Dear Family,
This week has been interesting. I think I always start my emails off like that, with a “this week has been interesting.” The truth is that the weeks here really are always interesting, and each day is filled with experiences that are joyful, painful, surprising, inspiring, disappointing – the whole spectrum of emotion. Perhaps I should look around in the thesaurus for a better word, but for now I think the word “interesting” does a decent job of summarizing the moments that fill 7 days here in the mission field.
Before I tell you what events have taken place each day this week, I am going to spoil you with the dessert of my week - the best moment of this week: On Saturday morning Soeur Seiko and I were having our companionship study when the assistants came by our apartment on the way to the airport to pick up a new elder coming in from Tahiti. They gave us a bunch of letters that we had received, and I wanted to share one letter in particular that I received from a lady in North Carolina named Helen Duncan. At the MTC they have a place called the Call Center where missionaries call people who have placed online requests for free Book of Mormons or other free items that the Church offers (DVDs and other media). The missionaries call them to see if they have received the item they requested and it is also an opportunity to share the message of the restored Gospel. One missionary, before she left to go to Switzerland gave me the number of a lady she had been talking to at the Call Center and wanted me to continue contact with her. Her name is Helen and she was the sweetest lady, but she was in a bit of a difficult situation financially and health-wise. We talked a number of times about the Gospel and her life and before I left the MTC I made sure to give her the number of the leadership in the wards in her area (because she needed some major help) and sent her contact information to the missionaries there as well, but after I left I never knew how she was. Well, I received a letter from her the other day saying that she was able to get help from the local branch president and that the missionaries came over, taught her and that on June 27th of this year she was baptized into the Church! I felt such profound JOY when I read that, and to know that I was a small part in her conversion made me understand more fully the significance behind Doctrine and Covenants 18. It made me think of some things that were promised to me in my patriarchal blessing, and I am just even more (if that is possible) thankful for the message of the restored Gospel. Oh, how God loves His children.
We had another good lesson with Estelle and Steve this week, and I enjoy teaching them. They definitely keep us on our toes with their questions. I enjoy teaching people that are interested in our message and ask questions and have a healthy curiosity when it comes to the things of eternity. Sometimes we don’t have all the answers (or all the words, for me, to give a concise answer), but that is why we have our personal study time. There are some people that zone out during our lessons and I just want to start dancing in front of them (to get their attention) and ask if they understand truly how important our message is. I will probably do that the next time.
On Saturday we had to have the worst kind of meetings with one of our amis, Michel Ciani: We had to tell him that we had to let him go for awhile. He isn’t progressing. He doesn’t read, he doesn’t pray, and, though at the beginning he showed great interest in the church and was near baptism, he has let his problems strangle the testimony. I studied the parable of the sower last night (Matthieu 13) and saw its direct application to this situation. We were very disappointed to let him go, but the Lord is working His ways and for the moment Michel just isn’t ready. It is for the best, and things will work out the way they are supposed to.
On Sunday our branch had its Primary Program during Sacrament meeting. I was so touched with the innocence of the children and the songs they sang. The Gospel is true at all ages and in all tongues and at all levels of understanding. The Spirit was so strong, and I just loved being taught by the Primary children, who are still perfect in Christ.
I don’t have time to write down everything, but I am still keeping a good journal (more or less – sometimes I just fall into bed after planning in my skirt without a thought for scribing the tales of the day). I think of you often and I cannot wait until Christmas when we can chat on the phone. I am not sure the schematics of that situation quite yet, but I will let you know who will be calling who and when and where by the time Noël rolls around.
The Gospel is still true.
Love,
Soeur Cummins
P.S. There are some cyclones forecasted for New Caledonia in the coming months, so today we are going to buy some food storage and then take a hike in the nearby hills where we hear there are some hieroglyphs.
