The Final Letter from Brazil: July 14, 2014

Dear Everyone,

Sorry that this is so late, I had interviews with President Genaro this morning, and then we went to a steakhouse for lunch, and now I am back in the mission office writing you guys!!!

1. What are you bringing home by way of luggage and possessions? Are you leaving things behind for other missionaries? I am bringing home all of my stuff in one suitcase (I put my medium size suitcase inside of the biggest one). Pretty much I am bringing home souvenirs, or items that are useful still, and ties, but all of my clothing I am leaving behind.
2. Will Elder P. still be in training with a new trainer when you go home? Elder P. stayed in Quebec and his new companion will be Elder F. one of my former companions!
3. Were you able to go out at all after the Brazil loss to Germany, or were you instructed to stay home due to the nature of the debacle? We had to stay home that night, especially for me and some other Americans who look German, this whole week everyone was calling me German, but even by the next day it was already a lot calmer, and no one swore at me or anything like that. Everyone just talked about how good Germany was, they were very polite considering the circumstances!! I was very glad that Germany won instead of Argentina, the Argentinian missionaries needed to deflate their heads a bit!!! Ha ha!! Just kidding!
4. K.T.  came up to me at the banquet tonight and asked if you were going to be going to Woodridge to swim on Thursday, and I told him I would let him know when your first swim will be, regardless of the day. FRIDAY!!!! 3:00 in the afternoon POOL PARTY!!!!!!

Here is my game plan for Thursday

1. Get released
2. Go to Grandma and Grandpa’s
3. Lunch
4. Go to the temple
5. Buy new garments
6. Buy a cell phone! (iPhone 5s, please, if you want to buy one for me this week before i get home that would be fine too!!!) J
7. Chill a little bit at home
8. Start getting all my stuff out of the attic (it’s already out—Marie) and to start organizing my stuff!!!

But the important part is that I want to be able to hit the ground running!! I’ll be using my old computer?? After that, I have no idea, I will play it by ear!!! 

Sorry, no photos today. I gave my card adapter to Elder P. because he didn't have one but the important photos you already got which were photos from the baptisms!

I’m going to go hit the town with Elder S. now, so see you guys in a few days!!!

Love you guys a lot!!

Elder Cummings!!

P.S. I am serious about what I want to do on Thursday. These are HIGH HIGH priorities for me!!!! Don´t worry about me if I’m tired or not, I’ll survive!!! Ha ha!!

See you on the 17th!--July 7, 2014

Dear Everyone,

1.  As you embark upon your last full week as a missionary, what are your thoughts on this time you have spent in Brazil? I feel as though my time in Brasil has been 2 years WELL SPENT!!! I would not trade my time here for anything. Before receiving my mission call I wanted to go to Russia or Europe, basically anywhere but Brasil, but now I would not trade it for anything!!! I feel as though I really dedicated these 2 years to the Lord and to serving the people of Brasil!! It was/is truly amazing. We are going to work for the miracle of baptizing 5 people this week...pray for us!!
2. What do you feel you have learned? In what ways do you feel you have grown? We will need to have a nice long talk when I get home, because I have learned so much and grown so much that I don't even recognize myself!!!
3. What do you want to eat when you get home? Ohhhh, good question! Pasta with carbonara sauce, rice fluff, lasagna, stroganoff, the usual.

While we are on the subject of trunky things, can you pick up a few personal hygiene products for me this week so I don´t have to worry about it when I get back? Thanks!! Also on my first day back if possible I would like to do a temple session and buy new garments!!! (And I still don´t know my travel info!!!!)

It gets crazier and crazier every time Brasil makes it farther in the World Cup!!! You should hear the warzone of fireworks that goes off every time that Brasil makes a goal or wins the game!!! Wowza!!!

And, as I was saying this week will be super crazy!! We have zone conference on Tuesday, there will the world cup finals on Sunday, and we are trying to baptize 5 people this week!!! So we are going to be running all over creation to baptize here and help the rest of the district baptize too!! Sunday we left lunch and went straight to the sisters’ area to do a second baptismal interview (they had baptized on Saturday but a miracle went to church so they had 2 baptisms!!!) and then I went straight over to Ouro Branco to do an interview for the zone leaders and got to see a lot of old ward friends there!!

Ohhhh, this week I was a good boy with the camera, so let’s get started:

photos from my last district meeting (this week we have zone conference) and the sisters bought me a cake too!!!

Timeline of how long everyone in the district has been on their mission.
Note “Elder Cummings 1 year and 11 months…RIP”

This is a text we received when we broke the monthly baptism record with 201 baptisms in June and were in second place in all of Brasil (only Manaus baptized more than us!!!) (Roughly translated as Elders POWER, due to their allegiance diligence, and FACT THAT YOU ARE GOOD. We closed this month with the total registered by the Church of ... 201! Congratulations and let’s go!)

I fell in a hole in the street while watching the kite wars going on overhead!!! Here kites are super popular and people try to cut the lines of other people´s kites, it is pretty intense!!

Last P-day Elder P. and I played tourist in the Japanese square in Londrina. There are some cool squares in Londrina, but unfortunately I didn´t manage to find a cool shirt for Jason L

I think that is about it!!! If it turns out that this is my last e-mail: see you guys on the 17th!!!! I think based on the fact that I am here in Londrina already and will not need to travel on Monday, that I will be able to send a shout out to you guys this next Monday.

see you guys soon!

Love you guys!!

Elder Cummings

Catch Ya On the Flip Side: June 30, 2014

Dear Everyone,

1. How is Elder P. doing in his training? Elder P. is becoming pro status already!! We are working super hard, and it is starting to give fruit (just not in our area...)
2. How did your district training go? It went well—and was kind of crazy. This week that passed there was an emergency transfer and one of the sisters in my district Sister V. (I was her district leader when she arrived in Londrina back in October) went to Tupã in São Paulo (where Elder S. was trained), and arrived a new sister from there to train a new American and by new American I mean a sister with over a year of mission time who FINALLY got her visa... holy cow!!! And to top it all off the first day of the new sisters being here their lunch fell through, so after district meeting we bought them lunch (a member had given us money to eat in a restaurant and gave more than enough for us so we spread the joy to the sisters). I also got to give the new sister, Sister S., a blessing after district meeting. Poor Sister S. rolled her ankle that very same afternoon, but she is all better now.

Also this week I got to go to Ouro Branco (former area also in Londrina) to do a baptismal interview for the zone leaders and got to see the bishop and a few members that I know, so that was nice!!! And hopefully this week our area will be the one to EXPLODE and we will have lots of people to baptize in my last weeks!

On Thursday we were sitting at the bus stop to go to a meeting at the church building and we were witnesses to 3 different drug deals (the funny part is that we know some of the people)!! But it was all chill, no one messes with the missionaries in that neighborhood. (A few days later we were passing by and there were 6 motorcycle cops rounding up everyone on that street... our area is super chill!!)

Wow, Jason´s phone is pretty darn sweet!!! But, would it kill ya to look away from the computer for one second to take a photo??!!!! haha!! But I guess I can´t complain too much this week, I slacked off and did not take any photos (though you should hopefully get some photos today from Sister C. of me and Elder P., her son and 2 other young men in the ward) but today we are going to go to the center and take photos at the Japanese themed square there and to look for a soccer jersey for Jason (I’ll use my card) and maybe one more for me!!! (I have been giving the lower quality jerseys to people as the time has been going so I hope I can get a jersey that is a little better quality!!)

(Oh, on a related topic, my last member lunch as a missionary will be Sunday the 13th, which happens to be the World Cup finals and it will be at the C.’s house!!!)

Yesterday we went tracting with this 19 year old young man who is in the process of finishing his mission papers, and he went to EFY a few months ago and there he met my old investigator N. from Apucarana who at the time had to work out a few things in her life before she could be baptized. He is friends with her on Facebook and he said that this coming week she will be baptized!!!!! Yeah boy!!!!

Dad, you are keeping the woodworking tools right?? Is that what will mostly fill the shipping container??

catch ya on the flip side!!

lots of love!!

Elder Cummings

There's No Time to Be Trunky! June 23, 2014

Dear Everyone,

1. Have you been able to get a soccer jersey for Jason? No, I haven’t gotten Jason a soccer jersey yet, but I’ll be getting one soonish, I hope. Does he have a preference?
2.  Do you remember if you saved a pair of board shorts for your first swimming party after your release, or should I go buy a pair??? I have board shorts at home still!! (I have no idea where but I should be able to find them at night before the first swim day!!)

5C!!!??? I’ve never even heard of the 5C. I think the 4 was just coming out when I started my mission!! (Photo please!!!! J)

Wow, Dad, a whole week off for 4th of July!!! Awesome.

Our week was fun and very busy once again. We are trying to do everything at once, so it always seems as though we run out of time. But, that’s a good thing here at the end because there isn’t even any time to be TRUNKY.

Tuesday was district meeting, it was strange and refreshing to once again give district training (this morning I prepared district meeting for tomorrow). But with the Brasil game Tuesday we had to return home after lunch and only leave after 7:30 at night. This world cup is getting really in the way!! (Today we have an extended p-day until 7:30 because Brasil will play again!!! (I hope the United States wins but with the heartbreak tie yesterday we will have to wait and see). Every night when we return to our apartment complex, the gate guard always gives us updates on how the games ended up that day since we are not allowed to watch the games. It will be interesting to see what will be the rules once the games get more and more important and the people get more and more crazy!!

Thursday we went to the sisters’ area again to work there and do a baptismal interview since the sisters had to travel to Foz and Cascavel to do divisions (this week they will be going to Sarandi in the Morangueira zone and Thursday we will go there again to find some more baptisms for them and maybe this weekend too to do yet another baptismal interview!!!) 

This Sunday we managed to bring this young woman to church who is 16, she really liked church and she already has a testimony about the Book of Mormon, so we will do our best to baptize her this week!!! Her mom was going to go too but at the last minute Satan inspired her married son to call Saturday night and tell her that he would have lunch with them on Sunday (something that he never does) so she stayed home Sunday morning to prepare lunch... but she will go with us this next week!!

Weekly photos: 

Me returning from lunch one day in the rich fancy, brand spanking new still-in-construction part of town!! (a lot of members live there.)

A sweet sunset that we saw one night!!

And, I think that’s all he wrote!!!

Love you guys a lot!!

até logo! (see you soon!)

Elder Cummings

Slow/Busy Week: June 16, 2014

16 June 2014

Dear Everyone:

1. How did your week go with the World Cup? Were people too distracted by the games, as you feared they might be? It was a slow and super busy week all at the same time!! (Yes, the World Cup is quite distracting!!)
2.  Are you a district leader? I saw a picture of you in a group photo on the mission Facebook page from the leadership conference this past week. Yes, I am DL again! There are two sister companionships in my district so we joke that I am the "Relief Society president" because it is just me, my companion and sister missionaries in my district!! Ha ha!!
3.  Is it just you and Elder P. in your apartment, or do you live with other missionaries? It is just us two in the apartment but that is good because it is about 300 square feet. Really tiny!! For leadership conference this past week, there were 8 more elders (all the leaders from Maringá and Morangueira, so I got to see my first-born “son” Elder I.) sleeping there for 2 nights. Let’s just say the neighbors were not too happy.

Here is how our slow/busy week went:

• Monday was p-day as usual
• Tuesday was leadership council
• Wednesday was a normal work day
• Thursday we had zone meeting in the morning, and after lunch we had to return to our house and could only leave after 7:30 p.m. once the Brasil World Cup game excitement had died down
• Friday we were in the sisters’ area for a baptismal interview (it finally worked out at the end and she came into the interview not wanting to be baptized, only wanting to get some doubts answered, but after an hour and a half she left the room smiling ear to ear and the next day she was baptized!!!!
• Saturday and Sunday were normal days too

So as you can see, we had very little time in our area this week, and this week will be p-day today, Brasil World Cup game tomorrow (essentially a second p-day since we have to be at home during the game) and on Thursday we will work in the sisters’ area to help them out, and Friday or Saturday I will have to do another baptismal interview for the other sister companionship!! Wowza!!!!

Way to go P.K. on the sweet mission call!!!! 

Mom, you still have more than 2 years of Sunday letters to write, there will only be a halftime break before Jason goes on his mission!!

My Helaman Halls roommate from freshman year shot me an e-mail today!!!! Yeah buddy!!

I will wrap up today with some photos:

Picking up Elder P. at the mission home

Pizza for Elder P.'s first day in the field

A view of the center of Londrina from a member’s fancy apartment (Quebec is the richest/strongest ward in the mission)

Walking through a field

Street sign in the middle of the street. D’oh! The sign reads Monte Sião, or Mount Zion. There are a few members that live on this street.

How I multitask while talking on the phone with the sisters in my district (they like to tell a lot of stories about their day).

love you guys!!

Elder Cummings

New Area, New Companion: June 9, 2014

Dear Everyone,

(In the hustle and bustle I forgot my camera today when coming to the LAN house, so sorry but you will have to wait one more week for photos. sorry!!!!!... L)

My new area is called Quebec and yes it is in Londrina!! It is the zone Londrina. My area borders the area of Elder S., I even have part of Cambè in my area, and Elder S. even baptized some people in my area by mistake some months ago!! Ha ha!!

And my second “son” is Elder P., he is Brazilian (no Americans arrived this transfer...) but he is super cool, his name is German and he looks American, so everyone asks him from what part of the United States he is from!! Ha ha!! But, yeah, he is really cool, he served a mini-mission during the new year close to his home. He is from a city that is super close to Florionópolis in Santa Catarina called Balneario Camboriú. 

Pictures from Facebook of the lunch after ward conference.

Unfortunately this week we did not baptize but it was ward conference and the members brought 8 friends to church so we had 12 investigators at church yesterday (a new record for me!!) so all we have to do now is try and get in contact with them all and teach them, which maybe will be complicated with the World Cup starting this week!! Attached here are the rules during the World Cup when Brazil will be playing (this is only during the first round, more information will be arriving later on)... crazy!!

Our house/apartment (my first time living in an apartment!!) is on the third floor,) is located at the corner of our area, the church is at the other corner of our area (about 30 minutes from our house) and our area where we are working is about 40 minutes from our house and an hour an 20 minutes from the chapel!!! So, let’s just say that we walk a lot, but luckily there is a super awesome recent convert who will be serving a mission here soon, he is 24 and he always goes teaching with us and really helped us get our bearings in the area!!! Now it will be smooth (well, relatively smooth) frantic sprinting to the finish from here on out!!

Oh--also in Maringá Elder B. and Elder I. baptized 2 people this week!!

love you guys a lot!!

Elder Cummings

Happy, Healthy, and Baptizing: November 4, 2013

4 November 2013

Dear Everyone,

1. Will you get to say goodbye to the departing missionaries next week? I am guessing there will be tons of transfers and changes with so many going home. I don´t know if I will get a chance to say goodbye to the departing missionaries next week, because ever since President Genaro got here, the departing missionaries go straight to the hotel, whereas in the past they would sleep one night in the missionaries’ houses and one night in the hotel. There are 17 missionaries leaving and only 9 arriving (visa problems), so a lot of B areas (for example, Cascavel 3B, Ouro Branco B) might get closed down. Pretty much any ward with 4 missionaries might get dropped down to just 2, but I don´t know any details as to which area will get cut down. President Genaro also wants to open up cities where the church doesn’t exist and where missionaries have never gone in his next 2 1/2 years so that will be cool.
2. Did the package you sent that never made it to us ever get back to you? No, the package never got back to me, I think it was just completely lost!

As far as the Ravens are concerned rapidinho (quickly), they can’t win every year, that would take the fun out of the sport!

So here we go with the news of the week!!

This week we only had one baptism, but we are aiming and have a great possibility for 4 more next week!!! The zone leaders had 2 baptisms, their baptisms are the ones that Elder S. baptized, and our baptism is the one where I am in my baptismal clothes!!

She is amazing!! She is always posting on Facebook stuff about the church, always calling us to ask if she can bring friends or family members to church!! We are aiming to baptize her friend and her 2 brothers this next week!! She is really cool!!

Also, D. (who we baptized last week and confirmed last week), this week he read the whole Gospel Principles book, and he received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday!! He is amazing. He studies at the university and works the night shift at the bus station so when he went to work on Saturday he brought his church clothes with him and left work to go straight to the chapel to be there in time to change before church starts!! He is a CHEFÃO (chief)!!!

I think that is about it for this week! Today we will have a giant barbecue for Elder M.’s last P-day, so there should be some good pictures next week!!

I am really happy!

I’m healthy!

I’m BAPTIZING!!!!!

lots of love!!!

Elder Cummings

3 Baptisms and 8 Pictures!

Dear Everyone,

1.  How did your week go this week? Did your investigators get baptized? One of them was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! It was awesome. We had 2 more baptisms on Sunday (they are the two closest to me, the ones on either side of Elder S.). The zone leaders had 3 baptisms this week, too!! And, we already have a good possibilidade (possibility) to baptize 3 more this next coming Sunday! The work is progressing in Ouro Blanco!
2. What have you been studying lately in the Book of Mormon or Preach My Gospel? In my studies I am studying stuff that helps my current investigators and marking up my new scriptures that I bought and studying topics in Preach My Gospel to help out my district. (I was hoping to get a little more detail. Well, I tried at least!—Marie)
3. Tell us more about why you were in the “mountains” in your pictures last week? Is that part of your area? Yes, the mountains are part of my area and we passed by coming back from lunch and took some quick pics!

 

Can you send me a photo of my baptism in a letter? It would be cool to be able to show to investigators. Thank you!!

I didn’t even get to attend my ward this week because of returning from Cornélio Procópio Sunday morning and preparing for the baptisms, so I didn’t play piano this week. I was practicing a little bit here and there, but now I am just going to wing it on the piano, it is coming really well, at least the right hand, that is!

So, for the rest of my letter I will give some comments on my photos. Yes, lots of photos this week, so feel lucky! I don’t know if I can send so many every week!!

The pizza was for Elder S.’s birthday, which was Friday!!

Last P-day we had a barbeque, but it was really hot so we used an umbrella when we were at the grill!!

This photo shows a little bit of my tie alterations work, which I learned how to do from Elder S. They all started off the same size as the piano tie!

It rained A TON on Thursday!!! A few minutes before the bus passed by, an old lady was walking by when a truck passed there...let’s just say she got SOAKED!!!

The elders in Cornélio Procópio have this funny noise-making rubber chicken in their house. I traveled there Saturday night to do two baptismal interviews for the zone leaders because Elder R. forgot his ID, so I went there in his place with Elder G. (a greenie). That was fun. We traveled back early Sunday morning (luckily it is only 1.5-hour bus ride) but we didn´t bring any extra clothes because it was last minute and we didn’t even have time to shower on Sunday morning before I had to do 2 more baptismal interviews and then we had our baptisms!! (The Elder Cummings Show continues!!)

I think that is about it for this week!! Enjoy the photos!

com amor,

Elder Cummings

The Elder Cummings Show: October 21, 2013

Dear Everyone,

1. How many lessons were you able to teach this week? Is this about average? Better? Worse? This week we taught 3 lessons with members and 17 lessons without members present, which is a good number, but the lessons-with-members number was way low!! We should have 3 baptisms this weekend, one is the investigator I mentioned earlier, he is 27 and he already has his interview marked and everything. (As you know, before the baptism everyone needs to pass an interview with the district leader, or in my case since I am a district leader, with the zone leaders!)
2. Do you get fed by members on Sunday? Yes, every Sunday we have lunch at members’ homes, it is pretty much the only guaranteed day to eat lunch with the members, as a lot of them are not home for lunch during the week, and it is always a really good lunch!!
3. What are some of the best new foods you’ve tried lately? New foods...um...every day I eat rice and beans and meat and salad. Sometimes we get stroganoff or lasagna (I now know how to make these Brasilian-style) or a barbecue (of course), so new foods are kind of a rarity at the moment, though I did get to eat Japanese food this week and that was really tasty!

Now I have some questions for you: How many people live in Bellevue? How many in Seattle? And, how many in the greater Seattle area? Thank you!!

I did get a few more ideas for the Christmas package:  Stride gum (spearmint), and a tiny sunscreen bottle to carry with me in my tiny bag. THANK YOU!!

This Sunday (yesterday) was the Elder Cummings show at church!! I arrived a little bit late because we were bringing everyone to church (we picked up our investigators and then most of the zone leaders’ investigators as well) Luckily sacrament meeting is at the end of church here during the third hour because I got there 2 minutes before the meeting started!! We had 3 investigators attend church who are all planning to be baptized this coming week (and like I said, one has already passed his interview and is ready to go)!!! I played piano, and they had changed the hymns on me and they were not hymns that are included in the simplified hymnbook, but I still did ok. I also gave a talk. It was my third talk of the mission, the third time I was the second speaker, and the third time that the concluding speaker who spoke after me was the stake president!!! Lucky me! To wrap up my big day, I conducted the baptismal service directly after church for the baptisms of the zone leaders. And then it was time for lunch. J

Oh, we sprung forward Saturday night!!

The district is doing great here, my companion and I are getting along great!! I have had great sorte (luck) with companions so far on the mission. I have enjoyed each of them. They have been great!!

To finish, here are some photos of our mountain expedition from this week!!

Com amor

Lots of love

Elder Cummings

P.S. Our mission came in third in all of Brazil for baptisms in September!!

Ward Pianist: October 14, 2013

Dear Everyone,

1. Does Elder R. live in your house? How many sets of elders are serving in your ward? Yes, Elder R. lives with me, there are 2 sets of elders in the ward and the 4 of us all live in the same house
2. As I was helping Dad clean up his neckline when he gave himself a haircut on Friday, we both wondered if you are still cutting your own hair? Cutting anyone else’s hair? Yes, I still use the hair cutting kit, mostly for my own hair (I still have never gone to a Brazilian barber).
3. I know it’s early, but do you have any ideas on things you need/want for Christmas? I don’t see any necessity for any items right now, so I guess food, and saving money up for when I get back would be the best options!!
4. Got any fun stories to share from Zone Conference? Sister Genaro posted a bunch of pictures, and it was fun to play “Where’s Waldo” as we looked for you in them. This was the first time you have appeared in any of her photos. Zone conference was good, not really any cool stories to report, but we did earn pizza and we got to watch “17 Miracles” as a prize for breaking the mission baptism record last month!! And at the zone conference, I got to see two former companions, Elder R. and Elder F., so that was good!! Also in the zone conference it was announced that the backpack has died for missionary service (I am pretty sure that this is for the whole world), only shoulder bags (? I don’t entirely get why, but it is what it is) and handheld bags like my super-slick, stylish, state-of-the-art, height-of-fashion Primary bag!

 Elder R. (companions for ONE WEEK in Apucarana), Elder Cummings, and Elder F. (companions for one transfer in Cascavel)

 Lovely, height-of-fashion Primary bag

In other news, guess who is the new ward pianist here in the Ouro Branco ward? Yep, that’s right!! I am the new ward pianist. (Yes, you read that sentence correctly: I, Elder Cummings, am the new ward pianist!!) Right now, using the simplified hymnbook, I am only using the right hand and I can almost do the right and left hand together now. The trickiest part was learning bass clef, but now I can play the left hand just fine, and the right hand really well, it is just when I put them together that I have troubles, but it is always getting better!! (Elder Cummings took piano lessons in 3rd grade. He then played trumpet and French horn from 5th grade through 12th grade.)

This month, as a mission, we are passing through problems to baptize people. The adversary has really put his evil reinforcements here, because we have been doing so well lately. We are still pressing on!! Along those lines, pray for our investigator, D., so that he can go to church this Sunday and be baptized on the 27th, he is an amazing dude!!

When I was in Cascavel, I dreamed about this bridge and these steps. The rest of my dream didn’t make any sense, and the bridge was in a different setting, but it was the same bridge with the same graffiti. It was so cool to find these and see that I really am supposed to be serving here in Ouro Branco!!

Sorry it is kind of short for this week, it is really getting harder and harder to come up with e-mail topics. I’m going to go now and buy 4$ of ice cream for my weekly groceries!!

love you guys a lot!!!

com amor,

Elder Cummings

P.S. How are the Ravens doing?? J

Staying Put in Londrina: September 30, 2013

Hey everyone!!

1. How are your shoes holding up? I have seen lots of pictures on Facebook of friends’ missionary sons’ hole-y shoes, which made me wonder. My shoes are holding up fine, I have one pair that is still almost brand new and the other has holes in it, but they are still perfect as long as it does not rain!!!
2. Transfer news? Staying? Going? New companion? The transfer news is that I am staying here with the same companion... but ELDER S. (CTM companion) WAS CALLED AS A ZONE LEADER!!! I’m so used to always getting a new companion at transfer time that it was a little disappointing not to have a change this time around. Also I found out right now that my district doubled in size!! (My district is bigger than some zones!!!) CRAZY!! Pray a lot for me this week, I am motivated because of the baptism that we had yesterday but I am really discouraged about staying the same... this will be a rough transfer...

Since I happened to be online when his email came in, I emailed back quickly and asked if it was the area or his companion that he was not happy about: It is both that have me discouraged!! Also no matter what I do, no matter how much I clean, the house is always a pigsty!! So I have stopped cleaning anything, I only clean the stuff that I use now!!

I wrote back, and said: “I'm so sorry this is a challenging area and companionship for you. Love and serve your companion as much as you can and good things will happen. Praying, praying, praying,” to which he responded:  I’m all better now, sorry for the freak out, I was thinking about all the bad things but now I am focusing on all the good blessings I am receiving!!! I still think the transfer will be difficult, but it will be really good as well!!

This is my district, minus the zone leaders who are also part of my district, but they were visiting another district when we took the picture.

I got the senior pictures this week. They turned out great! Jason has changed so much in his facial structure! And the tie is pretty darn amazing!!

This week I did another division with the secretaries and I was with Elder B. this time, it was good, a nice normal division. It was pretty torturous, though, because he knew all the information about transfers and would not tell me, but also I didn’t ask much because I know how much they get pestered by everyone!

Yesterday we went to the sister missionaries’ baptismal service to help them out and at the baptism was this 8 year old named C., whose parents are inactive but the mom is starting to be reactivated. C. wanted his dad (who is not currently worthy) to baptize him so he had originally said he was going to wait (I don’t know if his dad will ever actually be worthy again...) but while we were there he came up to me, even though I had never even said a word to him before, and asked me to baptize him! So I put on a jumpsuit and we went to work!! It was so good to get back in the water again! Photos will come later, I didn´t have my camera since I wasn’t planning on baptizing anyone.  I will get them from another missionary.

sorry it´s short, lots to do!!

love you all,

Elder Cummings

Young Women Theme: September 23, 2013

Dear Everyone,

1. Did Elder S. actually draw on the money or did it come to him that way? Elder S. actually drew on it...
2. Grandpop’s 2014 calendar is finished, and it is really nice as usual. Do you want us to send you a couple in your Christmas box, or do you just want us to save you one for when you get home? If you want us to send them, how many do you want? Can you send me 2 calendars, one for me and one for my comp?

Today we got a blast of fall weather too, lots of wind and rain which meant that 2 big trees fell down in our neighborhood, tearing down power lines with them. We still have power, luckily, but during the week they are starting to turn off the water and electricity to the whole neighborhood in order to ration water, which normally isn´t a problem because we never are at home in the afternoon but for p-day it will be a little bit tricky!!

So, let’s get down to business!!

President Genaro ordered us to get our house in order, because in the words of Sister Genaro, “it looks as though the house has been abandoned for over a year!” So, as you can see by the picture, we did a major overhaul in the backyard and in the process we made a little mess!! But, we did clean it up, so now our house is limpinho!!! squeaky clean!! We cleaned everywhere, we even pressure-washed the bathrooms and kitchen!! Yeah, missionary cleaning!!!

This week, I told the other elders that I had the Young Women’s theme memorized and they were all making fun of me for a few days, but then one day they came back and apologized to me because they were teaching this young woman and they were trying to explain to the mom about what her daughter would learn in the Young Women’s program and they couldn´t remember all of the Young Women values!! Yeah, it would have come in real handy if they, too, had the Young Women’s theme memorized!! :-P

On Wednesday we spent the whole day in the sisters’ area tracking down references, talking with everyone in the street and basically running all over creation, but it was good, we got a lot of work done for them while they looked after their investigators and we even found some cool people for them to teach. They brought a family to church this week so that was cool!!

On Thursday I did a division (split) with the zone leaders so they could travel to another city to help out a companionship that works there and still accompany all of their investigators!!

On Saturday we did a division with the secretaries to help them out and that also was really good. I will probably do more divisions with them this next week because they will be trapped in the office doing the transfers so I will help them accompany all of their investigators!! Being district leader is great!! I love running around creation to help everyone out!! (We ran into this crazy lady who has 60 dogs that she takes care of!!!)

Also this week we did a lot of sleeping outside because of the heat. One night I tried to sleep in my hammock and by tried, I mean I tossed and turned for 2 hours before getting my mattress and going to sleep!! My hammock is really comfy to relax, but to sleep it is not so neat!!

And that sums up my week!! Thanks for the great email as always!! Happy Birthday, Uncle Steven!! HOLY COW WHAT HAPPENED TO IZZY!!!?? She is huge!!

Com Amor!

Elder Cummings

Slow but Steady: September 16, 2013

Dear Everyone:

1. Is this your street? I think that is my street!! Here is a photo of our house!
2. What is your ward like? Do you have support for your efforts? The ward is good. We have good member support, just that they are so accustomed with baptisms that they are not super animated about baptisms, but overall it is a good functioning ward!!
3. Have we snail-mailed you any of Jason’s senior pictures? No, I don´t think you sent me any of Jason’s senior photos yet!
4. How did your investigators do this week? We have kept them in our prayers. Unfortunately, two investigators that I thought were promising were not progressing so we had to cut them both, but we brought these 2 guys to church this week so that was good to finally have investigators at church this week!!! Hopefully they can be baptized. They have problems with the Word of Wisdom, but they are really good. We found one Saturday night and the other Sunday morning and they both went to church and really liked it so that is at least a start!!! The work is going slowly but steady.

And now, on to the other news of the week!!!

I got a really nice package and a really nice tie from C., F., and A. I will try to get a thank you letter out to them this week!!

This week, I spent almost 3 days with Elder D. (zone leader, who lives in our house) while our companions (Elders M. and S. were helping out another area of the zone) so that was really fun!! We took this short-cut through the woods at night to save an hour of walking time!! Good thing I had my super-bright flashlight or else crossing the river would have been much more difficult!!!

União, the neighborhood that we can´t go into any more because Elder F.B. was almost stabbed there

Looking into Londrina from my area

  

This week, we learned how to play this game called tako or bats. You play it with two 2- liter bottles, 2 pieces of wood, a tennis ball, and some chalk/a rock to mark the street. You make a little box to put the water bottle in, and draw a circle that you have to keep your stick in when you are not trying to hit the ball. You have 2 people on each team, 2 batters against 2 pitchers. The batters are trying to hit the ball, of course, but when they hit the ball far they run and trade places with their teammate to score a point (first to 12 wins), and the pitchers are trying to knock over the water bottles, when the bottle is knocked over the teams switch!! It is actually pretty fun, the only problem is that the tennis balls here are garbage (we broke 6 in 1 hour) but luckily we got 2 real tennis balls from a member this week so, all is good! 

Also, I learned how to play a different version of tic-tac-toe, but you have to get 5 in a row to win!! it is much more intense!!!

Hey Jason! Have you started thinking yet about getting your patriarchal blessing?? If not I would start thinking about it if I were you!!

This Saturday the house on the other side of the street had a party all night long playing really dirty Brasilian rap. Luckily I don’t understand a word of Portuguese when it is in that type of music because it is all squished together, so that was good for me, but Elder S. said it was really bad!

Here are a couple more pictures to close the letter this week:

Elder S. with his now-illegal money!!

My study sheet from this week!!

love you a lot,

Elder Cummings