Elder Michael Cevering
Puerto Rico, San Juan Mission
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Email January 21, 2013
Hello Family!
This was one of the toughest, but the most miraculous week of my mission yet. I am very excited to tell you all about it!
First off, let me give you a follow up on Atawelpa: he has finally come to accept Jesus Christ as "different" from other men, but he still doesn't really believe He atoned for us. I really don't understand why, and he hasn't given us a good reason for that belief either. I think he's been reading things on the internet: we all know that there is a ton of ridiculous viral information. But I haven't asked him about that. He is progressing, and I know that because he told us that when he first received the Book of Mormon he didn't really think much of it, but now he says it's "sweet" and "flavorful"--those are his real words. We tried to set a baptismal date with him, but he said he needs a LOT of time before he gets baptized. We'll see what we can do about that.
Well, this is where things are going to get exciting: first let me tell you that in this mission we don't really live the 9:00 or 9:30 or 10:30 rules of bedtime/be-in-apartment times. We are always asked to do something more. This past week I drove Elders from Guaynabo back to Carolina, and we didn't get to bed until 12:30, and we had to be up for a meeting at 5:30. Really crazy. But I only bring that up because last night we had a miracle: as we were reporting our numbers for the week--at 9:00--the zone leaders asked us to go out and try to have one more member present lesson: the entire zone was doing that as a way to exercise faith in the Lord's hand. So...I thought for just a moment and a less-active member came to my mind immediately. So we drove to his house, unsure if it would even prove anything: the member present lesson rule is that you have a member with you when you teach a lesson to a non-member. Going to his house was a complete leap of faith, considering he is less-active and it was 9:00. But we acted according to the impression.
When we got to his house the lights were out and Elder Delgado said "He must be sleeping." But I pulled into the driveway and we called him anyway. Ether 12:6 ran through my mind: there will always be a trial of your faith. I figured the lights being out was the trial of our faith regarding the inspiration. So we called him and he answered the phone. We told him why we were there and he said: "I am on the phone with my friend down the street who is really sick. Do you want to give her a blessing?" YEAH--said us. So we went with him down to this woman's house and we gave her a blessing, along with a lesson about the power of the priesthood. Less than five minutes after we gave the blessing her son called her and she told him: "I feel fine! Really, I'm suddenly beginning to feel so much better."
It was a very humbling experience to know that the Lord knows His children so well to inspire our President to tell our Zone Leaders to ask us to give just a little bit more effort, just so we could go and give this woman a blessing and relieve her of the pain she was feeling.
Another very humbling and very miraculous experience we had was that of finding a family of 15 people who live together in the same house. The mother inherited the house from her father when he died, and now she lives there with her husband, children, and grandchildren. The house is right between two factories, and some of the leakage from the factories has caused the house to sink into the ground quite badly. They are really poor and don't have a bathroom or shower, they live basically off the land, and the house is so small most of the kids have to sleep on the floor. One of the boys had his birthday just a couple weeks ago and he asked his mom for a cake, and she cried as she told us how she had to tell him they didn't have the money to buy one to celebrate.
I have never seen anything so sad in my life! As I thought about it in my prayers this morning I just began to cry. But we have seen the miracles with them. The bishop and relief society president went with us to their house yesterday, and the plans are already in the making to get them all to church this week. We took them a big box of toys, some cakes, and a lot of clothes and towels all from people from our ward: even some of the investigators we are teaching have contributed. It's really incredible, and I have seen how it's beginning to impact the members of the ward.
Something that we've been trying to do here in Carolina is get the ward members working with us, and we have been working hard to get the Bishop to understand that he has a responsibility to work for the salvation of those we are teaching. We taught him that he has the "keys to the facts related to the salvation" of the people in his ward (D&C 128:11). Because of this family the ward is finally working with us, and so is the Bishop. So the family is finally getting the help it needs, and the ward is strengthening, and the work is progressing.
To give you an idea of how many investigators we will have in church next week, let me just say Elder Delgado and I are about to break the record for the most investigators ever in a sacrament meeting here in the Puerto Rico San Juan mission. Not that we have a record book or anything, but there has never been as many as we will have next Sunday: 23 investigators. We have three baptismal dates as well.
The Lord is in charge of this work, and I am so grateful to be trusted with the sacred opportunity to be called His servant. As much as I miss you all and love you all, I know this is where I need to be. I hope you're all doing well: pray for me to have the faith and strength to help the Lord bless these people. I love you all!
Elder Cevering
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
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
Monday, January 7, 2013
January 7, 2013 Email
Hello Family!
Well, I'm sorry but this was a bit of an uneventful week--even though it was Three Kings day yesterday. I'm assuming that a lot probably happened that I didn't know about, but I'm not in an area where I know much about it. In Arecibo we would hear celebrations all the time, which included a lot of sirens and cherry bombs going off, and fireworks. But here there hasn't been much anything for the holiday: they coolest thing I saw was a pretty big fair, and some cool Three King lights on all the street lamps.
Carolina is a really big area: it's based off one of the more principal streets so most all our areas revolve around the freeway. They're small little urbanizations of houses, which can be confusing but also really convenient because people live closer together that way. We did a lot of "Inactive/Less-Active-Member" contacting this week, and because of the set-up of these little urbanizations it was a lot more efficient than what it would have been like in Corozal or Arecibo. The city is a lot more organized than the jungle! haha. I imagine you could understand why. We found a couple of really cool people to teach through contacting members too because a lot of them had moved--that's why they were "Inactive" on the list--and new people had moved in, or people nearby would come tell us that the houses we were contacting were empty. So it was pretty efficient.
We are teaching quite a few people too: there's a man named Atawelpa and another man name Julio who have baptismal dates--we set them with them this past week--for the end of January. Julio has been investigating the church for awhile but has never made any true commitment to it. We had to be firm to set a baptismal date with him for the 26th. haha. But Atawelpa is very new to the church: he has attended church twice, reads a LOT, and has really good doctrinal questions. We're going to teach him the Word of Wisdom today because he is a bit of a drinker, but I believe he's really prepared to receive the fulness of the gospel.
I do like Carolina, but I'm still adjusting to the change. The city is nice because everything is so close together, and there is some jungle and mountain areas where we are going to be working. But it's always weird to be in a new area: this being my THIRD area in three transfers. It's weird to be always meeting new members of wards and trying to learn the culture of the wards: here in Puerto Rico the wards are always different. Arecibo was more of a growing, young ward; the ward in Toa Baja--the ward of Corozal--was more full of families and more matured members of the church. I don't really know what to call this ward here because I was only here for sacrament yesterday--I was really sick with "la monga", which means the flu. It sounds really bad though doesn't it? Haha. La Monga!
We were living with two other missionaries, but they left to live closer to their area. So now it's just Elder Delgado and I living here. He's from Panama,but he only has this transfer left and he's kind of trunky.
A lot of Puerto Ricans talk in "Spanglish", meaning they talk with Spanish and English words in the same sentence, or they have taken English words and made them into Spanish verbs. So like we would say: "Oh my friend is texting me" they will say things like "Esta texteandome mi esposa". That's what an investigator told us this week. HAHA. "Texteando." That's funny. They also say things like "Swimear" and "Checkear"...oh man. So great.
Well, lastly, I am feeling MUCH better in my abdomen. Your fast and prayer must have worked :)
I love you all a lot! And I miss you too.
Elder Cevering
December 31, 2012 Email
Hello Family!
Well, the big news is that I was transferred again! Haha. I am now serving in Carolina--far, far east from Arecibo and even Toa Baja. I don't know where it is in regards to San Juan, but it's on more of the eastern side of the island. So far it looks like a cool place: it's kind of a mixture between a lot of campo and city. My companion is Elder Delgado: he's from Panama and he leaves for home this February. He speaks pretty good English. I was with him a few times before when I was living with Sister Visker and he was back in Bayamon.
The past week was a good one: talking on SKYPE was both heart-warming and heart-wrenching. But I wouldn't have had it any other way because it was a much more effective way of talking and it was good to see everyone. Puerto Ricans don't do a lot to celebrate Christmas other than put out big Christmas lights, eat really gross food called pasteles, and make cherry bombs to blow up. There's also a thing called the Mascarra--I don't know how to spell that. It only takes place in Hatillo, which is a part of the Arecibo area. These people dress up in thick, bright costumes and decorate big floats, then drive around and attack each other. They spray shaving cream on car windows and slide across the fronts of cars with bells attached to their belts. It's supposed to be a really crazy holiday: we weren't allowed to go over to Hatillo that day so you don't have to worry.
The baptism of Genoveva and Isaias went through last Saturday and it was so great. I felt--for one of the first times as a missionary--the sacred nature of my calling on a mission. To see them enter the water in white, and considering on the symbolism of baptism, was a very powerful experience. It reminded me of the words in D&C 84 where it says the power of godliness is made manifest in the ordinances of the priesthood. That's so true.
Another of the great things was to see that, though I wasn't the one baptizing them, I had contributed to so much of what they learned before their baptism. Elder Garcia and I were the ones who began teaching them everything, so that's cool.
I don't know the "why" of being transferred to Carolina, but I do think I know just a little bit about why I was transferred back to Arecibo. I was able to find a Colombian family last week that Elder Garcia and I contacted, but who Elder Garcia had never followed up with before being transferred. I took Elder Astle to this family and we taught them and it was a very spiritual lesson. They were strongly impacted by the Book of Mormon and in their prayer at the end of the lesson the father said: "If this is your will, please let us know that the Book of Mormon is true." I don't know the fruit of that prayer: but Elder Astle will let me know :). But if I had never gone back to Arecibo they may never have found that family again.
The quote this week comes from the gas station this past Saturday: the moon was HUGE and gold and Elder Astle was recording a video of it on Elder Thomas's camera. He said "Look at the size of that moon" and started talking in an Australian accent like some animal planet narrator. Then Elder Thomas turned around and says "Are you recording?" Haha. It was really funny in the moment, especially when we watched the recording.
To end, I just want to share that I learned something new about the atonement this past week: something I had never even thought about before. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and is the Savior of the world. A greater understanding of the atonement enriches our lives: although right now I am definitely still emotional about the transfer (because I love Arecibo and was excited to work there), I know that there are other people who need the atonement in their lives. Maybe I'm called to bring it to them?
Anyway, love you all! And I miss ya.
Elder Cevering
Friday, December 28, 2012
December 24, 2012 Email
Hello Family!
Well, like I told you I was transferred to Arecibo to work. This has been pretty great because I'm with Elder Astle now--we're the youngest companionship in the mission. Elder Jensen--his companion before--went home on the 15th, so that was why the transfer was made. The great thing is all of their investigators are now ours ON TOP of all the investigators that Elder Garcia and I had before both of us left for Toa Baja. So we have a lot of people to work with right now.
Christmas Conference was pretty fun: we went to El Yunque, which was cool! I don't have pictures today because I am using the computers in the church. We have to use the computers here because everything basically shuts down on holidays except for bars and the stores.
I performed my "Billionaire" Missionary Song at Christmas Conference. haha. President now calls me the "sensation" of the mission just for that song and he made me perform it again this morning at his house for our Christmas breakfast. That was kind of cool.
I'll tell you a little bit about what has happened back in Toa Baja/Corozal since I left. I was transferred before Junior's baptism, but he ended up not being baptized because he drank. Then last Saturday he was going to be baptized and I was going to perform it--I had permission because of circumstances with Elder Astle being in the mission choir--but he drank again the night before because of some crazy circumstances. He was at his son's house cooking when ten of his friends came over. They were all drinking and told him if he didn't drink that they would make him: so he drank. He's going to be baptized this Saturday if he doesn't drink again, but that's what has happened with him. I really feel bad for him: he really wanted to be baptized last Saturday, and the whole circumstance was kind of sketchy, but the rules are rules.
Although I don't get to baptize Junior, I do get to see the baptisms of Isaias and Genoveva this Saturday: do you remember that I was teaching them before I left? They're being baptized! It's going to be cool to see that.
Other than that, I have nothing more to tell you. It was just kind of a slow week: but I love ya!
Elder Cevering
Monday, December 17, 2012
December 17, 2012 Email
Hello Family
We only have five minutes to write: we're going to Il Yunque for mission conference right now. It should be pretty cool.
Some news: I was transferred back to Arecibo. I'll tell you more about that next week when we talk: still plan on around 2-3:00 Puerto Rican time for me to SKYPE.
Love ya
Elder Cevering
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Hello Family!
Well, I have some good news and some bad news: the bad news is I am still showering in cold caribean water. The good news is we have baptisms scheduled for this week and next week! And I will be performing the baptism for Junior/Augustine this Saturday.
So, it has been a crazy past couple of weeks working in Corozal: it's really great up there working with Maritza, having a cooler climate because we're in the mountains, and getting to enjoy the change of culture from city to campo (jungle). We have Augustine being baptized this Saturday, and we have Martha, Junito, and Ivalys being baptized next Saturday.
Augustine is very prepared for baptism: the other day we met at his house and taught his entire family the Plan of Salvation. His entire family lives in the same little alcove of the jungle, so we've met pretty much all of them. He's been teaching them so their interest has increased and they've accepted us. It's really great! But he does more than teach his family: he's come with us to teach other people, and he's also gone with Maritza and the other missionaries to some lessons. How more prepared can you get? I'm so excited for his baptism, and I was really excited when he asked me to baptize him. Typically we have members baptize them, but President told us that in the month of December only missionaries will perform baptisms. So you'll be getting some great pictures! I may not be in Utah, but I guess I'll get to see a white Christmas.
Besides that, we have a Jehovah's Witness following us around! haha. There's a great talk titled "The Futility of Fear" in which the speaker tells of a time when he was a mission president and a preacher followed some of his missionaries around to all their appointments and door-contacts. He says in this talk that he told his missionaries "Good"--that the preacher is following you--"because that means the devil's getting scared." That's been my perspective on this wonderful experience with this Jehovah's Witness: both Elder Peacock and I have had some good conversations with her: the most recent one ended with Elder Peacock saying "Until you read the Book of Mormon and pray about it we have nothing to discuss. Through the power of modern day revelation I have received more truth than you and until you cease to fight against that we are done." Then he handed her a Book of Mormon and we left. It was pretty great!
With Elder Peacock I've been learning to be bolder, as you can tell from the previous story. But even more than that is this: because Elder Peacock leaves for choir trips once a week I have been running our area: setting up baptismal dates, coordinating lessons, and dealing with our tag-along-Jehovah's Witness. And I just found out twenty minutes ago that he's leaving again Wednesday until Sunday for a choir trip: that means I will be doing a lot for the next couple days. But he told me today that he was praying about the circumstances and he received this inspiration: "Teach Elder Cevering what you can, and then he'll take care of it." HAHA. When I prayed for a mountain to climb, I didn't think it would have so many random inclines :/ But I'll do my best to keep everything running.
The other night we had a HUGE snake on our porch: it was wrapped around the railing just traveling along. Elder Peacock was outside talking on the phone when he saw it and shouted haha it was so funny! But I didn't have my camera because it was in the car, which was on the other side of the snake, so I didn't get a picture. I'm sorry! But the story ends with us sicking the Dominican Republic elder on it--Elder Paula--and he knocked it off the porch with a broom. Such a great experience. Living with Latin Americans is really great: they take care of snakes for you, and they also provide a lot of entertainment. We were making smores the other day by putting marshmallows in the microwave: you should have seen the Latins laughing and screaming as the marshmallows expanded in the heat! HAHA. That was one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed. They started grabbing big bowls and butting marshmallows in them to watch them grow, and they would get so excited. Oh man, it was so awesome.
Also, in church we were talking about "experiences with the Holy Ghost" and one of the guys said: "One time, after I had prayed and taken my medicine, I climb into bed and a few minutes later I floated and levatated over my bed!" And he was saying that this was a manifestation of the Holy Ghost. One of the guys then said: "Must have been your medicine." HAHA. So great.
Besides that I don't have a lot to report: I met a family by the name of Endecott. They used to live in Huntsville years ago and they know the Allens, the Buttars, the Froerers, Alan Mckay, the Packs. The husband works for the Boy Scouts of America and because he served his mission here in Puerto Rico the Boy Scouts sent him here to work. They're a cool family.
Well, I am tired! We did a lot today: our P-days are always really crazy. We have been cleaning our house all day, but typically we have meetings until 12:00 before we email, go shopping, and do our cleaning. This week was the exception because some of the missionaries have been living like slobs. So we cleaned and cleaned!
I love you all and miss you!
Elder Cevering
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)