We had oops let me turn the bold off there we go so we had 3 zones get together on Tuesday for it. We had it at the bracken ridge chapel (my first area) so it's been almost a year since being there. It was really cool. Elder and Sister Graham, the Area mental health missionaries or something, did a little training thing about managing stress. It was cool because Elder Graham used to work for Disney and was personally acquainted with Walt Disney when he worked there. Fun fact for ya: apparently Walt Disney was a less active member of the Church. Normally stuff like that is as suspicious as it is wishful thinking but I trust Elder Graham considering he worked with him and was in the same ward as Walt's nephew, who went on a mission actually.
Really funny story from zone conference though: At one point, the Grahams asked the missionaries how they would help a companion who was fresh on the mission and feeling really down and stressed out. After a few missionaries gave their Christlike answers I got up and said "I wouldn't do anything for him. He'd be able to figure it out." And Elder Graham told me to come up in front of everyone and repeat my answer, so I did. He said "I don't like that answer" then he pulls out some scissors and CUTS OFF MY TIE. You should have seen the looks on everyone's faces. Even the mission president and senior couples were shocked. Elder Graham told me to sit back down, and I tried to look ashamed and embarrassed. He talked about it some more, and then told me to come back up in front, and then asked me where I had got my tie from. I asked "the truth?" He said "yes" and I said "I got it from you." And he asked "where's your tie?" and I reached into my suit pocket and pulled out my own tie. Elder Graham explained that the whole thing was pre planned. So by this point you're probably wondering what is going on, so if we REWIND back to a few minutes before zone conference started, Elder Graham asked me to step outside the chapel with him, he gave me a tie and told me about the whole thing, what was going to happen, what I was supposed to say and do, etc etc. It was PLANNED the WHOLE TIME. It was really nervous when my time came but apparently I pulled it off. Plus Elder Graham gave me a brand new tie for my performance even though the one he cut was also one he gave me.
So zone conference was really fun needless to say. A few missionaries came up to me afterwards and said stuff like
"When he cut off your tie I was about to riot."
"I was ready to fight that guy" (from my old companion Elder Iufoni, the Tongan)
"I cried inside for you and your tie when he did that"
I talked to Elder Graham for a while afterwards because I wanted to learn about working for Disney and stuff. Now he teaches Psychology at BYU-Hawaii I think.
We had trade offs this week with the only other Elders in our zone, the Holland Park elders. I went into their area with Elder Tonga. It was a fun day. We taught a Buddhist lady who's been really confused about how to find out if God is real, if He's there, etc etc so we invited her to continue praying as she has in the past and to fast. Really hard concept to explain why you would go without something physical to gain something spiritual. We also visited one of their investigators, and old Hungarian lady who said I was really handsome. That was a little uncomfortable. We also visited one of their other investigators, Jonathan who had been on baptismal date before but had fallen through months before. The appointment with him was at the end of the night, and the whole day I was praying for a miracle that we'd be able to set him on baptismal date again, and WE DID! Prayers are answered! Things worked out really well, so hopefully the Holland Park elders will be able to run with that.
Saturday we had a baptism for our investigator Lachlan. He's 17 but already wants to go on a misssion. He had already been on baptismal date and taught everything when I got into the area 2 weeks ago. The baptism was awesome. His parents were really supportive even though they're Catholic and the baptismal service was ON POINT spiritual and they were both in tears at some parts. We've been teaching them the lessons with Lachlan present so this week we'll invite them to be baptized even though in the past they've said they're not interested in changing religions. Miracles can happen! Sorry about the long email, hopefully it was an entertaining read. Oh yeah, so we didn't celebrate the 4th of July but yesterday (the 16th) we had dinner with a really nice family who threw us a 4th of july celebration. They decorated the table with American flags, we had hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and some American candy the mom brought back from the states with her. Super awesome family. That's about it for this week. Love you all!
Elder Cummings
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