Obeying the Mission Rules: February 3, 2014

Dear Everyone:

1. Transfer news?
2. What was a highlight this week?

I will answer both questions at once. The highlight of the week was transfers. Unfortunately, our baptism for this week traveled and didn’t go to church but we did bring a young woman to church that we will try to baptize this week!!! And as far as transfers is concerned, almost the whole zone got transferred except me and two other missionaries, so Apucarana will get a much-needed fresh start. It will be good, but it will be super complicated because I will travel to Londrina today to help with transfers, and to have leaders’ conference on Wednesday, so Apucarana will have literalmente (literally) zero missionários (missionaries) for 2 days (the sisters are in a neighboring city) so that will be difficult!!!

Also this week, I learned a valuable lesson about obeying the mission rules (and thankfully I did not learn it the hard way). On Tuesday I was on splits with Elder A. That afternoon, our lunch was provided at the elders quorum barbeque, and my companion and the elder he was on splits with went and played soccer while Elder A. (the district leader) and I stayed and just ate before leaving to go back to work. A member told President Genaro that the two of them played soccer, and so my companion is getting transferred and is no longer a zone leader and the other missionary who was going to be a trainer will still be a junior companion instead!! Wow...

No, Jason, you will NOT buy a Super Bowl shirt for me, thankyouverymuch!!!

Wow, it was a pretty busy week for you guys!!! Way to go, Jason, on all the accomplishments this weekend.

Photos this week are of the 70th birthday party celebration of Apucarana, which was January 28, and of the little table we set up on a street corner to get references!!!

Well, I’ve got to go and try and figure out how I will do all the stuff that I have to do! Life of a ZL!

love you guys!!!!

Elder Cummings

P.S. Happy Birthday!! Are you now 48, Mom??? (I’m 47…don’t age me any faster than I am already aging!)

Missionary Zeal: June 24, 2013

Hey there everyone!!!

Super sorry, I forgot my camera today when I left to go to the LAN house but at the same time I don´t have any photos from this week. It rained all week and was pretty darn cold, the only photo worth sending home is the photo from our baptism this week!!

This week we baptized R., the sister of P., our baptism from last week. Last week was her first time going to church and she watched her sister get baptized. When we stopped by their house Sunday night, we asked her how she liked church and she said that she liked it a lot and wanted to be baptized too...after a pause (we were a little bit slow because this normally doesn’t happen) we signed the form and that Thursday she was baptized during the ward activity!!! This week will be the parents’ turn, we hope. Pray for them that they can stop drinking coffee and not be afraid to be baptized!! They are really great!!

Elder F. and I are good, we are friends but we have our rough spots, like any companionship. One moment he can be super animated and singing hymns in the street, and the next minute he is mad at me and walks on the other side of the street. But, the important thing is that we are able to work together, and we are baptizing a lot, so it is all good!!! I have 17 baptisms now, the average number of baptisms for a missionary serving in Brasil is 18 (this is in 2 years), and the mission average for my mission is 22 in 2 years so I am being truly blessed by the Lord!! I do not say this to brag, I know that without Him and without being obedient to the rules of missionary service, I would not have been blessed to have already found these 17 souls. Like Ammon in the book of Alma, “Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.” (Alma 26:12)

Yes I saw the worldwide missionary broadcast it was super good, the only thing I am worried about is the use of computers and Facebook. I am glad that they will start it off in phases and I hope it will probably take a while to reach Brasil, which is good. I hope it doesn’t cause lots of problems with pornography and flirting with investigators and recent converts, unfortunately this (flirting) is already a problem with some missionaries. I just hope that this doesn’t hurt the work, but it is coming from the prophet so it is coming from God, so it will all work out!! J About the guided tours of our buildings, this will be an excellent tool to help people get to know the church!! Elder S.’s brother (in another mission in Brasil) is already doing the guided tours and with a little more than a year on the mission, he has 150 baptisms and is the record holder for his mission already!!

There has been some protesting here in Cascavel, but it is really far from my area so it is all good. Elder W. and Elder S. got separated for half an hour because of the protestors when they were coming back from doing a baptismal interview (by the way, I did 2 more interviews this week!!!).

Way to go, Ed! Two-time Ironman is so cool! Maybe he will have his third Ironman by the time I get home.

Dad, work with these inactive prospective elders!!! This is a gold mine!! Also, work with the list of members not baptized!!! (This means families that have become inactive that have kids of baptismal age!!) Correr atrais de todo mundo!! Run behind everyone!! Which means, contact everyone on the list go there with the missionaries, have the missionaries teach them in our home!! Seriously, the missionaries with a well-organized list of these 40 prospective elders and inactive families with kids of baptismal age don’t need to proselyte!! Seriously, I promise you, that if you contact everyone, go there with the elders and have them teach in our house, that the ward will gain many new families in these coming WEEKS!!!!!

Two of my baptisms in Geisel (Bauru) were kids of an inactive mother if you remember. We baptized them and reactivated her!!! This is a great tool!! Use it!! I expect to hear news of at least one new family that was baptized here in two weeks—that means bringing at least one family to church this Sunday and baptizing/re-activating a family the next week!!) I can’t stress this enough, our ward can baptize so many people and reactivate so many people just by bringing back the lost sheep. I promise that through prayer and fasting you will be able to choose the people who are ready to come back and here in a few weeks you will no longer have problems filling callings. A lot of times less-active or inactive members are willing to accept callings, don’t be afraid to call a less-active member to a position. This is another way to bring FAMILIES back to the Lord!!! You’re the man!! Fill the missionaries’ planners!!! SO BATIZA!!! Just baptize!! 

lots of love!!!

Com amor,

Elder Cummings

Life of a District Leader: June 3, 2013

Dear Everyone,

1. Are any Londrina missionaries going to the new missions? No Londrina missionaries will go to other missions.
2. Will there be any sort of mission conference(s) when President T. leaves and the new mission president arrives? We should have a zone conference with President T. this coming week (week of June 10).

Nice shirt, little bro (it doesn't have a pocket…mind is blown…)!!! Congrats on the seminary pin and everything!!! Great job on the gym, Dad, keep it up!!

So on to the week’s news (I actually have a bunch to report today which is nice!!):  first off... happy 50th birthday old man!!! J (Speaking of birthdays, when is Elder S.´s birthday? He sent me a birthday card and I want to be sure not to miss sending him a birthday card!!)

I was called this week as district leader here in Cascavel!! Wow!! This means that I need to accompany(?) everyone on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and get their weekly numbers on Sunday by telephone. Also I do all the baptismal interviews for everyone in my district, so this past Saturday I traveled with my companion 2 1/2 hours to Palotina to do a baptismal interview. He passed and was baptized yesterday, so that was great. He was super ready and I had done a practice with the zone leaders earlier that day (talk about pressure doing a fake baptismal interview with your trainer and one of the old assistants to the president watching and critiquing every move!!) so the real interview was smooth as butter!!! And I will probably need to go out there again this Friday to interview one more and the zone leaders have already marked an interview for them this Saturday!! We are starting to catch fire here as a district, the only thing now is that we need to baptize, we almost had a baptism but he didn´t feel ready and we tried to help him out but he was firm that he will get baptized just not today, (hopefully this week will be better!!) This is the “Month of 200,” where our goal as a mission is to baptize 200 people. With the month having 5 Sundays it gives us a better chance to reach the goal. It is President T.’s last month, and all stops are out to try and finally reach 200 baptisms in a month in his honor. When President T. first started as mission president, the mission was baptizing 20 to 25 people per month. That is like a stateside mission!!! He is the best, and it will be so different without him here.

Me and my companion waiting for the 8:20 bus back to Cascavel.

When we were coming back from the interview on Saturday night, we had to get the 8:20 bus, which is the last bus of the day, and we got the last 2 seats!!! We got back home in bed around 11:15 but it is all good because we got permission from the APs to be out later in order to do the interview.

Can you scan and send me a photo of dad on his mission??!!!!

Some other fun facts from this week:

• Elder F. is from Rio and is super energetic... like a little ball of energy!! He is awesome.
• We tried ordering pizza from Foz do Iguaçu by accident. Didn’t get it.

One of Elder W.’s investigators who is friends with some of the YM in the ward was caught with a bunch of marijuana and went to jail this week. (I don´t think he will be baptized on his baptismal date...)

When we ate lunch with the Bishop this week, he invited us to eat in the house of another member with him, we thought it would be perfect “tranquilo,” but when we get there what was going on? It was a lunch activity for the YSA sisters from the ward...ha ha, we ate outside by ourselves!!! It was pretty funny, actually!

Pray that we can baptize someone this week and that we can bring lots of people to church this coming Sunday. I don´t know why, but Fast Sunday is the day when everything goes wrong, baptisms fall through, investigators don´t come to church, members bear their testimony about baptisms for the dead (which just confuses any investigators who do come to church), LUNCH FALLS THROUGH!!! I don't like Fast Sundays at all... I am trying my best to gain a testimony about fasting, I always pray so hard and fast with a purpose but nothing right ever happens, it kind of stinks!!

Love you guys!!

Vamos Para 200!!! (go to 200, or get 200)

com amor,

Elder Cummings

I LOVE IT HERE: January 21, 2013

21 January 2013

Dear Everyone:

1. Mailing address? Did you find out your CEP? Not yet, I don’t mind them getting sent to the mission office and waiting longer because then I can focus better on the work and only have to worry about replying every now and then.
2. Have you encountered any other unusual critters or unusual fruits? Yeah but not very many, I’m pretty used to the critters and fruit here by now so it doesn’t feel strange anymore. And, no, I don´t think I have ever eaten these things.
3. How are your knees doing? Is it just from all the walking? My knees are doing great. The knee brace is wonderful. 

And, yes, the photos are perfect!

Thanks for the recipes, I also found a recipe book in the house that has the same recipes but it is good to know that they are right reading it form 2 sources, and for the syrup I just made white syrup by using vanilla instead of maple and it is really good, so no need to send the extract.

We had a baptism this week!!!! The first baptism here in the area in over 3 months!!!  We found him on the 11th as we were walking to another appointment and we felt prompted to knock on this random door so we did and he came out and he let us in. Later on we found out that he met the missionaries for the first time in Campinas but then he moved to Bauru, the missionaries passed by a couple of times but he never let them in but he felt prompted to let us in. We taught him the first vision and invited him to be baptized on the 20th and he accepted. We found out later that he cancelled his baptism in another church that would have been on the 27th. We kept teaching him and he accepted everything really easily, he has such a strong testimony of Joseph Smith that he would always accept what we told him (he would always ask why but after explaining he accepted everything really easily). And on the Friday before the baptism (the 18th) he had already set aside his tithing money for the money that he made during the week even though he didn’t have to yet!! And then he was baptized yesterday (the 20th).

He is one of my favorite people that I have met so far on the mission—he is an elect! I believe that he will remain active for a long time! He has gone to a Family Home Evening already and will go to another tonight. He was one of the 20 people to show up to the ward activity last Thursday! He is one of my best friends and proof that it is never too late to change!!!

Sister T. did a surprise inspection this week, and our house had a rep for being the worst house in the mission, but as you can see, Sister T. said it was the cleanest house in the mission and talked with us personally to congratulate us for our house!! The note reads as such: “I am very happy and proud of you two! This is the cleanest house that I´ve visited! Congratulations!! Sister Tavares.”  Yeah, we are pretty sweet! And, our house was in my opinion a lot more dirty than normal, and after our cleaning that we did today it is way cleaner than it was when she made her inspection.

After talking with a lot of elders that have also served in Apucarana, it turns out that Eldorado (the area we were starting to work in just before I was transferred here) was a really tough and trying area but I didn’t think it was too bad at all. But all of the missionaries that I know that served in Geisel (where I am now) said it was the toughest, most trying time of their mission with the worst area and the worst house they had on the mission, BUT I LOVE IT HERE!!

So as far as talks go, I’m glad your talk went well! And I also gave a talk in sacrament meeting this week (my first talk of the mission) and it just so happened that the two speakers in sacrament meeting were: yours truly and the Stake President. It wasn’t too bad at all and afterward everyone was asking how much time I had on the mission and how soon I was going home, everyone thought that I had at least a year on the mission so that was pretty cool!!

RAVENS!!!!! Can you guys PLEASE buy me a NFC champions Ravens t-shirt for me so I can have it when I get back??? And if/when the Ravens win the Super Bowl, please buy me a Super Bowl champions t-shirt too.  J

Me being goofy with a toy we found in the street. 

I think that’s all the time I have!!

Lots of Love,

Elder Cummings

A Crazy Week/Day in Apucarana: December 24, 2012

A CRAZY WEEK/DAY IN APUCARANA

FHE the night before my new comp arrived at the house of President N. and his family with our LMA (ward mission leader) in back with us, and a family of investigators of the other elders. It was really fun. (I had 7 different companions that day and was in 3 different trios...)

I will Skype home at 3 Brasil time which is 9 your time (I will explain why here in a little bit!!)

So here we go...

 My new comp Elder R. fresh in from Foz de Iguasu!!!

It was a tough week with the new comp. His name is Elder R. and he is from Elko originally but lived the past two years in Montana. He is a cowboy and is a really good guy. But, like Elder W. warned me is that it was hard to adjust to anyone else who is different than my old companion, and it was a rough week because our teaching styles are so different and he had about a little 5 minute fight thingy and an hour of silence yesterday and now we are golden and ready to work well together. Also I opened my Christmas presents today a day early (will explain here in a little bit) and am wearing one of Grandpa’s ties right now! They are sooooooo DOPE!!! Thank you so much for everything!! It is perfect. (Speaking of packages, I got a package from the Bosens yesterday, so thank them a bunch for me!! And the tie that they gave me is really dope too! I got a lot of compliments from strangers on the street for that tie!! Thank them a lot from me!!!) And from my packages I gave Elder R. about half of the black socks that I got (I hope you don’t mind because all of his socks don’t have heals left in them. Also, I am glad I didn’t get the mission shoe, he has them and says that they are pretty much garbage, he is about half way done with his second pair already and has just over one year on the mission.) 

Apucarana at sunset from out new area here in Eldorado

But other than that, it was a normal week with introducing Elder R. to all the ward leaders and our investigators and exploring our next area even more here in Apucarana, the only thing was that we were not finding any new investigators and it was hard to teach. But, we had a lot of support from the ward and we worked A LOT with lots of less active members in the ward (we have about 400 people in our branch on the books but only between 60 to 80 come to church each week...).

So it was a pretty normal week, that is, until this morning...

So at 8 this morning I received a phone call from President T. in the flesh, and I was thinking “oh no, what did I do wrong??” (He was in Apucarana doing interviews with the leaders here yesterday, and I saw him at the Christmas conference two weeks ago, and he was at the district conference 2 weeks ago as well, so I had seen him an awful lot over this past month...I was a little scared.) He started off the story like this: Elder Cummings how’s it going, how are things in Apucarana? How is Elder R. doing? So we have a little problem here...one of our new elders decided to go home instead of going to his area. And now we have a missionary all by himself, and this is a problem. So we are going to have an emergency transfer to give him a new companion and I was praying a lot about who should be his new companion and I feel as though it should be you...

So I am being transferred to Bauru São Paulo in the area called President Geisel (which is supposedly if not the hardest area in the mission it is in the top five hardest area in the mission) and will be companions with Elder F. who is a Brasilian. I leave tomorrow around 6 in the evening and will travel to Londrina and most likely spend the night in Londrina and then travel the 5 more hours to Bauru the day after Christmas... so because of this I opened the presents early and why I need to Skype earlier in the day, so let Grandma and Grandpa know so they can go to bed early to make it there in time to Skype with me as well. Sorry it is so early but I can’t control it. I hope they can make it! I’ve already got plans made to Skype at a member’s house and everything and we are going over tonight to help him make sure that everything will work. J

I still don’t believe that I am being transferred...but I know that it is the right move for me. I know that because of this that I was not made to train because the Lord had a different plan for me. And I am ready for the challenge of going to a tough area! I am really excited to go but I still don’t believe it!!...

Crazy stuff!! 

Sorry it is a little short, but I´ve got lots to do today. Skype you guys tomorrow at 3 p.m. my time so about 9 a.m. your time so be ready by about 8:30 because maybe we will start a little early!!

Love you guys so much!!!

Até tomorrow!!! (until tomorrow!)

Love,

Elder Cummings

I got up early this morning (on my first day of break—talk about devotion) to be sure I could be online when Eldon wrote, in case I had any questions about the Skype plans.  Below is the exchange back and forth that we had via email.

Mom

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW.  We’ll talk tomorrow at 9 a.m. and get all the details.  Skype will be on early, and I will be sure Grandma & Grandpa are here on time. I HOPE you got your package from Paula, too!  WOW!!!

Love,

MOM

P.S.  This was so totally worth getting up at 6 a.m. on my first day off…

Eldon

HAHA!!! So I haven´t gotten my package from Paula yet but maybe I will get it in Londrina tomorrow or here soon once I’m in Bauru!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Love,

Elder Cummings

Mom

You laugh…but I wanted to be sure I had everything I needed to know for the Skype, and be able to ask any questions really quickly if I wasn’t clear.   And now I can’t go back to bed, I have to put your letter and pics up on the blog, and look up Bauru on a map, and everything.

Merry Christmas Eve!  SO proud of you!

Love

Mom

Eldon

Bauru is really, really hot... I’m going to melt there. Elder W. served in this same area a while back so that will help me out a lot!!  We are going to feast tonight on the 3 cakes we received from members and order a pizza and buy 4 liters of Fanta orange to celebrate!!

Talk with you tomorrow!!

Love,

Elder Cummings

p.s. Thanks for being proud of me!! :)

p.p.s. Bauru is in the north east part of the mission just to help you find it easier

Mom

J Thanks. 

Your cool water bottle should help in Bauru too.

And it is totally OK that you gave socks to Elder R.

We’d better stop now… J

Love love love love love,

Mom

Staying in Apucarana: December 17, 2012

Dear family and friends,

1. Do you feel really tall there in Brazil? Yeah, I feel really tall here in Brasil, of course there are a few taller than me but I am pretty tall for here!
2. Did you get your third Christmas package from us? Aunt Paula also wonders if you got her package, and Aunt Jeannie said they sent a letter.  Yes, forgot to mention last week that I got your third package and the package from the ward along with lots of letters from the fam:  Grammie (2 letters), Kory & Michele, etc. Thank you!!!! J  I got Jeannie’s letter but not the package from Paula yet.
3. What time is sunrise/sunset now that it is summer (or nearly summer)? Does it stay light as late there as it does here in the summertime?  It is light about the same hours that it is in the United States. 

An average evening sky here in Apucarana

This week was a weird week indeed!! But the blessings of following the leaders are starting to bear fruit. Our work in Vila Reis is starting to slow down a lot so it is good that we are working in JD Catuai, which was the worst part of the other elder’s area (I asked for the worst area to work in), and we are finding some great people to teach and lots of less-active and part-member families to help out! It truly is a blessing!!! And it is a lot of fun to work in a larger, little more wealthy area of the city, I love Vila Reis, don’t get me wrong, but JD Catuai feels great too!!! But we did have 3 baptisms this week that came out of Vila Reis!!!!! All three of them are sisters, I baptized the two older ones (the ones farthest from me in the photo).

 

 Three sisters being baptized together!

I am pretty sure there has never been anyone more excited to be baptized than F. (the one closest to me in the picture)!! She is so cute! We actually baptized them on Saturday and confirmed all three on Sunday!!!!! We are working to help the "dad" stop drinking and to marry their mom so they can be a family together in the church!! (we have a dinner appointment there tonight) And, then besides them we have some other recent converts we are helping and one investigator that we had cut but he magically showed up at church (he always wanted to go but his mom never let him go). Other than that the work in Vila Reis is drying up a little. But JD Catuai is growing fast with lots of people to teach. It involves some more walking because it is a lot bigger that the Vila and it has A LOT more hills. But we are definitely feeling the love of the Lord for being faithful to the instructions of our leaders.

One last set of baptisms before Elder W. leaves to be a ZL in Maringa

So, as you know (or maybe you forgot) today is transfer day...I will stay here in APUCARANA!! I don´t know who my comp will be, I need to ask my district leader later today. Elder W. will leave and be a zone leader in Maringa with his trainer!! How cool is that!!!  I was a little disappointed that I was not called to be a trainer this week because everyone was saying how they thought that I would train this transfer but I just thought about that talk by D Todd Christofferson about the currant bush, and now I am really grateful that the Lord loved me enough to humble me and allow me to learn by following instead of struggling with being a trainer!! What a blessing!! The Lord will always be right.  President T. is amazing!!! He prays for 3 to 4 hours every day the week before transfers to make sure that everything will be in accordance with the plan of the Lord for us!!!

 Some of the most popular cars here in Apucarana

 A quick snapshot of the cathedral in Maringa that I mentioned last week,
which I took from the bus as we drove past it for the Christmas conference

Elder W. (not my comp) threw a bad egg out the window and onto the roof last p-day
and it stunk up the whole house so we spent a good chunk of time cleaning it up
missionary-style out on the very unstable roof! 

At our district meeting, Eu sou um TIGRE!!!

A sign for a travel office... Salt Lake temple... Utah Jazz... Utah... Disneyland... cool

Some more random stuff real quick:

• I heard that China is opening up for missionary work, which means that I think that Jason will serve there!! And if he does, Elder W.’s twin is learning Chinese now at West Point and if they both serve there, Elder W. will have one more year more or less than Jason there and maybe could train him!!! Me and Elder W. got a good kick about this possibility.  J
• What is S.G.’s address??
• Elders W. (not my comp) and S. are staying here with me. YAY!!!
• Snow sounds so good right now!! At least it is pretty cold and rainy here, APUCARANA really isn't that hot, I am truly blessed. It seems like every other zone is way hotter than Apucarana!!

 Lots of love!!!

(Hope I didn't forget too much!!!)

Elder Cummings

Que uma benção!!! What a blessing!!! December 10, 2012

Dear Everyone,

1. What model is your camera? I will look up the manual online and send you a little cheat sheet on how to transfer the photos directly from the camera.  My camera is a Canon PowerShot A3400 IS HD. I took my camera to this really sweet photo place and everything worked there so no viruses (they checked for me) and so I transferred all my photos from this past week onto a USB. But my card is not working again only my USB, so I can’t send the photos from this week but I will transfer them over again today and start using another memory card for my camera starting today!! J  
2. On transfer week (next week), will you still have a regular P-day on Monday? I will still have regular p-day on Monday; transfers happen on Tuesday/Wednesday.
3. What was your Christmas zone conference like? What did you do/eat, etc.?  Zone Conference was great! we went to Maringá (according to Wikipedia: a city and municipality in southern Brazil founded on 10 May, 1947 as a planned urban area. It is the third largest city in the state of Paraná with 357,117 inhabitants, and 612,617 in its metropolitan area. Located in the northwest of Paraná and crossed by the Tropic of Capricorn it is a regional centre for commerce, services, agro-industries, and universities, including the State University of Maringá). It is the city with the tallest cathedral. (I have a photo that I will send next week!!) But it was good , we did a Secret Santa with 5R ($2) presents, which was really fun, ate some cake, and got a lot of training and listened to some great talks from Pres. and Sister T., so it was really fun.

One of our shortcuts in Vila Reis.

This week was a pretty normal week up until Saturday night. We had 3 FIRM FIRM baptisms lined up. Three sisters, and we are helping the parents to get married here in a little bit, so they will be a good strong family and they are awesome. The mom, D., is really a wonderful driving force for everyone in the family!! They are almost golden (only have the marriage problem...) But, Saturday night when we were on the bus home—this is after spending an extra 18R on the bus to get them to be interviewed and everything—we got a text saying that they had to go to Arapongas to look after the grandma... NOOOOOOOOO!!  In truth, only the parents left for Arapongas, but they took all the keys and left the kids locked in the house.  You can only unlock doors here with the key from both sides, so they were trapped in the house and physically couldn’t go and be baptized.

Our one-year anniversary party for Elder W. (holding pizza)

We were already down on the ground from that and then we got another little kick in the gut from President Tavares. I found out a couple weeks ago that technically our area isn’t Vila Reis.  We share a much larger area with the other dupla (companionship) in our house, but the old zone leader, Elder V., worked in Vila Reis and he baptized a whole lot there (he dragged little kids out of bed in the morning and baptized them, literally went in the house and dragged them out) and he wanted us to look after them, so he assigned us to that area and we made it into an area of force with lots of families. So, Saturday night we got a call from Pres. T. telling us that we can only work in Vila Reis a maximum of 3 days each week and that we need to work in other parts of the area as well.  Wowza...Elder W. was particularly devastated!! But after about 10 minutes or so I received a really big sense of calm, saying that everything will work out and that this is the right thing to do at this time. But, Elder W. was still really sad about it.

Me and a member family that lives in Vila Reis that feeds us dinner
almost every night and saves our lives cause we have no money

We showed up at Vila Reis on Sunday with a bus that would take people to church for free and had 30 names of people that had promised the day before that they would go to church with us. We knocked on every door, and we got 0 people to come to church with us.  This, for me, was another sign that we should not be working there very much, but Elder W. was still really upset by this, he still is clinging on to Vila Reis with all his might, and is not excited to work here in the city. I am so pumped to work here in the city; I know that this is the right thing to do at this time. I asked Elder S. to give us the worst areas of the city where the people are the worst and don’t want to listen to our messages, and chose to work there for the days we will not work in Vila Reis. (I want to diminish our trips to Vila Reis eventually down to once every week), and in 2 hours of knocking doors in the worst part of this new area we found two families to teach, got one baptism date, and found a young man that maybe we can baptize this week (that is, if we can find him at home, he will be out of the house almost every day this week, but he already went to church and is guarding all the commandments). Que uma benção!!! What a blessing!!! So we pretty much had a transfer a week early and are pretty much opening an area because the other missionaries have zero investigators there and zero references. It is going to be so much fun!!! Hopefully Elder W. can catch the fever, and if not he will most likely leave this next week, so it will be all fine anyway. But, I hope that he gets the same confirmation that I did, and can let Vila Reis go a little bit (it’s hard because he spent 6 months building up the Vila).

finally got a photo next to the sign for APUCARANA

And now on a totally, different subject:  Brazilians have a ton of superstitions and/or urban legends that don’t make sense to us Americans. Such as:

• You can’t drink hot liquids when it is raining outside
• You can’t iron your shirt and then immediately afterwards take a shower
• You can’t put the toilet paper in the toilet, you have to put it in the trash (that’s what it is designed for—I talked with a maintenance guy about it).

 Just silly stuff like that, I bet Brazilians would think some of the things we do/don’t do are just as silly!

will you be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God???
(this was in the car of a member so don´t worry)

I think that’s about it for our adventures this week.

Lots of love!!!

Elder Eldon Ray Cummings

just some cows...

P.S. Got info about Christmas Skype today, I'll read it this week and let you guys know about more details this next p-day!!

P.P.S.  The Church is so True!!

Fasting Can Truly Bless Every Aspect of Life: December 3, 2012

Dear everyone,

Sorry, but it is a no go on the photos again!!!!! I have some really cool pics on this memory card so I am really bummed that I can´t send them to you!!! L

1. What are Christmas decorations like there? Do people decorate their homes and businesses? Christmas is pretty low key here. No one decorates anything...
2. What is one of your favorite Brazilian foods? I sent a letter with some info on food this past week so you should get it soon. And I’ll send back some recipes some other time, I am collecting a few, slow and steady.
3.  Are there any members in the branch that you have gotten to know particularly well? Most of the members I know really well are the members in Vila Reis. (I have photos but.... yeah...)

I think I will try to Skype between 7 and 8 at night here!! 

I want to start writing a letter to the Governor of Washington a little here and a little there during p-day, so can I get his name and address, please!!?

I was hoping to be able to send lots of photos this week because it was relatively uneventful. Well it is always eventful but a lot of the events are things that I have already written home about and it is hard to find new stuff to write about! 

Luckily we are starting to teach a lot more complete families now, instead of only having part of the family like us and the other part fighting against us, which is good. The main problem still is getting people to actually come to church. But luckily next week is District Conference (Stake Conference) and it is an hour later than normal and we have a bus that will bring people for free, so hopefully we can get everyone to go with us!!! More updates on this next week of course!

Yesterday was Fast Sunday, of course, and fasting is the hardest and most rewarding (besides baptizing) thing a missionary can do. The no food is no problem: we do that all the time, but the no water part, that is rough!!! This past Saturday (we fast starting after lunch Saturday and end at lunch on Sunday) was blazing hot (of course) and now I know it would suck to die of dehydration. Having a dry, crusty mouth is not fun at all!!! (I felt like I was in the movie “Dune” where I had to try to not breathe out too much of my water…Dad will understand.) BUT... we had some fasting miracles this week that were pretty cool. Fasting can truly bless every aspect of life from the most seemingly insignificant parts to the most important.

• First off, we got a member to teach with us on Saturday, and we got invited to come over to an investigator’s house for a barbecue on Sunday (which we happily accepted!!!).
• Then, that night we were having a mini zone conference over the phone, and I knelt down and looked behind me for the prayer and saw a pair of black socks that I was missing and one of my white Nike socks that had disappeared, so now I have a full pair of those again!!!
• The next day (Sunday), we got a member to drive us to Vila Reis to pick up 6 investigators for church, and then he took them home after church, too, saving us about 14R each (which is a lot for us). We are going to baptize 4 of the investigators this next Sunday (hopefully), and the parents (these 4 are all sisters) just need to get married before they can be baptized so hopefully they can get married and baptized here in the next couple of months!!
• And, we had a GIANT lunch/feast provided to us by the same member that drove our investigators around, and we had that dinner with a different investigator!! Life was great yesterday!!

What else to write...Oh, we have our Christmas conference for my zone and 2 others this Thursday so I should get my package then. It should be a lot of fun! It will be mine and Elder W.’s first Christmas conference (he was in the CTM for Christmas last year).  So, I will have some news about that for next week’s letter!!

So, an update on my memory card:  when I put it into the computer it says that nothing is on it (oh, and one of my USB Drives is destroyed pretty much) but in the camera the photo card has all my photos still. I will try to go to a place to get the photos transferred to a different card this week! (I don’t need any more USBs or anything, I should be fine.)

That’s about it for this week! Hopefully photos will come next week! Sorry again.  L

Lots of Love,

Elder Eldon Ray Cummings

Still Working Hard and Still Having Fun: October 22, 2012

For the Christmas box it might be a good idea to send a generic SD card to USB converter that will work with the computers here. And try to keep packages small of course. I don’t have a ton of room in my suitcases.

q&a time!!

• If we teach a group of 5 people that counts as 1 lesson. (we had 62 lessons this week!)
• Marriage is tough because to get a legal marriage it costs 250R which is a lot for the poor people and even a lot for those who are better off. Also almost everyone is baptized Catholic (which is a pain) but very few are practicing. 
• We get zero referrals from our branch and others (practically). We find everyone on the street or by knocking doors or on the bus.
• I have no idea how calling on Christmas will work. sorry

Jason—ROCK ON!!!!! I was thinking the same exact thing that a mission would help a lot for getting into a BYU school!! (Do you want to go to a BYU school?) I am so excited! Elder W. and I were talking about if you would do that or not!! I’m so excited! J

Me and Elder W. at a park

So yeah I’m getting tan again but I’m using my sunscreen and haven’t gotten burned yet. And, yeah, it is hot but there are some cold days as well. I’m already getting used to being sweaty all day. (And my deodorant is freaking AWESOME!!! All the other Americans are jealous of my deodorant because the deodorant here is terrible!!) And I do a good job of rotating my shoes pretty well. Even in the rain my shoes do really well and stay really dry. Amazingly everything dries really fast in my area, which is nice!

So weekly updates. We had 62 lessons, a new record for me and Elder W. Still zero baptisms. The mom (who is a member) of the girl who we were going to baptize for some reason doesn't want her to be baptized anymore (even though her daughter wants to, but we need the mother to sign the form), so she wasn't baptized this week).  We are seeing lots of conflicts with our investigators. We must be doing something right because Satan is working overtime against us. We have had investigators robbed, lots of Word of Wisdom problems with investigators drinking and a member who relapsed and drinks with one of our investigators. We have had a less active family lose a cousin to a gunfight, a husband who won’t let his wife go to church.  She had a dream of her baptism and told us about it in detail, perfectly describing an LDS baptism even though she has never seen one but her husband doesn't want us to come back anymore, and won’t let her go to church so we had to stop teaching her to help keep the peace at home, but I know that one day she will be baptized and receive these blessings either in this life or the life to come.

Another picture of me and Elder W. in the park.

Satan is working overtime for sure. Elder W. didn't get any money on our money day (actually he got 220R for his allowance and a reimbursement for previous purchases but the bank stole all of his money and the money from other missionaries in the mission and our zone, so we now have a new official mission rule to never use the Bank of Brasil but instead we have to use the other banks. Hopefully he will receive his money today. 

Yeah, lots of trials already but we are still working hard and still having fun! It is amazing the gifts of the Spirit that we receive for being faithful and following all of the mission rules! Hopefully the baptisms will come but I know that this period will prepare me for the rest of my mission and even if I don’t fully understand why things happen I know that our Heavenly Father does and that everything happens for a reason!

Daylight savings was killer here because we have to get up early on Sunday so we have gotten up at 4:30 for 2 Sundays in a row now. We are so exhausted because we always have something or another that bogs us down but we always have the spirit to help us out when we need it!! I’m making sure that Elder W. eats because sometimes he doesn't want to, but he always does and is getting a lot better about it and we are both healthy and happy even though we never have money for food (for example before going shopping today we have two packets of juice powder and some butter and that’s it). But we always get meals from members (and pretty much all the other missionaries only get lunch from members but it seems like we always get lunch and dinner as well).  We have a few members and even investigators that always feed us dinner or give us fruit or juice and even yesterday when we were not even working in our area, we had no food at home and no dinner and we ran into a member around 8 at night who made us sandwiches and gave us cookies and juice! It was truly a blessing and we are so truly blessed every day. The Lord really does look out for His missionaries!!

A coolish picture on a wall, kind of random.

Dad--Thank you for the quotes from the Al Smith fundraiser dinner, they are too funny!!! And the Diablo 3 updates are nice too. I love reading your part because I can hear your voice when I read your writing!

We keep finding great potential in our investigators and maybe found a baptism for the other elders in our apartment for this next week, which would be awesome to be able to help them out. They had a baptism this past week which was special!! Hopefully we can get our baptisms rolling here soon. (Dumb Satan!!) Time sure does fly out here in the field! I can’t believe I've already been here for 3 weeks Crazy!!!

Well that’s about it! I’ll put more in my snail mail letter of the week.

Portuguese to English translation fail!
(I am holding a Law of Chastity pamphlet in my hand)

Lots of Love,

Elder Cummings