Email March 4, 2013

Hello Family! This week was a bit of a tough week for me. I've just felt really tired. We're just working, working, working. We had some good contacts that ended up falling through when we went back for lessons, and the ward members didn't help us much this week. Only one member left with us last week, which was a change from the three members who left with us the week before. I was really disappointed. Yesterday in the second hour of church--sunday school--I was waiting in the class to give an announcement to the members of the ward. There were SIX members seated, and all the rest (about 30) were outside talking about who knows what. I felt like Christ when He saw all the people selling animals in the temple. Let me plead with you all just one thing: If you have a testimony of missionary work ask yourselves this question: Do I have a testimony that it's important that the full-time missionaries do missionary work, or do I have a testimony that I myself am a missionary, with the responsibility to do missionary work? Let me tell you an experience from this past week: we asked one of the counselors do the stake president if he would be able to work with us ONE night that week. He told us, "Elders, I am really busy. It will have to be the next week." Then he said, "But talk to my wife about a time you can come to dinner at our house this week." Do you see the irony of that situation? We set up an appointment, and then rather than cooking for us they took us to Sizzlers and we were there for two hours. Two hours of missionary work lost. I was so disappointed. In all that time we could have been working with the counselor to the stake president, he took us to Sizzlers. I have gained a greater testimony of the word "Covenant" as described by Alma in Mosiah 18:8-10. Anyway, the good things of the week :) We had some great success with part of the the family of Juanita. There are two investigators--Omar and Rosa--who we taught a lot this week. Omar is the son of Juanita, and Rosa is his girlfriend. They told us this week that they will be married on the 23rd and then baptized, with their two children Gordo and Luis. It was a true answer to our prayers because before they hadn't wanted to be married. Omar didn't really explain to us what happened, but they almost got married and then he backed out. But he really loves the gospel: he told us that in his life he's done a lot of bad things. He told us that the only bad thing he hasn't done is murder. But he also told us that he doesn't want that life for his children and that he wants to receive forgiveness for his sins. He said, "You're going to have to baptize me four times." Haha. He and Rosa are so great. Rosa likes to text during church, so yesterday Elder Arteaga and I were acting like we were calling and texting her from outside the classroom. She was laughing. Haha. Okay, maybe I wasn't reverent in that moment and I was distracting her from the relief society lesson, but she really loves us a lot and loves the gospel. The biggest trial that they have is Juanita: Juanita is beginning to have panic attacks because she doesn't want to be the last one to be baptized. We found out that she asked Abigair to wait to be baptized with her, and not be baptized with her sons Felix and Jonathan who were baptized two weeks ago. Well, yesterday we found out Juanita has been trying to convince Rosa to wait until next May to be married and baptized at the same time as her. Why next May? Because Juanita needs to pay $200 in order to get divorced and won't have that money--prospectively--until next year. So she doesn't want everyone else to get baptized before her. We're going to have a good talk with her about that :) Other than that, we really are just working hard with other investigators. We visited with Maria Teresa last night: she was sick last week but we went and gave her a blessing and she felt great the next day. She has some sort of infection--I don't remember the word for it in English--and has to go to the hospital. But since she had the blessing she told us the majority of the pain has gone away. She will be in the hospital until Wednesday night and then we'll go visit her. We're trying to set a baptismal date with her for next Saturday (the 16th) but she is hesitant because she's not sure she can give up coffee. She's really prepared though from all her experiences, so I'm not worried about her. She has changed a lot. Well, I love you all and miss you. This was a tough week honestly, but the tough eventually turns into something good. We have some good plans this week so I think we'll be alright here in Carolina. Elder Cevering