Email August 31, 2015

Hello! Well everyone, so begins the last six weeks! I tell you what, it's a trip to think I've been gone for 98 so far! I know every missionary says it everyday, but it has gone by so stinking fast. The good thing is that it doesn't feel like I'm going home soon. I don't feel like I'm going to be home in six weeks so I don't feel very trunky, woohoo! It's just weird to think that at the beginning of last transfer there were two missionaries leaving in six weeks and they were saying how weird it feels. And now I'm in their shoes. Crazy. Anyway! On to more focused things! We got transfer calls last night, the last call I will ever have to worry about, and our area is being split! But that's okay, because we covered two wards anyway so now there's one companionship per ward. Woo! Elder Bernhisel and I had a goal to have enough work that we would have to bring in another set of missionaries and it looks like it happened! What an incredible blessing! And the missionary who is coming up is a missionary I served around at the very beginning of my mission and I love him! He is training a new missionary and I'm super excited for both of them. They're going to have a blast. So the area that I get to serve my last six weeks in is the Anderson Ward as a Zone Leader. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here! It's going to be an amazing last six weeks! I have a goal set for this transfer, and that is to hand out an entire box of Book of Mormons, which is about 40 or so copies. That means I'll have to hand out one a day for the rest of my mission in order to achieve it. But I didn't just set the goal, I feel it was so,etching the Spirit told me I could do. I was in MLC last month and we were talking about finding and something just clicked in my head and in my heart and gave me the idea.my thought process then goes as follows: If I have been called of God to serve in the California Roseville Mission, He is not going to let me fail. If He is not going to let me fail, then wherever I'm assigned to serve I'll see success. And if a successful missionary isn't measured by number of baptisms but by how diligently he serves, then if a missionary can hand out a Book of Mormon a day he is successful. Plus, the goal of a Book of Mormon a day isn't that hard when you really think about it. So I came to the conclusion that I will work my hardest to hand out an entire box of Book of Mormons this transfer. And I am so excited to get started. It is going to be a stellar transfer! Then I extended the same goal/challenge to Elder Raab and Elder Dixon, the two missionaries I trained (and Elder Dixon is training this transfer, so I have a GRANDSON in the mission! Woooooot!), and Elder Jensen, my mission brother (who is also training so I will also have a mission nephew! Hachow!). I am hoping they will do it with me because how amazing would that be? If successful, 120 Book of Mormons handed out in four different parts of the mission! What an amazing vision! I just hope it all works out! Well this week was another great week! We had a bunch of awesome lessons with our less actives and investigators! It's going to be hard, though, because we had more work in Cottonwood than in Anderson and because Cottonwood is a beautiful area, but I'm really excited to just go back to working and focusing on one area. It'll be hard to say goodbye to some of the members in the Cottonwood Ward, especially our WML and family, the Kings because they are awesome! But we have a lot of great people in Anderson too. There was a great lesson, with an investigator who is deaf, about the Plan of Salvation and he understood it all so that was hecka sweet! We invited him to read/watch the Book of Mormon (ASL needs to be watched, not read) and pray to know if it is true and he said he would. Then we invited him to be baptized if he came to know it was true and he said he would be. Yahoo! We are so excited for him! But it'll be hard for us and for him to get another new set of brand missionaries. However, the Lord knows what He is doing and I trust Him. I'm running short on time, but I want to let you in on an insight from my studies this morning: when the Lord commands Nephi to build a ship, we all know that Nephi doesn't ask why and doesn't complain but goes right into doing what he needs to do to construct the ship. Well, just a short time later, Nephi tells us that the Lord shows him where to find ore to molten tools for the construction. Then he continues on to tell us that he made a bellows to blow the fire that he makes by smiting two stones together. Not very significant, right? We all know that will produce sparks. So why did Nephi include it? The phrase that came to mind was "first and forever fan the fire of your faith," a quote from a talk by a Elder Holland. Fire = Faith. So, how do we produce faith? If faith is more than mere belief, then we need two things: Desire and Action. I know Nephi literally meant two stones made fire, but spiritually to make a fire, to have faith, we need to have a desire and we need to act on that desire. Then we have faith. But how do we keep our faith strong? Lots of things! That's why the bellows is a constant thing! We need to be constantly fanning our faith with obedience, diligence, patience, perseverance, and so many more things! And the more we apply these things, the stronger we can make our faith! So the question I leave with you is: what are you going to do to fan the fire of your faith? I love you guys! Love, —Elder Cevering— - Exodus 14:14 -