Family,
This week has seen some adventures in the mission field of New Caledonia. The best news, and the news with the most eternal effects, is that Aurélie told us that she wants to be baptized and set a date: 22 May! We began our lesson with a song and a prayer, like usual and then she said with a very graven face, "Les soeurs, I have been thinking about baptism." Just like that, with a nice pause afterwards, for effect, I am sure. Soeur Chugg and I were thrown by the face she was making, and I was thinking, oh no. Then, "Je veux me faire baptiser. Is May too soon?" Dust of joy got caught in my eyes and made them water as we told her that, no, May was not too soon and that we would get her bien prepared for the day that she chose. She wants to go to Maré personally and invite her parents (who live there) to come out during the vacations at the end of May. The next lesson we taught her (on Friday)was the blessed law of chastity. Her situation is not exactly conducive to the observance of this law, but she told us that she knew she would be blessed in obedience. We read 1 Nephi 3:7, and she said that this scripture is her new motto. She knows that the Lord will help her as she strives to adhere to all these commandments. Soeur Chugg and I marvel at the works that her faith is producing in her life. For example: She is at church every week, even with her rambunctious 3 year old, who, with great thrill on our part, finally went to nursery yesterday. It was a feat deserving of acclaim.
On Thursday evening we had a very good lesson with Marie and Jimy. We taught about our families and the blessings that our parents have brought upon us, their children, with the good decisions they have made - being baptized, going to the temple, teaching us well, etc. At the end of the lesson I felt that there was something missing. There was a moment of silence and I felt directed to say how much I admired Lehi as a father. Then I read out of 1 Nephi 2:2-3 of how Lehi follows the Lord's commandment to leave behind everything, take his family and travel into an unknown desert in order to reach, at that time to him, an unknown destination. I explained that perhaps today Heavenly Father does not ask us to leave our native home and our riches and the things of worldly worth, but He does ask us to leave behind the things that we think are precious (dirty habits, disobedience to commandments, friends that are evil influences, etc) and our corrupted Jerusalems (unholy places). Perhaps we feel as though we are going into an unknown land and into unknown conditions in doing those things, but just like for Lehi, Heavenly Father has a promise land waiting for us at the end of the test of our faith. We must be faithful to Him and we MUST trust in Him. He will never lead us down dark paths, and obedience leads always always always to happiness. Isn't that the message of the Book of Mormon: keep the commandments and you will be blessed.
I think there was a cyclone that missed our island this past week which is, of course, a good thing (though it is my curious desire to experience a cyclone before I depart). But, the leftovers of that cyclone have hit our island with dreariness, cold, rain and cloudiness. I am not doing okay without the sun, and I am pretty sure that my conception of cold is completely de-wired. I guess it can't be too cold since we sleep with our window wide open every night... But, with all this nasty weather Soeur Chugg and I fell victim to a nauseating sickness that rendered us incapable of getting out of bed the other day. We had been invited by an ami, nonetheless, to have lunch with her at the Meridian, so we peeled ourselves from our mattresses and took the bus ride to her apartment. I thought the bus was going to do me in. Once at her apartment we piled in her car and drove to the Meridian where we ate what would have been the most delicious Japanese cuisine (grilled tuna, sushi, California rolls, etc) had we not been for the entire meal on the verge of throwing up. It was wonderful of our amie and awful for us. All is well now, don’t worry.
I love you all. The Gospel is very, very true. I wish there were more words that I could conjure up to tell you what the Gospel means to me, but I suppose that some depths of the soul are not meant to be expressed in written forms. And, well, I am no Talmage.
Bonne semaine à tous!
Love,
Soeur Cummins
This week has seen some adventures in the mission field of New Caledonia. The best news, and the news with the most eternal effects, is that Aurélie told us that she wants to be baptized and set a date: 22 May! We began our lesson with a song and a prayer, like usual and then she said with a very graven face, "Les soeurs, I have been thinking about baptism." Just like that, with a nice pause afterwards, for effect, I am sure. Soeur Chugg and I were thrown by the face she was making, and I was thinking, oh no. Then, "Je veux me faire baptiser. Is May too soon?" Dust of joy got caught in my eyes and made them water as we told her that, no, May was not too soon and that we would get her bien prepared for the day that she chose. She wants to go to Maré personally and invite her parents (who live there) to come out during the vacations at the end of May. The next lesson we taught her (on Friday)was the blessed law of chastity. Her situation is not exactly conducive to the observance of this law, but she told us that she knew she would be blessed in obedience. We read 1 Nephi 3:7, and she said that this scripture is her new motto. She knows that the Lord will help her as she strives to adhere to all these commandments. Soeur Chugg and I marvel at the works that her faith is producing in her life. For example: She is at church every week, even with her rambunctious 3 year old, who, with great thrill on our part, finally went to nursery yesterday. It was a feat deserving of acclaim.
On Thursday evening we had a very good lesson with Marie and Jimy. We taught about our families and the blessings that our parents have brought upon us, their children, with the good decisions they have made - being baptized, going to the temple, teaching us well, etc. At the end of the lesson I felt that there was something missing. There was a moment of silence and I felt directed to say how much I admired Lehi as a father. Then I read out of 1 Nephi 2:2-3 of how Lehi follows the Lord's commandment to leave behind everything, take his family and travel into an unknown desert in order to reach, at that time to him, an unknown destination. I explained that perhaps today Heavenly Father does not ask us to leave our native home and our riches and the things of worldly worth, but He does ask us to leave behind the things that we think are precious (dirty habits, disobedience to commandments, friends that are evil influences, etc) and our corrupted Jerusalems (unholy places). Perhaps we feel as though we are going into an unknown land and into unknown conditions in doing those things, but just like for Lehi, Heavenly Father has a promise land waiting for us at the end of the test of our faith. We must be faithful to Him and we MUST trust in Him. He will never lead us down dark paths, and obedience leads always always always to happiness. Isn't that the message of the Book of Mormon: keep the commandments and you will be blessed.
I think there was a cyclone that missed our island this past week which is, of course, a good thing (though it is my curious desire to experience a cyclone before I depart). But, the leftovers of that cyclone have hit our island with dreariness, cold, rain and cloudiness. I am not doing okay without the sun, and I am pretty sure that my conception of cold is completely de-wired. I guess it can't be too cold since we sleep with our window wide open every night... But, with all this nasty weather Soeur Chugg and I fell victim to a nauseating sickness that rendered us incapable of getting out of bed the other day. We had been invited by an ami, nonetheless, to have lunch with her at the Meridian, so we peeled ourselves from our mattresses and took the bus ride to her apartment. I thought the bus was going to do me in. Once at her apartment we piled in her car and drove to the Meridian where we ate what would have been the most delicious Japanese cuisine (grilled tuna, sushi, California rolls, etc) had we not been for the entire meal on the verge of throwing up. It was wonderful of our amie and awful for us. All is well now, don’t worry.
I love you all. The Gospel is very, very true. I wish there were more words that I could conjure up to tell you what the Gospel means to me, but I suppose that some depths of the soul are not meant to be expressed in written forms. And, well, I am no Talmage.
Bonne semaine à tous!
Love,
Soeur Cummins
