Doing a lot of service

We had a relatively uneventful week. I had a constant headache from Tuesday until Sunday so that kind of took my happiness out of everything but its gone now which is good.

Being able to go to the temple on Tuesday was a huge blessing, as always and I got some needed direction and spiritual support. 

On Wednesday we had our district meeting, it went pretty well. Its strange trying to adjust to a new district and also have my co district leader be new to the district as well. After district meeting President requested that my companions and I go to Irvine to have interviews with him. It was pretty interesting to hear the questions he had for me and then to hear the things that he talked about with my companions as they shared how their meetings with him went. We weren't in trouble or anything he just had questions about stuff in our apartment that he deemed as distractions and he wanted to know what kind of environment it was as we studied and prepared. After our dinner we met with Bishop Flora and he went over a lot of basic tips and advice for how we can be more presentable and better missionaries. It was a lot of help for me and it gave me the chance to talk with him individually and get some guidance as how to help my companions.

On Thursday we ended up doing a lot of service. We helped an elderly lady in the ward unpack and move around some stuff in her home and then at night we got the chance to volunteer at the stake blood drive which was pretty cool. We also had dinner with Sister Noss, the less active woman who we gave a blessing and ate with about a month ago. Once again she had nonmember friends there and we had another chance to talk with them about our mission and what we do and then we got Sister Noss to commit to invite them and her friend Maria from last time to come to the monthly music devotional and temple walk so that was super awesome.

On Saturday we ended up being able to meet up with the young man named Kyle who we have taught a little bit and follow up with his reading of the Book of Mormon and it turns out that he is in Alma 37 which is impressive for a 12 year old kid. We ended up reading Alma 32 with him and talking about faith and how important it is to plant the seed of faith and to continually water it and be nourishing so that it can grow and bring us the fruit that you want it to. 

On Sunday during Sacrament meeting I had a really awesome realization. The deacons accidentally skipped over our row when they were passing the bread for the sacrament around so we didn't get the chance to take it until after the meeting was over. I hadn't realized that we got skipped until they were all lining up again because I had been praying as they passed it. While we waited for the water to come around I felt a little empty and I realized how much taking the Sacrament has come to mean to me since I have come to understand its importance throughout my mission. The whole rest of the meeting I felt off until I was able to take the bread. It truly showed me the value of that ordinance and the meaning it should have in each of our lives. I don't remember what general authority said it but there is a quote that goes along the lines of "If we truly understood the importance of the Sacrament there would be not mountain too high or ocean too deep to prevent us from being in church to partake of it" (this is a very rough paraphrase, so don't try to quote me on it.)

That's about it from over here. We continue to work hard and have fun as we try to find people to teach. Our new motto is its fun to find from 6 to 9, but really only from 6 to 7 because that's when it gets dark and people don't like when we knock on their doors after dark. Oh well, even the angry ones are good and we need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

Sep 19 - We are hoping that things start picking

This week was pretty slow so there isn't too much to report on from this week so this email may be a shorter one.

On Tuesday we met with Raul. We talked about the Apostasy and how there really was a need for the priesthood to be restored and then we tied that in to the Sacrament and how important church is. Once again he told us he would be there and then once again he bailed at the last second for some other activity.

On Wednesday we went on splits with the priests for mutual. It was a lot of fun, especially since the young man that I went with is just about the person as Ryan Connor. I think for the first time in my mission I'm beginning to realize the impact that missionaries can have on members, especially the young men. Drage, the one that I went with, is going to be starting his papers soon and to be able to talk with him about missionary work and what its like to be a missionary was a really neat experience and it was really amazing to be able to remember doing the same thing with some of the elders back at home and to now be the one giving the advice and telling stories instead of being the young man preparing for a mission.

Saturday was pretty rough day for all of us but I think it took a lot more out of my companions than it did out of me. On Friday night we had a cool miracle, we were about to go into our apartment after finishing the night walking around our complex and a guy pulled up next to us and asked if we were the Mormons. I thought we were going to be yelled at for "soliciting, but he ended up telling us that his wife is a less active member who wants to return to church and that he is a nonmember but that he wants to go to the ARP meetings to over come alcoholism so now we are going to start working with them. We planned to visit them on Saturday along with a few other potential investigators and less active members. Unfortunately every single appointment we had fell through and then every time we tried to visit other people who we had as back ups they weren't available either. By the end of the night we were exhausted and pretty bummed out. However I think it was a good lesson for Elders West and Hohmann to see that planning is super important because if we hadn't made those plans I think the day would have been even worse. 

That's about it for this week I believe. We are hoping that things start picking up more. I talked with Elder Boggess after zone training meeting and we both feel like Laguna Hills is a very promising area and that before too long it will become a very fruitful area, its just a matter of holding on and continuing to work hard. There are good people here that I need to be with!

Love

Elder Cheever

Training Elder West

For having very few things happen this week, this email is surprisingly long. 

We were able to meet and pick up our new companion this week. His name is Elder West, he is from Fargo, North Dakota; he wrestled and got 3rd in states, played football, and sang choir. He is super awesome and he is a solid missionary already. 

Elder West's first day here went quite well. We were busy all day long and had lots to do and got to teach a few good lessons. Within his first 24 hours he had the chance to help in a priesthood blessing and to bless an apartment so that was pretty cool for him and a good growing experience Its pretty fun to hear Elder Hohmann talk about "mission life" and all the stuff he has learned in his long 7 weeks here. I'm still just enjoying the ride and trying to be the best example to them that I can be and trying to help them become the missionaries that our Father in Heaven knows they can be.

We had a pretty good lesson with Raul but he still didn't come to church. I think this week we are just going to be really bold with him and ask him what is keeping him from coming and ask if he ever plans on coming to church. But it was a good opportunity for Elder West to teach an investigator. He is already a super solid teacher and knows a good amount about the gospel.

On Thursday when we went to the Bahai devotional for a less active young man in the ward we got a new potential investigator named Javier. He was there with Jerry, the less active young man. Javier is 14 and trying to seek truth about religion and God so he is looking at a lot of faiths. We talked to him about our church and about the Book of Mormon, I actually gave him one a few months ago, and he had many questions similar to Joseph Smith prior to his experiencing the first vision so we shared that with him and answered some of his questions. We even got Jerry to testify of prayer and answers to prayers to him so that was cool. Javier was super interested in learning more because he really like what we shared. I love to see young people sincerely seeking to know their Father in Heaven, when they except the gospel, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities for them and can really change the chances that generations to come will have.

The other pretty crazy event/miracle happened yesterday. We got a call from a random phone number and it ended up being a ysa aged girl who had gotten drunk to numb the pain and sadness of her brother dying in the towers on 9/11 and she somehow had our number and for whatever reason the people that she felt like she needed to call were the missionaries. She is a nonmember who learned just about everything that she would need to know to be baptized and confirmed and she has even read the Book of Mormon in its entirety and could quote passages like Alma 7:11-12 and Alma 36:19-21 while drunk. Through out the course of the conversation she asked if she could be baptized if she doesn't drink anymore and requested that I baptize her. So we are going to pass her off to the YSA sisters so they can teach her and so she can get baptized. I think the coolest thing in the whole experience was seeing the power of prayer and scripture in action, she was sobbing and distraught and after I had her say a prayer on the phone she was able to breathe and think more clearly and to talk about the gospel and how much she loves it. Heavenly Father truly loves his children regardless of the mistakes they make and even when they are in the midst of sin and doing things that separate them from Him he still gives them the spiritual nudges that they need to find help. I also learned that talking on the phone with a drunk person for 5 hours is exhausting.

Through all of these experiences this week my testimony of the divinity of our nature as children of a loving Heavenly Father was hugely strengthened. Throughout my mission I have found great comfort and strength in that knowledge and I have truly come to see God as my Father in a greater sense than I ever did before. On Saturday I read an article in an ensign from 2008 called "Our God Truly is God" by Elder Douglas L. Callister of the Seventy, and one point he talked about the importance of knowing we are children of God and the importance of teaching that, here is a quote from the article (sorry that this is going to be another one of my long emails but I feel that this is important to share today)

"The same God who brings such order to the universe and inspires the prophets designed the time, place, and circumstances of your birth. Said the Lord to the Prophet Joseph, 'Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less' (D&C 122:9). God’s love for you and awareness of your circumstances are of equal measure. Our relationship with Him is not that of Creator and created thing. It is of personal Father and child.

I had the privilege of being present when President Gordon B. Hinckley was interviewed by editors of the Los Angeles Times. An editor inquired about the rapid growth of the Church. President Hinckley chose to respond by emphasizing the miraculous transformation in the life of each individual who joins the Church. He spoke of a girl in Australia who was employed serving ice cream. She seemed inattentive to the message of the missionaries until one of them said, 'Do you know that you are a child of God?' She replied, 'Nobody has ever said that to me before. I had no idea that I might be a child of God.' Thereafter she went to her room, got down on her knees, and inquired: 'Are you there? Am I your child? Please let me know.' Then she said, 'There came into me a surge of feeling that brought me the conviction that was the case.' She joined the Church.

Two weeks later she was asked to give a talk in a Church meeting. Her first impulse was to run from it. Then she thought, 'If I am a child of God, I can do anything.' With this enlarged vision of who she was, she became a stalwart member of the Church.

Our entire perspective of ourselves, our worth, and what we can make of our lives is altered for good when we come to understand that we are God’s children and that we can become like Him."

I love this. Its truly humbling and amazing to see how important and impactful it can be to know the simple truth of our divine heritage. Then yesterday when I was talking with Chloe, the girl who called us and wants to be baptized, she started reading from a book written by a pastor somewhere and that talked about how too often when people try to teach about the gospel they start at Genesis chapter 3 and begin with the fact that we sinners and that we need a Savior, which is true, but that then the idea that we are evil and doomed for evil creeps in and people get stuck on that belief. The pastor said that we need to teach from the beginning, with Genesis chapter 1 and teach that we are children of God and that He loves us and knows us (I think that's just another point in the Church's favor seeing as the very first point we are told to teach is that God is our loving Heavenly Father). She then talked about how no matter what status we may have or what title we use to identify ourselves the one that is most important for us to remember and use is the fact that we are children of God and that as we no that nothing can stand in our way. I know that everybody here on the earth truly are Heavenly Father's children and I know that He knows each and every one of us and will help us through the trials that may arise in this lifetime. I know that I'm a child of God and I'm grateful for the chance to serve as one of His chosen missionaries and to help invite the people of Laguna Hills to come to know Him better. I love this gospel and I know that this is Christ's church here on the earth today and that Jesus Christ truly is our Savior and I know that there are good people here in this area that I need to be with and help and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love
Elder Cheever

A couple of cool miracles

Our last week was basically the same as usual, we had a couple of cool miracles that pumped us up but then some wild news. As it is a new transfer with new missionaries coming in fresh from the MTC, Elder Hohmann and I got called to train one of them! For about 3 hours after we got called I was super stressed and freaked out. Training is a huge responsibility and to have two new missionaries at once is a lot. Since then I have been trying my best to keep focused and rely on the Atonement for the strength I need and to help me be less worried and stressed and scared. I'm sure that it will all work out and that Heavenly Father has a plan in all of it, I'm just trying to roll with it and keep on moving, even if that requires a little bit of asking Him why its happening this way. Luckily Elder Hohmann is excited and feels ready for it.

On Tuesday we didn't really have much to do in the evening, not even a dinner, besides our lesson with Raul but even that was being sketchy because we couldn't get anybody to join us for it. While we were tracting we got a phone call from the sisters in our district (they aren't in our ward) telling us that they weren't doing anything. We were confused as to why they called us and then like 5 minutes later a less active lady named Sister Noss called us asking for a blessing. We tried to find other missionaries to join us since she was going to be the only one home. Everybody we called was at dinners or other appointments and couldn't help and then we remembered that the sisters weren't doing anything and that they didn't have a dinner either so we called them and they were able to help out. The blessing went well and then she offered to feed us dinner which worked out perfectly. As soon as we started to cook dinner Raul texted us and ended up cancelling which was good because we ended up being there for a long time. While we were making the dinner one of her nonmember friends came by and ended up eating with us and we were able to tell her more about what we do as missionaries and to answer questions that she had. Hopefully this experience was good for the less active woman and for her friend and we can see something cool come from it.

That's honestly about all it that happened this week. It seems that despite our best efforts it is staying slow here. But I'm going to keep going out and doing what I need to and keep controlling what I can control and have faith that there are miracles in store for us or the ward and the area.

Next week I will send pictures and the name of our new companion seeing as we don't find out who he is until tonight.

These people are good and I need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever