Drum Roll Please

(Sister Cummings)
And just like that the transfer is over... We received our transfer calls just before the general woman's conference. Imagine this, three sisters calmly eating their cold cut sandwiches suddenly turn into Black Friday-esk Mad women as the phone begins to ring. Well the result of this mad dash turned out to be that Sister Rowlings and I will be losing our little Sister Meldrum as she will be busing down to Ottawa come Wednesday. It will be really sad, after all our little band of the three nephites was quite fun and effective and now we must rediscover what it means to be in a duo again. However it may be nice in some cases because now our itty bitty apartment may be in some cases relieved and I will no longer be sleeping with my feet in the dreaming face of Sister Rowlings.

As Always miracles have happened this week. We are still meeting with Vanessa and she continues to astound us at every opportunity. Keep her in your prayers as usual.

I wished to share a little of what I have learned of Divine Nature and Potential. As we know we are all children of God. The people we walk with on the streets no matter their outlook chose to follow their older brother Jesus Christ in the pre-existence. Just like a Sheppard knows his sheep the Lord God knows all his children. In one of my first district meetings there was a discussion on charity and an Elder stated the following "How would He introduce them." Often when we are looking outward at those around us are we not prone to judge? Do we not compare ourselves to others?

When we look on our brethren do we see them as they actually are. As Children of God and our brothers and sisters, future Kings and Queens of a heavenly stewardship. Next time a judging thought comes into your mind think upon the words that this Elder shared. How would God introduce this person whom I have been so quick to judge.

I leave you with the words of Paul I love you and I pray for all of you.

"Let brotherly love continue" Heb 13:1

Our Redeemer Lives

(Elder Cummings)

It has been another amazing week!  The time has flown by.  We had a Zone Conference conducted by Elder Mervyn B. Arnold of the First Quorum of the Seventy on Tuesday.  That was really a treat.  He taught us about effective planning, effective teaching, and how to work with members of the Church better to move the work of the Lord forward.  He had a lot to teach us.

During the lunch we had at the meeting Elder Arnold received a phone call from Salt Lake City to inform him that Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had passed away.  Elder Arnold had a close relationship with Richard G. Scott and it was a tender moment to listen to him share the news with us.  I do not know any of the senior leaders in our Church personally, but from what I saw on Tuesday it is clear that their love for eachother and for the Lord is strong.  They are men called of God.  I can bear witness of that.  Following his announcement we listed to a soloist perform "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."  It was a very peaceful rendition and gave me time to think about what that means.  Do I know that my Redeemer lives?  I can say the words, but do I know what they mean?

As I have thought about that I have been taught many things by the Spirit.  If Christ lives then he is indeed the Great Jehovah, the Messiah, the immortal son of God.  If he lives then my faith is in a true and living God who has power over death.  If he lives then, as the song puts it "I shall conquer death" just as he has through his glorious Resurrection.  Through his Atonement and his Resurrection he prepared the way for us to return to live with God, clean and glorified in immortal bodies of flesh and bone.

That is something I have faith in.  To quote another hymn, I believe in Christ!  I "believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth" (Mosiah 4:9).  I know he is the only way for peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come.  I know that the message of his gospel and his sacrifice will bless all mankind.

I have seen it bless those we have taught this week.  There was one family that came over from Laos just shy of a year ago.  They speak beautiful Hmong, much better than the broken noise I crank out.  We taught them the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon.  Over the course of a forty five minute visit they were changed by what we taught and are eager to learn more.

There is the man Txhooj Lwm, TV for short, who teaches himself the truth of the gospel when we visit.  We confirm his growing testimony with ours as he reads verses from the Book of Mormon and teaches us the doctrinal implication of the statements.  This man had no Christian background prior to meeting with the LDS missionaries.

God loves his children and blesses them.  He does not let them slip through His fingers.  We went to an appointment yesterday which ended up falling through.  As we turned to leave we were invited to join a birthday party by a sister who had been less active in the Church for several years.  God did not let her slip through his fingers and sent us, two unsuspecting young men, to go and find her.

God lives.  Christ lives.  They love us and desire to bless us.  They are reaching out in love again through living prophets.  All that they ask of us is that we have the faith and patience to listen.  I encourage you all to open your ears and hearts to the great things our Father and Brother seek to teach you.  I know the blessings are real.

And now it is on to another glorious sunny day in Fresno!

With love,

Elder A. Jared Cummings

Bruised Thumbs

(Anziano Wilkinson)

So in light of my companion's concussion, we have had to take it easy

this week by staying inside a lot more than usual. So naturally I have

had a lot of time to study! Part of my studies have centered on Jesus

the Christ, from which I continue to grow in understanding of who our

Savior is as a person.

One chapter in the book is centered entirely on Christ's boyhood and

growth. One thing that Tallmadge emphasizes in this chapter is that

Christ, just like everyone else, learned line upon line, precept upon

precept. Nothing was ever simply handed to Him on account of His

divine sonship; He was required to attain wisdom and knowledge in

exactly the same way we are, by hard work and patience.

With this in mind it occurred to me that, while He was entirely

sinless and spiritually perfect, Christ was not perfect at all things

temporal. That is, He was not by default that best at everything He

ever did. In mortality, He probably wasn't as good at swimming as

Michael Phelps, or as good at Basketball (had it existed) as Michael

Jordan. He probably couldn't beat a world champion Chess player at a

game of Chess and, who knows, He may not have even been a straight A

student had he attended Harvard Medical School (although He was

clearly a very smart individual). Christ probably wasn't a perfect

carpenter when He began learning the trade and He probably had His

fair share of splinters and bruised thumbs.

Christ was perfectly sinless, there is no dispute about that, but that

doesn't mean he was a superhuman from planet Krypton. For me, thinking

about Christ in this light makes Him a lot more relatable. I think too

often we lose sight of the fact that Christ experienced life in just

the same way we do and that He wasn't arbitrarily lead through life or

given whatever He wanted without needing to put in sincere effort on

His end. He stands shoulder to shoulder with us in being able to

attest that life is not an easy experience.

Anyway, that is a bit of what I have learned this week, maybe it's

false doctrine, maybe it's not haha. In the end the important part is

that Christ was sinless and that because of this He was able to take

upon Himself our sins and pay the cost for them that we might not have

to if we came unto Him. I know this is true and I am so happy to have

the chance to share this truth full time for the next two years!

Have a great week everyone and don't forget to invite a friend to

conference this week!

-Anziano Wilkinson

Out of Time

(Sister Cummings)

So due to our plans being quite full today and us using public computers with a time limit this email is not going to be as effective as I wish it could be. But I wanted to send something. Mosiah 4:9 is one of my most favorite scriptures. It is when the King Benjamin just before his death calls for all the people of the land to come together in prayer and Learning. A situation very similar to that of General Conference where we gather together, perhaps virtually, to learn and praise our God. In the climatic moment of his discourse, King Benjamin states the following.

 "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

I know and I can testify these things are true. This weekend is the start of general Conference. The Lord can help us understand the things that we need to understand through our leaders and our inspired prophet. I know these things are true in the Name of Jesus Christ Amen

The Sabbath of Our Lives

(Elder Cummings)

Before I get into what all has happened this week I just want to say that it dawned on me this week that I am already over a tenth done with my missionary service.  That went by fast.  Time does not wait for us to catch up.  Before I know it I will be heading home.  I have mixed feelings about that coming so soon.

That aside, it has been a fantastic week!  We have seen so many miracles this week as we have gone about doing the Lord's work.  They all have come from both obedience and listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  The other night we were filling up the car (an adventure we don't have in New Jersey) when I had the unmistakable prompting to go and give the man working the cash register a copy of the Book of Mormon.  My companion and I marched right in, handed him the book, bore a brief testimony of why we were giving it to him, and left to make it home by curfew.  Before we had even left the gas station he was already bent over, book open, reading.  I cannot say how his story will end, but I can say that God loves him and knows his needs.  On top of that, we have been able to invite four more people this week to be baptized.  That is four more of God's children who are coming to know their Savior better!  That is four more on the path to happiness and eternal life!

Sadly we did not have anyone come to church yesterday.  We had a half dozen people who had told us they would come, but none of them showed.  They missed out on a great primary program, by not-so-great translating abilities, but most importantly they missed out on the sacrament.  They missed the opportunity to remember the sacrifice of Christ in the Lord's appointed way.

God gave us the Sabbath for a reason.  He gave it with the command that we forget ourselves and do His will (Isaiah 58:13-14).  That opportunity is unique and allows us to come to know our God better.  True Sabbath observance will always bring peace of mind and a greater outpouring of the Holy Ghost.  The opportunity to be fully committed is rare.  It does not come unless we seek it.  It is requisite for our salvation (Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, 17:33, John 12:25).

It occurred to me last night as I read the Isaiah reference cited above that I have a real opportunity here as a missionary.  The full verses read:

"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

"Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."

As missionaries we have the chance to "turn away...from doing [our] pleasure" on this holy day of our lives.  The blessings are real.  The more we give ourselves up, the more we do the Lord's will, the more we love the work.  You can have a great time without fully consecrating yourself to this work, but the same blessings aren't realized.  When we commit ourselves fully to this work the Lord causes us to "ride upon the high places of the earth," and we are blessed in each of our own missions, in every area we serve, in our own promised lands.  The blessings of the covenants missionaries make are realized. 

This opportunity is unique and may never come again.  This is a time when I can turn my life fully over to God.  This is the Sabbath of my life, and I am loving it!

-Elder Jared Cummings

Commozione Cerebrale

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week has really been an interesting one. You know what they say,

it's all fun a and games until someone gets hurt! We believe my

companion has a minor concussion (hence the title of this blog post)

from playing a little too much soccer a few days ago. As a result, we

are confined to very few options for the next few days while he

recovers, Sorella Dibb's orders. I'm perfectly fine though, so don't

worry about me!

We met some really cool people this week on the streets, on the

trains, and just about anywhere else you can think. It's kinda fun to

just go and talk to people that you've never met before, especially

for me now that I can mostly understand them with a bit of effort!

However, I still say some pretty goofy things like when I mispronounce

the word for "suffered" and say something to the effect of "Christ was

deep-fried for our sins". Fun stuff!

We tend to have the best conversations with people at the oddest

moments, like when we go to snag some pizza (it's super cheap and

super tasty here, it's amazing) before heading back to the apartment

at night! In that specific instance we ran into a Sri Lankan couple

who was vacationing in Italy for their 48th anniversary and they were

very interested in our message about Christ. They spoke English too!

It's always neat to run into people who are prepared to receive our

message, even if they are tourists!

I've learned a lot about talking to strangers about the gospel just in

the past few days, in particular I realized that you can look all day

and you will never find a perfect moment to talk to someone. Something

will always make every situation sub-optimal, like a car horn going

off or a dog barking. When it comes to perfect moments, they are

nowhere to be found, perfect moments can only be made. And the only

way to make perfect moments is to just jump in and trust in Heavenly

Father! And that's the case for talking with anyone about the gospel!

If you take the leap of faith, the moment will be made perfect for

you, because Heavenly Father really, really wants that person that

you're talking to to hear the gospel and get the chance to receive it!

He loves them and he will make due with whatever nonsensical sentences

come out of your mouth. Trust me, I am well acquainted with

nonsensical sentences!

So I challenge you all to go and talk to someone about the gospel! The

best part is you don't even need to worry about what to say; the words

will be given to you through the Holy Ghost as you take the leap of

faith! So go try it, because there is great joy in doing so, in being

an instrument in the hands of the Lord!

Have a great week everyone!

-Anziano Wilkinson

Welcome to Fresno!

(Elder Cummings)

I am here!  I made it!  Nine short weeks at the MTC and now it has happened.  I have been pleasantly surprised with how much Hmong I actually know and understand.  I was all ready to translate in Sacrament Meeting this week, but with the forest fires in the area raining ash down on us I've developed a cough that wasn't going to make the job easy.  Speaking of rain, it is raining today!  My trainer, Elder Ballard, said this is the eighth time in almost two years that he can remember.  That hopefully will help these fires calm down a bit.

The same day the new missionaries arrive they go out and begin teaching.  Such was the case with me and the seventeen other missionaries who arrived with me.  We went out with our temporary companions (we got our actual companions the next day) and began teaching.  My companion for the day took me to an area where we were sure to meet Hmong people, and we did!  We talked to many Hmong that day.  There was even a lesson we taught where I understood everything that was going on and was able to participate.  Then there was another lesson we taught in Hmong where I didn't catch a word.  The accent of the speaker matters a lot.

The entire experience reminds me of a verse, 1 Corinthians 2:1, in which Paul, the evangelist known well for his bold approach to missionary work, describes himself teaching.  He writes, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God."  I definitely connect with that.  I feel pretty good about my language skills, especially for only having been studying for ten weeks, but my Hmong definitely is not "excellency of speech."  My sentence, although they are spoken in Hmong, are still most definitely of English structure and style.  I can be understood, but just barely.  I do not understand Hmong proverbs.  I definitely have not come to Fresno with much "wisdom" as it pertains to the Hmong culture.  In spite of all of this I have come declaring unto the Hmong people the testimony of God, and I am "determined not to know any thing among [them], save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). 

It is amazing to me what faith can do.  Faith in Jesus Christ motivates upwards of 80,000 young men and women all over the world to give up two years or eighteen months of their lives to serve their fellowmen preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That is incredible to me.  That sacrifice brings with it an undeniable power.

Faith is a real power.  Sacrifice brings real blessings.  There is so much more I could say on the topic, but my email time for the week is running short so I need to wrap it up.  I know that my Redeemer lives.  I believe that Jesus is the Christ and that He did give his life to atone for the sins of all mankind.  "He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities...and with his stripes we are healed" (Mosiah 14:5).  I truly do believe that with all my heart.  There is a way for peace in this life and in the life to come.  That way is Christ's way.

I hope you all have a great week!  If any of you want to send me a letter via the US Postal system, my address has now changed to 1814 N. Echo Ave. Fresno, California, USA 93704.  Thank you to all of you who sent me mail while I was at the MTC and thank you all for the emails you send me!  Both are highlights of my week, every week.

With love,

Elder A. Jared Cummings