Family, family, family !
How are you ? What wonderful lives you are leading. Thanks for writing me, keeping me updated on all the news and gossip and the like. It probably isn’t very missionary-like to enjoy the gossip bit, but keep sending it and I’ll just have to try and not like it.
I can’t believe that everyone is going back to school! Has summer really passed that quickly? Keeks will be continuing the BYU path and Alex will be a senior. That is strange to me. I know it’ll be a great year for him. Sounds like Keeks is doing well; The FLSR and BYUSA and all her enthusiasm - I love it. Send Heathy Shea my love.
This week was splendid. On Tuesday Soeur Seiko and I decided to leave the car (our little Berlingo – a real sloppy piece of French automotive) at home and walk around our sector, the roundabouts of our house. We ended up findng (or better yet, being led to) two new investigators who have real potential - Manu and Valerie. Manu is a Futunian women (who I honestly thought was a man for a few days after until Soeur Seiko read what I wrote on Manu’s progression sheet and told me that she wasn’t an “il” but an “elle” – oops!) who has never really questioned her religion before. When we asked her if she had ever prayed to know whether the Catholic church was true she said she had never even thought about it, and then we explained the Joseph Smith story. At the end of our second lesson with her we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that she desired to know its truthfulness, that she wanted to have effective prayers and gain greater faith. I hope for the best with her progression, and I hope she doesn’t end up like the one person in the parable of the sower who accepts the word/truth with joy and then when the going gets tough gives up on it. We’ll pray, and we’ll see.
We found two other new investigators this week when we did the same thing; when we parked the car and walked around. Doing this allows us greater contact with people and more opportunities to knock on doors.
I care for the people here and their culture. There are some exceptions of how we are received, but when it comes to the Wallisian people here, oh my, they are so nice. They are open to discussion and invite us in to drink a Milo (it’s a kind of watered-down, more savory than sweet hot chocolate). They LOVE to talk and talk and talk, and we find ourselves just getting out of their door to run to our next appointment. Though, thanks to “the traditions of their fathers,” if you will, they proclaim Catholicism (though it seems to be more a statement of nationality than of conviction) and they have never known anything else. They happen to all have the same name: Malia, Soané, or Petelo. This makes our planning session confusing: “We have a lesson with Malia tomorrow. Malia? Which Malia? You know, the Wallisian one who lives over in Bernard. Which one? Ummmm…”
The days are just zooming by. I can’t believe that the month of August is halfway over! We are starting to exercise every morning with one of our investigators, Katalina. She has some health problems due to a long-term smoking and coffee habit. That’s the story with everyone here. If the French government really wanted to do some damage they would stop importing cigarettes, coffee and alcohol – the three staples of life for the vast majority. Anyway, Katalina was told that she needed to start walking in the mornings. She didn’t want to do it alone so we told her that we have time in the morning for our exercises and that we could come over every (except the Sabbath) and walk with her. We can teach her some new gospel principle every morning!
Yesterday, Sunday, I gave my second talk in Sacrament meeting. It was our “objectif de missionnaire” – missionary purpose. It went well. I used Elder Perry’s conference talk and the hymn “Dear to the Heart of the Shepard” – a hymn that I think you should look up sometime and read.
Today we are having a north zone activity here in our sector at the Baie de Toros, which is an inlet on the ocean front. It’s beautiful there. I will take pictures and send them home. I am excited to see the other missionaries. I love being around them and laughing with them all. I just love this mission! I am surrounded by motivated people who are wonderful examples to me.
I hope that the missionaries in our ward are doing well, and I hope that our family can be a good support to them. The Li-Khau family here, especially Soeur Li-Khau, is such a support and strength to us missionaries. Every Thursday we have dinner at their house and you know that they care about who we are and what we are doing.
I am doing well. It is getter warmer and I hear that summer here is unbearable. Great. I am getting a nice tan on my feet from my sandals. The elders are having transfers this week so a lot of people are moving around and getting new companions. I am staying in Paita, which I am glad for. We are working hard. Thanks so much for your support.
I hope all continues in paths of joy at home, although the fact that all those plums we scavenged by a certain company of workers is obnoxious.
Happy Birthday to little Riley! 1 year old! Please take a picture of the cake you make, Mom, and send it my way.
Sorry if this letter was a big jumble of news. We all know that my brain works in a ricocheting fashion - bouncing from one thought to the next.
Love,
Soeur Cummins
