John 15:26

(Aldste Cummings)

Hey all!

This week was a whole lot of fun. We had zone conference in Malmö so we got to travel there on Tuesday and spend some time with the other missionaries in the zone. We don't really get to see each other often, so we make the most of the opportunities we have to catch up.        

As far as the work in Karlskrona goes, it's starting to pick up! We've had a lot of people we've been trying to meet with over the last 5 weeks but have had a hard time scheduling it all. It's looking like the stars will align this week though! We're really excited.     

We met a family on Saturday who had been taught by the missionaries 12 years ago but decided to stop taking the lessons. We met the father and mother and their daughter (who was in the womb last time they met the missionaries) and were able to talk a little bit. They invited us over again this week and want to start taking the lessons again! It's very exciting.

Another fun success story, Camilla--who Elder Cluff and I had the opportunity to teach and see baptized in January--and Ståle got married last week! I'm so happy for them. They intend to be sealed in the temple next year and I am looking forward to being able to be with them then. They are incredible and I love them so much. I'm so grateful the Lord allowed me to meet and spend so much time with the two of them.

This week I've been focusing my scripture study on how the Spirit speaks to us and what the fruits of the Spirit are. There is a very good activity on page 96 of Preach My Gospel that gives a lot of good insight into how the Holy Ghost has a hand in our lives. I've taken the time to reflect on and even write down a lot of the spiritual experiences that I've had that I haven't written down or reflected on as a cumulative whole. This week I've certainly strengthened my testimony of the reality of the Holy Ghost--or the Comforter as Christ calls it in John 15:26. I know the Spirit really is there and can speak to us if we are willing to drown out all the other distracting voices and listen. I would encourage all of you to take some time this week and reflect on how God has spoken to you through His Spirit throughout your life.

Have a great week!

Love, Äldste Cummings

1. Elder Harris and I dropping a beat between doors during a tracting stund

2. Me impersonating how every Swedish teenager looks and walks​

Alma 12: 14-15

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjena!

This week was a good one. I don't think I've ever said that a week hasn't been good in any of these emails. I guess that's because they're all good!

This is finals week with all the college students so a lot of the people who would like to meet with us were busy with studying and stuff. We spent a lot of time with the Sweden Stockholm Mission classic: Stan. That is to say, downtown. "Stan" is short for the Swedish word "Staden" which means "the city" and just means, like I said, downtown. It's generally where all the stores and malls are and the streets are closed to car traffic. That's where we as missionaries talk to people and try to find people who are interested in learning more about our glorious message. We had some pretty good success with that this week and are excited for the weeks ahead!

As for the scripture I chose this week, it's a little depressing maybe. We as members of the church tend to focus our attention on "the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God"(Mosiah 2:41) and not so much on the other side when it comes to judgment day. I admittedly don't like to think about it either, but oftentimes feel that people misunderstand what is going to happen that day.  I've met a lot of people here who seem to be pretty proud of their defiance before God. Most recently and clearly, a man said to us yesterday, "If God exists, I am a child of Satan."

No one will be proud of wrongdoing when we stand before the bar of God. We will not be punished because God made an arbitrary decision that such would not be tolerated in the kingdom of heaven. Rather, as a law outside of His control, such can not be tolerated in the kingdom of heaven. We will stand before Him with a perfect knowledge of our sins and "acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just."

God is a loving father who created this world for us with the desire that ALL of us would return. He has done everything to make that possible. He will not shut us out because he doesn't want us to live with Him, our own wicked actions will deny us the opportunity according to the universal law of justice. In fact, it would be more comfortable for us to be separated from Him than stand unworthily in His presence.

With that in mind, let us always "acknowledge [our] unworthiness before God"(Alma 38:14) and strive with all energy of spirit to be worthy to look into his face and worthily accept His loving embrace.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

Jarom 1:2

(Aldste Cummings)

Hey all!

It's snowed almost every day this week which is very uncommon. We've gotten about a foot which is more snow than Karlskrona has seen in about 15 years. Everyone says that it's usually pretty Spring-like right about now. So Spring is a little delayed. But hopefully it's coming soon.

We had a great week this week. I got to go on splits with my good friend Elder Barney who is in the same group as me. It was the first time I've ever been on splits with an elder from my group which was really fun. We had a good time and put in some hard work for sure.

I would highly recommend that you all follow the page @swedish_mormons on instagram. It's run by a young couple in the branch here and they post a lot of pictures of the missionaries and stuff. They are the greatest people in the world. I'm in a good number of the pictures they've posted recently.

We also had stake conference in Malmö so we got to travel there for the Saturday session. The meeting was amazing and we also got to see the other missionaries from around the stake. That was fun too.

Jarom 1:2 is the only verse in the book of Jarom that has ever really stood out to me. I love it because of how concisely at the end of the verse, Jarom emphasizes the importance of the Plan of Salvation. God's plan for us to receive eternal life and reach our potential is the most important and beautiful thing we can ever hear. With that in mind, what have we done with the knowledge we have about the Plan of Salvation. We must make sure that we never become satisfied or complacent with how much we do or don't know. We must always try our best to reach our potential, learn more, and unlock the windows of heaven.

Love you all!

Äldste Cummings

D&C 6:36

(Aldste Cummings)

Hello!

I'm running a little short on time, so this won't be very long unfortunately.

This week was a good one. We've been investing a lot of time and energy into the area and we're starting to see the fruits! It's always good to see how good things can come of your personal hard work while also keeping in mind your place in the missionary work as a whole.

I love Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 because of it's bold simplicity. It teaches eternal truth with both clarity and power. The Lord teaches commands us to "look unto [Him] in every thought," as well as to "doubt not," and "fear not." We can clearly learn from this that when we put our faith in the Lord, we need not doubt or fear. In another light, however, what I have found in my own experience is that when we exercise all our energy to "look unto" Christ, our doubts and fears are expelled. A theme that modern prophets and apostles have taught recently is that darkness cannot exist in the presence of light. When we "look unto [Him] in every thought," how can we doubt? How can we fear?

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

Jacob 4:7

(Aldste Cummings)

Hello from Karlskrona!

On Tuesday I left my beloved Skövde for good. It was a sad day, I'll miss that place and the members there very dearly. I stayed the night with the elders in Jönköping then continues on my way to Karlskrona the following morning, arriving around 11:00AM.

The city is so beautiful! It's a little warmer down here so it feels like spring is on her way already but the people who live here say we still have to wait a month or so before it really gets here. The town square here is apparently the largest square in all of Scandinavia and boy is it large. I'll attach a picture below. If it's this beautiful now, I can't wait to see what it's like in the summer!

Elder Harris is amazing and we're having a ton of fun and a ton of success. It's incredible to see how many people's hearts have softened to hear the word of the Lord. We're teaching a good amount of people who aren't necessarily religious right now but are genuinely searching to find the truth. Luckily for them, we've got it!

Moving to a new area has given me the opportunity to compare myself and my current missionary skills to those I had when I first got to Skövde. It's amazing and faith-building to see the difference in the person and missionary that I've become. I've been impressed with myself (hopefully not TOO impressed--pride cometh before the fall) but more importantly I've been thankful for the difficulties that I had and the ability the Lord has given me to see His hand in my life.

I love Jacob 4:7 because it teaches us that God gives us trials and weaknesses, not only so that we can learn and grow and eventually be able to overcome them, but so that we can realize that our progression and achievement have come from a source independent of ourselves. The Lord will bless us when we turn to Him. In our humility, He will strengthen us. And then in our strength, we humble ourselves before Him as we see what we have been able to accomplish through His grace.

I am so thankful for Jesus Christ and everything he has done for me. He has blessed me and strengthened. As expressed in the lyrics of a familiar song, "[He] lift[s] me up, so I can stand on mountains."

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Cummings​​

2 Nephi 1:23

(Aldste Cummings)

Hello all!

This week was crazy. We were traveling a TON to go on splits, go to district meeting, and Elder Cluff had to go to Stockholm for some meetings while I stayed behind with the Jönköping elders. All in all, we weren't able to spend a lot of time in Skövde this week which was kind of sad because it was my last week in the area.

Transfer calls came last night, and I'll be moving tomorrow to Karlskrona to replace Elder Wayment, my good friend from the MTC. It's a beautiful city right on the southern coast of Sweden. My companion will be Elder Harris who trained another one of my good friends from the MTC, Elder Francis. I'm super excited. Especially because I'll probably be down there for the upcoming summer and I hear the city will be down-right gorgeous.

A funny/incredible thing that happened this week was that while we were in Jönköping, the elders there gave us their blender for free because Elder Cluff and I have been really wanting a blender for a while now. So after church the next day we decided to use our new blender to make a delicious berries and cream smoothie for lunch. We added in all the ingredients and started the blender up but after a couple seconds the blades stopped running and the blender started smoking. We took off the jar thing to see that the rotator that the jar sat on which would spin the blades was made of a soft rubber which wore away until the teeth that latched on to the blades were completely gone and it could no longer make the blades spin.

So now we were sitting at our kitchen staring at the jar full of unblended berries and cream with our mouths watering. After a couple minutes of lamentation, we began trying to find things we could put over the rotator to make it thick enough to attach to the blades. Balloons and rubber bands both burned off when we turned the blender on. But then we had an incredible idea. We took the aluminum cap off of a bottle of glögg (a Swedish Christmas drink) and used pliers to mold it to cover the rotator as well as fit the blade component. After about ten minutes of trial and error, we made fit! Now the blender works as good as new and the smoothies tasted all the better for it. Moral of the story: Where there is a will, there's a way.

Anyway, I chose the scripture I did this week not particularly because of anything that happened this week, but rather just that I think it is a powerful reminder of the negative effects of sin and the realness of the urgency to turn to the Lord. Spoken to his more rebellious sons very soon before he passed away, Lehi admonishes them to do five things: "Awake" from their intentional passiveness, "put on the armor of righteousness," "Shake off" the chains of sin that bind them, "come forth out of obscurity," and "arise from the dust." Each of these teach us something different about what sin is and what it does to us. Lehi teaches us 1) that passively living or intentionally ignoring the word of God is sinful and that we must awake to God 2) that sin leaves us defenseless and we arm ourselves with righteousness 3) that sin binds us and restricts us from our full potential 4) that sin darkens our view and disallows us from seeing clearly and 5) that by forsaking sin, we arise to a higher plane of existence. Profound and multifaceted council from a loving parent.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. The bottle cap in the blender

2. Last selfie with Elder Cluff :(

3. The smoothies

John 15: 9-13

(Aldste Cummings)

Hello all!

This week was really busy! Because of companion exchanges and then zone conference, we traveled a lot and were out of Skövde for a couple days so we didn't have as much time to proselyte as we would have. But that just meant that we made sure to make the most of the time that we did have!

Part of that included going around house to house on Saturday for a total of 6 hours in about 14 inches of snow! That was actually pretty fun. We got a lot of opportunities to shovel for people and talk to them about our message. It was pretty cold but the snow made it more enjoyable. This is the biggest snowstorm this area has seen in a little while. Down here in more southern Sweden, it doesn't get as cold or as much snow as you might expect. Up north is a whole 'nother story though.

So, I've been in Skövde for nearly 6 months now and I have really loved it. What that does mean is that it's very likely that this is my last week in Skövde. I don't actually figure out for sure until next Sunday if I will be staying another 6 weeks or not. At church the other day I was able to talk to a lot of the members who I have learned to love these last couple of months. I was surprised at how strongly I felt for them and the strength of my relationships with them despite my only recent ability to actually communicate with them. I felt that my genuine desire to serve them spoke louder than words could have during those first couple of months when I wasn't capable enough with the language to really speak to them.

It was a testimony to me of the power of even a desire to serve and to love others. I guess that's why the Lord commands us to love everyone. Love builds and can even rebuild strong relationships between people when nothing else really can. Christ's perfect love is always stretched out towards us no matter who or where we are or what we have done. His love will heal broken hearts and lift downcast spirits. I'm so grateful for the opportunities we have in this life to experience even just a fraction of that love in our lives as we actively try to follow the Savior and His example. I know He lives and I know He loves.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings​​