Email July 20, 2015

Good Afternoon! Unfortunately, I don't have a ton to report on this week. I really wish I had more, but we had to do a ton of zone leader reports, plus we were preparing for a mini missionary (a boy who lives in our area and will be serving a mission in the future - it gives them a chance to see what a mission is really like by living the mission life with us for a few days) to serve with us this weekend, and this was the final week of the transfer so we were trying to get ready for some of that, plus we had to attend all of the zone's district meetings - it was just a lot of stuff. However, we did get to have a few choice lessons so that was wonderful! We were blessed to find 3-4 potential investigators with good promise, so Elder Wilding and his new companion will be able to work with those and that will be awesome. He and Elder Poulter, this missionary replacing me, will be blessed to see a lot of work come! And Elder Wilding will be keeping me updated on things, so I'm excited for that. We had a lesson with a potential named who has some friends in the church and started coming to church because of the happy feeling he gets whenever he is with them. So he figured there was something to it, and we had a lesson! It was really great as we talked about the Restoration and he had a couple awesome questions as well. We ended up talking about the Book of Mormon and testified how all of the questions he had could be answered by reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We testified of the awesome blessings that can come into our lives as we find this truth and promised he could have that happy feeling all of the time as he is able to have the Spirit with him when he keeps covenants with Heavenly Father. It was a really good lesson! Hopefully something comes out of it because at the end of the lesson he said he will need some time to think about it all. So we're praying he will read and pray with real intent. Should be great. He is super ready for the gospel. We had a lot of lessons with less actives in both wards and those went well, although only one of them came to church this week. Dang it. :( But the one who came to church has made a complete change in her life ever since she started meeting with us. And I would have never known it if she hadn't talked about it. So it was super awesome to hear the changes that the gospel has made in her life. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has used me as an instrument in His hands and that is one of the greatest feelings ever. And due to a combination of lack of things to talk about and lots of things I need to do still here, I have to cut this pretty short. Transfer calls are in! I am heading up to a small town about 10 minutes south of Redding called Anderson! I am going to be a zone leader there and I am doing something called "shotgunning," which is when the companionship is brand new to the area. So this ought to be fun! There are also two other companionships who will be shotgunning, so over half of the Anderson zone is going to be brand new to the area. It is going to be a lot of fun. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve! I'm pumped for the chance to shotgun and it is going to be a blast. My new companion's name is Elder Bernhisel (sounds like burn-high-zull). I'm just so pumped. Out of the 10 missionaries in the Anderson zone, six of them are going to be brand new to the zone. So that will be very interesting. I have had the APs and President tell me that they are sending me up there to help with the entire zone because they haven't had a baptismal date in the whole stake for months. It's a huge compliment. I don't want to let them down. I'm going to work real hard and hope to see some success there before I come home. It's going to be so awesome!!! I love the gospel, I love the Book of Mormon, I love my Heavenly Father. Stay true to Him at all times, even when it is hard. It will bless your lives more than you know. I promise you that. It's going to be hard to trust in Him, but I promise you will never experience more happiness than when you act in faith. I love you guys, have a safe week! Love, Elder Cevering