Training Elder West

For having very few things happen this week, this email is surprisingly long. 

We were able to meet and pick up our new companion this week. His name is Elder West, he is from Fargo, North Dakota; he wrestled and got 3rd in states, played football, and sang choir. He is super awesome and he is a solid missionary already. 

Elder West's first day here went quite well. We were busy all day long and had lots to do and got to teach a few good lessons. Within his first 24 hours he had the chance to help in a priesthood blessing and to bless an apartment so that was pretty cool for him and a good growing experience Its pretty fun to hear Elder Hohmann talk about "mission life" and all the stuff he has learned in his long 7 weeks here. I'm still just enjoying the ride and trying to be the best example to them that I can be and trying to help them become the missionaries that our Father in Heaven knows they can be.

We had a pretty good lesson with Raul but he still didn't come to church. I think this week we are just going to be really bold with him and ask him what is keeping him from coming and ask if he ever plans on coming to church. But it was a good opportunity for Elder West to teach an investigator. He is already a super solid teacher and knows a good amount about the gospel.

On Thursday when we went to the Bahai devotional for a less active young man in the ward we got a new potential investigator named Javier. He was there with Jerry, the less active young man. Javier is 14 and trying to seek truth about religion and God so he is looking at a lot of faiths. We talked to him about our church and about the Book of Mormon, I actually gave him one a few months ago, and he had many questions similar to Joseph Smith prior to his experiencing the first vision so we shared that with him and answered some of his questions. We even got Jerry to testify of prayer and answers to prayers to him so that was cool. Javier was super interested in learning more because he really like what we shared. I love to see young people sincerely seeking to know their Father in Heaven, when they except the gospel, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities for them and can really change the chances that generations to come will have.

The other pretty crazy event/miracle happened yesterday. We got a call from a random phone number and it ended up being a ysa aged girl who had gotten drunk to numb the pain and sadness of her brother dying in the towers on 9/11 and she somehow had our number and for whatever reason the people that she felt like she needed to call were the missionaries. She is a nonmember who learned just about everything that she would need to know to be baptized and confirmed and she has even read the Book of Mormon in its entirety and could quote passages like Alma 7:11-12 and Alma 36:19-21 while drunk. Through out the course of the conversation she asked if she could be baptized if she doesn't drink anymore and requested that I baptize her. So we are going to pass her off to the YSA sisters so they can teach her and so she can get baptized. I think the coolest thing in the whole experience was seeing the power of prayer and scripture in action, she was sobbing and distraught and after I had her say a prayer on the phone she was able to breathe and think more clearly and to talk about the gospel and how much she loves it. Heavenly Father truly loves his children regardless of the mistakes they make and even when they are in the midst of sin and doing things that separate them from Him he still gives them the spiritual nudges that they need to find help. I also learned that talking on the phone with a drunk person for 5 hours is exhausting.

Through all of these experiences this week my testimony of the divinity of our nature as children of a loving Heavenly Father was hugely strengthened. Throughout my mission I have found great comfort and strength in that knowledge and I have truly come to see God as my Father in a greater sense than I ever did before. On Saturday I read an article in an ensign from 2008 called "Our God Truly is God" by Elder Douglas L. Callister of the Seventy, and one point he talked about the importance of knowing we are children of God and the importance of teaching that, here is a quote from the article (sorry that this is going to be another one of my long emails but I feel that this is important to share today)

"The same God who brings such order to the universe and inspires the prophets designed the time, place, and circumstances of your birth. Said the Lord to the Prophet Joseph, 'Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less' (D&C 122:9). God’s love for you and awareness of your circumstances are of equal measure. Our relationship with Him is not that of Creator and created thing. It is of personal Father and child.

I had the privilege of being present when President Gordon B. Hinckley was interviewed by editors of the Los Angeles Times. An editor inquired about the rapid growth of the Church. President Hinckley chose to respond by emphasizing the miraculous transformation in the life of each individual who joins the Church. He spoke of a girl in Australia who was employed serving ice cream. She seemed inattentive to the message of the missionaries until one of them said, 'Do you know that you are a child of God?' She replied, 'Nobody has ever said that to me before. I had no idea that I might be a child of God.' Thereafter she went to her room, got down on her knees, and inquired: 'Are you there? Am I your child? Please let me know.' Then she said, 'There came into me a surge of feeling that brought me the conviction that was the case.' She joined the Church.

Two weeks later she was asked to give a talk in a Church meeting. Her first impulse was to run from it. Then she thought, 'If I am a child of God, I can do anything.' With this enlarged vision of who she was, she became a stalwart member of the Church.

Our entire perspective of ourselves, our worth, and what we can make of our lives is altered for good when we come to understand that we are God’s children and that we can become like Him."

I love this. Its truly humbling and amazing to see how important and impactful it can be to know the simple truth of our divine heritage. Then yesterday when I was talking with Chloe, the girl who called us and wants to be baptized, she started reading from a book written by a pastor somewhere and that talked about how too often when people try to teach about the gospel they start at Genesis chapter 3 and begin with the fact that we sinners and that we need a Savior, which is true, but that then the idea that we are evil and doomed for evil creeps in and people get stuck on that belief. The pastor said that we need to teach from the beginning, with Genesis chapter 1 and teach that we are children of God and that He loves us and knows us (I think that's just another point in the Church's favor seeing as the very first point we are told to teach is that God is our loving Heavenly Father). She then talked about how no matter what status we may have or what title we use to identify ourselves the one that is most important for us to remember and use is the fact that we are children of God and that as we no that nothing can stand in our way. I know that everybody here on the earth truly are Heavenly Father's children and I know that He knows each and every one of us and will help us through the trials that may arise in this lifetime. I know that I'm a child of God and I'm grateful for the chance to serve as one of His chosen missionaries and to help invite the people of Laguna Hills to come to know Him better. I love this gospel and I know that this is Christ's church here on the earth today and that Jesus Christ truly is our Savior and I know that there are good people here in this area that I need to be with and help and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love
Elder Cheever

A couple of cool miracles

Our last week was basically the same as usual, we had a couple of cool miracles that pumped us up but then some wild news. As it is a new transfer with new missionaries coming in fresh from the MTC, Elder Hohmann and I got called to train one of them! For about 3 hours after we got called I was super stressed and freaked out. Training is a huge responsibility and to have two new missionaries at once is a lot. Since then I have been trying my best to keep focused and rely on the Atonement for the strength I need and to help me be less worried and stressed and scared. I'm sure that it will all work out and that Heavenly Father has a plan in all of it, I'm just trying to roll with it and keep on moving, even if that requires a little bit of asking Him why its happening this way. Luckily Elder Hohmann is excited and feels ready for it.

On Tuesday we didn't really have much to do in the evening, not even a dinner, besides our lesson with Raul but even that was being sketchy because we couldn't get anybody to join us for it. While we were tracting we got a phone call from the sisters in our district (they aren't in our ward) telling us that they weren't doing anything. We were confused as to why they called us and then like 5 minutes later a less active lady named Sister Noss called us asking for a blessing. We tried to find other missionaries to join us since she was going to be the only one home. Everybody we called was at dinners or other appointments and couldn't help and then we remembered that the sisters weren't doing anything and that they didn't have a dinner either so we called them and they were able to help out. The blessing went well and then she offered to feed us dinner which worked out perfectly. As soon as we started to cook dinner Raul texted us and ended up cancelling which was good because we ended up being there for a long time. While we were making the dinner one of her nonmember friends came by and ended up eating with us and we were able to tell her more about what we do as missionaries and to answer questions that she had. Hopefully this experience was good for the less active woman and for her friend and we can see something cool come from it.

That's honestly about all it that happened this week. It seems that despite our best efforts it is staying slow here. But I'm going to keep going out and doing what I need to and keep controlling what I can control and have faith that there are miracles in store for us or the ward and the area.

Next week I will send pictures and the name of our new companion seeing as we don't find out who he is until tonight.

These people are good and I need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

Seeing the fruits of my work in California is great

We actually ended up having a pretty good week over here in Laguna Hills. Things went a little better than they have and I felt like we had more work to do that was actually beneficial to the area. A lot of days it feels like the stuff we do just doesn't make a difference even though in some small way it does. I'm just trying to keep focused on moving forward and having the faith that as we keep being obedient and working hard, we will see miracles.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Raul. It was okay but I could tell that we hadn't prepared well enough for it so we weren't able to explain the principles from the Plan of Salvation that we wanted to in quite the way that we had hoped.

On Wednesday we spent most of the day in Leisure World, the senior community in our area, trying to visit less active members that we didn't know anything about. We managed to find one of them but they weren't available to meet right then. Even finding them was a nice change to knocking on silent doors though. We had finished trying to visit the first few that we hoped to and we had a little bit of time left before we wanted to go and visit one of the less active members that we have already been working with so I wanted to find one more person to try and when I looked at the ward the first name that I noticed was one of the couples there in in Leisure world so we went to go find their apartment and see if they were home. When we parked the car I saw a storage unit that had boxes and other stuff outside of it so I got out of the car and asked the man by it if they were loading it or unloading it and then offered to help them out (not that that really mattered which they were doing, I would have offered to help either way). At first the man tried to say no because we were in our white shirts and ties but I wore him down to let us help because I convinced him that I didn't really care if my clothes got messed up. Him and another man were helping the resident move stuff from the storage unit so that he could prepare to move to Cedar City and then one of the guys helping, his name was Bob, told us all about his sister who is a member, its funny how many people have connections to the church in some way. They were super appreciative of our help and to show it Bob has offered to take us to dinner so hopefully we can turn this into a teaching opportunity whether for ourselves or another set of missionaries.

On Thursday we had a big zone conference where we found out the new counselors in the mission presidency. It was weird to look up on the stand and see a whole new group of leaders. At night we went to the Bahai devotional that I used to go to last year, it was funny to see how different it was to Elder Hohmann, I think I probably looked as confused as he did last year when I first went to it. I shared part of Nephi's psalm in 2 Nephi chapter 4. It was neat to see that it went along with the kind of prayers they were sharing but that as I read I could feel a difference in the Spirit that was there. The Book of Mormon really is a powerful book.

On Friday we attended our ward's talent show. We got roped into doing a skit which actually ended up being a lot of fun. I think the best thing though is it gave them all a chance to see that missionaries are fun and normal and it built a lot of trust for us so hopefully we will see some miracles happen from that.

On Saturday we picked up a couple of new investigators. We spend a lot of time in the poorer neighborhoods in our area and I have talked with a lot of the kids there and a couple of weeks ago the spanish elders gave us a referral for one of them who is actually interested in learning more. We have tried to meet with him a couple of times before but he was always busy until Saturday when we saw him and asked when he wanted to meet up and he told us to meet him and his friends at the park that evening. This was the second time that I have had the chance to teach the Restoration to a new investigator since I have been in the area and it was Elder Hohmann's first time teaching it to somebody who hasn't already heard it before so it was a pretty big deal to him. The lesson went well and both Kyle and Jacob said that they would be willing to be baptized when they come to know its true. Our hope now is that as we continue meeting with them that we can also meet with their families as well so that they can experience the blessings that the gospel has in store for our families.

Last night I got to hang out with Cam and the elders in the YSA ward. He is doing super good and  while we were there one of is best friends, who isn't a member, was with us and him and the missionaries invited the friend to their family home evening tonight. Seeing somebody I taught who got baptized truly living the gospel and sharing it with his friends was pretty amazing and made the whole week worth it. Seeing the fruits of my work here over the last year here in California is great. 

That's about it for this week, I hope everything goes well for y'all and you find opportunities to come closer to Jesus Christ

Love

Elder Cheever

 

 

Being a missionary is...

This week was pretty rough. We worked really hard on Tuesday for Elder Butler's last day so that we could send him off strong. We made plans to just tract one really long street in our area for most of the day because we had nothing set and as we did that things fell into place and we ended up having a really good lesson with Raul, helping a nonmember with some service from a member referral, and had dinner with a less active in the ward so it ended up being a great day.

The lesson with Raul couldn't have come at a better time and I don't think it could have gone any better (except maybe if he told us he knew the Book of Mormon was true and that he would be at church the next three weeks so he could get baptized as soon as possible.) We went into it planning teaching the Plan of Salvation and addressing a couple of his concerns but when we were talking with him he talked about how it keeps getting harder and harder to not have a job. That morning as I studied I prayed that something I read would be able to help somebody throughout the day and then I dug into the Book of Ether. At the beginning of the lesson I felt prompted to share a thought about when the Jaredites were in their barges crossing the ocean to the promised land. Moroni writes that they were carried across by furious winds and mighty tempests until they reached the promised land and based on an Ensign article I read one time I had a sticky note in my scriptures that mentioned that in life we go through fierce winds and storms to guide us to all that our Heavenly Father has promised us. After sharing that with Raul I also talked about the cycle that occurs in Ether of the people following the commandments, becoming prosperous and happy and then falling into wickedness and I testified to Raul that if he keeps the commandments and the commitments that we leave with him that things will come together in his life. It touched him a lot and then we asked how his reading was going and he said that he had actually read in the Book of Mormon on his own which was amazing. We talked a little about that and then I asked how things were going quitting smoking and he said he hadn't smoked for a couple of days because he ran out of cigarettes and doesn't have much money left. Then Elder Butler asked when he read in the Book of Mormon and he told us it was a couple of days ago and he realized that by reading it probably helped him to not want to smoke or to have withdrawals which was a huge step for him to realize. When he prayed before he left he earnestly asked to know if the book and the church are true so that he can know and follow Christ better and so that he can be baptized in October. It was a great last investigator lesson for Elder Butler.

The rest of the week went by really slowly and was pretty difficult. I've been just tired of this area and its been hard to see why I'm here and I feel pretty useless. On Thursday night I was really just done and I felt super depressed so I asked Elder Boggess if they could come over and give me a blessing. Its such a blessing to have a good friend like him nearby who knows me and is my friend and who has been in this situation too, to give me a blessing. It was really powerful and he mentioned the fact that I'm making an impact here in all of the seeds that I'm planting and specifically mentioned some people in this ward that I have been trying to work with. The next day nothing went as planned and I was tired by the end of the night again and after attempting to visit a potential investigator I got really depressed so I said a quick prayer asking why I'm even here if nothing is happening and immediately into my head came this song called "The Harvester" that we listen to but the next thought was that it didn't apply to me, that I'm here to be a sower and to plant all the seeds that need to be planted and that then somebody else will be brought into be the harvester of the crops that I have prepared. It was kind of hard to get that answer but I realized that planting the seeds is just as important as harvesting because without a sower there would be nothing to be reaped. I began to think of the over 750people that I have contacted in the last 6 weeks and the probably 130ish copies of the Book of Mormon that I have given out and I realized that thats a lot of seeds to plant and a lot of chances for people to accept the gospel at some point. I know now that I need to just look at everything I do as planting seeds and that even if nothing comes from it while I'm here that if I can say I've done that it means I've done my job. 

Being a missionary is hard and sad and tiring, but at the same time its happy, and fun, and the best thing ever. Its crazy how all those things can be compounded into one and how you can go through all of them every single day and keep on going for two years, its definitely only possible with Heavenly Father's help. I know that if I was alone in this and it wasn't true and good that I'd have peaced out of here a long time ago. But I'm not alone so I keep on going each day hoping that things will work out in the end. I know that there are people here waiting to hear about the restored gospel and I know that what I share can help them. 

Love

Elder Cheever

Goodbye to Elders Greenberg and Butler

Its been another week here and just about the same old stuff to report. We talked to tons of people again and still managed to find only a few who were remotely interested so we shall see what happens when we follow up with them. 

On Wednesday we got to go to President's house for a dinner for the missionaries going home. It was so awesome to hear the testimonies of those who are leaving and to hear what others have learned from them. It was crazy to realize that Elder Greenberg is going home as well as Elder Butler. I have really come to love those two guys and will miss them a lot once they leave.

On Saturday we got to attend the baptism of 4 siblings in Elder Butler's last ward. They got special permission for the oldest to be baptized, confirmed, and then ordained to be a priest so that he could baptize his siblings. The Spirit that could be felt there was so strong and it was such a great opportunity for that family, especially the father who has previously been pretty anti-mormon, to feel the Spirit and to draw closer to our Heavenly Father. We actually had a pretty cool experience along with that baptism. I don't know if you remember me telling you about the fast that Elder Butler and I had to try and line somebody up for baptism on the 13th in our ward.  Well as that day went on we changed our prayers to be that somebody would be able to be baptized on that day and then about a week later we got a call from Elder Blue, Butler's last companion, telling us about the Hardin's baptism. It was so cool to realize that we had been prompted to pray and fast in a more broad scope and that in some way our faith helped to allow those siblings to be baptized that day, which was amazing for Elder Butler to have that experience on his last Saturday on the mission.

I love being a missionary, even in a harder area like this. I get to learn so much and to become so much more converted to the gospel myself. I thought I knew how much Heavenly Father loved me before I came out but I have come to realize it so much more now. I now truly know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that without His Atonement, true happiness would be impossible. I hope that y'all can take time to think about how much the Atonement has blessed your life and to then share that happiness with others.

Love

Elder Cheever

 

 

Baptizing Cara

This week was pretty average again. We have been doing a lot of contacting and tracting in an effort to find more people to teach as well as trying to visit everybody on the ward directory so that Elder Hohmann and I can get to know them better so that we can increase our efforts in helping the less-active members return to church and so that we can help the active members in their missionary efforts. Its been going pretty well and we are starting to feel the benefits of our efforts and to realize that pretty soon something good is going to happen. 

I'm going to highlight the cooler things that happened this week because they stand out a lot more in my memory as compared to everything else. 

On Tuesday we met with our one investigator, Raul, and we were able to have a good lesson with him. When we found out that we would be training Elder Hohmann, Elder Butler and I got Raul to agree to let us start all the lessons over again so that Elder Hohmann can have the chance to teach them and so that we can review everything with Raul to see if we can deepen his understanding since he hasn't really been progressing. When we met we taught him the Restoration and it went pretty well and as we were wrapping up and talking about praying and receiving answers as he keeps commitments he opened up about how he is struggling right now because he can't find a job and how hard it is and how it is really testing his faith and as he talked about this I felt a prompting that I should attempt to set a baptismal date with him again, something we haven't tried to do for a while because his interest and efforts were low. As I began to extend the invitation I realized I needed to be pretty bold with it and the thought came to my mind to tell him that if he commits to that and if he does all that he needs to progress towards gaining a testimony of the restored gospel and towards baptism that the Lord will begin to bless him and he will see his needs and wants be met, including getting a job. As I spoke I could feel the power of the Spirit and I knew it wasn't me making these promises to him, but that as a representative of Jesus Christ I was just speaking on His behalf to Raul. He agreed to a date of October 8th, which is kind of far, but it gives him the time and chances to work for it. I just hope that he took our counsel seriously and that he lets the Spirit work in his life because I know that by keeping the commandments we truly are blessed temporally and spiritually. 

Another highlight of this week was receiving a text from that little girl Ashley's mother about her birthday party. Even though we weren't able attend it was still a huge miracle that she even remembered and texted us to remind us and now that we have her number and a friendship with her it opens up a huge opportunity to meet with them in our area and help them come to know more about the Restoration and to accept it. 

Probably the coolest thing that happened this week was being able to baptize Sister Loveridge and Sabolsky's investigator, Cara. This was the first time I've had the opportunity to physically baptize somebody and I was very grateful to have the chance, although I was a little nervous. Its kind of scary to be given such an important task. Being able to perform the ordinance was amazing and it reminded me of how I felt entering the baptismal font when I was 8 and also of how it felt watching people I have taught out here get baptized. The Spirit is always so strong at those events and I can always tell that Heavenly Father is truly proud of those who make the choice to be baptized. 

On Sunday we had an entire ward fast for missionary work. It was so great to know that we were all united in that effort and putting our faith towards gaining help in bringing the joy of the gospel to those in our city of Laguna Hills. Bishop Flora bore his testimony at the very end of sacrament meeting and talked about some of his recent missionary experiences and then he mentioned that this fast isn't so that us missionaries can be busy but its so that the members of the ward can have the courage and guidance they need to be able to share their testimonies with their neighbors and friends so that they can share the happiness that they have felt with those around them so that others can partake of it as well. Hopefully y'all can remember to pray daily for opportunities to share the gospel with those around you and to help them partake of our Father in Heaven's love and the blessings that He offers us. 

Its been crazy being with Elder Butler as he approaches going home. He works super hard and is a ton of fun to be around and it will be sad to see him go home and it will definitely be strange to no longer have him. Its led me to think a lot more about how little time I really have left. Even though 10ish months is quite a while, it goes by way too fast. The last 8 weeks have been a blur and May, June, and July have gone by even faster. My hope is that I can maintain the fire that we have built through the rest of my time in the field and then use those things I learn to be who the Lord needs me to be at home. But until that time comes I'm going to go as hard as I can, because as Elder Butler says when people ask if he's trunky yet, "My bags aren't packed!"

I love it here and I love this gospel with all my heart and I know that its through faith in Jesus Christ and by obedience to God's commandments, no matter how much or how little we may understand them, that we can truly be happy. These people are so good and I love being with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

Training Elder Hohmann

We had a pretty good week over here in Laguna Hills. Tuesday brought the most change seeing as that was the day that we picked up our greenie from the mission office. His name is Elder Hohmann, he is from Tooele, Utah, he graduated high school in June and he plans to go to UVU as a culinary major after his mission. Its been interesting getting used to a third companion again and its been fun showing him the ropes and helping him adjust to missionary life. Its pretty entertaining to see how tired he gets by the end of the day and to remember when I was absolutely exhausted to the point where I couldn't stay awake in the car. I'm still always tired but somehow my body has to realize that it still needs to function even when it doesnt want to and I can stay awake through most everything. It will be fun to work with Elder Hohmann while we are companions and then to watch him keep learning and growing as a missionary over the first year of his mission.

At the same time that transfer meeting was exciting while picking up our "son" it was also sad because I had to say goodbye to my trainer since he finished his mission this week. I'm so glad to have been able to learn from Elder Nielsen and to have started my mission out with somebody who is as great of an example as he is. One of the best things about missions is definitely the lifelong friendships that you develop.

We spent a lot of time this week contacting and tracting to find new people to teach and had some fun and interesting experiences while doing that. We had one man yell at us for interrupting his viewing the democratic national convention, another guy tried to tell us we weren't allowed to knock on his door without solicitors licenses so I promptly pulled out my ministerial certificate and upon seeing it he quickly began apologizing and let us know how much he appreciated what we do for God.The coolest person we talked to though was this mom and her little daughter Ashley. When we first talked to the mom she let us know that she goes to Saddleback Church, a huge born-again Christian church that teaches anti-mormon stuff, but when we told her more about the Book of Mormon she was a little more nice and interested. We told her we would love to share more with her and she told us we could but wouldn't give us her address, which is pretty typical, but before we left she told Ashley to sing for us. Ashley turn four this month but she sang "You Raise Me Up" perfectly and it was probably one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life and then when we were walking away Ashley waved goodbye and said "see you later." We laughed about and then didn't think much of it but then a couple days later we were in the same area and ran into Ashley and her mom again and had the chance to talk with them more and Ashley's mom told us that Ashley kept asking her when "the boys in the white shirts" were going to come over. We talked more with her and told her we would love to visit them and then Ashley invited us to her birthday party and we told her mom that we would give her one of the Book of Mormon Stories  books (the one with the pictures) so that they could read it together. Hopefully something comes from this and the innocence of a young child can bless that family forever. 

We are continuing to work hard and do all that we need to despite the lack of results that we have been seeing lately. We are just going to carry on and know that we are doing our best and that Heavenly Father will bless when He knows we need it. On fast Sunday the ward is fasting for missionary work in the area and I have faith that we will see some pretty amazing miracles from that. Thank you all for your prayers and love in our behalf, they don't go unheard by God or unnoticed by us! Find somebody this week that you can share the gospel with, its easy, all you have to do is ask them a friend what they know about Mormons, or the Book of Mormon or anything like that and you can start a conversation and maybe even change their life!

Love

Elder Cheever