Email January 14, 2013

Hello Family! This was actually a pretty eventful week: let me tell you first that I ALMOST spoke with a member of the seventy yesterday. The Bishop in Carolina asked me if I would speak with him--President Andersen, the president over all the Caribean. So I prepared for it and was going to speak about the Book of Mormon and its testimony of salvation through Christ, but then something happened--which I didn't understand--and a member spoke instead. I was very disappointed haha but the member gave a good talk so that's ok. I think what happened was the member was asked to talk but said she couldn't speak, and then she showed up randomly. That's a very Puerto Rican thing to do. So, this week Julio dropped us because he decided trying to live the gospel took too much effort. We're going to visit him again this week, but I think that he's lazy. He's nothing like Atawelpa! Atawelpa reads and studies so much, but we found out that he has had a huge doubt all along: he didn't believe that Jesus Christ was really the Son of God. He believed that Christ was a very intelligent, very persuasive leader of Jews who were rebelling against the corruption of the Pharisees and Sadducees. When he told us that we just though: "What?" But it was good we found that out because we were able to focus on his doubt and know in what direction we needed to help him. Elder Delgado went with one of our zone leaders to teach him this past week--I went with one of the assistants somewhere else--and they had a great lesson with him and helped him understand that Christ really was the Son of God. I don't know if he understands it entirely yet because knowing Christ is your Saviour is sort of a difficult process in my opinion. You can know what He did and believe it, but finally receiving a powerful testimony of it really requires repentance and mercy. But I'm just glad Atawelpa is on the path to discovering more about his Savior. When I was with Elder Udall--the assistant to the president--we went to visit an old investigator named Edwin. Edwin had a baptismal date and every thing but because of problems with his wife he never went through with it. But that was four years ago. So we went up at his house and were shouting in the window. This man shouts back: "Who are you looking for?" And we told him "Edwin". So this man comes out and looks at us and says: "He doesn't live here! He moved into my mom's house. He's my cousin." Then as we talked he told us that if we really were servants of the Lord that he would take us to his mom's house. So we followed him to this house: his mom was outside and we talked with her. Then this little kid shows up in the door--12 years old--and the guy tells us: "Yeah that's Edwin right there!" Now, as you know, 12 year old kids, even in Puerto Rico, don't have wife issues and baptismal dates. Haha. What happened was this kid was actually the son of the guy who led us to the house, and the guy who led us to the house was actually Edwin! Haha. He was faking his identity. We figured that out before he told us that he actually WAS Edwin, but it was so funny. And it turned out that his son came to church, loved it, and will probably be baptized. Edwin didn't come because of work, and his mom didn't either because of her asthma--lame--but it was still good that his son went. Being with a trunky companion is super tough! He is really lazy: he takes naps and calls people all the time to talk to them: members, other missionaries, etc. I have really wanted to get angry with him, but I just try to encourage him and get him going. He's a tough person: he has a really short temper and doesn't take jokes from anyone. Sometimes he's rude to the members too because of that. Luckily Puerto Ricans are very laid back, and I think they understand that Elder Delgado has those issues. But that's why a lot of members won't work with us... The good thing is Elder Delgado and I are able to get along well for the most part. I've been preparing him for an English test--which he is taking right now--with a BYU professor by SKYPE. The purpose of the test is to prove fluency in a language, and it's a really big help for Latin missionaries who are trying to get into BYU, which is Elder Delgado's goal. He speaks really good English. Now he just needs to be immersed in an English culture and he'll speak even better. He still doesn't know all the little words: that's where the title comes this week. We were going to visit a family of old investigators, and Elder Delgado said: "It stinks really bad because they have a pork." Haha. It was so funny. Well, it sounds like Utah is getting pounded by snow. I think I appreciate the heat a little more now :) But I am very ready for some cooler weather. Luckily we're getting a lot of rain lately, and rain season is coming--I believe. I really love Utah: I never realized how much I love it until I left. Not that Puerto Rico is bad: I really am coming to love Puerto Rico. But Utah is just home I guess. I love you all, and miss you! Elder Cevering