First Real P-Day in the Field: October 8, 2012

Dear Everyone:

First real P-day in the field! I will try and include everything!

Good call on having everyone else write via snail mail because even though it will be quite slow I have plenty of time each week to write letters, and my email time is once again packed with my weekly letter to Prez. Tavares in Portuguese (yikes)! The email you sent was perfect length! It left me about 30 minutes to respond to you after my letter to Prez.

  

We got to watch Conference and we even got to watch it in ENGLISH!!!! The elders that have been here longer than me were ecstatic!!!! So, the mission announcements!  Wow!  Jason, are you going to go on a mission at 18????? That is the big question here! I think it would be awesome and a really good experience for you to go on a mission before starting college (and might even help with BYU if that is where you want to go). But anyway I think it would be great if you went at 18!! It is such a blessing!! (On the subject of missions can you get me the address for a certain M.G. because I want to ask her whether or not she will serve now that the age has been lowered by 2 years. Please and thank you!)

My week was very tough! We live in the city of Apucarana and are in the Eldorado branch, but we proselyte out in a small city/village called Vila Reis (or Kings Village). I am really glad we don’t live out there because it is a much poorer area, but I love the people there. In order to get out to our area we have to take a 30 minute bus ride each way, which is fun because the buses are crazy!! You are always having to hold on tight and try not to fall over! And it is great place to chat people up (mostly Elder W. because I'm not very confident yet and it is hard to hear on the bus but this week I will be doing it more and more). But with that, we spend a lot of money. For every 15 days we get about 115R for food and whatever else we need such as cleaning supplies, and for the bus we spend 24R every week, which is half of our food money gone right there. Luckily food here is pretty cheap and luckily we don’t have to eat very often. For breakfast we usually have leftovers from food members give us or some bread and butter, lunch is either leftovers or bread and butter or food at a member’s house (the best!!) And then during the week we don’t have time to eat dinner, so sometimes we get an apple or an orange from someone on the street that we talk to or an investigator or recent convert will make us a little bit of rice and beans, and sometimes I buy a 1R big stack of cheap cookies when we get back if we don't get anything else. The people in Brazil are so charitable and giving! They have so little and yet they give and share so much with each other! It is truly inspiring! Some of the houses we go into are so small and humble, but yet the people are more than happy to share whatever they have! This is such a huge testimony-builder! Even though we don't eat very much and walk all day, I am never super hungry. We always get sufficient for what we need. I am so grateful for the spirit in helping us to keep working hard. Already I have had days where we were walking up a big hill or something and all the sudden it feels like my legs are just moving on their own, pulling me up the hill almost! It is truly amazing the spirit that we can feel.

The other elders in our apartment are Elder D. and Elder S. I knew Elder S. from the CTM and Elder D. is from the Tri Cities. Apparently about half of the North Americans in my zone are all from Washington and apparently all the members think that all missionaries are from Washington, which is weird because that usually only happens with people from Utah! But yeah they are really cool and when we eat at a member’s house for lunch it is the four of us who go, which is even larger of a testimony-builder that they would sacrifice to feed 4 hungry missionaries! The members here are amazing!

On the investigator front, we have one investigator who went to conference and didn't get an answer and so she doesn't want to get baptized right now even though she is completely ready!  We will go visit her more this week. And another investigator that came to conference felt the spirit so strong and will be getting baptized this next Sunday!!!! YES!!!! And, then we have a few other investigators with various issues. Also, we are teaching the rest of H.'s (our investigator getting baptized) family and hopefully at least his mom will get baptized. She has read in the Book of Mormon and really likes it. We haven't had a chance to teach his dad or sisters yet but we are confident that his example will help them have a desire to learn more and be baptized. Our zone baptism goal for this month is 50 baptisms! That’s a lot for 20 companionships!! I believe that we can do it, but we will have to pick up the pace and have the spirit more because as a zone we only had 6 baptisms this week.

I really like my area; it is beautiful and wonderful.  My companion is great. I love him! He is the perfect trainer and I am truly blessed to have a North American trainer who talks all in Portuguese but will speak a little English here and there when I really need it! And I feel truly blessed for our apartment and how nice and spacious it is. It never hurts to have a supermarket right next door and the bakery just down the street. We had the opportunity to help a family move earlier this week, and that was great! I enjoy giving service and then on Saturday night after conference they fed us an amazing dinner of rice and beans with steak and chicken and sausage! Service definitely pays off.

This is definitely the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but I am learning more every day and loving it! I love this work! I love the Holy Ghost and am trying my hardest to always have it with me! I love being a missionary and seeing how the gospel can bless people and to see their eyes light up as we deliver our messages.

I probably forgot a lot so I will send a snail mail letter as well. I can’t get my camera to work and send you photos, sorry I will figure it out and send some to you next week.  L

Love you all lots!!

Elder Cummings