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!

P-P-P-Preston!!

HELLO! Hello!! My wonderful friends and family across the deep blue sea! It is me, Sister Cummins, and I am back and at it for another week! I cannot believe one week has flown by! It has been an exciting week full of excitement and joy! 

So basically missionary work is the best thing that anyone can ever do...it is just SO fulfilling! I am learning and growing with each passing day and boy am I grateful for it! I can hardly believe that I am no longer in Wrekin and I am all the way on the other side of the mission in Preston! It is a lot colder and more humid up here in good old Preston! I got to buy this sweet new rain coat because boy does it rain! But do not fear everyone! There is sunshine in my soul! And it is more glorious and bright! 

So here is the Preston scoop! The people here are way nice and there is a lot more diversity than what I saw down in the south of England! there are a ton of different nationalities and it is amazing to meet so many different kinds of people! They are all so wonderful and super kind! 

This week we taught our friend Pretti who is scheduled to be baptised on this Saturday!! This Saturday! The first day I got there she shyly looks up at us and says..."I want to be baptised..." and Sister Barlow and I were blown away! SHE IS GOING TO BE BAPTISED PEOPLE!?! Can you feel my excitement because Im pretty sure it is blowing up the whole library! BAHHH! It is so wonderful! We have another friend named Laurie whom we are teaching, her family are all members and she is an older woman who is unsure about our message but said she will start reading the Book of Mormon! We are so excited because in reality, the Book of Mormon is the keystone to everything we believe! If it is not true then nothing we believe is true. But if it is true then the message we share with people is true and that means Jesus Christ has restored his church, out of love for us, once again on the earth today!! How great is that! I just want these people to find out this glorious truth for themselves because in reality that is my purpose! I am simply here to invite, not to convince anyone of anything and I am so grateful for the time I get to be here and for all of the people that I am meeting! 

Sister Barlow is an amazing woman who is from Seattle Washington...so she is used to this weather! She is one of the happiest people I know and she is always smiling! She is so strong and kind and such a genuine person! I truly love her and am SO excited to be with her for this time! 

I love you all so dearly and hope your week is full of miracles! Go tell everyone that you love them and that you hope the best for them! Know that Heaven is cheering you on! Go read the scriptures and say some prayers and feed your spiritual needs! I promise it will greatly enrich your lives! I love you loads!

XOXO

Sister Cummins

transfers!

Alright Alright! Hello my wonderful friends and family! Today has been
a crazy day and it has been quite fun and wonderful but today has been
CRAZY!! So long story short, I have left the blessed land of Wrekin
and have moved to the PRESTON area to be a Sister Training Leader for
the Preston Zone! It's kind of crazy and overwhelming because I've
only been out for 6 months BUT I know that the Lord prepares a way for
us to accomplish the things which he has commanded us to do! I am now
serving where Gordon B Hinckley and many other wonderful people have
served!! I am so excited to be here and be able to serve in this
capacity! I get the opportunity to be ripped out of my "home" and
adjust to this new life! How fantastic is that?!? 😊The craziest thing
is that the Preston Zone covers BLACKPOOL!! Where my mom is from!! I
love being able to serve where my beautiful mum grew up and
experienced life! England is such a beautiful and wonderful land! I am
so privileged to be here and I know I am about to learn a TON!! I am
so excited to grow and learn!! It is so exciting!! We get to
experience so many wonderful this and we get to become better people
everyday! I am grateful for so many opportunities! This is fairly
short because my head is running around and life's crazy and great!
But I hope you all have a seriously wonderful week!!! I love you and I
want you to know that I truly love the Lord! I love the opportunities
He gives me and I know that He lives and that He is there for each of
us! Go see some miracles people!! I love you!

Oh and my baby(Sister Cannon) is TRAINING!!!! I am SO excited!! Life
is so good! Don't take any moment for granted! Love you loads!!

XOXO
Sister Cummins

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