Email March 16, 2015

Top o'the morning to ye on this bright St. Patrick's Day Eve! Hope ye all have had a brilliant week! It was a pretty good one for us out here, which is always really nice! We had a lot of lessons, which is great! Our investigator who is really sick is doing so incredibly well! I can't get over the amazing-ness of the gospel and how it blesses peoples' lives when they live it! The blessings of our Heavenly Father are truly made manifest through obedience to the gospel He has given to us. Her baptismal date is still on for March 28th and she is still super excited for that, and so are we!!! We had a lesson with her immediately following YSA Sacrament Meeting, and she was just so excited to be there at church and to have a lesson. It is so cool! I love it! As for our other investigators, we tried to meet with one lady but all we did was talk in the parking lot of her apartment complex. We are going back over on Friday, hopefully future visits/lessons will see her continuing to progress in the gospel. Hopefully to the point she was at just a little while ago where she wanted to be baptized. Being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost really do make a big difference in peoples' lives. They do need to be prepared for it though, or else it won't make that difference. But for those who are ready, it literally changes their lives. Another lady we weren't able to meet with. :( I really want to start meeting with her or her desire to be baptized will fade. And that wouldn't be cool... We had a lesson with one of the men we are teaching last night and it went pretty well. We talked a lot about temples and what goes on inside. And his member girlfriend, said that she wanted to take him down to see the Sacramento temple and talk about it a little more there. So that'll be cool! We were finally able to meet with the a couple we're teaching again! And it was a really good lesson, even though they had some pretty intense questions. But we were able to answer them all. So that's pretty awesome. We had a member with us, Brother Merritt who is super cool, and he made a great contribution to the lesson! It was super great! They hadn't been reading or praying for the last little while because they have been really busy, but this week they sounded the closest to coming to church since I've been here. I'm just hoping and praying they will! Speaking of church, we had three investigators there again! One of them brings her 7 year old daughter to church and she said the darndest thing in Gospel Principles! As you can guess, I may or may not be alluding to the title story. The teacher shared a video about what prophets do and why God sends them and after the video ended her daughter raised her hand super excitedly. The teacher calls on her and she immediately says, "That video really prostitutes," then trails off for about 10 seconds thinking about her next word. The whole time I was so confused and worried about what she could say next, but then out came "why prophets are important." I'm pretty sure I was going to die trying to hold in my laughter. It was pretty fantastic. Kids say the darndest things! Well, that's about all for this week. I want to end with my testimony of the Atonement. President Marston has started to send us a daily email with talks, hymns, and quotes to study for our personal study. It is a 31 Day study of the Atonement in preparation for Easter. It has been amazing. The Atonement IS infinite. In multiple scopes. It is infinite in time, reaching back and forward into the eternities. It is infinite in reach, it covers each and every human being in each and every way. It truly is infinite! It covers us. It cleans us. It strengthens us. It saves us. I know that. It is real. Use it! It will help. Even if you don't think it will or can, I promise you both will happen. I know this gospel is real. I know my Savior died for me then rose on the third day. I know my Savior lives. I know He loves me. Have a great week everyone! I love you! I pray for you! Love, Elder Cevering