The End.

We didn't get the chance to email yesterday due to the libraries being closed so we are doing it today. It is pretty crazy to realize that this is my last weekly email to you. There were some pretty cool things that happened this week that helped me to realize the good that I have done on my mission and to know that I have accomplished what I needed to while I was out here. Seeing as I'm going home soon I've been getting in touch with people who I taught that got baptized. On Wednesday we had lunch with a man named Ross Carlson, his story is one that has touched my life greatly and that has impacted a lot of people in the past two years. He was taught when I was in the San Clemente YSA ward after a member from the Newport Coast YSA ward referred him to us. When we started teaching him he only had two chapters left to read in the Book of Mormon, after being given it two weeks prior, and before we even said the opening prayer for our first lesson he told us he wanted to be baptized and to serve a mission someday.  Even more amazing than his initial faith though is what the gospel has done for his life. When we first met him he was living on the streets of San Clemente but just prior to his baptism he was able to move in with somebody in the Saddleback YSA ward, and then shortly after his baptism he was able to find a job, then a few months after his baptism he was married to another member of one of the singles wards. Him and his wife Sierra are now sealed in the temple and have a two month old daughter, Ross is in school and progressing to the career he has always wanted, and he is constantly sharing the gospel with those around him and his testimony and his member missionary efforts have even led to the baptisms of people he has met. All of this just proves to me without a doubt that our Heavenly Father knows each of us and He has provided this gospel for us and He is just waiting to pour blessings upon us, all we have to do is accept it and follow Him and Christ faithfully and He will supply our needs.

On Thursday I had the chance to visit Ryland, a 12 year old girl that Elder Summers and I taught as companions in the Lake Forest ward. Her mother is less active and her father isn't a member but she faithfully attended activity days and one day decided she wanted to go to church and then a couple of weeks after that she wanted us to teach her so that she could be baptized. Ryland is still very active in the church and plans on serving a mission when she is old enough. Her family is moving to Utah in June for her fathers work which will provide her the opportunity to have the church present in her life even more and will give Elder Summers and I the chance to visit them while we are at BYU.

On Friday we had our usual soccer night with investigators and less active members and youth. Brock Gieszl, another person who Elder Summers and I taught, was there. He is another great example of somebody who has fully accepted the gospel in his life. Shortly after his baptism, Brock and his friend Jack (who originally invited Brock to church) invited another friend of theirs who was also baptized, and now in a couple of weeks they have another friend who will be baptized, and in August Brock leaves to serve in the Michigan Lansing Mission, under President Brennan, who was just released as the stake president here in the Santa Margarita stake.

On Saturday we were able to have dinner with the other two people that I taught who were baptized while I was in the San Clemente YSA ward, Bobby Baniasad and Cam Saliba. These two are one of the greatest teams of member missionaries that I have ever met. Anytime the missionaries have investigators or less actives they are working with Bobby and Cam make them feel right at home and help them become integrated in the ward.Bobby went received his endowment at the temple just a couple of months ago, and on Sunday he had the chance to ordain Cam to the office of an Elder in the Melchizedek priesthood. Cam plans to go to BYU-Idaho in the fall and is now thinking about serving a mission. There at the dinner with us was Cam's cousin Gio who has been interested in the church and who has been taught a few times, another guy named Brandon who Bobby and Cam helped teach and who Bobby baptized, a guy named Alex who is becoming active in the church again, and Alex's roommate who is going to start meeting with the missionaries. 

I'm so grateful for the chance I have had to get to know all of these amazing people and to be able to consider them as my friends. I truly understand the feelings of Ammon in Alma chapter 26 as he glories in the chance he had to be an instrument in the Lord's hand. I'm so glad that almost two years ago I acted on the testimony that I had to serve a mission and to come out here. I'm grateful for the trials I have gone through and for all that I have learned. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father saw fit to reach out to Joseph Smith so that the Church of Jesus Christ could be restored on the earth today. I know that this is Christ's church, that Joseph Smith was a prophet called to begin the establishment of the kingdom of God here on the earth in this great and last dispensation. I know that he really did translate the Book of Mormon, and that that book truly is from our Father in Heaven, that it bares testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, even the promised Messiah of the Old and New Testaments and that as Joseph Smith once said "A man would get  nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." And I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He came to live to be our perfect example, that He died to atone for the sins of all mankind, and that He lives today, exalted high at the right hand of His Father. He knows me personally and its through Him that I can do all things and that I can be worthy to stand clean and pure before my Heavenly Father again some day. I love Him and will follow Him for the rest of my life. I am deeply and humbly grateful for the miracle that my mission has been for my life, I know that I will never be the same in the very best of ways, and I say this in the name of Him whose name I have borne for these two years, even Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Cheever

We rescued a dog in an apartment complex, some amazing members brought me a little taste of home, and pictures from the temple this morning. Elder Nattress is the short one and Elder Blue is the one who looks like Buzz Lightyear.

Castillo's excited for baptism

Pedro Castillo is fully recovered from his heart attack last weekend and the whole family is very excited for their baptism coming up. Pedro told us that he sees the heart attack as a message from God and as a chance for a new life physically prior to beginning a new life spiritually after baptism. We talked with him and Nelly this week about tithing and the word of wisdom and all the concerns that they had previously are gone which is a great miracle.

We were able to have a lesson with the Outhwaites again this week as well. They are still doing super good and asked good questions.

Monday was transfer day so we picked up Elders Blue and Nattress and since Elders Mann and Tree were going home on Tuesday we all had to stay together in a crew that we titled the "5-panionship" It was a party at dinner and at the Castillos that night. I'll include pictures of it.

The reality of going home soon is beginning to hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. This week felt like it went by really slowly and the two weeks left are looming in front of me like an unconquerable mountain. Fortunately I really enjoy the ward I'm serving in and we have a lot of work to do that can help keep me more focused. 

There is a good chance that this will be my second to last real email. Monday the 5th is my last Monday and instead of pday we will be having a zone conference with Elder Valeri Cordon of the 70. It will be cool to hear from general authority and to say goodbye to lots of my friends the day before I go home but it probably means that I wont get to email that day. But as Joseph Smith says in Doctrine and Covenants 128:22 "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free."

The people here are good, and I love them so much, and I need to be with them; even if its only for 2 more weeks.

Love

Elder Cheever

Last new companions

We had a good week. We were able to meet with the Castillo's and with the Outhwaites. The Castillos are still on for baptism on June 10th which is very exciting. We are going to begin meeting with the Outhwaites regularly again so thats good too. We picked up a new investigator named Dean from the Spanish elders. On Saturday we had a super awesome meeting with Elder W. Craig Zwick of the 70. The Spirit was so strong during the meeting and I was able to gain a lot of understanding and inspiration. On Saturday Pedro Castillo had a small heart attack. He had surgery and is recovering but prayers for that family would be greatly appreciated. On Saturday we also found out what is happening for the next transfer. I will now be companions with Elder Blue and Elder Nattress. Elder Blue is from Gilbert, Arizona and Elder Nattress is from Fruitland, Idaho. They have both been out for quite a while and are both really good missionaries so I'm excited. There were a lot of changes in the zone and some of my really good friends got moved. Its a good thing we have a small mission so we see each other a lot.

We have a lot going on in the area right now and I think Elder Blue and Elder Nattress will help the work move along nicely. I'm excited for these next three weeks and all the work that I have to do. My hope is to finish strong and not shrink. During our meeting on Saturday we watched a video that showed the growth of the church from the beginning as just a few people in a small home to all that it is now. As the video played the Spirit was so strong and I truly felt that this work is God's and that He has a plan for all of how it will continue to progress. I'm so grateful to be a missionary and to be able to share this amazing gospel message with the people here in Rancho Santa Margarita. This is Christ's church on the earth today, He is our Savior and Friend. The Book of Mormon testifies of Him and His atoning sacrifice and through it we can really come to know Him personally. The church today is led by a prophet called by God and give authority from God to guide and direct us. I love this place and this work.

Love,

Elder Cheever

Never forget the miracles you see in the Lord's work

This week was super good! We ended up seeing some super cool miracles and having some great experiences.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty regular days. Tuesday was filled with a couple of big service projects so we spent most of the day on that.

On Wednesday I had my departing interviews with President and Sister Clark. It was kind of funny to talk about dating and marriage knowing that I still have a month left to do missionary work but I did get some good advice from President Clark. Later in the day we visited with a less active man named David who we have been working with recently. He has some medical issues that keep him from getting out much so we are some of his only friends. He has expressed a desire to be able to go to the temple this year and he has shared some of the concerns that he needs to overcome before he can reach that point so we have been trying to help him with that. It was Elder Tree's birthday so we had an awesome dinner with one of our favorite families in the ward.

We were able to have dinner with May Outhwaite on Thursday with some members of the ward and she told us that she has just been super busy lately and that's why she has been MIA but she said she is almost done with Alma now which is so cool! After dinner we went to watch Peter's soccer game which was a ton of fun. Then we went to visit Sherman and Iria, a couple we have been trying to work with. Sherman is a less active member from San Diego and Iria is his nonmember girlfriend. Sherman's brother got back from his mission not too long ago so they went to see his homecoming talk which led Iria to be a lot more curious about the church and she said she would be willing to listen to the lessons and learn more about it and Sherman was super supportive of that. Iria and her son Diego were there on Thursday night so we were able to teach them the restoration lesson. They really loved it and were both super excited to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. Our goal for this week is to set a baptism date with them and to get them to church so hopefully it works out.

On Friday we had a good Plan of Salvation lesson with a less active man we are working with named Don. He recently was ordained to be a priest after being a deacon for 50 years of inactivity so now we are working on getting him to be ready for the Melchizedek priesthood as well.

Saturday was a super awesome day. In the morning I got to go for a baptism in the South Coast ward for a man named Jazz Montgomery. Over a year ago when I was in the ward for the first time I included this in my email home "we tried to stop by one of the people who said we could come by and before we left to do that I had prayed that we would have the opportunity to meet with our intended person or that, if we didn't get that chance, we would be able to find somebody we could teach and begin helping in their life. Unfortunately the lady we were trying to visit wasn't home but as we were leaving the neighborhood we were able to stop and talk to a man named Jazz and share the Restoration lesson with him. When we invited him to church he said he would definitely check it out because he has been praying to find a church in the area that speaks English and that has the whole truth so he doesn't get led away. It was so cool to see that in this one contact Heavenly Father answered both of our prayers and was able to start helping Jazz find the truth that he is looking for." We never were able to work with him more but that doesn't mean that Heavenly Father wasn't working with him. About a month ago the elders in the ward contacted him again and began teaching him. The man who gave the talk on baptism spoke of his mission 40 years ago in Taiwan and how you work as hard as you can as a missionary and then the Lord throws you a bone. He told a story of a man they we referred to who gave up everything to be able to be baptized and how he would never forget that miracle that happened there. Without knowing my part of Jazz's story he talked about sometimes you plant a seed and it takes time to take root but that none of us would ever forget the miracle that was taking place that day in Santa Ana as Jazz got baptized. In my patriarchal blessing it mentions that as I share my testimony it will reach the hearts of people, some of whom will wait until a later time and will then accept the gospel and be led into the waters of baptism and onto the path back to our Heavenly Father. It was so amazing to see a promise given me by Father fulfilled in such a marvelous and literal way and it was amazing to see Jazz enter into that covenant path. That night we had an awesome ward adult conference in which we heard from Brad Wilcox, a well known Mormon author and teacher at BYU. He gave an amazing speech on grace and what it is and what it does for us. After he spoke we were helping to take down and Pedro Castillo spoke to Bishop Baker and told him that they had decided on a date. Bishop told us afterward so that was all the talk in our ward correlation and ward council meetings on Sunday and then a member of the bishopric announced it during Sacrament meeting. The family has decided to be baptized on June 10th. We are all so excited for them to make that step in coming closer to Christ. I'm a little bummed that I wont be there in person to see it happen but yesterday during testimony meeting Peter and Pedro both got up and bore their testimonies and as they did so I felt a lot of peace about all of it. Its amazing to see a whole family accept this gospel and to see the change it has made for them and for them to recognize that change as well. I love it here and I can't wait for the other miracles that are in store as I work hard in the next month!

Love

Elder Cheever

My last transfers worth of time in the mission

This week was pretty regular. We weren't able to meet with the Castillo's because they had a very busy schedule but they were all at church and then Peter and Pedro went to the Priesthood preview that the ward had. Peter is excited to be able to get the Aaronic Priesthood when he turns 12 and I think that that will be a motivating factor for Pedro in deciding when his family gets baptized. They Outhwaites were unresponsive again this week, its sad to see such an awesome family drop off the face of the earth but we continue to pray for them and reach out to them. I got to go on exchanges in the Lake Forest ward with Elder Center. It was good to spend some time with a good friend and to visit people I knew while I was there. We visited a less active that Elder Summers and I worked with and had a good time with him.

We had a really awesome 5th Sunday discussion from the bishopric here in the ward and I realized how much the Spirit was there and then I realized how often the bishopric at home probably did the same thing but that I just didn't pay any attention so I missed out on learning from people who really cared about me. Hopefully the youth of the ward can learn to listen to the Bishop and to pay attention because when he talks he is sharing all the love he has and it can change lives if they learn from the things he says. I'm grateful for the amazing Bishop's I had growing up and I'm so grateful that I had Bishop Suppes as I went through high school. He really cared about me and my decisions and did his best to make sure that my friends and I turned out okay.

I'm into my last transfers worth of time in the mission but I have found that I am no more trunky with 5 weeks left than I have been at other times in my mission. I just made the decision that I want to focus on my mission and the task at hand and go out as strong as I possibly can. I love this place and the chance to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ. I recently memorized "The Living Christ" and yesterday I finished reading The Book of Mormon focusing on finding the names and titles of Christ and on marking His words. In doing this my testimony of Him has grown tremendously and I have come to realize how much more He has been and needs to be in my life. I encourage each of you to study "The Living Christ" and to find ways to focus on Him more and rely on Him and His Atoning sacrifice in all that you do. As you do problems will be solvable, fears will fade away, and peace will prevail in your life.

Love

Elder Cheever

Positive experience for the Castillo family

This was a good week. We met with the Castillo's on Thursday and read the Book of Mormon with them more. This weekend there was a baptism of a 15 year old girl and her mother in one of the wards in the stake. The girl's father and step-mother were baptized in September which led to the baptism this weekend, its a really cool story. The Castillo family came to see it and it was a very positive experience for all of them. They definitely felt the Spirit, and Peter, the son, said he is more excited to get baptized now. After the baptism President Clark put his nametag on Peter's shirt and we all took pictures with our "new" president. The whole family really enjoyed it and have begun to consider even more seriously when they will get baptized.

 We tried to meet with the Outhwaites but they were busy. Ever since they returned from their vacation their schedule has changed and it has been harder to meet with them and they haven't been to church. Hopefully we can meet with them this week and figure out what the concern is. 

On Friday we had the cool opportunity to attend the temple with all of the missionaries going home this transfer as well as President and Sister Clark. It was great to see some old friends as well as to be in the temple with our wonderful mission leaders.

Last night the ward had a youth fireside where all the kids shared which talk they liked and why and bore testimony of it. It was great to see all of these kids putting principles from conference into their lives, especially since a few of them will be graduating this year and going off to college, BYU but even there you have to decide for yourself if the whole church thing is really as important as you are always told it is. Its so wonderful that we have modern day Prophets and Apostles who can lead us and inspire us through the pitfalls of life. 

Well that's about it for this week.

Love

Elder Cheever

Glad I still have a couple months left

We had a pretty good week here. The most exciting things were our lessons with the Castillo's and the Outhwaite's. When we visited the Outhwaite's we taught the restoration directed towards Brendan. He hasn't been taught that yet and we started noticing that not knowing some things was slowing his progress down. He asked really good questions about prophets and he told us that Joseph and the first vision all makes sense to him. We hope that we can keep having good lessons like that with May and Brendan together so that they can progress as a family. We had dinner with the Castillo's and then we read the 1 Nephi 1 with them. Pedro really enjoyed being able to get the beginning of the story and he told us that now that he knows how it starts he is going to get into more so he can see what happens with Nephi and his family. During church yesterday the primary kids did a musical number and before they sang Peter quoted John 3:16 from memory. Its so amazing to see how much the ward has welcomed them in and to see how the friends they have has led them to accept the gospel and build a greater testimony of Christ. We had a zone conference on Tuesday. It was crazy to hear the departing testimonies of a lot of my good friends and to realize that next transfer I'm going to be one of the people bearing a departing testimony. Its crazy how fast this has gone but I'm glad I still have a couple months left to work hard and invite others to come unto Christ.

Love

Elder Cheever

Craziness to the week but mostly good things

We had some craziness to the week but mostly good things. The Outhwaites are back in town so we were able to have a good visit with them. We shared the Prince of Peace video and talked about Christ and how He can bring us peace. They have had a few changes in their work schedules and in other aspects of their life that has been pretty crazy for them so the video came at a good time to help them know how they can maintain peace while dealing with the changes of life. We were also able to visit with the Castillo family as well. We brought President Brennan, the former stake president, with us and we watched the talk by Elder Joaquin Costa entitled "To the Friends and Investigators of the Church." In the talk he outlines four things that investigators need to do and then he boldly invites them to be baptized. The four things he suggests are take the missionaries seriously, go to church, read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and to repent. Pedro told us that they have done all of that except for reading the Book of Mormon so now they will focus on that so that they can be ready to be baptized. We have high hopes that it can happen by May 13th so that Elder Mann and Elder Tree can still be here when it happens. We got a referral for somebody in Coto de Caza, which is the largest gated community in the country if not the world, and when we went by they told us they weren't interested. On our way back to the car we were talking about the principle in Preach My Gospel that suggests knocking on doors around the place you just visited a referral to see if maybe somebody else near there was the reason that you were directed to where you were. Unfortunately since Coto is gated we can't just knock on doors so we just drove past the houses that we wished we could visit. Then the next morning we got a text from the elders in a ward in the Mission Viejo stake giving us a referral for a lady who lives in Coto that is the sister of their investigator. When we went to visit her we discovered that she lived in one of the houses that we had wanted to knock on the previous day while visiting the other referral. It was amazing to see that Heavenly Father will provide a way for us to visit those who are ready even if they are in a heavily fortified gated community.

Since Elder Mann and Elder Tree go home soon and I go home not too long after them we have all been thinking about the future and home a little bit more than usual and its a little scary to think about the future. I'm so grateful that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and has a plan for my life and I'm glad that I can rely on Christ to help me feel at peace and to carry me through. The other night at dinner we were sharing the prince of peace video just after my younger brother did my class registering so I was pretty stressed about that and while the video was playing I had an overwhelming feeling of peace hit me and I felt that even though I'm scared right now and that I have no idea how things are going to go that it will all be alright in the end. I'm so glad that Jesus really does live and that He does fill that role as the Prince of Peace and that I can ask for that help whenever I need it. I'm grateful to be here in Rancho now and to work with these great people, they are good and I need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

General Conference

We had General Conference this week so of course it was a good week. I was very grateful to hear all wonderful talks and to gain guidance and answers to things I have had on my mind. On Tuesday we helped down at the Modjeska house in the canyon and then we helped a member in our ward to move out his old dental office and into his new one and then we picked oranges with the youth for mutual. It was fun way to get to know the young men better and to build a bond with them. After the orange picking part they had all of the young men and young women get together and we sang the EFY medley in preparation for one of the boy's mission farewell. The Spirit is always so strong during that song and it was especially powerful to sing about being the Lord's missionaries as a missionary. Saturday morning we helped a single lady and her son move and it ended up causing us to miss the morning session of General Conference but we were happy to help the member in our ward and we are going to watch conference tonight with the family we are having dinner with so it all works out. Pedro and Peter Castillo both made it the Priesthood session of conference. I don't know quite how much each of them got out of it but the Spirit was there so if nothing else they felt that. Last night we went by a potential investigator who has a boyfriend who is a less active member and in the course of our discussion we were able to ask her if she would be interested in learning more and she told us that she would like to know more and then to our surprise her boyfriend actually voiced his support of us teaching her so hopefully we can begin seeing miracles there. This week we are hoping to get in with the Castillos to watch a couple of the talks from conference that we feel would have a good impact on the progress of the family. Saturday night was also transfer calls night. Elder Mann goes home at the end of this transfer (May 16) and I go home three weeks later (June 6th) midway through the next transfer, so we figured we would end up with a third companion so that our area wouldn't end up with two people who know nothing about the area. We weren't wrong about the third companion, but its not at all who we would have guessed. We are going to be joined by Elder Tree, my former companion from the Laguna Hills 3rd ward. Besides the fun of getting somebody I have already been companions with, he also goes home with Elder Mann so that means that when they go home things will get crazy for me and the area. But we are excited and its what the Lord wants so we are going to do it.

In addition to a challenge for each of you to take a chance to watch or listen to General conference (you can find it at this link https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP_SU_2-4-2017_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng) I would also encourage each of  you to check out this year's Easter initiative #PrinceofPeace (you can find this one at https://www.mormon.org/) It is a powerful video that talks about the role of our Savior Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace and how His Atonement can bring us peace. Watch it, apply it, and share it with others. I'm so grateful that Easter is coming up and that we will have the chance to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. I know that He lives and loves each and every one of us. I know that because He lives no problem we face needs to stay a problem. Through His Atonement we have the ultimate source of strength, hope, and of course peace. If we follow Him and strive to be like Him we can have true happiness in this life and a fullness of joy in the life to come!

love

Elder Cheever

Lots of exchanges

Sorry I didn't send an email last week! It was a hectic day and unfortunately emailing was the thing that got cut short. It was a pretty good week, some cool miracles but all in all a pretty regular missionary week.

This week was also pretty crazy. The transfer is getting close to ending so there were still a couple more exchanges to go on, one with our district leader and one with the assistants, and then we also had a day where we mixed up the entire zone so I was all over the place. On Wednesday I got to go to the Tijeras Canyon ward with one of my good friends Elder Kenner. We had a fun day and had a couple good visits with some of the less active members that they have been working with. The very next day I went to the Newport Coast YSA ward with Elder Everett, one of our assistants to the president. We had a fun day inviting people to the institute lunch class and then trying to find some new move ins that their bishop asked them to track down. We actually managed to get in contact with all four of them that we tried and were able to get the information that we wanted from them and to give them the information about ward activities that we wanted to share with them. It might not sound like that much but it was a pretty big miracle. Usually as a YSA missionary when you go out "less active" hunting you don't get very far so Elder Everett and I were pretty excited for that. We got to have dinner with the Thach's in the South Coast ward, we have both served there previously. It was fun to catch up with them. After dinner we spent some time trying to find a couple of investigators there in Santa Ana. It was fun to walk the streets of that crazy city and talk about fun times there with somebody else who has a love for that place. On Saturday I got to go to the Lake Forest ward with Elder Van Orden, one of the missionaries actually in that ward, and Elder Summers, one of my companions from my time in that ward. We had an amazing day. We went by some people that Elder Summers and I used to visit and work with and we were able to set up appointments for Elder Van Orden and his companion to go by them again and we were able to catch up with some old friends. Yesterday all four of the Castillos came to church once again. In Gospel Principles the lesson was on the Atonement and our ward mission leader did a really good job and at the end Pedro said it was a very touching lesson. It is so cool to see that family progressing and to see the love they have developed for the gospel. 

I'm loving it here and I'm so excited to be in such a great place with such great people for the last little bit of my mission. I know for a fact that they are good and that I need to be here with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

Castillo family came to church

Things are good in our area. Tuesday ended up being a whole day of service. In the morning we helped at the Modjeska Garden house, a neat little historic site deep in the canyon, and then we helped some of the elders in our zone with a move for a little bit and then we went to help at an interfaith food pantry in Rancho. It was pretty fun to get home exhausted from doing a different kind of work all day but to feel good from having helped others all day long.  On Wednesday we had our zone training meeting. For the first hour and a half of the meeting nobody in our zone was focused and they were being loud and disruptive while missionaries gave training's so the Spirit wasn't there in abundance as it should have been. Fortunately they calmed down and behaved when the former stake president came to talk with us and when President Clark arrived as well On Thursday we got to go to the temple which was a huge blessing. It is always nice to go there and to learn, to feel the Spirit, and to be at peace and away from my usual worries for a couple of hours. I was on exchanges with Elder Wothe that day. He went to BYU as well before his mission and he is a lot like me so we had a lot of fun all day long comparing stories of various adventures that we had. After the temple we ended up helping with a move with the Lake Forest elders. We got it done pretty quickly and had a great time.  All of the Castillo family came to church this week and loved it. Kayla, the 17 year old daughter, went to Mormal (Mormon Prom) with one of the young men in the ward and had a great time with kids who have good values and who were good examples to her. We are hoping with this added progress that they can get baptized by the end of April. The Outhwaite family is doing good as well. We were able to meet with them together one night and then we had an individual lesson with May that started out as the Gospel of Jesus Christ but transitioned into eternal marriage and the blessings from that. It was actually super cool that the conversation went there because the things that we talked about ended up being the evidence and support to beliefs that May has had her entire life. They are going to be out of town for the next couple of weeks which is a bummer but we have some awesome members in our ward who have become close with them so they should hopefully still be in contact with the church while they are gone.

Yesterday morning I finished reading the Book of Mormon again, for the 13th or 14th time. As sad as it gets towards the end of the book the Spirit is so powerful as Moroni teaches and bares his testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. Each time I read of the fall of his people and his description of his life I can feel the emotion that he puts into his writing and it constantly confirms the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon to me. I'm so grateful that in addition to the Bible we have the Book of Mormon as another witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Savior and Redeemer of this world. I have found so much strength, comfort, and peace from the words contained within it. I'm so grateful for all those men from thousands of years ago who took time to instruct us and to record their testimonies and I'm grateful that Joseph Smith had the faith to pray and ask what path he should follow in his life that led to the restoration of priesthood authority, of Christ's church on the earth, and in the translation of the Book of Mormon. I hope that each of you can take a chance each day this week to read from the Book of Mormon and to feel the power that it has!

Love

Elder Cheever

Good week in Santa Margarita

We had a good week here in Santa Margarita. 

We had a zone conference on Tuesday that was a good chance to review the principles that we learned a couple of weeks ago from the teachers from the MTC. Elder Mann, Sister Sanders, Sister Loveridge, and I (the sister training leaders and zone leaders in our stake) were assigned to give a training about church tours during the zone conference. We were relieved to be able to have our training done with. We were glad that it went well and we hope that it helps bring miracles in the areas around the mission. Tuesday night we had dinner with our investigators, the Outhwaites at the home of some super solid members in our ward. They are both converts and the stories that they shared hopefully will help May and Brendan continue to progress.

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Van Orden. I was kind of nervous to have to lead out the area after only a week of being here but it ended up being a really good day. We were able to have some awesome visits with three less active men and we were able to meet a former investigator and visit with him for a little while.

On Thursday we were able to meet with May again and the member that we brought with us was a huge help. He was able to bear testimony of a lot of principles that brought the Spirit in super powerfully. She even shared with us that she got her answer to knowing this church is true and that she is just waiting for her husband to get an answer as well.

On Saturday, Elder Burk joined me on exchanges in my area again. We helped with a couple of service projects in the morning but the afternoon was pretty empty. We were able to find things to do but it was weird to try and know the best way to spend our time with out having much of an idea of what to do in the area.

Yesterday Elder Mann was sick so we only went to Sacrament meeting. It was nice to be able to have that spiritual recharge amidst a rainy day inside the apartment.

Last week during our gospel principles class one of the women in the ward made a comment about the Atonement that I really liked. She said that Christ loves us so much that even if it was only each one of us and Him in the world, He still would have taken upon Himself everything that He did to be able to help us. Sometimes I think we get into the thinking that Christ loves everybody as a whole but its so important to remember that He loves each and every one of us individually and is always there to help each of us. I love the Atonement so much and I'm so grateful for it!

Love

Elder Cheever

Amazing week

We had an amazing week over here. We have spent a lot of the week going around to visit various members of the ward to introduce me and to unveil the ward mission plan to them. We were able to have some awesome visits with our investigators as well. We are teaching the Castillo family, Pedro the dad, his wife Nelly, his daughter Kayla , and son Peter. They are an amazing family who really knows that this church is true. Our ward mission leader came with us and we were able to have a good conversation with them that eventually led into a very direct conversation about baptism. The Spirit was crazy strong and I could tell that everything Elder Mann, Brother Johnson, and I said to them was directed by the Spirit. We attempted to set a baptismal date with them and Pedro told us that they will be baptized as a whole family when everybody is ready and that when it happens it will be a bigger deal than his wedding day. Their daughter Kayla is the last member of the family to be 100% in but she is going to come to mutual on Tuesday, she wants to go to Mormal (Mormon prom), and the whole family is going to come to church next Sunday so we are pretty sure that after this week she will also be all in. Its a super exciting time for them, the ward, and us.

We also had dinner with our other investigator family, the Outhwaites (Brendan the husband and May the wife and their two year old daughter Olivia). May is progressing super well and is just eating up everything that we have taught her and that she has heard at church. Brendan still has some hesitations but he is very supportive of his wife. We talked with her about baptism for a little bit and she wants it to happen. We went over the baptism interview questions to show her that she is almost ready and she said she would talk to Brendan about it because she wants them to make the decision together.
Its amazing to have people to teach who are so genuinely committed to finding the truth and who have the faith to come to church and keep the commitments that we extend to them.

This week I also had the amazing opportunity to FaceTime my brother Sully as he opened his mission call. It was so cool to see the excitement on his face as he read that he would be going to the Spain Madrid mission and even better to see his best friend run up to give him a big hug since he also opened his call to Madrid the same day. I have been so grateful to have one of my good friends in my mission and I know that Alex and Sully will be a huge support to one another. 

We also had the chance to call Elder Mann's family to listen in as his younger brother opened his call. It was cool to support him in that and to see our brothers following in our footsteps.

I'm so excited to be here in this area to finish out my mission and to work with the members as well as the investigators that are here. These people are good and I know I need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

Transferred to Santa Margarita

We both got super sick this week so that severely handicapped the amount of work that we could do this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday we tried to visit some of our investigators and we tried to set up appointments with potentials or hunt down less actives but none of them were available or responsive which was a bummer.

On Thursday I had to go to a mission leadership council meeting. Usually its just the zone leaders and sister training leaders but this time they invited all of the district leaders for some reason. We received trainings from a couple of instructors from the MTC to help us be able to help our investigators progress better so it was a pretty good meeting, even though it went from 9 am until 3. After MLC Elder Ahlstrom and I went to dinner with the less active man that we met last week, Robbie, again, despite both of us starting to feel sick. He took us to a really nice Chinese restaurant called Din Tai Fung and then he took us to the Lego store and bought us Lego keychains and then we went to the Godiva chocolate store and he got us super good chocolate. By the end of our time with him he asked us what he should read so we were able to help him download the Gospel Library app so that he could begin reading the Book of Mormon again. Hopefully as he reads it he can find the desire to return to church. By the time we got home I was miserable and could barely breathe I was so congested and I could hardly see because my eyes were watering so much. We were still sick on Friday and Saturday so we just rested at home. I'm still not sure if the fever from having a cold or the cabin fever that I developed from being inside so long was worse. I'm just glad to be able to work again. 

Saturday night was transfer calls and I found out that I would be getting transferred and going to the Santa Margarita ward in the Rancho Santa Margarita stake with Elder Mann. I spent the rest of the weekend packing and then this morning I met up and I am now with Elder Mann. I like Rancho and I know Elder Mann pretty well so I'm excited to be here and to work with him. 

I know our Heavenly Father answers our prayers and that He knows our need, our wants, and what is best for us. I'm so grateful for this gospel and the perspective that it brings into life.

Love

Elder Cheever

A Tale of Exchanges, Super Heroes, and Service

On Tuesday I got to go to the Costa Mesa 1st ward with Elder Rubon for exchanges. He is an awesome missionary and it was fun to spend the day with him again. We had some good lessons with people and got to talk about a lot of things which was super good.
On Wednesday we had a good district meeting and then at night we went to try to visit our investigator Steven, the one who randomly called us that one day. When we got there we saw shoes on the doorstep that looked like missionary shoes and when we knocked the Vietnamese elders from Anaheim were there. He had requested books in Vietnamese to send his family so they were there to drop them off and then they thought they were going to teach him too but he doesn't speak any Vietnamese so he decided he would stick with us teaching him. We had a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation and he really liked all the parts of it. He still wants to get baptized but he doesn't respond to our texts and calls in a very timely manner so we still haven't been able to get him to church which is a bummer.
On Thursday Elder Gibb came to my area for exchanges. He is one of my favorite people to be around out here because he works hard and is an awesome teacher but he also knows how to have fun while doing what he needs to. In the morning we had a lesson with Touttou, it was about the same as usual, just answering lots of questions that he has about different things. After that we tried to visit some less active people from our ward list to see if they were still there. We tried to visit a man named Robbie but when we knocked on the door we heard people inside but they didn't answer so we left a card in the door and went on with our day. A couple of hours later we got a call from Robbie saying that he would like to meet up sometime and that he had been wanting to get in touch with missionaries but that he hadn't known how to do it. We were pretty excited because that was one of the only times in our entire missions that anybody has actually called us from a card. Later in the day we went up to Tustin, which happens to be outside the mission, so I could interview their Marshallese investigator for baptism (that's why we were allowed to leave the mission). After the interview we were driving home and joking around in the car while drinking Powerade and Gibb started laughing super hard which caused him to start choking on his drink. He spit it out the window and I kept laughing and then a couple of seconds later I realized that he was throwing up outside the window too. It took him a little to recover and breathe again but it was probably one of the funniest moments I have had in a while, and what made it even better was the fact that he was the driver so while trying not to die he also had to try not to crash the car. It might sound kind of gross but had you been there you would understand how funny it was.
On Friday Elder Gibb and I ended up together again for a little bit and we got to visit a less active man in my area named Jimmy Garcia. He is blind and has one leg so he is in a wheel chair. When he was originally found by missionaries he was in a wheelchair, which both legs, and was blind and as they taught him he began to see just a little bit and then after he was baptized he was able to walk out of the font and had his sight back completely. Shortly after he was baptized though he started to fall back into old habits and then he stepped off a curb the wrong way and broke his leg in a way that it had to be amputated and then he went blind again when he stopped going to church. He has a lot of faith and wants to do what's right, he has just been sick for a while. As we talked to him we learned that since going blind again he has developed "super powers" akin to that of the Marvel character "Daredevil" a blind attorney who has enhanced senses that allow him to fight crime and stuff. He told us that he can hear every thing that goes on on his block and down the street, that he can hear people's heartbeats, and that he can tell the difference in the way the air hits him when people move around him in such a way that he can tell what they are doing. Of course we had to test his powers out and see what he could do. He was able to tell us the various actions that we did and then even told us what his neighbors were doing. Apparently one time he save a woman' s life because he heard something down the street and called the cops to have them check it out. It was pretty cool to be able to meet a real life super hero.
On Saturday we had the chance to go to Emily's baptism, it was cool to see such a young person making such a big step in their life and to see her family there supporting her. After the baptism we went to help with a move for a nonmember lady, (thats why we left in our service clothes) and we did that until dinner time. The less active man, Robbie, from the other day took us out to dinner and we had the chance to get to know him better and to hear a little of his past. He is excited to meet with us more and re learn about the church so hopefully sometime soon he comes again. After dinner we went back to the move for the rest of the night. The lady we were helping was very grateful and ended up giving us $50 dollars for helping, we did try to reject it but she wouldn't let us. The six of us who were there decided to go get dessert of some sort with the money as a good way to finish out the day. We first went to a Yogurtland but after we got there none of us were really feeling that anymore so we went to the Target right next to it and we all just got different treats or drinks that we wanted. As we were leaving Elder Gibb saw a deal on Lunchables so he grabbed a few of them and then right before we checked out I saw some juice that I really liked and decided to grab that as well. After all six of us got what we wanted we were walking back to the car and a man came up to us. He seemed to be homeless or something like that and he attempted to ask us for help but had a very bad stutter. Before he even asked us anything Elder Gibb just started handing him his Lunchables and then I felt like I should give him the juice I got on the way out and then I also felt like I should give him the $20 that we had left over. He was so grateful that he started to tear up and tried to say thank you. As we walked away from him the first things that came to my mind were Matthew 25:34-40 and Hebrews 13:1-2. It was a pretty eye opening experience for me because I realized that I can have way more charity for those around me than I do, but I was extremely grateful that we were inspired to buy things that helped us to help that man out.

I'm so grateful for all of the things I have learned throughout my mission and for the person I have become through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity to share it with others. I know the people here are good and that I need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

A lot of service

We didn't have that to email on Monday and we were on exchanges yesterday so that's why this isn't coming until a Wednesday.  We ended up doing a lot of service helping out at the 2nd Harvest Food Bank and cleaning the temple on Saturday, and on Monday we spent the morning helping the South Coast sisters move as well (hence the not having time to email.) Its cool to see how many opportunities we have to serve those around us and to feel the joy that comes from helping our Father's children. Unfortunately our teaching appointments were rather slim this week, it seemed that every time we tried to set something up with somebody or we tried to go by they were busy so we didn't have much luck in getting in with them. We are still having a good time and working hard here and we have faith that things will work out with our investigators.

It was neat to be in the temple in a less formal setting and to have people joking around as they worked but to feel how strong the Spirit was still there. It just goes to show that in even in the temple, Heavenly Father still wants us to be able to enjoy ourselves and that He is okay with having a good time.

I don't know what else to talk about so until next week...

Love

Elder Cheever

Pretty Awesome Week

We had a pretty awesome week. We were able to meet with our investigators Toutto and Renee and we were able to set a baptismal date with Renee for February 25th. We are most likely going to pass her off to the sisters though since they will be able to relate to here better than we can. 

On Friday we got a call from a young man named Steven Anderson wanting us to come by and pray with him so we tried to visit but he didn't give us the letter of his apartment so we tried to figure out which one he was in but had no luck and then on Saturday night he called us again and that time we were able to meet with him and give him a priesthood blessing. He told us that he had met with missionaries before and that he was going to be baptized but then right before his baptism he got offended by something dumb that the elders did and he lost contact with them. Some of the Spanish missionaries from the Anaheim mission live in the same apartment complex as him and he would see them all the time so he felt prompted to try and have missionaries come by again so he went on Mormon.org and was able to get our phone number. We taught him the restoration again and he remembered all of it and then we talked about a lot of other things and we ended up going through the baptism interview questions with him to see how we should proceed with teaching him the lessons. He is super excited to meet with us again and hopes to get baptized in February so we will see what we can do.

Saturday afternoon we went to visit a referral that we had received and the man told us that he wasn't actually interested so we decided to knock on the doors around him since we figured that there must be a reason why we were supposed to be over there. The first person we talked to after that ended up telling us to come back the same time on Sunday and then he also told us that his neighbors husband died and that she could probably use our message as well. She didn't end up speaking very much English so we got her information and told the Spanish sisters about her so maybe something cool will happen there. Yesterday we went back over there and we had the chance to teach Umberto. He really liked it and said he will keep meeting with us and that he will try to get his family to church on Sunday as well.

Yesterday in church one of the people speaking talked about joy and how we can foster that attitude and characteristic more in our lives. That's actually something that I have been working on over the last few weeks and I love President Nelson's advice on how to do it. I would encourage each of you to read or listen to his talk from October's General Conference and look for ideas from it that you can apply into your lives to have joy in all circumstances.

Love

Elder Cheever

We don't know the impact we will have

We had a pretty good week with a couple of crazy things happening. We spent a lot of time this week helping the ward council track down less active members of the ward based off a list of people who have moved out of the ward boundaries so that was pretty fun. On Wednesday we had our transferly zone conference, it was fun to see a different group of missionaries there and to see some of my good friends and old companions. On Friday and Saturday we ended up helping the Costa Mesa elders with a couple of moves in their area that took up a lot of time but we ended up getting a really nice couch from some non-members who we helped move so now our apartment feels a little more like a home than it did before. We have been getting crazy amounts of rain here (its pretty normal for back home, but not for California) and this morning it was pouring down hail so of course we ran outside to stand in it for a little bit since its the closest thing to snow we are gonna get here.

My favorite experience this week was definitely an Addiction Recovery Program fireside that we had the chance to attend last night. I have loved every opportunity that I have had to attend various ARP meetings during my mission and last night was no exception to the overwhelming power of the Spirit that can be felt in those settings. It truly is an amazing and inspired program designed to help people utilize the Atonement to overcome the struggles they have in this life. On Thursday night I had the opportunity to help Mamma La organize a talk that she gave at it. It was a neat experience to read it before hand and to feel the powerful Spirit of her testimony of the Atonement and to then hear it from her in person and I was grateful for the chance I had to use my talents to help somebody who I love dearly. While there I also got to talk to a young man named Christian Ichikawa. When I was in the singles ward at the beginning of my mission my trainer and I attempted to visit him and were turned away but later one of my other companions and I were able to get in to his home and began sharing messages with him. He eventually began attending institute, and then going back to church. When I left the ward all I knew was that he was going to church but that he still didn't have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Restoration. Months later I heard that he had come to know that it was true and that he had even shared his testimony during a "fast and testimony" meeting and that he was considering starting mission papers. Last night when I talked with him he told me that he is going to submit his papers next week and he told me that Elder Davies and I were the first set of missionaries that he let in for a long time and that prior to us he had turned many away. It just goes to show that we don't know the impact we will have on those around us and that sometimes they might turn us away at first but that Heavenly Father is mindful of them and will eventually provided them with the guidance they need to return home. So don't give up on the quest to help the down trodden and to lift the hands that hang down low, each of the Good Shepherd's sheep are know He will always reach out to help them.

Love

Elder Cheever

Good week back in Santa Ana

Its been a good week back in Santa Ana. Following the assistants into an area is a pretty fortunate thing since they made sure to keep the area book organized and neat so that we would know who we will be working with and what they need to be taught. We have a lot more investigators than I have gotten used to and one of the biggest less-active member populations in the mission so we have a lot of work to do. Its actually kind of intimidating because there is so much and we don't want to lose track of anybody but on Sunday we had Elder Acosta, the area general authority, in our ward council meeting and one thing he suggested to the ward council in their efforts to help people was to have each auxiliary pick 5 people to focus on at a time and to help them as much as possible until they are active again or they tell them to stop and then move somebody else into the "roster". Upon hearing that we decided that that's what we need to do as well so hopefully narrowing our vision will make it easier to do all that we need to do here.  The ward has been super supportive and excited to help us out in any way they can which has also been cool to see. On Sunday all the people that were in the ward when I was here before were excited to see me and happy to have me here again, Brother Harmer, the bishop in the ward last year, joked that I didn't get it right the first time so I got sent back here to try again, which is probably right.

On Thursday we were able to meet with a man named Migel who the last elders were about to start teaching and we read a little in the Book of Mormon and we will go back there again today. 

On Saturday we were able to meet with Ismael, a 17 year old boy that they had taught a little as well. And then last night we had a lesson with Touttou (pronounced to-to) that went super well. We went in with the intention of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson but we ended up helping Touttou understand the Book of Mormon much better. He had some questions about how the Book of Mormon fits in with the Bible, what its purpose is and how the Nephites and the Lamanites knew about Christ's life and about His Atonement. At first when he started asking questions I wasn't quite sure how to answer them in a way that would help him best so I said a quick prayer for guidance and help and as we continued to talk the verses in 1st Nephi 17 when Nephi is talking with the angel and being shown the future of his people and of the world and he sees the Bible and the Book of Mormon come forth came to my mind and as we read those verses with him he was able to see more clearly the importance of the Book of Mormon. I was grateful that over the last week I had read 1st Nephi over again and as such it was on my mind and available for the Spirit to bring to my remembrance. 

Hopefully today we will be able to meet with another one of our investigators, Renee, a 19 year old girl with a three year old son. Elder Everett and Elder Boggess told us that she is "elect" and will for sure get baptized so look forward to working with her as well.

I'm excited to be back here. It feels kind of like coming home, I enjoy seeing some of the same places and neighborhoods and especially all the crazy stuff that happens up there. I know that there is a purpose to my being here and that there are people I can help.

Love

Elder Cheever

Going back to Santa Ana

The biggest news is that Elder Gunn and I will both be leaving the Liberty Park ward. Gunn is going to the Laguna Hills 2nd ward and I'm going back to the Southcoast ward in Santa Ana, the second ward that I served in out here (thus the title of this email) We had a good last week in Liberty Park. We got to help some members clean up their house to get it ready for new renters to move into which was pretty fun, its a good think Mom taught me how to clean! On Thursday we had dinner and a lesson with Jack that went really well. He is cancer free and excited to get back to meeting with the missionaries, its a bummer I wont get to be there for it all. On Friday we went to the temple in the morning and then later in the day is when we found out that we would both be leaving so we started preparing for that. On Saturday we started off the day riding in one of the member's Mclarens, I want one now, and then said bye to our favorite members and then at night we found out where we would be going. Sunday consisted of saying goodbye and church. It was pretty sad.

This morning Elder Ahlstrom and I packed up my car from Liberty Park and drove up to our new area. He is from Utah, has been out for about a year, and is also new to the ward so we are gonna be figuring out what to do as we go. I'm excited to see people I love from this area and to work with the investigators that the previous missionaries were teaching and I know that we will see miracles here. These people are good and I need to be with them, again!

Elder Cheever

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Not too much happened out here this week, I realized that I say that a lot, but its because its accurate. Everybody was out of town so we just tracted and walked around a lot. It rained all day on Saturday so we went tracting in the rain to earn some hot wife points, it was pretty fun to tract in a different way than just sunshine and heat. We are excited for people to be done with the holidays so that we can get back to work. The best part of the week was definitely being able to facetime with my family for Waverly's baptism. It was a special moment that I was glad that I didn't have to miss thanks to technology, and permission from my mission president.

Love

Elder Cheever