This week was interesting and fun and amazing. Interesting started on Monday when we were going to the stake center and got mooned by a homeless man, which is a pretty scary experience. But Tuesday made up for it with transfer meeting. I said goodbye to some friends who went home and then was surprised when Elder Nielsen didn't get transferred but I'm super happy he didn't. The best things that happened this week however came from prayer. We have been praying to find those prepared to hear the gospel as we always do and a couple weeks ago Cam's cousin Giorgio came to FHE and then church on Sunday without Cam even being there, he moved to San Francisco. We met with him on Wednesday, I think - the days all blur together now, and taught him the restoration. He liked it a lot and wants to keep learning more. Cam then told us on Saturday he was coming down for the weekend and would probably bring more family members to Sacrament meeting so "they can feel the Holy Ghost", his words exactly - this guy is a stud, during my personal study out of nowhere I had a prompting to pray that Cam and someone from his family would make it to church and then before companion study Elder Nielsen prayed for the exact same thing. At church Giorgio ended up coming and so did Cam which was amazing because previously both of them said they might not make it.
As a new Zone we made a goal to pass out 249 copies of the Book of Mormon to people who would sincerely read it. That number is special because it is also the missions goal for baptisms this year. The math to that number breaks down to about 4 copies per companionship per week for the next six weeks. Elder Nielsen and I managed to give out one to Giorgio after our lesson with him so that was one. Then we were going contacting at some outlooks in a city called Dana Point and we said a prayer that we would be able to pass one out to contribute to the goal. As we were walking we saw a girl who even was YSA age walking her dogs so we asked her if she has ever talked to missionaries and she said yes, the day before, even to other missionaries in our district. She said she wanted to know more so we were able to give her a Book of Mormon which was an awesome answer to our prayer. On Saturday we had a window in the same place and we walked past a guy who said he wasn't interested but then when we walked past him again after he finished a beer he was totally willing to talk to us and told us about how he was the black sheep in his family and had done some crazy things but that he was trying to follow Jesus. The whole time he talked I wanted to give him a Book of Mormon and tell him about Alma and the Sons of Mosiah and how they were referred to as the vilest of sinners but through the Atonement became some of the greatest men ever, but we left without doing it and I felt awful. As we were praying to close our window I opened my eyes and saw him walking by our car so as soon as Nielsen said amen I ran out of the car and grabbed a Book of Mormon and ran over to him and started telling him about Alma and he told me to write what I was saying in a note to him so I wrote my testimony of the Atonement and the Book of Mormon on the front page and gave it to him.
So never doubt the power of prayer or the Atonement because Heavenly Father will always answer prayers said in faith and he will always give us a second chance when we mess up. I have seen that so much in peoples live here and have felt it in my own. I love being here acting as an instrument in the Lord's hand and helping bring his children to them and thinking about leaving even if it is two years away makes me sad. I love these people, they are SO good, and I need to be with them.
Love
Elder Cheever
Also, I finally ate sushi. Its not as gross as I always thought but given the choice I will take my food cooked
Some pictures
This guy is awesome. You can't read his name tag but it says Elder Madsen. It was funny to hear it at first but now Madsen doesn't even seem like my name
This is my district, pre-transfer, when we were at the temple
This one is slightly more normal of us. The short guy next to me is Elder Christensen and he's one of my favorite people here. My comp is the blonde guy next to the short Elder on the right
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