Email December 16, 2013

Greetings from Yuba City, California! This last week has been pretty good, but things can always improve! On Tuesday the 10th, we had a pretty full day planned and everything - everything - fell through. But that's okay, such is missionary work. :) Two weeks ago we were able to make contact with a less active and non-member family and they were glad to see us! It was cool. We set up a time to meet with them, but unfortunately they've had to cancel on us both times we set up an appointment. :( So we're going to try again this week. We also were able to meet with Ricardo this last week! I don't remember if I've said anything about Ricardo in the past...so briefly: Hazleton and Correa met him at the library on exchanges. Ricardo saw their helmets and asked where their bikes were so they got onto a conversation with him and asked if he wanted to learn about the gospel. He accepted and they actually visited later that day. In that first visit, he swore a ton and told them he is a heavy drinker and smoker, but he has met with us 3 times including the first visit/later visit that day. The next time Hazleton and I visited with him he didn't swear at all and mentioned that he was trying not to smoke or drink and was doing well until his brothers and cousins were pressuring him into smoking and so after some time he gave in. Well that wasn't brief...anyway. We met him and taught the Plan of Salvation and we felt the Spirit pretty strongly. So at the end of the lesson when he seemed interested and like he wanted it, I invited him to be baptized. Unfortunately, he was hesitant but we were able to get a soft commitment if he comes to know that the church is true. That was a really cool experience because I could feel the Spirit telling me to invite him to baptism. Even though he's not on date yet, he very well could and it would be amazing to see it happen. Some interesting facts about the Hillcrest ward area: - We have members in two or three other cities that come to the Hillcrest ward. Those cities are in our area, but we can't reach them because we are on bikes. :( We have tried to talk to President to see if we can get a car even part time, but he doesn't see it happening soon. Bummer. Those areas could really be fantastic for missionary opportunities. But it's okay, President receives revelation for the mission so he knows what's going to be best. Speaking of the other cities, we had dinner in one of them two weeks ago. Robbins. Look that up on a map. Robbins is in my area and our apartment is in Yuba City. Haha, it is a 20-25 minute drive. Really far away for us on bikes. We can't and won't even try to make it out because the road out is a 2 lane highway with no bike lane. :) - There is a city right outside of our area that is outside of our mission. Not just outside of our area or zone, but our mission. It's called Knight's Landing. Just thought that was cool. - Yuba City has apparently been voted the worst place to live in the United States two times. TWO times! hahaha! The members I've asked about it for have all said that that was a long time ago and they've really cleaned it up since, so yeah. I just thought it was funny. It's really not too bad of an area though. One of the Sisters in the zone is from Finland and I've been learning very simple, random words from her. That's been fun. And there is a language in the mission called Hmong. It's spoken natively over in the Laos, Vietnam, Thailand area and there are enough people here that speak it that it is a mission language. It's super cool and interesting. I've been trying to learn random, simple words in both Finnish and Hmong and it's fun. :) Quick note: There is a little restaurant in the area called El Centro. It's very small, a hole-in-the-wall kind of place to eat. But it's really good Mexican food. Random note, yes. :) Now you know where I've eaten the last few P-Days haha. Every week at least once a week, Hazleton and I go out with a less active member, Brother Perry, to his ranch to feed his cattle a few bales of hay and afterward we go out to lunch. We usually go to Panda Express, but two weeks ago we went to a place called the Dancing Tomato Caffe. Funny name haha! It's always fun to help and I think it's great help to him, especially because he's getting really old so it's hard for him to do it himself. So that is always a good weekly experience. We also meet with him weekly to read the Book of Mormon and every time we meet I learn or see something new in that part of the scriptures. It's so cool! I love how the scriptures have different applications and different times of our lives. It's amazing. I love this gospel, this week I've come to start understanding how big of an influence I have as a missionary and as a person in general. I've just barely begun to scratch the surface of not only how important my calling is as a missionary, but also how important our calling is as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I've started to understand how powerful the Priesthood is and starting to scratch the surface of how incredible of an opportunity it is that I am blessed to hold the same power that Heavenly Father does. I've rededicated myself to always living worthy to use it at any time or place. It truly is an unspeakable and indescribable honor. I love this gospel and love learning about it and challenge you to choose a topic and study it specifically for a couple days, even weeks. It'll be an amazing experience! :) I love you all and hope all is well on your side of the map! Love, Elder Cevering #2