S12 E3: There is room in the Inn

 (Elder Cummings)

So we have our boy Rich. Rich is awesome. About a month ago the previous elders met him at Walmart. Next week, he gets covid and is straight out of commission, it hit him really hard.

We've been keeping in contact with him because he wants to attend church with us. We've been texting a lot because he hasn't been able to muster the energy to have a real lesson and discussion yet. This week he is finally healthy and feeling up to church. And he comes.

Afterwards, we asked how he liked it and he took us aside and was like "Y'all have to understand. I grew up and was forced into religion, and it left a bad taste in my mouth, but I never gave up on God. I feel like He is still there. Coming here today, what I felt, this has been the closest I have ever been to what I feel I need in my life. So thank you. I will be coming back next week."

Mic. Drop. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he texted us afterwards and was like "I plan on coming every week. And if y'all would like, I would love to talk about the Book yall gave me. I'm gonna be reading it shortly". So hype.

I know that there is room in the Lord's Inn for everyone. His Kingdom is on the earth, and it is His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

God bless

Elder Cummings

Photos:

NOLA and folk

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!

Sorry for not writing last week, it was a little crazy.

Transfer texts came out this week and Hermana Shupe and I are staying together and we are super pumped about it!!!  I finally get to keep a comp for more than a transfer!

This week we did a lot of door knocking in the rain and nobody answered.

We had a lesson with José and asked if he was still interested in being baptized.  He said yes, and shared that us visiting him and teaching him gives him strength to follow God's commandments. Before we said the closing prayer, he said that in the following weeks he would say the prayers for lessons, because if he is going to be baptized he will need to Spiritually prepare! We are super proud of him and his humility. Please pray that he will continue to progress!!!

We've also found a lot of people online interested in learning English and so that should be incredible!

Also we were at the store just now and Hermana Shupe heard some people speaking Spanish. We went up and asked to practice our Spanish with them, and so we talked with them for a bit.  They asked why we wanted to practice and we said we wanted to learn spanish. And one lady said "oh you should come to my house and I can practice English and you can practice Spanish!"  She gave us her address and phone number and we just texted her, so please pray that she will respond. We will knock her door this week.

Pictures: a billboard we found funny, a sign we found while door knocking, Hermana shupe and i out in the rain, and a killer sunrise!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Last Week!

 (Elder Slade)

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

Well. Here it is. This is CRAZY! This is my last week. I go home Wednesday and it's the weirdest feeling. I am pretty sad it is coming to the end. I've loved every second of my mission. I havent enjoyed every second, but I have loved it! 🤣 I wouldn't trade my mission experience for anything. I've met so many amazing people, and have had experiences that have changed my life. I've come closer to my Savior, and I love Him for everything he's done! He literally means everything to me.

This last week has definitely been a week to match my mission experience! It was filled with highs and lows. A high of having Nicole being baptized! She is the definition of prepared by the Lord. She is amazing! Their have been lows of people we are teaching rejecting our message and choosing not to be baptized. Their has been the high of finding a new person to teach named Gianna. She has some amazing potential to change her life. Their have been lows of knowing it will end soon. It's been quite the week!

Thanks for all of your support and love! I look forward to talking to you all! I'll be reporting on my mission in church Sunday morning January 30th. Their will be a reception after with food. I'll send out another email with all of the details! I'd love for you all to join if you are able! 😁

Love you all!

Pictures

1. My entire two years in Idaho, I never cooked a baked potato. So I did it for the first time! Shout out to Howard and Sue for providing the Potato.

2. A cat made me it's bed in a lesson.

3. The igloo collapsed. 😭

4-5. Nicole got baptized!!

Happy New Year and Snow!

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone! Sooo I forgot to write last week, so sorry!

Not sure if I shared but we had snow and that slowed down the in person work but we were able to do online work and do a snow photoshoot and offer to shovel driveways for people!

We met with our friend Jose Felix last week for new years and he is such a nice man! He has things to work on but we will work with him on them.

We knocked doors and have gotten a lot of referrals and we are super excited to work with these people!!

Love you all!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Great Week!

 (Elder Slade)

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

It's been another great week! Cynthia and Annabell got baptized on Saturday! It was an amazing experience, and we talked with their stepdad at the baptism, and he said he is interested in learning more! Two other people we are teaching, Grant and Nicole, are scheduled to get baptized this week. Please pray for them that everything will go smoothly for that.

I also went to the temple this week for the first time in about 23 months! It was an amazing experience. Afterwards we went to a local restaurant named Big Juds and several of us tried the Big Jud's challenge, which consists of a one pound burger with a huge bun and a case of fries which you have to finish in 30 minutes. I unfortunately was not able to finish the challenge, but it was worth the try! 🤣

The lord's really been blessing us recently! The Lord has really been directing us and strengthening us. That's one for sure of the gospel, God loves His children and will help them out!

Love you all!

Pictures (I'll have a picture for Cynthia and Annabell's baptism next week!):

1. Exchange with Elder Bluth

2. Exchange with Elder Elder Powell

S12 E2: Some great salisbury steaks, and an even better week

 (Elder Cummings)

So our legends, Steven and Morgan(who are the father and daughter who just started attending church completely on their own two weeks ago) came again yesterday. Super awesome.

We were making our way over to talk to them when we saw that our Bishop was already sitting in the pew chatting up a storm until sacrament meeting starts. In the middle of the meeting we just get a text from Bishop Solouki: "So I just talked with Morgan and Steven, and they asked if they could keep coming and asked how they can become members of the ward..."

We were just floored. We had only gotten a chance to say hi to these guys for like 2 minutes last week. We were able to catch them again after sacrament meeting and turns out that Morgan is a national champion for golfing and will be out of town the next weeks but wants us to come over and teach them everything they need to know and do to get baptized. It doesn't get better than that. Please keep them in your prayers. Please pray for Lavette, Ricky, and Nikkia as well!

Anyway, some food for thought that I heard this week: "Christ leads and is at the head of this Work" but also "Christ is in the middle of this Work". Hm. Ponder.

Have a blessed one!

Elder Cummings

One of the most amazing lessons ever

 (Elder Slade)

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

We had an amazing experience with someone we are teaching this week! We are teaching a couple from China that has had almost NO experience with Christianity. It's crazy. They have almost no understanding shout God. We taught him God's plan for him, and taught him how to pray. In the lesson we prayed first to show him how to pray, and then we asked him to say a prayer. He said his first prayer he had ever said, and it was one of th most sincere amazing prayers I've ever heard. The spirit was so strong! It was amazing!!

It has been crazy busy though combining two areas. It's been great being in a trio though. We've just been having a ton of fun, working hard and seeing miracles. Our third companion is Elder Swartz who is such a smart guy. He's fun to be around.

Love you all! Keep being amazing!

Pictures (sorry, don't have too many)

1. Just a picture waiting at the stop light for like 10 min for the train which was just sitting there.