We don't know the impact we will have

We had a pretty good week with a couple of crazy things happening. We spent a lot of time this week helping the ward council track down less active members of the ward based off a list of people who have moved out of the ward boundaries so that was pretty fun. On Wednesday we had our transferly zone conference, it was fun to see a different group of missionaries there and to see some of my good friends and old companions. On Friday and Saturday we ended up helping the Costa Mesa elders with a couple of moves in their area that took up a lot of time but we ended up getting a really nice couch from some non-members who we helped move so now our apartment feels a little more like a home than it did before. We have been getting crazy amounts of rain here (its pretty normal for back home, but not for California) and this morning it was pouring down hail so of course we ran outside to stand in it for a little bit since its the closest thing to snow we are gonna get here.

My favorite experience this week was definitely an Addiction Recovery Program fireside that we had the chance to attend last night. I have loved every opportunity that I have had to attend various ARP meetings during my mission and last night was no exception to the overwhelming power of the Spirit that can be felt in those settings. It truly is an amazing and inspired program designed to help people utilize the Atonement to overcome the struggles they have in this life. On Thursday night I had the opportunity to help Mamma La organize a talk that she gave at it. It was a neat experience to read it before hand and to feel the powerful Spirit of her testimony of the Atonement and to then hear it from her in person and I was grateful for the chance I had to use my talents to help somebody who I love dearly. While there I also got to talk to a young man named Christian Ichikawa. When I was in the singles ward at the beginning of my mission my trainer and I attempted to visit him and were turned away but later one of my other companions and I were able to get in to his home and began sharing messages with him. He eventually began attending institute, and then going back to church. When I left the ward all I knew was that he was going to church but that he still didn't have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Restoration. Months later I heard that he had come to know that it was true and that he had even shared his testimony during a "fast and testimony" meeting and that he was considering starting mission papers. Last night when I talked with him he told me that he is going to submit his papers next week and he told me that Elder Davies and I were the first set of missionaries that he let in for a long time and that prior to us he had turned many away. It just goes to show that we don't know the impact we will have on those around us and that sometimes they might turn us away at first but that Heavenly Father is mindful of them and will eventually provided them with the guidance they need to return home. So don't give up on the quest to help the down trodden and to lift the hands that hang down low, each of the Good Shepherd's sheep are know He will always reach out to help them.

Love

Elder Cheever