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

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