Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everybody! Hopefully it was good and that being able to celebrate the Savior's birth on the Sabbath day contributed to the spirit of the day. Seeing as it was the week leading up to Christmas not too much happened, most people are busy with family and vacations so nobody was really that available to meet with us. The weekend was super different as well. Obviously nobody wants to be harassed by a bunch of weird 19-20 year old guys in shirts and ties so we ended up just hanging out as missionaries. On Christmas Eve we started out the day by playing ultimate frisbee and soccer in the morning for a while as missionaries and then we just relaxed for a big chunk of the day. At night we went to dinner with some members of the ward and shared a big family Christmas Eve dinner and after dinner we went to another members home for a Christmas program. While there we read the account of Christ's birth in Luke chapter 2 and  had a little puppet show that went along with it. It was so great to be able to share the night with those families, it truly made it feel more like Christmas to be with families who were doing their usual Christmas traditions. On Christmas we had church early in the morning, it was a wonderful musical sacrament meeting. The choir sang some hymns, a couple of members of the ward talked about different aspects of Christmas and of the life of Christ, and the congregation joined in occasionally. After church we got to go home and relax for a little bit, as one should on a Christmas Sunday, and then we went to brunch at a member of the ward's home. After brunch we went to our ward mission leaders home to skype our families. It was so much fun to be able to talk to my parent, sibling, grandparents, and cousin. Its crazy to think that I only get to call home one more time on the mission now. After talking with family we went to dinner with the members who were feeding us. It was fun to be able to spend time with them and play some games and relax again.

I'm so grateful for the chances I've had to celebrate Christmas while in the service of Him whose birth we celebrate. Throughout the past month most of the people that we have talked to have said that the Christmases that they had on their missions have been their favorites, I don't think I can say quite the same thing but I can say that I will never forget either of them. There is something different about being focused on Christ and on helping others to focus on Him as well that makes a celebration of His birth seem more focused and real. The key now is to keep focused on Him all through the year and to continue to help others do the same. Its crazy to think that I only have 6 months left, I remember last Christmas when I hit 6 months feeling as though it would never end but now it seems like my mission is just about done and there is still lots to do. I look forward to the next 6 months and I know that as I keep myself committed and focused I will be able to see miracles and blessings galore. I love this place and I love the people here.

Love

Elder Cheever

A lot of service

Not too much happened this week. We had a lot of service between helping with FAM, helping set up for the ward Christmas party, helping a potential investigator move, helping some members in the other ward move, and helping set up somebody's wedding reception. We are excited for Christmas this weekend, this is definitely one of the best times of the year. I hope y'all can remember the Savior this weekend as you celebrate His birth!

Love

Elder Cheever

Jack told his mom that wants to be baptized

This week was pretty good. We are still working hard to find new people to teach and progress towards baptism and we are slowly getting closer.

On Tuesday we helped out at FAM and then we had the opportunity to have dinner with a nonmember family who lives in our area. Their son was diagnosed with cancer last year and because they have some friends who are members of the church he received a priesthood blessing that ended up helping him be cancer free in a very short period of time so they wanted to be able to pay forward the kindness and love by feeding us. It was cool to be able to get to know them and share more with them about what we do. Before we left we showed them the "Light the World" video and talked about the initiative based around serving others and following Christ's example in doing so. After we left we received a text from Mrs. Yorba thanking us for coming over and for sharing the video, she explained that their older son thinks that he is an atheist and that she was super grateful to watch him interact with us and to learn from us and to have him appreciate the video and to learn a little bit more. It was so cool to see how something little like that made a mothers day and helped out that family. We hope to be able to interact with them more and hopefully begin teaching them, we will see how that plan goes.

On Wednesday we were able to call Jack and have a lesson with him over the phone. For having gone through a bone marrow transplant and everything that goes along with that he is doing quite well. He sounded pretty tired and worn out, but that's to be expected. He got out of the hospital on Saturday and he is now staying in some hospital housing for about another week so that the doctors can make sure everything is okay before he comes back here to Talega. In addition to the news that he is healthy and doing well he has also told his mom that when he is recovered and able he wants to be baptized! Lots of good things happening for that boy and his family.

I'm so grateful to be here for another Christmas. There is something great about focusing on teaching others about Christ at this time of year, even if the people we talk to most are the members of the ward, being able to help them focus on Christ and spread that to others is just as important because they will still be here for a long time and will be able to reach more people than just the missionaries can. These people are good and I need to be with them!

Love

Elder Cheever