Email December 29, 2014

Hello Family! It sounds like you guys had a good Christmas. I know that I did!!! Goodness it was incredible seeing you guys, I love you guys so much! Honestly it was the best Christmas gift I got this year. I mean, I was super happy to get everything I did, but nothing can top seeing and talking with my family that I haven't seen for months! To report on the week, nothing much happened. Again, all of our investigators were out of town. :( And nobody wanted to sit down and watch a simple 3 minute video about Christmas. No one. Even people who identify as Christian didn't even want to watch a video about Jesus Christ! I don't get it. That's something that is really starting to really bother me. Christians don't want to learn more about Christ? And especially at the season when every Christian denomination is focusing on Him? We as missionaries tell people our goal is to strengthen and build their faith in Jesus Christ and ask them if they want to meet with us. The usual response, "Well we're already Christian." PERFECT! So you already HAVE faith in Christ, all we want to do is to help you make it stronger. The usual response, "No, we're okay." ...what?! I don't know about you guys back home, but I have never met someone who has too much faith. So yeah, that's getting really annoying. So like I said, none of our investigators were home this week. Plus Elder Dixon wasn't feeling well for a couple of days. Plus it was Christmas and no one wanted to hear our simple and quick and beautiful message. It was just a really tough week. The only lessons we had this week were with some less actives who are starting to come back to church. But that is super awesome! I am extremely grateful that we have less active members to go visit and who are progressing. I guess I just overlook that I am doing important work there. They really are just as important as investigators. I am excited to start working with the new investigators who said we could come back after the holidays. I am just hoping and praying my heart out that they will hold true to their word and actually meet with us. And that they will be ready and prepared. And that the Spirit will be able to confirm to their heart the truth of the things that we discuss. I really want and need another solid investigator. It is getting hard. I really love it out here and I have never been involved in something better. I have never learned more in my life. I can't believe I'm in the single digits of number of months left and I don't want it to ever end. But it is so hard out here. But you just need to keep on truckin'. Never give up, never surrender. A war was never won by giving up. I think that is one thing the Lord is trying to teach me out here. To trust Him. To love Him. To believe in His promises. To have faith. To endure to the end. But for that I am super grateful. I am grateful for the Lord's plan. I don't know what it is yet, but I know that I am going to be prepared for whatever is in my future. Thanks be to God! Well, I'm looking forward to the coming weeks for the potential investigators we can pick up. Again, I am hoping and praying that they will be ready. I also look forward to New Year's eve and the new year, 2015, in which I will be seeing my family in person again!!! I hope you all have a fantastic and safe new year celebration!!! I love you guys, have an incredible week! Love, Elder Cevering

Email December 23, 2014

Hi Mom! I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU GUYS ON CHRISTMAS DAY!!! AHHHHHHH. It's safe to say that I just can't wait to see all of you amazing people. :) Sorry to skip over so much, but I am super short on time. I did get my Christmas package, thank you so much! Thanks for the words of encouragement, they mean a lot. I'm glad to hear that a 14 month wall isn't uncommon. Unfortunately I have been trying to work through this for a while before my 14 month mark, but I just decided I needed to say something haha. Sorry it has kind of been belated. I'll do better in the future. I'm hanging in there, I'm in this for the long haul! I'm not going to take the easy way out haha. I love you Mom! I can't wait to see you guys in under 3 days!!! Love, Elder Cevering

Email December 15, 2014

Hello family! How are you guys doing? I hope you are all doing great because you deserve it. And because it's the Christmas season so there is no reason to be sad. Unless Rudolph's nose burns out. Then there is something to be sad about. That nose went down in history, you know. It would be a shame if it went out. Anyway! ONE MORE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS! Wow I'm pumped. I cannot wait to see you guys!!! It's going to be so great. So great. Well not much has happened here the last week. Just a lot of trying to find new less actives and investigators to teach. We had little success on our own, but we did receive a pretty promising referral so I'm excited to start working with that family. We had dinner with a potential named Chuck Kilmer and we talked a little about the Atonement and explained to him what it is. After the meal we showed the church's new He is the a Gift video and asked him if he wanted to hear some of the discussions about Jesus Christ that we as missionaries teach and he said yes! After the holidays, but he said yes! Another exciting opportunity. Another situation with good potential is a less active/part member couple, maybe family. We called them because on some of the records we have it said they are open to talking and are friendly so we figured why not. Gave them a call to try to set up a time and they also said after the holidays, but that's alright. Better late than never. We spent a whole day out in the "You Bet" sub-area of the a Grass Valley ward. It's the place where one of the elders in the apartment would call "Bufu, Egypt" of the ward boundaries. Meaning it is way out in the middle of nowhere. It was super beautiful! I'll send the pictures I have next week. It was truly amazing. You Bet apparently used to be an old mining town that was really successful until their mining techniques were said to be harming the nearby reservoir so they had to stop mining. And suddenly no more town. Seriously though, apparently there are no buildings left out there. We only saw one or two and that was it. But it was super cool. I know I love this ward but that just bumped it up a little more. I'm definitely planning on visiting the Grass Valley area when I get off of my mission. I can't really think of anything else other than it was our ward a Christmas party this last Saturday. That was fun, even though we had to leave a half hour early to go down to the stake center in Auburn for another Christmas thing that three other missionaries and I sang at. There's a video of one of the songs we sang on Facebook (speaking of which, it has gotten over 900 views in 2 days!). So that's cool. I had a good time that day. I have been struggling a little bit recently. I feel like I have hit a wall, speaking in terms of my work and abilities and desires. And some of them I even feel like I may have taken a backstep on which, in my opinion, is not okay. So then, knowing I can do better, I get frustrated with myself that I'm not doing the best I can all of the time, even though I know that's extremely hard to do, and it just hinders me even more. I think I know what I need to do to combat this so I'm going to try it, but please keep me in your prayers. I could definitely use them. I'm also getting really sick and tired of having little to no progress with our investigators and less actives, not being able to find new ones who want to work with us, and not having anyone progress towards and to baptism. I know more baptisms don't mean a missionary is more successful, but it wouldn't hurt to get some so I can feel a little more successful so lower morale and discouragement don't settle in and make themselves comfy. I could use your prayers in that regard as well. I'm trying not to be jealous and I'm trying not to count numbers and compare and I'm trying not to get discouraged and I'm trying not to feel like I'm wasting my time and the Lord's time and I'm trying not to feel like I'm unsuccessful, but bottom line is that it's hard to do that for so long and I'm slowly starting to feel those things. But I know I shouldn't be, which sends me back into that stupid cycle. It's just annoying and frustrating. So if I could get your prayers with that I would be so appreciative. Truly, I would be incredibly grateful. I love you guys and I thank you for your unending support. Go, fight, and win this week! Remember the Lord is always by your side even though His help is more easily and readily noticed when we are struggling. Faith precedes the miracle. Faith without works is dead. Faith can work miracles of all sorts and sizes. I know this to be true. And I'm hoping this testimony will just continue to grow stronger as I pass through this current trial. I am confident it will. Love you guys, have a fantastic week! Love, Elder Cevering

Email December 8, 2014

Hello Family! Hope you have all had an enjoyable beginning of December. I know that I have! Things are just going well: Elder Dixon and I get along super well, the ward members are great, the work is getting more focused. It's just going well. When I say the work is getting more focused, I mean that our investigators are starting to understand why we come over. Not that we haven't been trying to help them understand, but that this week things just somehow worked out great and things were understood. Probably because we have been talking with them about things, but we haven't been completely focused on the standard 5 lessons. We have been helping them understand the Book of Mormon, prayer, faith, Joseph Smith and prophets, priesthood authority, etc., but we haven't had a good focus on the regular lessons for a little bit. So it is good to be back instead of having less set lessons. Megan and Heather were sick this week and couldn't meet. Almost came to church, but they had errands that kept them too busy. :( Brad...Brad. We still haven't dropped him because in the process of dropping him we helped him understand that he has been trying to teach us instead of us trying to teach him. Given sometimes we have let him for the sake of hearing some interesting things, but there was some real progress made which was great. He understands that there will be things he doesn't agree with or believe but to pray about them and find it out for himself so that he can know for himself what's true. Hopefully we'll be able to help that work out! Marian Salcedo is still going to be our investigator!!! I talked to President Marston about it and he said that it is best to help them feel comfortable before doing anything like transitioning. So especially since her friend is in the ward we are going to keep teaching her in this ward until she is comfortable enough to go to the ward she lives in. I'm super excited to keep working with her because she has such a great desire to know the truth. We are planning on setting a baptismal date with her for January and hoping that she'll accept it. Upon further review, the ward boundary lines confirm that Shane and Destarta Brown are WITHIN the Grass Valley ward!!! WOOOOT! We had a great lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation. She had some great questions too. We are just going to start from the beginning and go through all of the lessons. I'm excited to work with them. She even said that she wants to be baptized, she just doesn't know what church she wants to be baptized in. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been meeting with her for a while so she is feeling that's where she will most likely go, but she also wants to learn more about the "Mormon Church" and the Rastafarii (Not quite sure what it is...) before she makes a decision. So yeah we are getting pretty focused on the main lessons which is going to be great. Teaching about the other things is very important, but the main lessons are the main lessons for a reason and I have felt that a lot this week. On Thursday, I went with a few other missionaries in our district to an MLC meeting. I know all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders were there, there were a lot of District Leaders there, and then a lot of other regular elders and sisters like me haha. It was a GREAT meeting! We had Brother Hemingway, the Director of Proselyting, and Brother Davis, the Director of Technology, there and it was just great. Brother Hemingway is an incredible teacher. We were all joking around beforehand that when he visited the mission that he was going to baptize tons of people. Basically he did. Okay maybe not literally, but he is an incredible teacher and missionary. He taught us a new way to teach the Restoration with the pamphlets, it is fantastic. I learned so much about planning and teaching and it was sooooo sweet! They talked about the numbers our mission is getting and how we get raise some of the numbers, so that's one half of the title. The ideas and ways we are going to do it are great. And then one night Elder Dixon and I got home later than the other elders in our apartment did and right as we turned on the lights it turned into a massive nerf dart war!!! It was so funny. Elder Dixon and I were fighting in our proselyting clothes and they were in their pajamas. To give the layout of our apartment, you walk into the main living space which is divided in half by a hallway and down the hallway are the study rooms and bathrooms and so we were basically leaning out doorways shooting down the hallway at each other. It was pretty awesome. I loved it. So there's the other half of the title haha. There were some other funny things that happened, but I don't remember what they were. :( But know that there were some pretty sweet things that your life could be better if you knew, but you don't know them. To close, I have a suggestion: Go read the story of Ammon protecting King Limhi's flocks by cutting off Lamanites' arms, but insert these ideas: Ammon = Christ King's other servants = Prophets, Apostles, Disciples, Missionaries Flocks = Heavenly Father's Children Waters of Sebus = the Living Water/Gospel of Jesus Christ/Eternal Life Bad Lamanites = Sin, Temptation, Evil, etc. And that should be it. Go through and read the story with these inserts and it takes on a whole new meaning. It did for me as I had this epiphany during my personal study recently. I love how the Spirit teaches us and enlightens us in ways we could never think of ourselves. I love the Spirit and I love this gospel. I know it is real and true!!! I love you guys, have an incredible week! Love, Elder Cevering

Email December 1, 2014

Hello Family and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I know it's after the fact, but I realized I didn't say it last week so I'm saying it is week. So, yeah. Happy Thanksgiving. :) I hope it went well! We had a great Thanksgiving! Sister Dooley is a super good cook! And yes I did get the package, the cookies were fantastic!!! I was so happy to see them! They taste great! Thank you so much. :) Well, this week was good. The lesson we had with Megan and Heather fell through so we went to Gary and Katie Irwin and had a lesson with them. It was a good lesson, they are starting to understand priesthood authority. However, we still aren't sure if they are accountable or not so that makes it difficult. We even had a member there and he wasn't sure either. He feels that Gary could be accountable but that Katie isn't, which is definitely something that we have been feeling more lately as well. After we talked about the priesthood authority and how it was lost then restored through Joseph Smith, they set a baptismal date in May. It's really far out for a couple reasons, they aren't sure about it yet and honestly neither are we. But we're going to work with them and get them to that point unless otherwise directed. Brad was interesting as always. We started into the drop talk with him and he said he wanted to be baptized, but not in our church. So, you can guess that we're definitely dropping him very soon. Like, next week should be our last lesson with him. If it's not...I don't know what I'm going to do haha. Probably scream. Just a little snippet from this lesson: Brad's books tell him that peoples' souls come from heaven or hell, not that they all come from heaven and go to heaven or hell like the common belief. So when those souls that came from heaven or hell die, they go back to where they came from. But later on he was talking about if someone kills another person the murderer goes to hell and the victim goes to heaven. So to play devil's advocate I said, "But what if the victim came from hell and the murderer from heaven? What happens then?" A puzzled look came on his face and he paused in thought for a few seconds. Then he said, "Well I believe God can do anything he wants." Not that I disagree because I do believe God can do anything He wants. But based on Brad's books, that would go against God's own doctrine which would prove God to be a liar which would prove that God isn't really God. I don't get it. So yeah, that's where we are at with Brad. Consider him dropped There was a lesson we had with a less active lady answering her questions about the beginnings of the Bible. I really like the history of the Bible, actually. It's really cool. I don't know a ton about it, but what I do I find very interesting. I'm grateful for the people who worked so hard to give us the Bible we have today. So many people put their lives on the line and most, if not all, lost their lives over it. Incredible sacrifices. Thanksgiving was really awesome! We cleaned the church building in the morning and in the afternoon we made visits and then had dinner with one of the best families in the Grass Valley ward, and debatably the mission, the Dooley's!!! I feel really bad though because we didn't know we needed to be home early and so we had to leave their house before dessert. :( I was really sad, but the time we did have there was awesome. Great food, great company, hilarious conversation. It was just fantastic. I'm so grateful that I have had the opportunity to be with the Dooley's both for dinner and in the ward. They are so awesome. I love them so much!!! So that's kind of it, I guess. I'm trying to think if there is anything else I need to say, but I can't remember anything. I love it out here, it is amazing. Elder Dixon and I are getting along super well and we are doing great work. He is a great missionary and it is a privilege and honor to be training him. I love the gospel, I know it is true, I know that God lives, and I know that He and His Son Jesus Christ love us more than we can imagine. My testimony of Joseph Smith has been grown as well and I love it. I know he saw what he said he saw, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, in that sacred grove that early spring. I know the church is true. I love you guys! Have an incredible week! Love, Elder Cevering

Email November 25, 2014

Heya family! So we had a zone conference this week and each of the zones had to prepare a musical number. So Elder VanLeeuwen, Elder Lofgran, Elder Dunn, and myself (they're all missionaries in the zone, not my district) literally threw together, the night before, an amazing (for a one night trial) arrangement of High on the Mountaintop. It ended up going so well. It was awesome! Honestly, however, I can't really think of a lot that happened this week. We had a few lessons and we're starting to get members to them which is super exciting! Especially with Heather and Megan, they're progressing slowly and the lessons we have with them are VERY distracted, but they are good. They read the scriptures we leave with them and they understand them. It's getting good! We're going to follow up with them on reading Ether 12 this week and then the next chapter will be 2 Nephi 31, the gospel of Jesus Christ chapter. That's when we're going to invite them to be baptized. It's going to be super exciting, keep them in your prayers!!! Brad was super intoxicated when we went over on Saturday. It was interesting. We had a very abbreviated lesson and left. The ward council here is encouraging us to drop him so we're going to have what the missionaries call 'the talk.' Just basically to see if he really is interested in learning about the church or if he is just wanting to teach us about his 'holy books.' So yeah, we probably will be dropping him soon. Along with Gary and Katie. We don't think they're committed so we are also going to have the talk with them. If those two people drop, we'll have basically no investigators besides Heather and Megan. I love those two and they have good potential, but I want more. The fireside we had last night went really well, so hopefully the members will be more able and willing to invite people to meet with us. We had a member recently do that for us and it has been great!!! Even though the investigator, Marian Salcedo, doesn't live in our ward boundaries, she has accepted the invitation to be baptized if she comes to know the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. And when the member found out Marian's boyfriend was in the hospital she asked Marian if she wanted a priesthood blessing by the missionaries and she said yes! Not even knowing what it was, she said yes. So we had a quick lesson about the Priesthood and gave her the blessing and it was really great. I'm so sad that we're most likely going to have to pass her on to the Nevada City elders. I'm okay with it because I know that they'll do well with her and she'll most likely end up baptized whether or not she's in our ward, but I'm sad that I might not be able to participate in most of the teaching. But hey, it's missionary work so I'm not too sad. Doesn't matter where in the church, a baptism is a baptism and sins remitted are sins remitted. So yeah, I'm excited for her wherever it is. :) Well, that's about it. Sorry I don't have any crazy stories from this week. But I do have to say this: in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to tell you all how grateful I am for you all. Your support is so amazing! I couldn't do it without you guys. The emails, the letters, the packages. I truly am grateful for your support. It means the world to me!!! I also want to let you all know how thankful I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the restored church and the Book of Mormon. I legitimately don't even know where I would be without it. It has changed my life, made me so much better than I could ever be without it. It has encouraged me to be the best that I can be, to choose things that will keep me safe and healthy, and to learn and know of the incredible gift that I can receive a remission of my sins and relief of guilt and sorrow, shame and embarrassment. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have. I know this church is true!!! It is the greatest source of happiness in my life because without it I wouldn't have the blessing that I do. I love you guys! Have a great week! Love, Elder Cevering

Email November 17, 2014

Hello family! Man, it feels like it has been forever since I last emailed home! Not in a bad way because this was a great week, but it just has felt really long. Probably because we had a lot of tedious things to take care of like getting my new companion Elder Dixon all unpacked and set up, getting our groceries and laundry taken care of, and more things that are required when picking up a greenie fresh out from the MTC. But when we got all that taken care of, we had a really good last couple days of the week! We had 3 member present lessons which hasn't happened here for a while and picked up a new investigator! Unfortunately, however, that new investigator actually doesn't live in our boundaries. Go figure. :/ We didn't figure that out until after the first lesson. So we're going to teach her another lesson or two and then hand off to Nevada City Elders to teach and most likely baptize. The lesson we had with her, her name is Marian, was awesome! We taught the Restoration and committed her to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and pray about Joseph Smith as well. And then invited her to be baptized if she came to know it's true and she said yes! She talked about wanting to go on a journey to find God and we basically said that meeting with us and reading from the Book of Mormon will be that journey and that she will find God and His church if she goes through it faithfully. She seems so prepared to receive the gospel, I can't wait to see her progress! And I would love it so much if she entered the waters of baptism and endured on to the end!!! She wants her 4 year old daughter to have a belief in God and high morals and likes that we believe in forever families. It's just all kind of falling into place. So cool. We had a lesson with Brad that was very interesting. Let's just say that from these books he has, he believes that he can get a "sacred power" that will allow him to do things like fly, change what he looks like to other people, breathe underwater, etc., and will allow him to control demons and "put them [the demons] to work for the benefit of man." Weeeeeeeell. Not quite right. At all. In any sense of the word. Ever. This was already obvious but then the book adds on top of all of that, that this sacred magic will allow him to make a woman desire to commit fornication or adultery with him. He says that the book only has it in there to make it "complete" so that you know both the good and the bad, but that you should only do the good or else you'll be smitten. Yeah. No bueno. This book = not true. And it is very evident. It's just sad that people get caught up in things like that! I can't speak for other people, but for Brad I worry for him because he doesn't have a 'standard of truth' so to speak. He just compares books to each other and whichever combination of books he finds has more links and truths with each other, those are the books he considers true. So he hasn't really prayed about any of the books he has right now, except for the Book of Mormon that he says he'll pray about when he finishes, despite our asking him to pray whenever he reads. Brad is just...interesting. I feel he is an honest seeker of truth but has gotten stuck in the interpolations of man. We had a lesson with Megan and Heather as well! We got to know them a little better, how they got into contact with the missionaries and started having them come over, what they have thought so far, etc. They started reading the Book of Mormon with missionaries in the past and got all the way through Alma, but since they moved into our ward they haven't read because the books have been all packed away. But we committed them to reading Alma 32 before our next lesson, tomorrow at 5, and we're excited to keep working with them. They came to church a week ago and said they liked it and said that they'd want to come again, but then jump out when relief society starts because they don't like large groups of people, especially large groups of women. Our member present, Brother Woytus, told them he was the same way (except for the large groups of women in particular, he just didn't like large groups of people in general) but that when he read the Book of Mormon and found it was true, he went forward with faith and was able to move past it. They said they'd be willing to give it a shot if they knew it was true as well. So, woot! Super cool. Those were our lessons for this week and we have them all set up again for this coming week which will mean another good week! Sorry, I just said week a lot. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it all. Elder Dixon and I are doing great! He's from Saint Angelo, Texas, he's 19, he's the youngest kid in his family, and he's awesome! He's really funny and really prepared to work hard. He has a really good outlook on missionary work and wants to be a good missionary and be obedient, but knows that joking around and having fun isn't a bad thing. He can take a joke and gives jokes back really well too! It's just great. He's really open to being trained, which is a very nice change haha. He also told me that in the MTC he was praying really hard that he would get a good first companion and then when we were being assigned our companions in the mission office he felt like I would be a "really, really good trainer." And then we got assigned as companions and he tells me that he's super glad he got me and thinks I'm the best trainer in the mission! Hahaha. He even said that in front of the ward when he bore his introductory testimony. I can honestly tell you I didn't train him to say that haha. He's just awesome, I love this kid. One of the things he does that he's slowly got me into doing is when something awesome happens saying, in the voice of Crush from Finding Nemo, "Righteous! Righteous!" Crush says it at the part where they are following the EAC and they hit the roller coaster-like current. It's funny when Elder Dixon does it. He's great, I like him a lot. We're going to see miracles together! Well, that's kind of it! The Spirit is bringing a lot of things to my attention and understanding and I'm getting a lot out of my scripture studies. I love my studies so much! And then when we do the training hour of our studies I see myself improving in those areas as well which is so awesome! The church is just true. There's no other way to describe it. The witnesses I have received out here on my mission and the witnesses that I received when I was home just continue to add onto what I already know and love. This gospel fills my life with hope, joy, comfort, peace. It gives me purpose. It gives me knowledge. It is the best thing to ever happen to my life and the best thing to ever happen in the history of the world. I know it's true, with all of my heart and soul. I love you guys! I hope you have a fantastic week! Pray for, look for, and have missionary opportunities! How great shall be your joy if you should bring one soul unto Heavenly Father! And how great shall be Heavenly Father's joy! And how great shall be your brother or sister's joy when they receive the gospel of Jesus Christ! Love, Elder Jacob Cevering

Email November 10, 2014

Hello! So I speak of fundamentals due to the transfer doctrine we received last night: Elder Cevering: Staying in Grass Valley to train a SECOND missionary!!! Elder Raab: Going to Shasta Lake Ward up right above Redding 2nd Ward. I'm going to be training! Again! Back to back! I NEVER expected that. None of us did. Usually the greenie takes over the area and the trainer leaves, but I guess not this time around. I say usually because this does happen every once in a while. I just never expected it to be happening to me haha. In mission terms, missionaries a person trains are their "sons." So Elder Raab is my firstborn in the wilderness and now whoever my next new missionary is, is my second born. My posterity grows! Hahaha! I'm really excited though. I didn't feel like it was time to leave and I really didn't want to because I love this ward and the people we have been working with recently. I also expected to leave because I was at my regular 4 1/2 month allotment per area, but now, in theory, I'll be here for 7 1/2 months. I should be here for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. Crazy. Even crazier is that there is a family in the ward here who has a grandson coming to this mission this transfer, so potentially he could be coming to the ward he lived in for a little while a few years ago. I don't know if that'll happen though, considering they try to keep missionaries away from family...but who knows! We'll see what happens. So for the rest of the week: We went to our lesson with Brad on Saturday and there was a lady there with him named Melody. When we started talking about the Book of Mormon, about what he had read that week, she was a little interested. So taught her what the Book of Mormon is and how she could know it was true for herself. When we shared the First Vision with her she started crying and said it was incredible. She asked if the gospel could help her overcome her drinking problem and we said that it could and she is excited to start trying it. Although right now she has a mindset that one prayer or scripture will free her forever. We explained to her that it probably won't happen that way, but it'll take diligent and persistent work but that if she does her part, the Lord will do His part. We taught her about the Atonement and she seemed to love it. And one of the greatest parts was that while Brad was talking about some of his other sacred book/ancient text stuff she was shaking her head in disagreement and stuff. Booya! Haha, that was kind of good. She wants to make a big change in her life and we promised her the gospel, if she strives to live it, will help her to make that change. I can't wait to keep working with her. For most of the early week we did some service like helping people clear their yards, make burn piles, and burn it with them and another family we helped on their ranch by driving in T-Poles, repacking their trailer, mowing their front lawn, clearing the horse stalls - ranch chores haha. That was a lot of fun. The father of that family is a leather worker so he makes amazing scripture cases for the missionaries who ask him to and I really want one from him so hopefully I can get something figured out! We continued working with some investigators from the zone blitz but they're actually in the Nevada City Ward boundaries so we're going to hand them off sometime this week. :( But that's okay! Our ward has been so much more excited to do missionary work since the blitz and we have a few people who have referrals for us, one of which has lots of questions! So we're having a dinner with them soon. Hopefully something will come from it! We have a bunch of less actives that we're trying to have lessons with, but most of them are single women so we can't go over there alone and that's tough. :/ We're trying to get men from the ward to go with us but it isn't working out too well so far. But that'll hopefully change. We had a couple of investigators finally show up to church!!! Their names are Heather and Megan and they were Nevada City's investigators until they moved into our area. *Happy Dance* They're cool and have basic beliefs that, as far as I have seen, go right along with what we believe. Megan totally believes in a Heavenly Father and that He has a gospel. Whether or not she believes it's OURS we have yet to find out, but we will continue going over and inviting them to read and pray about it. That's where the answers truly come, when we ask the origin of all truth Himself. I've had some amazing epiphanies these last few weeks and I'm so grateful that the Spirit is speaking these things to my heart. I've always tried to notice and accept sudden bursts of understanding as the Spirit, but sometimes I was too prideful to not accept it. But I am so glad that I have been blessed to recognize it so much more recently. Truly things that bring us peace and understanding are given to us by the Holy Ghost. One epiphany I had was the scripture telling us that if we ask, seek, and knock, we will receive, find, and have it opened to us. We are all trying to get back to Heavenly Father. But in order to find out how to do that, we need to seek for and find the way. We need to ask how to get there and we will receive the answer. We need to knock on heaven's door and the things we seek will be opened up to us. I know that this is true. Prayer is real. Heaven isn't so far away, really. It's just a prayer away. And when we ask, we will truly receive!!! I love this gospel, I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to spread it. Goodness is it going by fast! 11 months left! I love you guys, I hope you have an incredible week. :) Til next Monday, Elder Cevering

Email November 3, 2014

Hello Family! First things first, Happy Halloween! And with Halloween begun the "lasts" in the mission. Last Thanksgiving, last Christmas, last New Year, last Birthday, last Easter, etc., etc. Man...that's sad. :/ I mean, I'm super excited to come home don't get me wrong! But it has gone by so incredibly fast. I was saying to Elder Raab the other day how fast it has gone and the words of a scripture actually came to mind: Jacob 7:26, "our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream." But yeah, my mission "life" has most definitely passed away like a dream - it has gone by so fast. I love it out here. My mission has been the best. I'm excited for this last year. It's going to go by so much faster than this last one and I'm going to do everything I can to make it count. :) In other/outdated news, a couple weeks ago I forgot to mention that our zone, and probably most of the southern part of the mission, was put on lockdown. There was a shooting that happened in Northern Sacramento and ended up trailing into the city of Auburn where they caught the two suspects. So we didn't have anything to worry about up here in Grass Valley because we are a 30 minute drive from Auburn, it was just a safety precaution for us just in case they came up here. But yeah, that was fun. We hung out in our apartment and planned for the zone blitz. Fun stuff. Speaking of the zone blitz, that happened this last Thursday! It was pretty great! We were able to hit probably 90% of the less active members in the ward, which is great because now we know just about everyone who has moved, who is not interested, and who is interested so that we can not waste our time and just go visit those who want to be visited. And then we found a bunch of potential investigators as well! One of whom we visited yesterday and had a great lesson with! Their names are Shane and Destarta Brown and she is looking around for a church she wants. She likes a lot of things we believe and we had to clear up some stuff she had questions on but she wants us to come back! And we committed them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I can't wait to start working with some of the less actives and potentials that were found. But seeing as we get transfer calls next week AND that I've been here for 4 1/2 months AND that I'm finishing up training Elder Raab this transfer, I most likely get the boot. Which makes me sad because I really want to see these brand new people we are starting to work with progress more and more. But it's whatever the Lord wants. And what He wants done, I'll strive to do! Halloween night we spent indoors from 6pm to bedtime. I didn't get to carve a pumpkin this year. :( Haha but that's okay, we had a fun night anyway. That's one thing I'm looking forward to when I get home, being able to celebrate holidays the way I'm used to doing it haha. I do enjoy holidays out here, don't get me wrong, but I can't wait to go back to having 'normal' holidays. Well I think that's about all for this week. Most of the beginning of the week was preparing and planning for the zone blitz, then Thursday was the zone blitz, then the rest of the week was getting the information all put together and starting to visit new people. Oh and stake conference was yesterday and Saturday. Elder Zachary Smith of the Seventy and his wife spoke. It was really great. Sister Smith is a huge ball of energy! Hahaha! I wish I could remember off the top of my head some of the things she said. But yeah. The mission is the best! Since next week is transfers and because I live with my trainer, Elder Hazleton, and because his mission ends next week, I'm going to see him go home! That's weird to think about. A year ago I was just barely starting and he was barely over a year out and now a year later he's going home and I'm barely over a year out and I'm training someone who is just barely starting. The Lord works in mysterious ways. :) I love you guys! I hope you have the best week ever! Love, Elder Cevering

Email October 27, 2014

Hello Family! Well I can say that this week was definitely a TON better than last week. Instead of having two investigators drop us, we have a couple potential investigators. Unfortunately they're only potentials at the moment, but that's okay! One is a family of a mother and son (as far as we know, but there is possibly more in the family) and we taught the son a bunch of things from all of the lessons then invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. This is how it happened: we had a lesson with Brad which was cut short because he needed to go somewhere. So we went to pick up our dinner money from the members who needed to cancel on us and when we got there Bobby was there. Bobby is the son of the mom. We talked with him and he used to attend a non-denominational Christian church. We just got to know him and went from there. He lost his father when he was a young boy (he's 14 now) so we taught him about the Plan of Salvation. Then hopefully to his mom. Unfortunately we weren't able to teach them both, only the son, but they're neighbors to the member so it's always possible! The other potential came when Elder Raab and I were helping the 1st councilor move his mother-in-law out of the elderly home and into his home. It was raining pretty hard and we were moving a couch across the parking lot to the truck and this lady was waiting for us to get out of the way so she could get in. She said, "Moving day, huh?" And we said, "Yep that's the one!" And she said it was her turn next week and so we offered our help and she took it! She tells us she will be in the barber shop in the home so we gave her our number and she is going to be calling us today to give us the details. We're super pumped because these potentials just came out of nowhere. It was sweet. Hopefully they'll be able to pan out! Other than those things, not a ton happened this last week. We do have a pretty huge event happening this coming week, though. It's called a Zone Blitz. What happens is ALL the missionaries in the zone, so 10 companionships in our zone, and potentially the APs and Mission Presidency come up and work in a single area for one day. So that's taking place in the Grass Valley area. :D I hate to have to say that we need the help...but it's going to be SO helpful. I am excited to have it because there are so many less active members we need to contact and with this all happening we will be able to contact them all in one day. Woo! I'm super pumped for the work we'll get. Unfortunately I'll most likely only be here for two more weeks afterward because transfers are November 11th. But that's okay, I'm excited for the work here. I love this place. :) Well, that's basically it. We've spent a lot of time planning for the Zone Blitz because it's a HUGE event. We are grouping all of the less actives and former investigators together in the areas, dividing areas, prioritizing who to see and where to go, etc., etc. It's been a lot of work but we have some great ideas and great potential. I'm super excited! So yeah. It has been a good week. I'm looking forward to everything that's going to come our way. It's going to be a LOT of work even still until Thursday for the blitz, but it's needed and going to be just dandy. :) I love you guys! I hope you have a fantastic week. :) Love, Elder Cevering P.S. (Come Friday...) Happy Halloween!!! :D Have a blast for me, we're going to be in at 6pm that night! Hahaha

Email October 20, 2014

Hello Family, This was a rough week. :/ Two of our investigators dropped us. The two with the best potential, basically gone. Fernando, the one who had been able to avoid drinking since we gave him the blessing, fell back into it and wants us to give him some space. And Dan, the one we talked with last week and barely kept investigating, said he's not sure again. So yeah. We basically lost two of the best investigators we have. Jennifer still wants to have the church tour before I leave and is still okay to listening to our message, but she's still really preoccupied with a lot of stuff in her own life and that's really tough. But she has a lot of potential which is good. She just needs to realize it and we need to help her realize it. Brad is still coming along. Slowly, but he's doing it. But one ray of hope investigator-wise was Tyler, an investigator who we haven't ever been able to meet with since I got here, but we finally made contact and set up an appointment for Wednesday so that'll be sweet if it works out! Most of our less actives either cancelled on us or forgot we had a lesson so that wasn't very cool. We were only able to get into two less actives' homes this week. Not cool. So yeah, this week was a pretty big bummer. Even though I hit my year mark, it was kind of a bummer week. The two best parts of the week were when we had dinner at the Dooley's home and in the middle of a conversation Brother Dooley randomly said that Elder Raab and I both had an individual part in his baptism/conversion. That was so nice to hear this week! And the other was at the end of Ward Council yesterday when the 1st councilor in the bishopric came up to me after the meeting and told me that I am the "most happy jolly, willy nilly missionary he has ever met!" I told him thanks and that if I get transferred in November that I'm really going to miss it here in Grass Valley. Then he and the 2nd councilor both told me that they are going to miss me too, if I get transferred. Those made me feel really good as well. It was much appreciated after a hard week. Yeah, we saw Meet the Mormons, but no, we can't take investigators to go see it. We only got to see it at the stake center so that we can refer members and investigators to go see it too. They didn't stream it, they had a disk. I've seen the Facebook posts, it's amazing to hear how well it's being spread and seen! And so that's about it for this week. Not a very good week. :/ But that's okay, there's always next week and you can't win them all! Hope you guys all have a great week!!! Talk to you later! I love you! Love, Elder Cevering

Email October 13, 2014

Hey, hey, hey!!! Hope everyone has had an amazing week! I know I had a pretty great week. One big reason is because I got to see Meet the Mormons!!! WOW is it a good show! Good-golly-goodness. If you haven't already, GO SEE IT! It is pretty amazing. We were able to watch it at the stake center in Auburn as an entire missionary zone. It was pretty awesome. Go see it! As for the rest of the week, not a ton really happened. We and the four other elders in our district have started working on a big fireside for next month that is aimed at getting the members in our wards to get more comfortable with doing missionary work with family and friends and any other situation they want. However, I will most likely not be here for it seeing as transfer calls happen early November and the fireside will be late November. I've been in Grass Valley for almost 4 1/2 months already, just like Yuba City and Redding were both 4 1/2 months haha. I'm most likely heading out because I've been here a while and I'm finishing training Elder Raab this transfer and trainers usually get sent somewhere after their second transfer with their greenie. So yeah, I'm expecting to leave. Sad :( but it'll be good. We recommitted Jennifer to taking a church tour and to taking the lessons! I'm especially excited because she wants to do the church tour before I leave! :D So hopefully we'll be able to get a couple lessons in before I leave too. She has amazing potential! Sounds familiar, right before I leave an area hahaha. But I'm excited for it. She could use it so much. Fernando was out of town allllll weeeeeeeeeeek...so nothing to report there. :/ Hopefully he still hasn't drank since a few weeks ago. He really wants to go to church with us and wants to start working the church's Addiction Recovery Program too, so he also has some great potential and has made great progress already. He could go places! Dan Robinson is an investigator from the former investigators list who we stopped by and he said he wanted to start taking the lessons again. But when we stopped by this week for our appointment he said right out of the gate that he doesn't want to take the lessons anymore because he has the feeling that he's just not going to want to do it again. So instead of trying, he wants to stop before he ever can progress. But! We talked with him about it and actually ended up clearing up a TON of concerns he had about joining the church. Either he misunderstood the missionaries the first few times around or they didn't teach him quite right, but he didn't think the church allowed and therefore was scared God would be angry with us if we read anything but the scriptures or watched movies or listened to not church music. So we cleared that up easy and he said he felt a lot better about things now. That was a really cool experience because just that morning we had been watching The District, basically training video segments that the church uses to help missionaries learn from other missionaries' experiences. It was the one where two missionaries worked through struggles with an investigator they had and we were both like, man I wish we could be like them! And then BAM we were! Super cool. I love it. Well, other than that I guess I only have one piece of business left to take care of: I hit my year mark on Thursday the 16th!!! Only 52 weeks left!!! Goodness it goes by fast. I wish I could serve another one at this age. It feels like I just left a month or two ago. It can't be half over yet! And another crazy thought, either one year from today or tomorrow I will be landing in the Salt Lake Airport!!! Ahhhhh! Insane!!! I don't want to think about it yet though, I still have another 365 days to do the Lord's work! I've seen incredible things happen so far and I can't wait for another year to see miracles work in my life and in the lives of others. The mission is incredible, and it's already half over. :( But I can't wait to get home and see you guys again either. Ah. Mixed emotions. I know where I'm supposed to be, though. And I know I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do. And I love doing it. :) Love you guys! Have a great week! Love, Elder Cevering

Photos from Grass Valley, the Sacramento Temple, and of the smoke in Grass Valley from the Northern California Wildfire near his area

Email October 6, 2014

Hello. :) I hope you guys all had a fantastic week! And especially weekend!!! GOODNESS isn't conference amazing?! I just love hearing from God's chosen prophets and apostles and leaders. They are so inspiring and uplifting and edifying. And I'm using really bad grammar. But that's okay. :) I think my personal favorite was the talk given by Jorge Klemingbot, or however you spell it. He talked about gaining spiritual confidence and boy did he give some great tools to building it! There were so many amazing one-liners that I loved and he talked so fast that I could hardly write a whole thought/quote/sentence down before needing to start the next one. But it was great. I can't wait to go back and re-read a lot of those talks. They're just...amazing. So as for the rest of the week: We picked up a new investigator from the former investigator list! :D He was working with missionaries in the past before but for some reason they dropped him...we're not sure why. He is a little slow, but I don't think he has any mental handicaps. But we started right into everything and he was totally up to us coming back over and doing the discussions with him. He asked us a few questions about the church's history, the history of the Book of Mormon, and the discussions. He has a few other setbacks having to deal with family and depression, but we know that he can work through them and we're excited for him. He accepted a soft baptismal commitment (to be baptized) but we haven't set a specific date with him yet. We have prayed about it and have a day in mind, but we haven't asked him about it yet. But we're excited to keep working with him! We kept working with Fernando. I think I told the story about how we dumped out all his beer, had him pray with us for strength to fight off the temptation to drink, and gave him a blessing a few weeks ago. We finally were able to see him again this week. *Drum roll* He hasn't drunk since we gave him the blessing!!! This man who couldn't put a handful of days of sobriety together has been free of it for over two weeks!!! If there isn't power in priesthood blessings, I don't know what power is! The power of God is real. I know it. He accepted a soft baptismal invitation and has great promise to make it there. During weekly planning we prayerfully set a date for him as well and just have to invite him to work toward it. We are looking forward to working with both of them! :D Some of our other investigators have been progressing, but very slowly so not much to report. We are still working with Jennifer, but slower. She is going through a really rough time and has been working through it so we haven't been able to contact her, but that's okay because we will be able to soon. Brother Fisk called us during conference and was struggling really bad. Really bad. So we immediately went over and saw him. He was drunk again which was super sad because he had been clean for a month. But he apparently got in a fight with his mom and she left and his sister called the cops on him because apparently the fight was pretty bad. So he was struggling really bad. But we were able to talk to him and I think we were able to knock some sense into him, even though he was pretty drunk. It was actually kinda cool to see him take optimism from our words. I don't know if that made sense, but it was cool. And he was doing better the next day we stopped by. We are stopping by daily now to check up haha. Well, that's about it for this week. Everything is going great!!! :) I love you guys and challenge you all to take your favorite conference talk and apply the principles of it in your life. I know that if you do, you will be happier, more peaceful, and find more comfort in life even in the trials. I know it. Love you guys and wish you the best week ever! Love, Elder Cevering :)

Email September 29, 2014

Top o' the Afternoon! Not a ton to report on...sorry. :/ Nothing very exciting, other than the mission is just as crazy as always! I don't think that one will every change. Ups and downs and lefts and rights. And that's just because of the town's layout: hilly and curvy streets galore. Then there's the members, less active members, investigators, happy(ily) nonmembers. But it's all good. :) Just part of the experience! And it's easily one of the best experiences ever. We did have another lesson with Fernando and that went really well. And the next day on exchanges Elder Raab and Elder Vanleeuwen stopped by and talked with him for 20 minutes and he said he would come to church this week! And then we didn't see him for a few days straight because he was never home and we couldn't contact him. So we tried texting him and reminding him about church, calling him, and showing up on his doorstep in the rain. Nothing. We hoped he was just at the church already and he wasn't. So that was heartbreaking. Hopefully he's still going strong on not drinking. We have been working with a Less Active named Rick. The night Elder House and I showed up on his doorstep was a pivotal night for him and he said that because we were there, he is wanting to turn his life around. :D We have been meeting with him for a while and he has said he would come to church for a long time, but this time on Saturday night we stopped by and invited him again and he promised he would come. He even set his clothes out, tied his tie - everything. He was completely ready for church. Well, the block starts and he's not there either. Needless to say, it was one of the harder Sundays of my mission because we basically had two promises that they would come to church, both of who need it REALLY badly, and neither held up to their word. It makes me so sad. :( Elder Raab and Elder Vanleeuwen were on exchanges and were finally able to get David and Nicky to have a gospel conversation! They don't understand why priesthood authority is necessary and so Elder Raab and Vanleeuwen told them why. David and Nicky apparently said it was one of the most informative times they have had with the missionaries. Which is great. :D They also committed David and Nicky to pray about why the authority is necessary and they accepted the invitation so we're going to follow up with it next time we see them. We have also seen a few little perks here and there start popping up in Less Active work. Would you believe me if I told you Elder Raab and I worked on a list of Less Active members and we found out there are over 350 Less Active and Inactive members within the ward?!?! Crazy!!! No wonder our average attendance is around 65 people! So we are working hard to change that. Hard. And it's starting to pay off. No huge successes, but a few people have been okay with us stopping by again in the future. Which I'm excited for! :D And that's about it. Unfortunately this week built up to some good prospects but ended with broken promises. Not cool. But, again, that's mission life! It's okay, it happens. We're just looking forward with faith. Make sure you all do the same! I promise you that you will see blessings of peace and comfort. :) Have a fantastic week! Love you! Elder Cevering

Steve Dooley & Nick Sparks Baptism Photos

Email September 22, 2014

Greetings from smoky Grass Valley! Hope you guys had a great week last week, Disneyland looked and sounded like a blast! Jealous haha. But that's okay, it really wasn't distracting. I didn't even think about it unless I saw something about it on Facebook and even then it wasn't too distracting. It was actually kinda fun to think about what I was doing up here at the same time you guys were down there. For example, a few days ago I saw a post posted, that said 1 hour ago, of a picture of Michael on Splash Mountain and I thought about what I was doing at the same time he would have been on the ride and I would have been in a lesson or out street contacting or something. It was kinda fun haha. So yeah as you can tell from the title, this week has been really great! :D And pretty interesting. We had some really good experiences with some of our investigators, though, and that was the best. Even though we didn't see a few of our investigators, the things that did happen were awesome. Title story happened at an investigators house. So here goes: We went to Fernando's apartment, hoping he wasn't drunk because when he's drunk he doesn't talk to us. Plus he says he doesn't like drinking and so we're trying to help him quit. And come closer to Christ. It's pretty great because they go hand in hand. Anyway, he answered the door and said he just started drinking so we were afraid he was going to send us away. But he didn't! So we keep talking and we ask him if he has prayed for help, he said he does everyday. We asked if he had received a blessing, he said it wouldn't work and turned it down. So we kept talking and we end up asking him if he would be okay with us coming inside with him and dumping the rest of the 6 pack of beer down the sink. He said yes!!! So in we go! We get into the living room, he grabs the Bud Light and hands it to us as we walk into the kitchen. Elder Raab grabs one and hands the other to Fernando and they crack them open and dump them down the drain! When those were gone, Raab grabbed another and handed another to me and we pop the caps off and dump those ones as well. We finished them up and there was no more beer in the house. We kept talking and moved into the living room and asked him if he wanted to pray for help and immediately he said yes. We had him say the prayer and it was very spiritual as he got emotional in asking our Father in Heaven for help to fight off the addiction. The Spirit was SO strong as he closed the prayer. He was in tears and Raab and I were almost crying as well. I felt like I should ask him if he wanted a blessing for help, even though he turned it down earlier. I asked and he said yes! So we gave him a blessing to help him fight off the temptation. Afterward, the Spirit was still so strong and we had a great talk. We are basically making daily contact with him again to keep him accountable and help him quit drinking. It has been a great change, a change we hope he continues to strive for. He says he's so unhappy with his life right now. His mom just passed away a few weeks ago, his children don't like him because he drinks so much, his work is struggling, just so many things working against him right now. He needs the gospel so much and we're helping him realize that learning about it will help him so much. It is fantastic. And even the other day when we went back to visit him, he said he had a temptation to drink but when he really thought about it, there was a voice inside him saying "No" to getting some beer. So yeah, there's that awesome story! I love the gospel! It helps people out no matter what their circumstances! Incredible. So we were over at the Dooley's this week having dinner and as we were asking them if they needed anything for the confirmation this last Sunday (they weren't confirmed the previous Sunday because Sister Dooley didn't feel very well and couldn't make it to church and wanted to see them get confirmed) and they said that they pretty much had it covered. So we asked them who they wanted to do the two confirmations and Brother Dooley asked me to do both of them! Goodness, it was so unexpected! And such an honor. Definitely a huge highlight of the week. I love the Dooleys!!! They are awesome. In some other news, there is a huge fire a little south southeast of Grass Valley - far enough away that we aren't in any danger and don't worry because no one in the mission has been evacuated! - and the smoke from the fire has been blown up this direction and it is THICK. We heard from some members that Grass Valley was in the Red Zone for air quality (which is apparently really bad) on Saturday and that Sunday it was in the Purple Zone (which is even worse than Red). So yeah, it is HEAVY smoke. On Saturday as we headed out to work, we saw that our car had tons of little white specks all over it. I was like, "Raab. Is that ash?" And we looked at it for a little longer. "Yep, I think it is!" We're pretty sure our car had ash specks on it from that fire. Crazy. Well, that's basically all I have this week. Some of our investigators weren't available all week and that slowed us down, but we did achieve something and get higher than some of our lesson goals for the week which was surprising, but awesome! Oh, some missionaries in our district asked Elder Raab and I to teach the Restoration lesson at their baptism while the convert and baptizers were changing. It went so well. The family of the daughter who was baptized is basically completely adopted. The parents adopted two kids out of very hard situations and have two mentally handicapped children as well. I didn't really know this until after our presentation of the lesson, though, which is so cool because I felt prompted to bear testimony of the incredible blessing we have to be sealed to our families for eternity, because I don't think I could be happy if my little sister Mikayla was not my little sister. And because of the priesthood authority that we have to "bind on earth and bind in heaven" as the scripture says, I will always have the honor to be her brother and I am so grateful that she can always be my sister. I love you, Mikayla! :) I love my mission. It is teaching me things I honestly don't think I could have learned without being out here. I am so grateful for the Spirit I have been so blessed to feel so many times this week. I know that this church is true. I have felt it confirmed to me time and time again through the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. I cannot deny it. I love you guys! I hope you have a spectacular week! Love, Elder Jacob Cevering

Email September 8, 2014

Hello family and friends, It's been a good week. Nick and Steve are still looking forward to Saturday September 13th at 5:00 pm as their baptism! I am so excited for them! About a month ago an active member family's eight year old daughter was being baptized and the Dooleys came to see it. A couple nights later, Steve was saying how touched he was by the baptism and that he cried because he loves the covenant that is being made and the promises we receive if we are faithful to those covenants. He cried and it wasn't even his own baptism! I can't wait for him at his own baptism. He deserves it so much and I love them both so much, I can't wait for them this Saturday. It's going to be incredible. Jennifer lost a good friends a few days ago and so we went to her house as soon as possible to see her. She was doing okay. Over text she said all she wanted to do was cry, but when we showed up she was doing seemingly fine. She was drinking like she does half the time and we kinda just talked about what she did, not necessarily the gospel, but she was the one to bring up that we were going to take her on a church tour and wanted to do it soon. So we have one set up for Thursday night! We left her with a couple of pages to read out of the Restoration pamphlet and we told her we would be going over it at the church tour, which I'm so excited for because she'll (hopefully) be sober and modest and we'll have a member present and we'll be able to feel the Spirit so much stronger in the chapel! It'll be sweet, I can't wait. Brad we couldn't meet with this week because we were doing service on Saturday but we're planning on teaching the Restoration next. Hopefully he'll be sober enough to understand. He's funny about when he wants to meet. Our first talk with him he said the next time he wants to meet was sometime in the afternoon. So we showed up at 2ish and he was already drunk. He said "We said afternoon so I was expecting you guys at 12:01!!" Every meeting with him after that, we've been there at 12:01! There is some sad news this week. Very sad news. A week or two ago, David and Nicky lost their baby at 9 1/2 weeks into the pregnancy. :( They didn't find out until about 11 weeks either, so they are very shaken up. They are Christian and believe in Christ and God, and they believe that they will be helped through this trial. Which is great! They will be helped because of their faith in Christ I have no doubt about that. But we're hoping that they will ask us and their neighbors, the Chittocks (our ward mission leader's family), about our beliefs concerning the life after this one and things of similar subjects, because I feel it will bring them so much peace and comfort. We love them, they love us, and we all just want to help each other out. :) Keep them in your prayers please! Other than those things, we still haven't been able to pick up any new investigators. We did get a few referrals though and we're excited to contact them. Things are going well, still learning lots and loving lots! The mission is all around crazy. In so many ways. It's amazing. :) I love you guys and wish you all the best this coming week! Go make miracles happen with your unshakable faith! Love you! Love, Elder Cevering

Email September 1, 2014

Hello Everyone! I hope you all have had a great week! This last one was pretty good except for today, actually. We were going to go gold panning with a member from the neighboring ward with the other missionaries, but it took forever to drive to the member's place, more to the first stream (which we didn't pan in because it was too crowded), so back to get our cars from the member's place, to the second stream (about another 20 minute drive farther away) and can't pan there because it's private property and by that time it was too late for us to try somewhere else because we have dinner in an hour and a half. So by the end of today we'll have used double our mileage limit for the day, need to buy gas, and have used most of our day in driving. Great. Worst pday ever. Blech. But! We have a family who wants to meet with us tonight after dinner so pray that they will want to investigate the church again! They were former investigators with promise, but dropped for an unknown reason so we went back over and we set it up for tonight. So pray that they will want to investigate! So this week was just another adventurous week to add to the beginning of Elder Raab's mission! We ran into some really nice and interesting people (title story to come soon) and had some pretty cool experiences with investigators as well! To start: we had dinner and a lesson with the Dooley's this week, but when we got there the parents weren't home yet. So we went outside and played catch with their three kids in the apartment complex's parking lot until they got home. When they got home and while they were deciding what to do for dinner, Riley (Steve Dooley's daughter who had expressed a desire to be baptized in the past) walked up to Steve and Elder Raab while they were talking on the stairs and Steve told Elder Raab that they had been wanting to ask Riley's mom if she would give Riley permission to be taught and baptized. Steve told Riley to ask her mom while she was staying there this week and so hopefully Riley will. And Steve and Kat (Sister Dooley) think that if Riley asks her mom will let her because it shows it's something that she wants to do not that she's being forced to do. So that's good. But the coolest part comes in right after that when Elder Raab told Steve that we had been praying as a companionship that Riley's mom's heart would be softened. It all just kind of lined up, it was so cool! So keep Riley and her mom in your prayers!!! Nick and Steve are both still excited for their baptism on the 13th. Steve is as strong as ever! It's so amazing. But keep them in your prayers. The parents tend to lack patience with their kids who act immaturely so things have gotten pretty heated sometimes when we are over there and the kids are being immature for the missionaries and the parents get annoyed. It got scary when the parents started to get at each other too...but they recognize that it's all just stuff being put into their lives by the adversary so it's great to know that they know they're just being tested and that they'll be able to push through it. But please keep them in your prayers, they could use them. We finished up tarring the cracks in Jennifer's roof and went on a walk with her and talked about the gospel and the Book of Mormon and whatnot. She agreed to read the Restoration pamphlet and Book of Mormon and also to take a tour of our church building, to get her more acquainted and comfortable with it. She has a troubled past and doesn't trust many people because of it, but she loves us and trusts us a ton. She told us that most of her family and almost no friends know where she lives because she has that much trust issues, but she's totally fine if we show up whenever! It's so awesome! We are working with her slowly, but she has amazing potential. We started meeting with a guy named Brad who is...eccentric. He is over 50, doesn't wear a shirt, reads tons of "ancient texts," drinks a ton, and knows how to work "magic" because he bought a sacred book (online) that "only people worthy of its power" can hold and read from. Is reading the Book of Mormon though so that's a great first step! Title story! We were out OYMing the downtown area one night and a lady approached us asking if we were Jehovah's Witness. We said no, she said good, we started talking. One of the first things she said was "I was clinically dead for two days. But I was washed in the blood of Christ and rose on the third day." She also said, "Now listen to me guys, I don't want to be famous so don't go telling everyone...but I'm a prophet." She said that the correct religion was Baptist because Christ was baptized, "by John the...BAPTIST" and said every other church follows "the enemy." She said that Mormons have trouble giving things up (pause for a second: we follow the 10 Commandments, Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, church callings, the missionaries' white handbook, etc., etc., if someone says we have trouble giving things up...they must have us mixed up with something else haha) and that we fear lots of things, one of them being "the enemy." When we started to reply and said "Satan," she cut us off with "the enemy" coupled with a hand motion of pushing something off into the distance. We (really she) kept talking about a bunch of stuff like how our Bible doesn't say the same thing as the other Bibles, which we politely proved her wrong about, and how the Book of Mormon doesn't teach the same doctrine as the Bible, which we politely proved her wrong about again, and about how we haven't asked the Holy Spirit about the true church, which when we both started to testify that we had and how we had received our answers, she cut off the conversation. So to close this horrendously long email, I'll share a quick story: When we were over at the Dooley's last night we were talking with Steve and Kat after the kids had gone to bed, we talked about life, about the church, about tons of random and weird stuff. Something super funny was said and we all started laughing so hard and Sister Dooley started to SNORT! It was so hilarious!!! I was sitting on their couch leaned back busting a gut with my eyes closed when all of a sudden something I can't explain whispered to/impressed on me that I truly do love them, that they are amazing, and that I am so grateful for them in my life. I felt extreme love for them and an extreme love for what I am doing. I was laughing but as the fit ended, my eyes were welling up because of the the incredible feeling I had. I know this church is true. That love is real and it is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. That God loves me, that He loves the Dooley's, that He loves each of us more than we can imagine. And I love sharing that with the world. Missionary work is the bestest ever in time! I love you guys! Have an amazing week! Love, Elder Jacob Cevering P.S. Happy Labor Day!!! Sent from my iPad

Photos with Sister Trease, New Companion Elder Raab, his District before transfers, and the Dooley Family

Email August 25, 2014

Hello! :D How is everyone doing? I hope you are doing great because that's how it's supposed to be! :) So the last few days have been VERY interesting to say the least. It seems to be a normal thing for new missionaries in the field to have a crazy first few days. To explain, we have done a TON of street contacting and we have ran into a lot of very...nice and...interesting people who ask us about our beliefs on multiple subjects. It has been great, though, considering we have found a few less active members who want to return to activity AND handed out more Book of Mormons in the last week than House and I did the whole transfer. More people talked to + more Book of Mormons handed out = more possible investigators both now and in the future. I heard that Elder Dube of the Seventy, who spoke a couple conferences ago, was given a Book of Mormon in his youth by some missionaries but didn't read it until many years later, at which point he converted to the Church. So who knows? One of these less active members who unfortunately DIDN'T want to come back to church actually approached us. Well, more like jumped up from the curb and offered us a plum, "DO YOU GUYS WANT A PLUM?!?!" holding out her little bag full of 'fresh picked' plums. We took one, but didn't eat them haha. And we talked with them for a little while and gave out a Book of Mormon, but they were headed to the coast (mind you these people were homeless. No, I'm not kidding. Sorry I left that detail out haha) so wouldn't come to church the next day. But a couple of awesome things happened regarding investigators. We started working with a guy named Brad who reads a BUNCH of 'ancient texts.' Like the Lost Book from the Garden of Eden, the Book of Adam and Eve, the Book of Enoch, the Prophecies of Nostradamus, the Book of Secret Magic (keep that one in mind) - a bunch of 'ancient' texts. And he wants to learn about the Book of Mormon. So we went over and we talked with him about it, but the whole time he was drunk, smoking, and yelling to someone across the street how to fix their car. And he would bring up books he had read before and how they said the same things and all that jazz. When we talked about the Book of Secret Magic, he said "I would let you guys hold it, but you're not worthy to. It was honestly the only book I ordered online. I don't order things online, just that book. And my cell phone." Haha it was a funny moment. We talked about the Book of Mormon, set a return appointment, and left haha. Nice guy though. And lastly a lady named Jennifer. I may have talked about her already. If not, in brief, the first contact I made with her was with Elder House at her work where we gave her a Book of Mormon and she asked us to help her tar cracks in her trailer's roof. So we did, Elder House and I the first time, and gave her a Restoration pamphlet and told her to write down any questions she had. We set up a time for the next week and when Elder Raab and I showed up she had been having a terrible day, but was happy to see us. We helped tar her roof a little bit but mostly talked about the church and the gospel which was amazing. Nick and Steve's baptisms came up and we said they would be our first baptisms and she said, "Well you can add another!" And we were both like, whaaaat...? Confused. Obviously. And she said, "I'll do it, I'll be baptized." We were both happy and excited, but we don't think she quite understands all that needs to happen haha. But we had a great talk with her about baptism and how it cleans the slate and right as we talked about it, she said she was getting goosebumps. BOOM! Spirit was telling her our message is true. It was awesome. So we are going to continue teaching her and she is a new progressing investigator. Miracles, miracles! I love the mission! I love training! I don't mean this in a bad way, but I love it partly because when we are doing the 'training' hour of study, it has helped me see how far I have come since getting out on my mission. Not that he's a bad missionary because he is a GREAT missionary. But there are just things that you learn in time while you serve and it has been amazing to see that I have reached a point I was worried that I might never reach. So it has been a huge blessing to be Elder Raab's trainer and companion. He's a great missionary and helps me to be my best, just like I'm helping him be his best. The gospel is true, the mission is awesome, the church is true, the Book of Mormon is really what it says it is and I know it with all my heart and I cannot deny it! Love you guys! Love, Elder Cevering

Email August 23, 2014

Hello Everybody! Got some big news this week, but other than that I don't have much else to report. SO! Steve and Nick are still on date to be baptized on September 13th and going strong! Thank you for all of your prayers on their behalf, please continue to pray for them though! Thank you s'much! Cool story: It was Steve's birthday this last week and they had us over for dinner on his birthday. His wife wanted to kind of decorate their apartment and get all the gifts set out and whatnot and so she needed him out of the apartment for a little while. So we went over early and walked with him to Safeway, a store I haven't heard until I got here to California (it's like Kmart, just a small convenience and grocery store), and bought some soda for the dinner, just to get him out of the house long enough. On our way back, we get started talking to this guy and he asks us if we are Mormon, we say that we are, and he says okay. Then he asks who the guy with us is (Brother Dooley) and he said, and I quote, "Oh, I'm a member of their church." Whaaaaaaaa?! Booya. It was amazing. Your support for us and prayers for them have been incredibly helpful. Thank you so much! :) And there are a few more people who are looking like they might have some good potential, like one that we did some service for this week we left with a Book of Mormon, Restoration pamphlet, and committed her to read the pamphlet and write down questions for us for next time. Her name is Jennifer and she has a lot of family in Utah who are Mormon so it could be a really great opportunity! Off to a great start, just keeping the faith and prayers up. Also another guy who is the husband of a less active member - she is less active due to health issues and we visit her weekly because of both health and less activity - is starting to ask questions. And as far as I know, this is the farthest step he has taken in learning about the church. He brings her to Sacrament when they can make it, but other than that he hasn't done anything. But he likes us, the missionaries, and likes how the church helps everyone out so much. So that is some good potential too! And we have a few other people who we're hoping will turn out pretty well. So it's exciting. :) So the BIG news for this week (not that the baptism isn't big news because it is huge news) comes in the form of transfers: *drum roll* I'm training a new missionary these coming 2 transfers!!! :D I'm so excited, but SO nervous too! I have no idea how I'm going to do it, all I know is that I'm going to be spending so much more time on my knees and it is going to be amazing. I am very humbled that The Lord and President Marston feel I am ready to train, I wish I had their faith haha. But I will be doing my very best! I would be so grateful if you guys could pray for me that I'll be able to be led by the Spirit, that my new missionary and me will be able to get along and be obedient and work hard! I can't wait. :) You know what else this means? I'm driving! :D haha and NOT backing! :D But really though, I'm so humbled and grateful for this opportunity. I can't wait to start working with him, whoever it is. I love the work, the church is true, Christ's love is unmeasurable, and the Atonement makes everything good, and will make everything good. :) Love you guys, I can't thank you enough for your support and prayers! Love, Elder Cevering

Email August 11, 2014

Greetings from Grass Valley, Golden State! Man, how true though? California is kind of awesome. Just saying. The Auburn zone is so pretty, we actually just went and saw "Big Tree Trail" which is a really short trail but we saw some big trees...go figure! Not quite redwoods like the other missionaries said they were, but they were still really big and sweet! I got some pictures and will send them. :) And goodness the drive to them was gorgeous too!!! AH. It was awesome. Oh and I got bit by a wasp! :D That was exciting. A couple other missionaries did too, haha. So in news concerning investigators: No one besides Brother Steve Dooley and his son Nick Sparks is progressing. We have different ways we're going to try to help the other ones progress and we're constantly trying to find new investigators, but we aren't seeing a lot of success. So we have started working on a new OYMing approach (I think I said what OYMing is...? It stands for Opening Your Mouth - it's street contacting) where we show a quick mormon message based on family or whatever we decide and we ask a few of their opinions on the topic we decide to show the video on. We have heard similar approaches have seen success in other areas/missions so we want to try something like it, but with a video to try to add a little more of the Spirit that those videos can bring. We're excited to start trying it soon and I'll let you know how it goes! Having mentioned that Brother Dooley and Nick are still progressing, I have some news: Brother Dooley basically set his own baptismal date for September 13th!!! And if we can get permission and things to work out, Nick will be able to be baptized by him the same day! Man that would be incredible! Please pray that it will be able to work out that way! It would help them strengthen their relationship so much. But really though, this whole time we've been working with them it has been incredible to see Brother Dooley's change. He started off ready to pick the church apart and prove it wrong but in all of his investigations (mind you other than the 10-year-old-ized lessons we have given to his son that he sat in on he has investigated all on his own) he just kept finding truth after truth with no faults (crazy how that works out in the true church...). And he prayed and received an answer that it is true. I have absolutely loved seeing the change take place. It is incredible and indescribable. I love the Dooley family, they are the best!!! I am so excited for Brother Dooley and Nick to receive a remission of their sins through baptism of water and spirit and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And Sister Dooley is returning super strong as well. They're just an amazing family. They actually texted us the other night asking if we had a dinner appointment, which we didn't, so they invited us over and took us out to Maria's, a place a lot like Bella's. It was so awesome, both being with the Dooley's and the restaurant haha. They're an incredible family, I love them so much. Title story! We got a text from President Marston late Saturday night saying he was going to be to our PEC and ward council the next day so we texted him back saying that would be great and asking if he knew what time it was at. He texted back with the completely wrong times and also asking if it was the "Liberty Ward" to which we said no and that he had texted the Grass Valley ward. It was 10:24 when we texted him that and our curfew, at which we are to be in bed and obviously not texting anyone, is at 10:30. He texts back at 10:34 apologizing that he got the wrong set of elders and told us, "Hurry to bed - mission rules you know." To which we didn't reply because it was after 10:30, haha. It was super funny! At least to us it was. Those darn mission rules! Haha no, I'm kidding. Mission rules are great and I have recently noticed how much they have really helped me out. It's awesome. Well, everyone. This week was pretty incredible, being blessed to have Steve and Nick be set on date for baptism and all. And it's going to be in my second transfer here so I'll probably be able to see it happen this time! :D Hahaha. Miracles are real and the gospel is true. This church truly can change people and bring joy, peace, and comfort into their lives when they don't think those things can be found anywhere. I have seen it do just that and more. I know the church is true! I love you guys! Love, Elder Cevering

Email August 4, 2014

Hi Family, Well, this week was full of twists and turns. Surprises, you could say. Some good, some bad. But the good definitely outweighs the bad by far. I guess I'll start off with the bad surprises: So we had a referral this week from the Nevada City elders (the elders we live with because our areas touch each other) to go help someone move something big into their home. Sweet! We went and met a guy named Giovanni (I know, he has a sweet name) and helped him move a $30,000 printer into the house he shares with a "business partner" as he described it. Her name is Holly and apparently she is a less active member. She is the one who initially called for our help, and we only saw her for a split second through an upstairs window. We moved the printer in, he asked us if we had a Book of Mormon for him as well as for her because he wanted to learn more about "Nephi building an ark to get from Jerusalem to America" and "Moroni (he said it like moroney) appearing to Joseph Smith to tell him where the gold plates were." We grabbed some copies and gave them to him and set up a return appointment. He was really nice and seemed like he truly wanted to learn more. Everything seemed promising! Like always, "seemed." Return appointment rolls around. We get up to the door only to see an upside-down cross hanging from the window on the door, animal hooves, bones, and jawbones hanging from the doorbell, and a pile of flower petals on the ground beneath the bones. It was weird. We knocked, rang the doorbell, no answer. We left and tried again another day and the things were still up so we have decided that we won't go back until the stuff comes off because it was just weird and we were not getting good vibes from it. We asked our Ward Mission Leader and he said that google said the bones are probably part of Voodoo practice so we have decided to steer clear of there for a little while. Sadly, things there seemed so promising. So that was definitely interesting and surprising! And another surprise that isn't the best, but is still good in the long run is that Nick Sparks, the boy we had on date to be baptized on August 30th, has said that he wants his dad to baptize him. And his dad is the nonmember who we are working with as well. "Well, that's no problem!" You might say. True...if only his dad was ready to be baptized. He isn't quite sure about being baptized yet, though... But that is where some good surprises come in! We invited Steve Dooley, the dad, to pray about being baptized and about the church on Wednesday night and he said he would. So we went back on Friday night, I think, and had another great conversation/lesson with them. He told us a funny story that goes like this: He didn't pray the night or following night after he said he would and while he was at work he had the primary song "Follow the Prophet" stuck in his head. All day. He even tried to play his own music over it and the three worded chorus only got louder! Haha it was pretty funny and amazing. He has told us that since beginning reading the Book of Mormon and investigating the church on his own, his thoughts and take on things has started changing. Like, lyrics to songs he loves that he never thought would be about God or religion, he started thinking COULD be talking about those things. It has been an incredible change. He is an amazing man. And then on Sunday Elder House had to use the restroom after Gospel Principles, which Brother Dooley went to, and he actually came in when we were about to head out. So to be funny, I started humming "Follow the Prophet" and we had a good laugh. But then he told us something amazing: Although not completely ready to be baptized, he emailed a friend of his who converted about 14 years ago and asked him, if he decides to be baptized, to baptize him!!! SO CRAZY FLIPPIN' AMAZING!!! House and I walked down the hall after hearing that, pulling our jaws along with us. It was incredible. Then that night we had dinner with them because no one else signed up and they invited us over. And while we ate, they were like "Hey let's watch some of the last General Conference." And you know what we did? WE WATCHED SOME OF THE LAST GENERAL CONFERENCE. And it was awesome. So even though Nick's baptism is going to be put off for a while, things are happening to help them both progress incredibly. Keep up the prayers for Brother Dooley and Nick Sparks. Miracles have happened because you guys are praying for them and they will continue if you continue! This week has been great! I love you guys and I am so thankful for your support. It means the world to me and has helped me more than any of you could know. I love you guys! Love, The One and Only Elder Cevering (now, at least :))