My shoes are like my life!

 (Elder Slade)

This week was a super busy week! And next week is going to be another busy week. I love it so much though! Every day I end up being exhausted, but feels great knowing I'm doing something that's worth it. It reminds me of a quote, "My shoes are like my life, to be worn in the service of God!" And let me tell you, my shoes are being worn out! I love my mission so much!

This week we had an awesome miracle where we felt impressed to visit the mom of this one kid we are teaching. We stopped by and talked with her, and just bore testimony about how this gospel would bless their family and asked her to join us for the lessons with her son. She said yes and agreed that God could really help them! We are so excited for that family as they progress in learning about Jesus Christ!

I got a new companion this week, Elder Quigley! He is such an amazing missionary and I am so exciting to be with him! Elder Gurney is done with his mission and is pretty sad. I learned SO much from him this transfer!

Love you all!

Picture(there's only 1 😥):

1. Me and my new companion, Elder Quigley!

There are no transfers in Ba Sing Se

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

Well, the dreaded T word has arrived!! Sister Rice and I got a call on Friday and President asked her to be STL, so we are sad we won't be comps anymore, but the next adventure is exciting! This transfer went by so fast though.

This week we finished up filming the video and Sister Rice, with her impressive editing skills, worked her magic and put the video together!

Our friend, Kathie Thomas, who wasnt responding to us for awhile, had contacted us last week saying her son, Ben, was interested in attending church with us. He had researched the church and wanted to know more, so he's been watching zoom church and he came to the Halloween party on Friday and he really enjoyed it!!

Also, we met with Dina and got to know her more, and she is getting ready to have a baby. She is interested to find a church that she would want to raise her child in, so she's interested to see our church and what church services are like. Please pray that we'll be able to help her to come to church so she can feel God's love for her!!

Also, please pray for Amy, we havent been able to get into contact with her, and Anna as well!!

Love you all!!

Pictures!!

Our pumpkins we carved! Sister Rice is the sunflower and mine is the other one (I'm not sure what to call it)

And some chickens at a service project!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

S10 E3: Halloween with the NAACP

 (Elder Cummings)

Howdy y'all!

To celebrate Halloween, for dinner the other Elders and I made an obscene amount of French toast and ate it all while we listened to "It's Christmas Everyday" by David Archuleta. Best Halloween ever.

This week was all over the place. Including having some goulash, meeting two wonderful ladies over 90 years old, a wonderful friend of ours Darlene accepting a date to be baptized, and shoveling river sand for a man who broke his back in 5 places after wrestling an alligator.

One of the coolest parts of this week was Halloween afternoon. We were sitting in a park doing our companionship study when we saw an older couple struggling to open a big tent canopy. So Elder Weatherston and I go help them set it up. Turns out they're with the NAACP and were putting off a free candy give away/carnival for the youth in the area so they could have a safe and happy Halloween. Cedric and Francis literally moved from Chicago to help build and strengthen the young black community here with sports tournaments, parties, classes, etc. We got to help them finish up all the decorations and talk with them about what they do and what we do. It was do much fun. We got to meet the leader of the NAACP in the county and he was super old guy sporting a Vietnam vet cap using one of those old hand radios that has a like a foot long antenna to listen to the Saints game. We even got the invitation to join one of their meetings coming up! We'll have lots of opportunities to serve and help there and share the light of Christ.

Have a blessed one!

Elder Cummings

Lights, camera, action!

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!

So this week we went to Young Women's to get to know the young women, and it was a lot of fun! We did a painting activity and it was awesome!!

Oh also, about 2 months ago, Sister Hatton & I were getting stuff into the car before leaving to go somewhere, and the girl who parks next to our car came out at the same time and started talking to us and we connected really well.  We gave her our number, and she texted us! Well we ran into her again a couple weeks later and I was like "Hey we should go get ice cream sometime!!".  Last week we set up a time to get ice cream and on Tuesday we met her at the mall and got ice cream and got to know her.  She asked a lot of questions about our church and beliefs. She said religions are really beautiful to her and she is interested in attending Christmas services, so that would be awesome!! Sister Rice connected pretty well with her, (Her name is Sara, lol forgot to point that out) and so that will hopefully be good when I most likely transfer in a week!

Last week we were enlisted to film a video to get the youth excited about serving a mission, featuring the missionaries in the stake and their talents, so we spent a lot of time filming those.  Hopefully I can get those to you guys once they're done! It took up the majority of our week though haha, so that's the explanation for my email subject line!

Also, remember the lady from last week who needed a bed? Well, her name is Dina, and we had another Bible study with her and Sister Israelsen & Sister Durham and we learned a lot about her life, what she's been through, and she is just an incredibly strong and humble woman! We hope to teach her more soon, and to find some fellowship!

Amy has still been sick, so pray for Amy so that Sister Rice can meet her before I leave, and so that we can schedule a baptismal date for her!

Also, on Friday my Uncle Mark & Aunt Rebecca came and visited us and took us to MOD Pizza, and it was wonderful to see them, they are incredible!!

Love you all!!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

S10 E2: Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham

 (Elder Cummings)

So we're walking through this neighborhood that we felt we needed to be at. The sun is going down, the people are going inside, and we're running out of time. We look at the time and are like, "ok, let's walk down this street and back around to our bikes and call it good". So we start walking and see a man working on some garage lights or something. We offer some help, he rejects it. We offer some messages about Jesus, he accepts it. His name is Eric, he is so awesome. We were able to teach him about his true identity and potential as a cherished child of a Loving Father. He looks at our tags and asks, "so y'all are Elders. Will y'all bless my home?"

We are able to explain more about the priesthood and power of God and we dedicate this stranger-now-friend's home. The Spirit was strong and you could tell that Eric was touched. In a way that we couldn't tell him, the Lord told him that we were His servants.

Later in the week us 4 Elders are driving up with our Relief Society President to Folsom, literally the boonies.(Sister Ziegler, the RSP, straight up met her husband on a greyhound bus on the way to Venezuela and taught him the first 3 discussions, later he was baptized and they were sealed. So awesome). So anyway, there's a family up in Folsom that we've been trying to visit but communication is just hard cause they live so far away. Turns out the sister that we are trying to visit hasn't been able to get the medication she needs since the hurricane hit and she is having a rough time. But then turns out that Sister Ziegler works at a pharmacy that holds the medication that she needs. Miracle.

On top of that, this amazing sister was complaining of disturbing nightmares and experiences in their home and we again had a chance to dedicate and sanctify their home. There we were, 4 guys in white shirts and ties from all over the country kneeling and surrounded by dogs, a baby chicken and a bunch of random kids who didn't even live there, using the authority and power of God to bless a small trailer in the middle of Louisiana country. Crazy how God works. You could feel the difference as we talked with them afterwards. Everyone seemed more at ease, more hopeful and more friendly. Such an amazing experience.

Have a blessed week y'all!

Elder Cummings

Nevaeh's Baptism

 (Elder Slade)

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

What a great week! Navaeh got baptized Saturday! It was a awesome experience! She is one of the most energetic girls I've met, and she has such attitude, but her desire to get baptized was amazing! She's been coming to church every week, and she loves it!

I have just been so excited for the work recently! This is such a fun and joyous work! Taking people who are struggling, and raising them up through the gospel of Jesus Christ! There's nothing better than this! There definitely have been some hard days, days that are challenging and stressful, but none of that compares with the ultimate joy that comes from missionary work! I love this work so much!

Love you all!

1. Elder Plank and I on exchanges! It was the first time in a while I had ridden a bike, and my butt was so sore after that day, but it was just a blast!

2. Elder Quigley and I in Rexburg! He's such a stud!

3. Elder Powell and I in Rigby. He's such a stud as well.

4. Took a picture with a man named Ian who is a recent convert. I heard a lot about this guys from my friend Elder Holmes (who's in Africa right now) who helped teach him. He is such a beast!

S10 E1: A Rabid Buc-cees in Chugginton

 (Elder Cummings)

Howdy y'all!

So this week has been pretty straight forward and has flown by. I'm out here in Covington(not Chuggington unfortunately) with my man Elder Weatherston. He's straight from the MTC, from Nampa, Idaho and will die believing that Idaho is the best state in the US and that Idaho potatoes are the best. Unfortunately only the latter is true.

I wish i got a picture but I saw a sticker on somebody's car that looked like Buc-cee's. I asked him about it and he smiles and says "it's a rabid Buc-cees, look he mean". Only in Louisiana folks.

On top of that before I left Denham Springs a family fed us some Gator stew. It was loaded with Sausage, Chicken and Gator and man it was so good. They say here "don't ask what's in it, it's just gonna be good".

Alright, this is a flashback in a flashback but it is also the highlight of this week. It was during a message we shared with a family. They had their youngest son who was starting the MTC the next week and so we all went around and shared one of our favorite experiences from our missions. I was really trying to think about one, nothing was coming to mind. As it was my turn a very specific memory came to me. It was back in Alexandria, with Elder Richards. We are sitting there teaching Josh and Samantha, a younger couple who had family that were members. Oh wait a little bit of context:

Context:

I try really hard to stay true to my testimony that I share in the sense that I will say "I know" if I know something is true and I will say "I believe" if I only believe or trust something is true.

So here we are. We want this couple to understand the importance of the temple and God's plan for them. We wanted them to understand that they could be sealed as a family for eternity. At this point in time I trusted and believed that this could happen. I know that Jesus is my Savior, and I know Joseph Smith restored His Church on the earth today, and so I trusted with my heart that my family could be together forever. As we are sitting here with this couple, we play the Rome Italy temple tour video. I'm watching the video and their reactions to see how they're feeling about it and the Spirit just hits me and I get an overwhelming sense of peace as Elder and Sister Bednar testify of the sealing power of families. I just feel "Clayton, you know it's true". It seemed out of nowhere. Here I was sitting with a young family while we watched a temple video and the Spirit witnessed to me that what I was watching and learning was of God. I can now confidently say that I know that families can be together forever. I will forever be grateful for that knowledge, and that is why I'm out here.

Have a blessed one

Elder Cummings