Email July 15, 2013

Hello Family! It's another holiday here again, Martin Lugo day or something like that, probably some guy who fixed a sewer here so they are celebrating it, so I’m writing from the chapel. Haha These past few weeks have been good. We've had some cool things happen: I had a boricua burger. Boricua is the nickname for Puerto Ricans. Like Gringo for Americans like me. The boricua burger is really good: they put caramelized plantains (spelling?) on the burger and it's really good. I was really unsure I would like it, but it was great. I want more haha. Our activity yesterday was basically a flop. The member who told us he had 10 friends lined up to come to church didn't even come--and he's the first counselor in the bishopric. Lame. Elder Delcompare said, "He deceived me." Haha. But seriously. Only one member brought a family member to church who isn't a member. I was really disappointed because of all the work we'd put in to make it great: visiting the members, communicating with the leaders, organizing the lessons, etc. And then not one of the members--who told us they had someone coming--actually brought someone. They are lost in this idea of "All is well in Zion." If I'm not transferred this week, I will be hitting the pavement hard. But the good thing was there were 6 investigators there--our own investigators and of the other elders. The man Elder Castaneda and I found in the pueblo a few weeks ago was baptized yesterday. He bore a really great testimony. His name is Thomas. Our district is set up to have 8 baptisms over the next three Sundays. It's really exciting. This week I have plans to work with the elders' quorom president on the home teaching program. All of the companionships are assigned, but since he doesn't know where basically anyone lives I am going to take him to a lot of houses--particularly less-actives and part-member families. I know where more houses are than the leaders of the ward. I took the bishop one night to a part of the campo he said he didn't even know existed. haha. So I feel pretty valuable right now, and I'm hoping because of that they don't move me out of here. I love Carolina! I realized the other day I've spent a quarter of my mission here. So why not a year? haha. Last Saturday we went up to Cedro--the furthest point of the campo--to visit the bishop to make the final plans for the activity on Sunday. He was out on the little lawn mower mowing his lawn. It's so funny to me. Here we are up in this valley in the jungle, and there's people out with lawn mowers and trimmers cleaning up their yard. Classic Puerto Rico. Haha. Their problem is they don't bag the grass, so they have to sweep it all up. While I was helping the bishop with that--Elder Delcompare was just playing with his kids--it started raining. But what would have taken the bishop hours to do on his own we were able to take care of in about 30 minutes. It was great. While we were raking up the grass, I looked down at my hands and saw them covered in grass and I thought about the priesthood. I have really come to love the symbol of the laying on of hands. To administer to the sick we place our hands on their heads to bless them. The same applies to the sacrament: we use our hands to prepare it, break it, and pass it. The same applies in the temple when a man and woman are sealed by holding hands across the altar, and in baptism a man or woman is submerged by hands and arms. And with all those thoughts, I've been impressed by this simple thought of "What have your hands been doing lately?" I thought that while I was looking at my grass-covered hands. I thought about all that symbolism, and I thought about work and service, and about the priesthood and I was really touched. I learned something about having power in the priesthood in that moment. Anyway, I love you all a lot. I've thought a lot about you guys this past week. I'm not trunky, but it's exciting that I'm almost at my year mark. Time has really gone by so fast to me. And things are changing back home: good luck Jacob with your mission call. And with this whole getting a dog thing...wow. I'm surprised dad was willing to get a small one ;) I really hate puerto rican dogs. They're possessed to hate missionaries. Not a joke. Love you! Elder Cevering

Email July 8, 2013

Hello! Unfortunately, another day went by and some things happened and we weren't able to write until now. They decided to just close down the libraries here in carolina for the month since the kids aren't in school anymore. And then we got stuck in traffic on the way to and from Bayamon, so we are way behind. But just so you know, things are going great. We had a great activity this week where we played soccer with some youth from the area. 23 of them. It was really awesome. They all really liked us and were interested in what we do. That's some work for missionaries to do in the near future. President Smartt is really cool. I love his Alabama accent. Love you all! Elder Cevering

Email July 1, 2013

Hello Family! Well, this week was pretty great! I was really excited to send you those pictures last week and, unfortunately, I don't have time to send more. Today is Canada day: that means all the Puerto Rican places with computers are closed. And we didn't know that until just twenty minutes ago so we're going to be hurrying to send off our emails from the chapel. But as you saw last week, we went to el Morro. It was super cool. It's a lot like the castles we visited in Ireland. You'll love seeing it when we come back ;) The coolest part was to be out on the sea shore. It's really so beautiful here. President Alvarado leaving has been a sad experience. I really loved him a lot. He just cried and cried when he gave his farewell talk. He was barely able to say he loved us as he walked out the door. Most of the missionaries were crying. But even though it was sad, I'm really excited to meet President Smartt. He sounds really great--we hear things from outsiders. Some missionaries have family or friends who know him. The work of salvation broadcast was very incredible. I was stoked when I heard the changes in internet policy. Not that Facebook is on my mind, and obviously there will be a lot of rules connected to its use, but it will be a great way to connect with members and their friends. I really see the inspiration behind it. I spend my mornings contacting and I feel like it has hardly any fruit. And in the campo it's hard to contact. The roads are thin, the houses spread out, and there are no spaces to park your car. Blah. So I'm excited. But we're actually going to be changing our area up a little bit, so we won't be in the campo so frequently. Our plan to have the members bring a friend to church is working out incredibly. We had dinner with the first counselor in the bishopric the other night. He told us he has 8 friends already invited and committed to coming to church. They are coming from different places of the island, which is really cool. Maybe just this single activity can have an impact on the whole island. We'll see. I already know of 10 non-members who will attend on the 14th. We're trying to have 5 baptisms that day. Stake policy here in the San Juan stake is that we do baptisms on Sunday, so that would be a really neat addition to the activity. Unfortunately, one of the core families of the ward apostatized this past week. There are a lot of details behind it that I can't talk about. They believe things about the leaders that are not true--to give you just a bit of information, I'll just tell you they believe that there is a sort of "voudou" involved, and that leaders are doing things on purpose to make this family angry. It's really lame. When I visited them they were really receptive to us and told us to continue visiting and asking them to help us with missionary work. But I can't take someone who is against church leaders to a lesson with an investigator. We're praying hard for them. We talked with them pretty strongly, and the stake president's going to visit. Hopefully the Lord will soften their hearts and show them that they're thinking irrationally. I love you all! Thank you so much! Elder Cevering

Photos from Puerto Rico - Some are from Old San Juan...Beautiful!

Email June 24, 2013

Hello Family! Well, I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time to write because we went to el moro today as a mission as a final activity with president alvarado. To save time we came to the library that's closer to our house to write. It was a super cool activity: el Moro is the famous old Spanish fort here on the shore. You'll be really jealous when you see the pictures ;) but it's just a warm up for our future vacation here. Other than that, I don't have time to write. I'm doing well. My shout out goes to Sister Liston. Thank you so much for sending me the package of pasta! Haha. It's been put to use very gratefully! Love you all! Elder Cevering

June 17, 2013

Hello! Our week was pretty great: we began teaching a woman named Mayra and her two sons who are both priesthood age. They were a reference from a member. Our first lesson was really spiritual: we talked about the restoration and the book of mormon, and she was really touched. She had a lot of really good questions, and in her prayer in the end she asked if it was true. The member was amazed at how spiritual the lesson was. The only sad part was that they didn't come to church because Mayra got a little bit drunk Saturday night. We're going to work with her on that. Another really cool thing happened when I was on an exchange with Elder Castaneda the week before this past one. We went to contact one of his potential investigators in the pueblo, and we ran right into a man who received a book of mormon about a year ago. He was really excited to see us because he had a lot of questions and the missionaries never passed by to see him again after their first visit. He was so interested, but really confused. He'd been reading things about reincarnation because he was confused by Christ's statement that all men must be born again. But he came to church yesterday and loved it. He told Elder Castaneda, "Just let me know when you think I'm ready and I'll be baptized." He asked a lot of funny questions in our gospel principles class. I was teaching about the Holy Ghost, and I was sharing a story about the time He had guided me. I asked a question at one point to which he responded, "Your spirit left you and flew to where you needed to be right?" haha. But he's a really cool guy and he's learning so much. He lives all the commandments already strictly through his beliefs and "research." We also worked more in the campo with Pablo--recent convert. He has a lot of friends and a desire to share the gospel with them. We met a friend of his who owned the biggest pigs I've ever seen in my life. They were like baby cows. Unfortunately our lesson with him wasn't really great: he was pretty stern about the fact that his uncle was the pastor of the church standing right next door. But we met some other really great friends of Pablo who we will definitely be going back to teach. Even more changes happened in the ward this week. The primary president and the young women president were both released and new people were called. The relief society received its two counselors. The first counselor in the bishopric was officially sustained by the ward. A lot of big steps for the ward that have me really excited. I'm grateful to be a part of it. There is a man who always asks for money at the traffic lights near our house. The other day I gave him 40 cents that was just hanging out in the car. He was so funny. He said, "Ah, thank you, holy brother. AMEN!" And continued asking for money. Haha. Puerto Rico. The respect that people have for the missionaries is a little bit weird honestly. But it's good. I love it. Their opinion of religion is kind of messed up though, but something really cool that I love here is the christian services up in the campo. One of our potential investigators lives up on this mountain ridge. All along this ridge there are houses, and there is a church further below. Well, we went to his house the other night with the bishop, and the investigator was just sitting out on his porch listening to the pastor. It was completely dark except for the house lights, but the microphones from the church are set up to reach the people up on the mountain. I thought it was a cool experience. We stood there and listened for a little bit. Just imagine that: up on this dark mountain listening to the church services from below. Really cool honestly. Well, I love you all! Elder Cevering

June 10, 2013

Hello Family! I am excited to tell you that I am still in Carolina! WOO HOO! I am so excited. Because of that I will probably be here in October. The leaders say when President Smartt comes he probably won't transfer missionaries around for two transfers because he won't know us or the areas. I'm hoping that's true because some miracles happened this past week in this area that I'm excited to see roll forward. Waiting on the Lord has truly brought me more faith. As far as personal work in the campo, it all slowed down this week because Elder Delcompare got dengue. We were all so frustrated. We had a meeting with the zone leaders this morning about the opposition that we have been facing in our district. Let me tell you some things that have happened: the sisters were in a car wreck and one of them had to go to Florida to be treated for potential internal injuries; my bike, Elder Castaneda's bike, and Elder Helm's bike are all damaged; I had dengue and then the monga; and now just as I have recovered Elder Delcompare has the dengue. Elder Helm is sick right now. The opposition has really beaten us down. I talked with the district that the opposition is a sign that something good is about to happen: the devil doesn't want us to get something, so he's been trying to stop us. But that "something" came yesterday! The Lord's hand was shown in Carolina incredibly. Listen to this: last Sunday I went to visit the Bishop and his family up in Cedro (that's the farthest point in our area from our house). He and I were talking, and he said he wasn't really sure what to do to get the revelation he needed. I told him "make your sixteen stones." His wife said, "Yeah, go to El Yunque!" El Yunque is the rainforest/tallest mountain in Puerto Rico. So he decided he would go to El Yunque. He prayed before leaving his house, then headed up to El Yunque with questions as to new callings to make. He went up, prayed, read the scriptures, pondered. Then he went home, and when he walked in the house his wife asked: "Do you have any names?" He said, "No, but I feel really good." He continued pondering, and he told us that yesterday right when he sat down to begin priesthood meetings he had two revelations: call a new relief society president, and ordain a new priesthood holder. So he released the relief society president--who'd been president for years--and called a younger woman to be the new president. Then he ordained Jonathan--the young man who was baptized back in February--to the office of a priest and told Jonathan that he will soon have the opportunity to baptize other members of his family. The Spirit was really strong. And just so you know, Jonathan is the only active young priest in the ward now. There were no active young men who were of the office of priest for almost two years now, and here's the first. The Bishop shared this whole experience with Elder Castaneda and I about this in a short meeting after church. Then he invited us to share an idea I had this past week. My time at home with Elder Delcompare gave me some time to "go to El Yunque" as well. My idea was that the bishop and the other leaders invite and encourage every member to invite a friend to come to church with them on the 7th of July. The plan will go into effect on the 16th. And each week leading up to the 7th we as the missionaries are going to visit every member of the ward: the first week we are going to drop off materials for them to give away and teach them how to give it away; the second week we are going to bring them a message and do a follow up and continue planning with them; the third week we are going to go out and visit their friends with them. Then there will be a ward activity where the less-actives, inactives, and investigators are invited. Then they will have the invitation to come to the church meeting on the 7th. The bishop loved the idea. He said, "I like it." And then asked, "What day can I leave to work with you this week?" We set up to leave with him Tuesday night and he set it on his calendar. He told us his wife is going to invite their neighbor to dinner and we are going to go teach them :) So, after that, I went back to the elders and I said, "This is it! The ward is ready to go to work. We have to really purify ourselves now and go to work." We had a great discussion during our planning session, and our goal this week is to work with the leaders to find out the messages they want us to share with the members in the coming weeks. I'm really excited about it. It's going to bring me down out of the mountains for awhile, but that's okay: in the end, it will help us to find more people up there because members have friends and family up there. That's really been my week. Nothing else exciting. Things are just really progressing here in Carolina and I'm grateful to be a part of it. I've been perfectly fine as far as health goes. I was kind of depressed during the week because of all the time I have spent in the house due to dengue, but with everything that happened yesterday I got re-fired up again. It's such a blessing to be part of the Lord's work. I love you all a lot! And I miss ya! Elder Cevering

June 3, 2013

Hello Family! I had a crazy night last night that you will enjoy hearing about :) So I was calling the sisters last night to get their numbers for the week and that started around 9:30. They didn't answer me the first few times. So I thought they must have been doing their planning still. I waited until 9:45 and called again and they still didn't answer. Then I called the zone leaders to give them the information I already did have and told them the sisters weren't answering. They just told me to keep calling. So I called...until 10:15 and they still hadn't answered. So I call the zone leaders and we talk to the AP's and we tried calling some members over in the sisters' area. I called the owner of their house and his phone was disconnected. All these calls happened until 10:30. At 10:30 the zone leaders left from San Juan to go to Pontezuela. They arrived around 11:00 and called me to get exact directions to the house. I stayed on the phone with them as they shouted. They honked and shouted at the house for about 15 minutes, and then some members arrived. They all hopped the gate at the house and climbed the steps and started banging on the windows. In the meanwhile I'm in Carolina just praying, my mind was wandering on what could have happened. It was really crazy. About 11:30 the zone leaders called me back and said the sisters were in the house. What had happened was both of the sisters thought the other sister had the phone, but they left it in their car. When they didn't ever hear the phone ring they just thought I must not be looking for their numbers, so they prepared and went to bed. And then when they heard men shouting and honking outside they got afraid. But after awhile they realized, "It must be the elders!" So they went outside and they talked, and explained all that had happened. Super crazy experience. I was so anxious I couldn't sleep after that haha. I saw them this morning and they were so embarrassed by the whole thing. That's definitely going in my journal. Now, the rest of the week was pretty good. I haven't been so sick and tired. I went and bought medicine--thank you mom and dad for always having bought my medicine. I never realized just how expensive it was :) Transfers are next Monday, so I'm kind of anxious. I'm not quite ready to leave from Carolina yet. I have too many things to do here, or so I feel. Our investigators are in sort of a slump. We weren't able to visit with Andres and Lowra. I don't know what happened: they just didn't answer when we went to their house. And the next day we went back their daughter told me they were sleeping, which is one of the classic excuses to not talk to the missionaries. So we'll see what happens. I am praying really hard for them. They need the gospel so badly in their lives. We found a new investigator last week in Pontezuela: his name is Billy Gun the Giant. Maybe you can google him. He was a luchador. He has ulcers in his legs now so he's out of commission, but he is an icon here in Carolina. He lived in Utah for a couple years and loves us. He calls me Mr. Elder haha and he tried to pay me money for visiting him. Things in his household are really crazy though: he lives with his mom because of his medical issues. But anyway, Billy is getting ready to be baptized into an Evangelical church. We weren't able to teach him much: he likes to talk a lot. He loves us and just wants to talk to us, but we're going to teach him a solid lesson. He showed us this little workbook that the pastor gave him to prepare for baptism. That's the way things are run here in Puerto Rico: the pastors give out these workbooks that the people have to fill out. It's like a little search book. There will be questions in them like this: What did God teach Moses? (see Exodus blah, blah, blah). Funny things in the world. I was surprised there wasn't a word search or something in there. There are a lot of crazy churches here in Puerto Rico and they all have really long names. Here are some examples of names: "Church of Christ: God is love," "Defenders of the Fountain of Faith of the Lamb of God", "Evangelical Temple of Missionaries of the Lamb of the Faith and Salvation." Lots of things like that. So Elder Helm was making fun of them. He said, "Yeah we saw this church the other day. It was called like the Church of Christ and the lamb of deception...or something like that." We laughed so hard at that part: lamb of deception. Haha. Oh man. Well, love you all! Elder Cevering

Email May 27, 2013

Hello Family! This week was a really disappointing week because, once again, I've been sick. The dengue has a three-month recurring effect, and on top of that I have been living with Elder Helm, who has had a flu called the monga. So, as I was coming out of the dengue, and since my immune system was weak, I then developed the monga. So I was down in bed a few days this week. It's been frustrating to not be able to go out and work. Other news, Elder Smith was sent to Tortola--really beautiful--and my new companion came in from Tortola: Elder Delcompare. He's from Guatemala. It's been cool. Elder Delcompare is a great guy. But we probably won't be companions very long. I'll probably get a new missionary next week and start training again. On Tuesday and Wednesday I worked with the zone leaders (Elder Castaneda and Elder Helm)in their area until Elder Delcompare came in. Then Thursday and Friday I was down in bed. Saturday we worked all day, and then part of Sunday I was in bed again. It was frustrating, but I got a blessing and I think I'll get better. I'm going to buy more meds tonight :) We were able to visit Andres and Lowra again this week. Unfortunately Andres had been drinking so we weren't really able to talk with him. But Lowra is really great: she set up an appointment with us for this Thursday. I'm really excited. This morning we were visited by Elder Cornish of the seventy. I was asked to sing Savior, Redeemer of My Soul with one of the sister missionaries. I was almost not going to do it because the monga has basically taken away my voice. But with the blessing I got I was able to sing. People said they could tell I was sick, but they said we did a good job. And then Elder Cornish was really great: I could definitely feel the power of his calling. Anyway, love you all! Don't worry about my health, I will be better by next week for sure :) Elder Cevering

Email May 20, 2013

Hello Family! This week was a rough one! There were some really good points, but the dengue just really had me in bed a lot. I was hurting a lot on Saturday so I went to lay down for five minutes between lunch and 12 week program study, and I sacked out for four hours. It was really crazy. I feel like on the mission I have suffered a lot physically haha. Torn abdomen. Dengue Fever. But I've really found that through those experiences the Lord is humbling me: I'm grateful for those chances to wait on the Lord. I can humbly say the Lord has helped me become more humble. And I've found a lot of peace in my life despite the trials. We had a really great lesson with a couple named Andres and Lowra. They live up in the campo at the end of a random road. Elder Smith and I sometimes just drive around to really explore the area so that we know where we can go. And every time we come to a dead end we contact the houses at the end. It's a good system: that's how we found Andres and Lowra. When we were talking to Andres for the first time he told us, "Something needs to happen to help fix things in our lives." We testified of the power of the restored gospel, and he invited us back. We taught he and Lowra about the restoration. As we talked I asked them when the last time was that they felt peace. They couldn't answer. So I promised them peace as they read the Book of Mormon. And they've been reading! I'm really excited about the potential they have. They have a little six year old daughter who's really cute too haha she goes crazy when we are there. Another investigator we teach for the sisters has gone to church three times. His name is Ferdinand: he has accepted to be baptized, but doesn't want to commit to a baptismal date because he's "poor". It's true, he really has nothing. They just recently announced here in Puerto Rico that they are going to stop producing food coupons, which is the support a lot of people here have--like Ferdinand. And Ferdinand lost his job because he punched a kid he worked with...so it's not an ideal situation. But he loves going to church: he was praying to God for guidance, walking through the street, when the sisters found him, and he says that he believes God has directed him to the church. So he'll be baptized, it's just a matter of asking when. He's really cool. I had a sort of sentimental moment yesterday. I was talking to Lin--I used to call her Lym, but that's because I didn't understand her perfectly haha--at church about when she wanted to get married to Esteban. She told me she's just basically waiting for him to propose, but that he doesn't have the money to buy a ring. Then she said, "I'd accept a bread-bag tie around my finger!" I was surprised and really humbled! She loves him so much she's willing to take basically nothing as a commitment to marry him. Ha. It made me think "I hope one day a woman loves me enough that she would accept even a "bread-bag tie" from me." :) haha. That's all sentimental and stuff, but it's an honest, heart-felt thing. Anyway, love you all! Elder Cevering

Email May 13, 2013

We had a great time Skyping with Michael yesterday! He is doing really good and seemed very happy. He loves his mission president and is really enjoying his area and assignments. His email today is very short because of our visit on Sunday, but we wanted to ask you all to keep Michael in your prayers. He told us yesterday that he came down with Dengue and has been sick with it since his birthday (May 7th). As you know, Dengue can be very serious, and although he seems to have the more moderate strain and is recovering fine, he has been very sick. Please keep him in your prayers because I read that once they’ve contracted the mild/moderate form of Dengue, it increases their risk of having “severe” symptoms if they’re infected another strain of Dengue (there are 4 different strains). Oh, and a funny story to pass along… he told us that recently he was sleeping on the floor because they didn’t have enough beds for all the Elders in their apartment, and he woke up with a tarantula next to his sleeping bag…YIKES! He said it was gray and was as big as his hand! Michael HATES spiders! He hates the small ones we have here – imagine his reaction when he woke up to find a tarantula next to him! Haha! Wish we’d had a camera to capture his reaction! Thanks everyone for your prayers and support! His email wasn't very long this week because of our phone call, but I thought I would post it anyway. -Melanie Cevering (Michael's Mom)............... Hello! Even though we got to talk yesterday, I thought I'd just send some thoughts home from the week. Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday: I am grateful to know of prayers and support in my behalf. We are having a lot of success right now in the campo. It has amazed me how the Lord has opened the doors to missionary work. I hope I have much more time to work here and really get this work going in this area of Carolina. One of my new goals is to start strengthening the ward members, that they can become shepherds. I know I won't be here forever, but I want to leave a legacy. What do I want them to say about me in Carolina in the years to come? I would just want them to say that with my help they were able to become Shepherds and missionaries. Love you all! Elder Cevering

Email May 6, 2013

Hello Family! This past week was a very successful week. Our area is doing really well. We are seeing a lot of success in the campo. We have more than 20 people to go back and visit this week. We have gone with three different members up to the campo, and they took us to their friends and family. We have 4 families to teach, about 8 couples, and the rest are just people we contacted in the street: and that's just in the area called Cacao. There are more in an area called Carruzo, and we received 4 references in an area called Santa Cruz. It's been incredible to see how the campo has just opened to us. I really know the Lord has prepared it for this time. The ward calls Elder Smith and I the "pioneers" because missionaries have never focused their work on the campo. They've obviously given us their support, so it's really exciting. The other two assignments that we have are to find the less-actives and inactives, and to teach the men in Pontezuela. We have a lot of people to set up lessons with in Pontezuela this week. One of them is Milton: he's a young guy with a really young daughter. He's divorced--because he's been drinking and smoking and his wife was sick of it--so he has really been struggling with some things. The gospel really clicks with him, but he doesn't get how it really can help him. It's kind of like he loves the idea of the gospel helping him, but he still doesn't have that faith to really apply the blessings of the gospel in his life. We were visiting with him the other day, and his face was all scarred because he'd been drunk and he'd fallen on the floor. He said, "I can't meet with you guys right now, I need to go sleep off some of this stress." It was interesting. I really want to help him understand and apply the atonement. As far as the work with the less-actives and inactives go, we actually had a good number of them at church yesterday. It was really cool. We've been able to find and meet with a lot of them. But the members in the campo are a lot harder to find: people protect them from us. Haha. The ward's been searching for this guy named Juan for years, but apparently no one will tell the missionaries or members where he lives when they are up looking for him. And they know he still lives where he always has because he's been "sighted" by members. It's like Big Foot. I'm determined to find him. Last Saturday we went to a ward member's house up in Cedro--the furthest part in the campo from the chapel--and they gave us spaghetti. It was so good :) Like I've said, I miss pasta a lot, so I always ask for it when the members want to cook for us. But usually they just have rice and beans and chicken, which is really great too. Speaking of which, I was invited by a man to go eat with him this week in his house--random memory. Anyway, we were at these members' house. They are a really cool older couple named the Llanos (it would be like saying Jawnos) who are really strong members of the church. Milagros Llanos is the relief society president, who has really warmed up with us and to the work--and Hector Llanos is the stake family history director. And they've been in the ward for years. Hector was baptized before blacks even had the priesthood, so he has a really strong testimony. I felt like I was just with some best friends, which I really enjoyed. It was so relaxed and so friendly. I was able to really come to be good friends with the whole family, which was a good experience. I'm almost 20 :) Well, I will talk to you on Mother's Day. I will be calling around 6:30 Puerto Rico time, so that should be 4:30 Utah Time. I'll be doing SKYPE, not just the phone. You'll get to see the chapel where we go to church. Super exciting. Love you! Elder Cevering

Email April 29, 2013

Hello Family! This week was hectic and crazy. Elder Castaneda and I both received new missionaries--greenies--so we're both training here in Carolina. And I am opening up the "new" or just untouched area of Carolina: the campo. It's like going back to Corozal, except it's not so high in the mountains. But there is no foundation of work in the campo right now, so my companion and I are starting it up. I have a cool story about that later on. We had a good planning session today where we get everything worked out for this week. My new companion's name is Elder Smith. He's from Stansbury Farm, Utah. He's a really nice kid. When I decided to go work in the campo I had the inspiration to go and talk to one of the ward members who had grown-up there. When we asked him to take us up there he was really excited. He knows basically everyone up there--because a lot of them are his family. Going with him was like having a door be opened to a "seemingly insurmountable wall" as David O. Mckay said. We met his family and friends and they invited us back, so I'm excited about that. Another exciting thing is that Omar and Rosa are officially getting married and baptized the first week of June. That will be really cool :) We played basketball with Omar and some of the members and other investigators last Friday and it was really fun. My body was so sore though: I haven't done anything nearly as rough as that since tearing my abdomen. I was really sore in that area for the next two days. Haha. But basketball was so fun because here are all these Puerto Ricans and then four missionaries from Utah. They thought they were going to run all over us: but we won 3 out of 5 games. We were joking about Preach My Gospel having a secret basketball-playing section. Besides all that, nothing exciting has happened. Just working. And being tired. I had some really good fresh-made guacamole the other day with some tacos. I love Puerto Rico. And I'm almost 20: the oldy years. Anyway, love you all! Elder Cevering

Maria's Baptism - Dinner with Lin & Esteban - Elder Cevering on his balcony with San Juan in the background

Lin's Baptism and $2.00 Pincho Stand

Email April 22, 2013

Hello Family! The world's coming to an end, and I'm on an island. Everywhere I go people ask me, "Did you hear about Boston?" And I say, "No, but did you hear about New York in 1820?" Haha. That's got to be the new catch phrase of the missionaries. We are the "Hasteners" as we (or I) say here in Puerto Rico. It's catchy. "The Hastening 2013". Who wouldn't get excited about that? This past week was the most gratifying week of my misson, for one single reason: the baptism of Lin. In the past I've always called her Lym--I was wrong. Her name is Elienitza, but everyone calls her Lin. Super embarassing for me. But that's not important, her baptism went through. It was the most spiritual experience of my mission. When we were waiting to begin the service, Esteban--her boyfriend--asked me to come sit by him. I sat down and he said to me, "I just want to tell you thank you. Do you know what I said in my testimony last week at church? I bore my testimony of missionary work. I made the announcement that Lin was being baptized, and it was all because some young man come from Utah and finally helped her have the faith to take that step. Thank you so much." I was filled with that Spirit again that God really loves His children. I felt that great happiness that comes from knowing God can use you as an instrument, no matter how imperfect you are, and no matter if you sound like a gringo when you speak Spanish. Then as the service continued my heart and chest swelled, and when I got up to give the talk about the Holy Ghost I felt really emotional. But I didn't cry ;) The Spirit was just so strong. And it was really cool as I stood around the corner at the font and saw Lin walk in to Esteban and they share an excited look, then he performs the ordinance, she comes up smiling, and she gives him a big hug. It was just such an awesome experience: I thought, "When is the next baptism?" And it was without pride: I just wanted to feel the same way I did, and I wanted others to feel the way that Lin did in that moment, and I wanted some member to feel the way Esteban did. It was such a powerful experience. Lin asked me to perform the confirmation, which was cool too. Besides that we just worked, worked worked. Milagros ended up in the hospital (again??) and Atawalpa decided to still not trust the promise of the Book of Mormon and didn't pray about it, so their baptisms didn't go through. I'm taking the bishop to Milagros' house this week to have him interview her to see what he thinks of the situation. The fruits of our labor really showed yesterday in our ward council: we are finally getting a ward mission leader and ward missionaries. YAY! And I can be even more excited about that because transfers have passed and I am still working here in Carolina. Elder Castaneda is staying too, but we are both going to train new missionaries. That means we have to split the area and our investigators, but I'm excited about that. I'm headed up to the campo area of Carolina :) Anyway, love you all! And I miss ya! Elder Cevering

April 15, 2013 Email

Hello family! What a week! I cannot believe it's already over, nor that it's already the 15th of April. This was a good week: we had the baptism of Maria Teresa. It was really stressful actually because we had to plan it in Toa Baja because that's the closest chapel with warm water in the baptismal font, and Pablo and Maria got lost on the way there. Haha. We were there way early to start filling up the font because in order to have hot water you can't fully release the water from the valves. So we got to Toa Baja at 12:30, the baptism was at 4, and at about 3 o'clock the font wasn't nearly enough full. So we started filling up pots of water to boil, and we were filling big water igloos with water and then throwing them into the font. It was really hectic but really great. Milagros and Edwin didn't get baptized last week because Milagros entered back into the hospital Friday night and didn't leave until yesterday morning. The cancer is really giving her a rough time, but when we talked to her yesterday she still wanted to be baptized. She said: "I don't care if the water is freezing cold, I will be baptized!" Haha. And then she gave us her sister's address and asked us to go and teach her. It was really cool! Lym couldn't get baptized last week either: I'll just say it was her "time" of the month. I can't use other words because I'm a missionary. But she is set for this Friday to be baptized and she's really excited. The only thing is that she wants to keep it a secret because she doesn't want her parents to argue with her and try to keep her from being baptized: she's 24 but lives with them and she has a lot of fear that they will kick her out or do anything else to stop her. But we want her to be open about it, not hide from the truth. It would be worse for her family to know she did it behind their backs than to know it straight up. But she's really afraid. Apparently her sister just recently got her ears pierced and her dad slapped her and got so angry that he left the house and didn't come back for a day. Some pastor?? He was a bit eccentric when we met him at his church. :) But here is something else great: we set a baptismal date with Atawalpa. Do you remember him? He's the one who's been investigating the church since December and has been reading the Book of Mormon ferociously. Well, we've been trying to set a baptismal date with him for a long time, and he always says: "I want to know without a doubt that this is true before I get baptized." But we felt that we needed to invite him to be baptized this Friday with Lym and Milagros and Edwin. It was a crazy inspiration because he hadn't come to church yesterday and we hadn't had a lesson with him for a whole week, and he had been so closed off before. But we went to the lesson and really prayed. We began by talking with him in Alma 32 and how he has been wanting to know the truth but hasn't acted. We also asked him if he has prayed about the Book of Mormon. He said, "I have prayed but I don't believe that's the way my answer will come." I said, "How do you expect to learn the truth of the Book of Mormon if you don't do or trust what it tells you to do?" Using the example of his cell phone I said, "I can't come here and give you the directions of my cell phone to teach you how to use your phone. And if you did, and your cell phone didn't work as my instructions say, would you just throw it away?" He said no. So I continued, "You can't read the Book of Mormon thinking to discover the truth of it in a different way than it tells you. You have to get down on your knees and pray and trust the answer will come." That really struck him. And we had some intense moments: but it all ended with him sitting back, mouth twitching with wanting to find something to say, and then just saying, "You have to read." Then Elder Castaneda hit him with the invitation to be baptized this Friday and he said yes. WHAT!?! We went into that lesson thinking, "How is this going to work...?" And then we left thinking, "HE ACCEPTED THE INVITATION!" It was a really incredible experience. I've never had such an intense lesson before, and I really know that it was a lesson inspired and directed by the Lord. I've really learned that there is no one invested more in this work than the Lord Himself. I've really learned that He cares about His children. Yesterday we were just driving to church from an investigator's house and a white van pulled up next to us and honked. A woman inside asked us how to get to walmart: she was super lost and was on vacation, and didn't speak any Spanish. We told her we would drive her there: so we guided her and she was so thankful. I could see the stress had left her face after we got there. It was a blessing to know just to what extents the Lord goes to put us in the perfect positions to help others. I gave a talk yesterday in Sacrament meeting about Alma 37:34 and Mosiah 18:8-10. It was a really fun experience. I have really come to love this ward. The members are not perfect, but I love them a lot. I talked with them about how hard we've worked and for the fruits we've seen, but I told them that it's not the end but the beginning. I shared with them my gratitude for their work with us, and talked about how we need to continue working and keeping our covenants, even when we are exhausted, and that the Lord will give us rest. I spoke about Alma 7:24, which teaches us that if we have faith, hope, and charity we will always abound in good works. I felt so much love for them, and I felt the Lord's love for them. In the end we shared some hugs, and a lot of members asked me if I was going to be leaving at the end of this transfer, which I don't know but believe will be happening. But this has been a great time in my mission. In 4 months so much has happened, and if I leave I will leave Elder Castaneda with so much work to do and with a lot of success to come in May. We have a joke about baptizing iguanas in this mission. The famous baptized iguana in Carolina is named Charlie. The other day I was driving with Elder Duclos and Elder Mendez and there was a dead iguana in the road. Elder Duclos shouted: "Charlie! NO!" it was really funny. I laughed really hard. I love you all, and I miss you! Remember the Lord is mindful of His children. Elder Cevering

Email April 8, 2013

Hello Family! How was that conference? I wanted to cheer during Elder Nelson's talk as he talked about the need for members to work. I especially loved as he talked about the important role of ward mission leaders: we don't have one here in Carolina so I'm hoping that talk hit home with the Bishop here. But really, the conference was great. We watched it in the Stake Center, and in between sessions we actually just hung out at the Stake Center. The mission is really emphasizing the need to not use a lot of miles on our cars. I was really surprised they didn't send us out to work though. It was very un-mission-like. It felt really weird to have that two hour break. We moved today from our apartment in Carolina to another just a block away. It's a nice little apartment. It's more up to date: the other one was old. It had been used for 40 years by missionaries. WOW. It was a good thing we left. And the new house is cool, I'll take a picture :) The other one was just an apartment on the side of a bunch of other apartments. That's why I never sent pictures. As far as the actual week goes it went by fast. We are working hard, but we're just really trying to get our investigators ready for baptism. We have four on date for this Saturday: Milagros and Edwin, Maria Teresa, and...LYM. Do you remember her? She is the daughter of a Pentecostal pastor. She came to conference and when we talked after she said, "I was praying this morning asking God what I need to do, then I came here and the apostles talked about the need to have faith and be baptized. So I feel like that's what God wants me to do." I asked her what her hesitations were and she said, "Obviously my dad, and I feel like I'm not progressing in the gospel. I don't know why." I told her, "It's because you've learned everything the Holy Ghost can teach you before you're baptized. You have received your witness of the truth, you have come to church many times, read the Book of Mormon. What more CAN you do?" She completely agreed to that, so I asked her when she wanted to be baptized. She asked, "When do you think?" And of course I said, "This Saturday." And I smiled :) <---Like that. And she said, "Okay, that's what I need to do." I was really excited: that was something I have been fasting and praying for recently because I had seen her lack of progress and our inability to meet with her. It was a really cool moment to talk with her and know that God loves His children. Milagros also got some great news this week: she went back to the hospital and they told her that they aren't going to even put her on Chemotherapy anymore. WHAT? I was stunned. A true miracle has occurred in her life, and she knows it. She's been so happy: here's this woman with Ovarial Cancer and she's been inviting us to eat, going between the hospital visits, etc. She went from being an emergency case pacient to a less-catastrophic patient. They're planning to operate on her sooner so that they can get out the cancer, but it's a miracle how things have changed so drastically from the beginning. All from a Priesthood blessing. We have a big emphasis in the mission right now about "Rescuing" the inactive and less-active members. We are only supposed to go contacting if it's close to a less-active's or inactive's house. Well, we went to a man's house but we couldn't find it (numbers and addresses here in Puerto Rico are crazy. You ask a Puerto Rican for directions and they say: "Go straight for about ten seconds, take your right hand turn and continue until you see the yellow fire hydrant that's on the left side, then turn left, and you'll drive past three houses. At the fourth house ask directions: that's where my cousin lives.")--and anyway, we went looking for this man, and we were contacting houses to ask help (and teach the gospel of course) but all of the people were ignoring us. But we went to one house and found a family of 6 people: 4 young men all Aaronic Priesthood age. We were ecstatic! They invited us back and accepted a pamphlet about Joseph Smith. When we asked if we could come back they nodded their heads excitedly. Oh man, it was a cool moment. We also began teaching another Pentecostal girl this week. She was super interested in the Book of Mormon because she had no idea what it was. She wasn't the kind of investigator that seems super happy by your message, but the Book of Mormon just caused her to have a lot of questions. Her name is Sandybet. We'll see what happens there. There are some girls named Nicol and Minely who had a baptismal date for the 20th. They are really cool. They call me and Elder Castaneda "Harry Potter" and "Jackie Chan." I wish I had more time to send you pictures--just so you know, I WANT to send you pictures. Sometimes I just honestly can't. If I could send you a picture, you'd see just how true it is: Elder Castaneda really looks like Jackie Chan. But anyway, Nicol and Minely have been visited by missionaries since last August. Since they only live with their mom it's been hard for the Elders to teach them. And since the sister missionaries live far away, they haven't been able to meet with them consistently. I felt the need to take them from the sisters and start teaching them, and ever since then they've been really progressing. We've visited them with members, and we set their baptismal dates, but since they didn't come to conference their baptismal date dropped. They have really great desires, but they need to come to church more. Their mom is really accepting of the message too. But the big thing is that they have to change the culture of their life: living the gospel is a true change, and a lot of people really don't realize it. Or they simply don't want to change. That's interesting isn't it? How people can simply not have the desire to change: they know something is good but won't change to be able to have it. Something that's been on my mind lately is that people are often converted to one of two things: the feelings they have when the missionaries are teaching them, or they just really love the church. Sometimes they don't gain their own testimonies of the gospel, but they love the feelings that it gives them. But it really all comes back to desires: we have to have the desire to change, and the desire to live the gospel. If we don't have that desire, the Holy Ghost really won't move us to work. That's what I loved about Jeffrey R. Holland's talk when he spoke about just having that inkling of a desire to believe. I think that an inkling of desire can do so much. The topic line comes from our great discussion between conference yesterday. We were talking about what a White Missionary Manual would have said for missionaries in the Old Testament. It was hilarious. But we're also missionaries, and I'm also a nerd when it comes to the scriptures. We were saying things like, "She doesn't live the law of chastity. President, should we stone her?" and then "No Elder, it says here to offer a bullock behind her house during the new moon..." HA. super great. Anyway, love you all a lot! Happy Birthday Grandpa! I love ya! And your house changes are really cool! Elder Cevering Mom,thank you for sending me the letters: I love reading what my friends are doing. When you sent me the pictures of Micah I almost started crying: I was so happy to see him as a missionary. And he sounds like he's loving his mission.

Email April 1, 2013

Hello Family! I don't have a lot of time right now to write because we're returning right now from our mission conference in Caguas. We went to the supposed temple grounds up in Aguas Buenas (good waters--an original name right?) and spent the night. It was cool. We slept on the hard tile floors with the geckos and lizards :) and I'm pretty sure there were some tarantulas around there somewhere. The conference was dedicated to discussing the resurrection and atonement of Christ and our need as a mission to become more purified through the atonement. It was cool. Both of our baptisms fell through: we were really disappointed. Maria Teresa--who is Pablo's wife--was sick and she couldn't be baptized because the baptismal water here is cold. And Edwin got really sick, so he couldn't come either. But we're already planning for the 13th. We can't do the baptisms this weekend because of conference. We're not supposed to do confirmations outside of sacrament meetings, so we have to wait to next week, which doesn't bother me. We have big plans for this month so I am excited :) We set about 10 baptismal dates between the 14th and the 20th, which is really exciting and has us really busy. I don't have a lot of time to expound on that, but let me tell you about the miracle we saw this past week. Milagros went back to the hospital this week to have five tests done. She was diagnosed two weeks ago with Ovarial Cancer. I read those previous results to her because they were in English. The papers from her previous tests said she had pelvic fluid flowing and the doctors were positive she had cancer there as well. So we gave her a blessing last Monday in preparation for her tests which were Wednesday. When we visited her Tuesday she told us that, immediately after we gave her the blessing, she felt she had angels hands on her head. She told us, "I AM going to be baptized, and when I am baptized I will bring my whole family with me." She even said, "The family of Juanita might be big, but my family is bigger. And I will be sure they follow in my footsteps." HA! Wow. I was blown away. But that's not all! She then went in for her five tests on Wednesday and FOUR of the five tests left negative for cancer. The test they did on her pelvis showed that there was no more flowing liquid (WHAT?) and that her cancer appeared less dangerous than before. She was so happy! They moved her from an emergency case to a less-catostrophic case, and they will begin her on Chemotherapy, but will operate on her in July, which was a proof that they aren't really worried about her. When we visited her Thursday she was talking to her friend about the blessing we gave her and inviting her to visit with us. She was testifying of the Spirit that we bring and of the help we can give her. It was really incredible! I know the power of the priesthood is real. In my Patriarchal Blessing it talks about that power. I have seen some incredible fulfillments of my Patriarchal Blessing since my mission began. I can't expound on them, but I will when I'm home. I would encourage everyone to get their Blessing if they haven't yet received it. I wish I had more time to tell of the things that have been happening. Just know that I am "suffering with joy" as President says. And I am so excited to watch conference this weekend. Missions are tough. But there really is happiness in the fruits of our labors. I love you all so much! Thanks for all your support! I miss you all! And guess what, I'm almost 20 years old. I'm getting old :) Elder Cevering

Email March 25. 2013

Hello Family! To answer Colby's question, NO. We don't have any "milestones" in this mission. Burning a tie is considered apostasy in Puerto Rico. Besides, I like my ties :) This was a pretty good week: we were able to set a lot of baptismal dates for April, and we secured two for this Saturday. I'm really excited about it. Maria Teresa finally made her decision to be baptized. Here's the story: the last time we invited her to be baptized was not last Wednesday, but the Wednesday before. It was me and Elder Castaneda and the Collazos. She told Elder Castaneda that she wasn't ready. Then Elder Collazo talked about how the day of salvation is today. Well, that very night the sister of Pablo entered the hospital. Apparently she drank a lot and then took morphine (spelling?), and some other medications. She was rushed to the hospital and was living off a respiration machine. So, Pablo invited us to give her a blessing. As we drove there I was thinking about whether or not I had the faith to heal this woman. It was tough because I had seen others be healed by the priesthood--I'd myself given blessings that resulted in overnight recoveries--and I was debating in my mind whether the Lord would really permit me and Elder Castaneda to perform this miracle. So with all of that in my mind we went into the hospital and into the basement where Pablo's sister was laying. Pablo went right to her head and gave her a kiss, then he invited us up to see her. Then Elder Castaneda did the annointing. Then I stepped up and put my hands on her head to give her the blessing and I didn't feel like I could bless her to be healed. I began the blessing but felt the inclination to bless her to follow the example of Pablo and be baptized. But I knew as I was blessing her that I coudn't heal her. So I ended the blessing and we left. And two days later she died. When we went back to visit Maria Teresa she said, "I've been thinking about what Elder Collazo said. Pablo's sister didn't know she was going to die. So I have to make my decision today to be baptized. So I will be baptized." We were all so excited when she said that! Haha. It was a really great moment. But that's not all. She went on to tell us about how she told Pablo's other sister that she was going to be baptized. Pablo's sister said, "But Maria, you were already baptized." And Maria said, "No, the priest just put a little bit of water on my head. That's not baptism." And that simple testimony caused Pablo's sister to invite us to teach her. She said, "I want to learn about this church." We also had a really great lesson with Omar and Rosa this week. Rosa has been saying that she won't get baptized until next year, the same time she wanted to get married. She wanted to save up her money to have a big wedding, get drunk, and then get baptized. Well, that obviously can't be the goal. So we talked with them about the Restoration. We watched the short Joseph Smith video of him reading in the Bible and then praying and receiving the First Vision. At the end we talked about the priesthood authority, and how Christ gave "keys" to Peter. It's my favorite example. I asked them, "What do you do with keys?" They explained, "You open things, you can drive cars, etc." And I asked, "And will you just give your house keys to anyone?" Obviously they said no. So we expounded on how the "keys to the heavens" that Christ gave to Peter had the same function of a house key. The keys to the heavens were the priesthood authority to open the heaven. They understood that really, really well. And it also helped them understand how the loss of priesthood keys during the apostasy closed the heavens. So then we invited them to be baptized, and Omar and the sons said yes, but Rosa looked at me like "I already said, I want to save my money to get married and have a big party next year..." But she thought about it and said, "Yes." I thought Elder Castaneda wasn't going to sleep for three days. Just imagine being this young missionary and coming into the mission field where you have all these investigators accepting baptismal dates. His greenie fire is raging. :) Elder Castaneda and I are working well together and seeing a lot of good things happen. The only downside is really that our ward is full of people who don't want to help us. It's funny to me how many members who don't have cars are willing to leave with us, they are simply "too busy". Well, I love you all! And I miss you. Elder Cevering