Email February 18, 2013

Hello Family! Wow, two weeks since writing: that's horrible. A missionary should always be able to write home haha. But last week we had too many things to do and too little time. We had transfers and at 11:00 Sunday night we found out we had to pick up Elder Arteaga--our new companion--in Caguas the next morning. That ruined our plans, and we had to go to Bayamon to get my license instead of Carolina. I was able to get it without having to take any tests, but we were there for 5 hours! So our p-day went out the window. I'm sorry, but I had to get other things done that day. It was a crazy two weeks here: we had a baptism with Pablo, which was really neat! He was so excited. We had a lesson with he and his wife a couple nights before, and the experience was very incredible. His wife--Maria--has never really listened to us. But she had her revelatory experience with us as we talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost. She told us that she had a dream one night where she saw two people dressed in funny white clothing. She didn't know who they were, but they smiled at her and then held hands and walked away into light. Well, she woke up from the dream and explained the people to Pablo: he told her that the people she described were his grandparents who had died many years ago. The clothes she described were the temple clothes! We were all shocked as she explained the way that Pablo's grandparents were dressed. We immediately began teaching about the sacred nature of the temples and the performing of temple ordinances for the dead. Pablo and Maria both began to cry, and the Spirit filled the room. Wow. It was pretty incredible. Then we had the baptism, and Elder Delgado performed the ordinance. But since Pablo has a bad knee I got to get in and help perform the ordinance as well. I was really excited to be a part of it. Then yesterday we confirmed the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting and he will receive the priesthood in a couple of weeks in order to baptize Maria. The ward is really excited about it, and so are we. Our new companion is Elder Arteaga: he's from Bolivia. He has been here 9 months, and for 7 months he was in the same area on the south side of the Island. He was really excited to leave. Haha. We're only in a trio for now until Elder Delgado leaves next week, then it will be he and I. We're also moving into a new house in the neighboring city Pontezuela. The house is apparently really nice: the sister missionaries were telling us about it. The family of Juanita is really progressing but they have a big problem: Juanita and Samuel are not married, neither are the parents of anyone else in that family. Juanita's sister--Abigair--is not married to her boyfriend, and Juanita's son is not married to his wife. And all of the children and youth come from them! So we can't baptize them until they're married--that's what Preach my Gospel encourages us to do. But they all really love the gospel and have come to church consistently. The ward has really helped out in arranging rides for them every Sunday, which was been miraculous to us as missionaries. It was really cool yesterday to see a big old hummer--of one of the members--pull into the church yesterday, full of kids from Juanita's family squished in the back seat. Haha. So great. Well, lastly, one of our investigators Milagros is in the hospital. The doctors believe she has cancer: but in Puerto Rico, a paper cut can be considered cancer. We went and visited her in her hospital room: it was a really tender moment. She's really bloated: I can't think of a better word to describe her than that. She's only been there for three days too. But we went to give her a blessing, and as I was there I felt the love of the Savior for her. One of the most incredible feelings as a missionary is to have those moments to be with someone who is struggling so deeply, but to feel that the Lord is with them. I was so happy to be able to be with the other Elders and give her a blessing. What an opportunity to feel the love of the Lord. I love you all so much and miss you! Elder Cevering