Transfers

 (Elder Petersen)

So as a brief rundown of this last week we had Thanksgiving in which we as missionaries spent the day working and in meetings, but the fun part about the day way we got a turkey dinner that our mission gave us because we could not meet up or go to people's homes like we would do before COVID-19. After dinner though we got to watch as a mission the movie 'The Fighting Preacher' I really enjoyed the movie and would completely recommend yall watching it if you have the chance. The other biggish thing that happened this week was we got Transfer news last night and although alot happened in our mission nothing changed with me so I still have Elder Quiton as my companion in Richmond Utah!

And that's my week hope y'all have been doing well!

Sincerely

Elder Petersen

S2 E3: Spanish Speaking on Kamino?

 (Elder Cummings)

Hola!

I know I know my Spanish is getting pretty good...

But actually though this week I could've sworn I became a Spanish speaking missionary; not a missionary capable of speaking Spanish, but a missionary assigned to speak Spanish. This week I had 4 different meals with Spanish speaking member, and I just got to sit there eating the delicious food while the other 3 elders who knew Spanish did all the small talk. The little spanish I do know they made me show off though...bad idea. I said my usual phrases I know like "I testify of the words of my companion...I know Jesus Christ lives...why are they over there?...please pass me your plate...why didn't you answer me?...take a seat right now, etc etc". Then I was really bold and tried to say "Heavenly Father" and ended up saying "Heavenly Potato". That was a big laugh🤣🤣good times.

Oh right, Kamino, gotta explain. In case yall don't know Kamino is the planet in star wars where they had all the clones with the creepy looking long neck guys. That's not why though. It rains all the time on Kamino. Starting Thanksgiving evening until this morning, it's been raining here in NOLA. Awesome. What was better is that we don't have any more miles for our car this month so we had to bike everywhere. SO much fun, I havent needed to shower the past 4 days! (That's a joke guys I've only had to shower once) but man has it gotten colder this week, if it keeps going I'll be on Hoth(i won't say how cold or you'll make fun of me for it not being cold, it feels cold that is all)

Today we went to the national WW2 museum here in New Orleans. So awesome, so much learning. The whole district got "We can do it!" Rosie the Riveter sweatshirts. Again, so awesome. I'm so so grateful for those brave enough to make the ultimate sacrifice of their lives in sake of preserving liberty. I could never go through what so many soldiers and civilians went through.

Both Elder Christensen and I gave a talk this week in church! That was so awesome! We had 6 people we're working with attend the meeting too! My spiritual thought comes from my talk, which is based off of Matthew S Holland's talk from last October General Conference:

"Holland then talks a little bit about the purpose of sufferings and trials. Paul taught in Hebrews that “For it became [Christ], for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, to [be made] the captain of their salvation perfect(or complete) through sufferings.” Holland then admonishes, “Brothers and sisters, suffering in righteousness helps qualify you for, rather than distinguishes you from, God’s elect.” This makes me remember a saying that has just stuck with me. The grammar is terrible so bear with me but it’s “Satan don’t kick no dead dogs”. When you are doing what is right, when you are striving to draw closer to him and still face suffering and obstacles, rejoice that you’re still worth Satan’s time and find comfort in the fact that “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Y'all are doing great, keep up the good work, and remember "Satan don't kick no dead dogs"

Yours truly,

Elder Cummings

Tons of pics sorry!

-Some from the museum (Btw the ignitable tank is actually something used in WW2, search up "WW2 Ghost armies" absolutely crazy!)

-some from the Chalmette battlefield where a big portion of the war of 1812 took place

-some selfies with some cool people, etc etc

-us squading up in our new awesome sweatshirts

This is the way

 (Sister Putnam)

Okay, so between Saturday & Monday last week, I misplaced my journal & was unable to record those events & what went on in class, & my memory isn't the steel trap it used to be, so i don't remember anything from those days, other than that class was good XD.

One thing I've found as I learn to teach is that roleplays are sooooo helpful! We learn in them & we learn better what questions the person might ask & so we're better prepared to teach the person, & that's really cool!

Also, in class on Wednesday, we agreed that due to everything that 2020 has so kindly dealt to us, it's absolutely okay to start listening to Christmas music early. We've earned it. Also there's an elder in my district who doesn't like Chick fil a??? Naturally, I found a picture of baby yoda holding chick fil a & set it as a virtual background during breaks. Because Chick fil a is the way.

Okay, on Thursday in class, we read Helaman 5:12 & I thought of some interesting things to accompany it.

~

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

~

Not if, when. The devil will send us things to try to shake us, so it's really important that we're built on Christ.

~

Not only are there winds the devil sends, to try to weaken us, there are shafts in the whirlwind to try to break us while we're weak, which is another reason to be built on Christ.

It's really cool to see how the Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ, not only revealing the falsehoods Satan teaches, but also tactics Satan uses so we're ready to protect our testimonies from them.

~

If we build our foundation on Christ, not even the entirety of Satan's power can knock us over.

~

Anyway, i just thought that was interesting & thought I'd share with you all.

 

This week Sister Israelsen & I also taught two people, & we felt like it went really well!

Also, if you haven't watched The Chosen already, please go watch it! It's not by the church, but it's on BYUtv & it's so good!

On Friday in class, we were doing breakout rooms to teach things, & we were set randomly & we also had someone missing, so it worked out that I was with Sister Russell, who was the teacher, & after i got done practice teaching, she said she's noticed I'm good at explaining things in a way that's simple & easy to understand, & I hadn't ever thought of that before. From my perspective I overexplain but maybe I'm learning to be concise & simple.

And, of course, some notes from the classes & devotionals!

- Trials in this life < glory that  awaits if we are faithful

- Elder Henry B. Eyring said that if you will pray at the end of every day to know where God has intervened that day, you'll realize that he's been guiding & directing you.

- to recognize the Lord's hand in your life, first pray for eyes to see & ears to hear.

- As we are in the world but not of the world, we can still have the spirit with us. I just love that because it gives hope, because every day, this world strays farther from God. (lol yeah that was a meme i just quoted at the end there)

- Elder Bednar said to just be good. So many of us are trying to be perfect at age 18 or 19, or at any age, & we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves. Just be good. Just do your best.

- Elder Bednar also said "Please don't spend a lot of time worrying about, 'Is it me, or is it the Holy Ghost?' Anything you think,...say,...do, that is directed towards following the Lord Jesus Christ comes by the power of the Holy Ghost.

- All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ

Okay, before I sign off, I'm just going to challenge you to do something. I'm going to challenge you to pray at the end of every day this week to know where God has intervened that day.

I love you all, & I love hearing from you!

Until next week!

~Sister Putnam

Ps, church memes are appreciated! lol jkjk...unless :)

Oh, and pictures! (not necessarily in chronological order)

1: me in front of my MTC sign!

2: my dad went to go back to Saudi to be with my siblings

3 & 4: Me with the Washington State Flag!

S2 E2: The Missionary - An Unexpected Journey

 (Elder Cummings)

大家好！

We were 6 miles away at a friend's house, just to find that she got up and went to the doctor and just totally dipped on us. We had biked there and had already biked 10 miles earlier to another appointment(which also fell through) so we were gonna make use of the time while we were up in the area. So during the time we would've taught our friend we called everybody we knew in the area...no one picked up. Nice. So we started the ride back and literally within a minute or two Elder Christensen got a flat tire, his innertube was busted. Nice. So, we started the long trek back saying hi to as many people as we could. It was totally awesome, we stopped by Baskin Robbins to treat ourself and we played "I Spy" a lot. Unfortunately no one wanted to have a conversation with us but that's ok cause something glorious happened. We were just trudging along with our bikes, looking like fools and I looked down and saw...half a Styrofoam Bucee’s cup! In the middle of Louisiana! If that wasn't a testament that everything was gonna be ok I don't know what is.

Later in the week we ended up having to bike like 33 miles one day. That might not be a ton to my parents or Mr Player but boy my quads were dead the next day(I don't like leg day ok). That was fun though, a lot of waving and smiling to people while you're literally dripping with sweat and your backpack would stay on you even if it didn't have straps cause it's just sticking to you cause your back is that sweaty. At first I'm like "man this is kinda hard trying to smile to everyone" then I think about how ridiculous I look to others and then I actually start laughing and smiling and it's all smooth riding from there.

As you can tell, this week was kind of tough physically. But President Nelson has told us this weekend that "counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems". Amen to that. This week was tiring but it was probably one of my favorite weeks in the field, there's just too much to talk about. We're helping people get closer to God! Is there anything better than that? Have a great week everyone and remember: "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" and as "ye have done it unto one of the least … ye have done it unto [Him]"(Mosiah 2:17, Matthew 25:40). Serve!

Yours truly,

Elder Cummings

1. Elder Garcia and I(San Antonio bros) matching up nicely 👌

2.Joel, the guys so funny and such a beast. Apparently he turned down being an NFL player cause he was a manager of a Taco Bell at the time 🤔

3. Spoiler on a Chevy Avalanche...😑

4. Action selfie

5.us riding down the bike trail that follows underneath the highway, super cool

6. Evidence of God's love for me on a tough day...🤣🤣no I'm kidding it wasn't that tough. It was just awesome to find it 200 miles from the nearest Buc-ee’s

Mission Tour

 (Elder Slade)

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

This week was pretty great! We found two people to teach this week! One came from having a family invite a part member family for a family home evening together. The other came from a person who referred herself. Her name is Jasmine and she has a nonmember boyfriend names Charles. Hey are interested in growing their relationship with God, and we think they will progress pretty fast! They are super awesome and we are so excited to continue teaching them!

This week we also had a virtual mission tour, by some or our leaders, Elder Gay and Elder and Sister Jackson of the 70. It was wonderful to hear their words. The greatest thing I learned was the fact that we can not do this work by ourselves. We are nothing without the Holy Ghost guiding our words and actions. He does the heavy lifting. And after 10 months of being out, I know that that is true. The Holy Ghost is real and can bring us comfort and peace and guidance when we most need it. It, combined with the Atonement of Christ, can amplify our efforts and allow us to do more than we could by ourselves. As we have put more effort to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost this week, we have already seen so many blessings.

Lastly, it was great to hear our prophet speak this week as he gave us a message on the healing power of gratitude. If you haven't watched it, I'd encourage you to watch it. His words brought the Spirit so strong, and I know that we have a living and true prophet on the earth today. We are guided by a loving God through His leaders here on earth, and we are guided individually by the Holy Ghost, a member of the Godhead.

I love you all! Hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I don't know yet, but I predict I will be getting alot of potatoes delivered by members on Thanksgiving. You gotta love it.

Pictures:

1. Elder Nabrotzky and I made a challenge to smile the entire way back home a night this week. My face was so sore afterwords! Smiling is painful.

2. We took a picture by a tree, that looked like a glowing mushroom. It was pretty sweet. Or should I say, pretty fun(gi)!

Angela's Baptism!! Lets goooo!

 (Elder Slade)

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

This week was awesome!! Angela got baptized! It was a super spiritual baptism, and a lot of people showed up. The seal on the font was broken, so she got baptized in like 2 feet of water, but it worked out! Elder Nabrotzky and I also performed a musical number called Because He Spoke to Me at the baptism, which was super fun! He sang and I played the piano. It was a really cool experience, and I was incredibly happy as we have been teaching Angela and as she has been growing and learning in the gospel. It was amazing to me too see how it had touched her family as well. They were super happy and emotional as well. It was a testimony to me of how the gospel can bless families!

We also gave talks in one ward and performed the same song at two of the church meeting we went to, and the second was perhaps one of the best performances I've had! The spirit was strong and was guiding me and Elder Nabrotzky as we performed. Elder Nabrotzky almost passed out, but he filled the entire chapel with his voice. He is such a good singer! I'm going to be sad when one of us gets transferred. :(

Me and another Elder also did a guitar duet earlier this week for a facebook video. We did A Child's Prayer. Elder Nabrotzky, another Sister and I, will also be filming another music video this week! So this week has been pretty sweet, and pretty music filled, which I won't complain out about. I don't get enough music! But I'm grateful for the Lord blessing me with talents that I can use to bless others, and I know that the Lord give's each and every one of us talents that we can use and have joy in sharing.

P.S. Yes, it's getting a lot colder here. And yes, it's so much worse no than at the beginning of my mission, because now I am in a walking area. I'm only a little bit salty we don't have a car and can't accept rides due to covid.

Pictures:

1. Elder Vandygriff and I playing a guitar duet

2-4. Angela's baptism! Her grandpa baptized her. Nicole her Mom was there as well, and Mike, Nicole's boyfriend.

5. Elder Nabrotzky wrote the word Elder in the snow.

God's Favorite Thing About You

 (Sister Putnam)

Hello, all!

On Tuesday, I went through the temple, & an hour later, I was set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Wednesday, I arrived at the MTC, or, rather, I logged on, since, due to recent events, Missionary Training has moved online. My companion is Sister Israelsen, & she's amazing, she's actually also going to the Everett Washington area, so it's possible I'll be one of her companions when I'm in the field. She's great, & despite being so far apart, I feel we're unified as a companionship.

We've had daily personal study & companion study, & it's been interesting to note that rather than studying for ourselves like we did before the mission, we've studied in preparation for the people we're about to teach. I've found that in doing so, the study is more meaningful, at least to me, that it was before the mission when I was only studying for myself.

In one of the workshops we did, we talked about how we need to be converted ourselves in order to help others be converted, & how conversion is a lifelong journey. One of the teachers brought up a quote by I think Gordon B. Hinkley, which was, "if you know who you are, & you know the way, then that is enough," & because this was over zoom, the zoom group chat naturally started filling up with a ton of people saying "This is the way."

     In addition, here are some other notes from my classes!

- the cleaner the vessel, the better the spirit is able to work.

- as you serve the lord out of love, his ability to bless you increases

- the world would shape our behavior, but christ changes our nature

- as we work to bring others to the savior, we come to him

- as a missionary, I am a significant resource for enticing others to follow God's commandments

- the savior is not intimidated by the storm. Because he is on our side, we don't need to be intimidated by the storm either.

- missionaries' families are blessed, even when their families aren't active or aren't members of the church

In one of my classes, we were talking about how Nephi's family was blessed in the wilderness, & the miracles that happened, & we were directed to find one & talk about it & how Nephi's family was blessed for his righteousness.

When Nephi's brothers tied him up in the wilderness, (1 Nephi 7) & they were going to leave him to be eaten by wild animals, Nephi exercised faith & prayed to God to help him break the ropes, & the ropes were loosened because he acted in faith.

      If Nephi hadn't acted in faith, he might have been left in the wilderness, & been eaten by wild beasts like his brothers planned. He wouldn't have been there to build the ship & his family wouldn't've made it to the promised land. Or, say his family managed to build the ship anyway. Nephi wouldn't have been there to pray to the Lord to stop the storm, & Nephi's family might have been lost at sea & drowned. Or, say his family managed to also get to the promised land without him. He still wouldn't've been there to lead his family when Lehi, his father, died, or to lead his family away, when Laman & Lemuel became dangerously wicked. Without Nephi's righteous acts of faith, Lehi's family would likely have become spiritually lost, & we might not have the Book of Mormon today.

In another class, we were challenged to ask God what his favorite thing about us is. So I want to challenge you to do the same, to ask the Lord what his favorite thing about you is.

I love you all!!

Don't forget that you are a beloved child of God!

~Sister Putnam