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