Email May 5, 2014

Hello Everybody! This has definitely been an exciting week! My address will most likely be changing come the end of this transfer, the last week of May. We live with members here in Redding 2nd ward, but they have been trying to move since sometime last year. This week they told us, very nicely and sadly haha, that if one of us gets transferred that they're probably going to have us move out so they can use the second garage space we live in for storage when they start boxing things up. So, if you want to send mail to me come May 20th (this coming Sunday, Mother's Day) send it to the mission office address: Elder Jacob Cevering 8583 Watt Avenue Antelope, CA 95843 I'm really sad to be moving out of the Goodwin's...I love the heck out of them! They're like a mom and dad away from home! One of their nicknames since housing the missionaries is "Pseudo Mom" and "Pseudo Larry." I don't know why it's "Pseudo Larry" instead of "Pseudo Dad." But they're awesome. We go over just about every night after we plan for the next day to talk with them. On Mondays, Larry makes us maté (sounds like maw-tay) in the mornings. Maté is a South American drink made from a plant called Yerba Maté, or something like that. It smells like green beans and dirt and tastes like dirt. But I guess it's really healthy for you. And you start to get used to the taste of dirt, so it's no big deal soon haha. But yeah, we'll go over in the mornings after getting ready and before studies and drink maté with Larry and Strause (another nickname for Sister Goodwin. Her first name is Lynette in case you're wondering, haha. Strause is her previous married name and I don't know why we call her that but it doesn't bother him or her so alright) and talk with them while we sip on the dirt drink. Well, I sip on it but they usually down it pretty quick...I'm getting better but still not quite used to it yet. :) They're just awesome, and I love them. They make it feel more home-like and it's awesome. They fill our apartment's freezer with food somewhat frequently, let us do our laundry in their machines, supply us with paper towels and toilet paper, etc., they'll give us snacks every once in a while, give us rides places, take us to dinner if we don't have a dinner one night and sometimes if our dinner falls through. They're just fantastic. Like I said, temporary parents away from my real parents. Larry is retired and knows a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff and is kind of a conspiracy theorist, haha, but he's a really good one because, for the most part, his theories make sense. I don't personally believe them but I think his theories make the most sense out of a lot of the conspiracies we all hear about haha. And he's suuuper hilarious. Sister Goodwin just retired from owning her own quilting shop a few weeks ago. She is really good at sewing, and she's super funny too. She's not really a conspiracy theorist but thinks the same way as Larry and goes along with him. But again, I'm so sad to most likely be moving away this transfer. So I know this is going to sound weird, but if you could pray that they don't make us move out, that would be fantastic. They're receiving such great blessings by housing the missionaries and the missionaries are so blessed by them and I don't want that cycle to end. But I guess the Lord's will be done. There's a young man in our ward, teacher age, named Mason. He is a really funny and cool kid. He likes to make those bead things that we used to make all the time up at Snowbird, the ones where you put the beads in a pattern and iron them under wax paper and they melt together. Not sure how else to describe it. Anyway, he likes to make those for people and has made lots in the past for missionaries. So he made Elder Solomon and I the pokemon Charizard out of these beads. :D It's pretty cool. He showed us some of the stuff he has made in the past and one of them was the character Lin from the Legend of Zelda, so I challenged him to make a Captain Moroni out of the same pattern but with different colors. But from what I hear, he is kind of free-handing his own pattern and it sounds like it looks cool, so I'm excited to see it. But yeah, he's a really funny and cool kid. Well this is getting to be a long email so I'll begin to close. This last week we got a referral from some missionaries down in Red Bluff (a city a little south of Redding) for an investigator they were teaching who really wants to be baptized! Woot! His name is Tony and we're super excited to begin working with him and hopefully he'll still want to be baptized. That would be fantastic. And lastly, with the paragraph above this one and this one combined they make the week fantastic. So last week I told you all we were working with the Brother and Sister Francis, he is an inactive member and she is an investigator, and that we were going to try to set a baptismal date with her. Well, we went over to their house and had the lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith in Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) and when we talked about repentance and baptism and how they cleanse us from our past, she said that that sounds like an incredible opportunity! So we talked about that for a little while and invited her to be baptized on June 7th, and she accepted!!! Woohooo! :D *happy dance* She told us that she knows she'll need to overcome smoking and we told her no problem, that we and The Lord will be here every step of the way to help her out. She knows we can change the date if she doesn't overcome it by then, but she seems to really want to work toward the 7th so that is fantastic! Please keep her in your prayers that she will be able to overcome smoking and be baptized, she is an awesome lady who deserves to have this chance to have her past forgiven and forgotten! I know that she can have that opportunity to be forgiven, and I know that we all have that opportunity too. That is so incredible. Thanks to The Lord Jesus Christ and the Plan of our Heavenly Father, we can overcome our pasts and put them where they should be: in the past! We can receive strength to overcome every trial in our lives, we can receive forgiveness for sins we have committed, we can receive eternal life with our friends, families, our Savior, and our Father in Heaven. I love this gospel! I know it is true! I can't wait to see my family next week, but I love being out here sharing this phenomenal gospel and right now there is nowhere else I'd rather be! I love you guys! Love, Elder Jacob Cevering