Sunday, March 11, 2018

March 10, 2018

This is it

Well mates, here we are. The final email. I honestly can't believe I'm actually sitting here writing this. From various libraries to the family history computers in a small chapel up north to emailing here at the mission office. I couldn't really sum up what it's like to be at this point. But I guess it was meant to be. I don't know who still reads these, but the mission's been one heck of a ride. The reality that I'm going home just won't sink in. Being in the office, we're always working on things in preparation for the future, so it's hard for me to think going home is a real thing. Holy cow. 
But just a quick summary of my final week, we went to a Cash Converters to trade in my bike for some cash. My companions were scouring the flat for things they could turn in as well to make a few bucks. We had a lesson with our recent new investigators/part member family, Kate and Emily. They are way too ready to be baptized and I'm really sad I can't be there to see it. Thursday was mostly office work. So was Friday. It was transfer deliberations this week so a lot of it was spent slowly working on different things we could find. Friday night we went to the Chinese branch's game night, which we did a lot when Elder Morris was in the office but just haven't had as much time. But we went for one last go to see a couple of the Chinese members that I've gotten to know really well. Surprisingly, some of my best memories from the mission were made in Sunnybank with the Chinese members. Today, Saturday, we went to play touch rugby down with a heap of Elders in Logan. Elder Sharma gave haircuts at the Chinese Zone Leaders' flat because they're both going home with me (Elder Morris, me ol' mate and Elder Westbrook). Later me and my old companion and now AP Elder Hymas went to a baptism in my son's area. Office stuff the rest of the day pretty much. 
It's come to this. In a couple days I'll be flying out. Sunday will be church and preparing for transfers, but hopefully I'll be able to say bye to at least a couple people before going. Monday we'll go to the temple with President and all the departing missionaries and then hang out at the mission home and have dinner there, sleeping overnight and heading out Tuesday morn. 
I'll take this time to say the gospel is so true. So true. I haven't been as spiritual in my emails but it's because the experiences I've had probably wouldn't mean much to anyone but me. There were lessons and things I needed to live through and see so that I could learn from it. I wasn't a perfect missionary, but I had a perfect mission. I saw repentance in action. I lived it. I studied from the Book of Mormon day in and day out and read it cover to cover at least a dozen times. I studied Preach My Gospel hard-out and came to understand it is THE book for missionary work, full-time or everyday member. I learned that God absolutely does hear and answer prayers. He really does. I saw people live the gospel, and I saw the change in them as they felt the joy and peace it brings. Unfortunately I also saw some of those same people go back to old habits and fall away from the gospel again. I can only hope they come back one day. It kills me but it's reality. It's hard to change ingrained ways of behaving. But there are only a couple that I know have found what they need and have no plans of giving it up, and for that at least I'm so thankful. Jesus Christ is the one who makes this all possible. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for His Atonement. None of us would be. Baptism, service, keeping the commandments, it would all mean nothing if He hadn't paid the price. But He did. He lives today and guides His people through prophets and apostles. The Book of Mormon can't be proved false. It's too true. I'll miss writing these emails. Hopefully I'll be able to save them all as it's kind of like a story, besides what's in my journal. So folks, this is Elder Cummings, signing off. For the last time. Cheers.


March 4, 2018

Night approaches

Well folks this is just about it. My last week on the mission begins now. It honestly doesn't even feel real. All the preparations are being made but it still feels like it's not actually happening. Man oh man. Words can't really express how I feel, I'm looking forward to moving on at home but at the same time I want to keep staying on my mission. I don't believe this'll be my last email, I'll try to get one out on Saturday, a couple days before my departure, just to go through my last week. 
Week 5 of the transfer was last week. Grabbed some lunch at the only Taco Bell in Australia on Monday. Tuesday was mission leadership council. We went to the kangaroo point chapel a little before 9 to set all the tables and technology up. It was my last MLC and that's just how it is, you can't help thinking "this my last this" or "this is my last that." I got really stressed out for a bit because the Wi-Fi kept dropping so the ZLs and STLs on Skype kept getting kicked out of the call but then Sister McSwain let us use her iPhone as a hotspot for the computer. No problems after that. Apple to the rescue! I gave a departing testimony along with all the other ZLs and STLs going home at the end of the meeting. It was funny because I was trying to figure out how I was going to put it, but I said "Don't be exactly obedient and don't work hard because you expect a reward or you expect miracles out of it. Do it because you love the Lord and do it because it's your duty, and it's what you agreed to do when you accepted your call." But I paused after "don't be exactly obedient and don't work hard because..." since I was thinking of how to put it, and I could see President's eyebrows go up and people afterwards were telling me they were wondering where the heck I was going during that pause. Oh well haha. Wednesday was heaps of driving around, picking up a senior couple from the airport, going to my companion's doctors appointment, getting some stuff at the store, etc. In the afternoon we had a couple lessons. One was with a guy named Patrick, he had concerns about the Trinity and polygamy and stuff but we just kept telling him to save his questions and to read the Book of Mormon because it's can only be of God. Unfortunately he's convinced Joseph Smith could have just been an unnaturally intelligent person. Our next lesson was with the Stokes family, a single mom and two girls who want to come back to church after the mom being less active for over ten years. Her teenage daughters are unbaptized as well but they're the ones who actually asked if they could go to church and they are super ready to be baptized. I don't think there'll be enough time before I go home for them to get baptized but that's okay, I know they'll get to it soon. 
Thursday was a lot more driving around. We set up some stuff for the semi annual Senior missionary conference for the mission. We went to ward council that night too. On Friday, since all the seniors were going to be at the conference instead of the office, my companions held down the fort all day at the office while I was at the conference handling the technology for slideshows and mics and stuff. Seniors are so funny. You never know what they're gonna say. I enjoyed it a lot, plus it was cool because on the record President was my companion for the day. What missionary gets that opportunity? That night was had dinner at some cool members, the Scofields.
Saturday the seniors had a final devotional at the mission home in the morning. We went to set up for that as well and had breakfast with all the seniors. My companions and the APs got to be there for that as well, but the APs left soon after for baptisms. But me and my comps were there for the devotional part. Well, I was, but my comps conked out on the couches upstairs from all the running around and go go go action the last couple days. After the senior conference officially ended we did office work and later had dinner at Curry Heaven because Elder Sharma was craving some indian.
Sunday was good, the Stokes came to church, I bore my last testimony in sacrament meeting as a missionary but I still have one more Sunday on the mission. We got a call in the afternoon as we were proselyting that I was going to have my departing interview with President that night. Usually they're not as early as a week before departure but there's so many missionaries going home this transfer they've gotta spread them out around transfer deliberations. That night we showed up at the mission home and President talked to me about my goals and stuff. He gave me a blessing as well and it helped me a lot because it made me feel that although I wasn't a perfect missionary, I had a perfect mission. That's it for this week. One last email to come later. Cheers!
Elder Cummings





February 25, 2018

Guess I better

I actually wasn't planning on writing a group email today, but I looked in my sent mail and saw the last one was 10 days ago. So I should probably catch up! Time really gets away from ya when you don't have an established p-day to email. Starting from Saturday the 17th. There was a baptism in my first area, Bracken Ridge that I got to go to! Well the investigator wasn't someone I taught but me and Elder Weed, who also started there went with one of the assistants. We went to another baptism in a different zone and afterwards the Clyde senior couple invited us to have lunch with them. That was fun. That night was a baptism in Coomera. It's cool almost getting to tour the mission going to baptisms with the assistants.
Sunday was Coordinating Council Meeting, the meeting with all the stake presidents, the mission president, the temple president, and the area seventy. And us, of course. We ran the video broadcast for the district presidents up north. It's a five hour long meeting but surprisingly it's not too hard to stay awake because they talk about some pretty interesting stuff. Plus they announced the creation of a new stake - the Beenleigh stake! The last new stake created was right before I came into the mission, and now here I am about to go and another one is born! 
The next week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were zone conferences. We set up all the tech for that and run microphones to people when they want to talk. They were great. President talked about solemn assemblies when a new prophet is sustained for the first time, plus the doctrine of prophets and apostles. We watched a missionary broadcast from Salt Lake about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon with investigators as well, that was really good. 
Friday we did things like...pick up cars from the repair shop and take them to the temple parking lot...and some other things...but my planner page is blank because it was raining pretty hard that day, so I left it in the car and forgot to write what we did. Haha. Those are the highlights of this last little week and a half. We've done a bit more proselyting than we have in the past which is nice to squeeze in before I ship out. Cheers!
Elder Cummings