Locked out, Coconut, and Zone Conference

(Hermana Ellsworth)

What an amazing week. This week has been on of small but simple miracles. The biggest miracle we have seen has been our people reading the book of Mormon with an incredible desire. The book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and is the convincing evidence of the truth of this church. If you believe that we are all of God's children and that God speaks to all his children then you are already on your way to believing the truths in the Book of Mormon. While teaching this week we had one woman named Jacklyne who read her assigned reading and then continued to read 13 chapters between our next visit. She was a street contact and was leaving to the store so when we gave her the book of Mormon we didn't have time to tell her where it came from. But when we told her about the Restoration of Christ's Church and how the book of Mormon is apart of that she had such a desire to learn more. Half way through my companion talking I looked over at Jacklyne who was just reading her heart out in the middle of us talking about where the book came from. Every peice of our knowledge usually starts with a desire to know. It is very rare that you just "happen" upon knowledge. You must go out and search for it and have that desire to know first. My invitation is to be curious. Be curious about things at school and church and have a desire to learn and understand them better. It is hard to work with someone who doesn't want to know.

SPANISH UPDATE: We are on an English Fast this week in our apartment to get ready for General Conference. For the past 4 days our apartment has only been speaking spanish with exceptions of teaching english speakers and calling family home. At the beginning of the fast we had a "family" prayer for help. We asked Heavenly Father for a miracle, for the gift of tongues, for the interpretation of tongues as we gave up our native language for 7 days. I was ready for a really hard week. I was ready to cry and get frustrated at not being able to comunicate. But the best part of this fast has been that God has made it easy. Not the spanish per se but the completing of fast. This has been one of the most fun weeks because I have talked the most in spanish this week. I make a lot of mistakes but I don't feel the embarrassment or worry with the language at all this week. Heavenly Father didn't make me fluent in one week nor will he. He did make learning more fun though. I have learned more this week about spanish than I have in my past weeks. As you prepare for General Conference try giving something up for the next couple of days. Give up social media. Give up an extra show. Give up just a little more of your time everyday to turn to the Lord in scripture, thought, and prayer. I love you guys!

FUNNY UPDATES: We got locked out of our house and we found a coconut because of it. We go running usually in the morning and no one remembered the key to the house. So we had to kind of break in through the window. Nothing was broken and we are ALL GOOD! But while trying to get in through the back door we FOUND A COCONUT! THIS WAS A BIG MIRACLE! It isnt a miracle for any particular reason other than it was fun to try and get it open while waiting for our turn in the shower. It is always good to take an "animo break" every once in a while and enjoy a little bit of fun. Here are some pictures of us trying to open our house and then the coconut! Also a pic of the "Guayama Llamas" at Zone conference! AND A GIANT AVACADO!!

Alma 5:7,9

(Aldste Cummings)
Hello everybody!

This week has probably been one of the more eventful weeks of my mission.

Why do you ask? Good question.

Wednesday evening, Elder Mathias and I got a call from President Youngberg. President Youngberg does not usually call in the middle of Week 4 of the transfer so we immediately knew something was up.

"Elder Cummings," says he, "are you ready to get your world rocked?"

To make a long story short, by 11.00 the next morning, I left Boden for good. Within 24 hours of the call, I was in Gothenburg waiting for a train to take me to my new area, Halmstad.

My world? Consider it rocked.

President decided that I me and the missionary that was serving here in Halmstad needed to switch places mid way through the transfer, so we did. My new companion had only been out 3 weeks when I got here so now I'm training again. This means, by missionary lingo, I have another son. Rather unexpected, but it's exciting. Especially because it was almost exactly a year ago that I met my first "son," Elder Burns.

Halmstad is a beach town on Sweden's southwestern coast. It's much warmer here. I left the 3 feet of snow in Boden behind me and said hello to above freezing temperatures in Halmstad. Spring came quickly for me.

The best part about the whole ordeal was that I got to pass through Gothenburg on my way down. It felt so amazing to be in that city. I love the huge rocky ridges and the mossy forests. I made so many fantastic memories in that city and I love it so much. Thank you again to the people who made those few months of my life so phenomenal. You know who you are.

It was tough to leave Boden, though. It was such a winter wonderland. Exactly what you would expect a winter in Sweden to be. The people could be both so grim and hearty just like you would expect the descendents of vikings to be. I've made some really good friends there that will impact me for life. Thank you for those of you have those months so memorable for me. You know who you are.

I just want to end quick with the two verses I cited in the subject bar. Alma characteristically figurative imagery creates a very poetic description of conversion and the witness of the Holy Ghost. His language here is the most accurate description of something that is so difficult to describe. It stirs one's ponder on how one has also been able to experience being awoken to God from a deep sleep and feeling one's soul being illuminated by the light of the everlasting word. Even in the moment one reads it, one feels their soul expand and desire to sing redeeming love.

Such a beautiful and powerful description of something so sacred and indescribable. It could only have been written by someone who was very familiar with the experience which clearly Alma was. I hope that each of us will read these verses and ponder how the Spirit has spoken to us in our own moments of darkness and deep sleep.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. Last companionship pic 😥

2. Northern Sweden from the air (Hejdå Norbotten).

3. Gothenburg, it was good to be back.

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

5. Father and son picnic on the beach.

6. One of the most Swedish neighborhoods I've ever seen.

I love you better

(Sister Slade)
This was an interesting week. Like last week, I really don't know where it went. Time just flew by.

We found a new person to teach! His name is Doug. I actually wasn't there when Sister Davis found him because we were on exchanges BUT it was super exciting to go back to central park and have a new person to teach.

I always seem to get talked into the crazy things. Remember last month how we made 90 loaves of bread? I think what we're doing this week will top that. We are running a half marathon on Saturday. Our mission president gave us permission, and we got a promotion code because the missionaries volunteer every year. So I get to die for free! Sister Davis and another sister in my stake are running it with me, so now my insanity has company. I can't decide if I'm excited of terrified. We've had about two weeks to train, so we're super prepared... I actually think that we're going to be okay. On Saturday, we ran 10 miles  in the pouring rain and we didn't die, and that's pretty close to 13.1 miles. However, we are very sore now.

The older couple that we're teaching, Beverly and Brian, have had a rough week. Brian has had cancer for 2 years and was put on hospice care a couple of weeks ago. On Thursday night, he took a turn for the worse. Beverly has really been struggling, so we've been going by every day. Unfortunately, Brian passed away yesterday morning. Before he died, he had asked me if I would sing at his funeral, so next Sunday, that's where I'll be. I'm so grateful for the knowledge that I have about the Plan of Salvation. I know that Brian is somewhere where he can continue to learn about and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that families can be together forever, and I know that I will see Brian again and can sing hymns with and to him. The subject line is something Beverly told us as we were leaving yesterday afternoon.

You are loved!

Sister Slade

 1. Registering for a half marathon

2-4 some sisters borrowed our pan, so on our morning run we went to pick it up from them and then ran back with it

5. A pretty picture

6. My hair after running 10 miles in the rain

7. Super nice day when we walked and I got a sun burn

8. That's a lot of bread that goes to the pigs

"Bata"? Spanish or Puerto Rican?

(Hermana Ellsworth)

If anyone was wondering.... The church is still true. Jesus Christ is still the son of God. God still answers prayers. And miracles still happen. Crazy things happen on missions and you can be blessed in the weirdest ways but I will say that I have seen the tender mercies of the Lord in my life everyday here. I encourage people to read Alma 5 and notice the word "invitation" and Alma's testimony. He says so much but testifies that He knows of it through the power of the Holy Spirit which is the spirit of revalation that is in im. I know that what I preach is the word of God through that same spirit and I know that I am supposed to be here in Puerto Rico learning a weird form of Spanish.

A little update on one of the people that we are teaching. His name is Herb. He is from New York, New York and is such a special guy. He stood at the base of the twin towers when the first plane flew into the building. While teaching him about the Holy Ghost and how it talks to us he shared a beautiful testimony about how greatful he was for the protection God gives his children. He stood at the base of the twin towers the morning of 9/11 and right before he was about to open the doors he heard a voice tell him to stop, turn around, and go home. 10 minutes later the plane hit. Ever since that day he has been searching for a way to understand and hear that voice again. While the spirit rarely speaks to someone in an audible voice we should always be striving to live our lives in a way to hear and understand the voice of God better. He speaks to us all individually and specifically. Just like any other muscle in the body our spiritual receptivity muscle needs to be strengthened everyday. This is done through prayer, scripture study, and actively listening to the voice of God. These three things take effort and time and are hard to do sometimes. But never feel like it impossible to do.

I love each one of you so much and please pray for an opportunity to help move the missionary work forward in your area. Feeding the missionaries is great but also ask if you can come to a lesson or help a person of interest get to church!

Here are some fun pictures next to a colorful wall that we found

and some funny pictures of Hermana Boston (Not my comp but fun girl in our Casa) reading before bead, eating soup, and playing in the rain with me in our Batas!  :)

Earthquake, smoothies, kickball

(Hermana Ellsworth)

I am constantly sunburned. I always wear a giant hat and no one can say my last name because "worth" isnt something that the Spanish language has sounds for. But one thing that I know for sure is that the people here in Puerto Rico are amazing. They always let us in to talk to them and they love Jesus Christ a lot. I love to listen (have my trainer translate for me) to their stories about how they have used faith in their life. There are some amazing people here and we are having success in contacting and teaching.  People have liked to stop me and take my picture with red hair and blue eyes and Im pretty sure I am on like 4 different snapchat stories of some 11 year old girls.

I wanted to share the story in Alma 5. This chapter talks about how Alma the younger has gained his testimony. He knows for himself because of fasting many days and praying for an answer. He knows through the power of the Holy Ghost that manifest the truth of all things. The very last verse he says that he speaks to those not of the church by way of invitation. Invitation to come unto Christ, be baptized, and to partake of the fruit of life. Go and extend that invitation. Crazy things happen when you open your mouth and speak of the great things that the Lord has revealed.

Also it is a thing here to have people invite you share their message and just give you a whole bunch of fruit at the end of the lesson. So every morning I have been putting all the fruit into a smoothie. I have concluded that banana, strawberry, papaya, and star fruit smoothies are the best things in the world.

Also funny thing happened but there was an earthquake here. The members keep saying it is a 4.6. If someone could confirm that that would be great. But I was in the middle of praying for my hiccups to go away when the earthquake hit. My hiccups went away. Tender mercies I guess.... Thank you.

By the way I don't think I have said this yet but I am in Guayama in Puerto Rico and there have been some issues with mail here and all mail must go to the mission office first :) thanks :) I love you all and I hope that you are doing well! Thanks for the replies about Captain Marvel :) LOOVE YYYOOUUU

Romans 3:23

(Aldste Cummings)

Tjenare!

I hope you guys have had a good week, because we have.

Spring is here baby!! Not really, actually. Not at all, actually. The temperature is pretty consistently around freezing and we got another foot or so of snow this week so that's fun. This is probably the most snow I've ever seen on the ground at one time in my whole life although last year apparently they had about 6 feet so this winter has been rather mild comparatively.

Elder Mathias lost his last nametag bringing us to a grand total of 6 since he came to Boden 9 weeks ago. He was stressing out about losing the last one so he asked that we say a prayer to find it. We decided that he had the most faith that we would find it so he should hold the prayer so he prayed and we went out looking for it in the dark and in the middle of a snow storm. We stopped by a little snow bank where I had pushed him into the snow but we couldn't see any nametag anywhere except when Elder Mathias looked at the ground from a specific angle and found the nametag lying in the snow while more snow piled on top. If we had waited much longer, then the snow would have covered it completely, the plow would have picked it up, and it would be gone forever. So that was a little miracle. But maybe when all the snow melts we might be able to find the other lost tags.

This week we ran into a surprising amount of people on the street that we were intending to get in contact with but couldn't. The most notable one being this one time when we were knocking doors and someone opened and the whole house smelled like popcorn and I got snacky and realized that The Dollar Store was very close by so I convinced Elder Mathias to come with me to buy popcorn at the store before going in for lunch and so we did and while we were there we met the 19 year-old son to someone we were teaching who had asked us to stop visiting. We were sad that we wouldn't be visiting him more, but we were also sad that we wouldn't be able to talk to his son who seemed interested in what we had to say but never really got the opportunity to talk to us. So we got to walk around the store with him and talk with him about a good deal of things. It was really fun. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Popcorn. Huh. Who woulda guessed?

Another kind of fun thing that happened this week was that we were hanging with our good friend and fellow Red Cross volunteer Sara and were helping her renovate her house. Elder Mathias was scraping off wallpaper while I was sanding the stairs--the whole summer we spent sanding our porch in NJ came in handy there. Anyway, Elder Mathias noticed there were some wires by the circuit-breaker that he needed to scrape around and was afraid to that he might touch them and wanted to check if they were live. So in fear that he might touch them, he decided to touch them...carefully.

Luckily, he was fine because he went to lengths to assure that he would not have been harmed, but all the lights and electrical appliances in the whole house shut off. Sara's boyfriend knew enough about electricity to fix the problem and get everything on again which was great. But the funniest part was while we were getting back to work, Sara came to us from the kitchen and said "Hey guys, come check this out." She then showed us that by turning on the stove, the lights in the laundry room and a radio by in the kitchen would turn on. So evidently something was still wrong with the electricity. With a little more finagling, Sara's boyfriend fixed it all up and everything was as good as new. We all had a good laugh about it. So without dwelling too much on who poked what into what and who nearly blew up the house and who caused the "spooky action at a distance" (Quote: Albert Einstein) between the radio and the stove, it was a thoroughly pleasant evening.

This week, I've been reading a lot in Romans and I love this scripture. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone falls short. There is no use gloating about personal strengths, judging others because of their mistakes, or even beating ourselves up over our own weaknesses. No one is perfect and although this doesn't justify our validate any complacency in our own eternal progression, it is important to keep in mind a realist perspective.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

 1. This nice driver on the highway gracing us with their rendition of "The Northern Lights."

2.This drink is sold only twice a year--Christmas season and Easter season. Mmmm baby, it's back.

3 "Goldie, look at this! Look at all the [snow] in his mustache. Good sir that's a lot of [snow]!" -Flynn Ryder

Did this week even happen?

(Sister Slade)

That is a legitimate question. I can't really remember this week. It seemed to go by so fast and also, it still feels like last Tuesday. I am convinced that this last week was a dream.

We had zone conference on Friday. It was super good! We talked about what it means to believe what you believe in. It's similar to the idea of believing in Christ and Believing Christ. We have to believe that Christ can do what he says he can do for us and we have to believe that the gospel works. If you want a really good talk to listen to or read, I would highly recommend Believing Christ by Elder Robinson.

The Arkansas Bentonville mission is one of 10 missions in the world that is part of a service experiment that Elder Ballard asked us to do. Each companionship is required to do 10 hours of service a week. It's been an amazing experience to do so much service. We serve at a senior center, an assisted living, a food pantry, and a literacy council. Since we started this experiment last month, we have found 2 new people to teach! Service softens people's hearts.

I love you!

Sister Slade

Pictures:

1. We had to have at least one fun picture, so I got in a car shopping cart

2. another random picture my companion took

3. We were at a member's house and Sister Davis took this picture of me

4. We decided to run a half marathon. WE'RE GOING TO DIE.

5. All of the bad bread at the food pantry