Email February 25, 2013

Hello Family, I am really tired! Haha. Elder Arteaga are hoping to take a nap today. We've been working really hard this past week: we've arrived to the house late and had to take Elder Delgado to Bayamon twice, and more. But a lot of great things are happening, so in the midst of the fatigue we're happy. We're also anxiously awaiting our move to the new house. First of all, Elder Delgado left. I am grateful for the lessons that I gained by being his companion. I love working with Elder Arteaga. He came from an area where he'd been for 7 months and he was ready to work hard. He and I had over 30 lessons this past week--23 of them were taught to investigators with members present. Colby can probably explain to you more about "member present" lessons. Elder Arteaga also really likes to joke around, so we don't just sweat and groan. We laugh a lot. He has some great stories from his old areas. We had two baptisms this past Saturday: Felix and Jonathan Rivera. They are two of Juanita's nephews. It was a really great baptism, and because of these baptisms we have had the ward is getting excited about missionary work. But about the baptism: when Felix was baptized he came up out of the water saying, "You drowned me!" to the bishop. Haha. And then Jonathan was really afraid to be baptized. He wouldn't go under water the first time: he grabbed on to the side of the font and wouldn't go under. But eventually the bishop was able to calm him down and gradually get him to go under the water. It was actually a really neat experience. I believe I told you about Milagros being in the hospital. Well, the doctors found a giant mass in her intestines or something and were sure it was cancer. But we gave her a blessing last Sunday, and then we went back and visited her on Tuesday. The doctors had still not operated on her. However, I had a strong impression that because of the blessing we gave her she would be fine. When they finally did the test on her--Thursday--they found out that the mass was not cancerous. It was truly a miracle performed by the power of the priesthood. She was so happy! When we went to visit Milagros on Tuesday we ran into a woman on the elevator who told us her grandson was really sick. We shared with her our calling as missionaries and priesthood holders and offered her our help. She accepted and told us to come back the next day with her to give a blessing. She gave us the floor and room number and then we left. The next day we went back to the hospital and to the floor and room the woman gave us: there was no little boy, but there was a family of 6, with a little girl who had dengue--an illness that comes from mosquitos. It's really dangerous and painful. We started talking to the family and found out that the little boy had been moved the day before and that this little girl had moved in right after. One of the sons recognized us as Mormons, and the mom had interest about what we were doing. We were able to share a message with them and they invited us to their house. It was really cool. While we were talking to that family in the hospital, the mom said: "Well, I want you to know that I'm not too religious. I drink a lot, and I smoke marijuana." But when she said it in Spanish she said it really fast like this: "Yo fumarijuana", and normally it would be "Yo fumo marijuana" but she joined the words. I thought she said "Yo fumo iguana." HAHA. We all laughed really hard, which helped us to break the ice even more. It was a really funny experience. Besides all of that, we are teaching a great family who I really love a lot: the family of Omar and Rosa. They are part of the family of Juanita, but they have lived in an apartment in a different city until last week. They moved into a house right next to Juanita. They all came to church yesterday: Omar and Rosa and their kids Luis, Gordo, and Jordan. Omar is really humble and has a lot of desire to be baptized, Rosa loves us and has seen how the gospel has affected her life, and the kids really love us too. They started climbing into our car yesterday when we went with members to pick them up for church. We had to tell them they couldn't drive with us, and they were disappointed. I love them a lot. Well, I love you all a lot too! The only thing that makes it possible for me to be away from you all is how much I love doing this work. I find myself hoping I can come back to the caribbean in the future and keep doing this work. Maybe it doesn't have to be in the caribbean, but I would love to come back here. My wife better be prepared! Haha. I better be prepared. Love ya! Elder Cevering