great exchange with Elder Perkins (I love and miss him) I had ANOTHER great spirit of ministering in my studies. I read part of "Rise to Your Call" by President Eyring and part of "Ask in Faith" by Elder Bednar and came to a deeper understanding of the need to obtain revelation to uplift, inspire, and bless my stewardship. I spent much of that personal study in prayer, following a pattern Elder Bednar outlines. The direction came, and throughout the week I have acted on them in an organized manner. From what companionships have said so far this week, it sounds like there has been an increase in productivity zone wide. I feel that is a direct result of the mindset change. I plan on repeating the process week by week.

When transfer alerts came Saturday night I felt peaceful. It then started to weigh upon me that the experiences of serving as an assistant would never be mine in my lifetime. I felt feelings of failure, and that I had disappointed God. I was not anticipating a call to serve as an assistant.  Other circumstances made it clear that I will be needed to train new Hmong missionaries in six weeks, something an assistant can't do.  Despite all this, I felt that I had come up short.  Recognizing the source of these feelings, I had a lengthy prayer that night to find out the how my Father really feels about me. He told me, which is always a great feeling. I was then instructed by the Spirit about interpretations of the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Pounds that applied directly to leadership in the church. In the Parable of the Talents, both those given five and two talents are equally faithful to their assignment and receive the same reward. They both would have learned different lessons with the different levels of responsibility, and the end result of the lessons learned was that they were qualified to "enter into the rest of the Lord." I had the overwhelming feeling that at this time in my life I didn't need the five talent lesson. There were two talent lessons, like this one, that I needed to know and understand in order to "enter into the rest of the Lord." The Parable of the Pounds taught me that we are all given an equal responsibility regardless of calling or assignment: to represent the Lord, to receive revelation and act on it. The only thing that limits my personal growth in any calling or assignment will be my personal commitment to do exactly that. I can experience a tenfold increase in any position anywhere if I am committed to doing the will of the Lord and hold nothing back.  I plan on doing just that.

Elder Gray and I have been transferred, but will continue to live in the same house, drive the same car, and fulfill the same administrative responsibilities.  We have been taken out of the McKee ward.  The ward hit their unit goal the last Sunday of the transfer. 9 out of their 10 baptisms came in the second half of the year. 8 of them came within the last one hundred days. We did the work God needed us to do.  We worked hard, and the ward's vision has been raised and many people have come to receive the gospel.

Armando Garcia is the most recent!  He is Bertha's second son.  His baptism was a blessing.  He asked me to baptize him.  I laid him deep in the water, and he almost brought me down with him.  It was close.  It was the closest I have come to swimming in almost two years.  He bore a beautiful testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it has changed his life.  He had been praying for a way to get onto the path of salvation that he felt he was not on.  The same week we met their family.  Armando has been a great example of faith to me.  After learning of the Word of Wisdom he stopped drinking coffee almost cold.

The transfer call felt right. Elder Gray and I are sad to leave the bustling McKee ward. I have learned A LOT from those priesthood leaders, especially about being faithful a faithful home-teacher. That lesson will guide my life quite a bit. I felt in prayer last night that I had made the Lord well pleased with how I had carried out the work in the ward.

It will be a good week.

With love,

Elder Cummings

The Book of Mormon

(Anziano Wilkinson)

Today Anziano Larsen and I went to Rimini to play soccer and beach volleyball (all indoors, of course haha) with the other missionaries in our area. It was pretty fun! My team was the winner of the volleyball tournament, naturally. I mean, with a benchwarmer like me you're bound to make it the top, right? But seriously, it was a lot of fun, especially since it's winter and usually you don't get to play sports like that at this time of year! Earlier this week I tried an experiment for one of the meals I cooked for lunch: stuffed bell peppers. Basically it's an Italian dish that I've heard about before and heard was good, but I'd never had one or even seen one before. So I decided to make up my own recipe! It turned out really good in the end and I was slightly surprised that they weren't terrible seeing as it was my first attempt haha. We ended up with a ton of leftovers though since I underestimated how filling they would be... oh well, more for later! I forgot to take a picture, so you'll just have to use your imagination until I make them again!

At the beginning of the year I set a goal to read the Italian Book of Mormon cover to cover before the year was over. At the beginning my progress was very slow, but as I kept reading and learning Italian my progress picked up rapidly. So now as the year is coming to a close I have officially finished reading! It was quite the task, but it was definitely worth it in the end! I've grown and learned so much in the process, both with regards to Italian and the Book of Mormon itself. The amazing thing though is that the Book of Mormon is just as powerful in Italian as it is in English! The voices of ancient inspired prophets still resonate in your heart as you read their teachings and testimonies, almost as if you were right there with them.

The Book of Mormon is a record of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and was written by prophets for the purpose of "convincing [all men] that Jesus is the Christ". It was translated by the gift and power of God through his chosen prophet, Joseph Smith. In his own words, Joseph Smith says, "the Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." The Book of Mormon above all else is second witness of Christ, alongside the Bible. It's unique in part because it was written by a group of people that lived isolated from the influences of Eastern religious culture, yet it teaches the same truths and testifies very clearly and directly of the same Savior, Jesus Christ, that has been talked about since the beginning of time. The Book of Mormon also serves as the evidence of the reality of Joseph Smith's prophetic calling, because if he were not inspired by God then it would not have been possible for him, a man as young and uneducated as he was, to translate or write such a book. That's why he called it "the keystone of our religion" because if the Book of Mormon is truly inspired scripture from God, then the person through whom He brought it to light was truly an inspired man. That's why Moroni, the last prophet to write in the Book of Mormon, exhorts us to read it, meditate upon it's teachings, and then to ask God in prayer whether or not it is true. He promises that each who does so with sincerity and faith will receive a witness of its truth from God by the power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 10:4-5). I've tried Moroni's promise for myself and I have felt the truth of the Book of Mormon confirmed in my heart by feelings that can only come from the Holy Ghost. Feelings of joy, love, and desire to live the precepts taught within the scriptures. Every time I read the Book of Mormon I feel those feelings rush back into my heart and they convince me that the Book of Mormon is true, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the church he established is the church of Jesus Christ.

I am not alone in bearing witness of these things, there are already millions of others who have personally found these things to be true by the same power. I want to invite everyone to take the chance to read the Book of Mormon and ask God if it's true! As Joseph Smith said, "a man [will] get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." There is joy in living the teachings of the Book of Mormon, as with all inspired scripture, and truly it's an amazing gift that our Heavenly Father would provide us this convincing evidence of the truth and of his love for us. So read it! Pray about it! And ask God if it's true! He will answer every sincere and faith-filled prayer that you ask him! That's no small thing; the God of the universe is anxiously waiting for each of us to ask Him to answer our prayers. If you don't have a copy of the Book of Mormon you can order one for free from Mormon.org or you can download the app for free on the App Store.

I hope you all have a great week and that winter break treats you all well! Happy reading!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

Transfers, Rafa, and More Rain

(Sister Ellsworth)

Ola gente!

So transfers rolled around again and guess what....!! I'm staying in Barreiro with Sister Oliver for another 6 weeks!! WOOOOT! This place is my kingdom. I know all the members now as well as the recent converts, less actives, ex-investigators, and their birds. (More people have birds than dogs.) I'm so excited to be here for Christmas and New Years' Eve. We have done a lot of work here and I would have been devastated to leave.

One of the people we are working with is Rafa, who is a 21 year old kid and the best friend of a recently returned missionary in our branch. He is so cool. When we first met him he didn't know about the 10 commandments or Christ but now he texts or calls us every day to tell us about the scripture he read or the prayer he said. He absolutely loved the lesson about the Plan of Salvation and has been studying it vigorously. He always has great questions and a desire to learn more. We are so excited for him!! I think my favorite moment since I met Rafa was the first prayer he said, which was so innocent and humble. He really made me think about how the gospel is so simple that a young child can understand that they are a Child of God but at the same time you can study each principle for the rest of your life and still learn something.

We are also teaching Nelita, who is from Argentina. She's a teacher who works a lot just to get by and the gospel has changed her life too. She's been a great support and example for us and we absolutely love her endless love and charity for us. We've cried together, laughed together, and have become best friends.

It's still raining. The streets flood every day and you just kinda get used to being wet all the time.

 rain clouds... all the time... :)

picture of the main street after about 2 hours of downpour

Love all of you guys!!

Sister Ellsworth

A God of Miracles

(Elder Cummings)

It has been ANOTHER fast week.  A week is not very long.  I have already lived through over 1000 of them.  I don't know why that always surprises me.

Monday at family home evening for the YSA group in the Hmong branch Natasha and Krystle brought two of their friends!  Natasha and Krystle returned to activity earlier this year and they are on fire with missionary work!  They are sharing the joy that is back in their lives with all of their loved ones.  Xyla and Marissa (their friends) both want to start taking the lessons!  Marissa is already talking to Krystle about baptism.  God is gathering together everyone who will listen!

We visited with Jason, a returning less-active in the McKee ward, and shared a brief message with him about the Book of Mormon.  His girlfriend has been reading quite a bit lately.  She wants us to come and teach her the restored gospel!  We will be going over there tonight for another lesson with them.  She wants to get baptized too!  They are planning on getting married soon.  This is great for their family!

As a mission we are seeing many miracles right now as we emphasize faith--faith that God is preparing people to hear the message of the restoration and to accept it.  A story that Elder Anderson shared in a recent mission president seminar is a good example of the kinds of things that have been happening.  Elder Anderson is quoting the story of another man:

“Years ago as a missionary in Philadelphia I (this was told by a Stake Presidency member) was transferred to an area that hadn’t had any baptisms for many months. The mission president instructed us to ‘break the curse’ and find and baptize someone. So my companion and I set a goal of trying to find and baptize just one person in one month. We worked hard, exercised our faith, fasted, and prayed and within a week had found a few good families to teach—one was exceptional and was progressing well. . . . With one week to go before the end of the month we went to their house to have a family home evening with them, only to find a note on the door that read, ‘Elders, please do not ever come back!’ That didn’t stop us, and we knocked on their door many different times on many different days, but no one ever answered the door. Our other investigators weren’t progressing very fast and so we continued to talk to everyone to try to find someone. Sunday was the last day of the month, and by Saturday it wasn’t looking good and my faith was struggling. “Saturday night we had gone to bed when the phone rang about 11:00. The person calling said that he had just transferred to the naval base in south Philly and that he had been taking the discussions and was going to be baptized on Sunday and he was wondering if he could still be baptized. That experience changed my life forever.” Miracles do change lives. I have experienced these miracles myself, and I have witnessed them hundreds of times in the lives of obedient missionaries, their spirits burning with faith in Christ. Let us always protect this precious flame of faith. “For eaglets, the thrill of soaring begins with the fear of falling.”

That story is motivating!  Just last week some of the elders farther north in Atwater experienced the same kind of thing.  They had been working hard, but had been dropped by all the people they had been teaching.  The second to last Sunday of the month their bishop pulled them into his office where a mother and daughter were waiting.  The bishop introduced the missionaries to them.  They were making an effort to come back to church.  The daughter wanted to be baptized the very next Sunday, her ninth birthday.  The baptism happened.  Faith brings miracles.

Keep your faith burning bright this week!  Expect miracles!  Our Heavenly Father has always been a god of miracles!

With love,

Elder Cummings