The Door with the darking Bog

(Sister Slade)

We got transfer calls this week. Both Sister Boyack and I will be staying in Central Park. This means that I will hit my 6 month mark here and it's only my first area. In addition to working in our area, President Strong has given Sister Boyack and I an assignment for this transfer. He gave us a book to read called "Quiet, the Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking." Missionary work is inherently an extrovert activity and a lot of people believe that introverts can't do missionary work because of that. So president has told us to read that book and create a seminar/workshop for the rest of the mission. Sister Boyack is an extrovert and I am definitely an introvert, so we're thinking about focusing on the strengths of introverts in missionary work (listening, sensitivity, quiet confidence, comfort, etc) and how extroverts can work with introverts to let them use their talents. The book is actually really interesting, and i would recommend it to everyone, even if you consider yourself an extrovert.

Last Monday, we were visiting potentials from our area book and we went to one house, but the person on the area book had moved a few months ago. BUT the person who lives there now took a Book of Mormon and was really interested and set up a return appointment for this week. The cool thing about this (at least to me) was that we only had the courage to go to this house to try to accomplish the mission's goal of talking to 11 people a day. This would have been our 3rd person we talk to that day and out of it we got a new person to be taught. The Lord doesn't count the numbers, but he makes the numbers count. Pray for Tommy that he will be a solid investigator!

We had a lesson with Nancy this week and last week we had invited her to read the introduction page. When we got there this week, she had read not only the introduction but everything up to 1 Nephi.

The email title is from when I was on exchanges with Sister Churchill on Thursday. We were tracting around an apartment complex and the door next to the one we knocked on had a REALLY big dog barking. Sister Churchill looked at me and accidentally said, "let's not knock on the door with the darking bog." It might only have been funny because both of us were really cold and might have been a little bit delirious.

I've had a lot of reflection on the New Year. I think it is really a representation of the Savior's atonement. We view New year's as a new beginning, but new beginnings are only possible because of the savior. I'm so grateful for the savior in making it possible for me to begin again every day (sometimes multiple times a day).

I love all of you!

~Sister Slade

pictures:

1. funny picture

2. We made a puzzle in our free time

3. another picture of the puzzle

4. my stake this transfer

Genesis 1:3 and the Lord said, "let them wear pants"

(Sister Slade)

That's right! I got pants! Sister strong took us shopping today and we found a few pairs.

This week we helped someone move. Even though we had to carry couches up 3 flights of stairs, it sure beat tracting for 5 hours. :)

We also had interviews with president this week and president told us that he is going to come out with us this week. Central park is struggling to make anything happen, and president wants to see what he can do about our area. Some possibilities he's told us about are dissolving the area boundaries for missionaries in Bentonville for finding or making our area a service area where all we would do is service.

We had a lesson with Jason this week where we talked about how both the bible and Book of Mormon teach about Jesus Christ. During that lesson, I kept thinking about how every aspect of missionary work points back to the Savior; tracting, rejection, exhaustion, etc. Everything we taught Jason had something I could relate to in my missionary work. It was a really humbling experience to think about the Savior's mission and comparing it to my experience.

I love being a missionary! I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

I love you!

     ~Sister Slade

Pictures

1. We're wearing PANTS

2. It was 60° last Saturday so we walked

3. We found a buddy bench

4. I got to ride a members electric skateboard

5. Our new years celebration at 9:30

6. We had lunch with Jerry and he invited some of the members in our ward

2 Nephi 25-26

(Aldste Cummings)

Halloj halloj!

The past couple weeks have been incredibly fun. I haven't really been able to report them to you guys really well because of holidays coinciding with our P-day, but basically, we had a really good time.

New Year's Eve, we spent the day with a member family in a small town near Boden. Then, we went drove to Luleå to watch the fireworks at midnight. Our friend drove us to the wrong side of the city to watch the big fireworks show but Elder Jordan and I just stood out on the ice in the middle of the bay to watch all the smaller fireworks shows happening in other parts of the city. It was pretty cool and honestly more memorable than actually seeing the big fireworks we were intending to watch.

Speaking of ice, we drove on the ice bridge! It was super cool. It's just this river that freezes over during the winter. There's usually a ferry but when the ice is thick enough they just plow off the snow and open up the ice to thru traffic. It was pretty awesome.

On Saturday, we got a call from some members who live out in the middle of nowhere who needed help stacking firewood for their wood-burning stove. We drove out there--they live in the middle of the woods--and helped them out. On the way there we saw a moose just chilling in the middle of the road. It was incredible but it ran off before I could get a picture.

During the days in between Christmas and New Year's, our mission president challenged us to read all the entries and 57 subheadings under "Jesus Christ" in the Topical Guide to the LDS edition of the scriptures. It was a lot of reading, and I haven't even finished it yet, but it has been incredibly rewarding. The exercise has shown me that everything preached by the prophets since the beginning of time has had it's center in Jesus Christ and His atonement. Everything God does and commands us to do is centered in Him. As His representative, I am grateful for the opportunity I have to continuously invite others to learn of and follow Him.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. Big Boi Burns surprised me in Stockholm when we were there a couple weeks ago. Love that kid.

2. "Ice, ice [bridge] dumdumdum dumdumdum dum" -Vanilla Ice

3. 10:00 sunrise aesthetic. vibes.

4. Service clothes baby mhm

4. Elder Cummings' Declassified Boden Survival Guide Tip 3: Wear a ski helmet liner under your stylish Norwegian wool hat. It adds increased warmth and heavily minimizes the itchiness factor as well as dry forehead skin.

Light your face

(Sister Slade)

Hey y'all! Can you believe that it's almost 2019!?

It was a really good week. I loved talking to my family on Christmas. It really made me think about why I am here in Arkansas. I'm here because I love my savior and I know how much happiness can be found in the gospel and I want to share that with others. The joy that I feel is so incredible and I know it will bless the life of anyone who is willing to listen to me and "experiment on the word."

It's amazing how much I can love the people here. I don't know them and all they do is reject the good news that I have to share, but I love them! Even the lady that yelled at us that she was a "lifelong lutheran" and to "never come back" and then slammed the door. I love her because she is my sister and I know that my Heavenly Father loves her too. I love my companions and the ward members. And I love all of you. Thank you for all of your support and prayers. They are very needed. 

This week, while at service at a food pantry, the person in charge asked us if we could test an escape room he designed. Because of the circumstances, we couldn't say no. The escape room was completely centered on the Savior's resurrection. All of the clues were scriptures that we had to interpret based off of the doctrine of Christ. It was really cool and powerful to experience and we were able to have a lot of amazing gospel discussions afterwards.

At a dinner lesson, we were teaching about the 4th week of light the world and one of the kids said, "I know that one, it's light your face!" It was really funny. This week we also happened to stop by some members who were trying to organize their garage and they enlisted our help and we ended up building one shelf and demolishing another (both of which were really fun).

Happy New Years! I'll talk to you next year. ;)

~Sister Slade

Pictures (there's a lot):

1. Sister boyack made me these for Christmas

2. Christmas morning

3. Me opening gifts

4. A pillow case my family made me

5. Gingerbread house.

6. Our awesome Christmas outfits.

7. Our matching Hogwarts pajamas

8. All the food we collected can tracting. It's a lot

2 Corinthians 5:17

(Aldste Cummings)

Gott Nytt År!

This P-day is a little different and crazy like last week so I don't have a lot of time.

Quick updates from the week:

-Spent Christmas day with a nice Chinese family and ended up watching the first half of Incredibles 2 all in chinese with no subtitles. Definitely one of those what-had-to-happen-in-my-life-to-get-me-here kind of moments. Super memorable and really really fun.

-Skyped my family back home. It was so fun to see them again and talk to them i love and miss them.

-Lots of studying about Jesus Christ (I'll likely talk more about that later)

-Ate surströmming (rotten fish that even most Swedish people avoid like the plague 😷) for the first time. Honestly, after all the hype, it was a far more pleasant experience than I had anticipated.

I hope you've all had a great year. This year will be the only calendar year I will have been a full-time missionary. It's been quite the adventure. Undoubtedly the hardest year of my life but also the most fulfilling and rewarding. I have learned so much and grown to know and love my Savior more than I could possibly have imagined. Through Christ's Atonement, change is possible and we can become "new creatures." But that change is a life-long process, not an event. Take advantage of this coming year and all the challenges it is bound to bring to be refined and renewed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Happy New Year!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

(Sorry these might get out of order when I send them)

1. Fire and Ice.

2. Ja. Ja. Men. San.

3. Elder Cummings' Declassified Boden Survival Guide Tip 2: John Deere Leather Snow Boots. The warmest, most durable snow boots I've ever had.

4. Christmas party.

I love when plans fall through

(Sister Slade)

Merry Christmas! I hope you all have been having a great season and that you can feel the spirit of Christ in your life.

This week was amazing. We focused on member visits for light the world. The whole week was very powerful to me because literally every lesson we taught was focused on the savior. When we got to the special sacrament meeting on Sunday that was also focused on Him, it was amazing.

Unfortunately every single one of our appointments for this week canceled and so we did even more tracting than we normally do! Have I ever told you how much I love tracting? It's my favorite.

The funny moment for the week was when we knocked on the wrong door. Bentonville is one of the fastest growing cities in the US so there are new roads and houses being built all the time. Our area book map doesn't update as fast as it should and sometimes takes us to the wrong address. We had dinner at with a new family that moved into our ward and because they were new, neither of us would recognize them. Long story short, the map took us to the wrong house and we totally talked to a random lady named Tanya like she was a member and had invited us over for dinner. It was really awkward, but also really funny.

I hope you have a fantastic Christmas tomorrow!

~Sister Slade

Pictures

1. A picture from when president strong went crazy

2. A lady had signed up to feed us tonight but had a meeting so she made us mac and cheese and ribs
3. When everyone cancels and you have to replan your day

4. Something we saw outside a house

Isaiah 9:2, JOhn 1:4-5

(Aldste Cummings)

God Jul!

Sorry, I don't have a lot of time today so I won't send a full email or pictures. I apologize as well for not having a scripture of the week last week, that's my bad. I'll compensate with two scriptures this week.

Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He lights the way before us and chases away the darkness that would otherwise surround us in His absence. Here in Boden at this time of year it's pretty easy to relate with the whole light in contrast to darkness metaphor. It's so beautiful how just a little light can make so much of a difference. Learn about Christ and let His light permeate your lives.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Äldste Cummings