desire

Wow. It is a beautiful day. I am sitting in the Young Single Adult building in the city of Manchester because we had a big zone activity today. Life is so good. This week has been one of so much learning and growth. 

I love being a missionary because we see little miracles happen everyday. It is all based on our focus. When I focus on the good and show gratitude for the blessings in my life, I feel so filled with joy. When I am grateful I can then see all the ways Heavenly Father blesses my life. This week I got to give a talk on grace in sacrament meeting. What a privilege it was to share my thoughts and feelings about the Saviour's grace. I learned so much about it. Jesus Christ already suffered literally every single experience we have. He knows just how to get us through the bad, sad, traumatic, or frustrating times. He knows exactly what we go through. He doesnt ask us to pay Him back. he doesnt ask us to bleed for him. All He asks is that we come and we follow Him. He asks us to allow Him to change us, to allow Him to touch our lives and help us improve. He asks us to allow Him to bring us true happiness that lasts through the ages. That is what grace does. It is the divine help and strength given to us by the Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is sufficient. My desire is to trust and become the person He needs me to be. My desire is to work hard. The only way I can accomplish that desire is by having high expectations. If I have high expectations, miracles happen. We can achieve anything. Father in Heaven has so many blessings in store for us. We just need to broaden and heighten our desire and perspective and He will bring us to greater heights than we have ever imagined. His grace is sufficient for our needs. I know that Jesus Christ is our Saviour. He is the Son of God, He did perform the miraculous.

This week our friend Bernard was baptised. We have watched him change drastically. I feel so chuffed and joyous for him. it is incredible the things that God can accomplish through us. He lets us be a part of it. How lucky we truly are. 

My challenge to you is to broaden your perspective by striving to recognise the things you are grateful for. I can promise that as you do this that you will feel the Lord lifting your burdens off of your back. You will feel His love for you. It is there. He does live.

Have a wonderful week and dont forget to smile and be changed.

XOXO

Sister Cummins

object lessons

Well...yet again I have zero time...I am sorry! Missionary life is so busy! It is so good and Manchester is full of prepared people! Our friend bernard is getting baptised THIS week...he had to move it back but he is accomplishing it and we had two friends at church with us yesterday! I LOVE SHARING THE GOSPEL and I found a new way to do it....OBJECT LESSONS! I have started relating the teachings of Christ to different objects on people's clothing and it works so well!

Some of the analogies I used were:

-man sitting on a bench eating: "wow, that looks so tasty and filling! Just as that is filling your physical body with energy, our spiritual body needs strength and energy as well. As you feast upon the words of Christ, *holds up Book of Mormon*, I know that you will feel the love that our Father in Heaven has for you and you will have more joy in every aspect of your life."

-In a lesson with someone with glasses: "just as your glasses help you see the world more clearly, the Book of Mormon can be our spiritual glasses that help us see who we are more clearly"

-Tracting someone's door: "Well Adam, do you ever use hair gel?" "Yes..." "Why?" "Because my wife doesn't like my hair flying around" "Just as hair gel keeps has a strong hold and keeps our hair calm when the wind blows, the Book of Mormon gives us a strong hold in life when the different winds of life hit and try to blow us down."

It is so fun and makes people laugh! SO HAVE FUN! Make fun jokes! Share truths that are eternal and see miracles happen.

PS: CRUMPETS ARE THE BEST! Oh and American sweets have nothing on the Brits.....I think Im being converted.....I LOVE ENGLAND!!

XOXO

Sister Cummins

HAVE A WEEK OF MIRACLES!

it's january 9th!

No, I have no reason why January 9th is so fantastic other than the

fact that it is just wonderful to be alive!! Seriously!! I am so

grateful that I am here in good ol, jolly England!! His week has been

a week of miracles!!

So as we were tracking this week, this one woman called through the

door, "Come in!!" We were totally shocked and surprised. She opened

the door and she was moving house! So we helped! Her friend, Lisa,

then came and started helping. It was the second time Lisa had come

over in 3 years to her friend, Lucy's! As we talked we found out that

Lisa was more interested in our message. She felt like she was just

existing and she has lost hope for a lot of different reasons. As we

met with her and shared more with her, she had the greatest desire to

be baptised!! She is dated for the 21st of December but Satan is

working hard! So we are praying hard for her. We also are praying hard

for our friend Bernard. His daughter, Mary Rose was just baptised and

he will be this weekend too! He has overcome many rials and set backs

and has learned to repent. It is amazing.

I love being able to learn. I love being able to watch other people

accept the full gospel of Jesus Christ and see their lives change! We

had a vision Meeting this week to set the vision for our mission and

we are striving to change our nature! We are so excited for this new

year! It will be a year of many miracles!

I know who I am. I know I am a daughter of God. Our story goes on.

This is just a part of our eternity. There is so much more. Gods plan

is eternal. He lives. He loves us. Jesus Christ is our Saviour. I say

this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love you loads!!

Xoxo

Sister Cummins

happy new year!

Well everyone!

I've got three minutes....so here is the low down.

It was Daddio's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!

Now it is 2017!! Yahoo! Now that I have declared the obvious I want to
tell you all something exciting!

I have been praying D praying and praying to know what my goals should
be for this coming year! I didn't know...until this morning when
Heavenly Father answered my prayer!!

I was praying and felt prompted to read this random talk I hadn't
looked at....ever. As I read I bought really? This is it? But then as
I read my heart was filled with so much joy because the last paragraph
was exactly what I needed! It said, "Lose all desire to do evil" and
that is my goal! I want to lose my desire for evil so that I can
become more like my Saviour and return to him and my Father in Heaven
someday! Maybe it's cheesy...I do not care though! It was inspired and
an answer to my prayers! He is there!

3 minutes is up!! There have been many miracles this week! I wish I
could share more!!

Xoxo
sister a Cummins

merry chirstmas!

Hello!!! Hello friends!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

So I will actually be emailing again on Saturday because next Mondays
pday will be moved to Saturday because Monday is exciting because it
is Boxing Day here!!

Boxing Day is as big as Christmas and Christmas Eve!!

Yahooooo!!

This week has been quite the day! It has been exciting and so much
fun! Manchester is incredible! Seriously. Incredible! I am not sure
how I should feel! This week Heavenly Father had a baptism!! Mary Rose
was baptised this week and so many amazing miracles have happened
since! This week has been one for the books! As we taught and met with
Mary Rose, her father Bernard came. Now Bernard had never sat in
before but as we just invited him and helped him to feel the spirit,
he came to the fact that he wanted to be baptised as well. He has been
loving the Book of Mormon. He was hesitant, now as he reads he finds
so many golden nuggets that touch his heart. He is making the Book of
Mormon the keystone of his faith. This family is forging strong faith
in the Lord and the power of his sacrifice because of the truths he
has learned from the Book of Mormon. I have only been here a week and
it is amazing.

This week we knocked on a door. The person, Sarah, opened, looked at
our name tags, and invited us in. We were both blown away because she
was praying at that time and then we knocked. We shared about the Book
of Mormon and she just loved it. After this we found a woman named
Saundra who was hesitant to let us in but as we came and sat down and
shared the light of Christ through His message she asked us if she
could be baptised. She asked if she could be baptised before we ever
even invited her. She could really feel the spirit so strong and
because of that she is thriving. Please keep them both in your
prayers.

This week I had MLC(Mission Leadership Council) and there was so many
great gems we learned. Right now I really feel a big urge and desire
to learn more humility. That is my goal this transfer! I want to be a
woman who serves our Father in Heaven faithfully and quietly. I want
to do things because I love God and I love hose around me. I desire to
be better!!

I am excited for Christmas!! I will be emailing this Christmas Eve
because it is our day off instead of next Monday. I am sorry for the
lack of presents, letters, and other things that would be nice to get
from me...like more in depth emails. I really have zero time. We only
have pday to do those this and those days are always so full. I am so
sorry. Please know that I love you. Please know you are important. You
each are children of God. While I am here I am learning how to be
better. How to help people, how to be loving , kind, and
compassionate. I am learning to be like Christ. I am trying to lose
myself in this work for him so please please please forgive me. I love
you all. Have a wonderful day!!

Signing off.

Sister Cummins

Xoxoxo

manchester

Alright, Alright. The title gives it away. I am emailing you live from Manchester as we speak! Is that great or what!?! I am so excited! I have spent 5 1/2 glorious months in Preston and will now spend who knows how long serving here in Manchester South(Wythenshawe area) and it is exciting!! There is a lot of good work going on here in Manchester.

As I reflect upon the things that I have learned whilst in Preston I really feel like I have learned who Heavenly Father is and how to rely upon him, how important prayer and scripture study is, and how a mixture of obedience and love can help us acheive anything. I love learning. I love growth.

The past 5 1/2 months in preston I saw that as I told Heavenly Father what I was planning on doing, asked for his direction, and then acted upon the guidance I received miracles happened. My life was transformed. I learned how to really love people. I learned how listening really is such an important part of life. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. That is the truth. As I have fed my spiritual self, I have really been given a strength of faith that has helped me to overcome challenges and see miracles occur. Heavenly Father wants us to have strength. He loves us. He wants us to know how important we are to him. We have divine worth and potential in his eyes. No matter what happens he has provided a way for us to overcome our weaknesses and be better. He loves us. More than we can know. Do you believe that? Do you really believe that? Take a minute, sit back, and think about who you are. Think about your strengths, weaknesses, family, skills, everything. Now think about how all of these things are blessings that God has given to you to help you to learn and grow. What a blessing that is! We have so many blessings all around us. Even our weaknesses are blessings. We are taught by a prophet or ancient times that, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them theirweakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." As we are obedient to Father's will for us we see miracles happen. He knows us better than we could ever know or understand ourself. He loves us. He has provided a plan for us which is centralised upon his son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the son of God. Jesus Christ really knows us because he has truly experiences our sorrows. 

I am so excited to be here in Manchester. I want to apologise if my past emails have been scattered, confused, or lame. I will repent!

I love each of you very much! You can do hard things!

My new companion here is named Sister Limb and is from Utah! How great is that!! My first Utah companion! Yipeeeeee!!!! 

Take care!!

XOXO

Sister Cummins

catch up!

Alrighty everybody! The other day, I was pondering and realised my
emails have been lame. I haven't told you half of my funny stories
here in Preston and I apologise for that!

Please forgive me!!

So here is a little catch up starting from this past week:
We got the worlds largest missionary Christmas tree from the best mum
to ever exist: Denise Cummins!! (Pictures to come)
As we were getting the Christmas lights she sent us for the tree, the
mail man tried posting them through the door and Sister Bellersen was
on the other side trying to pull it through helping him...I think it
was funnier when it happened but we were in such a funny mood that we
both peed our pants. I have a very poor blotter because within the
past 4 weeks I have peed my pants like 3 times. Hat probably isn't the
most dignified story to share but Sister Bellersen and I just have too
much fun together. In fact the other week we were at the library
waiting for one of our friends to come and I really don't even
remember what happened but she just had to go say something funny and
I had to spend the rest of our night running around with...well....you
get the picture. It was exciting! We even went to visit the stake
president and his family later that night! That was fun.

I actually don't remember the order of these things but one man almost
whacked me over the head with a cane. It was late, they hadn't opened
the door, we left, they then opened, we ran back, and BOP! Almost
dead! Just kidding mum, I was fine! Don't worry! He was a really nice
man though!

Last week when we went to get grocery we found a bag that older people
in this country use to get grocery, with wheels, with us to Aldi.
Along the way home, both of our wheels broke. That may sound sad but
it was actually so so so funny! Everyone along the way was laughing
pretty hard at us as we hobbled on to each bus and ran down the hill
home!

All of the bus drivers in this area have become our best friends. They
stop for us along the side of the road if we are lost. They always
wave at us and are a smiling face along the way! It is the BEST!

Also, we have two German friends that we are teaching! I have never
met a person who speaks German before in my mission and now that we
have Sister Bellersen we are finding all of the German speakers!! It
is pretty wonderful!

I love this place. I love all the experiences we get to have as
missionaries. We put up with and handle some pretty crazy, gross, or
weird things but I love it! I love that we learn every day and that I
get to consecrate my time to my Saviour! I know he lives! I know he
loves us dearly and hears our prayers!!

PRAY! Do it!

Have a great week and fear no man! Be bold and go crazy!(in a good
way!) Do something you feel inspired to do!!

Love you all!!

XOXO
SISTER Cummins