Week of Miracles

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was a blast! The October chill of 75 degrees left and it was back in the 85-90s! Whoop! I have seriously forgotten what cold is like. On Monday Sister Selman and I went to Belém with Sister Carr and her greenie, Sister Bleyl, and Sister Brockbrank all of which are from my MTC group. We joked around about the good old times in the MTC and when we thought we knew what we were doing. Granted, a year and  a few months later I still have no idea what I'm doing but that´s okay! There's still two more months to learn! In Belém we went to this awesome restaurante called Pão Pão Queijo Queijo (bread bread cheese cheese... weird I know) And had some awesome food. Then Sister Selman and I rode the riverboat up and down the River Tejo.

We found two families this week!! One is a family from Brasil and they have a little two year old boy that is literally the cutest thing ever. He loves to steal my planner and draw in it while we´re teaching lol.

On Tuesday the Elders bought our District Pizza before a Workshop that we had with the AP´s and  ZL's. (Deus vos-abençoe) Then we had a day where we had 10 appointments marked with a few of them being double booked and every single one fell through. It was sad but the next day we set out to find new people. While we were following up with  old contacts and ex investigators this drunk guy comes staggering up to me and introduces himself as Charlie. Surprised, I asked him where he was from because Charlie is not a Portuguese name and he said he was from outer space and that he was stuck here on earth for 3 years. Trying not to burst out laughing, we pretended to be very concerned and asked him what space was like and how he got stuck here. He said that his parents were Priests and Nuns from the Catholic church. Oh man. I love drunk people. We gave him a card and told him to pass by the church someday and we could help him figure out how to return home. hehe. #planofsalvation

The next day Sister Selman and I decided to go break in a rather untouched area called Charneca. After about an hour of contacting and visiting some old contacts and less actives, we were walking past an old abandoned lot that had this cat sitting in the middle of a dirt path just staring at us. Sister Selman looked at me with a grin and said "Do you want to go on an adventure?" I was like heck yeah! So we start following the cat. We walked and explored until we found this huuuuuge white mansion. Like you know the old English estates on Pride and Prejudice? Like that. I looked at Sister Selman and I said "I dare you to knock it." She looked and me, scoffed, and said "Is that a challenge?" She marched up to the door and knocked and an old Portuguese man opened the door. We smiled at him and started talking. I asked him about the history of this old house that apparently the Portuguese Salazar had built it as like a vacation home. Then he gave us a tour!! It was awesome! #makingfriends

Later that day we were back in our main area and we got a phone call from this guy that went something like this:

Dude: "Hey I'm here!"

Sisters: "Oh.. hi... uh... great! Who are you?"

Dude: "I'm miguel, You're the missionaries right?"

Sisters: "Yes...."

Dude. "I met your friends in  Angola. They gave me this number. I'd like to meet with you to talk about your church."

                                 *exchange of surprised and excited looks between the sisters*

Sisters: "Great when can we meet with you?"

Dude: "Well I'm getting off the airplane from Angola right now. I'll be in Costa da Caparica in an hour. Does that work for you?"

Sisters: "Sure!"

Then an hour later this guy gets off the bus with his suitcases, sits down with us on the closest bench and says, "Teach me everything you know. I want to be baptized." We were like... YES SIR. Now he's marked for baptism and eating up everything we teach him. WOW!!

The thought that I can count how many weeks I have left on two hands.... I've entered into the phase of denial. So I might not come home. The only way I'll go down is kicking and screaming.... Sorry fam. But that's life. It's not fair ;)

Giant ice cream cone

Sister Selman is a babe! This is her last transfer and we are killing it. Everything. MUHAHAHA!

​Including me. I died in the park. Actually I was just chilling while we were waiting for the Sisters on Pday and Sister Selman stole my camera.

Love you guys!

Sister Ellsworth  <-- forever

Psalms 46:10

(Aldste Cummings)

Tja!

This week was great. We've been super busy teaching and visiting members and all. We've been running around all week trying to fit everything in. It was tough, but having too much to do is better than having nothing to do!

A miracle happened this week! The woman who was just baptized a couple weeks ago has been getting seriously painful migraines almost daily for nearly 10 years. They haven't been able to figure out what's causing it. When she was confirmed, she received a blessing that her physical situation would improve and the doctors would be able to find a way to help her. Just this week when she went to the doctor, they ran some tests and found that she has a benign cyst in her brain, applying undue pressure on her central nervous system. Now that they have found her issue, they can operate and improve her condition! It's incredible how much the Lord cares for each and every one of his children.

Sometimes it's important for us to take a little moment and remember what the Lord has done for us and how much he loves us. When we allow ourselves to get distracted with everything going on and everything we have to do, we deprive ourselves of the calm security that lies in recognition of the Lord's tender mercies and his everlasting love for us. I would encourage all of you to take a couple minutes this week to relax and ponder on God's mercy and love and seek for ways you can increase your faith and trust in Him.

Have a great week!

Äldste Cummings

Hot air balloon contrasted with a beautiful Swedish sunset.

Elder Martineau and I.

Our authentic American dinner: Barbecue chicken and corn on the cob. Swedish corn has absolutely nothing on classic Illinois sweet corn, by the way.

A beautiful old building here in Skövde.

Hebrews 12:9

(Aldste Cummings)

Hello all!

We had a super busy week, this week. We were running around all over the place, it was crazy. No real super big news. We just had some really good lessons and are really excited for how our investigators are progressing!

The scripture I thought to share this week is pretty significant. It teaches us a number of things. First, It teaches us that God is the father of our spirits. Hence why He is often referred to as "Heavenly Father." This means that He has more of a vested interest than we might initially assume. He is our father and loves us accordingly.

Secondly, it teaches us that life comes through obedience and submission to God's will. We see this theme throughout the bible. Christ often says that anyone who believes on His name will not die, but shall live. Clearly, he didn't literally mean that belief in Him will save you from mortal death because even his apostles were killed. Rather, his meaning is figurative and two-fold.

1) Through Jesus Christ, we can receive eternal life after death. Through Him, we have the opportunity to live forever in a perfect and immortal state.

and 2) life on this earth is most enjoyably lived when founded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Belief in Him, submission to the Father's will, and active service in their name is what makes our life bearable and even joyous. We find happiness through Christ.

I would encourage each and one of you to take time this week to assess your relationship with our Father in Heaven and make goals to make the necessary changes in your life to come closer to Him.

Love,

Äldste Jesse Cummings

Hey Yall

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was pretty great! We had interviews with my Mission President. He cracked a couple of jokes about going home. I got my trunk call this week too.... But I survived because I got a package with the best present ever. Two jars of Peanut butter! I think my companion and I ate a whole jar the night I got my trunky call lol. Sister Selman and I made a pact to die kicking and screaming!

The next day we woke up without water in our house. Turns out the main water line to the city exploded during the night and there was a giant sink hole the size of a car. We had to use some bottle water to cook and do sponge baths for a while lol. Thanks dad for the camping trips!

We also taught this cooky girl from England. Apparently she is investigating the church in England and we talked to her about the Plan of Salvation. Sister Selman and I learned that our english is horrible.

Other than that it was a week of a lot of work. We're ready for another!! WHOOHOOO!

Sister Ellsworth

Alma 32: 1-2

(Aldste Cummings)

Hej!

This week was crazy. We had a zone conference in Gothenburg. We had to leave our apartment by 6:30 in order to make it to the train, so that was fun. And then my companion and I accidentally left a suitcase on the train so on the return trip another pair of elders drove us into the city, but the traffic was too bad to drive all the way to the train station on time so Elder Martineau and I got out and ran to the lost and found in the train station only to figure out that it was the wrong one and then we had to run literally across the city to a different one to get the suitcase. We had to pay 100 crowns in order to get it but we only had 50 between us and they would only take cash but the lady let us get by with only paying the 50 and then we had to run back to the train station (this time with the suitcase) and meet the other elders in a parking lot to get the rest of our stuff and then run to the train with all of our stuff. We made it on to the train with about a minute to spare. It was wild.

Anyway, the thought that I wanted to share this week was that work is always necessary for success. The verses I chose illustrate this very well. Alma and his brethren only began to have success after "much labor." The context of this passage is specifically related to missionary work, but I would say that it can be applied in all things as well. Anything worth doing is going to require work. It makes the success that much sweeter. Some days it may feel like we are working more than we're succeeding, but we always must keep in mind that the two are inextricably intertwined.

I hope that you all have a great week. I'll keep you all in my prayers!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

GenConf in Costa da Caparica!

(Sister Ellsworth)

This week was NuTs!! Sister Selman and I hit the ground running... literally. We had to run to put my suitcases in the house so we could get to our first appointment. Since then its been go go go go and then you pass out at 10 pm and do it all again.

Costa da Caparica is one of the prettiest areas I've served in! It reminds me a lot of Portimão. We live right on the beach.... Like you leave the house, walk over a little sand dune and it's the beach. I still haven't seen any whales but maybe later... ;) Just kidding. They don't have whales here but they do have a TON of brasilians! One of the first guys I talked to was this brasilian with a brand new blacked out arm tattoo smoking weed next to a panda mural. We're like BFF's now. One day he sent us a message that said (in English) "I'm high as kite. Tired. Wedding today.... booooooring. Can we talk about Jesus?" We responded yeah sure, but it would best if you were sober. We're gonna teach him this week! #makingfriends #everywhere

One day our plans had fallen through and we decided to knock doors of the neighbors. We knocked the first door and this guy opened it. He had this huge BBQ going on with a ton of people inside. He invited us in enthusiastically and we started meeting all the people there. We got 8 people marked for appointments and taught all of them about the Book of Mormon. It was fantastic!

Another day I was touring our church for the first time and all of a sudden this little bird dive bombs us from inside the building. We spent a good 30 minutes trying to catch the little sucker with cups and bowls. Eventually he hid in the supplies closet and we had to take everything out very carefully so we didn't squish him. Then we let him go outside and he flew away. It reminded me of the general conference talk that was given this weekend about how sometimes we freak out about accepting help.

General Conference is always the best on your mission... I was taking notes furiously and I noticed that in every single talk (that I've seen until now) the speakers talked about service and coming to know Christ. It reminded me of a scripture in John 17:3 which says

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

In Portuguese the word "know" can mean  two different things. They two words to express "know". They are "saber" and "conhecer". Saber means to know something factually such as to know math, to know how to do something. Basically it's information in your head or like computer coding. Conhecer is more personal. It means to be familiar with something and means "to get to know" like with people to to be familiar with a route.  In the scripture I shared above, the word "know" is translated to conhecer. To know God and Jesus Christ is more that to just have a bunch on information and facts in your head. It means to be familiar with them; to understand them.

I think that the prophets are asking us to become more familiar with Christ so that our testimonies aren't repetitions of what we've heard other people say. Instead, our testimonies should be rooted deeply, personally, and uniquely in us. My mission has been teaching me this principle. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve and to come to know my Savior.

Love ya'll

Sister Ellsworth

John 8:58

(Aldste Cummings)

Hej hej!

This week was a mixture of very rewarding and pretty frustrating. A lot of our appointments fell through and had to be rescheduled for next week, but it's all good.

We taught a man from Ethiopia who had gone through so much in his life and had the strongest, most passionate faith in Jesus Christ. It was incredible. He was imprisoned and harassed for his religion in Libya, and had seen his closest friends executed for refusing to deny their beliefs and he never gave up the faith. Truly an inspiring story. He was so excited to meet us and even began to cry when we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon in his native language.

Therese was baptized on Saturday! Literally our entire congregation from church was there to support her and we had a big party afterwards. She said the following day in church that it was the best day of her life and she is so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week I want to talk a little about what I think is one of the most powerful and even poetic verses in the King James Bible. On the surface it's very simple. If you just read over it, you'll probably just notice that the grammar at the end seems a little funny and move on. But it's so much more than that.

In John 8, Jesus begins a pretty relentless and unapologetic criticism of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They continually fail to grasp the full import of his words and insist that they are blessed and holy because they are the children of Abraham and heirs to the Abrahamic covenant. Finally, Christ says these words: "Before Abraham was, I am."

The use of "I am" here in the original Greek is the same as the usage in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament in Exodus 3:14. Thus, in one single sentence, Jesus confounds their argument, and not only associates himself with--which alone would be considered blasphemy--but even identifies himself as their Lord, even Jehovah. The Creator of the World, the Voice in the Burning Bush, the Architect of the Exodus, the very Hand that wrote the Law they profess to keep, and now, the Savior of Mankind. The rabbis fully understood the significance of what he said, and immediately began to pick up rocks to stone him to death.

So powerful a statement, in so beautiful and simple a phrase. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and our Savior. I know that through Him and his sacrifice, we can find forgiveness, peace, strength, and, ultimately, be perfected. I love Him, and I know He loves us all.

Love,

Äldste Cummings