Hi guys!!!
It doesn't seem to matter how much I write in these emails
but I always forget soooo much to include! So last week as you saw in the photo,
we go to go to the São Paulo temple which was awesome!!! And, today we got to go to the Campinas
temple, which is super cool because the Campinas temple is the temple for the
Londrina mission. Since it is so far away, once we go into the field we will
not be able to go to the temple at all. So that was really cool today!!! The São
Paulo temple is about 40 minutes from the CTM and the Campinas temple is
just under an hour and a half from the São Paulo temple. This is a picture of our district outside the
Campinas temple today.
São Paulo is soooo huge!!! It is the 3rd largest city in the
world!! There are three other cities that are inside of São Paulo. There are 33
million people in São Paulo and people are crazy drivers here!! I highly recommend
that if you guys come to pick me up that you do not drive! Motorcyclists drive
up in between lanes right on the lines and everyone is swerving in and out and
tailgating like nothing else I have ever seen! (Also every 10 minutes on
average a motorcyclist dies in São Paulo!)
Thank you so much for the photo! I was just thinking the day
before it arrived that I needed a photo of you guys!! That made my day! As far
as me sending photos back I am not allowed to attach photos to my emails while
here at the CTM. One of the other elders is going to take us to a place where
we can print them out and tell us how to send them home the best way! So
hopefully you should get a photo or two from me soonish.
To answer your question about district leader responsibilities: I am in charge of picking up the mail every
day, unlocking and locking the classroom that we use, helping run classroom
time and keep people on task while in study time, conduct a weekly district
meeting on Sundays, and attend a weekly district leader meeting with the branch
president every Sunday as well, and to pass out and collect the weekly reports
to all the members of my district.
As far as sending emails to others, I don't have time to
write more than the one email, so if anyone wants a copy I leave that to you to
forward it to whoever wants it. (BTW Elder
S. <my companion> is the tall one next to me with the dark brown hair in the photo
from last week.)
Sundays are sooooo nice!! We have a three hour block in the
morning then I have a 20 minute district leader meeting then lunch and from
lunch to dinner is free time. This Sunday I shined my shoes and took a three
hour nap!!!!!!! And then after that there is always a fireside in the evening.
For firesides and devotionals everyone sings in the choir but Elder S.
convinced me to join an extra optional choir as well. So I will be performing
in an a capella group in a few weeks
singing the song: “Prayer of the Children” by Kurt Bestor! It is soooo good!
I am glad that Grandma is enjoying the books; they are some
of my favorites!! It was so good to hear
that Baby A's first test came back negative!
Please keep me updated me and my roommates want to hear how she is doing as well.
I added her to the prayer roll at the Campinas temple today! :)
Sorry it is all jumbled up. Tell Sister G. thank you from me of
course!! And yes I have enough sunscreen, I brought 2 tubes and I only need to
put sunscreen on my arms and neck/face so I won't use very much at a time! (and
if I need more I can get it here!)
Trying to make sure I don't miss anything big...
Oh! My Portuguese is coming great! My companion and I spoke
Portuguese like the whole day except meal times and that was a huge blessing!!!
A word of advice for you guys if you are going to come pick me up is to start
learning a little of Portuguese now! Like learn one or two words every day and
practice at dinnertime. Learn how to pray in Portuguese for dinnertime!!! That
helps so much!
The CTM is so awesome! There are so many great missionaries
here! It is such a wonderful place to be! I am so blessed to be here and have
such a great companion! And from talking around we got the two best teachers in
the CTM for our district! SCORE!! They are amazing! The spirit here is just so
strong all the time. We still have so much to learn but we have come so far. I just hope that my district can stay focused
and be the best district in the CTM. (Our district speaks better Portuguese at
the end of week two than most districts do at the end of week four!!!)
Seriously though start learning Portuguese now!!
Oh I almost forgot!!! This is super important! You need to
make sure that all the young men in the ward know how important it is that they
serve missions!! It may seem like there are tons of missionaries in the world
and that one less won't hurt but it will hurt so much!! There are just over
4,000 missionaries in Brazil right now! In order for there to be a pair of missionaries
in all the areas that are currently made (some mission areas have no
missionaries, just members) we would need over 7,000 missionaries. in order to
fill all the areas, and make the areas to the size that they want them to be we
would need over 8,500 missionaries in Brazil! Over double what we currently
have now!! Make sure they know how important it is that they stay worthy of
serving missions and that they start now! The work needs them!!!
I probably forgot a lot of stuff in this letter but I'm out
of time...
I miss you guys but I'm often—well, most of the time—too busy
to miss you guys too much! I love being a missionary! I love the other
missionaries in my district and at the CTM! I love my companion! I love this
gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ! I don't even know the people that well yet
but I love the Brazilian people so much! This work is so hard, but it is so
rewarding! And I wouldn't trade it for anything!!
Love,
Elder Cummings
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