Dear Family,
This past week, though a bit dreary skyward, has seen great progression in our work in Rivière Salée personally, as our companionship (we are now past our three month mark as a tripanionship - that is accomplishment to celebrate in and of itself), and with our investigators. We have seen a trend as we are searching for new amis and watching the progression of others: we are teaching many young women/mothers and seeing that they are being prepared by Heavenly Father to accept this message. He is preparing His daughters to accept and raise their children within the protecting walls of the restored Gospel.
This week we, as a companionship, focused our studies together on the Spirit and how He works. In doing this we saw a drastic rise in the presence of the Spirit in our lessons. I have come to learn how essential it is to remain simple and use powerful phrases of truth in teaching and thus rely on the Spirit to testify to the heart of the people we teach. One particular lesson was with a young woman named Alice. She was a follow-up that we have had for quite a while, and since we found ourselves in her neighborhood we decided to try and see her again. She immediately invited us in. We taught the first lesson, and though her little boy was being a rascal she was so in tune with what we were saying (though I became distracted when I had to wrangle my poor Bible from the little one's hands - the cover of it is already near the point of complete disintegration, but thankfully the word remains intact - that puts some perspective on that statement of Joseph Smith, "no unhallowed hand can stop this work from progressing") We found out that she is a cousin of Aurélie's (which is really not uncommon since it seems that everyone on this island is related one way or another), so she is going to be invited to come along with us for the next lesson.
We also had a breakthrough lesson with a young mother named Anysse. She has wanted to enter the waters of baptism since she met the missionaries last October, but her martial situation is holding her back; he lives with the father of her daughter and custom has it such that she cannot marry him in his tribe for quite a while. It is much too complicated to explain in an email, however, they can be married at la Marie (the town hall). He just hasn't wanted to take the dive. It has been nearly two months since we have been able to set up an appointment with her, but we finally succeeded. We taught the Plan of Salvation and Anysse was open, curious, and receptive. It became a big discussion, and at the end we told her that if she took a step of faith, prayed, and set a date of baptism with Milo (her boyfriend) that the Lord would make it so that her desires became true. We saw her two days later and she said that she went home and told Milo that he could either married her or take her, her things and her daughter back to her father's house (in another area). Milo conceded. They are going be married by the end of the year and Anysse will be baptized. We were thrilled, to say the least. The Lord wants nothing more than His children's salvation and happiness, but He does work according to our faith and diligence. I know that if our hearts are set on righteous desires and if we persevere in those yearnings that He will, according to his divine timetable, make it such that those desires are realized. I am sure of it.
On Sunday I gave a talk in church on temple work and personal worthiness to enter the temple (Isaiah 2 and Psalms 24), but since I am a missionary I made sure to put a nice missionary spin on it: How important it is for us to do the work for the dead but that we cannot let those whom are living go without knowing the Gospel as well. Why wait until they are on the other side when our probationary period is here and now? This is the time that we have to prepare to meet God and, might I add, help others to prepare to meet Him as well.
We met an old, fragile French man this week (Jacques) who is a bit of an American lover. Surprise of surprises is that this incredibly french French man is a Harley Davidson buff and was tossing around the word "Hog" like it was a part of his own vernacular. He gave us H.D. coins, showed us his impressive thimble set of every state of the union with its appropriate flag (Mom, you would have been awed), gave a cheers to "America and Mormons" when we drank our glasses of water, and then proceeded to tell us that he read the entire Book of Mormon back when he met the missionaries in France back in the 1950's. I will keep you all updated on Jacques' progression as I think he is simply delighted to have us in his home.
Oh, and we had Father's Day lunch at Pako's with a buffet meant for 20 and not 4. But, that's Frère Kilama for you
The Spirit is in this work and His guidance is leading us to those prepared to receive.
How I love ze mission field!
Love you,
Soeur Cummins
This past week, though a bit dreary skyward, has seen great progression in our work in Rivière Salée personally, as our companionship (we are now past our three month mark as a tripanionship - that is accomplishment to celebrate in and of itself), and with our investigators. We have seen a trend as we are searching for new amis and watching the progression of others: we are teaching many young women/mothers and seeing that they are being prepared by Heavenly Father to accept this message. He is preparing His daughters to accept and raise their children within the protecting walls of the restored Gospel.
This week we, as a companionship, focused our studies together on the Spirit and how He works. In doing this we saw a drastic rise in the presence of the Spirit in our lessons. I have come to learn how essential it is to remain simple and use powerful phrases of truth in teaching and thus rely on the Spirit to testify to the heart of the people we teach. One particular lesson was with a young woman named Alice. She was a follow-up that we have had for quite a while, and since we found ourselves in her neighborhood we decided to try and see her again. She immediately invited us in. We taught the first lesson, and though her little boy was being a rascal she was so in tune with what we were saying (though I became distracted when I had to wrangle my poor Bible from the little one's hands - the cover of it is already near the point of complete disintegration, but thankfully the word remains intact - that puts some perspective on that statement of Joseph Smith, "no unhallowed hand can stop this work from progressing") We found out that she is a cousin of Aurélie's (which is really not uncommon since it seems that everyone on this island is related one way or another), so she is going to be invited to come along with us for the next lesson.
We also had a breakthrough lesson with a young mother named Anysse. She has wanted to enter the waters of baptism since she met the missionaries last October, but her martial situation is holding her back; he lives with the father of her daughter and custom has it such that she cannot marry him in his tribe for quite a while. It is much too complicated to explain in an email, however, they can be married at la Marie (the town hall). He just hasn't wanted to take the dive. It has been nearly two months since we have been able to set up an appointment with her, but we finally succeeded. We taught the Plan of Salvation and Anysse was open, curious, and receptive. It became a big discussion, and at the end we told her that if she took a step of faith, prayed, and set a date of baptism with Milo (her boyfriend) that the Lord would make it so that her desires became true. We saw her two days later and she said that she went home and told Milo that he could either married her or take her, her things and her daughter back to her father's house (in another area). Milo conceded. They are going be married by the end of the year and Anysse will be baptized. We were thrilled, to say the least. The Lord wants nothing more than His children's salvation and happiness, but He does work according to our faith and diligence. I know that if our hearts are set on righteous desires and if we persevere in those yearnings that He will, according to his divine timetable, make it such that those desires are realized. I am sure of it.
On Sunday I gave a talk in church on temple work and personal worthiness to enter the temple (Isaiah 2 and Psalms 24), but since I am a missionary I made sure to put a nice missionary spin on it: How important it is for us to do the work for the dead but that we cannot let those whom are living go without knowing the Gospel as well. Why wait until they are on the other side when our probationary period is here and now? This is the time that we have to prepare to meet God and, might I add, help others to prepare to meet Him as well.
We met an old, fragile French man this week (Jacques) who is a bit of an American lover. Surprise of surprises is that this incredibly french French man is a Harley Davidson buff and was tossing around the word "Hog" like it was a part of his own vernacular. He gave us H.D. coins, showed us his impressive thimble set of every state of the union with its appropriate flag (Mom, you would have been awed), gave a cheers to "America and Mormons" when we drank our glasses of water, and then proceeded to tell us that he read the entire Book of Mormon back when he met the missionaries in France back in the 1950's. I will keep you all updated on Jacques' progression as I think he is simply delighted to have us in his home.
Oh, and we had Father's Day lunch at Pako's with a buffet meant for 20 and not 4. But, that's Frère Kilama for you
The Spirit is in this work and His guidance is leading us to those prepared to receive.
How I love ze mission field!
Love you,
Soeur Cummins
