Zone Conference & Service

 (Sister Putnam)

This week we had zone conference.  We talked about the importance of building relationships with members and how eager many members are to participate in missionary work. Afterwards, we helped an elderly lady with setting up shelves in her house.  She told us about her mission experiences and we discussed the gospel.  She brought us to meet an inactive but returning member, who is regaining her testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restoration.  Both these ladies are incredible people.

On Wednesday we had a lesson with Rafael, and we were talking about how God speaks to us in our own figurative language; so many of us see parallels between gospel principles and the things we do in our individual every activities. I'll provide an example:  At one point I was writing a story, and I would post one page of it at a time. Because of this, I got to see readers' reactions. Sometimes, when there was conflict in the story, they would react with "oh no!" type responses. Well, one girl gave that reaction, and I told her, "Hey, it's okay, it's a happy ending!" And she said, "how do you know?" I replied said, "Because I'm the one writing it. Of course I know!" And it made me think, that's how God must see us sometimes. And the fact that I find things just like that example almost everywhere, shows me that the Lord is reaching out to us so much and that He wants us to see how much he loves us.

We also began planning a presentation that we and the elders will do on the Restoration in a week at a Community Senior center here in Lynden. We're hoping it will help the work to pick up in Lynden and also that the people here will see that we are good people.

We also worked on a hiking trail, working to make it more hikeable, and it was awesome to see the people excited to help just strangers to enjoy hikes more, people that they'd never even meet. We worked on clearing out blackberry bushes from this lady's yard, and there are blackberry thorns in the bottom of my shoe now lol.

We also painted some rocks and hid them at the famous Rock Cubby in Lynden, where people like to go to take rocks to be hidden all throughout Lynden. Each rock has a symbol and a message that we hope will lift someone when they find it.

Love you all!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

S7 E5: Be Bold Baby

 (Elder Cummings)

Good morning y'all!

So this transfer is almost over and the focus our zone has had this last 5 weeks is all about being bold. Christ is the perfect example of this. He boldly invited Peter and Andrew to drop all and follow Him(Matthew 4:19). He boldly invited the young rich ruler to do the same, give all he had to the poor and follow him(Matthew 19:16-22). He boldly commanded the woman caught in adultery to “go, and sin no more”(John 8:11). And he boldly commands each of us to come unto Him, repent, and be baptized in His name(3 Nephi 11:31-33). We have seen miracles throughout the zone as we have striven to be more bold. As we are bold, we are more capable instruments in the Lord’s hands. When we are bold and extending invitations and commitments, we can have confidence that it isn’t our invitation, but the Lord’s we are extending.

Anyway, great week. Elder Richards and I are teaching a man named Danny. He is so awesome. We were over at his place earlier this week discussing what he has learned the last 2 weeks we have talked with him. He went off about the Book of Mormon and how it has helped him understand passages in the Bible better and how he feels he is closer to God and knows more about him etc. His 15 year old son was sitting in with us and we asked him what differences he had seen in Danny since we started coming over and Dakota started talking about Danny is more patient, always on his phone(reading and listening to the Book of Mormon haha) and talks to his family about God wayyyy more. Danny was about to cry. His greatest desire is to be a good father for his children and he was overjoyed to see the difference in himself.

Danny then talks about this “glow” Elder Richards and I have about us haha. He says that he can tell that we truly are happy to be out here and excited to talk with him. We were straight up with him and said, “Danny, that is the Spirit. It is the same Spirit you feel when you meet with us and read in the scriptures. The only way you can have that same “glow” is by being baptized and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost by someone holding the authority of Jesus Christ, in His Church”. He smiles and says, “alright when can I do that”. So legendary. He’ll be getting baptized August 7th!!

Again, I have seen miracles happen left and right as Elder Richards and I and the Alexandria zone have stretched our faith in being bold with our friends. With the sister missionaries in our ward, we currently have 5 friends on date for baptism in the ward and we had one baptism yesterday! Being bold allows the Spirit to testify strongly the truth of what we teach, it causes both the missionary and the friend to exercise their faith as they both progress down the covenant path where they are at. I love the Lord and I love this Work.

Elder Cummings

Be Bold Baby

Pics

1. Johnathon Corely and I. I love Johnathon, I was able to ordain him to an elder on Sunday. He just makes you happy

2-3. Dallas! We got to go to our friend Dallas' play. It was so funny and so good

4. Danny in his element. Enough said

5. Some juicy burgers

6. Exchange selfie with Elder Owens!!

7. Big corn taking me back to my Illinois roots

Miracles

 (Elder Slade)

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

Another fantastic week! A few highlights:

-Our Friend Justin, who's been taught be missionaries for over 6 years, decided to get baptized this week. He told us he wants to get baptized on August 28th! We are so pumped!

-We found a girl named Jazzy who's been coming to church for the past month, and really wants to start reading the Book of Mormon. She is friends of one of the amazing families in this area, the Jones.

-Went on two exchanges this week with and Elder Bunkall, and an Elder Beal. Both amazing missionaries! They're both studs!

Amazing things are happening! This week I've been thinking that I wish I could be a fulltime missionary my entire life. I feel so much joy as I invite people to come unto Christ. Being a missionary is just fun!

Love you all!

Pictures:

1. Elder Thomas and I

2. Elder Beal and I

3-4. Elder Bunkall and I

Tarred and Feathered

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, Everyone!!

Well last week for preparation day we went to peace arch.

The title for this email comes from Wednesday. We and the everson elders went and did yard work for a lady in Everson, and afterwards the neighbor across the street who had been watching us was like "wait, yall are leaving already? That ain't the Mormon way! I thought you guys was supposed to get tarred and feathered!" Turns out he's an Ex-member, but he said if we ever feel unsafe in this area that he won't turn us away "cause that's not the brotherly thing to do." So that's awesome of him, though we hope he decides to come back to church one day.

This Thursday we did service at Salvation Army and we were bringing donation boxes of food out to people who needed them. One lady from Ukraine stopped me while I was putting her box in the car and told me how she loved my hair, and we got to talking and she told me she could see Jesus' light in my eyes, and she was just a sweet lady.

On Thursday we and the elders went and helped Joel with his garden, and we made cookies to bring to Rafael's family to hopefully help them see that we are good people who just want to bring hope in their lives. Also, the elders brought us a pie and then while they were there I made the mistake of giving them silly string and they just went and silly stringed what they could of our apartment from just the front entry of the apartment lol.

On Saturday we helped a lady clear out her blackberry bushes and we'll be back to finish that job.

Okay love you all!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

4th of July week miracles!

 (Elder Slade)

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

Another miracle filled week! This week we had a goal of putting someone on date for baptism. Sunday came around and we still didn't have anybody. Then things worked out perfectly! We stopped by this kid we are teaching named Trey, and caught him just as he was leaving! We asked it we could have a lesson, and he said yes! We had one in the backyard with his grandma and taught about how the gospel can bless families and about baptism. We asked the grandma if we could work with Trey towards baptism, and she said yes! So he is on date!

Another miracle is that we started teaching Shae and Christian! We visited one person, who referred us to their neighbors across the street who just moved. We visited them and they referred us to their next door neighbors, Shae and Christian. They were super nice, let us inside and we shared a message with them. Sweet miracle as we followed the referral train!

Lastly it was Sunday evening, and we had time to visit one more person. A person popped in my head randomly, and we decided to visit them. They ended up not being home, but I knew we were there for a reason, and so we talked to a woman next door sitting outside. We learned she was going through a lot of things, and really needed comfort. We asked to say a prayer with her and as we started the prayer, her dog (who had been barking the entire time) quieted, and the spirit was very strong. God knew we needed to talk to her that day, and he was able to make us His instruments to help her.

God is a God of miracle and direction. He can guide us if we let Him, and we can see miracles from him. I know He loves us and cares about us!

Pictures:

1. Saying goodbye to Elder Haskett

2. Saying goodbye to Elder Snow

3. We were in a trio for a day with Elder Glunt who's new in the mission. We judged a children's bike parade for one of our wards.

4-5. We made a ping pong table in our apartment today. It's pretty fun!

S7 E4: Bible booths, Brisket, and one more boil...

 (Elder Cummings)

Morning y'all!

We had a good ol' southern week this time around. We had a big ol crawfish boil with a family in the ward, probably the last one I'll get for a while cause crawfish season is over...big sad. But shoot man I can eat crawfish for days. Easily my favorite thing to have down here.

For 4th of July the Williams' had us over for some home smoked brisket. Mmmmmmhm whatchu say? Have mercy it was good.

In the words of one of my favorite men on earth: "Good food. Good company. Good time"

This weekend we also went to the mall and had our Jesus Booth set up again. It went really well this time. We learned from our past mistakes...We brought tablecloths and signs 2nd time round. We also tried a lot harder to get people's numbers and set stuff up so between us and the sisters we were able to find 13 people who would either like to study the Book of Mormon of the Bible with us! Good times indeed.

Now for the best part: Miracle time. The part that almost convinced me to title the email "Families ARE Forever: Part 2" but "Bible Booths, Brisket, and One Last Boil" was too good to pass up. About 2 months ago we helped Josh and Samantha move in. A blessing, some more service, and a dinner appointment later, we are sitting in their living room testifying of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and eternal families. Two days later we are watching the Rome Italy Temple tour with them and the Spirit is so strong you could cut it with a knife.(Two more days later we're eating brisket with them). We ask what is most important to them and they look at each other and say their kids. We extend the invitation to baptized in preparation to the temple and they accept for July 31st! You could see the amazement in Samantha's eyes as her own husband said he'd be willing to give up smoking, dipping and drinking for a temple marriage with his wife and a sealing with his kids. Only God. Only God.

Elder Cummings

Photos:

1. Jesus Booth!

2-3. Some super nice apartment complex we had to take a picture in front of

4. Us and Bishop Sanders rocking our 4th of July ties. Such a stud he gave us them

5. Meet Dyson Marron, one of my homies in the ward

Pioneer Missionary!

 (Elder Slade)

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

What another great week! We had MLC this week, and they did a special pioneer meeting. They had us get some pioneer clothing, and then we met up and pulled handcrafts to our destination in the woods. It was pretty cool! We learned that while things can be hard now, we have the examples of many people that went before us to help us.

We also were able to go to the temple with one of our recent converts on Thursday. It was great to be in there and feel the spirit of the lord testify to me.

Also, our friend Treydan got baptized! A lot of his family was there to support him, and he said he felt really good afterwards. Elder Snow and I did a special musical number singing Love is Spoken Here during it.

Lastly, this week is transfers. Elder Snow sadly has finished his two years and is going home. :( I have learned so much from him and am so grateful to have been his companion. We'll continue to be friends after the mission. Also, Elder Haskett is leaving for St. Anthony and I'll be getting Elder Thomas as a companion.

Love you all!

Pictures:

1-3. Picture from the pioneer MLC

4. Treydan's Baptism

5. David, a lot that recently got baptized as we took him to the temple