Hermana Ellsworth Makes it to Puerto Rico!

(Hermana Ellsworth's Mission President's wife)

Dear Parents,

I am sorry this is a group email, but after a long flight, training and orientation, I am trying to save some time so we can pick up our last Elder coming in from England at 11:30 tonight.

What an amazing group of missionaries! It has certainly been confirmed to President and I that they were held in reserve for this exact time to come to Puerto Rico. Each one was radiant as they came off the plane. We feel so very fortunate to have them serving with us.

You are our first group of new missionaries that have the blessing of talking to your missionary each week. Many of the missionaries may choose to send emails instead of phone calls, some may call weekly while others call once a month. There is not a wrong or right with their decision. We have only been instructed that the missionaries use their judgment at the length of the call, and that they are to call (immediate) family members. Let the holy spirit guide.

Please do all you can to be a part of their mission, providing love and support. We hope you share uplifting thoughts that will encourage them as they adjust to mission life. And thank you for your love and support for President and I and entrusting us with your precious children. We love them already!!!

Love,

Sister Smart

We had half a baptism

(Sister Slade)

This week, we got a text that Brian was in the Hospital and had asked for a blessing. We got him a blessing. And then he asked his ex step son who is a gay priest to baptize him. It was actually really cool. When we first met Brian, he didn't really believe in God but now he does and has the desire to be baptized. Unfortunately, we haven't taught him about proper authority yet. It was also cool because his wife Beverly thought that he wasn't saved and was scared he would die before he had that opportunity. Then Brian asked if I could sing at his funeral. He's still hanging on, but he probably won't last much longer.

The only thing other thing I can think of that is worth mentioning is James. He is the person who asked us if he could be baptized. Our stake does a thing for the youth called Mini missions. James went to mini missions and during one of the devotionals, they were asking for participation by asking what the book of Mormon meant to them. James raised his hand and said that to him, "the Book of Mormon means discipline because the things he's learned from it have kept him out of trouble." Sister Davis and I were so happy! He also came to church on Sunday and he said he loved it.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else to mention. Maybe next week's will be a little more exciting.

I love you!

~Sister Slade

1. Sister Davis and I

2. We needed to clean our back windshield but the cleaner at the gas station had frozen.

3. The goat that was mentioned in my last email.

4. Another goat picture

5. Us with Brian a couple weeks ago.

Alma 40:11

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjabba.

This was quite the week. We had a number of really cool experiences.

It started out really warm this week. Some snow melted and because the roads are always c-o-v-e-r-e-d in hardened snow, everything is now incredibly icy. Like reallllllly icy. We both slipped many times. In places where the snow was thinner, it all melted away and you could see grass! But the grass was gray and matted and honestly disgusting so I was glad when it snowed again over the weekend and covered it up again. Take that, gR@§$.

The sun goes down after five o'clock now! It's a big difference than a couple months ago when it was dark by 13:30.

We asked a couple of people if we could shovel their driveways for them while we were out tracting. One of them said no because it was too slippery which we thought was just a bad excuse until we actually ended up slipping. Another one said no because she "needed" to do it herself whatever that means. Another came out of his house after we had just had a pleasant conversation with him and made us stop shoveling his driveway after we had already done half of it. We only shoveled one driveway this week and that was because the person wasn't home and couldn't tell us to stop. Guys, do me a favor and accept the missionaries' offer of service. We genuinely do want to help.

We saw tons of old stuff this week. A clock made in 1793, Swedish bibles printed in 1830, a man born in the 1920's, a house built in 1648, and a church built in 1492 (when Columbus sailed the ocean blue alltså).

Just as we finished out proselyting for the night and were heading home for dinner, I looked up and noticed that there was what appeared to be a green cloud in the sky. Huh. It took only a fraction of a second before I realized that my wildest dreams had come true and I was looking at the Northern Lights. Elder Mathias and I quickly ran through the snow onto a frozen lake and just stood and stared at the sky for about an hour or so. For the most part it was just a huge green streak that twisted and turned through the heavens, but about half and hour into it, the sky just went crazy. The whole scene was engulfed in swirling circles of green, purple, orange, and red.

Unfortunately our phones weren't sophisticated enough to take pictures, but a nice Scottish man who came to our viewing spot a little later took some and emailed them to us. Unfortunately, the pictures he wasn't able to get pictures of the peak but the ones we got will have to do. By far one of the most amazing moments of my life.

I just want to end this really quick with a quick testimony that life really does continue after death. There is a god in this world and He has prepared a way for us to return to Him. He loves us and longs for us to be embraced in His loving arms after we have passed from this life. May we live in such a way that we will be prepared and proud to meet Him.

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. Old bibles (1830).

2. Old clock (1793) ft old man (1920's).

3. Old house (1648).

4. Old church (1492).

5. That's right, I live here (pt 16).

6. That's right, I live here (pt 17).

Your eyebrows are so bushy I could hide in them and get across the border

(Hermana Ellsworth)

If ye love me feed my sheep. Have the gospel written on your heart at all times. Ask and ye shall receive. The church is true. Love your neighbor. Go on a mission. The gift of tongues is real. I understand more Spanish than I think. Every effort counts. Dont give up. Fight. Yesterday you said tomorrow. GO FIGHT WIN! This is my week at the CCM. I am in the last grind. The last week. The final mile. The golden mile. The home stretch. I leave Tuesday morning at 2 am to go to Puerto Rico and I am sooo excited. We got to hear from Elder Christofferson and from an elder with an amazing story about trials. I know I am supposed to be on a mission and I know that God will protect me if I am obedient. I love this gospel so much! I am so sorry this is short. I love you all! I know fasting works. Keep moving forward with good things! Next email will be sent from Puerto RICOOO!!!

Picture 1. My district with the flags.

2. Hermana nelson (I did her hair)

3. My dad sent me nutella and a can of caramel bacon spam that is not featured. Got to love craig.

4. elder leemaster and elder stellway needing a haircut

5. Hermana bates my companion. On our way to email

Was that a goat?

(Sister Slade)

Some of the service we do is at a Literacy council that shares a building with a law firm. While we were there last week, we saw someone come down the stairs from the law firm with a baby goat in their arms. We were all very confused. 

Transfers were this week. My new companion is Sister Davis. She is from California and has been out 10 months. I also got confirmation from President Strong that I will be here in Central Park next transfer. Half my mission will be spent in my first area.

We had some really cool experiences this week. Do you remember James, the guy from last week's email that said the super inspiring prayer? Well we had another lesson with him on Saturday. We talked about enduring to the end and repentance, but as we were finishing up the lesson, he stopped us. He then asked us if we could talk to our bishop about baptizing him. HE INVITED HIMSELF TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!!!! I was a little mind blown. I told him that yes, yes we could ask our bishop if he could be baptized. But then I was like, What do we do now? Oh yeah, we set a date. Once again, McDonalds was a holy place to me. 

We were also in charge of putting together a service activity for the young women. We had them do a concert for a local assisted living. It was really incredible. There were two residents that cried when they all sang Peace In Christ. After the concert, we found out that one of the caretakers there was a less active member and she said that she wants to go back to church now because of the spirit that she felt there that night. Pray for Hannah that she will have the courage and faith to actually go back!

While trying to contact people in our area book, we got 4 return appointments in one day. That was huge! Most of the time it's a miracle for us to get even one return appointment. 

I love you!

Sister Slade

Pictures:

1. The trio 

2. Us with Bev and Brian

3. The Pabst family aka the best family in the world

4. This poster was hanging directly across from the toilet in the literacy council bathroom

5 and 6. Me and my new companion 

7. Bentonville stake missionaries

8. Silly stake picture

Week 5 in the CCM!

(Hermana Ellsworth)

I GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE! This is the last time that I get to go to the temple for 18 months. I love the temple soo much and it makes me sad that I will not be able to go for a while. The temple is a beautiful place! Always go to the temple!!!

Also we had an amazing speaker come and speak to us. John C. Pingree Jr. of the 70 came and told us some great things. Some of my favorite things he talked about was how every companion will prepare us for our lives. Whether it be through challenges or through good experiences. He talked about when he was a mission president he watched a sister change so much over her mission. Every email she would start with, "This week the atonement of Jesus Christ helped me to....." and by the end of the mission she was able to change into this refined missionary and woman. Also the speaker called me out over the stand because he said something awesome and I gave my companion a fist bump because of how cool it was and He goes, "thats right !! That was awesome and deserved a fist bump! What is your name?" and I had to yell my name from the crowd. Haha kind of weird.  I know the Atonement of Jesus works but we have to actively choose to use it. Search the scriptures everyday and think about what you can change to become closer to Christ.

My life is great and nothing really is going on in the CCM.  I love you all and I would love to hear from you guys!

Pictures are Hermana Hahne and I, My comp Hermana Bates taking picts of me, and then all the Hermanas in my district. Neilsin, bates, Mehlhoff, Jones, Hahne! I love them so much!

D& C 59:21

(Aldste Cummings)

Må Gud utgjuta sin oändliga kärlek över era huvud mina kära syskon,

I thought I'd change up the greeting a little bit today. Hoppas det smakar.

Anyway, this week has been pretty great. We've had lot's of good fun.

We got transfer calls and Elder Mathias and I are looking at another 6 weeks together here. It's gonna be great. Maybe I'll get to see the grass before I leave.

This week we had a musical fireside with the branch and a lot of people brought friends and nonmembers and it ended up being a really nice evening. The sister missionaries were in charge of the whole thing and had asked us about two days in advance to prepare something to perform so I asked a member if we could use their piano so I could brush a little dust off of "Bröllopsdag på Troldhaugen" by Edvard Grieg. The performance ended up going really well and the Swedes really appreciated that I played a little Scandinavian music.

Funny thing I've noticed from my observations here: There's this big rivalry between the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland) over which one is the best and they're constantly making jabs at the other countries and making claims that their [insert cultural element here] is better than all the others. Unless they don't have a [cultural element] to represent their country in the debate in which case they claim their Scandinavian fraternity justifies their showing pride in the accomplishments of the others. For example, Edvard Grieg is Norwegian and Sweden doesn't have a comparable Swedish composer to rival him so instead of admitting defeat, Swedes glory in the musical prodigy of their Norwegian brother. It's a pretty smart tactic. Either you're the best or everyone's the best and it doesn't matter.

Anyway, the rest of the week went really well. We had this really cool experience on Tuesday. We had prayed in the morning to be led by the Spirit without our being conscious of it and we ended up asking our mission leader to come with us to visit some women who live alone but said we could come back another time. On the way to the first woman, our mission leader didn't hear the directions we gave him and we spent about two minutes driving around in circles in parking lot. We eventually get there and knock and the woman didn't answer. But just as we were leaving, she came walking up from the laundry room and asked our mission leader what he was doing there. Turns out, she was actually an old neighbor to our mission leader and they knew each other really well but had lost contact over the years. We came in and had a fantastic lesson with her and our mission leader was able to give her teaching and advice specifically tailored to her needs. It was incredible.

Everything worked out so well. We decided to swing by her that day specifically with our mission leader who turned out to be an old friend to her and spent just enough time getting lost in that parking lot that she came to the door right when we were leaving rather than having missed her entirely.

To some of you this may just seem like coincidence, but this kind of stuff happens far too often to us and to other missionaries to be anything other than divine intervention. I know God lives and is actively engaged in this work.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. In a town a little south of here, they have a Polar Plunge every year where they cut a 25m lap pool in the ice on the river and have people race each other in it.

2. "Here comes the Sun, ba ba baba" --The Beatles

3. You may think this is the prints made by two people falling into the snow simultaneously, but you'd be wrong. This is, in fact, the prints left behind when the Elder's Quorum President in our branch pushed me into the snow and then Elder Mathias pushed me back into the snow after helping me up.

4. This elderly woman was standing in the middle of the apartment complex looking scared so I offered her my arm to help her walk over the ice. Super adorable.