whirlwind and a baptism baby!

HOLA PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!

It's Sister Cummins here, reporting for duty!

Everyone! His week has been CRAZY! Seriously! My mind has been blown on so many different levels!! It all started last Monday! We were riding a bus home and BOOM we get a call from the Shrewsbury Sisters! We are having a lovely chat and then Sister Baisden says, "So we are getting evicted and we are coming to stay with you for a week or two...starting tomorrow!" My mind was blown. I WAS SO EXCITED! Sleep over all week long?!? Yes please! We got to go on splits(where you switch companions with another companionship) for a whole week and we are actually still doing it! I'm looking at 3 beautiful faces right now as we speak!! How great is that?!? This week has been chalk full of so much wonderful learning and growth I can hardly stand it!! This week has seriously been a WHIRLWIND of events(hence the subject of this email)!!! From planning a baptism, having the magnificent Shrewsbury sisters come and stay with us, to seeing a baptism performed! How great is that!?! 

 I think something I really learned whilst on this exchange of companions is how to handle lots of stress from different aspects many different aspects of life at once. I really learned how to multi-task and carry many things and people at once! It really was incredible! I've  learned on an even more drastic level the importance of obedience. I just want to be exactly obedient!! I love being obedient because I know I'm making Heavenly Father happy and by doing so He trusts me more and gives me more peace of mind and strength to accomplish the things which He hath commanded me to do! I really want to be more and more humble with each passing day and just do Gods will! I know that this is possible through aspiring to please God instead of man and by being obedient as possible!! I am learning so so so much everyone! I love it! I just want to change and be better and better so badly! I want to be better and better with each passing day and if I fall short(which I will), then to utilise the Atonement more and more...EVERYDAY!! I realised that I struggle with pride mostly in that I compare myself to others a lot. It's awful! It's either me saying that they aren't as good as me at something or that I'm not as good as them in something and I really want to stop! I am striving to realise more and more that we are each here for a specific purpose and that that purpose has been planned by a loving Father. It doesn't matter how "good" someone else is or how "good" I am. What matters is that I am trying to be my best, they are trying to be there best, and that we are striving to help each other reach our greatest potential! I don't want to compare one another's "bests" anymore! I also have felt how Heavenly Father has really helped me to see from other people's perspectives and is helping me to love and accept others! I am so be grateful for this and the other knowledge that He blesses my life with! There are seriously so many things that I've learned in these past few days and I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity to be strengthened and shaped by this amazing week long companion exchange!!!

The best part of this week was that...TOM IS A BAPTISED MAN!!!! I am so so so SO excited for him!! It amazes me that we found him just a couple months ago and now he is baptised! I got to speak and sing(which was a bad idea for those of you who know my singing voice...#screechingcat)....and it was so spiritual and lovely!! Oh and two of our other friends, Toni and Lawrence, got to come and participate and experience the amazing joy that was felt!! This life is so great and I just feel so privileged to be a missionary for the Lord!! This is the most fulfilling thing I have ever experienced!!!

So this week, I challenge each of you to read "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson(one of the twelve apostles of our modern day) and to pray and ask God to help you to acknowledge the way(s) where you struggle most with pride and then make goals on how you can be better! Whether it be by small and simple goals for a week or so or by setting bigger goals that will last over the course of a few months! I promise that as you do this and you strive to be better that Jesus Christ will make up the difference and help you! You will feel a more consistent happiness in life and you will be able to be more tolerant of those around you! Each of us struggle with pride but I know that as we push forward with an eye single on becoming the person God needs us to be we will feel more peace in our lives. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN!

I hope you all have a week full of joy and miracles!! Keep on pushing forward and know how much I and he Lord love you!!! You rock!!

XOXO

Sister Cummins

you're a proper nutter!

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS of not England(and maybe England too because I'm not sure who I send this to anymore!)

 

HOW ARE ALL OF YOU GLORIOUS PEOPLE!?!

 

If you're wondering why my caption is the way it is that is because...."I'm a proper nuttah!" Or so I have been told....about 13 times this week....HA! The people in Wrekin love me...they just think I'm crazy! Because let's be real...I am! :D

 

I hope you are all having a wonderful day! I, over here in beautiful England am enjoying a downpour of liquid sunshine! let me tell you something, today is a beautiful day for miracles and the work of the Lord!! As I reflect upon this week, it has been one full of miraculous events!!! I feel like this past week Sister cannon and I were really able to be more balanced in  our work in achieving the Lord's goals. This week we set our goals in a different manner. We started setting our goals before making our plans for the next day and guess what! It works wonders!  We ended up succeeding and surpassing our original goals for the week! I have gained a testimony of goal making! It seriously does wonders!!

 

The highlight of my week though was when our friend Tom and our other friend Tina got interviewed for baptism!! THEY ARE GOING TO BE BAPTISED EVERYBODY!! How great is that!?!? Tom's baptism is coming up fast...THIS SATURDAY! Tina should be baptized on the2nd of July!! How great is that! Oh my goodness I am so excited!! It seriously blows my mind that we just met Tom on a park bench just A MONTH ago and now he is preparing himself to be baptised! I just am mind blown! The night we met him we had to decide between walking towards home or calling by one last person and as we decided to call by that last person we ran into Tom. he was solemnly sitting on a park bench because he had just lost his Nan! He didn't want to talk to anyone and for some reason he allowed us to. He said he just felt like he should! He knew our recent convert Rickie and his wife Tanisha and he works with our Bishop and our member friend Jacob(who also lives right next to him)! It just blows me away and give me so much excitement! We met our friend Tina through one of our other friends Dannii and she has just been soaring along! Learning, growing, and accepting the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! She is making changes in her life and becoming a woman that god needs her to become! how amazing is that?!? Amazing things are happening here in this blessed land and I just feel so lucky to be along for the ride!

 

On another note, this week one of our members went to Utah for work and he picked up some deodorant for Sister Cannon and I...the people of England just don't perspire like us Americans! I have to have my Degree Mens :D I was getting really sick of that spray on stuff that they use here in Europe. When you spray it, it gets all up into your nostrils and makes healthy people have asthma attacks....no thank you.

 

Today I was reading a lot about faith and how faith is action! You can have a belief but that is just a mental decision! But faith is putting that mental decision to use! The Israelites had to put their feet in the water before it parted! If they had just waited on dry ground for something to happen they probably would've died but because they exercised their faith God granted them their righteous desires! They had to take that action! I don't want to just have a belief! I want to have faith and ACT every single day! James 2: 17-18 says that faith without works is dead. So I can say I believe in this and that all I want but until I show it through my actions I really don't have faith in anything! My faith in the Savior and His infinite love for each of us is what motivates me to go speak to my brothers and sisters in this English land each day! What do you have faith in? What motivates you to act? I challenge you to find out! Read in the scriptures and pray to find what motivates you and then use that motivation and act! Make miracles happen! Amazing and inspired acts can and will happen as we allow ourselves to act in faith! I love this gospel and the privilege of teaching it to all of these wonderful and prepared people! I love being the Lord's missionary and doing His glorious work! I love each of you so dearly for your individual qualities that make you so wonderfully you! Have a happy week full of miracles!!

XX

Sister Cummins

 

PS:

I LOVE YOU! :D

c-c-c-crazy!

HELLOOOO!! 

Oh my goodness! There is so much crazy goodness going on here in the beautiful land of Wrekin! I can hardly wrap my brain around it all!! 

This week has seriously been a whirlwind of events from Zone Conference to teaching with President and Sister Ulrich onto going on exchanges in Stoke-on-Trent and then to meeting an apostle of the Lord, Dallin H. Oaks! Seriously it has been an immensely wonderful week full of life changing events!! 

At Zone Conference I really learned a lot about the Spirit and how necessary it is in our planning, finding, and teaching. We can't do anything in this work without the Spirit and if we do we will be ineffective! The Spirit is the key to everything. The Spirit is what brings truth into people's hearts as our words bring it unto people's hearts. If we speak without the Spirit nothing can really be learned. It is what helps people to feel loved and taken care of. The Spirit is what manifests truth and strengthens people. When you can powerfully feel a witness of the Spirit, it changes lives. I am striving to reach Heavenward as I teach my friends and for my companion(AKA my best friend) in order to ask them questions that Heavenly Father would have me ask them instead of just relying on myself. For those of you who have never heard of he Spirit before, otherwise known as the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, he is the third member of the Godhead. While Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have two separate yet equal bodies of glorified flesh and bone, the Holy Ghost is a spirit and through him Heavenly Father comforts, guides, and confirms truth to His children. Through the Holy Ghost is how we can know if the Book of Mormon is or is not true for ourselves through our thoughts and feelings! HOW GREAT IS THAT?!?

We taught two of our friends, Tina Lewis and Ann Woodhall, with President and Sister Ulrich! They are incredible teachers! We were able to all work together to really strengthen our friends but to bear witness of what each of us were saying! The lessons that we got to teach were some of the powerful I have ever experienced because the Spirit was SO strong! It was seriously incredible!

The highlight of my week bough was getting to travel up to Chorley to hear Elder Dallin H. Oaks, one of the twelve apostles of the Lord! It was amazing! I had prepared questions I needed answers to and the Lord was able to humble me to give me the answers He wanted me to have.  Right before the meeting I felt overwhelmed and like I had malice in my heart and I really didn't want it there. I wanted to be edified by the Spirit and feel the truth of the words spoken at that meeting. One thing that Elder Oaks said that hit me was something along the lines of, "Compliments are great as long as they aren't inhaled". And that hit me like a ton of bricks. So often I am focused on the opinions of my fellow man when I should be focusing on Heavenly Father and His opinion of me! I have been so prideful! It was so good to realise this! To realise I have been searching too much for man's praise and not focusing enough on God's glory! Everything I do is not because of my glory but because of God and His greatness! I am who I am because through Jesus Christ I am able to come unto Heavenly Father and be cleansed from sin every single day! Through Him I am becoming who God wants and needs me to be! I really want to be better at not comparing myself to those around me and just focusing more on Heavenly Father's opinion of me and that is my goal for the rest of my life! 

Right now Sister Cannon and I are teaching two people who will be baptised on the 25th of May! They have great faith and they teach me so much every single day! The work is exploding here in Wrekin and I am so grateful for my wonderful companion!! Sister Cannon and I are SO doing well! We are a great companionship! As we teach these people the restored gospel our faith is ever increasing! As they accept it and desire to be baptised we are able to see e Lords hand so evidently! It is amazing!! She has such strong focus! She is so calm in lessons and she always keeps what we are teaching and what our purpose is in mind. She is an inspired woman and I am so grateful to be her companion! She has so much compassion and love for the people we serve! She strives to come closer to God each day. She is amazing! She really inspires me! #Yin&Yang Being her companion is a testimony to me that God doesn't just put people in our paths just because. He knows that we need them in order to do the most growth. He knows that we need them to change us and shape us. I want to challenge each of you to look at the people in your life and pray to be able to see what each of them have taught you and then record it down! I know that as you do this you will have an increase of gratitude for each person and an increase of joy knowing that Heavenly Father is aware of you and that He loves you enough to put people in your path that will strengthen you and help you to change!

I love you all! I am so grateful for your strength and for your love! Thank you for your support! I love you all so dearly! I hope you have a wonderful week full of growth and change!! Keep fighting to be the best you can! You are a worthy cause and God will never forsake you!

Love you loads!!

Sister Cummins

XOXO

I love Wrekin!

Hello the people whom I love SO dearly!

I hope you are enjoying some literal rays of sunshine like I a over here in beautiful, green, England! If any of you want to look up my weather my postcode is TF42FT and it is BEAUTIFUL today! Oh baby!! Something about literal sunshine, instead of liquid sunshine(AKA rain), just brings me SO much joy!! I LOVE IT!

People! This week has been chalk full of miracles!! Starting with the fact that 5 people came to church yesterday and we managed to make each of them feel comfortable! Sundays as a missionary are stressful yet amazing! I can hardly stand it!

We started teaching a man named Lawrence last week and in the matter of a week he has met with us twice and come to church...can you say...MIRACLES?!? Because I sure can!! He is SOLID! At the end of our second lesson we asked him to say a prayer and at first he was like, "Nuh-uh not today!" but as we explained why we wanted him to and then bowed our heads and closed our eyes he did it...after five minutes...ha! It was pretty awkward but it turned out to be so amazing and such a powerful prayer!

Our friend Tina is doing well! She is planning on being baptised on June 18th so if you could all keep her in your prayers I would be more than grateful!

 

Our friend Tom is now planning to be baptised on June 25th!! He came to church and he got to see a lot of his good friends there! It is so exciting! We have a lot of things to do and teach before we can really get this going but I know that with God's help it will happen!! He is really solid. He gets it. He reads, he prays and the best part is the people who make him feel loved and welcome!! Its incredible!!

 

Something I have really learned and noticed this week whilst reading is that 1 Nephi chapter 16 on page 33-36 of the Book of Mormon(GO LOOK!) is that Nephi(a person who lived about 2,616 years ago) is amazing! He is not some super human but he is as susceptible as I am to the frustrations of the world. I always seem to put these people on a pedestal and make them out to be not real people when in reality they struggled like me! These people in the scriptures were human! They made mistakes and they struggled! What a concept! I was reading when Nephi broke his bow(verse 18) and he talks about how he was afflicted(sad, verse 21). The best part is, is that he then got up and made himself a new bow and went to work(verse 23)! That is how I want to be! I want to be someone who can feel sad and then gets up, deals with my problem, trusts God, and goes to work!! I really loved that as I read, I feel edified and relatable to these people!

 

Sometimes I wish I could just take some of these people and change their brains...and then I realize that that is what Satan wanted as well..... so I stop...but it is just so frustrating sometimes when they know it is true and you know they know it and then they act differently from what they know! Bah! I think I know how my parents felt about me in my teenage years now...sorry mom and dad!(; I am really just SO pumped to be here in Wrekin for another 5 weeks!! It is exciting and exhilarating and just absolutely wonderful! God's work is pressing forward! How wonderful is that?! And I get to be a part of it! Man, I'm a lucky woman! But guess what! There is good news! YOU CAN TOO! You can invite people to church or ask your friends to be taught by the missionaries! OR if you aren't a member of Jesus Christ's restored church then you can invite the missionaries(like me) to come over and edify and uplift you! Or you can ask your fellow Mormon friend for a copy of the Book of Mormon, lets be real we have like 14 extras in probably every Latter Day Saint home! OR even better, you can even request a visit from missionaries at this website: Mormon.org! I promise that it is exhilarating and life changing! I promise that the message we share will help YOU to improve the quality of your life! It will help everyone, anywhere across the world, to deal with the problems and challenges that we all are susceptible to in life! Each person that is taught has personal challenges or concerns BUT GUESS WHAT! No matter what your needs and concerns might be, the Savior and his teaching(AKA The Gospel of Jesus Christ) will help you! I know it will! I know this because I have seen it do so for many people all across Wrekin and I have heard stories of people all across England and the world whose lives have drastically improved when they found out that Jesus Christ restored his church through a modern day prophet! I mean the only reason I'm alive is because my mom was changed and bettered by the message missionaries shared with her a few years ago! This message changes lives! I know that we have a prophet on the earth today! How lucky we are to have this knowledge right at our finger tips!

I love this church! I love the person who I have become and I love watching others change and improve their lives! I know Jesus Christ lives! I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves and knows us personally! I love knowing that my family is forever! My faith is increasing every day and I am growing and being changed every day! I am so grateful for the ways the Lord humbles me and loves me and all of His children! Look for His hand in your life and you will see it! I love you all and I hope your week is as wonderful and as bright as your personalities! Keep fighting!

 

I'd like to say all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

 

XX

 

Sister Cummin