Email December 2, 2013

Hello once again, audience! I have actually written down some of the things I want to email about this week, so we're going to have a few stories! YAY! I usually just ramble and tell an occasional story so this will be a good change. :) This week I have been working a lot on studying better and doing better companion study as well. With my trainer not necessarily doing the best job at training, I feel like I need to take the reins and try to help this companionship and area be the best they can possibly be. One of the days this week I said that we need to do companionship study and so we did. I feel like if I hadn't, we wouldn't have...anyway. I'm trying to do better and, well, basically I feel like I should and need to take over the companionship and basically train myself. I just feel like we aren't doing anything and we do the best work when I am kind of taking the lead. And that was kind of manifest in weekly planning. We were kind of just sitting at the church and not doing much and so I got sick of it and said that we're going to do better this week. I pulled out the area book and looked at the page of potential investigators, made a list of who we were going to visit each day, and planned it. So this week we're going to be visiting at least 2 potential/former investigators each day compared to what could have been a week with no prospects whatsoever if I hadn't done anything. I felt so good that day for knowing that I finally did something and that we will be doing something with investigators this week. I don't want to say that Hazleton hasn't done a good job because he did well at the beginning. But lately we don't do much and so I'm going to be pushing forward to do as much work as possible. One quick, cool thing that happened this week during study: I counted up the total number of chapters in the Book of Mormon, 239. I looked at the total number of pages in the Book of Mormon as well, 531. I thought, "Hmm. I wonder if I added them together and looked at that page in the Bible if there is anything about the Book of Mormon?" thinking that I wouldn't find anything. Well, it adds up to 770 and so I turned there in the Bible. On that page are Psalms 85, 86, and 87. I started reading the verses on page 770 and in verse 11, no joke, it says: "11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven." AHHHHHHHH!!!! IT TALKS ABOUT THE BOOK OF MORMON!!! That was SO cool! Something that I just had a random thought of doing and was thinking that it wasn't going to happen, HAPPENED. It is too legit. Hecka sweet. Speaking of "hecka," it is one of the Californian slang words. Along with "trip" and "real." And I'm sure I'll hear more. I'll use them in sentences so you kind of understand how they are used: "Dude, that car is hecka sweet!" "The pizza at (insert disgusting pizza place here) is a trip." "I found this awesome scripture the other day, it's so real." Californian slang. I'll be speaking it in two years. :) Subject line/biggest news of the week! Saturday morning, our zone and the surrounding "middle zones" had a conference call with President. After having a prayer via the phone, he announced that our mission will be 1 of 12 test missions for the use of iPads!!!! They will only be allowed for missionary purposes like my facebook page, but they should have the scriptures and stuff like that! We get them the week of December 17th. I'm so excited. It's going to be flippin awesome. And Hazleton has a friend in another test mission for iPads and he said that if they pay for half of their iPad, they can take it home!! If that same rule applies, I'll *hopefully* be coming home with an iPad. So Tuesday of this week we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Personally, I really don't like exchanges because I'm still getting used to my companion and still getting used to missionary work itself. I was worried about exchanging with them because I am constantly worried I'm not a sufficient missionary. Anyway, we exchanged and I wasn't looking forward to it. I would be with Elder Austin who, out of the two ZL's. But we exchanged and we talked in the car on our way to his area and he seems like a pretty cool guy. Then we got to the house and prayed and planned and he said the prayer and it was crazy cool. He was very sincere about everything that he prayed for. He prayed for me and for my family back at home and basically I instantly felt that he does care about me and my family. It was very needed. He taught me so much about prayer, just by example. I felt the Spirit so strongly while he prayed, the strongest I've felt it in a while. I've done the best I can ever since then to make my prayers more meaningful and I've felt some success, but there is still plenty of improvement to be made. At the end of the transfer I felt really close to him and now we're really good friends. It's amazing how prayer and missionary work ripped down a wall I had built up. Super cool. Also on the topic of prayers! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week I woke up feeling pretty sick. Sick to my stomach, dizzy, no appetite, etc. And they were hindering my diligence in the mornings and I just wasn't doing well. So each day right before we went out the door, I went into the bedroom and said a prayer asking that I would feel better while we were out working. And guess what happened?! IT WORKED! It was SOOOO cool! My testimony of prayer has grown so much this whole week! It's really been an answer to a prayer, in all actuality. I've been praying to have more fervent and meaningful prayers and to have answers to prayers as well and this week has given me two amazing experiences with prayer: Answered prayers and the power of prayer. Prayer is incredible. Heavenly Father wants to bless us! We just need to ask Him for blessings before he can give them to us! I promise all of you that if you ask for something from a loving Father in Heaven, you will get it if you truly desire it. I've seen it happen so many times this week, it's been amazing. Yesterday was fast Sunday and so it was also fast and testimony meeting. DJ Martinez (who is Dan Martinez, the Ward Mission Leader's son) and Hazleton went up to bear their testimonies so I did too. Ever since coming on my mission and even for a little while before my mission, during the Sacrament I open to hymn 112 Savior, Redeemer of My Soul and read/sing it in my head while listening to and feeling the Spirit and partaking of the sacred symbols. I have felt the Spirit incredibly strongly as I have done so and it has nurtured and grown my testimony of the Atonement and the Sacrament and what they do for me so, so, so, so, so, so much. So I shared what I do in my testimony and shared some relating scriptures (2 Nephi 1:15 and Romans 8:39, I HIGHLY recommend these two scriptures when you feel disconnected from everyone, feel like no one loves you, or feel like you need comfort) as well. I felt the Spirit testify to me of the reality of our Savior's love and I felt His love for me. As I sat down in my seat, I prayed to know if this is the true church. With every word that I said/thought, the Spirit grew so much more intense and as I finished the question my entire body was covered with goosebumps and felt like it was filled with warmth and light and I again knew that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ once again on the earth. It was an absolutely spectacular experience. Well, I need to write my weekly letter to President before time runs out so I'm ending it here. I have felt the Spirit extremely strongly this week, it has been incredible. I know that the Lord watches out for His missionaries and helps them out when they need to feel better and comforted. I know the Lord loves each and every one of us and I know that this church is true. I love you all and, more importantly, the Lord loves you all. Love, Elder Jacob Cevering