Email February 2, 2015

Heya! Greetings from Sunny NorCal! Speaking of which, it has been in the 60s here for the last week or two. The other day we were helping someone move apartments and I was dying! Then at the same place, but a different day, we were outside the apartment talking with the person we were helping move and we were starting to sweat. Just standing there and talking! It wasn't even February yet!!! Crazy. There was basically no winter here. It went from fall to spring. Anyway... Transfer calls are in!!! *drum roll* Part one: I'm being transferred to Roseville 4th & 8th (8 is the YSA)! Part two: I'm going to be serving as a Roseville Zone Leader!!! Wow it was really unexpected! I'm so grateful for this opportunity I'm being given. I'm humbled to know that Heavenly Father trusts me with this calling. I never expected. Plus my companion in Roseville will be Elder Jones who lived in the same apartment with me and was my district leader when I very first got here to Grass Valley. He's a stud! I can't wait to work with him!!! Ah! I'm just so excited!!! I'm so thankful and grateful. I can't wait to get to Roseville and work my butt off like never before!!! So in other news, we had a first lesson with Chuck this week. The Restoration! The cool thing was that he called us and had us come after the dinner he was having with a member. He asked us what the difference is between "Mormons" and "everyone else," haha, a question we get somewhat frequently. We were able to answer his question and have him accept another visit where we will teach him more about what makes us different/what we believe. I'm excited to hear where things go from there. We weren't able to visit Shane this week, he is super busy. Works three jobs and doesn't know which jobs he's working until the day of. So yeah, that was a bummer. :/ But he wants to set up a time to meet with Elder Dixon and Elder Briggs (my replacement) sometime this week. I really hope he'll make the progress that he has the capacity to make! Again, excited to hear what happens there! I was at the temple when Elder Dixon saw Gary and Katie with his companions for the day. They said they couldn't come to church because of the Super Bowl haha. Lame. Speaking of the temple, this is where the title story comes in: my ward mission leader from Redding was taking a temple trip and invited me and the last few missionaries who served there. Getting permission to go (missionaries in our mission are allowed to go to the temple once a quarter if they are close to it) was a pain and is a whole story of its own so I won't go into that, but we did eventually get permission to go (the night before, to be exact haha). The 10 am session is the session the member was going through, so we show up at the temple pretty late. Like, 9:55. We get the recommends checked, get into the changing rooms to get the clothes, and one temple worker asks us, "Are you elders trying to get into the 10 o'clock session?" We say yes. "You've got three minutes. We are going to start on time." So we start getting the clothes and the worker giving us the white ties is taking his time picking his favorites or something, haha, and then another worker tells him we are in a hurry so he just gives us some ties and we get into the stalls and change like mad. I don't know if I have ever changed so fast in my life! We got out and into the session JUST BARELY. It was insane. Anyway, lastly we had dinner and a lesson with a returning member family. It was so good! We talked about faith and how acting in faith builds our faith. He hasn't started coming back to church yet, but she has. He is so close to coming back as well. I just can't wait to hear about what happens! I love that family. I love so many of the families here in Grass Valley. They have become another family here, it's a second home. It has been a wonderful seven months! (Technically 6 months and 26 days, but I'm rounding up) And I have loved it! I know I'm going to come back and visit so many people here. I have learned so much about the gospel here as well. I know my Savior lives. I know that His grace is not only an enabling power, but is THE enabling power that we all need. I know that justice is fair, and mercy is technically unfair, but Heavenly Father wants it to be that way. Yes, He is a just God, but He wants to be merciful. So He will be as merciful as He possibly can. And I love that. Hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you guys and pray for you! Keep on smiling! Elder Cevering