Three Days of Winter: July 29, 2013

29 July 2013

Dear Family and Everyone,

1. Did you really get SNOW in Cascavel this week?? Yes, this week we did get the weakest snow flurry in the history of the world and some hail showers but now it is right back up into the mid 70´s. It was nice to have a full 3 days of winter!!
2. What are your thoughts and feelings on the mission at the halfway point? Are you planning a celebration? (take pictures, of course) I will probably buy a pizza, yes I’ll be sure to take pictures but probably it will be just a regular day. I plan on celebrating more on Sunday with BAPTISM!!! At this one year point on the mission, my thoughts are that it will be really strange to go back to civilian life! This time next year I will already have a week or so at home already!! I’m thinking a little bit more about home now that I have 1 year and because Elder W. is almost “dying” (going home) so on P-day we talk about college and girls and stuff and it is weird that my “son” (Elder I.) won’t go home until 2015!!! It is kind of surreal that the mission is halfway over already, I’ve got a lot of work to do still, that´s for sure!!

This week was a pretty normal week, the only abnormal thing was that the work here is abnormally slow. We did get 2 new bishopric counselors, we finally have a ward secretary, and finally have a Gospel Principles teacher and assistant ward mission leader!!! So thing are looking up with the ward, but the missionary work here in Ward 3B is really slow. 3A is doing amazing right now and we are going to try and catch that wave and also try and help Palotina catch fire as well, we are trying to get the whole district to baptize this week!!!

President Genaro called me Saturday night to see how things are going and if we were going to baptize, I never felt so bad in my life, because we are trying hard, we are being obedient, but I’m not sure that I am giving my 100%, so this week we are really going to bring the hammer down and baptize everyone!! We just need to get these 3 kids to stop smoking, so pray for J., W., and L. so that they can keep the Word of Wisdom and be baptized this week, also pray for another J. so that he can baptize this week also!!

Last Monday night, we didn’t have any toilet paper in the house so we used the bathroom at the super mufatto and I told Elder I. to get a little extra to use in the house, as you can see our ideas of what is a little extra are very different!!! HAHA

Thanks for the great letter. Yes, I am totally shocked at the news that they dissolved the ward!!! And that all the wards will have names now!! HOLY COW!!!

This week was Festa Julina on Saturday. Translated, it is July Festival, to commemorate all the Catholic saints, but at the Church it is more of a harvest festival. I ate a lot of sweets and a non-alcoholic version of a drink called quentão, which was pretty good!!

So I’m running out of time this week, lots of thing to do and such little time!!

love you lots!!

Elder Cummings

SNOW???!???

One of the ward members in Elder Cummings' ward sent me this link with a news story about snow flurries in Cascavel.  From what I understand, snow is completely unheard of in Brazil.

It's Hard to Type With Frozen Fingers: July 22, 2013

Dear Everyone:

1. Do you teach the new member lessons or is that handled by the ward mission leader? New member lessons are handled by the ward mission leader or the ward missionaries. We teach the Gospel Principles Sunday School class, so we do a little of the new member lessons that way.
2. Do you have to pay to use the LAN house? How much does it cost? It is about 3R a week when we print out 1 sheet of paper.
3. What do you do for so many hours on a bus (going from Cascavel to Londrina, for example)? Do you just talk to your companion, do you talk to other people on the bus? On the bus we talked and slept, or at least tried to sleep, during the trip!
4. How is Elder I.’s training going? Has he had an easier time picking up Portuguese? Does he speak any English? He is going great, he speaks some tiny words of English here and there, his Portuguese is coming slowly but steadily. He uses a ton of Spanish so I understand him really well but others have difficulty understanding him! Because he is training, we have extra study time each day! It is kind of nice to not have to leave the house until lunch time but at the same time it is kind of annoying.

Already planning for my apartment... I’ve still got a year (and I haven´t decided if I will go back to school right away or not...)

Way to go on the Eagle project little bro, I’ll send you a snail mail letter to answer your questions about the pros of going right away on a mission vs. the pros of going to school for a year.

On to the week’s news...this week was pretty normal, I am loving the cold weather. After a full year of summer it is good to be cold again!!  It is also getting rainy, as you can see from this picture.

We ate pizza 2 times this week which was good!! (stroganoff pizza is really good!!!) I thought I’d send you a picture of the way to the bathroom of a tiny mercado (market)!! It was a pretty cool tunnel to get there, so I thought it would be a good picture!! It reminded me of the Seattle Underground tour we went on with Aunt Paula a few years ago.

Sorry for the super short letter, 1) there isn’t much news to share and 2) my fingers are frozen and it is hard to type (no one in Brasil has heating...not even the LAN House).

Love You!!

Com amor,

Elder Cummings

Trainador! July 15, 2013

Dear Everyone:

So, here we go, I´ll read your new letter here in a little bit, but here are the past week updates and questions answered!!

1. Have you met President Genaro yet? I met him this past week 2 times, one at the mission home and the other at our zone conference in Foz do Iguaçu (we didn’t go to the falls...) He is great! His son is super cool, too. I’m good friends with him already!
2. Are there any sisters in your zone? If so, where are they from? We have 2 pairs of sisters in the zone. They are all from Brasil.
3. Did any of your 3 potential baptisms that fell through last week happen this week? M. was baptized last week, as it sounds like you already know, and was confirmed yesterday and is super happy!!! We didn´t baptize this week because of all the bus travel, but hopefully this next week we will baptize!!

I’m so sorry that I didn´t get to write you last week, it was because (as probably you’ve already heard) I was called to train!!!!!!!! I had to travel a good 11 hours to Londrina and then a good 9 hours back to Cascavel!! My new companion is Elder I. from Peru!! He is the only Peruvian missionary in the mission, and maybe the first one too. Get this: most of his family lives in Salem and Woodburn, Oregon! It was great to be able to tell him about Great-granny and Great-papa living there, and that I had been there many times. He is really good, and we work well together. I like him! As a Trainador (trainer) I am definitely feeling the pressure!, I can only imagine how Elder S. feels going from junior companion to Senior Companion-District Leader-Trainador all at the same time!! But, I know he is up to it. It is good.

 Elder I., Elder Cummings, Elder S.'s greenie, and Elder S.

We spent soooo much time on the bus this week! After getting back to Cascavel on Wednesday, on Friday we took a nice 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Foz do Iguaçu for zone conference and then rode another 2 1/2 hours back to Cascavel…YAY??!! At the zone conference, we had a belated birthday celebration for everyone who had birthdays!! (Sister Genaro’s birthday is May 14, and our recent convert is May 12.—Elder C’s birthday is May 15--Marie)

To answer Dad’s question from this week, yes, I am still district leader in addition to my training duties!!

So really other than that I went to the trainers meeting and got my greenie and then went to zone conference. Not a whole lot happened because the rest of the time I was on the bus... but yeah everything is good. I’m really happy, I’m glad to still be here with Elder W. for at least 6 more weeks (we are up to 5 transfers living in the same house up until now!!! yeah buddy!!). This photo of Elder I., me, and Elder W. is our generation photo. We have son (greenie), father (trainer), and grandfather (trainer’s trainer) living in the same house. YEAH! J

I don’t have any more time, so until next week!! Sorry it wasn’t a whole lot of news for 2 weeks!

Com amor/lots of love,

Elder Cummings

A Lesson In Patience

This post by Marie, Elder Cummings' mother, and your humble editor.

Yesterday, I was able to read the letter that Elder Cummings' CTM companion, Elder Schenewark, wrote, in which he said that both he and Elder Cummings were called to be trainers. A trainer is a senior companion who is paired with a missionary who has just finished their time at the CTM (missionary training center). They are responsible for getting that missionary up to speed in the roles and responsibilities of a missionary, acclimating them to mission life, and leading by example. It is very exciting that Elder Cummings and Elder Schenewark, who were the only two missionaries in their CTM to come to Londrina, were made trainers at the same time. They will both be excellent trainers!

Elder Schenewark and Elder Cummings almost a year ago, as their CTM time was coming to an end.

We also learned from Elder Schenewark's letter that the trainers were called to Londrina for a meeting on Tuesday, July 9. This would be an easy journey for Elder Schenewark, who is serving in a stake in Londrina itself, but meant at least a 7-hour bus ride from Cascavel for Elder Cummings. After the meeting, the trainers would be assigned their new companions (aka "greenies"), and my guess is that Elder Cummings and his new companion spent Wednesday, July 10 traveling back to Cascavel. Tune in on Monday to find out how accurate my guess was.

This evening I got a brief Facebook message from a ward member in Cascavel letting me know that Elder Cummings had asked her to pass the word that we should not expect an email from him this week. While disappointing, it is understandable, under the circumstances. We are proud of his new responsibility as a trainer, and are excited for Monday's letter, as I hope you are too!

Special Assignment: July 8, 2013

This message was in my inbox this morning. Elder W. was Elder Cummings' trainer in Apucarana, and now lives in the same house as Elder Cummings, though they both have different companions now. I waited to post it in hopes that Elder Cummings would have had a chance to email us this afternoon, but it is 6:30 p.m. Brazil time right now, so I think we will have to wait until the morning to get all the details. I'm very glad he got even this much word to me, so I wouldn't stew over why I hadn't heard from him. Can't wait until tomorrow to learn all about this "special assignment!"

Hi, Elder W. speaking, your son has been called to a special assignment and will be writing you a little later today or tomorrow morning. He is spectacular and a huge blessing in my life. I don't know anyone that is more selfless than him. Oh. and he baptized yesterday!

Love, 

Elder W.

So much to wonder about in this message? Is it a one-time special assignment? A new position of responsibility? This was my reply to Elder W.:

WOW—whatever it is, I am excited for Elder Cummings and can hardly wait to hear the news. If it means leaving Cascavel and no longer being in the same house as you, I am sure this new assignment is bittersweet but I can also imagine how excited he is. You and Elder Cummings will be lifelong friends!

We are so proud of him, and so very, very glad that you were his trainer. We are so grateful for your love and example. You got him off on the right foot as a missionary, so I hope you are proud of his accomplishments. I am looking forward to meeting your mom at the end of this month and giving her a gigantic hug. Want me to give her one for you??

Love,

Sister Cummings

He quickly replied back with the following. And this, truly, is all we know at this point.

Yes, please! The good news is that he will stay here in Cascavel with me!!! Thanks so much for everything!--Elder W.

Adventures in Laundry: July 1, 2013

1 July 2013

Dear Everyone:

1. Are you counting D. and C. (from Bauru) as two of your 17 baptisms? I only have 15 on my list. Of course D. and C. are my baptisms!!! (The reason I asked this is because D. & C. are a married couple that he was teaching, and would have baptized, if he had not been transferred that week from Bauru to Cascavel. I did not know if the fact that they were baptized after he left Bauru counted as being his specific baptisms.)
2. How did you fare with the parents of the girls you baptized this week? With the mom, I woke up every day at 5:30 to call and remind her not to drink coffee and she was really good and didn’t drink and was praying a ton and reading the Book of Mormon at like 4 in the morning, and was getting ready to be baptized this week, but Saturday night they had to go to another city because a relative had an health emergency... Sai Satanas (Get Out, Satan), but we will get her this next week, the dad is really timid and isn’t reading right now, so it will take some more time with him.
3. How close to 200 baptisms did the mission come in June? We baptized 168 in June which at least was a new mission record!
4. When do you expect to meet President Genaro? We might get to see him this next week if he actually gets around to doing zone conferences like he plans, but we will wait and see, he has a TON of work to do to learn how to run a mission, it should be fun!!
5. How are your garments and socks holding up? Socks and garments are fine! I´m a little low on deodorant, last stick was opened this week. Also, if you are going to send a package, American snacks are always welcome!!! Tipo (?—no idea what that is—Marie)... Cheez-its, um... holy cow, I’ve forgotten a lot of snack foods!!!!! NOOOOO... well in any case you know what ones I like, so surprise me!!

This baptism picture is actually from last week’s baptism. 

This week was lots of running around, lots of miracles found that then fell to pieces on Saturday night. We had 3 people lined up to be baptized, 2 more for the zone leaders, and all 5 fell through... it was kind of hard but we will just keep going!! This week was tough because of the Confederations Cup. For some reason, no one wants to hear about the gospel when Brasil is playing Italy or Spain... strange... So that was hard because 3 days this week there were big soccer games and it was hard to teach, but the finals were yesterday, Brasil destroyed Spain 3-0 and now we are in the clear to find lots of new investigators!!

I´m sorry to hear that lots of the inactive people in our ward are so anti-Church now. I know how it is working with less active members. A lot of times it takes forever for them to come back and lots of times it is for the stupidest reasons that they stopped... but it is really great to see them back at church when they do return so that is good!!

Other than that it was a pretty normal week, we deep-cleaned the entire house this week, destroying the black mold that has been growing on all of our tile walls, and getting rid of 1-inch or 2-inch thick mold from the backs of the cupboards!!!

Oh, and this is how we roll on p-day: chimarrao (drink), chocolate, Monopoly Deal (super fun!!), and we heat a ton of hot dogs and eat them with French bread!!! Yeah, we are super cool… J

I LOVE HUMIDITY AND COLD!!! It would be so nice, though, to have a clothes dryer or even just heaters!! This is what happens when you dry your socks in the microwave and put them in for too long. Yeah, we are that desperate to dry our clothes here, it has been raining so much that nothing dries!!

I think that´s about it for this week!!

Love you guys!!

com amor,

Elder Cummings