Contacting, Shattered Dreams, and Expectancy

Hopefully this one doesn't get too confusing, it gets a little twisty towards the end of the big chunk, kind of like the book of Mosiah. If you can't figure it I apologize.

This week was crazy, but in a good way. Last week I let you know about the change of heart that Elder Butler and I have been experiencing, this week is the result of that change.  We set our contacting goal really high, 140 for the whole week (that's double what the mission requests of us each week) and then we destroyed it. Each day we made sure that we found the time to get out and talk to as many people as possible and we ended up with 216 contacts. It was so amazing to just feel driven by a desire to spread the gospel and help others feel the happiness that we have felt.  From all this work we have a lot more potential investigators than we did previously and now our goal is to not only keep up the fire that we have lit within ourselves but also be able to begin actually teaching a lot of the people we have met. Among all this energy and drive we did get a little down though. A couple weeks ago when we went on exchanges with Elder Davis and Elder Mann, Elder Butler and Elder Davis set a window of Heaven and tracted into a lady who was interested in learning more. At the beginning of the week we went by to try and teach her and her daughter opened the door and when we talked to her and asked if she would be willing to learn more she told us she was so we were excited to have the potential of teaching the couple of members of this family. We have a goal of having a baptism on Elder Butler's last weekend in the mission and we realized that if everything worked out well with them they could both be baptized that day. So we fasted on Friday to be able to visit them on Saturday and that they would be more open to the message of the Restoration and be able to accept a baptismal date. Friday ended being the hottest day this week and going out working was pretty exhausting but we knew that we were doing it for a good reason and we were excited to see the results of our faith and efforts on Saturday. Unfortunately on Saturday we ended up not being quite as diligent as we needed to be and we got to their house a little later than we had felt we needed to be there and as we were preparing to go knock on the door we saw the daughter get into her car and drive away. We checked back a couple of times throughout the day but her car was never back there. After we saw her leave we went over to the home of some members in the ward to check up on the progress of somebody we had taught in their home and while we were talking with them Elder Butler realized that they had daughters about the same age as Lieran, the girl we hope to teach, and we asked them if they knew her. They told us that they did and that she was a good friend of their older daughter who is about to get married so when we told them that we were hoping to teach her they got really excited and offered to help in anyway possible. It was so cool that we had planned to visit them the night before on a whim in hopes of finding out more about a different investigator but we ended up getting the help we had fasted about. We ended up asking them to invite Lieran to church the following day hoping that it would work out because we knew that for her and her mother to be baptized on the 13th they needed to go to church that Sunday and the next two Sundays. She ended up being busy and not being able to go which was a huge bummer. For the first time in my life I realized the sadness that can come from not heeding a prompting from the Spirit, especially when we ask for it. The whole rest of the night I was pretty down because I knew that if we had tried a little harder we may have been able to see a different result. From that point until we had to go to church on Sunday we began working super hard to be able to find somebody to get to church, a very stressful task. Unfortunately nobody showed up at Sacrament meeting and for the first time in a long time I was truly sad. We worked so hard and did all that we could all week to be as obedient as possible and work as hard as we could to find people to teach and we really felt good about it and like something would come from it and to see nothing when we had so much faith was hard. But I also know that faith in God also requires faith in His timing, as hard as that can be sometimes. We will continue to do all that we need to to earn the trust of our Heavenly Father and to be ready for the miracles that He has in store for us and to hope that in some way something will work out that will allow us to have a baptism on the 13th of August. 

In a little bit more inspiring and exciting of news, Elder Butler and I will be fathers tomorrow (aka we have been called to train a new missionary!) We are excited for this opportunity to serve in a different capacity and to help somebody start off their mission in what is hopefully a good way. We got told his name but they quite often change the assignments at the last second based on whatever new inspiration comes their way so we will find out tomorrow who he is. Hopefully we can be exactly who he needs and hopefully we don't screw him up too badly. 

I have learned so much in the past week about the importance of obedience. I have felt a greater portion of the Spirit more constantly and have truly felt His companionship as we worked. My understanding of that principle has deepened and my testimony has grown significantly because of it. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a full time servant of my Father in Heaven and of Jesus Christ and I know that they happy and joyous times give me a glimpse of what life with Them can be and I know that the hard and sad times help me understand the importance of doing all that I need to to be worthy of the blessings that They have promised me. This mission and this time are truly the greatest things that have ever happened to me and I know that for the rest of my life I will always be grateful for the experiences I have had and those that I will have. 

Pray for missionary opportunities and then put for the faith and effort requisite to have those opportunities. Missionaries may be the ones set apart for the work but y'all are truly the ones who can make the biggest difference!

Love

Elder Cheever

A Mighty Change of Heart and Exact Obedience Brings Miracles!

This week was so much better than last week and that's the reason for the title being what it is and there are a few main things that I will address as to why. First a realization taken from an inspired training from a good friend, a change of heart inspired by President and Sister Clark's counsel, and some miracles that have come from following the knowledge gained.  

On Tuesday we had our district meeting and a part of it ended up making it one of my favorite ones over the past year. There is a lot to it so I'm actually going to type in word for word from my journal entry for that day, sorry about how long this may be. This comes from the training that Elder Boggess gave in relation to the Christlike attribute that he has been working on this transfer, obedience (which is also the one I have been focusing on.) Okay here goes the quote from my journal, "One of the things that he (Elder Boggess) talked about was super helpful to me. He talked about Zion's Camp and how lots of people though of it as a failure but that it was really a proving grounds for much of the leadership in the early church. There was a super good quote that really stuck out to me, in the book "Our Heritage" that says 'The journey had revealed who was on the Lord's side and who was worthy to serve in positions of leadership. The Prophet later explained the outcome of the march: 'God did not want you to fight. He could not organize His kingdom with twelve men to open the gospel door to the nations of the earth, and with seventy men under their direction to follow in their tracks, unless He took them from a body of men who had offered their lives, and who had made as great a sacrifice as did Abraham... we gained an experience that we never could have gained in any other way' When Elder Boggess talked about not being sent to fight I felt the same kind of thing about me here, that I wasn't sent here to baptize like crazy but that I needed to come here to be tested and to prove myself to God. The men in Zion's Camp proved their leadership capabilities and sacrificed greatly to be obedient to the Prophet and to God. I don't think that it is a coincidence that I got put into this harder area, with the potential of being here for a long time, and then given a leadership position at this time when even President Orgill told me I was ready a while ago, and then that this is the time at which I have felt the greatest desire to be obedient to mission rules. I think that more me the Laguna Hills 3rd ward and area is my Zion's Camp and my refiners fire."  

This realization and other are part of what have contributed to my increase in obedience. I know that the Lord has a great plan for me and my mission and that if the early apostles had to go through something hard to prove their potential to God than I probably have to too.  The rest of Tuesday, which was also my birthday ended going really well. We were able to get out and talk to lots of people and we had a great lesson with our investigator Raul about the Plan of Salvation taught through 2 Nephi 2. This birthday was much better than the one I had on the mission last year, probably something about actually knowing people here and having somewhat of a clue of what I'm doing here and where I am;)

 

On Thursday we had our interviews with President and Sister Clark. They are super awesome, super funny, and super loving.  A big focus of their's right now is exact obedience and President shared with me a quote that his family used a lot, "All in, or in the way." Using this and other counsel on exact obedience, Elder Butler and I have committed to being exactly obedient in our conduct and efforts. We aren't perfect yet but we are striving to be as obedient as the Lord needs us to be so that we can see the miracles that this area so desperately needs. I have already noticed a change from these efforts, I can feel the Spirit more throughout the day and we have seen a lot more happen here. We have picked up more potential investigators in one week than in the past 11 that I have been here and we have been more excited for the work. We have had a change of heart, our eyes are clear, our hearts are full, and our focus has narrowed and if we rely on the Lord, we can't lose. This week we had 113 contacts (our goal each week is 70 and we have only hit that once this transfer) and a couple of really cool experiences from those efforts. 

On Friday I had the amazing privilege to go to the temple with my former companion, Elder Davies, to attend the wedding of our good friend Nicole, from the YSA ward that we served in. It was an amazing opportunity to be able to see this glorious ordinance performed for somebody that I know. It is so amazing that the priesthood authority to perform this eternal ordinance has been restored to the earth and that because of it we can have the knowledge and hope that comes from knowing that our families are forever. I was also super grateful to even have been invited to attend, as I looked around at the others there in the sealing room and I realized they were either family or people she had been friends with long enough for them to be considered family. So Nicole when you read this, thanks for letting Davies and I be there for this special moment in  your life.

On Saturday night we went to visit a less active member of our ward and walked and contacted as we went. Unfortunately he wasn't home so we walked around the park by his house for a little while trying to decide what to do. I felt like we should just stay over there even though there wasn't really anybody out and then our investigator Raul texted us attempting to let us know what he learned from reading the chapters we left with him but because our phones aren't the most high-tech it wasn't going through. We realized we were right in his neighborhood so we asked if we could come by and he said sure so we walked over to his home and ended having an amazing lesson with him. We pointed out a few examples of prophecies set forth in the Bible that come about through the Book of Mormon and scriptures that connect them.  To close it out Elder Butler shared the verses in 3 Nephi about when Christ descends from Heaven and appears to the Nephites so that we could end on a super spiritual note. As I gave the closing prayer I felt so much love for Raul and I felt the words that I said being guided by the Spirit as I asked that he would have the time and desire to study the Book of Mormon more so that he can receive an answer to his prayers. It was probably one of the times I  have felt the Spirit the strongest during a prayer and I know it wasn't my efforts that led to that. As we left we invited him to come to church the next day and for the first time he expressed that he would be able to and that he would like to go, he has been being taught for about 8 months and never come to church, so we told him we would set up a ride for him. Unfortunately he didn't make it to church despite our prayers but late last night he sent us a text apologizing for not coming and saying that he really wanted to but that he had left his phone in his sisters car and because of that he missed our reminders. He did tell us that he will try his best to make it next week so that is going to be our big goal. 

Last night had some other cool experiences. We were contacting in a park in our area after feeling like we needed to go there instead of to a members home and it ended up being pretty great. We stopped at the porta-potty in the park and while Elder Butler was in there I saw a couple walking towards us so I knew I needed to contact them alone. As soon as I talked to them they very boldly let me know that they were born-again christians and that they "knew all about mormonism." I knew immediately that the conversation wasn't going to be very pleasant but I prepared myself to not bash with them. They began asking the usual questions that people ask when they want to bash but for some reason I was able to answer each one in some way confounded them. The biggest turning point in the conversation was when they asked me who I believe Jesus Christ to be. I bore testimony that He is our Savior and or Redeemer and that it is only through Him that we can have a hope of Salvation. The lady began to angrily question my response twisting my words to seem as though I said He was only MY Savior, and MY Redeemer. I honestly can't remember all of what I said after that because I know it was led by the Spirit but it was along the lines of "Yes, He is my Savior and my Redeemer but He is everybody's Savior. He came and died for everybody in this world, for the people over on that playground, for the two of you, for me, and for my friend here in the bathroom" (yes Elder Butler was still in the porta-potty, and he did say hi from inside it when I mentioned him, it added some humor to the conversation) The power and the Spirit that could be felt as I said this was so strong, probably the strongest that I have ever felt when bearing testimony of Christ. The rest of the conversation went basically the same, them angrily asking dumb questions to which Elder Butler and I just bore testimony in an extremely powerful way, more powerful than we could have done without the guidance of the Spirit and in the end they realized they weren't going to get anywhere with us and that we truly loved what we did. It was actually the first time that I have left something like that feeling spiritually uplifted and ready to go bear testimony to people who are ready and humble.  I'm actually really grateful for the opportunity that talking to them gave me to feel the Spirit and strengthen my own testimony and to experience the promise given in the Doctrine and Covenants that "it shall be given you in the very hour what ye shall say." I know that I wouldn't have been able to bear this testimony with the power and authority that was there, that we wouldn't have been able to have the amazing lesson with Raul that we did, or have been able to talk to as many people as we did, and to begin seeing small miracles that we have without the change of heart that we have had and the increased obedience we are committing to. Obedience truly does bring blessings and exact obedience truly does bring miracles. 

I hope y'all have a great week and can find opportunities to do missionary work in ways that you can and that you can find ways to bear testimony of Jesus Christ and His love for all of us. 

Love

Elder Cheever

This week was one of the rougher ones

This week was one of the rougher ones I have had on my mission. It wasn't hard in some ways that I have had hard weeks, nobody argued with us, none of our investigators dropped us, and we didn't get in a car accident, except I did accidentally break our windshield but I don't have to pay for it so its not too bad.  We just kind of struggled to be as motivated as we needed to be. Nobody that we tried to contact and talk to wanted to learn anything new, none of the less active members that we usually visit were available, and our only investigator cancelled on us this week. It got me down a little bit and then when I went on an exchange with one of my co-district leaders and I got a little more stressed and down because I saw the things they had going for them and started comparing it to what we have in our area. But I did realize that even though its hard here that I have come to love this place a lot more than I ever thought I would, this was actually one of the areas in the mission that I had hoped to never get assigned to after going to one of the sacrament meetings, but slowly and surely it has grown on me as all my areas have. The whole day I just wanted to go back to my area and do things there so I was super excited when we exchanged back. I have a super good feeling about next week and I think something good is coming our way. My big hope is that right now we can somehow get somebody new and prepared to teach on my birthday, I don't think there would be any better present that I could receive from anybody than to get that from our Heavenly Father.

We got to go to the temple on Saturday and it was one of the best experiences I have had there in a long time. I really love going there and feeling the peace and calm that comes from being in the house of the Lord. Being able to sit in the Celestial room and pray and read in the scriptures and seek help and answers to my questions is one of my favorite experiences. There is just a special closeness to Heavenly Father that can be felt in there. 

This week during church the ward did something cool. Two of the moms of missionaries were given the assignment to do a "missionary moment" and give the ward an update of how their kids were doing. Sister Flora, the bishop's wife, talked about their son Max who is serving down in Hermosillo, Mexico. A lot of the things that she read were some of his emails about how much he has felt himself change over the 8 months he has been on his mission and it made me think about myself and the last year. Over the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about who I am now and about how I act as a missionary. Hitting my year mark made me think back to when I first came into the mission and about how my trainer and one of my roommates, two of the missionaries that I spent the most time around, were at a year and how much I looked up to them and to their example as to how I should act. I can see different parts of how they did things in the way that I act but I can also see how I have slipped some in my example. I have started to wonder about how the new missionaries that I'm around look at me and it has motivated me to do better and be better so that they can learn from me in a positive way instead of learning what not to do, especially since there are a lot of elders coming into the mission and the chance that I will train one of them is really high. I remember at the transfer meeting when I joined the mission and I was walking out with my trainer one of the sister missionaries that he was friends with came over to us and told me that my trainer was one of the most obedient missionaries in the mission and that really stuck with me. I know that thats not what people will say about me, but I hope that people can see how much I care about those around me and how much I love being a part of this work. I have learned so much more about who I need to be and I have come to love the gospel so much more. I truly know that our Savior, Jesus Christ lives and that through His Atonement we can be forgiven of the mistakes we make and that we can gain strength when we need it most. I know so much more of the love that Heavenly Father has for all of us and I can feel that love for those I serve and those I serve with. I know that we have been given the Plan of Salvation as a guide for us to be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father again and I have seen the hope and light that this plan can bring when life gets dark and there seems to be no escape. I have loved this first year of my mission and I can't wait to change and grow even more in the next year.

Love

Elder Cheever

Bit by a dog

This week was pretty good. 

On Monday after our zone activity we went over to the Awaa's home for dinner which ended up being one of the more exciting dinners I've had out here. Brother Awaa was the only one home because his daughter had a baby that day and his wife was with her so he was there babysitting his daughters dog. As soon as we walked in I stuck my hand out to let him sniff me so I could try to pet him and right away he snapped at me and bit my finger. It didn't hurt all to bad but it immediately started bleeding a lot, like I had a pool of blood in my other hand from holding it (I wish I had a picture of it), so we ran into the bathroom and washed it off with hydrogen peroxide and then we dried it off and threw a bandaid on it and ate the super good Hawaiian food that Brother Awaa made for us. After dinner we went to try and find an urgent care but for some stupid reason all of them closed at like 8:00 so we went back over to Brother Awaa's and he put some liquid bandaid on it, which honestly was one of the worst pains I've ever experienced, and threw a regular bandaid on it. In the morning we went to the urgent care in hopes that they would stitch it up for me but apparently since it had been longer than 12 hours since the bite they didn't want to stitch it due to risk of infection, which wouldn't have been a problem if they had been open later than freaking 8:00. But hey I'll have a cool scar from my mission and who doesn't hope for that;)

We were able to meet with  Raul with one of the young men preparing for a mission there with us. Raul has been investigating for about 7 months now, he has been taught all of the "official lessons" so right now we are working on developing his testimony of the Book of Mormon by reading it with him. During the lesson I started feeling like I needed to ask him what he remembered about baptism and what he thinks about it now. He still wasn't really ready for it and didn't think it was totally necessary for him to do it but he did say that he does want to know if the Book of Mormon is true and has been praying about that. After the lesson Elder Butler and I were discussing how it went and he mentioned that he was glad I asked Raul about baptism because he wanted to bring it up too. Its always amazing to see when an idea that comes to mind during a lesson is from Heavenly Father and not just myself. 

We also had the opportunity to pick up a new investigator.  We had gotten a referral from some members of our ward saying they had somebody for us to teach. When we got to their home for dinner on the night they set the appointment with us for we met the person they wanted us to teach. His name is Evan and he is the boyfriend of one of their daughters. He had been reading the Book of Mormon and had tons of really good questions all through dinner and then also during the lesson. As we taught him about the Restoration he was super absorbed and when we invited him to be baptized he gladly said yes. When he prayed to close out the lesson he gave one of the most sincere prayers that I have heard from a newly taught investigator that I have ever heard. Unfortunately for us he is only 21 so we are going to have to pass him off to the YSA elders where he lives, but he will still be baptized and thats what matters.

It was pretty awesome to receive that referral as well as three others all in one day following some prayers on my part requesting referrals here so that we can find some new people to teach who are really prepared to accept the gospel into their lives.

On Wednesday Elder Butler and I got to meet President and Sister Clark before everybody else in the mission! We had to be at the mission office because we needed a new phone, ours was pretty dead, and because the mission nurse wanted to check out my finger. It was super awesome to meet them right away. Sister Clark is super nice and very motherly and President Clark is just as nice. Then on Saturday we had a zone conference where they introduced themselves to us and went over some of their hopes for the mission. It was an amazing experience. Going into it I had been praying to know for myself that President Clark is who was truly called by God to lead our mission and the whole time him and Sister Clark spoke I could feel the same love that I felt in speaking with President Orgill and I knew that President Clark is meant to be here. 

Yesterday was a much better 4th of July than last years, a lot of things are better than being in the MTC. In the morning Elder Butler and I ran a 5k in his last area wearing our white shirts and American flag ties. Everybody loved it. After that we got to go to a big lunch in Newport with a family that Butler knew up there and then we had dinner with one of my favorite families in this ward and then we went to our zone activity for the night. It was fun to spend a whole day just doing regular people things and hanging out with people I love. When the fireworks started we stood outside the stake center and watched all the fireworks happening in the valley below. Its weird that this is my last missionary independence day. I can't wait to see what other miracles and experiences are in store, I know there are good people here who I need to be with.

Love

Elder Cheever