Making Tostones & Photos of a Baptism

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

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

Email February 4, 2013

Hello Family! Today I went to get my Puerto Rican drivers license: and I couldn't get it because I don't have my social security card. There are some places here in Puerto Rico where you don't have to take your S.S. to get your license--Puerto Rico is crazy--but we don't have time to drive all over. So we don't get to use the car next week. Hooray for bikes! We'll see how that goes. I'm a bit excited to bike again because I need to get toned again. Driving in a car doesn't do any good for your body. It was a pretty exciting week too! This week we had 10 investigators in church: we dropped three of them--Milagros and Edwin--because they went to the Bishop to ask for money, and we just think they've been searching for the benefits of the church. And then the others had to work. People work a lot in Puerto Rico. But let me tell you about three of those investigators. You'll remember Pablo--the investigator with a baptismal date. He came to church yesterday and it was incredible what happened. After the time had passed and it was time to end sacrament meeting, he went up to bare his testimony. He stood up and said: "I hope that God can help me to say the things that I feel." He then went on to say that he had always wanted the opportunity to stand in front of a pulpit and share his feelings. He said: "I know the two young men that teach me are the true ministers of Christ, and that this is His church. I haven't been baptized yet, but I am going to follow in this way and become one of you. I hope to give each member of my family the opportunity to stand in front of this pulpit and feel like I do." We were all STUNNED. After the meeting I turned around to him--he was sitting behind me with the Collazos. He said: "When can I be baptized?" It was one of those moments where I felt like I never want to stop being a missionary. We are going to talk to him tonight about a baptismal date because he needed to look more at his schedule. But we're hoping to set the baptismal date for this week. Another of the investigators we have is named Lym. She is the daughter of a Pentecostal Minister. And, in order to talk to her, we had to attend her father's church this week. We showed up Friday night and everyone just stared at us. HAHA. It was really cool. The pastor gave a lesson about prayer and it was very doctrinal. It had some weird parts to it. They asked the question: "Why is it okay to use the name Jesus multiple times if you are in an emergency?" I thought about it and decided I didn't know the answer. Maybe I never will either. But it was a fun experience: Lym's dad introduced us right before we left, and as we were walking out the door he began singing "Which is the correct church?" A hymn I'm sure he made up on the spot because it had no real rhythm. Lym's mom even sent a text to her during the meeting saying: "Make sure they listen so they are converted." Haha. If they'd only known we were there to talk to her about her baptism. Lym has already taken all of the lessons, and she's 24 so she can be baptized without parental permission. The problem is she feels a lot of family pressure because she sings in her dad's choir and has always been raised in his house. Even now she lives with him. We're helping her develop the faith to take the step of baptism. I definitely feel for her though! As I was thinking about her scenario the other day I almost started crying: haha the mission brings you to love people way too deeply. I want her to make the right decision, but I feel her pain and the stress of the situation. In church yesterday she told us that she will be baptized before Elder Delgado leaves--the 26th of February. So we'll see! And lastly, let me tell you all about the family of 15: we aren't sure what we are going to do with them right now. We just found out that Juanity--the mom--is married to a man who lives in the Dominican Republic, but she's been living with another man--Samuel--for 11 years. She never got divorced, and it's a lot of money, and a lot of hardship if he lives in the DR. Plus, Samuel decided he doesn't want to listen to us anymore. We're going to meet with them this week with the Collazos. The sister of Juanita is really prepared though. We have to find out her situation with her boyfriend though before we jump to conclusions. She has two great sons who both really love coming to church--one is 18 and the other 14. The church really needs Priesthood holders, so we are excited to see them progress. Other than that, we are just waiting on Atawelpa to get baptized. He tells us he's not ready, but he always calls himself a Mormon. He talks about the things that "we teach" and "we do" in "our church." He gave a prayer in church thanking his Father in Heaven for the opportunity to "have the truth." We don't really know what to do with him. He believes Jesus Christ was an ordinary man who had sins of his own. He told us that yesterday when he asked us why Jesus was baptized. We thought he asked that question and was going to say he felt ready to be baptized, but that's not how the conversation went. Haha. Now, to end, let me tell you all about this great title. First, let me tell you that a lot of members in our ward call me Harry Potter. Don't ask me why--I think it's because of my glasses, and because they forget the name Cevering. But anyway, yesterday we were driving to a member's house and we started talking about movies. Elder Delgado said: "Elder Cevering, you're Harry Potter." Then he stopped and said, "You're a lizard, Harry!" trying to act like Hagrid from the first movie. HAHA. Lizard? It's so funny to see him make mistakes in English. Anyway, I love you all and miss you! And before I forget, Elder Neil L. Anderson is coming to our mission this week. I don't know how I forgot to tell you that before. It's going to be really cool! Elder Cevering

Email January 28, 2013

Hello Family! Well, what a week! Haha I'm so excited to take a SHORT nap today. I've been super tired all week long: missions are a lot of work. It's spiritually and physically trying because you don't just labor with your body: as you exercise your faith in prayer, teaching, and fasting you find that you get worn out in spirit. Let me tell you a story! Yesterday we had 19 new faces in church. :)--smiling just like that. Haha. We had 8 of the family of 15 with us, 5 other investigators, and an inactive family that recently moved from Bayamon. The chapel was pretty full, which made the members so excited. After everyone had gone we had a meeting with the bishop, and the second counselor of the stake presidency came in and told us: "Tremendous work elders!" He told the bishop: "You have a FORCE with these elders to do whatever you need." And he said, "I wanted to take a picture of the chapel!" It was really great: they all really enjoyed it too. But back to what I was saying about being tired, when the final speaker in sacrament meeting said "amen" I had this random exhaustion come over me. It was a huge relief to have gotten all of these great new people through church--after a week of praying and teaching and organizing--and my spirit was at rest...for a little bit. Haha. When we got back to our apartment I sat down and sighed in relief, then realized: "Wait a minute, now we just have to work harder to get ALL of them their next week." HAHA. Oh man. In my life, I've definitely had trials and times when I labored hard to open the doors of heaven, but I've never so consistently been tried like this. But I've never had more joy in hardship than I have now. The week started with zone conference where President Alvarado announced that the mission is no longer a "knocking on doors" mission. He showed us the numbers of inactive and less-active members and said: "Get to work." Elder Delgado were already working with lists of the less-active and inactive, but the focus was intensified after President Alvarado made the announcement. Now all of our proselyting work is done through members and through the neighbors of less-active and inactive members. It's really effective. And let me tell you: the Lord prepared Carolina for this. When the members saw how many people we had in church this Sunday, they were moved upon! We got some references and invitations to dinner, which we weren't getting before. One of our investigators, Pablo--he lives out in the campo--didn't come to church yesterday, which was really disappointing. He has a baptismal date for this Saturday, which fell through because of his lack of attendance. We're meeting with him tonight--I believe--to talk to him. He's a really humble, intelligent guy and I hope he hasn't given up on the gospel. He has cancer though so he is pretty busy, which is understandable. He goes to the doctor a lot during the week and needs his rest. We bought him some hot chocolate mix to help him quit drinking coffee, so we'll see how that goes. We also contacted an old investigator last Saturday and he told us he is ready to accept the gospel now. He said he's just been kind of waiting for a reason to come to church: and then we showed up. It's really cool how that works out: when I very first got here to Carolina I went through the records of old investigators and picked out 6 to contact. Of those 6 we found this guy last Saturday--his name is Ismael--, another guy named Edwin--the guy who led us to his mom's house and told us that he wasn't actually Edwin--and a woman who invited us to her house this Tuesday. I don't remember her name. But it's been cool to see how they have all progressed: Edwin and his mom and son came to church on Sunday, Ismael invited us back to teach him this week and prepare him for church, and this other woman. The Lord is really guiding us. I told Elder Delgado that he and I were foreordained to break down the boulders that had caused so much damming here in Carolina. He said: "YEAH!" He and I aren't really great friends: I don't want to say a lot, but I'll just say that these past 4 weeks have been a great lesson of patience. We are becoming friends though. We have disagreements and a lot of differences, but we can always laugh, which is really good. I do miss having Elder Peacock as a companion though. Haha. I imagine that's how I'll feel a lot in the mission. Well, I love you all and miss you! Six months down: where did the time go? And: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA! I love ya! Elder Cevering

Elder Cevering enjoying a yummy dinner!

A view of Carolina, Puerto Rico

15 people live in this tiny little home

The Bishop's house in Carolina, Puerto Rico

View from the Bishop's home in Carolina, Puerto Rico

Pictures of all the people baptismed during 2012 in the Puerto Rico Mission

Checking out some kind of Puerto Rican 'fruit'??? (Not sure what it is)

Elder Cevering in Carolina, Puerto Rico

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

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

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

Christmas Day at a member's house

Elder Cevering at Isaias & Genoveva's Baptism

Elder Cevering at El Yunque Waterfall

San Juan Mission Activity - The entire mission hiked El Yunque