I'm back on a bike

We are spoiled here in the California Irvine Mission to have lots of cars so now that Salt Lake has decided to take a lot of them away it causes problems. We didn't get ours taken away for dumb things or accidents, we just hit 50,000 miles (the point at which the church sells the cars again) on it because we have to drive around so much so we had to park it and now we are car-less. It has been a big pain in the butt for us and our zone. We have a huge zone and now we only have 3 cars to try and transport 16 elders around and on our side we have to bike everywhere we go. We live in Irvine at the very edge of our area and to get to the main part is a long ride up and down rolling hills and then to do Japanese work we also have to bike to Irvine and especially UCI, which, when we will have to do it, will probably take up the majority of our day. It sucks because it has really limited the amount of work we can do for both English stuff and Japanese stuff. All things considered we still had a decent week. When we talked with Brianna about baptism she was really excited still and was ready to do it even though immersion was the only way but as soon as we told her about the possibility of proxy she got super opposed and said she didn't want to be baptized anymore which makes our job a lot more stressful but hopefully when we meet with her again we can get her back on track. The rest of our week was spent mainly biking and stuff. We have a less-active who has been progressing a lot and now wants to be able to attend the temple so that he can do baptisms for the dead for his father and grandfather, which is awesome. We were able to get some good news though, one of the youth in the ward named Jack has been bringing his friend, Brock, to church for the last three weeks so we have been talking to Jack about the possibility of teaching Brock and yesterday Jack told us that when he approached Brock about taking the lessons Brock said he would like to do it, which is awesome. Member missionary work is real and is a huge strength! The other investigator related miracle is that there is a 10 year old girl named Ryland whose mother is less-active and her father isn't a member so she was never baptized. Ryland has been attending activity days for a while and recently came to church and told her mother that she wants to start going to church. Our hope is that with some help from the primary president, who is super awesome, we can begin teaching Ryland as well and see if that can be a way to get her mom back to church and maybe even teach her father.

A big focus in our zone has been on looking for the good in everything and finding the small miracles that we have each day so that the Lord can trust us with the bigger miracles that we really want. We have a "tree" on our wall and each night we call our district and we all talk about the miracles that we saw and we write them on sticky notes and put them on the tree as "leaves" Its pretty amazing to see how after doing this for two weeks we have tons of miracles, some bigger, some smaller, some more serious, some more silly (we are still just 19 and 20 year old kids) but they are all things that have helped us see how much the Lord is blessing us. I would encourage all of you to do the same sort of thing, each night think about what happened in the day that can be considered a miracle in some way and find some way to record it, you can make a miracle tree like us, or just write it down in a journal or on a note in your phone and then remember to thank our Heavenly Father for these. I know that through continued faith and gratitude the Lord is more and more willing to bless us with the things we stand in need of. I know we are all children of God and that He loves us very much. Even though biking sucks I know its for a reason and that we will be able to help somebody in some way because of it and I know that these people are good and I need to be with them.
Love

Elder Cheever

Us and Yuuske and Minoru (Japanese students)

It was our ward mission leaders birthday so we got him a balloon

And this was us after playing soccer last week

Every one of us is a son or daughter of God

This week was another busy and good one. We have continued to meet with Brianna every day to be able to prepare her for baptism and to ensure that she is really ready for it. We came upon a speed bump, however, due to her being paraplegic and overweight. Because of this baptizing her conventionally is out of the question so we have been trying to think of ways that we can go about doing it that are still approved, we asked President Lutz (one of the counselors to President Orgill) for ideas and then one night while discussing it before we fell asleep we started wondering if we would be able to baptize her by proxy even though she is still alive. We asked President Lutz if he could look into it for us and amazingly it is actually allowed! We have to make sure that she is super ready and that she truly desires to be baptized for the right reasons, then we have to get a doctors note saying that it is the best way, and then somebody from the mission presidency has to interview her, and then all that will be sent to the First Presidency for their approval. It's a lot of work but will be totally worth it and to quote President Lutz "It will be something cool to write in our journals" Our other investigators are doing good as well, Greg is progressing more than he has in a long time and now he is at the point where he wants to be baptized so he can have the Holy Ghost with him and so he can feel better but the only thing holding him back is the possibility of his wife leaving him if he does so. Because of that we have been praying a lot that her heart can be softened to allow him to be baptized so it would be awesome if y'all could help out too. On Friday we played soccer at night with the zone some kids at the park who were playing there and from this we hope to start doing it more often and invite the youth to bring their friends and to invite all of our investigators and less-actives to come and join as a way to fellowship and to potentially learn more. It was super fun to do and so far a lot of the youth in our ward are excited for it, its cool to see how playing soccer with the missionaries at home helped me and how now by doing the same thing I can help people out here too. Gladys Knight is coming here in April and doing one of her big fireside things so now our big push is to invite members and investigator to invite people to it so that they can feel the Spirit and then to be given a much more casual way to begin learning about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love being out here so much. I have come so much closer to my Heavenly Father and I have come to know my Savior as the older brother and friend that He can be so much more than I ever have before. It has been amazing to see how perfectly the gospel can fit into our lives and how everything can be related to it. I know that each and every one of us is a son or daughter of God and that He loves all of us. The Plan of Salvation has been provided so that we can each learn and grow and someday return to live with Him again. These people are good and I know I need to be here serving them and my Heavenly Father. 

Love

Elder Cheever

Find somebody you can serve

This week went by really fast so its kind of hard to remember what actually happened. We met with Brianna almost every day this week so that we could finish teaching her the lessons, we only have a few left at this point so the hope is that she can get baptized this weekend so it would be awesome if y'all could keep her in your prayers this week. We met with Robert again as well and had a long lesson with him, he has gotten to the point in his life where he needs to decide what he will do with the faith that he has but because of the challenges he faces with smoking he has a hard time pushing through to get to where he needs to be. We ended up being extremely blunt with him but as I spoke I could feel the Spirit so strongly and since then he has communicated with us a couple of times and it seems like he his going to work even harder to act on the faith he has. We had a lot of Japanese lessons as usual, but since most of them are teaching the people how to speak English I get to help out a good amount since I can speak English and one of them even taught me how to introduce myself and how to greet people in Japanese which is super cool. Maybe I'll learn this language some after all. On Saturday we went to a mainstream Christian church with some less-actives to listen to a motivational speaker named Nick Vujicic. He is a man who was born with out arms or legs and who struggled to be happy as a child but then one day while reading the Bible he read the story in John 9 about the man born blind so that the works of God could be manifested in him and he realized that maybe that's why he had no arms or legs, so that he could be an example and help others come to Christ. He spoke on faith and hope and how when these two things are centered in Jesus Christ we can be happy no matter what happens in our lives. As I listened I could tell that, because of the faith he has and because of the desire to help others come to find happiness through Christ, he has found true happiness in our lives. If you are ever feeling down on yourself or even if you want to see a man without arms or legs make jokes about himself and "walk" around on a table I would definitely look him up on Youtube. One thing he said stuck out to me a lot, he said "sometimes we don't see miracles, but that doesn't mean we can't be a miracle for somebody else." That's my challenge for this week, if you're having a bad day, or a bad week, or even a bad month; find somebody you can serve because you never know if you will be the miracle that they need and I can promise that through helping others you will begin to feel better yourself. I love being out here and can't wait to continue working hard because there are loads of good people out here, and they need the message that I have to share.

Love

Elder Cheever

Another crazy busy week

Okay so here is the week and I will close with yesterday's excitement that delayed my emailing.

We had another crazy busy week loaded with lessons and stuff so I'm only gonna touch on the really important things. We had lots of lessons with Japanese people and started talking with two new exchange students and they even came to church on Sunday. Because of Robert's text last week about being comfortable with the Catholic faith despite knowing the restored gospel to be true, I visited him with Brother Wood, our ward mission leader, to discuss his concerns. We didn't really get anywhere initially but when we were leaving Brother Wood was really blunt with him and it gave me a better idea of how we can help him in the future to realize that because of the testimony he has of the gospel its okay to like the way one of the guys in the Catholic church he goes to teaches as long as he also follows what he knows to be true through the Holy Ghost. We think that as we continue helping him quit smoking it will make a huge difference. We still haven't been able to have a real lesson with Mariah but she came to church on Sunday and loved being there, the sisters in Relief Society were super loving and welcomed her right in and miraculously she knew two of the priest's from high school and one of the women in relief society was one of her teachers so its quite obvious that little by little the Lord has been preparing her. We have been meeting with Brianna like crazy lately in hopes of preparing her for baptism on Saturday. It can be tough some days because we have to constantly review the things we taught so she understands them better and then because of her mental condition she will get way off tangent on stuff that is kinda weird and we have to help her understand better the way the Savior works and things like that. We have had dinners every night, which is also pretty miraculous, and because of that we have been building a great relationship with the ward and they are beginning to make efforts to do missionary work in their own lives which is amazing. I love this ward and this area so much even though it has only been three weeks here, hopefully I can stay for another transfer after this one. 

Alright now here is the crazy story from yesterday. In the morning we got up early to go mountain biking with Elder Brown and Elder Jones, Brown is Elder Summers' Co-District leader and Jones is one of our Zone Leaders (and my companion from the MTC.) Biking was super fun but eventually we had to stop and hike a little up a trail to get to where we planned on stopping to study, the trail ended a little farther up and it became walking up the lower parts of the mountain which was super fun and had some amazing scenery that I did not expect to find in California. When we got up to the top we messed around for a little while before planning on studying. Elder Jones and I ended up climbing up this outcropping that led to a cliff we could sit on but when we started going up we changed our minds but at that point we discovered that we weren't really sure how to get down. After sitting for a while we decided jumping down to a flat spot where we climbed up was the best option, remember even though we are missionaries we are also still dumb 19 year old boys. While Elder Jones got up the courage to make the leap I prayed that we would be okay and felt that it would be alright so Summers counted down from afar and Jones jumped. When he landed however his leg gave out and he toppled over and slid for a couple feet and then started moaning and didn't get up and at first we thought he was kidding until we realized he was actually hurt. It then became a crisis situation in which Elder Summers and I had to figure out how to get to the spot where Elder Brown was to then make our way down the mountain, to the trail, and then to our bikes. Elder Jones couldn't put any weight on his left leg so after we slid down the canyon we had to carry him so finally after 7 years all the stuff I learned in getting my Eagle came in use, however they don't tell you how exhausting it is carrying a 160 pound person down a mountain. Eventually we had two other elders come find us on the trail and then we put Elder Jones on one of the bikes and we helped push him along. The path that took about an hour to get up ended up taking three hours to get down with an injured person. When Elder Jones finally got his foot x-rayed he got told that he had suffered a spiral fracture of the fibia and a major sprain of the ankle, luckily he doesn't need surgery and will be able to stay out here. The whole day I kind of wondered why when I prayed I had the impression that if we jumped we would be okay and as I thought more on it I came to this conclusion; life can be a lot like a hike in the mountains and the decisions we make have a huge impact, when we make the wrong decisions it can take a very short amount of time for us to end up in a dangerous situation before we come to realize where we are and that we need the Lord's help. He has promised us that He will always be there no matter what mistakes we make and no matter what "cliffs" we trap ourselves on but He as also warned us that because of decisions we make there will be consequences that can sometimes lead to ourselves or others being hurt as we make the steps to return to the safety of His outstretched arms. From that point it can sometimes be a grueling "three hour trek" down from the mountain tops we trap ourselves on in which we have to rely on the help of those around us and on the help of principles of the gospel that we have been taught. As we do what's right we can eventually return safely to where we need to be in our lives and because of the "injuries" we have suffered we will learn (hopefully) and be better equipped to handle the challenges that will come in our way. While on my mission I have come to realize more fully that the Lord truly is there for each and every one of us and that because of Christ's Atoning sacrifice we can all receive the help and guidance we need. 3 Nephi 9:14 reads "Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me." I know this is true, I know our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ love us and are always there for us with outstretched arms, we just have to turn to them and they will always catch us. I love this ward, the people I am teaching and helping, my companion, and all the friends I have made, the people out here are good and I need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

We continued to see miracles and progression with our investigators

I don't think that I have had a week as busy as this one in a long time. We have a bunch of investigators (both in English and Japanese), less actives, missionary meetings, Japanese class, and of course member dinners that we have to do in a day that makes everyday jam packed with stuff. On Tuesday we go to an English class in the morning and help teach a bunch of Japanese moms with a member lady and then after that we teach a few of them even more on their own. Its super funny to listen to them try to pronounce and understand some of the words and the occasional slang that we use but then its not as funny when they all start talking in Japanese and I just sit there having no idea whats happening and hope that Elder Summers will translate for me. After we went to this we went to a park to teach a sort of less active lady in the ward and during the lesson she got up to take her dog to the bathroom and this grandma who was at the park with her granddaughter and great-granddaughter looked at us and asked us why we weren't in school so we told her about what we do and we ended up talking with her for a little bit and told her about the church and why it is that we are willing to give up two years of our life to share the gospel and she got super excited and told her granddaughter, Mariah, that she needed to come talk to us because we have an important message that she needed to hear. Mariah was really interested and wanted to learn more and then her grandma, Beth, asked where our church building was and we told her that it was just down the road,so she wanted to go see it so we all drove over to the building and ended up taking them on a tour of it which was super awesome. We tried all week to get Mariah to come to the institute classes and activities and she never responded so we started getting kind of bummed but then Saturday night when we invited her to the Stake Conference broadcast she finally responded and said that she would love to go, which was so good. 

The rest of the week we continued to see miracles and progression with our investigators who are all rather close to baptism which was amazing. Brianna calmed down a little bit and started making more sense, she has schizophrenia and some other issues so she tells us a lot of crazy stuff, and she even started reading the Book of Mormon and loves it and she came to the Stake Conference as well and really felt the Spirit and was uplifted by it. Greg D. committed to praying on his own for his wife's heart to be softened to allow him to be baptized and he committed to trying to get her to join him in prayer. Robert C. has caused us a ton of stress, however, at the beginning of the week he texted us and told us that he was ready to finally quit smoking and be baptized because he understands the importance of the Word of Wisdom and wants to obey his God and join the true church but then on Sunday afternoon he texted us again and told us that he was considering going back to his Catholic background which was a real bummer so now our plan is to talk to him and get him to understand the testimony that he has of the church and then bear testimony to him of the truthfulness of the gospel as well and hope that the Spirit can get to him. 

This area is a ton of fun and a ton of work, this week we were going nonstop from lesson to lesson which even though is a good thing because thats our job it was super exhausting and this coming week appears to be about the same but we know that as we wear out our lives, or at least our young minds, in the service of God and others we will be blessed. On Sunday we had a Stake Conference that was broadcast from Salt Lake to the western US and some of Canada that was amazing. Elder C. Scott Grow, Sister Bonnie Oscarson, Elder James J. Hamula, and Elder Dale G. Renlund all spoke and gave amazing talks. Elder Renlund talked about the importance of the Plan of Salvation and how when we come to realize that everything in life points to that Plan we will know more fully what we need to do in our lives to be better disciples. Hopefully his talk will be put on LDS.org so those of you not living on the west coast can read it and find strength in it. I love this work, I love this gospel, I love this area and the friends who I am serving with, and I love the people I am having the opportunity to help; they are good and I need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

Good thing I got called to California not Japan

This week was awesome, we taught all sorts of lessons both in English and Japanese. I have learned that I don't know squat about the Japanese language and that I don't like traditional Japanese food so its a good thing I got called to California not Japan. We have a ton of work going on here right now and some pretty cool investigators, one is this 65 year old guy named Robert who has been investigating for about 36 years, he knows the standard works better than almost anybody I have ever met so it was super fun to discuss gospel topics with him, the only thing keeping him from getting baptized is smoking, which is a bummer. On Thursday, Elder James J. Hamula visited us for a zone conference and talked with us about the why, what, and how of missionary work. It was pretty amazing and was a huge help to me. This week there will be a multi-stake conference for all of the western U.S. that he will speak in as well as Elder Renlund. Apparently Elder Renlund's talk will be on LDS.org on Monday the 15th and apparently it will be amazing so look forward to that. I'm excited to be in Lake Forest and to see what will happen here. The ward members are super nice, the investigators are good and I know that for some reason that God has planned, I need to be here.

Love,

Elder Cheever

I get to start learning a little Japanese

There isn't much to share this week. We have been working really closely with Sister La to try and help her quit smoking and unfortunately she has been struggling with it but she isn't giving up yet so hopefully through faith and determination she will be able to quit. We did a lot with Elder Dallin this week too. Since he left Southcoast he has been struggling with depression and anxiety so he wanted to come up and see some members in the ward and say bye in case he went home early. Its sad to see somebody I have grown so close to struggle with something and not really have any way to help them. On Tuesday we did meet a guy while tracting who invited us to come back another day so we went over there again on Friday and we were able to share the Restoration with him and his wife, their names are Sergio and Evelyn, it was a pretty good lesson so hopefully they will continue progressing.

The weekend is when things got pretty nuts. On Thursday I texted Ross, for those who don't remember I taught and baptized him in San Clemente YSA, to invite him to a big meal thing some members were having for the missionaries and when he responded he told me he was getting married and said I was welcome to come down for it so that's what we did for most of the day Friday. It was awesome to be back down in my old area and visit some of my favorite places like the outlooks in Dana Point and then go to his wedding right by the pier. It was so amazing to see him again and to see him make this huge step and its so cool to see the change the gospel has made in his life. After the wedding we talked for a little bit and he told me that he would be getting the Melchizedek priesthood on Sunday, unfortunately I couldn't make it down there for that, and then we talked about how October he will be able to go through the temple for his Endowment and then in January him and his wife, Sierra, plan on being sealed in the San Diego Temple and there is a chance I will be able to get permission to go to that which would be so cool because the goal and purpose of missionary work is to find people, teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ, baptize them so they can enter the pathway to salvation, and then to have them be sealed together with their families for eternity.

The day wasn't all good though, while eating lunch in Dana Point I got a call from Elder Dallin saying he would be going home the next morning (Saturday) so that was some pretty sad news to get. Saturday morning we went to the airport with him and Elders Gunn, Payne, Hale, and Crump and also President Ellis. It was sad to say goodbye but I know it is what is best for him and I know that even though he is leaving the mission field he is leaving his areas better than he found them and he helped a ton of people, and he lives in Utah so I'll see him again when I go back to school. The rest of the day was pretty bluh after that until the night when we got transfer calls.

There are no more transfer meetings so we found out where we were going and who with then and there. Elder Greenberg is going to the Laguna Niguel ward with my good friend Elder Forthman, and I was originally going to stay in Southcoast and be joined by Elder Gibb but after some crazy stuff there were some last second changes and I no longer had a companion and I was told I would find out soon. On Sunday my zone leader called and told me that I will be put in a trio with Elders Garret and Johnson and we will double cover the Southcoast and Newport Beach 2nd wards. However, this didn't make sense since that area is on the other side of the zone, their church time interferes with the Southcoast time, and it leaves my district with an even number of elders and sisters (which is not allowed). Elder Lovgren, my district leader who isn't going home, decided he would talk to the Assistants to try and get it changed so that I was in a trio with him which would have been awesome because we get along really well and his new companion is going to be Elder Davies who was my last companion in San Clemente YSA, if this happened we would have double covered Newport Coast YSA and Southcoast wards which worked because they meet in the same building at the same time, it keeps me in the same district, and it is a lot easier to double cover when one of the wards encompasses the whole zone. So today while we were shopping I got a phone call from the Assistants again with new a new transfer assignment, I got really excited hoping our plan would work out but then, in a huge turn of events, they told me that I will be transferring to the Lake Forest ward in the Rancho Santa Margarita Stake, that my companion is Elder Summers (who is one of my friends from the MTC) and as the craziest of all, I will be joining him in doing Japanese work! That's right, now I get to start learning a little Japanese and sit and pretend to know whats happening in lessons. Its gonna be a huge change but I know its what I need to do and I know it will be an amazing experience.

I know that the Lord presents us with new challenges and opportunities to help us grow and progress. I know that even though times might get hard that through daily reliance on the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can be strengthened to withstand out toughest trials. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and that he wants the best for us. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ sacrificed His mortal life so that we can all live again. I  know that the Book of Mormon is true and that through continued study of it we can draw closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and feel the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives. I love being a missionary, I have loved the Southcoast ward and I'm sure I will love it in Lake Forest, these people have been good to me and I know I needed to be with them and I know that there are good people in my next area who in some way shape or form need my help and that now I need to be with them.
Tofa! (that means goodbye in Samoan)

Alofa (This is love in Samoan),

Elder Cheever