I'm halfway done

This week was fairly uneventful. Some fun things, Elder Butler and I decided to try skateboarding at a skate park in the area as a way of contacting the kids there. It was pretty fun, I'm no good at skate boarding but we were able to talk to some cool people and I even met a kid from Swansboro, NC. With our roommates we made a roping dummy to practice roping on it pretty quickly evolved into the apartment pet cow, his name is Frankie.

 On Tuesday I had the chance to go on an exchange with Elder Boggess. It was great to be able to spend a whole day with him and to actually go out and be missionaries after having been friends at home. We were able to talk about old times and memories and then since he had been in the area before he was able to give me some ideas of people we could start trying to visit again. We were able to have a good lesson with Raul that night, he pulled out a lot more principles from the Book of Mormon and was able to understand it more than usual. Elder Boggess is a great example of listening to the investigators and to the Spirit to be able to discern their needs. Later that night during our exchange evaluation we were able to talk about not only the day but our past year on the mission and our time and growth since leaving high school, I'm very thankful that Heavenly Father saw fit to send somebody from home out here along-side me to support me and help me feel little bits of home way out here on the other side of the country in a pretty different culture.
On Wednesday night we went by one of the home of one of the Priest's in the ward who is preparing to go to college or on a mission with Bishop Flora. He had Elder Butler and Ben go on a walk so that Elder Butler could share his story of coming on a mission and how it has changed him and try and figure out how we can better help Ben, while Bishop and I talked with his mom. It was interesting to see that after being at school for a year and then being on my mission for a year how I have a totally new perspective on life and what really matters and because of that I was able to give advice on how she could best help Ben based on my past experiences.
It was crazy to hit my year mark on Friday and realize that I'm halfway done. This last year has been amazing and I have grown so much and I wouldn't trade this time for anything in the world.
Basically the rest of the week was taken up in trying to visit less-actives and in finding new investigators. I know that there must be people who are prepared to accept the gospel somewhere in this area and I have faith that it will happen, I just hope it begins to happen sooner than later. This ward gets a bad rap sometimes but they really do care about missionaries and missionary work, it just moves a little slower over here in Laguna Hills.

It is super sad to have President Orgill leave this week. He is an amazing man and shows more love than anybody I have ever met in my life. If Christ and Heavenly Father are supposed to be even more loving than him, I definitely want to do what it takes to be in their presence for eternity. Even though its sad I look forward to learning from President Clark when he gets hear and seeing how he leads this mission through inspiration.

Hopefully y'all can find chances to be the Lord's hands where you are and help those around you come closer to Christ, there is nothing more rewarding.

Love

Elder Cheever

The work goes on even with outrageous heat

This week has been really good.

My new companion is Elder Butler, if I didn't mention that last week. He is super fun to be around and enjoys doing crazy things so him and I get along. He goes home half way through next transfer so he is ready to go super hard for his last 9 weeks which is super good for me and for this area. If y'all didn't see on the news or anything like that California is getting hit hard by a huge heat wave this weekend and today. Yesterday it was above 100 until it got dark and even then it was in the mid 90's and today is supposed to be the same. Getting a car at transfer meeting is much more than a tender mercy now. But the work goes on even with outrageous heat.

On Tuesday after transfers we were able to meet with Raul and read from the Book of Mormon with him and he was able to pick out more principals than he has in the past. We made a couple of attempts to visit Carolina but both times she ended up being busy but we did have the chance to suggest a talk for her to listen to and to find out that she has been reading the Book of Mormon which is good.
While trying to visit a less-active young man we ended up teaching a group of 7th graders some of the restoration and giving them all copies of the Book of Mormon. It was super cool to see how they listened as we spoke and that when we asked them how they felt as we taught that they all recognized that they felt calm and that they learned and how readily they accepted it when we pointed out that that was the Spirit testifying to them.

We have had some time to do some tracting throughout the week as well and had some pretty fun experiences while doing it. We met some really nice people who have had a lot of positive experiences with members of the church in the past so they were at least willing to be kind and give us water and chat for a little even if they weren't interested in learning more. One family even let us go explore their huge back yard and play with their baby goats and they walked with us along the horse trail to feed some of the neighbors horses. I think I would rather have a fainting goat as a pet over a dog.

Church on Sunday was super good. The focus on fathers and the way that the speakers related our earthly fathers to our Heavenly Father was truly amazing and made me very grateful for my father at home and my Father in Heaven.
I'm excited for this coming transfer. Having to lead out an area that I'm not as familiar with as I would like to be is kind of stressful I know that there are good things on the way and that by listening to the guidance of the Holy Ghost, Elder Butler and I will be able to be the Lord's hands in this area and that we will be able to see miracles happen.

Love

Elder Cheever

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