Email March 31, 2014

Heyyy! How's it going, guys? Things over here are great. Pretty stormy, but good. Title story about the storms in a little, but I want to get some quick moments and comments in before that. So Elder Solomon crushed his right foot's big toe the transfer before I got here and it killed the toenail so the toenail is now falling off. But anyone who has had a fingernail or toenail fall off knows that it doesn't happen quickly. So he has this big, nasty bruised big toenail slowly falling off of his toe but it's just to ready to come completely off yet. It's close, but still too much connected. So we were looking at it the other day and talking about when we think it'll come off when he turns to me and says (and I don't mean this to be sacreligious at all!), "It's like the Second Coming: we know it's coming, we just don't know when." It was sooo funny. Had to be there. Elder Solomon is quiet, but he is hilarious. Another funny thing that I realized soon after I got here is that the man who is the Executive Ward Clerk (I think that's the right calling...) looks SO much like Mr. Murtaugh from Cheaper by the Dozen 2. It's awesome! He is a cool guy, really nice. I don't know if he's competitive or not though. If I stay through the summer and see him play any sports I guess I'll find out if I found Mr. Murtaugh's doppelgänger. So we were at dinner the other night with a recent convert lady and reactivated less active man who are married and we had asked them how they met. They talked about the rough pasts that they had and somehow the point came out that Redding is something like the meth capital of the United States, possibly really high ranking in the world as well. Possibly highest ranking in the world, if I remember correctly. Which reminded me that I had heard Redding has a really high (and growing!) rate of petty theft/bike theft. Woot! Don't worry, everyone! I'm being as careful as possible!!! Things don't seem to be as bad as I hear so hopefully the people here don't prove me wrong. But I do have to say that I do feel a little more comfortable here than in Yuba City, considering Elder Perkins and I had been hearing this loud popping/short cracking sound from the easternmost part of the city and when we asked some of the members what it was they told us it was probably shootings. I didn't want to believe it but one of the people we asked was the son of a police officer who takes those things pretty seriously. But don't worry! The area that sounded like the gunshots were coming from wasn't in Hillcrest boundaries! It was close, but it wasn't Hillcrest, haha. :) love you, Mom. I'm safe, don't worry! :) Well, now to the good stuff. To tell the title story! This week's weather has been very opposite of last week's. Last week it was hot, dry, and hot. It was only 80 degrees but we were sweating soooo much. Disgusting, I know. Don't judge me. It's hot. :) anyway, so this week it has been really wet, rainy, wet, cold, cloudy, wet, kinda warm, then stormy, wet, lightning and thunder, and wet. Oh, and did I say wet? Because it was wet. Wet is a weird word. Why does it mean watery/soggy? I don't know. Anyway! It was wet and stormy all week. So we're biking through a sprinkling rain to a less active's house and when we're biking down the hill to the house and pull in the driveway, the rain gets really intense so we think, ah perfect timing! Well. The people were just headed out. Aw, nuts. The rain, in the last 5 seconds since knocking on the door, got two or three times worse than it was when we locked up our bikes. This should be fun. We ran back to our bikes and started biking up the hill and, I swear there was not a spot on the road that wasn't splashing, that's how crazy the rain was! So we get to the top of the hill and the rain just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and suddenly FLASH and CRACK!!!! Lightning and thunder just miles away. It was craaaaazy. The storm was beating upon us. So We are biking to dinner at Carl's Jr. And the closer we get the more intense the rain gets and we see and hear more lightning and thunder. It takes about ten minutes to bike there from the house we tried to visit and so the rain got reeeeeaaaaaallllllllly heavy, huge drops EVERYWHERE. Then about 2 minutes away from Carl's Jr., I start feeling a stinging on my hands, arms, thighs, neck. HAIL. Woo. Trust me when I say all the hail and mighty storm was literally beating upon us. It. Was. Insane. We got inside and tried to take pictures but they didn't turn out very well. But, the whole thing was crazy. Totally worth it. I honestly poured water out of my shoes and wrung out my gloves. Too much fun, go missions! So the spiritual highlight and my testimony growing experience of the week: we had dinner with my ward mission leader on Saturday night. He is having some problems with his stomach and intestines, digestion and stuff. He asked if we could give him a blessing. Sure, we'd love to! We were on exchanges that night so he asked me to give the blessing, the visiting elder the anointing. Well, the anointing happens and it's good. And then when I start the blessing, wow. I don't even know to to explain it. Words just kinda...came out of my mouth. Amazing words of peace and comfort just came from nowhere. I know I didn't say or think of them, they were way too eloquently worded. The blessing ended and his wife was in tears and they all said what an incredible blessing I gave. I immediately said that it wasn't from me. There was no way. It was too...phenomenal. I know Heavenly Father lives and speaks through blessings. I was so lucky to be able to be a mouthpiece for Him. The church is true, the gospel is incredible, the Spirit is absolutely incredible. Heavenly Father loves His children and I know that for a fact. Love you guys, things have been awesome! Love, Elder Cevering #2