Email April 13, 2015

Good Afternoon! Well holy cow! This was definitely a crazy week. Very good! But crazy! The title story comes from another investigator we have slowly been working with. He is an older Hispanic gentleman who just loves the missionaries. He was a former we picked up a little while back and he started reading the Book of Mormon again! It was great to hear! So we invited him to come to a church tour and he said yes! That was amazing, especially considering we have been at a loss of what we can do to help him progress. So the meeting we had with him this week was super unexpectedly awesome! He's doing great and always showers the missionaries with praise and thanksgiving for going out and sharing the gospel with everyone. He says we always look so sharp as we are out and about sharing the good message. He says, multiple times in every lesson, "You guys are the tip of the spear." He's a super nice and very sincere and genuine man, it's so fun to go over to his house because he just showers us with compliments! But he has started to progress and that's fantastic. We had a great lesson with one of our investigators!!! It went so well! We were able to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her and bring her back to the basics, it was so good. We have high hopes for her moving forward! She has recently felt that baptism isn't necessary, but we think moving forward she'll be able to understand that not only is it necessary, but it helps us more than we could think! The sister missionaries here keep giving us awesome referrals and so that's pretty amazing. I'm super grateful for that. I'm excited to meet one tonight, he moved in from the Sacramento mission boundaries and wants to be baptized. Perfect! I think we can do that! I sure hope we can, at least. It'll be a little tough because he's with new missionaries and new members, but just have to work in faith and it'll all work out! So since I didn't talk much about Easter or General Conference last week because I was so frazzled and trying to get a half-decent email out, I will talk a little about it this week. HOW INCREDIBLE WAS CONFERENCE Goodness, it was great! I am so happy that we have the chance to have access to the talks so quickly after the conference because there were so many incredible talks! I loved so many, I'll just list a few: Elder Wilford Anderson's talk on dancing and hearing the music really resonated (haha, incidental music joke, and just another right there too) with me. Elder Renlund, right after Elder Wilford Anderson, spoke on how "Saints are sinners who keep on trying," and not being Latter-Day Sinners, Latter-Day Quitters, and/or Latter-Day Hypocrites. President Uchtdorf's talk about being genuine and not putting up "Potemkin Villages," and also his talk on grace were both phenomenal! Etc. There were way too many good talks this conference. I wish I had time to cover it all! Suffice it to say that I received a witness this General Conference that President Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet on the earth today. That he is God's mouthpiece for us to learn Heavenly Father's will and advice for us in these crazy days. I know Thomas Monson is God's living prophet. Also on Easter, I know that the Atonement is real. I know that Jesus Christ, God's Beloved and Only Begotten Son, performed that literally immeasurable sacrifice which allows us to become clean from stains we can't clean ourselves. I know He rose from the grave three days after He was crucified and that Because He Lives, we can live again too. Forever. In unending peace and love and joy and happiness. With Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and those of our family who qualify. I know this is real and I know this is true. I know you can know it too. Don't let anything hold you back from this truth. This truth, as Christ himself taught those in New Testament times, "will set you free." Have a great week, y'all! I love you and pray for you! Love, Elder Cevering