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
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