Im allergic to Arkansas

(Sister Slade)

Hello everyone! I hope you had an amazing week!

Sister Mueller has decided that I'm allergic to Arkansas. My chiggers bites are finally healed, which means that round two of chiggers had to start. The giant mosquito bite from last week is also pretty common for me. The mission nurse saw one of those bites and told me that I actually am having an allergic reaction to the mosquitoes. Also, I had a rash on my face that we found out was from airborne poison ivy. (Airborne poison ivy! isn't that just sick and wrong?) Despite all of this, I love Arkansas. It's a beautiful place, and the people and members here are the best of the best. This mission is just neighboring to Independence Missouri, so the members in Bentonville call this mission the Great Value Zion. (That's funny in more ways than one if you consider what Bentonville is famous for).

Anyway, how did everyone enjoy conference? I thought it was amazing! There were so many good talks, that I can't choose just one as my favorite. The women's session was really good. I also really liked Elder Hollands, and President Nelson's. President nelson really is the prophet of god on earth today. He leads and guides the church under the direction of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful that we have his guidance in these latter days. General conference weekend was also nice because with today, it feels like 3 P-days in a row. :) The only disappointment from conference is that Arkansas didn't get a temple. The members in Bentonville are part of the 15% of the church membership that doesn't have a temple within 200 miles pf where they live.

Here's an update on the week of gratitude prayers. This has been the hardest week on my mission, but also the best. Satan really didn't want us to recognize the miracles, but Light always overpowers Darkness. The weather has been rainy, windy, and miserable, so biking was a million times harder. (Also, because a few people have asked, we bike an average of 12-15 miles a day. Sometimes we bike as much as 20). Some of the people we were teaching dropped us without notice. The Ward missionaries oppose the new way that president Strong is having us do missionary work. BUT, we've had so many miracles that I can't even list them all. A referral from several months ago contacted us and wants to meet with us again. Two different people who have been too busy to meet with us very often had their schedules open up so they can meet with us. We contacted 2 new potentials that we have appointments to teach next week. President Strong had an impression to call us after our most difficult afternoon and said exactly what we needed to hear. And the list goes on! If you didn't take my invitation to do a gratitude week, take it now! It was an amazing experience, and changed how I look at a lot of things.

God is Good!

Love,

     ~Sister Slade

Pictures!

1. The fridge at the mission home. Someone ordered too many hot dogs and donated the rest to the mission.

2. Sister Mueller and I going for a night time ride.

3. Another Arkansas sunset

4. Something you'll only see in Arkansas as a Halloween decoration.

Isaiah 29:19

(Aldste Cummings) 

Hello everybody!

This week was a party, let me tell ya.

Early in the week we went on splits with the Kungsbacka Elders which meant I spent the day with ELDER BIRD. Which, as always, was tons of fun. We actually got a lot done, too. Taught a lot of people and helped them come closer to Jesus Christ.

To top it all off, we had lunch at an American diner in the city that had an all-you-can-eat pancake challenge. The challenge was to see how many American pancakes you could eat in 45 minutes. The record is(was) 28. I partook just to enjoy as many pancakes as I wanted. It was a thoroughly pleasant experience.

ELDER BIRD's experience was markedly less pleasant. He was in it to win it and started scarfing down these pancakes. He had been preparing his stomach for the past two days and even started dipping the pancakes in water to eat them faster and more effectively. After a little bit, the cakes caught up to him. Unfortunately, ELDER BIRD had to tap out at 16. A worthy effort. Please give him a round of applause.

The same time we were there, a Swedish guy, Simon, was trying the challenge as well. When he had about 10 more minutes to go, he told us that he had eaten 15 pancakes. 10 minutes later, we saw that the waitress was erasing the whiteboard that had the previous record written on it and replacing it with the "new" "record" "set" by Simon: 29 pankakor.

ELDER BIRD and I were sitting right by the diner's griddle--for easy access to more pancakes förstås--and knew that the diner didn't even make 14 more pancakes in the last 10 minutes of the challenge. Either way, we congratulated Simon and expressed our amazement by his ability to eat  pancakes 16-29 in 10 minutes. We decided not to call him out on it to keep the peace. Simon, if you're reading this, I want you to know that Jesus knows how many pancakes you really ate.

On Saturday, we were on our way to grab fika with a man who wanted to hang out with us but wasn't really interested about learning about the Gospel. We ran into him on the way to the cafe and decided that instead of having fika in town, we'll just go to an outdoor zoo and walk around.

It was incredibly fun. We were just talking to him the whole time and seeing these animals in the beautiful Swedish forest. Honestly, Elder Dumas and I were almost more impressed by the rocky landscape than the animals. We also found this huge playground with a slide that was like 30 meters long and dropped like 10 or 15.

Anyway, we just had the time of our lives for about an hour but the conversation--as it inevitably does as missionaries--made its way over to the Gospel, and the joy that we find in a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. We were talking to Anders--Not to be confused with any previously mentioned Anders--about how much joy comes from Jesus Christ despite our circumstances and how that joy changes us and motivates us to become better people. In the middle of this conversation, we end up running into this family whose kids needed help with climbing a tree and hopping on a pogo stick and we just stopped and helped them out and talked to them for about 10 minutes. Anders was so impressed with the love and kindness we showed to these complete strangers that by the end of our little excursion, he was asking for us to teach him more about Jesus Christ.

If you watched General Conference this weekend, you would know that joy really does come from a love for and love from Jesus Christ. His light permeates us and our lives. A true understanding of Christ's live and love will transform your soul. I testify of that.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. That's right, I live here (pt. 14)

2. Pancake #13

3.This rocks my world.

4. Very little explanation required here.

5. "[We] am the Lorax. [We] speak for the trees."

6. Come join the Baltimore Yacht Club!

7. Sunday, about 8:00 PM. That bucket was full of 2 kilograms of candy on Saturday at 6:00 PM.

Matthew 9:12

(Aldste Cummings)

Hey everybody!

What a week it's been. Welcome to yet another installment of "Ya boys in the 'burg." I hope you enjoy.

I'll start this off by saying that y'all should check out General Conference on Saturday and Sunday. It's going to be super inspiring. You can find information about it on lds.org.

This week we went with our friend Anders to a member's orchestra concert. It was so awesome. It wasn't just any orchestra. It was the official Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. A member in our ward plays the tuba in the orchestra and was able to get us into the final (and only) rehearsal the morning of the concert. It was so cool. The music was great and Anders--who writes music for video games--loved it.

On Saturday we went out to knock doors in the chilly autumn weather. It was really fun and we got to talk to talk to a lot of people who want us to come back some time to teach them more about our message. In the last 15 minutes of our knocking stint, a group of little kids called out to us and started talking to us. They were so adorable and funny. We gave them candy and talked about America and taught them some English words. So fun. When we got on the bus to leave, they all lined the bus stop and waved to us as the bus pulled away. Warmed my heart.

Church yesterday was SO GOOD. The young women in the ward held the entire meeting and gave talks and bore powerful testimonies and sang really moving musical numbers. It was phenomenal. The Spirit was tangible. Elder Dumas and I were both crying during parts of the program. Peng patted my back to comfort me. Thanks Peng. You can always count on Peng.

We had a couple of nonmember friends at church yesterday and each one of them were very moved by all the meetings. One who has been struggling with depression and dissociation from reality said that the Gospel Principles class helped them more than anything their doctors had said or prescribed. Another who had come from a broken family growing up, felt so much joy and hope seeing the young women bear their testimonies of Christ. Another who had recently moved here and feels as though they have no friends was comforted by the warm and inviting atmosphere and Christlike love of the members.

Christ is there for everyone. We all have things we struggle with in life. It may sound naive to some of you to say that there is something--or rather someone--that can take the pain away and lift you out of your trials. Christ walked on Earth and reigns in Heaven as the physician to the sick. Whatever your ailment, I promise that there is a balm in Gilead (see Jeremiah 8:22). Turn to Him and you will find peace to your soul.

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. Doing some yoga at a member's house.

2. Anders trying on a sousaphone.

3. Namaste.

4. Surprise birthday party for Pål!

5. A member made us nettle soup. This soup is basically just stinging nettle and water. Surprisingly tasty.

6. Elder Dumas got transferred. Tristan is my new companion.

7. Our send-off. Felt like I was leaving home all over again.

How do you say 8 in Spanish? Octo?

(Sister Slade)
Either the weeks are getting shorter or we went through a time warp. I seriously woke up this morning thinking it was only Wednesday. Nope. It's Monday. The subject line is a direct quote from Sister Mueller.

This week was amazing! For starters, JENNIFER IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!! On Thursday, we were teaching her. We were talking about eternal families, and I had the thought to invite her to be baptized. I did NOT want to, but something (the holy ghost) basically forced the words out of me. And she said yes! She actually got really excited and said that baptism is something she had been thinking about. It's amazing to me to see how she's changed. Missionaries have only been teaching her for as long as I've been here which is only 3 weeks. I'm so excited for her to be baptized hopefully on the 13th.

This week was also zone conference. I was the pianist for it, and Sister Mueller and I did a special musical number. One of the topics for the conference was diligence. If anyone wants an awesome study topic, study diligence. It means a lot more than what your first thought of it is.

We had another finding miracle this week. We had a member referral for the last 3 months that would never answer when we tried to contact her. We decided to try one last time on Tuesday. She answered and was super excited. She is looking for a church and viewed our call as an answer to prayer. We have an appointment with her this week. It was awesome.

Fun thing from this week, we had dinner with an awesome family last night. While we were there, we found out that the Sister went to college with my Aunt Wendy. They were in the relief society presidency together. It's a small world after all. (I'm sorry if that song is now stuck in your head.)

Don't forget the words of Elder Holland. the first great commandment is to love god with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. But the first great truth is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength. And I love you too!

God is Good!

~Sister Slade

P.S. Sister Mueller and I have decided that this week will be a gratitude week. We will only pray to thank Heavenly Father and we won't ask for anything. I'm challenging all of you to do the same. I predict that we will see miracles this week if we show our gratitude to Heavenly Father.

Pictures!
1. Check out this street name!
2. Another gross spider. remember how big these things are.
3. Sister Mueller and I being normal people instead of missionaries.
4-7. pictures of the chalkboard experiment. We have people write down their answer to a prompt. We did this in normal clothes and going by our first names. It was weird.
8. The biggest most painful mosquito bite ever. (No I have not scratched it...yet)

Pumpkin Peascake Bars

(Sister Slade)

Wow! What a week!

To start off, I just have to mention that 5 minutes ago some Jehove Witness missionaries just knocked on our door. It was a very awkward conversation. Also, to explain the subject line, I have been elected as our district cook because I'm the only one with any cooking skill. But for district council last week, I made pumpkin cheesecake bars, but I accidentally called them chumpkin Peascake bars. We all laughed at that and now they won't let me live it down.

Crazy thought for the day; I've already been on my mission for a month. Time is a weird thing. The last month felt like an entire year at the same time as it felt like one day.

I didn't have a ton of time to email last week, and so I didn't get to say much about my companion or my area. The central park is in basically the center of the mission. This area is also the smallest area, so it's really hard to find new people to teach.  There are at least 10000000 Wal-Mart's in out small area and everyone here works for Wal-Mart. We are frd dinner every night because the members here are amazing. (You can stop worrying mom, I'm not starving) My companion is from Idaho and is amazing. We've found out that were basically the same person. We have the same sense of humor, style, and habits. We also both have a judgemental eyebrow for those of you who know what I'm talking about. :)

Bentonville also has a ton of bugs. I'll send some pictures so you can understand what I'm talking about. The pictures of the spiders don't do them justice. The spiders are each about the size of a silver dollar. We also learned that I have chiggers. If you don't know what they are, Google it. In the picture of my foot, you can see all of my chigger bites. Yes they itch a lot and they will for the next 2 weeks while I'm treating them.

Missionary work is changing a lot. President Strong has permission from Salt Lake to experiment with missionaries proselyting  in regular clothes. He's found that people are 400% more willing to talk to us when were dressed in regular clothes. They're also changing the white handbook, and there is no set schedule for the day anymore. Also, the area book is an app now (hallelujah!). It's amazing to be a missionary during this time.

The miracle for the week: we were on our way to a lesson with someone when they texted us and canceled. We were headed back when we saw a man loading something into his car. Neither of us made a conscious decision to, but we both went over to help him. We ended up talking to him for about an hour. It turns out that he is from out of town visiting a friend. His friend came out to see what was taking so long and we talked to her for about 20 minutes. The end of the story is that she wants us to come back and teach her more! It was a miracle because, like I said,  it's really hard to find new people to teach when our entire area consists of 2 neighborhoods.

I love being a missionary. It's a privilege for me to be here and to serve God's children. I love sharing God's love with others. I know that this church is absolutely true. It brings me so much joy and happiness, and I love being able to share it with my brothers and sisters here in Arkansas.

God is good!

      ~Sister Slade

Pictures!

1. A black widow that Sister Mueller almost sat on

2. My diseased foot

3. The sunset in Arkansas

4. We were doing comp. Study in a park when we saw this guy. (Keep in mind how big I said these spiders were)

5. Sister Mueller and I

Isaiah 55:8-9

(Aldste Cummings)

Tja!

This week was so much fun. We were constantly running from one thing to another. What a crazy week.

It started out with Tuesday which was Elder Dumas' birthday! We celebrated by playing innebandy with the primary kids again which was a blast. There were a couple more kids who actually could play and they were just making fools out of Elder Dumas and I. Then our bishop showed up and gave us ice cream, protein shakes, and some incredible vegetarian burritos and then made everyone sing happy birthday to Elder Dumas. Twice. It was so fun.

President came by to hold our transfer-ly interviews. He told us that he doesn't even know why he came all the way here because judging by the updates we give him every week, we're doing a-okay. He took the opportunity to give us some great wisdom though. He's so wise. I hope I learn how to listen to the Spirit and receive inspiration like he does.

A member we're really tight with named Örjan got his first modeling job ever and asked us to swing by his fashion show for like 20 mintues which was in large mall in town. We should up and it was so much fun. Elder Dumas and I loved looking at and critiquing the new lines of fall fashion. Örjan was the best part of the whole thing. He was killing it up there! What a beautiful bewhiskered man.

On the spårvagn the other day, I noticed a tall Chinese man that I thought I recognized. I said hi to him and turns out I did recognize him! He and his girlfriend were inactive members in Karlskrona when I was there and they both had moved here to Gothenburg! We got his number and are going to meet him with them this week. God's plan is so incredible and unfathomable. His hand is in everything and He is constantly preparing people to be put in the places in which they need to be.

There have been so many times on my mission where I've been disappointed because things didn't go like they were so supposed to or I thought we had a made a mistake in going or not going someplace only to find out that God needed us there to talk to someone. I can't even number the amount of times here in Gothenburg alone that we've missed our bus or spårvagn only to end up running into someone we knew that we had lost contact. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. We just need to humble ourselves and let Him lead us.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1.The innebandy squad.

2. Örjan in the white jacket strutting his stuff.

3. This little girl hopped on stage after the show ended. It was so adorable.

4.  Elder Dumas and I got a little inspiration from the fashion show. Apparently it's "in" now tuck in one side of your jacket and let the other shoulder fall off. It's fashion.

No one has an accent in Bentonville

(Sister Slade)

Hola mi amigos y familia! (This is about all of the Spanish I know)

I made it to Arkansas! I've known about my mission call to Bentonville Arkansas for the last 5 months, and now I'm here! It's hard to believe. I am serving in the central park ward which is right in the middle of Bentonville. We live 10 minutes from the mission home. My companion and trainer is Sister Mueller. She has been on her mission for 15 months, so I will most likely be her last companion. She is amazing! The area that I'm in is also one of the few biking areas in the mission, so that's exciting. I actually like biking, just not in a skirt and not when it's 90 degrees out with 80% humidity.

On Thursday, right after meeting my companion and dropping off my bags, we went to my first lessons. We taught a single young mother who has so many questions and just wants something solid in her life. Her name is Jennifer. We're super excited about her, because she absorbs everything we have to tell her. She's a super sweet lady. She offered to feed us the next time we come to teach.

We've also taught a Muslim woman English several times. It was surprisingly fun. We cam't actually teach her the gospel because of some law from her country, but I love offering what service I can.

And then there is Jerry. He is 76 years old, and has been taught for the last 15 months. He hasn't accepted baptism yet, but he comes to church every Sunday and pays tithing and basically is the closest you can be to "a mormon" without actually being one. He is the sweetest old man. He is basically my mission grandpa. He takes the Sisters out to lunch every Friday and makes sure we have plenty of ice cream in our freezer.

It's amazing how much I love the people we've taught, and I've only known them for 5 days! The Lord really does amazing things through his love. If you want to have an interesting study, read Moroni 7: 45-47 and define each of the qualities of Charity.

God is good!

    ~Sister Slade