Unseen Baptism: August 26, 2013

Dear Everyone:

1. What is the street address of your house in Londrina (so I can try to scope it out on Google Earth)? I don´t know my street address, I’ll get that for you guys for next week!
2. What is your house like? Nice? Hopefully it did not need a good cleaning when you arrived. The house is all right, I live with the zone leaders again, so once again when I got here it was a pigsty! But, it’s passable now after our morning cleaning today.
3. Where is Elder F. B. from? Who are your housemates? Elder F. B. is from João Pessoa (where D.S. served his mission)!! The other 2 elders in the house are Elder M. from São Paulo and Elder D. from eastern Washington once again!!

A moth I found under the wardrobe when I was cleaning today (he was already long dead and dry!)

Me and Elder W. leaving Cascavel (I forgot my suit jacket in Cascavel, but the elders will bring it to Londrina at the beginning of the month when the zone leaders have a conference!)

Me and Elder F. B.!

My area is the southernmost tip of Londrina, and half of the area is closed, which means that we cannot work there because missionaries were already robbed, had guns put in their faces, or in the case of Elder F. B., backpacks stabbed!! They had been working in a ghetto that was closed, but they went there anyway and two weeks ago a drunk guy ran after them with a knife and stabbed his backpack!!! Yeah, our area is pretty dope!! (We are surprised that there wasn't an emergency transfer this week—still can happen—but whatever). It does feel super different to be back in the big city again!! Like super strange! It is a lot hotter here as well!

The ward seems good, I don’t know anyone yet because this past week was stake conference, which made it hard to bring anyone to church. We are basically opening a new area since we are now strictly forbidden to go back to the ghetto. (President G. was very unhappy with the elders that were here before me for working in that ghetto, but they were doing it because they were baptizing a lot of people.) No one knows any other part of our area, but it will be fun to open it up.

So I’m still district leader, as I said last week, and my district consists of me and my comp, the zone leaders, the secretaries, and two sisters (almost as big as the zone in Cascavel!! Ha ha). That’s weird having sisters in my district for the first time. When I call to check in on them on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, they talk a lot more than the elders, which is good and bad at the same time! Another one of differences is that we have district meeting in the mission office, and guess who likes to watch and participate in all the district meetings?... President G... it is a little intimidating, to tell the truth.

Yeah the investigator from Cascavel who got baptized yesterday counts as my baptism!! Also this week we had a baptism here in Londrina, the only thing is that I never taught him, I have never even seen his face. He was taught by the elders before I got here, and was at a friend’s house all this week and was baptized in another ward at the same time as two of his friends but he is part of our ward, but he still counts as my baptism... woo hoo!...

Thanks for the great letter as always, sorry I didn’t respond to everything but I always read everything and am grateful for all of the input!! Now I’m re-focused on baptism for this next week; pray that we can receive guidance as to where we need to work and as to who we can baptize this week!!

lots of love!!

Elder Cummings

Londrina-bound!! August 19, 2013

Dear Family and Everyone,

Elder I. is the bomb! He is really good, and we get along really, really well. It will be sad to leave him after only 6 weeks, but I’m off to new pastures!!! I was transferred to LONDRINA and I will serve in the Ouro Branco (white gold) Ward which is the ward that has the most baptisms in the history of the mission. I will still be district leader and I will still live with the zone leaders, but I will not be training. My new companion is Elder F. B.!! I’m anticipating LOTS OF BAPTISMS!!! I’m super excited!! I will miss the wonderful people of Cascavel, though.

Me and my buddy Robert.

This week was a good busy week, no baptisms unfortunately, but at least we got to go to Palotina to help them have a baptism, and we had interviews with Pres. Genaro on Tuesday (he told me in the interview that I would be leaving!!!)

Me and Elder B. in Palotina. He will stay in Palotina for his 5th transfer, and possibly one more because his companion goes home at the end of this transfer.

Elder W. was transferred to Apucarana again but this Saturday he had his first wedding of investigators as a missionary and we were invited. It was really simple but really nice, too. The next day I interviewed the couple for their baptisms which took place directly after!! That was probably the highlight of the week, besides transfers of course, so luckily since President Genaro had given me the heads up that I would be leaving, I wasn’t super trunky but it was definitely a tough week. As I said, we had lots of things come up that took away from proselyting time, but they were all good things.

I packed my bags last night after planning, even though I didn’t officially learn that I would be transferred until right now (that’s called faith!!) so now i have the whole p-day to relax!! Tomorrow I will make lots of PB&J sandwiches for the nice easy 10-hour bus ride to Londrina!! Yeah baby!! I get on the bus at 11 and get off at 8:30, but at least I will get to sleep in my new house tomorrow night!!

Great job on the floor!! It matches so well the rest of the wood flooring, I thought at first that you had done the dining room too when I saw the photo!! Speaking of the floor, that's where I slept for our "slumber party missionary style" in Palotina this week.

Not much more for this week, but I am sure next week’s letter will be much longer!!

Lots of love,

Elder Cummings

P.S. I leave you with one more picture from the “Palotina Photo Shoot.”

Is it Really My Best? August 12, 2013

Dear Everyone,

Italic comments by Marie, Missionary Mom!

1. Have you gotten the box with the deodorant (among other things)? It made it to Londrina on July 16, so I hope so. Yes, I got the package!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! It was excellent!!! Thank you again!!
2. Do you need a shoulder bag? We happen to have picked one up from one of our missionaries. I don’t need the shoulder bag, I’m fine thanks!!
3. What is Brazilian ice cream like? Different from U.S. ice cream? If so, how is it different, and do you like it? Brasilian ice cream is almost the same as American ice cream, just that it is not quite as creamy, and the flavors are more artificial.
4. Are you still working with your young converts’ parents? I know when they were baptized, you mentioned they were not married but you were hoping it would happen so that they could be baptized. The parents said that they would go to church these past 2 weeks, and we stopped by there Sunday morning and they said that they were getting ready and would be there shortly but both weeks never went, so we are going to work a little less with them. I passed it on to the Primary President to visit them and we will pass by like once a week, but they are not making any progress at the moment unfortunately!

So this week was not a good week for dogs here in Cascavel, we saw/witnessed 2 get hit by cars and another dog of a ward member got a brain virus and had to be put down...

My lunch last Monday. Are you impressed? Yes, I ate all the bananas!

The work here is really slow right now, we are having great difficulty bringing anyone to church right now. We are calling everyone, passing by Sunday morning and arranging rides but still no one is going, we only had one 10 year old who went to church this week. Pray that he can be baptized this coming Sunday and also pray that I won't get too trunky (ready to leave) because transfers are this next Monday and I have been here in Cascavel a long time!

That is a great quote that Sister S. sent! Wow!! (So great, that I’ll repeat it here!)

"There might be a more exciting time to go on a mission, but I don't know when that would be....you all must have done something right in the council in heaven." He also told us that the prophets from the other dispensations knew that they would fail, that ultimately the gospel would be lost from the earth and that the people would enter into apostasy, but that they could keep preaching, they could keep singing praises to our Father in Heaven because they knew that we would not fail."—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

From a recent zone conference
(gotta love how the elders are all goofy and the sisters are smiling sweetly)

It looks as though the kitchen project is coming great!!!

Jason, I have had a change of heart since last week about UVU when I said I didn’t think you should go there. I wrote you one letter, but then I decided to start over, putting aside my BYU Superiority Syndrome. UVU would be great for you, BYU for me is a perfect fit, maybe UVU is this perfect fit for you. My main concern is that it will be a little bit more costly because you will pay out of state tuition but other than that UVU is fine (BYU is better of course…ha ha…). And, it would mean that you would be a lot closer to me at BYU and you could come over and hang out at my apartment, or go to BYU sports and other BYU activities with me. So, that’s a big plus! Pray about it and follow your heart/follow the Spirit. Pray a lot about whether you should go on a mission or college first! Forget yourself and do the will of the Lord. Good luck! Love you! GO COUGARS!!! BYU!!!

And, speaking of BYU, that is so odd what BYU is planning to do with putting those slogans on the jerseys! Either have the names or put nothing. You will have to let me know what people think once it happens.

Like I said, not a whole lot happened this week. Sorry it´s kind of short, it seems like each week I have less and less to share and also less and less time to do it!! I’m doing my best, but at the same time, I’m not sure if it really is my best. I want to continue to contribute, and to keep climbing the ladder so to speak, but I’m not sure if I am ready yet. At least it isn't me that has to know, or make the decision, luckily the One making all the choices knows everything!!

lots of love!

Elder Cummings!

P.S. Thought you’d be glad to know that I am no longer in the country “illegally.” My visa expired 6 months ago but it is all taken care of now. (I don’t know that he was ever in any sort of trouble; this is probably pretty much how it goes for all American missionaries in Brazil. At least that is what I tell myself to not worry)

One Year In: August 5, 2013

Dear Everyone:

First off, holy cow!!! How tall is Jason now?? He looks huge!! The whole family is so different than when I left!! I loved the photos for you guys at the W’s home (how come there aren’t any photos of Bro. W. or Dad? (Bro. W. was at work in Vegas, and Dad was taking the photos—Marie.)

(The picture we sent to Elder Cummings. No, that is NOT Elder W. It is his twin brother, who leaves for his mission later in August.)

To celebrate one year I bought a pizza. It is somewhat of a tradition.

Dad, it´s good that you got to go to Capriotti’s twice during the trip because you need to be eating better now to lose some weight for when I get back home!

Jason, you broke a 5 minute in the mile run...?!! Wow that´s pretty good. I´ll write another letter to send to you in a photo this next week explaining why I’m not a huge UVU fan, I don´t have much time this week!

This week I don´t have time to write a personal email to them but send Amber, Grandpop, and Uncle Cliff a happy happy birthday from me.

Thanks for the great letter this week!! It was awesome to hear about your trip to Vegas. Sorry I don´t have much to say this week again, we still didn’t have a baptism here but we worked really hard this week and all of our weekly numbers were better than last week. This coming week someone is going in the water, I don’t know who but someone is!! (Pray for S., J., and a miracle!!!!)

What are your new callings in the ward??? What is the name and information about the new ward? I need to inform the mission secretaries of the ward change!

This week I ate some new things, for breakfast this week I always made a sausage, egg and chicken heart sandwich (chicken hearts are super yummy)! I also got to eat cow heart at a barbeque this past week and it was surprisingly good, I like the chicken hearts better though!! Elder W. and I just happened to find some cow heart and cow tongue in the supermarket, and decided to take a picture. Little did we know we were going to eat cow heart later on in the week!!

This week we had 2 baptisms in the district so I’m proud of them but I want to baptize so bad! But it is good that at least the district is doing well! I really like doing baptismal interviews and traveling to Palotina to help them out! I love sacrificing for the district!!

So, that’s it for this week,

Love you guys a lot!!

Elder Cummings