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