I am glad to hear the good news from home! It makes me happy to know that you are all prospering and doing well. Continue doing the good things you are, and yes, continue to have family home evening, prayer and all that good Gospel stuff because it truly is through our daily efforts that we are strengthened. I have come to see that personally and in the lives of others. If you ever need ideas for Family Home Evening, may I suggest looking at the first lesson in Chp. 3 of Preach My Gospel and teaching each section together as a family? You could each take one heading and go in around and share the first lesson with each other. The first lesson has strengthen my testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel.
Sorry about not writing yesterday; our P-day was changed to Tuesday because today is Bastille Day (France’s independence day – independence from what though, I ask? Themselves and their own revolution?? Oh, the mystery of the French mindset) and there is a big activity for the entire district of New Caledonia (all the branches on the island) that all the missionaries are going to.
Oh, funny story: so last week I told you how we were going to hike a mountain (Mt. Koghi) with our zone for a P-day activity. Well, it was a beautiful hike and I have never seen such exquisite foliage and flora in all my life. There were all sorts of trees that have their roots growing all over the ground, and there is moss covering everything! We all hiked to a big waterfall which took about an hour, and then we hiked back. When everyone arrived back at the cars we noticed that two elders hadn’t arrived yet so we thought; hmm, they are probably taking pictures, right? More time passed and we soon realized that those two elders were lost. The zone leaders went to go see if they could find them and nothing… The senior couple, the Mautz’s were with us and they were not pleased. But, after about three hours some of us went to the bottom on the road we had travelled up to see if the elders had somehow wandered down there, and we saw them hop out of a man’s truck. They were all scratched up and wet. They said that they lost the trail (which was not marked very well in the first place) and so they just continued to hike down (not a good idea - these are eagle scouts, by the way) and they finally, after sometwists and turns and cliffs and rivers, found someone’s house and a ride down to the bottom. We were all tired, slightly annoyed, ready to go home at that point, VERY glad that we didn’t have to call the gendarmes (the police) and thankful that the elders were okay.
In other news, my companion got food poisoning this week from our district meeting barbeque where we ate hamburgers that perhaps (at least for her) had not be cooked completely. We spent some time that afternoon inside while she was sick. I was able to read quite a bit of “Jesus the Christ” that afternoon.
On Saturday a little boy named Terri Aru was baptized, and I gave a talk on baptism. He had a very sweet look on his face when he entered into the font; it was a tender moment to see this little boy making sacred covenants with his loving Heavenly Father.
We continue to work with Yori and his father Michael. They are more consistent in keeping their engagements and they should soon be baptized as well. Yori has a little friend that comes to each of our appointments with him, named Roldoph, and we all enjoy reading through the Book of Mormon Stories book with all those illustrations and simplified accounts. I love that book, and I remember when Mom used to read the Doctrine and Covenants one to us when we were little.
Oh, I found a really good quote that you might like Mom that I read after receiving your email last week. It’s from the last General Conference in a talk given to the young men in priesthood session by Pres. Packard: “do not run with friends that worry your parents.” You may use that as you like.
As for the work, we came in contact with a Wallisienne woman whom we received the cordonnées (I am not sure how to translate that one – it means her information on where she lives, who she is, etc) of from two different sets of missionaries that she came in contact with last week. When we arrived at her house she immediately came out and was pleased to see us and talk with us and start having the lessons given to her again (she had studied with the missionaries two years ago). She is on a search for the truth and has come to us. We had a really wonderful lesson with her yesterday. She is excited to read the Book of Mormon, and she felt the Spirit at our meeting. At the end of our lesson she gave us a beautiful necklace that her grandmother had made and this wooden mask. I was touched by her quick generosity toward us. Soeur Spencer kept the necklace and I the very cool mask. We may not have very many people here who are progressing, but the ones that do and who want what we have to give bring us SO much joy.
It must be nice to have the house all to yourself, Momma, but I am jealous of the huge family gathering occurring in San Simeon! I hope they have a wonderful time together and I do hope that Grandma is doing well. She is always sending me sweet, little letters and I do appreciate her words of wisdom. Will you make sure to send her the emails I send home so she knows what I am up to? I can’t always write her, but I want her to know that I am okay and that I think about her and love her and Grandpa a LOT.
Tonight we have another exchange with another group of sisters and I will be with Soeur Seiko for the day tomorrow – that means that it will be all French for 24 hours. Wooh! I am still having trouble with the language and struggling to see if I have really made any progress. My trainer goes home in three weeks and I am not excited about that at all. It will be up to me to keep this sector going afterwards, and I hope the Lord will qualify me for what’s up ahead.
I am eating well and life is good. We had this really good chocolate mousse at the family Toyon’s house the other night! And, the other night at Mikael and Helene’s (they are not members, but we teach their two girls English every Wednesday) Helene told us all about her food adventures in France since she just went there to visit some family. Oh, I simply must go to France after my mission. Who wants to come with me?
Anyway, life is good and this week looks like it should be another good one. I am growing more accustomed to mission life, and I am getting into a nice rhythm here in Paita.
I love you all and I hope you are passing the summer days nicely. Mom, for some reason I just thought of that one time that you and I bought Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and sandwiches and came home and watched a movie together – I think everyone else went camping and it was just the two of us at the house. That’s a nice memory. :)
I love and miss you all! I send massive amounts of love waves each of your ways!
Love,
Soeur Cummins
P.S. I received Dadder’s package on Sunday when the Mautz’s came up to visit our branch! Dad, thank you so much for sending that to me! I love the little dictionary and it is in my backpack where it will stay and be very used for the rest of my days here! I love even more that you still go to the thrift shop and that you saw that book, thought of me, and spent the time to send it to me. I love that part the best – I was very touched. I love you, Dadders.
P.S.S. Mom, good luck with your interview! I will pray, pray, pray for you! I am so glad to have an ambitious mother who strives for great things! You are an inspiration to me. Oh, and I keep a journal, don’t worry –and I think you are I are very alike – I am hard on myself too sometimes… I need to have more patience with myself. We’ll work on that together.
P.S.S.S. I am getting much better at this French keyboard given that this is a long letter!
JE VOUS AIME!!!
Sorry about not writing yesterday; our P-day was changed to Tuesday because today is Bastille Day (France’s independence day – independence from what though, I ask? Themselves and their own revolution?? Oh, the mystery of the French mindset) and there is a big activity for the entire district of New Caledonia (all the branches on the island) that all the missionaries are going to.
Oh, funny story: so last week I told you how we were going to hike a mountain (Mt. Koghi) with our zone for a P-day activity. Well, it was a beautiful hike and I have never seen such exquisite foliage and flora in all my life. There were all sorts of trees that have their roots growing all over the ground, and there is moss covering everything! We all hiked to a big waterfall which took about an hour, and then we hiked back. When everyone arrived back at the cars we noticed that two elders hadn’t arrived yet so we thought; hmm, they are probably taking pictures, right? More time passed and we soon realized that those two elders were lost. The zone leaders went to go see if they could find them and nothing… The senior couple, the Mautz’s were with us and they were not pleased. But, after about three hours some of us went to the bottom on the road we had travelled up to see if the elders had somehow wandered down there, and we saw them hop out of a man’s truck. They were all scratched up and wet. They said that they lost the trail (which was not marked very well in the first place) and so they just continued to hike down (not a good idea - these are eagle scouts, by the way) and they finally, after sometwists and turns and cliffs and rivers, found someone’s house and a ride down to the bottom. We were all tired, slightly annoyed, ready to go home at that point, VERY glad that we didn’t have to call the gendarmes (the police) and thankful that the elders were okay.
In other news, my companion got food poisoning this week from our district meeting barbeque where we ate hamburgers that perhaps (at least for her) had not be cooked completely. We spent some time that afternoon inside while she was sick. I was able to read quite a bit of “Jesus the Christ” that afternoon.
On Saturday a little boy named Terri Aru was baptized, and I gave a talk on baptism. He had a very sweet look on his face when he entered into the font; it was a tender moment to see this little boy making sacred covenants with his loving Heavenly Father.
We continue to work with Yori and his father Michael. They are more consistent in keeping their engagements and they should soon be baptized as well. Yori has a little friend that comes to each of our appointments with him, named Roldoph, and we all enjoy reading through the Book of Mormon Stories book with all those illustrations and simplified accounts. I love that book, and I remember when Mom used to read the Doctrine and Covenants one to us when we were little.
Oh, I found a really good quote that you might like Mom that I read after receiving your email last week. It’s from the last General Conference in a talk given to the young men in priesthood session by Pres. Packard: “do not run with friends that worry your parents.” You may use that as you like.
As for the work, we came in contact with a Wallisienne woman whom we received the cordonnées (I am not sure how to translate that one – it means her information on where she lives, who she is, etc) of from two different sets of missionaries that she came in contact with last week. When we arrived at her house she immediately came out and was pleased to see us and talk with us and start having the lessons given to her again (she had studied with the missionaries two years ago). She is on a search for the truth and has come to us. We had a really wonderful lesson with her yesterday. She is excited to read the Book of Mormon, and she felt the Spirit at our meeting. At the end of our lesson she gave us a beautiful necklace that her grandmother had made and this wooden mask. I was touched by her quick generosity toward us. Soeur Spencer kept the necklace and I the very cool mask. We may not have very many people here who are progressing, but the ones that do and who want what we have to give bring us SO much joy.
It must be nice to have the house all to yourself, Momma, but I am jealous of the huge family gathering occurring in San Simeon! I hope they have a wonderful time together and I do hope that Grandma is doing well. She is always sending me sweet, little letters and I do appreciate her words of wisdom. Will you make sure to send her the emails I send home so she knows what I am up to? I can’t always write her, but I want her to know that I am okay and that I think about her and love her and Grandpa a LOT.
Tonight we have another exchange with another group of sisters and I will be with Soeur Seiko for the day tomorrow – that means that it will be all French for 24 hours. Wooh! I am still having trouble with the language and struggling to see if I have really made any progress. My trainer goes home in three weeks and I am not excited about that at all. It will be up to me to keep this sector going afterwards, and I hope the Lord will qualify me for what’s up ahead.
I am eating well and life is good. We had this really good chocolate mousse at the family Toyon’s house the other night! And, the other night at Mikael and Helene’s (they are not members, but we teach their two girls English every Wednesday) Helene told us all about her food adventures in France since she just went there to visit some family. Oh, I simply must go to France after my mission. Who wants to come with me?
Anyway, life is good and this week looks like it should be another good one. I am growing more accustomed to mission life, and I am getting into a nice rhythm here in Paita.
I love you all and I hope you are passing the summer days nicely. Mom, for some reason I just thought of that one time that you and I bought Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and sandwiches and came home and watched a movie together – I think everyone else went camping and it was just the two of us at the house. That’s a nice memory. :)
I love and miss you all! I send massive amounts of love waves each of your ways!
Love,
Soeur Cummins
P.S. I received Dadder’s package on Sunday when the Mautz’s came up to visit our branch! Dad, thank you so much for sending that to me! I love the little dictionary and it is in my backpack where it will stay and be very used for the rest of my days here! I love even more that you still go to the thrift shop and that you saw that book, thought of me, and spent the time to send it to me. I love that part the best – I was very touched. I love you, Dadders.
P.S.S. Mom, good luck with your interview! I will pray, pray, pray for you! I am so glad to have an ambitious mother who strives for great things! You are an inspiration to me. Oh, and I keep a journal, don’t worry –and I think you are I are very alike – I am hard on myself too sometimes… I need to have more patience with myself. We’ll work on that together.
P.S.S.S. I am getting much better at this French keyboard given that this is a long letter!
JE VOUS AIME!!!
