Mormon 9:19

(Aldste Cummings)

Hello everybody!

This week was tons of fun.

It started out with our traveling to Malmö to go on splits with the zone leaders there. I had the opportunity to spend the day hitting the streets of Malmö with my former companion Elder Harris. I'm so thankful for the time I was able to spend here in Karlskrona with him and look up to him very greatly. It was so fun to have a little throw-back as we proselyted together again in Malmö on Tuesday.

On Wednesday we had our own little Fourth of July party which the Swedes LOVED. They thought it was so cultural and fun. It was little poorly planned so we (barely) managed to get a grill and coals but didn't have any lighter fluid so Elder Youngberg and I were able to use our many years of experience as boy scouts to start a fire in the grill with twigs and dried reeds. The Swedes thought that was pretty cool too.

On Saturday we were given permission from our mission president to watch the Sweden v. Englad Quarter Finals match in the World Cup. It was super fun although Sweden got wrecked tyvärr. We went all out (see below).

Siv is the greatest. I love her.

About a month and a half ago we met her at her door when we knocked. She was already very Christian and declined an offer to learn more about the church. We managed to give her a Book of Mormon before saying goodbye. About a week later we ran into her on the street. She had read in the book and was very excited to meet us.

Fast forward to Thursday when she visited her parents. She hadn't told them she was investigating the church because she was afraid of how they would react--her father is a strong atheist and has never approved of her faith. When she said that she had been meeting us, her father's face lit up and he told her about a very loving and friendly Mormon family he had known many years ago. He told her to join the church and stay in the church.

Later that day, she visited some friends who are members in the church she most recently attended. When she told them she was investigating the church, they told her it was a cult and that we don't read the Bible. She then testified to them of our belief in Jesus Christ and the Bible as well as the reality of living prophets and an open canon of scripture.

She took all this--coupled with a dream she had that night--as evidence that God approves her path and it is His will that she continue in faith into His church through baptism despite potential setbacks or challenges.

We're so thankful that God revealed His will to Siv and that she was willing to listen. Miracles happen!

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

Pictures:

1. They asked me to cut the pie into 7 equal pieces. Not too shabby.

2. I love Siv.

3. Getting hype for the game.

4. If anyone can tell me what kind of flower this is, that'd be great.

5. That's right. I live here (pt 9).

       p.s. That picture was taken at 9:00PM. I love the Swedish Summer

D & C 8:2

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjena!

This week was great.

Looking back on it, I can't quite put my finger on too much that we did that was noticeably different than what we usually do, but it was still a great week. I guess just being a missionary and doing missionary work is great.

We had the opportunity of going on companion exchanges with our dear sweet elders in Växjö. I was able to spend the day with Elder Carter, a good friend of mine that I learned to know and love in my Skövde days. What a great man.

Elder Youngberg and I have been having tons of fun and success as we work hard together to find people who have been prepared by the Lord to accept our message. We have been blessed with so many small miracles that all add up to make a big difference. Never discount God's tender mercies!

The scripture I chose this week comes from a couple experiences we've had with an investigator Siv. She has and always has had a strong faith in Christ and is perhaps the most open Swede I've ever met! She just loves to love. Because of her honest desire to follow Christ, she has been very receptive to truths that we teach her. She readily recognizes truth that comes from God and how God speaks to her.

When we taught her that she had to stop her life-long habit of smoking in order as a commandment of God, she accepted the truth but was unsure of her capability of doing so. We comforted her and gave her a priesthood blessing to help and sustain her. Immediately after the blessing she wrote out a plan to stop after having received as she called it inspiration from God while our hands were on her head.

Next, when we taught her that in order to become a member of the Lord's church she would have to donate 10% of her income, she accepted the truth of it but was understandably nervous concerning her finances. We said a prayer, and after the prayer she said that the Holy Ghost had spoken to her mind and said to her and she realized that if she stopped smoking, then she would be able to afford to pay the tithing donations which brought great peace to her soul.

I wish I could be more like Siv in my ability to listen and heed the subtle promptings of the Holy Ghost. The Lord really does speak to us in our minds and in our hearts. If we are willing and obedient, we can hear and feel the thoughts and the feelings that don't come from us.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings​​​​​​​​​​​​

1. That's right. I live here. (pt 7)

2. Just a couple of grabbar celebrating Midsommar.

3. Jo, men, tjabba.

4. If anyone can tell me what kind of flower this is, that'd be great.

5. Oh, sorry, didn't see you there.

6. That's right. I live here. (pt 8)

1 Nephi 3:7

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjena!

This week was a party.

It started off with having to say goodbye to Elder Burns which was sad. We've become good friends and it was hard to see him go.

Then in came Elder Youngberg! He was companions with my dear friend Elder Wayment up in Stockholm and came down here to serve with me in Karlskrona. Unfortunately for Elder Youngberg, I don't think I can fill Elder Wayment's shoes, but I'll try my best.

On Friday was midsommarafton which is a HUGE holiday in Sweden to celebrate the summer solstice. It's roots come from pagan fertility rituals and no one really knows why but everyone is all about it. We got to drive out to an island in Karlskrona's beautiful archipelago to celebrate with about half the branch for basically the whole day. We ate great food, played some fun games and sports, and danced around the midsommarstång. So fun.

The next day, midsommardagen was the annual Håkansson v. Andersson soccer match. The two big families that make up most of the branch here all get together to play soccer and boy is it serious. They don't mess around. We played two 30 minute halves and we were completely spent. We were on team Håkansson and we won 3-1! What a great weekend.

This week we had the opportunity to teach a couple investigators and commit them to repenting and making change in their lives. It's a difficult process but I admire their determination and their faith. They remind me of Nephi when he, despite the difficulty of the task to which he was called, declared "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded." Both he and them are inspiring examples to me!

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. Getting birch branches for the party. Old school.

2. That's right. I live here. (pt 6)

3. Ice cream.

4. We made this whole thing and then danced around it.

D & C 88:119

(Aldste Cummings)

Hejsan allihoppa!

I hope you all had a great week because we certainly did. This week was full of just fun. I don't even know what we did that was so fun. It was just so fun. Elder Burns and I have been working hard and enjoying ourselves at the same time and that's a great combination.

On Saturday we got to go out to a member's house out on an island and it was so beautiful and we had a great party with the branch here and a lot of non-member friends they brought. It was incredible.

Transfers are this week! Elder Burns will be moving way up north to Skellefteå and I'll be sticking around here. It will be sad to see him go. We've become good friends and he's from the East coast too which is very hard to come by among missionaries here. I'll miss him.

This week I was thinking about the temple and reflecting on my experiences there. I haven't been inside a temple in almost 10 months which is the longest I've ever not visited the temple since I turned 12. The more I reflected on it, the more I realized that I genuinely miss it. There truly is a peace and joy that comes from being in the temple and attending the temple often that you can't feel anyplace else. I never really appreciated that until I no longer had the opportunity to attend regularly. It truly is a house of God and I am so thankful that we have the blessings of temples on the earth today.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1.  Loving life.

2. Kristoffer walking on the beach. Majestic

3. That's right. I live here. (pt 6)

4. There was a major sale on potatoes today. We bought 10 kg (~22 lbs) for fifty cents. No joke.

5. The potatoes.

Romans 8:31

(Aldste Cummings)

Hallå där grabbar!

I hope you have all had a great week! This week was definitely a good one for us. A lot of exciting things are going on here in Karlskrona!

On Tuesday, Elder Burns and I traveled down to Malmö to attend zone conference the next day. We stayed with the zone leaders there which was really fun and I was able to see my good friend and former companion Elder Harris. He's such a great missionary and an even better person.

Zone conference was a blast. It's always so fun to see all the other missionaries from around the zone. The whole conference focused, as usual, on how we can be better missionaries and some of the things that were brought up were how we could allow our personalities to shine through as well as how we can strengthen our relationships with the members in our respective congregations. It was enlightening and inspiring. Elder Burns and I are already putting our plans into action concerning how we can strengthen and support the members in our beloved Karlskrona Branch.

This week, we played soccer with a family with small children. It was really fun. Afterward, we taught a short lesson about how life is like a soccer match. Our goal is happiness in this life and eternal life with our Father in Heaven in the life to come. However, we have opponents who try to stop us and keep us from making our goal. We have our own team and teammates though one of which is God and Jesus Christ. Just like good passing and team camaraderie is necessary to win a soccer match, we must also make use of our teammates and trust them to help us. If we build strong relationships with our Heavenly Father and His son, we can't lose! After all, "If God be for us, who can be against us?"(Romans 8:31)

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

p.s. I posted a video on Facebook of an interview we held with Kristoffer this week. Please check it out and feel free to share. We want it to reach as many people as possible!

1. Got a new pair of glasses. Snyggt.

D & C 84:19-20

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjabba!

This week was incredible! We were really busy with everything going on. We've seen a significant amount of success these past couple of weeks. We have more people to teach and more progressing investigators than I think I've ever had in my mission so far. We were able to teach new investigators a good bit this week and then to top it off, Kristoffer was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday!

Kristoffer is amazing. He's a 27 year old normal Swede who is the nicest, most inviting person you will ever meet. We met him on the street about 5 weeks ago and he came to church the following Sunday and LOVED it. He said that it felt like a safe, warm embrace that he had been looking for for his whole life. We began teaching him the following Tuesday and he readily accepted an invitation to be baptized. Since then we had been teaching him and preparing him to become a member in Jesus Christ's church and be baptized for the remission of sins.

The baptismal service was beautiful and well-attended. His mom--who is taking the lessons from the sister missionaries in the branch and has been to church the last three weeks--gave a short little talk as well expressing her gratitude for her wonderful son. I made my mom's now famous pumpkin chocolate chip bread again and everyone loved it

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to confirm him as a member of the church and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. That was a truly powerful and memorable experience. The Spirit in that room was almost tangible and was a testament to me of the reality of the ordinance. The power of God was manifest in that moment as Kristoffer received the greatest gift God can give His children in this life.

I love Kristoffer and am so thankful for his love and humility. I'm sure the Lord has big plans for him.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

D & C 110:4

(Aldste Cummings)

Hej hej!

As usual, we had a great week. I've said that probably every week since I got here and, judging how it's gone so far, I will likely say it every week until I go home!

This week we had a lot of success with teaching people and setting up lessons this week with people we've met over the past couple of weeks. It's really exciting to see how the work here in Karlskrona is progressing and developing!

We had another lunch lesson with Kristoffer this week! We brought some ingredients and we just made something up. On the menu this time was mung beans, radishes, cucumbers, bell pepper, and onions sautéed in olive oil and mixed together in coconut milk all on top of couscous spiced with cumin and coriander with a side of potatoes. It was divine.

A man who served here as a missionary in Karlskrona five years ago came and visited with his wife and bought us all ice cream at Karlskrona's famous Glassiären. It was also divine.

I thought I would take this opportunity to share one of my favorite scriptures about the Savior. This scripture is a quote directly from the Risen Christ himself who appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple. He testifies of himself with strong, powerful words that cut directly to the point. He is the beginning and the end. He tortured and killed to for the sins of the world. He resurrected on the third day and stands today on God's right hand. He lives and because He lives, we will too and we can be reconciled to our Father. He, too, is divine.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. Yummm

2. Da boys

3. Pizza night with Björn

4. You can take the dog out of Connecticut but you can't take Connecticut out of the dog.