The first day was a whirlwind of getting raced in while constantly having "Welcome to the MTC!!!" yelled at us. I got to meet my district then we went to meeting on meeting all day basically. The rest of the days kind of blur together honestly because we do so much stuff; my journal entries are so long now from trying to remember all of the great spiritual and also fun stuff that goes on here.
On the second day we got to meet our branch presidency and Elder Jones (my companion) was made district leader which was pretty good since he already took charge, even though it makes me responsible for stuff since we have to be within "Sight and Sound" as they say here. We've grown really close over the past week which can be expected when you spend all day together feeling the spirit and drawing people closer to Christ. That night after the meeting the zone and district leaders of the "older district" who had been here for a whole week more than us took us new zone and district leaders on a jog around the campus for a little while and then we stopped at this tree in the corner of our classroom building. We all held hands and then they talked to us about how great it is here and how much of a responsibility it is to be the leaders, then they told us that they love the opportunity to teach us while they were here. They're all great guys even thought they're a little goofy. They told us that the run and the tree was a tradition that has been passed down in our zone for a while so we're all excited to share it with the new leaders in a couple days. Then we all said a prayer over our zone and our district which was really neat.
On day three Elder Jones and I got to teach our first investigator. Her name is Selam, she's from Ethiopia and was brought to us because she went to a church building one day because she said it felt right. We talked to her about the love God has for her individually. She told us about how her mother died of cancer back in Ethiopia and how she always wonders where she is so we told her a little about the plan of salvation. We invited her to be baptized in that first meeting but she wasn't quite ready. This day was our first gym time which was great because we all needed to just unwind after all the hours of just straight studying and hardcore spiritual experiences.
On day four we got to do service, which was basically cleaning the toilets in our building, but it was a nice break and as we're told "When you're in the service of your fellow men you're in the service of your God". Then Elder Jones and I got to teach Selam again which was awesome. She has so much faith. She had questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and we were able to tell her about the first vision and the restoration. As we told her we could tell how much she felt the spirit and she told us that it made complete sense which is amazing since most people don't agree.
Day five was Sunday which was really good. It was a nice break from our regular schedule but was still really spiritual. I got to go to the branch leadership meeting which was really cool to tell the needs of our districts and zone. The older district is so great and they're such a good example. One of them, Elder Cazier apparently was ready to go home a little after he got here and they all talked to him and were able to help him feel like he belonged and helped him want to stay which was really good because he has come to be one of my favorite elders here. After that we had sacrament meeting and Sister Cook, who is in my district, and Sister Pope, in the older one, both gave great talks but despite my best efforts I fell asleep. After that meeting we got to go on the computers and spend time watching Mormon Messages while we waited to be interviewed by the branch presidency. I was able to find one that helped me a ton and I felt the spirit very strongly during it. It was called "The Hope of God's Light." It told the story of a man who had a great life but it all came crashing down and when he was ready to end his life he heard to girls talking about fasting and prayer and he decided to try it. When he did he didn't get any answer he was expecting but he no longer wanted to be dead. He told how over the next years he prayed every day to know if God was real and eventually met members of the church missionaries. After more time he was at a ward picnic prior to being baptized and while they were blessing the food he got the strongest impression "That these people are good and I need to be here". This hit me so hard and I immediately started to cry as I looked at my district around me and felt so much love for them and I'm so glad they're who I have been placed with here and I know it wasn't a coincidence. At the same time I felt that this would be something good for me to remember as I am in California and people reject me or even when they're nice. In our priesthood meeting we talked about faith and how the it differs from knowledge. The Brother of Jared and his story shows this perfectly, had he seen the Lord's finger the first time he illuminated a stone it would have been a knowledge and not faith and he wouldn't have had the same trust in Jesus Christ, but instead he got to see each one light up on its own and have his faith grow with each one until it was powerful enough to where he could see Christ's finger and he could have that confirmation. We went to a devotional after dinner and the guy who talked gave us good advice telling us it would be hard but completely worth it to serve our mission, and that when it gets the hardest we can have faith that it will be right before our greatest success. After that we got to watch a recording of Elder Ballard and how he talked about the Character of Christ. The most important thing I got from it was that nobody but the natural man cares what I want and that I need to forget myself and serve the Lord by serving others just as Jesus did no matter what he was going through. It was such a powerful talk and I'm so glad I could see it.
Yesterday was day six and we got to teach our new investigators. Our first one is named Jonathan. He knows about the church already from friends but wants to learn more which is really good. We just got to know him and touched a little on how God loves us before we had to leave. Right after that we got to teach Selam again and it was amazing, we talked about how through prayer the spirit can testify all things to us and about baptism and I bore my testimony too her and the spirit was so strong. Then we asked her to commit to baptism and she said yes! Which is so exciting. At gym time we played basketball and volleyball with the other district for some of their last day which was a lot of fun. Most of the day was just a lot of classes. At one point we combined with the other district that came in at the same time with us and did role playing teaching the Plan of Salvation and that went really well considering how little time I've spent studying it here.
Today has been made up of laundry and some well deserved rest and emailing. While I wrote this there were some Elders practicing their Norwegian making me so glad that I'm going English speaking because that would be so much more work.
Overall this experience has been so spiritually uplifting. Everyday I get to spend so much time studying the scriptures and discussing with my new family and my understanding has increased tenfold and I already feel like I have been out for years so I can only Imagine how the next two years are gonna feel. This work is so good and its what God wants me to be doing right now and honestly I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. One thing that has been really great to see here is the progress of myself and the other elders and sisters I have become so close with, some of us have struggled but through power of the priesthood we have been able to help them feel great about being here. Specifically, on Sunday, the two sisters in the district, Sisters Cook and Rhymer wanted priesthood blessings and Elder Dallin who has been struggling the most with homesickness and wanting to be here was able to do one of them and all the words he was prompted to say were about comfort and the need to be here and you could tell that it touched him almost as much as it helped the sister. I know that God loves us and knows us individually and that he wants whats best for us. I can't wait to get to California and bless the lives of all those waiting for me.
-Elder Cheever
