A Tale of Exchanges, Super Heroes, and Service

On Tuesday I got to go to the Costa Mesa 1st ward with Elder Rubon for exchanges. He is an awesome missionary and it was fun to spend the day with him again. We had some good lessons with people and got to talk about a lot of things which was super good.
On Wednesday we had a good district meeting and then at night we went to try to visit our investigator Steven, the one who randomly called us that one day. When we got there we saw shoes on the doorstep that looked like missionary shoes and when we knocked the Vietnamese elders from Anaheim were there. He had requested books in Vietnamese to send his family so they were there to drop them off and then they thought they were going to teach him too but he doesn't speak any Vietnamese so he decided he would stick with us teaching him. We had a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation and he really liked all the parts of it. He still wants to get baptized but he doesn't respond to our texts and calls in a very timely manner so we still haven't been able to get him to church which is a bummer.
On Thursday Elder Gibb came to my area for exchanges. He is one of my favorite people to be around out here because he works hard and is an awesome teacher but he also knows how to have fun while doing what he needs to. In the morning we had a lesson with Touttou, it was about the same as usual, just answering lots of questions that he has about different things. After that we tried to visit some less active people from our ward list to see if they were still there. We tried to visit a man named Robbie but when we knocked on the door we heard people inside but they didn't answer so we left a card in the door and went on with our day. A couple of hours later we got a call from Robbie saying that he would like to meet up sometime and that he had been wanting to get in touch with missionaries but that he hadn't known how to do it. We were pretty excited because that was one of the only times in our entire missions that anybody has actually called us from a card. Later in the day we went up to Tustin, which happens to be outside the mission, so I could interview their Marshallese investigator for baptism (that's why we were allowed to leave the mission). After the interview we were driving home and joking around in the car while drinking Powerade and Gibb started laughing super hard which caused him to start choking on his drink. He spit it out the window and I kept laughing and then a couple of seconds later I realized that he was throwing up outside the window too. It took him a little to recover and breathe again but it was probably one of the funniest moments I have had in a while, and what made it even better was the fact that he was the driver so while trying not to die he also had to try not to crash the car. It might sound kind of gross but had you been there you would understand how funny it was.
On Friday Elder Gibb and I ended up together again for a little bit and we got to visit a less active man in my area named Jimmy Garcia. He is blind and has one leg so he is in a wheel chair. When he was originally found by missionaries he was in a wheelchair, which both legs, and was blind and as they taught him he began to see just a little bit and then after he was baptized he was able to walk out of the font and had his sight back completely. Shortly after he was baptized though he started to fall back into old habits and then he stepped off a curb the wrong way and broke his leg in a way that it had to be amputated and then he went blind again when he stopped going to church. He has a lot of faith and wants to do what's right, he has just been sick for a while. As we talked to him we learned that since going blind again he has developed "super powers" akin to that of the Marvel character "Daredevil" a blind attorney who has enhanced senses that allow him to fight crime and stuff. He told us that he can hear every thing that goes on on his block and down the street, that he can hear people's heartbeats, and that he can tell the difference in the way the air hits him when people move around him in such a way that he can tell what they are doing. Of course we had to test his powers out and see what he could do. He was able to tell us the various actions that we did and then even told us what his neighbors were doing. Apparently one time he save a woman' s life because he heard something down the street and called the cops to have them check it out. It was pretty cool to be able to meet a real life super hero.
On Saturday we had the chance to go to Emily's baptism, it was cool to see such a young person making such a big step in their life and to see her family there supporting her. After the baptism we went to help with a move for a nonmember lady, (thats why we left in our service clothes) and we did that until dinner time. The less active man, Robbie, from the other day took us out to dinner and we had the chance to get to know him better and to hear a little of his past. He is excited to meet with us more and re learn about the church so hopefully sometime soon he comes again. After dinner we went back to the move for the rest of the night. The lady we were helping was very grateful and ended up giving us $50 dollars for helping, we did try to reject it but she wouldn't let us. The six of us who were there decided to go get dessert of some sort with the money as a good way to finish out the day. We first went to a Yogurtland but after we got there none of us were really feeling that anymore so we went to the Target right next to it and we all just got different treats or drinks that we wanted. As we were leaving Elder Gibb saw a deal on Lunchables so he grabbed a few of them and then right before we checked out I saw some juice that I really liked and decided to grab that as well. After all six of us got what we wanted we were walking back to the car and a man came up to us. He seemed to be homeless or something like that and he attempted to ask us for help but had a very bad stutter. Before he even asked us anything Elder Gibb just started handing him his Lunchables and then I felt like I should give him the juice I got on the way out and then I also felt like I should give him the $20 that we had left over. He was so grateful that he started to tear up and tried to say thank you. As we walked away from him the first things that came to my mind were Matthew 25:34-40 and Hebrews 13:1-2. It was a pretty eye opening experience for me because I realized that I can have way more charity for those around me than I do, but I was extremely grateful that we were inspired to buy things that helped us to help that man out.

I'm so grateful for all of the things I have learned throughout my mission and for the person I have become through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity to share it with others. I know the people here are good and that I need to be with them.

Love

Elder Cheever

A lot of service

We didn't have that to email on Monday and we were on exchanges yesterday so that's why this isn't coming until a Wednesday.  We ended up doing a lot of service helping out at the 2nd Harvest Food Bank and cleaning the temple on Saturday, and on Monday we spent the morning helping the South Coast sisters move as well (hence the not having time to email.) Its cool to see how many opportunities we have to serve those around us and to feel the joy that comes from helping our Father's children. Unfortunately our teaching appointments were rather slim this week, it seemed that every time we tried to set something up with somebody or we tried to go by they were busy so we didn't have much luck in getting in with them. We are still having a good time and working hard here and we have faith that things will work out with our investigators.

It was neat to be in the temple in a less formal setting and to have people joking around as they worked but to feel how strong the Spirit was still there. It just goes to show that in even in the temple, Heavenly Father still wants us to be able to enjoy ourselves and that He is okay with having a good time.

I don't know what else to talk about so until next week...

Love

Elder Cheever

Pretty Awesome Week

We had a pretty awesome week. We were able to meet with our investigators Toutto and Renee and we were able to set a baptismal date with Renee for February 25th. We are most likely going to pass her off to the sisters though since they will be able to relate to here better than we can. 

On Friday we got a call from a young man named Steven Anderson wanting us to come by and pray with him so we tried to visit but he didn't give us the letter of his apartment so we tried to figure out which one he was in but had no luck and then on Saturday night he called us again and that time we were able to meet with him and give him a priesthood blessing. He told us that he had met with missionaries before and that he was going to be baptized but then right before his baptism he got offended by something dumb that the elders did and he lost contact with them. Some of the Spanish missionaries from the Anaheim mission live in the same apartment complex as him and he would see them all the time so he felt prompted to try and have missionaries come by again so he went on Mormon.org and was able to get our phone number. We taught him the restoration again and he remembered all of it and then we talked about a lot of other things and we ended up going through the baptism interview questions with him to see how we should proceed with teaching him the lessons. He is super excited to meet with us again and hopes to get baptized in February so we will see what we can do.

Saturday afternoon we went to visit a referral that we had received and the man told us that he wasn't actually interested so we decided to knock on the doors around him since we figured that there must be a reason why we were supposed to be over there. The first person we talked to after that ended up telling us to come back the same time on Sunday and then he also told us that his neighbors husband died and that she could probably use our message as well. She didn't end up speaking very much English so we got her information and told the Spanish sisters about her so maybe something cool will happen there. Yesterday we went back over there and we had the chance to teach Umberto. He really liked it and said he will keep meeting with us and that he will try to get his family to church on Sunday as well.

Yesterday in church one of the people speaking talked about joy and how we can foster that attitude and characteristic more in our lives. That's actually something that I have been working on over the last few weeks and I love President Nelson's advice on how to do it. I would encourage each of you to read or listen to his talk from October's General Conference and look for ideas from it that you can apply into your lives to have joy in all circumstances.

Love

Elder Cheever

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

Good week back in Santa Ana

Its been a good week back in Santa Ana. Following the assistants into an area is a pretty fortunate thing since they made sure to keep the area book organized and neat so that we would know who we will be working with and what they need to be taught. We have a lot more investigators than I have gotten used to and one of the biggest less-active member populations in the mission so we have a lot of work to do. Its actually kind of intimidating because there is so much and we don't want to lose track of anybody but on Sunday we had Elder Acosta, the area general authority, in our ward council meeting and one thing he suggested to the ward council in their efforts to help people was to have each auxiliary pick 5 people to focus on at a time and to help them as much as possible until they are active again or they tell them to stop and then move somebody else into the "roster". Upon hearing that we decided that that's what we need to do as well so hopefully narrowing our vision will make it easier to do all that we need to do here.  The ward has been super supportive and excited to help us out in any way they can which has also been cool to see. On Sunday all the people that were in the ward when I was here before were excited to see me and happy to have me here again, Brother Harmer, the bishop in the ward last year, joked that I didn't get it right the first time so I got sent back here to try again, which is probably right.

On Thursday we were able to meet with a man named Migel who the last elders were about to start teaching and we read a little in the Book of Mormon and we will go back there again today. 

On Saturday we were able to meet with Ismael, a 17 year old boy that they had taught a little as well. And then last night we had a lesson with Touttou (pronounced to-to) that went super well. We went in with the intention of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson but we ended up helping Touttou understand the Book of Mormon much better. He had some questions about how the Book of Mormon fits in with the Bible, what its purpose is and how the Nephites and the Lamanites knew about Christ's life and about His Atonement. At first when he started asking questions I wasn't quite sure how to answer them in a way that would help him best so I said a quick prayer for guidance and help and as we continued to talk the verses in 1st Nephi 17 when Nephi is talking with the angel and being shown the future of his people and of the world and he sees the Bible and the Book of Mormon come forth came to my mind and as we read those verses with him he was able to see more clearly the importance of the Book of Mormon. I was grateful that over the last week I had read 1st Nephi over again and as such it was on my mind and available for the Spirit to bring to my remembrance. 

Hopefully today we will be able to meet with another one of our investigators, Renee, a 19 year old girl with a three year old son. Elder Everett and Elder Boggess told us that she is "elect" and will for sure get baptized so look forward to working with her as well.

I'm excited to be back here. It feels kind of like coming home, I enjoy seeing some of the same places and neighborhoods and especially all the crazy stuff that happens up there. I know that there is a purpose to my being here and that there are people I can help.

Love

Elder Cheever

Going back to Santa Ana

The biggest news is that Elder Gunn and I will both be leaving the Liberty Park ward. Gunn is going to the Laguna Hills 2nd ward and I'm going back to the Southcoast ward in Santa Ana, the second ward that I served in out here (thus the title of this email) We had a good last week in Liberty Park. We got to help some members clean up their house to get it ready for new renters to move into which was pretty fun, its a good think Mom taught me how to clean! On Thursday we had dinner and a lesson with Jack that went really well. He is cancer free and excited to get back to meeting with the missionaries, its a bummer I wont get to be there for it all. On Friday we went to the temple in the morning and then later in the day is when we found out that we would both be leaving so we started preparing for that. On Saturday we started off the day riding in one of the member's Mclarens, I want one now, and then said bye to our favorite members and then at night we found out where we would be going. Sunday consisted of saying goodbye and church. It was pretty sad.

This morning Elder Ahlstrom and I packed up my car from Liberty Park and drove up to our new area. He is from Utah, has been out for about a year, and is also new to the ward so we are gonna be figuring out what to do as we go. I'm excited to see people I love from this area and to work with the investigators that the previous missionaries were teaching and I know that we will see miracles here. These people are good and I need to be with them, again!

Elder Cheever

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Not too much happened out here this week, I realized that I say that a lot, but its because its accurate. Everybody was out of town so we just tracted and walked around a lot. It rained all day on Saturday so we went tracting in the rain to earn some hot wife points, it was pretty fun to tract in a different way than just sunshine and heat. We are excited for people to be done with the holidays so that we can get back to work. The best part of the week was definitely being able to facetime with my family for Waverly's baptism. It was a special moment that I was glad that I didn't have to miss thanks to technology, and permission from my mission president.

Love

Elder Cheever