S8 E3: Bruce's Authentic Chinese Cuisine

 (Elder Cummings)

This week started amazing. We head over to our friend Bruce's house for lunch. We get there and Bruce has cooked us 5 different dishes. He made some Spicy Chinese Fried Chicken, some Chinese Barbeque Pork, Spicy Beef, Squid salad, and a Pork Soup commonly made in his hometown.

Let's just say, it was one of the best meals I have ever had. Bruce loves to cook, but hates to cook for other people. Even his friends will ask him to have them over and he will say no. But somehow, he respects us so much that he will have us over every week and make us these amazing meals.

This week we were praying that we'd be able to help him feel the Spirit and help him recognize that. At the end of the lesson, I found myself testifying in Chinese. It wasn't anything magical, it's not like I was fluent or could say everything perfectly, but I meant every word I said. At the end we were like "Bruce do you feel that?" He said "Yes brothers, I feel that, thank you". The Spirit was so strong!!

Our man Thomas that waved us down last week and invited us into that family reunion came to church this Sunday! We texted him and he is super busy during the week and just said "what's y'alls church address and what time do y'all worship?". And BAM he came to church. Literally nothing we did. It was so cool. Turns out Thomas's cousin that was at the reunion with us plays for the Steelers and had us on his Instagram Live while we were dancing with everyone. That is just so awesome haha.  On top of that we were up in that neighborhood again this week and this man pulls over and is like "hey y'all were at the reunion! Y'all made my day, come by anytime! Imma stop and talk to yall when I'm not in a rush" and speeds away. SO cool. Hopefully we'll run into him soon.

Being an instrument of the Lord is the best thing about being on a mission. Being in a position for the Lord to use you for the betterment of His children is the most important thing. If you doubt God uses you, remember two things: 1)God can do anything with a humble and willing heart and 2) you're probably wrong.

Have a blessed week y'all!

Elder Cummings

S8 E2: The Carter Family Reunion

 (Elder Cummings)

So. Elder Schugk and I are at a park testifying to two 11 year olds of the power of the Holy Ghost and BOOM, thunder cracks and it starts to POUR. And I mean POUR. It was raining so hard you could consider it baptism by immersion. Before we could say anything our boys Kevion and Cam were on their bikes skirting away and we're standing in a rainstorm. So we start walking through the neighborhood seeing who else we could talk to. After running into a Hebrew Israelite, talking with a nice man frying and selling chicken in the rain, and getting soaked, we decide to head back towards the park and our car.

As we walk towards the car I think I hear a whistle through out all the rain. I look around and see no one. I hear it again and faintly see a man in a red shirt standing by the gymnasium waving us down. We sprint over and get to know Thomas. My man is like "I got something for y'all, come inside".

He opens the gymnasium door and it's like we enter a whole other realm. There's a disco ball, music bumping, and about 75 other people in red shirts as well. We follow Thomas and he reveals the buffet of the best, most delicious smelling home-cooked comfort food ever. Baked beans, potato salad, fried chicken, Jambalaya, ribs and green beans. We have unintentionally joined the Carters family reunion.

As Thomas compels us to eat and take as much food as possible, everyone is coming and saying hi to us. They couldn't lose us, not only were we in white shirts and ties, but we left a trail of water behind us as we walked. Anyway. We chow down and then the dancing starts.

Elder Schugk looks at me as it like "can you dance?" I say "no". He says "me either" and jumps into the crowd. My man starts doing the whitest dancing moves ever and everyone is LOVING it. They are hyping him up like nothing else. I'm talking to a nice old lady named Priscilla and she's like "you should get in there", before I could finish my protesting response she says "Mister. You need to get out there". So I go, and my North Stake Dance days flood back to me. I have Elder Schugk stand in the middle of the circle and I jump him and hit the Hungubungus. They pick me up and start carrying me as they chant my name.

Just kidding, just kidding. But I did jump over him and they hyped me up big time. Everybody was taking pictures with us and giving us the biggest amount of love ever.

A lady comes up to us and says "y'all are part of the family now!". Another guy asks us if we are on Tiktok lol. But what was awesome was the fact that we set up like 3 different studies with people and are joining their churches Bible study on Wednesday.

Now the best part was Thomas. The man that waved us down. As we said bye he looked at us and says "guys, when I saw y'all out in the rain I saw light. I need that. I HAVE needed that. I need y'alls light added to mine, please keep in touch with me".

The Lord has a plan for each of us. He is individually and acutely aware of our needs, wishes and desires. Thomas needed some light, and we were able to be instruments to help him see that God is aware of him. Tis good to be an instrument.

Elder Cummings

1. Combined District Council

2. Our boys Thomas and Robert

3. Wildlife ties at MLC

Miracles on Miracles!

 (Elder Slade)

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

This was one of the best weeks of my mission! First of all, Genesea got baptized! It was such a great baptism! Genesea has been a joy to teach, as she just absorbs everything you teach her and has a great sense of humor. Later that afternoon, we also had the opportunity to take the Villanueava family who was baptized last year to the temple to do baptisms for the dead! It was a really neat experience!

Then Sunday was a day filled with miracles! It started in the afternoon when we got on our knees and prayed with a girl named Jazzy, who we've been teaching, that her parents would allow her to be baptized. The spirit was so strong and it was one of the best lessons I've had! One of the coolest moments on my mission!! Then we went to our dinner appointment, and committed one of the kids to ask her friend to be taught. We got a text later that night that said she reached out, and she wants to be taught the discussions!! Then later we had a lesson with a previously taught person. In the past he's been too nervous to get baptized. But he's been starting to come to church again, and he said he wants to be baptized, and so we put him on date for the next few weeks! His sister wants to be baptized as well and we are planning on putting her on date the next lesson we have!

I know that miracles are real! And God has the power to perform miracles in our lives! 2 Nephi 27:23 says:

For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.

As we exercise our faith, God has the power to perform miracles in our behalf and move the mountains and challenges in our lives! Turn to Him and He will help you in your life!

Love you all! I appreciate all of your love and support!

1-2. Us at the temple with the Villanueavas

3. Filling up the font

4. Genesea's baptism!!

5. Elder Coates and I on exchanges

6. Our zone at a zone council this week

7. Random picture of me!

PresenTATION!

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!!

This week we had the presentation at the Senior Center. We only had three nonmembers show up, and the other twelve people who came were members. We presented about the Restoration and afterward, one woman spoke with me about how we are all children of God and took a copy of the Book of Mormon. Hopefully it'll make a positive difference in the perspective of those who came.

At district council the Zone Leaders came and taught us how to tract via role-playing, since only one elder in our district was around before covid shut everything down. It was really fascinating.

On Saturday we helped a new family move in and it was supposed to take an hour and it took only about 10 minutes because of the amount of people who showed up, so that was a miracle brought about by selflessness!

We also helped a family move out too and that was fun, and we'll miss them.

We also have set up weekly lessons with Eseta's family (Ruby's aunt) so hopefully that will happen and help their family.

Love you all!!

(The sunshine rock I think is credited to Sister zinn)

Iona Days!

 (Elder Slade)

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

The Lord keeps blessing us! Some weeks are rougher than others, but no matter the week, we've still seen miracles and the Lord's hand in this work!

One of the people we found a week or two ago named Jazzy, is breazing through the Book of Mormon! We met with her yesterday and she's loved what she's read so far. She's going to finish 2 Nephi this week!

We went on two exchanges this week. I went with an Elder Romig and Elder Smith. They are beasts of missionaries and I learned a lot from them!

We also helped out with a community celebration in Iona called Iona Days! This  included walking in a parade, helping with a dunk tank, and manning a missionary booth. It was pretty sweet!

Love you all!

1. Elder Smith, my fearless District Leader, and I

2. Elder Romig and I

3. Elder Vorwaller wanted to trade for my frisbee

4. Us walking in the parade

S8 E1: Welcome to Dingum Sprangs

 (Elder Cummings)

你們好！

This week was transfers, so in the process of all the missionaries involved going to their new areas meeting in Hammond, I was able to say bye to many of the 27 Elders going home this transfer whom I love and respect. The whole mission is different now, it's super whack.

Other than that, Denham Springs is really different than Alexandria. It's where the mission office and the mission home is like 20 minutes away. It's completely different than what I've had in the past too. Geographically speaking, the Alexandria area covers about the areas of 12 missionaries in this zone. It's a lot more cramped.

One awesome guy that we're teaching is named Bruce Wang. And he speaks Mandarin!! We meet with him about 4 times a week. Thanks to Bruce, I have been able to use and practice my Mandarin finally! Our first meeting, I realized two things. How much I lost in my speaking skills. And I realized I forgot how much I love Chinese. But he is such an amazing person. He was born in mainland China, never heard the name Jesus Christ until he came to the US and now knows that he can truly, truly, be a better person because of Him. I am on the front line witnessing the changing and shaping effect faith in Jesus Christ has on an individual. And it's awesome.

Elder Cummings

Photo dump, don't got time to explain them!

S7 E6: 2 Hospitals, 1 Flood, 1 Broken Equinox

 (Elder Cummings)

Such a crazy week I couldn't pass up the subject title:

It all started with Elder Richards complaining of some chest pain...don't mess with the chest. We called Sister Amos and she had us go straight to the ER around 8pm. After running some tests for about 30 minutes they told us he wasn't having a heart attack. Phew. Then we had to sit another 5 hours for them to tell us he strained his chest and prescribed him some ibuprofen... Yeehaw! Much fun! We didn't get home until about 2am. However there were some fun parts. For example, we got to play Go Fish for about 2 hours. And I also got permission to drive by myself to pick up some McDonald's at 12am cause we were starving. Plus, Elder Richards is okay!

Alright. Hospital #2. This one we were just visiting, but like I said, it makes the email title so much cooler. We were able to minister to a sister in the ward and give her a blessing. She was an old lady and it was so tender. She was having some serious problems going on and she was just like "make sure my dog is ok, make sure he is ok". We made sure he was ok.

On the way back from this Hospital visit it is POURING. And if you've ever been in Louisiana, you know how it pours. Just a couple minutes and bam streets are flooding. We turn off the main road into the neighborhood where we live and BOOM we just hit a pool of water and suddenly it gets about a foot and a half deep...hehe. yeah not good. Very quickly, our engine shuts off and we are stopped. Seeing that the water is rising we take our shoes off, roll up our pants, and push our car onto a nearby driveway. If only our Chevy Equinox had a 6inch lift kit on it like the rest of the cars here do. We end up walking the next half mile home and leaving our car in that kind lady's car port. 

Then that night, we come by and start her up again. We drive about 50 feet and the engine shuts off again. Not good. We call Brother Carrillo and he tows us to our apartment. After much labor and investigation we had to send her to the Chevy dealership to get checked out. The engine is flooded. Really bad. So. We've been biking the whole week and will be for the next couple. Woo-hoo! I'll actually not have to deal with that though cause I'm getting transferred to Denham Springs! Haha sorry Elder Richards…

In all seriousness though. I learned a little bit more this week about the principle of how fun is only temporary and will never last. When we hit that flood zone and we were leaving wakes behind us it was fun. We were just some teenage boys again thinking this is dope. Then our car stops and we're like "oh shoot". But it gets fun again when we get to jump in the water and push the car out. And then it's fun waving at people while we walk home with no shoes and covered in mud and sweat, still wearing white shirts and ties. But then it is no longer fun when our Chevy stopped working and we could no longer drive it. It is no longer fun that we now have to bike EVERYWHERE. And it is especially no longer fun knowing we are costing the Church a whole great deal of tithing money and effort and time and now the Work in Alexandria is temporarily slowed because we can't do as much as we usually do each day. Fun is temporary. Joy is forever. Fun comes from temporary, fleeting things. Joy comes from the eternal things, it comes from our Eternal Father in Heaven. That doesn't mean fun is bad, because it's not. But joy is so much more deep and meaningful. Plus I personally think joy is truly what allows us to still have fun during hard times.

Have a blessed week y'all!

Elder Cummings