blackpool baby

Hello! Hello!! It's me, Sister Heather Shea Cummins, here! Reporting for duty on this fine Monday! It is seriously odd for me to think that I am about 8 hours ahead of all of you....except my for my lovely British friends! SHOUT OUT TO MY WREKIN WARD FAMILY who have now joined this little email schpeel I've got going here! I LOVE YOU PEOPLE! :D Anywho! This week has been crazy and amazing! 

This week has been seriously fantastic! From a baptism to going to BLACKPOOL(my mom's hometown) to meeting a couple of hippies on the side of a hidden path where gypsies used to live and SO MUCH MORE! Preston, England is a land of promise and JOY! Seriously it is such a wonderful place!
This week has been full of miracles and I am growing and being stretched every single day! Isn't that fantastic?! This week our friend Pritti was baptised!! Baptised! Baptised people! Did you hear that!?! A woman made an incredible promise with her loving Heavenly Father and her most gracious Saviour! What an amazing miracle! I feel so blessed to have been able to witness such a beautiful occurrence! Heavenly Father has blessed me to see baptisms happen at the very beginning of both of the areas right when I have entered! The first time was with our friend Dannii in Wrekin and now with Pritti here in Preston! What a blessing!! At first when I got here, I felt bad and kind of like a thief of other missionaries hard work and dedication by coming in right when they are on the peak of decision, but then I realised that these people needed me for that extra shove right at the end...let's be real...I'm pretty persuasive! :D HA just kidding...sorta.. In both instances, both women accepted to be baptised right when I got there and then many crazy experiences happened along the weeks that followed until their baptism! I feel so privileged to have witnessed these amazing people take a big step into becoming more like our Saviour! The knowledge they have gained over this period of time is quite mind blowing! I love it! I love how simple Christ's doctrine is that anyone can understand it!
I am learning so much here in Preston! I LOVE SISTER BARLOW! She is so humble and hilarious! She is such a good example of love, kindness, and patience and she teaches me so much every day! Leaving the blessed land of Wrekin was really hard for me...I grew to love those people so much and they truly became my family but I am so grateful that I was thrown into a new area with new responsibilities because it has forced me to change and has helped me to understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ that much more! I am learning that if I don't rely on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ then I am not able to handle anything. I won't be able to accomplish my task at hand. I literally cannot do this without Christ. I have really felt the difference between when I rely on myself and when I rely on the Saviour. I am not half as capable, organised, happy, or outgoing, but when I ask for strength and guidance and allow myself to be changed I am able to accomplish great tasks! I have really learnt that obedience is how we show God that we are willing to rely upon Him and that is what gives us our strength. Obedience to the Lord and His commandments is the key! The commandments are there to strengthen us and to teach us and to give us good guidelines but in reality the commandments are what set us free and show God that he can trust us. As we keep them, His faith in us grows simultaneously as our faith in Him increases! ITS AMAZING!
This week I met this couple in BLACKPOOL...and I am begging President to open up the area for sister missionaries to serve there! I just have to!! I'll whip them into shape! Right now there are only elders in Blackpool because its basically like our Las Vegas or New York...so its apparently "unsafe"...but I will serve there! Hehehehe Anywho! I got to go there to do a street display and meet lots of wonderful people! This one couple, Sarah and David, were amazing! We had an amazing conversation about the Book of Mormon and faith and all sorts of goodness and I was able to share an incredible book, the Book of Mormon, with her and later that night she texted us and thank me for talking with her and said she would love to hear from missionaries!!...unfortunately she lives in the Birmingham mission so I can't go and see her but how wonderful is that?!? I have never had someone text or ring me off of the millions of cards that I give out and she did! it made my whole entire mission!
We also met these really amazing hippies who were sitting in this old gypsy camp....they were having a good old time, just hanging out, and then BOOM! Mormons attacked! *The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming!* They were super kind and slightly drunk but they were cohesive enough to understand and it was one of the most spiritual conversations I have ever had....it was odd yet wonderful! This really showed me that no matter what we do God really does love us. He wants us to be happy and to overcome our trials(they had many) but I knew that we were meant to meet them at this time...in this odd gypsy camp...and it was just so wonderful!
I love being a missionary! It fills my soul with peace and I am so privileged to be here! I love his work and I know that this is exactly what I need to become who God needs me to be! I trust Him. I love Him. I am grateful to know Him and learn more about Him every day! It is my challenge to you to pray and acknowledge two things that you are not exactly obedient in and to CHANGE! To start being exactly obedient starting today!I know that our faith and our strength increases as we do these things. As we are exactly obedient the Lord can then open the windows of Heaven and pour out MIRACLES upon our heads! I love you all so much! I am so blessed to know you! Thank you for your friendship, love, and support! YOU ALL ROCK! Never forget it!
Loads of unbridled and everlasting love,Sister Heather Shea Cummins
Over and OUT!