Monday, June 13, 2016

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

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