Email January 7, 2014

Hello Family in Utah! This past week was one of the most satisfying and yet difficult weeks of my mission. I've felt the atonement active in my life very strongly, in every aspect: emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, and socially. In my first day in Bayamon the zone leaders called and gave us some instructions from the first presidency which had arrived for president Smartt. Missionaries in Puerto Rico are no longer allowed to use bikes. So I have to sell mine. And also, the really big news, all the cars in the mission must be sold. NO ONE is allowed to use a car for proselyting in Puerto Rico--the only exception is with members. The APs don't have a car, the zone leaders don't have a car, and the district leaders don't have a car. We are all on foot. When I was told that I was super surprised, but I was really excited: I knew that it was the will of the Lord and that we would see huge blessings from it. We have already seen the fruits of being on foot. The members are pulling together to help us more in the work, apart from the fact that we are able to talk to a lot more people. There's not a lot to report, other than that we have found a lot of great people. Elder De Oleo--my companion from the Dominican Republic--told me that he's never had so much success contacting than in the past week. He said, "These people in Bayamon are hard-hearted." But we've been able to find people really, really easy. And it's not just about being on foot: we were doing this before. Elder De Oleo says the Lord has softened the hearts of the people here. In all honesty, I've never seen so much success contacting either. In all the contacting that I've done in my mission I've never talked to people who have been so receptive. And I am in Bayamon: the CITY of Puerto Rico. Everyone says that city people are the proud ones and that the people in the mountains are the humble ones: there's been a huge difference in receptivity in the people between here in Bayamon and Aibonito. I've been really amazed. It's not been easy just being on foot: a part of our area is an hour and a half walk from our house. It's been really tiring, but that will change with time. None of us were expecting the change, but it wasn't like we were never walking or never exercising or never contacting. I really love the missionaries in our house. I'm the district leader of us four. Elder De Oleo is super chill and is great with people. Then there's Elder Arana: he was the missionary in Aibonito before me. He and I spend a lot of time talking about Aibonito and about things up there. And then there's Elder Armstrong. He was the district leader before I got here, and he silently criticizes everything I do. Elder Arana is kind of crazy: he doesn't necessarilly follow the rules, but he's a really great missionary. Elder Armstrong always criticizes him for things. So I talked with him last night and tried to help him realize the good points of Elder Arana's missionary work. It was really sly too haha he didn't even get he was having a talk with his district leader. There's a lot to do in this ward but it's a strong one. It's stronger than Carolina, but there are some struggles we have to help the members overcome. The bishop doesn't really like the missionaries to be involved to much with things in the ward--for example, he doesn't like them to be in Ward councils, but the Caribean area presidency has made it clear that we have to be in those councils. So we're working with the bishop. Not much to say. I love you all! Things are going well here! Elder Cevering