Go out and be missionaries

This week went about like this whole transfer has, when we get to the end of it, it feels like it went by super quick but then looking back it feels super long.

We had a pretty good lesson with Carolina on Wednesday and brought a member with us which helped out a ton because they were able to talk and relate in a way that we wouldn't have been able to. We were able to get a better grasp on her ideas of things like prophets and priesthood authority which should help us get a better direction, it just makes our job a little bit harder. She told us that she wasn't sure about joining the church to go along with baptism because she doesn't just want to go into something without knowing much about it so we were able to explain that we don't expect her to do it without knowing its true and she agreed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about what we teach, we will see how she has done with that on Wednesday when we go back.

 We also met with Raul and we were able to talk a lot about prophets with him and we went through the scriptures showing prophetic calls and explaining the need for prophets. He has been going along with the system that we set up for reading and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and getting principles from the stories which is super awesome.

Basically the rest of the week was consumed with helping the Laguna Hills High School set up for their party for the seniors. Its been fun and they really appreciate our help and have gotten a good view of the missionaries as nice people who want to help.

Thank you for all the prayers sent my way, they make a difference. Go out and be missionaries in whatever way you can!

Love

Elder Cheever

 

Madsen and Sam Bogges in High School

 Madsen and Sam at the start of their missions

 

Madsen and Sam half-way through their missions

 

 

We get credit for trying

We had a pretty good week here in Laguna Hills. As soon as June started California decided that now it is full blown summer so we went from nice, cool 70's and 80's to low to mid 90's every day. It wasn't much fun to bike around in but its the only way for us to do our work so we toughed it out and did what is required of us. I'll send a picture of my tan lines on my arm from my ring and watch so you can see the difference a short 5 weeks of biking can make.

This week our zone made a big push to get 70 contacts for the week because President Orgill has been asking that we make a greater effort to talk to more people and even though it took until the end of the week we ended up seeing a couple miracles from the effort. The craziest thing is that even though we took a lot of time to get the contacts in we didn't quite hit 70 but we still were able to see a pretty cool miracle. Just like Elder Holland said at conference "the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don't always succeed." We did a lot of tracting since there aren't very many people out on the streets during the day and there aren't very many parks in the area and since we don't really have that many people to teach right now as it is we have been meaning to do a lot more finding. Throughout the week we had a few people tell us that we could come back another time and then on Saturday we had a lot of time so we just started tracting in an area that we don't go to as much because there are a lot of Hispanics and neither of us really speak Spanish. When we got to the very back of a section of homes we were pretty hot and worn out and we knocked on a door and immediately when the woman opened her door she told us to come in which was pretty crazy because that never happens. We went in and started talking with her and her two sons and told them who we are and what we do and she said something about how we needed to say a prayer with them and that when she saw us something about us just "spoke to her soul" so we said an opening prayer and then she told us that she used to meet with Elders and that they would read scriptures and talk about stuff and that when she was doing that previously she was preparing to be baptized. At this point we were pretty excited because much like people not letting us in, they also never are preparing to be baptized. So we set up a return appointment to start teaching the lessons and a baptismal date for July 2nd.
In addition to that we found a way to get Raul to agree to read the Book of Mormon daily and which is another small miracle. Each month he reads five psalms and one proverb each day so on his calendar with the chapters marked out we also had him write down one chapter of the Book of Mormon, starting at 1 Nephi 14, for each day and we told him that we would read all the same things and text him something we learned from each section of reading and he agreed to do the same. Hopefully that as he reads it will help him feel the Spirit more and help him progress further.

This place is awesome and being a missionary here is amazing and a true blessing. I love each day, even the hot ones where we bike 24 miles and nobody really lets us in, and I know that there isn't really anything more important that I could be doing with my life right now. The people here are good and I need to be with them!

Love

Elder Cheever

Knowledge of the Plan of Salvation

Not too much to report on for this week. We finally got bikes back so we can get to doing even more work again, which is nice, except my legs are constantly sore but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? We have been knocking on a lot of doors and we have been working to try to get the members to feel the spirit of missionary work so that we can find more people to teach. We have a couple of potentials right now that we are continuing to work with hoping that they will truly listen and start making changes to reach the waters of baptism.

We went to a memorial/funeral service for one of the recent converts in the ward and it was a super powerful testament of the importance of the Plan of Salvation and how great of a blessing that knowledge is in our lives. As I watched the emotions and reactions of the various people there it was interesting to see how although some of the members of the church were sad and had tears in their eyes, they remained positive and they knew that they would see Rick again and that he is happy where he is right now. When I watched the nonmembers there much more of them were more distraught and a lot more upset about his passing and seemed to miss him much more, even those nonmembers from a strong Christian background. We truly are blessed to know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that this is not the end.

Even when it goes slow this is still the work of God and if it goes slow its because He wants it to go slow for a reason. I know the elect are out there and I know that I just need to keep being patient and faithful to find them and help them come closer to our Heavenly Father.

Love

Elder Cheever

This is definitely the slowest area that I have been in

This is definitely the slowest area that I have been in but I know that that just means that there is lots of work here for us to do. I don't know how long it will take to start having people to teach but I have strong faith that it will happen before too long, as long as we continue to do our part to gain the Lord's trust in us for this area. We continue to do our best to find people to teach and yesterday we went by somebody who apparently we talked to before and we were able to teach him the restoration on his door step and then set up an appointment for next week to teach him and his family the plan of salvation.  Its been a little harder to get around in the last week since we have been on foot for most of it. Last week during my exchange with Elder Benton he accidentally blew the tire on Elder Tree's bike and after that everything that we tried to do to fix it seemed to just cause us more problems so we didn't have the bikes until Thursday when we were finally able to repair them and we were super excited to get back on them and get more done. When we got to our dinner that night we parked our bikes in front of the sister's car in the parking garage of the apartment complex and assumed that they would be safe there and much to our dismay when we left dinner we discovered that they were no longer there. Even though walking is arduous it gives Elder Tree and I a chance to talk a lot more  and get to know one another better so it has its plus sides, and hopefully soon the Truck Elders will bring us some bikes from my last area but until they arrive our feet are our vehicles. This morning we had a pretty awesome experience with some potential investigators. Apparently right before I came into the area Elders Tree and Koffi-Washington were able to give blessings to a husband and wife going through some medical crisis; this couple is neighbors of a member in our ward and so they were also able to have a member there to support them. We have kept in touch with them and have attempted to teach them and then this morning the member called us right before personal study and asked if we would be able to give the wife, Marsha, a blessing because she was struggling. When we got there we learned that she was feeling as though she was under some sort of demonic torment and that she just needed strength and support from people who are close to God. When Elder Tree gave the blessing he cast out whatever might have been bothering her and then proceeded to bless her with comfort and patience to get through the stresses of going through cancer. After the blessing we watched the Mormon Message "Lift" with them and talked about it for a little while and then Elder Tree read a few verses from 3rd Nephi when Christ was giving the sermon on the mount to the Nephites and from there we were able to teach them more about the Book of Mormon and why it is so important. We will continue to visit with them and hopefully as we teach them more and more they will feel the Spirit in their home and in their lives and they will be able to recognize His prompting them to follow what we share with them and ultimately join the church.

On Saturday and Sunday we had a stake conference with two general authorities, Elder J. Scott Dorius who is one of the new seventies called in April and Elder Christoffel Golden of the 70. They both gave amazing talks and mentioned some very important things and taught us a lot. Elder Golden began his talk by saying that it is totally okay to fall asleep in meetings and that it is even natural and beneficial so basically he is now one of my favorite general authorities, but he was such a great speaker that falling asleep this time wasn't an option. He is from South Africa so he talked a lot about Africa and told a story of how one time in the Congo they were baptizing too many people so he pulled the missionaries out of those areas and surprisingly the baptisms just continued to go up so he put them back in to slow down the work. All us missionaries laughed at that and it showed that it is possible to see baptisms simply through the work of the members. Hearing these two men bear testimony of the Savior was the coolest part, they truly know Him and recognize the role He has played for all of us and they can powerfully tell others of that knowledge and bring the Spirit into a crowded chapel with ease.

Each day out here is a new adventure and a new opportunity to learn how to truly live the gospel and help others see how important that is in their own lives. I love it and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I can't wait to continue seeing miracles among the people of Laguna Hills.

Love

Elder Cheever

 

 

Not much to say this week

Not much went down this week. I got to lead the area out two days in a row, I don't think I have had so little of an idea of what to do in my whole mission. One of the elders I went with trained my former companion, Elder Davies, so we told stories about him and biked around all day. I managed to get pretty sunburned on my arms so I had a pretty intense farmers tan and now a solid watch tan line. We are still trying our best to find new people to teach and to keep helping the less-actives that we are working with. Lately I've been studying a lot about listening to the Holy Ghost in all that I do out here since without His guidance the work doesn't go too well. Being able to have the presence of the Spirit all the time is one of the greatest gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us and can truly guide us in all aspects of our lives, if we do what is required of us to let Him in.

Even though this area is different than the past ones I have been in, I know that there are good people here who need the happiness that the gospel can bring and I know that I need to be here for some reason.

Love

Elder Cheever

Laguna Hills

The first week in a new area is always pretty fun and interesting. We are full time bike in one of the hilliest areas in the mission so we get good exercise everyday. We have spent most of this week trying to visit less-actives and potential investigators, and biking up some of the biggest hills I've ever seen in my life to get to some of the biggest houses I've ever seen. The best stories this week come from the weekend, as usual. On Friday we had a whole mission surprise luau for President and Sister Orgill since they leave in July. As soon as they walked in they both teared up and then went down the line of missionaries giving all 167 of us a hug and telling us they love us. Seeing Sister Orgill cry was just like seeing my own mom cry which was super sad. It ended up being what all luaus are, a lot of fun with good food and good friends. We all ate and talked and had a good time and then each zone did a special musical performance to show our love for the Orgills and then each zone gave Sister Orgill mothers day cards since she is our mom out here, it was super touching. It got really sad when they both stood up and talked about how much they have loved us and how they never imagined being able to love so many missionaries as much as they do, I was able to video everything that Sister Orgill said but my camera died in the middle of President Orgill's remarks which was a major bummer. After they thanked us we all sang "God Be With You 'till We Meet Again" just like we used to at transfer meetings and I don't think there was a dry eye amongst all the missionaries and then right after that we sang them "Aloha O'e" which just continued on the sadness, they will be dearly missed in a couple of months.  Saturday was crazy but ended up amazing. All day long stuff was super weird and we almost died a number of times but ended up amazing by the end of the day. The first near death experience was a cloud of angry bees, imagine the plagues on Egypt when Moses was around and how they had clouds of locusts, except with bees and you'll understand why it was so scary. And then while biking in Nellie Gail, right after we turned a corner a jeep flew around the same corner and sped up the hill narrowly dodging us and then when we went up to a gate a HUGE dog came running up barking at us so we just gave up on that house. Fortunately we survived it all and I was able to go back up to RSM again for Brock's baptism which was amazing. I once again learned how much Satan wants to stop people from making that step and how he can use very little things that can even be good to distract and prevent things from happening. We had planned the baptism for 7:45 at night because prior to it the stake was going to be having 8 year old baptisms but they told us they would leave the font ready for us. At about 6:30 we called the Lake Forest sisters who were at the stake center to have them make sure everything was ready and much to our dismay they told us that the font was locked and most likely empty, at this point we started to panic. We had to then wait for the zone leaders in Rancho to bring the key to the font for us, they arrived at 7:15. As soon as we had the key we began filling the font and praying that it would fill up quick enough and that everything would work out. Pretty soon people started coming in and preparing for the service while the font continued to fill, 7:45 hit and they started off the service and the font was still not quite full yet so Elders Summers, Tree, and I were all starting to stress out even more. Just before the person giving the baptism talk finished his remarks we shut off the water and hoped we had done it right. When Brock and Jack stepped into the water it looked really low but at that point it was too late to do anything so they just went for it and there was enough water for Brock to get all the way under on the first try. Then after he changed clothes he got up to bear his testimony and blew everybody away with how much faith he had, and he even memorized a verse from the Doctrine and Covenants. It just goes to show that no matter how hard Satan opposes this work and how much his forces of darkness try to stop it, the light always shines through in the end and our Heavenly Father's work continues on victorious.

On sunday we had a less active member just randomly show up at church and have a great time and participate super well during our lesson in Sunday School which was awesome.

This work continues to amaze me and now matter how much some days suck and make me want to be done, I still want to be here forever and keep changing people's lives with the message that we share because it truly is the greatest gift that we could give anybody we know. I know that the people of Laguna Hills, whether VERY old or very young, and even the horses of Nellie Gail are good and that I need to be here for some reason that Heavenly Father has planned out.

Love,

Elder Cheever

Madsen with President and Sister Orgill

At Brock's baptism

I can barely remember what happened this week

So I can barely remember what happened this week so I may jump around between stories and days, bear with me.

On Tuesday we had eikaiwa with the Japanese people. The actual teacher wasn't there and we didn't have time to prepare so winged it and it came out pretty well. It helps that Elder Summers is good at Japanese and I'm good at english. 

On Wednesday Elder Summers was sick so for a part of the day we just stayed inside. It was nice to relax for a little while. Half way through the day traded Elder Summers for Elder Rubon since big Elder Brown was sick too and then we went to our lesson with Brock. It went super well and then on Sunday we finished teaching him and planned out the baptism this weekend. He is super excited and his family is being really supportive so hopefully their hearts will be softened and they will want to learn more. 

On Thursday we got to play tennis with Greg Felix in the morning and had a good lesson with him. For my first time playing tennis I did okay and it ended up being a ton of fun. Basically any sport is fun as a missionary since its something different to do and can still count as missionary work. At night we went to a lesson with one of our neighbors and a friend of his. We had talked to him a little about the priesthood and about the need for a resorted church so going into the lesson we had a pretty good idea that it was probably going to be a bash, it was. Elder Summers zoned out the whole time and then half way through had one of our Japanese investigators call him so he got to escape and speak Japanese and laugh about all of it for a while before he pretended that Saku needed help so we had to leave. Elder Brown was in a bad mood so he got really angry. I was tired because I'm always tired so I was kinda slow the whole time, kinda like when you smoke a beehive so they don't sting you when you try to steal their honey. Bashes are no fun but every time I come out of them more firm on the truthfulness of this gospel and on the Book of Mormon so in the end they help a little.

Friday was filled with meetings as usual. At night we did our soccer with missionaries and whoever they invite. We had a less-active girl bring her friend and then some other people at the park joined in, it was a ton of fun and then because of that Savanna came to church on Sunday too which was good.

On Saturday we helped with a move for the former relief society president and her family. It was cool to see the whole elders quorum show up to help, it made it feel like helping with a move at home. After the move we got to help with youth conference for the stake. They did a giant game of "Life" for the kids where they had to basically go through life and see what happened to them. One of the things they could do was go on a mission so we got to be the people they taught. We got to wear regular clothes and just hang out and play the games and stuff they had set up in the gym and enjoy ourselves until "missionaries" contacted us. We ddin't have our tags on so the whole time youth leaders kept asking us what we were doing with our lives or where our "wives" were so apparently I'm still young enough looking to blend in with the youth. At night we had transfer calls. Sadly I'm going to be moving to the Laguna Hills 3rd ward in the Laguna Niguel stake. I have loved being in the Lake Forest ward. The people here are awesome and are super loving and really love and live the gospel. Even though its sad to leave here, I know that the people in Laguna Hills are good and that I need to be with them!

Love

Elder Cheever

 

Madsen with "Mama La"

Madsen and Elder Summers