there is sunshine in my soul everyday!

Hello my beautiful, wonderful, BRILLIANT family and friends! It has yet been another wonderful week in this beautiful land of England and there is sunshine in my soul today!! I cannot believe how much Heavenly Father loves and trusts me...it's kind of crazy but I LOVE IT!

So this week Sister Cannon and I wrecked Wrekin one house at a time! Okay..not actually but spiritually we brought the POWA! :D  Today as I sit in this warm library, staring out the window at the misty clouds I just feel so much sunshine in my soul!! I cannot lie...I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! But I especially love being Sister Cannon's companion! Unfortunately, Sister Cannon and I get along way too well...there is giggling at all times of the day and we both will be attending BYU-Idaho after our missions...so obviously we are best friends. She is an amazing woman! She is quickly acclimating to the tolls and joys of missionary life and it is an amazing experience to watch someone grow so quickly and I love getting to continue to grow and be stretched at the rate I was when I first arrived!I have learned a ton this week! I have an issue of getting over excited when people talk to us SO I have been putting an earnest effort forth to talk less and give Sister Cannon many opportunities and she is taking them! When she speaks, the spirit of God overflows the room! She is such a powerful and diligent missionary! She works hard and she continues to grow and become more loving and aware of others every day! She is patient and charitable and I just am so grateful to rain her and to be trained by her! She teaches with the light of Christ everywhere that we go and she is just a super powerful missionary! I love her!!! Oh and Dad, you'll love this!! Her dad works for NCIS! So she obviously has secret ninja skills and she has lived In Mexico, Dubai, Egypt, Ecuador, Florida, Maryland, and now Georgia!! What more could a woman ask for!?! 

 This week on the bus, someone told us that Telford is the highest ratio of atheists in England and then our bus driver stopped the bus in order to confirm that claim! Ha! Right away I thought, "Not for long, challenge accepted! MUAHAHAHA" I feel privileged to be trusted with such a high ratio of atheists! It makes me even more excited to share my love for Heavenly Father and more importantly His love for them!! What a lucky woman I am! 

This week we had an incredible lesson with two really stand out investigators, Abi and Richard! As we taught Abi the Spirit was the strongest I have ever felt it. Heavenly Father really tailored the lesson in order to fit what she needed and I am just grateful I got to be the vessel to shar that message and enjoy that experience. During the lesson, the Spirit was SO stron so we told her that she felt the Spirit right now and she really could! She said, "I have always wanted to be Mormon because I love your church!" and then followed with, "I really want Joseph Smith's story to be true...I just need to pray about it"! LIKE WHAT!?! How amazing is that! Can you say prepared because I sure can! As for Richard, he is just stellar! We met him on the side of the road about a week ago and then we had our first lesson the other day and to start off the conversation he said, "I don't understand why Christ would want His church to be scattered into a bunch of different churches, shouldn't there just be one true one?" Yes, jaws were dropped and answers were given! It was madness! As we answered his questions and then invited him to be baptized he said, "Most definitely!" but he didn't feel ready to set a date but don't worry, I have complete faith that he will be baptized! :D

Since being on my mission I have developed an intense love for exact obedience and I know that exact obedience is the way that we see miracles happen in our lives and especially in our missions! I pray for continued and stronger obedience! I challenge each of you this week to work on your obedience! Whether it be to our loving Heavenly Father, your spouse and other family, or to your coworkers/friends just try to humble yourselves, serve them, and be obedient to the things they ask. Im not saying be their slave and worship their feet, Im just asking you to try an be selfless! I promise that is you put the needs of others before your own you will see your problems or trials diminish and your life will get easier and as Heavenly Father sees your desire to help his other children He will provide a way for your trials and hardships to be taken care of! I know that is true because I have seen it happen in my life and in the lives of those whom I serve everyday!  

I have never learned so much in my life! It is absolute madness! I love this life!..and I secretly never want to go home! Good thing I have at least 15 more blessed months here in this beautiful country...who knows, maybe I'll extend(; Thank you all for all you do each and every single day! Thank you for helping me and encouraging me with all of your prayers and emails! I can feel the love people! Keep it coming! 

I love you LOADS!

Love,

Sister Cummins

miracles upon miracles

Oh my goodness GRACIOUS!
This week has been astounding and mind blowing and crazy and every
other wonderful word you can possibly throw in there!

Oh AND it snowed, rained, and hit 7 Celsius with the sun shining all
within the matter of a day.....soooo that was exciting and incredibly
confusing on what we should wear! We always think we are properly
dressed and then England is like, "HA NOT TODAY!" It likes to keep us
on our toes! 🌨🌧☀️

Anywho! So I don't remember what I said or if I really sent an email
last week but here is the scoop!

So this baby missionary who just finished being trained is now
training! Can you say madness because I sure can! This means that I am
supposed to know what to do, where to go, and what to say....LUCKILY
the Lord has asked me to do this task and He qualifies whoever He
asks, to do whatever He has asked, otherwise I'm pretty sure I
would've died! #grateful

OH and this week I have seen more miracles than ever before!

So Sister Cannon and I have jumped out of our comfort zones and right
into the growth zone in many situations and we are really striving to
be the best we can be! Our goal for this transfer is to see 5 people
enter the glorious waters of baptism and experience the greatest joy
they have ever known! On a personal level, I have never felt so much
humility in my life! I really feel like Heavenly Father is making up
for me where I lack in just about every single aspect of life right
now! I have a different, innate patience that has come out since being
with Sister Cannon and I'm pretty sure it's not me and its all
Heavenly Father....and I love it! I'm not going to question a good
thing!

This week we saw three really stand out miracles that I really want to share!

First, it was Sister Cannon's very first day in the field and my very
first day no longer being trained but training(even though let's be
honest, being trainer I feel like I'm more the one being trained) and
emotion was high in both of us. We were walking to our next friend to
call by and Sister Cannon goes up to this girl and says, "Hi! Would
you like a Book of Mormon?" and the girl kind of scoffs and says no.
We try to talk about religious belief but she has none, so we tell her
that the reason we ask if we can share this book with her is because
it has had an incredible impact on our lives. It has given us peace in
this life and taught us about how we are beloved children of Heavenly
Father and how He has a plan for us. She agreed to give it a look took
it and  then asked if we were the ones with the big white chapel in
Lawley and when we told her yes and that she could come and check out
the inside of it on Sunday at ten she still seemed fairly nonchalant
and then carried on her merry way. But this is where it gets good!! On
Saturday we called her but she didn't pick up and so we figured it was
a dead end BUT THEN about five minutes later she sent us a text
saying, "Hi! Sorry I missed your call! I have been reading the Book of
Mormon and I love it!!(LIKE WHAT?!? SHE LOVES IT!!!!) It is so
interesting! What time does church start tomorrow?" So we exchanged
information and got it all set up for her to come! The next day right
as we walked in the chapel we saw her coming in as well! She loved
church and we set up a day to come back this week! She wants to come
to church next week but best of all she told us that typically she
takes the bus home and that on that particular day she hadn't worn a
coat because it was warm. She had forgotten to take the money for her
bus pass out of her coat so she had to walk home and that she believed
it was not an accident that we her!! LIKE WHAT?!? How beyond crazy
amazing is that?!?

The other miracle is that we were walking along the side of the road
and we stopped to talk to this man with headphones in. As we talked we
found out that he recently lost his aunt and uncle and that his step
mom has just been diagnosed with cancer. He said he was feeling
suicidal and I just felt an overwhelming amount of love for him come
over me! His name is Mark and as we taught Mark about the Gods plan
for us he was calmed and reassured. He said that he had planned on
being baptised into our church at one point but the elders who were
teaching him left and he didn't follow through! So we now get the
miracle of knowing Mark!!

Then yesterday President Ulrich told us that he knew that we would
find two new friends by the end of the night! SO off we went! We
started knocking doors, asking people if they want to have the
greatest amount of peace and joy possible in their lives and after
about 3 hours of no success we decided it was time for a prayer! Right
as we finished the prayer we stopped these two young men, Joshua and
Mackenzie, on the street and asked them if they had ever heard of the
Book of Mormon and what their religious background was. One said he
was escaping Catholicism and the other said he was really confused
about the truth. As we related their feelings to that of Joseph
Smith's I got to watch an amazing change and their souls literally
seemed to fill with excitement!! When we asked what they thought about
the Book of Mormon they said that they would be stupid to not try it
and see what it said and how it worked. They then asked if we could
meet again and if they could bring friends with them. The craziest
part was that when we met them and we were praying as they were
walking towards us and I looked up to see who was coming and I
thought, "You have to talk to them", and I know that this was the
Spirit and I know that Heavenly Father had prepared them for that
specific moment in time!

People of America!! I know that this is the truth! It is so clear it
is so glorious! This gospel is miraculous and it changes lives for the
better! I know that Joseph Smith truly saw God, the Father, and Jesus
Christ. I know that he re-established Jesus Christ's true church to
the earth and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is
the Lord's kingdom here upon the earth! This gospel has brought me so
much happiness and I have seen it change and strengthen others lives
in the process!! I love this gospel! I love being a missionary and I
love the truth that makes me who I am!

I hope and pray that all of you get the opportunity to either learn
about or share the gospel with someone within this next week! I
promise that it will bless your life! I know that the Lord promises
that it will bless your life as well and that it will bring you more
happiness than you have ever experienced or thought to imagine!

I love you all more than you can possibly comprehend! You are in my
prayers and I know you are being watched over and taken care of! Carry
on with good cheer!!

Love you HEAPS upon LOADS upon TONS!!❤️

Love,
Sister Heather Shea Cummins

England is the bomb!

How is it already my 11th week?!? How is that possible?!?! It feels
like just yesterday I was walking in to the airport and waving goodbye
to my parents...TIME FLIES!! And it makes me sad...I love it here!!
Don't get me wrong, I miss all of you beautiful people like crazy but
I only get a year and a half in this amazing land!!  England is full
of adventure and JOY!!☀️☀️ you all need to come out here and take a
tour! You'll fall in love!!

This week has been full of miracles and goodness! I love the people of
England! They are so nice! They're like an onion! At first their
outsides seem like they're not very happy or kind but then you say
hello and you peel that first layer back and they are shocked that
your talking to them and then they open right up! As you show
continual interest in them and their lives and ask them questions,
whether it be about what they cherish most or what recent event in
their lives has been enlightening or heart breaking, I have been able
to peel back those layers. Some hold onto them a little bit stronger
than others but I have seen as Sister Reimert and I do not cease to
smile and take interest in others, those layers slowly but surely are
peeled back! I love the people of England! They truly are incredible
and so loving! Once they let you in, you are beloved to them and I am
so grateful for the home that I have found here in Wrekin, England!!

Yesterday, we got to here words from our beloved prophet and apostles
and it was amazing! I know that this church is the same organisation
that existed when Christ was here in the flesh!!  This is His church!!
We call this time when we gather to hear the words of the prophet
General Conference. It is so enlightening and full of answers! I
prayed to receive answers to specific questions I had and every single
question was answered in a very personal way!

The other day we decided we would pray every time we had to make a
decision on which direction we should walk down. As we did that one
man completely opened up to us, he is a member but he has been
struggling lately, and he bore his soul to us and he asked us to come
back! As we continued on we saw this man in a car! We ran up and gave
him a card and he told us that he loves to red about other religions
and he finds it so interesting. We were able to share a copy of the
Book of Mormon with him and have a really amazing discussion! This
really proved to me that the Lord is answering our prayers. He does
hear us and if we open ourselves up to Him, He will guide us in our
every action! I feel so lucky to see so many miracles every day and to
be doing the Lord's work!!

I don't have much else to share but I love you all so dearly!! Keep
working hard and doing an amazing job of being a child of God!! Keep
the strength and never forget how wonderful you are individually!!

LOADS of love,
Sister Cummins

(pictures of our flat)