John 9: 1-3

(Aldste Cummings)

To whom it may concern,

Welcome to the second installment of The Lord Wrecks Missionaries So Miracles Can Happen™ but we'll get to that later. It's a bit of a long one today, but hold on.

               This week was really fun. On Wednesday we took the ol' college aeroplane down to Stockholm because Elder De Feo of the Seventy from the Europe Area Presidency (translation: rather high-profile leader in the Church) visited our mission. It was really cool to meet him and learn from his wisdom acquired by many years of serving the Lord. Something that struck me is how he encouraged us to live "more sacred lives" to meet the responsibilities that God has called us to fill.        

               He also talked about how in order to help people progress in the Gospel, we must as missionaries show great love, but also have high expectations for them. The following day, Elder Mathias and I were feeling rather loving and especially high-expecting so we invited someone we had been teaching for a while to be baptized in a couple months and she said yes! Honestly, that was a miracle and a testimony to the truth of what Elder De Feo had taught the day before.

               We visited this lady and her family and talked to them about the church and everything. It was more of a social visit honestly, but they had a lot of questions and it was super fun. Among the funniest things she said were the following:

               *Reads name of church of my nametag* "Now I get the whole 'no alcohol' thing. The name is too long to say when you're drunk!"

               "When I invited you in I thought you'd be like the Jehovah's Witnesses. I was wrong!"

               Now we get to The Lord Wrecks Missionaries So Miracles Can Happen™. So Saturday was crazy and literally nothing we had planned happened. It felt like we were just running in circles because things kept getting in our way or plans just fell through. But we saw these two cool miracles that only happened as a result of everything else failing:

               1. About a week ago, we met a man outside a friend's apartment building waiting for his other friend to pick him up. We talked to him a little and he gladly took a Book of Mormon. As luck would have it, his friend pulled up in the middle of the conversation (tangential rant: For real though, I think every time I've talked to a person waiting for a friend, the friend always shows up in the middle of the conversation and totally kills our vibe). The man told us his address as he was getting into the car but we couldn't hear well enough to make it out.

               Fast forward to Saturday when we had done a couple swing-bys in the morning--none of which answered--and were driving around on a completely different part of town trying to find a place to park to swing by another person. As we did so, I looked at one of the street names and thought "Huh. That kinda sounds like what that man said to us last week. Huh." Just as I thought that, we look to see the exact same man getting out of his apartment building to once again get into his friend's car. God had a way of getting us that address anyway

               2. Later that same day, we swung by man we had met who wanted a Book of Mormon and had given us his address for us to come by. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that the door was locked with a code and we couldn't get in and didn't have his number. We said a prayer that someone would come out, tested a few codes while we waited and left after a couple minutes. We started knocking doors and talking to people on the street in the area until it was time for us to go home. As we were walking back to the car, we see the man walking down the street about a block from his apartment. We hurriedly crossed the street (we're gonna skip over the part here when I step on the ice and my legs are taken out from under me) and were able to talk to him, give him his copy of the Book of Mormon, and witness to him that God answered our prayer and that He wanted him to have that book.

               Sometimes, like the man born blind in John 9, we become the victims of what we think are trials or opposition, when it turns out that the Lord just needed us to be doing something that we couldn't have planned for on our own.

               Love,

Äldste Cummings

1.. A member had this shirt on but had no idea what it was.

2. You might think this beautiful tapestry, woven in 1826, portrays a contingent of Revolutionary War era soldiers parading through a small Swedish village--but you'd be wrong. Upon closer inspection, one finds that this is in fact the Three Wise Men coming to worship the baby Jesus approximately year 0 AD at Bethlehem in Judea.

3. Elder Dumas holding us up 😤 som vanligt alltså

4. Grabbarna reunited.

First Pday in the CCM!

(Hermana Ellsworth)

Hello Family and Friends!

This is my first email and I don[t really know what to say other than I LOVE THIS CHURCH! I have seen so many amazing blessings! The language is hard but not as hard as it could be. My companions name is Hermana Bates and she is the cutest. Most of the people in my district are going to the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico and we have so much fun together. There are 6 hermanas and 6 elders in the district and each of them have such an amazing spirit that they bring when they share their insights, trials, and everything. There is no time to really write. I did go to the temple today for my Pday and it seems like the church is still true no matter where you go! who knew! The most spiritual moments in the CCM has been when we are able to share our love for Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon with each other as a district. Also we got to hear from Elder Holland at a devotional that was broadcasted from Provo. Favorite quote from him is when he talked about his calling and how much it intimidated him at first. President Monson told Elder Holland to be himself, but to be his best self in his calling. That is what I am striving to be. Learning a new language is difficult but it hasnt been as hard as I expected. I love everything about the CCM except the Red Chicken. (El pollo rojo) DO NOT EAT THE RED CHICKEN!

I would be shook

(Sister Slade)

It was a very exciting week. For a couple of days there was a possibility that Sistwr Boyack and I were going to be emergency transferred (ET'd). There is a set of sisters in our stake both of which had terrible training and are supposed to retrain each other. When it looked like it was going to be a disaster, they were going to split up both of our companionships and sister Boyack and I would retrain one of them. Fortunately, things stabilized and there is no ET! But through out the ordeal, I would ask sister boyack, "What if we're ET'd?" And she would reply, "I would be shook. Shook!"

We found a new person to teach! That means that in the last month we've found 4 new people. That's more people in 1 months than I've found in the entire rest of my mission! His name is Gerry, not to be confused with the Jerry that we're teaching. We were talking to him and he asked how we become part of the family of christ and we were super excited because we have a lesson that explains exactly that.

You know that project president gave sister Boyack and I? Well he gave me another one. He is having me be the editor for our mission magazine that comes out every transfer. It's something I'll be doing for the rest of my mission starting next transfer when the person doing it now goes home.

In other news, both sister Boyack and I got sick again with a cold. The mission nurse told us we weren't aloud to be outside for more than 10-15 minutes at a time and since the only thing we can do in our area is tract, we worked a lot on the first project President Strong gave us.

That's about it for this week!

I love you!

Sister Slade

Pictures!

1. Sister Boyack and I

2. We were helping some members paint3. A member switched the nametags on our coats when they were hung up at church
4. We used an entire bottle of dayquil within a 30 hour period

5. I made bread yesterday

6. This makes me laugh so hard

Isaiah 55: 8-9

(Aldste Cummings)

Hajsan

We've had quite the party this week. It's been really fun.

First things first, I finished knitting my socks. I know, I know. It's been months since I've even talked about knitting but I finally got on myself and finished knitting the other sock. They're different sizes and are too thick to fit tightly on my legs because I didn't really follow the instructions that well but seeing as they were the first things I've ever knit, they turned out well. I'm proud and I hope that you are too.

On Thursday we went out to help our Branch President with on his 🌟 cow farm🌟 with nearly 250 cows. That's a lot of cows. I've never been so close to so many cows before in my life. It was so cool. It made me want to have a farm when I grow up. It was also really cold. The upside was that all the cow pies were frozen so you couldn't step in them but you had to be careful or you'd trip on them.

This week we got to see some really cool miracles. On Friday, e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e canceled on us. Literally nothing we planned ended up happening and we were feeling pretty crummy about it all. But then we were out knocking doors and started talking to this older couple while they were outside their house they were rebuilding after it burned down and they let us in to show us around and they were so nice and cute. They ended up inviting us back to teach them more about the Gospel. Just talking to them warmed my heart on that cold day. Maybe it's just because I think elderly ladies are adorable--both of my grandmothers included ❤--but I started to tear up. It made my day.

We also had a cool experience when we went to teach a family that hadn't been so active in the church. We decided to teach them about the temple and we were trying to find pictures of the temple on our phones about 5 minutes before we needed to leave when I looked over Elder Mathias' shoulder and saw a framed picture of the Stockholm Temple that we had in our apartment. I said "Bring that," and he responded "Why don't we just give it to them?" so we decided to give it to them. What a "coincidence" that the mother of the family had just recently taken a mirror off the wall in their living room and was wanting to replace it with a picture and was overjoyed when the picture of the temple looked so good on the wall. Then they came to church on Sunday with all the kids for the first time in a while and it just so happened to line up exactly with the visit of a recently released temple president to his daughter up here. He gave a talk about the temple and the family was really moved and motivated.

On Saturday, more people canceled on us and e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e we planned to swing by wasn't home. So we were out knocking doors and this guy opened and let us in as soon as we said "Jesus Kristus." We ended up having a good lesson with him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and will be back soon to teach him more. He said that he had just moments before we knocked sold a snowmobile to a German guy for a really good price. He said that that's why he was in such a good mood and wouldn't have let us in otherwise.

Lesson of the Week: God's plan is always better than ours. He knows who needs help and when and He doesn't seem to care that much about making it a little more difficult for a couple of cold kiddos in Boden to eventually lead them to the people they really need to talk to. It's been incredible to see and be a part of and I'm so glad that the Lord is helps us to where we need to be and not where we want to be.

Have a great week!

IM ALIVE!

(Hermana Ellsworth)

I got to mexico all safe and sound! I am only allowed to write a short letter but I am all good and alive! There were about 50 missionaries on my flight and I met 3 sisters and an elder going to puerto rico. my companion is hermana bates. she is also going to puerto rico. I ran into jennifers brother, the pilot, in the airport. he has pictures. I didnt have my camera when we on the flight but i have friends who are going to email me them. my pday is friday. love you so much!!!!! have a great day!

love hermana Ellsworth

"Sister Slade. That would be a cool brand name."

(Sister Slade)

This week we had an amazing miracle! We were trying to find a less active member but didn't have their exact address. So we knocked on some doors and met Beverly and Brian. They're an older couple, both of which are frail and sickly. They invited us in and we felt prompted to sing a hymn to them, specifically the third verse of Nearer, my God, to thee, which says "angels to beckon me, steps unto heaven." It was a really cool experience and they invited us to come back next week to share a message!

We had a lesson with Jessica this week that went really well. We planned to teach about the Plan of Salvation, but it ended up being a lesson on the Savior's Atonement and it was exactly what she needed. Afterwards it occurred to me that the Plan of Salvation really is the Savior. All aspects of the Plan point back to Him.

Unfortunately, I was sick for a lot of the week and we weren't able to do much else. We did help some members paint their house and we had lessons with Jerry and Nancy this week, but I couldn't do much else. It snowed a little on Saturday (less than half an inch) and Bentonville shut down. They even canceled church on Sunday because no one knows how to drive in "bad" weather. I thought it was a little ridiculous.

The title of my email comes from a guy we talked to. We introduced ourselves and he said that my name would be a cool band name. Then I told him about the "you slade it" joke. He thought it was hilarious. He said Sister Boyack's name sounded like some exotic cuisine.

I love you!

Sister Slade

We didn't take any pictures this week unfortunately.  :(

2 Kings 5:13-14

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjabba tjabba mina damer och herrar

This week was tons of fun. On Wednesday I had to part ways with Elder Jordan as he caught a plane down to southern Sweden. While I waited in the airport for my new companion, Elder Mathias, two members of the ward that are retired kept me company for a couple hours. It was really enjoyable, actually. Old Swedish people are really fun to talk to.

There's this thing up here called a "spark" which translates to "kick" but it's like this seat on a long pair of skates. You stand on the skates on the back and kick off the ground while kids or anything you're carrying sits on the seat. It honestly looks incredibly comical and doesn't seem real but people use them all the time when they need to walk the dog or take out the trash or something. Pics to come.

This week was full of miracles. First off, we had two lessons cancel on us on Thursday so we ended up knocking doors instead and the third house we knocked had an American flag on the porch and so we asked a little bit about it and turns out it was a man and his American, super pregnant wife. They let us in and we got to teach them all about the Restoration of the Gospel and they took a Book of Mormon and we'll be back this week. The funny thing is as we were leaving, we commented on the flag again and she said "Yeah, I just put that out today for some reason." 🤔

The next day we were out tracting again and this man opened the door and we said hi to him and told him that we talk about Jesus and he swore and said that we should come in so we sat and talked with him a little bit and he really genuinely enjoyed our chat and he wants us to come back. He said that he never lets people in and attributes the timing of our visit and his willingess to let us in to God. 🤔

I woke up a couple days ago with a really uncomfortable imbalance in my head because one of my ears was refusing to pop. It lasted for a couple hours and in the shower I was getting kinda light-headed and all. We had quite a full day ahead of us so I said a quick prayer to ask the Lord to heal my ear. Then after my prayer, I saw my Vick's VapoRub and had the thought to put some in my ear. I thought, "um, wut." But I figured that maybe it would work but it definitely couldn't hurt so I gave it a shot and within a minute my ear was completely back to normal. 🤔

I don't really know if the VapoRub actually made a difference or if it was the Lord's way of testing to see how well I was listening to the Holy Ghost and my willingness to follow its counsel. Kinda like when Elisha told Naaman to bathe seven times in the River Jordan to heal his leprosy. The water didn't heal him, but it was his obedience to the counsel given by a prophet of the Lord that effected the miracle.

I learned a couple things from this experience. 1). Miracles happen. Even VapoRub naturally rebalanced unpopped ears, I definitely didn't come up with that thought myself. 2) God cares about us so much that he was willing to heal my ear so I didn't have to be uncomfortable all day. and 3). As we listen to the guidance we receive from the Lord, whether through the Holy Ghost or the counsel of His prophets, we are blessed.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. My glasses started freezing.

2. She colddddd. (-26 degrees Farenheit)

3. Another good example of the Weird Swedish Door©. Front door with doorbell on the other side of sliding glass patio door.

4. Elder Mathias getting a nice, cold welcome to Boden.

5. Call me.