Elder Cevering's LAST Email!!! October 5, 2015

Hello for the Last Time! So this last week was wonderful! So many great things happened! We had our MLC and General Conference, we got a referral to go see a less active member whose family aren't members, he almost prayed with us but promised to pray with us next week, and more! It was stellar! And on top of all of the spiritual experiences, Elder Bernhisel and I get along so well that we fight just for fun - it's wonderfully hilarious! Like this morning we were talking about how when someone is mad or cranky or annoyed and you ask them if they are mad or cranky or annoyed and so they get more mad, cranky, and annoyed, and just yell back at you, "I'M NOT CRANKY." And we were just sitting there laughing our heads off because it was just such a silly conversation and we were yelling so loud but weren't serious at all because we were just joking about how sometimes that situation happens. Good times! Well, to get on to the good stuff: Our MLC was all about conversion and it was so great to keep learning about how conversion is such a continuous process. It was so good to keep relearning that, and to add more to what I do know! I learned how the repentance process and the conversion process are the same process. They both change us, make us better, and bring us closer to Jesus Christ. They help us come to know who Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are. They help us come to know of our eternal possibilities! Conversion is a change of heart AND mind, and if we are only acting because of feelings from one or the other we are not truly converted. Conversion is change our actions AND our desires. Conversion is what brings us to Christ! And who can overlook Conference?! What an incredible and historic Conference! Three new apostles and a bunch of amazing talks. I don't know if I could pick a favorite because there were so many talks that were perfect just for me! A couple of them even said phrases that I had written down as questions, then proceeded to answer those questions. The prophets, apostles, and general authorities of the church are SO truly inspired! I know they truly are servants of our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that these three new apostles are also called of God because I received my own witness from the Spirit as they spoke. Ultimately, I know this is the true church of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. These past two years with all of their experiences and blessings and miracles have taught me this truth more than anything else. Seeing the gospel bring precious, pure light into depressed, darkened souls has been the most fulfilling work I have ever been a part of. The most rewarding thing I have ever done is help people receive the blessings of the gospel in their lives and oh how truly wonderful it is to see love change a world. Because let's be real, what we do will not change the world. But what we do will change someone's world. And if we change enough worlds, the whole world will change. And oh how sweet it will be! I'm super excited to see you guys next week! I'm excited out of my trousers! Know that I love you and that I love the gospel and that I know Heavenly Father loves us. All of us. My mission has been phenomenal, indescribable. Hard, tough, trying, hilarious, scary, nerve-wracking, beautiful, glorious, and so much more. The single best thing I've ever done has been to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It has led me to become so much more than anything else I could ever do. If you ever want to find more happiness, more peace, more help, read the Book of Mormon and ask God, the Eternal Father, if it is true. I promise you that it is and that the answer will bring more joy than you know. I love you guys! I'll see you soon! Love, —Elder (for possibly the last time) Cevering— - Exodus 14:14 - :)

Email September 21, 2015

Howdy Hey! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week, we definitely had one out here! Plus, IT RAINED! Yep! It was awesome. I love rain. It was freezing that day, though. High 60s, low 70s. It was rough. But no worries, it got back up to the high 90s again so it was nice and warm for the weekend! So to start it all off, we had two lessons with an investigator this week! We didn't intend to, but it was good. The first one we talked about his experience at church (because he finally came, woot!), even though he didn't stay for all three hours. But hey, he came to the most important one so I'm not complaining! He said it was good even though he sat out in the foyer. But this week he came and sat in the chapel! It was awesome! Anyway, we talked more about baptism and ended up talking again about the requirements. Basically just laid it out again that we want him to have a testimony of everything before he is baptized, he needs to be actively coming to church, he needs to be ready to and be living the way he needs to for the rest of his life. So we agreed we would start the lessons over and work with him towards baptism. It's going to be awesome! The second lesson we covered the Restoration and it went really well. He says he already has a testimony of everything, but we want him to be reading from the Book of Mormon and praying and attending church. We want him converted, not just baptized. We went to visit a less active family, and we caught only the wife home the first time. But it was a great conversation! She wants to come to church, but she can't because her husband works on Sundays so our guess is that she has no car to drive to church. Not a problem, we have an older couple who would love to give her a ride so we are hoping to get that set up is week! Funny story, in the middle of our conversation I looked down at her granddaughter who was playing with one of her toys in the yard and all of a sudden the wife says, "I know you. I know you!" And she's pointing right at me and has this very serious face. I was like..."Uhhh..." And she was like, "When you turned your head I saw the gray spot in your hair and something just clicked. Whether it's from here or from the life before this, I know you." So yeah, that was interesting! It was definitely unexpected. She had me super scared for seven and a half seconds, and then I was fine, just a little weirded out. No big deal! We went back a couple days later and met her husband, he's really nice as well. We hope to start getting them back to church soon! It'll be a little for him because he works on Sundays, but it can still happen! Another lesson I went to on splits with a member was pretty great! We were teaching a 10 year old girl who was adopted, and her 9 year old adopted sister, who is a less active member due to their grandma, who adopted all of them, who always says things are so crazy on Sunday mornings that they can't ever make it no matter how hard they try. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation and so we knew we had to keep it simple. We took a whiteboard, divided it into thirds, and in the first two had them draw heaven and then earth. As they drew we talked about what happened in heaven and why we are on earth, and they asked some good questions! And the whole time, there was another one of their sisters, who never has sat in on the lessons before was in the room and listening and asking questions every once in a while. It was super awesome! A couple more quick people. One creepy story. We stopped by an old beaten up house with overgrown plants, shredded window blinds, and just all-around dinginess. It was also around 7 o'clock and overcast. So it was also dark. Well, we knocked. Nothing. Knocked again. Nothing. And then, the curtains on the inside of the door. Just barely. As if a hand grazed the edge of the curtain as it went to open the door. Then the door handle clicked around a little bit. But nothing happened. I'm telling you, it was another one of those absolutely creepy moments of my life where who knows what is about to open the door and eat me. Oh geez. It was just creepy. Well, no one ended up answering the door, but we did end up getting in contact with him later and he's a less active. When we went over the next time it was raining (woohoo!), and when we pulled up he was wearing, I kid you not, a homemade, cardboard Boba Fett costume. It was awesome. Turns out he makes tons of these super sweet, cardboard and plastic models of Star Wars, Star Trek, and tons of other movie ships and characters and stuff. It was pretty sweet. He has won contests and stuff. He does a good job with all these things. Spiritually, he's saddened because his mom passed away in May of this year but he wants to come back to church. So it was a good talk and we will be going back again this week. Lastly, I almost got attacked by my first dog! I'm not sure whether to be excited or worried. Just kidding, I'm obviously much more worried. I didn't get attacked, but as we were walking up to a door to contact a former investigator, this dog came up and was barking at us. Usually that's not that big of a deal because the dog will calm down when you let it sniff you. I tried to, but it went for a nibble. Not cool, so I said to Elder Bernhisel that he's not a nice dog. Each step closer to the door, the dog got more vicious and loud and finally halfway to the door it jumped at Elder Bernhisel and bit his slacks. Immediately we both turned around and got in the car. We weren't about to have anything worse happen. So at was exciting! Well, that's how things are going! I have been really blessed over my mission to see many blessings and miracles. I know God is a personal God. I know He watches over us and blesses us in many ways, even if they aren't good at first. God is always there. I promise! I'm super excited to see everyone again, but I've still got a good three weeks left of wearing he tag and I'm so glad I still have that much time left! It is such a blessing to serve my Lord! I love you guys! Have a great week! —Elder Cevering— - Exodus 14:14 -

Email September 21, 2015

Greetings once again! I hope y'all had a splendid week, I know that we did! To kick it all off, we visited a less active who owns an Australian hat store. He's an older gentleman. He and his wife are both super nice and love to talk, but we haven't been able to have a sit down lesson with them until this week. He took us into his house and we talked with him about his conversion and about church and it was a pretty good talk. We invited him to church and he said he might come, but the problem he has is that he will come a few weeks in a row, intending to become fully active again, but a few weeks into it he will have to stay home to help with some stuff and he won't come to church again after that for some reason. So we are going to see what we can do to help him stay actively coming, even if he has a week he can't come. We had a great visit with a family that is starting to go less active. We don't know much of their situation or why they are choosing not to come to church other than that there are some personal struggles, so we figured we would go over, get to know them, and share a message all about Jesus Christ, His atonement, and His love for us. So we did, and it was a really great night! The Spirit was there so strong. I love feeling the Spirit because it is just so peaceful and wonderful. It's unlike anything else in the world. To continue, the only fully active family member is the 16 year old daughter so we already know her, so we were happy to see the dad and one of the sons there the following Sunday! Given, the son is really into art and was asked to bring something artsy in for his class. But still it was a stellar night in their home. I know they felt the Spirit and I know we need to go back, we are just trying to find an excuse because we don't want to make it seem like they're a project. But they are an awesome family! With another person this week we got talking a little bit about 2 Nephi 4 when Nephi is lamenting because of his imperfections but follows it up with trust, confidence, and glory in God because of the atonement. This was so perfect for him because he feels like in the last 30 years of his less active life he has done things he can't be forgiven for, which we know for a fact he can be forgiven for. So we are trying to help him understand the atonement, the love of God, and mercy and grace. I can tell you it's so amazing to see people start to understand and apply these four simple gospel principles. They go from having no hope of making it back to the Celestial Kingdom to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again and being okay to make it just to the Terrestrial or even the Telestial Kingdoms, to having a knowledge of "the greatness of God," as Lehi puts it in 2 Nephi 2:2. I love seeing peoples' faith and hope grow as they come to understand the gospel. They become so happy and peaceful. He is still working on getting there, but he has taken some great steps so far! He read out loud for us this week which he hasn't done yet! He is honestly making some big steps, even though they are small things. It's so amazing! And then after the lesson he made us some stellar milkshakes! So good. One of our investigator's came to church this week! If I haven't told you about him yet then shame on me. He's the investigator who gave us a bunch of watermelon. Anyway, he has studied the Bible on his own for basically his whole life and has come surprisingly close to believing what we believe. However, he gets stuck on the small details sometimes instead of looking at the big picture. We have been working with him to help him understand what we believe and have invited him to church in the past, but he says he has gone a lot already and doesn't really like the big groups of people. So we talked about the reason we go to church which is the Sacrament, and he hadn't been taught that before! So after we finished talking about the importance of the Sacrament and invited him to church he said he would give it some honest thought. And look what happened! It was such a pleasant surprise to see him walk around the corner of the chapel! He's a really great guy, I'm glad I have to opportunity to work with him. We had dinner with a returning member and his family who are not members. He's a super nice guy! And it was a wonderful dinner! He is really hoping to have us over to his house more often to see how his wife takes it. She's supportive of him going to church but she isn't interested personally. But we can work with that! While we were over for dinner, we find out that her only son at home, who is 19, is going through a really tough time in life right now. So we talked a little bit about our purpose as missionaries and how we have seen peoples' lives change because they accept the gospel and it seemed like she really wanted us to try to talk to him. Unfortunately we weren't able to that night because he kept wanting to go back to his room and wouldn't stay out for very long even after we talked with him a little bit about how the gospel can help him. But he and his wife want us to try to come back soon to try again. So hopefully we will be able to and will be able to help him find where he can get the best help - from Heavenly Father! The last two are awesome miracles that have happened recently! One is a girl, I don't know how much I told you about her, if anything at all. We found her while she was trying to move a desk into her garage. There were three pieces so we pulled over and offered to help and after a second of persuading she said okay. We helped move the other two pieces and got talking and she said she and her fiancé would be okay with us coming back! Woot! So we set up a time, but it fell through. We made contact with her in person again this week and set up another time, but that fell through again. But it seems like she really wants to meet with us, so we aren't giving up yet! And finally we come to a man named Dylan! We were trying to contact a family with the last name of Wroe, but when he answered he said he didn't even know who we were talking about. Wrong number. However, we got to talking with him and it turns out he has a ton of stellar questions!! We were able to give him a Book of Mormon, teach quickly but powerfully of the Restoration of the gospel, and set up a return appointment. It was so awesome! Heavenly Father truly provided a miracle for us there! I love it when that stuff happens. He has a wife and two kids who might be open to learning as well, so hopefully that will work out too! Please keep all of these wonderful people in your prayers! Prayers absolutely work!!! Never think you aren't being heard! It's often when you feel you aren't being heard that Heavenly Father is really listening the most. He knows our trials, our pains, our challenges, and so much more, and He is closest to us when we go through them and ask for His help. He may not show His help immediately, but I testify it will come! I love you guys, have a stellar week! —Elder Cevering— - Exodus 14:14 -

Photos from Anderson, CA

Baptism of Katherine and road trip to Roseville for the baptism

Email August 31, 2015

Hello! Well everyone, so begins the last six weeks! I tell you what, it's a trip to think I've been gone for 98 so far! I know every missionary says it everyday, but it has gone by so stinking fast. The good thing is that it doesn't feel like I'm going home soon. I don't feel like I'm going to be home in six weeks so I don't feel very trunky, woohoo! It's just weird to think that at the beginning of last transfer there were two missionaries leaving in six weeks and they were saying how weird it feels. And now I'm in their shoes. Crazy. Anyway! On to more focused things! We got transfer calls last night, the last call I will ever have to worry about, and our area is being split! But that's okay, because we covered two wards anyway so now there's one companionship per ward. Woo! Elder Bernhisel and I had a goal to have enough work that we would have to bring in another set of missionaries and it looks like it happened! What an incredible blessing! And the missionary who is coming up is a missionary I served around at the very beginning of my mission and I love him! He is training a new missionary and I'm super excited for both of them. They're going to have a blast. So the area that I get to serve my last six weeks in is the Anderson Ward as a Zone Leader. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here! It's going to be an amazing last six weeks! I have a goal set for this transfer, and that is to hand out an entire box of Book of Mormons, which is about 40 or so copies. That means I'll have to hand out one a day for the rest of my mission in order to achieve it. But I didn't just set the goal, I feel it was so,etching the Spirit told me I could do. I was in MLC last month and we were talking about finding and something just clicked in my head and in my heart and gave me the idea.my thought process then goes as follows: If I have been called of God to serve in the California Roseville Mission, He is not going to let me fail. If He is not going to let me fail, then wherever I'm assigned to serve I'll see success. And if a successful missionary isn't measured by number of baptisms but by how diligently he serves, then if a missionary can hand out a Book of Mormon a day he is successful. Plus, the goal of a Book of Mormon a day isn't that hard when you really think about it. So I came to the conclusion that I will work my hardest to hand out an entire box of Book of Mormons this transfer. And I am so excited to get started. It is going to be a stellar transfer! Then I extended the same goal/challenge to Elder Raab and Elder Dixon, the two missionaries I trained (and Elder Dixon is training this transfer, so I have a GRANDSON in the mission! Woooooot!), and Elder Jensen, my mission brother (who is also training so I will also have a mission nephew! Hachow!). I am hoping they will do it with me because how amazing would that be? If successful, 120 Book of Mormons handed out in four different parts of the mission! What an amazing vision! I just hope it all works out! Well this week was another great week! We had a bunch of awesome lessons with our less actives and investigators! It's going to be hard, though, because we had more work in Cottonwood than in Anderson and because Cottonwood is a beautiful area, but I'm really excited to just go back to working and focusing on one area. It'll be hard to say goodbye to some of the members in the Cottonwood Ward, especially our WML and family, the Kings because they are awesome! But we have a lot of great people in Anderson too. There was a great lesson, with an investigator who is deaf, about the Plan of Salvation and he understood it all so that was hecka sweet! We invited him to read/watch the Book of Mormon (ASL needs to be watched, not read) and pray to know if it is true and he said he would. Then we invited him to be baptized if he came to know it was true and he said he would be. Yahoo! We are so excited for him! But it'll be hard for us and for him to get another new set of brand missionaries. However, the Lord knows what He is doing and I trust Him. I'm running short on time, but I want to let you in on an insight from my studies this morning: when the Lord commands Nephi to build a ship, we all know that Nephi doesn't ask why and doesn't complain but goes right into doing what he needs to do to construct the ship. Well, just a short time later, Nephi tells us that the Lord shows him where to find ore to molten tools for the construction. Then he continues on to tell us that he made a bellows to blow the fire that he makes by smiting two stones together. Not very significant, right? We all know that will produce sparks. So why did Nephi include it? The phrase that came to mind was "first and forever fan the fire of your faith," a quote from a talk by a Elder Holland. Fire = Faith. So, how do we produce faith? If faith is more than mere belief, then we need two things: Desire and Action. I know Nephi literally meant two stones made fire, but spiritually to make a fire, to have faith, we need to have a desire and we need to act on that desire. Then we have faith. But how do we keep our faith strong? Lots of things! That's why the bellows is a constant thing! We need to be constantly fanning our faith with obedience, diligence, patience, perseverance, and so many more things! And the more we apply these things, the stronger we can make our faith! So the question I leave with you is: what are you going to do to fan the fire of your faith? I love you guys! Love, —Elder Cevering— - Exodus 14:14 -

Email August 24, 2015

Hello family! Well, what can I say? Just another week in paradise! Although, it is a little smoky here. But that's okay! We still do great here in Anderson. We had a couple good lessons. One of them was with an 8 year old boy who is the nephew of one of our bishops and his other nephew who is 14. We taught them about who Heavenly Father is and what prayer is and how we do it. It was a great lesson! And at the end, the 14 year old said the closing prayer and it was an amazing prayer! They might have to go back down to their mom soon, though, and she doesn't nearly go to church anymore. So we are hoping they don't have to go back because they have a really rough life down there with her in SoCal. Another awesome lesson that we were blessed to have was with that deaf investigator! We had the lesson during church because their usual teacher was gone, it was super awesome! Sign language is so powerful. As we reviewed the First Vision, he told it to us in sign and the interpreters interpreted for us and it was just incredible. He said he knows the First Vision is true and that as he was taking the Sacrament he finally felt the Spirit. It was so awesome. The Spirit isn't bound to language! And that is phenomenal. We had a lesson with a man. It was sweet! We talked about repentance and the Atonement and how we can have those restarts when we truly want them. He said he's not quite ready to give up his earthly desires, but that he wants to. It was kinda a weird paradox, but ultimately he ended up to agreeing to read 1 Nephi 1 and asking us to send him scriptures at other times during the week too. It was a powerful lesson! The a Spirit was so strong as we promised him he could be forgiven! It was hecka sweet! We met with another less active who wants to start coming back. He's 25 and a great guy, but has had bad luck for a while with sickness. But he wants to start coming back because he sees a difference since he hasn't been coming to church. It's amazing how big of a difference the gospel makes! And last lesson we had with a guy where we testified of how the gospel can bless his family. He has been talking with some of our members and saying he wants to do,e to church and give up some word of wisdom issues, and so we are going to go over next week and start teaching. We are really hoping he and his family are ready! Please pray for all of these people! I know the gospel is true. As I have reflected in my mission I know I have seen God work miracles. Not just for others, but for me too. Sometimes it's not even something big. Usually miracles are brought to pass by the small and simple acts we choose to do every day. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. I know this is true. Never worry about choosing to do one small right thing not being enough. That could lead to another. And then to another. And soon enough, you've got a lifestyle of righteous living. And righteous living produces miracles. Why? Because we are always acting in faith! And God works by faith! Remember to always act by faith, and not by sight! The Lord is on your side whether or not you see Him. And my quote of the week: "Sin is always weakness, but weakness isn't always sin." Have a great week! I love you guys! Love, Elder Cevering