Email July 28, 2014

Hello Everyone! I hope all has been well with you. The last few weeks have been pretty tough. But just as Alma the Older and his people when they were in bondage to Amulon and the taskmasters, I can honestly say that I know The Lord does strengthen His people enough to bear their burdens. It's not easy out here and I wouldn't want it to be. To summarize what Elder Holland once said, why would it be easy for us if it was never easy for Him? We must experience our own Gethsemane in order to understand a little more His Gethsemane and allow Him to help us. In our Gethsemane's, Heavenly Father sends us help just as He did with our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that is true. So to talk about this week: We had a lesson with Trent, the gold guy haha. But it was great! We only talked about gold a few times and so most of the talk was about the church! It was awesome! He talked about coming to church and asked some things about what it would take to become a member. It was super cool, even though he didn't come to church it was an amazing talk. He lost two of his dogs to the pound and has been super stressed about it. But we feel that the messages that we have shared have been helping because it seems to be showing in his attitude. Steve Dooley, the potential investigator stepdad of Nick Sparks who is on date to be baptized on August 30th, keeps coming to church and makes awesome comments about what we teach. He talks more than half of the people in Elder's quorum. He hasn't accepted a formal investigation, but he is basically investigating. His son is still going along great. But keep the Dooley family in your prayers. They are going through some super tough stuff and they could use the support. Other than these few lessons and successes, no one else was really home. :/ So I'll go to the fun type stuff. So on Monday mornings we have dinner with a couple in the Nevada City ward. We all call them Mama and Papa Russ. We leave around 9 in the morning and have a huge breakfast with them. It has been different every week, there were pancakes on week, waffles another, and breakfast burritos another. It is fantastic! Elder House, my companion, is a pretty nice guy. He has been wanting to work hard because his last companion had depression and was also just lazy at times so they didn't get out nearly as much as he wanted to. So it has been good to get out and work. He has some interesting quirks, just like all of us haha. He has weak lungs and so he sighs really weird and really often, he talks in his sleep somewhat frequently and sighs in his sleep very frequently and it's REALLY loud haha. During lessons he tends to dominate the conversation and same with just normal conversation. And whenever we have a normal conversation at dinner or whatever, he always has a story to top the other person's story. ALWAYS. Haha. Not a bad thing, but it is getting old because he tells the same stories over and over and over again. And he'll do really random, awkward subject changes to talk about stuff he wants to talk about. Idk, I don't mean to talk bad about him because he really is a sweet guy. Just some interesting quirks. :) Like singing out of tune too, haha. I think I have only had 1 companion who can actually carry a tune. It's pretty funny because I totally called it before my mission. There is a really sweet EFY song that we have on our thumbdrive that we listen to as we drive and it has the line, "Just believe the mistakes of the past don't define you They refine you." AWWWWWW BABY! Man, it was fantastic. I love that so much! I know that probably a lot of you saw me post that on facebook already this week, but I love it so much that I just had to use it to close my thought on a spiritual note. It's so incredible to know that even though we have made mistakes that they can be forgiven. Though our sins be as scarlet they can be white as snow. It doesn't matter how bad, as long as we are willing to undergo the process to cleanse ourselves WE CAN BE CLEAN. That is what I love about the gospel and that's what I want to try to help spread here in California and across the world. That there are second chances. That our guilt and despair can be swallowed up in joy and happiness! Again, I know this church is true. That Christ did suffer for us that He could strengthen us. That He can do what He says He can do. I love that and I love you! Have the best week ever! Elder Cevering 2