Well, Well, Well

So I just happened to look at the calendar on my laptop and discovered that it is now March 24th. I know you all know what that means and why it is important. But for the few of you who may not, let me enlighten you. It was exactly 5 years ago today that I returned home from my mission in the Southside of Chicago. I know, I know, I did a mish post like 5 posts ago....but I do feel the need to share how grateful I am to have had that opportunity and to tell everyone that I now know because of it how much I love and respect them. Here are some of my favorite moments......that were captured on film (or the digital equivalent).

Hey-ay

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. I went back north to Utah for spring break...you know because that is where all the partiers go. JK. It was, however, a really good trip that was very needed. I crammed in as much as I could in my 7 day break. I went and spent the night in Vegas on my way up there with my best buddy Will and is equally as awesome wife, Magz. Which was AWESOME. Seriously love those two and their adorable kid, and their always comfortable couch.

Then I drove home to Farr Whizzle. I try to give it a little street cred. Some people think that being home of the infamous me and the country boy store Smith & Edwards is enough to give it all the street cred it needs, but if not i throw out slang like Farr Whizzle. Need I remind you guys that in addition to that we have not 3 but 4 gas stations?!? Oh my goodness, the Chevron's closed? Try the Maverick. Oh no, the Mav is full?!? Try the Pilot. Gas price to high?!? Go to 7-11. Order yourself up a domino's pizza while you fill up, because we have one of those too. Or you can try one of 3 fast food joints listed in order of classyness: Taco Bell, Wendy's, and McDonalds. Oh what is that you say? You are craving some sit down Mexican food? Well look no further. We have one, and if you have one mediocre Mexican sit down restaurant do you really need any more? Of course not. So go to Bella's.....or Melina's....or whatever it may be calling itself this year. Or you can just come over to casa de la Cummings for where the fun is really at. I don't want to brag.....but we have a trampoline.... and my best friend, my parent's neighbor, who happens to be 4, who occasionally escapes from nap time and comes running over to get me to jump on the tramp with him and or have a water fight no matter what the temperature is outside. He will also trick you into giving him a hug, where he will then lick your cheek and tell you just got Lily kissed (Lily is his dog.)

I tried to see as many people as I could in such a short time, but with my birthday to celebrate with fam and friends and my parent's 30th wedding anniversary, i really had no time. So If I was able to see you, thank you so much!!!!!!! And if I wasn't able to see you, I am sorry. I really really wanted to see a few people that I didn't get to, and meet someone new that I didn't get to, and hang out with the few people I did get to see for longer but didn't get to, so please accept my apology. And hope that I get an internship back in SLC so I can come back for the summer.

But I am back in AZ, trying to get back into the swing of things. And not studying or running 4 miles a day for a week and then trying to do both again kicks my trash. Next break I need to try to do a little more of that and a little less sleeping in until 11 while everyone is at work.

Anyways, my friend Missy sent me a link to this video, and I think that it is too good to keep to myself, so here you go.

Landslide

I love this song. The recent version on glee was pretty good....but the story they used behind it made it a little awkward and not as enjoyable as it could have been. So naturally, instead of studying for my midterm, I went to YouTube, and found all the versions of the song that I love. And I want to know which one you guys think is best. So, here are the contenders, your vote matters America:

The Original Version: Fleetwood Mac




Landslide goes country: Dixie Chicks



Landslide goes grunge: Smashing Pumpkins



Landslide gets covered: Boyce Avenue (my fave youtube acoustic cover singer)



Landslide goes Glee: Gwyneth Paltrow with Santana and Britney



Ok, these are just the ones that I like the best. Let me know if there are any others out there worth listening to. And don't forget to cast your vote in comment form. Just curious. Right now, Smashing Pumpkins have one vote. (mine)

Best Birthday Gift Ever

One of my best friends in the world, Melissa, made me this little diddy. She sent it to me a few hours ago but made me wait until now, at after midnight and actually on my date of birth, to watch it. It is priceless.



I laughed......I cried......and was reminded how amazing my friends are. (Both real and fictional)

It's Kinda Crazy

How it has now been almost 5 whole years since I came back from my mission to the Southside of Chicago, and I still have these kiddos on my mind.



I wanted to take each of them home with me. Especially four of them. Three of them were kids of a less active lady and we were teaching them, the other was Kenyon, their cousin, the cute kid on the right in a white shirt.

She wanted her kids to go to church sooooo bad. But her husband was a dealer and a gang banger, and did not want her going to church. His kids could go. But I know he was afraid that if she went, she would finally build up the courage to leave him. We met her at a thrift store in Chinatown on a p-day. She knew who we were, we discovered that she was a member, and then we discovered that she was in my area. From then on it was instant connection.

Man I miss that family. In the next 7 months we would go through so much together. It started with us stopping by once a week after the kids got home from school and going over the basics with them. I bonded with the boy, he had just turned nine. His name is Anthony. He is the one in the Bulls uniform (it was hard not to hold that against him.) He was the middle child. He could make you laugh by giving you this look, where he would cock his head to the side, squint one eye, give an upturn of one side of his mouth, and say something like, "Now Elder Cummins" (he would never get the 'g' into the name), "now are you tryin to tells me that both y'alls name is Elder?" Then he would point to my companion and say, "this guy, this guy looks like an Elder...You Elder Cummins are my brother."

He told me that after I stopped his dad from beating him. We had an appointment, their mom must have forgot, but Anthony was still there. I knocked, and yelled through the door "Who there" We responded, that it was us and he threw open the door and told us to get in. Turns out his dad....was.....for lack of a better term....about his business. He saw us walk and see what he was doing and snapped. I don't think he knew that we knew. He charged after Anothony who ran. I got in his face and told him that he needed to calm down. It was at that moment that I was expecting to get punched in the face for the first time. We looked at each other, face to face, eye to eye for what seemed like hours. It was really only a few seconds. He tried to move towards Anthony and I grabben his shoulders and told him to come sit on the couch, and we would talk. I told him that as far as i was concerned I saw nothing there that day. I then told him, that he was going to start respecting us when we came over, that he was going to sit down with the family during our gospel conversations, and he was going to be there for his family if they wanted to come to church. That he was going to pray with his family and be the support that they needed. He teared up a bit, shook his head, apologized for the things he had said about us, told me I was "aight for church people". The next sunday he drove his wife and kids to church. He even started sitting in on the discussions and asked questions.

I was asked some of the most heart wrenching questions that really made me cling to these kiddos. We were from different worlds. My biggest fear as a kid was getting grounded from teenage mutant ninja turtles again. There fears, were things that really should be scary. I was asked, "What happens to a mom, if someone breaks in and cuts her, cuts her so bad she bleeds and dies. Does she go to heaven?" The boy on the far left, a distant relative of my three kiddos, had that happen to his mom. "What happens to a boy who gets shot walkin to school? Can he go to heaven?" The girl holding the doll asked that, because her best friend and neighbor had that happen.
The girl in the pink to the left of me, is Anthony's sister Aneeka. She had more attitude than any girl I have ever met and the prettiest big brown eyes. Their sister, who was 11, was practicing for her school play when that pic was taken. She was chosen to play Coretta Scott King. She had real potential. She was brilliant. I used to tutor her in math and history after the lessons or after dinner. She had real potential of going to college. She wanted to be a doctor.

Saying goodbye to these kiddos was one of the hardest parts of my mission. I knew that I could reach the dad. We had bonded, he would pick me us up if he saw us out tracting or walking around. But he did not trust people very easy. He understandably did not like my companion. And if I left then it was going to be a major turning point. Its a hard thing to balance when you are teaching people as a missionary: to know if they are responding to the message or to you as a person. I worked with them for the better part of 7 months. I couldn't get them to church for one consecutive month. And I could only get the mom to come maybe once a month, and the ward wasn't willing to take responsibility for the kids, having to pick them up, take them to church, and I understood that. They needed to be tested, to see if they would do it without me being there. I had already been in the area for 5 transfers, which was unheard of in our mish, but I worked really well in that ward, so they let me stay longer than most. But to stay for a sixth transfer was not an option. My mission president told me he had other things that he needed me to do. So I was transferred.

Unfortunately, when I left, they transferred, with good reason, my companion too. The missionary who replaced me, was not a fan of mine. He really disliked me. I never knew why. So he stopped seeing everyone I taught.....as some way to stick it to me for being made something he thought he deserved more than me. And my kiddos never went back to church again.

I was lucky enough to get transfered back into that ward for my last 3 months. Sometimes knowing the president really well has an advantage or two. I was asked by a lot of people why I chose to go back there since I had already been in the area for almost 8 months. These kids were one of the big reasons. Members of the ward were another. But I needed one more chance with these kids. I knew that the gospel was going to be the one thing that would keep them safe. It was dangerous enough for them to have a gang banger dad. That placed a target on his back. His profession potentially placed targets on each of them. You can get by in the rough areas without being forced into a gang if you go to church. Church is well respected on the Southside. But it was too late, I was gone for 7 months, and the damage was done. The dad was back to doing what he was doing, I could come over, I could pray, I could give a lesson, he would take me to lunch, but it just wasn't going to happen. That was my last night ever seeing the kids. I don't know if you can tell but my eyes were so watery in that picture. I am too tough to ever really cry, but sometimes......my eyes get watery......don't judge me. So here I am, 5 years later, reminiscing about these kids. Hoping they are okay. Still mentioning them in my prayers. Missing the crap out of them. Wishing I could have taken them home, and give them a life like I had. Still trying to figure out how it has been five years and still feel like it was yesterday I was having a bbq in Washington Park, or seeing Keisha play Mrs. King in the school play, or celebrating my birthday with the funnest group of kids on the southside. It's kinda crazy.

Someone Like You

Hey guys, its time for another song recommendation from me. This week, the song I have been listening to a lot is "Someone Like You" by my favorite Brit- Adele. If you don't know who she is, that is a shame. I found her a long time ago, before her song Chasing Pavements and winning a few grammys by playing around on Itunes. I called that she would blow up in a post a long time ago. And, ya'll know how much I love being right, and I am glad I was, because she just released her latest record 21, and it is really good. If you get it, make sure you get the deluxe version on Itunes because if you don't you miss out on 2 really great songs. She did a remake of 311's "Love Song" and then there is a song called "I Found a Boy" that is really good- the kicker, you have to get the whole cd in order to get that last long, one of Itunes' album only kind of thing. Anyways, this is Adele singing "Someone Like You" at the BRIT Awards. You're welcome in advance.



I will include a few of her other songs, too because I am awesome like that.

Chasing Pavement



She did the best remake of Bob Dylan's Make You Feel My Love

Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am turning 26 in two weeks and I think my body has decided to fall apart before that happens to convince me that I am getting old.

Exhibit (A):
I run 3-4 miles everyday of the week except wednesday (because I play tennis) and Sunday (because I am not sure if running is breaking the sabbath or not.....like I know getting a Jamba Juice or forgotten items to make dinner with aren't, but does real physical exertion count? :/ ) Well yesterday at the gym I started my daily run on the treadmill. And at a mile, I began to feel like I do when I hit 4 miles. My shins were killing me, my feet hurt, my lungs were hurting - which is weird because I don't really get out of breath even at mile 4, so I pushed on for another quarter mile and then had to stop and walk for a bit. Pissed I thought I would just push it out, and that this was going to be a mind over matter kind of thing. I started running again and at half a mile in I thought I was going to die. (a little over dramatic.) But I was going to push through, just make it a mile Brad, just make it a mile. So I did.....and then immediately had to walk again for another minute or two. Then I was going to do it, run another mile, and only made it a half, and said eff it. Matter wins this time.

Exhibit (B):
I don't sleep very much. I average around 4, at most 5, hours a night during the week and about 7 on the weekends. Saturday I woke up at noon thirty.........Sunday I woke up at 1:30(p.m)....Monday I did fine, I woke up at 8am, and then today I woke up at 1pm. I have class at 1:30 and it takes me 40 minutes to get to school park and walk over to the law school and sit down in class. And I needed to shower. So I tried, to make it, but was 20 minutes late, so I decided it would be best to not walk in that late.

Exhibit (C):
I am still exhausted. I feel like I can sleep for another 8 hours no problem. And weirdly enough, I really want to do that. I have never had a problem with not getting sleep, I figure it gives me an advantage on all those people who need their precious 8 hours of sleep because I have an extra 3 hours a day that they don't have. I don't want to lose this edge.

So I am probably getting old........or as my mom said- you sound congested and are coughing.....maybe you are getting a cold.