S1 E6: Take Cool Pics or Its Just Not As Cool...

 (Elder Cummings)

Hey y'all!!

This week has been been really busy, which means really awesome.

It was transfers this week, which means missionaries are moving around. Elder Christensen and I will stick around in the West Bank for my training but Aldana got booted to Lafeyette. It's a bummer but exciting, he's gotta start a Spanish group up there.

Also I found a pretty nice gaming chair next to the dumpster one day and I snatched it, Don't worry I cleaned it and fixed it up, now I don't have to sit in a plastic folding chair anymore!

The highlight was probably meeting Crezell and Luis. We had an appt with them earlier in the week but some guy straight up slashed her tires and she called and had to cancel(completely reasonable). But she was like, "We gotta meet as soon as possible!" so we set another appt on Saturday. When we knocked on the door Luis opened up and we got to know him well and man does he like to talk. Anyway, we had an amazing lesson and they were soaking it up and engaged completely; for Luis that meant saying something every 10 seconds or so, but man did he have good things to say too. When it came time I recited the First Vision of Joseph Smith: "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me...When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!". The Spirit was so strong it felt palpable. We were all silent and you could see both of them feeling it. The next day they came to church and thanked us. They both said "this is what we needed, thank you". Man did my heart melt. Being able to be a part of a spiritual revival of someone is one of the most hopeful and exciting things. We talked for a bit and Luis was like "Hey we have to meet with you guys every week" and we both were like "YES that would be AWESOME!" So cool.

I want to testify of the truthfulness of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I know that they are true because they have brought  me to a knowledge of and a peace in God that I cannot obtain elsewhere. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. I know that because it has changed mine. I know that you can obtain a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon and Bible. I know that because I have one. If you don't believe me, awesome, prove me wrong, please. Read from the scriptures, feast on them, pray about them and you will see a change in your life. I can testify that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Stay safe,

Elder Cummings

Photos!

Just some beautiful New Orleans for ya

Halloween!

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for,

I can't believe we're actually in November now! This year has been one of the weirdest years, but it seems like it's flown by. For Halloween we had to stay inside for the evening. We chad a pumpkin carving contest, ate a lot of candy, and played some games. Let me know which pumpkin you think is better! I also cooked acorn squash for the first time! I think I did it wrong, because it was not very good.

Apart from that, not much has happened. We do have a baptism on November 14th for a girl named Angela that we've been teaching for 3 months though. I am looking forward to that! She has been really fun to teach. Through her I know that happiness does come from the living the gospel.

Later today, we're going to have a lettuce contest, where we see who can eat a head of lettuce the quickest. It's going to be quite intense. We are going to get quite a-head in life! Lettuce not throw up though! That would be vegi-terrible! Haha!

Pictures:

1-3. Our pumpkins. Elder Nabrotzky and I's is the Boogie man, and Elder Holmes and Huang's is the bug-eyed one.

4-5. We went to a thrift store and tried on some jackets.

6. We put Donkey Kong in the microwave as a joke.

7. Our mission President and wife dressed as Nacho Libre and a nun for halloween.

S1: E5 - Loaves and Fishes During Hurrication

 (Elder Cummings)

Hey y'all!!

This week has been like no other, let me run it down for ya real quick:

Monday night: We got word that Hurricane Zeta was heading straight for New Orleans and that we needed to leave the next morning. We packed and got everything ready and had to cancel on many of our plans we had the next couple days. (WE WERE TOLD 2 NIGHTS)

Tuesday: Left at 8:30, we stopped at WAFFLE HOUSE realizing it would probably be our most real meal the next couple days. Drove 3 hours to Alexandria, to figure out that 12 Elders were gonna be living in a 2 bedroom apartment the next two nights. Got to meet a ton of different missionaries who are all awesome.

Wednesday: I woke up on a deflated air mattress(will not be the only time this week). Went an played dodgeball with the other Elders, then drove about 30 minutes to the middle of no where to meet the other half of my district, who were staying at another missionary apartment, for some district council. So cool, we would've driven farther but then we'd lose service and that's a bad idea.

Thursday: I woke up on a deflated air mattress(you probably see the picture by now). Then all 12 of us and about 6 other missionaries went to the Food Bank and packed meals for the needy and homeless for about 3 hours. After that we spent the rest of the day studying and calling people in our area to make sure they're ok and seeing if we could do anything for them(assuming we would be back the next day). And then we learned that we would be staying indefinitely until we were directed to go back to New Orleans.

Friday: Woke up(you know). We went to the Food bank again and put together meals for another 3+ hours. Met some awesome people there. One guy had the last name Prayer! So cool. Then we learned that our apartment back in New Orleans didn't have power still. All our meat and milk...gone. There was some lamenting and gnashing of teeth, but man we were having a great time the gnashing of teeth ended as soon as it commenced. We then spent the rest of the day calling and making sure people were okay, setting up lessons for next week, etc etc. We talked to some awesome people we had never met before but were more than willing to meet with us again!

Saturday: Woke up! this time in an actual bed, which was nice. Did our studies and reading, then went to a Brother's house who was doing construction. He wasn't a member but had some church friends and we were invited as well. We then spent the next 3 hours scraping off wood slats glued to his floor. THAT was a workout let me tell you, I haven't worked that hard in a long time. Reminded me of construction/demolition working for Bro Vines. Thank you for teaching me how to keep breaking and destroying stuff even when I'm tired and don't want to.

Sunday: Woke up, back in a deflated air mattress(too much to explain why). We went to the church service their and listened to wonderful testimonies given by people of all ages from 6 to 87. All bearing truth of Jesus Christ's divinity his role as our Savior. Amazing. Then we learned we finally had power back home! We packed up and made the 3 hour drive back to throw out all the meat and milk.

Sorry for the long explanation, this week was just too awesome to not talk about. It sounds kind of hard and not so awesome but let me tell you: I slept great, despite basically sleeping on the ground by about 2 in the morning. I got to serve people like every day!! When you lose yourself, you find yourself. When you focus on others, you realize your problems matter so much less. And now, for one of the greatest miracles I think, which brings me to the title of the email. I basically survived 6 days on instant oatmeal, protein powder, and peanut butter sandwiches. Every once in a while some members would give us some snacks, had 2 meals from them as well, which was much appreciated. But besides that, I was somehow completely ok with basically nothing, and it lasted! If that doesn't remind you of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes I don't what does.

I'd like to share my testimony that service really is the key to so many problems. Now serving others doesn't usually solve your problems, but man does it make everything easier. It makes your problems seem more manageable, less stressful, and easier to overcome. It makes you happier! Wow! and therefore your happy even though you have problems! How crazy is that. Christ really does speak the truth when he says: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it". When we lose ourselves in serving others, like Christ would, we will find a happy, meaningful life despite what challenges we have.

What a wild week! Thank y'all for reading the whole thing🤣here are some pics

A stray cat named Jebediah

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for,

This week felt both really long and really short. Time on a mission is so weird! We went on two exchanges this week, and Elder Nabrotzky got sick one day so we were stuck in our apartment for a day. But we were able to find two new people to teach! One man names Jeff, who got married 1 month ago to a less-active member. We also found the ex-wife of a person we are teaching, Moses, who are getting back together. It was a pretty sweet find actually.

A highlight or this week was yesterday, it was really cold, and we spent the entire night outside visiting people. But we found a really chill stray cat, that we named Jebediah. Jebediah kept stalking us an following us as we went down the street. Then we pet him and he climbed up on our shoulders. It was the coolest cat ever. That same night, we also heard weird ghost music in the wind, and we were pretty intrigued, and might a say a little spooked. Let me tell you, proselyting close to Halloween gives you the creeps! We've had several creepy experiences.

I finished the Book of Mormon again this week. And I just want to add my short but firm witness to millions of others, that it is true. It is 100 percent true, and can help us come closer to Christ! 5 stars, would read again!

Love yall!

Pictures:

1-3. Jebediah the cat

4. It got down to to the single digits yesterday and snowed. It was freezing!

5. Us bundled up

S1:E4: Trunk or Treat, Gators, Hurricane part2?

 (Elder Cummings)

大家好！

We started teaching 4 new people this week! The Work doesn't stop that's for sure. They're all so awesome and exciting to talk to. With the change to no more tracting, most if not all of the people we come in contact to WANT to be contacted because they've referred themselves. This makes lessons more engaging and reflective on their part because even if they aren't looking to be baptized but just are looking into the Church, they have questions.

Yes, we're getting evacuated for Hurricane Zeta coming right into New Orleans in a few days. Not a bad one, but you gotta use an "abundance of caution". Just pray that it doesn't get any stronger!

This week we had the branch Trunk-or-Treat! Elder Christensen and I carved some pumpkins and threw all our ties in our trunk. I'd say it was a success... It was fun seeing a bunch of people outside of sacrament meeting though, we were able to chat and get to know many of them. So many people just gave us candy and cupcakes. SO much! We gave it all away to the kids, the parents probably didn't appreciate that🤣

For P-day we went to a National Reserve down in the Bayous. When I learned I was coming to Louisiana I thought the swamp is what I'd be living in, especially when I learned I was going to the West Bank. But thankfully we don't have to live like Shrek. But we saw a gator! That was awesome!

My spiritual thought is not my own, but the thought of an 18 year old we're talking with. He's had a terribly hard life, and without sharing too much he described his life as "hitting the bottom of the barrel, and then scraping through the bottom with your bare hands just to get even deeper. And then before you know it you can't even see where you started from". Despite this, he testified that everything happens for a reason. He knows that every single trial he has had is for a reason. He knows that he doesn't know the reason, but he knows that God knows the reason. I hope that we can all look at our trials and afflictions with that perspective. Understand that you might never know the reason God has allowed your trials to happen, but trust that He knows the reason and knows it's for your benefit. I testify that is true and do so in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Photos!

 

1.Our trunk, pretty good I know

2. Us at the Bayous

3. Gator

4. Me and Gator(it crawled a way a little bit but its still there)

Season 1 Episode 3: Zone Conference & Catan

 (Elder Cummings)

Hey y'all!!

This week was probably my first "normal" week. We have the car back, there's no impending hurricane, our dryers almost working again, etc. It's been good. Some days we're stacked with appts and busy the entire day, and some days we gotta fight to be productive and spend time. Missionaries no longer go tracting(knocking door to door). And thats not a Covid thing, we just don't do that anymore so now when we have open time we gotta find other efficient and effective ways to reach out to people and contact.

We played Settlers of Catan this morning and I finally won, just had to say that.

We had zone conference this weekend! About 30ish missionaries in the New Orleans area got together and listened to messages from the mission president and others. We talked a lot about the importance of members in missionary work and it was awesome. In the end, the missionaries are only as effective as the members in their unit. We will only be around for a couple months and then we are transferred, but members stay there and can be real friends and provide lasting support and love far longer than we can. On top of this, too often people we find to teach see us as preachers not teachers, and salesman not ministers. Members are immediately another "normal" person those we teach can talk to and connect to. If any of you are wondering how you can best help the missionaries...join them in lessons, trust them with your friends who you know need the gospel, do what you can to help them teach...and then feed them🤣. The food y'all cook us only brings so much happiness, even if its the vegetarian curry that I had last week(actually so good). But the happiness the gospel of Jesus Christ brings into our lives is greater than anything else.

We went to New Orleans today and walked around, entered a Cathedral there, which was super pretty. What was awesome is we passed this massage place and their ads were in Chinese and I was like "oh cool". As we walked by the two guys were speaking Mandarin to each other but I didn't much of it until my companion was like "is that Chinese?" And then told me I had to go talk to them. Not having spoken Mandarin in about 3 weeks besides to myself I was super nervous but I asked if they spoke Mandarin and told them that I was a missionary and I was learning Chinese. We talked for a bit and then a young girl came out, probably one of the guy's daughters and said she could teach me Chinese! Whats even better is that she said she was a Christian and asked for the address for our church! We gave it to her and gave her our number and then made sure we were friends on Facebook. (Almost all in Chinese! I could NOT have done that without God's help) It was so awesome. God puts people in your path but of you don't open your mouth you're not gonna meet them. I'm grateful for my companion that told me to go back

Brother Palmquist shared something awesome during church this week. He shared that no matter what kind of God we believe in, what characteristics we believe He has, or what His doctrine is, when we pray we are all praying to the same God. We all understand Him differently but that does not change the need we have for Him, the trust we have in Him, and the love we have for Him. Nor does it change the love He has for us. God's love is real. It is real.

Elder Cummings

Fotos:

1. On the way to an English class for some Spanish speakers we met...yes...I know I dont speak a lick of Spanish but thats what makes it fun.

2. Louisiana sunsets, picture doesn't do it justice, it was literally a rainbow sunset. I don't even know how that works

3. Standing by some sign, don't know what the 300 means though

4. The Catholic Cathedral we went into. It had some super cool ceiling murals that I would've taken a picture of but I wasn't supposed to

Donkey Kong's birthday!

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for,

Not much happened this week. Elder Snow left us :( and now it's just Elder Nabrotzky and I. We are getting along great though. Elder Nabrotzky's incredibly talented at singing, and basically everything else. We did recorded a video with another Sister singing Be Still My Soul (me playing the piano) that was posted on our facebook page.

We didn't get in any more flour fights, but when we were walking one day, we found a bottle of lemon pepper that I started throwing at Elder Nabrotzky. It was really windy though, so I got Lemon Pepper in my eyes as I chased him with it. It's also starting to get colder here. We have had to wear sweaters basically every day this week. Looking forward to Winter, where I will be walking in several feet of snow. It's been predicted that this winter will be one of the worst in several years. Yay.

In my studies I recently studied the effect of discouragement in our lives. Discouragement weakens our faith and lowers our expectations. If we lower our expectations our effectiveness will decrease and our desire will weaken. I've applied this specifically to my missionary work (where there can sometimes be many things to be discouraged about) but it can be applied to anything in life. This week, I'm going to ask you, try not to be discouraged! If there's something you're striving for, go for it!

I love you all! Fun fact, one of my fellow missionaries in our apartment, Elder Huang, has a Donkey Kong plushie that he's had for 9 years today! He loves Donkey Kong. So it's his birthday! Elder Huang's super excited! We are celebrating hard core today.

Pictures

1. Elder Huang with Donkey Kong!

2. I bet Elder Nabrotzky that he wouldn't put a golf ball I found on the floor, in his mouth for 5 minutes. He did, and I lost 3 bucks because of it. Worth it though.

3. I bet 5 bucks Elder Nabrotzky he couldn't eat the entire pie. He tried, but failed. He got pretty sick because it actually.

4. Beautiful Sunset in Idaho

5-7. Saying goodbye to Elder Snow.